The group arrives at a shopping mall, which was not too far from the university. Even though it was a weekday afternoon, there was a lot of people walking around and shopping.

Tiffany was busy telling Jessica about her first meeting with Irene’s group, while the others were having a discussion about what to do.

“Where are we going first?” inquires Yuri, looking around. She smiles at an attractive girl walking by. Unfortunately for Yuri, the girl simply gives her a look of confusion in return.

“I vote for the food court, because what I had at the café wasn’t very good!” suggests Yoona, tossing her empty water bottle into a trash can.

“Whoa, I was just about to say the same thing!” Sooyoung agrees enthusiastically, patting Yoona’s back.

Hyoyeon puts her blonde hair up into a bun. “I ain’t going to the food court! I want to go to the arcade and kick all your asses in DDR!”

“No way, I’m so good that people think I’m a professional dancer!” Yuri says confidently.

Hyoyeon starts stretching her calf muscles, using Taeyeon’s shoulder for support. “What a coincidence, that’s what people say about me too!”

“I don’t remember anyone saying that about you, Yul!” Sooyoung uses her phone to see which restaurants were at the food court. Hmm, I think getting a burger would be perfect.

“Playing video games sounds like the perfect way to unwind after a rough day at school!” Sunny checks to see how much money she has in her wallet. Yay, I still have so much money left over from buying food and school supplies! It’s time to spend it all at the mall!

“Alright then, let’s go to the arcade first. You gluttons can meet us after you eat your second lunch,” Taeyeon says to Yoona and Sooyoung.

“Don’t hate on tall people because we need extra food!” Yoona says teasingly as she leaves with Sooyoung.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself!” Sooyoung gives Yoona a high five.

Jessica looks at Tiffany. “Would you mind having another private talk with me?”

“Anything for you, sweetheart,” Tiffany replies playfully.

Jessica smacks her arm. She then sends a text message to Hyoyeon, saying that she and Tiffany will join them later.

Tiffany and Jessica separate from the group as they begin walking around in the mall.

Tiffany smiles as she thinks about how far they have come. Jess is definitely getting more comfortable with me now. She has an easier time talking to me, asking to take walks with me so that we can have our privacy, and even giving me a hug!

Jessica glances at Tiffany before interrupting the younger girl’s thoughts. I wonder what she’s smiling about? Whatever it is, I think it’s cute. “I wanted to tell you a little more about my situation. I owe you that much.”

Tiffany really wanted to learn the details of Jessica’s relationship, but now that she knows how sensitive the topic is for the older girl, Tiffany was willing to wait. “You don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with doing that.”

Jessica gives her a smile in response. “I am comfortable.”

The response and the smile cause the younger girl’s heart to flutter. “Really? That means a lot to me!” she says, smiling happily. I think she trusts me now! She’s finally going to tell me about her relationship!

Jessica gives her a look of amusement, and then her expression becomes more serious as she remembers their discussion. I can’t let myself get distracted by how adorable Tiff is being right now. “So, as I’ve said before, I have a girlfriend. Sort of.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tiffany asks curiously as they sat down on a bench, side by side.

Jessica crosses her legs as she faces the younger girl. “I’ll give you some background first. My girlfriend’s name is Park Shin Hye, and we’ve been dating for about three years now. We met in high school, and she was the first and only girlfriend I’ve had.

Everything was great for about two years, but we slowly began drifting apart after that. We did what we could to try to keep our relationship going, but certain problems just kept getting worse.

More specifically, she was increasingly going out more often, and was continuously flirting with other girls.”

“Ooh, flirting outside of a relationship is a really touchy subject for a lot of people. What are your thoughts on that?” asks Tiffany.

Jessica frowns slightly. “I don’t like it at all. I think flirting should only be done when you have intentions of getting with someone.”

Tiffany nods thoughtfully. “Why was she going out more often?”

“We were having fights about her flirting, so she said she wanted some space in the relationship,” answers Jessica, getting briefly distracted by Tiffany’s bare legs. The younger girl’s jean shorts were quite short, and were showing plenty of her thighs. She has really nice legs... No, focus on the story! You don’t want to get caught staring at her legs!

Jessica quickly re-establishes eye contact. “So, um, where was I? Oh, right. Flirting. Shin Hye has a completely different view; she says flirting is alright as long as it’s harmless, and the couple trusts each other. And that leads to the problem I have with one of Shin Hye’s close friends, Lee Ji Eun.

She and my girlfriend like to flirt with each other. Shin Hye always claimed that it was just meaningless flirting, and that they’ve always done that as friends before Shin Hye met me; but I’ve never felt comfortable with it. It just feels like they go too far with their flirting. So obviously, we were having fights because of that.”