Was it actually going to work? Dara thought to herself. Were they going to be able to pull it off sucessfully?

If you asked any normal person, they might've said that they had absolutely no chance, but Jiyong was desperate and Dara was hopeful. The festival was in one week, and Dara was in no way prepared. Jiyong wanted her to perform the song that she did at the dance, but she was doubtful. She would be one of the only contestants performing an original song, and she didn't want that decisions to backfire.

She'd practised it enough times with Jiyong and Bom that she was almost getting tired of the tune. But it would all be worth it in the end. In one week, she could finally be with Jiyong without worrying about Kiko finding out. She would finally be able to be with a guy who liked her because of who she was and not to mention one who had an incredible voice.

All she had to do was sing her song onstage and the people would recognize it immediately. Dae Sung was in charge of damage control. He would release the video of Kiko threatening Jiyong that revealed her true nature and that Dara was the real Mystery Girl. There was absolutely no way that they could fail.

"DumbDara!" Someone was yelling at her.

"Coming!" She yelled back.

When she got to the top of the stairs, Jessica and Krystal were standing at the top with smug smiles on their faces.

"What do you need?" Dara asked simply.

"We need you to water the plants out front." Jessica grinned.

"Nehh." Krystal smiled as well.

"But it rained just last night." Dara gave them suspicious looks.

"We need to be careful, you never know when the next drought may come by." Jessica said.

"The weather for the next few days is supposed to be rainstorm after rainstorm. I'd only be drowning the poor plants." Dara reasoned.

"Yah! Just go water them!" Krystal screeched.

"Arasso, arasso." Dara muttered, making her way outside.

When she closed the door, she found a note taped on the outside. Curious, she ripped it off and read the contents.

Dear Dara,

         Come meet me tonight at my house at midnight, I have some good news to share with you about the festival. I'll leave the backdoor open, just come straight up to my room.

Sincerely, Jiyong

Dara smiled to herself. Of course Jiyong would be the type of guy to leave her a handwritten note instead of a quick text message. She folded the note and hid it in her pocket, certain that if Sung Ryung or her daughters caught her, she'd surely be punished. They didn't know that Jiyong and she had been meeting in secret. They still thought that Kiko was victorious.

Oh, they didn't know how wrong they were.

Dara grinned like a madwoman and headed to the side of the house to get a hose. Maybe tonight would be fun.

-

-

-

Jiyong was doing something big without letting TOP know, which was kind of a first ever since coming back to school. Jiyong was going to attempt to make a sort of peace treaty with Kiko. He asked her the day before, making sure she would come alone. The last thing he needed was Dara's step-sisters spreading some rumor that he and Kiko were actually still into each other.

Well, it was perfectly reasonable to think that somewhere very deep inside Kiko, she might still like him, but if there was anything left, it was a twisted need to latch off of his fame and nothing more. Jiyong most definitely lost his desire for her after he found at she lied to him about being his mystery girl.

Sometimes he feels that he should've known that she'd been lying. Maybe he had always known. Maybe he had just been clinging to this idea of his mystery girl and it put a shroud over his eyes and he only saw the parts of Kiko that he wanted to see. Okay, he was probably seeing a little too deep into his own problems.

Kiko was supposed to be there by now - it was what was getting him so nervous. She could've chosen to not come just to spite him. Or-

His phone rang. It was Teddy ahjussi, the security guard stationed out front.

"Jiyong-ssi, I've got a woman by the name of Kiko Mizuhara trying to get inside the house." He said.

He heard Kiko's voice in the background, she was obviously annoyed. "Just let me in, you creep. Do you know who I am? I'm-"

"Ahjussi, she's my girlfriend. Let her in." Jiyong sighed.

He decided to stay in his room, not wanting to face Teddy's judgemental gaze at his choice in women. Or, at least his father's choice of woman for him.