Jiyong finally spun around to face Donghae.

"That is none of your business, hyung," Jiyong spat, imitating the way Donghae called him 'little cuz'.

"Of course it is," Donghae said simply.

Jiyong glared at him. He knew what Donghae meant. Jiyong opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a scream.

Both of their eyes widened and they exclaimed "Dara" in unison before running towards the dining room.

They found the dining table empty. They rushed to the corner of the room as soon as they saw the others. They were circling Dara, who was on the floor holding her left leg to her chest and her right leg outstretched. Dara was biting her lower lip as if to stop tears from running down her cheeks but to no avail.

Joohyun was beside Dara on the floor, sliding a hand up and down slowly at her back, and murmuring words of comfort in her ear to make her stop crying and to somehow ease the pain her leg was giving her.

"What happened?!" Jiyong barked.

"S-she hit her l-leg on t-the table," Bom stammered. Jiyong could see the panic etched across her face.

"Her leg?" Donghae repeated in utter disbelief.

Seungri, who looked extremely worried, spoke, "Daesung went to call a doctor. He said we should bring her to a room."

Donghae was about to take a step forward to aid Dara but Jiyong was faster. He was by Dara's side in an instant. Dara stared at him with her red eyes. The pained expression on her face made him feel as if something was squeezing his heart. Jiyong didn't like the look Dara was showing but he didn't turn away. As if knowing what Jiyong's next action would be, Dara slowly unfolded her right leg. Jiyong, as gently as possible, slipped a hand under her legs and the other one of her back. He lifted her bridal style and walked hurriedly to the hall with the others following them.

"It hurts... I'm sorry," Dara whispered sniffly. Knowing her, Jiyong guessed it was for everyone but she just couldn't speak loud enough.

Jiyong glanced down at her then said, "You're such an idiot."


"She's asleep now. I've given her pain killers. She'll be fine when she wakes up. The pain sent a tremendous shock to her, considering that it was the fractured leg that was hit by the table. It must have triggered something in her that made her react the way she did," the doctor informed them as soon as he stepped out of the room Dara was in.

"Thank you, doc," Daesung said, breathing a sigh of relief. After exchanging a few more words, Daesung asked a maid to lead his way out.

All of them entered the room, very carefully as to not wake Dara up. Dara had a peaceful expression on her sleeping face, unlike the pained one Jiyong saw earlier. Next to the bed was a half full glass of water on the table. Bom, Joohyun and Seungri sat at the couch at one the side of the bed while the rest were at the long couch facing the foot of the bed.

"How did Dara fracture her leg? And how bad was it?" Daesung asked in a low voice. "She looked like she was in a lot of pain earlier that really scared me."

Jiyong was all ears for the answer for that question. He wanted to know as well. Joohyun had mentioned to them before that Dara fractured her leg and that it was already healed but remained fragile, which was why they wanted to stop her from joining the relay. Joohyun didn't tell them how it happened though. The look on Dara's face he saw earlier scared him too.

Donghae was the one who answered. "She was involved in a car accident a couple of years ago. She almost completely broke her leg."

Jiyong had almost forgotten about his presence. He hated the fact that Donghae knew things about Dara and he didn't.

"That's horrible," Daesung breathed.

"I didn't know that," Seungri said in a pout. "It's good that see didn't lose a leg. It could have been worse."

"It was worse," Joohyun said suddenly, her eyes on Dara's sleeping figure.

They all turned to look at her, waiting for her to continue.

Then with a doleful look on her face, she did. "She didn't lose her leg but she lost her mother."

Jiyong's eyes widened. Seungri and Daesung had to stop themselves from gasping loudly. It was the first time they've heard of it. Though Jiyong could clearly remember as if it was only yesterday when he and Dara were in the swing and Dara was telling him that, just like him, she lost her mother when she was young.

"Her mom pushed Dara out of the way to save her but in the process lost her life, and Dara saw everything," Bom added sadly. "You could say it was very traumatic."

If it didn't come from her bestfriends, they wouldn't have believed it because of Dara's personality. Jiyong lost his mother at a young age too but, unlike Dara, he wasn't able to witness his mom's life slip away before his eyes  -not that he wanted to. Ever.

 

Dara stirred slightly and slowly opened her eyes. An unfamiliar ceiling met her.

"Where am I?" She asked to herself as she slowly sat up.

She looked to her right to see a curtained window. It was still dark outside, she mentally told herself. She looked around to look for a clock only to realize she was in a king sized bed with dark colored sheets. She glanced down to see she was still wearing the same clothes she was wearing earlier.

She finally found a digital clock on the table beside the bed. It blinked 3:45 am. Next to the clock was a glass of water. She could faintly remember drinking from it before drifting off to sleep.

She was alone in the dark spacious master-bedroom sized room, or thought she was. Her eyes tried to scan the dark room trying to recall what happened the day before. The last thing she remembered was she was heading to the bathroom when her leg collided with the corner of the table and then a very sharp pain followed and let out a scream unintentionally. She placed a hand on her left leg automatically at the memory. She didn't feel anything anymore. The pain she felt was a pain she hadn't felt for the longest time and the memory of last time she saw her mother alive before the car hit her played in her mind. Then she also remembered crying at the thought.

As if on cue, Dara felt tears forming in her eyes again. She shook her head vigorously in an attempt to make it stop but it didn't. Before she knew it, she was sobbing. Hugging her knees, she buried her head in her hands. She only cried twice for her mother's death. One was the first time seeing her mom's lifeless body and the other was during the funeral. Maybe that was why she was crying that hard at the recollection, because she has never had completely let it out.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap itself around her and pulled her into a hug. The familiar scent and feelings of comfort and warmth engulfed her. She already knew who it was without having to look up.

Dara grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him closer as she whimpered.

"It's okay..." Jiyong whispered softly. "It's okay to cry. Don't hold anything back. I'll be here until you stop crying."

As if waiting for that permission, Dara cried even harder. Jiyong didn't say anything after that. Not that he needed to. He just sat quietly and brushed her soft hair gently up and down.

Though Dara stopped crying not long after, neither of them moved or spoke and Jiyong didn't stop her hair. They stayed in that position until Dara has fallen asleep.

Dara woke up for the second time that day. She blinked to moisten her eyes and glanced about as she'd just realized she was staring at Jiyong's chest. She was in his arms. She slowly looked up to see he still had his eyes closed. Then it dawned to her that she must have fallen asleep crying, she had hoped her eyes weren't puffy from crying. She couldn't help but blush at their closeness. Though embarrassed, she was careful not to move as to not wake him up.

He had a peaceful look upon his face. A smile formed in her lips at the sight of it.

"It's rude to stare," Jiyong suddenly spoke, his eyes still shut.

Dara's eyes widened and she blushed harder.

"Good morning," Jiyong greeted, finally opening both his eyes and stared down at her, with a grin.

Dara didn't know why but she felt nervous all of a sudden. "G-good m-morning," she stuttered.

Jiyong raised a brow at her. "Are you okay?"

"I... Uhh..." Dara didn't know how to say it.

But somehow, Jiyong understood what she was trying to say. It was his eyes' turn to widen. He quickly unwrapped his arms and hopped off the bed, hoping Dara hadn't seen his red face. She didn't.

Dara sat up and it was only then that she noticed there was a couch on one side of the bed and a blanket resting on it. She figured it must've been where Jiyong was sleeping until she started crying.

"Thank you," she said as she stared gratefully at him. "Really, thank you. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he grunted in reply and turned around to face her, hoping the redness on his face wasn't visible anymore, as he straightened his shirt that said Sheep happens and a drawing of a sheep between the words.

Dara chortled at it.

Jiyong looked at her weirdly and followed her gaze. He rolled his eyes and said defensively, "I just randomly grabbed a shirt from the drawer last night. I don't even remember having this shirt."

"It's cute," Dara commented and grinned sillily at him. He grimaced in reply. Then glancing around the room, she asked, "Is this your room?"

Jiyong nodded.

Thanks to the sunshine and light through the window, Dara could see the room clearer now. There was a fireplace in front of the couch by the foot of the bed. There were doors on both sides of the fireplace.

The doors seemed to be the only ones similar to Donghae's room, she thought to herself. But she wasn't entirely sure because she'd only been in his room twice for certain occassions and it has been years since. If she remembered correctly, one of the doors led to the bathroom and the other was a walk-in closet.

The door at the other side of the room swung open and Donghae entered with a small bag in his hand.

"Oh, you're awake. Hi!" he greeted with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Never better," Dara chirped, as if nothing happened. "Good morning!"

"Good morning," he greeted back, glad to see that Dara was back to normal.

Jiyong, not hiding his displeasure, muttered before slumping onto the couch, "What's so good in the morning at the sight of you?"

Donghae pretended not to hear him and walked towards the bed and handed the bag to Dara which Dara gladly took. "Joohyun dropped that off earlier this morning." He added when Dara looked at him curiously, "I think it's your clothes."

"Oh." Dara nodded then jumped when she read the clock that blinked 8:47 am. "IM LATE!!!" She declared as she grabbed the bag and was off to rush to the bathroom.

"Woah, woah. What's the rush?" Jiyong, who has risen to his seat as soon as he saw Dara ready to go for a run, asked as he extended an arm to stop her. "It's Sports Festival week. There is no late," he stated as if Dara should already know that, of all people.

Dara shook her head. "No, I have a relay. I-"

"No," Donghae said firmly. "Joohyun said she'll explain that you can't participate to your team head. You are not going to participate in the relay, especially after last night," he ended, with an air of finality.

After a brief hesitation, Jiyong, first time to have agreed with something Donghae has said, awkwardy blurted, "Yeah, you won't."

Dara gaped at them. Then, to Jiyong, she said, "You're in the relay too, you know."

Jiyong shrugged carelessly. "I really don't care."

"HI EVERYONE!!"

They heard someone erupted in a high-pitched voice.

Their heads turned to the door to see a female by the door with a huge smile on her face. The three of them had different reactions at their visitor. Jiyong sighed in frustration at the sight of her, Dara was all smiles, while Donghae stared at her incredulously.

"What are you doing here?" Donghae asked his sister, almost whiningly.

"SURPRISE!" Chaerin squealed then gave Dara a wink.

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