Myungsoo walked out of his fourth period, Woohyun by his side talking about some girl who was going nuts for him just because he asked

her if he could borrow a pencil.

He was only half paying attention for her wonder how Jessica and Woohyun’s hang out went on Saturday.

When he talked to her on Sunday, she sounded fine, like she wasn’t traumatized by anything Woohyun said or did, so maybe he might’ve

been actually normal.

          “I mean really?” Woohyun went on, “I was just asking for a pencil, not marriage.”

          Myungsoo chuckled, “How was Saturday?”

          “It was fun.” Woohyun said, “We watched the movie, she didn’t even jump. I was waiting for her to crawl into my arms until

the scary parts were over but she didn’t even blink.”

          “Told you she wouldn’t go for you,” He said.

          “Maybe she’s just not that kind of girl.” Woohyun said.

          “All girls are like that one way or another.” Myungsoo mentioned thoughtfully, “I’m gonna meet her at her locker, she said she

wanted me to go with her to the library or something.”

          “Bye.” Woohyun waved with a peace sign.

Myungsoo walked over to Jessica’s locker where she was waiting for him patiently and giving him a smile when she saw him.

Jessica handedhim her books,

          “Hold this for a sec yeah?”

          “Sure, why not?” he said, “Since you’ve already taken the pleasure of handing it to me.”

          Jessica laughed as grabbed her library card and took her books back from Myungsoo, “Thank you.”

Jessica wanted to return these books before they had become over due. Late fees were not an option for her at the moment,

since she hadno extra money to blow anyways.

Despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Jessica never had enough extra money to spend on herself and bought only

whensomething was on sale or something important was happening.

          “Saturday was fun.” Jessica said with a soft chuckle.

          “Yeah?” Myungsoo said nonchalantly.

          “Woohyun though I was going to get scared or something,” she said, “He was totally wrong.”

          Myungsoo laughed, “Ha.”

          “And I was right, he didn’t pull anything funny.” Jessica said proudly.

          “That’s good.” He said as they reached the library.

When they walked Jessica walked straight to the front desk while Myungsoo took the liberty of walking around the library.

It felt like ages since he had been in here. Myungsoo wasn’t one for school libraries since he like the public one better, but he avoided

this one for it had too many memories. He didn’t tell Jessica though as he felt it would burden her if she knew the reason.

Myungsoo made his way down the aisle to find himself bumping into someone knocking over their books.

          “Ah, I’m sorry.” He apologized, bowing six thousand times.

          “No, it was all me.” She quietly, starting to pick up her books.

Myungsoo quickly rushed over and began helping her pick up her books. He observed her carefully, her eyes focused on arranging her

things, drak brown hair falling to her eyes, small pink lips, and a smooth pale complexion.

She was simple.

She stood up and gave Myungsoo a small smile,

          “Thanks.”

          “No problem.” He said, “I’m-,”

          “Myungsoo,” Jessica called walking over to him.

          “See you around.” She said, walking away clutching her books.

Myungsoo gave a small huff, well that’s just great. She knew his name, but he didn’t know hers.

What a great disadvantage.

She must’ve been new since he hadn’t seen her around. Jessica turned to him,

          “A friend of yours? I haven’t seen her around.”

          “No, I just kind of mauled her and made her drop her books.”

          “She was a little rude.” Jessica observed.

          “How?” He said.

          “She kind of just left.” She answered, shrugging her shoulders.

Myungsoo chuckled.

Leave it to Jessica to show her dislikes in social etiquette.

Jessica liked that stuff, presentation, etiquette, Myungsoo could’ve cared less about it.

But for Jessica it was important because she believed that it would forge great respect.

Then again, she hasn’t been wrong about it.

          “I’d like to see her again.” He said with a smile.

          Jessica raised her eyebrows, “You thought she was cute?”'

          “Yeah.” Myungsoo said nodding, “You know all the girls, can you find out for me?”

          “Why can’t you do it yourself?” Jessica asked.

          “Oh c’mon please? It would be weird if I ask the girls and if I ask the guys they won’t help cause they’ll be all over her too,

especially if they knew I was interested.”

Myungsoo pleaded.

Jessica looked at Myungsoo, who was giving her cutest look her could muster.

She thought about it for a while, if she did and something completely goes awry she’ll be caught it the middle of it again and she would

rather not have that happen again.

       “It would make me happy if you did this Jess…” Myungsoo coaxed.

        Jessica sighed, finally giving up, “Fine!”

       “Yes! Thank you!” He said.

       Jessica rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

       Myungsoo  gave her a look, “Don’t tell me you’re backing out.”

      “No,” Jessica said, “Now c’mon I’m hungry, let’s get lunch.”

--

Myungsoo never told Suzy that he saw Jessica, or even mentioned her. 

When she had asked a few weeks ago why he had taken out all his high school things, he had lied and said he was driving and

passed by the school, so he had the urge to look at the yearbook. She didn’t question him any further, so he guessed

he was out of the clear. He knew that Jessica and Suzy never exactly got along but he couldn’t remember exactly what.

He was eating a bowl of cereal when Suzy came out of the room, dressed for work and making a beeline for the door.

          “Morning.” She said giving Myungsoo a peck on this lips and ruffling Hyunsoo’s hair.

Kim Hyunsoo was Suzy and Myungsoo’s son of 3 years old. Suzy had him the year after graduation, that was when Myungsoo’s

career was taking off with him joining an Accounting firm and that was when Suzy was joining a new company.

          “I need you to take Hyunsoo to the doctor’s today for his check up.” Suzy said, “The appointment is at 3, is that okay?”

          “Yeah,” Myungsoo nodded, “I’ll pick him up from school and we’ll go over their right after.”

          “That’s the plan.” She said grabbing an apple, “I’m off.”

Suzy gave Myungsoo and Hyunsoo a kiss on cheek before finally leaving. Hyunsoo stared up at Myungsoo,

          “Appa, can we get ice cream after?”

          “Sure.” He smiled, “And you won’t tell Mom?”

Hyunsoo shook his head.

       “Hurry and finish your breakfast, we need to get you to school.” Myungsoo said.

        “I don’t wanna go to school!” Hyunsoo pouted.

        “It’s too early in your life for you to say that.” Myungsoo chuckled.
 

Despite Hyunsoo coming so early in his life, Myungsoo never regretted having him.

In the beginning he didn’t want kids and never thought of having one but he learned to embrace it.

The moment he saw Hyunsoo, he knew that he loved him.

Jessica was in her office looking at the layout of the restaurant and looking over applications for a chef.

 It was going to be difficult since she had a way running things and if it wasn’t ran the way she wanted,

she would feel as if everything was going to be a disaster. Things needed approval, things needed to be signed,

things needed to be checked, and things needed money. Her whole life was riding on this restaurant

and at the moment all she wanted to do was shove all these papers away from her desk and say she gave up.

Jessica rubbed her temples, it was already 6 in the evening and she was nowhere near finished.

Her phone rang and she quickly answered it, thinking it was one of the contractors.

       “Yoboseyo?” she said.

       “Jess?” he said from the other line.

       “Oh Myungsoo,” Jessica said with a sigh.

She wasn’t expecting him to call and honestly she didn’t want him to, it had been three weeks and

Jessica thought he had already forgotten about her. She wanted to smack herself for giving him her business card.

Everything was just a reminder of how sad things were for her in high school, her opening a restaurant

would’ve been a chance to start anew and meet someone. But he found his way back and he just wouldn’t go away.
 

       “I’m in the mood for a bubble tea,” he said, “Care to join me?”

Bubble tea sounded so nice at the moment, she hadn’t left the office since lunchtime but she couldn’t, especially with him,

       “I don’t know Myungsoo,” she said, “I have a lot of things to do at the moment.”

      “Oh c’mon!” Myungsoo said, “You need it, I bet you’ve been there all day.”

       Jessica sighed, she was so going to regret this later on, “Okay.”

       “Great! Let’s meet at the café?” Myungsoo suggested.

“Sure.” She said hanging up.

The café was another one of their old hangouts, it was often that after a long tests days or something else stressful

Myungsoo and Jessica would always come after and get bubble tea. She sat there quietly tapping the screen of her phone,

waiting.

She was dressed casually in denim and a pastel green blouse, her favorite pair of pumps attached to her manicured feet.

Myungsoo walked in a grey dress shirt, denim, and a pair of sneakers, he quickly found Jessica and sat next to her, and if

anything they could’ve been seen as the most sophisticated couple there.

The more Myungsoo looked at Jessica, the more he realized how her beauty was overlooked by him.

She really was truly gorgeous, her hair done if soft curls and how the way she wore her makeup didn’t

change her look but only enhanced it.

          “I’m sorry if this was out of the blue for you.” Myungsoo apologized, “I know it’s been like 3 weeks since we saw each

other.”

          “I still haven’t forgotten our sense of spontaneity.” Jessica mentioned.

          “Well,” Myungsoo said, “How’s it going?”

         “Nothing different from the last time,” Jessica replied as she ordered her drink, “What about you? How’s Suzy?”

         “I’m fine, job hunting here and there. Suzy is Suzy.” Myungsoo said, “She hasn’t changed much.”

         “And your son?” Jessica asked, hesitantly, feeling a slight pang in her heart.

“Hyunsoo is the best.” Myungsoo said with a smile, “He this little boy that’s just eager to do everything and you can’t ever stop

him when he has his mind set on something.”

Jessica found herself smiling as she listened to Myungsoo talk about his son.

The way his eyes lit up talking about Hyunsoo, it was almost as if he was inspired by the little boy.

She never thought in a million years he would even have son or even a child, but he did and

it sounded like he was enjoying every minute of it.

          “Wow, sounds like a great kid.” She said.

          “Yeah, he is. I just took him to the doctors today.” He said, taking a sip of his bubble tea, “You should meet him one

day.”

          “Sure thing.” Jessica said with a smile.

Jessica found her bitterness creeping back to her, they were one happy family and here she was like some pathetic loser.

It wasn’t just that, for this, was what she had used to want. Happy, married, kids, and all with Myungsoo.

Hello! Some of you guys have told me that you're getting a little confused on
where are the past and the actual present time frames. So to make it
a little easier I have put the past in italics. Jessica and Myungsoo's high
school past and the present time frame is going to be the most dominant, so there
won't be all these crazy dates. If anything else is an indicator that the time frames are
going to switch is the two dashes. I hope you guys enjoy reading!
-peony.