Yuri looks over at Tiffany and Jessica sitting at their own little booth, away from the rest of the group. Whoa, what’s going on? I wasn’t expecting to see them sitting together! “Am I imagining things? I think I actually see Jessica sitting and talking with Tiff!”

“Yeah, they’re having a conversation. You’re not hallucinating,” assures Sooyoung before taking a bite of her waffle cone.

“So Jessica isn’t trying to avoid Tiff anymore?”

“I have no idea,” mumbles Sooyung, chewing. Her priority was the ice cream. Answering questions was a distant second.

Yuri stares intently at the pair, trying to see their facial expressions. Maybe Fany has taken my advice and showed assertiveness? “What are they talking about?”

“It looked like they were having a serious conversation at first, but things seemed have gotten a bit more lighthearted now,” answers Yoona, who had been observing the two girls as soon as they left the group. She figured Jessica was going to tell Tiffany about how she felt about relationships and was feeling sorry for her brunette friend. It is better to let Fany know sooner rather than later, but I still feel bad for her.

Fany doesn’t have crushes very often, but when she does have one, she usually gets really invested in them.

“Are you two done over there? We’re about to leave!” Taeyeon calls out to Tiffany and Jessica.

“Unless, of course, you want some time to yourselves in privacy,” teases Sooyoung.

Yuri joins in. “Ooh, is that why you’re sitting over there? Have you girls started kissing yet?”

Jessica quickly stands up and puts a little distance between herself and Tiffany. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Tiffany grins playfully at Jessica from her seat. “Friends do kiss, you know. Sometimes even on the lips.”

“Then I should reconsider being your friend,” Jessica replies, with a hint of teasing in her voice, as she starts walking over to the group.

Tiffany maintains her playful tone. “I saw you trying to hide that smile when I mentioned kisses on the lips!”

“I think you’re getting delirious from the lack of sleep.”

Maybe I’m getting delirious because of how beautiful you are. Tiffany sighs as she watches Jessica rejoin Hyoyeon and Seohyun.

At least we’re sort of talking now. It’s slightly better than how it was at the beginning.

But she seemed pretty reluctant to be friends with me.

As the group starts heading out of the ice cream shop, Hyoyeon observes the statures of her friends. “It’s kind of funny how we have these different extremes in heights! You have the tall girls like Seohyun, Sooyoung, and Yoona, and then the short girls like-”

“Ok, we know, we don’t need to go into that!” interrupts Sunny.

“Don’t be so rude! I want to hear who she was going to mention!” Yuri scolds with amusement.

“Yeah, short girls like who, Hyoyeon?” asks Sooyoung, grinning.

Taeyeon rolls her eyes. “Yeah, ha ha, we’re short. That’s so hilarious.”

Sooyoung starts laughing. “It actually is, when you say it like that!”

Just then, a relatively tall girl with a pretty, innocent face walks into the shop. She casually glances at the group.

Not seeming to find anyone she recognized, she was just about to turn her attention to the counter when she locks eyes with Jessica.

“Oh! Hello Jess! Didn’t expect to see you here,” the girl says with a pleasant smile.

Jessica smiles politely, looking like she wanted to say something, but she changes her mind. “Yeah, me neither.”

The girl hesitates, as if she was uncertain about what to say. “I haven’t seen you in awhile! You… look good.”

“We were just leaving.”

The girl nods with understanding. “It was nice seeing you, even though it was really brief.”

Jessica doesn’t respond as she starts walking out of the ice cream shop.

Meanwhile, Tiffany and her friends were staring at the two girls as they interacted, as if they were watching an intense drama scene.

“What was that?” questions Yoona as soon as they rejoined Jessica outside of the shop.

Confusion was also clearly written on Sooyoung’s face. “Yeah, like, what the hell just happened?”

Sunny gives Jessica a puzzled look. “Do you know her, Jess?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious!” replies Taeyeon as she and Yuri stare through the shop’s window to watch what the girl was doing, as if that was going to give them a clue about the unexpected event.

“Damn, that girl is fine… and she’s got some nice s!” approves Yuri.

Taeyeon just smiles in response.

Tiffany was also completely confused by the interaction. That was really strange. The girl was being nice to Jess, but Jess just seemed to not want to talk to her. Sort of like how she was with me.

Maybe she’s just another girl that is interested in Jess, but Jess told her that she’s not interested in relationships?

Tiffany watches Jessica stare off into the distance, as if in deep thought, with an unreadable expression on her face. She’s so pretty. I think I can just stare at her all day.

I shouldn’t do that though, because she already doesn’t have a very high opinion of me.

“Jess?” Tiffany says after a moment of admiring the other girl.

Jessica turns to her with an impassive look.

“Is she another one of those girls you rejected because you don’t want to be in a relationship?” asks Tiffany.

Jessica hesitates. “I suppose you could see it that w