It was just another normal afternoon in the small cottage where Jessica and her mother lived in. Her mother sat forlornly at the table, with a cup of cold tea in her hands and dried tears on her face.

“Jessica, where are you…” she whispered to the air.

It has been days since Jessica left to go to the royal palace to audition to become the crown prince’s wife. Jessica was nowhere to be found and the search for a maiden was still going on, which means Jessica had not been selected.

“Where could she be?” her mother cried again.

Jessica’s mother decided to go and look for Jessica, again. She put on her old shoes and walked to town.

“Good day, Mrs. Jung! Any signs of Jessica yet?” the friendly fruit woman asked her as she walked past.

Jessica’s mother gave the woman a small sad smile and shook her head.

“Oh,” the woman said, “I’m sorry; I hope she does return home soon.”

“I hope so, too,” she wiped away a tear from her face, “I’ll be going to the royal palace this afternoon to ask if any of them had seen Jessica.”

“Good luck with that!” the woman waved as Jessica’s mother walked away.

“Good afternoon, may I go in?” Mrs. Jung asked the man who was guarding the palace.

“Good afternoon, madam,” he replied politely, “Please, tell me why you want to go in.”

“I am looking for my daughter, she came here a few days ago and hasn’t returned home yet. I’m worried sick,” she said.

“I’m sorry, madam. All of the maidens who had come here to audition were asked to leave immediately until further notice. No outsiders are allowed to stay overnight at the royal palace.” The guard said.

Jessica’s mother sighed. She uttered a polite thank you and walked away.

“Where on earth could she be?” 

“Morning, guys. How was your sleep?” Chanyeol asked as Jessica, Chunji and himself stepped into the limousine.

“It was fine,” Jessica chirped.

“Well, mine was horrible because somebody decided to sleep in my room because he was so scared of the thunder.” Chunji glared at Chanyeol.

“What?” Chanyeol asked innocently, “You can’t blame me for being scared! Thunder is like, positively the scariest thing to ever exist on this earth. Excuse me for trying to save myself from getting electrocuted!”

“You won’t get electrocuted by thunder if you’re indoors!” Chunji yelled.

“Stop arguing, boys!” Jessica said, “Is this what it’s like every morning?” she asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. Chunji is always angry at me,” Chanyeol pouted, “but since you got here… he’s got even more mean-er,”

“I did not!” Chunji said defensively.

“Um, yeah. You totally did!” Chanyeol blew a raspberry.

“You two are funny! Now I know why Sunny likes you guys so much!” Jessica exclaimed.

Chunji and Chanyeol both made faces at what they just heard.

“Oops! I wasn’t supposed to tell any of you that!” Jessica squeaked, “Pretend I didn’t tell you anything!” she said.

“I’ll gladly forget that she even exists…” Chunji said, making Chanyeol break out in laughter.

“Good one, Chunji!” he laughed.

 Lunch time rolled around faster than expected. Jessica walked to the cafeteria and saw Sunny, who was excitedly waving at her.

“Hey, Jess! How’s everything?” Sunny asked, in her usual overly-happy voice.

“Everything’s fine! How are you?” Jessica replied.

“How are Chunji and Chanyeol?” Sunny asked, ignoring Jessica’s question.

“They’re fine, I guess,” Jessica said, “They were arguing again this morning in the limousine. Apparently they always argue! And Chanyeol said after I came to live with them, Chunji got more grumpy!”

Sunny chuckled and blushed, “Oh my, those two are just too cute! I just wanna hug them to death! How is it like living with them?”

Jessica didn’t seem to mind to on-going questions about Chanyeol and Chunji. “Chanyeol is really nice to me and he’s really friendly. He’s also really afraid of a lot of things like thunder and monsters under his bed! Chunji though, he’s nice too but, I feel like he doesn’t like me very much…”

“Aww, Channie’s so cute!” Sunny gushed, “Why do you think Chunji doesn’t like you? From what I see, I think he likes you, like a lot.”

“He seems really… distant from me. And I feel like he doesn’t really want to talk to me…” Jessica said.

Sunny faked a sad smile and patted Jessica’s back.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he likes you!” she reassured Jessica.

Jessica grinned brightly at Sunny.

“Stupid little girl,” Sunny thought, “I’ve seen how Chunji looks at her before. He’s obviously in love with her. Anyone can see it, even blind people can see it, oh my god! Stupid , Chunji is mine.”