Jessica’s POV

“What should I wear, Taeng?”

“T-shirt and shorts? We’re going to the seafood restaurant by the beach, wear something casual.”

“That’s not helping me at all.”

“Anything will do, Princess. You’ll look good in whatever clothes you wear, though I personally think that you’ll look better without any.”

That erted dork. Can’t she be serious for once?

“Taeng…”I started whining over the phone.

“Just wear anything Princess. I got to go get ready too, see you in 30 minutes. I love you!” With that she hung up on me leaving me dumbfounded.

My wardrobe was wide open and I was staring the rows of clothes in front of me, not knowing which one to pick. Her parents’ friends would be there and I wanted to make a good first impression. Not to mention that the Tiffany girl who I saw giving my Taengoo a kiss on her cheek that one time would be there as well. Taeyeon had told me they were very close childhood friends but I wanted to look pretty enough so that Taeyeon would only be looking at me the entire night.

Screw t-shirts and shorts, I’ll just go with the floral dress that Taeyeon got me for my birthday earlier in the year. It won’t be long till her parents would be picking me up, I had better get ready fast.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And you told me to wear t-shirt and short?” I said through gritted teeth, pinching Taeyeon’s arm.

She squirmed, trying to get away from me.

We had arrived at the restaurant and her parents’ friends were already there. I spotted Tiffany and two other girls whom I did not recognize, they were all dressed up and I was glad that I had not taken Taeng’s advice.

The adults started to greet each other while I stood beside Taeyeon, smiling awkwardly, waiting for her to introduce me.

“This is Jessica, my friend from school.” She told them and I saw Tiffany snickering at her from the corner of my eyes.

Right. I’m just her friend. Stay calm Jessi, you can do it.

“Hi Tae Tae!” Tiffany grabbed onto Taeyeon’s arm giving her an eye smile.

“Hi Fany, I’m glad that you are back. Hello, Danielle and Denise, it had been a long time since I last saw you.” Taeyeon greeted, turning to the other two girls as well.

Tae Tae? Fany? Keep your cool Jessi. You are as cool as a cucumber.

Cucumber? EWW…Gross!

I smiled at Taeyeon’s friends before turning my attention to Hayeon who was seated beside me. She was feeling shy and had attached herself to me.

“Jessica unnie, I’m afraid.” Hayeon said burying her face into my dress.

I placed my hand at the side of her face, rubbing it gently to soothe her.

“Why are you afraid? They are your friends.”

Hayeon shook her head. She must have felt awkward to be around these people after not seeing them for a long time. After all, she was the youngest and the adults were talking among themselves while the older girls paid little attention to her, absorbed in their own conversation. Speaking of which, Taeyeon was chatting animatedly with her friends, totally ignoring me and I had to refrain myself from biting her head off. Why had she invited me here if she was going to ignore me?

I took care of Taeyeon’s little sister throughout dinner, keeping quiet most of the time, only speaking up when questions were directed towards me.

Taeyeon’s POV

The adults decided to take their conversation to a nearby coffee house after dinner. Jessica and Hayeon were walking hand in hand at the back and I decided to leave my friends for a while, slowing down and waiting for the two of them to catch up with me.

“Are you alright? You were too quiet during dinner.” I asked her.

“I’m alright. Go on, your friends are waiting for you, I’ll be fine with Hayeon.”

“You sure?” I asked her again, still not convinced by her answer.

“We will be alright won’t we?” She asked Hayeon, swinging their hands into the air.

Hayeon nodded her head furiously.

“If you say so.” I shrugged and hurried off to catch up with the rest.

“Tae Tae, aren’t you going to take care of your girlfriend?” Tiffany asked, slipping her arm in mine.

I pulled my arm away hesitantly, looking back at Jessica hoping that she had not seen that. I was so sure that she would have gotten jealous, but she was not even looking in our direction.

“She will be okay. Why are you so touchy nowadays? Jessica’s going to be upset if you keep clinging onto me.”

“Fine! But I’m not interested in you at all. I don’t even know what she saw in you. You’re such a dork and she’s obviously smarter. Even my boyfriend’s better looking than you are.”

“Ya! I’m not a dork! Come back here! Don’t you dare run away!”

Denise and Danielle were laughing at our childish behavior as I chased Tiffany down the pedestrian walk way.

I knew that Fany was joking, but her words stung. Her comment about Jessica being smarter than me irritated me but I tried not to let it show. It had made me feel insecure all over again, serving as a reminder to me that I was going to repeat the year. That was a topic I was still sensitive about and it did not help to know that Denise had gotten promoted and Danielle would be joining the year 1 cohort next year. I would technically be in the same level as Danielle despite being a year older and I was embarrassed about it. Everybody seemed to be moving on in life, while I was still stuck at where I was at the beginning of the year.

The adults had a table to themselves while we sat not far away from them. Our father were seated together, engrossed in their talk about business and investment while our mother had started gossiping about their children, about us.

“There they go again, that’s like the only thing they talk about whenever we meet up at the end of the year.” Denise commented.

“I know right. Can’t they just give it a break and find some other topics to talk about? All they ever do is to compare our results.” Tiffany added in.

They decided to ignore what our parents were talking about and changed the conversation to shopping. I could not help but to eavesdrop on what our mothers were talking about. Even as I tried not to listen, I would catch stuff like Danielle receiving her O levels results next year or Tiffany getting into university every now and then. My mum had not talk about me yet but I know that she would be sooner or later. Sure enough, I heard my mum announcing to her friends that I’ve failed my promotional exams.

As much as I would like to go over and inform them that I did not fail my promotional exams and that it was only because I could not meet the overall promotion criterion, I did not. Instead, I kept quiet pretending that they were not talking about me, trying hard to focus on what Denise was talking about and failing miserably.

“Taeng, do you want to go for a walk?” Jessica asked, noticing me sulking in my seat.

I nodded meekly.

“Guys, want to go for a walk by the beach instead? It’s boring to sit here all night.” I proposed the idea to my friends.

They all agreed and after informing our parents, we went off.

“Taeyeon! Take care of your sister, don’t let her go too near the sea.” My mum yelled after us and I nodded, eager to get away from them as soon as possible.

Jessica walked along side me, holding onto Hayeon and rubbing my back with her free hand.

“Are you okay Taeng?”

“Yup, don’t worry, I’m fine.” I reassured her, giving her a weak smile.

I was glad that she suggested the walk; I don’t think I could stand another minute listening to our mothers’ conversation. My friends’ mothers had been asking my mum what happened to me, occasionally glancing over in my direction. I did not need people to pity me and moreover, what happened had happened, so what was the point in asking how it happened. I was still sulking thinking about it but Jessica’s touch had calmed me down a little and I felt better all of a sudden. Hopefully when we returned, they would have changed their topic to something else.

“Taeyeon! Come here, look at this.” Denise shouted from the front.

I glanced over at Jessica, as if I was asking for her permission.

“Go ahead, see what they want. I’ll be with Hayeon.”

Jessica’s POV

Taeyeon ran off to where her friends were. I could not believe that she would leave me all by myself. Though I had given her the go ahead, she could have just stayed with me. I felt like a babysitter to Hayeon the entire night, not that I was complaining about it, but she could have paid us a little more attention. I was her girlfriend and Hayeon was her sister after all. I kicked a random pebble on the ground to vent my frustration. Taeyeon had looked so miserable when the adults started comparing results and I had almost left her there, letting her drown herself in negative thoughts if I had not taken pity on her and spared her from the miseries of it.

Hayeon seemed to find my actions amusing. She cackled and followed me, kicking every single pebble that was in her path. I giggled along with her. Hayeon was cute, just like her sister. We were so busy kicking pebbles that I had not realized that Tiffany had come up to us.

“So how are things going on with Taeyeon?” Tiffany asked, making me jumped in surprise.

“Sorry for startling you.” She chortled, “You were so quiet and I thought I should come and talk to you.”

“No, it’s alright. We’re fine. Our parents found out and things were a bit messy for a while but it’s all in the past.” I confessed.

I was not sure why I had told her about that but I figured that she would find out about it anyway since she was a close friend of Taengoo.

“The both of you look good together.” She complimented. “Finally someone’s able to control that dork.”

I chuckled at her compliment. Maybe we could be friends after all, only if she would stop sticking to my girlfriend.

Tiffany walked along with us, initiating most of our conversations. It was easy to talk to her; conversation flowed without the atmosphere turning awkward. She was friendly, talking mostly about her childhood memories with Taeyeon, some of which were hilarious and I got to know what kind of a kid Taeng had been when she was younger. I was resentful though, jealous of the fact that Tiffany had known Taeyeon much earlier than I had, I was jealous of the friendship between them. Tiffany had been there for Taeyeon longer than I had and it bothered me. She was in the midst of telling me more baby Taeyeon stories when the little devil came running back to us with a huge smile on her face. Her two other friends were behind.

“Hey, what had the two of you been talking about without me?” She grinned.

“You don’t have to know Tae Tae.”

It was Tae Tae again. No matter how nice that girl was, she should seriously stop calling my girlfriend by such terms of endearment. It was inappropriate, considering the fact that Taeyeon was already taken. What maddened me more was that Taeyeon seemed totally unaffected by it.

“Come on.” She trapped both Tiffany and I under her arms on either side of her, making us turn in the other direction. “Let’s go back, they called. It’s time to go home.”

Urgh! She’s so getting it from me once we get home.

Taeyeon’s POV

Jessica had not talked once ever since we got into the car. Thinking that she might be tired, I left her alone, plugging in my ear piece as I leaned against the car door. Hayeon had her head on Jessica’s lap with her feet on mine, sleeping soundly. How I wish I was a kid like her for once. I closed my eyes and drifted off to dreamland. Jessica would be sleeping over tonight and I could not wait to get home and cuddle with her.

Jessica’s POV

I was lying on Taeyeon’s bed, back facing her bathroom door. I was still upset over the fact that she had given me minimal attention despite her being the one who asked me to accompany her to that gathering. She did not need my accompanying at all, seeing that she had had fun with her friends.

“Princess, are you sleeping?” I heard her coming out from the bathroom.

The bed sank due to the additional weight and I felt her hug me from behind, hair still wet.

“Get away from me.” I told her, slapping her hands off me and burying my face into the pillow so she could not see me.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” She asked, concern, trying to feel my forehead.

“Don’t touch me…” I swatted her hand away again.

I was in no mood to talk to her.

“Are you mad at me? What have I done wrong, tell me?”

What have I done wrong? Seriously, Taeng? I had refrained myself from getting annoyed by her behavior the entire night and I was drained from the effort.

“Why don’t Tae Tae go ask Fany and get back to Jessica?” I mocked, emphasizing on ‘Tae Tae’ and ‘Fany’.

“You’re jealous? Why?”

How ignorant can she be? I kept quiet, not bothering to entertain her.

I felt the bed shift under me as Taeyeon crawled over, now facing me. I tried to turn my back on her but her hands locked me down, preventing me from doing so.

“What do you want?” I growled at her.

“I’ll stop calling her Fany if you like. Just please stop being mad at me won’t you?” She was pleading.

Honestly, the puppy look on her face had me melted in seconds but I reminded myself to stand my ground. She was not going to get away so easily this time.

“No. And Tae Tae might want Fany to stop clinging onto her like a koala bear.” I said, putting on my best poker face.

She snuggled into me, wrapping her leg around my waist.

“But Taengoo is only Princess’s koala bear.” She whined.

“Get away from me, you are not going to touch me tonight.” I said, trying to untangle myself from her.

Taeyeon’s POV

“No. And Tae Tae might want Fany to stop clinging onto her like a koala bear.”

Crap, she saw? And I thought she was not looking. I’m so dead this time. The last time she caught Tiffany giving me a peck, she had threatened to kill me the next time it happens. Fany did not kiss me this time, but I’m pretty sure that her clinging onto me probably falls under the same category as kissing to Jessica. Besides, I don’t see why she was making a fuss just because Fany had called me ‘Tae Tae’, She had no problems with Sooyoung and gang calling me ‘Taeng’ or ‘Tae’. I had to find a way to get out of trouble, damn.

“But Taengoo is only Princess’s koala bear.”

I was hoping that Jessica would buy my cuteness this one time and let me off the hook.

“Get away from me, you are not going to touch me tonight.”

But I was wrong. She pushed me off her and I had almost rolled off the bed. I pouted. This was not supposed to be happening but I guess she did have a reason to be mad at me. Thinking back, I was so caught up with catching up my childhood friends that I left her alone with my sister most of the time.

‘I’m in deep .’ It was the only thought that crossed my mind.

Wanting to leave her some time to cool down, I went back into the bathroom to dry my hair. When I came back, she was still in the same position, back facing me.

“Baby, I’m so sorry for neglecting you.” I tried again. “Forgive me? Please?”

No response. I totally screwed it up this time.

I sighed and went to switch off the lights before joining her in bed. No cuddling for me tonight, I guess.

It was hard for me to fall asleep, knowing that she was angry at me. I had been lying on my back staring at the ceiling for 10 minutes, not daring to shift my position even though my back had started to ache.

Jessica changed her position, her body facing me.

“Baby, are you awake? I’m sorry.” I whispered.

“…”

Just when I thought that she was already sleeping, she spoke up,

“Come here, you idiot.”

I scooted eagerly over to her, acting very much like a kid, putting my arm around her waist as I snuggled into her chest, grinning widely.

“You’re still not forgiven. You are going to have to pay for this.”

“Okay. I love you, goodnight.”

Whatever the punishment was, I was not going to care tonight. It can wait.

Chapter 11 as promised, not sure if it is up to your expectations or not. 32 subscribers and I am thankful to all of you for reading this story, silent readers inclusive. But, I’ve got bad news for you guys. I might not be able to upload chapters once a day any more since I would be spending whatever time I have left in the country with my family plus school’s starting soon, so are the exams. And I am pretty sure I would be suffering from the extreme climate change, not forgetting that I would also be jet lagging when I get back to my dorm. However, the story would still be ongoing. I’ll be trying my best to update it frequently and maybe squeeze in another chapter before school starts. Anyways, happy reading! (: