{ 05 }

“Dara-yah, are you really all right?” Donghae asked for the nth time. “You really look like you could use some time off.”

Dara tried to rise from her chair when Wooyoung stopped her. “Really, Dee, it’s okay. You look bad right now.”

“Omo, omo!” A surprised voice caught their attention. Minji came running to Dara. “Unnie, are you okay?! What happened?!”

“Well, Dara met the dragon… in an unpleasant way.” Donghae explained awkwardly. “Aish, Minji, tell Mrs. Han that I’ll bring Dara home, okay?”

“There’s no need–” Dara started to protest when Mrs. Han came in just in time. “Oh, Donghae, are you sending Dara home?”

“Yes, Mrs. Han.”

Mrs. Han nodded. “Alright, bring her home now. Be sure to eat and rest early, Dara, okay?”

Dara could only nod. Honestly, she couldn’t really see herself functioning well anymore. Kwon Jiyong. He disappeared just like that five years ago… and now he’s appearing just like that too?

Where had Jiyong gone? Why did he even leave in the first place? Had he been sick of Dara? If yes, then… why did he cut off all of the communication between them? He left behind everything. His school and friends. He left them hanging.

-Flashback-

“Dara-yah… Please, eat. You’ve been losing weight rapidly. It’s not healthy.” Bom gently reminded Dara as she unsuccessfully tried to make her best friend eat.

It had been two weeks since Kwon Jiyong’s disappearance. It also had been two weeks that Dara couldn’t function well. She doesn’t eat and she barely gets some sleep. Oftentimes at night, Bom could hear her muffled cries. As much as she wanted to help, Bom doesn’t know what to do. Even TOP and Youngbae are very concerned with Dara. Sadly, they couldn’t do anything since they don’t know anything about Jiyong.

Jiyong had always been secretive about his private life. His family was a mystery to all of them, and whenever anyone brings up that topic, he would dodge it and steer them into another way. At first they didn’t mind and thought that Jiyong just wasn’t ready, since all of them aren’t that close yet, but a lot of time passed and he still didn’t mellow down. Bom once tried to talk to Dara about it, but she said that she respects Jiyong’s privacy and that they should too. Since then, Bom let go of that issue.

Suddenly, loud knocks came from outside. Bom opened the door only to see TOP who was panting and sweating hard. “Seunghyun… Why are you here? Is something wrong?”

“Jiyong…” TOP started.

Hearing his name, Dara quickly stood up and even pushed Bom to the side to be the first to receive any news about Jiyong. “Jiyong? Ho– how is he? Is he back? Is he in your dorm already? Is he okay? He’s not hurt, right? Nothing bad happened to him, right?” Dara frantically questioned. She tugged at TOP’s sleeves desperately. “Seunghyun-ah… Just let me see Jiyong. If he wants to break up with me, it’s fine…” Dara didn’t want to cry, but her tears are already ahead of her. She wiped them off and forced herself to smile. “I’ll accept it all, Seunghyun. Just… I don’t want him to go. I don’t want him to cut off everything. I can always love him from afar, right? That’s okay for me. Even if he dates other girls, as long as he’s still my friend…” Her tears are uncontrollable. She shook her head. “No, no, if he isn’t comfortable with being friends, then we could just be the way we were before. I could always watch him. I’ll watch over him. Just… just don’t let him leave, huh? Okay?” Dara desperately shook TOP, wanting his answer.

“Dara…” Pity was in his voice. “Dara, I heard from the Dean that someone dropped Jiyong’s classes. He… he won’t be around anymore.”

Dara stared at him with blank eyes. Bom was crying, and TOP felt really bad, coming into Dara bearing bad news. After a minute, Dara smiled, to TOP’s surprise. “Yah, stop joking Seunghyun. Maybe you and Jiyong planned this out, no? This was going to be your biggest prank this year.” She smiled, nodding. “Okay, I understand. I’ve been completely fooled. Now, bring Jiyong out. That guy is really crazy, making me cry like this. I’ll totally whack him in the head!”

“Dara, stop it! Jiyong…” TOP diverted his eyes. “Jiyong is gone. He won’t be coming back anymore.”

When TOP yelled that, Dara’s knees gave in. She fell to the floor, now a crying mess. She kept on shaking her head and sobbing hard. “No, no. Jiyong won’t do this to me. Jiyong loves me. Jiyong won’t leave me. No…”

Bom hugged Dara tightly. “Dara…”

--

A few hours later, Dara fell asleep on the floor, still crying while Bom held her. TOP helped Bom put Dara in her bed. The couple sighed miserably as they look at her, her face dried with tears.

Bom and TOP went outside to talk. “Were you sure about that, Seunghyun?”

TOP only nodded. “Yeah. I was about to go to the Dean’s Office to ask if Jiyong made an appearance or what when I overheard the Dean talking to the Assistant Dean. He said that he feels really bad letting go of Jiyong since he was one of the treasures of our school. I freaked out and went inside. I asked what he meant and he told me that a relative of Jiyong went to school two days ago to drop him out. I asked him about the reason of his dropping out, but the Dean avoided me and told me that he himself doesn’t know, he also asked the relative but he was told that it was a very private and personal matter to the family. I begged him to tell me anything about Jiyong’s family, even just an address or a contact number but he refused. He said that one of the family’s requests is that the school wouldn’t be allowed to disclose any information about Kwon Jiyong. I tried asking for more, but… he made me leave the office or else he will put me in a disciplinary action. That was when I ran here to tell you guys.”

Bom sighed, disappointed. “Why do you think Jiyong did this? Were we all part of his game from the start? Is this the reason why he never told us anything personal about himself?! So that he could manipulate us in his hands and then leave us hanging in here?!”

TOP held Bom’s hand. “Bommie, you know that Jiyong won’t do that. Maybe he had a reason for concealing things about his family, but I believe that this isn’t it.” He gently responded.

Bom’s tears exploded again. “But… I just really feel bad for my best friend. She was never like that before. Dara was… a bursting bubble of happiness. Even though she’s not feeling good, she’s always cheerful. But now? Can you see her now, Seunghyun? That Dara is gone. She was replaced by some Dara whom I know nothing of.” Bom cried harder as TOP pulled her into his arms.

-End of Flashback-

“Dara? We’re here.” Donghae said as he pulled over in front of Dara’s apartment.

She turned and smiled at him. “Thanks a lot, Hae.”

“Don’t mention it, Dee.” He answered as they got out of the car. Dara waved him goodbye and she sadly made her way to her house.

I don’t think this is just about Dara being surprised by Mr. Kwon, Donghae thought. There’s got to be something more than that.

Donghae could only stare at the petite girl’s retreating back.