The vibration of her phone made her break her focus on the teacher who was talking at the front of the classroom. Her eyes went down to her pocket where her phone was, her eyes glancing towards the teacher, making sure he wasn’t looking her way before she dared to take out her phone.

Her eyes read a name she had grown familiar with through the past weeks. She took one last glance at the teacher and opened the text message the person has sent her.

‘What if I proved it to you?’

Taeyeon stared at the very, what she thought, random text message Jessica had sent her. She had no idea what the girl was talking about, and she had no idea what to reply either. She sighed and pocketed her phone before she leaned back in her seat and returned her focus to the teacher.

Prove me what? Taeyeon thought. Her teeth nibbled on her lower lip and her gaze went to the girl in the seat next to her.

Would Tiffany know what she meant? She wondered and pondered on the idea of asking Tiffany for a while. She eventually decided she wouldn’t ask as she had a feeling that Tiffany would probably come with a bunch of other questions as well.

She sighed and slumped further down in her seat. Her hand picked up the pen that lied next to her hand and began to doodle random things at the front of her notebook which already was mostly covered in small drawings.

Prove what?

Taeyeon felt herself thinking too much about the text message for the remaining time of her class. And she felt herself growing frustrated at herself for not picking up her phone and just ask Jessica about it right away.


---


It had been going on for a while now, and every time she caught herself she always mentally scolded herself and turned elsewhere. It was even worse when the person caught her and she had to embarrassedly look elsewhere or just pretend she was doing something else.

She felt she wasn’t used to this kind of thing. This kind of behavior. These kinds of actions.

Taeyeon wasn’t used to pay attention to people around her. She was usually focusing on minding her own business and try to not care for other people around her, but today was different, because she found herself staring. Staring a bit too much on a certain person that probably knew she stared but either didn’t mind or was just really good at concealing her discomfort.

Taeyeon wished it was the former, but she had a feeling it was the latter.

The person turned and Taeyeon found herself staring into brown orbs. She felt herself flush upon getting caught again and she let her gaze go elsewhere. In the corner of her eyes she caught Jessica smiling and turning away from her and that’s when she realized it.

Jessica knew she was staring, and the girl found it amusing.

A frown appeared on her lips and she let her gaze go back to the blonde who was now talking to Tiffany about something. Jessica’s blonde companion was nowhere in sight and hasn’t been since the three of them had met up for lunch. She thinks Jessica mentioned something about Hyoyeon being away but she didn’t remember, she hadn’t paid much attention to what Jessica had said for the last minutes.

A sigh left her lips and her gaze went down to her shoes instead. Her hands were buried deep in her pocket, clutching her phone every once in a while, her mind thinking about the text message she had received a few hours ago.

She was bothered about it, mostly because she couldn’t stop thinking about what it meant. But also because Jessica wasn’t acting out of ordinary, like she hadn’t sent any strange text messages to her and that she hadn’t even responded to it. She felt she wanted Jessica to act out of normal as well, like how she was constantly observing the blonde to see if she was acting differently.

But the fact was clear. She was the only one that was acting weirdly, because she has been overthinking something really silly, and Jessica just finds it amusing because her behavior is so different from usual.

It wouldn’t surprise her at all if the situation really was something like that.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

She found herself blinking surprised when she realized the question had been directed at her. She found two pair of eyes looking her way, and it made her gaze fall to her plate of untouched food.

Oh look Jessica, you even make me forget to eat. Taeyeon slowly looked up at the two other girls by her table, one looking at her like she couldn’t recognize her, and the other with concern.  It made her shoulders slump and she tried to muster up some kind of smile at them.

“I’m just not very hungry.” Taeyeon said and felt relieved that it wasn’t a complete lie.

“You’ve looked kind of spaced out since morning, are you alright?” Tiffany asked and furrowed her eyebrows. Taeyeon felt her gaze leave the girl and glanced at Jessica who observed them. She returned her gaze quickly back to Tiffany when she noticed Jessica was looking at her too.

“I’m fine.” Taeyeon said and shrugged her shoulders. Tiffany didn’t look convinced and Taeyeon wasn’t even surprised the girl didn’t believe her.

“You’ve been tired lately and now you eat very little.” Tiffany pointed out.

“Maybe you’re getting sick.” Jessica suggested.

“What? No, I’m not getting sick.” Taeyeon said and shook her head. Her gaze went back and forth between Jessica and Tiffany.

“You look pale.” Tiffany said.

“I’m always pale.” Taeyeon retorted with a frown.

“Let’s see,” Taeyeon felt a hand being placed against her forehead, her eyes widened when she realized that Tiffany hadn’t moved in her seat and the hand could only belong to one person. Her head slowly turned to the girl sitting next to her, she caught Jessica with a thoughtful look on her face.

“You’re a little bit warm.” Jessica said and removed the hand from Taeyeon’s forehead.

You just touched me of course I’d be warm. Taeyeon thought and glanced at Tiffany that now sported a I-told-you-so look and didn’t even seem the slightest bit affected that Jessica had just randomly felt her best friend’s forehead.

“Maybe you should go home and rest.” Tiffany said.

“And how much rest would I get at home?” Taeyeon asked with a frown. A knowing look appeared on Tiffany’s face and Taeyeon caught her looking at Jessica which made her turn to the blonde as well. A smile was beamed her way when her gaze met the girl’s.

“Why don’t you go to the infirmary and rest?”

Taeyeon felt like Jessica had the cleverest suggestions. But this time she felt she didn’t have time, or the want to go with the clever suggestions.

“But I have to practice.” She said. She didn’t’ even need to look at Tiffany to know the girl wasn’t happy with her excuse, but Jessica seemed understanding and it made her want to keep to the girl and ignore the incoming lecture on how she should take care of herself that would come from her closer friend.

“I think your health comes before practicing. You’ve done it so much lately, you should take a break.” Tiffany said.

Taeyeon frowned upon Tiffany’s words. She knew it was no point in arguing with her as Tiffany wouldn’t back down from it. A sigh left her lips and she looked down on her food, the sight of it suddenly making her feel disgusted.

“If you rest now you can get time to practice later. I mean, isn’t it better to rest now so you don’t get completely sick and can’t play at all?” Jessica suddenly spoke up. Taeyeon slowly turned to the blonde, her eyes blinking in surprise upon Jessica’s words.

Jessica not only had clever suggestions, she also had clever reasons.

“I suppose that’s better.” Taeyeon said and glanced at Tiffany. She caught the girl looking at her with an expectantly look, and Taeyeon knew what the girl was waiting for. She was waiting for her to agree to rest.

“I’ll go to the infirmary later.” Taeyeon added and glanced at Tiffany that looked pleased. Her gaze returned to Jessica, the blonde smiling as always.

“We can come with you, right Tiff?” Jessica said and looked at Tiffany.

“Of course.” Tiffany said.

“You don’t have to.” Taeyeon said and looked back and forth between the girls. Because really, why would she need company if all she was going to do was rest?

“We want to.” Jessica stated.

Taeyeon’s shoulders sagged in defeat. She knew better than to argue against that, and so she silently agreed to let the girls come with her.


---


“Tiffany!” The three girls stopped in their tracks and turned towards another girl who had called one of them. Taeyeon caught of one her and Tiffany’s classmates standing at the other end of the hallway, her eyebrow raised and she looked at Tiffany who smiled at the taller girl who approached them.

“What’s up Sooyoung?” Tiffany asked the girl who stopped in front of her.

“I need to talk to you about something, do you have a minute?” Taeyeon felt the taller girl looked at her and Jessica. She turned to Jessica who was looking at Tiffany that had turned to them.

“We can go ahead. You know where to find us.” Jessica said. Tiffany nodded her head and turned to Sooyoung who had a smile on her lips.

“Okay, I’ll catch up to you guys later then.” Tiffany said.

“Okay, see you later.” Jessica said and began walking towards the infirmary. Taeyeon felt herself following the girl, glancing over her shoulder at Tiffany and Sooyoung before she turned forward again.

She suddenly realized that she was alone with Jessica, which meant the girl could pay more attention to her when no one else was around them. Taeyeon began to feel very self-conscious around the girl, especially when she knew that Jessica most probably knew she had been staring at her throughout the day.

She inwardly sighed and stopped when she felt Jessica had halted in her tracks. Her gaze went to the door they had stopped outside and that’s when she noticed they had reached the infirmary. A small part of her wondered if the door was locked and if Jessica would pick it to get inside, and another part of her scolded her for thinking like that about the girl.

The incident outside the music classroom could have been a once in a life time thing. Who was she to say that Jessica was picking locks on a daily basis?

“Aren’t you going inside?” Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the blonde speak to her. Her eyes went wide and she turned to Jessica who suddenly started to giggle.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your daydreaming.” Jessica apologized.

“Ah…I wasn’t…I…” Taeyeon felt she got embarrassed and when she couldn’t find the right words to explain she frowned. Jessica lightly shook her head at her and reached towards the door to the infirmary.

“You’re an interesting fellow, Kim Taeyeon.” Jessica said with a smile and opened the infirmary door. Taeyeon had no response to the blonde’s statement and instead kept her head low and followed the girl inside the infirmary. The first thing she noticed was that the school nurse was away, at lunch, she guessed.

“Seems like you’ll have to take care of yourself.” Jessica said and turned towards her.

“I’m used to do it anyway.” Taeyeon said and felt she instantly regretted she had said it. She felt Jessica looking at her and when she turned to meet the blonde’s gaze she could see the girl was curious to what she meant and she already feared what Jessica would ask.

“Well, I’m here, so I can take care of you for the time being.” Jessica said and smiled. Taeyeon felt she wasn’t too sure if she could allow the girl to take care of her, not even if Jessica wanted to take care of her.

Her shoulders sagged and she took a quick glance around the infirmary, her eyes landing on the beds and she made her way towards them and took a seat on one of them. Her eyes went to the blonde who strolled towards her and took a seat on the bed next to the one she was sitting on.

“Maybe you should lie down.” Jessica said and titled her head to the side. Her voice had gotten softer, like she was speaking to a child that was about to go to sleep.

Taeyeon didn’t say anything nor do anything and continued to look at Jessica that smiled warmly at her. After seconds of silence Jessica lightly chuckled and let her gaze fall to the floor before she looked up at Taeyeon again.

“You’ve been staring a lot today, have you seen something you like?” Jessica asked.

As Taeyeon had suspected, Jessica knew she had been staring, and from what she can tell from Jessica’s expression the girl didn’t mind it, nor did she seem uncomfortable by it. The girl seemed more amused by it.

“I was wondering…” Taeyeon started and continued to observe the changes in Jessica’s expression. From amusement it changed to curiosity and it urged her to go on. “What did you mean by the text message you sent me?”

Jessica’s expression changed from curiosity to surprise, but it didn’t last long as Jessica’s lips curved up into a smile and the girl looked once again amused. A spark of something else flashed in Jessica’s eyes and the girl looked away from her.

“Who knows what I meant by it?” Jessica asked and Taeyeon could see the girl smirking and glancing in the corner of her eye like she observed her reaction. Taeyeon frowned as this wasn’t what she had expected.

“You should know.” She said and crossed her arms.

“What if I tell you I sent it to the wrong person?” Jessica asked and turned back to her.

Taeyeon blinked surprised as that had never crossed her mind. She stared at Jessica, expecting the girl to say that it was a joke and she had actually meant to send it to her, but those words never left Jessica’s lips and the girl continued to look at her, completely serious.

“Then…forget that I asked about it.” Taeyeon said and looked away from the blonde. Her eyes went to her feet and she watched as she kicked off her shoes before she brought up her legs to lie down on the bed. She glanced at Jessica one last time before she turned to lie on her side with her back facing the blonde.

“Hey, Taeyeon, I– “Jessica started but the door to the infirmary opened and made her stop.

“Hey, sorry about before.” Tiffany’s voice was heard. Taeyeon closed her eyes and felt that Tiffany had the worst timing in the world. She remained still in her position, pretended to be asleep even though she knew that at least one of them knew that she couldn’t possibly had fallen asleep that fast.

“Oh, is she sleeping?” Tiffany asked in a whisper.

“Yeah, she was dead tired.” Jessica answered.

“I see. So you didn’t get any time to talk to her?”

Taeyeon felt she momentarily stopped breathing by Tiffany’s question. Her heart beat faster in anticipation for Jessica’s answer, the seconds that went by while she waited felt like minutes.

Jessica wanted to talk to me? About what?

She heard a muffled laugh she recognized as Jessica’s, it was followed by steps leading away from her and she figured Jessica must have left the seat on the bed next to hers.

“She was tired. She fell asleep right after her head hit the pillow.” Jessica said.

“That’s a shame. Maybe you’ll get a chance next time.”

“Yeah, maybe next time.”

The two girls fell silent, and Taeyeon hoped for them to start talking again as she thought they could hear how fast her heart was beating. Her head was suddenly spinning and new questions had suddenly appeared in her head.

What was it Jessica wanted to talk to her about?

And why did Jessica lie and say they hadn’t talked at all?

“Maybe we should leave, to let her rest.” Taeyeon heard Jessica suggest.

“Yeah.” Tiffany agreed on the blonde’s suggestion and the two of them left. She heard the door to the infirmary softly close behind the girls after they had left and she felt she finally could breathe. She had no idea when it had happened but the air had suddenly become really suffocating in here.

A long exhale escaped her lips and she turned to lie on her back. Thoughts about Tiffany and Jessica’s conversation swiveled around in her mind. If this hadn’t concerned her she wouldn’t have put so much thought into it, but the fact that Jessica wanted to talk to her was making the whole process of ignoring it a lot harder.


---


A hiss escaped her lips and she brought her hand with her stinging finger tops closer to her face to take a look. The skin on her fingers had peeled off, making come of them start to bleed and sting when she played guitar for too long.

A sigh escaped her lips and she looked down on the instrument in her lap. She needed to practice, but it was hard playing when she couldn’t put enough pressure on the strings with her hurting fingers.

Her lips formed a frown and she glared at her fingers like it was their fault she couldn’t play. She sat in her position with the guitar on her lap for a few more minutes, waiting for the stinging pain to go away so she could play for a few more seconds.

Her room filled with the sound of her ring tone. Her gaze was brought to the device that was lying on top of her bedside table. She quickly put her guitar to the side and grabbed the phone, her eyebrow raising upon seeing the caller. Her thumb hesitantly pressed the answer button before she placed the device against her ear.

“Hello?” Taeyeon answered and waited for the other person to say something.

“Hi, what’s up?” Taeyeon heard Jessica’s voice say on the other end.

“Just practicing a bit, you?”

“Nothing much. Just wondering how you’re doing. Are you feeling better now?”

Taeyeon looked down on her fingers, letting her thumb lightly brush against the reddened tops of them. A small sigh escaped her lips and she leaned her back against the wall behind her.

“I’m feeling better. When the nurse came back she checked my temperature and it turned out I had a small fever.” She said and lowered her hand and let her gaze go to the wall opposite her. Jessica hummed thoughtfully on the other line.

“Looks like I was right.” Jessica said and Taeyeon could feel the girl smiling proudly about it.

“Yeah.” She agreed as Jessica had indeed been right.

“It’s good that you’re feeling better now at least.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them grew silent. Taeyeon could hear the clicking noise of a computer mouse on the other end and she figured Jessica must be in front of the computer. It for some reason made her think back to what Tiffany and Jessica had talked about in the infirmary, the conversation she probably hadn’t been supposed to hear.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?” Taeyeon asked as she felt the silence was growing awkward between them.

“Hmm?” She heard Jessica say, and she wasn’t sure if Jessica hadn’t heard her or if the girl didn’t know what she meant.

“Tiffany mentioned you needed time to talk to me.” Taeyeon said. Jessica was silent, she couldn’t hear any typing or clicking of computer mice either on the other line, so Jessica must be completely still as well.

“Ah, you heard that?” Jessica laughed. It made Taeyeon frown.

“Well yes, I was awake as I hadn’t been dead tired nor fallen asleep once my head hit the pillow.” Taeyeon said.

“Right.” Jessica said.

They grew silent again, Jessica seemed to resume whatever she had been doing on her computer and Taeyeon felt herself listening to the girl. It took a few minutes but Jessica stopped typing and was completely still once again.

“I asked Tiffany if you were in a relationship, Tiffany told me it was complicated and I should ask you about it, and that’s why I needed time to talk to you.” Jessica suddenly confessed.

Taeyeon felt the blood drain from her face, she suddenly got hard to breathe and she wondered why, out of all people, why would Tiffany tell Jessica ask her about it. She tried to swallow, but felt had gone dry.

“Taeyeon, you still there?” Jessica asked and that’s when she realized she had been quiet for a bit too long.

“I’m still here.” Taeyeon croaked.

“Ah, good.” Jessica laughed lightly at the other end. The girl abruptly stopped laughing like she suddenly had realized something, and Taeyeon felt she held her breathe as she waited for whatever the girl would say next.

“You don’t have to tell me. I was just curious. If it’s complicated I shouldn’t meddle in that. I mean, we’re not even that close, so yeah, you don’t have to tell me.”

Taeyeon looked down at the covers that were on her bed. She nibbled on her lower lip for a few seconds before she released it and let out a sigh. Her hand was brought to her hair and brushed through her hair locks.

“I’m single.” She finally answered and she felt like some heavy weight had been lifted from her heart by those words.

“Oh.” She could hear Jessica was surprised, and for some reason she wanted to end this conversation soon now.

“Was it anything else?” Taeyeon felt she got impatient as Jessica didn’t say anything else.

“Will you go on a date with me then?” Jessica asked after minutes of silence. Her eyebrows furrowed upon the blonde’s request, wondering if Jessica was serious or not. But she couldn’t hear any joking tone behind the girl’s words and it made her believe Jessica was indeed serious.

“Why would you want to go on a date with me?” She instead asked.

“Why wouldn’t I want it? You’re interesting.”

Taeyeon was genuinely surprised now. She thought about it for a moment and all she could come down to it was sudden, and very random, and very strange. Her eyebrows furrowed and she shifted some in her seat.

“It’s very sudden.” She finally said.

“I can give you time to think.” Jessica offered. She still wasn’t convinced.

“I still don’t understand why.”

“Why what?”

“Why me?”

“Why not you?”

“Well…I…” She stopped as she realized Jessica had a point, but then, Taeyeon had something else bothering her. “You don’t even know me.” Taeyeon reasoned.

Jessica laughed on the other end, and Taeyeon found herself wondering again what it was the blonde found so funny.

“Well, go on a date with me and let me get to know you.” Jessica stated after she had stopped laughing. She frowned as that hadn’t been the response she had been looking for

“I don’t even know you.” Taeyeon stated.

“I’ll let you get to know me if we go on a date.” Jessica persisted and Taeyeon felt the girl was really stubborn. And she didn’t even know why the girl was acting like that.

“How can I trust you? What if this is just some scheme for you to kill me?” Taeyeon asked.

Taeyeon had to pull away the phone from her ear by how loud Jessica laughed at the other end. She was sure the girl must have tipped over in her seat on the other end. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at the phone in her hand, she slowly brought the device back to her ear and caught Jessica trying to catch her breath on the other end.

“Is that the kind of impression I’ve given you? That I kill people?” Jessica asked when she had calmed down.

“Well…you never know…” Taeyeon felt slightly embarrassed for her earlier questions. But Jessica didn’t seem to mind as she lightly laughed.

“You’re a funny person, Kim Taeyeon. Go on a date with me, I’ll prove to you that I’m not going to kill you and it’s solely for a whole other reason I want to be around you.” Jessica stated.

Taeyeon’s eyes widened when she realized what Jessica had said. fell open and her mind thought back to the text message this morning. Is this what it had been all about?

“Is…that what you meant with your text? That you were going to prove why you want to be around me?” She asked. Jessica fell silent on the other end, it took a few seconds for the girl to reply but Taeyeon could hear Jessica let out a small sigh.

“Ah…I’m caught.” Jessica said sheepishly

“I was right?” Taeyeon asked surprised. Her reaction must have somehow been entertaining because Jessica was once again laughing.

“Bingo Sherlock. Still not sure if you want to go on a date with me?” Jessica once again asked. It made Taeyeon frown and she looked down at the bed covers, letting her hand absentmindedly trace patterns on it while she thought of what to answer.

“You’re very straightforward.” Taeyeon finally said after seconds of silence.

“That’s how you get a straight answer.” Jessica said and Taeyeon could feel the girl grin at the other end, it somehow made the corner of her lips turn upwards into a smile.  

“What if I answer the question with another question?” Taeyeon instead asked. She heard Jessica chuckle.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” Jessica answered. It made Taeyeon furrow her eyebrows in confusion

“Why?”

“It’s one of the parts I find interesting about you.”

Jessica had once again managed to surprise Taeyeon. She stared wide eyed at the wall in front of her, her head trying to keep up to how fast Jessica was moving. Her shoulders sagged and she slumped further down in her seat on the bed.

“Jessica, this is very sudden.” Taeyeon said as she felt it really was. She barely knew the girl and the girl wanted to go on a date with her.

“Well, I can give you time to think, but you have to promise me something.” Jessica said.

“What?”

“That you don’t wander off to someone else while I give you time.”

Taeyeon frowned upon the words. That she would go to someone else was very, very unlikely. It wasn’t like she was interested in someone, and who could possibly, except for Jessica, be interested in her?

A long sigh escaped her lips and her head lolled to the side. “Fine.” Taeyeon said.

“Good. I’m going to let you go back to practice now, I’m not a night owl so I’m going to sleep.”

The girl’s statement made Taeyeon check the time and that’s when she realized she had been on the phone for over an hour with Jessica. It was the longest she ever had talked to someone over phone. She slowly placed the phone back to her ear.

“I’m going to sleep now, too. Can’t wake up my neighbors with my guitar playing.” Taeyeon said.

Jessica laughed once again.

“That’s very considerate of you. Well, then, good night Kim Taeyeon. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“The same to you.”

The line went dead. Taeyeon lowered the phone from her ear and stared as it lied limply in her hand. Jessica was…everything except ordinary. Even though she had just been sitting on her bed all the time she felt tired from her long conversation with the girl.

A tired sigh escaped her lips and she lied down on her back on the bed, one arm was placed under her head and she stared up at the ceiling, thinking back to the conversation she had had with the blonde girl.

Jessica wanted to go on a date with her, because she was interesting? Because she wanted to get to know her? Because she wanted to prove why she wanted to hang around her?  Taeyeon wasn’t completely sure of Jessica’s reason and she felt she would just get a headache the more she thought about it.

She slowly exhaled and let her eyes close with the air that left her lunges. She would save the Jessica matter for tomorrow. Right now she should sleep, and maybe she will wake up and realize that everything with Jessica was just a strange dream.