Part Seven

“Unnie~ Unnie~”

“No.”

“Unnie~~~”

“Yoongie, you’re fifteen now. Grow up!”

“Unnie, we’re the same height. I grew big time!”

Yoona bounced on Jessica’s bed, her lanky legs slipping off the sides as she tried to accentuate the amount of centimeters she grew. Squeezing every bit of flexibility out of herself, she bent and stretched on the bed, pulling her arms as far apart as humanly possible.

“This much!”

Jessica rolled her eyes at the younger girl’s actions. It was annoying but true that Yoona had been growing steadily through the years. She was sure, by next morning, that Yoona would really be taller of the two.

“Unnie~Unnie~~~”

“Gosh. Go away Yoong, I’m busy.”

They were in Jessica’s room and Yoona had progressed to rolling on the bed and restarting her incessant chants of unnie yet again. They both knew the effectiveness of this singular weapon.  

“Unnie, you promised!”

“What? I don’t recall any promises.”

“You said I could behave like a kiddo to you!”

“That doesn’t include ridiculous requests.”

“But that’s my version of kiddo! You used to help me, unnie~”

Jessica chuckled as she glided over on her swivel chair, and reached over to poke Yoona’s puffed up cheeks. Those sulky puffed up cheeks, who could resist that?

“That reminds me, how’d you even know what initiation meant? Language’s never been your forte.”

“I didn’t,” Yoona guffawed, side-stepping Jessica’s little jibe completely, “Yunho saw that word somewhere, thought it was cool and decided to name on our little rituals after that.”

Who was Yunho again?

“Lucky , he got the correct word. Once upon a time, I actually suspected you might be a language genius. How wrong I was!”

Jessica jutted her chin out, pleased with her little taunt, but Yoona had a confident smirk on. “Unnie, I got you to kiss me. That is beyond genius.”

Eyebrows wriggling. Pesky kid back on the block.

Jessica barely managed a feeble click of the tongue in retort. Unwilling to see a gloating face on Yoona, she spun back to her desk, opting to seek solace in her dreary notes.

The room slipped into silence but Jessica knew that any attempt to study had been foiled. Her thoughts were all over the place and Yoona not making a sound behind her despite the smart comeback was very very unsettling. Following standard protocol, the unnie bombardment should have already overwhelmed her by now.

Jessica braced herself for the inevitable conclusion: she could never resist the calls of ‘unnie’.  

Yoona watched with a sly grin. She carefully got up from the bed, taking care to barely rustle the sheets. With cat-like steps, she sneaked over and threw her arms over Jessica’s shoulders, hugging her lightly as her lips grazed Jessica’s ear.

“Unnie.”

“Hmm,” Jessica was lost in the moment, voice responding before her brain processed the suggestive hum she produced.

“Unnie.”

Another mutter of the word and Jessica crashed back to reality at the last syllabus.

“Christ! Im Yoona! Go away!”

“You enjoyed that~”

“Go away juvenile brat, I was just…” Words eluded Jessica for a second for how she was supposed to continue the sentence was a mystery.

“Mesmerized by my voice against your ear?”

“God, no.”

“Stop calling yourself, you sound silly unnie.”

Jessica laughed a little at this particular habit Yoona kept despite the rising mix of nostalgia and wistfulness. Faking a few coughs to remove the bounce in her words, she artfully hid her happiness behind her perfectly serious façade.

“You’re fifteen, Yoona. I have to remind you that I’d have-”

“Your in jail for being a e. You’re recycling your lines again, unnie,” Yoona sighed in frustration as she leaned a cheek on top of Jessica’s  head with her arms still circled around Jessica’s neck.

“Glad you know, so shoo. I’m very busy, I have that scholastic test this year.” 

“You’re already acing everything, unnie. Help me, pleaseeee?” Yoona emphasized. “And we aren’t even kissing this time!”

Jessica shook her head, “Enlighten me. How is playing your pretend girlfriend better?”

“You won’t have to drink my saliva?”

Jessica tilted up to face Yoona before rolling her eyes. It was rejection in the simplest form, and Jessica saw the disappointment in Yoona’s eyes. A tiny frown followed by the slight scrunch of nose were the warning signs for an impending pout. Immediately, she shifted her gaze back to her notes before her resolve chose to wave a white flag.

 “Unnie~”

Here she goes again, Jessica sighed.

“Unnie~Unnie~”

“You should find a guy to get back at that dude. I don’t think getting a girlfriend would work out.”

“I have a perfect plan! Pleeeeeaseeee~ Unnie~”

“I’ll get you one of the guys in my class to help out. Or you can have the boyfriend, instead.”

“I told you, my plan doesn’t work that way! “

Yoona crossed her arms with a huff. Seeing that Jessica was studiously ignoring her in favor of her notes, she breathed an annoyed sigh, stepped a few paces forward, and leaned on Jessica’s desk. A strategically placed hand on the blasted notes effectively denied Jessica of any method of distraction.

Locking eyes with her, Yoona pouted.

“I don’t even know why you’re trying to get back at him?” Jessica stared back for a few seconds, before deciding that it was probably safer to look away from the screaming plea in Yoona’s eyes. “You don’t even like him, it was a dare. Move on, Yoong.”

“It’s a matter of pride!” Yoona tugged at Jessica’s arm until she was facing her again, then put on her best puppy eyes, “He dissed me! Unnie~”

Jessica heard something like a whimper and surrender from her heart. Before she could stop herself, her resolve had crumbled yet again with her traitorous head nodding like she was under hypnosis.

Well, , Jessica cursed, whatever happened to not helping Yoona again?

“Kids. These ridiculously miniscule love fights. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT involve me again.”

“Unnie~ You’re the best!”

Yoona clapped in delight and gave Jessica such a wide grin that she couldn’t help but return it with a smile of her own.           

***

The plan, according to Yoona, was to first attract the guy’s attention. He was, apparently, the heartthrob of the school who went by the nickname Taec.

“This is crazy,” Jessica mumbled to herself, glancing over the gates furtively, “And stupid. Dammit. It’s ing impossible!”

Students in uniform filtered out which led Jessica to have a silent moment of panic, as though she had been cursed with claustrophobia overnight. She moved out of the way, further from the gates and tried her best to be inconspicuous. The chattering from the students filled her head. She cursed the plan that was destined for doom. She lamented about her soft spot for Yoona. And Yoona, that little rascal, was not to be found.

Where the heck is Yoona?!

Stealing sharp glances at the crowd, she hoped desperately to see Yoona’s familiar face soon. She wanted to bolt but Yoona’s pathetic puppy eyes image sprang out and rooted her to the place. Promises to Yoona were always fulfilled; yes it was something self-imposed, but not a single cell in her would let Yoona down.

After a few curious looks, awkward stares, and subtle finger pointing from the young students, she finally spotted Yoona coming toward her. Jessica was ready to call out to Yoona and drag her away by the collar, but an urgent look halted her. A slender finger flew up to Yoona’s lips.

“Unnie! Pretend to bump into