Taeyeon's POV- Continue from Chapter 7

“Uhm what do you want to eat?” I ask meekly after I put down the menu that I can recite out without even looking.

She looks up from the menu and then pouts a little as she tries to decide on what to eat. I bet all the food look delicious to her since they are proudly made by my parents. And yes, I bring her to my parents’ eatery.

“Taeyeon, I am assuming that you didn’t come and help out earlier because you’re with your friend right?” My mother says from the back as she approaches us. I bite my inner cheek as I had totally forgotten that I was supposed to come and help out. She puts her hands on the sides of her waist and looks at Jessica for a while as she waits for my reply.

“I am sorry omma, I was attending something else. I promise this won’t happen again.” I quickly apologise, just in case she starts lecturing me in front of Jessica, which would be so embarrassing.

My mother narrows her eyes at me but decides to just drop the argument. I heave a sigh in relief quietly and say to my mom as I point to the menu,” omma, can I have this?” She nods and looks at Jessica,”and for you?”

“I would like to have the same order as Taeyeon, thank you.” She says politely. I am kind of surprised. She must be a decent girl. I mean she is, but I don’t really know her yet right?

“What about you hyo? You’ve been so quiet since just now, anything wrong?” my mom asks Hyoyeon who is drinking the coke.

She gulps down the coke and burps loudly before she grins at my mother,”nope! I want to have the usual please omma!”

Of course she has nothing wrong with her, she is so quiet because she is observing Jessica and me. Anyway, she calls my mother “omma” too, because we’re that close.

“alright kids. Wait for a moment.” My mom then walks to the back to tell my father our orders.

“Your parents own this place?” Jessica asks me as she scans through the eatery with a look of interest.

I simply nod and sip on my drinks. Hyoyeon kicks me under the table as she tries to tell me that I am letting a chance to slip away again. I grimace a little and stare at Hyoyeon who is now looking out of the window.

“You always come here to help out?” she asks again and this time, she looks at me directly in the eyes. I almost couldn’t find my confidence when she stares at me like that.

“S-sometimes. Like when it gets a little busier.” I explain and my eyes wander around, just not to her eyes.

She nods with her lower lip juts out a little. Hyoyeon stands up suddenly and claims that she needs to go to the washroom. I know what she is up to. She wants to create some alone time for me with Jessica. I appreciate that but that just makes things even more awkward between the two of us now, we barely know each other.

“So…” she sighs out as she straightens her sitting posture, her hands now on the table. I flinch a little at her sudden movement and I swear I saw her lips twitch up a little, I must have been an idiot to her just now.

“Is the food here nice?” she asks me. I am glad that she asks me something, if not the silence between us in this rowdy room will be so awkward for us.

“you can count on me for that,” I say with a proud smile. My parents’ noodles is the best you can ever get.

She chuckles softly and says something which makes me blush furiously. “You have a cute smile, with the dimple around your chin there.” I touch my chin conscientiously and lower my head to hide my flushed cheeks.

Why is she making things so hard for me, I couldn’t look at her in the eyes and now I can’t even lift my head up? I might as well hide under my blanket forever.

“I am sorry, did I offend you or something?” she asks with a serious tone after a while. I quickly look up and shake my head vigorously as I don’t want her to get me wrong.

“It’s n-nothing. Anyway, you have a cute smile too.” I didn’t just say that, please, somebody slap me. My eyes flutter even wider after realising what I have really just said and I look at her reaction, she is looking around with an awkward smile. I ruin everything. “I-I-I am sorry if you’re uncomfortable about i-it.”

I focus on sipping my drinks while she plays with the straw. “it’s okay.” She says

A moment later, Hyoyeon returns to the table and she can sense the awkwardness between the two of us. She squints at me and shakes her head lightly. I am demoralised and embarrassed.

My mother brings out a tray of food and places them on our table, then she leaves to attend to other customers too. Hyoyeon shoots me a What-Just-Happened look and I shrug with a frown.

Hyoyeon kicks me directly on my shin and I jump up a little. That startles Jessica and she looks at me with a questionable look. I glare at Hyoyeon and she winks at me. I am getting annoyed. I don’t know what to say or how to start a conversation with my dream girl and yet, my cousin keeps asking me to do that.

“what’s wrong?” she asks me with concern and I smile at her sheepishly. “How’s the food Jessica-ssi?”

She looks kind of surprised when I ask her a question. But she still replies me anyway,” it is really nice. I will come again next time.”

Is she hinting me? No, maybe she meant she will bring her friends here next time. Alright, Kim Taeyeon, don’t start on your wishful thinking, just eat your food.

“that’s great. I will serve you next time, I promise.” I say and eat my food quietly. She stays quiet too as we eat.

Hyoyeon raises an eyebrow at me when Jessica is not looking. I know I have just killed the conversation again. I am such a failure. Why didn’t I try to flirt with people the last time? At least I could gain some experience at it. ARGH

“are you going to bring your friends here?” Hyoyeon asks. I am grateful for that because that’s my million dollar question.

Jessica glances up at me quickly before she looks at Hyoyeon,”I.. don’t think so.”

What? Why? She doesn’t have any friend? Did she quarrel with her friends or something? I need to ask her my burning question.

“why?” that solves everything. She fixes her gaze on me and says nonchalantly,” she won’t be interested in this kind of food. “

“why?” now it’s Hyoyeon’s turn to ask. I nod along and Jessica forces a smile on her lips.

“she’s a health freak, she would consider this kind of food as unhealthy,” she goes on, “you’re not offended, are you?”

I shake my head to assure her that I am not offended at all. I agree that it is kind of unhealthy but I never thought that someone would mind it. As long as the food tastes nice, it doesn’t matter if it’s unhealthy or not. Example? Macdonald’s.

“Are the two of you close?” asks Hyoyeon curiously as she sends a spoonful of noodles into .

Jessica tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she nods,”she’s my only friend, to be honest.”

I am shocked. A girl like her has no other friend except for one? Before I could ask her, Hyoyeon goes a step in front of me. “why? You can’t get along with other people?”

I roll my eyes slightly at her because she is too direct, it might offend Jessica. But Jessica seems to be unaffected and she nods. “I don’t like to interact with strangers.”

“but…” I say and trail off as it would be a little rude to question her.

She looks at me with her gleaming eyes and probes,”but what?”

That takes me by surprise again as I thought she would just brush it off. I look at Hyoyeon swiftly and she nods to encourage me. “uhm.. then why did you talk t-to us?”

She smiles sweetly and says, “Because I am comfortable with you- you guys.”

“really?” I ask a little too excitedly. She giggles a little and nods. I rub the back of my neck as I can feel my face getting hotter.

“You can trust me with that. I don’t lie.” She says and continues eating her noodles. I watch her for a moment before I continue my share as well

When we are done eating, my mother comes and cleans up, she refuses to accept any money from Jessica since she is my friend. I shrug at Jessica when she looks at me helplessly.

Hyoyeon makes up an excuse to leave as she says that her mother wants her to be home as soon as possible when her phone didn’t even ring. Then, I am left alone with Jessica again as we walk to the bus stop.

The cold air hits us and I notice her shivering a little. She’s wearing a rather thin shirt and she rubs the sides of her arms as we approach the bus stop. I remember there’s a hoodie in my bag as the lecture room is cold, so I just bring in case I am cold during lesson. Now, it is its turn to shine!

“you need it,” I say as I pass her the hoodie after I take it out secretly from my bag. She looks to the side with an incredulous look. I give her a firm nod and push the hoodie to her. She takes it from me slowly as she locks her gaze on me. I am feeling feverish when she stares at me like that.

“Thank you taeyeon-ssi.” She smiles in satisfaction after she puts on the hoodie. Suddenly, I feel as if I am levitated and the world stops spinning. I never thought that doing something so insignificant to the most significant person could make you feel dizzy as the blood rushes to your head from all these blissfulness when she smiles at you.

I return the smile and check if the bus is arriving, there is a service but it isn’t my bus. She stands up and turns around to look at me when she notices that I am not moving. “you can’t take this bus?”

I shake my head with a small pout and she sits back down again. “You can go first you know? It’s quite late now.”

“I will wait with you.” She states firmly and looks out for any bus.

After a good ten minutes of waiting, there is still no sign of bus. She takes out her phone while I sit there quietly to enjoy the breeze and her presence.

“Taeyeon-ssi, can we… exchange number?” she requests

My heart almost leapt out of my mouth when she asked me that. Of course I would love to do that! “sure.” I take out my phone as well and hand it over to her.

She passes hers to me and I type in my number swiftly. She returns me my phone and I glance at the number, I am so going to memorise it. I save her in my contact as ‘Jessica’ of course, even though I want to save it as ‘Dream Girl’, but it would be embarrassing if she found out about it.

“good, hey look, the bus is here.” She says and stands up after she nudges me lightly. My stomach has butterflies flying all around and my knees feel weak.

Her scent follows the breeze and enters my nostril, I will not forget this smell. We sit side by side and I thank god that the bus isn’t packed.

“How old are you Taeyeon? You mind if we drop the formality?” she asks me as she looks into my eyes again. I break the eye contact and look to the front.

“I am 18 this year. And sure. How about you?” I ask, trying to sound casual.

“Oh… I am 19 this year. University life .” She complains to me. Have I ever told you that I hate it when people complain to me? But I feel this surge of indescribable feeling when she complains to me, it means that she is getting comfortable with me.

However, I am still warming up with a person I have just met, even though I admit that I like her.

“But you still have to go for it right? College life too.” I smile at her.

Then, I immediately break the eye contact when she looks at me again. “Studying .”

I nod in agreement and make no comments. The bus makes a sharp turn to the left and my shoulder hits hers, it hurts. “I am sorry, are you hurt?” I ask quickly, just in case I hurt her which is the last thing I want.

She grimaces slightly but shakes her head. I am not buying it. Then before I know it, I rub on her shoulder as if it would soothe the pain. She looks at me with an unfathomable look and I stop my action hastily, I don’t want to scare her at the abrupt skin contact.

“I am fine, really.” She assures me again with a small smile.

I nod once and look back to the front. I need to clear my mind, this is not good.

“C’mon, stop daydreaming.” She pushes me lightly. I didn’t realise that we’ve actually reached the interchange already. She shakes her head with a small laugh as I wiggle myself out of the seat.

“hmm.. text me when you reach home?” she suggests. I nod firmly as she just gave me a signal to text her, this calls for a celebration.

“I will. Be careful when you’re walking, it’s late now.” I remind her. Why do we sound as if we have known each other for a long time?

She smiles with a hint of shyness and fiddles with her hair before we bid an unofficial goodbye. We never really say bye.

Are you home now? please be safe. I hope to see you soon :) -Taeyeon

I am. How about you? We will see each other soon :) -Jessica

Me too. Alright. Good night and sweet dreams :) -Taeyeon

I wait for awhile before my phone vibrates again.

Rest well and good night Taeyeon, I had an enjoyable dinner just now with you. I hope we would do it again :) -Jessica

What did she just say..?

TBC!