DARA

"That was a total d!ck move by Jiyong," Heejung said. "Of course you freaked out and panicked. I definitely would have done the same." She slid the pastry plate toward Dara. "Here. You get full dibs today. I promise this will improve your mood."

Dara picked up her fork and toyed with the chocolate muffin, but her stomach was too busy doing flip-flops to signal her brain that she was truly hungry. She still wasn't sure why she had called Heejung about Jiyong's apartment purchase. Dara knew Heejung kept busy with her work at the Kwon Agency, and had been surprised when Heejung isolated a block in her immediate schedule to devote to her. They had agreed to meet at a coffee shop near the firm Dara worked for – Heejung had been very enthusiastic about the muffin selection.

"So what's wrong with it?" Heejung asked as she sipped her coffee. "Does the view make it unlivable? Kitchen need to be completely redone? Did Jiyong already section off a spot for his man cave?" She chuckled at her own mental image, and Dara couldn't blame her. It certainly seemed like something the old Jiyong would do.

Heejung was a few years older than Dara, but they had been fast friends since their first meeting at a Kwon Agency Christmas party. Dara respected Heejung's judgement implicitly in all matters Jiyong: she was maybe the only person who had learned to keep him in line over the years, and that was usually by just letting him be himself.

Dara shook her head in response. "That's the problem," she mumbled. "It's perfect. It's exactly as Jiyong guessed: I do like it. I like everything about it."

Heejung fixed her with a measured look, and Dara quickly doubled-down on dismantling her muffin. She had the strangest intuition that Heejung had been fishing for an approval of the place, as if she had known Dara's true feelings all along. "So what's the problem?" Heejung inquired nonchalantly. "Aside from the obvious fact that Jiyong went ahead without asking you. You guys can acknowledge that and move on, right?"

"I'm afraid it's symptomatic of how things are going to be." Dara sighed. "I don't want him making every important decision on his own. He may make them with me in mind, but he's still making them without me. I feel...left behind."

"You aren't being left behind," Heejung assured. "Jiyong will come around. He's just freaking out a little bit right now. He wants so badly to show everyone what a responsible adult he is...and he wants to show you especially. He's just going about it in a slightly immature way." Heejung chuckled. "He thinks he can make a complete shift overnight, when the reality is he's making everyone around him, himself included, totally stressed out and miserable."

Dara's cheeks heated. "I don't want him to change himself because of me," she whispered. "And I definitely don't want him to change himself because of the baby. I agree he needed to learn some responsibility, but the Jiyong I've always known...that's who I want to be the father of my child."

Heejung reached across the table and took the fork from Dara's hand. She gave her empty fingers a reassuring squeeze. "It sounds like you have to trust yourself on this one, Dara. You know how fond I am of Jiyong—but is he right for you? At the end of the day, that's something only you can know. But it's something you have to consider, if the two of you have any chance of being happy—together or apart."

Dara's heart raced at Heejung's words. It was a silly reaction, she knew. It's not as if she needed to make a decision right here and now... but she realized her heart was beating so fast at the thought of losing Jiyong. He may have gone about it in the densest way possible, but he had just gifted her with a dream apartment. Bigger than even the classic six was the gesture behind it: he was thinking of her. Looking out for her. Taking care of her. This wasn't a threat to her independen