Stage 3, thankfully, didn’t involve exchanging loving looks or any touching. Instead, Jessica and Jaejoong each had to write a list of facts about themselves on the sheets of paper that Changmin provided. After they finished writing, they would exchange them, and it was mandatory that they each memorized the entire list by Tuesday.

 

Jessica had written a huge, overflowing list with detailed descriptions about practically each and every thing she liked and hated, with the hope that it would annoy Jaejoong to death. Unfortunately, he seemed to be thinking the exact same thing – the list that Jessica now held in her hands was covered in blue ink. Most of the words were either unreadable or smudged. She had no idea how she would make it through alive.

 

Groaning, she threw her head back against the giant swiveling chair in her office. His favorite colors are black and white, he likes apples, he got his first kiss in sixth grade…The list went on and on. It had been distracting her from work all day – whenever Jessica tried to concentrate on looking up things online and even when she had been standing in the lunch line, a tiny voice in the back of her head was constantly saying, Jaejoong’s favorite animals are dogs, and He has two sisters. There were almost two hundred facts total and, up till now, Jessica had only read around fifty of them.

 

“Impossible!” she shouted, angrily kicking the bottom of her chair.

 

There was suddenly a knock at her door. The hinges creaked as it swung open. Jessica turned just in time to see Yoona stick her head inside.

 

“Are you okay, unnie?” she asked, looking at her with concern. “Did something happen?”

 

Jessica quickly composed her facial features into an innocent, angelic expression. “No, Yoona, of course not. Is there something you need?”

                                                                                         

“Oh, nothing,” replied Yoona, giving her a grin. “I was on the way to the coffee room and decided to just drop by.”

 

Jaejoong’s favorite food is kimchi, the annoying little voice in her head sing-songed. Jessica took a deep breath and forced herself to not go completely crazy. “That’s so nice of you Yoona,” she managed to say. “How are your photos coming along?”

 

“Pretty good,” Yoona replied, stepping inside and nudging the door closed behind her. “Yunju’s still terrible though. Hopefully Eric will switch me around soon. What about you?” Yoona’s eyes lit up. “Have you had a chance to work with Jay yet?”

 

“No, I’m researching my next article while I wait to get in contact with Yoo Sanghee. I haven’t even gotten close to interviewing anyone for either story, so I won’t be working with Jay for now,” answered Jessica. “I can come with you to the coffee room if you want,” she added. “I have to refill my cup anyway.”

 

Yoona nodded happily. The two of them walked out of Jessica’s office side by side and rounded the corner in the direction of the coffee room. The section wasn’t as loud and busy as it usually was, especially since it was already four. Most of their colleagues got off work either at three or five.

 

“Have you seen Eric around?” Jessica suddenly asked. When Yoona nodded, she added, “I haven’t seen him at all today. Not even when I went to lunch.” Her eyebrows furrowed before she dismissed the thought.

 

The two of them arrived in front of the coffee room and stepped inside. It was empty, thankfully. After Eric’s birthday party on Saturday (and all the events that followed it), Jessica had been dreading coming to work. She felt extra paranoid, certain that she would run into either Soojin or Yura because they had offices closest to her. Luckily, she hadn’t really seen anyone all day, even when she went to lunch.

 

“Wow, is this a new coffee maker?” Yoona asked, bringing a hand up to touch the shiny buttons.

 

Jessica laughed. “Yes, Eric got it for our section a couple of weeks ago.” She stepped over to the fridge and took out a carton of orange juice.

 

“It’s so new and pretty.” Yoona sighed wistfully and started making her coffee. “I wish I could use this coffee room instead of the other one by the sports section. Really, though, it’s so pretty.” She ran her fingers over the coffee maker again.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Jessica, shooting her a wry smile. “I think working with Yunju might’ve damaged your sanity after all.”

 

Suddenly, Saehee’s voice replayed in her mind. Ugh, Yoona’s so annoying, I don’t get why Siwon likes her so much. “Ah!” Jessica exclaimed, turning to Yoona with her eyes wide. She raised her eyebrows. “I’ve been hearing these rumors about you and some guy named Siwon…”

 

Yoona’s cheeks immediately turned red. “What? From who? When?” she asked quickly. As each word came out of , her face turned a brighter shade of red.

 

“Yoona, what haven’t you been telling me?” Jessica asked, her tone mock-accusing. She laughed and poked Yoona’s stomach. “You’re redder than a tomato, you know that?”

 

“Oh, stop it,” replied Yoona, pushing Jessica’s hand away. “You have no right to tease me! After all, I’m not the one who has two – wait, make that three – guys coming after me.”

 

At that, Jessica blanched. “Three?” she asked doubtfully. “I have no idea how you reached that conclusion but, the last time I checked, Jaejoong hated me.”

 

“Well, I read somewhere that hate is often confused with attraction.”

 

“…What?” Jessica stared at Yoona and burst out laughing. “I think you’re going a bit too far there.”

 

“No, unnie, it’s true!” insisted Yoona, looking at her earnestly. “It’s only a matter of time before he comes around.”

 

“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” retorted Jessica, snorting. She smiled at Yoona. “That did make me feel a bit better, though.”

 

The coffee maker went off, signaling that Yoona’s drink was finished. Yoona reached forward and picked it up, and the two of them turned to exit just as the door to the coffee room swung open and brought them face to face with Sophie and Jay.

 

Yoona was the first to react, perking up almost instantly with a bright smile. “Hi Jay, hi Sophie,” she said, bowing politely to both of them. She nudged Jessica with her elbow ever-so-slightly.

 

“Hi Yoona,” Jay replied. When he turned to Jessica, she could almost physically feel the weight of his gaze on her. He was dressed in a neat, casual button-up shirt and a pair of black pants. She could see why all the girls in the building were going crazy for him; he was very handsome. “Jessica,” he said, nodding.

 

“Jay,” she answered, returning the nod.

 

“Yunju’s looking for you,” Sophie said to Yoona. Sophie looked decidedly miffed that her alone time with Jay had been interrupted by the two of them.

 

It’s not like I even wanted to run into you two. Jessica rolled her eyes as discreetly as possible.

 

“Oh, really?” Yoona asked. She looked like she was itching to roll her eyes as well. Giving Jessica a sympathetic look, she replied, “I better get going then. It was nice to see you guys.”

 

After the door swung closed behind her, Jessica opened to make an excuse of her own so that she could leave. Unfortunately, Jay beat her to it.

 

“So, Jessica,” he said slowly, a smile spreading on his face. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

 

Both Jessica and Sophie turned to stare at him in confusion. Jessica was about to reply when her eyes landed on the logo of Jay’s shirt – it was from Armani. Jaejoong’s favorite clothing brand is Armani, the voice reminded her with an infuriating laugh. Jessica clenched her teeth and told it to shut up before turning back to Jay.

 

“Go ahead,” she replied, shifting a bit uneasily from foot to foot. Jessica didn’t really mind Jay, but Sophie’s presence made her uncomfortable.

 

“Actually, why don’t we go to my office to talk about it?” suggested Jay. “It has to do with the articles we’re working on.”

 

“That’d be nice,” Jessica agreed, sighing in relief. She even gave him a big smile. “Let’s go.”

 

She followed him out of the coffee room, ignoring the annoyed look that Sophie shot her. Once the two of them were out in the hallway, Jay turned to her with one of his friendly, familiar smiles.

 

“How are the articles going?”

 

“Not that well,” Jessica replied truthfully. Normally, if anyone else had asked, she would’ve replied with a ‘fine’ or ‘good’ but since Jay was her photographer, it was pointless to pretend everything was going well. “I can’t get in touch with Yoo Sanghee at all and it’s pretty hard to find sources for the other article on the city renovations.”

 

“Do you want me to help you with that at all?” Jay asked. “I could drive us into the city tomorrow.”

 

“Tomorrow?” Jessica scrunched up her nose as she remembered the press conference. “What time? I have to leave work at around three.”

 

“We’ll go in the morning then. Would ten to one work?” he asked. When she nodded, Jay grinned once again. “It’s a date.”

 

--------

They had no luck. Just as they had planned, Jay drove Jessica into the city at nine o’clock sharp. However, the only people who were present at the buildings under construction were construction workers and regular employees who generally knew very little. It seemed that all of the higher-ups and management figures had either taken advantage of the construction to go on vacation or were working at home.

 

That was why now, at twelve, Jessica was seated with Jay inside of a restaurant located right in the middle of Seoul. It was a noodle restaurant and the two of them, having both grown up in America, ordered spaghetti with a side of breadsticks.

 

“I’m glad things didn’t work out this morning,” Jay said as he dug into his food. Both of their dishes smelled absolutely delicious, and Jessica was just dying to stuff her face. She had to force herself to take small bites like a sane person.

 

“Excuse me?” she asked, glancing up at him sharply. “No wonder why it didn’t go so well, then.”

 

“Well, obviously I wanted it to work out,” replied Jay, “but I’m also glad that it didn’t because now we’re eating lunch together.”

 

Jessica snorted and brought a forkful of spaghetti noodles to . “Very funny, Jay.”

 

“So, Jessica,” he continued, not even sounding exasperated. He was apparently already used to her rolling her eyes at just about everything. “What’s our plan going to be from here on out?”

 

“Our?” she asked pointedly. She reached for a breadstick and savagely took a huge bite out of it. Jessica did feel a bit bad about taking out her anger on Jay, but at the moment, butterflies were flying in and out of her stomach. The press conference was less than six hours away, and Jaejoong would be picking her up in about three hours. She chewed on her mouthful of food quicker as each second passed. “My plan is to find out who the CEOs and managers of those stores and restaurants are. Then I’ll spam their inboxes with emails until they either block me or call me back just so I’ll stop.”

 

He laughed. “I can help, if you want.”

 

Jessica glanced up at him. When she saw how open and caring he looked, she felt another pang of guilt. This time, when she opened to speak, Jessica forced herself to calm down and talk nicely. “It’s okay, Jay. You have other work to do.”

 

“Actually, I don’t. Eunhyuk finished his article yesterday, so…” Jay trailed off with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. “…I’m all yours!” he finished.

 

She stared at him blankly, not even bothering to formulate a response. After a moment of silence, Jay looked down at his food, the expression on his face so disheartening that it made Jessica laugh out loud.

 

“So, how was working with Eunhyuk?” Jessica asked. The question was part just to make small talk, but also part curiosity. Eunhyuk was one of the few men who worked in her section and she had heard nothing but good things about him.

 

“He worked really fast,” replied Jay, shrugging. “I could barely keep up with him. Unlike someone I know…”

 

Jessica gave him a glare. “Jay, you see this breadstick in my hand?” When he nodded, she continued, “Let’s say, metaphorically speaking of course, that it’s your head.” Then she took a huge bite out of it. And Jaejoong’s head, she added, taking another savage bite.

 

“Whoa, Jessica,” said Jay, holding his hands up in a surrender position. He peered into her face in mock concern. “I think you may have a few anger problems to work out.”

 

Jessica just blew out a sigh and thought of the press conference again. It was constantly on her mind and she was certain that she was going insane. “What time is it?”

 

“It’s already one thirty,” he replied, checking his watch. “Why, is there a deadline you have to meet?”

 

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” she answered. Jessica forced a smile. “This spaghetti is really good.”

 

“You think so?” Jay gave her a big smile. “I’m glad you like it. It kind of makes up for things not working out this morning, right?”

 

“I guess,” said Jessica distractedly. Jaejoong likes spaghetti, but only with tomato sauce, not alfredo, the voice in her head chanted.

 

Twenty minutes later, Jessica and Jay were seated inside his car, heading back to the Seoul Times building. Jessica spent most of her time ignoring those annoying voices in her head and looking out the window, trying her best to take deep breaths and not go completely crazy. Jay, thankfully, kept quiet as well, seeming to notice how tightly spun she was at the moment.

 

As Jay pulled up in front of the building, Jessica climbed out and retrieved her takeout box full of spaghetti and breadsticks. Jay had one of his own. He climbed out as well and led the way to the entrance.

 

“Are you going to head straight up to your office?” Jay asked, holding the door open for her.

 

Jessica smiled at him and stepped inside. “I might stop by the cafeteria to look for Eric; he wasn’t in his office earlier.”

 

“Do you want me to go with you?” Jay offered. “I actually have to talk to Eric about something too.”

 

She nodded. “Sure, if you don’t mind.”

 

Since lunchtime was just coming to an end, the entire lobby was filled with people milling around and making their way back up to their offices. Jessica just hoped that no one would think that she and Jay had run off to go on a date or something. She twisted her neck to look back at him.

 

“I’ll try my best to get some interviews planned for the rest of the week,” Jessica told him.

 

“Oh, no, it’s fine, take your time,” he replied. “It’s not your fault that all those managers are on vacation.”

 

She smiled at him. “You know, you aren’t so bad after all.”

 

Jay pretended to stagger back in shock. “Wow, really? Thanks Jessica, that means so much coming from you.”

 

Jessica smiled again, turning back to face the front. The two of them were almost in front of the cafeteria by now. They were just passing one of the meeting rooms when, suddenly, a tall figure dressed in a familiar black suit entered her vision.

 

No, it can’t be…

 

She stopped in her tracks, mouth wide open, and didn’t even utter a sound when Jay bumped into her from the back. It can’t be! Jessica shouted in her mind. Lots of guys that work here wear black suits. Don’t be crazy.

 

“Are you okay?” Jay asked from behind her.

 

Jessica barely acknowledged his question. She gave him a numb nod and took a step back, afraid to have her suspicions confirmed. Just as Jessica was about to whirl around and run away at full speed, the figure in front of her turned around, seemingly in slow motion.

 

Their eyes met. Hers widened with a mixture of confusion, nervousness, and shock while Jaejoong’s lit up in a smile. His lips were spread in a grin that only showed off his gleaming, perfect teeth. He held up one hand in a wave. In his other hand was a bouquet of bright red roses.

 

“Hi, honey!” Jaejoong called out to her.