“the vinegar is too strong..”

“Why is it bitter?”

“I guess the pasta is a little bit overcooked”

“Do you think people can eat it with this spiciness?”

Yuri's days were filled with frustration because of Jessica's complaint and dissatisfaction every time Jessica tasted her dishes. Everytime Yuri heard any comments that were out from Jessica’s mouth, Yuri just kept quiet but she actually had to hold the urge to stab Jessica’s eyes with fork, or threw the plate to Jessica’s face.

Regardless, Yuri was quite amaze that eventhough Jessica was not happy with her dishes, not once she raised her tone or sound annoyed. But actually Jessica’s flatness made Yuri even more irritated.

“OMG! I HATE HER!”, Yuri grunted and threw her bag on the table when she arrived at the bar to meet Sooyoung.

“What?”, Sooyoung looked at Yuri dumbfounded.

“I HATE HER! I HATE HER! GAAAH I HATE HER SO MUCH!”, Yuri repeated, then suddenly took Sooyoung drinks from Sooyung’s hand and swallowed it in one gulp.

“Who? Jessica?”

“She’s damn annoying! Well, she is not annoying --- But she is like coldhearted !!!”, Yuri grumbled. Then quickly asked for the bartender to give her some drinks.

Sooyoung just laughed at her. “Calm down. She’s giving you a hard time, huh? I told you it’s hard to make her happy.”

“I hate her flat tone, I hate her cold stare, I hate everything about her!! Everytime she was in front of me, I must stay away from any sharp object as I was so scared that I will stab her with a knife. Does she really have any emotion? Or she is just a robot? What the hell, I even never seen her smile!!”, Yuri kept talking and talking to let out her frustration.

“Do you really want to see her smile? She’s pretty when she smiles you know.”, Sooyoung wiggled her eyebrows and teased.

Yuri furrowed her eyebrows. “What??!! That’s not what I meant! You know sometimes I just want to scratch her face with a fork, or throw chilli powder to her eyes, at least maybe she would have an expression when she feels pain. Besides, I don’t think she is capable to show her emotion and actually smile!”

After an hour drinking and chatting with Yuri, Sooyoung started to yawn, she got bored as Yuri has been non-stop talking about Jessica. Jessica said this Jessica did that and so on so forth. Yuri seemed to find Sooyoung as her trash can to express her frustration to Jessica.

“Yul, stop.”, Sooyoung lifted her hand in front of Yuri face. “Geez, you’ve been talking about her non-stop since you arrived here. It’s like you obsessed with her. You sound like a teenager who’s talking non-stop about her crush.”

“What the heck, Soo?! It’s not like that. Who would be interested dating a heartless like her?”, Yuri exclaimed.

Sooyoung chuckled. She then ordered another drink from the bartender, she thought that drinking might have help Yuri relax a bit after having such a hard time at her work. “From what I’ve heard, lot’s of people actually throw themselves at her. But she is not interested.”

“Yah well, all of those people don’t know what kind of devil she is.”, Yuri scoffed.

**

“Yaaayy!!!”, Tiffany squealed and jumped when she got a strike and pinned down all of the bowling pin. “Taeyeon, look at that! I did it!!”

Taeyeon smiled, seeing how happy Tiffany was. She looked like a happy child. But Taeyeon didn’t prepare when suddenly Tiffany jumped on her and hugged her, causing her blushed like mad. She was kinda surprise on how Tiffany was so easy in doing skinship with her.

With Jessica’s help, Taeyeon was able to contact Tiffany and asked her out on a date. For the first date, Taeyeon thought that dinner would be boring so she asked Tiffany to play bowling together. Tiffany was very bubbly, outgoing and loud. She was easy to approach and showed her emotion vividly. Very different 180 degrees with Jessica and Taeyeon was amazed that both of Jessica and Tiffany can actually be friends.

“More beer?”, Taeyeon asked when she noticed that Tiffany’s glass was empty.

“Sure. What about you?”, Tiffany moved and sat next to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon shook her head. “My alcohol tolerance was really bad.”

Tiffany chuckled, then she took the beer from Taeyeon hands while waiting for hers to arrive. “So how do you know Jessi?”

“We’ve met through a mutual friend, Soonkyu. She’s SM executives and collaborated with Jessica before. How do you know her? Eh, why did you call her Jessi?”

“We’ve been friends since we were little in the US. Jessi spend her youth in the US, right? She moved here first, so when I moved to Seoul, she was the first person who I went to. I literally didn’t know anybody here. Jessi is my nickname for her, it’s actually common to call people Jessi for someone who named Jessica. I actually find it funny when people here call her Sica.”, Tiffany let out a hearty laugh.

Damn. Her eye-smile is addicting! – Taeyeon

“You’ve known Jessica for a long time. How come I never met you before? Remind me to knock her head when I meet her again for taking too long to introduce me to someone as pretty as you. ”, Taeyeon teased and grinned.  

“Oh Kim Taeyeon. You know how to sweet talk, huh?”, Tiffany blushed and laughed lightly.

She’s cute when she flirts - Tiffany

“Wanna know a secret? Jessi was actually my first kiss.”, Tiffany suddenly said in a low tone then giggled.

Taeyeon eyes widened. “What???? Did you guys --- dating before?”

Tiffany laughed, then drank her beer that already arrived on their table. “No. it’s not like that. It was a stupid game we played when we were teenagers. You know, spin the bottle? I ended up kissing her. But that’s it, we’re just friends.”

Ow, I didn’t know that ice cube had a wild side inside her – Taeyeon thought about Jessica.   

Their small talk interrupted when suddenly bunch of guys approached them and greeted them. Taeyeon actually knew some of them, members of a boy group from different company that Taeyeon used to meet in music shows.

“Taeyeon-ssi!! Ah annyeong-haseo!”, they all bowed to Taeyeon and Taeyeon bowed back. But much to Taeyeon surprise, Tiffany immediately shrieked in happiness and hugged them one by one.

“Ah Taecyeon. Long time no see!!”, Tiffany release her hug on one guy but still clinging to him. “You looked great!! But why didn’t you tell me that you’re out from the military service?”, Tiffany whined.

Taecyeon chuckled and pat Tiffany’s head. “Why? Did you miss me?”

“Of course I miss you!” Tiffany pouted. Then she hugged Taecyeon again, pressing herself a little bit to Taecyeon chest.

Taeyeon frowned. She really didn’t like the view in front of her now. Why was Tiffany so easy to do skinship with everyone? Tiffany looked too comfortable in the arms of Taecyeon for Taeyeon liking.

Both Tiffany and Taeyeon ended up having dinner before Taeyeon dropped Tiffany back to her apartment. But during the dinner, Taeyeon’s mind was actually wondering, did Tiffany really like her? It seemed the clinginess, the talking and all the skinship Tiffany did to her really didn’t mean anything. Because apparently, she did it to everyone.

“Thanks for today, Taeyeon. I was having a great time!”, Tiffany chirped happily when Taeyeon’s car reached Tiffany’s apartment building.  

“Likewise. Err --- yeah, I was having a great time too.”, Taeyeon replied.

“Goodnight, Tae-tae.”, Tiffany said and quickly gave a peck on Taeyeon’s cheek, which made Taeyeon froze.

Tiffany giggled seeing Taeyeon’s reaction and just got out from the car, a bit shy due to her bold gesture.

Taeyeon needed around 5 minutes until she realized what has been happening. She chuckled and touched her cheek where Tiffany landed her kiss. Taeyeon was aware that she was irritated of Tiffany’s too friendly behavior. But she likes spending her time with Tiffany and it was so comfortable to be around Tiffany. Everytime Tiffany showed her eye-smile, Taeyeon could felt that her heart skip a beat.   

Okay. I guess --- I should give this a chance. I will ask her for a second date. ­–Taeyeon

**

Yuri had already lost count on how many times she wanted to kill herself or maybe even better, to kill Jessica, everytime she saw Jessica in front of her eyes, furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip unsatisfied about her dishes. And now would be like just another day, Yuri was waiting Jessica to say another complaint when she tested the food.

“Uhmm… “, Jessica mumbled, trying to find a word. “It’s lack of ---“

Yuri sighed. “What is it this time?”, she said it out loud, loud enough so Jessica can hear.

“Pardon?”, Jessica asked in English as she turned her gaze to Yuri.

Yuri shook her head couple of times. “What now? What do you want Jessica-ssi?!! What’s is wrong with you??”, Yuri asked in frustration.

“There’s nothing wrong with me. But there’s something wrong with the food.”, Jessica said.

“There’s nothing wrong with the food!!”, Yuri growled, then pointed to everyone who were now inside the room. “If you asked anyone here to taste the food, they will say that the food is actually great!! Ask anyone now! I don’t believe in your sole judgement!!”

Jessica just kept quiet for a moment. Then she looked at her employees who were with them in the room. “It doesn’t matter. The decision is still on me.”, she finally stated firmly.

“No! Really, I have tasted it and I have asked everyone to taste it and they all say it taste great!! No offense but you have problem with your taste-bud!! I mean come on!!! Do you even cook at home? How do you know whether the food is great or not?!?”, Yuri now was scrambling, she could not hold her anger anymore and she didn’t care if she got fired. She was tired of Jessica’s treatment towards her.  

“You’re right. I rarely cook at home.”, Jessica replied. Then she paused before she continue. “But I am running a business. I know what to sell, what attracts people, what kind of food that make people come and craving to eat it over and over again.”

Yuri groaned. “I am sorry but I can’t do this anymore! I am a professional chef Jessica-ssi. You can’t treat me like this! I deserve better and I can go to whatever restaurant I want. “, Yuri’s tone started to rise. She almost reached her limit facing someone like Jessica, who never be able to satisfy yet didn’t even show a sign of emotion even when Yuri almost yell at her. Yuri didn’t know what else to do.

Jessica took a step forward and decreased the gap between her and Yuri. Yuri gulped, Jessica’s face was so close to her. Yuri could literally saw how beautiful Jessica’s brown eyes was and how smooth her skin was.

“I always treat you with respect. Tell me, have I ever told you something like ‘your food taste like garbage’? Tell me, have I ever yell at you? Tell me,  have I ever throw your food to a trash can?”, Jessica asked, still in calmly tone.

Yuri took a step back and held her breath when Jessica's gaze pierced her eyes. It was scary but hypnotically mesmerizing at the same time.

“Uuhh--- N—no—I ---“ , Yuri stuttered, unable to utter any words.

Jessica sighed. “If you want to leave. Then leave. I just didn’t know you are this easy to give up. Is this really a mental of a chef who won many awards?”

Hearing Jessica said that, somehow made Yuri felt challenged. Jessica’s words slapped her ego and she felt that she will not let Jessica win. She would beat Jessica and she would make Jessica cried for her food that she made. She was a great chef, every restaurant wanted her and Yuri will made Jessica wanted her as well.

“Fine! You’ll see Jessica-ssi. I will turn your world upside down when you taste my dish next time.”, Yuri said boldly and met Jessica’s eyes, showing her determination.

Jessica tilted her head and nodded. “Good. And Yuri-ssi, you know that I never said that you’re a bad chef.”, Jessica added.

Yuri sneered. “I know. And I am more than that. I am better than just a good chef.”

“If you say so”, Jessica shrugged. “Anyway, thank you for today.”, she then turned herself and walked away. But Yuri didn’t know, a  little smirk formed in Jessica’s lips when she walked away, part of it happy since she could encourage Yuri more and part of it --- well, Jessica herself could not understand what feeling she had.

She looked even more charming when she had confidence. Omo, why my heart suddenly beat a little bit faster than usual??? – Jessica.