Chapter 5

Call Me

  

  Jessica Jung did not enjoy headaches, not one bit. She especially hated the one she had right now, as it was worsened by Tiffany’s consistent bothering. Ever since Yuri left their apartment’s doorstep, Tiffany had been all over the blonde about the whole situation. Taeyeon wasn’t so happy about it either. She didn’t exactly like being ignored by her girlfriend. It didn’t help that she was a little bit jealous of how Tiffany was so interested in this “Yuri”.

  “Come on, Jessi! Just tell me what happened between you two already.” Tiffany begged, trying her best to show a convincing pout.

  “I told you, Tiffany. Nothing happened between us. We got into an accident; she took me to the hospital and then took me home!”

  “That is definitely not nothing. There has to be more than that. Stop holding out on me!”

  “I don’t think she’s gonna say anything else, Fany.” Taeyeon interrupted. Tiffany sent her a glare and she leaned further into her seat.

  “Yes, please listen to your girlfriend. At least the things I say registers into her brain.” Jessica said, poking the side of her temple for emphasis. The usually eye-smiling girl crossed her arms and pouted some more.

  “Fine. You’re gonna tell me eventually.”

  “Aww, is my Tippany upset?” Taeyeon said teasingly, walking towards the pouting girl and hugging her. Tiffany’s pout instantly turned into a bright smile, accompanied with an eye-smile as well.

  “Are you gonna cheer me up, Tae-Tae?” Tiffany said holding onto Taeyeon’s arms.

  “You know it.” She whispered into the other girl’s ears.

  Speaking of ears, Jessica was already plugging hers with her fingers.

  “Aish! Can’t you two do this somewhere else? It’s seriously gross.”

  Tiffany giggled and pulled out of Taeyeon’s embrace. She grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and walked towards her own room.

  “Okay then Jessi, we’ll do this in my room then. That counts as somewhere else right?” Tiffany teased.

  Jessica glared and grabbed the pillow on her sofa before throwing it towards her best friend.

  “Just be quiet in there!”

  “We aren’t promising anything, Sica!” Taeyeon called out before shutting the door. Jessica just hissed at the remark and went to her own room.

  “Crazy lovebirds.” The blonde muttered to herself before getting into her own bed.

  -

  Yuri was at the same bar she and Yoona went to together again. She was alone this time but she couldn’t stop glancing at her watch while keeping her eye on the bar’s doors. She sighed and turned away, taking a few gulps of whatever concoction the bartender gave her. While she was drinking, she felt a slap across the back of her head, causing her to choke on a mouthful of alcohol.

  “Yah! What the hell?!” Yuri exclaimed as she turned around to face the culprit. She was met with an angry pair of brown eyes and she could only bite her lip nervously.

  “Hey, Hyo.” She greeted.

  “Oh don’t you “Hey, Hyo.” me, Kwon Yuri. I can’t believe you didn’t come in today! Do you know how hard it is to deal with your crazy students? They’re like obsessed with your or something!” the short feisty girl scolded, continuously slapping Yuri on the arm.

  “Ow, ow, ow! Stop it! Geez, Hyo! I said I was sorry over the phone. And it’s not my fault it’s easy to be obsessed with me. I mean, look at me.” The black pearl smirked, running a hand through her long hair.

  Hyoyeon rolled her eyes and raised a fist at her friend, causing the girl to flinch. Yuri apologized again and handed the older girl a drink. Hyoyeon didn’t stop glaring at the taller girl, even as she downed her own drink.

  “So where were you anyway? What could have possibly kept you from your dance class this time? Let me guess, there was a sale at some mall and you wiped your credit card out again?” Hyoyeon teased.

  “Yah! That was one time. It was 50% off everything! How could I resist? And besides, that isn’t what happened. I hit someone with my car.”

  Hyoyeon spit the contents of , effectively spraying Yuri’s shirt.

  “What the hell, Hyo?! Say it, don’t spray it!” Yuri shouted, dabbing her top with a tissue.

  “You hit someone with your car?!”

  “Have you gone deaf or something? I just said that. And yes, but nothing serious happened. She just got a couple of bruises and I wrecked her bike.”

  “Oh so it’s a girl. Anyone we know?” Hyoyeon asked, her curiosity peaked.

  “Actually, yeah. She’s one of the girls from my class. The blonde one, Jessica.” Yuri answered.

  Suddenly, Hyoyeon started chuckling. Then she burst into a fit of loud laughter, drawing attention from the crowd around them. Yuri started shaking the other girl, hoping to calm her down.

  “Hyo, what the heck is wrong with you?!”

   “You mean to tell me, that the person you hit with your car is that girl who checks you out all the time?” the delusional girl managed to word out, in between laughs.

  “What?!”

  -

  Meanwhile, Yoona and Seohyun had just arrived at the Kwon mansion. No one could wipe the smiles on either girl’s faces if they tried. Surprisingly, their first day together was great and they couldn’t have it any other way.

  They were at Seohyun’s doorstep, still being watched by none other than Dukbae. It seemed like the two had forgotten all about him, which made his job a little bit easier.

  “I hope you weren’t too bored today. I wasn’t exactly planning on going out today.” Yoona apologetically said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

  “Of course not, Yoona-sshi. I had a wonderful time.” Seohyun reassured.

  “That’s good. I don’t think Yuri would be happy if she found out I wasted your entire day by boring you to death.” The doe-eyed girl said, chuckling.

  “So, I guess we’ll see each other again next time?”

  “Sure thing! We can have even more fun.”

  “Alright. Goodnight Yoona-sshi.” Seohyun bid goodbye, as she placed her hand on their doorknob. As she was about to turn it, she felt Yoona’s hand suddenly grab her wrist, interrupting her action.

  “Wait! I uh…” Yoona drifted off.

  “What is it?” Seohyun asked, staring at Yoona’s hand on her wrist.

  The older girl let Seohyun’s hand go before digging into her back pocket. She then pulled out a black marker and smiled.

  “Give me your hand.”

  Seohyun hastily did as she was told. Yoona’s palms were warm around hers, contrasting with her cold hands. Seohyun blushed deeply, distracted from the fact that Yoona was writing on her palm.

  Then Yoona let go, and Seohyun checked to see what she wrote.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure you won’t get skin cancer.” She joked.

  Seohyun saw a phone number followed me a cutely written “Yoong” underneath.

  “Call me, okay? And please call me Yoong. Then I’d at least feel like we’re friends.” Yoona cheekily said, smirking at the dumbfounded girl.

  “Okay.” Seohyun paused.

  “Yoong.”

  -

  “I can’t believe you never noticed, Yuri.”

  “You’re lying, Hyo. You just wanna mess with me.” Yuri retorted, turning a deaf ear to Hyoyeon’s claims.

  “I’m serious! You’d think you’d notice with that big mirror at the studio that lets you see all your students. Out of everyone that watches you, she’s the one that stares the hardest. If looks could kill, you’d be dead from her stares.”

  “Shut up.”

  “I mean, why do you think she screws up all the time? She isn’t watching your dances. She’s watching you.”

  Yuri was speechless. Hyoyeon was starting to sound believable to her, and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t going to believe any of it. There wasn’t enough evidence to back-up Hyoyeon’s accusations. Heck, she practically just met Jessica earlier that day and it wasn’t exactly the greatest day of her life.

  “You’re just making stuff up. Anyway, I’m going home. It’s getting late.”

  “Going home? You just got here!”

  “I have plans tomorrow. I’ll see you whenever, Hyo.”

  “Tsch. Whatever.” Hyoyeon rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, I love you too.” Yuri bid as she walked out of the bar.

  -

  When Yuri got home, she was greeted by Dukbae with a smile on his face. It was past midnight now and she was surprised he was even still awake.

  “Dukbae-oppa, why are you still up? It’s past midnight.”

  “I just wanted to wait for you to confirm that everything went swimmingly with Seohyun-sshi and Yoona-sshi.”

  “You could’ve just told me tomorrow, or should I say later? But yes, thank you for telling me. Now go get some much needed rest.”

  “Would you like me to make a report of what happened and give it to you tomorrow afternoon?”

  “That won’t be necessary. I can just ask my sister what happened.”

  “Very well. Have a good night’s sleep, Yuri-sshi.”

  “You too, oppa.”

  -

  The tanned girl rushed to her sister’s room, hoping that she wasn’t asleep yet. Seohyun had a thing for sleeping before or at midnight because “That’s when skin cells regenerate”. When she got to the younger girl’s room, Seohyun was in bed, her back facing the doorway. Yuri sighed, hoping she could’ve gotten information tonight. Until she watched Seohyun a little more closely. Her breathing was a little fast.

  She was awake.

  “Seohyun?” Yuri softly called out.

  Seohyun shifted a little in her bed, then laid down flat on her back. Her eyes were wide open and she had her hands at her sides.

  “Good evening, unnie.”

  “Ah, so you are awake. And by the way, it’s morning. Past twelve, you know?” Yuri teased. Seohyun shot up and gasped.

  “I need to sleep!” she exclaimed.

  “Relax, maknae. It’s just one night. And besides, Yuri-unnie wants to hear all about you and Yoong’s day.” Yuri coaxed, making her way to Seohyun’s bed and sitting next to her.

  “What was the point of Dukbae-oppa coming along then?”

  “Well it was better than asking him to just sit around here at the house, right? I’m sure he had fun just watching you guys. It’s been a while since he’s really done something.”

  “That’s true.”

  “So are you gonna tell me about today or not?”

  “Fine. It was really nice.” Seohyun answered. Yuri rolled her eyes and sighed. Seohyun could be so literal sometimes.

  “Tell me everything. What’d you guys do, where did you guys go, blah blah blah.”

  “We went to the nearby park and she bought me my favorite kind of ice cream.”

  “Yoong knows that you like Shooting Stars?”

  “She asked.”

  “Oh. Go on.”

  “Then she let me listen to her mother’s piano on her mp3 play. Her mother was amazing at the piano. Yoong looked really happy while she was listening…” Seohyun said as she drifted off, her thoughts freezing at Yoona and her mother’s piano piece.

  “Did you just call her Yoong? …Hello? Earth to Seohyun! Is that all you guys did today?” Yuri called, trying to catch her sister’s attention.

  “What? Oh. She asked me to call her Yoong instead of Yoona-sshi. I’m trying to get used to it… She also took me to meet her parents.” The younger continued, snapping out of her thoughts.

  “Her parents? But Yoong’s mom-“

  “We visited her grave.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. It was really touching. She and her dad were talking to her mom like she was really there. Yoong’s dad is really nice. He was very… understanding about me. He wouldn’t stop teasing Yoona-sshi though. They’re a lot alike.” Seohyun said as she giggled.

  “So you had fun.”

  Seohyun nodded enthusiastically.

  “That’s good. I knew Yoong would be really nice to you.” Yuri said, holding onto Seohyun’s hand. She looked down and raised an eyebrow at her sister’s palm.

  “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?”

  Yuri turned Seohyun’s arm over and saw the blurry black markings on Seohyun’s hand. Her expression became confused before Seohyun quickly jerked her hand away and bit her lip.

  “It’s Yoong’s phone number. …She wrote it on my palm when she dropped me off. I scrubbed it as hard as I could, but her marker ink is really tough.” Seohyun nervously explained.

  Yuri smirked and laughed a little at how childish it was. It was definitely Yoona’s style.

  “Are you gonna call her?” Yuri poked, the smirk still evident on her face.

  “…Maybe.” Seohyun answered.

  “You should call her soon. Yoong isn’t exactly the patient type.”  Yuri suggested.

  Seohyun just kept quiet and eyed Yoona’s mark on her palm. She didn’t know when she was supposed to call the doe-eyed girl but she definitely wanted to.

  “Anyway, I have to get up early. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright maknae?”

  “Why do you need to wake up early, unnie?”

  “I need to buy a bike.”

  -

  Tiffany Hwang was a morning person if she wanted to be. This was one of those mornings. She was happily sipping a cup of coffee in the apartment kitchen. Her grumpy blonde roommate was still sound asleep while Taeyeon had just finished freshening up in her bathroom.

  “Good morning, Fany!” Taeyeon greeted, as she waltzed into the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

  “Someone had a lot of fun last night.” Tiffany replied, flashing her girlfriend an eyesmile. The shorter girl’s grin grew even wider as she quickly pecked her girlfriend on the lips.

  “I wasn’t the only one.”

  “Are you going home soo-“ Tiffany was cut off as she heard their apartment doorbell ring.

  “Who would come over at nine in the morning?” Taeyeon wondered out loud.

  Tiffany walked over to the apartment speaker and pressed the button to talk.

  “Who is it?”

  “I was sent by Kwon Yuri-nim. Is this Ms. Jessica Jung’s address?” The voice answered formally. Tiffany’s mouth gaped at the man’s tone.

  “…Yes it is. Yuri sent you? What do you need?”

  “I just have something for Jessica-sshi. I’m going to leave it out front. Good day.”

  “Hello? Hello~” Tiffany called out, but there was no reply from the other end. She walked back to Taeyeon and beckoned for her to go down the apartment building.

  The two girls made their way to the apartment’s lobby and were both completely stunned at what was in front of them.

  “Oh my God, it’s pink!” Tiffany loudly shrieked in straight English.

  There was a bright pink scooter with a handful of pink balloons tied to the handles. A matching pink helmet hung on the other handle. It had a “J” written in cursive on the side. They walked over to the scooter and saw a note taped to the seat.

  Here’s that bike I owe you. I hope your headache goes away! ^^- Kwon Yuri

  “I thought Jessica owned a bicycle.” Taeyeon uttered.

  “She did.” Tiffany replied.

  “This is a scooter.”

  “It is.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yup.”

  “Kwon Yuri is loaded.” Taeyeon exclaimed, staring at the expensive looking scooter in front of them.

  “Yes she is.” Tiffany agreed.

  “We should probably tell Jessica.”

  “You stay here, I’ll go wake her up.”

  Tiffany left Taeyeon with the scooter and darted back to the apartment building’s elevator. As soon she reached her apartment, she was surprised to see that Jessica was already up and eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.

  “Jessica, you’re awake before eleven?”

  “Yah, I don’t always sleep in, you know!” Jessica retorted. Tiffany just gave her a look and the blonde sighed in defeat.

  “Fine, I admit. I sleep in a lot.”

  Tiffany just giggled and did another eyesmile which didn’t last long as soon as she remembered why she came back up in the first place. She quickly grabbed Jessica by the wrist and dragged her back out the door.

  “Hey! I was in the middle of breakfast! Where are you taking me?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  -

  “What the-“ Jessica was about to shout as she saw the pink scooter.

  “Yuri brought it.” Tiffany said, cutting her off.

  “Here’s the note!” Taeyeon added, handing the piece of paper to Jessica.

  “The good news is it’s free and now you have a ride to pick your cousin up from the airport tomorrow!” Tiffany excitedly said as she sat on the scooter; watching her blonde friend who was still gaping at the note.

  “I thought she was gonna get me a new bicycle! This is a freakin’ scooter! I can’t take this! And besides I’m picking my cousin up in a cab.” Jessica exclaimed, trying to urge Tiffany off of the scooter’s leather seat.

  “But Jessi! It’s pink!” Tiffany whined, clutching onto the two-wheeled vehicle.

  “Come on, Fany-ah. It’s Sica’s scooter and she can do what she wants with it.” Taeyeon reprimanded, pulling her girlfriend off the scooter.

  “Why are you always on her side?” Tiffany said, pouting and furrowing her eyebrows at Taeyeon.

  “It’s just that- Look, I’ll buy you ice cream to make it up to you okay?”

  “You should buy me my own bike!”

  “But you don’t even know how to ride a bike, Fany-ah.”

  “I can learn.”

  “I can’t afford a bike right now. All I can get you is an ice cream.”

  “…Fine.”

  Jessica scoffed her eyes at the ridiculous couple and headed back inside the apartment building.

  “Jessi, where are you going?”

  “Back to the apartment to shower. Then I’m taking this back to Yuri.”

  -

  Seohyun wasn’t the type to panic, but as of now her heart rate was going through the roof. She was pacing back and forth inside her room, with her hands clutching onto her cell phone tightly. The screen read “Im Yoona” along with the doe-eyed’s phone number.

  “Maybe one day is too soon… But unnie said Yoona- Yoong is an impatient person. Ah What do I do?!”

  Suddenly Seohyun heard a knock on her bedroom door, pulling her out of her panicked state.

  “Come in.” she said.

  “Seohyun-sshi? I heard shouting. Is everything alright?” None other than Dukbae said, with a worried expression on his face. He’d worked for the Kwon family ever since before Yuri and Seohyun were born. The two girls were like his own daughters.

  “I’m fine, Dukbae-oppa.“ Seohyun lied.

  “I can tell there’s something wrong, Seohyun-sshi.” Dukbae replied, walking into the girl’s room and shutting the door behind him.

  “I hate that you know me so well, oppa.” Seohyun joked, smiling at Dukbae.

  “So what’s wrong?”

  “I can’t decide whether to call Yoona or not.”

  “Ahh… Well do you want to talk to her?”

  “Yes. No! …A little.”

  “So call her.” Dukbae smiled.

  -

  Yuri and Hyoyeon were in the middle of a dance break at their studio, not having any classes at the hour. The two enjoyed playing around with dance music and just breaking a sweat to kill time. At the moment they were dancing to “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” by Usher. The two were doing some popping together but Yuri would sneak a wave, here and there.

  The two were interrupted when the studio door swung open, beholding a short blonde girl with her arms crossed.

  “We don’t have any classes right-“ Hyoyeon started, still panting.

  “I know. I’m here for Yuri.” Jessica cut in.

  Hyoyeon and Yuri both sputtered at the statement. Hyoyeon sent Yuri a mischievous smirk and Yuri returned a death glare.

  “I got your bike. In fact, I drove it here.”

  “Oh so you liked it?” Yuri enthusiastically said.

  “I came here to give it back. I don’t want your scooter.”

  “You got her a scooter?!” Hyoyeon interrupted.

  “She did. You can have it back.” Jessica said, tossing the scooter’s keys at the tanned girl. Yuri reflexively caught them in her hands, her expression dumbfounded.

  “I said I’d get you a bike. So I got you a bike.” Yuri stated, as a matter-of-fact.

  “I thought you meant a new bicycle like my old one! Not a scooter, you crazy person!”

  Yuri gawked at the statement.

  “I am not crazy!”

  “Whatever. Just take the scooter back. I don’t want it. I’m going home, I have things to do.” Jessica ended, preparing to leave the dance studio.

  Hyoyeon and Yuri exchanged looks again and the younger girl sighed in defeat. She ran after Jessica, still exhausted from dancing.

  “Jeshca!” She called out, causing the blonde to stop in her tracks. She finally caught up and placed a hand on Jessica’s shoulder, bending over with her other hand on her knee for support. Panting, and trying to catch her breath.

  “You walk fast!” Yuri managed to say in between breaths. She composed herself and smiled at Jessica who had a stoic expression on her face.

  On the inside, Jessica was completely frozen. She was slightly panicking and couldn’t afford to move, afraid that she’d do something embarrassing in front of the other girl. She just took deep breaths and tried to clear her mind. It was just Kwon Yuri, no one special; she chanted in her mind.

  “Look, I need to make it up to you somehow. What are you doing tomorrow?”

  “If you must know, I’m picking my cousin up from the airport.” Jessica tried to make her tone sound as poisonous as possible.

  “Oh how are you picking her up?”

  “I’m taking a cab to and from.”

  “That’s it! I can take you! We can take my car and I’ll take you and your cousin somewhere if that’s alright.”

  Jessica looked Yuri in the eyes and saw the enthusiasm in them. This crazy tanned girl really wasn’t going to give up and she might as well just give in. And besides she’d be free of cab fares.

  “You really wanna do this, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine. She arrives at four in the afternoon tomorrow.”

  “Alright! I’ll see you at your house at three.” Yuri said, lifting her hand from Jessica’s shoulder. Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. Which was partly true.

  “By the way, Jessica. Do you mind if I bring my friend and my sister?”

  “Sure, whatever.”

  “Great! I’ll go call my sister right now.”

  “I’ll go now. Bye, Yuri.”

  “Bye, Jeshca!”

  -

  Seohyun was staring at Yoona’s phone number on her screen. Just when she was about to press the call button, her ringtone came on and Yuri was on caller ID.

  “Yuri-unnie?”

  “Seohyun! What do you think about going with me to pick someone up from the airport? We’re gonna have dinner afterwards too.”

  “Tomorrow? Okay unnie. I’ll go with you.”

  “Awesome. Call Yoona for me and tell invite her, okay?”

  “Me?! Why don’t you call her yourself, unnie?”

  “So you have a reason to call her.” Yuri sneakily said. Seohyun could imagine the look on her sister’s face and sighed.

  “Fine. I’ll see you when you get home, unnie.”

  “Bye, Seohyunnie~”

  Seohyun ended the call and the screen showed Yoona’s phone number once again. She finally hit the call button and heard the phone on the other end ring. She started taking calming breaths and waited for Yoona to pick up.

  “Hello?” Yoona started.

  “Yoong? It’s Yuri’s sister; Seohyun.”

  “Oh hey! You called me Yoong like I asked. Thanks! Thanks for calling me too.”

  “I’m still getting used to calling you Yoong.”

  “It’ll get comfortable eventually. So, why’d you call?”

  “I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me and Yuri-unnie to the airport tomorrow. Apparently she’s picking someone up, and we’re having dinner afterwards.”

  “Ooh~ Sounds like fun. Sure! I’ll tag along.”

  “Really? That’s great! I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Yuri-unnie hasn’t told me the full details yet,  so maybe she’ll tell you soon.”

  “Alright. See tomorrow, Seohyun.”

  “See you tomorrow, Yoong”

  -

   Jessica had just arrived home and Tiffany was annoying her again. The brunette was fussing over the scooter that was now gone.

  “But Jessi! It was so beautiful! Why did you give it back?” Tiffany moaned, crocodile tears forming in her eyes.

  “I didn’t want it okay! Now stop fussing! She promised to make it up to me some other way.” Jessica shouted back, frustrated at her friend. Tiffany was so lucky she loved her; ‘cause if she didn’t the brunette would’ve been kicked out of the apartment by now.

  “Really? Is she gonna get you a car?!” Tiffany exclaimed, her eyes widening.

  “No! She offered me a ride to pick my cousin up from the airport tomorrow. She’s coming in from the US and Yuri’s our ride. I think she’s taking us somewhere afterwards too.”

  “Sounds like a date to me! Except for you cousin being there and all.”

  “It’s not a date! Her sister and a friend are coming too.”

  “Oh. So it’s a group date?”

  “Tiffany!”

  “Alright, alright I’ll stop. So what was your cousin’s name again?”

  “I’ve told you this plenty of times you weirdo.” Jessica paused.

  “Her name is Nicole.” She finished.