“I guess this is where our date ends.”

He let go of her hands very unwillingly. She sighed. “This could’ve lasted longer.”

“It’s a good thing we live next door to each other.”

They were caught in the moment, about to lean in for a kiss to mark the finale of their Saturday, but just as the gap closed up and the inches lessened, the door to her house popped open.

Papa Jung was standing there, milk bottle in hand, surprised expression checked.

They both froze, then a split second later, they were a meter apart, hands no longer interlinked. Papa Jung just stared, frozen, until Krystal and Mrs Jung came to join them.

Krystal had on a twisted expression after seeing the scene outside, and Mrs Jung just frowned immediately.

The lovers swallowed, with much difficulty choking them up from the inside.

=

Siwon woke up from an afternoon nap with Stephanie’s image burning fresh in his eyes.

“I… dreamt of Fany?”

=

Donghae was ushered to settle into the couch nearest to the door. He breathed a sigh of relief because that way, if anything went wrong, he’d be able to leap to safety just by pouncing out the door.

Then again, maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe this would all go surprisingly well and he could have Jessica sending him home, right next door, with a kiss as the icing on top.

Then he found Mrs Jung staring at him with daggers for eyes, and he grimaced on the inside. Who was he kidding? He’d be lucky to get out alive.

Jessica was unwillingly led away from Donghae, and forced to sit by an oddly quiet Krystal. Krystal herself had chosen to stand, not sure if sitting would help to ease the nerves she too had felt for the two lovebirds.

While Mrs Jung stared, Papa Jung continued to down the milk he had in his hands. As he was down to his last bit of milk, he set the bottle down calmly, and stalked over to Donghae.

Donghae steeled himself.

It didn’t work.

“Donghae, we don’t want to hurt you, so calm down.”

Donghae was this close to screaming at him, telling him that with the kind of danger he had in his voice, calming down would be the hardest thing to do. But instead, he gulped and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Papa Jung sat down in a chair he dragged over to Donghae’s side, and Mrs Jung stood beside him.

“Would you explain what you were doing with our daughter outside just a while ago?”

Donghae was this close to wetting himself.

=

Jungsoo frowned. It had been ten whole minutes since he heard any form of sound from the receiving end of the call. He plucked his phone away from his ear and looked closely; the call was ongoing. So why didn’t Taeyeon breathe even a word?

Then again, speechlessness was what he had expected from the start. He just didn’t want his expectation to become reality.

“Taeyeon?” he prompted.

Then he heard a loud clang, and he knew at once the phone had fallen to the ground from her hands.

“Oh, lord,” he mumbled.

=

“Taeyeon? Taeyeon? Taeyeon, wake up! Are you okay? Taeyeon!”

Stephanie had managed to tug the weak girl from the foot of the staircase to her bedroom without inciting any suspicion. But the problem lied in getting Taeyeon to wake up and stop being in a catatonic state.

Just as Stephanie was close to dialing for an ambulance, Taeyeon rose up slowly, grabbing whatever she could as support. Stephanie rushed back to help her and scrutinized her friend carefully. “Tae, you’re awake! Are you okay? Do you need anything? A doctor?”

She watched as Taeyeon slowly got hold of reality. She watched her swallow with much difficulty. She watched Taeyeon grab onto her arm, a kind of panic coming alive in her grip.

“Tae,” she whispered, trying to get her friend to say something, anything.

Taeyeon looked up into Stephanie’s eyes slowly, and her grip tightened.

“What do I do?” Taeyeon asked.

=

“I’m giving you three seconds to answer the question, Donghae,” Papa Jung asserted, “or I’m not going to be polite anymore. What were you doing with Jessica outside?”

“I was bidding her farewell,” Donghae squeaked.

Mrs Jung leaned in, a similar dangerous aura hanging around her, just like Papa Jung’s. “Okay, fair enough. And what gave you the idea that you could do so, with kissing?”

“I… I’m…”

“Three seconds,” Mrs Jung reminded.

Jessica tore out of her previously calm stature on the sofa and ran over to protect Donghae. “He’s my boyfriend! He’s my boyfriend, okay? We’re dating!”

Her hand had found his amidst the shouting and they gave each other’s hands a squeeze, as if to assure that all would be fine, no matter the circumstances they were currently in.

Mrs Jung glared at their linked hands, and once at Jessica, as if ordering her daughter to let go immediately. Jessica didn’t even flinch, and held on tighter instead. Since that plan foiled, Mrs Jung got back to glaring at Donghae.

“What gave you the right to be her boyfriend?”

“Mom!” Jessica hollered, just to get her mother to stop, but clearly her voice wouldn’t help in the situation. Donghae squeezed onto Jessica’s hand again to get her to calm down, and he leaned forward, as though taking up an attacking position. More like defending, in retrospect, since he was defending himself after all.

“In all due respect, I never knew I had to obtain a right to be her boyfriend,” Donghae responded calmly.

“Well yes, you do,” Papa Jung interjected. “From us. And if we say no, then it’s a no.”

“Dad!” Jessica lost her last straw and pulled Donghae up from the seat. “This is getting out of hand. Donghae, I don’t want you to be subjected to such treatment from them. They’re my parents, and I should be the one to handle this.” She led him to the door and pushed him out with one big shove.

“Wait, Jess—“

Jessica gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I promise you, I’ll handle this, and I’ll make it end well for us.”

Then the door slammed shut, and he didn't even manage to get her name out of his mouth.

=

“Taeyeon, I need you to calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

“Kangin’s coming back.”

“…what?”

“Fany… Kangin’s coming back…”

“K—Kangin?”

=

As Donghae stood outside the house, something prompted him to stay by the door. He didn’t feel like he should leave, but as the voices in the house got louder and louder, he felt a migraine coming on.

The conversation inside got louder and louder as well, and he could hear the lines becoming clearer and clearer.

“That wasn’t testing! That was interrogating! That was bullying! And I don’t like it when you try to bully anyone I love!”

He felt a certain kind of swelling in his chest and looked at the window, as though he could see Jessica through the blinds and the layers of glass. She loved him? That was brand new information.

There was a fuzzy melting inside his chest that followed the swelling, and he knew this was his cue. He had to go in, because he couldn’t let Jessica fight alone. He had to fight with her, just as anyone who loved her would.

=

Three kids sat on the porch of an abandoned shophouse, throwing rocks at the empty ground in front of them. Their legs dangled by the edges, the difference in lengths a little too evident. Taeyeon had the shortest legs, but that didn’t hinder her from becoming friends with the other two boys.

Between Jungsoo and Taeyeon sat a boy whose smile never really died down. Kangin.

Taeyeon threw another rock, and it knocked Jungsoo’s rock out of position. He pouted. “Hey! No fair! That’s my rock!”

“Get rid of mine if you can,” she retorted, tongue stuck out at him.

Kangin chuckled a bit, and threw his own rock to join hers. After a bit more of rock-throwing, he slid his arms around both of his best friends.

“Guys, I have some news I need to announce.”

From that moment on, Taeyeon had never been as shocked again.

Until she heard that Kangin was coming back.

“My parents are moving to Canada, and I have to follow them.”

=

Donghae burst into the house again to see Mrs Jung with a raised arm, poised to attack Jessica.

He ran forward and grabbed Jessica, spinning her into his arms. Everyone stared, shell-shocked.

“Please don’t hurt her!” he pleaded.

Papa Jung folded his arms. “What are you doing back in here? Didn’t Jessica tell you to go?”

Donghae braced himself and patted Jessica on the shoulder, turning back to face her parents. “I made a decision outside. I couldn’t let her do this alone. This is our relationship, and I can’t just walk away like this. If any clarification has to be done, I’ll do it with her.”

Jessica turned to him. Krystal’s jaw fell.

“Most importantly,” he continued, “I came back because I had to fight with her… and because I had to fight for her.”

Both parents sat back down in their seats, suddenly open to listening to him. He gently pat Jessica on the shoulders again, and got her to sit down beside him on the couch. Then he braced himself again, and got ready for the real thing.

“This relationship may have started a little too quickly, and perhaps impulsively, but whatever it is, no matter how it is, this relationship is ours. And to uphold that, I can’t let Jessica do anything like this alone. I made a promise that I would never hurt her, and that I would love her, take care of her, as a boyfriend.

“I know I sound a little too grave right now, but… I’m going to come clean and admit that I’ve had a crush on your daughter, Jessica, for about a year now. Or two. I don’t really know when everything began, but I do know that I have a huge crush on her and hurting her, or letting her down would be the last thing on my agenda. Heck, it’s not even on my agenda…

“She means a lot to me, and to have a relationship like this is a dream come true. This whole thing means a lot to me, and trust me, there’s no way in hell I’d do anything to crush it.

“I may not be a parent, but if I were a father of a daughter like Jessica, I would completely understand your drifts, and why you’re concerned for her. Right here, right now, I give my word, I give my everything – and I promise that I would never, never ever hurt her, or let her down, or let her shed a tear, or… Anything to that effect. Anything. I would never… Never bring harm into her life, never… Never…”

He made eye contact with his girlfriend and saw that she was close to tears. A frown took over every muscle on his face and he leaned in, worried. “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head, and forced a smile. “You don’t have to put any of these into words, Hae…”

Donghae glanced at her parents, and then turned back to her. “No, I do. I do have to. Because I want to convince your parents to accept me.”

Papa Jung and Mrs Jung stood up, prompting him to do so as well. He smiled and pulled Jessica up with him.

“So, here I stand… Jessica’s parents, would you please allow me to be your daughter’s boyfriend, so I can carry out my promise and not break it?”

Krystal folded her arms. She stifled her giggles and turned her back to face them, to hide her contorted expression. She was in a mix of tears of laughter at the moment. She didn’t think that the idiot next door who harbored a crush on her older sister could drive her to touched tears just by giving a speech like that.

As they all awaited for an answer, the tension heightened.

=

“Is she okay?”

“Well, she’s gone to sleep already.”

“This early?”

“Better now than later, I guess.”

Stephanie got ready to go home from Taeyeon’s place. She was on the phone with Jungsoo, and she resisted the urge to ask him about the story.

“Are you curious?” Jungsoo asked, his voice barely above a whisper, as if increasing his volume would mean that the world could hear him.

She sighed. “I’m Stephanie; I always am. I’ll just try not to ask about this story, since it doesn’t seem like it’s a nice thing to talk about.”

Jungsoo bit his lower lip. “Kangin’s… A friend. He’s… Our friend. Our mutual friend.”

Stephanie’s eyes widened a bit. “You mean you already knew Taeyeon? Like, long before high school?” Clearly Stephanie knew much lesser than she thought she did.

He gave an awkward guffaw, and she could hear the awkwardness wafting through the call. “Yes, I’ve already known her since young. We just pretended to meet in high school. It’s a… It’s a long story.”

“Much longer than I expected it to be,” Stephanie added.

“And… I don’t think I’m at the liberty to reveal it to you.”

“I get it.”

“I hope Taeyeon would do it.”

“I don’t think I want her to.”

“Right, with her reactions to Kangin’s return, I guess it’s better that way too.”

“Yeah… We’ll just see how it goes.”

“Yeah, we will.”

=

Papa Jung and Mrs Jung stared at the two lovebirds, and they sighed.

“Here’s our answer, Donghae.”