Dara sat morosely at the convenience store near CSW with her hand under her chin and the other hand moving the chopsticks back and forth on her half eaten ramen. She never should've done that. Again, her temper had gotten the best of her. Aish! She's going to be fired for sure. It would only take Mr. Kraz to put two and two together and realize she put something in his coffee.
She was snickering and trying not to laugh out loud earlier when they were at the studio filming Bigbang as she watched Mr. Kraz's pesky face dotted with sweat and putting a hand on his stomach and the other on his butt when he suddenly ran to the bathroom with the staff watching him sprint, farting on the way. She laughed quietly until she saw Suzy glaring at her, instantly knowing she had something to do with it. She unobtrusively stepped out of the studio to get out of the firing range should Mr. Kraz came back and went to the convenience store to celebrate her victory.
But as she waited for her ramen, she realized she was too impulsive. Yes, she had gotten back with that oaf but this is just a small victory. Later on, she would go back to the office to be fired. Where in the hell would she get the money for her mom's medicinal needs? Idiot! She wanted to ram her head on the table. Idiot! Why doesn't she ever think? Why is she act now think later kind of girl? She couldn't afford to be fired now. Maybe she should need to apologize. Even if that's the last thing she wanted to do. But at this point, her pride is not something which can feed her.
As it is, she banged her head on the table. "Idiot!" She told herself.
"That's gotta hurt."
Dara lifted her head up, her forehead red and looked in the eyes of the guy she met earlier in the café.
Donghae had just came out of the café with the guys all excited for him to lose which only fueled him all the more. He's gonna show them. He's gonna show that Sandara girl and he'll make sure he's not someone she's going to forget. They were all going into their cars when Sungmin spotted Dara on the window eating ramen and he called Donghae. They were all laughing as they went inside their cars and drove off leaving Donghae sighing heavily and slamming his car door shut before walking inside the store. Yep. The clock's ticking.
"You again?" Dara said crossly.
Donghae grinned as he took the stool next to Dara. "Yup, it's me again."
Dara sighed and she returned her attention at eating her ramen.
"You know it kinda hurts me that you didn't remember me," Donghae started as Dara put a mouthful of noodles.
"Sorry," Dara just mumbled thinking maybe she could start practicing on how to apologize. She tipped the bowl to drink the noodle's soup.
"Especially because I remembered you... because I liked you," Donghae continued using his most charming smile which gradually faded as Dara continued drinking the soup not even bothering to look at him. Did she heard him?
Dara put the empty bowl down, swallowing her misery at the thought of being without job again. Maybe she could apply here at the convenience store even for a while until she gets a better job. Why is it so hard for a graduate student to get an effin' job around here?! Her phone rang and she picked it up. It was Suzy.
"Where are you?" Suzy asked.
Dara sighed. "Eating before Mr. Kraz fired me."
"I don't know what to do with you anymore. What are you thinking?" Dara could see Suzy shaking her head. "Mr. Kraz wants to see you in his office. Like now. I tried to cover for you and told him the coffee is really bad but I'm not sure if he bought that reason."
Dara's shoulders stooped. She knew it! She's going to add up on the population of unemployed citizens.
"Just tell him you're sorry. Make up something. Which I'm sure you can since you're good at it. Just don't lose your temper. Mr. Kraz will make you lose it but just hold on to it. Listen on the right ear then let it out on the left. Do not give him a bloody nose for crying out loud! Not only would you get fired, you'll get arrested too."
Dara grimaced. How come Suzy know her so well? She's pretty sure no matter how contrite she is, she's going to end up breaking Mr. Kraz's nose.
Suzy sighed continuuing. "I really think you should get another activity to use on your energy. You know like breaking bottles, batting, anything which requires hitting. Or you should go out and date. Maybe you'll find your world a lot peaceful."
So like Suzy thinking the world will end with love.
"Yeah, yeah," Dara said dismissively. "Give me a couple of minutes before I go to Mr. Kraz to get fired. Bye."
She sighed again. No matter what the outcome is, she's definite she's going to look for another job tomorrow.
"Something wrong?"
Dara turned around, surprised to find this Donghae guy still there. No, she's looking so depressed because everything is perfect. Duh! But she couldn't even find it in her heart to be sarcastic at the moment. "I'm going to get fired," she found herself saying feeling so dejected thinking about her mom, her brother. Bills!
"Why?" Donghae asked.
"I...messed up the entire script with the show for Bigbang," Dara said thinking it sounds a lot better than saying she put a bottle full of laxative on her boss' coffee. And better that than having this guy tell Choi Siwon how vindictive she is after she had promised he won't hear any complaints or anything from her or about her.
"Really? How long have you been working for CSW?"
"5 days," Dara said feeling more down. She didn't even last for a week on this job.
"And you were already assigned to handle big projects like that?"
Dara sighed again feeling more and more depressed. None of this would have happened if she did do the script dedicatedly. Even if it meant not getting sleep at all.
Donghae took out his phone and dialled. "Siwon, it's Donghae." Dara's head snapped up and looked at Donghae with wide eyes wondering what the hell he was doing? Is he gonna tell on her? She's gonna punch him even before he did. But Donghae just waggled her eyebrows at her while grinning. "Are newly hired employees already assigned to handle big projects like, you know... Bigbang? Aren't they supposed to be trained first? Well, I've got Sandara Park here, one of your staff, who's on the verge of getting fired because she was assigned to write a script for a show with Bigbang and it seems like it didn't go well. Isn't this supposed to be handled by your more experienced writers?" Donghae still held his smile in place as Siwon told him to ease up on playing with this game. "So what's it gonna be?:" Donghae asked again and Siwon asked to speak with Dara. Donghae moved his head on the other side and whispered without moving his mouth. "You're not going to jeopardize my villa are you?" Siwon had resignedly said no and this is purely business. Donghae handed the phone to Dara and she hesitatingly took it.
"Hello?" She listened as Siwon asked her what part of the show with Bigbang is she supposed to write. Dara answered that it was for the whole show and Siwon asked who assigned it to her.
"Mr. Kraz!" Dara said immediately then tried to lower her voice to cover the fact that she sound so happy of telling on Mr. Kraz. "I mean... I'm sorry, I don't want Mr. Kraz thinking I was telling on him but..." Siwon said she had nothing to be sorry for and he will call her department to talk to him and no one's going to fire anyone. Dara had to bite her lip to keep from cheering and gave the phone back to Donghae. Donghae was grinning at her, putting the phone back in his pocket. He looked at her expectantly and she looked back at him questioningly before it crossed her mind that she should thank him.
"Oh. Thank you," Dara said putting on her most thankful face.
Donghae just kept staring at her, smiling before lifting his hand and picking something out of her hair. Dara leaned back, ready to kick him but he held a small piece of noodle. "You got noodle in your hair," he said in a quiet voice, still staring at her and wearing that small smile. Dara suddenly felt her face go warm and she faced forward, away from Donghae, putting a hand on her face. Is she coming up with something? Why is she feeling hot? She couldn't afford to be sick right now.
"So... are you free tonight?" Donghae asked, still seated facing her side.
"Free for what?" Dara asked still warm but feeling her temperature gradually going back to normal.
"For movies, dinner, whatever you want."
"I don't think I can afford any of that at the moment," Dara answered.
Donghae chuckled. "You won't lose a single cent. It's going to be my treat."
Dara narrowed her eyes at him. There is always something behind every good deed. "Why are you being so nice to me?" She reached for her bottle of water taking a gulp.
"Because I like you and I want to ask you out on a date." That was the last thing Donghae said before Dara sprayed the water all over his face.
It was a good day for her. Dara dried her face with a towel, her hair in a loose bun, as she came out of the bathroom glancing at the wall clock in her room and seeing the empty bed of Suzy near the window. It's already 9 in the evening. Looks like she's going to be alone tonight. Again. She really think Suzy only agreed to share an apartment with her because she knew Dara can't afford it on her own. And Suzy knows how Dara hates charity. She plopped on the bed as she lifted the lid off the noodles she's going to eat for dinner then closed it again as she waited for the noodles to be cooked. She took a bottle of face cream Suzy had given her last year and decided to try it since she's in a very good mood today. She opened the bottle, squeezed it and patted it on her face. Her mouth formed an O as she felt her face cool.
Mr. Kraz didn't call her in his office nor did he spoke with her when she went up. In fact, Mr. Kraz ignored her completely except for that occasional glare she receives but Dara prefers that over him spitting on her. Suzy kept looking at her questioningly and she shrugged, not really telling her she spoke with the owner of CSW and told on Mr. Kraz. She tried hard not to snicker as Mr. Kraz called a meeting and told that no trainees should be given a project without a senior scriptwriter's guidance and those are only for minor productions. Any big projects should never be assigned to a trainee. And he shot a glare in her direction earning glances from the others.
Am I the only trainee in here?! Why are you all looking at me like that? She wanted to yell at them but of course she didn't. After the meeting, Mr. Kraz went to his office slamming it behind him and Suzy asked her what happened. "Maybe he found peace with himself," Dara answered with an angelic smile.
She lifted the lid off her noddles again, stirred it while blowing feeling this is the best day of her life. She was about to take a bite when her phone rang. It was an unknown number. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hi, you wanna have dinner with me?" It was a guy who sounds familiar.
"Who's this?" Dara asked, her brows furrowed.
The guy on the other line chuckled. "I am deeply hurt. You forgot about me again after you sprayed that water on me?"
It was that Donghae guy. After he told her he likes her and wanted to date her earlier at the store, she was so shocked that she sprayed water all over his pretty face. She ended up apologizing to him over and over as she wiped his face with a napkin. It was so unreal that she couldn't find any sarcastic comeback on that. She always hear her guy friends saying they liked her but that doesn't count. The only time she had heard it from soneone she doesn't know is the boy whom she gave a flying kick for trying to slobber her. And that was way back in grade school. She ran out of the store after apologizing not really sure why she ran out. She had felt her temperature going up again and spent a couple of minutes cooling her face in front of the tower AC at an empty room. That was so weird. She already had her wits back, forgetting what happened as she was too busy trying not laugh at Mr. Kraz's belligerent expression.
Now she realized she might have been rude. He did helped her keep her job. And getting Mr. Kraz's ass handed to him. But it's already 9 in the evening for god's sake! 9 means sleep time! She wanted to tell him to bug off but she could hear Suzy in her head telling her That was rude. Especially after it seems like she owe this guy some kind of gratitude.
"I...I'm still busy. With work," Dara said. "I think I would be getting off at... midnight... or something."
"Really?" Donghae said. "Because I talked with one of the staff at the production in CSW and they told me you already went home."
"Ah yeah..." Dara forced out a laugh trying to think of some excuse to get off the phone so she could go back to her ramen. "Yeah, I...uh... they told me to go home but... you know, I don't want to go home just yet so I uh... went somewhere." Just get lost. Sheesh!
"That's weird because I can see the light open on your bedroom window."
Dara paused. "What?"
"I'm outside your house."
Dara stared at the screen on on her phone with her mouth open. Is he serious? She hit the end button and jumped to peek at the curtains. Donghae stood there at the door with his amused expression as he gave her a wave with his hand holding his phone.
Dara cursed under her breath as she closed the curtains. Now she have to entertain a guest? At this hour? It's bad enough that she had gone 5 days, 12 hours and 15 minutes trying to hold the real her from bursting out. Now she's going to add another hour when talking to this person. She trudged out of her room and opened the door intending to tell this guy she's tired and she wanted to sleep when Donghae lifted the little brown bag he's carrying and she caught a whiff of—
"Steak?" Donghae said offered with a smile.
"Come in, come in," Dara said opening the door wider. She felt her mouth salivating at the mere scent. It has been so long since she had eaten beef. The last time she remembered was when her dad had taken her to a steak house because she told him she was hungry. And that was the last day she had ever seen her father alive before he was sent to the hospital for a heart attack.
The smell of the steak is overpowering her consciousness. If it wasn't for her strong will, she would've devoured the steak with her hands but given the fact that she is now trying to practice conservatism, she guessed acting like she had been starved for a week is out of the question. Nonetheless, it didn't stop her from putting a piece in her mouth after another.
Donghae put his hand under his chin, amused, as he watched Dara stuffed her mouth, her cheeks ballooning like a squirrel, as she ate at the table sitting across from her on a stool.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" Dara said through her full mouth.
Donghae just smiled as he shake his head. "I just want to see you eat."
Dara narrowed her eyes at him as she mucnhed slowly then took a swig of her water. "You know, I think I remember you now. You're the grandson of the governor when we were in high school, right?"
Donghae smile faltered. Does this girl really do not know him? Him? Lee Donghae? "No, that was Yesung."
Dara blinked, her eyes looking at the ceiling as if trying to remember who Yesung is and it made Donghae feel better that he's not the only one she doesn't know. But then Dara nodded. "Ahh yeah, I remember that Yesung guy. The one with the really good voice. He was the lead in that musical play that my cousin forced me to see."
He really couldn't believe this girl! "So you remember him but you don't remember me? Our school President for 3 years running?"
"I really though Kim Kibum was the president. Isn't he?"
"No, he isn't," Donghae said not aware he was already glaring at her. "I was the President for three years." Then he thought of their graduation march. "Do you remember who the class voted for as the School Visual?"
Dara looked at him her mouth agape. "We have a School Visual?"
Donghae could only look at her in incredulity. "Do you really go to Lee Tuk High?"
Dara shrugged taking another bite of the steak. "I didn't go to the Graduation March. My dad was sent to the hospital."
Donghae closed his mouth, watching Dara as she ate. "I'm sorry," was all he managed to say.
Dara snorted. "What are you saying sorry for? You didn't kill my dad."
"He was killed?" Okay Siwon left that part out.
"No, he died of a heart attack."
Donghae closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Talking to Dara is making him nuts. What are they talking about again? Okay, he really need to get his point across. Or at least, needs to get the plan going. He can't go around beating the bush when he's only got two weeks to win this bet. It seems like Dara is not the one who get subtle hints. Best to go with the direct approach.
"Dara," he started putting on his most sincere expression. "I really like you."
Dara slowly turned her head around to look at him, her brows creased, one her eyesbrows raised.
"Can I ask you out on a date?"
Dara could only look at him. Is this some kind of joke? "Okay, what's the punchline?"
Donghae chuckled. "A guy tells you he likes you and you think it was a joke? Did no one ever told you they like you?" Obviously no, he added silently given the way she acts so impervious to everything that is happening around her.
"Definitely not from someone like you," Dara countered. "By like, what do you mean by that?"
"The usual," Donghae said. "You know, like asking you to go out on dates. Movies, dinner, lunch, even breakfast. Spending time with you, getting to know you."
"Why?"
Donghae was stumped. "Why what?"
"Why did you like me?"
"I..." Donghae couldn't think of anything because he wasn't ready for that. No one had asked him that before whenever he asked someone out. "I... just... do. You know, liking someone doesn't need a reason."
"I do," Dara said. "I need a reason to like someone."
"Then let me show the reason why you need to." Donghae smiled at Dara congratulating himself for a line well delivered.
Dara could feel her face flaming in spite of herself as she stared back at Donghae. She returned back into eating, putting a mouthful of rice and steak in her mouth as she felt her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. What the hell is happening to her? She suddenly felt like she can't breathe properly. She's definitely coming down with something.
Donghae just watched her getting flustered and he wanted to whoop with joy. Oh yeah. Even this Sandara Park, the tomboy, is falling into his charm. He can't wait until he sees the look on the guys' face when he won.
Dara drank her water still feeling hot in the face. No one had ever told her they liked her. Or at least someone like Donghae. She doesn't really pay much attention to any guys but she have to admit, Donghae's pretty good looking. Okay, if she's to be honest and if she would adapt Suzy's vocabulary, she would have to say Donghae's hot. She shuddered at where her thoughts are going. Okay, this is creepy. "I think it's really late and you need to go home now." She jumped off from her seat and proceeded to walk towards the door. Donghae followed, still smiling.
Dara turned around when she remembered to thank him for the steak when she realized Donghae is exactly behind her, only an inch away from her, her face practically touching his chin and she took an involuntary step back, her heart hammering again. Donghae had his eyes locked on hers and he leaned over. Dara was paralyzed, not sure what is happening as she felt Donghae moving closer to her.
But then she heard the knob turn and felt the air behind her, Donghae's hand on the door knob opening it. Dara's face flamed even more as she thought his arm is going to circle around her waist. She suddenly can't look up at him as she tried to figure out what the hell is happening.
"Good night," Donghae whispered, smiling as he looked at Dara's face, her chin tucked.
Dara just nodded, couldn't find her voice. She decided she needed to go to a doctor or something. But Donghae wasn't moving. She started to get irritated. He really needed to get out of her house so she would have time to figure out what kind of disease she had caught. "What are you standing there for?" She asked irritably, finally looking up and meeting his eyes.
Donghae grinned in amusement. "You need to move so I can get out."
Dara looked behind her and realized she was blocking the damn door. She stepped aside, feeling embarassment flooding her. Donghae stepped over the threshhold still wearing that smile. "Don't forget to lock up," he told Dara as he closed the door.
Dara felt all the air rushing out of her. She put her hand in her chest as she leaned on the wall next to the door. What the hell? Stop it, you stupid heart! What is with you? She spent a couple of minutes trying to slow her heart down before striding over to her room thinking if she's going to have a heart attack too like her father. She really can't afford to be sick right now. Maybe she could ask Suzy if she knew the symptoms of a heart disease.
Donghae was whistling as he walked over to his car, twirling his keys. He opened his car door then turned his head to look up at Dara's apartment thinking on her flaming face as he had leaned down to get the door open. He had meant that to happen. He had already used that tactic before. And it never fails him.
"It's in the bag," Donghae said as he stepped inside his car imagining Yoona's face as he gave her the Rolls Royce.