December passed by, and finally January came to visit. Every time Jessica went home, her eyes would stare at the pink carnations. She took care of them well enough so that the petals wouldn't fall, but some of the carnations were already dying. She didn't blame the flowers, though. Every time she left school, she went straight to the hospital to visit Yuri, who would be discharged this afternoon.

As the school bell chimed and notified everyone that school was over, Jessica slowly gathered her belongings. Just when she was about to get up from her seat and leave, a hand slammed down on her desk. She backed up in surprise, and looked up.

"Oh, hey Donghae. What's up?"

Donghae gave her a nasty look. "Yuri's up, that's what. Can you tell her that after she's discharged, she should quiet the group?"

Jessica widened her eyes. "W-Why?"

Does he know about Yuri's problem? It's not that much of a big deal, though, Jessica wondered. Donghae finally relaxed and heaved a sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck and patted his stomach.

"The thing is..."

"We got to eat protein, people!" Yunho exclaimed, handing everyone a small boxed lunch. Jessica, who was invited to see what was going on in the dance room, saw more eating rather than dancing. She pondered on the thought of leaving, but her curiosity over what this was all about caused her to stay. Donghae hid behind her, not wanting to go into the room that smelled like food instead of sweat.

"Yunho's gone bonkers!" Donghae whispered. "It's like he doesn't even want to dance, but to watch out what we eat."

"Since when did he start to act like this?" she asked.

"Since he visited Yuri at the hospital. It seems like Yuri needing 'nutrients' to strive on really hit him or something."

Jessica tilted her head. "So what do I do?"

"Tell Yuri to quit until Yunho's finally calmed down. I never saw him care for a girl like this besides BoA! It's crazy, you know? I feel as if he's almost replacing her or something. I don't even know why he would want to replace her," Donghae said, rolling his eyes.

"But Yuri likes dancing. I can't tell her to quit. As her friend, I promised her that I would never discourage her from doing what she likes," she replied.

"How long has she been in the hospital, anyways?"

"Three weeks."

"Then her moves should be rusty, no?"

Jessica faked a laugh and looked away. "Well..."

"Kwon Yuri, please stop dancing! You were supposed to get better in a week, but you delayed the discharge since you skipped your meals and kept moving around!" the nurse cried, grabbing Yuri's wrist.

Yuri had been dancing for quite some time. When she kept moving, her head would spin but her feet would move on their own. However, when someone stopped her from practicing, she would fall on her knees and faint. The doctor was obviously furious about her stubbornness, and the nurse had given up on telling her not to dance. To Yuri, dancing was like her freedom the breath--something precious that she could not live without.

The pale woman finally collapsed, and the nurse was lucky enough to catch her. The older woman dragged her to the bed, where Yuri struggled to get onto. Once she was back on the bed, the nurse sighed and attached a tube to her thumb.

"Are you sure you want to get out of this hospital?" the nurse asked.

"It's nice. I can eat whatever I want and watch television all day," Yuri complimented. "However, I'd rather get out of here soon and go straight back to dancing."

"You're supposed to be discharged this afternoon. If you keep dancing like this, then you'll fall ill. After all, you're just getting better, and better enough to be taking care of yourself."

"I understand, Nurse."

"And you understand that you shouldn't go wild and crazy for the first few days, yes?"

"No dancing?"

"No dancing."

Yuri pouted. "But if I slack off, then I won't be able to improve!"

"Yuri, dear, you have plenty of time to improve. Life's not that short, you know?" the nurse said, putting a tray of food in front of her.

"Ma'am," Yuri said, thinking about BoA. "You can't think that life has a time line. You just have to do what you can during the days you're alive. We'll never know when we die--death is too sudden."

The nurse gave her a soft chuckle. "I understand, I understand..."

But she really didn't.

Jaejoong was bored. No, scratch that. School was boring for him. Without Yuri to fill up the triangle, Jaejoong felt like he was going back to the old days when he was "friends" with Yunho. The two didn't interact much anymore (mainly because Yunho was always busy searching up food with protein), and Jaejoong had a lot of free time on his hands. He was tempted to call Jessica, but he wasn't sure if he was allowed to. After all, he was terribly embarrassed over giving those flowers and going on a small date. What would he say to her when he met her? He just couldn't see her.

That was why Jaejoong stood near the back of the convenience store, surrounded by some kids (seniors from a different school) who wanted to pound him until he was good as a death corpse. The tired boy, not wanting to get into a fight despite his boredom, heaved a sigh and rubbed his shoulder. His eyes were on every target, and his body grew tense.

"What's up?" Jaejoong asked.

"Heard you crushed my best friend's shoulder," the tallest boy said. "That's not nice, my little friend."

The guy who I crushed... Oh, the wimp with the dead mother, Jaejoong remembered. "So what? Everyone can break a bone."

"Looks like you're alone. My friend told me not to mess with you, but... Well, I don't think I can just let this go," he said.

"We don't even know each other, so why pick a fight on me?" Jaejoong pointed out.

"So you want names, huh? Well, the name's Yesung. Yours?"

The surrounded boy dropped his bag and cracked his knuckles.

"Kim Jaejoong," he answered, "at your service."

With one swing of a fist, Jaejoong managed to knock Yesung out. In the end, the other boys crowded him, closing the circle and attempted to swallow him with their bare hands.

Yunho checked his wallet. He glanced right and left, then pulled out a fresh new bill and handed it to the florist. He paused for a second when the worker took the money and handed the white carnations. Looking down, Yunho stared at the flowers.

"Are you sure that this is a popular flower? Isn't it too... plain? Look how white it is," Yunho complained, frowning.

"You're name is Jung Yunho, yes? You're the one who ordered flowers that are 'not too flashy, but flashy enough so that it has a good meaning.' This is exactly how you requested the flowers to be, right? It's not too flashy, but it holds a good meaning?" the florist asked.

Yunho gave the employee an uncomfortable gaze. "I'm sorry, but I think it's too plain. Can you change this for me?"

"Why? I think it's lovely already," said a voice behind him. Yunho gasped and pushed the flowers into the florist's hand. He turned around, and found Jessica peeking the white carnations over his broad shoulders.

"W-What? Me? Buying flowers for Yuri? Nope, never. Here..." Yunho turned to the worker. "Can you get me something more nicer? Maybe a little bit more... colorful? I'll pay more."

The florist nodded her head and went back into the store to rearrange the flowers. When they were alone, Jessica frowned and swiftly used her olive branch to hit Yunho's hand. With one whack, Yunho cried out in pain and grabbed his throbbing head.

"Ow! What was that?" he cried, looking at the stick.

"Are you serious?" Jessica asked, completely ignoring the fact that he was in pain. "Why don't you give her those flowers? They're pretty enough."

"It's plain and ugly. I thought they'd have more flowers than that," he muttered.

Jessica shook her head. Then, she stepped in front of him and held out her olive branch. Yunho gave her a strange look.

"Do you know what this is?" she questioned him.

"A stick--"

"It's an olive branch, idiot!" Jessica exclaimed, whacking him once more. "Do you know what it means?"

"Argh... What's so important about that sti--I mean, branch, anyways? Besides, why do you carry it around? It's practically useless; it has no meaning."

"It has a beautiful meaning. It means 'peace,' and that's all I want from people around me," Jessica explained. She brought the stick closer to Yunho's face. "Yunho, this may just be a stick, but to some, it holds a purpose. No matter how plain or ugly something may look, as long as it holds its true meanings--the honest emotions or thoughts--nothing is ugly."

She paused, then smiled as she tucked in the branch inside her book.

"Why don't you think about that before you purchase the new flowers? Yuri is being discharged today, and I'm about to go and pick her up. Want to join me? I can wait a few more minute," Jessica suggested.

For a long time, Yunho thought about what she said. When the florist came out with the new flowers, he stared at them for a few seconds. Then, Yunho cleared his throat and gently pushed away the new, colorful flowers.

"S-Sorry," he stuttered quietly. "Can you just give me those carnations? I think they'll do."

The flourist grumbled and walked back to receive the original flowers. Yunho glanced back, and watched Jessica hold her thumb up.

She's kind of cute, he thought. Kind of like Yuri.

Throughout the entire day, even when he arrived at the hospital to give the flowers to Yuri, BoA was never mentioned in his thoughts.