~DARA’S POV~

“Jiyong!” I panicked and quickly ran to him. My hands frantically hovered above him, not knowing what to do. My eyes then darted to his wrist. I quickly looked around and looked for something to put on his bleeding wrist. I saw what seemed to me, my shirt on the floor. I ripped a length from it and wrapped it around his wrist. I looked at his face and noticed that he was pale.

What should I do? Should I call the ambulance or what? I quickly looked for my phone and scrolled down the names on my list.

“Hello?”

“Seungri, I need your help” I said at once. “Something happened to Jiyong. If you can, bring. . . bring Bom along”

“Okay, we’ll be there in a few minutes”

I sat on the floor for a few seconds after the call ended when I suddenly remembered I was just on my underwear. I stood up and went to Jiyong’s closet. I took a brown shirt and a short – two of which I bought – and put them on.

“What happened?”

I jumped in my place and sharply turned around. I started recounting the events from the car up to here, sparing the detail that I woke up with only my underwear on. Bom looked up to me again, her eyes ablaze. I took a step back as she started walking towards me, her arms raised. I knew she was going to hurt me but instead of stopping her, I just closed my eyes.

“Enough!” Seungri’s stern voice entered. My eyes fluttered open and I saw that Seungri was holding Bom’s arm. “This isn’t the right time for this, bom”

“Why can’t you just stay away from him?” she hissed.

I can’t, my mind answered as soon as the question was asked. Luckily, I wasn’t able to speak it out loud. I know it would only make her angrier.

“He’s my friend” I answered instead.

“Friend?!” she exclaimed. “You call yourself a friend when all you ever did was put his life in danger!?”

“Bom, Jiyong needs help” Seungri calmly said. Bom roughly pulled her arm from his grasp and ordered him to take me away from the room.

“No” I protested.

“Dara, let’s just go downstairs” Seungri turned to mw, tugging on my arm. I was about to argue but decided to drop it off. With a defeated sigh, I nodded and went ahead of him. I went straight to the kitchen and went to get a glass of water.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine” I quickly said. “but Kwon Jiyong’s not”

“He’ll be alright” he said. “He just needs rest and a little help from our resident healer” he added with a chuckle. I presumed he’s referring to Bom.

“I don’t know what happened to him” I said. “As far as I can remember, I pushed him out of the way. . .”

“He’s just a bit drained and exhausted” he said. “He’s not that well yet but he went on healing your wounds”

I frowned a little. “His wrist. . .”

“Oh that” he nodded. “Our abilities don’t come without a little sacrifice from us. I can heal small wounds, scratches to be exact. but not multiple just I presumed what you had a while ago. Multiple wounds can be handy especially if there’s a lot of blood loss involved”

“I can’t understand”

“It’s like. . . hmm. . . it’s like blood transfusion” he shrugged.

“So. . .” I muttered. “Are you trying to tell me, he kind of replaced my blood with his?”

“Yeah, something like that” he answered. “That’s why he looked so pale”

“Then we should bring him to the hospital! He needs to have that blood transfusion thingy too”

“We can’t receive blood from ordinary humans, Dara. Our blood’s. . . different. But humans’ can receive from us. It’s quite biased, isn’t it?”

“Wait. . . if he gave me some of his blood. Does that mean. . . I’m. . . I’m a shadow now, too?”

“No” he chuckled. “You’re a girl, you can’t be a shadow and it doesn’t work that way even if you were a boy. Being a shadow can only be transferred to our sons”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “I didn’t know being a shadow is this complicated. But wait, shouldn’t you and Youngbae help Jiyong? I mean, you can give him-“

“We can’t” he shook his head. “Among the three of us, Jiyong’s the only one who can do the transferring of blood. It’s quite biased, I tell you. Like you, you don’t have any scars because of what Jiyong did but look at his body, his scarred. If Jiyong brought you to the hospital, he wouldn’t end up like that but you’ll be having scars just like him. So I’m guessing he didn’t want the same thing to happen to you”

I was silent. He chose to collapse just because he didn’t want me to have scars? That’s quite. . . far-fetched. But I agree, this healing thing is quite unfair. How come he has scars and I don’t? Aish!

“Hey” a new voice joined.

“Youngbae!” I greeted in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Bom called me up and asked me to bring her some herbs and stuff”

“Oh” I mumbled. “Is he-?”

“He’s awake” he said. “He was looking for you a while ago but err, he’s kind of arguing with Bom right now so I think it would be better if you stay here for a while”

“She’ll never like me, will she?” I sighed.

“In time, she will” Youngbae said. I gave him a little smile.

Silence filled the kitchen. There are so many things I want to ask about the shadows but I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know what happened at the foundation dance yet. I frowned. Where on earth is Jaejoong? Why hans’t he called me yet? And why can’t I contact him? Sigh, so much for having a boyfriend.

“Youngbae! Seungri!” a snappy voice broke the silence. “Let’s go!”

“I’m not-” Seungris tarted but stopped as he saw Bom’s expression. He turned to me and gave me a smile. “See you some other time”

I nodded. “Thanks for coming” I said to both Seungri and Youngbae. I then turned to Bom. “Thanks for-” I sighed as she was already walking away.

“Bye” Seungri waved again.

“Bye”

The moment they were gone, I ran up the stairs and to Jiyong’s room. I saw him up and about his bedroom door. “Jiyong! You’re alright!” I grinned and was on the act of throwing myself to him when he stopped my by grabbing both of my shoulders.

“What the ing hell were you thinking?!” he bellowed.

My eyes narrowed but I decided not to slap his mouth. He’s probably still in pain right no. but still, cursing is wrong. “Will you stop swearing in front of me?” I pouted.

His grip tightened on my shoulders. “Are you really that stupid or you’re just acting up again?!”

“What’s wrong with you? And what did I do this time?”

He suddenly pushed me away, a bit forcefully. “What made you think you can withstand those shards? You even pushed me out of the way! Now tell me, is that stupidity or you were simply showing off?”

“I wasn’t showing off, okay?” I said. “It was INSTINCT” I knowingly explained.

“Then don’t trust your instincts next time”

“Why are you so against the idea of me saving or helping you?”

“I don’t need your help in the first place”

“Yeah right” I rolled my eyes. “You were being rather stupid yourself. You should have brought me straight to the hospital instead of bringing me here. So what if I’ll have scars in return?”

“I wasn’t thinking of-“

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Jiyong” I shook my head. “Anyways, you should go back to bed. I’ll just call Seungri and youngbae”

“Why?”

“As you can see, you’re not in a good condition so if another attack happens tonight, you’ll be helpless”

“I can handle myself. You don’t have to make them come here”

“Oh, so you want it to be just the two of us?”

“Jesus!” he exclaimed. “You’re impossible!”

o=o=o

“Oh, you’re awake” I said as I noticed him leaning on the kitchen wall. “I’m almost done with these pancakes”

“Pack your bags” he said.

“Why?”

He smirked and pushed himself off the wall. “We’re going to the mountains”

“Mountains?” I asked.

“Yes” he answered. “Me and the others usually go to the mountains once a year. It’s some sort of a competition and since I can’t let you wander around on your own, we decided to compete by pairs”

“Compete by pairs?”

He growled. “Do you really have to repeat everything I say?”

“What kind of game is it, anyways?”

“Treasure hunting” he smirked again.

“A real treasure?”

“Yes” he nodded. “An ancient shadow necklace but that’s not the prize”

“What will be the prize then?”

“Depends on Bom’s mother” he shrugged.

“Oh” I mumbled, unable to hide my disappointment. “But you’re not that well yet and don’t you think it’s quite dangerous for me to be in the mountains?”

“There’ll be some watchers, most of them are Bom’s mother’s friends. They’ll be watching over to stop us from cheating so I think the possibility of an attack to occur would be low”

“But I thought cheating is on your nature?”

“True” he smiled proudly. “Bom’s mother actually came up with this to make us more. . . human in nature, she said since we’re not allowed to use our. . . abilities. She doesn’t want us to be too dependent on our powers”

“Oh, I get it” I nodded.

o=o=o

“What the hell are these?!” he exclaimed as he saw my luggage.

“My things” I answered innocently.

“We’re going to the mountains, not to a hotel!” he hissed.

“But I need everything I pa-“

“Aish!” he growled and went to open my luggage. He then started throwing away what he thinks are ‘unimportant’. He stopped as he was now face to face with the piles of my bra and underwear.

“Oh, wait. Let me show you something” I said and went to kneel on the floor beside him. I started digging for my Minni Mouse underwear. “Here it is! Look! It has pocket in front. Cute isn’t it?” I grinned, holding the underwear up in his face.

“YA!” he shouted, standing up. “Aren’t you even ashamed or embarrassed that a guy is seeing all of these. . . these stuff?”

“Err, it’s just you so it’s okay. You-”

“AISH!!”

o=o=o

The others were already at the edge of the forest when we arrived.

“What took you so long?” Bom asked Jiyong at once.

“Got some. . .” Jiyong paused then glanced at me. “Wardrobe problems”

I grinned at him again.

“So, how are we going to pair up?” I asked.

“I’m fine with anyone as long as it’s not Seungri” CL said.

“There’s no way I’m pairing up with you, too” Seungri returned. “I’m pairing with Sandara” he announced.

An argument followed as Bom stated she wants Jiyong to be her pair while Youngbae said he’ll pair up with Bom.

“I’m pairing up with the girl” Jiyong cut them off.

“I knew this would happen” Bom’s mother sighed. “To be fair, we’ll be using the fishbowl method. All of you, pick a paper”

I picked a paper when the fishbowl was passed to me.

“Okay, you can open them now” the lady said.

“I’ve got number one” Youngbae said.

“I’ve got number one, too” Bom sighed and looked at Jiyong suspiciously. “You cheated, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Jiyong waved off.

“I’ve got number two” Seungri announced gleefully.

“Oh no” CL groaned. “That’s it, I quit. I can’t pair up with him”

“You can’t quit CL. It’s the rule”

“This is hopeless” CL sighed. “For sure, we’ll be the losing team but of this. . . this jerk”

“Did you get number three?” Jiyong asked. I nodded in return. He smirked. “Looks like I have to endure your presence for three days”

“T-three days?” I repeated. “You didn’t say it would take three days! I still got classes on Monday!”

“Sorry, you can’t quit”

“I can’t understand you” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You just said a while ago you wanted to be paired up with me and now you’re saying you have to ENDURE my presence for three days. Aish! Why can’t you just-?” I ranted but stopped as he suddenly covered my mouth with his hand.

“You talk too much”

“Okay” the lady clapped her hands. “Jiyong, Seungri and Youngbae, come here. I’ll give you the first clue”

“Are you ready to lose?” a voice behind me asked as soon as the boys were out of earshot. I turned around and was greeted by Bom’s unreadable face.

“I’m not going to lose” I said.

“Oh, really?” she chuckled. “What made you think you have the chance in winning this game?”

I held my chin up. “I’m not going to lose because Kwon Jiyong’s with me”

The smug look on her face disappeared and I knew I hit the right nerve. I smirked and crossed my arms across my chest arrogantly. She took a step forward.

“It’s too early for a cat fight, Bom” Jiyong’s familiar voice appeared beside me. Bom gave him a look and walked away. “And you” he said, turning to me.

“What?” I turned to him.

“Your claws are showing up. That’s new”

I smirked, understanding what he was saying. “You should be careful with what you say to me because I might scratch you. Rawr!”

“You should be MORE careful in everything you do or say to me”

“And why is that?”

He smirked, eyes sparked with playfulness. “Coz I might bite you” he whispered huskily and winked.

“Why you flirt!”

“Okay! Bom and Youngbae will be going first since they picked number one. Seungri and CL will follow after thirty minutes then Jiyong and Dara after another thirty minutes”