Chapter 21 – I’m Here
Kwon Household – YoonYul’s room

“It’s so great to hear that the ‘good plan’ of yours has been canceled. You don’t know how many nightmares I had about Fany found out about this. Taeyeon said on the other line of the phone in a relieved tone. “But I think I’ll tell Fany about the acting married couple thing. Maybe Yuri hasn’t told her yet since I don’t see her saying anything about this.” 

Yoona rolled her eyes while pressing the phone to her left ear. This was probably the sixth and seventh times the name ‘Tiffany’ came up in their conversation for the last fifteen minutes. This girl was unbelievable. How could she be totally whipped by the eye-smile girl in less than a month?

“As I was saying… We might be stuck in LA for a while. Maybe for another week. And you, Kim Taeyeon, you’d better not changing our house into your love nest. I’m warning you.”

“Jeez, what do you have to warn me to for? Our house is perfectly fine under my control.”

“The fact that it’s under your control is a thread itself, Taeyeon-ah.” 

“Yah!”

Yoona chuckled, “Alright, alright. I’m done messing with you.” Stopping for a moment, Yoona took a deep breath in, “Uhm… Taeyeon-ah?”

“What?” Came the crumbly voice on the other line. Obviously, she was still mad about the ‘love nest’ thing.

“These days… I’m feeling like I’m not myself anymore.” Yoona said. Recently, she didn’t have the mood of going clubbing at night, even when there was a pretty girl hit on her, she would care less. Frankly, she felt like those walls she had been building around her heart for three years were slowly tumbling down one by one and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. 

After a good five minutes silence was on both sides, Yoona took the phone away from her ear to check if the line went dead. As she looked at the screen, Taeyeon was still there, “Taeyeon-ah, are you still there?”

“Ah, yeah, I’m still here.” Taeyeon quickly replied, “And… why is that?”

“I don’t know why exactly. I just feel like… I’m changing... a lot.”

The other line was silent again. But Yoona didn’t ask for her presence, she knew Taeyeon was still there. She stayed silent because she was thinking carefully of the answers she was about to give. As her best friend, Taeyeon had a whole new different method of giving out advices compared to Jessica who would always insisted on knowing the whole story before she decided to say or advise anything. Taeyeon, on the other hand, she actually didn’t have to understand the situation thoroughly, she only needed time. Five minutes, thirty minutes, one hour, one day, or even a week, a month, through out that time she would stay silent and kept that mystery matter at the back of her mind. And it would stay there until she could think of an appropriate solution to that issue or Yoona came up and claimed that she was now okay.

Taeyeon was all that Yoona needed at this moment. An advisor who could give some quality advices without the need of revealing too much.

“The change as you can feel it… is it a good change or a bad change?” The gentle voice on the other line pulled Yoona out of her train of thought.

“Are you mad at me… if I told you that I don’t even know if it was good or bad?”

“Not really… it’s somewhat tolerable.” 

“So… What now?”

“Right now, I guess all you want is to clarify whether you should stop this change or not, true?”

“True.” Yoona smiled. As expected, Taeyeon wouldn’t let her down. Her best friend always knew what she wanted even when she didn’t point it out clearly. 

“It depends on whether you like this change or not. In other words, does this change make you feel comfortable?”

Yoona stayed silent. She couldn’t think of any answers to give Taeyeon. Then again, ever since this conversation started, when did Yoona give Taeyeon a proper answer to her question?

“You’re confused right now, I know. But Yoong… I need you to think carefully about this. As your friend, I have witnessed so many changes of yours over the years. At this moment, I doubt if you’re really changing or not. From what I can… feel, you’re not changing Yoong. You only go back to the person you used to be. Go back to the 100-point best friend of mine.”

“What? Am I not your 100-point best friend now?”

Chuckles could be heard on the other line, “To be honest, no… only 90.”

Instead of digging into what the ten missing point was, Yoona just laughed it off.

“Anyway, thanks Taengoo-yah. You’re the best.”

“Why do you have to thank me? I don’t think I’ve helped you though. Yah, I’m gonna hang up now, I think I’m already late picking up Fany at her house.”

Yoona snorted, “Yah! Are you serious? Are you ditching me for your Fany now?”

“Omo, it’s nearly nine now. Oh no, this’s not good, she’s gonna so mad. Talk to you later, Yoong. Bye…” The person on the other line said in one breath and quickly hang up regardless of her best friend’s feelings.

“Yahhh!!! Kim Taeyeon, you…” Yoona stopped herself as she heard the beeping sound on the other line. She stared at her phone in disbelief. One minute Taeyeon acted like she was the best friend that one could ever hope for, the next minute she acted like the biggest jerk of the year who could easily abandoned her best friend who was in need of her help in a blink of an eye.

Yuri suddenly opened the door to their room just to see that Yoona whipped her head to look at her with a facial expression which was kind of scary in some way. “Uh… did I interrupt something?”

Yoona shook her head, “No, you didn’t. Your parents ask me to come down for breakfast, right?” She assumed without waiting for Yuri to voice out the reason why she came up here. 

“Yeah, they prepare some pancakes and ask us to join before we leave for work today.” Yuri confirmed as she had her eyes fixed on the pillow on top of a neatly folded blanket in a corner of their room, the place where Yoona just spent the night sleeping.

As Yoona walked to the door which Yuri held opened in attempt to leave the room, much to her surprise, she found Yuri closed the door behind her back before approaching the blanket at the corner.

“What are you…” Yoona trailed off as she watched Yuri took the pillow on top of the folded blanket and placed it next to her pillow on the bed. She also put the blanket back into her closet. She looked around their room to check one more time before turning to Yoona.

“My mom has a habit of cleaning up my room when I’m not home so…”

Yoona nodded understanding then both of them headed downstairs.

Meanwhile – Downstairs

“Hmm… I wonder what took them so long.” Misun asked as she placed a plate on the table.

Hyesung set the newspaper which he was reading aside as he turned his attention on his wife. “Let them be, Misun-ah. They can’t be themselves when we are around so it’s totally reasonable for me if they stay upstairs for a while.”

“What do you mean?” Misun raised an eyebrow at her husband.

“Childrens can’t show too much PDA when their parents are around, right?”

“Ah…” Now she understood. Misun nodded while turning around to walk out of the dining room.

“Where are you going?” Hyesung asked. 

“I want to go ask Jessica if she wanted to join us. The more the merrier, it’s been so long that our house is this crowded.” Misun said excitingly.

“Jessica? But I thought she’s gone already. Earlier I came to knock on her door and got no answer in return.”

“She isn’t in her room though. I saw her going back and forth in our backyard garden. It looked like she was looking for something there.”

“Ah… no wonder. Let me go find her, you should stay here to set the table, Misun-ah.” Hyesung said as he stood up from his seat and went to the garden.

Hyesung could see Jessica’s moving from place to place, kept her eyes on the ground just like what his wife said, she was definitely looking for something in the garden.

“You lost something?” Hyesung gently asked.

Jessica looked up at the old man and smiled warmly to greet him, “Ah… yeah. I think I’ve dropped my necklace somewhere in this garden.”

“You look really worried. I guess this necklace must mean a lot.”

“It’s not the necklace but its pendant is the thing important to me. It’s the only thing my mother left for me when she’s gone.”

“Oh, is that so? What does it look like? Maybe I can help you find it.” 

“Uh… i-is it okay? I don’t wan-”

“It’s okay. Let me help you. Tell me what does it look like?”

“The pendant was circle shaped silver locket that had lines on it looking like a basketball up close.”

Hyesung stood frozen at his track. He looked pretty much like a person who got struck by lightning.

“D-do you know where your mother got that pendant?” Hyesung asked in a trembling tone.

Jessica wondered why Hyesung was so curious about things related to her parents. “No… but my mother treasures this pendant very much. She wouldn’t take it off even if she was in a shower. Later I found out that there’s picture of my father when he was little stored in that locket.”

Hyesung slowly nodded. His head was now filled with those memories about the biggest mistake he had ever made in his life. Was God playing some horrible trick on him? After all those years, why did he have to know about this now? Why?

“Uhm… Mr. Kwon, are you okay?” Jessica waved her hand in front of him to get his attention.

Snapped back to reality, Hyesung quickly said, “Ah, uh… I’m fine. Let’s look for that pendant.” He turned away from Jessica and focused his gaze on the ground.

“M-mr. Kwon… by any chance… you know something about my mother… or my father?” Jessica stared at the old man in front of her. Her eyes were already welled up with unshed tears as the thought of someone knew something about her father who she longed to meet just for once in her life caused a strong wave of emotions surged through her.

Guilty was all that Hyesung could feel at this moment as he looked at those red eyes staring into him. How would she react if he told her everything? Was it too soon? For now, he needed more time to think. “We’ll talk later. Let’s find that pendant first.”

As Hyesung refused to answer her question, Jessica also stopped pursuing. She wasn’t the type to force something out of someone who she didn’t know well enough. Jessica quickly wiped the tears from her eyes off. Not everyone was allowed to see her weak side. The blonde started searching once again, tried to push that crazy thought about her father to the back of her mind.

“Found it!!” Jessica exclaimed after five minutes into her search.

Hyesung quickly ran to the young girl to get a look at the pendant in her hand. He held his breath in he finally had a good look at it. There it was. His pendant.

&&&&&&

Dining room

“You should eat more, Jessica-sshi. You look too thin for your own good.” Hyesung suggested out of concern as he noticed Jessica barely touched her dish.

Jessica politely smiled, “My stomach isn’t feeling very well at this moment so…”

“A stomachache? How are you feeling?” Hyesung asked, worried.

“I’ve taken some pill so I guess I’ll feel better soon.”

“Are you sure?”

Jessica simply nodded to his question. Yoona and Yuri looked at each other as both of them shared a puzzling look. They could see in Hyesung’s eyes that his worry for Jessica was somewhat more than just simple hospitality between a host and a guest.

&&&&&&

LA – Disney Land

“Yah!! What kind of a good friend are you? I would never know that you were in LA if I didn’t call Tiffany.” Sooyoung shouted through the phone.

Yuri let out a heavy sigh as she listened to Sooyoung’s complaint. “Sorry… it just… there’s lots of things on my mind lately.”

“Things? What kind of things? Wait, wait... I sense something very interesting here and we don’t talk about interesting things over the phone. Where are you? I’ll come over. Hara Goo finally gave me a schedule-free day. Let’s hang out.” The excitement was easily heard in Sooyoung’s every word.

Typical Sooyoung. Yuri didn’t even have a chance to cut in. “I’m at Disneyland.”

“Disneyland? But I thought you went to LA for a business trip.”

“I am working… thanks to your brother’s brilliant idea.”

“Siwon’s idea again? Tsk, I really don’t know what to do with this brother of mine. Anyway, my place is very near to Disneyland. I think I’ll make it in five minutes. Where exactly are you in Disneyland?”

Yuri looked around for a while before answering, “On the Main Street.”

“Alright, stay right there. Wait for me.”

Hang up the phone and stuffed it in her jean pocket, Yuri crossed her arms across her chest as she waited patiently for her friend to come. She let her eyes wander around for a while, studying every detail of her surroundings. Things had changed a lot since then. Of course, it had been three years already, how could she expect everything to stay the same? As time passed, things changed, people changed, it was the most natural thing in this world. Only her stupid heart didn’t allow her to change, to let those old memories go. Why did she have to be the only one to hold on them only to have heartbreaks in return?

“Kwon Yuri!!!!”

Yuri whipped her head around to see Sooyoung sprinting toward her. She raised an eyebrow at her friend’s rush form. Why did she have to be in such a hurry? It wasn’t like Yuri was planning to run away from her.

“Yu…Yur…Yuri-yah…” Sooyoung stopped in front of Yuri and panted heavily. She bent down, hands on her knees, trying to take as much as air into her empty lung.

“What’s with the rush, Soo? Are you late for some free fast-food treatments somewhere?”

Sooyoung immediately snapped her head up, “Yah!! Don’t make it sounds like it’s always about food when I’m around. I only run my best because I didn’t want you to stand waiting for too long. Is this how you treat someone who only thinks of good things for you?”

Yuri chuckled, “Alright, alright, my bad. Ice-cream treat, okay?”

A wide grin spread across her face the moment Sooyoung heard what she wanted to hear at the first place, “You know me all too well, Yul which is why I love you so much.” Said the girl who just exclaimed it wasn’t always about food with her.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hit the ice-cream booth.” Sooyoung said excitedly.

“That’s why I told you that you should take your time coming here. It’s not you who is the only one I wait for.” Yuri casually explained.

“Who else?”

“I told you that I’m working, didn’t I? So I have to wait for my two co-workers.”

“Who are your co-workers? Do I know them? Are they in our department?”

“Hmm… it looks like Tiffany hasn’t told her about this yet.”

“No, she didn’t have a chance to do so. I hang up right after she said that you were also in LA because I was too excited.”

Yuri let out a soft chuckle again. Sooyoung’s enthusiasm never failed to amuse her. “Well, I think you might know one of them. It’s Yoona and Jessica.”

“Yoona? As in Im Yoona?” Sooyoung asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s her.”

“Seriously? My brother arranged for both of you to go on a same business trip? He’s so dead as soon as I come back to Korea.” Sooyoung cracked her knuckles as if she was getting ready for a fight. “Why don’t you call me? I’ll fly back and knock some senses into his thick head right away.”

Yuri heaved a sigh, maybe she did make the wrong decision for not asking for Sooyoung’s help. If she did call her best friend then she wouldn’t have gone on this business trip, wouldn’t have met her parents, wouldn’t have acted as a married couple with Yoona and above all that, she wouldn’t have waked those forgotten feelings in her heart.

Watching her friend who was in deep thought, Sooyoung knew well enough to realize the need of steering the conversation in a different direction. “Ah… uh… who is this Jessica girl anyway?”

“Ah, she’s our assistant for this trip but in Korea, she’s Yoona’s PA. Yoona personally asked Siwon to hire Jessica since they’re best friend.”

“Best friends?” Sooyoung snorted, “Considering the fact that she’s in a friendship with Yoona. She’s not that good of a person either.”

“Well, I don’t think so. She seems nice to me though, besides she’s a gorgeous girl.”

Sooyoung shook his head, denying, “Ayee… don’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe she’s pretty outside but inside… probably she’s very evil.”

“You haven’t met her once. Why do you seem so sure about her being bad?”

Sooyoung shrugged, “I’m not sure, gut feelings maybe. Ah, talk about pretty girls.” Sooyoung turned to Yuri and placed both of her hands on the latter’s shoulders, her face turned serious in an instant, “Yul, I think I’ve met the love of my life yesterday.”

As a good friend as she always was, Yuri was trying very hard to muffle the laughter which was threatening to come out if she didn’t bite hard on her lower lips in time. This was the first time she had ever heard from Sooyoung that she loved something else except for her love for food. Yuri knew that she shouldn’t laugh at her friend’s honesty but Sooyoung’s facial expression was the first to blame. She really looked like a lost puppy on rainy days, the look of someone who was drowned in passionate love. Considering the fact that they only met each other yesterday made Yuri felt the urge of meeting the mystery girl that could turn her friend into the person standing right in front of her.

“Re-really? How do you guys meet?” Yuri said when her hand pinched hard on her other hand, hoping the pain would stop her from bursting into laughter.

“Even if I tell, you won’t believe me Yuri-yah. She appeared like an angel falling from the sky, outshined those people around her. She…”

Then Yuri was led by Sooyoung to her memory land. Or her fantasy land to be exact. Yuri couldn’t believe how cheesy Sooyoung was acting. Her arm had red marks all over because of her pinching herself. Yuri left chanting to herself the one and only spell ‘don’t laugh’ as she listened to Sooyoung’s ‘romantic’ story as how the latter put it.

“So… She said that she will go on a date with you if you guys meet again in three days?” Yuri concluded.

“Yup!”

“Don’t you think that she was playing a trick on you so that she could get away as soon as possible?” Yuri stated the mystery girl’s obvious intention.

“Nah… I think that she was just too embarrassed to say yes immediately because she has a thing for me already. We’ll meet again that I’m sure of.” Sooyoung confidently stated.

Yuri chuckled, “Do you know where she lives?”

Sooyoung shook her head.

“Her phone number then?”

Shake, shake.

“Her job?”

Another shake.

“At least her name then.”

Thinking for a while before ended up shaking again.

“And you’re still so sure that you can meet her again in LA?”

A firm nod.

Now Yuri couldn’t hold her laughter in anymore at her friend’s naivety, “I wish you all the best of luck in this world then, my friend.” She said while patting on Sooyoung’s shoulder.

“Just wait and see. I have a feeling that I’ll meet her again today. We’re destined to each other.” 

Instead of replying, Yuri suddenly raised her hand and waved to Yoona who was coming their way. When the latter finally spotted them, she ran toward them at full speed.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

Yuri looked around for a while before saying, “Where is Jessica?”

“She’ll be here soon.” Yoona now noticed the person who was sending her death glare standing right beside Yuri. Pretty much the same attitude when they first met. “You must be Sooyoung. Hope you still remember me though, I’m Yoona.” Yoona friendly held out her hand, offered Sooyoung a handshake.

“How can I ever forget your face, Im Yoona?” Sooyoung slowly crossed her arm in front of her chest, totally ignoring Yoona’s awaiting hand.

Yoona awkwardly clapped her hand together when she finally got the idea which Sooyoung wasn’t really fond of her. The atmosphere soon became awkward as the tanned girl didn’t know what to do while the tallest girl out of three kept her eagle eyes on the person who clumsily turned her head from left to right, desperately looking for something to focus on instead of the two people standing beside her.

“Yah… Sooyoung-ah…” Yuri elbowed Sooyoung lightly, secretly telling her to stop her staring at Yoona.

As if the weight of this world was being lifted off her shoulder, Yoona waved enthusiastically when she noticed Jessica coming from afar. “Jessica!! Over here!!” She shouted loudly.

“Okay now… let’s get going.” Jessica said as soon as she reached the group of people waiting for her, completely unaware of a pair of eyes on her the moment her figure came into view.

“I told you… we’ll meet again, we’re meant together…”

Jessica immediately whipped her head in the direction which the familiar voice came from. “You…” She pointed at the person standing beside Yuri who was smiling at her like an idiot.

“You know her?” Yoona asked Jessica in surprise.

“She’s the angel you just told me? For real?” Yuri asked in disbelief as she turned to Sooyoung.

“Yes, she’s my girlfriend.” Sooyoung blurted out as if it was a matter of fact. Originally, she was going to say ‘future girlfriend’ but somehow she decided to omit the ‘future’ part at the last minute.

“WHAT?” The others three exclaimed at the same time.

If Jessica’s eyes could open any bigger, they would have fallen out of its socket at this exact moment. Yoona went straightly from one surprise to another big surprise so that was why she couldn’t clamp shut now. Yuri, on the other hand, raised a hand to cover , secretly chuckling since she was informed of the situation beforehand. The best friend of Yoona, not so evil now, isn’t she?

“Woah… this is new.” Yoona exclaimed out of nowhere.

Jessica snapped her head to Yoona’s direction, more than ready to explain everything to Yoona however before she could say anything, she had received a pat on her back from the latter.

“Yah… I can’t believe you hide this from me. Just want to remind that I’m your best friend just in case you forget. Anyway, congrats.” Yoona happily said.

“No… Yoong, you don’t understand. This is absolutely not what it looks like. She’s not my girlfriend. Hence, I don’t even know her name for god’s sake.” Jessica hastily explained, raised her voice louder than she expected, hoping Yoona would believe her.

“It’s Sooyoung by the way. You’re Jessica right?” Sooyoung quickly chimed in, totally ignored the furiousness in the blonde’s voice which accidently triggered the ticking bomb inside Jessica.

“That’s not the point.” Jessica angrily exclaimed as she shut her eyes tightly. It was really unfortunate for Sooyoung, she did pick a completely wrong time to show her passionate love for her goddess, especially in front of Yoona. “You…” The exploded bomb turned to Sooyoung, the culprit, “… is there something wrong with your mind? When did I agree to become your girlfriend?”

As calm as ever, Sooyoung said, “Woa… you’re still so adorable even when you’re angry.”

Both Yoona and Yuri turned away from the scene to hide their laughter. On the contrary, Jessica’s face couldn’t turn any redder at this moment, “Believe me… I will be even more ‘adorable’ if you don’t answer my question.” Jessica threatened even though the one who should be scared didn’t show any sign of backing off.

“Didn’t you say that you’ll go on a date with me as soon as we meet each other again?” Sooyoung said as she decided to snap out of her daydream.

“So? That doesn’t mean that I will become your girlfriend after one date.”

“Well, sooner or later you will be so… I think you might need some time to get used to the title first.”

Jessica heaved a defeated sigh, “You’re hopeless.”

“No… I just like you too much.” Sooyoung admitted dreamily.

The blonde shook her head in disbelief. It wasn’t like she didn’t have any pursuers before but being able to confess frankly to this extent to her, Sooyoung was the first. But what to do? Her heart only desired one person even though she knew that this person would never return her love. Jessica didn’t know whether she should be thankful for her love or get angry at her worst timing right now.

Yoona and Yuri stayed silent the whole time while watching their friends’ interaction with amusement as if they were watching a romantic drama in the cinema. The only thing missing was some popcorn and soft drinks.

“Anyway…” Sooyoung approached closer to Jessica while having that satisfied smile on her face, “A promise stays as a promise. I think you’re not that type of person who breaks their promise, right?”

Jessica grinned, “Well, as much as I want to keep my promise, I can’t because I have some filming to do. Right, Yoong?”

“Uh…” Yoona hesitated. “In case you don’t know, Sica-yah. Sooyoung is the founder of STS. Siwon only held her position while she took care of our company’s business in LA.”

Im Yoona was one that just loved getting on Sooyoung’s nerves sometimes. First, it was breaking her best friend’s heart, and now calling her goddess ‘Sica-yah’, the name which Sooyoung herself hadn’t had the privilege to call yet.

“Her?” Jessica raised her voice, didn’t believe in her ears.

Sooyoung fixed her shirt’s collar in a very arrogant way according to what Jessica was feeling. “So… would it be fare better with your conscience if the CEO here allowed you to take today off while Yoona and Yur-” Sooyoung stopped herself as she now managed to remember her best friend Yuri now. If she went on an alone date with Jessica, who knew what Yoona would do to her poor friend without her protection? But if she skipped this chance, when would it come again? This chance wouldn’t come very often and she had a strong feeling that her goddess wasn’t the type who was easy to please.

Looking at Sooyoung’s disoriented face, Yuri knew what she should do at this moment. “Just go… Sooyoung-ah. I’m fine.”

Sooyoung’s face brightened up in a flash, “Really? Are you sure?”

Yuri rolled her eyes before nodded. So much for hanging out with your best friend on your only day-off.

“Yes!!” Sooyoung pumped her fist in the air while the other hand took a hold of Jessica’s wrist and pulled her away.

“Yah!! What are you doing? Let go!!” Jessica who was still pretty much unaware of her disadvantage situation shouted.

“To our first destination. I’ve prepared everything. I’m sure that you’ll be amazed.” Sooyoung calmly answered while pulling Jessica along with her. Despite all the shouting, screaming, yelling, pushing, kicking, glaring, Sooyoung still managed to have a firm grip on Jessica’s wrist stopped her from running away also marked the start of their ‘perfect date’.

Yoona’s eyes followed the two forms, the tall one and the short one, walking away until they were completely gone. “So…” She slowly started, “I guess it’s just you and me left for the filming now.”

Yuri nodded, “I think so. Let’s split up, we can get the work done faster.” She suggested.

“Yu… Yuri…”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Sooyoung, she’s your friend… you know that she won’t fool around right?”

Yuri smiled, at least she knew that Yoona was a good friend, “No, I know her… she won’t ever fool around when it comes to love.”

“It’s good to know. Well, we’ll meet up again here in three hours. Is that okay for you?”

Yuri nodded then they set off in different directions.

&&&&&&

LA - Rooftop Restaurant

Jessica looked around, taking in her surrounding and how people around her dressed in formal wear. She felt even more uncomfortable when everyone’s eyes on her as soon as she stepped in this restaurant. Was it the type of restaurant which required male customer to wear a tie while female wear a luxury dress? Looking back at her present attire, she couldn’t help but feel ashamed. She only wore a normal short-sleeved white tee and a light pink mid-thigh skirt. But why didn’t the waiter stop her from coming in? That would be such a great help to her situation right now. 

Unlike Jessica, Sooyoung put on the most carefree attitude as she dragged Jessica to the table which has a nicest view in the entire restaurant. She also noticed that her goddess had stopped screaming quite some time ago, probably she was tired. Honestly, Sooyoung didn’t mind listening to that high-pitched sound though, she actually loved it. This was what we called ‘Love is blind’.

Sooyoung politely pulled out the chair for Jessica to sit only when the latter had finally settled down she ran to the other side of table and had a seat of her own.

Jessica chuckled as she noticed how hasty Sooyoung was acting. Was she always in a hyper mode like this? On her way coming here, she had decided to enjoy this date as much as possible. It was her also fault that she made that promise with Sooyoung anyway. She would plan to explain everything clearly to Yoona later at home.

Heaving a sigh, Jessica couldn’t even remember when was the last time she went a date with someone who wasn’t Yoona. What was she thinking? When did she have an official date with Yoona? More like a friendly hanging out between friends as how Yoona put it. As a beautiful girl as she was, it wasn’t that hard for her to have a date with someone. In fact, there are many people who tried their best to make a move on her, bought her expensive gifts, wrote poems and composed songs. But she didn’t agree to go on one single date with them. She didn’t want to give her admirers any kind of hope, lead them to believe that they might actually have a chance with her. She knew where her heart belonged so she refused right at the beginning, less time going out with random people, more time hanging out with Yoona. It was such a simple math problem.

“Even when you’re in deep thought, you still manage to take my breath away. How is that even possible?”

Jessica didn’t have to turn her head to the voice’s direction to know who was the person saying that cheesy line. Instead she just chuckled and took a sip from her water.

“Do you like this place?” Sooyoung asked.

“I really like its view. Thanks for preparing everything for me but I felt like my clothes aren’t suitable for this kind of place at all.”

A chuckle escaped Sooyoung’s mouth as she heard the blonde’s complaint, “Figures you would say that. I really did think of booking the entire restaurant so that you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable comparing to those snobs but come to think of it, you might feel twice more uncomfortable than now if you knew I did that on our first date so I decided to book only one table with the best view.”

The more Sooyoung being so thoughtful for her, the more Jessica felt guilty for rejecting her feelings later. So she decided to stay quiet which was the least she could do at this moment.

“Why are you being so quiet? You screamed so well before.” Sooyoung joked, picked on the girl so that she could hear the sweet high-pitched voice once again. To her surprise, she heard a sound which was even sweeter, her giggles.

“Sooyoung-ah…” Jessica became serious after giggling amusingly seconds ago.

“Yes?”

“I’m very thankful that… you save a special place in your heart for me but… I really am sorry that I can’t return those feelings.” Jessica sincerely said.

“May I ask why?” Sooyoung asked a little too calmly.

“I already have someone in my heart.” Jessica frankly admitted just like how she rejected those people before Sooyoung.

“I think I know who that someone is.” Sooyoung said while chuckling. She had expected this kind of rejection from her goddess since their encounter in Disneyland.

“You know?” Jessica asked in disbelief.

Sooyoung grinned like an idiot again. Seriously, every little gesture her goddess made was just too cute for its own good. “It’s Im Yoona, isn’t it?”

“H-how do you know?” Amazed was all that Jessica could feel at this moment.

“I’m not a CEO at STS for nothing, right?”

See? Everyone was able to see her obvious feelings for that dumb. That dumb probably was the only one in this entire world who couldn’t see anything for all those years, “Am I that obvious?” Jessica asked.

“Not really… I’m just smart.” Sooyoung shugged “Do you remember what your first reaction when I exclaimed that you were my girlfriend was?”

Jessica shook her head.

“You look at Im Yoona first, watching her expression. Even when you explain everything, you only direct your explanation to only Im Yoona. If you don’t like her, why do you care about what she feels so much?”

“If you know… why do you still insist on going on this date with me?”

“Because I like you.” Sooyoung would repeat this statement forever until Jessica automatically knew that this statement was the sole reason for every decision she made.

“It’s… that simple?”

“Yes, because I like you. The four words are as simple as they sound.”

“You still like me even when I like someone else not you?”

“Yes, I still like you and I’ll make you fall in love with me. I’ll wait for you to realize that I’m the one for you.”

“Why are you so sure that I’ll love you back? What if I don’t?”

Sooyoung chuckled. She loved it when her goddess asked her so many questions about her feelings for her. It was her chance to prove how much Jessica meant to her. “Because I already know my opponent is Im Yoona. I also know that she doesn’t know how to treasure an angel like you then I’ll be the one doing that. With my sincerity which is much more than Im Yoona has, you’ll love me back, right?”

“Why do you always address Yoona by her full name?”

“Because I don’t like her.” Sooyoung frankly stated which earned a giggle from Jessica in return.

“You’re very blunt. Do you know that?”

“I know… it’s one of my charms. Uhm… can I call you Jessie from now on?”

“If I said no, what would you do?”

Sooyoung grinned, “I’ll think of another one and I’ll keep thinking until there is one you like.”

Jessica slightly shook her head. Now she was sure that there was nothing could stop Sooyoung from getting what she desired. “Call me whatever you want then.”

“In that case… Jessie it is. It’s a cute nickname, don’t you think?”

One more thing, too much self-praising, “Yeah… it’s cute.”

“Uhm, Jessie? Can you promise me one thing?”

“Let’s hear it first.”

“In the future, if… I’m lucky enough that you decide to be with me… I want the reason for you doing that will be your love for me. You get what I mean, right?”

“Got it and I promise.”

&&&&&&

Disneyland – Main Street

“I think we’ve filmed everything in this park now, don’t you think so?” Yuri said as they took one last review at their recordings.

Yoona titled her head from left to right. It seemed like she wasn’t satisfied with today’s work yet. “I don’t know… I feel like we’re missing something very important.”

“Hmm… is that so? Let me check them again.” Yuri took the camera from Yoona’s hand to have another look at the recordings one more time.

Yoona let her eyes wandered around the place until there was one thing from afar caught her eyes. “I think I know what we’re missing. Follow me.” Yoona said then ran off somewhere.

Without further questioning, Yuri quickened her pace to catch up with Yoona. Minutes later, they stopped in front of a Ferris wheel.

“This wheel? But I thought you’ve filmed it already. Look!” Yuri was about to show Yoona that recording but Yoona stopped her hands.

“No, what we need is a bird’s eyes shot from those capsules.”

Yuri frowned at the thought that she had to sit in a capsule on such height to film like Yoona wanted. Did the latter forget that she was fear of height?

“Come on, let’s go. We’ll film on both sides so that we can wrap it up faster.” Yoona said, completely unaware of what Yuri was thinking.

Yuri felt this big disappointment washed over her when Yoona didn’t seem to recall that she once told her she had a fear of height. Her legs took lazy steps follow Yoona going on that wheel. She should’ve reminded Yoona once again so that she could stay here waiting for her shooting but somehow she didn’t want to say it out loud. It was easy to admit everything to Yoona back then. Now, Yoona was different, she wasn’t sure how the latter was gonna take this fact once she told her. Or maybe, there was some small hope inside of her that yearning for Yoona to suddenly remembered what she was once told.

However, that small hope was completely gone as Yoona stopped in front of a capsule, ready to get in. Here she was again, always hoped for something unrealistic. She wished there was someone here with her to knock some senses into her head, Tiffany, Sooyoung, Yong appa, anybody. Then she realized Yoona was looking at her, probably telling her to get in faster.

“If I’m not mistaken… you have a fear of height, right?” Yoona said.

Yuri sadly nodded, “Yeah, I have a fear of height…” It seemed like till this point, the information hadn’t gone through her head properly, “… huh? Wait, you remember?” Yuri raised her voice, completely surprised.

Yoona let out a soft chuckle at Yuri’s overreaction, “Why? Am I not allowed to remember?”

“No, I… it’s just…” Yuri stuttered, suddenly she didn’t know what to say at this moment.

“It’s okay. I’m not really good at memorizing things anyway. You can wait here. I guess I’ll have to ride this wheel at least two rounds.” Yoona said while getting in the slowly moving capsule.

Yuri couldn’t hide this silly smile she got on her face as she watched Yoona got in the capsule. Her head was once again lost the battle to her heart since her mind couldn’t stop her stupid heart from pounding happily inside of her chest. The line which she desperately wanted to draw between them now started to fade again.

“Yuri-yah!”

Yuri turned around as she heard Yoona called her.

“Can I borrow you camera? Mine is run out of memories.”

Yuri nodded while running toward Yoona to hand the camera to her. As she was about to leave, Yuri found her shirt got caught in the metal lock of the door’s capsule. She didn’t have a chance to adjust it as a security guard came up to her.

“Miss, please get in now. The door is closing in five seconds.”

“But I… the shirt…” Yuri fidgeted with the spot got stuck, unfortunately, she can’t manage to pull it out even when Yoona helped her pulling it. 

The security guard now understood the situation, “I’m sorry, miss. But you have to get in right now. It’s very dangerous staying outside when the wheel moves if your shirt got caught in.” The security guard roughly pulled Yuri to help her getting in the capsule because of her safety. Yuri sat down on her seat just in time the door closed.

“Oh no... no, no, no, no this is not happening to me.” Yuri said panicking while her hand gripping the metal bar tightly.

Yoona really didn’t know what to do when Yuri looked so scared. She wanted to hold the latter in her arms to chase away her fear but her mind didn’t allow her to do that. What if one thing led to another? What if her feelings took control of her? This was the big gap between them that Yoona desperately wanted it to stay the way it was.

As their capsule started to go higher and higher, Yuri felt regretted that she didn’t close her eyes earlier and now she already had a good look of Disneyland from above which sent her into extremely frightened state.

“No, no… it is going higher. Please someone tell me this is just a dream.” Yuri began to sob silently. One hand gripped the metal bar, the other hand clutched her left chest where her heart was pounding at a rapid speed. Sweat started to bead more and more on her forehead.

Yoona had probably won the title of being the cruelest person in this world by now while watching Yuri freaked out by herself. She stayed true to the promise that she needed to widened the distance between them. This time she wouldn’t let her emotions got in the way anymore. This time she wouldn’t let her guard down. This time her head would win this battle. So she must keep drawing this line between them. The line…

“Ahhhh!!!” Yuri screamed in fear as the capsule came to stop when it reached the highest point.

Screw that stupid line.

Yoona shot up from her seat and ran to Yuri’s side at lightning speed. She pulled the frightened girl’s head close to her chest by one hand then gathered the latter closer to her body using the hand placed on her low back. “It’s okay…” Yoona whispered against Yuri’s raven hair, her lips never leaving her waving locks. 

Just like a person who was about to drown managed to catch a lifebuoy in time, Yuri quickly wrapped her arms around Yoona, squeezing the latter in her embrace, hoping Yoona’s warmth would somehow sooth her fear.

“It’s okay… I’m here with you. Everything is gonna be fine because I’m here.” Yoona continued to whisper softly into Yuri’s ear while running her hand through the girl’s hair.

“Don’t leave me... please.” Yuri said in a small trembling voice against Yoona’s skin.

“I won’t ever leave you… I promise.”

Her heart won once again.

TBC