“The Ice Princess has graced us!” squealed Tiffany as she ran over to give a bear hug to Jessica. Jessica returned the hug with a smile. “I know I spoke to you last night but are you OK?”

Jessica hesitated a bit before reassuring Tiffany by taking hold of her hand. “Yeah, I’m fine. At least tonight should get my mind off things. Now where’s our Yoona and Hyoyeon?”

 “Went to the washroom to touch up,” said Taeyeon. “Thanks for saying hi by the way.” The three of them embraced each other with a laugh. As they sat down, three girls made their way to the table.

 “My unnies! I’ve missed you guys so much,” Yoona pulled the chair out only to be sat by Hyoyeon. “That was my seat!”

 “Our Yoona’s so polite, pulling chairs out for the elders,” joked Hyoyeon. Sooyoung jealously looked on, “It’s been less than a month since we last met up, Yoona.”

 “Yeah, but I hadn’t seen Sica unnie or Tiffany unnie in two months.”

  Sunny finally arrived with an unknown guest in tow. Dressed smart casual, the man was scrutinised carefully by the girls sat. Sunny waved at the girls, then turned to the man and whispered something. The man nodded in response and headed in another direction.

 “Hey, girlies! Miss me?” Sunny dropped her bag on to an empty chair. “Oh, Yuri and Seohyun can’t make it. Yuri promised Khun a date night. And maknae has her thesis to sort out.”

“Oh yeah Key can’t make it either. The idiot almost forgot that today was his anniversary with Nicole. So who’s the guy? He looks hot,” Sooyoung dipped the bread stick into one of the dip bowls. “Blehhh, what the hell is this? Ewww blue cheese.”

Meanwhile, Jessica stared off into the distance, zoning out of the conversation. Is it wrong for me to wonder how he’s been?

“Right, I’m going for my blind date that Sunny set up for me,” Taeyeon got up from her seat and lightly brushed her hair down. “And please pray that I don’t make an embarrassment of myself in front of him.”

“You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” cheered the girls.

***

Onew sat in his office, staring into space. He glanced at his desk clock. 8.00 pm. Normally he would’ve left a half hour ago. It was his previous conversation with Sunny that kept him. He hadn’t realised that it had been two years. She’s gone Onew. Did you expect her to come back?

No, but it would’ve been nice for her to visit.

Even if she did visit, what could you have done?

 “Onew, I’m heading out. You coming?” G.O broke into his thoughts, peeking into the office. “I’m gonna head to Sunny’s dinner for a bit.”

 “Oh yeah, hyung, let me get my coat and we can leave.”

G.O turned to Onew, as they waited for the elevator. “You OK? You look sorta.. dazed. I’m not loading you with too much work am I?”

 “No no, I’m just thinking. Randomly. You know me.”

 “Ahh right. Man, I hope Taeyeon’s there.” Onew looked to G.O with a questioning look on his face.

“Taeyeon? Vocal coach Taeyeon?”

 “Yeah, I knew her way back,” G.O. smiled shyly and continued, “We were at this singing competition. She beat me to first place but girl has some amazing vocals. So I admit defeat.”

 “And because you… fell for her.”

 “That too.”

 ***

 G.O and Onew found the girls at their table, with Changmin and Joon who had arrived just minutes before.

 “Oh, you guys made it. Everyone this is Byunghee oppa and you've met Onew,” introduced Sunny. A wave of hellos and handshakes were exchanged.

 “Please call me G.O.” He looked around the table. “Where’s Taeyeon?”

 “She’s on a date I set her up,” answered Sunny. “Lee Jinki! What did u do to my food?”

 “Sorry that whiff of chicken was just way too good to be ignored,” Onew mumbled with a mouthful, “it’s not like you could have finished all of it, Soonkyu!”

 Laughter filled the table. “The name’s Sunny. S-U-N-N-Y.”

 “Yeah yeah. You’re still Lee Soonkyu.”

Onew surveyed the table as he looked for an empty seat and found the only one available was at the other end, between Tiffany and a girl with blonde hair. He caught her eyes for what seemed to be about a minute but lasted a few seconds in reality.

 “May I take a seat here?” The girl nodded as she picked her bag off the chair. “Thanks.”

Silence enveloped them, as they watched the others converse with one another. Onew cleared his throat as he thought of how to break this awkwardness. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Onew.”

 “I know,” came the reply. Oh, yeah I introduced myself just now.

 “You must be Jessica,” said Onew as he turned to face her. There it was again. That piercing look. She raised her eyebrow. “Ahh no I mean, it’s just. Uhh, I’ve met the others here and it’s only you that I heard of but uh you know, haven’t seen. So I just assumed.” Nice Onew. Fumble over your words.

 “And you must be the cousin that complained about Sunny’s feet.” Onew didn’t know how to respond. She had said it with such a straight face. Jessica’s lips curved into a small smile.   “I know so cos' she mentioned you earlier. She was ranting about how expensive they were,” Jessica sipped her drink as she faced Onew. “Since this is our first acquaintance, I’m Jessica Jung, fashion designer at Rainbow Designs.”

 “Onew. I work at SM Entertainment. I’m working under Soonkyu unfortunately.”

 A napkin flew towards his direction. “Yah I heard that!” Onew’s phone vibrated. He checked his newly received message.

Dude do you know where Taeyeon went for her date?

Hyung, how would I know that? She should be around here anyway since Sunny set them up.

OK cool. I’m gonna try and snoop around.

 “Sorry about that. So you’re a designer?”

 “Yep. It’s only been 2 months since I’ve been off probation but it’s going well,” said Jessica. “You?”

 “I do bits and pieces here and there. Don’t have an official title yet.” The conversation continued surprisingly well, despite Onew’s first impression of her. He found out that she was born in the States and came to Korea at the age of 11. She was the eldest of 2 siblings, her younger sister still a university student. She’d known Sunny and the rest for quite some time, since their uni days. And it had been awhile since they’d had their ritual meet-up.

 Jessica in return learnt that Onew was an only child, and Sunny was his cousin on his paternal side. Growing up together they were practically siblings. He started working at the company a year ago, and recently decided to pursue a degree in Music. He knew Changmin since high school and met Joon through G.O.

 The night prolonged till about 11pm. Those that remained were Onew, Jessica, Sooyoung, Changmin and Sunny. G.O returned a while ago, with a moody expression.

 Changmin scooted over to the seat next to Onew, while Jessica excused herself to the washroom. “So, things going well with the Ice Princess?”

 “Ice Princess?”

 “Jessica’s nickname,” Changmin nodded over to the vacant seat Jessica sat in, grabbing the last slice of pizza off the table. “I’m sure you experienced it.”

 “She seems alright. We had a pretty good chat.”

 “Took me 2 whole months till I had a decent conversation with her,” Changmin noticed Sooyoung glaring at him, “Babe you know the rules. He who sees it first, eats it.”

 The waiters came and cleared the table and Jessica returned.

 “Hey oppa, how’s your leg?” asked Jessica to Changmin.

 “It’s better. I should be able to play again in 2 weeks. Sooyoung won’t be happy though. She’s been nagging me every day to keep taking those meds.”

 Eventually everyone stood up and said their goodbyes.

 “It was nice meeting you again Jessica,” Onew said, as he stuck his hand out. Jessica looked at it for a while before grasping it.

 “Again?”

 Once again, Onew was flustered at her response. “Well what I mean is, uhh, since I had already said nice to meet you, and I didn’t want to like repeat myself I fi-“

 “I’m kidding, Onew. I’m glad to have met you too. Really.” Jessica smiled sincerely. “See you again!”

***