"Whatever, you guys have your boys night out," Jessica retorted as Seunghyun and Jiyong walked out the door. "I'll have my own girls night in." She decided to call Tiffany to hang out. She wasn't going to spend her Saturday night all alone just because the boys wouldn't let her tag along to the new club opening down the block. Jiyong insisted that she stayed home because she would become a liability when she gets drunk even though Seunghyun assured that he would take care of her. Somehow, they came up with a rule that Jessica is only to drink once a month now thanks to Jiyong. She ignored it because it just made her angrier thinking about it. It was the first time Tiffany's been to the complex since Jessica barely moved in. She admired how beautiful and spacious it was, especially the living room. 

 

Jessica snapped Tiffany out of her admiration when she called her into the room. "Help me decide which dress I should wear for the wedding," Jessica stated as she started holding different dresses up to her body to let Tiffany see what it would look like.

 

Tiffany's eyes landed on something just as she was about to leave the room. A picture of Seunghyun and Jessica placed on top of her bedside drawer. Seunghyun had his arms wrapped around, hugging Jessica, and Jessica was giving Seunghyun a kiss on his left cheek in the picture. It looked intimate, to say they least, as if they were a couple.

 

"Tiff?" Jessica asked when she didn't hear Tiffany answer. She turned around to look at Tiffany and her eyes followed where Tiffany's gaze was. She quickly defended herself, "I told Seunghyun oppa that people would get the wrong idea if he left that picture there! But he kept on saying no one would see and insisting that I need to see his face first thing in the morning when I wake up. So annoying." 

 

"Why that picture?" Tiffany asked, trying her best to hide the bitterness in her voice.

 

Good thing Jessica was oblivious to a lot of things most of the time so she didn't sense it. "It was taken at his 23rd birthday and he said everything about his 23rd birthday brought him a lot of luck, so that's his favorite picture of us."

 

"What about that light peach, high-low dress you wore to my 21st birthday? That was really pretty," Tiffany decided to change the topic by answering Jessica's previous question as she plotted herself on Jessica's bed and looked around the room.

 

"I didn't bring that with me," Jessica pouted as she continued to rummage through her closet, looking for more dresses. "Now that I think about it, I think I left a lot of stuff back in the US."

 

"What do you think about this one?" Jessica asked as she turned around, holding a short, bright red one-sleeve dress up to her body. "Too ty? This would definitely give them a shock at the wedding."

 

"That would definitely make Hyun Joong wonder why he even left you in the first place," Tiffany joked, which made Jessica giggle to herself.

 

"Why are you putting it back? You don't want all the attention to be on you instead of her at the wedding?" Tiffany asked when she saw Jessica placing the dress back in her closet. "You know she deserves someone to rain on her parade after she rained on yours."

 

Jessica turned around and walked towards her bed to sit across from Tiffany. "I don't know, a part of me still hates her for what she did," Jessica sincerely said. "But another part of me wants to wish them the best."

 

Tiffany looked at her best friend, that was Jessica for you. Jessica was the victim, but, here she was, acting like the bigger person like always. "You're too nice," Tiffany told her. "Sometimes you just gotta do something for yourself to make yourself feel better instead of thinking about others or else you're just going to keep getting hurt."

 

Jessica gave Tiffany a gentle smile and put her hand on Tiffany's. "Don't worry. How else am I supposed to move on if I can't wish them the best?"

 

Tiffany nodded as she looked around Jessica's room. There were articles of clothering scattered across the floor, folders and loose paper messily placed on her desk, and she just realized the bed she was sitting on wasn't even made. "Dude, I know you're lazy, but you got to make some time to clean your room at least."

"Oh my god," Jessica rolled her eyes. "You sound like Jiyong."

 

"Jiyong?" Tiffany looked back at Jessica, confused. "Oh! Is he the other guy that lives here?"

 

"Yeah," Jessica replied. "The only difference is that he always tells me I'm never going to get married because no one would want to marry someone who's a mess like me."

 

"Is that so?" Tiffany started laughing. "I like this guy already."

 

"Yah!" Jessica hit Tiffany's arm. "He's a jerkface. You can't take his side."

 

Tiffany's eyes lit up as if a brilliant idea just hit her, which made Jessica look at her curiously. "What?" Jessica asked, anxious to hear what was going on in Tiffany's  mind.

 

"Didn't you say that you need to find a date for the wedding soon?" Tiffany asked and Jessica just nodded slowly, scared of whatever Tiffany was about to say. "Why don't you ask that Jiyong guy to be your date for the night?"

 

Jessica just stared at her for a while, then just started laughing like crazy. Tiffany got a shock from the abrupt laughter. "You swear!" Jessica finally spoke. "He'd never agree to something like that and I wouldn't want to go with him anyways."

 

"Why not?" Tiffany questioned. "You said he wasn't bad-looking. He can't embarrass you if you bring him. Plus, you don't have the luxury of many guys to choose from to be your pretend boyfriend since you haven't gotten a chance to meet many people since you've been back yet and it's better to bother someone you already know."

 

Jessica laid herself flat on her stomach as she thought about what she would do about her . She messed up her hair out of frustration and yelled, "It'd be so much easier if I could just go with Seunghyun oppa."

 

Tiffany shifted her eyes, looking as if she felt uneasy. "Then why don't you?" Tiffany questioned, peering for an answer moreso out of curiousity than anything.

 

"He said that he told Hyunjoong that we're both bringing dates, so I think he already has someone to bring," Jessica told her friend, lowering her head and pouting. "But Hyunjoong would know that we were pretending right away, anyway, since Seunghyun would never like me."

 

Something about what she said made Tiffany smile. So they were just close friends, nothing more. Their relationship always confused Tiffany. They were super close, but Tiffany didn't understand how they could just remain friends... especially when the guy was as hot as Seunghyun. 

 

Tiffany's head perked up a bit, but she just processed what she had just heard. "Wait. He has a date?" Tiffany always thought that Jessica was the only girl in Seunghyun's life, but she didn't know there was another girl. 

 

Jessica just shrugged. "Well, that only leaves Jiyong then," Tiffany halfingly joked and stuck her tongue out, earning another smack from Jessica.

 

Tiffany had a point though. Jessica just moved back to Korea and she hasn't had a chance to meet many people yet. Seunghyun and Tiffany were her only friends and she is just barely starting to get closer to her coworkers.

 

"I'll think about it," Jessica simply replied, but meant it.

 

"Well, you better think fast," Tiffany stated. "The wedding's already next weekend."

 

That was right. Jessica couldn't believe the wedding was already coming up. She dreaded the wedding - seeing him, seeing her, seeing them together. 

 

"Anyway, I have to get home since I'm going to get breakfast and tea with my parents tomorrow morning," Tiffany said as she got up from the bed.

 

"Aww, how lucky," Jessica joked and smiled at Tiffany as she got herself up too. "It must be nice to be able to take your parents out for tea and breakfast on a sunday morning."

Tiffany knew that Jessica tried to pass it off as a joke, but she really meant it. "It's nothing to admire or be jealous over," Tiffany stuck her tongue out. "It's annoying to wake up early, and you would hated it."

 

Jessica shrugged, it's not like she'll ever know what that would feel like. Her step-father was always busy with work and her mother always accompanied him on his business trips. She was happy growing up because she saw that her mom was hapy, but she still missed out on the normal things that parents did for their kids as a child like having her parents take her to school on the first day or coming to see her when she got awards at school or even having her parents at her graduation.

 

Tiffany gave Jessica a hug and got her attention back to bid farewell, "Good luck asking your other roomate to pretend to be your boyfriend for the wedding. Good night!"

 

"I'm not --" Jessica began to retort, but Tiffany was already out the door and heading into the elevator before Jessica could finish. 

 

She wondered why Tiffany was so persistant about bringing Jiyong to the wedding. She shrugged it off and just took it as Tiffany not wanting Jessica to show up dateless. 

---------------------------------------------------

Jessica was about to get herself a cup of water when she heard the doorbell. She took a look at the clock - 11:00 PM. Her eyebrow perked up. The boys came home earlier than she had expected.

 

She opened the door, "I guess the new club wasn't--"

 

But she stopped her sentence midway when she looked at the figure before the door. It wasn't Seunghyun or Jiyong. It was a woman. A tall, skinny, beautiful woman with short, black hair. The woman took a look at Jessica and scanned her up and down. She didn't say a word and pushed Jessica aside to take a step into the complex.

 

Jessica scoffed, "Yah, what do you think you're doing inside someone else's apartment?!"

 

The woman just glared at Jessica and ignored her question. "Who are you? Where is Jiyong?"

 

Jessica observed the woman. That aggressive, angry tone in her broken Korean voice sounded so familiar. Jessica knows that she has heard it somewhere before but she couldn't quite remember where or when she heard this voice. 

 

"Hello? I'm talking to you," the woman barked and waved her hand in front of Jessica's face. "Guess the s Jiyong's bringing home these days don't even manners." 

 

? Jessica let out a sarcastic chuckle and rolled her eyes. She felt insulted and she had no idea why this woman was acting this way towards her. She couldn't stand the woman's attitude and she wasn't going to just stand there to take the insults. If going to America has taught her anything, it's taught her how to stand up for herself.

 

"Excuse me? I lack manners? You're the one that can't even hold a decent conversation with someone that you've only met for the first time without accusing them of being a for no apparent reason," Jessica shouted at the woman. "Who do you think YOU are to be barging into someone else's apartment like that? You need to leave." 

 

The woman was taken back, speechless. Jessica smirked, victorious. It felt good to put someone back in their place and she could tell that this woman was definitely not used to it. Jessica rolled her eyes at the thought of how this woman was probably used to getting everything she wanted and had everything go her way. 

 

"Whatever, I just want to see Jiyong," she finally managed to utter.

 

"Well, I don't think he was expecting someone to pay a visit since he's obviously not here right now," Jessica replied, not losing the assertiveness in her voice even though she was curious what kind of relationship this girl had with Jiyong. "You should've called beforehand."

 

"He wouldn't have picked up if I called," the woman muttered, but Jessica managed to catch what she said.

 

"I don't think they'll be back any time soon, so I'll just tell him you dropped by," Jessica lied. She knew they'd probably come home within the next hour since Seunghyun wouldn't dare leave her home alone for too long. But, she didn't want to deal with the woman waiting for Jiyong to come back. 

 

"Fine," the woman reluctantly agreed. "Tell Jiyong that Kiko came looking for him." 

 

Jessica nodded and tried to usher Kiko towards the door while she was talking. But Kiko came to a sudden halt, which made Jessica bump into her. "What now?" Jessica asked, annoyed. 

 

"How long have you been living here with Jiyong?" Kiko slowly asked, as if she's been waiting to ask this question ever since she saw Jessica's face when she opened the door earlier.

 

"I'll make sure to tell him you came by!" Jessica didn't feel that she was obligated to let Kiko know anything about herself so she ignored the question as she pushed Kiko out and closed the door behind her before letting out a, "Good riddance."

 

 She didn't know why she didn't clarify that she had nothing to do with Jiyong to Kiko. She knew that Kiko must have thought there was something going on between Jessica and Jiyong. The way that she attacked Jessica made it clear. It would've made Kiko feel more at ease if she knew that Jessica and Jiyong couldn't get through a day without arguing with each other. It would've made Kiko feel better if she knew that Jessica only lived here because of Seunghyun. It would've made Kiko get a good night's sleep if she knew that Jessica never thought about Jiyong in a romantic way. 

 

She shrugged it off. She just didn't like Kiko. It was her fault for being rude to Jessica first. First impressions were important to Jessica. It's Kiko's problems if she has insecurities and that's not Jessica's fault. She didn't lie at all. It's just that she didn't make things clear. It was Kiko's fault if she assumes the worst. 

-------------------------------------------

The boys woke up to a beautiful aroma that was coming from the kitchen. Jessica woke up early to cook breakfast for them and called them out to get ready for breakfast. She was different compared to the Jessica that Jiyong saw the other night. She looked like nothing had happened. She looked happy. 

 

Jiyong looked at her curiously, wondering how she changed from depressed, miserable Jessica to bubbly, excited Jessica so fast. He walked to the dinner table and sat himself down, still keeping his eyes on her while she was placing the cooked food onto the plates in the kitchen.

 

"Don't you remember anything from the other night?" Jiyong broke the silence that surrounded them. Jessica shifted her eyes and moved around uncomfortably with her back still to Jiyong, avoiding his question. "Shouldn't you at least thank me for bringing you home safely and apologize for being so bothersome?"

 

Jessica forgot all about it yesterday but scrunched her face up in embarrassment when she remembered how she was a loose cannon ball, telling Jiyong that he scared people away. 

-----------------------------------

FLASHBACK

Jessica was on Jiyong's back because she was too drunk to be able to keep herself balanced on her own two feet. She swayed back and forth on his back, giving him a hard time and started talking about random stuff that just involuntarily came out of .

 

"You know," she began, mumbling her words, barely coherent. "You've got a pret-- pretty nice face, Kwon Jiyong."

 

He chose to ignore her because he's already annoyed that he has to carry a drunk girl on his back and she's not exactly giving him an easy time either. Seeing that he was keeping silent, she continued, "But it's exactly because of that jerkface of yours. That scares people away. You gotta lighten up, smile more. Compliment people. It doesn't only make people feel better when they receive compliments, but it also makes you feel good when you say nice things and make people smile." 

 

"Dude, just stop rambling and stay still so we can get home quicker," Jiyong finally spoke, frustrated. "It's all my fault for forgetting to bring my wallet or else we'd be sitting in a taxi and I wouldn't have to be carrying you on my back right now."

 

"Yes, yes," Jessica nodded her head in agreement. "It is all your fault. It was always your fault."

 

"What?" Jiyong asked, confused, unsure what she was implying at. 

 

Jessica chose to ignore him so she just continued to ramble on. She starts talking about some he and a wedding. Jiyong was confused since she was slurring her words and he had no idea what she was talking about in the first place either. He was only able to pick up that there was someone that seemed to have hurt her and that she dreaded going to some wedding next week.

 

He turned his head around to take a look at her when he heard her voice drop to a whisper when she mentioned the wedding, the sad tone in her voice was apparent even though she was drunk. Her face was shining under the moonlight. It was glowing, she was glowing. Even though she was a drunken mess, he thought she still looked beautiful. This was how she looked that night he saw her at the bar too - sad. 

-------------------------------------

 

She felt bad that she gave Jiyong a hard time, but she didn't want to apologize because she honestly did think he was a jerkface - she wasn't lying. She was just embarrassed because he saw her when she was a mess. Jessica finally turns around, holding the plates of food in her hands and walks towards the dinner table. 

 

"Why do you get like that everytime you're drunk?" Jiyong asked, not hiding his curiousity. 

 

"What are you talking about? I only got drunk one time in front of you... I usually know how to control myself," Jessica defended herself. "I'm really not that bad." 

 

He remembered about the kiss. That's true, he thought and chuckled to himself. She wasn't bad at all. He decided that he'll just about how she stole a kiss from him when she remembers later. 

 

Seunghyun snapped Jiyong out of his train of thought when he entered the living room and made his way to the dinner table, sitting himself beside Jiyong to join the conversation. "Oh, Jessica doesn't know how to control herself at all when she drinks. There was this one time --" 

 

"Oppa!" Jessica yelled and cut Seunghyun off. "STOP! It's embarrassing."

 

Jessica's cheeks were flushed red now. Obviously she knew what Seunghyun was going to say, which piqued Jiyong's curiousity even more.

 

"You know how to get embarrassed?" Jiyong teased and looked at Jessica, pretending to be shocked. 

 

Jessica glared at Jiyong. "This is exactly why I don't want Seunghyun oppa to share the story. Jiyong-shi, here, is never going to let it go."

 

"Hey, how come you call Seunhyun 'Oppa this, oppa that,' but I'm always Jiyong-shi?!" Jiyong exlaimed, not liking the formality between them. It made him feel much older, and he was younger than Seunghyun.

 

Jessica just shrugged and replied nonchalantly. "I guess you have to earn the privilege for me to call you 'oppa.'"

 

"Oh c'mon, Sica," Seunghyun chuckled, recalling the memory. "It's something you can think back to and laugh at now." 

 

"I still don't think it's not funny," Jessica glared at Seunghyun, which only earned a chuckle from him, and placed another plate of food in front of him. "So you can't talk about it." 

 

Jiyong glanced at the pouting Jessica. She looked like a kid - adorable - with her lower lip sticking out. 

 

"And I should be the one that is mad at you guys for leaving me home alone yesterday," Jessica argued. 

 

"Well, I figured you wanted the day alone anyway," Jiyong confessed, which made Jessica look up at him with inquiring eyes. Did he realize that she drank because her ex was getting married to another woman? she thought. "But he couldn't have picked up that much just from her incoherent chatter when she was drunk. That's expecting too much from a guy who probably wants me to move out."

 

"Plus," Jiyong continued and broke her out of her concentration. "We already decided that you can't be drinking often anyway, since you obviously don't know how to control yourself when you get drunk."

 

"Okay, you act like I've gotten drunk in front of you so many times before," Jessica refuted. "It was only one time."

 

Before Jiyong could respond to tell Jessica that wasn't true, Seunghyun changed the topic by diverting their attention since he thought they were going to start arguing again, "What's the occasion for you to be cooking anyways, Sica?" 

 

"Why? Can't I just cook because I feel like it?" She finally sat down at the table across from the boys. 

 

"Even if you poisoned this, at least I'll die happy. It's really good, totally unexpected," Jiyong dropped the comment, smirking at Jessica.

 

"Whenever you cook it means that you have a favor to ask," Seunghyun reasoned and leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow at her, as if he was waiting for her to give in.

 

"Okay, you're right," Jessica lowered her head and admitted defeat. "I do have a favor to ask." 

 

Jiyong laughed at how well Seunghyun knew Jessica. Has his cousin always been this observant? But he also leaned back in his chair, curious what the favor was that Jessica needed.

 

"What is it?" Seunghyun asked. 

 

Jessica hesitated, she didn't want to ask. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth together, talking as fast as she could. "Canyouiborrowyounextweekend?" 

 

"What?" both Jiyong and Seunghyun asked, not being able to catch what she said. They weren't even sure if she was speaking in a comprehendable language.

 

She repeats herself, slower this time, still looking down at the fingers she was playing with. 

 

Before she hears a response, "I just need to borrow you for one night. I'll owe you a favor in return if you help me with this one favor." 

 

"Sica," Seunghyun began but was cut off by Jessica.

 

"Oppa," she replied. "Don't worry, I know you already told Hyunjoong you were bringing a date. That's why I'm asking Jiyong-shi." 

 

"Wait, what?!" both Jiyong and Seunghyun exclaimed at the same time. 

 

"I just need you to come with me to this thing for an hour, two hours tops," Jessica explained and finally looked up at Jiyong. "In return, I'll do anything that doesn't require anything illegal or hurting my pride."

 

Jiyong leaned forward and placed his face on top of his hands to get a closer look at Jessica. He tried to suppress the urge to laugh when he saw how she couldn't even make eye contact. 

 

"Forget it," Jessica finally broke the silence. "It's fine if you don't want to help me."

 

"I didn't even say anything yet!" Jiyong retorted. "How about we start off with you calling me oppa so I don't seem so old?"

 

Jessica looked up in shock. She didn't expect that to be what he'd say. She thought he'd complain about how he has no time to do something silly and meaningless like this. 

 

"Thank you, Jiyong OPPA!" She jumped up in joy and her face beamed with a smile, finally relaxed that she doesn't have to worry about finding someone to bring to the wedding anymore. 

 

When she sat back down to continue eating, she felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled her phone out

 

Tiff<3

How'd it go? Did you ask yet? Did he say yes?

 

Seeing Tiffany's name made her remember about last night, which made her remember about the woman that came. 

 

"Oh yeah," Jessica mumbled while still focusing on her food. "There was a Kiko that came looking for you last night." 

 

Jiyong's and Seunghyun's eyes bulged out. "What? Did she do anything to you?" Seunghyun asked. 

 

Jessica looked up at Seunghyun, confused. "No. Why, oppa? Was she supposed to do something to me?" 

 

"No, nothing. That's good that she didn't hurt you. You just never know with her," Seunghyun said, almost raising his voice as he took a look to see what kind of expression was on Jiyong's face. "How did she even know you were here? We just moved here recently."

 

"She's a freak," was all Jiyong uttered as he zoned out, staring into nothing in particular. 

 

She wondered why the atmosphere tensed up with the mention of this woman's name. Then, she remembered that was the name that appeared on Jiyong's phone that night at the welcoming party they threw for her. The name that he kept on trying to ignore as she kept calling for him. Jessica couldn't help but look at him with sympathy. The expression on his face seemed as if he was screaming for help, but he was trapped. Trapped in this unknown relationship with this woman who seemed like she was up to no good from what Jessica had personally dealth with in her encounter with her last night. 

 

Little did she know, this wasn't going to be the woman she would have to be concerned with, pertaining to Jiyong.