Chapter Thirty

Weird munching sounds filled the room.

Jessica’s jaw agape uncontrollably as she stared blankly at the shikshin who had just opened the fifth packet of her snacks.

Just an hour ago, Yuri came to Jessica and announced the great news she had gotten from Hyuk-Jun. And the next thing she knew was Yuri brought her back to their dormitory, proving to her that the news was not a joke.

While waiting for Yuri in the foyer, Jessica couldn’t help but visualized the upcoming future she was going to spend with Yuri in Aurales.

Excitement was the only word that could describe her emotion, and it was a kind of emotion which she never experienced before, not even when she finally had the chance to live her own life.

She wondered if it was due to the extreme changes of her life or was it because of Yuri’s entrance into her life that made her felt this way. She was cracking her brain so hard to figure out an answer when Tiffany’s sudden return pushed her off cloud nine.

Jessica may seem dumb and ignorant, but she is not.

She could feel Tiffany’s hostilely towards her since the first day they met. Though Yuri already explained to her that it was Tiffany’s habit to distant herself from strangers, her instinct told her there was something more to Tiffany’s hostilely towards her. She was unable to come out with an answer right now, but she somehow got this feeling that Yuri might be the reason.

Jealousy?

That word struck her mind just a second before Sooyoung barged into Yuri’s room with a handful of junk foods in her arms.

And before Jessica even realized what was going on, she was already watching that skinny and tall hunter stuffing the foods down …… for who knew how long?

Sooyoung was starting to feel uncomfortable with Jessica’s intense staring. Eating was her forte, but Jessica made her felt as though it was a sin. “You… want some?” Unlikely from Sooyoung, but yes, she was indeed offering (her) snacks to Jessica.

The corner of twitched when Jessica saw the packet of biscuits in front of her. She scrunched her face with slight disgust and leaned back slightly in reflex, “I’m fine, thanks. Don’t worry about me. Please go ahead and enjoy.” Jessica forced a smile at Sooyoung. She was already full from watching her eating.

“Are you sure?” Jessica had this pitiful look on her face that made people thought she actually wanted it.

If Sooyoung ever realized, that pitiful expression wasn’t meant to express Jessica’s desire, but it was Jessica’s reaction towards Sooyoung. She thought the hunter looked really like a refugee who starved for a thousand of years. 

Jessica gave Sooyoung a firm nod.

Sooyoung eyed her suspiciously and suddenly, she rummaged through the piles of snacks in between them and searched for a particular lollipop which was buried by the other snacks.

When she finally found what she wanted, she handed it to Jessica.

“Here, take it.”

Jessica took it obediently, with a tinge of hesitation though.

“Eat it.” Sooyoung ushered her.

Jessica had this confusing look on her face.

“How do I… eat this?” She observed the stick which had a small ball attached to one of its end.

Sooyoung raised an eyebrow at her, “What do you mean by ‘how do I eat this’?”

“I…” Heat was accumulating on her face. Jessica lowered her head and looked away embarrassedly. She mumbled, “I’ve never eaten this before…”

“PARDON?” The room was silent enough for Sooyoung’s ears to capture Jessica’s mumble. But since Jessica’s voice was soft, Sooyoung thought she heard her wrongly. “What did you say again?”

“I’ve never eaten this before…” There seemed to be a weight on her head and Jessica lowered it further down. The exaggerating and unbelievable look on Sooyoung’s face made her felt like a total idiot.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THAT’S A LOLLIPOP!” Sooyoung exclaimed.

The world’s ever most popular candy, the one and only candy which you should NEVER missed in your whole life. You don’t even deserve to say you have live your life to its fullest if you have never tried a lollipop before!

…… That was what Sooyoung thought.

“I…” Jessica was taken aback by the shikshin who became agitated out of the sudden. What was wrong with this small little bag and its stick……“I… My family doesn’t eat this and…” She brought the candy near to her nose and sniffed. “… I don’t eat sweet stuffs too……”

Candies are for babies. Jessica decided to keep this comment to herself.

Sooyoung returned her an unbelievable look, weirdo! She snatched the lollipop away from Jessica’s hand and removed the wrapper around it. She forced it into Jessica’s hand and commanded, “Put it in your mouth.”

Jessica held the pink candy in mid-air, wondering if she should listen to Sooyoung’s instruction or not.

“Lollipop makes you feel better, trust me, have a try.”

Her beautiful eyebrows drew into a frown. She didn’t like the idea of putting this candy in , but the anticipation in Sooyoung’s eyes… She didn’t want to disappoint the hunter either.

Reluctantly, and finally, the lollipop found its way into Jessica’s mouth. A very pleasant strawberry scent entered her nose and the sweetness of the candy melted above her tongue.

“How is it?”

“It’s nice!” Jessica complimented with a wide grin, feeling slightly surprised. She always thought candies were bad stuffs and would ruin humans because her mother always told her candies stole maturity and intelligent whenever she requested for it.

She never knew candies could be so tasty.

“See! I told you lollipop makes you feel better! You’re finally smiling!” Sooyoung exclaimed happily.

Jessica popped the lollipop out of , “I wasn’t in a bad mood in the first place.”

“Don’t lie to me! You look like you are going to suffer a mental breakdown anytime after Tiffany came back!”

Oh yeah, Tiffany…

The smile was gone in a flash as soon as Jessica recalled all the incidents she experienced with Tiffany. It was supposed to be a joyful moment for her since she finally got to see the famous hunter she admired for so long.

But she made Tiffany hated her instead.

Jessica was really helpless about it.

Sooyoung swept the snacks in between her and Jessica away and crawled to the expressionless blonde. “Hey um… what did you do to Fany anyway? You know… she may be scary when you first see her, but she isn’t the kind of person who will dislike anyone for no reason.”

“I… really don’t know. I think she already dislikes me the first time we met.” The incident in her ward, Tiffany stomped out of the room right after their handshake. Yuri said it was because of her discomfort with strangers, but she knew there was a different answer to it.

“Do you still remember what you did when you guys met for the first time?”

Jessica shook her head with a slight pout, “All I did was to confess my feeling to her after Yuri introduced us… Do you think that’s the cause of it?”

“YOU CONFESSED TO HER?”

“Um… Yeah? She’s my idol.”

“OH. I thought you meant it in other way.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, never mind about me. So… Well, if that’s the case, I don’t see why she will dislike you.” It was not like Jessica molested Tiffany nor had the ability to molest her. “Did you her with your eyes or something?” Sooyoung randomly asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

Why is the conversation trailing towards a weird direction?

“UH! I mean, what else did you do? Tiffany is not an unreasonable person. There must be a reason behind her behavior.” Sooyoung mentally face-palmed herself. She must be out of her mind to even compare Jessica with those I.T. erts.

“I didn’t do anything.” Jessica paused, recalling the incident that day. “All I did was to sit on my bed and chat with Yuri.” And then Tiffany came into her ward. Jessica wasn’t sure if Tiffany was in a bad mood from before she entered since she was expressionless when she stepped into the room.

“HOLD ON A SECOND!” Something struck Sooyoung’s head in the spark of light. Why hadn’t she thought of this before?! “Answer my question. You are always with Yuri after you hospitalized right?”

Jessica nodded.

“So that means when Tiffany saw you, Yuri was besides you. Am I correct?”

Jessica nodded again.

Sooyoung balled her right hand into a fist and hammered it on her left palm.

To think that she even stay in Yuri’s room now… An invisible light bulb lit above Sooyoung’s head. She snapped her head towards Jessica’s direction and squinted at her.

“You are dead Jessica…”

“Um… Sooyoung…” Jessica was staring at the space behind Sooyoung. She didn’t seem to be paying attention to the shikshin.

“Wha––OUCH!”

“You’re so dead Choi Sooyoung! Spouting nonsense again?” Yuri’s voice rang behind her. Sooyoung quickly turned herself around to find Yuri holding her fist in the air, standing behind her, glaring at her.

Sooyoung held the hit spot on her head and sprung up from the ground. She directed her finger right at Yuri, “YOU!”

Yuri slapped her hand away without sparing her any attention, “You’re done here, bye––YAH! CHOI SOOYOUNG! WHY ARE YOU EATING IN MY ROOM?!” The corner of her eyes suddenly spotted those scattered packets all over her carpeted floor. “You better clean those crumbs away now before ants find their way here! Or else I’m gonna make you them away until my carpet burns a hole for all I care!”

“Yah! And that’s how you repay me after I did so much to help you?!”

“You know my rules!” No foods and drinks in her room! Ugh! Especially that is a carpet floor! “Don’t force me to buy a lock––”

Sooyoung dashed out of Yuri’s room before she could finish her sentence, “GIMME A SECOND!”

And her room resumed its peace again.

Yuri scratched her head and approached the stunned blonde who was still sitting on her couch. She took a seat beside the girl and apologized awkwardly, “Um… Hope that we didn’t scared you back there. Sooyoung and I like to fool around.”

“Oh!” Jessica woke up from her dazed. “No! That’s fine. I’m a little surprise though, the both of you are adorable. Sooyoung is a funny girl.” Jessica let out a soft laughter. “Do the both of you always play around like this all the time?”

“I guess so?”

Since Sooyoung irritates her almost every day.

“That’s nice.” Envious was showing on the blonde’s face. “I wish I have a friend like yours…” Jessica felt lonely whenever she thought of herself.

She wasn’t exactly alone, but she was alone for most of the time.

“Where are your friends?” Yuri asked.

There was a moment of silence before Jessica answered, “I’ve only got Hyoyeon. Those I met after I moved out from the village are not as good as her. I miss those days when we used to play around together.” Jessica let out a sigh. “Yuri, do you think it’s possible if you can look out for Hyoyeon for me? I… I…” She played with her shirt nervously, “… want to clarify this matter with her. I really don’t believe she will do such a thing.”

“I––” Yuri wanted to tell Jessica the truth about how she and the other members failed to find any of the Satron members despite all these years. “I’ll help you, don’t’ worry.” But when she recalled what happened when she told Jessica about Dehan (the town in Prologue), she decided to swallow the truth down .

She couldn’t bear to see a disappointed Jessica again.