A gasp tore itself out of Jessica’s throat. As fast as humanly possible, she whirled around and held her breath, scared that she would feel Jaejoong’s hand on her shoulder or hear his deep voice from behind her in just a few seconds. Jessica squeezed her eyes shut when she felt a blush warm her cheeks and tried her best to will it away.

 

“Jessica,” said a voice right inside her ear.

 

Even though she had been expecting it, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Jessica turned around slowly, expecting to see all five feet and ten inches of Kim Jaejoong in front of her, but instead came face-to-face with Jay. Her brows furrowed in confusion, but then the relief from the fact that Jaejoong wasn’t in front of her came so fast that she had a sudden urge to hug him.

 

“Are you okay?” Jay asked, leaning in closer and staring at her face. “You’re looking a bit pale there, Jessica.”

 

She shook off her daze and brushed him away. “Don’t call me Jessica,” she replied. She reached into her purse, retrieved her wallet, and fished out five dollars to pay for her chocolate cake. There were still about five people in line in front of them.

 

“Did you know that guy?”

 

“What guy?” asked Jessica, feigning an innocent expression. She turned to Jay with wide eyes and placed a hand on his arm. “Was there a guy that just came in?”

 

He looked extremely confused and ran his fingers through his hair. “Uh, yeah, there was this tall guy wearing a suit? And you looked over at him, Jessica. You stared at him for like, five minutes. Then he looked over at you and you turned away and then he said something to the people he was with and they left. And now here we are, having this conversation,” Jay said, his brow furrowing. “I didn’t just imagine it, right?”

 

He left? Thank god! Almost dizzy with relief, Jessica gave a happy laugh and patted Jay’s arm. “Maybe you’re just going crazy.”

 

He stared after her in shock as she stepped up to pay for her dessert.

 

Ten minutes later, the two of them were back inside the Seoul Times building. Jessica held a plate containing a slice of chocolate cake, and Jay was holding a blueberry muffin in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. They stopped in front of the elevators.

 

“Thanks for going to the café with me,” said Jessica, giving him a polite bow. “I’ll see you later.”

 

“Wait a second,” replied Jay, raising an eyebrow at her. “Aren’t you supposed to give me a tour of the entire building?”

 

She fixed him with a stern look. “I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

 

“With what, eating chocolate cake?” he asked, breaking into a laugh. “Come on, Jessica, would it physically hurt you to be friendly?”

 

“I am friendly!” Jessica retorted a bit too loudly. When people nearby turned to stare at her, she turned away and muttered, “I’m friendly.”

 

Jay finished the last bite of his muffin and threw away the napkin he was holding it with in a nearby trashcan. Then, with a self-satisfied little smirk, he took hold of Jessica’s arm and steered her in the direction of the cafeteria. She wanted to do nothing but shake him off and yell at him, but they had just entered the main hallway and there were way too many people around. As it was, Jessica could only mutter angrily under her breath the whole way.

 

Jay, however, didn’t pay any attention to her insults and threats. He stopped in front of a small table in the back of the cafeteria, took the plate from her hands, and set it down on the table. Then he walked back around it and sat down in the seat across from her cake.

 

“Please give me a tour,” he said, giving her a cheeky grin.

 

Jessica gave him a death glare and sat down reluctantly. “I’ll give you a tour if you stop calling me Jessica.”

 

“What?” Jay laughed. “What am I supposed to call you then? Miss Jung?”

 

“Yes,” replied Jessica, nodding her head primly. “Everyone else does.”

 

Jay laughed again. “But I’m not just anyone else, Jessica.”

 

Her eyes narrowed. Biting back a snort of laughter, she replied, “Do you use that line on every girl you meet?”

 

“Ouch, that hurts,” he said, bringing a hand to his heart in mock pain. He raised his coffee cup to his lips and took a sip.

 

Jessica smiled at that and bit into a mouthful of cake. “Good.”

 

“But really, Jessica – “

 

“Don’t call me Jessica.”

 

“Okay, but Jessica – “

 

“Jay, what did I just tell you?”

 

“Jessica, just listen for a – “

 

“Would you stop calling me Jessica?” She slammed her fork down on the plate, finally ending their little exchange, and glowered at him.

 

“But we’re friends!” Jay replied.

 

“No,” corrected Jessica, still giving him a look of pure death. “We’re barely even acquaintances, Jay. And as your senior in this field of work, I demand that you call me Miss Jung.”

 

“Look, Jessica,” he said, an infuriating grin slowly taking shape on his face, “that won’t be happening any time soon. I think we both know that. And even if we’re not friends now, we’ll be friends soon.”

 

Jessica fumed silently. Why did he sound so certain, so confident of it? Ugh, I hate people like this, she griped in her mind.

 

He opened his mouth to say yet another thing, but he was (thankfully) interrupted by a high female voice.

 

“Hi, Jay!” she said, and the two of them both turned to see who it was.

 

“Hey, Sophie,” Jay replied, giving her a smile.

 

Jessica grimaced. Where’s Yoona when I need her? Sophie was very pretty, with long brown hair and a thin but curvy body. She was from her section and, like most of the other girls in Jessica’s section, Sophie was one-hundred-and-twenty-percent evil.

 

“Hi, Miss Jung,” she said, interrupting Jessica’s internal groaning.

 

“Hi Sophie,” Jessica replied, returning the fake smile that Sophie gave her.

 

“So, Jay, what are you doing here?” Sophie asked, turning back to him. As if it’s not obvious that he’s eating with me, Jessica snorted.

 

“Jessica and I got some food at the café across the street and just brought it here to eat,” answered Jay. He looked across the table at Jessica and smiled. “We’re friends.”

 

Jessica and Sophie’s eyes widened simultaneously. “I see,” Sophie said, just as Jessica snapped, “No, we’re not.”

 

Jay looked at Sophie and shook his head. “Jessica’s just in denial.” He reached across the table and patted her hand. “We’re really good friends.”

 

“Well,” Jessica said, deciding to take this chance to escape. She jumped up and picked up her plate of cake. She gave them both a forced smile. “This has been very, uh, nice, but I’ve gotta go take care of something. I have a deadline to meet in twenty minutes.” Jessica forced her smile to get bigger. “Bye Sophie, bye Jay.”

 

“Bye Miss Jung,” Sophie replied, looking confused.

 

“Wait! What about my tour?” Jay called after her.

 

“Tomorrow,” Jessica said through gritted teeth, just to stop him from saying anything else.

 

“I’ll see you later then,” he replied. She didn’t have to look back to know that he had another one of those annoyingly friendly grins on his face.

 

--------

 

Jessica stretched her arms over her head and sighed contentedly. She loved everything about taking a bath – the soap bubbles, the warm water, how relaxing it all was. Especially after the week she just had. But now it was the weekend and, thankfully, it meant laying around and doing nothing.

 

Ugh, that Jay Park, Jessica groaned, remembering her new photographer. Then she remembered the other infuriating guy causing problems in her life. Ugh, that Kim Jaejoong. Jessica felt a brief flash of guilt as she thought about him, because she still hadn’t called Changmin with her answer. But she shook her head and pushed it away. I’ll call him once I reach an answer.

 

Her phone suddenly rang, shaking her out of her little reverie. Jessica frowned. Who’s disturbing my peace? She wiped her wet hand on a nearby towel and flipped open her phone.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Sica unnie!” shouted Yoona. There was the sound of music – really, really loud music – playing in the background. Jessica held the phone a few inches away from her ears, practically feeling a headache coming on.

 

“Yes, Yoona?” she replied patiently, though she wanted to do nothing more than hang up, soak in the bathtub some more, and then sleep. “What’s going on?”

 

“Where are you? It’s already eight!” Yoona yelled. “Did you forget about Eric’s birthday party?”

 

Jessica bolted upright. “Eric’s birthday party?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! Is that today? Why didn’t he remind me yesterday?!”

 

“He’s threatening to cut your salary, you know,” Yoona said on the other line in a sing-song voice.

 

“Yes, I do know,” groaned Jessica. She stepped out of the bathtub and wrapped her towel around her body. “I’ll be there as fast as possible, okay?”

 

“Hurry! They’re about to cut the cake!”

 

“I don’t care about some stupid cake,” grumbled Jessica. “I’ll see you soon, Yoona.”

 

“Okay, bye!”

 

Jessica hung up and stumbled around her room, pulling on the first pair of underwear and bra her eyes landed on. Then she went in search for a dress. She checked her closet first. Jessica hadn’t worn a dress in forever and, sure enough, there weren’t any. Groaning out loud and cursing herself for not remembering the stupid birthday party, Jessica ran next door into the guest room. It was where her sister, Krystal, usually stayed whenever she came over, and she tended to leave a lot of clothes behind.

 

Thankfully, there were three dresses hanging in the guest room closet. Jessica closed her eyes for a moment to thank God for his kindness before opening them again to choose which one to wear. The first one her eyes landed on was strapless and hot pink. Just the color, so bright it was almost blinding, made Jessica’s eyes ache. She immediately pushed that one aside and reached for the second, which was simple, black, and short. It was covered in black sequins and glimmered slightly in the light. Jessica wrinkled her nose. It was definitely too short for her to feel comfortable in front of her colleagues. The third dress was absolutely beautiful – it was creamy white and had a huge bow in the front of the waistline. But there was also a huge brown stain on it, most likely from coke or some other soda.

 

With another groan, Jessica grabbed the black dress and pulled it over her head. Then she stumbled over to the bathroom. After applying some mascara, eyeliner, and blush, Jessica her blow-dryer and tried her best to dry out the last third of hair that was wet. Thankfully Yoona had called before she had shampooed and conditioned it.

 

Five minutes later, Jessica’s hair was still slightly damp. She decided to just leave it and hurry to the party instead of waiting another five or ten minutes. Jessica hurried out of her bathroom, turned off all the lights, and arrived downstairs in record speed. After hurriedly slinging her purse over her shoulder and yanking on a pair of black Christian Louboutin pumps, Jessica flew out of the door and into her car.

 

--------

When Jessica arrived at the Seoul Times headquarters thirty minutes later, the party was in full swing. The entire conference room had been completely transformed. The pristine white walls were now covered in banners that read “Happy Birthday Eric!” Balloons in every color floated around the room and stuck to the ceiling in random clumps.Tables covered in white tablecloth were set up along the perimeter of the room, and each one contained a huge glass bowl of punch and smaller plates filled with snacks and small desserts. One table at the front had buffet dishes.

 

And the music – the music was insane. It was so loud that Jessica could practically feel the thumping bass beats shake the entire room. A multicolored disco ball had been installed in the ceiling, and it sent colorful circles spinning all over the room.

 

She suddenly had a headache.

 

Jessica stood in the doorway, uncomfortable, as she took it all in. People were everywhere, eating, talking, laughing, and most of them were unfamiliar to her. That, at least, was comforting.

 

“Hi Jessica,” said a girl walking past her. Jessica turned and recognized her as Yuri.

 

“Hi, Yuri,” she replied, giving the girl a warm smile.

 

Yuri bowed politely. “I was just heading to the bathroom, so I’ll see you later,” she said apologetically. “Yoona was looking for you though, she was over by – “ Yuri raised her arm and gestured to the far right wall “ – that area.”

 

“Okay, thanks.” Jessica waved at her as she walked off in the direction of the bathrooms before turning and looking in the direction that Yuri had pointed out.

 

Jessica walked over to one of the tables and picked up a cupcake. All she wanted to do was greet Eric, stay for twenty to thirty minutes to make it seem as if she was enjoying herself, and leave. She bit into it slowly, surveying the room for Eric’s familiar face. She noticed a few stares in her direction and found herself blushing. That stupid article, she muttered in her mind.

 

“Sica!” a voice yelled over to her.

 

“Oh, Yoona!” Jessica turned and gave her a big smile. “Have you seen Eric anywhere?”

 

“He was just looking for you!” Yoona exclaimed. She noticed the people staring in their direction and glared openly at them. “But don’t worry, I’m sure someone has already told him you’re here. So, unnie, do you want to go find Donghae? He was wondering if you were here a few minutes ago,” she added.

 

“Donghae?” Jessica asked, her eyes floating toward the ceiling as she strained her mind, wondering why he would look for her. Had she told him that she would give him something?

 

“Yeah, Donghae, you know, our colleague? Our really cute colleague?” Yoona giggled. Then she suddenly gasped. “Oh yeah, Jay was also looking for you!”

 

Jessica stared at her blankly. “Jay?” What does he want now?

 

“Jay Park, remember? He’s your new photographer. I heard he’s really good,” Yoona said, misinterpreting Jessica’s question to mean that she didn’t know who he was. She added with a mischievous smile, “And hot.”

 

Oh, good God. “Yoona,” replied Jessica slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose. She really was developing a headache from all the noise and those stupid, colorful, spinning lights. “Jay is…Jay is…” Stupid and immature and way too friendly, Jessica screamed in her mind.

 

“Really hot?” Yoona finished for her, now full-out laughing. “Jessica, would it kill you to admit that someone of the opposite is attractive?”

 

“W-what do you mean?” stammered Jessica, feeling warmth creep up her neck. “He’s my colleague. Relationships with coworkers are against the company contract.”

 

Yoona nudged her and a sparkle entered her eyes. “Good thing Kim Jaejoong isn’t one of your colleagues then, huh?”

 

“What?!” Jessica felt the telltale warmth in her cheeks burst into a full-blown blush and looked down at her feet, hoping that it wouldn’t be noticeable in the dark lighting.

 

“You’re blushing,” Yoona teased. Then she held a hand to her heart. “But I totally understand, Sica. Kim Jaejoong… – “ she sighed dramatically before continuing, “ – is perfect in every way. Let’s see. He’s smart, successful, rich, funny, and too handsome for words.”

 

Jessica snorted. If only you knew what a jerk he really is, she thought bitterly, rolling her eyes. Then she remembered the presents she got for Eric and brightened up. “Hey, Yoona, I’ve gotta go, could you give this to Eric when you see him?”

 

“Of course, unnie.”

 

Jessica reached inside her purse and first took out the card, placing it in Yoona’s open hand. Then she pulled out a small bundle of fabric and smoothed it out to make it look more presentable. At the very last minute, Jessica had taken a detour and stopped at a mall to buy Eric a tie and a clear bottle of cologne. She handed them both to Yoona.

 

“Wow, you got him really nice gifts,” Yoona told her, looking at what the cologne was called.

 

“I literally got them like, five minutes ago,” replied Jessica, laughing. “I can’t believe I even forgot. But I really have to go now.”

 

“See you on Monday, unnie,” she said, leaning in to give her a hug.

 

“Yup, Monday,” Jessica said, giving Yoona one last wave before turning and walking away.

 

The moment she stepped out of the meeting room, Jessica felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her ears no longer felt like they would shatter, the room was no longer tilting around her, and the sudden quiet felt both new and comforting.

 

She headed towards the exit, eagerly anticipating a night at home watching a movie, when a very familiar silhouette stepped out of a room. Jessica was about to keep walking when she realized that it was Jay and that he was just about to see her.

 

I’ll just walk past him silently and, if he greets me, I’ll say ‘hello’ and keep on walking, she told herself, though her body wasn’t listening and her footsteps slowed as she was about to near him. But what if he forces me to stay? Jessica wailed in her mind. Like when he made me go to the cafeteria. Jessica groaned. She really didn’t want to go back to the party.

 

At the last moment, Jessica saw a nearby bathroom and quickly walked inside. She heard Jay’s footsteps get louder as he passed directly in front of it, then softer as he got farther and farther away. Jessica let out a sigh of relief and walked up to a sink to wash her hands. When she turned the faucet off, she realized that the door was opening and there were suddenly lots of voices. Jessica turned and darted into the closest stall.

 

She was ready to wait until they left to get out, mostly because she recognized the voices of Saehee, Soojin, Lily, and Yura. She didn’t want to run into them. It sounded like there were two or three other girls, but Jessica couldn’t tell who they were.

 

As they clamored inside and started talking about hair and makeup, Jessica had rolled her eyes. Their next topic, boys, was even worse, and she had to physically restrain herself from groaning and giving herself away. Then they moved on to gossiping about the other girls in the building, which was definitely the worst of the three.

 

At first they started off by talking about some poor girl named Tiffany, who, according to them, was “a plastic that hits on every guy she sees.” Then they talked about a girl named Hyojin, another person that Jessica didn’t know.

 

“What about Yoona?” someone suddenly asked, interrupting Lily as she was in the middle of saying something about Hyojin’s horrible hair. 

 

Jessica narrowed her eyes and fumed silently in her stall. If they say anything bad about my Yoona, someone’s going to get hurt.

 

“Ugh, Yoona’s so annoying,” a voice that Jessica recognized as Saehee’s said. “I don’t get why Siwon likes her so much.”

 

“Yeah, he could do so much better,” Soojin chimed in.

 

“But the worst part is, Yoona doesn’t even seem to realize that Siwon likes her. I mean, come on, how stupid is she?” Saehee sighed loudly.

 

“Oh, speaking of Yoona, isn’t she friends with Jessica?” a new voice said.

 

Most of the girls giggled loudly at that. There was the sound of caps clicking open and snapping shut as they reapplied their lipstick and eyeliner.

 

 “Did you guys see the magazine article? There are tons online, too. Jessica’s a total ,” said Saehee. Jessica could hear the smirk in her voice.

 

“She’s even worse than Yoona,” someone else said. “I just don’t get it. Why do all those guys like Jessica? All she cares about is work.”

 

“But really, can you guys believe that she slept with Kim Jaejoong? It’s so unfair.” A pause, then: “Do you think he paid her?”

 

“Jessica will resign, right? I mean, it’s all over the entire building – how can she possibly keep working here?”

 

“How about making a bet?”

 

“What’s the point of placing a bet on someone who’s going to quit anyway?” Lily said, dissolving into another giggle.

 

 “I tried asking Eric if he was planning on firing her, but he didn’t reply,” said Yura. “But even if he doesn’t, I’m sure that the upper level of management will. Obviously those netizens will find out that it’s Jessica in those pictures, and then the image of the Seoul Times will be ruined.”

 

“I can’t believe she really had a one night stand with Kim Jaejoong though,” Saehee drawled. “She always acted like she’s so much better than everyone else but, in reality, she’s the biggest of us all.”

 

With one last laugh, the group finally left the bathroom. Jessica unlocked the stall and stepped out with her jaw clenched. Her stomach twisted with an anger so powerful that stars danced in her vision for a few seconds. Dread was now mixed in – she had never even considered that she might get fired. How am I supposed to fix this?

 

Then it all clicked into place and Jessica realized exactly what she had to do.

 

She stumbled out of the bathroom, pushed open the door of the building, and was walking in the parking lot in just a few minutes. Once she reached her car, Jessica climbed inside. She pulled out her cell phone and Changmin’s business card.

 

It rang twice and, just as Jessica was about to reconsider and hang up, he picked up.

 

“Shim Changmin speaking,” he said.

 

“Changmin, it’s Jessica,” said Jessica slowly, knowing she would regret this decision but not seeing any other possible solution. She bit at her fingernails, anxious and doubtful of the whole thing.

 

“Oh, hi Jessica,” Changmin replied, his voice warm. “Have you reached a decision?”

 

“Yeah, um – “ Jessica fumbled for words. “Can I speak to Jaejoong?”

 

There were a few seconds of silence, and then a new, deeper voice said, “Hello?”

 

Jessica gripped the steering wheel tightly in her hand. Her whole body was filled with a sense of foreboding and she knew, she just knew, that in the near future, there would be a time when she looked back on this exact moment and wished she had walked away.

 

Taking a deep breath, Jessica replied, “Jaejoong, let’s get engaged.”