Almost a week had passed since Yuri and Jessica talked in the coffee shop. They occasionally saw each other in the dorm lobby or during group outings for lunch or coffee. They were very awkward around each other even though they had promised not to be, and interacted only when they had to, but otherwise kept their distance from one another. It made for a miserable Yuri and an equally miserable Jessica.

Yuri managed to keep herself busy with her work project at the hospital and spent her free time with Amber as her SM schedule permitted. Otherwise, she explored Seoul by herself checking out all of the cool places Amber told her about like the Bukchon 8 Views and Gwangjang Market.

It was early in the afternoon on a Friday when Victoria decided to throw a small last minute party at the f(x) dorm. It was a small gathering that included SM artists and some staff members. Of course, Amber had invited Ailee since they were close friends, unaware that part of Ailee’s motivation to attend was to see Yuri.

Ailee tried her best to hide her feelings for Yuri knowing that it wasn’t a mutual thing, but every now and then she would slip making her attraction to the tomboy quite obvious. Yuri, on the other hand, had no romantic interest in Ailee, something she made clear from the start. Despite this, a part of Ailee hoped that Yuri would come around and eventually see her as more than just a friend.

Despite Yuri’s denial of any interest in Jessica, Ailee continued to view the girl as her rival. It was clear to her that Yuri and Jessica liked each other, which was made obvious by their interaction on the dance floor that night at Déjà Vu.

To spite Jessica, and partially for her own gain in her attempt to capture Yuri’s affection, Ailee decided to dote on the tomboy at the party. She linked arms with Yuri throughout the night and initiated some pretty explicit skinship at every opportunity. Although her actions were primarily intended to upset Jessica, Ailee’s body language made it blatantly obvious to anyone watching that she wanted more than friendship.

A set of eyes stealthily watched Yuri and Ailee closely throughout the evening. These eyes watched with jealousy and hurt, and belonged to Jessica. She hated the way Ailee clung to Yuri and became visibly upset when Ailee’s actions became more brazen after a few drinks. What upset her even more was that Yuri just let it happen. Although the tomboy wasn’t reciprocating Ailee’s advances, she did absolutely nothing to stop them.

The key players in the on-going drama of the evening were unaware that they had an audience. Tiffany, Amber, and Mr. Goh had been watching Yuri, Ailee and Jessica closely all night. They all watched as Ailee attempted to woo Yuri, and observed the countless stolen glances shared between Yuri and Jessica throughout the evening.

Tiffany’s POV

Aish! How can two people be so stupid!? I still don’t know why Jessica was so hell bent on playing that stupid game and just didn’t admit her feelings to Yuri. I know she felt something for her since that first day at practice. Up to now, that pabo still hasn’t told Yuri how she really feels. Poor Jessi has been out of it all week and tonight isn’t helping. Why can’t Ailee just leave Yuri alone?

I really wonder what’s going on with Yuri. Even if she did tell Jessi that she wasn’t ready for a relationship, I know that she wants to be with her. Why do I get the feeling that she’s hiding something? I should talk to Amber and get to the bottom of this…or maybe I should just talk to Yuri myself. I just want Jessi to be happy.

Amber’s POV

Man, I gotta tell Ailee to back off a little bit. I can see that her being all touchy feely is starting to make Yuri uncomfortable. It’s too bad those two didn’t hit it off.

Poor gēge…she’s been so miserable. I guess she cared for Jessica a lot more than I realized. I could have sworn that Jessica liked her too. She was different…almost nice when Yuri was around…even Krystal noticed it. But Yuri did say that Jessica didn’t really fight her on the decision to be just friends. Maybe she was playing Yuri after all.

Midway through the evening, Yuri escaped to the balcony for some fresh air. Unbeknownst to the tomboy, Ailee followed quietly behind her. Yuri leaned on the railing and looked at the beautiful city lights. It reminded her of the first date she and Jessica had on the rooftop. “I miss you so much, Jessi. You don’t know how much I wish that we could be together,” she muttered quietly.

Ailee snuck up behind Yuri and covered her eyes. “Guess who? I’ll give you a kiss if you guess right.” Armed with liquid courage after three glasses of wine, she wanted to test the waters with Yuri.

Yuri rolled her eyes and sighed, and jokingly asked, “Is it you, Amber?” knowing full well that it was Ailee.

Ailee laughed and removed her hands from the tomboy’s face as Yuri turned around and faced her. “Hey, you’re not Amber!”

“No, I’m not that llama” replied Ailee, “but I still want to give you a kiss!”

Ailee tried to grab Yuri around the neck to pull her close, but as tipsy as she was when she swung her arm around, she ended up hitting Yuri in the face. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Ailee looked at Yuri and started to cry.

“Ahh! !” Yuri cringed in pain and held her left cheek. “Geez, Ailee...nice right hook,” she teased in an attempt to lighten the mood. “It’s okay, don’t cry. Let’s go inside and get some ice.”

Yuri couldn’t see very well since her left eye immediately started to swell and her right eye was full of tears from the pain of being hit in the face. “Ailee, you’re gonna have to help me inside. I can’t see too well right now.”

As they made their way back into the apartment, Yuri put her right arm over Ailee’s shoulder for support. Ailee was a little unsteady on her feet from the alcohol, so she wrapped both of her arms around Yuri’s waist so she wouldn’t fall over. Everyone stared as they stumbled in from the balcony and into the kitchen.

Jessica saw Yuri and Ailee walk in from the balcony with the shorter girl clinging tightly to the tomboy. She had seen enough wanted to leave. She thanked Victoria for her hospitality and left the party with Seohyun and Yoona in tow.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goh had been taking mental notes of the evening’s highlights. He noted Yuri’s discomfort with Ailee’s actions and the awkwardness between Yuri and Jessica when they bumped into each other earlier that night. He also noticed that the two had rarely interacted for the past week and generally seemed less happy. He knew something was wrong and wanted to get to the bottom of things.

Mr. Goh walked into the kitchen to talk to Yuri. He found her sitting alone at the kitchen table with a bag of frozen peas pressed against her left eye. Seeing that she was having a rough night, he realized it wasn’t the best time to bring up Jessica. After he made sure that Yuri was okay, he asked her to meet him for coffee in the morning at the SM Café in the lobby of the main office to which she agreed.

After Mr. Goh left, Yuri decided it was time to leave the party. She was upset with herself because she had been awkward around Jessica, something she said she wouldn’t do. She also just wanted to go back to the apartment and lie down because her face really hurt.

Tiffany saw Yuri leave and decided to follow her so she could talk to her. After seeing how upset Jessica was at the party, all she wanted was some answers…all she wanted to do was help her best friend. Was Yuri a player? Does she really like Jessica? Does she know about Jessica’s true feelings? What the hell happened on the balcony with Ailee?

Hi subscribers and readers! First of all, thank you so much for your views and support of my fanfic! I hope you're all enjoying the story. Secondly, I just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a week off from the fic to take care of some personal business. I will be adding one more chapter later tonight, but won't be updating again until next weekend. I'm ultimately planning for 60 chapters, so there's still a good 2/3 of the story left to go. Don't worry...I'll be back. I promise.

Aloha,
beefcake