Chemistry

(Krystal’s POV)

Maybe she did really miss me a lot or maybe she was feeling guilty. Jessie’s kiss had a slight undertone of desperation, but it was also warm and tender. It must have been both; she must have been really worried about how I would react to what she had to tell me, and it couldn’t have been easy to worry that you could possibly be betraying the one you love.

Although, now I’m curious as to whom this person is that had gotten my Jessie to be so shaken up. Is she pretty? Is she anything like me? Or is she the complete opposite of me?

I pulled out from the kiss although I knew she wasn’t exactly done.

“Hey…! I wasn’t done! Bring those lips back!” she demanded while trying to pull me back towards her.

“Just a second… I have some questions about this girl…”

“I knew that you letting the issue go was too good to be true…” she sighed. “Oh, alright… What is it?”

“What… I HAVE let the issue go… I’m just curious about some things…”

“Okay, so go ahead…”

“Please explain in detail how you met this girl,” I asked in a formal tone. Afterall it was an interrogation.

“Okay… first, do you want to know her name?”

“Sure… fine… whatever…”

“Her name is Yoona. Anyway, so I was still feeling very sleepy when I arrived at the office because someone was tossing and turning all night in bed… I couldn’t get a proper night’s sleep… So you could say it was all her fault.”

“Oh sure… blame it on me… Fine, I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight…”

“NO! I won’t allow that!”

I laughed. “Okay, okay… Go on…”

“Anyway so Tiff suggested coffee and I offered to go because I thought the walk might wake me up a little but it didn’t. So when I heard them call my drink order, I reached for it but she reached for it at the same time. I thought she was trying to steal my drink but actually it was hers… her drink was the same as mine. I apologized for being rude but she was actually really nice about it and even offered me her coffee. I tried to decline but she insisted and I kind of really needed it so I took it. We had a bit of a chat, small talk really. And when my actual order came up, I took it and left immediately.”

“So she offered you her coffee? Damn, Jessie… she was already trying to pick you up at that point… Were you giving her signals?”

“What?! No! I wasn’t even conscious… I was just standing there, half asleep…”

“You’re too irresistible, Jessie! Am I going to have to put a ring on that finger to ward off other suitors?”

“I don’t know… are you?”

“Actually… I might need more than that… More like a ball and chain…”

“Yah! Do you not trust me?”

“Of course I trust you… If I didn’t, I would lock you up instead…”

“Aish!”

“Well… you did say you were attracted to this girl… She must be pretty then… Is she anything like me or is she completely different like some edgy, rocker chick?”

“Actually… funny thing… As I mentioned, I was still half asleep when all that happened. I thought she was you at first sight but then I realized she was someone else. She kind of looks and resembles you in a few ways…”

“Does she really? I thought you might have been attracted to someone completely different… You already have me, why be attracted to someone who’s like me? Do you like me that much, Jessie?” I .

“I don’t know how much control you have over who you’re attracted to but I guess you’re just my type, Kryssie… And yes… I really, really like you that much…” she answered without hesitating.

“Awww… Aren’t you just candy covered in sugar dipped in honey and coated with maple syrup?!” I rubbed her cheeks. She was too adorable right now. I didn’t really know what’s gotten into her recently. She had become a sentimental fool but I didn’t mind it one bit.

Whatever happened to the hot and cold Jessie? Did I break her? Oh well…

“Shut up! This is your handy work, Kryssie… You’ve declawed me…” she looked at me with annoyance.

I laughed. “You’re mine, Jessica Jung! There’s no escaping…”

“Who said I wanted to escape… You’re responsible for me now…”

“Oh man… I walked into that one… Hey, you’re supposed to be the one taking care of me…”

“Why? Just because I’m older? That’s… age-ist!”

“Well… you’re always the one going on about protecting me no matter what…”

“I so regret saying that now...”

“Yah! Jugeullae?! I’ll give you something to regret about…!”

I reached into the water and started tickling and poking her in her sides because I knew she was extremely ticklish and she hated it. She started splashing around in the tub trying to fend off my attack but she was at my mercy. But then she started letting out her dolphin squeals and I had no choice but to retreat to cover my ears from the glass shattering sound.

“Yah… I’m drenched…” I blamed her splashing.

“That’s not on me… You started it!”

“Truce!”

We both reached out our hands and shook on it like an actual deal was being made. But then instead of letting go, I ran the back of my hand up her arm, over her collarbone and then reached into the water again to feel all the contours of her body that were becoming more familiar to me.

“Oi! What are you doing, you ert?!” she scolded me and pushed my hand out of the water.

“We covered this, Jessie… You’re too irresistible…”

“Aish! I can’t even take a bath in peace… Get out!”

“Party pooper! Fine… one last question… When she told you that she was attracted to you… what did you say to her in reply?”

“I told her that nothing can happen because it’s unethical to date someone you are working for… I couldn’t tell her I was dating someone… she might start prying and others might find out… Unless you want me to…”

“I was just curious how you got her to stop her advances… Was she heartbroken?”

“Actually… she’s kind of persistent… She said she would find a way around it…”

“Oh my! Jessie, you’re in sooooo much trouble… You’re going to have a stalker…” I chuckled.

“You’re enjoying this entirely way too much! You should be careful… I might fall for her and leave your sorry !”

“Would you really?” I asked incredulously.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” she smirked.

“Fine… I’ll leave you alone now…”

“Wait, before you go, could you hand me the towel…?” she got out of the water shamelessly.

I immediately looked away.

“You have no problems putting your hands all over me but you are too shy to look? Oh, Kryssie… Aren’t you just the cutest thing ever?!” she teased.

“Shut up!”

I felt her press herself against my back as she reached around me to get to the towel.

“You should get out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold, Kryssie…” she told me.

Then I felt her hand creeping up under my shirt and trying to lift it up.

I shrieked and quickly pulled it back down.

“I’ll change in my room!” I stated and dash out the door.

“But then you’re coming over, right?” she called after me.

I left my room door open so we could continue with the conversation while I changed.

“I have to finish 2 papers… I’ll be up all night…!” I yelled back.

“Boo! You !”

“You want me to fail my classes?!

“No…! I guess not…”

“Hey, I forgot… I was going to ask you… what’s Tiffany unni’s cousin like? You said you met her, right?” I asked as I walked back to her room in some fresh, dry clothes.

“You know what… I was hoping to learn more about her during dinner but I got distracted… All I know is she’s 24, she moved to Japan when she was young, she came back for business, in fact she’s on the project that we’re bidding on, and she’s Tiff’s first kiss!”

“Ohmigod! Are you serious?! That’s crazy! Wait, didn’t you say they’re cousins?”

“Step cousins, totally unrelated.”

“What does she look like?”

“Tall… skinny… round eyes… Nothing like Tiff. From my first impression, she has a lot of sass and confidence. She spoke very comfortably with Tiff even though they hadn’t seen each other for such a long time. And Tiff was different around her too… More playful…”

“Wow… I just can’t imagine it…”

“I’m sure you’ll meet her soon enough… especially if we win the bid… We’ll all probably have to work quite closely and Tiff will probably bring her around…”

“Does that mean I’ll probably get to meet Yoona-shi too?”

“Uhm… I don’t know about that… Are you really that curious about her?”

“I just want to scope out the competition… I have to be prepared…”

“She’s no match for you…”

“Really?”

She isn’t that pretty?

“Well she’s taller and prettier than you are but you’ll definitely be able to take her…” she answered mischievously.

I punched her on the arm. “Yah!”

“My point exactly…” she continued to mock me even as she was rubbing her arm in pain. “You also have something else she doesn’t…” she continued.

“Hmmm? What’s that? A mean left hook?”

She giggled. “No, silly! Me! You have me… and she doesn’t… so there’s no competition…”

“Oh, you…! Don’t try and use your sweet talk on me…!”

“How about this then?”

She wrapped her arms firmly around my shoulders and started kissing my neck. I felt myself melt instantaneously.

“J-Jessie… you know… I-I can’t…” I trailed off, unable to finish what I wanted to say.

She shifted her kisses to my lips and I couldn’t help but kiss her back.

Krystal! You know you still have 2 papers to finish! You are nowhere near done…!

But with every kiss, I felt myself get weaker… My mind was scolding myself for being weak but my body had plans of its own. My lips moved in sync with hers without missing a beat, I didn’t even know where my hands were but it didn’t matter. Instead my senses were more honed in on her touch, and it was sending them into overdrive.

Krystal, if you don’t stop now… you know you’re not going to be able to for awhile…

I wanted to stop… but I was weak… I couldn’t muster up the strength…

Ah, screw it… I’ll just really have to pull an all nighter…

(Taeyeon’s POV)

“You wouldn’t believe what happened today, Taeyeonie!” Fany said the moment she sat down beside me.

“Is it good or bad?” I asked. Actually I wanted to ask if it had anything to do with Sooyoung but it wasn’t necessary.

“Uhm… I’m not sure… just… interesting…”

“Interesting? How…”

“I think Jess won’t be single for long…” she said excitedly.

“What did you say?!” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I had heard her right.

“Jess… She met someone today… And the girl is absolutely head over heels for Jess…”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you should have seen her… She couldn’t have been more obvious.”

“And what about Sica?”

I was confused at this point because I knew Sica and Krystal were obviously in a relationship and I had no doubt that they were absolutely happy together.

“Jess tried to play it off but I could tell she was attracted to this girl… She was an absolute mess around her which means Jess was distracted by her.”

“That doesn’t mean that she’s attracted to this girl… It could have been any number of things distracting Sica.”

It could have been the thought of Krystal for all we know…

“Oh, it was definitely Yoona. That’s the girl’s name by the way. They both went to “use the bathroom” at about the same time and didn’t come out for quite awhile… It couldn’t have been a coincidence,” she smirked.

“What?! Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Didn’t they just meet? Is that likely to be something Sica would do?”

“Why are you being so defensive about this? You’re reacting as if you just found out I was cheating on you… It’s Jess we’re talking about… You know how rare this is? I haven’t seen her like this at all. And this girl is pretty, nice and obviously talented because she’s on the team for the project we’re bidding on.”

“I-I’m not being defensive… I just find it a little unbelievable that’s all…”

Oh, poor Krystal… She’ll be heartbroken when she finds out about this…

“Hmmm… True… I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I think they’ll make such a cute couple though…”

“Cuter than us?”

“Oh, not that cute… Please… no couple is cuter than we are…”

I just wanted to hear her say that… She’s so predictable…

“I’m not sure if Sica likes this girl but it sure seems like you do… a lot…!” I raised my eyebrow at her.

“What? Me?! That’s crazy talk… I only have eyes for you, babe!” She hugged me tightly.

“Yeah, yeah… consider this strike one! Three strikes and you’re out Hwang Miyoung!”

“But I didn’t even-“

“Just be thankful you didn’t get a strike for the whole Sooyoung business!”

She kept quiet.

“Guilty… aren’t you?”

“Guilt would indicate I did something wrong… which I didn’t… I’m just… It doesn’t count before I met you… If I could do it over, I’d make myself realize it sooner that we were meant to be together…”

“I wouldn’t…”

“You wouldn’t?! Really?!”

“I can’t say that it didn’t hurt but we also had so many great memories. We had so much fun together I wouldn’t want to trade it for anything. Even when we were just friends, we loved each other, no? It was a different kind of love but it was still love nonetheless and it was just as strong. The only difference between then and now is that we show it in different ways.”

“We DID have a lot of fun together, didn’t we? Actually you were always getting into mischief and dragging me along with you…”

“Hey! You came willingly…”

She giggled. “You got me! I did go along willingly… But it was your charms that convinced me… Actually thinking about it now, I should have known. How did I never notice it sooner? All the signs were there… But we were already so comfortable around each other I was just oblivious…”

“You’re always oblivious! You know how frustrating it is…?”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry… I can’t do anything about that… I’m just that clueless… But you know, when you told me you were going to be away for a year, my first thought was “how am I supposed to survive without you?” but I wanted to be supportive so I bit my tongue and just wished you the best. I was serious about hiding away your passport if it was anything more than a year. I knew I would be busy with the new firm and all, so I had something to keep my mind occupied but I still contacted you almost everyday, didn’t I?”

“You sure did… You’re so needy!” I teased. “It was a really difficult decision for me… I didn’t want to be away from you but I didn’t have a good enough reason not to go… If you had told me, just once, not to go… I probably wouldn’t have.”

“Well then it was a good thing I kept it to myself because so many times I wanted to say it but there was no way I could do that to you… Even if you told me now, I can’t just let you walk away from your dream. We would just have to find another way around it…”

“Eiii… You’re crazy… You think I’m ever going to leave you again?”

She swung an arm around my neck and pressed our foreheads together.

“We’re joined at the head now…” she laughed. “So neither of us are going anywhere without the other. You know, I’ve had a lot of friends and family come and gone in my life, but you’re my one constant…”

“Oh, stop it! You’re going to make me cry… Why are you being so sentimental all of a sudden?”

“Oh, I don’t know… I guess love is in the air… and I’m high on it…”

“You weirdo! Aish! What am I to do with you? I don’t need an addict for a girlfriend…”

“But I’m only addicted to you…”

“That’s worse! Then I’m solely responsible for your addiction? Oh, no…”

I got up and headed for the bathroom. I just wanted to mess with her but I also actually needed to use it.

“Where are you going?!”

“To the bathroom… Is that alright with you?”

She got up and threw herself on me, wrapping herself tightly around me.

“Oi! What are you doing?”

“We’re joined together, remember?… Where you go, I go…”

“Even to the bathroom?”

“Yes!”

She wasn’t kidding. I started walking but she just clung onto me.

When I got the the door to the bathroom she still wouldn’t let go.

“Yah! This is getting uncomfortable…”

“Well, deal with it!”

Damn. I needed a solution.

There’s only one way to deal with a byuntae…

I pressed my lips against hers and parted them with my tongue, giving her a kiss she wasn’t expecting. And just as her grip loosened, I pushed her away, opened the door, ran in and shut the door behind me, all in one quick motion.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” she shouted from the other side of the door.

“Deal with it! Just give me a minute! God, you’re so needy!”

Actually I didn’t hate it but going to the bathroom was something I preferred to do alone…

When I opened the door again, she was still standing there, pouting with her hands crossed and tapping her feet.

“Sorry, babe! But seriously… how long were you going to keep that up?”

“Well… just tonight I guess… Unless your boss will allow me to follow you to work…”

“What about your work?”

“Meh! Jess can take care of that…”

“You are the best boss ever…” I shook my head disapprovingly.

“All for you…”

“I don’t like what I’m turning you into… Do I need to withdraw from this relationship? Am I turning this into a distructive relationship?”

“I was just playing… Debbie Downer! Jaemi eobseo!”