The sound of grass brushing and twigs snapping were heard as Hero walks, or rather runs, through the forest, heading to the waterfall, with Dari on his arms. His feet were quite heavier and fast today for he was eager to get there sooner and be done with the weird butterfly -like feeling he feels inside him.

   As they’ve arrived, he has finally done what Dari has been telling him to do ever since he lifted her up. ‘Get her down’, thus now that she can feel her feet touching the ground she was able to take a few steps distance from him.

   “So what do you want to talk about?” she says, dusting her clothes like she’s been kept or trapped in a filthy keep the she sspins around after to face him with both her hands placed on her waist.

   Hero was just standing there in silence, watching her while he tries to figure out on what he actually asked her to come out for… talk? What do we talk about? He asks. Even he isn’t sure what is going on.

   All he knows is he just wants to see her and have an alone time with her.

   “What did you to me huh?” He asks vaguely with a cold scruffy voice.

   “What do you mean what did I do to you?” the other replied.

   “Why did you kiss me earlier???”

   Dari quickly scoffs,shaking her head furiously in disbelief. Whoa… Me? I kissed him? How delusional of him really!? She cries to herself and glared back to him unpleasantly. “Ya.. are you crazy? Like why would I? It’s you who grabbed me all or a sudden and kissed me aggressively, you’re lips are all over and your tongue also even plays along and you even restraint my body on the wall and---”

   Ah wait… Why am I going so much in detail eh? She stopped talking right away.

   “Well, it’s because you--- You could have not brought that kissing idea back there!” he whined strongly.

    “Ya. I just asked a question, it’s not that I suggested it!”

    “Still! Now look how it’s making me just want to kiss you right now”

   “Psssh. Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a one-time thing. It’s clearly a mista---”

   “No. I’m serious, Dari” he cuts her off with a serious face and tone. And for the first time, she actually heard him say her name, and not that silly demeaning nickname he always calls her. “I want to kiss you right now…”

   A breezy wind came passing through them, and series of fluttering wings appeared as the birds fly pass above… Dari froze, unable to respond to what she heard, was hanging open unable to utter words, and her hearing has shut down for a few seconds.

    All she can hear is silence.

    Complete silence.

    Not even the loud splashing of the waterfall or the sound of his footsteps as he walks closer to her. Her eyes just watched him close the gap between their bodies and his hand crawling to cup her face. 

    “I don’t know what spell you cast on me, kid… I just…” he leans his head on her level and leaves a small short peck on her lips.

    Dari has once again felt that electricity zap down her spine, even with just that one brief contact oh his cold gentle skin to hers. She nudged her face to the side to avoid another but he made her face him again, and kisses her gently.

    “Ya… I thought we’re just going to talk” Dari asks, whispering against his mouth.

    “As if that was true” he says huskily, kissing her again.

    But Dari was in perfect sanity that she still manages to move her body away faintly and covers her lips with her hand. “Hero, we can’t be doing this right now. We can’t”

    “Why not?”

    “Cause it’s wrong” she briefly says brushing her hair back and stopped when she reached the back of her neck, holding it in that position as she sighs. “You’re a Kim okay? I’m a Park…”

    “So what?” he gushes.

    Dari dropped her shoulders and eyes at him. “Oh come on, we’ve been fighting against each other for years and suddenly you’d be saying, so what?” she scoffs in ridicule. “Last week we were just cursing at each and wishing the other to disappear in this world and now we---“

    “I have never wished you to disappear” Hero cuts off with a straight face and shoulder stiff.

    “Mo?”

    Hero puckers his lips, hesitant to repeat what he says, but he was just being truthful. “I’m just saying… I never wished you to disappear in this world… not even once” he repeated uneasily and later on added, “Cause I think it would be hella boring for me… to lose an enemy, that is”

   Why is he telling her this now? Only now… Why does she not know about this…? All this time, she has been telling him to vanish in their life, and yet he… he always wanted her to stay around? Didn’t matter if she always fight with him or stops him from what he wants…

    You are crazy, Kim Hero… she mumbled to herself.

    Hero is known to be strange and cold, but he is also mischievous, may what happened in their journey prove that, but today not a single taint of pun was flashing on his eyes. He was dead serious and is just looking at her intently with lust and desire.

    “Can you stop looking at me like that!?” She grunted, to which he chuckles and apologizes. “Seriously, it’s disturbing… can’t you see I’m thinking here?”

    “What are you even thinking about? It’s not like it’s needed” he says, putting his hands inside his pocket. “Ya, kid. I’ll make this clear, yes I do not wish you to disappear but it doesn’t mean I like you, okay? All I want is that…”

     Dari glared at him the moment he looked at her lips and then he his. What a ert… she gushes out while crossing her arms together.

    “So, if you worry about us belonging to different clans and meant to be enemies for ever, then don’t” he says. “Kissing doesn’t mean we’re breaking the norm… It’s more like… we’re just…”

    Hero paused, having the difficulty to find the words that would explain and clarify his stupid idea. Obviously there is no way to look at it in a good light.

    It is wrong. Period.

    It’s just him being stubborn to insist that it’s not.

    When they both realize that the ‘talk’ has ended and there’s nothing else to be discussed about, Dari drew the line in between them and took another step backward. “I must go” she says, then tapped him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, on the bright side, atleast you’re no longer a total ”

    Hero groaned, hating to be teased. But what makes him more frustrated is that he didn’t get what he wanted… Before Dari can even take another step away from where they’re standing, he reached out his hand out and held her arm. “Wait…”

    “What is it again?” she grunts.

    “Do you prefer me biting humans?” he asks spinning his body slightly to the right to face her. Dari is too stunned by his question that she cound’t do anything but stare and listen to what he’s got to say. “Doesn’t your kind always say, we should stop taking innocent lives?... Then this is a way for me to stop, why aren’t you letting me then?”

    Dari chuckles in ridicule and disbelief. Would he really be taking it this far? “Ya…” she says calmly. “But it doesn’t mean I should go with what YOU want”

    “Then what should I do then?”

    “Well there are many other ways!” she cries. “go hunt animals or something!”

    “You know they’re not enough. We aren’t like you who are trained to have limitations”

    “And who says this will be enough?” she bites. “Who says this idea actually is an alternative, for you? As if this actually works and controls your thirst!”

    “It does to me…” he reveals with his eyes glimmering with honesty. “I wouldn’t be here if it doesn’t…”

    Dari took a few seconds in silence, her mind is working twice, even thrice its normal, to comprehend the conversation they’re having, what is it really all about, where is it headed to, how are they going to resolve it, when will it end...

    “There’s just something about you, kid… And I’d rather have this than actually force feed myself with untasty remaining humans on the next town” he dryly whispered with his hand travelling again to caress her. “And wouldn’t this be great, atleast the Parks have one less to worry about… and it happens to be the smartest, quickest, best and handsomest Kim”

    “Tsk. Dream off, will you? It’s more like the opposite…” she says, suppressing a smile and extinguished her snobbis