Let's Not Fall In Love

Chapter 9

If it were a romantic movie Dara would have sighed dreamily up into Heechul's face as he was slowly lowering Dara down to her feet. The sweet minty warmth of their intermingling breaths enticing them to get closer to each other. The two of them would stare deeply into each others' eyes while the rest of the world melted away leaving them both inside their little warm bubble of surreal reality. But real life was not a romantic movie and Dara was anything but a graceful heroine.

So as the cheers and yells started to die down, Dara's whirling senses started to come down to earth and her myopic eyes have now zeroed in on her archenemy. She found out that she did not exactly appreciate the up close and personal sight of the guy's seemingly poreless skin.

For a second the crowd went silent as they watched the disgust start to show on Dara's face, followed by the reflex recoil and automatic rebound of her head. As her forehead connected viciously with Heechul's face a collective gasp came from the crowd. The next thing Dara knew was that her butt hurt and she was sprawled on the stage floor. She looked up to see a trail of red trickle from Heechul's lips.

Oops! She gave him a peace sign in apology. Heechul's face had grown serious as he swiped a finger to wipe the blood off from his bruised lips. Dara started to shimmy away from him knowing that he would most probably retaliate but the unexpected amused lift that was soon seen on the corners of Heechul's lips confused her and she stopped midscramble.

He then looked down at her and to her surprise held out a hand to help her up. In her confusion, she automatically reached out for his hand, temporarily forgetting that Heechul constantly figured in her life as one of the antagonists that could singlehandedly ruin any perfectly good day for her. The momentum of his pull catapulted her up towards him and he caught her arms to steady her.

The crowd was mesmerized into temporary silence at their uncharacteristic interaction on stage. The MC was still pointing the mic near them, determined to broadcast to the entire hall whatever the unlikely couple would utter to each other.

His next words were amplified clearly for everyone to hear. "I didn't know you wanted to kiss me that much, Park. You didn't have to go and bruise my lips for it." Then before she could even blink his arms had pulled her close and his lips had briefly touched hers. Then he let her go as the hospital PA system chose that exact moment to announce, "Paging Dr. Kim Heechul to the ER now. Paging Dr. Kim Heechul to the ER now."

He turned towards the crowd and gave them a mischievous grin. He then deliberately spoke to the mic and said, "As much as I would like to stay and provide you with another month's worth of gossip, duty calls." He then gave a brief mocking salute and hurried off the stage towards the exit, leaving a stupefied Dara on the stage.