Jessica and Yuri sat next to each other on the fully packed plane, Mr. Jung sat in the set of seat behind them next to a stranger, while Mrs. Jung sat in front of them next to Jessica’s 12 years old younger sister, Krystal.

Everyone on the flight seem to be exhausted for some reason as it was so quite on board, nothing heard but the chatting on the flight attendants and the noise of a certain pair who hadn’t fallen asleep yet, Yuri and Jessica occasionally got ‘shushed’ by the plane staff for disturbing the passengers, but it didn’t really change anything.

“Hey look!” Jessica pointed towards the little window by Yuri’s side, “The sky is so beautiful at night.” It was indeed beautiful; the large dark sky was so clear and shining with the stars that spread so flawlessly across it… The blond Teen leaned in to get a closer look not noticing how she was almost on top of Yuri from leaning so much, the latter didn’t do much but close her eyes and inhale the sweet peppermint aroma of Jessica, she then opened them to scan the features of Jessica’s face up close in admiration… “Yeah.” She replied, “Really beautiful.”

“Too bad everyone is missing it.” Jessica stated, “Sleepy bunch of old people.”

Yuri couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement to that statement, but her amusement was interrupted by Jessica’s questioning voice, “What of the plane crashed on us?”

Yuri froze for a split second before she slapped Jessica’s shoulders jokingly, “This is what you tell me on my first time riding a plane?”

“No, but really...” Jessica replied, “what if it did?”

Yuri’s brain tried to register the idea and find an answer quickly, “I guess I’ll be lucky then, to have met such a great friend like you, and then dying together.”

Jessica smiled upon hearing Yuri’s answer, it struck her a while back when they met that the girl did have many unfortunate events in life from the way she spoke usually, but this answer insured her that Yuri was definitely expressing herself more.

“You’re good at talking, Kwon Yuri.”

“I know, princess.”

-

Somehow during the flight, the pair actually got tired and their eyelids felt heavy and couldn’t stay open for another second, Yuri’s back was pressed flat of her chair while Jessica rested her head on Yuri’s shoulder.

Mr. Jung nudged Yuri’s shoulder from behind and she woke up –basically jumped- instantly at the touch, He flinched at her action before he got closer to their set of seats to tell her to wake Jessica since the pilot just announced landing was near and that they should put their seatbelts on.

Yuri noticed how Jessica’s sleeping figure didn’t even seem to be affected by her jumpiness a second ago as the latter was sleeping soundly, still placing some weight on Yuri’s shoulder.

Yuri never really welcomed physical contact with people, but there was something about Jessica that made her okay with it, perhaps it was her warmth, or the sense of security she gave her... she didn’t know, but what she did know is that she now needed to get them both to wear their seatbelts, or landing might not feel as pleasant as it should be.

With a soft motion, she pushed Jessica’s head off her shoulder and into its regular position on the headrest, and Jessica still didn’t wake up or even stir in her sleep, Yuri poked her in her cheeks once, twice, that girl slept like a corpse, and that was the nice way to put it.

Yuri has decided to reach out for the belt and put on Jessica herself, her hand moved towards the side of Jessica’s slim waist in which made her body facing Jessica’s, she froze when she noticed the space between their faces at that moment –or the lack of it to be more precise, she shook her head at the sudden freezing and successfully finished her task buckling up the blonde, after that she went and wore her own.

“Sleeping beauty sleeps like a dead body.” Yuri said as she rested her own head back on the headrest.

“What did you call me?” Yuri nearly jumped in place, was Jessica pretending to be asleep?

“A dead body?” Yuri answered innocently as Jessica shot her a death glare.

“No, you idiot” Jessica slapped the back of Yuri’s head lightly, “before that!”

“You mean ‘sleeping beauty’?”

“Yup!” Jessica’s smile was now as wide as Yuri has ever seen it.

“What about it?” Yuri asked.

“I like it!” Jessica cheered, “Start calling me that too.”

Yuri chuckled and shook her head in disbelief... Jessica was just so full of herself sometimes, but she was indeed worthy of being called that.

-

Hyuk Jun ran to his sister and Yuri playfully ran in the opposite direction, Mr. and Mrs. Jung laughed at the two siblings playing tags; he wanted to meet the family that brought his sister to see him and show respect, but he didn’t see Yuri ever since after the first week of school, nearly a year ago now, and he just played around like a kid.

“Sorry for the trouble.” He bowed to everyone after catching Yuri by the edge of her shirt, and returning to where everyone was, “My name is Kwon Hyuk Jun.”

Mr. Jung chuckled and offered a handshake, “Don’t bow in America, son.” He stated, “People here will think you’re weird.”

Everyone laughed at that comment and stared around, people in the US aren’t accustomed to seeing people bow, and their stares agreed with what Mr. Jung said.

Hyuk Jun let out a shy and nervous cough, “Yul-ah... Can you introduce everyone?” he said as he stared around the group of strangers in front of him.

“Oh yeah” Yuri replied, “This is Mr. and Mrs. Jung, this is little Krystal, and-”

“You must be Jessica” Hyuk Jun interrupted with a genuine smile and offered a hand, “Yuri told me so much about you.”

Jessica blushed and shook his hand, “Yuri told me so much about you too.” She said, “I do remember you from last year in school, you were a senior then.”

Yuri eyed the two as they shared a good conversation, she felt blessed at how two of her favorite people were getting along so well.

Everyone decided to spend their first day resting at the Jung’s humble residence –a mansion, Hyuk Jun was told to sleep over instead of going back to his dorm since he offered them a tour to his university the next day, Yuri was supposed to share a room with Jessica, but she asked if it was okay to share the guest room with her brother for the night, after all they had a lot of catching up to do.

-

Yuri fell asleep tired, she and Hyuk Jun spoke about everything, he was so happy to hear her talk about good things for a change, her school grades improved so much and she became a model student, she keeps in good contact with her teachers and classmates too thanks to having Jessica around, apparently from what she had told him: Hyoyeon and Sunny were the prankster students who always fooled around, Sooyoung was a hungry mess who ate all the time but never gained a pound, and Joo Hyun was the most behaved student of their entire class.

 Yuri also told him about how she was offered a full scholarship to SNU if she maintained such a good average until graduation; that made him so proud.

Hyuk Jun was getting thirsty, so he left the guestroom quietly and tiptoed all the way to the kitchen downstairs, He was startled by the shadow of a figure sitting in the kitchen.

“Oh hey, Hyuk Jun.” it was definitely Jessica’s high pitched voice, “turn on the lights, and come sit over here.”

He eyed the water cooler as he went to find the light switch, and Jessica noticed that he was probably here for a drink, so as he sat down she got up to get him some water.

“Do you like sitting in the dark like that?” he asked jokingly.

“Did I scare you?” Jessica teased, “And no, I was just too lazy to turn it on.”

Hyuk Jun chuckled and Jessica gave a polite smile, his features looked so much like Yuri’s when they smile… they were definitely related.

“You know? I wasn’t lying when I said Yuri told me so much about you.” He stated, “I’m genuinely grateful for your existence in her life.”

It was a first time anyone had ever told Jessica something like that, gratefulness to her very existence, it was so well put, and a good thing to hear; she couldn’t help but smile wide.

“I just wish she’d open up to me more, y’know?” Jessica said as she sat across of him on the counter after giving him a cool glass of water.

“I wished for that too, Yuri isn’t the type to speak of what bothers her.” He replied with sad eyes, “And as her brother, it made me feel helpless and upset a lot of times.”

“Tell me about how she used to be, everyone keeps telling me she changed.” Jessica said, she referred to what Mrs. Kwon told her in the privacy of their own conversation when she visited their place last time, her classmates too told her that Yuri seems like a new person in comparing to how she was during freshmen year.

“She did change.” Hyuk Jun said and his eyes lit up with honest joy, “She was nothing like this, anyone could tell that she improved as a person and she just seems happy… thanks to you I guess.”

Jessica felt grateful at what he said but didn’t bother to reply at the moment since she wanted to know more.

“When we were kids, Yuri was normal, like any kid her age I guess, but suddenly… it seemed like she just didn’t feel as safe around anyone but me, she even keeps a big space between herself and our parents as people, she rebels on them, she doesn’t like being touched by anyone, and she had problems forming friendships.”

“Was that why you kept her close through her first year in high school?” Jessica asked, “I kinda noticed she always hanged with you and your friends during first year.”

“That was around the time it got worse.” He let out a long sigh, “During middle school she started acting out even more, she wasn’t just socially awkward, she developed violent reactions, and anger issues, her school grades dropped too, we all figured something must have happened, but she never said anything so we thought maybe it’s just a phase… That’s why when she got to high school I kept her around, I worried she might get bullied or something.”

Jessica felt her heart getting heavy, Yuri must’ve been through a lot, and she didn’t know how to help, ever her own brother couldn’t. She let out a sigh, “You’re such a good brother Hyuk Jun, I’m glad she had you.”

“When I first left for UCLA I felt bad for leaving her behind, but after a week later I heard I was replaced.” He chuckled, “You really care about her, don’t you?”

“I do.”

And to Jessica, she meant it in more than a friend’s way.