6. Friends, friends, friends.

I walked into our usual salon; it was about 7 in the morning. I could barely stand up so my footsteps were slower than usual. I literally drop myself on the chair next to Tiffany’s- who was waiting to get her hair done.

I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes were red, and my eye bags were showing more than usual.

“Whoa, Jessica!” Tiffany exclaimed once she saw me with a shocked expression.

“What?”

“You look like one of those Xbox addicted teenager!” I shot some playful mean looks to the hairdresser who laughed, making her laugh even more.

Trust Tiffany to say it how it is, I shrugged my shoulders and ignored her comment but she didn’t let it go.

“I haven’t said anything these past few days because I thought you had schedules but Oppa said you didn’t have any individual ones since your Musical and you didn’t look that bad but today! Jessica, how many hours of sleep have you had?

It’s getting ridiculous! Do I need to get Oppa to take your phone away?”

“I know, I know! Do you think I don’t know that I look like crap? I do sleep, but… Can you stop kicking my chair? Are you trying to scold me or what?”  She shook her head and lightly kicked my chair even more so I kicked her back starting a play fight where we’d kick each other the furthest but as always she used her unnecessary strength making me twirl in my chair, ending up against Taeyeon who squealed and fell over, hitting my chair.

“Taeyeon! Are you okay?” She nodded, getting up and gasped once we made eye contact.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Your face! Jessica, it’s not good” I threw my hands up in the air exasperated, what was everyone’s deal with my face? It’s wasn’t that bad. I mean, with a little bit of make-up, it would look better.

“Leave her alone, at least she’s been doing something other than being depressed, cooped up in her room and sleeping” Sooyoung intervened with one of her usual comments rubbing me the wrong way.

I usually let it go, thinking that it might just be me over reacting but I noticed that her remarks had been revolted to me only these past weeks, they were making me uncomfortable. Had I done something to upset her?

It wasn’t just that though.

There were times where I walked into a room and felt as if I was intruding, as if I was not welcome but this only happen with some of the girls and it seemed like there was something going on that I was unaware of between the girls. I was sure that Seohyun and Yoona were oblivious to whatever was happening and that Tiffany was annoyed by it but made no efforts to fill me in. Best friends, my arse.

I hoped that since Taeyeon and I cleared everything a few days ago, things were going to get better but it was as if she was distancing herself from me. It was more subtle. She’d talk to me if I initiated the conversation but other than that, we basically had no interaction when it was just the two of us.

Daesung also helped me a lot, he was always there in case I needed someone to talk to and quickly became someone I shared everything with.

Thanks to him and his texts, I could get through the day without feeling too left out from whatever that was happening around me, he was an escape.

The understanding that we shared, the similarity but at the same time we were also worlds apart some things for example, he liked but circumstances made it for us to be alike too.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad and happy to have a new friend that could mean so much to me.

With just one word he was able to change my day, something that not many people could do.

As much as we talked, there were also times where I felt that Daesung wasn’t as open to me as I was to him; there was some sort of line in our friendship that I couldn’t seem to cross which didn’t worry me too much because there was so much I could do through text and… I liked our relationship how it was, simple, easy and no pressure.

I decided to not let Sooyoung’s snarky comment get to me.

I was going to have a good day, regardless of other people.

***

“Oh you’re in Nagoya too? We can hang out if you’re free! :) D”

I grinned at the text, feeling really hyper I looked around to see if anyone would see me. No one in sight. I started clapping quietly and bobbing my head from side to side. “Yes!” I whispered to myself.

I was finally going to see him, face to face.

Control yourself Jessica!

To my credit, I was trying, very hard actually, but a stupid grin was plastered on my face and it didn’t want to leave me.

“Have you finally gone crazy?” Tiffany’s loud voice behind me, making me groan annoyed.

“You wish!” I grinned at her.

“What’s making you so happy?”

“Nothing” She snorted.

I just shrugged my shoulders and flash a big smile. She didn’t need to know. No one did really; it wasn’t any of their business. Only ours.

***

Sneaking out proved harder than I originally thought it’d be.

I put my hair up in a ponytail, baseball hat over them and of course sunglasses so to not draw too much attention. No fancy dresses or anything, just black tight jeans and a denim shirt with a black leather jacket on just in case.

I walked out quickly, looking down at the floor to cover my face and speed up, trying to get to the elevator.

How do people do this regularly?

I was so intent in not getting caught that a door of a room opened right in front of me, hitting me in the head glamorously.

“Ouch!” I yelped, my head with my hands.

Realizing that if I didn’t run right there and then, I wouldn’t be getting out anywhere soon, I made a run for it, I couldn’t afford to not get out. I needed to get a break from life and if I didn’t see him now, then when would I?

“JESSICA! YOU BETTER GET BACK RIGHT-“the voice of my manager shouting behind me made me jolt but I continued to run to the elevator. To my luck, I didn’t have to wait as the lift was already on our floor.

Time to breathe.

The adrenaline rush was still all over me, I couldn’t stop shaking, not even sure why. Fear of getting caught? Or excitement for doing something… different?

I quickly got out of the elevator and walked towards the entrance of the hotel but it hit me then, the realization. I couldn’t just walk out of the front door as if it was nothing.

What an idiot.

A young girl with the hotel uniform on was staring at me with a confused expression, probably thinking what on earth I was doing by myself looking around, lost.

“Excuse me, hi. Ehm… do you know where the back door is? Can I get out from there?” She looked scared and started stammering, trying to articulate a sentence but just nodded at the end, giving up.

If I wasn’t in a rush, I would have laughed and reassured her that I didn’t bite, no need to be so intimidated.

“Thank you! A photo? Yeah, it’s fine…. “ I posed with her on her smartphone, bowed and even before I could have said bye to her, I heard my manager’s voice from afar.

“Jessica! Jung Sooyeon!” he shouted as we made eye contact, I gasped and at the same time, my phone rang.

I run, for what seemed to be the hundredth time in just a day and threw my phone in my bag.

I looked around, suddenly my ear was capturing every single noise, the chaos around me making me scared. Too many people, talking, walking fast and I was just there, in the middle of it all, disoriented having no idea where to go or what to do.

Music playing from local bars and shops, the lights were overwhelming contrasting the dark cloudy sky. I forced myself to walk straight and maybe get a cab from somewhere more familiar. As familiar as Nagoya could get.

I waved my hand to an incoming taxi and fortunately the driver stopped, I hopped in not wasting any time and showed him the address.

After not long, probably 20 minutes, the taxi stopped but I wasn’t ready to get out.

From the window, I looked around to see if there was any trace of Daesung but there was no one, no one was even walking, it was deserted. I sighed and paid the man, got out of the cab and walked towards the building and as I got closer, I could see a guy with black trousers and a black leather jacket on.

That’s him!

I stopped and turned around, I couldn’t bring myself to go any forward.

If I run… is there anywhere to hide here?

Jessica, you can’t run. There’s no turning back now.

“Jessica? Who are you talking to?”

Oh, just great.

I took a deep breath and faced him, I couldn’t let my nerves get the best of me. Why was I so nervous anyway? It wasn’t like I was to date the guy, for God’s sake.

Friends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“You didn’t hear anything of what I just said, right?” he suddenly said.

“What?”

“Exactly” he laughed, his laughter filling in the empty street and even though I was confused, I couldn’t help but smile anyway.

How could I have possibly thought of ditching him, just because of my selfish anxiousness? It wouldn’t have been right, I couldn’t believe that I even thought about it.

I didn’t deserve to have a friend like him.

“Be careful, a bit of snow is still left”

“Snow? In March?”

“It snowed a lot in February and it’s still not totally clear” he explained.

“Yah, let’s go! You were so late, we can’t even watch the movie anymore! We have to wait for the next show!” he complained, more to himself than to me as he walked in front of me to enter the cinema.

“You could have told me we were going to watch a movie! I would have sneaked out earlier” guilt starting to form, I wondered how long he waited for me. I catch up with him and start walking by his side.

“It was meant to be a surprise, I knew you wanted to watch it so I booked it…” I smiled at his admission, he sounded so embarrassed that it made me want to .

“How is going to the cinema a surprise?”

“The cinema wasn’t the surprise, genius” he replied, rolling his eyes unamused.

“Hey, don’t roll your eyes at me, I’m the only one that’s allowed to do that!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my thing” I grinned, feeling childish.

“Pfft, you’re not normal, I swear” he shook his head, but I could tell that he was grinning as well.

“Let’s go and get coffee, before I re-think about spending more time with you”

___________________________________________________________________________________

A/N Hey guys. Long time no see! :)

How are you all doing? I've been really busy and I had a hard time writing. I wasn't satisfied with anything I wrote and I didn't want to disappoint anyone.

I hope I didn't. The chapter is longer than usual, I hope it's not too long.

Tell me what you think, is Jessica a little hard to understand?

I don't understand her myself at times, haha

Have a great Sunday ♥

Minnie.