“Oppa!” Jessica whispered as she started to become more conscious of the attention people were giving them. “People are staring.”

 

“Maybe they’re just staring at you because they think you’re pretty,” he jokingly replied.

 

“Seunghyun oppa!” she tried her best not to raise her voice since she didn’t want to attract even more unwanted attention.

 

They were sitting in the cafeteria lounge of the company for their lunch break like everyone else. Except, not everyone else was having lunch with a director like she was. She knew she should’ve rejected Seunghyun when he asked to have lunch together, but he insisted that she had to try the cafeteria food because it was delicious.

 

“Oppa, let’s leave if you’re done eating,” Jessica urged as she just felt more and more uncomfortable with all the stares they were getting just because she was sitting next to him.

 

Seunghyun looked up at Jessica and saw the uneasiness in her facial expression. “All right, all right,” he said as he got up from his seat. “Let’s get back to work.”

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

 

“Yup,” Jessica nodded. “I guess she’s staying with them and couldn’t stand seeing all my stuff laying around so she just decided to send everything here to me.”

 

“She’s still as ridiculous as I remember her,” Seunghyun stated.

 

“At least she actually sent me my stuff instead of throwing it all out,” Jessica tried to reason.

 

“Ah, our sweet Jessica,” Seunghyun smiled as he petted her head. “Always trying to see the positive side in people no matter what.”

 

More people came in as the elevator opened, causing Jessica to naturally scoot away from Seunghyun. They scooted to the back of the elevator as more and more people entered the elevator to return to their work since lunch break was almost over. There were two girls in the front who came in last and did not notice who was standing in the back.

 

“Did you see that new girl from Director Kwon’s department eating lunch with Director Choi?” the taller girl, with make up caked onto her face, turned to the side to whisper to the other girl.

 

Jessica’s face stiffened as soon as she heard those words, knowing exactly what they were talking about and what they were trying to imply.

 

“I didn’t think Director Choi was like that,” the shorter girl with a thin, yet irritating voice replied. “He should at least have higher standards, she’s not even pretty.”

 

Jessica was enraged. She wanted to confront those two girls and let them have a piece of her mind. Who were they to judge her and, even worse, make these ridiculous assumptions about Seunghyun.

 

Seunghyun grabbed her hand to pull her back as if gesturing to her that those girls weren’t worth it and gave her a gentle smile. Jessica could only roll her eyes in return. Seunghyun was too nice.

Jessica returned to her desk to continue reading the files on her clients. Her train of thought was disrupted when she heard the others starting to come back from their lunch break.

 

“Noona!” Seungri popped up next to her all of a sudden. “Is it true?”

 

Confused, Jessica raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is what true?”

 

“That you know Director Choi!” Seungri replied.

 

Jessica’s body tensed a bit. Words sure spread fast, she thought. She didn’t want people to think that she only got to work here because of Seunghyun, she had enough of that problem back in the States with her step-father. “Ah, yeah. Doesn't everyone know him?” Jessica wittingly replied.

 

"Not like that!" Seungri exclaimed. "Like you know him well enough to eat lunch with him. And, don't tell me that it was for work because Director Choi never eats when he's working."

 

Jessica finally reluctantly admitted, "I might have known him from before."

 

“Oh my god, you are one lucky girl if you know him personally!” Yuri exclaimed as she clasped her hand together. “Can you imagine being friends with someone as hot as Director Choi?”

 

"How did you --" Seungri started getting curious, but was cut off by Taecyeon.

 

“Hey, guys, get back to work,” Taecyeon voiced out, sensing Jessica’s uncomfortableness.

 

Jessica looked towards Taecyeon and gave him a smile to show that she appreciated how he helped get their attention off of her.

 

Seungri pouted, “Fine, we’ll talk about this later. I still don’t understand how a sweet girl like you can be friends with someone who seems as scary as Director Choi.”

 

Jessica left out a chuckle and returned to her desk. “Scary?” she thought as she remembered back to all the times that Seunghyun acted like a little kid. She guessed that he had an image to uphold at the company.

 

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

“Jessica-shi?” she heard a voice call out to her.

 

She looked up and saw Jiyong leaning over her desk. “Yes, Director Kwon?”

 

He handed her a new file, which she assumed was a new case he wanted her to follow up with. “Here is another client that I would like you to work with. She’s a bit hard to work with, but you should have no problem since your personality is kinda similar.”

 

Jessica took a minute to process what he just said. “What do you mean similar? You just said she’s hard to work with!”

 

“Exactly,” Jiyong smirked.

 

Jessica was about to fire back at him but, all of a sudden, felt embarrassed when she saw that smirk on his face. She remembered that she's been trying to avoid him since Tiffany revealed that Jiyong was the guy from the bar. He probably won't remember anything about that night if he didn't see her face a lot, she thought. She wanted to end the conversation faster so she didn’t have to face him anymore. 

 

“Ah, yes,” Jessica quickly said without making eye contact and took the file. “I understand, thank you.”

 

"Yah, why aren't you looking at me?" Jiyong asked, slightly annoyed. 

 

"I'm just trying to do my work here," Jessica replied, still refusing to look at him. "I'd appreciate it if you would leave me alone so I can do my work, Director Kwon." 

 

"You're being weird, it's like you've been trying to purposely avoid me since the wedding," Jiyong stated and then leaned over to whisper in her ear. "It's not because you developed a crush on me after you saw how handsome I was in that suit is it?"

 

Jessica quickly turned her head around to look at him, shortening the distance between their faces, and retorted his statement, "Yeah, right. Do you really think that I'd like a jerkface like you?"

 

But Jiyong didn't say anything. He just stared at her face, which was only a couple inches away from his now. Jessica didn't realize how close they were until she could feel Jiyong's breath lingering on her skin and stared back at him.

 

Taecyeon peeked his head up from across Jessica's cubicle when he sensed that something was wrong, "Hey, are you guys okay?"

 

Hearing another voice quickly snapped both Jiyong and Jessica out of their stare. "Huh? Oh yeah, everything's fine," Jiyong swiftly replied. 

 

Jessica was returning to her desk after grabbing a cup of coffee from the staff lounge when she heard the the phone ringing from behind the desk where Dara was supposed to be sitting. The phone continued to ring and she looked around but saw that everyone else was busy. She decided to pick it up herself since she had no idea where Dara was.

 

“Hello?” Jessica answered.

 

“Ah, hello, can you please transfer me to Jiyongie please?” the rugged voice replied from the other side. “That boy isn’t picking up his phone again.”

 

“I’m sorry, Director Kwon isn’t in his office right now,” Jessica kindly responded. “May I take a message?”

 

“Hmm, can you please let him know that his haraboji called?” the man requested. 

 

"Haraboji?!" Jessica asked when she realized why the voice sounded so familiar. "How are you doing?" 

 

“Jessica?” he hesitatingly asked, unsure of whose voice it was. 

 

"Yes, haraboji, this is Jessica," she grinned. It just made her feel warm inside when she heard his voice.

 

"Oh, I'm doing good. It's so nice to hear your voice, Sica!" the harabjoi replied. "I didn't know you were Jiyongie's secretary."

 

Jessica politely corrected him. “But I’m not Jiyong—I mean Director Kwon’s secretary. I just picked up the phone because I don’t know where she is right now.”

 

“Is that so?” she heard the haraboji mutter from the other side but she couldn't put a finger on exactly what he was trying to imply with that tone of his. “It’s nice to know that you guys are working together.”

 

“Ah….. yes,” Jessica reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t like she could tell him how awkward and embarrassed she felt working with him. But she did have to admit that Jiyong was starting to warm up to her - he wasn't as bad as she originally thought. 

 

“Well, can you please just kindly remind Jiyong to come home for my birthday this weekend?” the haraboji told her.

 

“Of course! I’ll make sure that he doesn’t forget,” Jessica cheerily replied.

 

“Thanks, darling,” the haraboji thanked. “You should come too.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know about that haraboji,” Jessica tried to politely reject him. “I’m not sure if Director Kwon will like that I’m interfering with his family events either.”

 

“It’s my birthday and I want you there,” the haraboji firmly stated. “Don’t worry about Jiyong, you’ll make this haraboji happy if you come.”

 

“Ah, okay,” Jessica finally agreed against her own will.

 

“Great! I will see you this weekend then,” Jessica heard the haraboji shout through the phone and could sense the huge smile he had on his face. She couldn’t help but form a smile on her own when she heard how happy he was.

 

“Have a good day, then, haraboji,” Jessica kindly greeted and ended the call.

 

“AHEM,” she heard someone coughing exaggeratedly but decided to ignore it against her better judgement.

 

“AHEM!”

 

“Jessica-shi?!” Jessica’s head perked up as she heard the voice over her shoulder.

 

“Ah, yes?” she replied as soon as she saw Dara’s face when she turned around.

 

“What are you doing at my desk?” Dara frowned and crossed her arms, waiting for Jessica's response.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Jessica quickly stood up and tried to move back to her desk. “There was a call and no one was here so….”

 

Dara  sat down as she continued to glare at Jessica  before starting, “Well, I got a call from one of Choi Siwon’s people earlier and it seems like he just returned to Korea from a business trip. However, I was told that tonight will be the only night that he will be free to meet up with us before he leaves on another one.”

 

Jessica kept looking down at Dara, not sure what she was trying to get at. “The director told me that he was going to take over this case, so why are you telling me about this?”

 

“The director is out meeting another client right now and the others are occupied with other work, so that only leaves you,” Dara replied and placed a piece of paper on her desk. “This is the location of where you guys will meet up. You can leave now to make sure you’re on time.”

 

Before Jessica could utter another word, Dara had already turned away and busied herself with another phonecall. Well, it’s not like Jessica minded anyway. The only thing that worried her was how much trouble she would be in if Jiyong found out that she was going against his orders by meeting Choi Siwon but she figured it wasn't her fault if Dara was the one that told her to go. She was excited. This was going to be the first time she was going to be meeting a client - her very first client.

 

Jiyong returned to the office and his eyebrow perked up when he saw an empty seat, “Why are we missing someone? Where is Jessica?” he asked the others as he pointed at the empty spot.

 

“She just barely headed out to meet a client for dinner, I think,” Yuri replied.

 

“A client?” Jiyong reciprocated her answer. He was confused how she's already meeting a client. He only handed her the file on the new client today, how would she have been able to schedule a meeting so fast? But Seungri had already disrupted his train of thought.

 

“Did you know Jessica before she started working here too, director?” Seungri asked, unable to contain his curiousity.

 

Jiyong looked at him, a little surprised by the unexpected question. He didn't understand why Seungri asked him that out of nowhere. 

 

“I’m just asking because people are talking about how Director Choi and Jessica-shi are in some type of romantic relationship,” Seungri informed him when he saw that Jiyong was not saying anything. "And if she knows Director Choi, then she might've known you before too." 

 

Jiyong furrowed his eyebrows. “No, they’re not in any type of romantic relationship,” Jiyong raised his voice and stated sternly. “At least, they’re not in any type of romantic relationship as far as he knew,” he thought.

 

Seungri dropped the topic right away and realized that he was being too much when he heard Jiyong raise his voice. Taecyeon looked at Jiyong. “Strange,” he whispered. It wasn’t like the director to raise his voice over something that wasn’t work related.

 

"Ah, that's right!" Yuri exclaimed as if she just remembered something. "Jessica went out to see that client - Choi Siwon." 

 

Jiyong's eyes bulged out when he heard the name escape from Yuri's mouth. That girl was too stubborn. He already told her that she couldn't take that case but she still didn't listen to him. "That girl is ridiculous," Jiyong angrily whispered to himself then asked Yuri. "Can you get me the address of where they're meeting up?"

 

"Jessica, you better hope that I'll get to you before Choi Siwon does," he said when he left the office after getting the address from Yuri. "It's not going to be fun when people see you two together." 

 

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

A/N: HI EVERYONE! I apologize for taking so long to update. School has been a lot, but I'm on Spring Break right now so hopefully I can get a few chapters in before I have school again. I don't know though.... I feel like I have been writing really long chapters. Do you guys prefer long or short chapters?

Anyway, there is some more progression between the characters in this chapter! Who is the "she" that Seunghyun and Jessica are referring to? Why do you think Jiyong doesn't want Jessica to meet Siwon? Is it jealousy or is there something more? Stay tuned ^_____^ 

 

BTW, guess who showed up when I was looking at Jessica's weibo? None other than GD lol... just a random jisica moment