The next day, Dara was back in her uniform at work but Jiyong didn't come by. She heard from Bom, who heard from Youngbae, that Jiyong remained by Siyoung's side all throughout last night at the club they always went to. He had not turned up for the first two classes of the day and showed up with a bit of a hang-over.

“DARA!”

Dara flinched but relaxed when she realized that the voice belonged to Youngbae and not Jiyong.

“Youngbae, how are you?” she asked him.

He loved the sweets almost as much as he loved being fussed over by the boss-lady, although he wouldn't admit it. She always felt safe around him because of his fascination with older women, and plus, he was the pussycat out of Bigbang, she thought.

“Hungry,” he said, and his stomach growled. Son of a Mafia boss, even his stomach dared not oppose him. On second thought, maybe he wasn't such a pussycat after all. She helped him make a choice even though she knew he secretly knew every combination and served him the cake and coffee he ordered.

“So...” he said, sitting down one of the three tables in the small coffee shop, “You want to get drunk?”

“Excuse me?” her eyes widened.

“I'm assuming you know about him and Kang Siyoung?'

There were two ways she could go about this, Dara thought. She could draw it out and pretend she didn't know who the "him" she was talking about was, or she could bluff her way out of it.

“Really Youngbae, it's not the first time that he's dating another girl. What am I saying,” Dara corrected self-derisively, “he's never dated me, so "another girl" isn't really right is it?”

“You know,” Youngbae said, chewing thoughtfully, “you're stronger than you think.”

“Aaah,” she tried to laugh it off, “you'll make me blush Youngbae.”

She busied herself, keeping her back to him, and closing her eyes momentarily.

When had she gotten so tired of pretending everything was alright?

She had to do it with Bom, who supported her all the way, but still wondered if she was right to not give up on Jiyong. She had to do it with Jiyong himself, because she knew that he would feel awkward if she we