9 – The Crush

Jessica never had any trouble sleeping her whole life so when her eyes were still wide open two hours after midnight was

a rare occasion. Inside the dark room, she stared blankly into the ceiling, listening to Krystal’s soft snoring beside her.

Mika and Hana, the two mischievous ghosts were on her feet, curling on the bed, hugging each other.

Maybe it was her weird day, the strange events that led her into a sleepless night. Or maybe because she had been

passing out too many times lately that she couldn’t rest her eyes. Whatever it was, Jessica was uncomfortable, bored out

of her mind.

Then her eyes moved to the window. She stepped down the bed with eyes locked to the closed blind. Something was

pulling her to the window, attracting her in a weird way. She followed the instinct and shed the curtain a little. There was

someone at the parking lot, sitting on the iron fence. She was puny and pale, white like the moon in the sky.

Taeyeon?

Then the puny girl raised her head, looking straight to Jessica’s window. When their eyes met, the girl made a small smile,

an awkward smile.

**

Taeyeon held her breath when she saw Jessica came out of her apartment. She was nervous. Like meeting someone for

a first date, Taeyeon’s heart was thumping harder than usual. As Jessica walked gracefully towards her, closing the

distance, Taeyeon realized how beautiful the girl was. Her hair was brown gold, long enough to cover her shoulders down

to her chest, bouncing beautifully when she walked.  Her lips were small and pink, a perfect match for her naturally

blushing cheeks. When they were just a couple meters away, Taeyeon could observe Jessica’s deadly piercing eyes.

“Hey,” said Jessica.

“Hi,” Taeyeon made another awkward smile.

The two said nothing afterwards. Both of them were avoiding each other’s eyes for a little while before Taeyeon finally had

the bravery to say something. “You… want to take a walk?”

Jessica, who was looking down that time, looked up to stare into Taeyeon’s eyes. “Sure.”

**

Under the moonlight, on the glimmering wet asphalt and pavements, Taeyeon and Jessica were walking side by side,

aimlessly. The weather was fine after the storm with gentle wind brushing their body and the city was quiet.

Jessica stole a glance at the other girl and opened , “Um….”

And at the same time, Taeyeon turned to her and said, “Hey….”

Both of them looked away in an instance.

“Sorry,” said Jessica.

“No. Go ahead.”

“You first.”

“No. You go.”

Jessica took a deep breath. “What were you doing there? At the parking lot?”

“I figured that you must have a lot of question. But I don’t have enough courage to knock on your door.”

“I do have questions…,” said Jessica.

Taeyeon nodded. “Ask away then.”

There were indeed a lot of questions in Jessica’s head but when Taeyeon finally offer her the chance, she didn’t know

where to start, which one she should ask first. And as her mind went blank, they had reached the nearby park. Taeyeon

sat on a swing and Jessica followed after.

“So…,” Taeyeon said.

Jessica kicked the ground softly, pushing the swing back and swayed her slowly. “Is that flying girl okay?”

Taeyeon tilted her head, “She’s… fine in a way and not in another. As a Hostless Helminthia, she hasn’t got long.”

“Will you guys really die without a Host?”

“Really,” Taeyeon turned to Jessica, nodding. “I was almost at the edge if you hadn’t kissed me today.”

Jessica looked down to the ground. Blood rushed to her cheeks when Taeyeon mentioned the kiss and she didn’t want

her to see that.

“It’s different for every Helminthia. Some die pretty soon without a Host, some others – like me – could survive a bit longer.

The flying girl’s energy was plenty enough to create a storm but now she has nothing left. She’s in a coma right now.”

Jessica kicked the ground again, swaying the swing slowly.

“I should have said this earlier. Thank you,” said Taeyeon. “You saved my life today.”

Jessica stopped swinging and looked down to the ground one more time. Taeyeon realized that the girl had something to

say, she was probably looking for the right sentence or gathering her courage or something, so she waited. A few

seconds later, without looking at Taeyeon, Jessica said in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

“Why me?”

“It has to be you.”

“Why?”

Taeyeon averted her eyes from the girl to the dark sky. “To become somebody’s Host, you got to have matching

energies. And that is the rarest thing in the universe. It’s almost impossible to find a compatible Host and even more

impossible to find a second one when you lost the previous. If you make a connection with someone who is not compatible

with you, they will die. So you and I are meant to meet each other. That is why I have been seeing your dreams ever since

our little encounter at the bus crash.”

“My dreams?” Jessica snapped her eyes to Taeyeon.

“About your little sister. How she died.”

“I – I have been seeing dreams too which I am sure are not belong to me.”

Taeyeon smiled a little, a sad one. “I know.”

“About a girl with a pair of beautiful eyes, cheerful smile and…,” Jessica stopped. “Is that your dream? Who is that?”

Taeyeon nodded. “She is my… previous Host.”

“Where is she now?”

Taeyeon smiled again, wider and sadder. Jessica took the hint and stopped asking.

“Sorry.”

Taeyeon shook her head, “It’s okay.”

“That… explains everything,” Jessica said.

“Yes. It explains all the attraction as well.”

“What?”

“I – I have been attracted to you after our meeting. I can’t stop thinking about you and there’s this huge chunk of me that

misses you. I always know where you are, all the time. Because our energy matches, it’s pulling us together. That’s why

you know me sitting there on the parking lot. I wasn’t calling out to you but you look out your window anyway.”

Jessica held her breath. So she was not alone, Taeyeon was feeling the same thing. This attraction she had been feeling,

it was not crush, it was the energy, their matching energy.

“And that makes us inseparable.”

“I see,” Jessica nodded. “Yuri was saying about undoing this, the connection. Can you do that?”

Taeyeon stared deeply into Jessica’s eyes for a few seconds before answering. “Yes. We can undo it if you want. Do…

you want to undo it?”

Jessica noticed the worried expression on Taeyeon’s face. It was cute, like a scared puppy. “Do you want me to?”

“Of course not.”

Jessica shrugged. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Taeyeon smiled. “Thank you.”

Jessica swore that no one on the face of the Earth could win against Taeyeon’s beauty in that moment. How her smile

radiated the night, made it sparkling beautiful in Jessica’s eyes. And as exaggerating it may be, Jessica was thankful that

fate had brought them together. To be able to look into that perfectly shaped face was a treat so luxurious she would

trade the moon for it.

“It’s getting colder. We should go back,” said Taeyeon, standing up. “I should probably go home too. Sunny would be

angry if she finds out I’m not in my room at this hour.”

Jessica cackled. “She’s really protective.”

“She is,” Taeyeon smiled and she led Jessica out of the park. “You should see her protecting Hyoyeon.”

“Are they a couple?”

“Yes. They have been connected for six or so years and the attraction their energy caused turned into something more.

After all, after being together that long what else is there to do besides falling in love?”

“Hyoyeon is the Helminthia, right?”

“Yep. And Sunny is the Host. Her sixth sense is memory manipulating. Like she did to you. Remember?”

Jessica laughed a little. “Yes.”

“You’re not so scary if you laugh.”

“I’m not scary,” Jessica protested.

“I must say that you scare me at first.”

“How about now?”

“You’re… not that bad.”

“You’re not bad either.”

“You’ll like me more as time goes by,” Taeyeon said as they reached the apartment. “We are now connected remember?”

“Well, this is only our first date, so… you still have plenty of times to convince me.”

“Oh, it’s just the prologue to a date,” Taeyeon grinned. “I shall take you on a real one next time.”

 Jessica giggled. “Okay.”

Taeyeon wave her hand. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Jessica waved back.

Jessica watched Taeyeon walked away. She sighed then, kind of disappointed by the fact that the crush she was feeling

was probably fake; an illusion from their matching energy. Deep down inside her heart, a part was wishing that the

attraction was real.

”After all, after being together that long what else is there to do besides falling in love?”

Jessica’s heart skipped a beat. Taeyeon’s voice was ringing inside her brain and it made her blushed a little more. She

took a deep breath, spinning on her heel and walked up to her apartment.

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