Sooyoung knew about Jessica even before she met Jessica. When she was enrolled to start at Jeong Shin Women High School, her parents spoke of the daughter of one of their affiliates. Jessica, they said, was a sophomore at the school.

                  “She’s a only year older than you, but her maturity level is a few years more than yours.” Sooyoung’s mother said.

                  At that time, Sooyoung disliked this Jung Jessica who had her parents all googley-eyed and smittened with her perfectness. Sooyoung was not an honor student, nor was she a delinquent. She was one of those average kids who would not have stood out if it were not for her height. She always towered over the other girls at her schools, so they often idolized her like some sort of prince. Combined with her humorous and easygoing personality, she was rather popular everywhere she went.

                  Whispers and stolen glances were started on the very first day that Sooyoung stepped through the gates of Jeong Shin High. Sooyoung slipped off her sunglasses and made some girls squealed as she passed by. She was used to it, being tall with her short haircut made Sooyoung the prime cut in an all-girls school. To be honest, Sooyoung enjoyed the attention.

                  Her life in high school was idyllic and rather fun, if she had to admit it. She met Tiffany the first day and the two became fast friends. She put in the least effort because she only wanted to stay average in her class. The majority of the time, she played around with her friends and made herself the most likeable person in her class. Everyday felt like a blur as she easily navigated through high school. Until one day a month after the start, when she had to stay after class to fulfill her cleaning duty.

                  Sooyoung had just finished cleaning so she picked up her bag and prepared to leave to the room when there was a loud crash outside the door. Sooyoung opened the door to reveal a blonde haired woman on her hands and knees. There were paintbrushes, pencils, chalks and papers everywhere. The blonde was trying to gather everything back into some boxes that were also on the floor. Clearly, the other girl overestimated herself and carried more than she could handle. Sooyoung pitied the kid, so she quickly stepped in to help. Eventually, everything was put back to the boxes and Sooyoung got to take a closer look at the other girl.

                  The blonde was a meek looking girl with flustered pink cheeks. “Thank you very much.” She huffed and bowed to Sooyoung. She was pretty, but Sooyoung had seen a lot of pretty girls, so there was not much of an impression. Though, Sooyoung thought her voice was sweet, with a hint of a foreign accent.

                  Sooyoung was surprised that the other girl was an upperclassman, as designated by the pin on her blazer. She was at least a head shorter than Sooyoung. “You’re welcome.” Sooyoung smiled and nodded before she her heels to walk away, thinking that her job was done.

                  “You’re leaving?” That sweet voice had a hint of disbelief and whininess.

                  Sooyoung stopped and looked back at the voice’s owner. “Um … yeah … school’s over.” She raised her brow when the other girl pointed at the boxes. “What?”

                  “Aren’t you going to help me?”

                  “Um … why should I?” Sooyoung was not sure how to reply to the expectant girl.

                  “So I don’t drop everything again.” The blonde replied very matter-of-factly.

                  Sooyoung was dumbfounded by the boldness of the girl. She thought that the blonde must be some sort of rich princess from the way that she was expecting Sooyoung to help her. “Is that how you ask for help?” She asked with a mildly amused smile on her lips.

                  “Yes. You’re an underclassman, right? You’re supposed to do what your sunbae tell you.” Blondie reasoned.

                  Sooyoung stared at the other girl for a while and wondered why she was fascinated with this obnoxious girl, who was barely any older than her. “Sure, since you asked so nicely.” She sarcastically joked and picked up half of the boxes. “Lead on.”

                  Blondie smiled and carried half the boxes toward the exit. The boxes covered her small frame, so she was barely visible behind the cardboard. They went outside the building and loaded the boxes into a large four-wheeled cart that already had boxes on it.

Sooyoung stacked her boxes neatly before she stood back with her hands on her hips. “Alright, see ya.” She waved to the shorter woman.

                  “Where do you think you’re going?” Blondie narrowed her eyes.

                  “I helped you with these boxes already …” Sooyoung pointed to the cart. “Don’t tell me you expect me to push this cart, too.”

                  Blondie nodded and patted the handle of the cart. “Um … duh! Do you expect me to push this huge cart by myself?”

                   “You’re not serious …” Sooyoung was sure that the blonde was joking, since no one was this demanding … right?

                  “I am.”

                  “Okay …” Half curious, Sooyoung nodded and grabbed the handle of the cart. She leaned her body forward and pushed, but the heavy cart barely budged. It creaked and rolled for a few inches before a pebble stopped one of its wheels.

                  “Put your back into it!” Blondie came and pushed next to Sooyoung.

                  “I AM!” Sooyoung growled as she strained against the cart. Finally, its creaking wheels rolled at a steady pace out of the school’s gate.

                  “Are you seriously this weak? For a giant, you’re not very strong!” Blondie complained.

                  “Yah! Who said tall people need to be strong?!” Sooyoung frowned at the ungrateful girl. “Where are we pushing this thing anyways?”

                  After they were out of the gate, they turned right and headed toward a small hill. Both felt the weight of the cart as they set on an incline of the hill. Sooyoung pushed with all her might, but her thin legs and arms barely had enough strength to push on a flat road, much less a hill. She gritted her teeth and leaned her body against the cart’s handle, working against gravity. She cursed herself for her lack of strength and endurance.

                  “We are bringing this to an orphanage nearby.” Blondie put in as much work as Sooyoung. “Our grade collected school supplies for the kids there.”

                  “And why are you bringing this stuff there by yourself?” Sooyoung’s cheeks were red with effort. They were halfway up the hill.

                  “I’m not alone, I’ve got you with me, Choi Sooyoung.”

                  Sooyoung gasped, her big eyes shot open in surprise. “How’d you know my name?”

                  “It says so on your name tag.” Blondie pointed out the obvious.

                  “Oh.” Sooyoung looked down on the tag that was pinned to her blazer. “I knew that …” She looked at the other girl for a name tag, but Blondie did not wear one. “So … what’s your name, blondie?”

                  “Jessica, Jung Jessica … whew … we’ve made it!” Jessica let out a loud breath of relief when they reached the top of the hill.

                  Sooyoung stopped and stared at the older girl. She could not believe that this was the same Jessica that her mom was harping about. The girl was bossy, but interesting, unlike the bookish nerd that Sooyoung had imagined in her head. She hated to admit it, but Jessica was kind of cute. Her blonde hair was in loose curls around her small shoulders, while her eyes were brown and wide with surprise. Why were they surprised?

                  “THE CART!” Jessica looked horrified.

                  Immediately after the top of the hill was a steady decline of a downward slope. While Sooyoung was busy staring at Jessica, the cart had gained enough momentum that it started slipping down the slope. Jessica, whose hand still held tightly onto the handle, was being pulled along with it.

                  “Oh no!” Sooyoung fretted and dashed after the runaway cart. She grabbed onto the handle and used her feet as manual brakes to slow it down. It took all of her and Jessica’s strength to safely deliver the cart to the bottom of the hill.

                  “Why did you let go?!”  Jessica was red with irritation and exhaustion.

                  Sooyoung did not want to admit that she was staring, so she shrugged, “I didn’t know that it was going to go downhill right away.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her blazer before she continued to push the cart. She hoped that Jessica would drop the question. Thankfully, Jessica accepted it as an appropriate answer. They continued to push the cart toward the unknown orphanage.

                  “So you didn’t answer my question. Why did you decide to deliver this cart alone?” Sooyoung made conversation after some moments of silence.

                  Jessica looked at her and shrugged. “No one else stayed after school to help and I wanted to quickly get this to the kids.”

                  “I see … then you decide to accost me to help?”

                  “Yes, since you didn’t seem like you had anywhere important to be.” Jessica smiled and Sooyoung was taken by the brilliance of those pearly white teeth.

                  “Ah, I see.” Sooyoung grinned at the simplicity of Jessica’s answers. “I guess I also looked like a pushover?”

                  “A little.” Jessica coyly nodded before she pointed at a building a few hundred feet away. “There it is, we’re almost there!”

                  “Okay, good. My back is killing me.” Sooyoung tightened her grip on the handle and put in her effort for the last stretch.

                  “Hey!” Jessica laughed because she was surprised by Sooyoung’s quick pace. “That’s the spirit!” She quickened her steps as well.

                  The two girls laughed as they made a mad dash with the cart toward the orphanage. Once there, Sooyoung remained in the courtyard to look after the cart while Jessica went to the office. It was an old school building, as evident by the aged look of the brick. The dirt courtyard felt comfortable with each step. In the middle of it, there was a statue of the orphanage’s founder.

While Sooyoung stood next to the cart, some of the children, who were playing soccer nearby, noticed her. Her height and uniform drew their attention so they came wandering closer. They giggled and looked shyly in her direction, so she smiled and waved at them.

                  “Unni, what are you doing here?” A little girl in pig-tails asked her.

                  “I’m delivering some school supplies for you guys.”

                  “Oh really? So we get new things?” A little boy clapped excitedly.

                  “Yep. Your teachers will pass them out to you soon, I’d imagine.” Sooyoung smiled and ruffled his little head.

                  “So you’re not here to adopt us?” Another girl asked, this time she hugged Sooyoung’s long legs.

                  Sooyoung’s eyes burned as she looked down on that innocent face. She sighed and petted the girl’s head. “I’m only in highschool, I can’t adopt yet.” She was sober with pity for these kids. “I’m sorry.” Her thumb brushed against the soft cheek of the child.

                  “Do you want to play with us?” The girl accepted her answer with a bright smile.

                  “I don’t know how to play soccer.” Sooyoung smiled.

                  “I can teach you.” Someone said behind her, causing Sooyoung to turned around to be greeted with Jessica’s warm smile.

                  Sooyoung remembered briefly hearing that Jessica played soccer from her mother, but it did not matter until this moment. “Sure.” Sooyoung nodded, for reasons she did not know, since she at anything athletic. That was the one thing that she thought was uncool about herself. Despite her gangly height, she usually failed at things that required hand-eye coordination.

                  “Can I join you guys?” Jessica chirped at the kids. She matched the children’s energy.

                  “YES!” It was unanimous.

                  Two boys grabbed Sooyoung’s hands and dragged her toward the other side of the courtyard, where they had set up buckets as goalposts. Sooyoung looked at Jessica, who was being led by two little girls. The blonde smiled at her when she was caught looking. For some unknown reason, Sooyoung blushed and looked away.

                  Jessica quickly went over the rules of the game with Sooyoung before they started. Whatever good impression the children had of her quickly dissipated and they laughed while she stumbled around. Despite her long legs, Sooyoung was much slower than the kids, who scurried from one side to the other. After all the trouble that she went through to deliver the cart, Sooyoung was exhausted. A soccer game was far from restful.

                  Jessica, on the other hand, excelled at the game. She skillfully dribbled the ball toward the goal and her shots were deadly accurate. Her team celebrated her succession of goals while Sooyoung’s team pouted at her for not being as cool. After an hour, or eternity for Sooyoung, the children were called inside for dinner and Sooyoung realized that the sun had started setting.

                  Sooyoung bent over and huffed after the children bid them goodbye. Her sweat soaked her white blouse while her hair was matted against her skin. She panted heavily while Jessica giggled.

                  “Are you okay?” The blonde girl asked with an amused smiled.

                  Sooyoung straightened her back and nodded. “Yea.” was parched. “I finally warmed up.”

                  “Oh I see. So all that running around like a headless chicken was your warm up?”

                  “Yep … I let your team win, since I didn’t want to see you cry in front of the children.” Sooyoung grinned cockily and wiped her sweat off again.

                  “Here, us this, as thanks for letting us win.” Jessica handed Sooyoung a handkerchief.

                  “Monogramed handkerchief?” Sooyoung eyed the corner of the light violet cloth. “You fancy, huh?”

                  Jessica rolled her eyes and started toward the gate of the orphanage. Sooyoung followed with a smile. She dabbled the lavender scented cloth across her forehead and cheeks, feeling the smoothness of the fabric against her skin. She was distracted until she realized that Jessica was talking to her.

                  “I’m going this way.” Jessica nodded toward one direction and Sooyoung nodded toward the other.

                  “I’m this way.” Sooyoung gestured toward the opposite.

                  “Well, I’ll you around at school, then.”

                  “I’ll wash this and return it to you tomorrow.” Sooyoung held up the handkerchief. “It was nice meeting you, Jung Jessica.”

                  Jessica nodded and smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Choi Sooyoung. You’re just as cool as the rumors said.”

                  Sooyoung’s brows knitted together in confusion as she watched Jessica walked away. “What did she mean?” She mumbled to herself and turned in the direction of her home. The entire way, she thought about the blonde headed girl, who was definitely the most interesting person she’s met in highschool.

                  After her mother scolded her for coming home late, Sooyoung quickly gulped down her dinner and then retreated to her room. She hopped onto her bed and pulled out the violet handkerchief. Her fingertip traced the white embroidering of Jessica’s initials, ‘JJ’. She smiled unconsciously and sniffed the lavender scent that still lingered on the fabric. She made her way to the bathroom to wash it so that she could return it to Jessica the next day. The thought of seeing the blonde again made her happy and excited in the strangest way.

                  That was the beginning of Sooyoung and Jessica’s highschool adventures. Never could they have known that they would fall in love with each other. Never would they have guessed the trials and tribulations that they would face.

Hello there :) This update is a short break from the drama. I think it'd be good for us to understand  the circumstances which Sooyoung met Jessica and Yuri sinc she met each at very different points in her life.  The first time Soori met will be in the next chapter. 

I have to thank everyone for reading and commenting. I must have the best readers/subscribers here since I spend about as much time  replying to comments/mails/wallposts as I would on a chapter. You guys are awesome and enjoy talking to everyone. You inspire me to think about adding different dimensions to the characters. You rock!