“What’s with the look?” Jiyong asked, raising his right brow in suspicion.

 

“Nothing.” Dara answered while helping him store the groceries inside his cupboards.

“You’re a terrible liar, do you know that?” he said drily. She can’t help but look at him as if she was hurt but Jiyong just shrugged at her then continued storing his foods in the cabinets.

“Fine” she said. “It’s just that, it’s creepy being here in your pad after I read about you on the net.” Dara shuddered in a mix of disgust and disbelief. 

 

“Look, I don’t mean anything bad but what your ex-girlfriends wrote about you are definitely shocking. And being here kinda eeks me out thinking that you did it here. It could have been here right at this counter…” she hastily removed her hands resting on top of the counter then looked at him. Dara stopped when she saw his unreadable expression. “What?” she said, chewing on her bottom lip as a deep shade of red burst on her cheeks.

 

“You have a very creative imagination, Dara.”

 

She blushed even more. “Well, I can’t help it.”

 

“What planet are you from, huh? You should know by now that at least seventy-five percent of what you read in the net is not true. Your sources are just mere gossips.” Jiyong said coldy as he went back to fixing their grocery.

“Yeah, but why are you so afraid that your father might read it? Then some of it might be true, right?”

 

Jiyong stiffened for a while and was taken aback.

 

‘Bingo!'’ Dara smirked. “You know what Jiyong, you’re too easy to read.”

 

Jiyong glared at her as if boring holes on her face. “First of all, they were not my girlfriends. Those are just women that I spent a night or two. My relationship with them is purely physical and I never pretended it to be otherwise. I never sweet talk to anyone and I never led any woman on to thinking that they could be anything more than that for me. I never lied to them.”

He continued as he stepped closer to her, “Secondly, I never bring my women to my residences. If I’d do that, then they’ll think that there’s something deeper to what we have. So stop imagining things about me doing it in my pad. This place is clean.”

 

She just shrugged her shoulders and stepped back. His brows furrowed in confusion as to why no retort came out to . In which, she always does whenever they talk or banter with each other.

 

“What? No sarcastic remarks or whatsoever?” Jiyong asked as he took out the food that they ordered from the restaurant and put it on top of his dining table.

 

“Well, as you said, those women knew what you wanted and what you can only give to them and they agreed to it. I suppose that’s their choice so what sarcastic remark can I give to that? They are old enough already. I'm sure they knew what they were doing.”

 

Jiyong's eyes widened too dramatically after hearing that coming out from Sandara Park's mouth. Dara mouthed a silent 'what' then walked towards the dining table. 

“Wait, aren’t you the almighty queen of morality? The champion of righteousness and defender of justice?” he’s confused but his voice was laced with dripping sarcasm.

 

“I believe in free will. I respect people’s choices as long it does not step on other people’s right and would hurt the other party. In your case, I guess no one got hurt. It was consensual; both parties have enough capacities to decide for their own self so I don’t have anything to say about that. I may think your set-up is morally improper, but that’s my belief. I can’t impose my belief on other people. One of the most important thing is respect, and I should respects others’ preferences—given of course, as I said earlier—that it should not step on other people’s right—“

 

“Not hurting other people. Yeah, I heard you,” he continued for her in a lazy tone. “But how come you didn’t respect my food preference and you forced me to buy locally-manufactured goods?” and he opened his can of soda while handing Dara the pineapple juice in can he opened for her.

 

“You really shouldn’t drink too much soda. There’s no redeeming factor in drinking those, it’s really unhealthy.” 

 

He scoffed then shook his head at her. Talk about respecting other people's choice . “There you go again. You said to respect other people’s preferences, but what is this?”

She just shrugged her shoulders and put a little box at the center of his dining table. “When you’re done with your soda, put the lid of the can in there. They could be used as a material for making a wheelchair.” And then she took the lid off of her canned pineapple juice.“I’m not forcing you to buy locally manufactured goods, Jiyong. I'm just merely advising you.”

--

'So here’s the plan. My father loves intelligent women, but he’s really conservative. He’s against abortion, artificial birth control, divorce, premarital —‘

‘You knew that!’ she yelled, cutting him off. ‘Yet, you had all those escapades…’ she suddenly halted her words when she saw him throwing deathly glares at her. Dara bowed lightly then chewed her bottom lip. ‘Okay, okay. Sorry. Please, go on with the plan’.

‘Talk about abortion, divorce, and pre-marital and tell him that you agree in all of those things. That should tick my father off’. Jiyong informed.

 

--

 

Dara smiled sweetly at Mr. Kwon while the memories of her and Jiyong talking the other day on how she could change his father’s mind with regards to the engagement flashed in her mind. She needs to turn him off on the idea of her, being the ideal girl for Jiyong.

 

Sitting on the long table, together with her father, at the Kwon’s dining room, she started a conversation. “So Uncle,” she called, vying for his attention. “What’s your stand in Reproductive Health Bill (A/N: Sorry for this scene, idk anything much about laws and all in South Korea, so I decided to use this instead. It’s a bill from Philippines which is not yet decided if it’s gonna be passed or not. Just imagine that they have this in Korea also. Kekeke~) which is becoming a hot topic these days, uncle?” 

 

Though a little shoked by her sudden question, Mr. Kwon still manage to give her a piece of his opinion. He smiled at her then nodded his head. “Well, I’m a devoted Christian, Dara. So naturally, I am against artificial birth control. We don’t need those. Married couples can use the natural method instead.” He calmly answered.

 

“But Uncle, natural method requires a lot of patience and discipline. Don’t you think it’s quite unreasonable to ask these things to those people who work so hard every day? I don’t want to sound conscending, but for those people who work almost 24 hours a day, is like a way to relieve stress. It’s difficult to hold that urge and impose to them that they should wait. Don’t you think so, Uncle?”

 

"Well dear, coupling is for recreation. It shouldn’t be a way to relieve stress.” He replied, sipping a spoonful of his soup after. 

 

“It’s for procreation before because Christians were persecuted, that’s why there’s a need to beget. But now that’s not the case, I don’t think we need to procreate that much anymore. Especially now that Korea’s growing in population.”

 

She saw the older Kwon squirmed a bit on his seat, seemingly starting to get uncomfortable with each words that Dara threw into their conversation. Dara passed a glance at Jiyong who’s wearing an expression, telling her ‘to go on and you’re in the right track'’.

She was about to speak again when she was quicky cut off by the older Kwon. “You know what dear, you might just be right.” He smiled. Admiration can be seen in his face.

A tiny gasped escaped from her lips. Quickly, she looked again at Jiyong who did the same, mentally sending her a message to go on and keep talking. He even nodded a little for reinforcement. 
 

“What about pre-marital , Uncle?” she abruptly retorted.

 

“Well, tell me about your opinion, young lady. I’m sure your thoughts are very enlightening.” Then looked at his friend with a genuine smile. “I really like talking to your daughter. She makes me see perspectives that I’ve never even considered before. I must say she’s really bright.” 

 

Feeling like a defeated Olympic athletes, their shoulders slumped as both of them simultaneously sighed deeply. Jiyong and Dara cannot do anything but just look at each other helplessly

--

 

“Your father is determined to love me even if I’m the devil incarnate,” Dara said exasperatedly while sitting on the sofa of Jiyong’s living room.

 

He ploped his body down beside her, handing her the canned pineapple juice that she loves. 

“It’s like he was programmed to love me no matter what.” Dara ranted again while sipping her most beloved pineapple juice.

 

True that. Three weeks have passed since they planned and connived about sabotaging their own engagement. They've tried various methods and plans of attack but still, they're of no use. Dara did everything that will piss off Jiyong’s father but there’s no effect. Not even a single effect. He would always side with her at the end of the day.

The older Kwon just agrees to everything she says and even surprisingly find excuses to her uncouth behavior.

“Lucky for you, you’re slowly turning off my dad with all your talks about business and profits. You saw how his face turned sour with you being such a hard core capitalist?” she said, drinking on her canned pineapple juice.

 

Jiyong sighed. “But it’s not enough if it’s only your Dad who’ll be turned off. We need to get them both. Uncle won’t break the engagement off alone if my dad’s still determined. It’s like the two of them come in package.” He said and both of them sighed for the nth time, feeling tired and half-defeated.

 

“You’re right. My father is programmed to like you no matter what. He’ll accept you whole-heartedly, just for the sake of keeping his promise to my mom.”

 

Her eyes lifted up to look at him. What was that she heard in his voice? Was it bitterness laced with sarcasm?

 

“Well, I guess it really like that. Our dads loved our moms very much,” Dara said in a matter-of-fact tone.

 

“Yeah, loved them so much to the point that there’s very little space in their hearts to love anybody else, even their own kid.”

 

Her eyes widened as she was taken aback with the comment he said. Dara gazed up at him again. There was a cold and defiant look in his face that prevents her from getting through him.

“That’s not fair, Ji. They love us.” She replied gently but he just shrugged off at her words.

 

“Maybe in your case. But with mine, it’s a whole different story.” He said casually, like he was talking about the weather or commenting about the daily news. “The only person my dad loves is my mother. He only loves me ‘cause I’m the child of the woman he loves.”

 

Dara smiled. “You know what? I think that’s not far from my case. My dad would always say that I look a lot like my mom. I guess it’s true, I can tell by looking at her old photos.” She smiled wider. “You should see our house. Wherever you look, there would always be a picture of my mother.”

 

Looking back at him, she was surprised. Jiyong did something she had always thought he was incapable of doing: Smile. He smiled.

 

It was not a smirk neither the sarcastic smile which has become a trademark of Jiyong nor the practiced dazzling smile which he wore to hide his dark schemes. The smile on his lips right now was wistful, unguarded and genuine. And for some reason that Dara can’t understand, it felt painful for her.

 

“Lucky for you,” he told her as he looked away. “Your dad likes to look at you and be with you because in a way, he could see your mom in you. That’s not the case for me. My father doesn’t want to see me. It pains him to see things that my mom left. That’s why those pictures of my mom were kept hidden for the sake of my dad. He doesn’t even want to talk about mom, that’s his way of loving my mother. He loves my mother to the core that knowing that she’s gone is just too painful for him.” He shook his head. “I never want to fall in love that hard.” His beautiful face is hard and serious, just like his words. 

 

“We’re really opposite, Ji.” She said softly. “For me, I want to experience falling in love that hard even if it means going through all those pains. I want to experience different kinds of intense emotions. That’s the point of living, right? To feel? Or else, you merely existed.”

 

Jiyong chuckled as he looked at her dreamy face, causing the lady beside him to frown. How could he laugh at her when she was all serious here? ‘

'' she thought.

 

“You really are the most idealistic person I’ve ever met. Sometimes, I wish I can also think the way you do.” He said, still smiling. This time, his smile was friendly and playful. A smile slowly tugged at her lips and she can't but to smile with him. 

 

“Why not try?” 

 

Jiyong shook his head no at her. Dara stuck out her tongue then stretched out her hand as it made its way on the back of her neck.

 

“Muscle pains?” he asked her.

“Yeah, my friend celebrated her birthday yesterday in an orphanage. And we played with the kids.” She softly laughed, remembering yesterday’s event. The children’s laughter resonated in her ears. Oh how contented she was, just by looking at them having a great time. “The kids were so hyper. We played all day long and I think my body got really tired.”

 

“Here let me help you.” Jiyong reached for Dara’s shoulders and started massaging them gently. His fingers adeptly the sore and tensed muscles of her neck and shoulders.

 

“Wow, you’re good.” She bowed her head lower, giving his hands more access. “Where’d you learn?”

 

“My elementary teacher told us that massaging is a good way to relieve stress. I tried to learn some in books before.”

 

“Hmm…why did you want to learn? Don’t tell me you were a ert since you were young and you want to turn girls on—OUCH!” she suddenly yelled in pain when she felt his fingers pressed harder on her skin. 

 

“I did that for my father.” He said icily.

 

“Sorry. Geez, I was just kidding Jiyong.” She said, smiling at him. He rolled his eyes then continued massaging her on the shoulders.

 

Looking around, her eyes dropped on the airplane figures which are hanging on this one side of the ceiling of Jiyong’s pad.

 

“Hey Ji, are those expensive? Remember the kid we took to the hospital before? He was sent home and I was assigned to him. He said he wanted to become a pilot, and so are the other children there in the orphanage, so I thought I could give them like that for Christmas.”

 

“Yup, those are expensive since they were custom-made. But if you want, I still have some spare parts with me here. I’ll take care of the assembling and I’ll give it you for a low price.”

 

She snorted. “Heh, I thought they’re for free.”

 

He snorted back at her. “Wake up, Dara. There are no more free things in this world. Lucky for you that I gave you a discount.”

 

Dara just rolled her eyes. “Why do you have that many airplane models anyway? And you also have spare parts. And you have trucks and battleship models there in your kitchen. Do you have any fixation in toys or something?”

 

“I wanted to be a toy designer.” Jiyong replied, still pressing his hands in her shoulders.

 

For a couple of seconds, they turned silent.

 

“You won’t ask why I didn’t become a toy designer?” 

 

“No. I already know the answer,” she simply told him. 

 

“Huh? And what was that? You think that I can’t decide on my own and I let my dad control my future for me?” Jiyong's sarcastic and defensive mode activated again.

 

She shook her head. “No. I think you did that simply because you love your father." He was taken aback. Their gazes met and locked to each other. 

 

“I’m right, ain't I?” she said then smiled smugly at him.

 

Jiyong snorted again and continued massaging his shoulders for her. “Whatever.” He retorted back at her.

 

--

 

Jiyong was about to get the pasta sauce which is made from South Korea in the grocery shelf to his cart when he suddenly stopped.

 

Closing his eyes, he breathed out a sigh. He opened his eyes and stared at the products displayed in the shelves. He gave out another sigh before he continued to pick out the locally manufactured sauce on the shelf and drop them in his cart.

 

He was somewhat exasperated about himself. It had been a month and a half since the pact between him and Dara was made and now, as if he was hearing Dara's voice telling him, pestering him when he is trying to buy something. 

 

He knows for a fact that her voice in his head won’t stop if he won’t follow it. Damn that woman, she now has invaded his mind, and even in there she’s still nagging him.

 

Jiyong shrugged his shoulders and decided not to give more thought about his little dilemma. 
 

After that, he went straight to the beverage section and took many canned pineapple juice for Dara. They would usually meet-up with each other to plan about their ‘strategies’. Dara would go to his pad constantly. Amazingly, it has stuck in his mind what kind of preferences Dara has about food while shopping.

 

“Strange, it’s like having a girlfriend,” he muttered to himself. He was about to go to the counter when suddenly his phone rings. He pulled out his phone then answer it.

 

“Hello?” he said on the other line.

“Sir Jiyong, this is Nanny Ysa. Your father…he had another heart attack. We took him to the hospital. We’re currently here at Soeul Medical Hospital.”

 

It felt like his whole body was poured with gallons of ice. “I-I’ll be there...” he hastily replied then quickly put back his phone in his pocket. Jiyong stormed out of the grocery store with an anxious heart, leaving his cart and his unfinished shopping.

--

A/N: Hellooo! As many of you have known, has successfully ended and  surprisingly,it has received lots of love (thank you my dear readers and friends!). I hope this fic will gain as much support and love as my previous fic. I made this genre a 360 degrees turn from for a fresh breath of air. I'm done making my readers of cry, so now in Love Pact I'm going to (hopefully) make you smile and laugh. Please support Love Pact! Thank you for reading!