Thursday, December 27th

Jessica entered the bookshop and greeted the old lady behind the counter. She continued on to the crime fiction section and searched the books for a title she hasn't read yet. She looked up for a moment and froze up when she saw a familiar face.

"Ren?" She thought out loud. He looked up and smiled at her.

"Jessica. Nice to see you here." He said and closed the book he was skimming through. "How was your Christmas?"

"Oh. Uhm. It was fun. We all cooked dinner together and watched some old Christmas movies with some hot chocolate." Ren raised an eyebrow at her.

"No gifts?" He asked.

"My sister made some drawings for us. We put them on our walls in our rooms."

"So, no?"

"We'd rather spent that money on things for school or groceries."

"Damn. You really are the scholarship girl." He chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, rumours are that you don't have any money."

"It's not like we have nothing, but we just get by on a lot less. Lower class, is what it's called, I think." Jessica looked away awkwardly.

"Hmm. Well, I suppose I should be glad you proved me wrong. Always thought that type of folks barely showered."

"That's kind of mean." Jessica showed discomfort.

"Sorry. I don't intend to be mean. I'll try to watch it." He smiled gently at her.

"How was your Christmas?"

"It was good. My father held his annual Christmas business party and I got a few things."

"Like what?"

"This watch, for example." Ren extended his arm to reveal a pure golden watch. "And some clothes. I can show you, but I'd prefer to do it somewhere more quiet and private."

"H-How about my place?" Jessica said before thinking. She kicked herself for stuttering. Ren's ears perked up.

"Won't your parents mind?"

"My sister took her to a spa retreat and Jamie is at a sleepover."

"And your father?"

"What about him?" Ren frowned a bit at her hostility. "He's not part of my life."

"That's fine. You don't have to tell me." Ren walked past her with the two history books he was holding and went to the register. Jessica followed behind and watched him pay. The old lady wriggled her eyebrows at her when Ren turned around. Jessica almost squeaked when Ren grabbed her hand and took her to his car after he received the receipt. Jessica nearly got a heart attack when he leaned over and repeated the action at the Christmas gala and fastened her seatbelt for her. He smirked as she blushed and drove off to her house.

"You want something to drink?" Jessica asked as he led Ren to the living room.

"Uhm, water is fine." He trailed off as he looked around. He was shocked by how small it is.

"Minhyun mentioned you lived in a rather small house, but damn."

"Not everyone can live in a mansion, right?" She felt awkward after his comment. Self-conscious. She handed him the glass as he made some comments about their couch. "Want to go upstairs?"

"Sure." He smiled deviously. His mind went somewhere else, of course.

"This is mine. Alice has the other one and my mom and Jamie are downstairs." Ren turned to look at her after closing the door. "W-Well, not actually here, but y-you know."

"Relax. I know what you mean. Is it okay if I put my glass here?" He gestured to an empty shelf on a bookcase next to her bed.

"Go ahead. The shelf is always empty for that reason. Except, my alarm clock of course."

"Thanks." He set the glass down and looked around the room. "I'm impressed. Such a small room, yet you can fit 5 bookcases, a bed and a desk in here."

"To be fair, two of the bookcases are built in the wall and I use one as a closet."

"Still impressive." He looked at the books on the shelves nearest to her bed. "Are all of your books organized by writer?"

"Mostly genre and size, but I do divide them by writer first. I just don't have many books of the same authors. I usually only like one book per writer."

"I could get that. Too much of the same style is boring." He smiled at her as he took a few steps closer. "Any favourites?"

"I like Stephen King a lot. It's why he takes up most of this bookcase." She was standing on her mattress, facing the books as Ren inched closer. She grabbed one of the books and turned around, flinching when she was met by Ren being so close. She dropped the book as Ren leaned his hand on the wall next to her.

"King's a master. Not surprised you like him." He smirked at her, pretending the book didn't hit his foot.

"R-R-Right." Jessica looked at the floor, not being able to handle his gaze. He grabbed her chin and made her look at him as he leaned closer.

"Don't push me away, now." He pressed his lips on her for a moment and pulled away. He smiled when he noticed she closed her eyes and continued the kiss.

 

Monday, January 7th

Jessica nearly missed her stop as she took the bus to school. Her mind continuously played Ren's visit over in her mind. She blushed as she got off and thanked the driver for the ride. When she reached the school, she was greeted by Jihoon.

"Happy new year~!" He sung happily while hugging her. Jessica chuckled.

"Happy new year, Hoonie!" As she and Jihoon walked inside, she glanced at Ren and his friends. He winked at her when he noticed her and kept his gaze on her as she walked inside. She felt her knees go weak just by his gaze and took a deep shaky breath.

"You okay?" Jihoon asked as he heard her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jessica smiled at Jihoon. Her mind went back to her room and she started to blush.

"Hey," Jihoon snapped her out of her thoughts. "I'm going to my locker for a quick second. I'll see you at lunch?" He didn't wait for her answer and ran off. She bumped into someone when she turned around to head to her own class. Her bag fell to the floor and the zipper broke open. Some of her things fell out.

"I'm sorry!" Jessica said and bent down to pick up her items.

"Seriously Ren, if she doesn't bump into you, it'll be me!!" Jonghyun nagged to his blonde friend. Jessica looked up to her left only to see Ren smiling down at her. Ren bent down as well and helped her to collect her things.

"Don't tell me I should feel threatened." He mocked. The two stood up straight after collecting all of her things. Ren took the bag and pulled out the other items before throwing the bag away.

"W-What are you-" Jessica was cut off when she saw Ren taking out his own books of his bag and put hers in, before handing her the bag.

"Someone with heavy books, shouldn't be walking around with such a low class bag." Ren smiled at her.

"B-But, what about you?"

"Don't worry, I'll get someone to carry them." Ren said, feeling the glares from Minhyun and Jonghyun aimed at his head.

"Later beautiful." Ren said before winking at her and walked off to his locker. He was followed by his two friends and a few girls who happily volunteered themselves to carry his books, even if it meant they had to skip their own classes.

 

When the bell rang for lunch time, Jessica grabbed her new bag and walked out of class, but before she went passed the doorframe she almost bumped into someone, again.

"Oh my God." She said in shock.

"You really have issues with direction, hm?" Ren leaned against the doorway as the girls of her class stayed behind to watch him.

"I guess so."

"Well, maybe we could advantage of that?" He smiled. Jessica could feel a hole being burned into the back of her head by some of the girls in her class. One in specific.

"H-How?"

"I'll get some cool clothes to your house for Friday night. I'll pick you up at eight." Ren smiled and walked away before she could answer. Jihoon witnessed Ren walking away from Jessica's classroom and knew something had happened when he found Jessica with a hand on her cheek, and Nana ready to tackle her to the floor and rip her hair out by the roots. Jihoon glared at the direction Ren went to. He dragged her to lunch and whenever