Jessica’s POV

“Baby, I’m not leaving till you talk to me.”

I felt Taeng tugging on my elbow but still, I stubbornly refused to lift my head from the table to look at her. She gave up on trying to get me to look up a while later and let her hand dropped to my waist, shifting closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Come on darling, tell me what’s wrong. Why are you crying?” Taeyeon was whispering against my skin as she buried her face into my neck.

Hearing her soft voice made me cried even harder, my shoulders shaking with each sob. Taeng remained silent and begun patted my back in a soothing manner.

‘Why are you acting like this?’ I mentally scolded myself. ‘Taengoo will be so worried.’

For the past 2 days, I had been rushing Taeyeon on notifying the school about her intention to withdraw. I wanted to get it over and done with so that we could put it behind us and then fall back to our normal routine…or as normal as it could possibly be. I had also reminded myself many times that her leaving was for her best interest but hearing the way our friends were discussing about not having her around in a few months’ time triggered something in me and I could not stop the lone tear that trailed down my face. As the discussion went on, I ended up pretending to be asleep, trying my best to tune the conversation out. It worked for a while and I managed to stop the tears, thinking that I would be safe from having to hear any more of it when the bell chimed. Shuffling sound was heard as my friends scrambled away for their next lesson. I had almost succeeded in building an imaginary world for myself; one in which Taeyeon would always be by my side, until the same particular midget decided to draw me back to harsh reality, opening the dam that I had tried so hard to hold.

Taeng’s continuous patting calmed me down considerably; the waterworks were switched off, reducing to a few trickles every now and then. The puddle of tears that had pooled on my arms was starting to irritate me so I straightened my back, turning to fumble for some tissue paper in my bag, all the while keeping my head low to prevent Taeyeon from seeing my tear stricken face. Taeng was faster than I was, producing a packet of tissues from her skirt pocket and offered it to me.

“Are you angry at me?” She asked me.

I shook my head, blowing my nose in a tissue in an attempt to clear the blockage.

“Y-you know I love you r-right?” My voice came out sounding thick.

“Yea…Of course. I love you too. Why are you asking me this?”

I thought back on that faithful day at the club house, wondering if my lack of reaction to the news had made Taeng felt that I did not love her enough to at least try to make her stay. Shaking off that thought, I finally look up to meet her gaze.

Trying very hard to not make it seem like I was desperate for her, I wrapped my arms around her neck, drawing her closer to me, our foreheads almost touching.Taeyeon gasped at the closeness and glanced around. I knew the reasons for her uneasiness; we were right smack in the middle of the study area during school hours. Every time we managed to steal kisses from each other in the study area was when it was after school, when we were the only ones left most of the time. Not to mention the fact that the Vice Principal’s office also happened to be situated right in front of us and his office lights were currently on. The blinds were half drawn and if he turned his head a fraction to his left, he would have seen us in such a compromising position. Both Taeng and I will end up ruining our reputation among the staff if he was to catch us kissing in school; imagine two honor roll female students being in a forbidden relationship and being all over each other in an education institution publically- it was not an activity that they would encourage their students to take part in.

However, I was far too gone to be able to control my needs, I needed to feel her lips against mine to calm myself down so that I would stop missing her so badly even though she was just right in front of me. I did not care if anyone would see us, most of the students knew about our relationship anyway, all thanks to Taeyeon being the popular tennis kid. Nor did I care about getting caught, I could survive the counselling sessions.

“Taeng…please. Just once.” I begged her, tears threatening to spill over again.

She was hesitant, I could tell, her eyes flickered across to the VP’s office, staring intently at his head as he continued to talk on the phone, oblivious to what was happening outside. Seeing that he was distracted, Taeyeon leaning in to give me a quick peck. Not satisfied with it, I captured her lips again before she could pull away to make it last a while longer.

“Hey, that was so risky. We could be-”

“I know Taeng, I know.” I cut her off before she could remind me of the consequences.

Her voice was soft not the least reproachful and I could tell that she was not angry about the little stunt I had pulled earlier.

“Why are you crying then?” she asked as I pulled myself away from her.

“Nothing…I was missing you.”

“But I am right here darling.” Taeyeon rubbed her palm up and down my back, trying to grasps the situation.

“Taeng?”

“Mhmm?”

“Can we pretend, for the time being, that you’re not going anywhere? Please?” I locked my gaze with hers, pleading with my eyes. “I don’t think I can handle any more talks about you leaving. I’m missing you already.”

Taeyeon’s POV

Something seemed to click in my brain as soon as I heard her request. It all made sense suddenly and I understood what was going on immediately. Jessica was trying to stay strong for us, for me, so that I could leave without having to worry about her. It made me feel bad about myself all over again, how I had failed to take care of her inner feelings.

“Okay.” I promised her, taking a mental note to remind my friends not to mention the depressing topic with Jessica around. “We’re not going to talk about it anymore so you won’t start missing me.”

She nodded meekly and I reached out to touch her face, wiping off a tear that was hanging on her eyelashes.

“There, stop crying. You’ll look ugly if you cry.”

She smacked my hand away from me immediately, looking down with her lower lip jutting out.

“Are you trying to say that I’m ugly now?”

I chuckled lightly at her response, earning myself I smack on my lap.

“Bastard.” She muttered under her breath.

“I am. I made you cry.” I took her hand and brought it up to kiss it. “But I’ll promise to shower you with lots of hugs and kisses as long as I’m still here to make up for the next 3 months of absence.”

“You’re making me miss you again, stupid.” She whined.

“Alright, alright. Just letting you know.” I smiled. “Nobody’s going anywhere. It’s just you and me together now.”

As if to prove my point, I brought her into my embrace, snuggling my face into her neck, letting my lips press against the skin there.

“Are you going to be okay for now? I can miss tutorial if you want me to, I’m 15 minutes late anyway.”

“Go on, don’t be such a slacker.”

“But I can’t if you don’t let me go.”

Upon hearing that, she pushed away and stood up abruptly.

“Go.” She told me. “I’m going to be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll go. Why are you standing up? You don’t have lessons now.”

“The crying made me hungry. I’m going to make sure you get into class before getting some food from the café.” She answered, pulling me up. “Come on, you still have to do well for your mid-years.”

Right, we were going about doing things as per usual. Nobody’s going anywhere…for Jessica’s sake.

Jessica escorted me up the stairs to the second level, stopping at the corridor. Since there was no one in sight, I pressed my lips on her, letting it linger for a few moments.

“I’ll see you later.” I told her.

“See you later.” She agreed, turning to leave.

I shuffled nervously to the classroom frantically trying to think for excuses to account for being 20 minutes late for lessons. Should I just go ahead with the stomachache excuse?

Mr. Kang was in the midst of discussing an economic essay when I knocked on the door, looking apologetic.

“Ah, Taeyeon. Come on in. Are you feeling better now?” He waved me in and I noticed that Yuri had saved me a seat beside her at the back row.

I forced myself to give him a smile and reassured him that I was feeling much better.

“Hey, what did you tell him?” I whispered, taking my seat beside Yuri.

“Told him you were feeling sick and was resting at the sick bay.” She whispered back, handling my marked essay over. “It took you long enough, thought you are never going to come.”

“Thanks, it’s a long story.”

“Yo Taeng. How’s Jessica?” Sooyoung asked from across Yuri, Yoona was glancing over at us.

“She’s okay.” I assured them. “Oh, can you all do me a favor? Refrain from talking about me leaving whenever she’s around.”

“Why?” Yuri questioned.

By then, we had not bothered about keeping our voices low and Mr. Kang was obviously not pleased with the chattering.

“The people at the back.” He called out. “Do you have anything to share with the class?”

We all shook our heads, turning back to the essay in front of us.

“Nope, sorry sir.” Yuri apologized on our behalf.

“Okay. And Teayeon, I’ll appreciate it if you will take out your writing materials. I believe that there are still notes to be jotted down even if you had scored the highest this time round.”

I flushed bright red at that comment, feeling eyes on me as my classmates turned around to take a look. We were so busy talking and I did not realize that I had forgotten to take out my pencil case.

Mr. Kang resumed on analyzing the question and I heaved a sigh of relief when the class turned their attention back to the PowerPoint slides. I took a spare sheet of paper out and started scribbling on it, pretending to take down notes.

‘She cri Jessi doesn’t want to think about it for the time being. It makes her miss me more?’

I pushed the paper over to Yuri and she passed it down the row so Sooyoung and Yoona could read it too. Sooyoung scribbled a response and the paper was passed back to me.

‘Want to eat at Macdonald’s after school? I’m hungry already.’

I looked up at her incredulously, rolling my eyes. That woman, we just had lunch a little more than an hour ago. Leave it to her to divert the conversation to food.

“What?” She whispered.

“Whatever.” I mouthed back at her.

Macdonald’s it was then and Sooyoung seemed much happier for the rest of the period, having had food to look forward to.

“Term break’s up after next week. Any plans for the holidays?” Sooyoung asked while munching on her McChicken.

“How is it even a holiday? The exams comes next.” Yuri smacked her forehead. “But I don’t mind if we meet up for a day or two, as long as we have enough time to study.  As much as I hate to stay an extra year, I don’t want to get expelled by the end of the year.”

“If anyone should be worried about getting kick out, it should be me idiot. I have to pass the mid years to make up for the first test which I failed.” Sooyoung wacked Yuri playfully on her head, earning herself a smack back from the latter.

Like Sooyoung wanted, we were at Macdonald’s having what we could suppose as high tea while I waited for my girlfriend.

‘I’m going to miss this…’

As I watch my friends bicker, I finally understood what Jessica meant by missing someone even when the person was right in front. You just keep thinking about how life would change without them, wondering if things will ever be the same again.

This group of friends was what kept me grounded to my sanity for all the time we had spent together in junior college and I was so used to having them by my side. I was already starting to miss the childish banter between Yuri and Sooyoung, no matter how irritating it could be sometimes. We were there to back each other up, partners in crime, friendship at its purest. We weren’t rich snobby kids who goes out to party and get drunk every other night, just a group of friends who wanted to have some fun to inject some colors to our dull and stressful college life. Subconsciously, my lips twitched, forming a grin, watching, while the two continued to hurl playful comments at each other while Yoona tried to hush them up.

Damn, it would be so weird to not have them around.

“Why do you have that stupid grin on your face?” Jessica’s voice pulled me back to Earth.

“You’re here? Do you want anything to eat?” I scooted over to make space for her.

“Nope, I’m fine.” Jessica plopped her bag down, reaching over me for some fries on my tray. “Not really hungry.”

“Right, let me just finish this and we can go.” I told her, grabbing a handful of fries and stuffing them into my mouth all in one go.

Jessica chuckled at my dorky behavior, handing my coke to me so that I would not choke.

I gave her a grin in return, as best as I could with my mouth stuffed, glad that I made her smile. Being the reason for her smile would be my mission from now on.

“Baby, free some time up in the evening this coming Saturday will you?”

“Why?” I asked.

We were walking hand in hand down the familiar route that led to Jessica’s house.

“One of my best friends from secondary school’s having a birthday party, I am thinking of introducing you to them.”

Meeting new people?

“It’s just a small gathering, only a few close friends will be there. Don’t worry, I’ll stick closely to you the whole night.” She held my hand tighter and pressed herself against me.

“Alright. Just promise me that you won’t leave me alone.”

“I won’t. Promise.” And it was sealed with a peck on the cheek.

We said our farewells to each other in front of her gate as usual, with me reminding her to wake up earlier the next day so that we would not have to rush for school.

Jessica’s POV

I watched Taeyeon leave till she rounded the corner and I could see her no more.

‘This isn’t goodbye.’ I reminded myself, keeping in mind that it was not the end of the world.

‘That’s right.’ I told myself. ‘No more crying. You’re going to make use of all the time to make many memories with Taeng for her to remember you by.’

“And she can spend all her time reminiscing so that she’s got no extra time to look at Tiffany.” I added aloud.

“Who’s Tiffany?”

I almost jumped out of my skin hearing the voice from behind me and I spun around only to see Krystal standing near the shoe rack.

“Gosh! You scared me.” I glared at her playfully.

“It’s not my fault that you’re so unobservant. Who’s Tiffany?”

“No one in particular. You won’t know her even if I tell you.”

Krystal shrugged at my response, heading to the living room.

“Unnie, Taeyeon unnie walked you back again didn’t she?” Krystal asked, settling down onto the couch and started flipping through the channels.

“Yup.”

“Sigh…I should start looking for a boyfriend too.”

I threw a cushion at her for teasing me, but it never hit my target, making my sister laugh even harder.

“I can’t be bothered with you, I’m going up.” I muttered.

Hellos! It’s raining heavily here ): I was too lazy to get out of the house and decided that I should spend a few hours in front of the computer to finish this chapter off. It has taken me longer than expected though. My mum hates it most when I stay home the whole day since the aircon is almost switched on 24/7 and had been nagging at me the entire time about the rising electric bills. Oh well, on a side note, it is Good Friday tomorrow and my sister’s very excited about having no school. Let’s just say that she’s not very happy with the fact that I’m still on my holiday while hers ended last week. Hope you guys enjoyed reading! Till the next chapter (:

PS. I haven’t read through it yet, pardon the mistakes!