Chapter Three


Tiffany
Flashback

"Tiffany! Do you want to go to starbucks with us later?" Sunny approached me with the rest of our friends. They were all busy chatting with each other about school work, but they didn't fail to greet me.

I gave them a smile as I shook my head. "I can't. I have to help Jessica out with the that representative thing, but thank you for offering though." Honestly, helping Jessica was better than going to a coffee shop. It wasn't like I was replacing my friends with my crush, but it was rare for us to be together so I want to cease the opportunity.

Jessica then looked at me with those beautiful pair of big eyes. The way she looked at me made me want to fall deeper and deeper for her. I swear, if I was a guy, I wouldn't let this feeling go to waste and ask her on the spot; however, I obviously wasn't one so I have to quickly remove this treacherous smile. "You can go ahead. I can do this by myself," she said in her cold tone, and as little time I spent with her, I got used to her demeanors. It wasn't like I wasn't aware of her capabilities; I know she could do this alone since she was smart and talented, but it's fun to be around her so I wanted to push myself onto her as much as I could.

I shook my head and looked at my friends with a soft smile on my face. "You guys can go ahead, maybe next time?" They all smiled at me and giggled. I bet they knew how happy I was to be with Jessica.

"Bye, Fany!" they bid me goodbye but Sooyoung suddenly bent down and whispered to my ear. "Don't take too much advantage of her. It's illegal." She teased playfully.

"Yah! Do you really think I'd do that?" I felt the burn in my cheeks; I was sure I was blushing.

Without saying another word, She left and followed the rest of them, laughing.

I looked at Jessica looking at the list of middle schools around the area. I looked at mine, too, but I am clearly lost since my partner's actually doing everything by herself. Then again, she seemed to be confused about something. She kept on writing something down but erases it right after. "You need help?" I asked her.

She looked at me with a rapid glance but shook her head. "No, I know what I'm doing." But clearly, she was confused about something since her face was distorted; her brows continued to dance.

"Jessica, I know you hate being helped but I'm volunteering to help you. Actually, I'm also assigned with this project so let me help. I won't expect anything in return." I tried convincing her. "I may not be a genius child prodigy like you but I know I can help if I actually try to."

She glared at me. Weird enough, it's supposed to scare me but all I could see and notice was her cuteness! "I'm not a genius or anything like that," she said flatly. She sounded offended and I felt guilty. "I hate it when people just assume that I'm good because I was born good. No, I work hard to be on top. Do you really think that I was just born great?" she asked me but before I could even reply, she continued on, "No, Tiffany. I was expecting you to be someone who can actually understand what hard work really is but I guess I was mistaken." 

She was blunt about it. It was not my intention to offend her by calling her a genius, child-prodigy. Well, if I actually think about it, being a prodigy wasn't really all that good. Most of the people would just think that that person excelled simply because they were special and not because of their actual perseverance. 

I finally realized why she was offended. Gosh, I looked at her everyday and watched her from the sidelines but why didn't I notice that Jessica was actually sensitive about being called a genius. "I'm sorry, Jessica. It was a careless joke, I understand how you feel. I work hard, too."

She looked at me, then back at the paper, and then back to me again. She opened and said, "It's okay. It doesn't really matter for as long as you know where I'm coming from." 

"You're not mad at me anymore?" I used my one-in-a-kind puppy dog eyes. 

She then smiled at me genuinely. Sometimes, as cold as she seemed to be, there were those split second moments that I treasured. Just like that smile, it was so rare that I couldn't help but take my time to take it in. "No," she answered and automatically went back to what she was doing. 

What she was doing was actually just looking at the paper, and was stuck with it. "I know what you're having troubles with." I took the paper and highlighted the middle school closest to our high school, Brentwood International, which is a top notch private school.

She smiled again. "Thanks. You actually do know where I was having troubles with."

"You've been here for a couple of months so I don't expect you to really memorize the area." I flashed a smile.

It didn't really take us long to finish and gathered information about the middle schools that we are prioritizing. We were on our way out of the main building and so it was our time to part. "Is your ride here yet?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "No, they'll pick us up in about thirty minutes since Krystal has soccer practice and Nicole has this dance troupe practice."

"I'll accompany you then!" I decided but she shook her head and waver her hand in disagreement.

"No, you should go on. It's getting pretty late." Her voice wasn't stern like usual, so I knew I could push my way to staying with her.

"Well, my ride's not here yet so can you at least accompany me?" I lied to her, My ride was already parked in the lot. I used my puppy eyes, pleading her to allow me stay with her, hands clasped together.

She scoffed a laugh. "Alright. Let's wait by the soccer field. That's where we meet up."

There was silence in the air. "Jessica, tell me something about yourself." I was being too pushy and I know she's going to just ignore the question or change the subject but that's better than this heavy atmosphere. And maybe, I just might be lucky and she would answer me. 

"I hate those evil cucumbers," she confessed but it brought me to burst out into laughter. It was so funny that the invulnerable Jessica was scared of cucumbers. And she was soo cute when she said it so seriously, too, that I couldn't even take it as a joke.

"Yah! That's why I don't like talking to other people. They just end up laughing at me." She pouted. Gosh! This was making my heart beat so fast. She was truly adorable. Looking at her and observing her from the side was really different from actually getting to know her, and I loved that fact that I was able to cross that boundary.

"I'm sorry. It just struck me that cucumbers are your... well... it's funny becase they're your... weakness?" I said in a suggesting tone.  Just thinking about people wearing a cucumber suit; I imagined Jessica frightened by the thought of people actually wearing cucumber suits and burst into more heavy and loud laughter. "Well, I'll tell you something about me then... I love pink."

She then looked at me with this uh-really?-it's-so-not-obvious face. She eyed me from head to toe; I was wearing a pink barrette, pink earrings, pink pendant, white and pink socks, pink backpack. "Yeah, I think I would've figured that out long before you told me. Pinkfany."

"Awwwe... that's actually cute, but quit with the sarcasm! I like the nickname though," I was so thrilled to get a nickname from her. But it was not fair that I was the only one getting a nickname, right? I thought to myself how I could mix cucumber and Jessica.

Cucuca?

Cusica?

Jecumber?

Jessiber?

Ah! Got it!
 

"Then you'll be Jessibear!"


 

Tiffany
Present

I was in my storage in my condominium, where I shoved everything I didn't like or use, but couldn't bare throwing away. I was staring at the over sized stuffed teddy bear eating a piece of cucumber while holding a pink heart on top of its chest. And on its belly, imprinted: Please Keep My Pink Heart. I asked our company's toy division to make it especially for Jessica's graduation present but it never reached her.

"Jessibear, why did you have to break my heart?"
 

Jessica
Present

I went straight to our main house since I wasn't in the mood to do anything for the rest of the day. I noticed that Kyrstal was with Nicole and some other friends. I tried my best to walk by without getting noticed, but it failed. "Jessica, come meet our friends for the first time!" Nicole called.

I sighed and decided to at least meet these people. "This is Amber. Amber likes Krystal." Nicole introduced, but I didn't really hear any complaints from my sister and I actually saw her flushed. So this was her love interest, huh? Well, she wasn't bad looking. Actually, she seemed like a pretty boy. "This is Hara and she's my girlfriend." I smiled at her and I noticed that there was some who are still not introduced, and so, I looked at them, "Oh, that's Sandara and Chearin, CL for short. Sandara is Amber's cousin and they're together." She finally finished while pointing at Sandara and CL.

"Hello, my name's Jung Jessica, these freaks' family." I flashed another smile. There. I introduced myself and was civilized enough to smile and bother with their names. "I'm actually tired right now so I'll head upstairs, I'll rest for awhile."

My grandfather's going to freak out knowing that his granddaughters were all into women. How can the Jung family spread? 

I sighed; at least I can manage to crack a joke even if I just cried.

"Does Tiffany really think that I back stabbed her? Didn't she trust me enough to believe in me?" I asked myself but startled when someone actually replied.

"Well, did you actually try to convince her that you're sincere?" Nicole asked.

"Yah! Didn't our family ever teach you how to knock?"

"I did! You didn't hear me, stupid!" She barked back.

"Yah! Why can't you respect your unnie? I'm older than you!" I warned. Sometimes, I wonder why these kids never bothred respecting me. What did I do wrong?

But she shook her head. "We grew up in America. In America, we are equal" She stuck her tongue out. Yup, it really showed how equal we were. How mature. I mentally said sarcastically. "And yeah, why are you still so hung up with your ex?"

I sighed, "She's not my ex yet. I didn't agree to break up. It was a one sided decision so for me, she's not my ex yet.... not ever. She can't be just a former lover." Even though she knew she sounded deluded, she still wanted to believe that Tiffany was still hers. That was what she wanted for the longest time and this was what kept her going for the last couple of years; it actually worked. Just the thought of being able to see her once again gave strength to Jessica. Just the mere idea that she would be able to explain herself kept her from crumbling.