Jessica’s POV

Taeyeon only had 2 weeks left in school after her mid-year exams were over. I could tell that she wanted to spend as much time as possible with me in school within those 2 weeks for she started skipping lessons just to stay by my side for every single break that I had, even if it was just 30 minutes.

Her intentions were good, I know. But would I be able to deal with the emptiness after that? With much consideration, I finally plucked up the courage to put a stop to her over stickiness on the third day.

“Baby, as much as I love you, I don’t want to get too used to you being here all the time. Please?” I pleaded with those oh-so-cute-puss-in-the-boots kind of eyes that made it hard for her to refuse me.

I was pretty sure she got my message.

She hesitated a bit and I pouted, to add in to the effect.

“Yea, fine. I’ll go back for lessons.” She sighed in defeat and it was her turn to pout at me.

I gave her peck to reward her for being a good girl, all the while smiling widely, ignoring the whimpering noises that she was making.

However, I soon found out that she had not been keeping her words. Since I indirectly told her that I wanted to be alone during breaks that were not supposed to be common breaks for us, she found another way to be near me, thinking that I would not know...or so she thought. I pretended to not see her, wanting to see how long she would be able to keep it up.

Taeyeon plopped herself a few tables away from where we would normally sit at the study area, right beside the pillar at the corner. You could easily miss her if you were not observant enough.

Most of the time she was reading her biology notes which she had recently gotten from her seniors for reference, trying to blend in with the rest of the people there. Even as I study, I would still catch her stealing glances at me every now and then from the corner of my eyes.

It felt just like the old times. It was as if we went back in time, to all those study dates that we used to go on. Taeng had never totally kicked the habit of staring at me, though she had toned it down a lot this year. According to her, the sight of me concentrating with my tongue sticking out slightly was way too adorable, and she would never ever get tired of seeing it.

 

Taeyeon's POV

Seeing that Jessica was so absorbed in her books, I decided to risk it and sneaked to the washroom to relief myself, making a mad dash towards it when I was safely out of her sight. Trying to stay inconspicuous had been tiring, but there wasn't any other way I could accompany her since she did not want me to.

For the past few days, it had been a routine for me to be at the study area before Jessica's break, skipping whatever lessons that I had during those periods. The teachers did not really cared for I was going to leave soon anyway. I kept myself occupied by reading, knowing that she would turn up sooner or later without fail; she was after all a studious honor roll student.

Jessica would be alone most of the time, though sometimes she would have Clarice with her and much to my dismay, Donghae. I swear that boy was doing it on purpose, walking up to my girlfriend and sitting next to her whenever Clarice was not there. They were too far for me to hear what they were talking about, but it did not seem like they were discussing anything related to homework. Hell, they did not even take the same subjects at all.

It took all I could to stay seated and continue with my readings sulkily, waiting for her break to end or for my break to start officially, whichever came first. Sometimes I wonder, if he was using my leaving as an opportunity to get closer to her and possibly take her away from me or was it just a pure coincident that they both happen to have more common breaks this year. It got me thinking though, if he would meet up with Jessica more frequently when I leave. Dang, maybe I should make Sunny my spy, keep an eye on her…or should I not? Jessica was not the type to cheat anyway, but that boy’s intentions were never innocent- he had been crushing on her since orientation last year.

On second thoughts, I was too lazy to dig too much into it for I trusted Jessica, and so I never did find out.

Yuri told me it was called stalking, but I was not even hiding from her. In fact it was just Jessica being her usual unobservant self. It was not my fault that she could not spot me among the other students when I was literally under her nose...

Jessica was not at her table when I came back from the loo. I did not think much of it, she might have gone off to the cafe to grab some snacks seeing that she came to the study area quite early today, which meant that she had most probably skipped lunch, again.

‘Hey, where are my notes?’

The stack of notes that I had clipped together had mysteriously disappeared and it was not a very windy day as well. But just to make sure, I bent down and looked under the table, thinking that someone could have knocked it off.

“Are you looking for these?”

Wait. Why did the person’s voice sounded so familiar?

I stood up straight and turned, only to come face to face with Jessica. She had my notes held up in her right hand, grinning at me.

“W-what are you doing here?” I stammered.

“I should be the one asking. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in lecture.” Jessica handed my notes back to me. “You have been stalking me haven't you?”

“N-no. W-why would I?” My voice cracked, and it came out sounding like a squeak. “I’ve got better things to do darling.” I puffed out my chest indignantly, trying to look more confident.

Jessica smirked at my failed attempt to cover up.

“Oh really? Like what? Do you really think I’m that dumb, Taeng?” She was still smiling and it was starting to freak me out. “How could I miss my girlfriend sitting and staring at me like an old ert for days?”

“O-old ert?! Hey! I’m not old, neither am I a ert!”

“But you sure look like one. Say, why have you been following me?”

 

Jessica was not as ignorant as I thought, she had actually noticed me. But she did not looked mad, despite knowing the fact that I had not kept my words. In fact, it looked like she was enjoying herself a tad bit too much seeing me stutter, weak in my knees. I had no idea why I was acting that way, like a child caught stealing candy.

“I d-did not!”

“Why are you here then?”

I pondered over how to answer her, fidgeting under her gaze.

“I…erm…I was…” Jessica raised her eyebrows waiting for my reply. “Alright, you win.” I sighed, plopping myself on the bench.

Jessica followed suit, sitting on my left. She took my right hand and brought it up to cup her face. I rubbed my thumb softly against the smooth, unblemished skin, letting her the back of my hand, her fingers slowing tracing its way down to my arm. My elbow rested on the table as she laid her head down, my hand now sandwiched between the side of her face and her left arm. I copied her and rested my cheek on my extended arm, my free hand tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I wanted to look at you as much as I can.” I admitted. “I’m afraid I’ll forget how you look like.”

“Taeng,” she rolled her eyes. “Is that even possible?”

“Just in case, you might not know. You know how bad my memory is, I can’t even remember what I had for lunch.”

“Excuses...”

 

“I wasn’t stalking you, I’ve been sitting here doing my own things.” I said, pointing to the notes.

“Darling, I’m not stupid.”

“I’m sorry Princess.”

Jessica put a finger to my lips, hushing me up.

“Don’t. I hate it when you say ‘I’m sorry’, Taeng.”

“I love you, Princess.” I moved my head and captured the tip of her finger between pursed lips, on it before releasing it.

“I love you more.” She replied.

“I’ll meet you at your house later? It’s my last day in school and my class wants to have dinner together afterwards.”

“Hmm...Okay. Don’t come home too late.”

I smiled, liking the way she said it. Home. I was going home to my Princess and all the sense of security and stability she had given me.

‘Home is with you, wherever you are.’

 

--

 

“What are you going to do for the next 7 hours darling? Are you going to wander around again or are you going home first?”

“I’ll walk around for a while, wait for the mall to open, there are quite a number of things I want to buy.” I pulled Jessica behind the pillar near the side gate, away from the CCTV camera and took a quick glance around before swooping in to give her a kiss on those inviting lips of hers. “I’ll be here waiting for you when you end school. Don’t worry Princess, I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you, baby. See you.” She pinched my cheek lightly and I grinned.

“Bye darling.” I wave my hands, walking backwards as she entered the school compound.

I had a lot of free time on my hand after I officially left school but I needed the time to pack my luggage and buy whatever necessities that I wanted to bring along. Even if having those spare time meant that I could sleep in, but I guess my body clock was too screwed up, so much so that I woke up at 5:30 in the morning automatically without the help of an alarm. I gave up trying to go back to sleep eventually and ended up deciding that I would accompany Jessica to school and send her off every morning instead.

She loved having me dropped her off by the gate, it gave her the excuse to see me every day. However, it would have been perfect if I had gotten a driving license- reason being that the hour long journey would be shortened to 20 minutes, without being stuck in the morning jam that was, so that she could sleep in a little more and then continue to snooze in the car again. Her father overheard her while passing by the living room and gave her an earful on her laziness, ranting on and on about how pampered kids are nowadays.

Krystal was snickering at the side while we were forced to listen to Mr. Jung's life story on how he used to travel around in unventilated buses packed with so many people that made it almost impossible to breathe. Jessica leaned against me, curled up on the couch, nodding to whatever her dad said every few seconds with a blank look on her face- both Krystal and I were perfectly well aware of the fact that she was not listening at all but Mr. Jung had carried on with his ‘story telling’.

I wondered around the housing estates next to the school, looking for food to fill my empty stomach. My feet led me to the bean curd store which I often visited with Jessica and I ended up having 2 bowls of the sweet soy bean product all by myself at our usual seat.

Life was so boring now that I was out of school, I kind of missed it. It felt so weird to be this free when I had been crazily busy for the first half of the year and I could not get used to it. The streets outside were quiet; mostly housewives going about doing their grocery shopping and retired elderly chatting among themselves under the void deck or the coffee shop. Everyone else were either in school or at work and it made me feel so out of place; I was not supposed to be out doing nothing at this time of the day.

As soon as the neighborhood library opened at 10 am, I found myself seated at a cozy corner, reading a book which I had randomly grabbed off the shelf. I must have fallen asleep unknowingly for I woke up to the vibrations in my pocket. Groggily, I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone, stretching my back in an attempt to loosen up the muscles which had tighten up.

 

To Taengoo:

Baby, what are you doing now? Have you had your lunch yet?

From Princess

 

Lunch? Holy crap! It was half past 12! How did I managed to sleep for so long in the library without getting kicked out by the librarian?

 

To Princess:

You’re not going to believe it, but I just woke up. I’m at the library.

From Taengoo

 

My phone vibrated again seconds later and the screen lit up.

 

To Taengoo:

You’re an idiot, why am I not surprised? Well, go get lunch now, I can’t believe that you still need someone to nag at you to take your meals at your age...Oh yea, Yuri told me you got on the honor roll again for the mid-terms! I’ve got your papers with me. Good job baby! (: (:

From Princess

 

To Princess:

You chose to nag at me. I have absolutely no problems in taking my meals on time. But if it makes you happy, then yea, I’m on my way to the coffee shop...and the honor roll? It’s kinda expected, since I’m smart like that. *smirk* I’m kidding, sorry.

From Taengoo

 

To Taengoo:

Why do I have the sudden urge to smack your head hard?... I shall stop texting under the table, you’re so not worth getting my phone confiscated. Talk to you later, I miss you already.

From: Princess

 

Not wanting to distract her more than I already did, I decided against replying her message, trying to figure out what to have for lunch instead. There was barely 3 hours left before I was due to meet Jessica at the school gate, I would have to speed things up if I wanted to get everything I needed and not let the royal highness wait. She gets really grumpy whenever I was late.

 

“You could have at least told me that your lecturer would be releasing you late so I wouldn’t have to rush here.” I grumbled.

*Muack*

A peck to my cheek and the simple gesture was all it took to make me smile again.

“I’m sorry baby. Did you get what you wanted?” Jessica asked.

“Yup. I think I’ve got everything that I need. But I should really start packing soon, my room is in a mess.”

I groaned at the thought of packing and clearing my wardrobe. I was never good at it and it put me in a bad mood every time I was asked by my mum to clean my room. I get pretty short tempered, ready to flare up at anyone who tries to talk to me.

“Want me to help? I can come by this weekend.” Jessica offered.

“Yes! I can’t do it on my own. Oh, what am I going to do without you?”

 

--

 

“You know Taeng, I thought I told you I’m only coming over to help? I don’t ever recall saying that I'm going to provide you with free labor.” She smacked my thigh, making me open an eye lazily to look at her for a few seconds before closing it again. “For god’s sake, you just woke up. Can’t you at least get up and help me fold some clothes?”

“Nope. It’s too comfortable to move. Do you want to join me?”

I was lying on my bed, among my clothes. For the past two hours we had been going through every article of clothes that I owned, trying to decide if I should bring them along or leave them behind. I ran out of patience and gave up on choosing them a while later, feeling tired all of a sudden. T-shirts, shorts, skirts and dresses are scattered everywhere in addition to books, notes and stationaries. It looked like Hurricane Katrina had just been through my room.

“Baby, come on... Get up Taeng.” Jessica tugged on my arm, trying to pull me up.

Seeing that I had no intentions on moving, she started whining, swinging my arm.

“Please, baby, please. Help me out here.”

“Nope.” I stubbornly replied.

“Aww, darling! These aren't even my clothes!”

I yanked her arm roughly, making her lose her balance and fall on top of me with a yelp. I felt the air pushed out of my lungs due to the impact, but before I could recover from it, I heard a loud smack, followed by a throbbing pain on my shoulder.

“Taengoo! That hurts. What was that for?” I opened my eyes to see Jessica glaring at me, her face inches away from mine.

Instead of answering her, I shifted a bit to make myself more comfortable before pulling Jessica up so that she was fully lying on me, her lower body between my legs. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lifted my head and pressed my lips against hers briefly before falling back into the pillow.

“I’m sorry. Don’t be angry, I’ve got something for you. Do you want to see it?” I gave her my best grin and the most innocent face I could pull up, hoping to appease her.

“No. I don’t want to see it, you’ve been such as to me.”

“Princess...” I attempted to kiss her again, but she turned her head to the side with a pout and my lips met her cheek instead.

“Sure you don’t want to see it?”

She nodded cutely.

“Are you really sure? Cause if you don’t want it, I can always give it to Tiffany when I see her...do you still not want it, darling?” I , watching her expression changed.

“You won’t dare.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’ve got no balls.”

“Literally.” I made a face at her, prompting her to give me another smack on my shoulder. “So do you want to see it or not?” I chuckled.

She clicked her tongue, sending me a reproving gaze and all I did was to continue grinning.

“Fine, show me then.”

“I promise you won’t regret it.” I perked up upon hearing her words.

“You better not. If this is another joke of yours, I’m gonna kill you.”

Honestly, I had it prepared a few days ago, the same day I went shopping while she was in school. But since it took some time for it to be ready, I had only went to collect it this morning before Jessica came over.

Reaching under my pillow, I pulled out a velvet box and presented it to her. Upon seeing the logo on it, her eyes lit up. She already had an idea of what was inside.

“Did you get us couple rings?” She asked excitedly, her frustration towards me long forgotten.

Jessica fumbled with the lid, barely able to contain her excitement.

“Slow down darling, you’re going to drop the box on my face at this rate.” Placing my hands over hers, I gently took the box and opened it for her. “There you go... Do you like it?”

She did not say anything as she ran her fingers across the laser engravings of our name and anniversary date on the metal pieces.

“Happy A-day Princess. It’s a little late and I’m sorry I couldn’t get us nice, expensive silver rings from Tiffany’s and what not. I had been saving since last year. They might be stainless steel rings, but still...they did burn a hole in my wallet, not that I’m complaining about it…but hey, they don’t rust too!”

“It’s beautiful, Taeng, and I don’t care if it’s not real silver. It's ours.” She took the one that said ‘J. Jessica’s’ and placed the box aside. Taking my left hand, she slipped it into my ring finger, holding it up to examine it.

“Kim Taeyeon, you’re mine.”

“I am.” I reached over to my side to retrieve Jessica’s ring and put it on her. It was a perfect fit, fortunately.

“K. Taeyeon’s.” She read. “Thank you, but you’re making me feel bad for being mad at you yesterday. I seriously thought that you had forgotten about our anniversary.”

“You didn't mean it. Besides, it was sort of my fault, I could have told you truthfully, but that would have spoilt the surprise.”

She had been wanting them for a long time. While telling her that couple items are useless accessories that are overpriced, I was secretly saving up to get us one and even planned to gift it to her on our anniversary; a plan which obviously fell through.

Yesterday had been our first anniversary but since Jessica had been really busy preparing for her upcoming prelim exams, we did not get to celebrate it fancifully, going out on a romantic date and all the extravaganza. It was a simple affair. She invited me over for dinner and took the effort to whip up a spaghetti meal, following the recipe her mother had given her, and somehow managed to convince her parents to take Krystal and the domestic helper out for dinner so that we could have the house to ourselves. Since I had arrived empty handed, stunned at the sight of the candle lights set up in the kitchen, she had jumped to the conclusion that I had forgotten about our special day. That had dampened the atmosphere a little for she was quiet throughout dinner.

However, in my defense, there was no way I could forget about that day where she had practically jumped on me, on my bed, telling me that she would give us a shot. I just could not believe that someone so prone to causing a disaster in the kitchen like her had managed to come up with something edible by herself, though I must admit that it was not that bad and it was the thought that counts, but my late reaction to her efforts probably gave her the impression that I did not care about it.

“I would prefer to call these promise rings though. This would be my promise to you, a reminder to stay faithful and to continue loving you even if we're miles apart.” Taking her hand up, I kissed the ring resting snugly there.

“Baby? We will spend our second anniversary together right? Please tell me we will.”

“Silly, of course we will. And all the anniversaries that come after that.” I lifted my finger to wipe the tears that was threatening to fall from those beautiful brown eyes of hers. “The both of us would have completed our A levels by then, either I fly back or you can fly over. Either way we will still be together. I promise.”

“Pinky promise?” She asked, offering me her pinky.

“Pinky promise.”

With that, she leaned in and started attacking my lips furiously. The kiss was like the one she had given me at Hara’s house that day, except that we were not drunk this time and I could feel the desperateness and urgency despite her aggressiveness. I let her took the lead, responding to her each and every move.

“I’ll. Miss you. So. Very much.” She said in between nibbles.

I just wrapped my arm around her tighter, flipping her over so that I was on top, but that did not stop her from pressing my head down harder. I swear my lips were going to be beaten after this.

“Argh…” I groaned.  

Jessica had taken my bottom lip hostage between her teeth and bitten on it hard.

The moment I tasted iron on her tongue, I knew that she had drawn blood. She swiped her tongue across the cut and gave it another before letting go to break the kiss, smirking, satisfied with her ‘work’.

Touching the swollen and bleeding area gingerly, I frowned when I saw the blood that stained my fingertip.

“You bit me.” I said, still staring at the blood on my finger.

“You better not think of cheating on me with some other hot chicks you meet there. Understand?”

With her thumb, Jessica pressed down on the wound to stop the blood from flowing.

“You noe I woon (You know I won’t)” The words came out jumbled together due to the fact that she was putting pressure on the cut.

It clotted up soon after and by then I was lying on my side next to Jessica who was brushing her thumb across my lower lip, all the while gazing into my eyes. No words were exchanged, there were no need for conversations. Our faces were in such close proximity that I could examine every single detail of her features and I bet she was doing the same to me. I noticed how her eyelashes curled up at the end, the way they clashed together when she blinked her eyes and the way her eyebrows knitted up as she studied me.

“I'm sorry that I had always screwed things up when it comes to our relationship.” I started.

“What are you talking about? You did your best to change for me, putting in the effort to maintain our relationship. Aside from the few times when you got on my nerves, you make me feel so pampered every second. You love me. That’s what matters.”

“Well, but we seem to always have it rough. It was nowhere near romantic when we first got together, on this bed, no matter how wrong it sounded. I was feeling so resentful that day and I didn’t even get to ask you to be my girlfriend properly, it wasn’t the type of proposal I had in mind. Then I got retained, not exactly the type of partner anyone will want. And now I’m leaving-”

She cut me off with her lips, preventing me from going further down the list.

“Hush baby, hush. It’s not all that important.”

“I couldn’t even give you a proper anniversary celebration, not to mention the obvious screwed up in timing and planning. I was supposed to give you the ring yesterday.” I mumbled as soon as her lips left mine.

“Shut up. You talk way too much.” Jessica pulled away from me pressing my lips together with her thumb and forefinger. “And I don’t need such extravagance, it’s you that matters.”

After making sure that I would not continue talking about those useless things did she then let go of her hold on my lips.

“You know, I really love your eyes, I’m always getting lost in them.” Jessica spoke up after a long while. “They are the reason why I can never stay mad at you. Whenever we quarrel and no matter how unreasonable you were, as soon as we made eye contact, everything was forgiven. I could see the sadness and frustration beyond the anger in them. You make me weak, and I hate you for that, idiot.”

“Know what I like most about you?” I asked.

“No, because you wouldn’t tell me.”

“Would you have believed me then? You thought I was too drunk that night to be thinking straight.”

“Why wouldn’t I believe you? Unless. It’s something weird? Or did you really mean it when you said you like my best?”

“Maybe, but not really.” I replied playfully, giving her a slap. I started her well-conditioned hair; it had recently become a new habit of mine. “It’s simply because you’re always here for me, you’re my safe house. Frankly, I was initially attracted to you because you were that soft spoken, beautiful girl from school, but as I got to know you better, there’s so much more to you than your outer appearance. You’re like an onion.”

Jessica chuckled at being compared to the vegetable. Making me smile along with her.

“You’re not as demure as I thought you were. You can be so violent, especially when you get so angry and honestly, whenever we argued, I had this feeling that you’re going to smash my head through the windows and you did come very close to that...Ouch! See, that’s what I’m talking about.” I rubbed the sore spot on my arm where she had pinched me earlier.

“So are you disappointed? Because I’m not who you think I am?” She challenged.

“Nope, I’m glad that you’re able to be yourself when you’re with me. Really. I probably gave you a lot of headaches because of my imperfections...all the times that we fought. But back to the main point, I am a coward. You said so yourself, I’m always running away from problems. Even when I shut you out, you stood by me. You could have left me and let me continue running till I get lost but you chose to pull me out of the abyss I had dug for myself. That, I’m thankful for.”

“You are my girlfriend Taeng, obviously I have to be here for you. But I didn’t do much. I couldn’t do anything for you when you’re at your lowest, I didn’t even know how to comfort you.”

“Don’t you doubt yourself. You don’t know how much it means to have you by my side, I managed to keep my sanity. For all you know I could have been suicidal.” Jessica stared at me as if she could not believe what I had just said. “You kept me safe. With you, I know that everything would be okay in time, you give me the strength to stay strong.”

“It’s okay baby. It’s all in the past. Look forward from now on, there’s no turning back anymore.” Jessica adjusted her position so that her head was resting on my arm, with her arm and leg draped over me.

We were once again thrown back into silence, and I was actually starting to feel drowsy once more.

 

Jessica’s POV

Taengoo’s breathing was getting lighter and her eyes were closed. Looking at the mess around us, I sighed.

“Don’t you think we should get back to your packing, baby? You’ve been sleeping a lot.” I poked her tummy; Taeng had been losing her abs ever since she stopped training.

“I just want to sleep. We’ve still got lots of time, why rush?”

“What about your clothes? Your room is so messy.”

“Leave it, it doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with them some other time.” She murmured, pulling me closer and snuggling her nose into my hair.

…

“Taeng?” I called.

“Mmh?”

“What’s the doing in the drawer? I thought you said you’re throwing it away?” The blue object hidden under a pile of clothes in her drawer had caught my attention earlier while I was clearing it out and it made me wonder why she had kept it for so long.

“Leave it… I’ll deal with it later.” She yawned.

“You aren’t really listening to me are you?” I chuckled, pulling my head back to look at her adorable face.

A light snore escaped from her and I smiled.

‘I love watching you sleep too darling. You looked so trouble free, so innocent, just like a baby.’ Leaning in, I gave her a peck on the nose. “Sleep tight Taeng. I love you.”

While she slept, I held up my hand and continued staring at the ring, turning it round and round my finger. The design was simple, just like us. Taeng really had the knack in picking out things.

‘You don’t even have to get these to prove anything. I know you’ll stay faithful even if you enjoy ogling at other girls. But since you did, this ring will be your replacement for the time being till we’re back together.’

 

TBC~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, an extra long chapter to make up for the lack of updates. It probably has a lot of mistakes in it, but I’ll save the editing for later. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and I’m off to finish my assignment T.T