“Why are you here again?” Jessica muttered after opening the door to a freezing yet grinning Jonghyun.

“I brought you something!” he said. “Look!”

“What?” Jessica snapped and glanced at him. Before she could see what he was holding though, she quickly pushed him out of the door. “Dude, your shoes! They’re all muddy from the snow.”

Jonghyun looked down, embarrassed. “Oh, sorry, Jessica. I was so excited to show you that I forgot.”

After taking off his shoes and his coat, he held up the precious paper bag. “I got you your favourite sandwiches, Jessica! All the way from that café downtown!”

Jessica’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yup!” Jonghyun beamed as he bounced over to her and took the boxes of sandwiches out of the bag. “Here!”

Jessica hungrily ripped off the wrapping and took a big bite. “Mmm, they’re so good.”

Jonghyun grinned and sat down beside her. He liked seeing her happy. It didn’t matter that he had driven for an hour on the snowy road to get to that café. It didn’t matter that a couple of fans had seen him and had annoyingly tugged at his arm, wanting to get a picture with him. It didn’t matter that he was probably going to get into trouble with manager hyung because he was already late for practice.

Nothing mattered to Jonghyun at this moment... only her smile did.

Jessica turned towards him, truly looking at him for the first time that night. She frowned as she noticed something. “What in the history of ugly sweaters are you wearing, Kim Jonghyun?”

Jonghyun looked down. “Oh, this?”

“Yes, that.” Jessica spat, as though merely saying the word tasted bad.

“My mom made it for me!” Jonghyun smiled.

“It’s horrendous.”

Jonghyun’s mouth was set in a thin line. “But she made it...” he replied softly, sounding very much like a lost child.

“Doesn’t make it any less horrendous,” Jessica responded sarcastically. “You’re a worldwide icon, Jonghyun. Your mother should know better than to make you wear ugly clothes.”

“She didn’t make me wear it; I chose to!” Jonghyun said lightheartedly, trying to be cheerful.

“Pft,” Jessica scoffed. “Then you’ve got the same fashion taste as the old-fashioned ahjumma who made you that.”

Jonghyun’s eyes narrowed. “That ‘old-fashioned ahjumma’ you’re talking about is my mother.”

“Yup.”

Jonghyun gave in and sighed. “Jessica...” he said.

There it was: his usual quiet expression of disapproval. Jessica smirked. She knew that it would come. This time, though, she decided to not let it go as she usually did. “Why do you do that, Jonghyun?” Jessica replied sneeringly.

Jonghyun was thrown back by her question. He was used to her just ending there and then talking about something else. “...what?”

“That,” Jessica said. “Saying my name slowly but that’s it. I know what you’re thinking, that I’m a heartless, cold-blooded creature. Why don’t you just say it instead of quietly chiding me each time?”

Stunned, Jonghyun stumbled over his words. “But—what?—I don’t think that!”

“Sure, Kim Jonghyun,” Jessica said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Sure, you don’t. I know everyone does, and I know you agree with them. I know that even though you pretend, you secretly find me evil. ”

“I—”

“Scold me. Yell at me. Why keep it all in? You hate me, don’t you?” Jessica paused to let out a wry laugh. “Of course you do. How can you not? I’m always so mean to you.”

“No, I don’t hate you!” Jonghyun said firmly. “Why are you being like this?”

“What do you mean? This is me.”

Jonghyun shook his head. “No. I refuse to believe that.”

“That what do you think I am?”

“It’s a front.” Jonghyun replied. “You’re just putting on a tough front; and, all this time, I’ve been trying to break it. Can’t you see?” Jonghyun pleaded desperately.

“Ha! And you truly believe that?” Jessica said incredulously.

“Yes!”

“Because you like me, right?”

Jonghyun flinched. His eyes widened. He wasn’t shocked that she knew; almost everyone noticed it. What disturbed him the most was the nonchalance and ridicule in her voice as she stated that fact.

Jessica saw that he was speechless and smirked again. “Right on, Kim Jonghyun?”

He remained silent.

“I knew—”

“Enough!”

Jessica immediately stopped talking. This was the first time that Jonghyun had raised his voice at her; and, honestly, she was a little scared. He looked up at her; and, among the anger and frustration, there was an unreadable pain in his eyes.

“I had always thought that they were the ones who were wrong, Jessica,” Jonghyun began as Jessica stiffened at the unfamiliar indifference in his voice when he said her name. “I had always thought that, no, you weren’t the mean, cold person that they always gossiped about.” Jonghyun paused. “...I always stood up for you.”

Jessica knew that.

“Jonghyun, I—”

“But I guess I was wrong.” He frowned slightly. “I believed you, Jessica. I believed in you.”

Jonghyun stood up and got his coat. “I had put up with everything you threw at me. Every nasty insult, every condescending look... I endured it. You had insulted me. You had insulted my friends. In fact, you had insulted everything concerning my life that you could possibly insult; and I put up with it.” He took a deep breath. “...but to mock my love for you and my trust in you is too much.”

“Jjong, wait...”

“They were right,” Jonghyun said wryly as he opened the door and stepped out, letting the cold winter air rush in and dance sadistically around her bare legs. “You are an Ice Princess.”

He had called her that.

He had called her that awful, horrible nickname that Jessica thought she’d never hear out of his mouth.

As the door closed and as reality slowly seeped in, Jessica’s world became a blur through her tears.