Chapter 9

‘What is love?’ This question is typical for especially for teenagers who are in the most crucial stage in the human life. The thing is, you won’t get the same answer each time. Everyone has their own definition of love…

If it has any definition at all.

Love is happiness.

Love is commitment.

Love is selfish.

Love is pain.

Love is war.

But definitions are only expressed by words. On the contrary, love is felt, not said. And maybe that’s why each person’s definition differs. One defines love according to what it made him felt,

Either pain or happiness.

This leads to another common question. ‘How would you know if you’re in love?’ Some say that it is when you give your everything yet expect nothing in return. Some say that it is when you spend all your time thinking about that special someone.

But is that true?

Not everyone knows whether they’re in love or just having a simple admiration. It is because knowing is the function of our mind. And loving is a function of our heart. Being in love is something beyond the grasp of our brain. Love is much more powerful than our mind in such that love has the frightening ability of altering one’s behaviors, beliefs and principles in life.

And that takes a whole lot more than neurons working together.

Some people tend to say that lovers are crazy but they’re most certainly not.

It is much safer to say that they are just too in love.

Too in love to know what’s right or wrong.

Too in love to comply with the society’s norms.

Too in love to even notice that someone else is in love with them.

Three people are bound by this thing called love.

One confused.

One denies.

One fears.

Out of them, it was only Tiffany who dared not to ask those questions.

♥♦♠♣

Tiffany’s POV

“We’re on the same boat then.”

A few days had passed but those words kept ringing inside my head like an annoying song. After that one sentence, my mind totally went blank. The next thing I know is that I was standing alone in the theatre. I haven’t seen Yuri ever since. I tried asking Yoona about her but she didn’t say anything useful either.

As I think about it, I feel more and more threatened. By the looks of it, I don’t stand a chance against her when it comes to Jessi. To have her call Jessi a ‘princess’ means that the two of them have a relatively close relationship while I, on the other hand, am just a regular friend.

But if I really love Jessi, then I guess I must exert more effort.

Yes Tiffany! You can do this.

♥♦♠♣

Author’s POV

Tiffany tapped her pen repeatedly on her notebook as she stole glances on the girl in front of her. Today was exceptionally different for her as she got Jessica all to herself. They are sitting at the far end of the library, doing their homework for their History class. Taeyeon wasn’t there with them because of volleyball practice while Hyo and Sunny had to work for a group project. Luckily, this homework requires research and tiffany found this as an alibi to spend time with Jessica.

Tiffany smiled to herself when she noticed how Jessica tilted her head to the side as she continuously stared at her notebook. The notebook was a standout and Tiffany didn’t recognize it to be one that Jessica uses for History class. She grew curious of it but she didn’t bother asking Jessica about it.

‘That must be the one TaeTae was talking about…’ The girl thought.

“Jessi… do you need help with that?” she offered.

Jessica looked up to meet Tiffany’s gaze. “No thanks.”

“Come on jess. Don’t be shy. We’re friends, you know…”

“Who says I’m shy? I AM NOT. I’m just…”

“Cute.”

“Yes. Cu—what?”

Tiffany grinned. “I said you’re cute. Well, you’re also smart and an amazing friend.”

There it is again, Jessica’s cardiac muscle thumping loudly.

“I know where this is going… and don’t you think this will work on me because it doesn’t.” Jessica said, looking straight into Tiffany’s eyes.

Tiffany’s eyes widened. “Y-you knew?”

“Of course I know. Hyoyeon tried that technique on me several times.”

“Listen Jess… Um… I…”

“Stop it. There’s no use in explaining.”

“But…”

“I’m not treating you in exchange for those compliments. Got that?”

Tiffany sighed in relief. “But I do mean it, Jess! I really think you’re perfect… for me.” She said, whispering the last sentence.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing…”

Jessica gave her a skeptic look but Tiffany only flashed an awkward smile. Upon seeing it, the blonde immediately went back to writing in her notebook as if nothing happened. Unknown to her, Tiffany was saddened by her actions. But the depressing feeling soon faded away as an idea came popping in her head.

“Hey Jess. Mmm. Let’s hang out after this. My treat!.”

“No thanks.”

But Tiffany isn’t the type to give up so easily especially when it comes to love. “Come on, Jessi… There’s this café nearby. They sell delicious cakes there. I’ve tried it and you should too. Besides, we haven’t eaten anything after lunch. Please?” Tiffany pouted and showed her puppy eyes only to have Jessica look away.

“I… I’m not hung— *growls*”.

“Tiffany giggled. “You were saying?”

Jessica’s face grew warm and she instinctively hung her head low in embarrassment. Tiffany bit her lower lip to suppress the giddy feeling inside her.

“Your treat, right?” Jessica asked shyly, making the girl in front of her smile widely.

“Of course! Let’s go before it closes.”

♥♦♠♣

“I didn’t know this place existed.” Jessica said as she took a good look at the café in front of her. “How long has it been here?”

“What do you mean? It’s been there since I moved here. Didn’t you notice this whenever you passed by?”

Jessica shook her head. “But I’m living in this area for quite some time now. How come I didn’t notice this?”

Tiffany shrugged and grab Jessica’s hand. “Come on Jess. Let’s go inside.”

Tiffany dragged her inside the café. And they picked the table nearest to the cashier. Both of them sat down and scanned through the variety of cakes in the menu. Then, a waitress approached them wearing a big smile.

“Tiffany, you’re here again.”

Tiffany and Jessica looked up to the source of the voice. The blonde froze as if she was struck by lightning.

“Dara unnie!!!” Tiffany exclaimed happily before standing up and giving Dara a quick hug.

“I see you brought a friend this time.” Dara said, smiling at Jessica who was still unmoving.

“Ah… yes unnie. This is Jessica. Jessi, this is Dara unnie. She’s the owner of this café.”

“Hi Jessica! Nice to meet you finally. Tiffany had been saying good things about you.” Dara said, throwing a knowing look at Tiffany who avoided her gaze.

“Jessi…” Tiffany called out making Jessica snap out of her daze.

“Huh? Uh… Yeah. N-nice to meet you too.” Jessica said, staring at Dara.

Tiffany frowned as she noticed Jessica’s behavior. “Uh, unnie. Aren’t you going to take our orders?” she said, gaining Dara’s attention.

The older girl smiled at her. “Right. So, what would you like? Oh. Since your friend here is cute, I won’t let you pay. You guys can choose anything and it’s free.”

Jessica’s ears turned red upon hearing the compliment given to her. Tiffany didn’t like this and she tried to hide her jealousy. “Unnie why don’t you give us your best-selling cakes then?” she said as she tried to push Dara away.

“Okay. But would you want that Jessica?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Okay. I’ll be back with your orders.” Dara said as she left.

Jessica’s eyes followed Dara until she received a kick from under the table.

“YAH! What was that for?” Jessica shot a glare at Tiffany who was also glaring back at her.

“That’s for staring at Dara unnie for too long.”

Jessica huffed in annoyance. “So what if I stare at her? Are you jealous?”

“YES.”

“Huh?”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “I said yes, I’m jealous.”

Jessica froze in her seat as she studied Tiffany’s expression, trying to decipher if she was joking or not.  But as those brown orbs stare at her, she felt an unwanted feeling grow inside.

“But why? D-do you like Dara unnie?” Jessica asked in a whisper.

Tiffany chuckled bitterly. “Gosh Jessi, NO! Don’t you get it? I’m jealous because I love you! You… you made me fall in such a short time and there’s no way I’m mistaken about this. I’m sure. Hear this again. I. Love. You.”

“B-but you’re kidding, right? No. you’re just con—.”

Jessica was cut by a pair of lips that was resting upon hers. As much as her mind tried to tell her to push Tiffany away, her body couldn’t. It wouldn’t comply to her mind’s will. Instead, she just sat there, unmoving.

After what seems to be forever, Tiffany pulled away but her face were just millimeters away from Jessica in such a way that she could see her own reflection on the blonde’s eyes. With a deep, husky voice, Tiffany spoke the words that Jessica dreaded.

“Now tell me. Do I look like I’m kidding? You wouldn’t dare to tell me that now, would you? I’d say this one more time; I love you Jessica Jung. And just for a head start, don’t you dare make me jealous again. Because if you do,

You’ll never what you’re gonna get.”

A/N: This note is very important. Please take your time to read this!

So there... you don't know how much I fought the urge to troll you guys and put 'AND IT WAS ALL A DREAM' in the last part of this chapter. Lol. This will greatly affect the story, of course. But I wanted to be nice author... for once.

So here's the thing. I have no idea when I'll be able to update next. As you may have noticed, other authors from my country are taking a break from writing. This is because, classes started here already. I was lucky enough because our school put our first day of classes later than the others, making me have some more free time writing. But since I'll go to school starting Monday, I may have trouble updating.

And by trouble, it means that the next update will be sooooo far away that when I do update, you may have forgotten the storyline already. I hope that won't happen though. Don't worry, I will try to give updates as much as I can. I won't abandon this. You can count on that. I think I'll just resort to doing very short updates. I'll try to update on Sunday but after that, I really don't know when. You see, I have thesis this semester and if I want to graduate on time, then I must face this harsh reality. Sorry guys... but I have to put this story on SLOW UPDATE MODE after I update on Sunday.

Will you guys wait for me? Sigh. Please do... T.T

P.S: IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING, I AM A SONE... SINCE NOVEMBER 2012. BUT I WAS IN DENIAL STAGE UNTIL THIS APRIL. AND... I'm off to see Yonghwa oppa tomorrow! (ugh. that was uncalled for. XD)

Thanks to 19Boyo89 and TaengSicle for the votes! Have a nice day!