Dragon's Butterfly (Hiatus)

Emperor 001 -- Who Is She Again?

Kang Daesung 

(Author's Note: Supposedly, this chapter will be based on Jiyong's perspective. Too bad for me, I found this way easier to write on Daesung's perspective because of his personality, unlike Jiyong's [you had a peek of it in a short chap in his point-of-view]. I hope it's okay. And oh, should I change the book's 'cover' or not? ^^?)

I sat down on the table, still frowning on what happened a moment ago. Hmm, I think I made a wrong move by saying 'hi' to her. But I really wanted her to be my friend. Is that so wrong?

Oh, right. That would be so wrong—especially that the four are with me. Did I intimidate her?

“What's with the sad face, Daesung-ah?” Taeyang asked, putting his tray on the table.

“Possibly because of the scene he caused earlier,” Seungri snickered.

I cast him a dark look. Now I understand why his sister looked like she wanted to rip his head off—he really is annoying. Especially at this point.

“Seungri,” Taeyang muttered, making Seungri effectively quiet. Thank goodness.

“You and your unstoppable nature to make friends,” Seunghyun said gently. “You liked her attitude, am I right?”

I smiled up at him as he took a bite of his burger. “Shy, but she's smart. A new girl, I hear.”

“You always hear things,” Seungri muttered absentmindedly.

I sighed. As irritating and embarrassing as it sounds, I always hear sounds.

“New girl?” Taeyang asked.

I shrugged. “I don't exactly know. All I'm hearing is, she dresses up like she's not from Seoul.”

Taeyang shrugged. “I'd noticed.”

Jiyong finally sat on his chair, still quiet and . . . well, cold as always. He was just silent as he ate his food.

“So what was her name?” Seunghyun queried as I started eating as well. “I only got to know her first name—Sandara.”

“Sandara?” Taeyang repeated and took a gulp of his juice. “Really? That's the first time I heard such name.”

“Sandara who, Daesung?” Seunghyun wondered as he sipped on his slushie.

“Park Sandara,” I replied.

Seunghyun and Taeyang practically spat their drinks on the table.

“YAH! Disgusting!” Seungri, Jiyong and I growled at them.

“Sandara what?!” Seunghyun and Taeyang exclaimed, completely ignoring the mess they made.

“Park Sandara, you morons,” I muttered. “I'll write it out for you if you want.”

Seunghyun gaped at me, his burger falling off from his hands. As for Taeyang, he looked at me like I'd grown three heads and a tail.

“Another Park again?!” Seunghyun finally said. “First it was Park Bom. Then Park Sandara?”

I facepalmed—and saw Seungri did the same thing as well. Don't tell me that until now--

“You're still looking for her?” Seungri asked, finishing my train of thought.

Seunghyun shrugged. “What? Just so you know, everybody is looking for her, if you know what I mean.”

At the corner of my eye, I saw Jiyong sigh and move his food away from him. His eyes suddenly looked distant, as if he was thinking of something.

“From my perspective, it's impossible she's the one we're looking for,” Taeyang said quietly. “She doesn't look like one . . .”

“Don't judge a book by its cover, Taeyang,” Seunghyun told him pointedly.

Taeyang glared at him. “Yeah, tell that to yourself. You sound like you hadn't thought before that Bom is the--”

“Shut up,” Jiyong snapped coldly and turned to look at us. His eyes were like freezing marbles of dark ice.

I sighed inwardly. So much had changed ever since . . .

“I know this is a f.cking race for her, but do you mind not talking about it for now?” he said, traces of venom in his tone. “Besides, I don't think that little girl is the one whom we're looking for.”

Little girl? Did he mean Sandara?

“But Jiyong--” Seunghyun started, but Jiyong cut him off.

“We have to make them think we're not interested,” Jiyong said. “We all know that they're here, right?”

We all nodded, but I can tell that they were all confused on what Jiyong was planning. But I think I'm getting a clue . . .

“You're right, Daesung,” he said, looking at me. I got the sense that he could read what was going on in my head. “As much as possible, we have to be very careful so as not to cause any . . . trouble in Seoul. Even though our presence is a city fact, still we have to make sure that the government does not mess with this. You know what kind of sh.t this would put us in.”

We sighed as we got his point. Sure, we could get away with this with our wealth and connections . . . but our lives will be at stake here. Like what happened years ago . . .

. . . which became the reason why Jiyong wasn't the same Kwon Jiyong I'd known.