"Thanks for the ice cream, Sica!" I looked over to her; Taengoo still had a bit of ice cream on the corner of . My mouth instinctively tugged itself into a smile. Tae noticed this; her face changed from a happy expression to a confused one. "What?"

"Y-You ... you're so adorable, Taengoo!" I told her, just barely holding in my laughter.

She gave me a half smile, which added to the cuteness. "What?" she whined.

Subconsciously, I brought my thumb up to her smiling mouth and wiped off the green ice cream off; and before I realized what I was doing, I stuck that thumb in my mouth. "Mm, that tasted good," I sang to her. Then, I froze. I just ... indirectly kissed Taeyeon...

"Of course! I always pick the best ice cream!" she sang back. What was in the corner of ... is now ... I started to feel my face get hot. I looked away from her.

Tae paused. "What's the matter, Sica?"

"O-Oh, nothing," I murmured, increasing my walking pace.

"Sica!" I felt her hand grab my shoulder. I froze, yet again, as she walked in front of me to turn and face me. I kept my stare on the ground. "What tell me.." she whined, unintentionally using her puppy eyes. Even though it was just a little, it was enough to affect me.

I inhaled deeply, feeling my shoudlers tense."I-"

"Jessi! TaeTae! Why did you ditch me?" Tiffany's welcoming voice shattered the awkward atmosphere. I felt Tae's gaze drift away from me and onto Tiff. I let a sigh of relief, my shoulders falling down to their relaxed position.

"Wait, Fany!" Wait what? Suddenly, I felt fingers on my chin, pulling upwards. I had no choice but to obey the pressure and meet Tae's curious gaze. I immediately felt myself turn red again. Darn it, why have I always been unable to control this? Its not like Taeyeon and Tiffany didn't always do this, just because I disliked this kind of closeness.

"What's the matter, Sica?" she asked again, studying my face. "Why are you red?" I lowered my eyes, unable to maintain my gaze. "Are you blushing?"

I felt my face turn hotter. "Wh-What? No, why-?"

Taengoo squealed. "Oh my gah! Sica's blushing!" I tried to step away from her, except her hand kept me in place. "Omo, you're soo cute, Sica-yah!"

"St-Stop..." I whined in protest, subconsciously sticking out my lower lip.

This only made Taeyeon more excited. She made an indistinguishable noise and hugged me. The sensation of her body enveloping mine caused my flush to deepen. 

But one thing stuck to my mind: Taengoo called me cute. Taengoo, the girl with the most natural aegyo in the world, called me, your average, everyday kind of girl, cute. I promised myself to remember this moment forever.

"Tae, you-" the sudden need to breath interrupted me. I immediately gasped for air, but was unsuccessful. "T-Tae..." I whispered. "Taen-Taengoo..." I tried to talk louder. "A-Air..."

This time, she heard. "Omo! Sorry!" she said, immediately letting go of me and taking a step back. Even though I was thankful for the precious air I inhaled right as she let go of me, I was sort of sad that she let go. "Are you alright?" she asked with a worried tone.

Instead of answering, I ran up to Tiff, who was still talking to Yoona.

"-I mean, its pretty surprising how -- Jessi?" I interrupted her conversation, using her as a barrier between Taeyeon and me.

"Fannyy~"

"Hmm?"

"Taengoo is scary."

Tiffany laughed. "Tae? Scary?" We both looked over to her, only to see her talking to the one and only Leeteuk.

I instinctively tightened my grip on Tiff. Not him again.

The sad part was, you could see Taeyeon being flustered, even from a distance away. Her face was already red, and you could see her fiddling with her fingers, not making eye contact with him, ... it was cute and all, but I didn't feel happy. Instead, I felt a pit of boiling discontent bubbling inside me. I couldn't quite put a name for it though.

"Aww, Taeyeon unnie is in love~" I heard a voice sing behind me. I turned around to find the source of the noise.

I guess it was because my anger was still shown in my face, but when Yoona saw me, she immediately jumped back with wide eyes. Realizing what happened, I immediately softened up and gave her an apologetic smile.

She didn't really recover though. She gave me a half smile before running over to Tae.

"Did you scare Yoona again?" Tiffany asked in a scolding voice.

"I didn't mean to," I replied coolly, letting go of her. "I should go apologize though,"

I felt Tiff pat my shoulder. "Our little Jessica is growing up, I see,"

I turned around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She flashed me her eyesmile. But twelve years of seeing it made me immune to it. "Oh, just that you wouldn't apologize to someone you scared, before."

I held a staring contest with her, which ended up in me turning around to walk towards Yoona. "You have a text~" Taengoo's voice sung. Tiffany's notification tone. And mine, too.

"I'll catch up with you later!" she said, getting out her phone. I started walking over to them.

When I reached her, she was already engaged in Taeyeon and Leeteuk's conversation. I tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned a head over her shoulder; I saw the panic in her eyes the second she realized it was me. "Hey, Yoona. I'm sorry about before," I said immediately, not wanting to scare her off again. She merely nodded, still cautious. "It's just ... I ..." I faltered, not knowing what to say. I couldn't say that I was angry at Leeteuk for having such an effect on Taeyeon. That would give away too much. I looked longingly at Tae, as if she was going to give me something to say, telepathically.

She turned her whole body around this time. The shock in her eyes had already disappeared. When she noticed I was looking at Tae, she spoke, "Do you like Taeyeon unnie?"

I jumped a little. I immediately calmed down, but I can see Yoona already caught this. "What?" I tried to play it out as nonchalant as I could. It didn't work.

She squealed quietly. "Oh my god! You like her! Omo, that's so cute!" she whispered excitedly.

I smiled at her level of excitement. I had to admit that Yoona was pretty cute, even though I had just met her. I had even forgotten about my rule about trust; well, she seemed pretty trustworthy. Taengoo trusted her, so can I, too. Right?

"Can I tell her?" she whispered to me, keeping her level of excitement.

"No!" I reacted without thinking. Then, I covered my mouth, as if I could take back what I said. What was I doing? Wasn't I being too obvious?

Luckily, Yoona already waved Taeyeon and Leeteuk away. When Yoona turned back around, I grabbed her shoulders. "Please don't tell anyone. Not even Tiffany," I protested quietly, making sure another episode like that didn't happen again.

She frowned. "Even Tiffany unnie doesn't know?" she asked, also keeping her voice down.

"Please don't tell her," I begged her. I didn't even know why I didn't want her to know; she was my best friend, after all. But whenever I thought of Tiffany knowing, fear built up inside me. What the fear was of, I didn't know; the only thing that was clear, though, was that I REALLY didn't want Tiffany to know.

"...ok?"

All the built up tension inside me, the possibility of Tiffany finding out, was suddenly released. "Thank you so much, Yoona," I told her, smiling.

She smiled back. "But about Leeteuk..."

My smile immediately morphed into a frown. "It's funny because he likes me. But Taeyeon likes him,"

Yoona smile apologetically at me. "I'll try to help in any way I can," she replied. I gave her a grateful smile: I was right on trusting her. Maybe I shouldn't be so strict with strangers.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Sure, go to your Taeyeon!" she said softly, pumping her fist. I knew this motion; it was a universal motion, for Koreans, to symbolize "fighting!" Or, as Tae would say, "hwaitaeng!"

I started walking when a question formed in my mind. I turned around. "How come you're so accepting of me being..." I trailed off, not sure what I should call myself.

"Oh, because I used to have a homoual friend," she explained.

"Ohh ... well, thanks for your help," I said, making sure I was talking softly enough so Tae couldn't hear, but loud enough so Yoona could.

She simply nodded and motioned for me to get going. I nodded back and walked towards Tae.

"Taengoo~" I hugged her from behind when I reached her, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"Sica?"

I didn't reply; instead, I closed my eyes and enjoyed her warmth. I wouldn't let Leeteuk take her. I refuse to. I had Yoona's support. I can't lose.

"So you and Jessica are pretty close, huh Taeyeon?" Leeteuk asked awkwardly, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Y-Yeah," I heard Taeyeon reply shyly, stuttering.

I didn't look up at him, though. I know it was a little mean, to ignore his presence despite him being right in front of me, but my emotions were controlling my actions at this point. I wasn't even taking in account what Tae would think. "We've known each other since 6th grade, as a matter of fact," I told him, eyes still shut.

"Oh really? That's a long time." Time: something you didn't have with Taengoo.

"Yeah-"

"Heey Teukkie! Pickin' up the chicks, huh?" a deep voice said. Shortly afterwards, a grunt was heard, followed by a muffled laugh by Tae.

I opened my eyes to locate the source of the new voice. It was the person from before. Who was hitting on Tiffany. What was his name?

"I told you not to call me Teukkie, Hyunnie," he said, attempting to pull his head out of "Hyunnie"s headlock.

Tae giggled.

It was such a rare thing, Taeyeon giggling. I may have mentioned this before, but Tae hates aegyo/acting cute (even though its a completely ironic since she's always naturally cute), so giggling is a rarity for her. But when she did, it was the cutest thing ever. I couldn't even describe it in words: it was one of those extremely girlish, musical giggles. One of the many reasons why I loved her.

"Kyuhyun, come on," Leeteuk said, escaping the headlock at last. Then, he ran behind me. "You'll protect me, right Jessica?"

"Right," I said, rolling my eyes, releasing my embrace from Tae.

"Hiding behind your chick? Really, now,"

I glared at him. "Excuse me? His chick?"

He recoiled a bit. My intended affect. I had the ability to do that; it was very useful. For chasing away guys who could potentially harm my precious Taengoo. Or when I feel offended. Like now.

"Whoa, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I was just teasing Teukkie-"

"Don't call me-"

"-about his tendencies to make female friends fast," he explained, spitting out words like a machine gun does with bullets, wearing a 'terrified' mask.

I smiled. "It's ok," I replied, immediately humored by his reaction. It was funny how someone who looked as cool and calm as he looked would react to me simply glaring at him.

He let out a sigh, as if a huge burden was taken off his shoulders. It was always funny to observe other's reactions to my coldness. But something he said stuck to me: 'his tendencies to make female friends fast'; maybe it was just my bias against him, but I interpreted that as him being a player. So naturally, I stored this in my head, in case I had to prove a point.

"Wow Jessi, you're really mean. You know that?"

I turned the to source of the voice and stuck out my tongue. "But you still love me,"

Tiffany sighed. "Yes. Somehow, I still love you,"

"Oh, hey Tiff!"

She looked at him wearily. "Hi, Kyuhyun," she said weakly, giving him a half smile. He smiled back, unaware of Tiffany's weak reaction to him.

I had to admit, Kyuhyun wasn't bad looking. I don't know why Tiffany seemed to dislike him. It's not like she was gay, like me, or anything.

Maybe because of his initial pickup line. That was pretty bad. No scratch that; it was really bad.

"Well, we have to get going, guys," I heard Leeteuk announce from behind me. "Class," he continued. Like anyone cared. Except maybe Tae.

I stole a glance at her. She did seem a bit sadder. I felt him walking past me.

"Bye Teukkie~" I heard Taeyeon call out, immediately followed by a gasp and a popping sound. They didn't seem to hear it though. When Tae realized this, she uncovered and let out a sigh of relief.

"Aw, you already have a pet name for him," Tiffany teased.

"St-Stop it," she whined.

"TaeTeuk, TaeTeuk," Tiff sang, continuing her torture. Of me, that is.

But unknown to her, every mention of that couple name was a stab wound to my heart.

GUESS WHAT GUYS

I FINALLY UPDATED!

*no one celebrates, leaving me here, awkwardly dancing around*

...ok D:

But anyways, hope you enjoyed!

AND COMMENT D:<

YOU GAIN KARMA

PLUS, THE MORE COMMENTS, THE MORE UPDATES

SO ... please?