Jessica linked her arm around Donghae and followed him closely as he approached each guests, welcoming and thanking them for coming. She understand that his parents were out of town so his presence is important on the behalf of his parents.

‘I recognized you,’ a woman in her late forties eye smile at Jessica.

‘Jessica Jung, isn’t it?’ the way she pronounced her name is so enchanting. No one would believe she is in her forties.

‘Yes Madam,’ she smiled.

‘Mrs. Choi,’ Donghae introduced.

‘Mrs. Choi, nice to meet you,’ Jessica greeted politely with a bow.

‘You have a good manners and you are a lovely lady, even beautiful in person. I like you,’ Mrs. Choi praised.

‘Thank you for your kind compliment, Mrs. Choi,’ replied Jessica with a shy smile.

Mrs. Choi playfully smacked Donghae arm. ‘Donghae ah, why didn’t you tell me that you are going out with such a beautiful lady?’

‘Aunty Choi, we are just friend and I asked her to be my date tonight,’ Donghae explained.

Mrs. Choi seemed to be pleased with his answer and shifted her attention to Jessica. “So Miss Jung, are you perhaps single right now?”

Jessica was relatively surprised at her question but answered anyway. “Yes Mrs. Choi.”

“That’s great,” she clasped her hand together.

“Mom,” a familiar voice called.

“Oh Hyunie ah,” Mrs. Choi hugged his arm and introduced her son to Jessica.

“He’s my son, Seunghyun. And she is Jessica, Donghae date.”

Seunghyun flashed a wink at Jessica and offered his hand out to her. As much as she didn’t want to shake that hand of his, she did it anyway. Seunghyun suddenly bent forward to kiss her hand and then gazed up at her, “You look so ever beautiful as always.”

Jessica retreated her hand immediately. ‘Nice to see you again, Mr. Choi.’

‘You two knew?’ Mrs. Choi asked.

‘We just met each other yesterday,’ Seunghyun grinned.

“Omo! This must be fate,” Mrs. Choi gushed excitedly.

“Sorry Aunty Choi, we will need to make a move first,” Donghae excused themselves. He knows what Mrs. Choi is thinking about.

‘Sure,’ she smiled.

‘I like her,’ Mrs. Choi said.

‘And I do too,’ Seunghyun admitted.

‘Yah, then what are you waiting for? You should make your move before it’s too late,’ she encouraged her son to woo Jessica. ‘I want a daughter in law like her.’

‘I will mom,’ he promised as he watched the two disappeared into the crowd. ‘I will make you mine.’

‘You and Mrs. Choi know each other pretty well,’ Jessica observed.

‘Ironically, our parents have a close friendship despite the rivalry of their son in work,’ Donghae laughed.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked, realizing that they hadn’t had any food taken once they arrived.

‘A little,’ she admitted.

‘Wait here, I will bring you some food,’ he walked towards the catering.

He returned with two full plates of food. ‘Here you go, I basically took each of the food from there.’

‘I am not a glutton,’ she chuckled.

‘You should eat more,’ he arched his brows.

‘Let’s share since you hadn’t had any too,’ she smiled.

Donghae picked up a sushi wrapped with cucumber inside and beamed like a small boy, ‘This is my favorite.’ Jessica couldn’t hide her disgust as she watched him put the whole piece into his mouth and chewed it deliciously.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked when he noticed she looked uncomfortable.

She covered her nose and shook her head. Her action made him worried.

‘You don’t feel well?’ he arched his face forward to examine her.

He removed his coat and put it around her, afraid she might get a cold.

She leaned back and gazed into his eyes. ‘I am allergic to cucumber,’ she confessed. ‘I really dislike it so much especially the smell.’ She gave a disgusted expression.

He chuckled at her reaction and this is his first time hearing that a person can be allergy to cucumber. He decided to by inching his face close enough to her. She titled her head away from him with her hand covered her nose still.

‘Don’t do that,’ she pouted.

‘I am not doing anything,’ he played coy. ‘Looked at me, the smell already long gone.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ she pursed her lip.

He laughed as he grabbed a glass of wine to rinse the smell of cucumber down to his throat. ‘Cucumber don’t smell seriously.’

She displayed her signature pouty lip at him.

‘Don’t pout,’ he shifted his gaze from her lip to her pair of glistening eyes.

‘Why,’ still pouting.

‘It makes me want to kiss you,’ he confessed.

Yet in his soft and low voice, she heard him loud and clear. Her heart skipped a beat and felt her cheek heated up. What she didn’t notice was that Donghae blushed as well but was under covered by his darker skin tone.

An awkward silence formed. He felt like digging up a hole to hide himself. Why does his mouth have to misbehave with words he shouldn’t had said?

Just then, the Emcee called upon Donghae to the stage to do a speech.

‘Sica, finally I found you,’ Yuri exclaimed together with Yoona. Kibum and Minho were busying on the other side.  

Donghae stepped aside and smiled sheepishly at Jessica, ‘I will see you later.’

‘Sica, why is your face so red?’ Yoona noticed.

‘Huh?’ she touched her cheek and she lied. ‘It must be the wine.’

‘Is there anything happen between you and Donghae?’ Yuri was suspicious especially she observed the atmosphere between them seemed to be strange.

‘Not at all, what could have happened,’ she faked a laugh.  He only said he want to kiss me.

She touched her lip momentarily and came back to her senses when Donghae voice was heard through the speaker. He delivered his speech smoothly and confidently. Jessica thought for a moment how charming he is.

‘Hey there, gorgeous, I found you at last,’ a deep and y voice called from behind and it belonged to none other than Seunghyun.

Jessica rolled her eyes at him. ‘Is there anything I can help you?’ she asked with sarcasm.

‘Why are you so annoyed when you sees me?’ he can’t helped but to feel hurt.

Yuri and Yoona both turned to look at the two interactions.

‘I am not,’ she denied but it was how she really felt though. She herself also don’t understand why his appearance made her feel slightly mad. Was it because he is too full of himself?

‘You are. I can see and feel it,’ he gave his puppy eyes.

She re phrased herself in a gentle and friendly tone with a small smile. ‘Is there anything I can help you with?’

He finally smiled. ‘Nothing. I just want to take a better look at you. You always had me admired you without fail.’

‘Is that even a compliment, Mr. Choi?’ she laughed it off.

‘It’s my honest thought about you,’ he said sincerely.

‘By the way, I didn’t know you and Donghae is so close,’ his jealously side shown.

‘We just click,’ she replied.

‘I’m envious. I wish we are close as well,’ he glanced at her.

Yuri was impressed at how bold and straightforward this Seunghyun was. Looks like Donghae is getting himself a very strong love rival.

Jessica was felt speechless. She chose to be silent. She thought that if he wasn’t as cocky or flirty, she might consider him as a close friend.

Yoona put her arm around Jessica neck and speak what Jessica thought, ‘Our Sica doesn’t like men like you who have this playboy image. Maybe you should work on it first before hitting on our dear Sica.’ She had a triumph smile plastered on her face.

Seunghyun gazed into Jessica eyes, ‘I will prove to you that you will not see me as a playboy but an earnest man who wants to know you better.’

‘I will be looking forward to that day comes,’ her lip formed a thin line.

‘Mr. Choi?’ one of the guests called for his attention and Seunghyun excused himself.

‘What?’ Jessica asked as the duo eyed at her.

‘I think you are having a headache now that you have both most eligible bachelor trying to win your heart,’ Yuri said.

‘You are exaggerating,’ she shook her head.

‘Your bachelor no. 1 is on his way towards here,’ Yoona wriggled her brows.

‘We shall make a move first to find ours,’ Yuri playfully said and Jessica slapped her arm.

‘Donghae shi,’ she turned back. ‘You made a really marvelous speech up there,’ she gave him a small clap.

‘To be honest, I was quite nervous back then,’ he admitted with a shy smile.

‘You did well,’ she assured.

‘Thank you.’

‘Sorry that this function bore you out,’ Donghae apologized.

‘Not at all, I am used to attending function like this,’ a small yawn escaped from .

He chuckled. ‘Let me send you home. You must be tired already.’

‘You can leave?’ she asked.

‘I had already delivered my speech and I believe Minho and Kibum don’t mind to stand in for me for a while,’ he winked. For the moment, they seemed to have forgot about what had happened earlier or chose to pretend that nothing happened earlier to make themselves comfortable with each other.

Jessica fell asleep during their ride back to her home. When approaching her house, she woke up feeling sorry for resting and he assured her it was fine as he know how tired she must be.

‘Before I forgot, your coat,’ she removed the coat and returned to him.

‘Thank you for the evening, I really appreciate it,’ he gazed at her.

‘I had a lovely evening as well,’ she gazed back at him. A strange atmosphere built up.

‘Good night Jessica shi,’ he leaned in to give her a surprise forehead kiss. ‘Sleep well.’

***