Hyukjae winced as he reached over his swollen ankles and tried to place the ice pack he was holding at just the right place. He could feel the heat around his leg starting to spread and the throbbing pain that occurred every few seconds was just barely manageable for him to handle. No matter how many times he shifted his body weight to not put pressure on his injury, it still bothered him enough that the slightest movement would make him wince in pain. It didn't help that the bruise he saw forming around the base of his ankle was starting to spread. 

"Yah, meongcheong-ah, how are you feeling?" Kyuhyun asked upon entering the small emergency tent where Hyukjae was currently hiding in. "I got that bandage you were asking for. Well-...Donghae got it for you. He just handed it to me to give to you since you're so hell bent over on using this tent as your turtle shell."

Hyukjae scowled at Kyuhyun's attitude and abruptly extended his hand out for the other to toss the bandage to him. 

"I wanna go home." Hyukjae mumbled while carefully bending his knee and starting the wrap at the bottom of his foot before slowly making his way up around his injured ankle. He made sure to wrap it tight and with just enough pressure so it could help support his weight later on. 

Kyuhyun, although sympathetic to his friend's condition,  couldn't help the small smirk and playful smile that showed on his face. He crossed his arms across his chest before casually leaning his shoulder against the pole that held the tent up while carefully observing Hyukjae from afar. 

"How long are you going to be pouting for?"

Hyukjae huffed and looked at Kyuhyun with a sharp glare. 

"I just twisted my ankle and made a scene in front of everybody, and since I'm currently debating whether or not I should quit my job in order to save myself from any further embarrassment, I think I'm entitled to pout today for as long as I want to."

Kyuhyun resisted the urge to roll his eyes at him. "That was your own damn fault and you know it."

Hyukjae couldn't believe his ears. "What?"

"You heard me." Kyuhyun unfolded his arms before taking a seat opposite Hyukjae on the available cot inside the tent. "If you weren't so busy watching Jessica's every move you wouldn't have fallen off the ledge." He then let out an amused quiet chuckle as he placed his hands behind him and tilted his head sideways to show just how interesting he found Hyukjae's current predicament to be. "You know, I never pegged you for the jealous type."

Hyukjae crossed his brows at the description and grabbed the empty bandage box and threw it at the other. Kyuhyun was unfazed by the attack and doubled over it in laughter at Hyukjae's reaction. 

"Yah! I'm not jealous!" 

Kyuhyun laughed louder which made Hyukjae puff out his chest, torn between defending himself or if he should just straight up choke his best friend to death. Either way, he knew it wouldn't stop Kyuhyun from laughing at him. 

*Earlier...*

Arriving at the venue of their company retreat, Hyukjae made a quick dash to the staff area as soon as Donghae's car stopped at the lot. He did not say a single word to either Donghae or Kyuhyun before disappearing off to where the staff coordinator was currently signing all of the employees in. 

"Well, that's rude." Kyuhyun said as he too got out of Donghae's car. 

"You're telling me," Donghae agreed with a small laugh. "He practically molested me before coming here then never said another word about it." 

Kyuhyun looked at Donghae and smirked. "Molested you?" A loud 'ha!' followed his statement which illicited a wide grin from Donghae. "From where I was standing, you were doing plenty of 'molesting' yourself."

"I was merely returning the favor." Donghae argued as he scanned around the area in search of Hyukjae. "I would never deny Hyukjae of anything."

Kyuhyun faked a gagging sound before turning around to look for Hyukjae as well. It was more fun to tease Hyukjae. 

"You're finally here." 

Kyuhyun and Donghae both turned to see who it was coming their way only for the former to furrow his brows together in curiosity at the sight of the blonde hair girl approaching their way. He looked at Donghae and was even more curious when he saw the latter hosting a poker face. A complete 180 from his earlier playful appearance. 

"What are you doing here?" Donghae asked in a monotone manner. No one had told him that Jessica would be present in their retreat and he didn't want her to think that she could just waltz back into his life and pretend that things would be normal. "This is a closed retreat. You can't be here." 

Jessica just smiled at Donghae and disregarded what he said. Instead, she turned towards Kyuhyun who was still standing next to Donghae and extended a hand out. "Hi," she greeted, smile still perfectly in place despite the lost and confused look on Kyuhyun's face. "I'm Jessica. What's your name?"

Jessica? Kyuhyun blinked as his brain finally registered the person in front of him. So she's the one Hyukjae's been so insecure about. 

"Kyuhyun. Cho Kyuhyun," he replied as he reached his hand forward and carefully shook her hand. "I'm a visitor of Donghae."

"Of Donghae?" They both didn't miss the surprise look on her face. "O-Oh really?...I- I don't think we've met before though..."

"No," Kyuhyun confirmed all too proudly. "No, we haven't." 

It was petty, he admits, but a quick side look at Donghae and he was sure the other was just as grateful to him as Hyukjae would be if he were to find out that he'd just silenced Donghae's supposed ex right up by a simple introduction. He has no idea the reason for Jessica's presence but based on Donghae's greeting to her earlier and the mere fact that his best friend didn't like her was all the information he needed  to not be nice to her either. If she was here to play mind games, then Kyuhyun's more than happy to play with her. 

"I'm going to find Hyukjae. I'm sure he's waiting for us." Kyuhyun told Donghae then turned to Jessica with the most innocent smile he could muster and with as much genuity as he could said, "It was nice meeting you. I'm sure I'll see you around." 

"Yeah," she chuckled lightly in response trying to swallow the perturbed feeling she felt at the prospect that Donghae now has people in his life she had absolutely no idea about. "I'll see you." 

Kyuhyun's back was already on her and she just knew that he had to have been a friend of Hyukjae for him to treat her like that. There was nothing in Donghae's life she didn't know about and the only thing different now, as far as she could tell, was a certain someone named Lee Hyukjae. Her mind reflecting back in meeting room when she saw that love struck expression on his face and suddenly. she wasn't so sure she should be here anymore. 

"Go home, Jessica." Donghae interrupted her train of thought. As soon as Kyuhyun was out of ear shot, he stood in front of her line of sight and made sure that she knew he meant every word that came out of his mouth. "This is a retreat for me to get to know my employees. You shouldn't be here."

"You mean to get to know Hyukjae." It was hard to decipher whether she meant that accusingly or if she was just merely stating a fact. Either way, Donghae couldn't be bothered to find out. Jessica on the other hand stared intensely at the back of Donghae's head, willing him to turn around and face her so that they could have a proper conversation. "I'm not an idot, Donghae. I saw the way you look at him."

Donghae stood still from his spot but didn't show any attempt that he would turn around to face her. 

"And?" He said, eyes looking straight ahead into nothing. 

Jessica's right brow twitched at the nonchalant response she heard from Donghae. She wanted to scoff; to scream; to force Donghae to turn around and face her so she could look directly into his eyes and make him see that she still loved him, but she had too much pride for that. She knew she was the one that walked away...that she was the one that opened that door for Donghae to seek solice in someone else. She just didn't know that he would actually find someone else. 

"Are you really going to be like this?" She asked, still masking the pain she felt inside with her tone of anger. "How could you have changed this much? You're not the Lee Donghae I know."

At that statement, Donghae briskly turned around so he could stare her directly in the eyes and show that the next words to come out of his mouth came from the heart. Although surprised at the sudden change in his demeanor, Jessica stood her ground and stared right back at Donghae. However, what he saw in those eyes were nothing like she'd seen before. It was like staring at a complete stranger...like staring at someone she's never met before...and it pained her to admit that. 

"I'm going to tell you something that you should hear directly from me and not anybody else. So listen good and listen well. " Donghae took a step closer to her while maintaining eye contact. Using their height difference to his advantage, he looked down at her and made sure that she heard every single word he was about to say clearly. "I'm not the Lee Donghae you once knew. You're looking at a completely different man and right now. You're in my past, Jessica. You mean nothing to me now." 

Jessica's heart throbbed at his words. There was a sense of finality in how he said it that her mind went blank while a million pins and needles pricked her heart. The weight and intensity of it all took control of her body and before she even realized what she was doing, her hand was already going around Donghae's nape as she clashed their lips together into a forced one-sided kiss. Donghae's eyes widened in shock and within the next second, had grabbed both her arms and pushed her away from him. 

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

Without missing a beat, she said, "Reminding you of who I am." 

The sudden sound of someone clearing their throat caught both Donghae and Jessica's attention. They both turned to see who it was and found Leeteuk staring quite disapprovingly at the both of them. 

"We're waiting on you," he said looking at Donghae before shifting his eyes to look at Jessica. "I'm sure your team is looking for you as well." 

It took them a few seconds to realize what Leeteuk was referring to but as soon as his words finally sunk in, Donghae let Jessica go and stalked off to where he could hear a few of his employees starting their team chant. He left Jessica and Leeteuk behind without a second thought while he angrily wiped his lips with the back of his hand. His heart and mind now only occupied with guilt towards Hyukjae and how much he hated the fact that Jessica has now tainted his memory of his and Hyukjae's first kiss. 

...he really wished they had stayed at his apartment instead. 

~+~+~+~+~+~

"Welcome everybody to our annual company retreat!" Hyori stood on top of the bench for everyone to see as she greeted them all with her bright smile and cheery voice. She made sure to bow from left to right in greeting while the rest of the staff clapped along with her. "This year will be the battle of the departments and for this year's winning department , all team members will get an extra week of paid vacation and an all expense paid trip to Hawaii!"

A surrounding loud "whoop!" was heard from everyone as they all got excited for this year's prize. She mirrorered everyone's excitement while she took her little clipboard from behind and started reading off this year's teams. 

"Alright, alright!" She called out trying to get everyone quiet enough before making her announcement. "This year, we have four different teams competing for the grand prize. First up: we have our R&P (Research and Production) team in red!" Everyone wearing their red shirts cheered and raised their hands up in the air trying to make themselves as loud as possible. 

"In yellow, we have our Production and QC (Quality Control) team!" A scattered round of applause and faint shout or two was heard causing everyone to laugh at their awkward team spirit. Hyori too laughed at their awkwardness thinking it was already fun to see how they would work together. "I'm really rooting for this team, specially now that they have their international CMO and President Jessica Jung joining them today." Hyori clapped her hands together and used her clipboard to direct their attention over to her, who stood at the very back of the group, shyly bowing her head and giving a wave or two to those that greeted her. 

Donghae kept his eyes at Hyori as he pretended that he didn't hear a word she just said. He was so focused on keeping a stoic face that he failed to acknowledge that Hyukjae has been standing a few feet to his side staring at him for the past ten minutes. 

"In Blue, we have our Marketing team!" Shindong and Kwanghee were two of the loudest members of their team. Even going so far as to perform a silly bubbly dance in front of everyone trying to raise more cheer for themselves. Hyukjae watched his friends performance and laughed loudly at their silliness. His eyes was so focused and entranced by their child-like dance that he didn't even notice that Donghae was now staring at him, a small smil