Time passes by, and Heechul and Donghae continue on as if their interaction after Heechul’s dinner with Jessica had never happened. Their interactions with Jessica, however, are an entirely different matter.

Donghae and Heechul are sitting across from each other in the company’s cafeteria making idle conversation when Jessica strolls up to them and sits down on the chair next to Heechul. Immediately, Heechul scoots his chair over, putting a bit of space between him and Jessica. Jessica raises an eyebrow at his actions, but doesn’t comment.

“Pretty Sica!” Donghae greets. “Did you eat yet?”

She quirks a smile at the nickname. “No, not yet.”

Donghae immediately frowns. “That’s no good. Why don’t you go get some food? We’ll still be here.”

Jessica eyes the long line and shakes her head. “Maybe later.”

“Yah, don’t tell me you’re on a diet. You’re thin enough as it is.” Heechul says, lightly pinching Jessica’s arm.

Jessica immediately smacks his arm several times in response, prompting Heechul to laugh.

“Ah, and there it is! The famous Popcorn Sik! Hit her once and get ten or more back.”

“Don’t call me weird things!”

Heechul chuckles, and ruffles her hair affectionately. “Such a lovely dongsaeng.” he says, casually putting an arm around her shoulders.

Jessica pouts and looks over to the oddly silent Donghae. “Babo Bada! Help me out. I can’t deal with this weirdo all by myself.”

At her request, Donghae’s head snaps up as if he was brought out of a daze. He stares at the close contact of the two, briefly making eye contact with Heechul.

Brief as it is, Heechul doesn’t miss the hurt in his eyes.

Immediately, Heechul stands up from his seat.

“Oh? Where are you going now?” Jessica asks.

“Getting you some food.” Heechul mutters, stalking off to join the queue.

Donghae and Jessica are then enveloped in an awkward silence after Heechul’s abrupt departure. Jessica says nothing, making no effort to start up a conversation, and absentmindedly stares in Donghae’s direction. Donghae on the other hand, is the complete opposite. His hands fidget a bit, knee bouncing as he tries to ignore her gaze. He quickly gets fed up and attempts to break the ice.

“Sooyeon-ah~” Donghae croons.

The effect of his aegyo is immediate. She wrinkles her nose in disgust and casts an icy glare at him.

“Don’t be like that! I haven’t seen you lately.” Donghae whines, pouting for full effect.

Jessica scoffs at him, shaking her head lightly at his ridiculousness.

“What, am I your only friend? You still have Heechul oppa, Yunho oppa, Jaejoong oppa – “

“Yah! What did I tell you before? Why do you call them oppa, but not me?”

“Because you’re a babo fish.” she responds without hesitation.

Donghae gives her a blank stare in response. “…A fish?

Jessica nods her head in affirmation. “Yeah, a fishy oppa.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that many people consider me to be a handsome prince, not some fish… Wait…” Donghae’s eyes suddenly widen with realization. He immediately stands up from his seat, leaning in a bit closer. “What? What was that? Did you just call me oppa?”

She leans back, cheeks warm, feeling a bit uncomfortable with him getting all up in her face so abruptly. “A fishy oppa.” she emphasizes.

“But still an oppa!” he exclaims giddily. Ignorant to the people around them staring in curiosity, he does a fist pump at his victory, laughing with triumph.

She rolls her eyes at his silliness, but smiles at him with a genuine fondness reflected in her eyes.

Weeks pass without either boy seeing Jessica, the both of them too busy with preparations for debut, while she is swamped with schoolwork.

Jessica flops down on her bed, exhausted from her classes. To top it off, her teacher had given a bunch of homework to be submitted the next day. Sighing, she starts up her computer when suddenly a thought crosses her.

“I can’t make it today…” she says to herself. “That lonely babo might worry.”

She logs on to her Cyworld and drafts a message. Once she reads it over, she sends it and quickly closes the browser before starting her work, blocking out any other thoughts from distracting her.

Back at the company, Donghae sulks in the corner of the dance room.

“Where is she? She told me she’d meet me before practice today.” he mumbles to himself.

Heechul walks into the room and finds Donghae in the corner, curled up into a depressed-looking blob, mumbling things that are incomprehensible to him. Heechul, the tactful person he is, kicks the younger boy lightly. “Yah, Donghae! What’s with you?! Look at yourself, is this any way for a future idol to act?”

“Sooyeon isn’t here. She said she’ll meet me today.” Donghae finally grumbles coherently enough for Heechul to understand.

Heechul stiffens at the mention of Jessica, but is determined to bring Donghae out of his depressive state. Thinking quickly, he grasps Donghae’s arms and tries to hoist him up. “Get over yourself, Donghae-ah. Maybe she has other things to do and is too busy to contact you. Come on, let’s practice.”

“Don’t wanna.” Donghae whines petulantly, resisting the older boy’s tugs, stubbornly trying to keep his spot on the floor.

The tug of war continues on, even as their fellow trainees walk into the room. They are mostly unfazed by the display, used to the attitude of both Heechul and Donghae, but Leeteuk would have none of it.

“Yah. Heenim, what’s going on?”

Heechul huffs, and walks over to the other boys, giving up on his efforts to get Donghae to move. “Ask this lazy blob over here.”

Leeteuk cautiously approaches the blob now known as Donghae, and crouches down to his level.

“Donghae-ah…” Leeteuk says gently. “Is something the matter?”

“No.” Donghae says quickly, embarrassed to share his so-called girl troubles with his leader.

Leeteuk looks at him dubiously, obviously not fooled. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, hyung.” Donghae replies succinctly, still not looking at Leeteuk in the eyes.

Despite the clear show of disrespect by Donghae, Leeteuk just decides to let it go.

“Alright then, let’s start practice.”

Reluctantly, Donghae pushes himself off the floor to join his fellow members. Eunhyuk walks up to him, a concerned look on his face.

“Donghae, are you okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” he replies, a strained smile on his face.

The other guys notice something off about Donghae but decide not to comment on his behavior, knowing that he’s the kind of person that’s always bound to open up sooner or later when something is bothering him.

Donghae does his stretches in silence, consumed by his thoughts.

Did I do something wrong? But that’s impossible – we haven’t even seen each other these past few weeks.

The thought hits him as they’re in the middle of practicing Twins, causing him to stop right in the middle of their routine. Even as some of s bump into him due to being thrown off from their dancing by his sudden stop, he pays the reprimands of s little attention.

Or maybe it’s not that our schedules are conflicting… Maybe she’s deliberately ignoring me! Maybe she got tired of me. But why?

“Yah! Donghae! Focus!” Leeteuk’s snaps at him.

“Yes, hyung” Donghae replies surly, barely acknowledging the anger of his leader.

Donghae practices with a sour look on his face for the rest of the day, rushing over to check his phone every time they take breaks but to no avail.

The next day arrives and Donghae still hasn’t caught a glimpse of or received any word from Jessica. His behavior from the day before carries over to practice again, but this time the boys are more tactful and encourage him to go home early, saying he looks tired and deserves a break. Donghae leaves without protest, not feeling up for training.

Once home, he stalks over to his room without a word, silently closing the door behind him so as not to alert his family to his presence – he’d much rather be alone at the moment. After moping around a bit he starts up his computer to play some games, hoping to distract himself, and instead notices a notification in his browser. Absentmindedly, he notes to himself that he hasn’t checked his Cyworld in awhile and logs on without a second thought. His heart skips a beat once the website loads and shows the past activity on his homepage.

NO. 92 Jessica (2004.03.22 17:22)

Oppa~~!! Hi~ keke
I just got home from school..-0-
I can’t go to practice today…_ _;
So I’ll see you some other time! Babo bada work hard~ kekeke

And just like that, a big, goofy grin blooms on Donghae’s face. Taking some time to compose himself, he grabs a pillow and buries his face into it, mentally berating himself.

Stupid, you jumped to conclusions just because you missed the message that she sent you! He lets out a frustrated groan into his pillow. I really am a babo bada, aren’t I?

Once sufficiently calm, his fingers fly across the keyboard to send a response. After several failed attempts to come up with a nonchalant sounding response, he manages to compose a short reply.

Lee Donghae: Okay~ Take care of yourself and I’ll see you at the office!^^ (2004.03.23 14:45)

He scrutinizes the single-lined message and sends it before he can second-guess himself.

When Donghae shows up to practice the next day with a big grin plastered on his face and an unnervingly upbeat aura, the guys aren’t sure whether to be glad or creeped out.

Despite his message to Jessica saying that he’ll see her back at the company, their schedules just don’t seem to work out for them. So one day, Donghae takes it upon himself to go see her, even if only for a short while. He finds out from some other trainees that she has vocal practice in about ten minutes.

It’s not much, but it’ll be enough time to catch up. He thinks to himself as he makes his way over to the training room, determined. Before entering the room, he takes a few deep breaths to calm himself.

It’s just Sooyeon, babo. Nothing to be afraid of.

And with that, he silently opens the door, the greeting on his lips dying immediately as he sees that Jessica is not alone in the practice room. Jessica doesn’t seem to take notice of his entrance, but Taeyeon and their vocal trainer unfortunately do, causing him to chicken out.

“Jessica hwaiting!” he yells, then promptly runs out as fast as he can, face burning in embarrassment.

“Jessica hwaiting!”

Immediately, Jessica turns around at the familiar voice.

“Donghae…?” she mumbles, turning to look at Taeyeon questioningly. Her fellow trainee merely shrugs her shoulders before turning back to face their trainer with whom she shares a sly smirk with.

Throughout the rest of their practice, Jessica periodically checks the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of the older boy.

Later that night, Jessica decides to send Donghae a message, still a bit perplexed over what had occurred earlier that day.

NO. 314 Jessica (2004.04.02 23:43)

Babo! I’m here~
You said hi~~ when I was having my singing lesson today, right? Keke
But as soon as I turned to look, you disappeared..-0- What was that~
Anyways..I came to oppa’s homepage~
––; You should come to mine, too

She waits a few minutes before logging off.

He’s probably asleep by now, anyway.

At his own home, Donghae is unable to sleep. He logs on to his Cyworld and when he sees Jessica’s post, he becomes embarrassed all over again. It takes him awhile to think of an adequate response, but he eventually types out a message and shuts off his computer, deciding to try and sleep off his embarrassment.

Lee Donghae: Okay^^ Pretty Sica!! I’ll go visit yours~ (2004.04.03 00:42)

A few days later after a long morning of training, Jessica finds herself with quite a bit of free time. As she exits the training room she uses for vocal practice, she remembers how Donghae surprised her earlier that week.

And so, she decides to be the one to surprise him this time.

Grinning to herself, she quickly makes her way through the hallway to the practice room for Donghae’s group. She opens the door, careful not to make any noise, and peers into the room. Immediately, she spots Donghae in the corner of the room with his eyes closed, apparently sleeping. Heechul is the first to notice her presence, but only waves at her as a greeting before turning back to talk with Hangeng. The other members start to take notice of her but she puts a finger against her lips, signaling for them to keep quiet. They regard her curiously, and she merely offers a mischievous smile back in response. She cups her hands to like a makeshift megaphone and takes a deep breath before shouting,

“FISHY OPPA HWAITING!”

The guys watch amusedly as she hightails it out of the room, giggling all the way.

“FISHY OPPA HWAITING!”

Donghae’s eyes immediately snap open upon hearing the oh-so familiar voice. He hastily stands up from his place on the floor, but upon looking around the room becomes disappointed when all he sees are the amused faces of his group members.

Siwon nudges him a bit with his elbow, a -eating grin on his face.

“So… Sica, huh?”

The other guys burst into laughter as Donghae’s face turns pink.

NO. 416 Jessica (2004.04.09 11:24)

Hey~babo!
I’m here~~~keke
You saw me yesterday, right?
Anyways..
Don’t be cautious of the cold~
Don’t take care of your body~
Don’t do good in practice~^_^ Bye---«

Time passes by, and Donghae, Jessica, and Heechul finally find some time to themselves. The three are catching up over lunch; however Jessica has her laptop on the table beside her food, various documents of her homework open.

“Sickal.” Heechul says to the girl sitting across him.

“What.” Jessica replies, not even looking up from her computer’s screen.

“Why don’t you take a break?”

“Can’t.”

“Yah, you’ve been ignoring me and Donghae for the past half hour.” Heechul says, frustration evident in his voice. “I thought we were supposed to catch up. At this rate, we may as well all go home since it seems that you still don’t have time in your schedule for your friends.”

A guilty expression crosses her face and she immediately halts her typing

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’ll just go to the bathroom first, alright?” she says, standing up. “Then the both of you can tell me what’s been going on with you guys lately.”

Heechul and Donghae nod in acknowledgment. Satisfied, she leaves the table.

Minutes pass and Donghae stands up to go over to Jessica’s side of the table, curious about what was keeping her so preoccupied.

“Heechul! She left her computer open. Check out all these papers! No wonder she’s always so busy. Math, History, Physics, English…” he says, scrolling through Jessica’s laptop.

Heechul rolls his eyes at Donghae’s antics. “Make sure you don’t mess anything up. Sica will kill you if anything happens.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Donghae waves away the older boy’s concerns. He sits down and makes himself comfortable on the seat beside Jessica’s, turning the laptop towards himself. Immediately, he notices an internet browser open, and clicks on it. A mischievous grin creeps onto his face once he sees Jessica’s Cyworld page.

NO. 672 Jessica (2004.05.09 12:24)

It’s fun being alone..
But I missed having lunch with my handsome fish prince oppa^^
Keke~

Satisfied with his writing, he turns the laptop around for Heechul to see. The older boy snorts at him response, eyes fixated behind Donghae.

“She’s on her way back now.”

With a yelp, Donghae quickly closes the browser and puts the laptop back where Jessica had left it, just as she approaches the table. She raises an eyebrow at him as she sits down.

“Why did you change seats?”

“I just missed my Pretty Sica, what’s wrong with that?” he replies innocently.

Heechul scoffs, and underneath the table, Donghae kicks his leg.

Later that day after dinner, Jessica checks her Cyworld.

Why do I have so many notifications…?

After scrolling through numerous comments, Jessica finally stumbles upon the problematic post.

That babo fish… She thinks, cheeks turning red, part embarrassment and part anger.

NO. 673 Jessica (2004.05.09 18:23)

I’m going to delete you as a friend… -0-
You’re the one that wrote it’s fun being alone…
Now people are going to think it’s me!!
Keke.. babo~ Bye

A couple of days after practice, Donghae suddenly remembers what he wrote on Jessica’s Cyworld. As soon as he gets home, he logs on and finds himself laughing at both the comments on his post, and her reply.

But she didn’t delete my post. He thinks with a smile.

Lee Donghae: Wow~ You’re going to delete me~ How cheap.

The grin on his face lasts the whole night.

And with that, Chapter 2 has come to a close! Some of my favorite HaeSica interactions are their Cyworld conversations, so here's my interpretation on what might have caused those conversations. All the Cyworld talks are real conversations between Donghae and Jessica, except for entry 672. I made that one up.