| Chapter Six |

There was something about breakfast with Kris and his sister, along with Krystal, on bright Saturdays that put this rare and unbelievably beautiful smile on Jessica’s face. She hardly ever revealed this side of herself to anybody else. Seeing her smile was as good as seeing her with an extra arm or body part. You get the drift.

“So, how did your project go? Did you manage to submit it on time? Have you been completing your assignments?” Jessica turned to face her sister, who was busy loading bacon slices into . The way she pigged out amazed Jessica at times. How could one person eat so much food yet not put on a single ounce of weight? Perhaps there were worms living in her tummy that consumed everything put there.

“I’m in college, unnie. Don’t worry so much, I’m responsible enough to handle my own school issues. But since you asked, everything’s good, I guess. I’m doing pretty well this semester,” a girl with bright red hair responded obscurely, reaching for what seemed like her tenth hotdog and spearing it with her fork nimbly as she munched away loudly with open. A girl looking rather tomboyish with short brown hair seated opposite her stifled a laugh as she watched.

“Every single time I see you eat I’m reminded of why you’re not attached yet. I, for one, wouldn’t wanna share a table with a female version of Takeru Kobayashi.” Yes, the guy who finished sixty-nine hotdogs in twelve minutes.

“Shut up, Amber,” Krystal gave her best friend a penetrating look, setting her fork down slowly as she attempted to chew her food more gracefully. She resembled her sister when she was mad.

Kris suppressed the urge to comment further, choosing instead to trade knowing looks with the woman seated across him. They shook their heads together, and Jessica mouthed, “Kids.”

“Yah, I saw that. Seriously, the two of you should, like, date or something. Get past the eye flirting already. Jesus,” Amber slapped the guy’s back, causing him to cough on his scrambled eggs. It was apparent that she shared a rather knitted relationship with her brother.​

Still saying nothing, Kris grabbed his glass of water and took a few sips, hoping that the direction of the conversation would change. Any topic at all would not be half as awkward as this one. Although Kris knew Amber was openly discussing this because she knew of his hopeless crush on the woman, he did not want to make things embarrassing for Jessica, especially not with her sister around.

“I think Chairman Wu is already seeing somebody,” her sudden remark generated a couple of gasps from the two younger ones. Even the man in question was shocked himself, eyes shooting up straightaway to meet hers.​

“What’re you talking about?”

“Kris, how long are you planning to evade this? The entire office knows about Seohyun and her special homemade meals for you,” Jessica was practically chuckling by the time she reached the end of her sentence.​

“About that… I never agreed to anything. She just started showing up with those boxes of food one day. What was I supposed to do? Tell her to take them back, stuff herself, and have a nice life?” The fellow replied, wishing that Jessica would understand that there really was nothing going on between him and the mentioned girl.

“Absolutely not. That would have been mean. Seohyun’s a decent girl, Kris. Weren’t you just praising her good work attitude a few days ago?”

“Does liking her work attitude mean I’m supposed to be involved with her romantically as well? Because if that’s the case, I’m gonna have to be extra careful with the positive appraisals I give in the future.”

“What I’m trying to put across here is that the two of you would make a lovely couple, that’s all,” Jessica stated with a small shrug before turning her attention to Krystal, dabbing at the latter’s mouth with a piece of tissue and commenting on how much of a messy eater she was. She had lost count of the number of times she needed to indirectly reject Kris like this.

To make things clear, it was not because the lad was a jerk or anything like that. In fact, he was one of the sweetest guys she ever met. Truth is she was just not interested in men at all. Sure, she could be best friends with Kris but that was all they were ever going to be. The sooner he figured that out, the better. False hope was something she hated and she would never allow herself to