“Hmm? What is it?” Jaejoong said as he sat right next to her.

“Oppa, I . . . . I . .” Jessica stammered.

“I what?” Jaejoong said and looked straight in her eyes.

“I love you. I still love you.” Jessica said, giving an emphasis on the word “still”. Jaejoong was surprised by what she said. He tried to speak but didn’t know what to say.

“I know this sounds foolish but I do love you. You know the time when I first met you in the library? It all started there. Then you befriended me. Whenever I see you, whenever I talk to you, whenever I look at you, it makes my heart go wild. I feel so red that I just wanted to be close to you all the time.” Jessica straightly said. Jaejoong was still hesitant to speak despite of what Jessica has said.

“I feel the happiest when you’re with me. Then suddenly, a rumor about you leaving suddenly came. At first, I tried to tell myself that it was all just a lie. But when you confirmed it yourself, I was so shocked. I cried so many nights. Then, on the day when you were about to leave, you told me that I’m the person that you’ll never forget when you leave. When I heard that, I was the happiest!! It made me so happy.” Jessica continued. Upon hearing this, Jaejoong looked into the night sky.

“But something I didn’t expect came from you. When you said that I’m the person that you’ll never forget, you added 3 words that shook me. Want to know what those 3 words are?” Jessica asked him. He looked at her.

“You said that you’ll never forget me, as a friend. That really surprised me. Now, wouldn’t it be better if you’ll never forget me, not as a friend, but as a – “

“Stop, please.” Jaejoong quickly said. Jessica stopped talking, then tears fell from her eyes.

“I know what you’re gonna say so please, just . . . . just stop. Look, I don’t wanna ruin our friendship just because of this. Sica-yah, we’re friends, I know you know that. I have a girlfriend, and this girlfriend of mine is your friend. Now, do you want to hurt her when she knows about this?” Jaejoong said.

“Why? We’re not gonna tell her, right? Oppa please – “ Jessica said.

“Sica-yah!! Please, try to listen to yourself, even just for a minute. You’re being delusional!! Jessica, I love my girlfriend. I love her very much and I don’t want to ruin our relationship or even my friendship with you. You are a dear friend of mine, and it would be a big loss for me if our friendship is ruined just because of this. So just stop this nonsense. Let’s just be what we are now, as friends, araso?” Jaejoong held her shoulders while tears kept on falling from Jessica’s eyes. Then suddenly, a light shone on them.

“Yah!! What are the two of you doing in here?? It’s almost 11:30 pm!!” A woman suddenly said, directing her flashlight to them.

“N-no!! Please ahjumma, don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not doing something.” Jaejoong let loose of Jessica and talked to the ahjumma. When Jaejoong approached the woman, he saw that she was wearing a blue veil that covered the half of her face. Her eyes were jet black, which mad Jaejoong think for a moment.

Those eyes are familiar. Jaejoong thought.

“Okay, okay. Then why are you here?” the woman asked.

“We ran out of gas so we’re stuck in here. There’s no signal so we can’t call for help.” Jaejoong said.

“No signal? Oh, right. There’s signal here but when the night comes, it gets weak until there’s no more signal. So you’re stuck here, huh?” the woman asked. The two nodded.

“Well, might as well spend the night in my house. It’s on the other side of this road. It’s just that a tree’s covering it. Come with me.” The woman offered. The two followed her. After a few minutes, they reached the woman’s house.

“Come inside. I’ll cook dinner for you.” The woman kindly said. The two sat on the couch and laid their things on the floor. There was an awkward silence between them.

“I’ll go out for a while.” Jaejoong said, which left Jessica alone in the living room. The moment Jaejoong closed the door, tears started to fall from Jessica’s eyes.

Why can’t it be me? Why can’t he love me more than he loves her? Why?She cried.

Meanwhile, Jaejoong stood at the veranda of the house. The wind blew and ruffled his hair.

Sigh. What a day. Jaejoong thought. He stretched out his arm, and suddenly remembered the face of the woman.

Her eyes are really familiar. I think I saw those eyes when I talked to a stranger outside the house. And that veil, it looks like my deceased aunt’s veil. From what I remember, I played with my sisters using that veil. Hey, wait a minute. The stranger I talked to, it was a woman, with jet black eyes. And now, this woman with that blue veil. . . . . Could it be that . . . . my aunt is h-hau-ha-haun-haunting m-me? Haha . . . No way. She won’t do that to me. Jaejoong laughed nervously. Then suddenly, the woman came out from inside.

“Come on, let’s eat. So that you could rest early.” The woman smiled. Jaejoong nodded and went inside. The woman prepared a chicken soup and rice porridge. When he saw the food served, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

Even the dishes are similar to my aunt’s. Jaejoong thought. They started to eat dinner and all of them were eating quietly. After a few minutes, they finished eating and the woman washed the dishes. After that, she guided the two in their separate rooms. After assembling the bed, Jaejoong laid down.

Sigh. What a day. First, we were stuck, second, she confessed, and now, my aunt?? Just what is happening to me?? Jaejoong thought. As he stared at the open window, he started to feel dizzy, until his eyes closed and he slept without knowing it.

---oOo---

(SNSD’s dorm, 12:05 am)

Just where could he be? His cell phone’s out of reach. Sica-yah’s also not here yet and it’s already midnight. Omo, I’m really getting worried. Yuri thought. She was getting sleepy from waiting for Jaejoong to come.

“Yah, you’re still awake?” Hyoyeon said.

“I can’t contact him nor Sica-yah. I’m really getting worried.” Yuri said in a trembling tone.

“Now that you mentioned it, she’s not here yet.” Hyoyeon said. She picked up her phone and dialed the number of their manager.

“Hello? Mr. Thomas? Yep, this is Hyoyeon. Sorry for disturbing your sleep but Jessica hasn’t arrived yet and it’s already midnight. Yes, she was shooting scenes for her drama. What? Oh, I think they’re already finished before nightfall. And by the way, Jaejoong oppa’s one of the cast and he hasn’t arrive yet, too. Okay, okay. We’ll try calling the other oppas. What? You’ll search for them? Alone? Oh, with a group, of course. Haha. Okay, thank you so much. Sorry again. Bye.” Hyoyeon hung up.

“What did he say?” Yuri said.

“He said that we should not worry too much. He’ll call a team to search for them. In the meantime, he said that we should sleep and don’t bother to tell his to the other girls. It’ll just make them worry. But, I just can’t help but be worried, y’know.” Hyoyeon said.

---OOO---

(A/N)

ooopss . looks like i left some some typo on chapter 25 . when i said white ribbon , what i meant was red , araso ? haha . my mom kept talking about her white shirt so i accidentally typed that . haha . mianhe !! :))))

anyways , here's chapter 26 !! ooohh . fortunately , jaejoong somehow got a hold of himself here . that's a good thing . haha . anyways , looks like they're in trouble again !! omo !! what's gonna happen to them now ?? and he even got our yuri worried . ooohh . here's a quick preview for our next chapter !! hope you enjoyed this chapter by the way !! :))

PREVIEW:

“I-I don’t . . . . I can’t remember everything well. But I’ll try.” Jaejoong said.

“No, just rest. You can try it tomorrow, but now, you need to rest.” Yunho said. Jaejoong nodded and sat firmly on the bed.

COMMENT REPLIES:

JaenenMae - looks like it . anyways , let's hoep for the best . haha !! here's chapter 26 !! hope that you liked(?) it . :)

elyse17 - omo unnie . that hurt me . haha !! just kidding . well , i can't blame you if you didn't like it . well , i admit , i also hated writing that part . it made me want to smash the keyboard until it's broken into pieces but i guess i have to continue writing for the sake of finishing it . haha !! anyways , i won't ask if you liked this chapter , but maybe if this made you satisfied . LOL . huh ?? wth ?? i don't even make any sense there . haha . mianhe for my craziness XD

ijustlovesoshisuju - mianhe for the jaesic moments . haha . but yes i'll keep writing . haha . just like what you said , i'll put in a lot(?) of surprises for you . haha . :D

kkabyul - yep . me too . it even made me feel bad writing this chapter and the next and the next and the next . . . . ughh . it's like i'm just hurting myself . T^T but don't worry , jaeri moments will be back(?) . haha . :D

bianca - oohh . looks like i've got an ally here . haha . it's hard to hate someone when you're alone . of course , you need someone to share what you're doing . haha !! just kidding . :D

icypink89 - yep , me too . i rather choose Jaeri than Jaesic . haha !! :D

roxxi1993 - whoa !! good thing you finally caught up . haha . yep . this chapter was hard for me too . i mean , i have to bear writing things that will hurt yuri just for the sake of keeping the story alive !! LOL . haha . XD

RedFlamer37 - haha . i really wanted to add that tree part . so that somehow he remembers our dear yul . :D