It was a different happily-ever-after now, yet still some things didn’t change at all.

It was her first day working in Incheon Medical Hospital, the public city hospital and as a medical technologist who graduated first above others in her major, she was bound to grab attention. But Jessica didn’t come alone, because someone also shared that same dream of becoming a doctor. They’ve been through medical school together, and maybe, if they stayed together even more, they could work out their past and become even closer after four years (eight years if counting SMEU days) and they were, Jessica remarked, as an on and off item. It was demanding to get used to being just friends, and sometimes, getting used to lovers was troublesome too.

“Jessica---”

She her swivel chair, taking off her glasses to stare at the visitor. He smiled at once, pleased to see that she was already comfortable with the work she challenged on. It was both their first days and he knew, from then on, it would be a longer way.

“Krystal called.”

The woman smiled lazily, standing up and stretching her arms, hands opening and closing. “That baby wants to go to medical school. Last week was the deadline for enrollment. She’s a transferee. I don’t think we can still make it.”

He chuckled. “She said Onew’s already there. Who’s Onew?”

Jessica stood up, sluggishly nearing Donghae and hugging him, which surprised the other man, unable to refuse the embrace from the woman. “Wh...what’s this?” stammered the man.

She giggled, her head on his chest, smelling that misty perfume. “Aish...would you come with me to talk it out with the school administration? Krystal really believes in me for some reason.”

“She’s just like you,” Donghae commented as Jessica moved away. “She wants to be like her unnie.”

Sica pouted. “No, she said she’d want to be a neurologist like oppa. Now...will you come with me?”

Donghae sighed, shaking his head. “I’ve been assigned to clean my station first. Can Krystal wait for an hour? Who’s Onew? Krystal said he was becoming very impatient. I might delay her enlistment.”

Jessica nodded. “Is that so? Oh, Onew-oppa’s just a friend, really. We met long ago, and now he volunteered to help my sister. He was once Sooyoungie’s friend. You remember Choi Sooyoung from the university, right? Onew did say that they were quite tight before.”

“Choi Sooyoung...” Donghae muttered. “Siwon-sshi’s wife, you mean? The newscaster on that Korean Global broadcast. She’s been the reason why Siwon declined being the manager of their LA branch. He can’t leave the country because of that girl.”

“I told Onew about her wedding a little while ago after we met each other again,” Jessica narrated their story. “He sounded...okay, I guess. There’s nothing going on between us. Besides he’s dating a hubae named Kari. They’ve been together for...around 3 years. Oh...but Donghae-oppa doesn’t have to worry about that because I don’t intend on having a boyfriend.”

He frowned, crossing his arms. “That sounds like an insult.”

“No, no...” Jessica replied, shaking her head in worry. “That’s...not what I was implying.”

Donghae chuckled to himself, putting an arm over Jessica’s shoulder. “You must have really hated me to breakup and never swore on a relationship ever again.”

With a grin, she approached Donghae, her arms around his lean body, head once again on his chest. Donghae smirked, “I’ll never get tired of this.”

“You shouldn’t,” Jessica mumbled. “I’ll keep on doing it until we both have gray hair.”

They laughed together in each other’s arms, that until Donghae planted a small kiss on her hair, then it. “Is it okay to say I still love you, though?”

Jessica looked up to the man, her eyes somewhat understanding. “Something tells me that you’ve been in love for years already. I don’t mind, really. I got used to it.”

“Are you sure?” Donghae asked, and she approved with a nod. “Then you won’t mind if we start dating again?”

“Aren’t we already? I wonder if you’ll ever get tired of me,” Jessica replied, grinning happily. “In truth, I didn’t think we were just friends. We’ve always been together since...since Krystal was still studying in America. I really can’t find the difference between friend and girlfriend for you because you’ve been treating me like the latter.”

He laughed, agreeing. “Do you...regret it?”

Hastily Sica shook her head. “Why would I regret it? I love it. I love our closeness. I love you, of course. That’s why I don’t regret it.”

“We’re stuck talking and I didn’t know time passed,” Donghae chuckled, looking at his watch. “Let me clean my station first and I’ll drive you to the university.”

-o0o-

“What do you think is taking your sister so long?” complained the man, his fingers tapping on his knee while he kept on checking his watch.

The younger woman shrugged, aloof with the stranger. “Are you sure you’re Jessica’s friend?”

He scoffed, smiling in mockery at the innocent girl. “I should be asking you in the same tone. You two look different. Are you sure you’re her sister?”

The black haired girl laughed, the back of her hand on to repress much of the laughter. The man concluded, at the way her sense of humor seemed rather awkward reminded him of his friend. And her hand---the way it just naturally fell backward over was very familiar to his eyes, really.

“Why do you ask? Is it because I’m prettier?” she flapped her eyelashes

“You are her sister.” He shook his head, putting his hand on her hair in respect. “I am your Onew-oppa. I am 31 years old, you’re just 24. Don’t start with me.”

Suddenly as she kept giggling, his phone vibrated, Onew getting up at once when he spotted the caller. He bowed his head at Krystal in apology, before flipping his phone open to answer it. He had recently been accepted to a newspaper, a community journal in Incheon. This time it was his boss.

“Hyung?” he answered nervously, because it was the first time that man called Onew.

“Where are you? We’re lacking paper, delivery boy!” he complained loudly on his ear. “You must have given one house two papers, babo.”

He scratched his head, smiling in embarrassment. He surely knew how to get himself fired in no time. “Yes, Heechul-hyung. I’ll get to that. I’ll check the printing services, hyung.”

“Get to it now!” he yelled at him, Onew stretching his phone away to avoid his nagging. He closed it back, returned to Krystal with a sorry smile, hand by his neck and eyes somewhere to the left.

“I...I’m...needed back in the office,” he told her, and she nodded, lending her hand for him to shake. He shook it happily as the woman smiled. Before he could turn his back, Krystal reached into her pocket, handing him a piece of paper. He looked at it questioningly.

“What...what’s this?”

She placed her hand by her ear. “Call me, okay?”

Knowing that it was wrong, he gave her another sympathetic grin. “I’m sorry, Krystal. I’m dating someone right now. And our...ages are a bit off, don’t you think?” Who was he kidding, even Kari was seven years younger than him.

“Ah, but oppa has to call me when his relationship with her is over, okay?” she playfully replied. “Call me any time if you need to, just someone to talk to, I mean.”

He beamed. “I will. I need to get back to the office. I’m sorry, Krystal.”

“That’s okay,” Krystal answered. “I’m used to rejection anyway.”

-o0o-

From his pinky to his pointer, the ceaseless drumming his fingers on the table could drive any man crazy---the way he just remained silent. Here he was again, staring at nothingness. And his good old friend was expecting him to write a new script by the next day, fax it to him right at once. Who uses faxes in this century? Apparently, their company was still ancestral in communication’s future cousins. He could actually land a job in Waegyun as a scriptwriter. Being the head in the newspaper wasn’t that al