"Yah, if you're trying to hide that you're nervous..." Jiyong leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "You're not doing a very good job." 

 

"I'm not nervous," Jessica shot a glare at Jiyong and defended herself. "I just feel uncomfortable being surrounded by a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while." 

 

Jessica took a look at all the familiar faces sitting at their tables around the large ballroom, waiting for the ceremony to start. After what had happened, Jessica felt embarrassed and distanced herself from all her friends. Hyunjoong and her hung out in the same group of friends so she felt awkward when Hyunjoong and her weren't together anymore. It wasn't like she had done anything wrong, but she didn't want to deal with people sympathizing for her or putting them in a difficult position since they were his friends too. No matter how she thought about it, it was still embarrassing the way she was rejected and told that she was cheated on in front of everyone. Jessica was relieved that all the guests seemed to be minding their own business - catching up with old friends who they might have not seen in a while, making small talk with potential business partners, sharing some of the latest gossip they've heard. 

 

"Well, at least you won't be alone since you'll have me by your side tonight right?" Jiyong asked. 

 

Jessica returned her attention back to Jiyong and replied with a gentle smile, "See? You're not so bad when you're not being a jerkface." 

 

"Hey, it's not like I'm doing this without getting anything in return. " Jiyong contested. "You're still going to owe me a favor."

 

"I know, I know," Jessica nodded her head. 

 

"I know, what?" Jiyong raised his eyebrow and folded his arms together.

 

Jessica rolled her eyes, "I know, OPPA." 

 

A smirk emerged across Jiyong's face as he sat back with a satisfied expression and petted Jessica's head, "Good girl."

 

Jessica was about to yell at him, but someone interrupted before she could say a word, "Wow, this place is huge!" 

 

A bright smile formed on Jessica's face as soon as she heard the voice, "Tiff!" 

 

She stood up to give her best friend a hug. "I'm so glad Seunghyun oppa's date cancelled so you could come instead." 

 

"YAH!" the deep voice scowled from behind Tiffany.

 

"No offense, oppa!" Jessica quickly added and stuck her tongue out. "Thank you for bringing Tiffany though." 

 

Seunghyun just smiled and leaned in to give Jessica a kiss on the cheek, "You look pretty tonight."

 

Jessica was wearing a beautiful high-low, peach dress that ended at her knees in the front and flowed down to the floor in the back. Her hair was swept in loose curls to the right side and she had light make up on, which enhanced her features naturally. 

 

"I'm the one that's supposed to be her date tonight, but people are going to think you're her date hyung," Jiyong joked.

 

Seunghyun laughed it off and took a seat across from Jiyong as Tiffany sat down beside Jessica. 

 

"I'm Jiyong, by the way," he reached his hand out towards Tiffany as he introduced himself. "It's nice to finally be able to meet you like this." 

 

Tiffany returned the gesture and introduced herself, but furrowed her eyebrows, unsure what he meant by the last sentence of his statement. 

 

"So that's Jiyong?" Tiffany asked Jessica as she took another look at the 'jerkface' Jessica always complained about. "He doesn't seem as bad as you make him out to be. Plus, he's pretty cute." 

 

"Should I hook the two of you up then?" Jessica joked when she saw that Tiffany's eyes still haven't left Jiyong's face. 

 

Tiffany ignored her friend's comment and continued to look at Jiyong, tilting her head a little bit, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar. "It's not that I'm intersted in him, but I could've sworn that I've seen that face somewhere before," Tiffany told Jessica. When she got frustrated for not being able to recall where she saw the familiar face, she changed the topic. "Isn't this the peach dress I told you to wear last time? I thought you said you left it back at home in California," Tiffany asked as she looked at the dress Jessica was wearing. 

 

"You wouldn't believe what happened. I actually got all the stuff I left back in California," Jessica sighed. "Everything's here now."

 

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" Tiffany inquired. "That means you got all your stuff you forgot to bring with you when you came here." 

 

"No, I mean, I really got ALL my stuff sent here," Jessica emphasized, not even trying to hide the slightly upset tone in her voice or frown on her face. "But I don't want to think about that problem yet. It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later. Thanks for coming tonight though." 

 

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

 

The wedding ceremony went smoothly. Although Jessica was pretty sure that she had purposedly arranged for Jessica to sit all the way in the back, she didn't mind. In fact, Jessica was glad that they were sitting at a table in the back because she was able to avoid coming into contact with them all the way up to now. 

 

"Why are you smiling like that?" Jiyong asked Jessica when he noticed the smile on her face.

 

To Jessica, it felt nice to be able to witness the committment two people made to spend the rest of their lives together. Even though she wasn't the girl for Hyunjoong, she was genuinely happy that he had found his happiness.

 

Jessica shrugged. "Don't you just think that weddings are special? It's a once-in-a-lifetime event that brings the love that two people have for one another together and everyone in the room is able to witness it."

 

"That sounds exactly like our Sica," Seunghyun chuckled. 

 

"All the guys out there, bring your girls out to the dance floor!" the MC shouted after the bride and groom's dance. "The DJ is going to play a song that's going to be perfect for all the couples out there."

 

All of a sudden Jiyong stood up from his seat and a huge smile appeared on his face, showing his pearly white teeth. He placed his arm on his hip, out for her to hook her arm around. and asked, "Shall we?" 

 

But before she could even answer, she already found herself on the dance floor. Hand in hand with Jiyong while her other hand was placed on top of his shoulder and felt Jiyong's other hand holding onto her waist, slow dancing to a beautiful song. 

 

"Yah, what are you doing?" she leaned closer to his ear and shouted under her breath.

 

"What do you think I'm doing," Jiyong retorted. "We're dancing, you dummy." 

 

"NO, I didn't meant it like that! I mean, what do you think you're doing right now?" Jessica asked, still following Jiyong's steps as he led them in the dance.

 

"It's not like you expected me to just sit at the table all night right?" Jiyong questioned. "Plus, you got to show off to others if you have someone like me as a date instead of hiding me away in the back."

 

"HA-HA, very funny," Jessica mocked and released herself from Jiyong's hold, walking off the dance floor to head back to the table. Jiyong was about to pull her back but accidentally bumped into her when she came to a sudden halt in front of him. 

 

Jessica's eyes froze when they landed on a familiar figure that started making way towards her. Jiyong asked if something was wrong when he saw that she wouldn't budge, but it seemed like she didn't hear a single word he said. 

 

"Hey, glad you could make it," the light voice said. 

 

She didn't prepare herself for this. She had avoided him successfully all night. Now, all because Jiyong dragged her to the stupid dance floor, she has to be put in this awkward situation. It still made her feel weird seeing him and, now, he was someone else's husband. 

 

"Oh? Oh, Hyunjoong, congratulations on your marriage," she finally said after Jiyong nudged her to bring her back to reality and managed to remember to give the groom a small smile. 

 

Jiyong looked at the guy in front of them and back at Jessica. He never got the whole story, and he didn't want to ask, but he could sense the awkwardness and he assumed this was why she needed him to be here tonight.  

 

"And this is?" Hyunjoong asked, gesturing towards Jiyong. 

 

"Oh, this is Jiyong," she linked her arm with Jiyong's which took him by surprise. 

 

"Ah, that's right," Hyunjoong said. "Seunghyun told me that you were going to bring a date tonight." 

 

Jiyong stuck his hand out towards Hyunjoong to introduce himself. All three of their heads turned as soon as they heard a deep voice shout at them from the right. 

 

"Seunghyun, it's nice to see you again! It's been a while," Hyunjoong gave Seunghyun a hug. 

 

"Congrats, hyung," Seunghyun said as walked up to Hyunjoong and returned the hug. 

The expression on Jessica's face relaxed as soon as she saw Seunghyun. The smile on her face was brighter now. It made her more comfortable knowing that Seunghyun could talk to Hyunjoong and relieve Jessica of the awkwardness. 

 

"She's your date?" Hyunjoong asked when he saw Tiffany walk up from behind and Seunghyun nodded. 

 

"It's so weird how both of you brought your own dates," Hyunjoong stated. 

 

Jessica was confused, "Why? You didn't think I would stay single for the rest of my life did you?" 

 

"I just always thought you guys would get together," Hyunjoong honestly replied. "So when Seunghyun told me you were bringing dates, I thought he meant you were each other's dates." 

 

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

 

"I always wanted to thank you again for scaring off those jerks for me that night." Tiffany spoke, still unable to make eye contact with him, as she and Seunghyun returned to their table. 

 

After Jessica's birthday party, there were some jerks that made fun of her for being poor. Actually, she wasn't even poor. Her parents owned their own restaurant and they were doing well - far from doing badly financially. However, those drunk elitists felt that Tiffany was below them and thought it was ridiculous that someone like her could hang out with the likes of them who each probably had millions of dollars in inheritance waiting for them. They kept on harrassing her and all the alcohol that they had consumed seemed to have made them look for a fight. She was literally scared for her life until Seunghyun showed up and scared them all away. 

 

"Were you really that girl at Jessica's birthday?" Seunghyun asked in disbelief as he sat himself down. 

 

"Yeah, Jessica introduced us at her birthday party when I flew into California," Tiffany told him. 

 

"Wow, I didn't even recognize you," Seunghyun admitted. "You've gotten prettier." 

 

Tiffany could feel her cheeks burning up. She quickly gulped down the cup of water to cool herself down. 

 

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

 

"Hey, you want a drink?" Jessica turned around to ask Jiyong when they got to the refreshments corner. 

 

Jiyong raised an eyebrow and kept an expressionless expression on his face. Jessica rolled her eyes, "Jiyong OPPA, do you want a drink?" 

 

"I'd appreciate one, thank you very much," he replied.

 

When Jessica was about to hand a glass of wine to Jiyong, she saw a little kid tug onto his shirt. "Handsome ahjussi, can you please get that cupcake for me please?" the little girl pointed at the red velvet cupcake on the top tier of the cupcake stand out of his reach.

 

Jessica tried to stifle her laugh, but she couldn't help herself. "Here you go," Jiyong ignored her and smiled at the little girl after handing him the cupcake. The little girl thanked him and Jiyong petted her head.

 

Jiyong swiftly turned around after the kid left and shot Jessica a glare. "Ahjussi? HAHAHAHAHAHA," Jessica finally let it all out and held onto her stomach. Tears were sliding down the sides of her face from laughing too much.

 

He looked at how she was laughing so heartily. She probably looked the happiest he's seen her all day, or maybe ever since the first time he's met her. "I'm seeing you in a new light today. You should smile and laugh more, you look better like this than when you're crying," Jiyong told her. "But, DO NOT speak of this again."

 

Jessica raised her eybrow, unsure if that was a compliment or an insult. Was he trying to say she looked pretty when she smiled? Or was he just basically saying that she was ugly when she cried? She decided to ignore it and just accepted the fact that he was at least trying to be nice to her. "It's great that you're seeing me in a new light..." Jessica nodded her head, but couldn't let it go as she shot back at him again. "... Jiyong Ahjussi." 

 

"Yah! At least she said I was handsome," Jiyong argued. 

 

"Whatever makes you feel better, ahjussi," Jessica continued teasing him, still giggling to herself. 

 

"Oh, c'mon," Jessica slapped his shoulder when she saw him pouting. "It's probably because you looked all serious and weren't smiling so she thought you were older. If you smiled more, then you'd look younger - or at least more your age," she said as she placed her two indexes fingers on his face to stretch his lips upward to form a smile. 

 

The sudden skinship caught Jiyong by surprise, but he strangely liked it. Maybe it was just because it was cold and the touch made him feel warm, but it brought a smile to his face. "See, there you go!" Jessica exlaimed when she saw the smile appear naturally on his face. "You look much better when you smile." 

 

"Really? But I thought you said I already have a pretty face," Jiyong smirked, recalling what Jessica had said when she was drunk, which made Jessica's cheeks flare up. 

 

When Jessica was about to defend herself, her eyes landed on a face that she did not want to see up close at all. "I see you actually came," the irritating voice was finally heard. Jiyong turned around to see what caught Jessica's attention and where the voice was coming from. 

 

"Well, your husband did invite me. It would've been rude not to come." Jessica retorted. "But, still, congrats on your marriage, Chae Rin."

 

All Jessica heard was a scoff coming from Chae Rin, not even a thank you. Figures. She had always been on the more y side, or maybe she only acted this way towards Jessica - who knows. "You look familiar," Chae Rin sarcastically stated when she finally noticed Jiyong's presence and then redirected her attention back to Jessica. "What? Did you pay him to come with you tonight?"

 

Jessica was in utter disbelief. He looks familiar? She paid him? It made her speechless. Here she was, trying her best to be the bigger person - but it was not easy when everything that came out of Chaerin's mouth only pissed her off. She didn't understand what Chae Rin had against her. She never did anything wrong to Chaerin. They were never that close, but Jessica had always treated her nicely before even though Chae Rin always gave off rude vibes. She finally was able to move on and forget what happened, but it seemed like Chaerin only wanted to push her buttons. 

 

"Actually, I'm her boyfriend," Jiyong smiled at Chaerin and intertwined his fingers with Jessica's, making her widen her eyes. She only asked for him to come as her date. She didn't even ask Jiyong to pretend to be her boyfriend since she thought that would have been too much. So she was caught by surprise when he willingly pretended to be her boyfriend. 

 

"And I don't need to get paid to be with someone I love," Jiyong continued and looked into Jessica's eyes. 

 

Jessica stared back into his brown orbs. She never noticed how brown they were before. She guessed that she never really looked at him carefully enough to notice how beautiful his eyes were. She realized that she was staring at Jiyong for far too long when she felt Jiyong shake her and jerk his head to signal for her to say something to Chaerin. 

 

"Yes, I have to thank you too," Jessica shifted her attention back to Chaerin as she hugged Jiyong's arm. "If it weren't for you and Hyunjoong, then I probably would've never been able to meet someone like Jiyong oppa who taught me a whole new meaning on what love truly is." 

 

Chaerin was speechless and laughed sarcastically. When Chaerin excused herself, Jessica knew that she was victorious and couldn't suppress her smile. It felt good to show Chaerin how Jessica was unaffected by what happened and how she had moved on. Out of excitement, she jumped up to hug Jiyong to thank him for his improvisation. "Oh my gosh, you are such a lifesaver!" Jessica confessed. "I was about to die from anger there but you totally got her." 

 

Jiyong chuckled and returned her embrace. The sudden skinship probably should've taken him by surprise, but, somehow, it felt natural. "You even almost had me fooled," Jessica continued. "That really took me by surprise, but good thing I'm quick to assess the situation." 

 

Jiyong released her and flicked her forehead. "Aigoo, you dummy. You ended up just complimenting yourself." 

 

"Who knew that you were actually pretty cool when you're not being a jerkface?" Jessica giggled to herself. "I'm seeing you in a new light today too." 

 

"It's because I'm not actually a jerkface, you pabo," Jiyong flicked Jessica's forehead again. "You're the only that insists on calling me a jerk." Jessica flinched from the pain and pouted, rubbing the spot on her forehead that Jiyong just hit.

 

"Well, I --" Jessica began but stopped in the middle of her sentence when her eyes landed on the woman that had rudely barged into her house last weekend. 

 

"You what?" Jiyong asked, urging for her to finish her sentence, but turned around to look at what got her attention. 

 

"Kiko," both Jiyong and Jessica muttered at the same time when the woman with the short black hair approached the two of them.

 

"What are you doing here?" Kiko spoke in a high tone, completely disregarding Jessica's presence.

 

"Can't you see that I'm here with my girlfriend?" Jessica's eyes widened when Jiyong grabbed her waist to pull her closer just as she was about to leave the two of them alone. 

 

She turned her head to look at Jiyong, to see what kind of expression was on his face, but it was useless. She couldn't guess what was going through the man's head. He did such a good job at hiding his emotions. 

 

Kiko finally acknowledged Jessica's presence and scoffed, "Why are you here with her? Isn't this the that was at your home last week too?" 

 

When Jessica was about to open , Jiyong spoke for her, "Yah! She's my girlfriend. Watch what you're saying." 

 

Jessica looked at Jiyong and softened her gaze. She guessed that he really wasn't that bad afterall like Tiffany said. 

 

"Why are you here anyway?" Jiyong continued, sounding annoyed. 

 

"I'm the bride's friend, of course I'm here to celebrate my friend's wedding," Kiko boasted.

 

So she was Chaerin's friend. Go figure. No wonder they were both so rude. It wasn't surprising that they knew with each other. Afterall, the same kind of people hang out in the same kind of crowd and they were both beyond help. 

 

"What happened to the ring on your finger?" Kiko asked when she noticed his bare hands. 

 

Jessica found it absurd that Kiko was able to ignore her and talk to Jiyong as if Jiyong and her were still together even though Jiyong had already introduced Jessica as his girlfriend. She didn't know if Jiyong needed her to stay to help him get out of this situation, but she figured this was her cue to leave since it seemed like they needed to talk.

 

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

 

Jessica returned to the table and saw Seunghyun and Tiffany talking happily. "So I see you guys are getting along just fine, huh?" Jessica smiled at the two of them. 

 

"She was just telling me that we already met at your birthday party once," Seunghyun told her Jessica.

 

"That guy's been looking at you ever since we got here," Tiffany leaned over to whisper to Jessica as she sat down. 

 

Jessica looked towards the direction of where Tiffany was looking to see a handsome guy dressed in a black suit with his jet black hair combed perfectly to one side. When he saw Jessica, he raised his cup of wine at her and gave her a smile, showing off his dimples. Jessica quickly looked away when her eyes met his, taken back by the sudden eye contact. 

 

"Where'd Jiyong go?" Seunghyun asked, earning Jessica's attention. 

 

"Oh, he ran into that girl I saw last time at the apartment," Jessica pointed towards the direction of the refreshments corner where she left the two of them. "Kiko." 

 

"No way," was all Seunghyun said in return, which made Jessica curious about the relationship Kiko had with Jiyong. But a server interrupted her train of thought before she could think any further by placing a glass of wine in front of her. 

 

"Oh, it's fine. I already have one," Jessica tried to kindly refuse the server, but he still insisted that she take it since someone else told him to give it to her.

 

"It wouldn't be Chaerin or Hyunjoong would it?" she whispered to herself and looked down at the cup of wine. She lifted the cup up when she noticed that there was a piece of napkin with numbers and writing placed under the cup.

 

"Hey, call me ;) 

- CS"

 

She let out a small laugh. "They really think that I'd give them a call?" She just shook her head at the silly person and crumbled up the napkin that this "CS" person had written their numbers on. She still perked her head with curiosity, wondering who would take the time to take notice in her and offer her a cup of wine. She had to admit that it still felt good to see that someone found her interesting enough to offer his, or she supposes it could be a her, numbers to her. She curses silently to herself when she accidentally makes eye contact with the handsome guy from earlier again and quickly shifts her eyes elsewhere. But her eyes slowly crept back to the other corner to take a peek at the guy again, only to find that he was still looking in her direction. She was about to move her eyesight again, but kept looking at him when she realized that the smile on his face was no longer there and he now focused his eyes on the napkin she crumpled in her hand and gave a disapproving look. 

 

"AHHHH, I REMEMBER NOW!" Jessica's attention shifted away from the guy and back to her friend when Tiffany let out a scream all of a sudden.

 

Jessica looked at Tiffany, only to see that Tiffany was still looking at Jiyong - who was still talking to Kiko. Jessica wondered what they were talking about that made Jiyong seem so sad and angry. That expression on his face tugged at her heart. He looked so vulnerable and helpless next to Kiko, but Jessica wanted to know why he seemed that way when he's usually so good at hiding his expression. What was the relationship between the two of them? What was the reason for why Jiyong looked so angry? Did she even want to know? 

 

"He was the guy from that night," Tiffany continued as if she came up with some revolution. "The one at the bar that you bothered when you got drunk after running into Hyunjoong." 

 

"Who?" Jessica asked, confused. 

 

"Jiyong! The person you're living under the same roof with and is your date for the night," Tiffany tried to tell Jessica slowly. "He was the guy from the bar that night." 

 

"No," Jessica gasped in disbelief. She wanted to hide in a hole from embarrassment. There was a reason why Tiffany always nagged Jessica for drinking, especially alone. She was always a mess when she got drunk and someone always had to help get her out of trouble. Who knows what she could've done to Jiyong that night? She certainly didn't want to ask Jiyong about it. She could only pray to God that Jiyong won't remember the embarrassment that she was that night.

 

But, now that she thinks about it, the guy from that night seemed to be going through a tough break up. And if that guy was Jiyong, then that means that Jiyong and Kiko had only recently break up. She took a look back at Jiyong and Kiko. His expression softened now. For some reason, she wanted his face to become angrier again. She didn't want Jiyong and Kiko to be talking in such a civil manner to one another in case Jiyong becomes weak and accepts her back. She didn't want Kiko to be with Jiyong. She just didn't like Kiko. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

A/N: I started this chapter, but had no idea how I wanted to continue it. Jessica and Jiyong's relationship is improving, but it also seems like Kiko is pushing and pulling Jiyong. I also added a small snippet for TopFany that I'll go further in detail in upcoming chapters. I have a character to introduce soon! I'm sure some of you guys can already guess who it is LOL. Why do you guys think that Jessica seemed upset that all of her stuff was sent from her home in the US to Korea? And hohohoho, Jessica finally realized that Jiyong was the guy that she almost (okay i'm exaggerating lmao) that night she got wasted. Will her embarrassment cause her to change how she's been treating Jiyong and make her feel more apologetic? or will she try to avoid him to avoid the embarrassment? I haven't decided yet. 

 

Hi everyone, it's 4AM here... so MERRY CHRISTMAS ^________^ i'm sorry if there are a lot of mistakes, but i wanted to have this up by Christmas hehe

 

a little word from our very own Jessica and pics of Santa GD&TOP~