(Jessica’s POV)

“Hey, you’re early! This is a surprise!” Tiff greeted me as she walked into the office.

“Actually, I just got here too…” I replied, still feeling completely groggy.

“Still, you’re here before me… It’s pretty rare…”

Well yeah because Kryssie was tossing and turning all night, I couldn’t get a wink of sleep anyway…

“Uhm… yeah… Kryssie kind of forced me up… Now I’m still sleepy…” I complained.

“Want some coffee? I was thinking about getting one earlier but decided not to because there was a long line… but since you’re still sleepy I might just go get us some…”

“Tell you what… I’ll go get them… I could use the walk,” I mumbled.

“Wow! Another surprise… Jessica Jung volunteering to get coffee? Is this some alternate reality or something?” she laughed.

“Yah… I might be sleepy but I could still whip you…!” I threatened her but even I was not convinced.

“Alright… I’ll stop teasing you…”

“Caramel latte right?” I recalled her usual drink.

“Yup! Thanks love!”

“I’ll be back… If not, it means I’ve fallen asleep at the coffee shop…”

“If you’re not back in 20, I’ll come find you…”

“You’d better…”

So I headed to the closest coffee shop that was three blocks east of the office building. The air was actually really refreshing. The breeze was light and slightly cool, just the way I liked it.

As Tiff had mentioned, the line was a little long but it was typical since everyone was in desperate need to get their caffeine fix. It was like a group of very organized and civilized zombies going in and walking out with a cure.

I patiently waited, with my eyes half closed, until I got to the front of the line.

“Hi, can I get a caramel latte and a hazelnut macchiato, please. Thanks.”

I paid and went to the other end of the line where the other zombies like me were waiting for their cure.

“Hazelnut macchiato!” the barista called out.

Oh, that’s mine…! That was quick…

I was close to the counter so I quickly reached out to grab the drink but at the same moment, another hand reached out.

“Sorry, I think that’s mine…” the stranger said.

My mind was still a little hazy but my eyes trailed the hand, then up the arm to the shoulder and then finally up the neck and to the face of the stranger. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating because I thought I saw Kryssie but then I realized that it was definitely someone else. And then I got a little annoyed because this person was trying to steal my remedy!

“Uhm, I don’t think so… That’s mine!” I told her.

She calmly turned the cup of coffee around, revealing the name written on the cup.

“See… Yoona. It’s mine,” she smiled.

I felt so embarrassed. I was so rude to her yet she was so nice about the entire situation.

Actually, why is she so calm and friendly anyway?! It’s early morning… why isn’t she grumpy like all us other zombies?!

“I am so sorry! I’m still asleep… I apologize for being so rude.”

She chuckled. She looked so sweet, I just smiled back.

What?! Jessica Jung! What the heck?!

My mind was still on auto, so I wasn’t conscious about what I was doing. At least that’s what I told myself.

“You know what… why don’t you take it first…” the girl offered her coffee to me.

Why is she being so nice to me?!

“Uhm… no, no… It’s yours, you should have it.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll wait for yours. You need this more than I do,” she held it out to me.

I would have kept rejecting it but I really needed to be cured immediately, so I accepted it.

“Thank you so much!” I said and took a sip from the cup. Immediately, I felt the elixir work its magic and a sort of calm radiated through my body.

She probably noticed how relieved I was because she chuckled again but covered to try and hide it.

“Rough morning?” she asked.

“Not exactly… I just didn’t get a good night’s sleep, and you know… Monday blues…” I attempted to joke.

Why are you being so weird, Jessica Jung? Are you flirting with this girl?! STOP IT!

“I get you… I feel like a total mess…” she said.

From her expression, I could tell that she sincerely felt like she was speaking the truth but the problem was, she looked absolutely perfect. In fact, I think she was… dare I say it, radiant.

Wait, what?! Radiant?! You aren’t in your right mind, Jessica!

“But you look perfect…” I told her. I couldn’t stop myself from speaking.

What the heck is in this coffee?!

I saw her blush and then I felt myself blush as well.

We both felt the situation was getting just a little awkward and we both averted our eyes from each other.

“Uhm… so you know my name… Are you going to tell me yours?” she asked looking down at the ground.

I found myself taking a peek at her again. She was beautiful. Her skin was bright and her features delicate. She was tall, slender, and her hair flowed like a Grecian goddess. I couldn’t peel my eyes away.

“Oh, I’m Jessica. Yoona, right? What a beautiful name… it suits you well…”

Why did you say that?! She’s a stranger, you weirdo!

“Ohmigod… I can’t believe I just said that… I’m sorry, I’m not a crazy person, I swear!” I immediately added.

“I didn’t think you were crazy… I do now though…”

“No, I’m really not!”

“I was just kidding… Are you always this jittery?”

“Caramel latte and hazelnut macchiato!”

The timing was perfect! I was starting to panic because I couldn’t think straight around this girl.

“Uhm… sorry I have to go… Thanks for letting me have your coffee…” I spat out, grabbed Tiff’s coffee and ran out the door.

I don’t know what exactly happened in there but I couldn’t be a part of it any longer. My entire being seemed to not want to cooperate with me that morning…

I don’t think I had ever ran that quickly in my entire life. When I got back to the office, I was panting so hard I was amazed that none of the coffee split while I ran.

“Woah! What’s the emergency?” Tiffany asked when she saw me.

“No… no emergency… I’m just… uhm… completely out of shape…”

“Tch! You just realized that?” she mocked.

I walked over to her desk and placed the coffees down.

“Who’s Yoona?” she asked when she saw the name on my coffee.

“Oh...! Uhm… no one… It’s a long story… It’s not important…”

She just shrugged and took her coffee.

I let out a breath of relief.

What’s the matter with you, Jessica? Even if she asked, you can just tell her it was someone you met at the coffee shop… Besides she doesn’t know you’re in a relationship with Kryssie, she wouldn’t care...

But that’s even worse… Does that mean you condone flirting with a stranger, Jessica Jung?! How dare you do this to Kryssie!

But was I even flirting? It was just talking… that’s right… I was just being nice… since she was so nice to me…

But that’s not you!

I was so confused. I couldn’t make sense of what exactly happened at the coffee shop. Whether I was flirting or not… one thing was for sure… it didn’t matter anymore because I didn’t know who she was and it was unlikely that I would see her again…

So I just went back to work. I tried to clear my mind and concentrate but my mind kept reverting back to the incident at the coffee shop…

“Hey, I totally forgot… I have some big news!” Fany suddenly said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

“Is it about your family? Taeyeon was telling us how you went home for some family emergency…”

“Well I did go home but this is not about that… But I guess it does have something to do with family… Okay, so we’ve been given an opportunity to bid for THE make or break project for our company…”

I was glad to have something else to occupy my mind. “So… spit it out… Give me the details…”

“Well I’ll save that for later… I have someone I want you to meet.”

“Who could this mysterious person be? Is it a he or a she?”

“A she…”

“Oh… Is she possibly from your past?” I smirked.

“Possibly… I’ll tell you when she gets here…”

“Does Taeyeon know her too?”

“Now they do…”

“But not before?”

“No.”

“And how did that go?”

“Not too bad… Could have been worse I guess…”

“Oooooo… I see… How mysterious…”

“Yeah, yeah… She’s not that mysterious…”

“If you say so…”

We dropped the subject and went about our own tasks. I had a lot of phone calls to make that day but I was missing Kryssie terribly for some reason.

“I’m missing you… What are you doing?” I texted her.

“In class.” She responded simply.

I felt a little disappointed that that was all I got as a response.

Then I received a follow up text. “Miss you too, silly ol bear! <3”

I was happy again.

It was weird… the girl from earlier had a similar quality to Kryssie…

Are you still thinking about her?! Seriously, Jessica Jung! You should NOT be thinking about other girls… You don’t even know her!

But I couldn’t help it… she kept popping up in my mind…

---

(Later that day…)

“So the person I want you to meet, she’ll be here soon.”

“Is this a business thing or a personal thing?” I asked because it was almost the end of the day and she was just coming in…

“Uhm… both?”

I gave her a suspicious look.

“Okay, okay… You know the Hana Yume project?”

“Yeah…”

Ohmigod! That’s the huge Korean-Japanese joint venture!

“Well… We’re in for a bid!”

We both screamed of joy at the same time.

“Wait! How did you manage that?” I asked.

This was a huge deal and Tiff usually didn’t use her family connections to get ahead of the competition but with us being such a small company, there was no way we would have been considered if there wasn’t some inside help.

“Okay… so it turns out that my step cousin, whom I haven’t seen in years, is on the Japanese project team,” she explained.

“But I thought you didn’t like using your family to get things done…”

“I’ll let it go this time since she offered us a bid not the actual project, and I didn’t ask, she sought me out…”

“I see… Ohmigod! This is HUGE!”

“I know! Wait… Let’s not get ahead of ourselves… It’s only a bid. We’re up against all the giants…”

“We’ll show them!”

“This is it, Jess… It’s go time!”

“So, I’m meeting your cousin?”

“Step cousin. She’s my aunt’s second husband’s daughter. We’re only related through marriage. But we grew up together and we were really close when we were younger before she moved to Japan.”

“I see… Well I can’t wait to meet her… I haven’t met your family at all…”

“That’s because they’re a bit much to handle. Sooyoung is different; she’s a friend who’s like a sister… Kind of like you I guess…”

“Like me? Didn’t you have a crush on me at one point?” I teased.

“Yeah… about that… Taeyeon found out that Sooyoung was my first kiss…”

“Holy crap! And what happened there? You’ve never mentioned it to her have you?”

“I was definitely in trouble… but you know, with a fight comes the make up…” she grinned.

“Ewww… TMI!” I laughed.

“Anyway… Can you come out for dinner? We’re probably going to talk over dinner since it’s almost the end of office hours.”

“Dinner? I guess…”

“GREAT! You’ll like her…”

I was actually hoping to go home and have dinner with Kryssie but I wanted to know more about the project as well as find out more about this mysterious person…

I decided to text Kryssie to let her know I wasn’t going to be home for dinner.

“I have a work dinner thing. I can’t come home for dinner T_T”

“That’s ok. Work comes first. I’ll wait up for you.”

“You’re the best! Love you!”

“You know it! Love you too. XXXXXXXXXX”

Again, I felt so happy just reading her texts.

“Earth to Jess! Come in, Jess!” Tiff called out to as I was completely day dreaming about Kryssie.

I looked up to find a tall girl walking in the door.

“Sorry I decided to change up our plans, Miyoung. I had a lot of things to get done on the first day in. How’s Taeyeon by the way? Is she still mad at you?” the girl spoke comfortably.

“First thing’s first, Sooyoung this is Jessica. Jessica is my right arm, my right brain and basically her job is to bail my out of a tight spot,” Tiff introduced us.

I was quite surprised at how differently she spoke with this girl. They must have been really close.

“Hi. Pleased to meet you," she bowed politely.

I bowed back.

“Anyway, Taeyeon is fine and no, I’m not in trouble… No thanks to you… Also, you know she’s your unni right? I let you call me by my name because we’re family and we were really close, but Taeyeon is a whole year older than you are. You should address her as such,” Tiff said sternly.

“Woah…! Okay, okay… why so serious? I’ll use honorifics next time then…” Sooyoung replied. “How should I address you Jessica-shi? Should I just stick to that since we’re doing business together?”

“I don’t mind either way. But I guess for business purposes, it’s only professional,” I answered.

“Now that that’s out of the way, there’s one more person joining us. She’s from the Korean project team. She should be arriving shortly,” Sooyoung told us.

“You didn’t mention someone from the project will actually be joining us!” Tiff exclaimed worriedly.

“It’ll be advantageous for you…” Sooyoung said.

“But I told you I don’t want favors.”

“It’s not a favor. She meets with all the bidders.”

“Oh… If that’s the case, that’s fine then.”

“And here she is now…” Sooyoung directed our attention to the door again.

I couldn’t believe it! It was… the girl from the coffee shop! Yoona! I didn’t think I would ever see her again. This was completely… unexpected.

Dugeun… dugeun…

What was that?!

“Hi, Yoona-shi. This is Tiffany-shi and this is Jessica-shi. They are the newest addition to our bidders list.” Sooyoung introduced.

Yoona bowed to Tiff and then turned to me and smiled.

“How serendipitous… I was hoping to see you again…” she held out her hand.

I hesitated but I didn’t want to be rude so I forced myself to shake her hand. The moment my hand made contact with hers, I felt my heart beat faster.

Dugeun… dugeun…

What on earth is happening to me?!

“Wait… Is she Yoona… coffee Yoona?” Tiff asked in a whisper.

“Yes. That’s me. It’s a funny story really. We both reached for my coffee after she thought it was hers. She looked like she needed it more than I did so I let her have it first. But she ran off after her order came up and I didn’t even get to ask her for her number or any other information except for her name.”

“Uhm… yeah. Funny story indeed… What a coincidence…” I laughed nervously.

“What an amazing coincidence indeed,” Sooyoung agreed.

“It’s fate…” Yoona said as she looked me straight in the eye.

I had to look away because her gaze was making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Well now that we’re all here… Let’s get down to business,” Tiff said.

“Let’s just discuss it over dinner, shall we?” Sooyoung suggested.

“I agree,” Yoona answered.

“I guess I won’t object to that,” Tiff added.

“Great!” Sooyung exclaimed.

“I know just the place…” Yoona said. “Jessica-shi, I hope you’re joining us.”

I was caught off guard as I was still in a little bit of shock. Just like it was this morning, my brain was in a bit of a daze. I think this Yoona girl was intoxicating me.

“Oh, uhm, yes. I’ll be joining in,” I managed to reply.

“Excellent. We can all ride in my car. The chauffer will drop you all back wherever you want after dinner,” she said.

“It’s okay… we can all drive…” Tiff declined politely.

“I insist. It’s more convenient this way,” Yoona told her, not taking no for an answer.

In a way, we had no choice. She was quite adamant, so we all agreed.

As we followed her to her car, Tiff held me back; making sure there was a little bit of distance between us and the other two.

“Ohmigod, Jess! This girl’s got the hots for you!” she whispered.

“What?! No she doesn’t! She’s just… nice…” I whispered back.

“Tch! Yeah right! She was practically undressing you with her eyes back there…”

“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Fine… don’t believe me. But if she’s single… you should go for it!” Tiff concluded and then sped up to catch up to the other two, leaving me trailing behind.

Even if she is… I’m not! No… she’s not interested in me… It’s just friendly conversation… We’ve only just met…

I looked up at her just in time to see her turn back to face me.

Our eyes met and my heart started to race again.

“Let’s go, Jessica-shi,” she called after me.

I sped up my pace towards her.

Jessica Jung… What are you getting yourself into?!