Since they are friends already, Jessica has gained the habit of visiting Hyomin’s apartment every night. That’s her way of seeing Sooyoung without crossing the line of friendship. She would come over with food, bringing in Sooyoung’s favorites with her. She felt happy when Sooyoung accepted her food the first time she came over. After that, it has become a routine for Jessica. Spend the day planning about meeting Sooyoung the later that night.

Tonight, Jessica is already watching tv comfortably in the living room with Sunny and Hyomin. Tiffany and Taeyeon came over too. When the door opened, she stood up to greet Sooyoung. Sooyoung entered the living room, but she is with Hara. Jessica’s expression changed. It was her rival after all. She found out from Sunny the other day that the girl likes Sooyoung. After hearing that, Jessica knew they would never be friends.

“Hi.” Hara greeted all of them. She introduced herself to Jessica. “I’m Hara. I wasn’t able to introduce myself to you last time.” She smiled sweetly.

Jessica smiled while she is observing the girl.

“Oh Hara, what do you have there?” Tiffany asked, seeing Hara holding something.

“Oh, I made carbonara for Sooyoung. She was craving yesterday, so I thought I should cook her this and share with all of you.”

Another blow for Jessica. She buys food for Sooyoung. Hara cooks it for her.

“She can cook all of my favorite dishes. She’s amazing.” Sooyoung told Tiffany. She knows that Jessica is listening but she doesn’t care. Jessica is just a friend. She has no right to be jealous of Hara.

All night, Sooyoung couldn’t stop talking about Hara. Hara is this… Hara is that… Jessica’s ears are hurting by now but it doesn’t compare to the pain in her heart.

Tiffany knew what Sooyoung was trying to do so she decided to speak for her cousin. “Remember the time when Jessica almost burned the house down when she tried to cook? Everyone laughed except for Jessica. Jessica saw Sooyoung laughing and turned her gaze back to Tiffany.

“You’re not exactly helping.” Jessica mouthed. Tiffany just stuck her tongue out to Jessica.

Jessica was so embarrassed that she continued eating her food quietly, focusing on it so that she didn’t have to look at Sooyoung again. She didn’t know that Sooyoung kept on stealing glances on her the whole night. Nobody noticed it except for Hara who has been watching Sooyoung closely.

*

The next day at work, Sooyoung was surprised to receive a text from Jessica.

From: My FRIEND Jessica

                        Hey, good morning. Thank you for the dinner last night.

Sooyoung chuckled. She didn’t prepare the dinner at all yet she received the thank you. Jessica was so excited when she saw that Sooyoung replied.

From: Baby

                        Hey, you shouldn’t thank me. Thank Sunny for the dinner. Oh, and don’t forget to thank Hara. The best carbonara ever.

Sooyoung was just teasing Jessica. She just wanted to know how Jessica will react. It took a while before Jessica replied to the text because she didn’t know how to reply. Jessica always ends up typing a jealous message that’s why she had to do the message again. She kept reminding herself that she has no right to be jealous.

From: My FRIEND Jessica

                        I will. The next time I’ll see here. Will you bring her over tonight again?

Sooyoung was surprised to see a very calm message from Jessica.

From: Baby

                        I guess I could ask her to come. She’s so great, right? I mean she’s perfect.

After sending the message, she realized that it was Jessica she’s texting with. She thought that it was Tiffany for a while. And now, she has to wait for the reaction of her ex-girlfriend. Pabo Sooyoung, she told herself.

Jessica’s heart sank when she read Sooyoung’s text. She decided not to reply anymore because she might not be able to control herself and end up saying things that she will regret later. She read the message over and over again, hoping that the message will refer to her instead and not Hara. But Sooyoung is talking about Hara. The reality really hurts. To make the matters worse, Sooyoung treated Jessica as a friend a while ago. They are after all, just friends now. That was the kind of thing a friend would do. Telling her about liking someone. Jessica wished that that someone could just be her.

Sooyoung waited for Jessica’s reply the whole day. She might deny it to everyone else and even to herself but it’s obvious that she still loves Jessica. She cares for her. She only has her eyes on her. She wants to follow her heart but her brain is the one doing the work this time. And that brain won’t let her heart be shattered into pieces again by the same girl. She’s not going back to being the fool who loved Jessica.

**

Jessica couldn’t take it anymore. She can’t be Sooyoung’s friend. She would never settle for that because she knows she will never love anyone else as much as she loves Sooyoung.

Jessica decided to call Sooyoung that night. She didn’t come over to Hyomin’s apartment. Sooyoung tried to hide it but she was actually disappointed when she didn’t see Jessica in the apartment when she came home from work. At the same time, she’s worried that something may have happened to Jessica. She jumped when she saw Jessica’s caller id. She calmed herself down before answering the phone in a very casual way.

“Hey.” Sooyoung said.

“Bab..” Jessica almost said baby but stopped upon realizing it. “Sooyoung, can we talk?”

Sooyoung smiled when she heard Jessica was about to call her baby. She missed hearing it from Jessica. “We are talking.” Sooyoung sounded so uninterested, complete opposite of what she’s actually feeling right now.

“Can we talk personally? It’s kinda important.”

Sooyoung sensed the seriousness in Jessica’s voice. “Sure.”

“Tomorrow, at breakfast. I’ll just text you the time and place.” Jessica said seriously.

“Okay.”

“Okay, bye.”

“W-wait.” Sooyoung tried to stop Jessica.

“Yes?”

“Are you okay?” Sooyoung asked.

Jessica was surprised to receive a show of concern from Sooyoung. “I’m fine. Thanks for the concern.” Jessica said while smiling.

Sooyoung suddenly became defensive. “Friends do that.”

“Yeah, right.” Jessica giggled. This made her night.

***

The next day, Sooyoung and Jessica met for breakfast. They met at a coffee shop and after eating, Jessica asked Sooyoung to walk with her around the park. Sooyoung agreed. They were quiet for a while until Jessica broke the silence.

“Sooyoung, I can’t do this anymore.” Jessica said in a soft voice.

Sooyoung looked at Jessica, not fully understanding what she’s talking about. “Huh?”

“This. Being friends with you. You can never be just a friend to me.” Jessica said while looking directly at Sooyoung’s eyes.

Sooyoung tried avoiding being lost at Jessica’s eyes and giggled instead. “I thought I made it clear that being friends is all I can offer to you.”

Jessica shook her head. “We never agreed on anything. You imposed that on me. But you can’t just dictate my heart just like that. I still love you Sooyoung. I never stopped loving you. Those six months that I have been apart from you is the worst time of my entire life. And now, seeing you moved on and seeing another girl beside you…You have no idea what I’m going through right now.” Jessica poured all her feelings to Sooyoung.

Sooyoung was surprised to see Jessica so bold right now, saying all things that she wanted to say. “You also have no idea what I’m going through right now, Jessica.”

“Why can’t we just go back to what we were? Back to us.” Jessica said with head down.

“It’s not that easy. I’m still broken, Jessica.” Sooyoung said as tears start flowing from her eyes. Jessica tried wiping it but Sooyoung  blocked her hand. “Don’t.”

Jessica tried controlling her emotions. “I’m not gonna be your friend, Sooyoung. But I’m not leaving your side.” Jessica said. She touched Sooyoung’s hand before walking away.

THE END IS NEAR.

Hahaha. i just had to say it like that.

The problem is I will have exams on the coming days, weeks actually...oh, i take it back. i will have exams till march until the sem ends. I don't know when I'll be able to update again. But I'll try to continue this phase. Maybe after 2 days...3 days...

After all, it's gonna end soon. so you just have to hang on just a little more.

I'll miss you after this fic! :))