The Next Day

Siwon’s POV

A day had already pass by, & tomorrow’s the day we’ll be leaving New York. We’ve waited, but still no answer from Jade.

“Do you think she’s coming with us?” Donghae asked me hopefully.

I looked at my watch. “I’m not sure…”

He sighed at my words & lowered his head down sadly. “Well, at least we get to spend this vacation with her. Right, guys?”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” Henry yelled. “I don’t want her to leaveeeeeeeeee~!!!” he cried on Zhou Mi’s shoulder.

“There there…” Zhou Mi comforted him by patting his head.

“Nothing we can do about it. Heechul doesn’t wanna help us” Eunhyuk shrugged.

“Hey~! I tried my best!” Heechul whined from the couch.

“Then why’s she still not coming down??”

“Ok, guys~!” Leeteuk stopped the two of them. “Blaming each other’s not gonna help”

The guys sighed & looked away from each other’s faces. When suddenly, I heard footsteps coming down the staircase. We all looked up to see Jade, fresh faced, looking at us with her bright blue eyes.

“What’s up?” she asked us. “You guys fighting again?” she raised a brow at the quiet situation.

“JADE!” Henry exclaimed her name brightly. “Where’ve you been?? We haven’t seen you since yesterday!” he exclaimed, almost yelling.

“I was busy” she said innocently. “Packing my things” 

“Hm?” Yesung & Ryeowook both tilted their heads in wonder.

“What?” she asked us. “Aren’t I allowed to go back with you guys?” she pouted & started pulling out her agyeo, leaving us surprised with her final decision.

“So you’re coming WITH US?!??” Henry beamed. Jade just gave him a slight grin, signaling a ‘Yes’, until Henry ran over to hug her. “JADE I LOVE YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!” he hugged her tight, refusing to let go. Jade just giggled at his usual bubbly reaction & hugged him back.

I caught Heechul looking surprised as his eyes grew wider by the minute, & he immediately walked up to those two. “OKKK~! No need to get all ‘touchy’ there, Mochi” he glared & pulled him away by his shirt.

At times I kinda like seeing how he is. I mean, Heechul. Sometimes he gets all strange around Jade that I just can’t quite put my finger on it. & actually, it’s pretty amusing to watch him. Even makes me wonder if he was… jealous?

“So what made you decide to come back to Seoul?” Donghae asked Jade. 

“Yea, don’t you get annoyed by of us?” Yesung teased while standing next to Donghae.

“Of course I do!” Jade replied without doubt. “But it’ll be boring if there’s no one to bother around” she pouted. The rest of us laughed. “Plus I’m very loyal. I’ve been assigned to a nine month contract” she added. “No way I’m stopping now, right?” she smirked. We all nodded, & were happy to know that tomorrow, she’s coming back with us.

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Later

Jade’s POV

It was finally a happy ending for me & the guys as I decided to head back to Seoul with them. But something was bothering Siwon…

“You know, we’re happy that you’re coming back with us” he said. “But I just can’t help but pity you”

“Eh? Pity what?” I asked with the strawberry ice cream in my mouth.

“It’s just… You’re sure that you’re making this decision, right?” he asked.

“Positive” I said as I my ice cream.

“So… you’re not gonna miss being like this? You know… Dress normally?”

“Well…” I stopped to think about it. “I’ve always dressed like this. So it shouldn’t be a problem” I told him. “But I guess… Lying, & acting as a guy… Well, I guess I just have to deal with it” I shrugged & continued with my ice cream.

I heard him sigh. “Do you want to stop?”

I stopped my ice cream & looked at him. “Hm?”

“Be yourself” he told me. “We don’t want you to suffer anymore…”

“Well I’m not, how you say, suffering” I said.

I was about to continue, until he cut me off short by quickly saying “Jade if you want to go back to normal, its ok with us”

“H-Huh??” I almost dropped my ice cream when he said that.

“You’ve been through a lot because of us. It’s the least we could do” he said.

“Y-Yea, but… The public… The scandal rumor… What about that?” I asked him.

“I thought about it, & I think it’s safe already. Besides, it’s been around 7 months already”

I touched my hair… It was longer now. Just above my shoulder. & I wondered… It would be nice to get back to my old self again. Long hair… Dark brown…

“Think about it…” he told me & gave a little smile.

After a moment of consideration, I finally spoke. “Well… Heechul told me about it once. How when the rumor ends & I can go back to myself. But… he said there’d be consiquenses” I told him. He raised a brow, & I continued. “As in getting chased by scary fans”

He sighed & looked down while rubbing his hands together. “That’s true…”

“But,” I continued eagerly. “It’s ok”

His head shot up. “Really?” he asked.

“Yea. I think I can handle it” I smiled confidently.

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That afternoon, after the discussion with Siwon, he & Zhou Mi brought me to town to a hair salon.

“Guys!” I whined. “Why’re you bringing me here??” I asked as they dragged me into the salon.

“We need to do something about your hairstyle before we go back…” Zhou Mi said as he examined my hair. It was definitely messed up. From the short haircut, to growing it out long, it seriously did some damage. Especially how the black hair dye was wearing off.

I was seated on one of the chairs as we waited for the hairdresser to come.

“Hmm… Ok… A little trim here & here, & some new dye…” Zhou Mi said