You have pretty much been Dara's protector ever since middle school, and you weren't about to stop now that both you and Dara were college students.

Dara has always been an anxious mess, a jumpy scaredy cat who would screech and shudder from his own shadow but you were almost like his emotional support dog in a way, always there to help him whenever he got nervous and anxious.

The cheetah boy appreciated you a lot, he felt like he would die without his emotional support best friend so his panic sadly grew when he realised he was being to like you in a less platonic way... He didn't want to lose you if you didn't feel the same way so in a desperate attempt to keep you close to him, he refused to ever tell you, swearing to himself that you would never know that he liked you.

Still, Dara wasn't very good at keeping secrets and he was painfully obvious even when he was trying to hide it.

"W-What...!? N-No! O-Of course I don't like you like that... hehe! Um... I-I really don't! I promise! We're friends, best buddies, pals, comrades, companions...!" Dara rambled onto you with a blush on his spotted face, his breathing heavy and his golden yellow eyes wide with panic.

You figured you'd save Dara the trouble and just ask him straight if he liked you. Apparently that only made things worse.