Chapter 6:

“So Ji, tell me about your girlfriend,” CL said. They were sitting at the cafeteria with their food along with Youngbae, Daesung, and Seungri. She had been relieved when she saw Jiyong walk in alone to the cafeteria. She had been dying of curiosity as soon as Jiyong had introduced Dara to her as his girlfriend. Dara certainly did not seem like the type of girl that she would have figured that Jiyong would like. In addition, CL had returned home hoping that he was still single. She’d missed him like crazy when her family had moved. And it didn’t take her long to realize that what she felt for Jiyong went beyond just friendship. She was attracted to him, loved him even. And she had returned to Seoul hoping for the opportunity to tell him so. But now she found that he had a girlfriend.

“What do you want to know?” Jiyong asked. While he talked he arranged the food he bought for Dara next to his plate.

“Well, how long have you two been together? How did you meet?”

Jiyong thought a moment and then began telling CL briefly about Dara. How they were in the same class, about all the crazy girls that wouldn’t leave him alone – CL laughed and about that when he told her about it. And then he told her of how Dara was the one girl he noticed who didn’t seem to pay any attention to him. “From there I just sort of decided to get to know her. One thing led to another and now we’ve been together for almost five months.”

“Wow.” CL smiled but inside she felt her heart break a little more. Jiyong seemed to really like Dara, and from what she had seen of the girl earlier, Dara seemed like a nice girl. But that didn’t help to lessen the heartache CL felt at seeing her best friend in love with another girl.

“Dara noona has two older sisters that go to school here too,” Seungri volunteered. “They are hot! Dara noona’s a beauty too! You should see her when she’s not in school and dresses normally.”

“You mean she dresses that way on purpose?” CL asked, surprised that any pretty girl would deliberately wear such unflattering clothes and glasses.

Jiyong chuckled. “Yeah. She’s a little eccentric that way.”

“But hyung loves her anyway!” Daesung declared.

Just then Dara walked into the cafeteria and Jiyong, who had been looking out for her, waved her over. CL watched as Jiyong took Dara’s bag and helped her with her seat. “Did you find Bom?” he asked her. Dara smiled and told him she did. He put her food in front of her while he picked up her cup noodle and went over to put hot water in.

“I can do it,” Dara stated, trying to stop him, but Jiyong told her to sit and he went to do it.

“You’ve got him well trained,” CL said, smiling at Dara.

“I wish. He doesn’t listen to me at all most of the time,” Dara said with a little laugh.

CL secretly wished she was in Dara’s shoes.

When Jiyong returned he placed the noodles in front of Dara, along with a bottle of water he’d picked up for her. Dara thanked and smiled at him. Satisfied that his girlfriend had everything she needed, Jiyong turned to his own food and resumed his conversation with CL. He asked her what she’d been up to and he and the others listened attentively while CL shared stories of her life in Paris.

That evening as Dara sat in her room doing homework, she couldn’t help but think about CL. On one hand she felt sorry for CL because it was plain for Dara to see that the girl was in love with Jiyong.  But on the other hand Dara had to admit that it worried her to see how close the girl was to Jiyong. CL and Jiyong had a lot of history, memories of a close friendship from their childhood. And CL was close to his friends. Dara had only known Jiyong for less than a year and she wasn’t really all that close to his friends.

Dara glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 8pm. Jiyong usually called around this time to check on her. Sometimes he would surprise her and tell her he was outside. He was always doing sweet things like that for her, and despite her being careful in the beginning not to let Jiyong too much into her heart, she knew that it was too late. Her heart already belonged to him.

“You’re being silly,” she murmured to herself, before returning to her studying. Just because his best friend had returned from Europe, and just because she was a girl – who was as beautiful and stylish as Dara was not, and shared a great relationship with Jiyong’s close friends, and had years of shared memories with Jiyong, and to top it off was in love with Jiyong – that didn’t mean anything right?

“Then why does my heart worry like this?” she wondered.

Dara was still thinking about the whole CL being in love with Jiyong business when her phone rang. She saw it was Jiyong and she picked it up.

“Jiyong?”

“Were you waiting for my call?”

“As if,” she lied, smiling.

“Are you doing homework?”

“Mmm.”

“You want to come out for a minute?”

“You’re outside?” she asked, surprised. She stood up and went to the window, pushed the curtain aside and looked down at the car park. Jiyong waved up at her. Dara smiled and remained where she was.

“It’s too cold,” she said.

“I’ll keep you warm,” he said, his eyes on her.

“Cheesy.” There was laughter in her voice.

“Dara, babe, come down. I want to see you.”

“You just saw me in school.”

He sighed, and she heard a change in his voice. “Come down, please? I have something important to tell you.”

Dara grew silent. She chewed at her lower lip, then said quietly, “Give me a few minutes.”

She ended the call and picked up a light sweater and slipped it on before going downstairs and outside to where Jiyong waited. He turned when he heard her footsteps and smiled when he saw her. Before she could speak Jiyong walked to her and pulled her into his arms.

“Jiyong?”

“Shh, let me just hold you a moment.”

Dara stood quietly, resting her head against his shoulder, her hands surrounding his waist.

“I’m sorry if I ignored you earlier,” he said finally. He only realized later when he was at home  and thought back on their day that he’d been so caught up in his excitement at being reunited with CL that there were several times he had practically ignored Dara. “I love you.”

His eyes were warm and his hold on her strong as Jiyong leaned down and kissed her. He didn’t ever want her to doubt his love for her. When he had realized what his reactions to CL earlier might have seemed like to Dara, he had come over to show her in person that she was the only one in his heart.

Dara felt the worry and hurt she’d felt earlier in her heart fade away. She pressed her nose into his chest and inhaled deeply of his scent. Her eyes closed and she felt at peace again. After a moment she turned her face upwards to look at him. “I love you too,” she admitted, and Jiyong smiled and rewarded her with another kiss.

**