“Hang on tight,” Jiyong said after looking over his shoulder once where Dara had her cheek pressed on his back and her arms wrapped on his waist. He chuckled as she seemed to be nervous as she was shaking. Before he started driving the bicycle he borrowed from Kush, he once again looked over his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

 

Dara looked up. “Don’t drive too fast. This is scarier than your motorbike,” she said and held on tighter.

 

“Don’t worry,” he reassured and started driving.

 

Jiyong made sure to not rush while cycling. After a while, Dara seemed to relax behind him and her hold on him loosened a little.

 

“Are you alright back there?” he shouted.

 

“Yes, this is actually really fun!” she yelled back, leaning away a little.

 

Instead of driving straight to school, which Dara missed so much after being absent for a week; Jiyong took a longer route even driving by the park so that Dara could have a breath of fresh air. For the past days, she had been insisting to go out, saying how much she missed just taking a walk without worries in mind. Considering how protective and paranoid Jiyong was, he didn’t immediately agreed, much to Dara’s dismay. However, as he thought it might be safer now to go out, he granted her wish.

 

After a while of driving around, they arrived in school, just in time before the bell rang. And much to Dara’s surprise, Jiyong drove the bicycle inside.

 

“You could have dropped me in the alley, you know,” she whispered as Jiyong looked for a parking space. Students were already getting excited seeing Jiyong after such a long time. However, there were some who were looking her over as it was the first time that they appeared together in school. Dara recognized some of them who threw their fan gifts on her that one time when Jiyong was in Japan.

 

When Jiyong parked the bicycle and bended down to chain it up on the bicycle railing beside the others, Dara noticed the flock of fangirls and boys coming towards them. Without telling Jiyong, she ran away to get away from the crowd of people.

 

When she was already away, she turned around and took a peek on how he was doing. As expected, she couldn’t see him as he was being crowded by the students.

 

“I shouldn’t have left him,” she whispered and took a step towards him. However, when she did, among the crowd, she saw him being pulled out with a familiar girl clinging on to his arm. She furrowed her brows and walked away. She then mumbled to herself, “Shouldn’t have come back, seeing a devil in his arms. Yoona, you…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara played with her food, not having an appetite after buying her much-missed burger. With her fork, she separated the lettuce from the patty and the bread. She sipped on her iced tea and was about to leave when someone sat on the seat in front of her.

 

“Hi,” he said.

 

Dara lifted her eyes. “Youngbae-sshi.”

 

“Hi,” he said again and then cleared his throat. “I mean, how are you? You’ve been away from school for a week. Were you sick?”

 

Dara plastered a small smile and shook her head. “I was just home.”

 

“You were just home? Why didn’t you go to school then?”

 

“I think it’s best to not ask her too much questions,” someone said as he took a seat beside Dara.

 

Dara flinched and looked beside her. “Jiyong…”

 

Jiyong raised his brows at Youngbae who seemed to have gotten what he wanted to say and scurried away.

 

“You scared him,” Dara said.

 

Jiyong looked back at her. “Are you worried of him?”

 

“You’ve seen how scared he looked. You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

 

“You want to be with him more than me?” he asked, a little bit louder.

 

Hearing this, Dara scoffed and was about to stand up only to be stopped by Jiyong. She sat back and Jiyong leaned closer to her.

 

“Jiyong, you’re too close,” she whispered.

 

“What’s with you?” he asked.

 

“What’s with you?” she asked back. “Aren’t you finished with Yoona? She seems to be waiting for you. So, stop this nonsense.”

 

Jiyong looked back for a while where Yoona seemed to be watching them and then returned his gaze to hers. “Are you jealous?”

 

Dara scoffed. “Are you jealous?” she asked back. “It wasn’t like I was holding on to Youngbae’s arm just a while back. He was just asking how I was because I was gone from school for a week. At least I was just talking with him unlike some other guy here.”

 

Jiyong smirked. “You are jealous.”

 

Dara furrowed her brows, not wanting to give in. his face was already close to hers but she didn’t even flinch on her place. After a while…

 

“Uhhh, oppa…”

 

Dara and Jiyong whipped their heads together and saw three girls in front of them, flushing red and looking down.

 

“Please accept these,” one said.

 

“I hope you like kimbap,” another one said, holding out a lunch box.

 

“Eat heartily please,” the other said.

 

Seeing this, Dara stood up and was about to leave. However, she felt Jiyong’s hand circling her wrist.

 

“Sorry, no thanks,” Jiyong said before standing up and grabbing Dara by her nape as he kissed her deeply on her lips. He then turned towards the girls and smirked at them. After that, he pulled Dara with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara stared at her shoes as she pushed at the ground and played at the swing. Her right hand was holding the chains while the other was being held by Jiyong.

 

“What did you do that for?” she asked after the deep silence.

 

“To stop them doing those nonsense things. It’s not like I eat what they cook. They’re all tasteless. I don’t like chocolates and why would they even give me some bears and flowers?”

 

Dara’s head whipped towards him. “You could have given them to me instead,” she joked.

 

Jiyong chuckled. “They’re useless things. I don’t need them. I only need you.”

 

“You could have toned it down a bit. I’m sure everyone was shocked,” she said.

 

“Let them be. It’s better if they knew it sooner,” he said. “And, I want to apologize.”

 

“What for?”

 

“For being overly jealous. I shouldn’t have acted that way,” he said. “And also, for Yoona. She’s too clingy it’s annoying. But I already told her about us, even before I did what I had to do a while ago at the cafeteria.”

 

“You did?!” Dara gasped. “How did she react?”

 

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t care.”

 

“She’s going to go after me for sure.”

 

“Don’t be so sure,” he said. “I’m here for you.”

 

Dara had a small smile on her lips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh my gosh, Yoona! Do you see that?” her friend, Yuri, told her, slapping her by her arm.

 

“OH MY GOSH!” Jessica, her other friend, loudly exclaimed. “Is he going to kiss her?! HE IS GOING TO KISS HER! YOONA!”

 

Yoona stomped her feet. “Shut up, you girls!”

 

Along with other students at the building, Yoona and her friends watched as the lovebirds by the swing below had their hands clasped together. They were talking; their faces closed to each other. After a while, Yoona saw Jiyong cupping Dara’s face and they kissed.

 

It was as if she saw red as her eyes squinted into tiny slits. The students around her gave a collective gasp and then chattered between them.

 

“Aren’t they siblings?” “Why would he kiss his sister?” “I heard she’s a call girl. Why would he stoop that low?” “Jiyong-oppa is mine. Why is that btch going around claiming him as hers?” “Ugh, I hate her.”

 

After a while, she turned away from the window and walked away, pissed at the turn of events from this morning up to this second. She was so happy seeing Jiyong finally going back to school only to be rejected right away. Now, he was smooching with what he claimed to be someone who wasn’t his sister by blood and someone he had seen as a woman since day one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara and Jiyong, with their bicycle, entered the school the next day. Unlike yesterday, there were no excited and gushing fangirls and boys. People were glaring at them; even some chatters and angry curses towards them. Unlike Dara who was already feeling small, Jiyong wasn’t affected as he just drove to his spot.

 

“You’re not leaving me again, okay?” Jiyong said as he bent down and chained his bicycle to the railing.

 

Dara stood on her spot, waiting for Jiyong. She had her eyes on her shoes like they were the most interesting things on earth. Although she was staring at them, her ears were open to the curses people were giving her.

 

When Jiyong finished, he stood up and grabbed Dara’s hand. They walked down the hallway, while people still talked about them. Dara kept her head low while Jiyong had his gaze straight to where they were going. When they arrived at Dara’s room, he let go of her and made her face him.

 

“Be good today,” he said and kissed her forehead. “Come on, lift your chin up. Are you ashamed of me?”

 

Dara lifted her head and forced a smile. “Go now to your room.”

 

Before he turned around and left, he gave her a quick peck on her lips. “See you later.”

 

Dara smiled and waved. When Jiyong was gone, she entered the room and the usual heavy atmosphere was there. She had her head bowed as she went to her desk. The expected insults didn’t come, though. What came was unexpected.

 

“Annyeong, noona,” a voice said on her right.

 

“Seungri-sshi,” she greeted.

 

“Hi, Dara,” another said on her left.

 

“Daesung-ssi,” she said. “We don’t have gym class today. And…” she trailed off and stared back and forth from Seungri to Daesung. “Both of you don’t belong to this class.”

 

“That’s true. But we could use some extra classes,” Seungri said, placing his feet on top of his desk as if he owned the place.

 

“Tell me the truth. Did Jiyong tell you to do this?” she asked.

 

“Ehrm…” Daesung said, scratching his head and then nodded. “He said he’ll be going somewhere.”

 

“However, we’re going to see each other for a few days. Isn’t it exciting?”

 

Dara chuckled. “What did he bribe you with for you to agree right away?”

 

Seungri and Daesung both showed bills of money on their fingers.

 

Dara laughed as she started fixing her things, preparing herself for her first class. Inside her mind, she was worried of Jiyong. She realized that he was out in his mission again. This meant that no lunch with him and no going home with him either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara blinked rapidly while holding on to her uneaten burger. Jiyong just appeared out of nowhere in front of her during lunch, fixing the table with a bento box, much like what he brought before.

 

“I thought you were out,” she finally spoke.

 

Jiyong lifted his head and smiled at her. He snatched the burger from her hands and then picked up the chop sticks. He went on to pick a piece of meat and started feeding her.

 

“I was. But I can’t be away from you for too long,” he said. After feeding her, with the same chopsticks, he also ate a piece of meat.

 

“Don’t you have another pair of chopsticks?” she asked.

 

He shook his head. “I was too busy preparing these that I forgot to get one for myself.”

 

“You cooked these?” Dara asked, shocked.

 

He nodded. “Well, yeah. These and the one I brought before. The one I told you that I bought it at a nearby restaurant.”

 

“What?! You lied?”

 

“Well, I was kind of shy to tell you that it was me who cooked it for you,” he said. “Do you remember what you said that day?”

 

Dara furrowed her brows and thought back to that day.

 

“Do I have to remind you?” he asked and then cleared his throat. “This is so heavenly! I could marry this restaurant’s chef!” he said in a loud and high-pitched tone, earning attention from other people. He had this look on his face that you could almost see two hearts in his eyes and his hands were clasped under his chin. He was also battling his eyelashes.

 

Dara facepalmed herself. She then lifted her head and slapped him on his arm. “I don’t talk like that!”

 

Jiyong laughed as he saw her face. “Look at your face. You’re as red as this kimchi,” he said and laughed some more.

 

“YAH! Stop that!” Dara yelled.

 

“Aigoo,” Jiyong said, wiping his imaginary tear. “Alright, alright. Here, have some vegetables.”

 

Although ashamed, Dara opened and let herself to be fed. “Your cooking skills are really amazing,” she commented.

 

Jiyong nodded smugly and picked up a napkin for her. “I know…” he trailed off. “So, are you going to keep that promise of yours?”

 

“YAH!” Dara yelled again, her cheeks once again flushing red.