“What the hell is that?” Jessica asked when she saw a tiny yellow object dangling off of Taeyeon’s mouth.

 

The two of them were on Skype again even though it was past 3 in the morning in Seoul.

 

Now that Jessica’s free from all her PA duties and she still hasn’t heard back from the TV network where she applied at. She’s pretty much a bum. On a normal day, she’d still be sleeping and wouldn’t wake up until 4 in the afternoon but a girl by the name of Kim Taeyeon had ruined her sleeping schedule and permanently messed up her sleeping pattern.

 

The girl grinned at her like a toddler and removed it from . “It’s sour gummy worms.”

 

“You shouldn’t be eating junk at 3 am.”

 

“I use this to stay awake so I could talk to you longer.”

 

“Normal people would drink coffee and if you’re really sleepy, you should just go to bed. We could talk later.”

 

“I’m not even sleepy. I just need something to chew on. Have you eaten,” she checked the time in LA, “breakfast or brunch? It’s almost noon there.”

 

“I ate cereal before I went online.”

 

The sound of crickets could be heard as the two of them stopped talking and stared at the screen blankly. Jessica chuckled and muttered an apology. “I’m really not good at keeping conversations alive. I end it unknowingly.”

 

“It’s okay. I think it’s cute.”

                                                                 

“You’re just saying that.” Jessica was honestly expecting her to say no.

 

“Yeah because I like you.”

 

“Just because you like me doesn’t mean you should only say nice things to me.”

 

“I’m sorry, what was that? I got distracted by your weird teeth and gums.”

 

“You little fuc—“

 

“You said I shouldn’t only be saying nice things to you. You’re confusing, Sica.”

 

Jessica rolled her eyes at the clueless girl. “You’re a girl. You should know that I don’t mean everything I say.”

 

“I’m a girl, yes but if I say something, I mean it.” She saw Jessica frowning.

 

“Do  you really think my teeth and gums are weird?”

 

“Yes but like I said before it’s not like it makes you less pretty so I like it. What I don’t like is being miles away from you.”

 

“. You are so cheesy.”

 

Taeyeon laughed along with Jessica but she really meant what she said. The girl was making her go crazy. She’s got her wishing that LA was as far way from Seoul as Daejeon.

 

“You’re cursing again.”

 

“ is just poop. It’s barely a curse.”

 

Taeyeon ignored her justification and opened a folder on her laptop.

 

“Have I shown you a picture of me and my sister?” Jessica shook her head and she sent her a photo of her with Yoona.

 

“Doesn’t she look pretty?” Jessica gave her a slight nod. The younger girl was a looker indeed but Taeyeon’s goofy face caught her attention more.

 

“That was when we went to Thailand to perform. I brought her with me.”

 

“Do you want to see my sister?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Soon as the Kim saw the picture, she was convinced that the Jung genes are somewhat superior. It was a recent photo of the Jung sister spending time on a beach. Both were wearing shorts and a shirt that revealed their midriff.

 

“Your sister’s so y.”

 

“Are you fantasizing about my sister, you ert? She’s off limits. She’s still a kid.”

 

She didn’t have a chance to defend herself because Yoona decided to barge into her room. Taeyeon abruptly ended the call and closed all the windows.

 

“Yoona, holy—I almost had a heart attack.”

 

“Why are you so jumpy? Are you hiding something from me, unnie?” Yoona teased, backhugging her older sister.

 

“I’m not. Why are you still awake?”

 

“I just got home.”

 

“You and Yuri went on a bar again.” It wasn’t a question. She really didn’t need to ask. A whiff of the alcohol stench in Yoona’s breath was enough.

 

“We were with Tiffany, too.”

 

She tilted her head to the side to have a look at her sister’s face. “Wow. You two move on quickly.”

 

“I told you, unnie. We’re better off as friends. She actually went home with some random girl.”

 

“Thank goodness, you didn’t.”

 

“Oh, I was supposed to but it turns out she’s got a boyfriend. I didn’t want to get beaten up.”

 

“Yoona.”

 

“What? Unnie, I’m into girls. You don’t have to worry about me getting knocked up.”

 

“What if you get ually transmitted disease?”

 

“I use protection.”

 

She almost asked Yoona what protection girls use when they’re doing it with other girls but it was a good thing she stopped herself from blurting it out. She’s completely inexperienced and she’ll admit that she’s seen adult films but most of what she’s seen didn’t include protection. It wasn’t really their priority.

 

“I’ll go to sleep now, unnie and stop watching . Go get out and get laid.”

 

Taeyeon made sure Yoona was out of her room before she opened the Skype window again.

 

Jess: ???

Jess: omg

Jess: did you get kidnapped?

Jess: omfg Taeyeon

 

Taeyeon laughed inwardly although she felt sorry for making her worried so she invited her again for a video call.

 

“Jesus Christ! I thought you died!”

 

 

Taeyeon chuckled, clearly enjoying a hysterical Jessica. “Sorry. My sister came in and I didn’t want her to see me talking to you because I’ll never hear the end of it.”

 

“Oh, thanks for clearing that up. I thought you were in trouble. Turns out you’re just ashamed to be seen talking to me.”

 

“I’m not! I just don’t want to be teased endlessly.”

 

Taeyeon covered as she yawned. Her eyes were getting heavy again and it was like her body’s telling her that it was time to hit the hay. She was forcing herself to stay awake and Jessica knew that.

 

“Taengoo, go to sleep.”

 

“I really like it when you call me Taengoo.”

 

“I like talking to you more when you’re fully awake so go to sleep and we’ll talk later.”

 

“What are your plans for today?”

 

“Why? Are you going to ask me out on a date?” Jessica giggled.

 

“I would if I could. One of these days, we’ll go out on a date and I’m going to be asking you something.”

 

“What is it?” Taeyeon has already fallen asleep on her desk and Jessica wished she was there to wake her up and pull her to the bed so she could sleep properly. She sighed and wondered what she got herself into.

 

She likes Taeyeon and she’s relieved that the latter likes her back but why do they have to be so far away from each other. Why couldn’t she have liked someone she could see in person every day? Why does it have to be Taeyeon? Why did she and Taeyeon have to get along so well to the point that they’re both so comfortable telling each other anything?

 

Even with all those questions, she’s still glad that Taeyeon came into her life. Before Taeyeon, everything was monotonous. She’d go home feeling empty even though she’s had enough to eat. Now she was just happy and she feels lighter just talking to her.

 

She caught herself smiling just thinking about that vertically-challenged goofball. She stood up from the couch and plugged in her player to the speaker, blasting off the music of Taeyeon’s band.

 

She immediately felt good hearing it. Today, she wasn’t going to just lie around. She was going to be productive.

 

Five hours has passed and all she’s done was order lunch and dust a few furniture. So much for being productive.

 

She got on Skype again and was surprised to see Taeyeon already online. The older of the two hurriedly invited her for a video call.

 

“Yah! Stupid, you should’ve slept longer.”

 

“I couldn’t go back to sleep anymore. Are you busy?”

 

Jessica looked around and instead of seeing a cleaner room, all she saw was the clutter she made earlier as she moved her things, thinking that she’d really be able to clean her apartment.

 

“I tried to be busy.”

 

“What does that even mean?” Jessica answered her with a grin. “Teeth.”

 

The girl’s hand immediately shot up to cover .” You are such a meanie.”

 

The two spent all day talking to each other about the most random things and the only time they got offline was when they had to take a shower.

 

“Why are you smelling yourself?” Taeyeon asked, chuckling as she witnessed Jessica’s failed attempt to smell herself discreetly.

 

“I think I stink.”

 

“Too bad I can’t confirm that.”

 

“Shut up. I’m taking a bath.”

 

“Don’t go off Skype.”

 

Jessica creased her eyebrows and it was too late for Taeyeon to realize her tiny slip.

 

“You ert!”

 

“That’s not what I meant! What I meant was go take a bath but don’t log out. I didn’t mean you should bring your phone or your laptop in the bath with you while you wash yourself. Although I really don’t mind because we’re both girl anyways.”

 

Jess ended the call.

Jess has logged out.

 

“Okay maybe I went too far,” she mumbled, grabbing a pack of gummy worms from her candy stash beside her bed.

 

 

---

 

 

I was on my way to our agency because our manager had the brilliant idea of meeting us there. I got there and of course, Yunho-oppa was the only one there. That was foolish of me to think that I would be the last one to arrive. I greeted him and instead of ruffling my hair, he only nodded his head a bit to greet me back.

 

“Is something wrong, oppa?” I’ve known him for such a long time and I expected him to tell me everything’s fine even though it’s not because that’s just how he is. I’ve actually formulated a reply even before he could answer. That’s how much I know the guy so when he answered, “I made a mistake, Taeng,” I was left tongue-tied.

 

Jung Yunho not trying to keep everything by himself made me nervous. “Did you...did you get someone pregnant?”

 

“It’s...I’m honestly not sure if it’s worse than that. Leeteuk-hyung makes it seem like I committed mass murder.”

 

Speaking of the devil, the door slammed open and in came Leeteuk-oppa with our other members in tow. In front of the big bosses, the guy’s an angel who’s all smiles even when he was being reprimanded but in front of us, it’s like seeing the lovechild of Hitler and Satan.

 

Junsu-oppa sat beside me and innocently said, “I swear, Taengoo, it’s not me.”

 

Before I could ask what he was talking about, which was probably not relevant anyways, Leeteuk-oppa placed a gossip magazine on the table.

 

“Care to explain to your members what that is, Yunho-ssi?”

 

Yunho-oppa stood from his seat and got on his knees, bowed his head and apologized to us. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Hyung.”

 

“Oppa.”

 

“Get up, Yunho-ssi. That’s not going to change what has happened.”

 

Jaejoong-oppa was the first one to grab the magazine and read what was in it. “Jung Yunho from the popular band, Na, is involved in a scandal with a hooker who claims to have slept with him. Photos of them in a compromising position were released and the said hooker is claiming that she has tons more.”

 

I stood up to look at it as well and saw two photos of Yunho-oppa and the girl on a bed, both of them didn’t seem to have any clothes on.

 

Kangin-oppa snatched it away from us and muttered a curse. “This isn’t his fault, Leeteuk-hyung. Stop making it seem like it is.”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Kangin-ssi. It’s probably my fault then? Or perhaps the one to blame is the person selling fish cakes outside the building? Oh wait, we aren’t the ones in that photo with a hooker, -.”

 

Junsu-oppa who, I guess, was trying to defend Yunho-oppa spoke after having a glimpse of the photos. “We can’t be sure he was -, hyung. The only thing you could see is the top half of his body.”

 

Kangin-oppa and Jaejoong-oppa snorted but stopped themselves from laughing out loud. Leeteuk-oppa wasn’t half as amused. “Junsu, do everyone a favour and stop being so stupid. This is what I get for handling a bunch of high school dropouts.”

 

And that was the last straw for all of us.

 

“Get out.” He stared at Kangin-oppa in disbelief.

 

“I’m not going to—“

 

“He says get out. This is our bad. Whatever the problem is, we’ll settle it ourselves,” added Junsu-oppa.

 

Our manager was about to retort but Jaejoong-oppa made sure he gets what we’re trying to say. “Get out, hyung. Don’t make the little respect we have for you disappear into thin air.”

 

“Do you all know how ungrateful you sound like right now?”

 

I wasn’t just going to stand there doing nothing as this bastard insult us. “Get the out. We know what we owe you but get the hell away from us right now. I mean it.”

 

He scoffed but left nonetheless and Jaejoong-oppa was the first one to go to Yunho-oppa who had his gaze glued to the floor.

 

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should’ve known her better.”

 

“Yah! It’s not your fault because you didn’t know.”

 

“I should have known.”

 

“Oppa, you couldn’t have known because she wouldn’t have let you find out.” I put a hand over his shoulder and so did Kangin-oppa.

 

“Taengoo’s right. If you’re beating yourself up because this might damage our band’s image then stop it. So we’re not prudes and we sleep with people, except Taeng. What’s the big deal?”

 

That got me a bit offended.

 

“We could set up a press conference so you could clear things up and say that you didn’t know what she did for a living. Say that she set you up. It’s not like you’d be lying. Don’t mind what Leeteuk-hyung says. The president of the company favours us, not him,” said Junsu-oppa.

 

“Our resident bird brain’s right,” Jaejoong-oppa grinned at the scowling guy, “We’ll get through this. It’s really not a big deal. In fact, half of South Korea needs to get laid if we don’t want our kind to be extinct.”

 

Yunho-oppa managed to crack a smile and that’s when I realized that his problem was more than the scandalous photos that came out. “Yunho-oppa, was she the girl you’ve been talking to?”

 

He put on a sad smile and nodded and we all understood what he meant.

 

“She played with you!” Kangin-oppa exclaimed.

 

“You fell in love with a hooker, you dirty old man, you!” Junsu-oppa put him on headlock.

 

“Do you want to get revenge because I’ve already thought of twenty ways to get back at her.” We laughed at the vengeful Kim Jaejoong even though he’s probably being serious.

 

I feel really bad for him though. We’ve all seen him smiling like an idiot while he’s exchanging messages with her and even if he never told us directly, we knew by the way he acted these past months that he really fell for her, totally unaware that she was just playing him. That made me angry and for a second, I was considering Jaejoong-oppa’s suggestion.

 

After meeting up with the higher ups and setting the date for the press conference, we all agreed to go out for a drink. Not such a wise decision but we’re an immature bunch and we wanted to piss off Leeteuk-oppa even more.

 

The other oppas were taunting Yunho-oppa all night. Had it been other guys doing that to him, I would’ve hit them in the head with a bottle but I knew they were just trying to cheer him up.

 

I had to drive my band mates home because they’ve consumed too much alcohol and I ended up being home late. I went to my sister’s room and I was relieved that she didn’t go out tonight. The kid actually listened to me. She called soon as she found out about what happened and I told her to stay at home. I wouldn’t want the media to bug her as well.

 

We all know how they do their work. If something big comes out, they would bother everyone and anyone related to that celebrity until they get their answers.

 

I sat on her bed and tucked the stray hair behind her ear. I was still thinking about what happened today and I’m worried how it’ll affect our band. We know it wasn’t Yunho-oppa’s fault but there would be people who wouldn’t try to understand and judge him because of this one incident.

 

I’m not sure how I ended up thinking about Jessica and this “thing” that we have right now. I checked to see if she left me any message.

 

Jess: I heard about what happened

Jess: How is he? How are you guys?

 

I typed in a reply but she was already inviting me for a video call. I got out of Yoona’s room and made my way to my own room before taking it.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, we’re good. I just got home.”

 

“Rough day, huh?”

 

“A little less rough than what some people make it seem to be.”

 

“How are the other guys taking the news?”

 

“They really didn’t think it was a big deal.”

 

“What about Yunho-ssi?”

 

“He’s...he’ll be fine. He’s a little heartbroken right now. You see, he thought she was serious.”

 

Jessica gasped and muttered, “What a .”

 

“She sure is.”

 

“What, you’re not going to lecture me about saying bad words?”

 

“She deserves it.”

 

We both laughed and it was followed by an eerie silence. I wanted to ask her something but I don’t know how to do it without offending her.

 

“You’re worried about the same thing happening to you?”

 

Well, I’ll be damned. Gorgeous and a mind reader, too.

 

“You really like me, right?”

 

“Yes and I’m not just saying that to get in your pants.”

 

I blushed at her blunt statement. “You should’ve stopped at ‘yes’.”

 

She giggled. “Sorry. I forgot you’re a .”

 

“Yah! Since when was it okay for us to talk about that?”

 

“I’m just kidding,oompa loompa. Relax.”

 

She continued laughing her head off and I sat there waiting for her to let it all out. She must’ve noticed me staying quiet and so she spoke again. I’m not so sure if she really meant it though.

 

“I’m 200% sure that I like you, Taengoo. Do you want to enumerate the reason why I like you?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

She stared blankly at the screen. “Your dimple’s definitely on top of the list.”

 

“I have a feeling that what’ll come out of your mouth next would be a sugar-coated insult so I’ll stop you right there. I’ll go to sleep now. I like you, too, by the way. I’m 250% sure. Good night.”

 

“Night, Taengoompa loompa.”

 

 

_____
 

sorrynotsorry that i keep on making fun of taeyeon's height

i'm also not sorry that the title's my oh my