Sooyoung was going to school in the morning. She had come to the city center by bus and was now walking to the university. Suddenly she felt someone touch her shoulder. She turned quickly to look at the person and saw Jessica.

‘Hello,’ Jessica breathed. She had run to catch Sooyoung.

‘Jessica, hi! Are you going to work?’ Sooyoung smiled. She was happy to see Jessica and that Jessica wanted to walk with her.

‘Yeah,’ Jessica replied. ‘Where are you going?’

‘To school. It’s close so do you wanna walk me there? Or are you in a hurry?’ Sooyoung said.

‘No, I can walk you,’ Jessica replied without even thinking.

They started to walk together.

‘Sorry about the last time. I shouldn’t’ve brought Siwon with me,’ Sooyoung apologised.

‘No, it’s okay,’ Jessica assured. She didn’t want Sooyoung to feel bad about it. ‘The food was good, by the way. You’re a good cook.’

‘Thanks,’ Sooyoung said and smiled at Jessica. Jessica felt her heart jump. She loved that smile.

As they walked further, Sooyoung was the one who did the talking. She talked mostly about school, so Jessica didn’t have much to say, since she had never gone to university. So instead of talking, she concentrated on listening to Sooyoung’s voice and glancing at her once in a while.

Jessica’s eyes drifted to Sooyoung’s hand that was swinging right next to her’s. She suddenly felt an urge to grap it. Just a small movement and Sooyoung’s hand would be in her’s. But she couldn’t do it. There was only one person, who was allowed to touch Sooyoung, and that person wasn’t one of Jessica’s favourites at the moment.

As they came to the university, Sooyoung had stopped talking and they were both quiet.

‘Sooyoung!’ they heard someone call. They turned to look at the person and saw a girl hurrying towards them.

‘Sister!’ Sooyoung called. Jessica glanced at her surprised. Sooyoung had told she had an elder sister. So this was her?

The girl stopped in front of them.

‘Sooyoung, I heard that you and Siwon are planning to get married!’ the girl said.

Jessica’s eyes darted to Sooyoung. What?! It can’t be true. Say it’s not true!

‘Soojin! Whom you heard that from?’ Sooyoung laughed.

‘Mom told me,’ Soojin replied.

Sooyoung laughed.

‘It’s not true. Mom is too enthusiastic about it. I only told her that I can think about it, that’s all,’ she said.

‘But you’re not against it? If Siwon proposed you, you would say yes?’ Soojin continued excited.

Sooyoung looked embarrassed.

‘Yeah I think so... But we haven’t even talked about it, so I don’t think he’s gonna – hey, where are you going? Jessica?’

But Jessica didn’t answer. She was already many steps away and acted as if she didn’t hear anything. Sooyoung stared after her perplexed.

‘What happened?’ she said, but her sister just shook her head.

Jessica hurried towards the studio, but she didn’t feel like going there anymore. All she wanted was to go home to hide from everybody and cry.

Sooyoung said she’d marry Siwon if he asked her to...

But why did she feel so bad? So what if they got married? Sooyoung wasn’t her property. What did she care?

But she did. During these weeks she had got to know Sooyoung and the more she saw her the deeper her feelings towards her got.

Why did she have to be this stupid? Developing feelings towards a taken girl, who to top it all was dating a guy and living with him. Did she even have a chance?

Why did I ever had to meet her? Jessica thought as she reached the studio.

She got inside and stopped by the door to ensure from a mirror that she looked normal. Then she started to climb up the stairs.

Before she got upstairs, she heard her phone ring. She checked who was calling. It was Tiffany.

‘Hello?’ she answered.

‘Hi, Jessica. Where are you?’ Tiffany said.

‘I’m going to work.’

‘At the center? Okay, would you like to meet me at your lunch break? Let’s go eat together.’

‘Okay. Come to the studio at one o’clock.’

Finally, after a chaotic morning, the photoshoot ended. They had had problems with the lights and the photographer had been late. When they had finally got started Jessica and Yoona had been worse than usual, due to Jessica’s absentmindness, which had also disturbed Yoona.

‘Jessica! Come here,’ said the photographer after they quited working.

Yoona watched as Jessica walked nervously to the man. He showed her something on the monitor and they talked.

This was her chance.

Yoona hurried to the dressing room. Luckily there was no other people around. She spotted Jessica’s bag on the corner and went to open it.

‘Where is it?’ she muttered as she rummaged the bag nervously.

Finally she found Jessica’s cell phone. Yes! Phone numbers...

‘What are you doing?’ asked a voice behind her. Yoona boggled and dropped the phone. She turned around and saw a girl with dark eyelines. The girl was sitting behind the door, so Yoona hadn’t noticed her, when she came in. Oh ...

‘Is that bag yours?’ Tiffany asked a smug smile on her face.

‘Yes,’ Yoona lied immediately.

Tiffany stood up and walked closer to Yoona.

‘I don’t think so. It’s Jessica’s, right?’ Tiffany said coming close to Yoona. ‘What are you looking for from her bag?’

‘I thought it's mine,’ Yoona said firmly.

Tiffany moved towards Yoona so that their faces were close to each other. They stared at each other’s eyes and Tiffany smiled. Yoona swallowed nervously.

‘I wonder,’ Tiffany whispered. ‘..what Jessica would think if she knew you are rummaging her bag.’

But that made a smile appear on Yoona’s face.

‘You wouldn’t tell her, right?’ she whispered.

Tiffany stared at Yoona. Then she smiled amused.

‘We’ll see about that,’ she said. She moved away from Yoona, and rigth then the door opened.

‘Oh, Tiffany, you’re already here,’ Jessica said as she walked in. Yoona moved away from Jessica’s bag and started to change her clothes.

‘Is that Yoona? The girl you talked about?’ Tiffany leaned to whisper in Jessica’s ear.

Jessica nodded. Then she noticed her cell phone on the floor. Her bag was open too. She looked at Tiffany with a questioning face. Tiffany nodded towards Yoona. Jessica looked at the girl and frowned. She decided to ask more later.

After Jessica had changed, she and Tiffany went to a restaurant nearby. They ordered food and sat by a table.

‘You should be careful with that Yoona,’ Tiffany said. ‘She was looking for something from your phone.’

Jessica frowned. Why would Yoona do something like that?

She thought about it and realised one thing.

‘She’s been asking me questions,’ Jessica said.

‘What kind of questions?’ Tiffany asked surprised.

‘About my life. And people I know.’

‘You should seriously watch out for her,’ Tiffany advised. She took a sip from her drink. ‘Have you seen Siwon lately?’

Jessica smiled to this change of subject.

‘No, he doesn’t spend his time at the stairway,’ Jessica told. ‘Unlike Sooyoung, she is always coming and going...’

‘Really? Is she usually out late?’ Tiffany asked interested.

‘No. They go sometimes out together, but I haven’t seen them go alone.’

Tiffany thought about this.

‘So that little wife keeps him close. But it’s not enough...’ Tiffany muttered.

‘What are you talking about?’ Jessica asked.

‘Nothing,’ Tiffany smiled.

Their foods arrived and they started to eat.

‘I don’t understand why Siwon lives with that girl. She’s disgusting little wife, don’t you think? Always acting so happy and lovely, as if she lived a perfect life,’ Tiffany mocked.

‘Shut up,’ Jessica snapped and glared at the girl.

Tiffany looked at her surprised.

‘What? Are you friends with Sooyoung?’

Jessica didn’t answer. Tiffany stared at her.

‘You must like her a lot?' Tiffany said and gave a little laugh. 'Are you crushed in her?'

Jessica quickly raised her head and looked at Tiffany. She realised too late to change expression. Tiffany leaned over the table chuckling.

‘You do like her! You like that little wife!’ Tiffany whispered half laughing.

‘Don’t call her that,’ Jessica muttered.

Tiffany chuckled excited. This was great. Jessica liked Sooyoung! Now she only had to pull the right strings and...

‘Now, tell me everything,’ Tiffany asked eagerly. ‘How close you are with her? Do you think she could respond your feelings?’

Jessica sighed.

‘No. She’s not gonna have feelings for me. We’re just neighbours. She loves Siwon and is ready to marry him if he asked her to,’ she said feeling depressed.

Tiffany’s expression turned from excited to shocked. What was this? Would Siwon really propose Sooyoung? She needed to speed up her plan, or it could be too late..

‘Then why aren’t you doing anything?’ she exclaimed. Jessica looked at her surprised. ‘You like her, why don’t you try to get her?’

‘I... I just told you! She’s not interested in me,’ Jessica said her heart breaking a little as ahe said it aloud.

‘How do you know? I’m sure she could fall for you. You just need to work for it a little.’

Jessica raised her eyebrows.

‘Really?’

‘Of course. I’ll help you,’ Tiffany assured smiling.

‘What about Siwon? He’s your friend, right?’ Jessica asked.

‘There’s a lot of girls who like Siwon, he won’t leave alone. And you’re my friend too,’ Tiffany said and winked. ‘Or don’t you want to get Sooyoung?’

‘I do,’ Jessica said. She wasn’t convinced about this. But then a picture of Sooyoung and Siwon standing on the altar staring lovingly at each other came to her mind. No! That can’t happen.

‘Okay,’ she agreed. ‘What do you think I should do?’

-------------------------------------------------------

Chapter five :)