The ring tone saved Jessica from her nightmare. She groggily picked up the phone.

“Sica, open the door.”

Donghae's voice sounded exactly the same from her nightmare. It was coarse and determined.

Jessica hung up immediately. She was not ready to face her terror.

A series of urgent knocks echoed in the dorm, making everyone stirred in their sleeps. His persistent forced Jessica out of her bed to send him away.

“Go away.” Jessica glared at Donghae.

He advanced past the door nonetheless and pulled Jessica inside. Donghae didn't seem to care that he was hurting her wrist. He threw her on the coach and held her down. His conviction shown in his eyes locked Jessica in her place. Her stomach fluttered as she sensed something different from Donghae this time. He was closely towering over her. Her throbbing heart had to listen now.

“I need to give you something.” He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pants' pocket.

Jessica took it hesitantly. His three lines of writings were slanted and messy:

“1. Lee Donghae will always listen to Jessica Jung.

2. Lee Donghae will never look at another woman.

3. Lee Donghae will love Jessica Jung forever.”

“What is this?” Jessica asked, confused.

“These are my guarantees,” explained Donghae earnestly. “My promises to our love.”

Jessica smiled, but it was cynical. The words were hurtful, not sweet.

She torn the meaningless paper apart.

The confidence on Donghae's features disappeared.

“Why did you write them if you can't keep your words?” Though Jessica's voice was icy, he heard her conflicted emotions as his promises fell onto the floor.

Donghae held her hands. “Please give me a chance to change. I don't want to see you suffer because of me.”

He saw right through her. She was almost touched by his genuine. He seized the opportunity to angle towards her, to kiss her. She tried pushing him away.

It was impossible.

Jessica was completely smittened by his familiar warmth. She had longed for his touch. Soon, she responded his dominating kiss with equal desire. They allowed themselves to sink further into the couch and savoured each passing second.

Jessica was losing herself in the battle.

***

He was gone.

Jessica touched the empty spot besides her. Had last night been a dream?

Strips of papers were strewn on the floor. Jessica picked them up one by one.

He had truly been there to hold her. The ripped promises were the evidences.

“Lee Donghae will love Jessica Jung forever.”

Jessica clutched the ghost of the paper. She hated herself for loving him. She had forgiven him once more in the heat of the moment. Did they deserve a happily-ever-after ending this time?

She put the pieces back to their rightful places. She could start to decipher her future with Donghae.

Their future was unreadable.

***

As she had promised, Jessica had introduced Kyuhyun to the car dealer. They already encountered a problem at the start of their trial's run.

“Please, Kyuhyun oppa.” Jessica swung his arm like a three-year-old. “Let me drive! I haven't drove for years!”

Kyuhyun looked away to hide his suppressed smile. “Fine.” Kyuhyun dangled the keys in front of her, then took it away as she was reaching for it. “You swear not to kill us?”

Jessica pushed him away, annoyed. “Yah! I don't kill nobody!”

Kyuhyun was disappointed that her cuteness had only lasted a few minutes. He gave up his keys to the devil.

Jessica turned the ignition on in a second and was ready to go.

“Stop!” Kyuhyun yelled and the car jerked into a sudden halt. “You forgot your seat belt.”

“Do you really think we'll die?” Jessica complained as she struggled to pull the belt out. “It's stuck.”

Kyuhyun reached his arm over to untangle it. Jessica grew self-conscious all at once with Kyuhyun milometers from her. Nonsense! We had more skinship before in the drama and CF's. This is nothing...

“Are you done yet?!” Jessica asked, irritated.

“Got it!” To her relief, he fell back into his seat.

The ride was peaceful comparing to few minutes ago. Jessica and Kyuhyun were soothed by the greenery and the imposing mountain from afar. Jessica's tensed muscles were unwound. Only in the blissful state did she recognize how on edge she'd been.

Meanwhile, Kyuhyun busied himself with his notebook at the passenger's seat. He dubbed it as the the Full Anatomy of the Ice Princess. “Jessica, let's play True or False.”

Jessica stole a quick glance at the book. “What's that for?”

“I did some research about you for our next interviews,” answered Kyuhyun matter-of-fact, “but I don't know how accurate they are. Deny everything that's not true, okay?”

“Okay. Let's see what you got.”

“'Jessica hates cucumber.' True,” Kyuhyun made a note next to the statement. “You always pick out all the cucumbers in your salad and force me to eat them.”

Jessica nodded in agreement. She turned down the road.

“'Jessica sleeps a lot.'” Before Jessica could affirm or deny it, Kyuhyun answered, “True. Remember you fell asleep on me last week when we were rehearsing? You snore too.” He jotted down a quick note. “'Jessica has a bad temper.' So true.”

“Yah!” Jessica struck Kyuhyun at the side. “Are you actually interviewing me?!”

“And she's also violent,” Kyuhyun scribbled on his notebook.

Jessica pouted. “I'm not playing anymore.”

Kyuhyun snickered. He was amused by her immaturity. “I'll ask you a harder question then. 'Jessica's ideal man is AB blood type.'”

Jessica was now intrigued. “Where did you find that?”

“The internet.” Kyuhyun said indifferently. He tried to mask his curiosity. “True or false?”

“What is a AB type again?”

“Someone who's empathetic and considerate.”

“True. I do love people who thinks about me and understand my feelings.”

Kyuhyun wrote in his notebook: “I'm totally her type.” He laughed giddily.

Someone who's considerate... Her thought drifted to her real boyfriend. Donghae had told her he loved her, but he was far from thoughtful. Jessica clutched on the steering wheel as her world spun...

A scream was stuck in Kyuhyun's throat before the car collided with a road sign. The backs of their heads painfully hit the headrests.

They scrambled out of the car instantly to inspect the damage.

“Oh, my God!” Jessica was stunned by the wreckage she caused. The bumper and the licence plate were both dented out of shape. Then her eyes caught the sight of the slanted road sign. She burst out laughing at the crooked metal. “I-I didn't know it's possible...” She bent over to catch her breath.

“It's not funny!” Kyuhyun protested. “I have to buy the car now.”

“So? I like it. You should try driving it too.”

Kyuhyun scorned. “Obviously! There's no way I'm letting you drive again.”

They eventually got back to the car after some ruckus.

Kyuhyun noticed her lingering smile on the way back to the dealer. “Why are you in a good mood? We almost died.”

“We did not!” Jessica answered, still smiling. “I haven't had this much fun for so long!” Her

grin stretched wider.

Her radiating demeanour was too blinding. Kyuhyun almost drove onto the sidewalk from staring at her for too long.

“Careful! You're no better than I am.”

“Something good happened to you?” Kyuhyun decided to snoop around. “How's he doing?”

Jessica's dimming smile confused him. “We got back together.” The joy in her voice disappeared.

“Are you sure Donghae didn't die or something? You don't sound too happy about it.”

“I should be happy though.” That's what bothered her the most.

Kyuhyun parked the car at the side of the road.

“It never happened to us before,” Jessica said calmly. “I never distrusted him. I'm scared, Kyuhyun.”

Kyuhyun just wished to hold her, and tell her that he'd protect her. “You gave him another chance. It's not fair to him to go back on your words now.” That's all he managed to say. “I don't think things are too bad if you think a bit more positively.”

“You're so sensible all the time.” Jessica's smile reappeared. “Where would I be without you?” She added half-jokingly. “I'll miss you when the drama is all over.”

A wave of sickness sprouted from within Kyuhyun. Don't, Cho Kyuhyun! He warned himself. “I won't miss you.” He responded as his perky self. “I can't deal with the drama queen anymore.”

Jessica huffed. “Fine. Forget all the deals we signed and return the car then! Oops. You can't, 'cause I busted it.” She stuck out her tongue at him.

Kyuhyun messed her hair a little before driving them back to the surreal, suffocating world.

***

The door to the SNSD's dorm opened and closed. Henry was too daunted to walk in.

Whoever creeping by the door annoyed Tiffany. “Get in or get out, Henry!”

He gulped. How does she know it's me?

Henry chose the former.  The fuel from the war was killing at a close proximity. Tiffany and Krystal occupied two ends of the coach. There were chips littered everywhere.

Chips?

He pranced towards the mess. Krystal's eyes shot laser at his hand hovering above the foil package. “Don't clean up her mess,” she commanded.

Tiffany sneered. “So you admitted that bag of chips is mine?! You should stay away from things that don't belong to you.”

“You are the one who talks! You ty man-stealer!”

Henry rushed to Tiffany's side to restrain her from attacking Krystal. “Let go of me! I'll shut her up once and for all!”

How did they fight over from some cheap snacks to boys was out of Henry's grasp.

“You don't want your new boyfriend to know your dirty past, huh?” Krystal refused to shut her trap. “You knew how much my unnie loved Donghae oppa! Why did you date him?!”

“You know I'm trying to fix my mistake!” Tiffany accused venomously. “Why do you keep bringing it up?!”

“Stop meddling with them! Who do you think you are?!” Krystal spat at her feet.

“STOP!” Henry wedged himself between the two savage lionesses. “Shut up and listen to yourself! You guys sound ridiculous!”

Tiffany shoved him off the coach. “Whose side are you on?!”

“I'm on my hyungs' sides, ” Henry replied with as much dignity as he could muster.

Tiffany glared at him for a long moment. She left the dorm without another glance at either of her enemies.

Tiffany Hwang was not a quitter. Her mission still waited for its end.

***

Jessica napped in tranquillity between Sung Ah and Krystal. Donghae and Kyuhyun were sitting together an aisle from the girls. They were all on a plane leaving Seoul for the wedding pictorial.

“Sung Ah unnie, look at this dress!” Krystal showed her the magazine. “It complimented your petite body so well.”

“It's pretty.” Sung Ah replied curtly. There was a hint of awkwardness remained amid them after the incident.

“I will buy it for you for what I did,” Krystal offered casually, but sincerely. “I'm really, really sorry, unnie. Jessica is the only sister I have. I needed to protect her.”

Sung Ah saw the price of the cherry-red evening gown. She believed her earnestness. “Thanks, Krystal. Don't bother with the dress though. I don't wear them.”

“We need to go dress shopping then! We'll just ditch Jessica. It's no fun shopping with her.”

“Who are you ditching?!” Jessica abruptly woke up and scared the girls.

Donghae and Kyuhyun whipped their heads around at the sound of the shrieking girls. They only relaxed after they found that nothing bad happened to them.

Kyuhyun resumed flipping through a fashion magazine. He grinned seeing his and Jessica's ad on one of the pages.

“You guys look good together,” Donghae commented.

His smile became bigger. “I know.” Later did he realize who was talking to him. “I mean... anyone would look good with me. Sung Ah and I make a good couple too.”

“I don't think so.” Donghae spoke stiffly. “You're too tall for her.”

Kyuhyun threw the magazine aside and closed his eyes. Donghae was the last thing he wanted to be bothered with. What his tone was implying was none of his business.

A few hours of plane ride was already anxious enough. How was Kyuhyun suppose to deal with the tension for three more days?

Author's Notes: Hmm... Something new is brewing in a short distance.  Can you sense the lovely smell of more drama coming? ;)

Ottokaji?? ><

And let me take the time to say "Hi, new readers and subscribers!"  You guys will see my welcome when you're all caught up. ^^  If you like the story, you can upvote to show support too if you don't like commenting.. I totally forgot about the function... How else should I know that you're not only read it for the ending and secretly loathe my story?

Please wait for me a little bit more until the next update for a nice vacation (?) for our biases. <3