[CONTENTID1]Chapter 39[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Ayi's Squeals[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Kris rolled his eyes, "I knew you wouldn't forget." Why do girls remember every little thing?

"Haha, of course not! Now spill!" Mei Li pleaded.

"There is nothing to spill. I didn't confess,” Kris replied bluntly.

"What? Why!" Mei Li exclaimed, "IT'S BEEN A YEAR, OPPA!"

"I know, I know. I'm a wuss, okay?"

"Oppa! MAN UP!" she commanded.

"It just never seemed like a good time. You know..." he trailed off. “No, never mind." I don't want to make it sound like I'm blaming her.

"What? Tell me!" she pried.

He hesitated a bit. Why did you have to mention it, Kris? Ugh, stupid.

"Please, oppa?" she added with aegyo.

Kris glanced down to see her puppy-dog eyes staring back at him. He sighed; he knew he lost again. "Jessica has been very depressed lately," he told her.

"What? Why?" she asked worriedly.

"She misses you a lot. And she was upset that you hadn't told her how you were feeling before you left; she feels like it's partially her fault."

"But it isn't!" Mei Li exclaimed.

"I know but she thinks she's a bad friend for not being able to realize how sad you must've felt. We try to cheer her up, but nothing really works,” Kris explained.

In truth, everyone but Luhan and Tao tried to cheer Jessica up. Luhan was also the one who needed to cheer up, so how could he comfort Jessica? And Tao got all quiet at the mention of Mei Li’s name, so the rest of the members tried not to bring up the past and upset him.

Mei Li pouted and looked down at her feet, "So it's my fault that you two aren't together yet?"

I knew this would happen! "What? No! Don't say that,” Kris shook his head.

"But it's true!" If anything, I'm the bad friend for not telling her and just leaving. I didn't mean for things to happen this way,” Mei Li mumbled sadly.

"Okay, don't go there," Kris chided, "What I meant was, she just misses you a lot. We all do."

She sighed and didn't reply, so Kris decided to have some fun and hopefully cheer her up. He learned from his mom that upset girls could be very scary and grumpy.

He dipped his finger into the soap bubbles and poked her cheek with it. "Yah!" she yelled.

"What?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Hmmmph,” she huffed.

Unexpectedly, she dipped her hands into the soap bubbles too and flung them at his face. "YAH!"