Getting ready for bed after dinner, Dara's head turned to the door when someone knocked from the outside. She already know who was behind the door but her heart still hammered inside her chest. 

Remembering what happen over dinner only made her hesitant to open the door for Jiyong. That grouchy alien was as if being openly flirty towards her or it was what she thought he did.

"Go away you !" she shouted in anger, masking her own nervousness.

She heard him chuckled behind the lock of the door until it suddenly unlocked, revealing Jiyong with a smug face.

"You dirty tricky alien grouch."Dara said with a frown.

"I'm sorry for teasing you." he said before he got in the room and sat beside on the other side of the bed. "Are you sleeping already?" he asked.

"Yes and get out."

"How about your school papers?"

"Done. Now get out." she insisted since she can really hear the pounding of her heart. Why was he extra handsome tonight? Why was he smiling a lot to her? 

"Wow. Grandma much, Dara?" He teased.

Dara's frown got even deeper. "What do you want, Jiyong?"

"Nothing." He said looking over the window. "Do you wanna go out? Have some fresh air. I know some place." he said.

"Where?"

"Someplace." He said as he lifted his hand towards her as if gesturing to come to him. "Come with me."

Dara only looked at him with suspicions this time while Jiyong already picked it up from her mind.

"I'm not gonna tease you or be a ert to you as what you call me,smidgen. Besides, you gonna love it there."

Dara's face lit up. "Really? But it's already dark outside, Jiyong."

"I'll take care of you, thamin." he said while Dara smiled and stood up. Jiyong on the other hand had barely caught himself offguard upon calling her such. He never did that before. Never even once.

"So, let's go? Should I wear a jacket? It's a little cold outside." Dara said, turning away from him into her drawer to get a jacket.

Jiyong on the other hand, was left blinking blankly to the woman who was busy choosing over what kind of jacket suited her for the night's unplanned activity.

Thamin?

What on earth made you say that, Nimrod?

Jiyong thought while still looking over Dara in front of him.

Thamin?

This one is my Thamin?

This little insignificant woman who happen to be my enemy's blood?

When Dara turned towards him with a grin this time as she finally donned herself with a fur jacket, Jiyong once again looked at her face and her thoughts. It eventually made him smile, reading her mind right now. As he stood up and towered over her, he smiled gently towards her and placed his hand on her nape. The contact made Dara gasped a little while she can't break her eyes from. Most especially that Jiyong had bit his lower lip while he smirked to her.

"Y-yah, you promised you wont tease me again." she stuttered while Jiyong only shook his head and brought her head to his chest before he entwined his arms around her waist.

"You are so small, smidgen. Like a tiny truffles or a little pink troll." he whispered to her ear in a playful manner and yet his eyes mirrored something else. His eyes turned towards their reflection in the mirror and he saw his own unreadable countenance. 

He can't be.

No...

He shouldn't be.

He's an Orion.

She's a Plaedian.

The boundary between them were in great clarity for centuries upon centuries of unsettled war.

So he shouldn't be calling her such revered word of the Orionian. 

"Are you alright, Jiyong-ah?" Dara finally asked when she noticed his change in breathing. And even before he can answer her, Dara was suddenly pushed to her bed while Jiyong dashed far away from her, leaving the room in almost light speed. Dara was left gaping open, regarding the door where Jiyong disappeared in bewilderment. She found herself reaching to her chest when her heart wont stop pounding inside. 

"What a weird night. Wew." Dara said in the silence of the room while she fan herself for too much heat registering on her body. She then took off her jacket, guessing that the unplanned night getaway wont be on the alien menu for now.

 Dara decided to slid inside her blanket and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, she can't anymore stop the grin that slowly crept on her face as she reminisce of Jiyong's scent a while ago. In all fairness, he smell so fine to her nose and his warmness still lingered to her skin kept her feeling giddy all of the sudden. Whether she would admit it or not, she thought she might be crushing over an alien guy. 

***
It had been already nine days since the night