“So, popcorn and chocolate huh? Never knew you had a knack for… weird mixtures.”

Jessica shot him an unimpressed look then playfully stuck her tongue out. “It is not weird. I would call it… interesting. And don’t deny it, you liked it too.” She swung their intertwined hands, enjoying the cool breeze that followed them as they strolled along the park near her house. “Maybe we should go to the amusement park tomorrow! I bet you’d chicken out at the last minute for the rides.”

 “Jessica there’s another reason why I came back early.” Onew slowed his pace down and pulled her closer. “I have somewhere else to go to.”

Jessica quietly let out a disappointed sigh. “… Another business trip?”

Onew shook his head. “No… no… I don’t leave till another ten days. And I promise that’s the last of my trips till another four months.”

 “So…?”

 “I need to go home.” Jessica glanced at him in confusion. “I mean… home. To my parents.”

 “Ohh! Right.” She sensed his answer was incomplete somehow. “Is that all?”

 “I... was wondering if you wanted to come with?”

She took a seat at a nearby bench, whilst Onew remained standing. “To your parents?” Onew raised his eyebrows as a yes. “Umm… don’t you think it’s still too early? It’s not that I don’t want to meet them, but I don’t know if we’re… we’re… I’m ready... yet.”

He sat next to her and held her hand reassuringly. “It doesn’t have to be anything official Jessica.” He caught her worried expression and his thumb over her palm. “I just want to introduce the girl I’m dating to my parents. And I think this might be the chance to do so.”

 “What if they don’t like me Onew?” she asked with uncertainty. “What if I’m not the girl they want you with? What if I’m not up to their standards? What if-”

He chuckled. “Jessica, that’s not going to happen, and if it did, they can’t do anything about it cos’ I’d still want to be with you.”

She forced out a small smile, not thoroughly convinced. To be honest, this was a day she had been anticipating with slight dread. Meet-the-parents would either end well or horrible; there could be an in between and if there was, she hadn’t heard of it.

 “We haven’t met my parents either,” said Jessica.

 “I saw them briefly at the wedding. That kinda counts no?” Onew attempted to lift the dense atmosphere. “If you want me to meet them, I’ll do it, I will Jess. I’ll go right now and introduce myself properly.” Her hand tightened around his as she smiled at him gratefully. “So, what do you think?”

***

The drive home was quiet. Too quiet in fact. Doojoon parked his car and turned off the engine. “Oppa, talk to me.”

 “About what?”

 “You haven’t said a single word since we got into the car,” Krystal said with distress. “Is this about the conversation back at the restaurant?”

 “It’s late and I’m tired Krystal, OK. You should head in too.”

 “No, not until we talk.” She took off her seatbelt and turned herself so that she could face Doojoon. “What is this about?”

 “Nothing, Krystal. I’m really worn out and… maybe I ate something wrong back there.” He pretended not to notice Krystal staring at him, choosing instead to look forward. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Krystal leaned forward and twisted his head to face her, cupping his chin, taking a good long look at him. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

 “It’s just… what you said before… what did you mean?” Doojoon shook his head, frowning as he spoke. “What were you hinting at?”

 “Oppa, I really didn’t-“

 “You were thinking thoughtlessly? Is that what you were going to say?”

Krystal nodded eagerly. “Yes. And I was talking in reference to my sister.” She paused. “I thought with Onew travelling so much, and they’ve only just started dating… the trust and I guess emotions, between them wouldn’t be as strong. And men… well men being men, y’know they get easily distracted and-“

 “And so they would get tempted by other women and cheat on their girlfriends?” He asked, with his voice slightly raised.

 “Well yeah. When people cheat, the trust you built can just be gone, with a blink of an eye.” She inhaled slowly. “It happened to my sister. You don’t even know the half of what she’s gone through. I can see Onew’s a nice guy, but sometimes… I don’t know... I don’t want it happening again.”

 “Did you ever doubt me?”

 “What?”

 “Did you ever once doubt me?” Doojoon waited for her answer, the silence getting longer by the second. “Did you think that I’d be unfaithful to you?”

 “I wasn’t talking about us, I was talking about Jes-“

Doojoon gritted his teeth. “Really? Are you sure that’s who we’re talking about right now?”

 “Yes. Wha-…“ Krystal stared at her boyfriend, bewildered. “What has gotten into you?”

 “You tell me. Why can’t you answer the question?” Doojoon shot back, glaring at her. “If we’re simply talking about your sister, then why can’t you answer my question Soojung?”

Krystal was speechless, flustered at his sudden outburst. She felt her eyes moisten and clenched her jaw, as she prevented herself from crying out. “I… I think I should go now.”

 “Yeah.”

 “Goodnight.” She slammed the door shut as Doojoon stared after her, her walking figure disappearing into the dark.

She couldn’t answer him; and that was what pained him most.

***

 “…Maybe he was being cranky Soojung.”

Krystal shook her head vigorously, choking back her sobs as she tried to speak. “No… no… this was different. We’ve disagreed, we’ve argued but… but it wasn’t ever like this…”

 “Everyone has arguments… it’s what couples do,” comforted Suzy, feeling restless that this was the most she could do over the phone.  

 “I d-don’t know why he got so angry… I wasn’t even talking about us. Not even remotely directing it to us.” She hiccupped, her tears slowly subsiding. “He misunderstood what I meant and I couldn’t… I couldn’t… he…” And she burst out crying again as the scene replayed in her mind. The way Doojoon’s eyes flashed and the stern tone of his voice. “Suzy, you should have heard him just now…”

 “OK, you know what you should do now? Firstly, calm down… stop crying,” instructed Suzy. Krystal took a long deep breath, fighting the strong urge to cry again. “Wash up and change, then I’ll take a cab to your house and we’ll finish talking about this later alright?”

Krystal heard the front door of the house click and heard the patter of her sister’s feet climbing the stairs. “No, no don’t come over,” said Krystal, getting off her bed and heading to her sister’s room. “Jessica unnie’s home, I’ll go talk to her now…”

 “Are you sure?”

 “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s two in the morning anyway; I don’t want you out at this time.” Krystal wiped away the dry tears on her face and sniffed. “Thanks Suzy.”

 “Anytime. Don’t forget to put some eye packs on those eyes… don’t want to be going to school looking puffy,” said Suzy teasingly causing Krystal to lightly sniffle.

***

He found himself at the school’s football field, still upset since leaving Krystal’s house. And he wasn’t the only one that was there at this time of night.

 “Oh Doojoon hyung, what are you doing here?”

Great, just the person I want to bump into. “I just thought of kicking around some balls… relieves stress.” Doojoon found a ball and dribbled it away, hoping that Minho would get the hint that he did not feel like having a friendly chit-chat.

 “Do you wanna have a one-on-one game?”

 “No, I think I’ll settle with some solo practice,” said Doojoon with a clipped tone which Minho noticed.

 “You alright hyung?”

Doojoon put on a tense smile. “Yeah. Fine. Great.” He continued playing alone, ignoring Minho’s presence.

 “I'll head off then, don’t want to distract you.” The air remained silent except for the sound of feet hitting the ball. “I’ll catch you around later.”

 “Yeah.” Minho grabbed his things and skipped out, leaving an agitated Doojoon.

He didn’t know why he reacted that way back there with Krystal. Never once, out of all the disagreements, out of all the little arguments… never once had he ever snapped at her like that. Out of the two of them, he was usually calm; Krystal was the rash one.

But something just cracked in him and it all just spilled out.

 “…you should watch your girlfriend.”

 “…in the early stages of a relationship it’s where people sometimes waver.”

Doojoon kicked the ball furiously, channelling his anger towards the goal. Grunting at the annoying intrusion, he reached into his pocket  to answer his phone.

Jessica.

***

So here's another chapter. Hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be able to get another chapter or two up in the next few days! As long as I don't get writer's block :(  Saw fancams of Jessica and Krystal's California Gurls performance, I LOVED IT! Total spaz at the adlibs. And the MBC Google Concert too haha!Thanks for reading! Love :) xoxo

P.S. And I promise you, chocolate and popcorn is not disgusting! The mix of salt and sweetness! I remember I found it super weird when I watched 'First Daughter' (Yes Katie Holmes people haha) but I tried it out sometime ago and seriously.. SO GOOD!