Chapter 8

 

Jonghyun walked Jessica home, after being scolded by Sunny. On the way, the two did not speak a single word. Jonghyun was listening to his iPod and Jessica was staring at the beautiful night sky, ignoring each other. Without noticing, a man walking in the opposite direction bumped into Jessica and she fell into Jonghyun arms. Jonghyun and Jessica suddenly blushed from the sudden event. Jessica jumped off of Jonghyun's grasp immediately after realizing the situation.

 

Jonghyun looked away and shouted at the man who had already disappeared, "Look at where you're going." He turned to face Jessica and asked, "Are you okay."

 

"I'm fine, thank you." Jessica replied and continued walking. But after one step, she felt a sharp pain around left ankle.

 

Jonghyun lent in his hands, "I think you've twisted your ankle. Do you think you continue?"

 

"It's okay, I can bear with it." Jessica assured and shook off his hands. She tried to continue walking, but again, she another sharp pain.

 

Jonghyun couldn't stand watching the situation and he showed his back to her. He signalled her to climb onto his back. "Jump on, I'll carry you home and don't say no because it will take you till morning to go home at your condition."

 

Without a choice, Jessica obediently climbed onto Jonghyun. The two continue their home and they return to ignore each other.

 

After 20 minutes, Jonghyun began to sweat and breathe heavily.

 

"You can drop me here and I can walk the rest." Jessica told worrying for his health.

 

"No, you going to make your ankle become worse and this is nothing compare to what I do at the gym." He assured her.

 

"About the bet, let's cancel it." Jessica said suddenly.

 

"What? Why? Are you scare that you will lose to me in the maths test?" Jonghyun giggled.

 

"Please, I'm sure that my marks are higher than yours. There are no chances for you to beat me." She rebutted.

 

"Then why do you want to cancel the bet, if you are so sure of winning." Jonghyun felt slightly offended.

 

"I just want to repay you for carrying me home tonight." She blushed slightly.

 

The pair arrived at Jessica's house and Jonghyun gently let Jessica down to her feet.

 

"Thank you." Jessica walked toward the front door gingerly.

 

Before she opened the door, she turned and waved goodbye to him. Jonghyun smiled and waved back. Then he shouted, "The bet is still on and if you lose, you'll have to go on a date with me!"

***

 

"Thank you." Sunny paid the employee at the counter and unwrapped the icy pole. She walked to the nearest bench and sat down.

 

"That jerk actually left me here alone." She whispered to herself while at her icy pole.

 

"Better call Sungmin oppa now." Sunny pulled out her phone and dialled her brother's numbers.

 

The phones rang three times before she could hear her brother's voice from the other line, "Hello Sunny, are you on your way home now?"

 

"No oppa, I'm still at the karaoke place. So can you come and pick me up." Sunny asked politely.

 

"Yeah, no problem, but aren’t Onew with you?"

 

"No, he had to walk Taeyeon." She said disappointedly.

 

"Man, that brother of ours needs to learn how to take responsibilities." They both laughed through their phones, "Anyway, don't go anywhere and I'll be there in a few minutes."

 

"Okay oppa." Sunny smiled and ended call.

 

***

 

There was an awkward silence between Onew and Taeyeon after they've left the karaoke. For the past five minutes, Onew tried to start a conversation with her, but failed to do so because of his shyness.

 

"I had a great time tonight," Taeyeon was the first one to break the silence and she turned to face Onew, "Did you have fun tonight?"

 

"Yeah, of course." He stuttered from their sudden eyes contact.

 

The conversation ended and they both could feel the awkward silence again.

 

"Why did you change school?" Onew stuttered again, trying to break silence one more time. "You don't have to answer it if don't feel like to." He said afterward, realising that the question might be too personal.

 

"My dad got a job here, so my family decided to move here." Taeyeon answered.

 

"That's nice, you must love your family a lot." He smiled.

 

"To be honest, I wasn't too fond of moving here, because I didn't want to leave my friends from my previous school." Onew's face saddened after hearing what she said. "But I'm glad that I made the right choice, because I got to meet you guys" She turned to face him again and smiled.

 

Onew blushed and turned away to hide his embarrassment, 'Why does she has to be so damn cute.'

 

Taeyeon giggled at his reaction and continued, "And beside my family always come first, that's what I always said when I was young."

 

Onew suddenly stopped walking and thought of Sunny, 'Family always come first.'

 

"Are you okay?" Taeyeon worried after Onew stopped suddenly.

 

"I'm okay." Onew continued walking again, but multiple images of Sunny appeared in his head.

 

They soon arrived at the bus stop and Onew couldn't stop worrying about Sunny, so he decided to ask Taeyeon, "Is it okay for you to go home from here?"

 

"Did something happen?" She asked back curiously.

 

"What you said before, about family always come first, I couldn't stop worrying about Sunny and you know she can be an airhead sometime, she might have forgotten to call Sungmin hyung." Onew answered trying to not hurt Taeyeon's feelings.

 

Taeyeon giggled and smiled at the innocent Onew, "Don't worry, I can catch the bus from here. Go back to Sunny quickly before it get too late and be careful."

 

Onew let out a long breath, feeling relieved, "Thank you, I'll make it up to you when we meet each other back at school." He ran back to the karaoke, but he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Taeyeon. He shouted, "Don't forget about our bet!"

 

Taeyeon just smiled and waved goodbye. Onew smiled back and continued running.

 

"Wait for me, Sunny."

 

***

 

After finishing her icy pole, she took out her phone again and played Tetris.

 

"Damn it, nearly beat my high score." She scratched her head from frustration and put her phone away.

 

"Where is Sungmin oppa? Why is he taking so long?" Sunny looked around to see if her brother had come, but suddenly she noticed three men looking at her. Sunny tried to avoid eyes contact and decided it would be best to walk back into the nearby convenience store, but before she could stand up from her bench she was surrounded by the three men.

 

"Hey cutie, why are here alone at this time?" The middle man asked with a huge grin on his face.

 

Sunny ignored him and tried to walk away, but she was blocked by his fellow friends.

 

"Hey, don't go. Let's get to know each other." The left man said.

 

"Yeah, let's go to a better place and talk." The right man agreed.

 

Sunny knew what was going to happen, so she used all strength to get away. But the three men predicted her movements and grabbed onto her. She tried to scream for help but was covered by one of the man's hand. Sunny struggled to get out of the three men's grasps and tears began to fall down from her eyes.

 

"I'm going to enjoy this." The middle man laughed and unbuckled his jeans.

 

"GET THE AWAY FROM HER!" A voice came from behind the three men.