“I’m over here hyung!” Jiyong called him when he saw him wandering around. Seung Hyun has his own key in Jiyong’s house. He personally asked him for it so that he can monitor his friend’s acts without him knowing that he’s around. Jiyong didn’t hesitate to give him one since they were friends.

“So, where are the drinks?” he asked him upon reaching the spot where he was. Jiyong chuckled and patted his friend’s shoulder. “Relax, hyung.”

Seung Hyun can’t help but to feel guilty about the things that Jiyong didn’t normally do. He did drink before but not as often as now. He seemed careless of his career. He looked at his eyes and he could see the circles around it. It was like that since he started living by himself. It was as if natural and just appeared to be smoky eyes.

“Hey, you’re staring at me. What’s with that look? Don’t tell me you’re in love.” Jiyong teased when he caught him staring at him blankly.

He snapped back when he heard his friend babbled. He gaped at him in disbelief. “Yah ! How could you say that nonsense? You’re pathetic.” Both of them laughed awkwardly.

“Should we start the drinking session now?” Jiyong asked him.

“I don’t feel like drinking today Ji.”

Jiyong twitched his lips in a smirk. He rolled his eyes in disappointment. He sighed then looked back to him. “Why so sudden? You should’ve not come.”

Seung Hyun laughed at him. He always acts weird. “Okay. Should we go to a bar?”

“No. Actually, I just want someone to talk to.” His face became somber. He leaned on the chair and dropped his back on it.  Seung Hyun could directly tell that he’s bothered again just by looking at him.

“You’re thinking about her?” Seung Hyun opened the topic.

Jiyong released the lump that had been suffocating him. He nodded. There’s no secret between them when it comes to Dara. That’s what he knew. Ever since they were forced to marry, Seung Hyun was there giving him advices. Of course, he’s Dara’s cousin so he would do something for the two to get together. And he’s also the one responsible on why they met. It was on his birthday party.

Jiyong left him for a while to get the liquor. Seung Hyun just stayed there, thinking. He was thinking of ideas on how he would explain to Dara that Jiyong wanted to see her badly. How would he explain to Jiyong that he lied about not finding her? He’d been cracking his brain up but still no good ideas came.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Of course.” Seung Hyun answered.

“You seem not in yourself. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking. I’m not being a loyal friend to you these days.”

Seung Hyun and Jiyong were like that. Too close that they treat each other like more than friends, more of a boyfriend-girlfriend treatment. It’s not like one of them is biual, just pure friendship.

“Have you heard any updates about Dara.” Jiyong drifted the topic back to her. Actually, Dara’s a hot topic between them.

“Oh … Uhm,..” There they go again. Jiyong started the interrogation. Seung Hyun ended up drained all the time trying to hide what he knew. He needed to tell him the truth this time. If not, he’ll be the one to suffer from lying.

“Ji, I have to tell you something.”

“About what?”

Seung Hyun gathered his self confidence and started relaying everything to him, everything that he had been keeping for the past months. Jiyong listened to him mouth-opened. He can’t believe his ears. His friend lied to him. How could he do that? After all the bulls that he’d been these past few months, he hid him the truth?

After saying what he wanted to say, Seung Hyun felt relieved. He can’t seem to look at his friend’s eyes. He knew Jiyong was mad, totally mad.

“Ji, I’m sorry. I was caught in between. I don’t know what to do. She made me promise.”

Jiyong kept silent. He clasped his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. His heart thumped differently. It was fast like shaking him. His body shivered. He didn’t know why but his body responded like that upon hearing Seung Hyun’s story. He felt betrayed.

“I want to see her.”

“No.” Seung Hyun shook his head slowly.

“But why?” he insisted.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why? I needed to see her! We have a lot of things to clear up!”

“She’s happy now. “

Silence filled the room. Neither of them talked. ‘She’s happy now.’ That line stuck into Jiyong’s head. It kept on repeating over and over again. He felt like being slapped on the face a thousand times. It stung. He looked down on the floor and released a heavy sigh. He glanced at Seung Hyun and found him staring at him intently. He ignored his stare and tried to act normally. Unknown to him, his expression was betraying him.

“Ok. Let’s not make this complicated.” Seung Hyun broke the silence. Jiyong looked up but didn’t answer.

“Let’s just take this slowly. I’ll take charge of everything. But don’t be persistent Ji. You know her.”  He continued.

**********

It was a fine afternoon. Dara was humming a tune while munching chips on the garden. The plants grew well and no more weeds can be found. She smiled at herself knowing how lazy Young Bae was to dig out the soil and pulled out the weeds.

Flashback

“Oppa, can I ask you something?” she barged into Young Bae’s room one afternoon. He was silently reading a novel when she came in. Yes, he’s reading.

“What is it?” he asked back without taking his eyes on the book.

“Come over here. Follow me.” she said then turned her back.

“What? Can’t you see what I’m doing?” he complained. He heard no answer. She’s already downstairs. He lazily got up.

“Yah! Where are you?”

“I’m over here, oppa! In the garden!”

“Aisht …” he murmured under his breathe. He went out to the garden stomping his foot.

“Here …” she handed him the shovel.

“What’s that?”

“A shovel. You can start digging the soil now, oppa. It’s still early so you can dig more.” she ordered him. Young Bae clutched his head.

“What?!”

Dara stared at him. She wore a grim face. “You don’t want to?”

“Why should I?” he reasoned.

“Well, in the first place this isn’t my house. Second, it’s yours. Third, it’s your garden. Fourth …”

“Ok. Stop it. Your reasons are nonsense.” he fired at her. 

“So you’re doing it now?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course! You got two actually, not eating a dinner or not … drinking water.”

Young Bae sighed. “I’m going to die young because of you Dara.” he mocked.

She shrugged her shoulders, smiling. “I don’t hold the future, oppa.”

End of flashback.

She loved bullying her brother. She doesn’t know why but Young Bae seems to be falling onto her crazy traps always. There were times that she felt guilty but her mulishness was inevitable. No matter how she tried to control it, she’s always tempted to do crazy things on her brother. She even kept all his boxers and hid it under his bed while he was taking a shower.

“Hi.” A familiar voice greeted her. She turned around to look for the owner of the voice.

“Seung Hyun oppa! What are you doing here?” she asked him in surprise. He gave her a light hug.

“Visiting. I miss you already.” he teased.

“Really? Me too.” They smiled at each other.

“Where’s Young Bae?”

“Upstairs. In his room again.” she said pointing at his window.

“Oh.”

“Oppa! Young Bae oppa!” she cried out loud. That cringed into Seung Hyun’s ears. That was just annoying but he’s used to it. He’d been used in her bluntness. She didn’t even care about it. The fact that she’s a lady, she should’ve acted like that.

Young Bae heard another scream from Dara. He rolled his eyes with annoyance. He covered his ears and pretended not hearing anything. He wondered on what was it again that she wanted him to do.

“Maybe he’s sleeping.” she turned to Seung Hyun. “You want some oppa?” she offered him the snack. He picked a piece and tossed it to his mouth.

“Hmmm, it’s yummy. Can I get some more?”

“Sure!”

**********

Jiyong went out together with Seung Hyun. The whole trip was quiet. After about an hour, they arrived in front of a house. Seung Hyun told him to just stay inside the car and don’t come out. He agreed since he was exhausted by that time. He was still wondering on why his friend forbade him to see Dara.

His gaze followed Seung Hyun’s back. He pushed the gate slowly and walked inside. The fence was not that tall so he can see a clear view of what’s going on. He stared blankly at closed window of the car. He has no idea that it was the day that he had been wanting. With slight boredom, he took out his ipod and listened to some fast beat sounds. In some sense, he was entertained by that. Minutes later, he was already banging his head while tapping his fingers on his lap.

After a while, his head drifted in a quick response when he saw a figure of a girl inside. Seung Hyun greeted her and she beamed a wide smile. She looked a bit surprise and then he hugged her. It was Dara! He can’t believe his eyes. He blinked several times just to make sure it’s really her. It was her, indeed. She looked different. There’s a glow on her face that he hadn’t seen before. Her eyes were shimmering. Mixed emotion exploded inside him. He wanted to run to her direction and show up. But how would he approach her? Tears started to form but he bunged himself. Through the tinted glass, he reached out as if he’s cupping her face.