Sandara Park’s POV

People could say, I had stooped to his own level. I wouldn’t deny it, I had in a way. I had made a bet with Kim Bum, a bet that he was more than willing to go along with. I would be giving Min Ho his own medicine.

The slice of caramel cardamom cake sat idly on my plate, as I stared out of my apartment window. Twirling my fork around as I tried to make out pictures within the clouds. The icing of the cake was neatly spread in smooth white layers, while the rosette with a small caramel flower twinkled ever so slightly. With a sigh I carefully cut the side of my fork into the dessert and took a bite of the melt-in-your-mouth cake.

Min Ho was on my mind, as always. He was like a piece of gum that had been placed under a high school desk, extremely difficult to remove or avoid accidently brushing up against.

The strawberry jelly in between the cake layers is a nice touch.

I brought my coffee cup up to my lips and gulped down some of that warm, comforting liquid. Cappuccino froth sticking to my bottom lip when I placed the cup back on its saucer. Food was meant to be a distraction, my distraction. But it wasn’t working.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have made the call? Maybe I should have not called Kim Bum. What if he told Min Ho about my plan? What if I was made an even bigger fool than I already was?

I pursed my lips and cursed myself for being so indecisive, it wasn’t like I could go back in time to change what I had done anyway. I finished my cake and coffee and put my dishes in the dishwasher, not wanting to see them when I would get back home later. There was only an hour to go until I would have to meet him at that party.

The same place where he kissed my cheek. The same place where I slapped him for the very first time.

I chuckled bitterly to myself, it was ridiculous how I managed to be reminiscent about things like that. I walked to my bedroom and slipped out of my clothes from today. The black dress was lying on my bed, along with the expensive hoops and bracelet. While the strappy heels stood tall by the foot of the bed. I stared them down for a minute, wondering how Min Ho had such good taste in women’s clothes.

He had bought the outfit just for tonight, as if to mark the occasion where he would reveal that he had succeeded in wooing me. I wondered if he bought it to objectify me, to make a point that I was his doll- his toy. He was a player after all, it actually made sense in my head. I didn’t like it one bit.

Tonight I was going to make a fool of him. Tonight I was going to show him that I wasn’t a girl that you could play with.

I was not Lee Min Ho’s toy.

The next thing I knew, I had a black trash bag in my hand and I was stuffing all of the things Min Ho had bought me into it. The clothes, the shoes, the jewellery, everything. I tied it up at the top and stuffed it into the deepest, darkest part of my closet where gifts from people that I didn’t really like went- gifts that would eventually be recycled and given to someone else.

Angrily I brushed my teeth and freshened up, blow drying my hair until it was a pretty mess. I patted on bb cream and lined my eyes with midnight. Eyelashes long and lips shiny with a clear coat of gloss. Small earrings that could have been mistaken for the fangs of a vampire dangled from my ears, which were easy to see with my hair half up. I tugged on my red leopard print pants and a white sleeveless shirt with a grey skeletal butterfly design. Studded cuffs adorned my wrists, the metal of the studs was cold against my skin making me frown for a moment.  I added a leather vest and doc martens to finish the job. I had done my best at dressing myself up the exact opposite from what he would be expecting.

I smiled a vixen like smile, and gave myself a little hwaiting fist.

I grabbed my phone and credit card, not seeing the point in bringing anything else. The trip would be short, I wasn’t intending to spend a long time there. I don’t know why, but as I was about to leave the apartment I clutched at a small metal chain in my hand. The object digging into my skin, leaving a red mark.

“Breathe” I cooed to myself, keeping my eyes on the tiles of my front entrance.

It’s show time.  

Lee Min Ho’s POV

The fast music created a lively atmosphere that most guests were taking advantage of. There were girls in bikinis splashing around with guys in the pool. Drinks were continuously being poured by the hired bartenders and the loud cheers and chatter of people created a buzz. It was a sea of black, grey, white and gold. Everyone had amazingly stuck to the dress code for the night. II Woo, my friend who had given up his house for Kim Bum, could be seen grumpily overlooking the scene from his bedroom window. Obviously regretting ever giving in to Kim Bum’s request.

I laughed and checked my phone for the hundredth time that night. To my disappointment there were still no messages or missed calls from that person.

Where is she?

I was sitting by the pool with the guys and a few random girls waiting for Dara. It was already eight thirty and she still hadn’t arrived. It was the most irritating thing in the world. She was never late, in fact she was a rather punctual person. I inwardly groaned and looked around, hoping to spot her walking over.

She wasn’t anywhere in sight.

Kim Bum was staring at me with a gigantic smirk plastered onto his stupid face, watching me utterly amused.

“What?” I dryly asked.

“Worried that you’ll get stood up?” He eyed me while taking a long swig from his bottle of soju.

“No” I scoffed, acting like a cocky bastard.

“To be honest, I can’t wait to see how you two interact” Hae Woo said as he stuffed another chunky handful of fires into his mouth.

“What do you mean?” I asked him quizzically.

“Well you know…we haven’t actually seen the two of you together before…” Kyu Jong trailed off, sauce off of his fingers.

“It’s hard to imagine Sandara and you together because of that time when she slapped you” Joon summarised what they were trying to say.

I nodded understandingly.

“I hope she slaps you again tonight after you break the news to her that you’ve really just been playing” Geun Suk sneered.

“She hits hard” I commented in reply.

“Only because you’re a wimp man” Geun Suk retorted.

“Maybe I should get Dara to hit you…” I said thoughtfully, tapping my chin.

They laughed at that and shook their heads, entertained.

“You know what would be funny?” Joon turned to me, ignoring the girl on his lap who was clearly in need of some attention.

“What?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“You are like a god dude, seriously. I couldn’t have done what you have. Playing with a girl for two whole months and managing to not fall in love with her. That is really amazing” He praised as he swayed tipsily.

“Haha, thanks” I awkwardly laughed.

None of them knew that Dara and I were real yet. I would tell them after taking the check from Kim Bum inconspicuously. I would only get it after Dara made an appearance. I didn’t know how they would react to it. Me, falling for the girl we tortured in high school seemed like a highly unlikely thing. II Woo would be supportive for sure and maybe Hae Woo too. Kim Bum would give me hell for it, constantly teasing me for the next two millennia. Geun Suk and Joon would probably throw a fit about how gross it is to be in a serious relationship with a commoner like her and Kyu Jong would rant on about how I am meant to hand her over to Hyun Joong after the whole bet.

Hand Dara to Hyun Joong? Haha, how about no?

“Where’s Hyun Joong?” I glanced at Kim Bum who was contently watching two girls grinding on each other.

“Ahh, he didn’t want to come when I mentioned that you would be here. Something about you being a mothering -er who should bathe in holy water for the rest of your life to repent for stealing his girl”

Geun Suk started howling with laughter at that.

“He really hates you Min Ho, it’s the funniest thing in the world” Kim Bum sniggered.

“I can imagine” I rolled my eyes, unaffected by the slur of insults.

I couldn’t imagine Hyun Joong and I being all chummy after our war over Dara.

Another ten minutes had passed since I checked my phone and I was at near my limit.

Did she get into a car accident?

Knots instantly formed in my stomach while my breathing came to a halt.

No Dara doesn’t own a car.

I let out the breath I had been holding in.

Did her cab get into an accident?

I swear I could feel my hair turning grey.

I’m going to kill that that wasn’t driving properly while escorting her here.

Wait calm down. We should just try calling her again before breaking the law…

I dialled her number and put my free hand over my exposed ear so that I would be able to hear her better. It felt like the world wasn’t moving fast enough, the ringing of her phone a hum in my ear. As I waited for her to answer I caught Yuri burning holes into my head with her gaze from across the place. She was dancing with some guy and was staring at me intensely, though the guy never noticed her attention wasn’t on him. She was wearing a short, tacky, gold dress that barely covered anything.

I face palmed myself and turned around so I would have to see her ty .

I got Dara’s voicemail instead of her ‘yoboseyo?’.

I raked a hand through my hair and checked that my outfit was in order. Gold blazer and black everything else.

Okay, I don’t look like an idiot.

Now where the are you Sandara Park?

“Oh my gosh” Hae Woo sounded, looking at something behind me.

“No! No ing way! That can’t be her!” Kyu Jong chorused.

I turned around to see what all the commotion was about and felt positively confused.

Dara was walking over here, emitting a confident, y, bad girl aura that was like a strong tsunami wave. She stood out like a sore thumb in the party wearing bright red pants and strutting like she didn’t give a . She was the only girl here who wasn’t wearing a dress or a bikini. She caught the attention of many guys even with the lack of skin to show, to my irritation.

Why she wasn’t wearing the outfit I bought her was beyond me. Why she had such a cold expression on her face had me curious and her late arrival had me wanting to rant at her for making me worry.

She looks so able.

It took all of my self-control to keep my mouth from hanging open in surprise, as I watched her. I muttered a slur of curses and promised myself to get laid tonight. I could understand why my friends had used similar dialogue from the night two months ago, when we were standing here and saw her for the first time.

“ Dara” I whispered as I stood up to greet her.

She didn’t smile at me as she quickly advanced towards me, not even saying hello.

What happened next blew my mind.

Maybe if I had been warned in advance I would have reacted better. Maybe if I had spent the day with her instead of dropping her back at her apartment, things wouldn’t have panned out the way they did. If I had just told her about the bet then maybe none of it would have happened.

She grabbed me by the front of my shirt and crashed her lips onto mine in a rough kiss.

My heart jumped out of my chest and I felt my mind go blank. Dara had never kissed me in public, let alone so boldly. Her eyes were closed letting her long eyelashes rest on her cheeks and her lips were soft and sweet like always. She had me stunned and all I could do was stand there and listen to the gasps heard from behind me.

She pulled away from me and dropped a ring into my bottle of soju, the familiar sound of metal and glass chiming into my ear.

Wait. What’s going on-

She turned to Kim Bum with an expectant face and the latter groaned.

“Here you go” He reluctantly handed her a check with a smirk on his face, evidently impressed.

She waved the check in front of my face and my jaw dropped.

Thirty million won.

“All bets are off” She murmured.

With that she tore the check in half and nonchalantly threw the pieces into the air. An epiphany hit me like a truck to a deer in the middle of the night.

She knew everything.

She turned her back to me and walked away, before I could explain myself. I tried to walk, but my feet wouldn’t move- or my mouth for the matter. Hopelessly I prayed that she would turn around and see my plea to wait a moment, but she never did.

And that’s when I realized I had lost her.

Earlier that day, Sandara Park’s POV

“Yoboseyo?”

“Kim Bum this is Sandara Park, I wanted to talk to you about something,” I spoke in a surprisingly steady manner, not stuttering as I spoke to the might-as-well-be-a stranger.

“Sandara Park? Really?” He asked, clearly intrigued.

“Yes”

“How did you get my number?”

“How did Lee Min Ho know where I lived?” I dryly replied.

“Point taken. How can I help you Sandara?” He chuckled.

“I know about the bet”

It was like the whole world fell silent.

“What bet?” He asked too late, pathetically trying to play coy.

“Don’t beat around the bush Kim Bum. You know exactly what I’m talking about” I sighed, sitting down on my couch.

“Does Min Ho know that you know?” He questioned.

“What do you think?”

“Okay, so he doesn’t. Why are you calling me then? Shouldn’t you be crying right now?” He insensitively pokes around.

I mentally scoff at his question, thinking about what a jackass this guy is.

“That’s not how I work Kim Bum. I called you because I want to make a bet with you”

“And what makes you think I’ll agree to a bet with you?” He cackled.

“Because you love making bets, it’s what you and your friends do all the time” I bluntly stated.

“You’re a smart one Sandara, I’ll give you that. What kind of bet were you thinking of?”

“When I arrive at your party tonight, I bet Min Ho won’t be able to react to me kissing him”

“And why wouldn’t he react to that may I ask?” He said in a tone that informed me he doubted my ability.

“Believe me, he just won’t. If I win you give me that check of his for thirty million won and if I lose…” I trailed off.

“I can have whatever I want?” He greasily asked.

“Sure” I rolled my eyes.

Not going to happen you idiot.

“Okay Sandara, you’re on. I’ll see you tonight” His grin could be heard over the phone.

“Goodbye” I mumbled and hung up.

No One’s POV

And if anyone had been paying close enough attention to Dara, they would have noticed a strange item hanging around her neck.

A beer can pull-tab on a chain.

All bets are off.

Writer's Notes:

O_O what is going to happen to our lovestruck couple?

If anyone is too slow to get it...that beer can pull-tab is the one from chapter 37, you know...when Min Ho confesses to Dara? It was in the Kiss MV too...

Anywho! Thank you for all the lovely comments guys, it has been a great past few days because of those. I'm feeling kind of sick right now so that's why it took me so long to update, it was meant to be yesterday but I went to sleep instead....
I'm going to work on the next chapter now but I don't know when it will be ready because my throat is killing me >.<
But I will update again! I promise ;)

And to xara10, the something memorable hasn't arrived yet. That is in one of the chapters to follow shortly. 

We're nearly at the end guys! Almost there.

Thank you all for reading, commenting, supporting, subscribing and upvoting this story! I'll be anticipating your thoughts.

Lots of love,
xoxoxo,
HEARTACHES <3