Saturday, May 4th

"Damn, you get dressed fast." Ren commented as he walked out of the bathroom in only a towel. Jessica was looking for her other shoe when Ren came out.

"It's easy with just a dress." She didn't look at him as she spoke. She dove under the bed and finally pulled her shoe out. She sat on top of it to put them back on.

"You don't have to leave yet. I put the do not disturb sign on the door. We could just stay in bed all day. Get room service." He smirked and sat next to her. He pulled her closer, kissing her bare shoulder.

"I have to get my other clothes from Nana's and explain where I disappeared to. Plus, I'm pretty sure Aron has told Alice I got my phone back, so she's probably going to spam my inbox soon. Thanks for your charger by the way." She stood up and pulled out his phone charger from the plugin and put it on the desk.

"Can you at least stay for a few more minutes? We need to talk."

"About what?" She stood at a distance while he remained seated.

"Last night." He chuckled. "Or rather before last night. I don't like leaving fights unresolved."

"Forget last night. It was a mistake."

"What?" Ren scoffed. "You said you love me at least twenty times last night."

"I was drunk."

"We did it three times, including this morning in the shower. You can't blame that on alcohol."

"I knew I should've just gone home after getting my phone."

"We're just not going to make up? Seriously? We'll just pretend like it never happened?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The whole reason we're fighting? The bet? You're mad at me. I get that. But, as a couple you have to work through stuff like this." Jessica scoffed at him. "What?"

"You really think we're still a couple?"

"Aren't we?"

"I need to rephrase that. We never were a couple, Ren. You only pretended to like me. There's nothing to make up, because there was never anything real about it. Except for me, maybe."

"So, you're just going to break up with me? Right after ?"

"We can't break up, because we were never truly a couple!" She snapped at him. She sighed.

"Why can't you just be like before? Be glad you got laid, and celebrate the fact I'm not begging you to elope." She grabbed her purse and jacket and walked out of the room. Ren stared at the door for a few seconds before grabbing the nearest pillow and aggressively throwing it against the wall.

 

"Jess, are you okay?" Aron asked after knocking on her door.

"I'm fine." She replied.

"You don't sound fine." He commented on her tone of voice.

"Just go."

"I can't. If I go downstairs with the plate of food I was supposed to give you, your sister might actually hit me."

"Fine. Come in." Aron opened her door and closed it behind him. He went over to her desk and put the plate there before looking at her.

"You've been crying?" She nodded and handed her phone to him. He sat next to her on the bed.

"I will keep apologizing until you forgive me. I'm relentless. You know that. I know you're in love with me. I shouldn't have taken advantage of that. I'm sorry. I want you to be my girlfriend. I truly do. I'm not giving up on you." Aron read aloud. "Let me guess. Ren sent you that earlier?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Why can't he just leave me alone? I get I'm a little different because I spent more time with him, but he can have his pick of any girl who'd be glad to be with him. Even after everything online."

"I think it's just a bit of an ego boost for him. I mean, when I met him he was just starting freshman year and already slept with all his female classmates. Everyone in the class knew, yet no one was mad at him."

"What's your point?"

"My point is, if he can get you to forgive him, he'll feel invincible. Like he can do anything because he's some type of God."

"Did you know about the bet?"

"He mentioned it a few times, but I didn't know any details. Baekho and I were genuinely convinced he was into you. We thought the bet was just about how far he could get with you. Minhyun and Jonghyun really knew everything that happened." He looked at her. "I'm sorry. I should've said something."

"You weren't the only one." She muttered.

"You mean Jihoon?" She shook her head.

"Apparently Kahi knew for a while. She could've just told me. Instead she embarrassed me in front of the whole school after the damage was already done."

"That's frustrating."

"Worst part of it all is, I miss him. I miss hugging him. But,I can't talk to anyone about it. Everyone just tells me how horrible and disgusting he is for having done this. And, I just don't want to hear it anymore." Jessica started crying. Aron rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry. If it helps, I'm a little mad at him too. But, I'll probably forgive him. He's one of my best friends. I kind of have to." He looked down.

"Why are you mad at him?"

"He threw a drink in my face. Guess I said something he didn't want to hear." Aron sighed.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I'm not going to forgive him anytime soon. He needs to get a little loathing right now." He looked at her again.

"Is that a hickey?" He frowned at her. Jessica cleared . She looked away.

"Is that a series of hickeys? Do they go all the way down?" Aron was in disbelief.

"Great. If you can see them, Nana and Raina definitely saw them." She groaned.

"Did you get frisky with someone after getting your phone yesterday?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of? You either did or didn't." She sighed exasperated.

"I slept with Ren."

"What?!"

"After getting my phone, some guy was bothering me. I did something stupid and I guess Ren helped me. After that I kissed him and told me to take me to a hotel."

"Seriously? Even after hearing about the bet?"

"I regretted it right after. I don't know, he just has an effect on me."

"That's exactly why I took your phone away. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't, you'd be in his bed right now, hating yourself."

"Maybe. Thank you."

"For what?"

"I don't know. Just listening, I guess." She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Just try to avoid him. He might try to get you alone. He knows now he can somehow control you that way."

"Aron!" They heard Alice yell from downstairs.

"I bet she wants some type of update on how your doing."

"Or she wants to yell at you, because Jamie spilled about getting my phone back." Aron sighed before getting up.

"Great." He spoke sarcastically before leaving.

 

Friday, May 10th

Ren sighed for the nth time, not being able to focus on his homework. He had rushed home right after school when his friends had declined his offer to go to dinner together. He was confused all week. His friends avoided him all week and would leave whenever he'd join them during lunch. He also occupied his time at school by trying to get Jessica alone again, but Nana, Raina and Lizzy never left her alone even once. Even if she had to go to the bathroom during class, one of them would somehow convince the teacher to let them go together. Ren was annoyed by it. He found himself staring at her in the library through the bookshelves once. He even arrived late for class because of it and had to got a note on his record for it. He threw the book he was reading for his history paper behind him, frustrated that he couldn't concentrate.

"Are you alright, you master?" Ren flinched when he heard his butler's voice.

"Since when don't you knock?" Ren scowled at him.

"I did. You seemed to be deep in thought."

"Aren't you supposed to be on bedrest?" Ren started to organize his desk, refusing to look at him.

"The doctors told me a walk every now and then would do me good."

"So you decided to take a walk to my study?"

"We haven't spoken since the incident. You haven't been home much, and refuse to visit me when you are. So, I wondered how you were." Ren paused.

"I'm fine." He said with a sigh.

"And Jessica." Ren swallowed hard when he heard her name.

"She found out about the bet. She broke up with me."

"And, you just let her?"

"Can't exactly decide when a girl wants to be with me."

"I know that's not the way you really think." His butler sat down on the couch.

"And why's that?" Ren scoffed.

"Because I think I'm looking at a piece of paper with Miss Jessica's name on it twenty times." Ren snapped his head towards him. His butler held up an unfolded piece of paper he crumpled earlier. He jumped up and ripped it out of his hands and re-crumpled it. He sat back down behind his desk and threw it in the waste bin next to it.

"If I have crossed a line, sir, I apologize." His butler spoke up after a while.

"No, it's fine." Ren sighed deeply. "I just wrote it because her name kept randomly popping up throughout my history paper. I thought maybe writing it a few times would help."

"Did it?"

"No." Ren spoke quietly. His butler gave him a sympathetic look. "I can barely read a paragraph before hearing her voice call my name. Every time I see her, I just get this flashback to when she asked me about that video. I had seen her cry before then, but this was different. It was like I broke her. I don't get why this whole thing is getting to me like this. I mean, I've never cared about hurting any other girl. But, with Jessica... I even cried about it. About her not wanting to be with me anymore. What's that about?"

"I have a thought, but I don't think you'll like it." Ren looked up.

"Just say it. It's probably the exact same thing Aron said."

"I think you're starting to realize you genuinely care for Miss Jessica." Ren pouted.

"Maybe." His butler raised his eyebrows. Ren chuckled. "How would I ev