Dara winced as the camera lights clicked endlessly in her face as she sat alone in the center of the long  white table, the press all gathered in the wide auditorium at Hits. She leaned over to the microphone and spoke in a clear voice.

“Thank you all for coming,” she said. “I have set up this press conference to address one issue and one issue only. The news with Jiyong… is correct.” The reporters clicked the camera furiously while a loud buzz echoed throughout the auditorium. Dara waited until the noise died down before continuing. “Jiyong was one of our prized artists and it will be a huge loss if he decided to leave the company. It is true that we did have a relationship back then and I had used that relationship for that advantage.” She scanned the room while making the speech and found Jiyong sitting in one of the stools at the far end, nodding his head agreeing to what she said. She frowned. “I used him to build my company.” She saw Jiyong nodding again and her temper suddenly rise up. How dare he agree to the all the lies she’s spewing, ultimately making herself look bad, just so his career would be saved. She stood up ready to rant when a hand closed on his arm and she spun around.

 “I’m taking you home,” Donghae said.

Her anger suddenly vanished and she wanted to cry when she looked at Donghae’s loving gaze. “I’m sorry Donghae.”

“It’s okay,” Donghae said as he pulled her into his arms.

Dara sniffed, comforted, as she put her arms around Donghae’s neck. “You smell so good,” she muttered out of nowhere.

Donghae’s head lifted inches from her and they were both staring at each other. Dara closed her eyes and brought his face closer to hers, her nose nose touching the tip of his. “Can I kiss you?” she whispered.

Donghae suddenly stepped away from her shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Dara. I fell inlove with someone else.” He turned his head and a woman in a bridal gown suddenly appeared from the door. Dara’s eyes went round as she looked on Clara’s big smile walking towards Donghae. Her eyes went back to Donghae, finally noticing he was wearing a tux. She watched as Donghae reached out and clasped Clara’s hand. Bells tolled as Donghae and Clara both walked on the aisle towards the altar. It was then that Dara realized they were inside a church.

“No!” She yelled but no one seems to hear her. She tried to run after them but it seems like she is running far too slow to get to them. “Stop!” No, this can’t happen! No, she would literally die if this happened. Donghae can’t! He just can’t!

“STOOOOOP!” She screamed.

“Stop!” Dara woke up sitting upright, bellowing the word. She was breathing hard as her eyes wandered wildly at the room she’s in, her mind still uncomprehending. It took her a moment before she realized she was in her room. And just as sudden as she realized that, a headache settled on her head and she plopped back down on her pillow, closing her eyes, her hand going to her forehead. What happened? She racked her brain but everything is jumbled. God, her head hurts like a son of a—

She opened her eyes in a snap staring at the ceiling. She is in her room. In her room! Her room at Donghae’s house. She sat up in haste then groaned when she felt the pain ramming her head strongly than a few minutes earlier. She massaged the two sides of her head while she tried to remember how she got here. What only came back to her is going inside a bar and ordering Tequila.

“Arrgh!” She groaned again in pain. It would be a whole lot easier to remember what happened if she doesn’t have this god-awful hang over. She squinted at the clock beside her bed. 11:15am. She did a double take.

11:15??! !

She swung her legs off the bed ignoring the pain her sudden move brought her head.  She swear she’s never going to drink again. She stood up and suddenly felt like her body had been used as a punching bag. Every muscles hurt. Especially her left hip bone. And her cheek is feeling a little tender too.  

“Aww…” She groaned again as she tried to walk. This is worse than spending 3 hours at gym. Then she stopped in the middle of the room. Where is her bag? And her car keys? Ah crap! She’s going to be late for the Press Con. She had a lot of things to take care of before the actual event. Shoot! She found her phone near the bedside table and her shoes near the closet. She put it on hopping as she opened the door and walking out. She took the stairs two and a time and skidded to a halt when she saw Mrs. Rey watching her go down. Sakuragi greeted her and only asked to be petted before going back to the kitchen. She looked at Mrs. Rey. Her eyes are calculating, like the way Dara had remembered before she had an accident. So she tried to look like the way she was before the accident. She lifted her chin.

“How did I get here?” She demanded.

Mrs. Rey’s eyes narrowed a little. “Donghae brought you here last night, drunk.”

Dara looked down at the news. Donghae brought her home. How did he find her last night? Maybe somebody called him when she passed out seeing that everyone knew she’s married to him.

“Donghae arranged for your car to be brought here this morning,” Mrs. Rey added.

Dara felt so awful. She had treated Donghae so bad and he’s still taking care of her. She stopped herself from wailing.

“I’ll get your keys,” Mrs. Rey said.

“Where’s Donghae?” DAra couldn’t help but ask before Mrs. Rey turned around. Mrs. Rey studied her face before answering in a flat tone. “He already went to his office.” She turned around to get her car keys.

“Can I also have some aspirin?” Dara asked as her head is about to be split in half. Mrs. Rey’s back is already turned but she saw her head nod before walking to the living room.

Dara sighed as she trudged towards the kitchen and saw Sakuragi eating her bowl of lunch. Her tail wagged when she saw her but then continued to eat. She squatted down and petted Sakuragi’s head as she ate.

“What am I going to do, Sakuragi?” She whispered. “What should I do?”

She watched as Sakuragi tried to eat every bits and pieces of the food in his bowl.

“You take care of your daddy, okay?” Dara said in a quiet voice, feeling the soft fur on her head. “Make him happy. I might be leaving and I wish I could take you but it’s hard to transport a pet overseas so you just stay with Daddy, okay. I’ll come back.” Eventhough she doesn’t know when. Probably when things are good in Donghae’s company, in Donghae’s life. “Make sure he’s healthy and well and…don’t let other girls come here. If daddy invite some girl, make sure to bite her in the leg so she won’t come back, okay? And make sure you chase every girl away. Specially Clara. We hate her.”

Sakuragi her snout and came to her, any part of skin she might and Dara made her face her. “Promise me. You won’t let other girls get near your daddy, okay?”

The puppy keeps her hand and Dara put her paws down. Sakuragi jumped at her, trying to her face and Dara giggled. She stood up and turned. And found Mrs. Rey standing just a few feet away from her. Her smile disappeared as she racked her brain for what said. She didn’t say anything to compromise her plan, right? Mrs. Rey still had that calculating look in her face as she stood there looking at Dara.

Dara is unable to stare back at her and ended up looking at something behind Mrs. Rey. Mrs. Rey stretched out her hand.

“Here is your keys and the aspirin,” she said.

Dara cleared , accepting the keys and the aspirin. “Thank you.” She suddenly felt the need to get out of there. Mrs. Rey’s stare is unnerving her.

“I’ll be going,” she said trying to walk past Mrs. Rey.

“Aren’t you going to drink your Aspirin?” Mrs. Rey asked.

“I’ll drink it in the car,” Dara said as she walked past her in a haste. She breathed in a lot of oxygen when she closed the front door behind her, feeling nervous.

Nothing’s changed. Mrs. Rey’s still as intimidating as who’s always managing to scare her with that stare.

Dara had managed to get to Bom’s house, shower, change her clothes in a span of 1 hour and 30 minutes. This is the fastest she had ever moved in her entire life. She thank the heavens there’s wasn’t much of a traffic when she arrived at SP. She already called her mom to tell her she would come by tonight. Her staff are already in a frenzy when she arrived. Probably getting ready for that press con to be held at the SP’s small auditorium at the 4th floor of the building. She went straight to her office, Lee Hi trailing behind her as she barked instructions. She went to her desk while Lee Hi informed her of the possible questions the press would be asking.

“They might also ask about the status of SP in the stock market and how it affects Hits’ shares and your take on how Chairman Lee is now pushing to place Kim Junmyeon as CEO for Hits and—“

“What?” Dara interrupted Lee Hi, her face frozen at what she heard.

Lee Hi looked flustered and Dara repeated what she said. “Donghae is pushing Kim Junmyeon as CEO?”

Lee Hi shook her head. “No, Ms. Dara. Chairman Lee. Mr. Donghae’s father. He is pushing to replace Mr. Donghae as CEO and voting for Kim Junmyeon. It was just in this morning.”

Dara felt all her energy leave her. She opened but no words came out.

“The board is already voting on it and some are already in favor of Chairman Lee,” Lee Hi said.

“That’s insane! They can’t do that!” Dara said. “Kim Junmyeon, that pompous kid? He just came out of college and Donghae’s father is already voting for him?” Dara felt enraged. Junmyeon was Donghae’s cousin and in Dara’s opinion, he’s way too young and inexperienced to actually manage a corporation. This is exactly what she’s dreading. She should’ve done her plan a long time ago. She could’ve prevented this. Donghae might be able to keep his position if it weren’t for her. She felt hurt and pained and god knows how Donghae is feeling now. She looked at her wristwatch. 2:25pm. She decided then and there. She stood up.

“I’ll be back,” Dara said.

Lee Hi looked confused . “Ah—but the press con—“

“Tell them to wait until 5. If they can’t wait that long, they can leave. But those who can wait until then, can have their exclusive interview with me.”

Lee Hi nodded before Dara sprinted out of her office, into the elevator towards the parking lot. She can see a lot of reporters lined going in at the building but she sped past them. All that was on her mind is getting to Donghae. How can she make this right? His father couldn’t wait a single day before making that announcement? She’s now ready to give the rights of SP to Donghae and to announce it at this press con. Already willing to give her shares to him.

She parked at the nearest empty space she saw, jumped out of the car and walked towards the elevator. She pressed the button several times eventhough it shows that the elevator is still travelling from the 12th floor. She tapped her shoe impatiently as she saw the elevator stopped on the 8thth floor. A sudden thought entered her mind. She’s not supposed to care, right? She’s supposed to be indifferent and unfeeling when it comes to Donghae. But how can she not?

What would she say? Sorry to hear about your father pushing you out of the postion. But it was her fault.

Sorry, I caused this mess in your life?

Sorry I didn’t do the divorce sooner to save your company?

Sorry I haven’t realized sooner you’re more important to me than anything else?

But it wouldn’t change anything. It might cause another turn of disaster if she decided to tell Donghae everything.

A girl stepped beside her holding a folder, greeting her in surprise. “Ms. Dara, good afternoon.”

Dara nodded while thoughts raged in her head. Then recognized that the girl beside her is one of the promotions team in SP. Dara glanced at the folder the girl is holding.

“What’s that?” She asked a little sharply nodding at the folder.

“It’s for the collaboration project of… Bobby and 4minute. There were revisions—“

Dara snatched it out of her hand without thinking. “I’ll take it to Donghae.”

The girl had her hand splayed out from the folder she was holding earlier, open. “Bb.. but Mr. Donghae said tto… bring it straight to the… Promotions Department.”

Dara’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the girl down. “Are you contradicting me?”

The girl stood up straight as if in attention as she shook her head vigorously. “No ma’am.”

“Get back to SP,” Dara ordered and the girl sprinted off. Guess, Dara still got that tyrannical attitude down pat.

The elevator door dinged and she was about to step in when her eyes met a blue-colored contact ones. Clara stood there looking surprised to see her. Dara tried hard not to scowl. Of all the people she could meet, this witch would just have to be one riding the elevator. Her face reminds her of the dream she had that morning and that is something she doesn’t want to remember. At all.

Clara smoothed her face before stepping out of the elevator and Dara was about to get in when Clara said before she can pass, “I hope you’re happy now.”

Dara’s head spun towards Clara who paused beside her just staring straight ahead after she uttered that sentence before starting to walk away. Dara had to fight the urge to give her a flying kick at her back. Does she look happy?

!

She stepped inside the elevator muttering angrily in her breath. When the elevator dinged signaling that she reached the floor of her destination, nervousness won out over her irritation at Clara.

Ok, this is it. Just… pretend that… you only came here for the project. She tapped the folder before stepping out. Donghae’s secretary informed her Donghae’s in the office and she walked towards the door in shaky legs. She took a deep breath, her hand on the knob practicing what she would say to Donghae in her mind.

I just wanted to drop this file for the collaboration project. Oh, by the way, I heard about your dad. I’m sorry to hear that. If you need someone to talk to, I’m here. I can be your friend. Dara made a face as she mentally slapped herself. That was way too scripted. And so fake.

Here’s the file for the collaboration project. Is there s