The girls set themselves down in the private dining room, which located at the 2^nd floor of Seoul Coex Hotel. While waiting for Jessica to be back from the restroom, which 15 minutes had passed by, she was still nowhere in sight, which made the girls grew impatient.

“What takes her so long?” asked Yuri. “She’s been there for 15 minutes.”

“Maknae, are you sure she’s okay?” asked Taeyeon, seeming worried. She didn’t want to leave bad impressions for the bosses as this was going to be the first commercial contract of the year.

“I’ve called Sica unnie, she said she’s finding her way here.” replied Seohyun.

“Finding? What did she mean by finding? Isn’t there sign boards?!” said Sooyoung, placing her fingers on her shaking head.

“It’s not like it’s the first day we’ve known her—” added Sunny.

/

“Ughh come on elevator! I’m seriously gonna be fixed later!” said Jessica under her breath. She kept looking at her newly bought Gucci watch; and kept her eyes on each elevator. “Isn’t it the 5-star-hotel or something, why are the—” Just before she finished bragging, she saw the door of one of the elevators opened. She quickly dashed in and hoped she wasn’t late for the meeting.

/

“Yah Donghae!” Sungmin ran over and tapped Donghae’s shoulder once he spotted him. “Why are you still standing in front of the restaurant?”

“I am—”, he bit his lower lips, slowly turned his head around and glared at Sungmin, “waiting for you of course! Don’t you know what’s punctual?” he playfully elbowed him on his stomach before both of them walked their way to the private dining room.

“I’m so excited to meet them face-by-face! Don’t you know they’re like the hottest humans on earth?” Sungmin faced his cousin and saw his puzzled face, “I can’t blame you anyway—you weren’t even here for years.”

“Of course I know who they are. They were my schoolmates. And even one of them was my girlfriend.” Donghae thought. Since Sungmin didn’t attend the same highschool with him, he wasn’t aware about it. Anyway, Donghae kept the words in his mind instead of spilling it out.

/

“Annyeong—” the girls greeted the man with a bow once he stepped in. Their perfect grins had seriously melted his heart.

“Ani—I’m not the boss—I’m just the assistant—” after he finished his sentence, he moved aside and let Donghae and Sungmin showed themselves.

“Ann—” the girls stopped. They were greatly alarmed by who were standing in front of them.

“I told you they’re hot.” said Sungmin, whispering into Donghae’s ear. He was the only one who wasn’t looking awkward.

“Dong—Donghae oppa—” said the girls in startled tones.

“Great. Once Jessica arrives, everything’s gonna be a mess.” murmured Yuri to the girls, who were all staring down the table, avoiding eye contacts with the guy who had hurt their best friend deeply before.

“I’m sorry I’m late! Really really sorry!” they heard Jessica’s voice. At the moment they all lifted their heads up; they saw a clumsy, potato-looking Jessica kept bowing, in order to apologize. She didn’t even notice who was standing right at the corner.

“Yah Jung Jessica! Please open your eyes and look who’s beside you!” mumbled the girls again.

“Sica!” the well-known-laggy-Jessica glanced at Tiffany with an innocent face. Tiffany and Yoona tried to give her hints by pointing their fingers to their right side. She looked at them with the confused look, not getting the points that her friends passed. Until someone broke in their gazes.

 “Jess—ica?” the voice that was once familiar to Jessica suddenly came out of nowhere. “Jessica—”
 

She immediately tilted her head to her left, and saw Donghae standing perfectly right in front of her. “She’s just—absolutely flawless.” said Donghae in his heart. Jessica was still fixed at her position, not making a single move. She was left aghast. All of a sudden, she felt that all of the pressures were rushing, and pressing her forehead, which caused her to take one step backwards to keep her balance.

“I’ll take that as a yes. See you later!”

“Let’s go the festival beside the beach.”

“You’re—gorgeous.”

“Oh come on! I’m Donghae. Lee Donghae.”

“3 minutes. Just 3 minutes. I need to explain to you.”

“Because I love you okay? I love you!”

“I know it isn’t special—you can even see this scene from dramas—but—”

“Couple bracelets!”

“What’s the use for me to buy a key to open up your heart, when I’m the only key?”

As the memories kept flashing in uncontrollably, tears had already fulfilled her eyes. And beads of crystal-clear-tears had already dropped on her puffy cheeks. Again, she stepped backwards before leaving the place, running at her full speed.

Watching the girl he loved just left like that, he was dumbfounded. “What do you think you’re doing? Go chase after her!” yelled Hyoyeon and Taeyeon. “If anything happens to Jessica, we won’t let you off.”

Donghae felt like his feet grew roots that held them tight on the ground, not allowing him to take any actions. However, a sudden sentence, “I love you—”echoed in his mind. He raced out the room and grabbed one of the waiter’s shoulders hardly. “Did you see a girl with blonde hair?! Answer me!”

“I saw her—running up the stairs.” the waiter pointed out the glass window.

/

After minutes of searching Jessica at the third floor, he found her at the indoor pool, alone. He picked up his guts and walked near her.

“Sica—” he deliberately turned her around to face him. “I—”

“Why are you back?” asked Jessica with red teary eyes, but she had already stopped sobbing.

“I—Sica listen—”

“Why did you leave me at the first place and now that you’re back?” she asked again. Her questions left him speechless, he tried to find words to answer but he couldn’t.

“Do you know how miserable I was when you left me without a single word?” he saw Jessica glared to her right before facing him again, “What’s your purpose right now? To see how sorrowful I am?” Her voice and speed increasing. Her face was expressionless as she quickly wiped off her tears with the back of her hand to stop them from falling.

“No! Please listen to my explanation—”

“Stop Lee Donghae! Stop!” she screamed. She closed her ears with both palms. “I don’t want to hear anything!”

Donghae grabbed her wrist hard and took down her hands, “My mum arranged all this! I couldn’t do anything! I was about to tell you that I was leaving on the day we spent in the mall, but the words just weren’t coming out! Listen—”

“So you meant that you were going to tell me about it on the day you left? How selfish are you?” Both of them raised their voices without their notice. “You don’t know how I was feeling when I was told that you were going to leave on that freaking call! You don’t know how many sleepless nights I had, spending it thinking of you! You don’t know—”

By listening to what Jessica said, he was sure that she was deeply mad at him, and still unable to forgive him.

“I love you!” he yelled. This was the first time ever he raised his voice in front of her. He never did that. “I love you Jessica! And I never stopped loving you. Throughout these years, I forced myself to study hard, to complete my studies earlier just to come back and search for you. And I did. I rejected every girl that hit on me because you’re always the one who I was thinking about. I love you, you hear me?”

Jessica stared into his dark-brown charismatic eyes. She opened up and spoke up, “You love me?” her voice was soft, emotions were calm.

“Of course I do—I—”

Jessica drew in a breath and continued, “What if I say—I already have a boyfriend?”

Upon hearing what he had just heard, he slowly loosened his grip. Her words completely struck him and blew his mind. The next second, he already saw Jessica picking up her bag from the bench and walked haltingly out of the glass door.

“It’s too late—Donghae.” murmured Jessica. Her tears dropped on the tiles before she completely disappeared from Donghae’s sight. “I’m sorry.”

P.S/ If it isn't a great update, I'm sorry, readers :S