Jessica’s eyes opened to the sound of her curtains being pushed open and the morning light filtering in her room.

She groaned and turned the other way, draping an arm over her eyes, she peeked at her clock which had read 8:45 a.m.

It was too early for her to get up and she didn’t even need to be at the restaurant until 12.

Sleep had left her when the one who had opened her curtains spanked her ,

          “C’mon Sica, rise and shine.”

She sat up and gave a whine, the only one who did this to her was her closest friend Tiffany.

She and Tiffany had been friends since Junior High, but they didn’t become best friends until after graduation.

Tiffany would be the early riser between them, always making it her duty to infiltrate Jessica’s apartment

and wake her up before her own alarm clock did.

Tiffany stood over her, hands on her hips,

          “You’d think that after I wake you up so many times, you’d already be used to getting up like this.”

          “No,” Jessica said inwardly, “I need more sleep.”

          “That’s what you always say,” Tiffany sighed, “Now shower up. What’s the plan for today?”

          “I was going to stop by the restaurant and then shop around to look for tablecloths and possible draperies for the windows,”

Jessica said getting up ruffling her hair, and making her way to the bathroom, Tiffany close behind,

          “I haven’t decided if I’m going to use curtains or not.”

          “Well you get to that and I will be making you breakfast.” Tiffany said, pushing herself off the doorway.

Tiffany didn’t know much about what happened between Myungsoo and Jessica since she wasn’t close to her back then.

But she knew it had something to do with Suzy.

Tiffany and Suzy knew each other and Tiffany didn’t get a dislikeable vibe from her,

but there was something that wasn’t about Myungsoo’s wife.

Seeing Jessica after graduation and after getting close to her, she felt that something was torturing her,

it had gotten better over the years but Tiffany knew it was still there and as Jessica’s friend,

she knew that she had to be there for her, because Myungsoo wasn’t part of her life anymore.

Jessica got ready and dressed, making her way to the kitchen where

Tiffany had pancakes with strawberries and yogurt ready for her.

She smiled, despite Tiffany always robbing 2 hours of sleep from her; Jessica could never get tired of the breakfast she made.

          “Thanks Tiff,” Jessica said, “When did you fly in?”

          “Earlier this morning,” Tiffany answered, “Spain was beautiful, you should really come next time Jess.

           I met this guy named Antonio and I’m sure he could fix you up with one of his hunky guy friends.”

Jessica laughed; leave it to Tiffany to gush about hot European guys.

As she took a bite out of her pancakes, she wondered when was the last time she had been this boy crazy,to think about it

the last time she ever gushed about guys was Junior High, when high school started all she really spent time with was Myungsoo.

A frown graced her lips as she took a sip of orange juice that Tiffany had poured for her,

being in Korea brought too many memories, too many memories about Myungsoo, and too much bitterness.

Jessica nodded along as Tiffany continued with her story about Antonio the Spaniard.

Was it really a good idea for her to open this restaurant? In a place that she had ran away from 4 years ago?

--

 Myungsoo strode over to Jessica, finding his place right next to her as she walked away from her locker.

It had been 3 days since Myungsoo’s encounter with the girl but he never saw her again after that.

          “So have you found her yet?” Myungsoo asked.

          Jessica rolled her eyes, “No Myungsoo, you are starting to be like Woohyun when we go out to the mall.”

          “Don’t compare me to him,” Myungsoo said, “She was pretty Jess! I mean did you see her? She was like-,”

          “Okay, okay,” Jessica said, cutting him off, “I haven’t seen her either you know, so just give me time,

           maybe she goes to another school.”

          “Jessica-shhi,” someone called.

Jessica turned around to see their Class President, Lee Jinki, calling her over.

She made her way over to him, flashing him a smile that made him blush.

Jinki was used to girls giving him smiles and all sorts of demure passes.

They believed if they dated the Class President it would be easy to manipulate certain activities and even faculty,

but Jinki wasn’t easily moved, he only had a soft spot for certain girls and Jessica was one of them.

Maybe it was back in Kindergarten when Jessica had helped him up after he was beaten by a bunch of first graders

that he began to create an admiration for her.

          “Yes Jinki-shhi?” she asked.

          “A new student has arrived and believing that you are well connected with the school populous,

           I think it would be most effective if you could give her the tour and start her off?”

           he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose,

          “It would be unwise of me to do so since I am a bit awkward.”

          “Of course.” Jessica agreed, “But my classes?”

          “Not to worry,” Jinki said, “I shall take care of that myself. Follow me please.”

          Myungsoo mouthed over to her, “What’s going on?”

          Jessica motioned over to the office, “Don’t wait up for me.”

Myungsoo nodded and made his way to find Woohyun or Sungyeol.

Although the two were both idiots, he might as well have some company while Jessica dealt with whatever Class Prez had her do.

Maybe he was planning a new activity, he always asked Jessica to help since she was always well rounded with social events.

He finally caught sight of Sungyeol, who was trying juggling milk cartons entertaining a couple of girls.

He smacked one out of Sungyeol’s hand,

          “Yah!” he said, as the girls were walking away, 

          “Wait! Come back! Aish, I had more than one girl’s attention for more than 5 minutes. I could’ve gotten a date.”

          “I’m your date for now.” Myungsoo said sarcastically.

          “Oh,” Sungyeol said raising an eyebrow,

          “I see no Jessica. Could it be that she’s been stolen away by that Class President? You really need to just ask her out.”

          “How many times do I have to tell you, me and Jessica aren’t a thing.” Myungsoo said,

          “We’re friends, like me and Woohyun, sort of, and me and you.”

          “You just asked me on a date!” Sungyeol exclaimed, making a few students look at him.

          Myungsoo smacked his forehead,

          “I wasn’t serious. I have enough rumors about me and Jessica, I don’t need any about me and you.”

          “Whatever,” Sungyeol said,

          “You better make it up to me; I lost like two girls. I feel so used! You only hang out with me when Jessica leaves you.”

          “I don’t need to make up anything to you,” Myungsoo said,

          “You copy my homework 4 times a week. If anything you owe me.”

          Sungyeol sighed, “Ara ara, you got me there. Use me as much as you want, oh Prince of Ice.”

Jessica followed behind Jinki, going through her list of materials to review for in her Anatomy class.

Jinki turned to her and gave her a light smile,

          “How are your classes Jessica-shhi?”

          “Great! Thanks for asking Jinki.” Jessica replied.

          “If you’re ever falling behind on a class, please don’t hesitate to ask me for help.” He said,

          “You done so much for the committee, it’s the least I can do.”

          “Haha,” Jessica laughed, “I’ll take you up on that.”

          “Alright,” Jinki said opening the door to the office for her, “Here we are.”

Jessica walked in only to come face to face with the girl who Myungsoo had been pining for the past three days.

She was wearing their school uniform, her hair half up and half down just like Jessica had remembered when she took a glance at her.

          “Jessica Jung, meet Suzy Bae.” Jinki said introducing here,

         “She’s the new student I was telling you about. She just moved from Gwangju.”

          Jessica flashed her one of her signature smiles, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

          Suzy bowed, “Nice to meet you as well. Please take care of me.”

          “I’ll leave you to it Jessica.” Jinki said.

          Jessica nodded, “Shall we start?”

Suzy followed her when she began walking, and glanced to wherever Jessica pointed.

Jessica gave a thorough explanation of where everything was and how to get there efficiently in time.

          “People actually go to our library to study; I know the neighboring school’s library is just another place to hang out.”

           Jessica said with a laugh, “You’ll be surprised how you get a lot done in the library.”

Suzy laughed along too.

Jessica studied her, she was a little bit rude when she last saw her but seeing her now she was just a simple, well-mannered girl,

          “I wish you stayed a while when I last saw you in the library, all of us could’ve already been together if you did.”

          “Yeah,” Suzy said rubbing the back of her head,

          “I had to book it though; my Mom wanted me to prepare for dinner. Wait, us?”

          “No worries,” Jessica waved off, “Yeah, me and Myungsoo.”

          “Oh that guy that I bumped into.” She said, recalling.

          “You should hang out with us at lunch,” Jessica suggested,

          “You’re new around here; I’ll introduce to you some of my friends.”

          “I’d like that.” Suzy smiled, “Thanks Jessica-shhi.”

          “Don’t mention it.” Jessica said, “We’re friends aren’t we?”

--

          “Yo!” Tiffany said, snapping her fingers in Jessica’s face “Are you even listening to me at all?”

          “Mwoh?” Jessica said, snapping out of her memories, “Yeah, yeah I was.”

          Tiffany growled, “No you weren’t! You only make that face when you’re deep in your la la land.

          Honestly what’s going on? Tell me.”

          “No, I’m not going to tell you.” Jessica pouted, “You’re going to smack me senseless.”

          “There’s no sense left to smack.” Tiffany retorted, parking the car, “Now spill girlfriend.”

          “Well it’s about Myungsoo.” Jessica said, as they got out of the car and walked around the drapery store,

          “I’ve been kinda hanging out with him for a few weeks.”

          “What?” Tiffany said in surprise, “How did you guys even find each other?”

          “Supermarket.” She replied, “And I don’t even know why it was there out of all places.”

          “Does Suzy know?” Tiffany asked.

          Jessica shrugged, “Beats me, does it even matter? He has a son though.”

          “I heard about that,” Tiffany said, “I saw it on her social page. He’s actually a cute little .”

          Jessica laughed, “Goodness Tiffany, have you found the OMG curtain we’re looking for?”

          “No, but that’s OMG worthy,” Tiffany said pulling Jessica out of the aisle.

She spotted what looked like to be Suzy, Myungsoo, with Hyunsoo in between them holding hands.

Jessica smiled bitterly, so the happy family all together.

She froze.

Of all the places they could be, they had to be here?!

No way in hell did she want to deal with Suzy, especially if Hyunsoo was there, it was going to be awkward.

          “I think this is the part where we get the hell out of here and shop another day.” Jessica said, tugging on Tiffany’s arm.

          “Maybe you should just stay,” she said, “You came here for a purpose,”

          “A purpose that can easily be returned to on another day,” Jessica said, feeling a little desperate to leave now.

          “Why are you so scared?” Tiffany asked.

She stopped.

That’s right, Tiffany didn’t know what happened between the three in high school, and it was understandable that she would ask.

Yes, why was she scared?

It’s wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong, she was shopping for curtains for Christ’s sake.

Jessica took a deep breath, she almost forgot why she had came back to Korea in the first place,

which was to come to terms with everything that happened 4 years ago,

not to recreate that bitterness that she had a long time ago.

She sighed.

          “Oh Jessica,” she heard Myungsoo calling out to her.

She turned to face the three, Tiffany by her side.

She glanced at them, Suzy had a look of mild surprise and Hyunsoo only stared, curious of the scene in front of him.

          Jessica gave them the smile that she was always known for, “Hello Myungsoo, Suzy.”

Hey everyone! It's been a while, how's everybody doing?
In all honesty I didn't want to update this until I got my stuff together,
which I now have! Graduating and then making sure I have everything
for college is a ! When I was writing the update for this I actually got lost
on where I was. On other news I when I returned to aff, I saw that this had gone from
12 subscribers to 24,so thank you to everyone who did that. And someone upvoted this?
Whoever did that LET ME LOVE YOU. My first upvote like evarrrr.I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far,
its a long way from over everything's just getting started. Please do be patient with the updates guys C:
Much love,
-peony.