It's also been almost a week since Dongwook oppa called me to say that Yeolbong's renovation was finished so I could start working again. And so, I had been taking advantage of the rest of summer vacation by having all day shifts since when the new semester begins, which was two days from now, I would only be able to work few hours after school.

 

"Dara, please take this to table 6!"

 

"Got it!" I replied cheerfully. I took the tray and brought it to the table with three guys.

 

"Here are your orders," I said, placing their orders gently on the table.

 

"Is there anything else you need, sirs?"

 

"Yes, your number!" one of them answered, making the other two snicker.

 

What do they need it for? I thought.

 

I debated whether or not to give it to them. I shrugged to myself. But they were costumers, if I refused, they might....

 

I opened my mouth. "It's 010-"

 

"Dara," I heard a very familiar voice called.

 

There it was, that tingling feeling. "Jiyong!"

 

He stood there, staring warningly at me. He was wearing a t-shirt and his jersey shorts, his athlete bag hanging on his left shoulder. I noticed his hair was still wet from shower.

 

I couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. Just seeing him made me happy.

 

He turned his eyes at the three guys.

 

"Let him," he nodded towards Dongwook oppa, who seemed to be watching us with an amused expression on his face, "take care of whatever else you need."

 

I could've sworn I saw him glaring at them. But I didn't think he had a reason to so I decided I was mistaken.

 

"..Her shift is over for today," I heard him continue to say to the three guys.

 

Is it? I took a look at my watch to see it was 7:55PM.

 

"But there's still five minutes left before my shift ends," I tried to tell him as he pulled me to the locker room.

 

Jiyong was a loyal costumer of the restaurant and a friend of mine, the boss allowed him to enter the locker room as he wished, that is, as long as I was around.

 

Jiyong didn't respond to what I said. He was in a bad mood, I sensed.

 

"Change. We're going home," he said, annoyance evident in his voice. He leaned on the locker next to mine, his arms across his chest, and waited for me to do as he said.

 

Going home? Already?

 

That was strange. He hadn't eaten yet. I knew because he always comes over straight from his training to have dinner here even before I started working at the place.

 

I gave him a worried look. "You're not eating?"

 

"No. Change." He repeated.

 

I wanted to ask him what was wrong but he didn't look like he was going to budge so I decided to do it later.

 

I took my clothes out of my locker then proceeded to the comfort room to change from my waitress uniform. When I stepped out of the comfort room, Jiyong was already by the door, holding my bag up for me. I quickly hung my uniform and locked it inside my locker. As soon as I was done with my stuff, Jiyong handed the bag to me before walking out of the room.

 

Jiyong was quiet on our way home. He was always quiet, but every now and then he usually comments about something. Plus, he was walking way ahead of me. I could actually feel his aura, and it wasn't good. He was definitely annoyed and I had no idea why.

 

Whatever the reason was, I wanted to cheer him up.

 

But how?

 

"Ji," I called out to him as I tried walk closer to him to lessen the distance between us.

 

He didn't answer and just kept walking. But I was sure he heard my call.

 

"Jiyong," I called again, louder this time.

 

He didn't answer again.

 

I pouted childishly. So be it, Kwon Jiyong! I exclaimed inside my head.

 

I inhaled a large amount of air before shouting, "JIYONG, JIYONG, JIYONG, JIYONG, JIYONG, JI-"

 

Jiyong spun around almost immediately. He clasped a hand over my mouth to shut me up.

 

"Are you crazy?!" he hissed. His eyes narrowed at me. "What you're doing is a public disturbance!"

 

It was because you were purposely ignoring me -was what I wanted to reply to him but I couldn't because he had his hand over my mouth.

 

I smiled under his warm hand, instead.

 

Then slowly, I watched as his expression begin to soften. His eyes were staring right into mine. I raised a brow at him.

 

No reaction.

 

Since he seemed so out of it, I slowly lifted my hands from my sides. I poked both ends of Jiyong's lips genttly and formed a smile.

 

"Yulukbetervenyusmayl," I muffled under his hand after a while.

 

That statement seemed to have brought him back to the present. I wasn't sure if he understood, though.

 

Realizing how close our faces were, his eyes widened then jumped back almost instantly. His cheeks turned bright red.

 

"Idiot!" he barked at me. "What are you trying to pull?!"

 

I already knew he was in a better mood.

 

I let out a small laugh.

 

He stared at me as if I was losing it. 

 

"You seemed to be in a bad mood earlier," I explained. "I thought, something must've happened during your training. But I'm glad you're okay now," I smiled at him.

 

He continued to stare at me curiously.

 

"You're really an idiot," he finally said, hitting me gently on my head.

 

"Nothing really happened. Training was fine. It was the same as the other days," he informed me.

 

Then he whispered something I didn't catch. I asked him to repeat what he said.

 

I saw his face turning red again before ruffling his hair out of frustration then said, "Forget it. Just promise me something."

 

"Promise?" I echoed.

 

"You," he began, turning his gaze away from me, "don't give your number to just anyone.."

 

Finally, I understood. Just a bit. Was it because of earlier?

 

"I mean, it's not safe, you know," he added, still not looking at me at all.

 

I noticed his face was still red. Was he, perhaps, embarrassed?

 

I giggled at the thought.

 

I grinned widely at him. "Okay, I promise!"

 

That made him finally look at me. He nodded before turning around.

 

I placed a hand over on my chest. I could feel my heart beating happily.

 

To worry over something like that.. Jiyong's, indeed, a good person.

 

I felt closer and closer to him.

 

"Cook me something later," he mumbled quietly. "I'm hungry.."

 

I smiled.

 

"Yes, yes!" I answered obidiently, running to walk beside him.

 

--

 

The first day of a new semester finally arrived. I was very excited to see everyone. After all, I wasn't able to meet with the others in the last two weeks of the vacation because of my work. Jiyong was an exception since we live next to each other. 

 

I patiently waited for Jiyong in front of his door so we could walk to school together just as we did during the final weeks of previous semester.

 

"Good morning, Jiyong!" I greeted, louder than I intended to, as soon as he came out of his apartment.

 

"So loud," he rubbed his left ear.

 

I apoligized and explained to him that I couldn't hide my excitement. He replied with 'obviously'.

 

 

-

 

I squealed as soon as I caught sight of the school gate.

 

"You're so weird. You're probably the only one excited to go back to school," stated Jiyong.

 

"That's not true!" I chirped.

 

"Hi, Dara!" A familiar student greeted. I joyfully greeted him back.

 

That happened repeatedly with different students even when we entered the school building.

 

Everyone's really so friendly and nice, I thought.

 

Though whenever I passed by other students talking to each other, I would hear my and Jiyong's name. But that couldn't be, I told to myself. I brushed it off as my imagination.

 

"Why don't you just get a microphone and greet everyone, or something?"

 

I thought about it for a moment. "Would I be allowed to do that?"

 

Jiyong had an incredulous expression on his face, as if he was expecting a different response.

 

"You're impossible," he sighed, waving his hand dismissively. "Go on ahead. I'm going to the locker room."

 

He walked at the opposite direction before I could reply. When I turned to the hallway, a crowd of students surprised me. They were in front of the bulletin board of announcements. I guessed something was posted.

 

"It's Sandara!" one of the students shouted.

 

Before I could ask what happened, I was being congratulated.

 

It turned out I moved from 5th place to 4th place amongst the 2nd years based on the results of the finals the previous semester.

 

I was curious as to how Jiyong and the others did.

 

I thanked them then made my way in front of the bulletin board and searched their names on the list under 2nd Years Ranking. My heart leaped up when I saw the results.

 

1st Daesung (from 3rd)

No surprise there. After all, it was Daesung, and also, the top 3 were always just a point difference from each other.

 

20th Bom (from 26th)

28th Jiyong (from 44th)

39th Joohyun (from 47th)

53rd Seungri (from 54th)

 

They all moved up. That made me more excited to see them.

 

I jogged my way to the classroom to see Joohyun, Daesung and Seungri together. All of them had big smiles on their faces.

 

"Good morning!" I said to them as I went to stand beside Joohyun, and I meant it.  It was really a very good morning. "Congratulations, everyone!"

 

"Dara!" Joohyun wrapped her arms around my neck and chuckled excitedly. "I'm so happy!"

 

"Yeah, yeah!" Seungri, behind her, was jumping up and down, and was just as ecstatic as Joohyun said to me, "I'm 53rd! I didn't think I'd actually be able move up at all but I did! I really did!"

 

"It's because you all did your best!" I told them as Joohyun broke the hug.

 

"Look at this guy," Seungri pointed at Daesung, "being first place and all."

 

Daesung shrugged. "What? It wasn't like I wanted to be first or anything."

 

That earned him a glare from Joohyun. "Are you looking down on us who did their best? Consider yourself lucky I'm in such a good mood today so I'll let you get away with that comment of yours."

 

"Hey now.." Daesung scratched the back of his head nervously. "It was a joke, Joohyun. A joke!"

 

I laughed at them. There were no words I could say to express how happy I was. After their playful bickering and teasing, they congratulated me for placing 4th. A few minutes later, Bom appeared. She was jolly as usual. She heard the news and was so happy about being in the top 20 that she cried. After pulling herself back together, Bom handed to us souvenirs she got for us from Jeju Island. She got Joohyun and I bracelets while she bought the boys a shirt, including Jiyong who hadn't been back from the locker room yet.

 

We were all chatting excitedly until Daesung asked Bom, "So, did you see anyone you know there? In Jeju Island."

 

As soon as the question was asked, all the color drained from Bom's face.

 

"What's wrong?" asked a concerned Seungri.

 

We waited for her to answer. She looked uncomfortable.

 

"It's nothing," she tried to deny.

 

But we, her friends, knew better.

 

Daesung tried to hide look of confusion in his face but failed. He was trying to figure out what was wrong with what he asked. In order to avoid misunderstanding, he explained to her the reason for his question. It was because Chaerin, whom Bom has met before flying to Jeju Island, also went there to spend the rest of her vacation more than two weeks ago. He was just curious if Bom had seen her there.

 

After Bom heard the explanation, she heaved a big sigh of relief.

 

"It was because of that?" She let out a forced laugh. "No, I didn't see her there. Well, I didn't see anyone at all! It was just me and my parents! Yeah, no one else. Just the three of us!"

 

I saw her glancing at me and Joohyun nervously as she spoke. It was clear that she was hiding something.

 

I was more worried about her than curious as to what it was she was hiding from us.

 

The bell for the morning ceremony rang. It was a short 'event' wherein the principal and a member of the student council makes a welcome speech every start of a new semester.

 

We went to the gymnasium by class. As our class' representative, I lead them there. We were then arranged in line by our surname. 

 

Principal Yang said something about how pleased he was to see everyone again and wished us good luck.

 

He passed the mic to the student council vice president, Yoo In-Na, for announcements. I felt kind of stupid that I didn't know she was the vice president of the student council until after the 'fire' incident. No wonder I found her name familiar at that time. But I hadn't seen her since then. Also Sulli and Sohee.

 

"..positions for the student council for the next school year will officially open next month. Those who are interested to join may apply. You may approach one of us officers."

 

I felt someone poke me from behind. I looked curiously at Joohyun. She mouthed the words, you should apply for presidency!

 

Eh? Student council president?

 

"For other announcements," In-Na continued, "the school's soccer team will be having a match with Kwang Soo High this coming Friday We're asking you for your support."

 

The crowd roared in cheer.

 

The name of the school they were to play against replayed inside my head.

 

Kwang Soo High, huh?

 

-

 

"Kwang Soo High is an all-boys school," stated Seungri during lunch break.

 

We decided to have lunch at school garden since there were less people there than in the school cafeteria. Daesung asked Jiyong if he has heard of Kwang Soo High to which the latter answered with no. Daesung didn't too. And so, Seungri volunteered to inform them about it.

 

"Their team made it into the nationals last year," he added. "They're really good! Although they didn't win the championship, the fact that they made it there is a big thing!"

 

I noticed Jiyong was staring at a blank space. It may look like he wasn't listening, but he was.

 

"I didn't know you were such a fan of soccer," Daesung pointed out. "How do you know all that?"

 

"I'm really not. But I'm a fan of Kwang Soo High. It can't be helped," said Seungri. "Because I studied there during middle school."

 

I gaped at him. "You did?"

 

Seungri nodded in response. "Isn't Kwang Soo High the brother school of Bae Hwa High, an all-girls school?"

 

It was my turn to nod. "It is. Joohyun, Bom and I came from Bae Hwa High."

 

That was quite a shock. It was the first time I've heard of it. I glanced at Joohyun and Bom who were both in my left. There were concern in their eyes. Anything about Kwang Soo High was a taboo. I didn't mean to get into a conversation about it with Seungri. I planned on not commenting anything about it but I was just surprised to learn Seungri was a Kwang Soo High student.

 

Seungri grinned. "I know! I actually saw you a couple of times in our school. Everyone knows you."

 

My eyes started to widen.

 

Oh, no. It's coming.. The conversation was leading to something that was not supposed to be brought up. It will only make Joohyun and Bom worried. I didn't want that. I tried to think of ways to discontinue him from speaking but my mind was blank.

 

"At that time," he probably didn't see the troubled look on my face, "weren't you the g-"

 

"Shut up, Seungri," Joohyun said sharply, knowing what he was about to say. "Enough," she continued slowly, "about Kwang Soo High."

 

Bom grabbed my hand and stood up. "Let's go, Darong." She pulled me behind her.

 

Joohyun followed but not before saying to the three, "We'll see you later."

 

"What did I say? What did I say?" I heard him ask Daesung and Jiyong.

 

I looked at Joohyun and Bom apologetically.

 

They responded to me with a reassuring smile.

 

Looking back over my shoulder, my eyes met Jiyong's. I saw the mixed look of curiousity and concern in his eyes.

 

 

-----

 

A/N Hello, helloooo! It's been a while. Again. And I apologize. I hope you guys didn't give up on me. lol. Thanks for everyone still with me in this story. Will try update soon! Aja aja~

 

And I'm sure you've all heard about that. BUT my daragon heart shall not waver! LMAO. Keep faith <3 :))