Jessica's POV

“I’m getting tired of all this, Jessica. In our seven-year relationship, you did nothing but think and talk about finding your sister. You’ve already lost her—face the truth. If you keep holding onto that memory of hers, you will lose everything you have.”

Those four sentences kept replaying in my head, the ones Tiffany uttered before she left me hanging in the midst of our close-to-perfect relationship. It wasn’t like I had no plans to marry her. I just wanted to find my sister, Soojung, first. The little girl I abandoned when I was 11 years old, and she was 5—the girl I left in an orphanage after our parents died. Why couldn’t Tiffany understand that? I knew she was a good person for staying by my side for almost a decade, but I didn’t think it was reasonable enough for her to leave me like that.

Later on, I found out that what she told me were lies. She didn’t really get tired of me. She had fallen head over heels in love with someone else. She had fallen for a guy—Nichkhun, a name that gave me sleepless nights and horrible nightmares. Every time I recalled what she did to me, my chest got heavy, making it harder for me to breathe.

Not until one night, I found myself in a bar owned by my friend, Hyoyeon. I wanted to get drunk and drown myself in alcohol, wishing all the pain Tiffany caused me would go away. I wanted to forget about her, even if it was only for a few hours.

I sat alone at a table with a bottle of beer in hand when Hyoyeon approached me. “You can never forget about Tiffany this way, Jessica. How about trying some company with my girls? They’re really young and y.” She flirtatiously mumbled, no less than sales talk, tapping my shoulder.

“You know I’m not into that kind of thing.” I waved a dismissive hand, but she insisted until I had no choice but to nod. Afterward, she gestured to one of the bartenders. The guy left and came back with a young girl beside him. The girl was really beautiful, just as Hyoyeon described. Her hair was blonde, and her body was in perfect shape. She looked so young, maybe not even in her twenties. I guessed she didn’t even have the chance to go to college yet.

When the bartender left, Hyoyeon deviously smirked at me. “You’re broken-hearted, so here’s my offer to you—the best stripper our bar has.” Hyoyeon happily declared, throwing an arm over the latter’s shoulders. “100,000 won for the entire night, but since you’re my friend, I’ll give you a 30 percent discount.” She went on talking as if the girl were some kind of price-tagged material, as if the girl wasn’t there, as if she couldn’t hear all of it.

By that point, the girl sheepishly smiled, though her eyes obviously emitted hints of embarrassment. I felt bad for her, and pity was of no avail. “Hyoyeon-ah, I got it.” I rapidly agreed for her to stop blabbing. She nodded and asked the girl to sit opposite to me then left.

Facing the girl, I didn’t know what to say. She seemed really uncomfortable, like she wasn’t used to the whole scene. She wasn’t speaking, and I got curious, so I decided to break the silence. “Are you new here?”

“Um, not really. I’ve been stripping here for almost half a year now, but you’re the first one I’m to ever be in a table with,” she confessed, anxiously gripping the glass above the table. She was staring at her beer, not even laying an eye on me.

Unlike her, I was gazing straight into her eyes. I couldn’t help but admire her, all her features. “Oh wow, I must be really special for Hyoyeon to let me have you tonight.” I forced a chuckle for the ambiance not to be in silence again.

I waited for her response, but she didn’t bother.

In the piercing tranquility, I was constantly pondering and guessing what she was doing in a place like this. Unfortunately, “What made you work here?” slipped off my tongue.

Hearing my question, she was taken aback. Her face whipped up to finally look at me. There was hesitation in her demeanor, so I guessed she didn’t want to talk about the matter. “It’s alright if you don’t want to answer,” I abruptly fired as I was waving both my hands in the air.

Unexpectedly, my last statement made her beam. It was a little but ever so sincere smile. “I feel really uncomfortable talking about this, but since you seem nice, I’ll tell you.” She trailed on and paused only to smile seemingly. “I owe my life to Hyoyeon’s family because they saved me from an orphanage when I was young. Since then, they have given me all my needs. They even sent me to school. I’m working here to pay for their kindness.”

I was surprised by what I heard. The flashback wherein I left my younger sister in the same place hit me. Could it be… “Wh—what’s your name?” I stuttered as I was in utter shock. Getting to think of it, my sister’s age was about the same as the girl sitting in front of me.

“Krystal,” she shortly articulated.

I sighed in a mixture of relief and frustration when I heard her name. It was Krystal and not Soojung—she wasn’t my sister. “What were you doing in an orphanage then? Did your parents abandon you?” For some reason, there was something in her presence that made curiosity frequently bug me.

She shook her head from side to side before she continued her story. “No, that’s something they will never do for sure. They died, and my stupid older sister abandoned me, that is.”

My eyebrows met at her sudden statement. “What’s your real name?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?” She giggled cutely. “Well, I don’t know what my real last name is, but my first name is Soojung.”

With that, I completely lost it. My emotions went off track, beads of tears formed in each corner of my eyes. I fell into a downright stupor, gazing straight at her—at my beautiful sister. I bit my lower lip to smother the tears and prevent them from falling, but it didn’t help. My hand went to cover my eyes as tears started to stream down my face.

“What’s wrong?” She bewilderedly asked.

I couldn’t tell her the truth. Even if I could, I didn’t know how in a way she wouldn’t scream in my face about how angry she was at me. “No—nothing, I just remembered my ex-girlfriend.” I lied.

Concern was drawn all over her face, and she asked, “Is she the reason why you’re here? You know, I can already tell you’re a good person. Just think of it this way—God has something, or someone, better for you.” Her velvety voice soothed my ears. I wanted to hug her. But I couldn’t. I didn’t know how to.

We talked a little more until my tears were absorbed by my handkerchief. She asked my name as well, and I said it was Jessica. I didn’t say Sooyeon, for I knew she wouldn’t be too pleased to know that. The whole hour we shared, there wasn’t a split second that I didn’t feel the urge to apologize to her and tell her I was her sister. Regrettably, there was no way I could because I was a coward. “If you ever happen to cross paths with your sister—the one who abandoned you, how will you react?”

Her arms crossed over her chest. She sighed as she was contemplating. “I don’t really know. But I think it’s better if I never get to see her again.”

“Wh—why would you say that?”

Humorlessly, she laughed and crinkled her nose in disgust. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t spend every night of my life stripping in front of erted old guys.”

Right, she was right. That was my fault. I was the only one to blame. It would be a lot better if she wouldn’t see her sister ever again. She would only hate me more and possibly, she would never talk to me again. It was better this way, that I could have her in my table and talk to her for hours. Well, even if it meant working thrice as hard to earn money to pay for her time.

Just then, an idea popped into the back of my head. It was part of the policy that I could ta