I could feel Jessi’s suspicion towards Tae and me. It made me feel really guilty, but there was nothing I could really do about it. So the result of that was awkward silences and even more awkward conversations.

This unsettled me. If you knew me, you’d know that I hate silences such as these, and that the term ‘awkward silence’ is very much in my vocabulary, unlike Jessi. Which is where the awkward conversations came from. I would try to start a conversation, but Jessi would just give a word one answer, or just not even answer with words, but with her head.

So after we returned our plates, I walked up to her and gripped her arm. “What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to look at her in the eye.

She averted her gaze. “Erm, nothing,” she replied, continuing to walk with her arm trapped within mine.

“Psh, I know you better than that Jessi. C’mon, tell me~” I said, trying to use my aegyo to persuade her. I knew it wouldn’t work though; she had over ten years to develop a resistance to it. “Please?” I pleaded, but she stubbornly looked away.

After walking for a little more, she looked at me. “What were you and Taeng talking about?”

I sighed. “Sorry, but I can’t tell you until we verify what we’ve been discussing. I don’t want to mislead you or anything. You trust me, right?” She smiled sadly, nodding in reassurance. I smiled, then pecked her on the lips. “Thanks for trusting us, Jessi. You’ll know by tomorrow, I swear.”

She seemed a bit dazed by the light kiss. “U-Uh, ok,” she said, half out of it.

I gave her a bright smile and motioned for Taeyeon to join us. She was walking slightly behind us, sensing that we needed a private talk together. There was another good point about Taeyeon; she was sensitive to others’ wants and desires, in this case, privacy, and always did her best to respect them.

We had already planned out this weekend beforehand, so as soon as we finished breakfast, we headed towards the bus stop (and back to our room because of Jessi, claiming that she forgot something).

I felt an unexplainable happiness and anxiety around her. It felt like elementary school again, where my crush on her caused me to be excited just by being within her proximity. The feeling was overwhelming, but extremely welcome. In fact, I loved the feeling; being around Jessi just made me so inexplicably happy … I guess you’d just have to be in love yourself to understand what it feels like.

“Jessi,” I said, turning my head sideways to look at her.

The bus ran over a small bump, but us being in the back of the bus amplified it to a degree that it caused us to almost kiss each other. I grinned as her eyes opened in surprise on the closeness of our lips.

“Hm?” she answered, recovering from her shock quickly.

“I love you,” I told her, smiling lovingly while looking into her eyes. She, however, shyed away from my gaze quickly. I could see her cheeks turn a little red, which caused me to chuckle.

“I-I love you too, Tiff,” she replied, stuttering in an adorable fashion.

“Omo, Sica you’re so cute!” Tae squealed excitedly. I looked at Tae, who was holding fists at . I frowned and looked back at Jessi.

“W-What—” I cut her off with a kiss. After a few seconds, I pulled away and observed her once again, shocked face. I giggled at the sight. “W-Wait, … why…?”

I shrugged. “Because I can,” I replied, smiling widely. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Also, because I love kissing you,” I continued. Jessi turned slightly redder.

“Kissing you baby~” I heard Tae sing softly.

“Yah, Jessi is mine,” I told her, hugging her protectively. Although she knew I was joking around, we both knew that this was on the subject of our conversations, which was to be taken seriously. It was also a little reminder from me.

She nodded. “Sorry,” she said, smiling.

I stuck my tongue out at her, which she returned.

“Ok, I know I’m hot and all that, but there’s no need to fight over me,” Jessi said, interrupting us.

“Yeah. You’re mine,” I said, tightening my grip on her. I smiled at her, which she returned. “You didn’t look away this time,” I noted, bringing my face close enough that our noses brushed.

She closed her eyes tightly and brushed her nose, touching it several times before backing away. I giggled at her action. In my peripheral vision, though, I saw a very sad looking Taeyeon. I felt bad for her, but there was nothing I could do about it. If she desired a relationship, it was best for her to make up her mind first.

0*0*0*0

I gasped. “Oh my god, Jessi look at that!” I squealed at this gorgeous pink dress that was on display.

“You know you can’t afford that,” she told me.

I frowned. “Yeah, I know. You don’t have to be such a downer,” I pouted. She laughed. “Imagine me in that dress though. Would I look good?” I asked her, turning my head sideways at her.

She pondered it for a second. “You’d look absolutely beautiful in that dress,” she replied. I felt a swelling sense of joy come about me, causing me to smile widely.

“Thank you, Jessi!” I said, squeezing her hand a bit, as our hands were already connected.

She turned and looked at me. “You’re—are you blushing?”

“Hm?” as she asked that, I did feel a bit of heat gathering at my face. “Well, you just called me … I mean, who wouldn’t blush if a beautiful person as you compliment her?” I said, defending myself.

She smiled. “I wouldn’t.”

I stared at her blankly, trying to process what she said. “Wait, what?”

“I wouldn’t blush if someone more beautiful than me complimented me,” she said, smiling at me.

My blush deepened. “Yo-You…” I started, unable to finish as an overwhelming feeling of happiness devoured me. I looked away from her as she giggled at me.

“You’re even more beautiful when you blush,” she whispered to me. I just about felt my face explode.

“Y-Yah, do you want me to die from a heat ?” I tried to say firmly, but ended up stuttering horribly.

“No; I just want to convey my thoughts about you to you,” she said. I swear I was the happiest person alive at that moment. Even though part of me knew that she wasn’t at least completely in love with me yet, I couldn’t help but feel an immense pleasure in hearing those words from her. It was like lemon poppy seed muffins for ears; it was pleasantly addicting.

“Wow I feel like such a third wheel right now…” I heard Tae mutter. I heard this though and stopped briefly to allow Tae to catch up to us.

“No need for that, TaeTae,” I told her, grabbing her hand as well.

“Yah, don’t make me jealous,” Jessi said, pouting adorably.

“Hm?” I said, pretending to be oblivious, still holding Tae’s hand.

“You’re holding her hand b—” I was again cut her off with a kiss, releasing Tae’s hand in the meantime.

“Don’t be jealous, Jessi,” I cooed after pulling away, tracing her jaw with a finger. “I wouldn’t ever leave you for Tae.”

“Well it looks like Taeng is enjoying this a lot,” she said, leaning in to whisper to me. I chuckled silently, not bothering to look behind me.

“Well TaeTae, you know where the restaurant is, so lead away,” I told her, motioning for her to step in front of us. I gripped Jessi’s hand again and followed Tae forward.

0*0*0*0

“Ooh, that looks good TaeTae. Let me try some!” I said, bringing my fork towards Tae’s plate.

She pulled away though. “No! Mine,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me. Then, she continued to eat while eyeing me with a smirk on her face.

I frowned. “Humph. Meanie,” I said as I watched her, for some reason.

“Tiff, you can have some of mine,” I heard Jessi say, pushing her plate closer to me.

“Really? Thank you, Jessi!” I replied, smiling and transferring a little bit of her dish onto mine. “Make sure not to share with Tae,” I whispered to her, but made sure Tae could hear.

“Yah! That’s not nice!” Tae said. I saw Jessi freeze for a brief second. I sighed; she was still in love with Tae, wasn’t she? But I had to be optimistic. I can totally do this; I can make Jessi fall for me again.

“Well too bad. That’s what you get for being mean,” I told her, sticking my tongue out at her this time.

Tae got up from the other side of the booth and took a seat next to Jessi. “Yah! There’s only room for two on this side!” I told her, but she didn’t move.

“Jessi, can I try some, pleaasseee?” she begged, puppy eyes and all. I prayed to God that Jessi wouldn’t give in, but I had to admit that Tae was absolutely adorable right now. Maybe that’s how I convinced myself that I loved her back in middle school.

Jessi stared at her for a second, then furrowed her eyebrows (I squealed a bit on the inside. I loved how cute my girlfriend was) before saying, “No. Now get back to your side.”

I internally sighed a breath of relief. It was some progress, at least.

Tae, on the other hand, frowned. “Okaay…” she said sadly, getting back to her dish. I looked at Jessi to see her reaction, but she was already looking at me.

“Say ‘ahh’,” she said, holding up a fork with a bit of her dish’s noddles, supported by a hand underneath the fork a few inches below.

I smiled widely and nodded, opening my mouth for her. When I felt the fork inside of my mouth, I bit down. “Mmm,” I said with satisfaction as she pulled the fork out of my mouth. “That tastes good,” I said. “Especially since Jessi fed me.”

She laughed a bit. “Now me,” she said, opening and pointing at it.

I laughed too and copied her actions.

However, as I was putting my fork into , my minor ADHD caused my hand to spasm a little, causing some of the sauce to smear on Jessi’s lips. I giggled as I took the fork out.

Jessi was frowning. “Yah, you—” I placed my lips on her’s, out the sauce before pulling away.

“There. All clean,” I told her, smiling brightly at Jessi’s reddened face. “And Tae, stop looking.”

“W-Wah? I w-wasn’t looking,” she mumbled, causing both Jessi and me to laugh.

After we had finished our lunch, we headed back to the bus stop. On the way, though, I spotted a fortune teller’s shop. “Ooh, let’s go Jessi!” I said excitedly, dragging her towards it.

“Fany, I don’t—”

“Come on Tae! Don’t tell me you don’t want your fortune to be read! I can even pay for you if you want!” I said, entering the shop.

“Hello there,” a woman with the stereotypical crazy grey hair greeted us, donning a mysterious purple robe with many symbols of I-don’t-know-what etched on it. “Would you like to get your fortune read?”

“Yes please,” I told her.

“Follow me,” she said, leading us to a table with a deck of cards laying on top. “Sit, please,” she said, motioning at the cushioned chairs. “And your girlfriend, too.”

I blushed. “How did you know?”

She smiled mysteriously. “I know many things. Now, would you two please take a seat. I see this young lady has many troubles she’s dealing with,” she said, looking at Jessi.

“Hm? U-Uh, yeah…” she replied softly.

The woman laughed. “It’s ok. It will end well for you,” she told her, sitting down. “Now, what is your name?” she asked, looking at me.

“Tiffany.”

“Tiffany, would you be so kind as to draw five cards from this deck,” she said, expertly spreading the cards out on the table so that the back of each card was visible.

I picked five cards at random and handed them to her. She nodded and cleaned up her deck, putting it to the side before putting the cards face up, making a plus shape. Each of the cards had unique symbols on it; I didn’t know what to make of it, but I guess it was just up to her to decide.

“Ah, I see this young lady is also troubled,” she said, suddenly looking up at Tae.

“Hm?” she said, surprised. “Oh…” she said, not knowing how to answer.

The woman smiled sympathetically. “It’s ok, just like the case of Tiffany’s girlfriend, all will end well for you, although not in a way any of you expect.”

Tae nodded, wearing a confused expression on her face.

“And now, as for you, Tiffany. I can foresee that your relationship with Jessica will progress beautifully.” Jessi flinched a little. Yeah, we never told her Jessi’s name, how…? Luckily, the woman seemed to notice. She laughed a bit. “Oh, sorry, it’s a habit of mine to not reveal things I know. Actually, it was just a lucky guess, but I had a few clues already,” she said. We nodded, not following her at all. But I guess that was just expected.

“However, there will always be a jealous individual,” I already had that person’s name in my head, “who will be looking to steal her away. So be cautious, my dear,” she said, looking at me. I shivered a bit; her stare was intense; as if she was looking into my soul and judging my character.

She averted her attention to Jessi. “And as for you, my dear. The main problem you are facing will resolve itself soon, but you will see the problem come back. You will have to fight bravely to keep it at bay.”

She then averted her gaze at Taeyeon. “And for you, my dear. You are conflicted horribly with two emotions you view important. Your decision will be key to your happiness, but be wary. I can see the devil on your shoulder, whispering evil thoughts. You will give in, but still, you must fight. Fight with all your strength, for if you do not, you will live with regret.”

She stood up. “That is all I can read. My apologies for the dark forecast, but I must speak what I see,” she said, smiling apologetically.

“It’s ok,” I told her, getting out my wallet. She gingerly placed a hand on the wallet.

“Keep the money,” she said. “You’ll need as much as you can muster for later on.”

“Oh. Um, well thank you!” I said as I walked out.

She bowed gracefully. “No need for the thanks. I once again apologize for my dark readings.”

“No worries,” Jessi said, finally speaking up. “Thank you for the free fortune,” she said, smiling at her. She once again bowed gracefully.

I thought about her words on the bus ride home. Could we believe it? It seemed real enough. After all, it was what Tae and I were discussing all of today and yesterday night.

:ooo what could she be talking about?

Anyways, as I said in my other story, since school started, I will be updating each of my stories (I have two up and running) every other week. As you all know, I’m a slow updater, so please bear with me D: I will try my best to update as frequently as possible, but as always, no promises.

Also, since I’m in Junior year, I have to start studying for the ACT, not to mention I’m taking two AP classes and two advanced classes, in addition to the clubs I plan on joining. So please bear with this author :DD

This story is coming to a close. Could you tell?

The reasoning behind this is that the story description I provided in the forward would no longer apply in the next few chapters. So if I get enough support, I might start a sequel to this story :DD

Speaking of support, why does no one comment? D: it makes me sad. Is it because this story is just worthy of reading, but not commenting? If so, please tell me what I could improve.

But if you really don’t want to comment, I understand…

Anyways, as always, hope you enjoyed!