“Hey, can we talk?”

 

“About what?” Victoria asked.

 

“About Kwon Jiyong” I said.

 

“What about him?” she asked back, frowning.

 

“Why did you sleep with him?” I went directly.

 

“I did say I find him hot, right?” she said. “When the news about him helping your Dad spread out, I had a change of heart. You know me, Dara”

 

“That’s exactly my point” I exasperatedly said. “You were so vocal about your negative thoughts and feelings towards him and then you suddenly changed your mind. It-“

 

“God!” she exclaimed. “Why are you making a big deal out of this? It was just a one night stand!”

 

I kept my silence. Honestly? I don’t think she had the right to just approach Jiyong and ask him to sleep with her after all the bad things she said about him before.

 

“If you got anything else to say, better say it now ‘coz I need to go to class”

 

I shook my head in response. She turned to leave just in time that I saw Jae heading my way.

 

“What’s up with Victoria?” he asked as he leaned down a kiss on my cheek. “She seemed in a bad mood”

 

“We just had a little misunderstanding” I murmured.

 

“Why? What happened?”

 

“Remember when you called and I told you I was with Kwon Jiyong?”

 

“Ahuh” he nodded.

 

“Well, I actually saw Victoria in his bed, !”

 

“Really?” he chuckled. “That’s interesting”

 

“It’s not funny”

 

“I can’t see anything wrong with it” he shrugged. “I mean, they’re old enough to know what they’re doing”

 

I glared at him and walked away, stomping.

 

o=o=o

 

~AUTHOR’S POV~

 

Dara was still being grumpy towards Jaejoong. He already asked for forgiveness but he won’t say that what Victoria and Jiyong said was wrong and that’s exactly what’s making her grumpy.

 

So, one gloomy afternoon, Dara walked ahead Jaejoong. She crossed the street, heading towards the car when something happened.

 

Jiyong, who was across the street saw what’s going on. He felt it. He felt a very strong force making the truck go all fast towards Dara. He saw how the driver kept on stepping on the breaks but the truck only went faster. He saw how the driver tried to maneuver the steering wheel to avoid the girl but the wheel won’t budge. Unthinkingly, he used his own force to maneuver the truck, making it turn to the left sharply, causing a screeching sound.

 

Dara, who saw the truck approaching was too shocked to even move. But then, she felt two strong arms pulled her out of the way. She knew right then and there that it was Jaejoong. He hugged her close to his chest, her back while kissing her hair over and over again.

 

“Thank God you’re okay!” he exclaimed and glanced at Jiyong, silently thanking him with his eyes. He mentally scolded himself for not thinking of using his powers to maneuver the truck. Good thing Jiyong was quick enough to think about it. Of course, it’s natural for Jiyong to react like that because he’s mostly basing his decisions on instincts.

 

“Oh God!” she gasped. “I was so scared! I really thought the truck will hit me”

 

“Hush, it’s okay now” he comforted.

 

“Thank you!” she cried. “If you didn’t pull me out on time, I’d be. . .” she chocked. Jaejoong just hugged her tighter, not correcting her assumption that it was him who saved her. He can’t tell her because it’ll involve a lot of explanations.

 

Meanwhile, across the street, Kwon Jiyong was trying to act like nothing happened. He was silently grateful that the girl didn’t see him, also, he can’t help but wonder who and where the culprit was.

 

“Wow” a female voice sounded beside him. “You just saved her life”

 

“Snap out of it Bom” he growled.

 

“Tell me, how does it feel to really DO something but wasn’t credited for it?” she mocked.

 

He chose to ignore her mockery and jumped to a different topic. “So, any progress on your research?”

 

“I was able to get some data” she shrugged. Jiyong nodded in return.

 

“Let’s get to the arena and tell me all about it” he said.

 

Bom smirked. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to the girl?”

 

“Drop it off, Bom”

 

“Okay” the girl shrugged again.

 

As they arrived in the arena, Jiyong quickly went to the room when the others where hanging out. He dropped himself on a chair and bent forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.

 

“What did you get?” he asked.

 

“What’s this all about?” Seungri asked.

 

“Just listen” CL snapped.

 

“I was just asking” Seungri mumbled. Youngbae on the other hand, was all set to hear what Bom had in store for them.

 

For the benefit if CL, Seungri and Youngbae, Bom started off by telling them what happened to Jiyong and the red-eyed crow.

 

“The tales about hem being more than evil are true” Bom turned to Jiyong. “There’s only one red-eyed crow every five hundred years. They’re mostly called the MASKED SHADOWS because they can easily hide their true nature through appearing innocence, meaning they can be as innocently cute as they can be. The way they look, talk and move are simply unsuspicious. They basically use snakes, spiders or frogs to infect, scare, play or mark their victims”

 

“Whoa!” Seungri exclaimed. “That sounds really cool!”

 

“Shut up” Bom and CL chorused while Jiyong and Youngbae gave him disapproving looks.

 

“What did I do?” he innocently asked.

 

Jiyong shook his head and turned back to Bom. “Go on” he urged.

 

“They’re basically driven by obsession, the need to possess, selfishness or playfulness” she began again. “Once they set their mind on something or someone, they can be interestingly loyal – in a bad way. They can also be incredibly creepy NOT in a physical aspect”

 

“That figures” Jiyong nodded. “I’ve been mingling around, trying to find anyone who got some hidden hatred or obsession towards the girl. So, I was right about my suspicion in that manner”

 

Bom snorted. “You’ll never find the person out, Jiyong. They’re not called the MASKED SHADOWS for nothing. You’ll only discover them when they confess themselves”

 

He became quiet, lost in his own thoughts. “So, what else did you find?”

 

“So far, that’s all”

 

Jiyong nodded. “Thanks. Don’t stop your research”

 

Bom smirked. “Of course. All for the girl, you would-“

 

“Bom”

 

“Fine” she snapped and walked away. CL stood up and followed her. Jiyong sighed and leaned back.

 

“What is this all about Jiyong?” Youngbae asked.

 

“If you’re asking me if I like Dara, no” he said. “You know about me and Bom”

 

“I also know why you two broke up” Youngbae said.

 

“And I already told you my stand about that matter” Jiyong wearily answered.

 

“I think it’d be better if you’ll just go straight about it. You’re not the only one having the bad time here. Bom’s more affected”

 

“Then go ahead and court her. I’m not going to stop you” Jiyong snapped.

 

Youngbae snorted. “Easy for you to say that because you know she won’t give me a chance”

 

Silence followed them.

 

“Err. . .” Seungri said.

 

“I’ll go check the girls out” Youngbae said and stood up. He was at the door when he remembered something. He turned around again. “Oh, Jiyong” he called, making the latter look up. “Don’t take her for granted”

 

Seungri whistled as soon as Youngbae was out of the room. “Whoa! That was an intense talk, first time seeing you two got all tensed like that”

 

“Shut up, Seungri”

 

“Shutting my mouth now” he said. “But seriously, you don’t like Sandara?”

 

Jiyong opened his eyes and gave Seungri a look.

 

“I mean” Seungri continued. “She’s really cute, pretty, sweet, kind, funny, all. . . . oka,y okay. I’m shutting up now”

 

o=o=o

 

~JIYONG’S POV~

 

“Hey, you look tired and you got dark circles under your eyes” I heard the girl said as we were settled on the table for lunch. “Didn’t you get enough sleep?”

 

I glanced up and looked at the couple. Of course, Jaejoong didn’t get enough sleep. He was up all night, guarding his girlfriend. I smirked and shook my head as I turned my attention to my lunch.

 

“So, what have you been up to last weekend?” Sulli, who was sitting beside me, asked.

 

“Nothing important” I shrugged. “You?” I asked obligingly.

 

“Part time job and taking care of my siblings”

 

“Tough luck” I snorted.

 

“It’s all good. They’re my family anyways”

 

“Your siblings are lucky to have you, then”

 

The girl smiled and blushed. Oh crap! I hope she won’t misinterpret it. “So,” I cleared my throat. “You and the girls go a long way back, huh?”

 

“Something like that. I’m closest to Dara, though”

 

“Huh!” I snorted. “She’s a pain in the ”

 

“She’s not!”

 

“Yes, she is” I said. “She always looks like Miss Sunshine. Her friendliness annoys me. I wonder if there are people who feels the same way”

 

“Like they say, you can’t please everybody plus the fact that she’s Jaejoong’s girlfriend add up to that”

 

“Oh really?”

 

“Yeah” she nodded absentmindedly. “We all know some girls were pretty pissed because of their relationship. Actually, even Luna and Victoria were pretty surprised themselves”

 

“And you weren’t?”

 

“No, I wasn’t” she shook her head. “I don’t have time for things like that. And besides, Dara’s really attractive and lovable”

 

“Why, I bed to disagree”

 

She laughed lightly. “If you’re so annoyed with her, then why are you here?”

 

I just shrugged and looked away. Somehow, I felt a little relieved that nothing BAD happened to Sulli when I tampered with her memory. It’s not really within our realms and in my nature to do that but I had no choice. And I heard, if you did it wrongly, you’ll erase all of the person’s memories – and this is irreversible. I admit I was rather hesitant about it because I never did something like that before. I wasn’t trained like Jaejoong.

 

My thoughts went back to the red-eyed crow and what little Bom found out about it. I haven’t informed Jaejoong about it. Well, I don’t have any plans to tell him in the first place. He should do his own research but then again, I have to put his being elite into consideration. Shadows like him are more advanced, more disciplined, well trained and formally educated unlike me and the rest of the slum shadows. We learned to move, talk and think more on instincts. We have to do it by ourselves, though there were some people who guided us, it’s still behind the standards of what Jaejoong had. The words slum and elite aren’t really definitive and discriminating. I just had the liking to differentiate that way.

 

My thoughts were cut off when I heard Sandara Park’s laughter. I blinked and straightened up. I glanced at her. She was laughing with her boyfriend. I frowned a little and wondered who could be the person doing all those stuff to her. Did the girl annoy someone too much with her talkativeness and nosiness?  Or this is just a simple case of jealousy? Or even, a fanboying case?

 

I fixed my hood up, put my hands in my jacket pockets and bowed my head. I stood up. Right on cue, the school bell rang. I walked up ahead.

 

“Kwon Jiyong!”

 

I rolled my eyes and quickened my pace.

 

“Ya!”

 

I ignored her.

 

Why you. . .!”

 

I heard running footsteps. I suddenly stopped, making her bump against my back. I turned around and found her sitting on the floor. She looked up and glared at me. I didn’t offer help which I think annoyed her the most. She stood up and patted her bottom to remove the dirt.

 

“Why are you avoiding me?” she confronted.

 

“I’m not” I said.

 

“You’re ignoring me then”

 

“No”

 

“Then why did you walk faster when-?”

 

“I’m gonna be late for class” I immediately cut off. “What do you want, anyways?”

 

She frowned for a moment. “How have you been doing? Shouldn’t you be in bed, resting? You still got-“

 

“I told you, they’ll heal on their own”

 

Her frown deepened. “But how did that happen? It-“

 

“You ask too many questions” I growled and turned to leave.

 

“Hey, I’m still talking to you”

 

“Not interested to talk to you” I called back.

 

“Why you rude. . .!”`