She didn’t realize the hand she had been holding pulling away until she noticed the person she was sitting in front of turning her head away. It wasn’t until Taeyeon made a move to stand up that Jessica finally snapped out of her shocked state.

“S-sorry….forget about it…” Taeyeon said flustered and stood up from her seat.

Jessica blinked and watched as Taeyeon began pacing around the room. The girl was stressed, and that she was locked inside this room was making her frustrated. Jessica could see it all.

“Forget about it?” Jessica stood up from her seat as well. Taeyeon stopped pacing around and turned towards her. The girl looked ashamed, like she just had confessed a sin. Jessica found herself smiling. Everything finally made sense. She finally understood everything right now.

“How can I forget about it?” Jessica asked.

“I don’t know…think of something else…it’s not important…” Taeyeon mumbled and looked away from Jessica’s gaze.

Jessica frowned. It seemed like Taeyeon was just as clueless as she had been.

Jessica walked up towards the girl. And when she got closer Taeyeon backed away, but Jessica didn’t stop, she didn’t stop until she had cornered Taeyeon completely, and had the girl pressed up against the wall with no way to escape before she stopped in her tracks.

“You really think I’ll be able to think of something else when all I have on my mind is you?” Jessica said.

Taeyeon looked confused. The girl tilted her head to the side, her eyes blinking as she tried to understand what Jessica meant.

You’re really clueless. Jessica thought.

“You,” Jessica said and pointed at Taeyeon’s chest. The girl flinched like she had been afraid Jessica was going to hit her. Jessica ignored it, and moved her hand upwards, until she reached Taeyeon’s face, she looked the girl in the eyes, the confused brown orbs stared back at her, and Jessica found herself smiling.

“You’re constantly on my mind. I’m always wondering what’s going on inside your head, I’ve always tried figuring out why you acted like you did, and now I finally understand it.” Jessica said.

“And when I understood that, I’ve come to understand things about me too.” Jessica said.

Taeyeon’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Jessica continued to smile, and found it amazing Taeyeon, just like she had, needed it to be said straight out for her to understand. She cupped the girl’s cheek, Taeyeon flinched by the contact, but the girl soon relaxed when she realized Jessica was only going to her thumb against it.

“I like you too.” Jessica confessed the feelings she had had a hard time identifying all this time. It came as a surprise for her too, but it only made sense when she thought about it. All the time she spent thinking about the girl, wondering what the girl was thinking and doing, and always caring about Taeyeon’s wellbeing, and always wanting what’s best for the girl. It all made sense now.

Taeyeon’s brown eyes stared widely back at her. The girl was too surprised to say anything, and Jessica didn’t blame her, she too had been surprised when the girl had confessed to her.

“Yeah, that’s why I care about you, despite you acting like an annoying jerk. It’s because I like you.” Jessica said.

Taeyeon looked away from her ashamed. Jessica only smiled at the action, and she moved her hand from Taeyeon’s cheek, to Taeyeon’s chin, and moved the head so she could look Taeyeon in the eyes.

“I’m gonna tell you something.” Jessica said.

“Standing up for me was brave.” Jessica said. Taeyeon’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Jessica smiled. “And standing up for the ones who are weaker than you, that’s also brave. Picking on them doesn’t make you tough, that only makes you weak.”

Taeyeon’s face got a softer look, an understanding look, and Jessica knew the girl understood what she had meant with what she had said. Her lips curved into a smile, and she let go of Taeyeon’s chin, and stepped back from the girl.

“Well, now it’s only up to you to toughen up and ask me something else.” Jessica said and stopped a few feet away from the girl.

Taeyeon looked confused at her. The girl blinked and tilted her head to the left, like a lost puppy. Jessica found it cute, if it had been another occasion she might have found it annoying. But even though Taeyeon was confused and didn’t understand what she meant, she wasn’t going to help the girl figuring out what she meant.

“Come on, we’re all alone. There’s no one here to hear you besides me.” Jessica said and spun around. She walked around the room for a while, before she stopped and turned towards Taeyeon again. The latter’s emotions were so obvious now when Jessica had managed to get through Taeyeon’s fake façade, she could clearly see the nervousness on Taeyeon’s face now, and she knew that the girl had figured out what she wanted her to do.

“What?” Jessica asked.

Taeyeon gulped and averted her gaze to the floor.

“Do…do…do…” Taeyeon stammered. She swallowed one more time. Inhaled and slowly exhaled.

“D-do you want to be my girlfriend?”

Jessica smiled. She closed her eyes. This was also unexpected and unplanned. Her eyes opened again, she took in Taeyeon’s form. The girl stared back at her, the nervousness was still evident on her face. Jessica held back a laugh. Taeyeon would most likely only show this side of her to her. And Jessica found herself feeling special.

“Yes.” And with the hope of continuing to feel special by Taeyeon’s side, she answered the question with the answer that would make her stay by the girl’s side.

---  

She heard noise coming from the other way of the cafeteria. Her eyebrows furrowed and she turned the way the sound was coming from, she saw a crowd of students at the other end.

“Sooyoung is at it again.” One of the girl’s by her table sighed.

Jessica turned away from the crowd of students. She felt it wasn’t her place to meddle in that business, besides, she needed to finish her lunch and get to that essay she needed to finish.

A gasp from the crowd of students made Jessica turn towards them again. She heard a familiar name being said from one of the students in the crowd. She felt her heart beat hard against her chest, and she tried seeing if she had heard right or if she had imagined it.

“Get lost, Choi, pick on someone your own size!”

That voice. It was no mistaking it. Jessica stood up from her seat, ready to charge towards the crowd of students. But the second she was standing the crowd of students began breaking up, they were leaving whatever they had been watching.

Jessica caught Sooyoung walking away. The taller girl was holding her chin, a pissed look on her face as she left the cafeteria. Jessica didn’t care about the girl and turned back towards where the crowd of students had been. Two girls were remaining, one familiar, the other one not so familiar.

Jessica’s shoulders slump. It had been no need to worry, like usual. But she couldn’t help it. She sighed, and watched as one of the girl’s began walking towards where she was.

“Hi.” Taeyeon greeted the other girls by Jessica’s table. “What?” Taeyeon asked as she turned towards Jessica.

“I told you to be careful.” Jessica reminded the girl.

“But she was picking on a freshman.” Taeyeon defended her actions.

“It’s twice this week you get into a fight with her.” Jessica said and crossed her arms.

“It’s not my fault Sooyoung can’t find another hobby than picking on younger students...” Taeyeon mumbled.

“But it’s not your place to help them.”

“But who else will help them? I don’t want them to only have memories of being bullied and scared when they were in high school.” Taeyeon argued.

Jessica sighed. She had lost the argument, she couldn’t say anything against that, as she knew exactly why Taeyeon was doing what she was. She sat down, glared at her friends around the table who was grinning at her. She didn’t mind them and pointed at the chair next to her.

“Sit and eat, you’re going with me to the library to study later.” Jessica said.

“Okay.” Taeyeon sat down beside Jessica.

“Beast tamer.” Jessica heard one of the girls whisper. She ignored it, as she knew what it meant. She pushed her plate of food towards Taeyeon.

“Sica,” Taeyeon said, making the girl turn towards her.

“Can I take you somewhere after school?” Taeyeon asked.

Jessica blinked surprised. She realized Taeyeon had really changed during the time they had been dating. The girl wasn’t afraid of showing her good side to people anymore, and she was standing up towards bullies instead of joining them. Jessica was proud of Taeyeon’s change.

“Sure.” Jessica said.

“Are you sure? You don’t need to study?”

Jessica couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her lips. Taeyeon had really taken her good side to new levels lately. She had been thoughtful of other people’s needs, and Jessica loved that side.

“I can take a break from it. Studying too much will only be bad.” Jessica said.

Taeyeon smiled. The girl turned towards the plate of food Jessica had pushed towards her, and she began eating from it. Jessica watched the girl with a smile on her face. She didn’t regret becoming Taeyeon’s girlfriend at all.

---

Jessica had no idea where Taeyeon was bringing her. They had taken the bus from school to an area of the city she didn’t recognize, she had never been there before. It was all unfamiliar, and she felt uncomfortable in the new place.

She looked at all the big houses in the area. It must be a rich area, Jessica figured, as the houses were big and fancy. She wondered why Taeyeon had taken her here.

They stopped outside one of the big houses. Taeyeon turned towards her, Jessica hoping for an explanation for bringing her here.

“I’ve wanted to show you this since a while, but I never got the chance.” The girl said.

Jessica blinked confused and watched as the girl opened the door to the big house. Jessica couldn’t keep her chin from dropping. Did Taeyeon live here?

The girl entered, and made Jessica enter as well by not letting go of her hand as she stepped inside the house. It was big, really big. Big and clean. Did Taeyeon really live here?

“Welcome back, Taeyeon.” An old lady appeared. Jessica turned towards the old lady. Was this the maid Taeyeon had mentioned before?

“Thank you. This is Jessica, the one…I’ve told you about…” Taeyeon said and pointed at Jessica.

“Omo…Jessica! Welcome, welcome. Feel at home.” The old lady said. Jessica blinked confused, and turned towards Taeyeon. She needed explanations.

“I’ll go to my room.” Taeyeon said.

“Yes, do you want me to bring a snack?” The old lady asked.

“No, it’s okay.” Taeyeon said.

Jessica was too much in shock to register anything that was happening. One second she was wearing shoes, the next she wasn’t, one second she was on the first floor of the house, the next second she was on the second floor of the house, inside a bedroom, a big bedroom. A bedroom bigger than hers, or her parents.

“Sorry about all this.” Taeyeon apologized as she was moving some magazines away from the desk in the room.

“I don’t have people over that much…” The girl explained.

Jessica turned towards her, she had finally registered what had happened.

“You live here?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah.” Taeyeon nodded her head.

“You wanted to show me your house?” Jessica asked.

“No.” Taeyeon’s eyebrows were furrowed. Jessica got even more confused now. She watched as Taeyeon made her way over to the bed in the room, the girl picked something up from the bed, and spun around to face Jessica.

Jessica stared wide eyed at what Taeyeon was holding in her arms. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was the kitten she had saved from the three girls two months ago.

“You took it in?” Jessica asked surprised and walked up to the girl and kitten.

“Yeah…I felt sorry for it…so I took it in…to take care of it.” Taeyeon explained. Jessica looked at the kitten in the girl’s arms. It looked well, it had gained some weight, and it had grown a bit since she had last seen it. It looked happy, and when Jessica reached out to pat it, it pressed its head against Jessica’s hand. She smiled.

“Have you named it?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah…” Taeyeon mumbled. “I named her Kitkat.”

Jessica blinked.

“Like the chocolate?”

“Y-yeah…”

Jessica couldn’t help it, she giggled. The name was cute, it wasn’t bad. It was good. She felt happy, happy that the cat was being taken care of. The cat had a name, and the cat was well.

She turned towards Taeyeon, she was proud of the girl. So proud of the girl. Proud that the girl wasn’t acting bad anymore. She leaned closer towards her, she couldn’t hold back, she had to do it.

She felt Taeyeon tense when their lips touched, the girl was probably surprised. Jessica pulled away, also a bit surprised by her actions. She stared flustered at Taeyeon, who also was blushing.

Taeyeon opened to say something, but no sound came out. And Jessica didn’t need any sound to come out of it, she put her hand against the girl’s cheek, this time she was prepared for her action, and she felt Taeyeon was also prepared.

This time Jessica kissed the girl, Taeyeon kissed her back.

Fin