The day after the nightmare, Dara woke up in her bed strangely very comfortable. She felt warm even with her AC running on full blast and despite the horrible events from yesterday she felt well rested. When she tried to get out of bed, she realized she couldn’t. There was an arm wrapped around her waist pulling her close to another body. Dara began to freak out looking at the person next to her; a person’s whose face was covered by the blanket. She slowly reached out to the edge of the blanket and pulled it down slowly trying not to awake the person. As each feature was slowly revealed, Dara blew out a sigh of relief, it was Seunghyun. When she was about to calm down, she began to freak out once again.

Why is he here?

Why is he in my bed?

Why is he sleeping next to me?

OH WHAT DID WE DO?!

Dara wanted to cry as she processed the different thoughts in her head, but she looked down at herself underneath the blanket and noticed she was fully clothed, and so was he. She began to calm down and decided it was time to wake up Seunghyun. After realizing she couldn’t move Seunghyun’s arm off of her without him actually pulling her in even closer, she moved to her side under his arm to look at him. Dara knew Seunghyun was attractive but seeing him like this was different. He looked like a child. Along with his manly features such as his thick eyebrows and chiseled jawline, his long eye lashes and nose gave him a childish charm that any woman would fall for. Her hand involuntarily moved up to his face and she began to softly move over his eyebrows, nose, cheeks, lips, and chin. She stopped momentarily at his lips taking in how soft and tempting they were, but hesitantly moved on. When she realized what she was doing, Dara stopped. Seunghyun had a girlfriend and even though they weren’t in the best status it was still wrong.

“Seunghyun, Seunghyun wake up,” Dara nudged him to wake up but he ignored her calls.

“Yah wake up!” Both her hands went to his chest to push him away but Seunghyun pulled Dara even closer to him and soon had both his arms around her back. He pulled her onto him leaving Dara to lie on Seunghyun completely shocked. With the extra weight on Seunghyun, he finally opened his eyes to find a pair of big brown eyes staring back at him in surprise. When he realized his position and the fact that Dara was on top of him his arms immediately let Dara go and she quickly got off of him to sit on the opposite side of the bed. Both Dara and Seunghyun stared at each other from opposite ends and surprisingly both were trying to calm down their hearts which they can swear was beating too fast for their own good. Dara didn’t understand why she reacted this way but shook it off as surprise.

“Oh ! I’m so sorry! I was asleep and I didn’t know what I was doing, I know it looks bad but sorry…” He was rambling and didn’t know what else to say so when he finally looked up he saw Dara’s face turn a deep shade of red but she pretended as if it was nothing and blew it off.

“It’s okay don’t worry about it…But Seunghyun…why the hell were you sleeping in my bed?”

“... I think I fell asleep while making sure you fell asleep yesterday. Sorry I was too tired to go back to my room and I didn’t want you to be alone.” Dara’s suspicion and doubts toward Seunghyun diminished at that exact moment when she realized just how caring this man could be.

“You stayed here that whole time to make sure I was okay?”

“Well yeah, you looked pretty scared and you were crying. I couldn’t leave you alone. But Dara, what did you dream about anyway? You were sweating and screaming in bed.”

Dara shuddered at the thought of her nightmare, terrified at how realistic it was and how much it scarred her, but she knew she couldn’t tell Seunghyun. She didn’t tell anyone about this matter because she knew it would change everything.

“H-huh? O-oh it was just a normal nightmare? You don’t get those?” Dara’s voice was smaller and she was playing with the hem of the blanket, Seunghyun knew something was wrong.

“Well yeah, but I never screamed, and plus you were talking about a person coming for you? Who was that?” Dara looked up in surprise, she didn’t remember telling Seunghyun that and was scared he might know something, but he didn’t.

“It’s nothing Seunghyun! What time is it?! I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK!” Dara screamed while jumping out of bed but was stopped when she heard Seunghyun say “it’s Saturday.” She turned to Seunghyun with an embarrassed smiled and now calmly walked into the bathroom hoping he’d forget about last night.

Seunghyun knew something was up with Dara but he decided that it if she didn’t want to tell him, he should respect that. As the days went by Seunghyun couldn’t help but fall for Dara even deeper and after that night he saw a different side of her. She was strong and happy in front of everyone but he knew she had a secret that terrified her and it made him want to protect her, make her feel safe. Along with his feelings for Dara, Seunghyun knew he also had to talk to Eunhye. He sent her a message to meet him at a café that day.

These past few days have been weird for Dara. She found herself thinking about Seunghyun randomly, wondering what he was doing or if he ate lunch yet. She was confused because she didn’t know what her heart was doing or which direction it was beating towards. When she looked at Jaejoong these days she didn’t have that giddy feeling any longer or the butterflies which used to flutter around in her stomach. He was just Jaejoong, her boss. She was glad she moved on from a crush she knew would never happen. Whenever she thought about Seunghyun she found herself having to remind herself about Eunhye and the fact that she couldn’t be with someone like Seunghyun. He was too involved in the public eye and that is something she wants to stay away from. As she was sitting in the living room thinking about her horrible fate, she saw Seunghyun get out of his room dressed and heading towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to meet Eunhye…”

“Oh. Okay, um tell her I said hi.”

Dara guessed everything was okay between them now and took it as a sign that she shouldn’t be this conflicted about a man with a girlfriend. As Seunghyun left the house she found herself to be very depressed and lonely.

At the café, Seunghyun arrived first and waited for Eunhye who came shortly after. They hadn’t seen each other in a while and to be honest it was really awkward.

“Hyunnie, why did you call me here? Are we finally okay again?” Eunhye spoke to him with a smile in her voice, obviously not getting reason behind Seunghyun’s awkwardness.

“Uh, actually Eunhye I wanted to talk to you about the opposite.” Eunhye was silent, she stared at Seunghyun as he spoke and he took it as a sign to continue.

“When you said me and Dara had something going on… you were right.” The reaction was almost immediate. The hurt reflected off of Eunhye’s eyes as she thought about how her boyfriend could cheat on her.

“No, no I don’t mean I cheated on you. Trust me when I say this Eunhye, I have never gone behind your back to have an affair… However, I realized that I don’t feel the same way about you anymore. I feel like we lost that connection we used to have. We’re no longer dating because we love each other, but because we both think it’s something we have to do. I… I don’t love you anymore.” Eunhye was tearing up as Seunghyun said each word.

“How can you say you don’t love me anymore? We’ve been together for years. We’re perfect for each other.”

“We changed over these years Eunhye. I’m not the same man I was, you’re not the same woman you were. We both have different dreams and aspirations. I’m really sorry.”

“Why would you be sorry? It’s not like you can help it right?” Eunhye said between broken sad laughs.

“But, I have one question. Do you like Dara?” Seunghyun looked down at his fingers and knew he had to be honest with her, he owed her that much.

“Yes, yes I do.” Eunhye was angry. She was getting dumped because her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, found another girl he was interested in. She got up to leave as she heard his answer but he held her back by grabbing a hold of her wrist.

“I’m not breaking up with you only because I like Dara, everything else I said are my honest thoughts. I’ve been feeling this way for a while now and I felt as if it wasn’t fair for you to be with a man who wasn’t giving his all.” Eunhye shook her wrist free from his hold and walked out of the café feeling angry and betrayed. Seunghyun felt drained and exhausted. Even though it was the weekend, he went to work thinking it would take his mind off of the recent events. Seunghyun not coming home the whole day made Dara think that they were probably okay again and most likely spending the day together. Thinking about them laughing together, holding hands, and having fun made Dara sad. She wondered how it would be like to have Seunghyun as a boyfriend and found herself smiling as she thought about their moments spent together. Dara fell asleep on the couch while day dreaming of a reality that could never happen for her.

When Dara opened her eyes she found herself on the floor surrounded by complete darkness. She was scared by the silence and didn’t know where she was. She looked down at herself and realized she was wearing a dirty white dress that looked strangely familiar. At that moment she began to panic, she was dreaming. Dara was back in the Philippines, back at that horrible day where she felt her whole life had changed. She tried to get up on her feet and run away but she could barely move. When she heard footsteps coming into the room Dara tried her best not to cry. Then suddenly a man was in front of her. She looked up and saw him, Joseph Bitangcol.

“I’m glad you’re back Sandy.” The man bent down to be at her level and held her chin. Dara was shaking from fear.

“Why are you so scared baby? I’d never hurt you.” Dara tried her best crawl away from the man but he held her back. His arms made their way around her and he picked her up to take her to another room. Dara wanted to scream for help, thrash around to keep him from carrying her, she wanted to wake up from this horrible dream, but she couldn’t do anything. Tears poured out of her eyes when she found herself in a room with a bed in it. Joseph carried her to the bed and slowly touched her cheeks making his way down to her lips. She moved her face away from him but he aggressively brought it back to face him and crashed his lips down on hers. Dara felt like dying because that horrible day was repeating and she still couldn’t do anything to help herself. No one was coming to help her, to keep her from this nightmare. The suddenly she heard a voice screaming her name. It sounded familiar. Seunghyun. It was Seunghyun. Someone would save her this time; keep her from re-living that day.

“DARA WAKE UP! DARA!” Dara’s eyes shot open and saw Seunghyun crouched in front of her. Dara’s eyes teared up as Seunghyun brought her into a embrace. She stuffed her face into his chest, taking in his familiar and comforting cologne.

“You were dreaming again. Are you okay?” Seunghyun held Dara by the shoulder at arm’s length, looking into her eyes with a worried expression.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. What time is it?”

“It’s 11. Why are you sleeping out here?”

“Oh I fell asleep watching T.V.” Dara got up from the couch and pushed her hair back and realized she was sweating. 

“I’m going to go take a shower. Thanks for waking me up, don’t worry it was just a bad dream.”

Seunghyun knew better than that. She was trying to cover up her secret, he knew something was bothering her and it was serious enough to give her such nightmares. When Dara got out of the shower she saw the light in Seunghyun’s room off and took it as if he fell asleep. She got back into bed, scared she might dream again, but she knew she had to sleep soon because she still had work tomorrow morning.

The next day was chaotic. The orders for their coffee weren’t delivered yet and customers left angry at the staff for such poor service, three of the workers were taking a day off because they all happened to be sick at the same time, and Dara was still recovering from the trauma of her nightmares. Just when she thought her day couldn’t get any worse, it did. It was almost 8 pm , which meant she can finally go home and rest but for some reason, the customers weren’t stopping. One by one they all rushed in and Dara had no choice but to stay and help out the desperate Chaerin and Seungri. When she was cleaning up after a group of people who just left the café, she felt someone tap her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Eunhye standing behind her with her arms crossed, she did not look happy.

“Eunhye-ssi, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get revenge.”

“What?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I really don’t, please enlighten me.” Dara was exhausted from working and she really didn’t need a clingy girlfriend arguing with her.

“Don’t sass me; you know exactly why I’m here.”

“Oh my god, I really don’t. Can you please tell me because I really need to hurry and get back to work.”

“You stole my boyfriend.” Dara didn’t know if she heard correctly. She didn’t steal anything.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Seunghyun dumped me.” Dara was surprised at that, she thought they were doing well.

“How is that my problem, it’s both of your lives.”

“He dumped me because he’s in love with you.” Dara didn’t know how to react to that, how could Seunghyun be in love with her? He loved Eunhye.

“Are you stupid? Don’t just misunderstand everything he says.”

“I asked him if he liked you and he said yes.” Dara was once again speechless.

“You acted so high and mighty when you said you don’t go for men who are already taken, but that didn’t stop you from around my boyfriend did it? You think I don’t know about you two hanging out and you clinging onto him like a helpless little girl? I know everything.” Dara was beyond pissed; Eunhye had no right to call her a .

“Excuse me, but mind your words. Who the hell are you to call me a ?!” Dara didn’t care if people could hear her; she wouldn’t let someone walk all over her.

“I don’t cling onto him like a little girl, we’re friends. And as for him breaking up with you. I’m glad he did, I don’t get why he would be with such an annoying and creepy woman in the first place. If you don’t know how to trust someone, don’t get into a relationship. Don’t blame me for being incapable of upholding a relationship.” Eunhye was surprised at her words and didn’t know what to say. She then saw the table near her and picked up the glass of ice tea the customer was about to drink and splashed the liquid onto Dara’s face. The whole café’s attention was on them now. Everybody was silent as Dara picked up the cup of coffee on the table she was about to clean up and splashed it on Eunhye, who let out a loud shriek. Seungri and Jaejoong, who happened to walk into the café at that time, rushed to the two women and stood in between them. Eunhye was about to grab something else when Jaejoong stopped her and told her to leave.

“You’re telling me to leave?! When your own worker did this to me?” Eunhye was outraged.

“I’ll deal with it on my own Eunhye now please leave before I have to tell my other workers to you out.” Eunhye gave Dara a glare that was happily returned back and walked out of the store. Jaejoong bowed in apology and ordered Seungri to give the table nearest to the argument a meal on the house, while taking Dara inside to talk.

“What the hell was that Dara?”

“I’m really sorry Hwejangnim, it won’t happen again.”

“Hell yeah it won’t because you’re fired.” Dara’s eyes widened and looked up at Jaejoong to see if he was joking. He wasn’t.

“What?! How is that fair?”

“How is it not fair? You started a commotion with everyone watching you and you fought with a customer.”

“You told me yourself that the customer is not always right and she wasn’t!”

“But that does not mean you can splash coffee on her. Sorry Dara, but you can’t work here anymore.” Dara’s eyes teared up and she angrily took off her apron and went to the bathroom to dry herself off. Inside the bathroom, she broke down. This day was horrible and nothing was going right. She was expecting Jaejoong to take her side but he didn’t and in end did something she wouldn’t even expect. On the bus, Dara got over her sadness and became angry. She was angry at a lot of people; the employees who were absent, Eunhye, Jaejoong, and Seunghyun. He never told her about him breaking up with Eunhye, and she had to deal with the consequences.

Dara barged into their home to find Seunghyun on the couch watching T.V. He turned around at the sudden noise and found Dara glaring at him.

“Whoa what happened? Why are you so late? And what’s that stain on your shirt?”

“I was fired today Seunghyun.” She was so angry she was so close to crying again.

“What why?” Seunghyun was now standing up and facing her.

“Because your girlfriend, oh I’m sorry your ex-girlfriend, decided to pay me a visit today.” Seunghyun froze at her words, how did she know they broke up?

“Eunhye visited you? What did she say?”

“She said a lot of things and did a lot of things too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that she told me you dumped her because you’re in love with me and then she called me a for stealing her boyfriend.” Dara’s eyes were tearing up at how frustrated she was.

“She called you what?” Seunghyun was angry, Eunhye had no right to call Dara that.

“A , do you know how amazing that felt to hear? Why am I involved in your relationship Seunghyun? And why am I the one getting fired at work when she’s the one who spills freaking iced tea on me in front of the whole café.”

Seunghyun didn’t know what to say, he saw Dara start to spill the tears building up in her eyes and he reached forward to console her.

“I’m so sorry Dara, I really am. I’ll talk to Eunhye again tell her to apologize.”

“I don’t care about her, all I know is just that I lost my job because of her.” Dara’s hands went up to her face and she started to sob. Seunghyun pulled Dara closer to him and closed her into a tight hug. She cried into his chest and she forgot about all the anger she had for him.

“I’m really sorry Dara I really am.” After Dara stopped crying she quietly left his embrace and began to walk back to her room but stopped when she heard him.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I really am in love with you?” Dara froze, that question had been in her head the whole time and decided not to ask him because both answers would hurt her. If he said no, she’d be heartbroken, and if he said yes, she’d curse herself for having such horrible fate.

Dara turned around to face him. She didn’t say anything; all she did was stare at him.

“I am. I’m in love with you.”

*********I just want to take this chance to say that I hope none of my readers get offended when I write something because this is all purely fiction, and just my stupid imagination running loose. I know that many of my readers are Filipino, and if I write anything that you find to be offensive, I’m apologizing beforehand. I don’t know if all of you know who Joseph is, but he was Dara’s partner is many of her movies and they were rumored to be going out and I read many articles saying that there were some problems between them, so I chose him to be a character in my story… I don’t know if any of you are fans of him but if you are, let me just say I have nothing against him since I don’t know him. Anywayyyyyyyyyyy I hope you enjoy reading I gave you a little insight on Dara’s nightmares. Please read and comment on your thoughts and if you want you can subscribe lol. Thank you for reading!