Credits go to kurogane, for this amazing poster.

[ Twenty Three. Victory ]

Without a word, Jiyong stormed off the court the minute the game was over, leaving his team in awkward silence, which was a contrast to the roaring enthusiasm of the crowd celebrating their win. Soo-hyuk sighed heavily to himself. He won’t regret doing the right thing, but he does feel bad, both as Jiyong’s long-time friend and teammate, that he had hurt his pride. He knew it would not be easy for a perfectionist like Jiyong to accept that he had failed, being humiliated in front of everyone. As if by reflex, he glanced up to see Dara rushing from the bleachers and running out the door to catch up to Jiyong. Soo-hyuk felt slightly better; the only person who Jiyong can tolerate at this moment is there for him.

“Jiyong!” Dara yelled as she sprinted across the parking lot. Jiyong showed no signs of hearing her words as he continued to walk to his Bentley. She knew that he was in a foul mood right now, but there was no way she could leave him alone. Goodness knows what unreasonable things he could do. “Ji! Wait for me!”

Upon reaching the car, Dara panted as she looked up to see Jiyong staring back at her, his eyes spitting fire. She has never seen him so much in rage.

“What the , Dara?” Jiyong hissed venomously, crossing his arms protectively in front of him. Eyes widening in disbelief, Dara tried to convince herself that Jiyong was only directing the anger at his own performance towards her because his emotions were out of control at that moment, and that he didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. But the loathing hate in his eyes was so strong that it pained her so much inside.

Jiyong was about to confront her about what was the deal with Donghae when he saw Donghae in the distance, heading their way. With his head bursting with jealousy and anger, Jiyong roughly grabbed Dara by the shoulders and smashed his lips onto hers. Stunned, Dara instinctively wanted to pull away. This was not the Jiyong she knew. The kiss was unlike anything they had shared before. There was no affection, no tenderness; there was only Jiyong’s uncontrolled infuriation and the hungry wish to dominate. He was usually doting and careful with her as if she was his most prized possession, and at that moment, she felt like he was treating her roughly like a bag of garbage he was throwing away. Dara’s attempt to break away from him enraged Jiyong even more, and he held her head in place with his two hands to prevent her from breaking their kiss.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jiyong could tell that Donghae saw clearly what was going on, as he stopped in his tracks. She is mine, and you better back off if you know what’s good for you. Wild with emotion, Jiyong bit down on Dara’s lips so hard that they both tasted blood. Yelping in pain, Dara broke free from his grasp as she looked at him with tears forming in her eyes from the pain and disbelief that he would do something to hurt her physically. Does it hurt, Dara? Don’t worry, it is nowhere close to how much I’m hurting. Without a glance at the wound on Dara’s lips or the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Jiyong pushed her forcefully into the passenger seat of his car, and slammed the door hard in her face. Just before he slid into the driver’s seat, he glanced back at Donghae to make sure that he did not move towards them. Within seconds, they zoomed out of the parking lot.

Minutes onto the highway, it slowly sank into Jiyong’s mind what he had done. It was wrong of him to have lashed out and hurt Dara, no matter what had happened. I hurt the person that I loved the most. Already regretting his rash actions and childish logic, he stole an apologetic look at Dara. Blood trickled down from where he had bit her, and guilt gnawed at his heart. What hurt him the most was seeing Dara, his strong and brave Dara, with streaks of tears on her beautiful face, but no sound of sobbing escaping her. If it had been anyone else daring to do the same to her, she would have no doubt beat the person up to pieces while screaming every insult she knew, and yet she didn’t. She had every right to be furious with him for what he had done, and Jiyong would rather face Dara being angry at him instead of being crushed inside like this.

Swerving the car to park on the side of the road, Jiyong tried to clear his mind as he ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation at himself. He has ed up, big time. Leaning towards Dara to see the damage he did, Jiyong whispered softly, “Does it hurt?”

Not saying a word, Dara nodded slowly, but they both know that she was not referring to the gash on her lip. Sighing deeply, Jiyong dabbed lightly around the wound to wipe away the blood, and then kissed it lightly before wiping away the tears on Dara’s cheeks. “I was wrong. I had no right to hurt you like that. I’m sorry, jagiya.” Dara made no response, only looked at him in silence, so Jiyong continued, leaning his forehead lightly on hers. “I was going out of my mind when I saw you disappear with Donghae during halfway. It’s irrational, I know, but during the last half of the game, all I could think about was what the hell were you two doing together. I couldn’t concentrate on anything after that.”

“We were only buying something for Seungri to eat,” Dara explained softly. Even though Jiyong’s uncontrollable jealousy is nothing new, it was still outrageous that he messed up his whole game just because of one glance at Donghae and her. “What were you thinking, Jiyong? And I’m with you now. Don’t you trust me at all?”

“I do trust you. It’s him I don’t trust!” Finding that his voice sounded harsher and louder than he intended, Jiyong lowered his voice, but it did not take away the strong sense of loathing. “I ing hate his guts, that bastard. If he does not back off, I’ll ing blow his brains off.”

“Jiyong, you cannot kill every guy who is my friend,” Dara pointed out calmly. “Be reasonable, Ji. You’re friends with Chaerin, who likes you, and yet you don’t see me throwing a tantrum and punching you every time you’re with her.” Jiyong was taken aback when Dara mentioned Chaerin, and narrowed his eyes. No doubt Seungri had been the tattletale. “It’s strictly friendship between Donghae and me. Are my words not enough for you, or do I have to be locked up in a tower, secluded from any living male?”

“I prefer locking you up in a tower,” Jiyong muttered, but did not continue to argue when he saw the reason in Dara’s logic. He knew about Chaerin’s crush on him for a while now, but he had pretended that nothing has changed. He dreads the moment when he cannot go on pretending any longer, because it would never be the same again after that. Chaerin was one of the few people in this world that he was close to, and as much as he undeniably loves Dara, he was not sure if he would be able to push Chaerin out of his life. It was unfair of him to demand Dara to avoid contact with her male friends for him when he did not do the same. Even more unreasonable when Dara accepted Jiyong’s friendship with Chaerin without doubting him. Still, that did not change his growing resentment towards Donghae.

At that moment, Jiyong’s phone started ringing, and both of them saw the name on the screen. Soo-hyuk. Everything about Donghae was forgotten as the fact that he messed up out on the court today came crashing down around Jiyong. Something flickered in Jiyong’s eyes, but he made no move to answer the phone, letting it ring. After about five calls, Soo-hyuk stopped calling and silence filled the car once again.

“I’m not going to go to practice anymore. I’m going to quit the team.” Out on the court, Jiyong has never suffered from a setback until now. He was supposed to be the one that held the team together and pointed out the errors to his teammates in order to keep the team on its toes, but instead he had failed them all by behaving like a pompous jerk that played horribly. He does not have the courage to face his teammates.

“You’re being stupid, Jiyong.” Even though not a word about the game itself was mentioned, Dara could tell that Jiyong felt guilty about the fact that he had nearly caused the team to lose the semi-finals.

“I don’t have the face to show up to my teammates,” he insisted.

“I’m sure they’ll understand. Besides, how can you abandon them before the championships? Do you know how irresponsible that is? If y