A Moment of Courtesy

Around midday of Sooyoung’s arrival, the doorbell suddenly rang. While the brunette was still unresponsive in her room, Jessica had been in the middle of preparing a lunch for the both of them. She hoped that perhaps the girl’s hunger would entice her to come out so that they could talk. It rang again, eliciting a mutter from the girl’s mouth as she dried her hands on a dish towel and hurried to the front area.

Jessica opened the door slowly to see a blonde girl with soft brown eyes on her doorstep, holding a bag in one hand and some sort of case in the other. It was the first time they had seen each other, and both were surprised at how long the silence lasted in which they were observing each other. Finally the younger girl gave a lopsided smile and laughed a bit.

"Eheh! Sorry to come by unannounced at lunch time, but it was the only time I could today. I’m Kim Hyoyeon, a friend of Sooyoung’s and I—" before she could finish the door was hastily opened and Jessica’s face lit up.

"You’re a friend of hers? Could you please go see if she’s alright?"

"…Huh?" the blonde gave her a raised eyebrow.

"Did something happen?"

While Jessica led the way into the house, Hyoyeon stayed standing near the door for an explanation. As soon as the former noticed this she stopped and calmed down, she didn’t want to rush anything once again.

"She’s taking this very hard…" the older girl said solemnly.

"And when she arrived this morning one of my friends overstepped her boundaries and caused some trouble. Ever since, Sooyoung has locked herself in one of the guest rooms…"

Hyoyeon sighed and looked away. She expected as much given her friend’s attitude towards the engagement, but knew how to handle it better than Jessica. After all, their history went back way further than two days. She put her luggage on the floor to her side and removed her shoes, stepping past Jessica and into the kitchen, earning an odd stare from her.

"It’s best to leave Sooyoung be when she gets like this… as frustrating as it can be for people who want to help her. You were making lunch right? I’ll help you and we can talk about this and hopefully she’ll come down once she smells it." Hyoyeon said as she took the liberty of setting herself up with all the ingredients and cutlery needed.

While Jessica was surprised at how well this girl knew her way around a kitchen, she wasn’t one to leave all the work to a guest so she set up beside her and began telling Hyoyeon about the events this morning.

She nodded.

"Yeah, one thing that you can’t ever bring up with Sooyoung is her family… And rightfully so. When her mother died all she was left with was an empty house and this…" Hyoyeon looked down at the food.

"I don’t mean to disrespect you or your family, but please try to see this from her point of view… Sooyoung is anything but conservative on the outside, but she still hold things like marriage to their traditional meaning. The problem is not that you are taking something away from her, but that you are giving her a responsibility she never wanted. She will take good care of you, support you, and treat you perfectly as her wife, because that is what she is… even if she doesn’t truly feel it."

"I see…" Jessica too avoided eye contact for a moment before turning to face Hyoyeon, who subconsciously turned to do the same, "But… for what it’s worth, this isn’t a business matter to me. I… I don’t know how, but I do love her."

"I’m glad then… but you have to be careful with her."

"Can you…" she looked away again, "Teach me how?"

"How?" Hyoyeon blinked.

"You mean how to act around her?"

Jessica nodded, causing the blonde to chuckle to herself.

"I’m sorry… Sooyoung’s way too complex for me to teach you what to do. That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own."

"Oh…"

"But I’ll do my best to help, for Sooyoung’s sake as well as yours. First things first though we have to get her down here to eat. I’ll do some talking and you set the table, we’ll be down in a bit."

Jessica blinked at Hyoyeon’s retreating figure.

"Are you sure you can do it?"

"Yeah, no problem. There’s a method to dealing with her, you just need to know her signals to know how to react to them." Hyoyeon said with a smile as she headed up the stairs, leaving Jessica with her thoughts.

Her signals… Her language… I don’t know any of it… Not like her friends do.

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There was a light knocking at Sooyoung’s door, but the girl didn’t respond, thinking it was Jessica. then the doorknob began to turn, making her wonder if this girl would be bold enough to try coming in when unwelcome, but luckily it was locked from the inside. What really shocked her though was when the person on the other side of the door began pulling hard on it and banging.

Okay, I haven’t seen much of her, but she seems way too reserved for that.

Sooyoung thought as she got to her feet, about to check who it was when a voice on the other side scolded her.

"Geez! You really barricaded yourself didn’t you? She’s not that scary of a person!"

A cross formed on the girl’s forehead as she clenched her fist in annoyance before opening the door forcefully, grabbing Hyoyeon by her arm, pulling her in the room and then closing the door behind her.

"Do you have to be so loud? What are you doing here anyways?"

The blonde just stuck her tongue out at the comment about being loud; her reason for yelling was simple: Sooyoung’s reactions never ceased to amuse her. As for what she was doing here, she held out both things she had brought with her.

"You left these at your old place; I figured you’d need your video games sooner or later." She gave her the bag first, and the case next.

"And this is more for me… since if you don’t practice you’re gonna and bring us all down."

The brunette rolled her eyes and took it, placing it next to her bed with the rest of her stuff that was still unpacked. Once the few pleasantries were exchanged they were left in silence; Sooyoung still wasn’t really in the mood for talking and chose to just sit on the bed again like she was doing before. Hyoyeon took a deep breath and sat down next to her.

"… My old place eh?" Sooyoung started.

"I guess that’s what it is now…"

"At least you still get to go back for work right? Then again you’re only starting up again in a month or so when all this is sorted."

"Yeah, no matter what it’s still my home… where I grew up… Where I wanted to stay…" she sighed.

"Why are you really here Hyo?"

The girl shrugged.

"Well, you did need those, but I also wanted to check up on you. I figured having friends around a lot when you first moved in would help ease the transition as much as possible…" she hesitated for a minute, "I spoke to Jessica… she seems nice."

"Is she?" Sooyoung scoffed.

"I wouldn’t know… Having only spoken to her twice… and that was yesterday."

"At least be cordial. From what I can see seems like the type of person who you would have liked if this wasn’t the situation."

"Argh! I know! But this is the situation and I can’t help but feel like she put me here! She could have said didn’t want to marry me but—"

"But she loves you." Hyoyeon finished, giving her friend a soft smile, "I know that’s not what you want to hear… that you would be much happier thinking she did it out of spite. She didn’t though, and I for one think she can actually make you happy if you gave her a shot."

Even though Sooyoung cringed at the thought of being the source of someone’s unrequited love, she had to admit, if only to herself, that the thought did make her feel happy.

No one has ever said they loved me before… Hell I don’t think anyone has, not in that way at least… But still she’s a girl, and I just… can’t feel ‘the feeling’.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a pat on the back, enticing her to look up into purple eyes.

"Come on, lunch is probably ready now and you two can finally talk things over. At least say hello!"

Sooyoung sighed, realizing that it was true; she never ever greeted the girl she was supposed to marry. Reluctantly, she stood up and followed her friend downstairs, gulping down her fears of meeting her fiancée properly for the first time.

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Meanwhile, Jessica was sitting at the dining room table by herself, waiting for the other two girls to arrive before eating. She hoped that everything she made would be to Sooyoung’s liking, but then again, Hyoyeon had helped so she was certain there would be at least something she enjoyed here. It was nerve wracking to think that this would be their first real conversation.

I hope she isn’t as angry as yesterday… or as resentful… I just… she sighed and rested her head in her palm, uncharacteristically showing vulnerability, I really only wanted to greet her, that’s all.

Just then, the girls heard footsteps comi