“Smart move, sis. I need your help,” Jessica said with gleaming eyes.

“Help? That’s weird. I usually ask you for help. What is it?” 

“Before I say what I need, what was the deal with using ‘1 or 0’? You two are such geeks which make me think that you guys are really meant to be,” she grinned. “Anyways, I need your help to figure out who Taeyeon likes.”

Tiffany stifled her laugh. My sister is such a dummy sometimes.

“You want to know who she likes. Why is that?”

“Because she’s going to treat me to Byeokje Galbi again if I guess it correctly plus I’m really curious. You should’ve heard her description about her. She was so cheesy but I kind of find that cute. Is that weird?”

“You found her being cheesy…cute?” Jessica nodded. “No, of course not. That’s not weird at all.”

“So will you help me? Please answer now because I’m tired of standing here in the hall.”

“How am I supposed to help you? I don’t even know who this girl is.” She had to lie since she didn’t want to reveal Taeyeon’s secret. 

“Of course you don’t, Tiff. If you knew then I would’ve just asked you to tell me, right? And people say I’m the one who’s slow. You’re good at figuring stuff and I need your help on finding out who she likes. Sunny and Hyo said that she’s a girl from our class. They also said that she’s pretty but dense.”

Tiffany couldn’t hold in her laugh any longer. That last statement made her laugh. I cannot believe those two said that to her. They are so dead once Jessica figures it all out. Aww. My sister’s cute when she’s clueless but I have to stop laughing now if I don’t want to die young.

“Why were you laughing?”

“Nothing. What do you want me to do then?”

“I need you to collect information about all the girls in our class. You’re good at doing those illegal things, right? Hacking stuff,” Jessica said nonchalantly.

“Okay and then what?” Tiffany asked. She wasn’t really following what her sister was saying and what her plan was.

“Then I’ll try and figure out who Taeyeon likes. I’m going to observe how she interacts with those girls. Could you print their profiles for me? Please step sister whom I love with all my heart and whom I’ll take a bullet for,” she said using her cute voice.

Tiffany rarely sees her sister act like that. I think she ate something bad. Why is she acting like this? Wait a minute! Did she just say ‘treat me to Byeokje Galbi again.’ When the heck did they eat there together?

“When did you eat there? At Byeokje Galbi, I mean.”

“We ate there earlier. Probably a couple of hours after you and Soo went out. We had our lunch there.”

“Taeyeon asked you out?” she exclaimed. She saw the confusion on Jessica’s face and quickly added, “She treat you out for lunch and didn’t invite us? That midget.”

“You’re only taller than her by a few centimetres or something and you’re calling her a ‘midget’?”

“Are you—“ Tiffany paused. Oh my god! She’s defending her now! I’m spazzing! She let out a giggle which earned a ‘wtf’ look from the blonde. “Sorry. I’ll give you the profile of every girl in your classes tomorrow. I just want to sleep now, Jessie.”

“Thanks. Night, night!” Jessica skipped her way back to her room.

Wow! She’s unbelievably happy today. Goodness, I should ask that restaurant what they put in their food that made my sister skip her way to her room. My head hurts. I should stop thinking right now. My brain hurts and I’m so exhausted.

She plopped herself on her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

“You enjoyed using my ‘kiddy jacket’ too much that you don’t even want to take it off, huh?” she heard Yuri’s voice.

The taller girl was right. Ever since she wore it she never took it off, not even when she’s eating with Sooyoung.

“It’s comfy and soft and fluffy and it smells nice. I have good taste when it comes to perfume. Come to think of it, I have good taste when it comes to almost everything,” she turned her head to look at Yuri who just got out of the bathroom.

“You are so cocky. Sooyoung is conceited,too. You two should really be together and maybe you could negate each other’s…cockiness.”

“I am not cocky. I’m just overconfident,” she mimicked their classmate Siwon and they both ended up laughing.

She took off the jacket and handed it to Yuri. Yuri took it and sniffed it. “The jacket does smell like you.”

“I know, right?” she smirked.

“It smells like the person who wore it dove into a sea of armpits. Sweaty armpits to be exact.”

Tiffany gasped, “It does not! Kwon Yuri, take back what you said!” she threatened but it only made her roommate more.

“Did you even take a bath before you went out with Soo? This is such a turn off, Fany. You look gorgeous but you sweat a lot and it smells!” she said and pinched her nose, pretending that the jacket really smelled like vinegar. 

“MANYUL, TAKE THAT BACK!!! TAKE BACK WHAT YOU JUST SAID!”

Yuri pouted, “Fine, I take back what I said. Don’t call me ‘manyul’.”

“Good. Turn off the lights please. Thanks! Good night, Manyul,” she said before she closed her eyes.

“I hate you,” Yuri said in a hushed tone but it was still audible enough for Tiffany to hear.

“I love you, too, Yul,” she said with a giggle.


---


The next morning, right after Tiffany gave her the printed profiles of every girl in their class, she memorized some of them and chucked the papers inside her bag before going to her first class. She started to execute her plan on figuring out who Taeyeon likes.

Normally, she would be dozing off on her first class but not today and the day after that. Not until she figures out who this ‘mystery girl’ is. Eating good meat depends on it and her curiosity’s killing her.

She saw Taeyeon talking to one of their classmates while the professor was out. She tried to recall what the girl’s name was. After a few minutes of thinking, she finally gave up. She opened her bag and took out her ‘cheat sheet’. Who is this girl with big eyes? She read it carefully and matched the face with a name. Goo Hara. 17 years old blah blah blah. A business major. Hobbies are dancing, singing and blah blah.

She heard Taeyeon’s weird laugh and she immediately looked at the other girl. She said she makes her laugh. Wait. Her laugh makes her laugh but the Goo Hara girl’s not laughing. She even looks like she’s ticked off. But still, she’s a candidate.

Hearing Taeyeon’s laugh unconsciously made her laugh as well.

“Hara-sshi, stop it! Stop saying those lame jokes,” she heard Taeyeon say in between her laughs. 

“Yah! MY Hara’s jokes are not lame. Sure they might be old and even dogs could figure it out but it’s still funny!” Jessica heard another voice. She checked her ‘cheat sheet’ yet again. Nicole Jung. We have the same course. Hobbies are dancing, talking and smiling a lot. That’s a hobby?

She looked up and saw Nicole glaring at Taeyeon. She remembered what Taeyeon said, She could scare the living daylights out of me with just one glare.

“Okay another candidate,” she said to herself.

“Hi, unnie! Whatcha doin’?” Yoona said as she sneaked a peek on the paper Jessica was holding.

“Yah! Don’t do that!” Jessica squealed. She didn’t notice Yoona coming near her. “What are you doing here?” she asked rudely.

“Unnie, just because you don’t have a crush on me anymore doesn’t mean you should be rude to me,” she pouted.

Jessica sighed in defeat and spoke softly, “Fine. What do you want?”

Yoona’s pout was replaced with a smile, “I had nothing to do and Hyunnie told me not to bother her because she’s studying and being the good girlfriend that I am, I’m doing what she told me to do.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes and said, “First of all, everyone knows you two aren’t back together yet. Lastly, that’s not what a ‘GOOD’ girlfriend would do. That’s what dogs would do when their owners tell them to fetch a stick or something. Why don’t you help her and study with her.”

“Why should we put off the inevitable, unnie? We will be back together and I’m doing my best to achieve just that. She said she could concentrate more if I’m not there to bug her.”

“Then don’t bug her. Just sit there and stare at her or something,” Jessica said.

“Stare at her? You mean do exactly what you’re doing right now? Staring at Taeyeon-unnie?” Yoona said with a mocking smile. “Do you like Taeyeon-unnie?”

“I’m trying to figure out who she likes, okay? I wasn’t staring at her. I was observing. There’s a big difference.”

Yoona just shrugged and looked at Soehyun lovingly. “I love Seohyun, unnie.”

“And? You’re supposed to be saying that to her. If you are expecting me to send the message to her then sorry but I won’t do that,” she said as she continued to observe Taeyon, Hara and Nicole.

“Have you ever been in love, Sica-unnie? and I’m not talking about infatuation like the one you had for me,” she smirked again. 

“Do you want me to punch you in the face right now?” she said in an annoyed voice.

Yoona chuckled and said, “You didn’t answer my question though. Have you been in love?”

Jessica thought about it. Unlike her step sister, Tiffany, she has not been in a relationship yet. She haven’t even experienced going out on a date. Her lunch with Taeyeon doesn’t count, man. Don’t even think about it.

“I don’t think so,” she answered.

“It’s a wonderful feeling, unnie,” she said while looking at Seohyun who was still focused on studying.

“I bet it’s not always wonderful,” Jessica stated. 

“Well, yes but that’s what makes it more interesting. Fights are inevitable sometimes but if you really love each other, you’d learn how to compromise and—“

“Live happily ever after?” Jessica said sarcastically.

“Whatever, Sica-unnie. When love hits you, I bet it’ll hit you right in the face like a pelican named Nigel.”

“Stop watching ‘Finding Nemo’, Yoong.”

Yoona ignored her remark and shouted, “Hyunnie, I love you!” The whole class looked at her and Seohyun. Her initial plan was to make Seohyun blush but it backfired when Seohyun stood up and formed a heart shape using her hands.

Their classroom was filled with “Cute!”, “They are so adorable!” and a gag sound courtesy of Jessica and Sooyoung. Yoona cupped her face and fan herself. She was the one who’s blushing instead of Seohyun. When Seohyun saw this, she smiled proudly for Yoona wasn’t able to outsmart her.

“Seohyun-ah,” Yoona whined.

“What? You started it,” she said and chuckled.

Their professor came back from God-knows-where and continued her boring lecture about velocity and other Physics related things.

When their class ended, she saw Nicole and Hara went out of the classroom holding each other’s hands. Maybe I should scratch their names out of the list.


---


“Sica, look!” Taeyeon said and showed her work to Jessica. She just got home from her last class.

“We were taught how to carve fruits and turn it into edible art. Cool, huh? It’s an apple swan.” She showed her a swan carved out of an apple. “Mine’s a little weird looking compared to Yuri’s. Yuri even made a butterfly.”

Jessica held it and said, “It’s so pretty, Taengoo-ah.” She tried to move the head and it snapped. She gasped and quickly muttered an apology to Taeyeon.

“It’s fine. I could make you another one.”

“Teach me how to make one. It doesn’t involve fire so I think I could do it plus we have tons of apples,” Jessica said.

“Okay.”

So the two spent two hours carving swan out of an apple. Jessica was having a little difficulty with the swan’s wings since it was so intricate. Every time she’d show her work to Taeyeon, the latter would pretend it just needed a little tweaking even though it was far from looking like a real swan.

When they got tired, they brought the plate full of crooked swan apples to the living room. Hyoyeon and Sunny just arrived and gave Taeyeon two thumbs up. Why? Taeyeon had no idea.

Taeyeon and Jessica sat on the couch and started eating the apples. “It feels like we played with our food. When my mom was still alive, she used to tell me not to waste food.”

Taeyeon smiled and said, “That’s how you became a shikshin, huh?”

Jessica hit her lightly. “It was fun though. Look, I made this.”

She held up a not so perfect but not so ugly looking swan. She picked up a swan from Taeyeon’s plate and placed hers and Taeyeon’s on the table. The swans were facing each other and from the front view, it looked like a heart. “It’s a messed up heart,” Jessica said and laughed heartily. “But I like the fact that it’s not the perfect shape. It means it’s a real heart with an aortic arch and superior and inferior vena cava.”

Taeyeon just stared amusingly at Jessica who seemed like she was staring blankly at the swans and blurting out whatever word she could think of.

Jessica moved the swans a little and now the swans looked like they were kissing each other. “My swan loves your swan and your swan loves my swan,” she stated like a five year old kid. She then looked at Taeyeon and smiled. Taeyeon smiled back.

Jessica opens up to her more and more everyday which is a good thing but she’s still worried about how the girl would react once she finds out that she likes her.

Sunny and Hyoyeon witnessed the whole thing but didn’t say anything. They just smiled at each other. They were happy that Taeyeon got to spend time with the person she likes. The two were like proud mothers.