Chapter 26

Jessica’s POV

“Oh my god, Yuri-ah…”

She quickly backed away and stood up just as I did.

“Gosh, Sica-ah, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to… it just happened.” Yuri stuttered and tried to apologize. “I didn’t mean to just do that. I didn’t even realize.., no I mean, I don’t know why I just did that.”

“No… it’s ok, I mean, it’s not ok that way.. but…” I trailed off also and sat back down, not knowing what to say. Why did she kiss me? And more importantly, why in the world did I kiss her back?!

I lifted my head to look at Yuri and then both of us looked away uncomfortably when our eyes met.

“L-look, let’s just forget about this ok?” Yuri suggested after a while. “The kiss never happened. I don’t want our friendship to be ruined because of my one stupid mistake.”

“I’m sorry.” I told her.

“W-what?”

“I’m sorry for not noticing your feelings.” I gave her a slight smile. “And thank you for always being here for me.”

Yuri looked at me, surprised, then smiled nervously back at me. “No need to thank. That’s what… best friends are for right?”

I gave her a wider reassuring smile. “Right. Best friends.”

We smiled at each other for some more before my eyes unconsciously wandered to her lips. My cheeks burned at the memory and I stood up and turned away to hide it.

“I’m going to go now. It’s getting late.” I started for the door and gave her one last smile. “Thanks again, and sorry for disturbing you.”

“It’s ok, Sica.” Yuri waved and sat down on her bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I quickly exited and went to the bathroom to fix myself before going downstairs. The guests that were dining have left but Mr. and Mrs. Kwon were still seated at the table.

“Mr. and Mrs. Kwon.” I called as I walked towards them.

“Oh, Jessica.” Mrs. Kwon smiled at me.

“I’m sorry for just coming in like that and taking Yuri away.” I apologized and bowed 90 degrees politely.

“It’s ok. We understand that Yuri is only being a good friend by doing what she did.” She answered, but Mr. Kwon gave me an angry glare.

“I’m sorry. I’ll take my leave now.” I bowed again before leaving. I left in a hurry and ran down to the end of the road where I stopped, collecting myself. I shook my head and let out a big breath.

What the heck just happened?

~~

Yuri’s POV

As soon as the door closed behind Jessica, I plopped down onto my bed and buried my head into my pillow.

“Kwon Yuri! What were you thinking, kissing Jessica like that? Are you out of your mind?!” I scolded myself. Jessica’s look of surprise when I leaned forward and the feel of her soft lips on mine were still stuck in my head. I screamed into the pillow in frustration and flailed my hands about. “Kwon Yuri, you’re crazy!”

Yes you are…My mind answered. Crazy for her.

“What the heck? I thought I was over her!” I talked back to myself. “I’ve given up on her long ago!”

Then why did you kiss her? Why are you still stuck up on it when you already told her that you would forget about it? Why are you still wondering why she kissed you back?! Oh, trust me I can see that glimmer of hope in your heart. But don’t get your hopes too high up, she’s just confused. And giving up and being over are two very different things.

I frowned in annoyance at the voice in my mind, losing my own self-battle. I decided to go for a walk to clear my head and eat an ice-cream and buy some more ingredients to make ma.

But firstly, I checked out my window to see if Jessica was gone. She was and also my parents seemed to have gone somewhere since their car was missing. I smiled, happy that I was out of trouble.. at least for now.

The walk to the ice-cream shop was short. I my ice-cream hungrily, letting the healthy green tea and the coldness of the ice work their magic.

“Yuri?” A voice called from behind me and I heard footsteps approaching.

“Yoona!” I turned with a smile, feeling very happy to meet the girl. “Great to see you.”

Yoona chuckled. “You seem really happy to see me. I wonder why.”

“Do you have time? I need to talk to you.” Yoona nodded and took a seat beside me.

“So what’s up?”

“I think I am in trouble.” I told her grimly.

Yoona looked at me with concern in her pretty eyes and a slight frown on her beautiful face. “What trouble?! What happened?”

“Do best friends kiss each other?”

“Eh?” She was surprised by my unexpected question. “Umm, Sulli and Krystal kiss each other on the cheeks all the time, and they would giggle like crazy afterwards.”

“Do best friends ever kiss each other on the lips?”

She looked at me like I’m out of my mind. “Of course not. Maybe in the elsewhere but definitely not here. Why do you ask?”

“I kissed Jessica.”

“WHAT?!” Her eyes grew big and round. “Why would you do that?”

I shrugged.

“So what did she do?”

“She kissed me back.”

“WHAT?!” She nearly screamed the word, her eyes growing rounder, greatly resembling a doe’s.

I shrugged again.

“Then what happened?”

“She said ‘Oh my god, Yuri-ah’.” I said and took a bite out of my ice-cream since it was melting.

“Oh my god, Yuri-ah!” She also exclaimed, staring at me with her big eyes. “And you’re eating ice-cream like it’s not a big issue? And stop shrugging, it’s annoying.”

I shrugged again. “I mean what can I do? It’s done.”

“Why was she even with you?”

“She broke up with Tiffany and came to my house crying.”

“Gosh, that makes it worse! Yul, you’re crazy!”

“I know, and that’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“I thought you were over her.” She stated, frowning more.

“That’s what I thought too. And I was going to just scold myself and forget about the whole thing. But when she kissed me back…” I stopped, still amazed by the moment. “I felt something again.”

“Yuri. Stop. You’re going to end up hurting yourself.” Yoona held my free hand and told me sincerely. “Jessica is just confused. You know that she really loves Tiffany, they’re just hitting some bumps on the road right now. You’re going to regret it if you remain caught up in this confusion.”

I nodded, knowing that she was right. “I’ll forget it.”

But the spark of hope in my heart still remained.

Sulli’s POV

“Hey did you hear?” Mina asked as she walked beside me to our next class.

“Hear what?” I replied, curious at what our class’s gossip queen has found out.

“Krystal and Minho are dating!”

“W-what?” I suddenly stopped in surprise. “Krys and Minho are what?”

“Didn’t she tell you? They’re dating. I overheard Minho asking Krystal out yesterday and she finally accepted.” Mina said and pointed ahead excitedly. “Look, here they come!”

I followed her finger and saw Minho and Krystal coming down the stairs hand in hand, talking and smiling. Other students turned to stare at them, some even congratulating and commenting about how perfect of a couple they are.

“Hey, Ssul!” Krystal called happily and skipped towards me, dragging her now boyfriend along.

“Hi, Krys!” I returned her hug and smiled. So we’re ok now?

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I was going to call you yesterday but oppa told me that you were with Taemin.” She apologized and gave Minho a quick smile. “Oh yea, speaking of him... where is he?”

“His grandfather came back from Japan so he went to pick him up at the airport. Congrats, you two.” Minho smiled back at me widely, surely to have finally gotten the girl he had a crush on for so long.

“See you later oppa.” Krystal stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on his cheek. She then took my hand and pulled me into our class, leaving behind a blushing Minho.

I usually always pay attention in class, but today I cannot. My mind was filled with thoughts of things other than bacteria, specifically of one person. And no that person was not Taemin… it was Krystal. I kept glancing at my best friend who was sitting on my right. But I did not find anything unusual.. she was the same old Soojung.

But why is she suddenly being friendly towards me again? What changed? And why did she start dating Minho all of a sudden? When did she ever like him that way?

All of them were questions that I did not have answers for, and I was determined to figure them out. I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook and quickly passed Krystal a note.

Krys, can I come over today?

~~

Yuri’s POV

This morning, like every Thursday morning, I was walking to drama class with Yoona when she grabbed my hand, smiling widely all of a sudden.

“Jessica-unnie!” She shouted, waving her other hand frantically.

Jessica stopped in her track and looked in our direction with a blank expression. But a smile appeared when she saw us.

“Hey Yoong.” She greeted, stopping when she got to us. I stared at the blonde beauty in front of me, feeling very awkward. Yoona elbowed me when I did not say anything.

“Oh, umm.. hey Sica.”

“Hey Yuri.” Our eyes met and she immediately looked away with a tint of pink on her snow-white cheeks. I glared at Yoona who was looking at the two of us, amused.

“Come on, let’s get going to class.” She put her arms around our shoulders and steered us to the second floor where both the drama and art classes were.

Jessica decided to stick with us and talk outside our classroom since her art group was not here yet. Since Yoona was with us, the atmosphere was less awkward and livelier although Sica made no eye contact with me.

“Hey, Yuri, Yoona, Jessica!” We turned towards the voice shouting our names. Taeyeon was waving at us, and pulling Tiffany along with her.

Yoona and I waved back and glanced at Jessica who was not smiling anymore.

“Sica?” I called her name, concerned. She turned towards me with anger in her eyes and linked her arm through mine.

“Yul, walk me to class.” She said sweetly and pulled me away quickly. I looked back to see Tiffany pulling Taeyeon away in the opposite direction, her shoulders shaking as she cried, and Yoona looking at us worriedly.

“Sica-ah, are you ok?” We stopped in front of the entrance to the art room.

“I’m fine.” She answered with a sigh, playing with my hand that she was still holding. “I’m just tired of her crying, and acting as if this only affects her and not me.”

“Keep the faith. Don’t worry. You’re strong.” I did it again, my hand was already caressing her cheek before I could stop myself.

“Yul, would you come with me to eat ice-cream afterschool?”

“I’ll do anything you want, princess.” I answered, smiling.

Suddenly, the door open and Seohyun came out. She froze when she saw the two of us holding hands, my hand still on Jessica’s cheek.

“Oh.” She said. I quickly dropped my hand.

“I’ll see you later then.” Jessica said and went into her class, leaving me behind with Seohyun who was still staring at my hand.

“Uh, I’ll get going too. Bye Seo!” I waved and ran back to my own class.