PART TWENY FOUR

It’s been a few weeks ever since Dara and Jiyong’s argument and it seemed like their relationship was going nowhere. They haven’t spoken to each other ever since the accident in the cave, maybe occasionally a ‘Hello’ could be heard, but nothing more. Jiyong’s visited the Kwon’s house to see his parents , but that usually happened when Dara wasn’t home and Dara, she started to spend a lot more time with Jaejoong and before she knew it they become close friends. Jeajoong was very caring and kind, yet still he had a silly and childish side to him which Dara found very amusing.

“Hello!” Dara waved cheerfully with a bright smile.

“Hi...” Jaejoong said tiredly.

“What’s wrong?’ Dara asked worriedly, his voice worried her, most of the time it was cheerful and full of energy, but today it sounded dull.

“I  had a really bad day and it always makes me feel better to see a pretty girl smile. So, would you smile for me?” Jaejoong asked with a sigh.

“But I am smiling,” Dara said confused, but Jaejoong shook his head, to which Dara tilted her head slightly not understanding what he meant.

“You are smiling, but I asked you to smile for me,” Jeajoong told her with a pound.

Dara just raised her brow teasingly, she crossed her arms across her chest and just started at him. Jaejoong just looked back at her and fluttered him eyes, causing Dara to bite down on her bottom lip to suppress her laughter, but he could see from her eyes that she wanted to laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” He asked confused looking around himself for something funny that made Dara laugh.

Dara burst out into giggles while pointing her finger at him. Jaejoong pointed at himself, “Me?” He asked confused, to which Dara just nodded her head, “I am this funny looking?”

Dara shook her head and a soft smile appeared on her lips.

“Is that for me?” Jeajoong asked jokingly referring to the smile. 

“Maybe” Dara said and stared at him teasingly.

Jaejoong shook his head in amusement and chuckled softly, he walked up to her and hold out his hand, Dara stared at him in confusion for a moment.

“Would you hold this for me while I go for a walk?” He asked her looking down at his hand in front of her, Dara tried her best not to blush at his cuteness, but failed, she felt her cheeks burning and just hoping he didn’t notice she put her hand in his. Jaejoong smiled and gripped her hand tightly and they headed in the direction of the park that was a few streets away.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you look like an adorable baby when you blush,” He whispered into her ear.

He saw her shaking her head shyly and then she said, “No you’re the first one.”

Both Dara and Jeajoong were unaware the they are being watched by a few people in the nearby bushes.

**

“Did anyone ever tell you that you look like an adorable baby when you blush,” Seungri imitated Jaejoong’s voice while puckering his lips like he was about to kiss someone.

“Do you really feel the need to do that?” Daesung asked fed up with all the comments that Seungri made about Jaejoong for the last 10 minutes that they’ve been watching them, some of the comments were;

“I should ask him which website he gets all these complements from, I want to check it out.”

“He should work at the ‘Late Night Love’ radio station. I’m sure he’d make a fortune.”

“I’m curies if his hand hasn’t been attached properly and that’s why he asked Dara to hold it just in case if he loses it, if that’s the case he should get insurance.”  

“Yes I do, because his sweet talk is making me ill,” Seungri said with disgust.

“I actually think it was sweet of him,” They heard CL say.

“What?” Seungri asked turning to her in surprise, “Are you serious?”

“You know Rat, sometimes girls like hearing compliments directed their way, it makes them feel special,” CL told him.

“No way, really?” Seungri asked sarcastically, to which CL just rolled her eyes.

“There’s is a difference between compliments and sweet talk, right Hyung?” Seungri turned to Jiyong, knowing that he’ll agree with him, but Jiyong just bit his lip.   

“Don’t tell me you’re upset, Ji?” TOP asked raising a brow.

Jiyong just shook his head, “No.”

“That’s good, because you have no right,” TOP said and Jiyong looked up at him and saw his darkening eyes.

“Oppa, please don’t,” Minzy pleaded tugging on TOP’s arm, she didn’t want to see her Oppas to fight.

“No!” Jiyong said to Minzy and turned to TOP, “What do you mean by that?”

TOP couldn’t help but chuckle, “Are you seriously asking me this?”

“If I knew I wouldn’t be asking,” Jiyong told him.

 “Well, you have no right to act miserable about this mess and Dara being with Jeajoong, because you choose it that way.”

“What do you mean? I never choose anything!” Jiyong asked clenching his fists.

“What I meant is that it’s your fault that she’s with him right now, you’re the reason they became friends in the first place,” TOP shouted angrily with Jiyong acting dumb.

“Yes I know. If I walked her home that day she would have never met Jaejoong and become friends with him, thanks Hyung I already know that.”   

“That’s not what I meant! He was there by her side when you decided to slag off and cry your out because you didn’t know what to do after that you said to her...”

“Oppa please stop, you saying these things won’t change anything,” Minzy pleated with tears in her eyes, but TOP ignored her and turned back to Jiyong.

“Even after you started the whole mess with Jaejoong you had a chance, you should have just went and see her and ask her to forgive your sorry-. You should have apologizes for being such an for accusing her of things she would never do. You should have apologized for being such an idiot that pays more attention to other people just after she came back from being kidnapped. You should have apologized for being such a prick and breaking your promise to her. Lastly you should have promised never to do these things again.”

“Hyung, that’s enough!” Taeyang raised his voice and wanted pulled him away from Jiyong  before any physical fight could start, but TOP just shrugged his arm off and stepped away on his own.

“You’re making it sound like I don’t care about her!” Jiyong said between gritted teeth.

“Well, do you?” TOP asked quite simply.

“Of course I do, I love her,” Jiyong finally shouted unable to hold himself anymore.

“Do you really? Because for the last 3 weeks all you did was ignore her, it doesn’t really send the message very well, if you’d ask me I would say you didn’t want her around,” TOP said with a shrug.

“What?!” Jiyong yelled.

“You don’t speak to her, you only go to visit the Kwon’s when she’s out, you gave her away to Jeajoong after saying you’ll get her home. What else is there, did I miss anything out, Jiyong?”

Jiyong didn’t know what to say and just looked at the ground. TOP just shook his head in disbelief, for the last few weeks he’s been holding himself back, but Jiyong really got on his nerves, so much so that he had an unbelievable desire to punch him a few times, but stopped himself. Now that he got everything that he wanted to say off his chest he felt a lot better and decided to leave, he heard his friends call his name, but he just ignored them and kept walking.          

**

“Here,” Jiyong heard a soft voice and looked up to see his grandmother giving him a cup of tea.

Jiyong took the cup and tried his best to smile, “Thank you.”

After that fight with TOP, Jiyong headed to the Kwon’s house, he figured he’ll do it now, since her promised to visit today anyway, but what TOP said to him bothered him a lot and he didn’t talk to anyone, he just sat on the sofa seep in thoughts of what to do next.

Chensun sat down next to Jiyong on the sofa, putting her hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong? I know this expression, every teenager has it when they’re depressed.”

“I’m a failure,” Jiyong finally said with a heavy sigh.

“What are you saying Jiyong, of course you’re not,” Chensun said shaking him by the shoulder.

“I broke a statue. I let them take Dara away. When I found about my family I flipped and didn’t listen to anybody. And now that Dara’s back, I lost her. I don’t like playing this game, because I’m always losing,” Jiyong said with a bitter smile, he knew it was bad to pity himself, but he felt like he didn’t know what to do.

“Jiyong...” Chensun tried her best to find the words that would comfort him.

“You never lost this game, because you never gave up playing it,” They heard and turned her attention to the doorway, where they saw Mr. Kwon leaning against the door frame.

“Oh Yang, you’re home already?”  Chensun asked slightly surprised that her son would be home so early.

‘What do you mean?” Jiyond asked.

“Jiyong, you did break the statue, but you worked it off. We couldn’t do anything about them taking Dara, they had a permission we couldn’t question. You did react wrongly when you found out the truth, but we’re okay now. And you haven’t lost Dara, not yet.” 

“But, Dara... she’s...”

“You haven’t lost anything, because you never gave up and as long as won’t give up, you won’t lose and I know you won’t lose because there’s always going be a reason for you to keep going,” Yang told him.

“But I don’t know what keeps me going,” Jiyong said truthfully.

“Listen Jiyong, no matter how kind-hearted and caring that Jeajoong is, Dara will never look at him the same way she looks at you, because he wasn’t there when you were and that was when she needed someone the most.”

Jiyong bit his lip, he knew that Mr. Kwon was talking about the time when Dara was ill, but now that she’s perfectly healthy does it matter to her?

“I am your father, Jiyong, but I am also Dara’s father and as Dara’s father I can tell you that no man will ever replace who you are in her life.”

“But what I said to her.. it really hurt her,” Jiyong hanged his head low in shame.

“To be honest with you Jiyong, women are a lot stronger than men and can deal with much more greater pain then we, that’s probably they give birth. But if there’s one thing that I learned about women is that their heart is a lot more fragile than we think. And once they get you inside it, they won’t be able to kick you out, no matter how much they want you to be gone.”  

Yang turned his attention to his mother and asked, “Am I right?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Chensun said with a smile, “ I wonder who taught you all these parental talks.”

“I learned from the best,” Yang said with a chuckle.

**  

Dara looked down at her hand which was holding Jaejoong’s and felt a similar warmth that she felt whenever Jiyong would hold her. Jiyong. He haven’t spoken to her, he gave her away to Jeajoong. That day when she woke up, she was inside Jaejoong’s car on their way to Seoul. She asked him what happened and where Jiyong is, but he just say that Jiyong gave her to him and told him that he’ll get to Seoul on his own.

She was so confused, if Jiyong hated her for being with Jaejoong why did he gave her away? The only answer that came to her mind was that he didn’t want to be with her anymore. What else could it be? If he wanted, he would have came with her even if that meant being close to Jaejoong, or at least he would explain himself afterwards.  But that never happened, to be honest they only passed by each other whenever he came to visit. She guessed he was happy with the situation they way it was and that only meant that she had to be happy for her own sake and luckily for her Jaejoong was by her side and he helped to get her mind off things.   

“Jae?” Dara mumbled without realising it.

“Yes, princess?” Jaejoong asked looking over at her and giving her hand a light squeeze.

Dara looked up at him and bit her lip unsure if she should ask, “That day when Jiyong was carrying me back to Seoul and they he gave me to you, did he look upset or angry?”

Jaejoong furrowed his brows and shook his head, “No he didn’t, he looked tired though.”

“I see,” Dara said nodding her head slightly and looking back at the ground.

“Why? “ Jeajoong ask worriedly, “Did he say anything to you?”

Dara looked back at him and smiled softly, “No, it’s fine.”

 Jaejoong pounded and looked away from her, “You don’t want to tell me, coz you don’t trust me and I thought you said we’re friends.”

Dara couldn’t help but chuckle, “Oh come on stop acting like a child.”

“A child?” Jaejoong asked narrowing his eyes at her.

“Yes, a cute little child,” She said pinching his cheek.

Jaejoong just massage the cheek that Dara has pinched, but suddenly a huge grin spread across his lips, which surprised Dara, “What is it?”

“Hey, you're pretty and I'm cute. Together we'd be Pretty Cute,” He said while his grin only continue to grow bigger. Dara couldn’t help but shake her head in amusement, only he could came up with something so cheesy.  

“Aww, you two are just too adorable,” They heard a voice an turned to see Kiko a few steps away from them with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Unnie…” Dara mumbled quietly.  

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Kiko said while looking over at Jaejoong, “I’m Kiko Mizuhara.”

Jeajoong looked at Dara who was looking at the ground uncomfortably and then looked back at Kiko and introduced himself, “Kim Jeajoong.”

“Oh, so you’re that Kim Jaejoong, I have to admit Dara you do have a taste when it comes to boys,” Kiko told her, to which Dara just quickly shook her head as if to say ‘it’s not like that’.

“Oh come on, it’s obvious that you two like each other,” Kiko said with a smile, “And I guess that when Jiyong leaves you won’t feel lonely.”

Hearing this caused Dara’s eyes to widen, “Ji-jiyong’s leaving?”

“Well we are, together to New York. A University there has offered him a scholarship, so that he can study for his medical degree,” She told her cheerfully.

“A medical degree?” Dara asked, she was surprised, since when did Jiyong decided to become a doctor, unless… Dara gasped quietly remembering telling him once that he should be a doctor. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, that Jerk, he listened to her.     

Kiko nodded while smiling, “Yes, it takes 5 years to complete the course, so we’ll be gone for a while, but I’m sure it’s going to be lots of fun.”

Dara sniffed, while trying to stop the tears, she wasn’t sure if she was upset that Jiyong will be with Kiko for the next 5 years, or if she was happy, because he listened to her for once, “I see… I’m very happy for you.”

 “Thank you,” Kiko nodded with a smile, “I’ll be going now, I don’t want to disturb your date.”

And with that Kiko gave her a wink and left.

**

“Are you okay?” Jeajoong asked her when they were back in the Kwon’s house, he was worried about her, she hasn’t spoken a word ever since they met Kiko. Dara nodded her head with a small smile.

Jaejoong clenched his jaw, “If you wanted I could of told her to leave.”

Dara shook her head and looked at him with a smile, “No, it’s okay. Don’t worry so much.”

“But… you’re…” Jeajoong said between gritted teeth, looking at the ground.

Dara shook her head and walked up to him, cupping his face, so that he would look at her, “Listen Jea, I’m fine, really.”

Jeajoong just stared at her uncertain and then something happened that no one expected, no eve Dara. She tiptoed and pressed her lips against his gently. Jeajoong’s eyes widen slightly, but after a second they closed and his hands find their way around her waist, bringing her closer to him.

‘Dara…”

Dara pulled away from Jeajoong and saw that Jiyong was looking at her from the hallway, she backed away from him and bit her lip uncomfortably, looking at her feet.

“Could I talk to you for a while?” She heard him ask and she looked over at Jeajoong as if to ask for his promotion, he just nodded his head with a smile. With that Dara looked at Jiyong and followed him, leaving Jeajoong behind in the guest room.

**

Jiyong smiled gently at the similar surroundings, he brought Dara to that little chapel in the house, knowing that here they will have the most privacy to talk about things. He looked over at her and saw her playing with her fingers, he didn’t blame her, the situation was awkward, but he had to take this chance, or else he’ll lose her for real.

“What happened to us, Dara?” He asked her, he saw her look at him before quickly looking at the ground again.

“Are you happy?” He asked again and she furrowed her brows in confusion.

“I mean Jeajoong… are you happy with him like that?” Jiyong asked her, he wanted to know what she felt towards that guy after seeing them kiss like that.     

“And what if I say I am?” She said looking up at him, “Is that bad?”

It was Jiyong’s turn to look at the ground, he didn’t know what to reply to that, he hoped to hear something very different from her.

“You’re happy with Kiko… so is it bad for me to be happy with someone?” She asked him.

“This isn’t about Kiko,” He told her while shaking his head.

“Yes it is,” She finally snapped, “It’s always been about her and the fact that she hates me so much for being around you. Do you know how many times she told me to get away from you, but I refused because I thought that we’re friends and that we care about each other, but I was so wrong.”  

“Dara…” He tried to sat something but she didn’t listen.

“But she won, she has you for herself now, so please tell her to leave me at peace,” Dara said while shaking.

“What are you talking about?” He asked her confused.

“So please… just tell her and leave me alone,” She said her voice breaking.

“You want to be alone?” He asked her blankly, “And will you be happy with that, will you be happy if I leave?”

“Why do you care if I’m happy all of a sudden?” Dara shouted breaking into tears.

“Why?! Because I fu*king love you, that’s why I care!” Jiyong shouted back.

Both of them stopped, the room fell silent. Dara’s eyes widen and the tears stopped, probably because of the sudden shock, but even so the only thing that she could feel was her heart, that was racing like never before. She looked at Jiyong who was looking at the ground, with his fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

She tried her tears with the back of her hand and walk right past him without a word, but before she reached the door she stopped and said in a cold tone, “I think it’s too late for that.”

With that said she left the room closing the door behind her. Jiyong just stood there paralyzed because of the pain that filled his body in every single inch. If he was religious he would pray to the God for mercy, but he doubted that that would help. He often heard that if a person is badly hurt, they go numb and don’t feel any pain, so why did his heart feel like it was being suffocated from the inside?

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EVERYONE!!!!

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