I quickly crawled out of the pest’s body, still screaming.

 

“Ya! Stop screaming!” the pest shouted.

 

“Waaahh!!!!!!! What did you do?!”

 

“What did I do?!” the pest asked in disbelief. “I find that funny since you’re the one who’s on top of me!”

 

“I didn’t know! I was dreaming of a giant ice cream cone! If I wasn’t aware of what’s happening, I would never, as in NEVER lay a hand on you!”

 

“A giant ice cream cone?” he exclaimed.

 

“Yes!” I burst out. “You should have stopped me! But you didn’t! You totally enjoyed it, you erted pest!”

 

“Enjoyed it?! I didn’t enjoy even a second of it! How would I stop you when I was dreaming, too? I was dreaming of a leech on my neck!” he fired up.

 

I looked at him, appalled. I whacked his head, then again, and again until he grabbed both of my arms.

 

“What the hell?!”

 

“How dare you compare me to a leech?!?” I shrieked.

 

“And how dare you mistake me for a giant ice cream cone?!” he shrieked back.

 

“I hate you!”

 

“I feel the same!” he said.

 

“I hate you more than you hate me!” I screamed.

 

“Uhm, is everything alright?” a new voice entered. I looked behind me and saw Kevin. “We heard screams, Grandpa wanted to know if something bad happened.”

 

“Yes, something bad happened!” I answered. “It’s so bad I don’t think I can sleep peacefully tonight. I’ll be having nightmares forever!”

 

“Oh. Ah, well. . . .” Kevin stammered.

 

“Get out of my way!” I snapped, feeling bad for letting my frustrations out on Kevin. I angrily marched away from the pest. I climbed down the ladder and quickly went to my room. The moment the door closed, I jumped to the bed and buried my face on the pillows.

 

Aigoo! Why do I always end up in an embarrassing moment in front of that pest?! Kyaa!

 

 

The following morning came. Here I go again, staring at the door. I don’t really want to go down and face the pest. Gah! Just thinking of what happened last night is so déjà vu! Aish! But then again, I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t my fault. I was dreaming, for Pete’s sake.

 

I closed my eyes as I reached for the knob. God, please give me strength. I opened my eyes and shook my head. I never really prayed before but I guess I have to learn from now on.

 

Aish! That pest! He’s really a pain in the !

 

I jumped as I heard a rapping knock on the door.

 

“Brat! You still got a lot of things to do today so you better take your breakfast. Don’t let me call you twice,” the old woman’s voice said through the door.

 

I sighed. Looks like I can’t really escape this embarrassment. I opened the door and climbed down the stairs. I went to the dining area and was relieved to see that the pest wasn’t at the table. I smiled and greeted the oldies and Kevin. I just hope that the pest already finished his breakfast. I took a seat at the left side of Grandpa as Kevin greeted me back.

 

“Good morning,” a y drawl came in. I froze, dread washed over me like buckets of ice.

 

“Good morning,” the three answered. I did not dare look at him. I don’t think I can, actually. I felt that he took a seat beside Kevin.

 

“Oh, my! What happened to your neck?” the old woman asked. My eyes widen and before I can stop myself, I looked up and saw Grandma standing beside the pest. She was inspecting the marks on the pest’s neck as it was perfectly visible since he was wearing a sleeveless shirt AGAIN with a deep round neckline. “Hmm,” Grandma murmured, still looking at the marks. “Sandara, I didn’t expect this from you but you did a pretty neat job. But it would have been better to look at if you created patterns, or made shapes out of it, like a heart shape or something like that. What you did looks like a snake’s skin, more of scales, actually.”

 

My eyes even went wider as I looked at Grandma. She did not just praise me for leaving err, marks on the pest’s neck. Unconsciously, my eyes went to the pest’s neck and cringed. The marks on his neck trailed down to his collarbone down to the upper part of his chest. The marks were odd, a combination of dark brown, red and light purple. Aigoo! I can’t believe I did that.

 

“Oh, can you at least choose a more hidden part next time?” the old woman continued.

 

“Grandma!” I gasped, making Grandpa laughed out loud. My head turned to the old man and he was totally laughing his head off. My eyes then went to Kevin, planning to ask for help but he got his head bowed, blushing to the roots of his hair. Lastly, my eyes landed on the pest and I saw that he was smiling playfully at me, with a very dark gleam in his eyes.

 

“It will never happen again!” I announced.

 

 

Later. . .

 

I frowned as I heard the jeers from afar. I looked to the source and found a group of helpers crowded together. Then, at the middle of them was the pest, AGAIN, shirtless. Aish! My ears suddenly pricked as I heard one of the helpers mentioned something about “lovebites”. I balled my fists, feeling myself turned red. Kyaa! He’s obviously showing off those marks and I prefer to call them “marks” than “lovebites”. Eww. Ugh! How dare him!

 

I went inside the house, searched for something. As soon as I found it, I took it and marched back outside. I went to the group of helpers, turning redder than before when I saw the teasing looks in their faces.

 

“Pest! Can we talk?” I gritted.

 

“Ooh, a lover’s quarrel. We should get out of the way,” one helper said in a teasing tone as the others agreed and jogged away, laughing.

 

When all the helpers were out of earshot, I turned back to the pest. The smirk in his face only boiled up my irritation even more. “YA!” I started. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK ARE YOU DOING?!? ARE YOU REALLY SHOWING OFF THOSE MARKS THAT YOU DELIBERATELY TOOK OFF YOURSHIRT?!? YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT PEOPLE WOULD THINK IF THEY SAW THE MARKS!!!!”

 

He grinned even wider. “Grandma said you did a neat job about them. You should be proud. Grandma rarely praise people.”

 

I know I wanted to be praised by Grandma but not because of this! “Waaahh!” I screamed and started hitting him with the shirt I brought out. But he just laughed.

 

Aish! I hate him!

 

“Wear this!” I ordered and threw the shirt to him.

 

He held the shirt in front of him and raised his brows at me. “It’s high noon and you want me to wear a turtleneck sweatshirt?”

 

“I don’t want people to see those marks ‘coz I don’t want them to think that I have something for you! It’s totally gross!”

 

“Everyone already saw the MARKS, so the shirt is really useless. And besides-”

 

“Everyone?” I gasped.

 

“Yep!” he said, smacking his lips.

 

“WEAR THAT DAMN SHIRT! I don’t want them to be always reminded!”

 

“No,” he stubbornly said and threw the shirt back to me.

 

“Kwon Jiyong! Come back here! And wear this shirt!” I loudly called as I saw him walking away.

 

“Make me wear that shirt if you can,” he said.

 

“Oh hell yes I will”

 

And so, the chasing started again. It took me a while to catch him. The moment I did, I tried forcefully to put the shirt on him but he fought against it. But of course, I didn’t surrender. We were so into the fight that the shirt ended up being torn apart.

 

“Oops!” he grinned.

 

~o~

 

I was fixing my hair in a ponytail when my eyes caught something glittering. I paused and looked down. I saw the heart-shaped diamond necklace Wooyoung oppa gave me. My conscience gave a start at the same time the guilt and longing filled me.

 

Aigoo! I feel so bad! I missed him already! Then, another thought came into my mind. I quickly went out of the room and looked for the pest.

 

“I just remembered, Dad’s birthday is coming. Can I at least make a call?” I asked him. “Please?” I added as I saw the look on his face.

 

“Fine,” he sighed.

 

I almost had the urge to hug him but I stopped myself. He then gave me his phone. “Where’s my phone?” I asked.

 

“Just use mine. Your Dad’s new number is on speed dial 2.”

 

“Fine,” I pouted and pressed number 2. After a few rings, I heard a voice on the other line.

 

“Jiyong? How’s-?”

 

“Dad,” I whispered.

 

“Dara?”

 

“Yes,” I answered.

 

“Oh, God! How are you? Are you alright? Is there something wrong? Why did you call?”

 

I chuckled. “I’m fine. I just wanted to greet you an advance happy birthday,” I said and slowly went to my room. I asked him where he is but he didn’t say anything. We talked for a while, asking each other about what’s happening in our lives lately. Then, I came to the part where I asked him what’s REALLY going on.

 

“Dear, I don’t really want to talk about this on the phone,” he said. “You’ll know soon, okay?”

 

“You promise to tell me everything?” I asked.

 

“Yes,” he answered then chuckled lightly.

 

“What’s funny?” I asked.

 

“I’m just surprised,” he said. “I was expecting you to whine or demand for an answer.”

 

“Oh,” I muttered. “Well, maybe some things change.”

 

“Yes, maybe,” he agreed. “Oh, dear?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I missed you and always remember that I love you, okay?”

 

“I will,” I smiled.

 

“And Dara?”

 

“Yes?” I asked again.

 

“Trust no one but Jiyong, okay?”

 

I frowned. “Okay,” I slowly answered.

 

As soon as the call ended, I bit my lower lip, wondering. Then, my eyes went back to the necklace. I went to it and put it around my neck. I looked at the pest’s phone and bit my lower lip again. Then, my fingers started moving again.

 

“Hello?” a familiar voice answered.

 

“Hello? Wooyoung oppa?”

 

~o~