We reached the Hangang River at around 10am. It was crowded since it's the weekend but we managed to find a spot big enough for the 10 of us. Hyoyeon, Seohyun and Yoona had decided to join us too. After the mat was spread out, all of us sat down to have a light breakfast of sandwiches. Everyone was seated beside their girlfriends and I noticed Hyoyeon being very close with Seohyun so I decided to tease them.

"Hey Hyo, since when did you get so close with Seohyun? I smell something fishy here."

Everyone turned their attention to Hyoyeon and Seohyun who were sharing their sandwiches. With all the attention on them, Seohyun started to turn red and looked down.

"Why can't I be close to my own girlfriend?"

"MWO!!"

All of us were shocked to find out about it. I quickly grabbed Hyoyeon's right arm while Yuri went for her left arm. Taeyeon did a headlock on her while Sooyoung prepare to flick her forehead.

"Yah!! Yah!! Andwae!! Hyunnie... help me... Arrghhh!!"

We let her writhe in pain, rubbing her forehead while we high-fived each other. Seohyun shook her head and went to Hyoyeon's side. Yoona was nagging at Seohyun for keeping it a secret as the both of them explained that they've only been together for one week and didn't have the opportunity to inform us. Both of them looked so guilty and keep apologising that we all started laughing at them.

"It's okay Hyo and Seohyun. Don't have to feel bad. We are just teasing you both. We are happy for both of you." I smiled at them and did a fist bump with Hyoyeon.

"Seems like everyone has a partner. What about you, Jae? When do you intend to get yourself a girlfriend?" Yuri teasingly asked me.

"Girlfriend? You mean Jae is into girls too?" Sunny said with a shocked expression.

"Of course. Why do you think all of us can click so well together? Being gay is one of the reason." Sooyoung laughed as me, Taeyeon and Yuri joined in.

"Seeing how good Jae treats Jessica, her future girlfriend is one lucky girl. I had a feeling that Jae was into girls too but I wasn't sure. If I knew earlier, I would have woo her instead." Tiffany turned to look at Taeyeon with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Yah! Hwang Miyoung! How could you say like that and hurt my feelings?" Taeyeon pouted as Tiffany suddenly kissed her on her cheeks.

"I was just kidding, Taetae. You are the only one for me."

The rest of us pretend to barf at the scene in front of us before we laughed out loud together except for Jessica who seems to be lost in her own thoughts.

"Sorry to interrupt but I notice that you all brought guitars along today. Are you all going to perform?" Seohyun asked as she looked at the guitars. "I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. So far I only know how to play the piano."

Hearing Seohyun saying about the guitar, Jessica suddenly snapped out from her thoughts and looked at me. I looked back at her and pretend that I don't understand her glare. I knew she wanted me to perform but I just felt like teasing her.

"Jae, aren't you suppose to be doing something?" Jessica asked me as I just shrugged my shoulders. She rolled her eyes and turn her body away from me.

I giggled at her reaction and asked Yuri to pass me my guitar.

"Since all of us here have formed such a great friendship, this song is for all of us. So here goes."

As I ended the song, I saw Jessica smiling at me while the rest clapped their hands excitedly. I laughed at their reactions until Yuri suggested for them to play some ball games. I volunteered to stay behind to accompany Jessica who was sulking since she was not able to join in the fun. Both of us watched as the rest of the girls were playing among themselves. I noticed Jessica sighing.

********************************

"Bored?" Jessica nodded her head. "Not happy that you're here with me?" I .

She was about to nod her head again when she stopped halfway and shook her head. "Of course I'm happy that you're here. I just wished that I can join them too."

"Soon.. Soon you'll be completely heal and we can organise another outing, okay." I smiled at her. "Anyway, I've been wanting to ask you about something but I was not sure if it is appropriate of me to do so."

"Just ask. If I can't answer it, I'll tell you so."

"At the hospital, I remembered that you said that you didn't want to worry your mum about your injury. Sorry to ask but why did you just mention your mum? How about your dad?" I noticed Jessica looking up the sky and suddenly I regretted asking her that question. "Jessica, if you don't want to talk about it...."

"My parents divorce when I was 15yrs old."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up such a sensitive topic. Gwenchana?" I was really afraid of Jessica breaking down and crying in front of me.

"It's okay. Actually not many people knew about it except for the girls and Taecyeon. I didn't want others to know that I came from a broken family."

"Sica, there's nothing wrong if your family is incomplete. Whatever happened between your parents, I believe that both of them love you equally." I tried to comfort her.

"Thanks, Jae. Even though I'm separated from my dad, I still keep in contact with him through emails. But I really missed him a lot. If only they could work things out. My parents still love each other a lot but due to some reason, they have to go their separate ways."

"Would you like to share your story with me? I may not be able to give you any solutions but I can guarantee you that I'm a good listener." I gave her a sincere smile as she looked at me.

"My mum is the only child of a wealthy family background while my dad grew up in an orphanage. Both of them met when my mum went to attend a Christmas party held at an orphanage while my dad was a volunteer there. My mum was the invited guest of honor that day. They fall in love but my mum's parents were against the marriage because to them, my dad was considered poor. Even so, their love stayed strong and they ended up getting married. They moved to the States when my mum was pregnant with me. My dad got an offer to work for a good friend of his at a sports center. My dad worked hard as a boxing instructor there. When I was 10yrs old, my mum's dad fall sick and we had to return back to Korea as my mum had to take over her family business. Things were not smooth sailing for them since then as my mum's parents had never accepted my dad as their son-in-law. Things took a turn for the worse when my mum was diagnosed with acute leukemia when I was 15yrs old. My dad wanted my mum to go for treatment but he was financially unstable so he decided to ask for help from my mum's parents. They agreed to pay for the whole treatment until she recovers but on one condition and that is for my dad to leave the family. So he left because he wanted my mum to get better. I didn't see him since then."

"Has your mum recovered?"

"She did. She received a bone marrow transplant a year after that and within the next 2 years, she was cured."

"Glad to hear that your mum has recovered but why didn't you try to find your dad? Your mum has already recovered. They should try to start anew."

"I wish I could but my dad left for the States after the divorce and he didn't want me to find him. He says that he felt ashamed that he can't even protect his own family. He's so stubborn."

"Just like you." I accidentally said it out loud earning a glare from Jessica. "Oooppsss.. Mianhae." I nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. I was about to continue talking when I saw a ball flying towards Jessica since we were facing each other. I pushed her aside and the ball smacked me right on my face.

"YAAAHHH!! Which pabo did that?" I was rubbing my face in pain as Jessica was still shocked from the push. I stood up and looked at the direction from where the ball came in. I saw the girls looking shocked too with Sooyoung and Yuri suddenly pointing their fingers to Taeyeon. Realising that she had been pointed out, Taeyeon started to run away.

"Kim Taeyeon!!! You better run fast. You're dead the moment I catch you." I started running after Taeyeon across the field as the rest of the girls went back to sit down on the mat to see the interesting show going on between me and Taeyeon.

Since Taeyeon has got shorter legs and also because I'm a fast runner, it didn't take long for me to jumped on her. Both of us ended rolling on the ground as I headlocked her. She keep apologising to me as I tickled her with right hand.

"Jae, Taeng. You both better stop fooling around and have your lunch before Soo finishes all of it." I heard Yuri shouted at both of us as we quickly entangled ourselves and ran back to the mat.

I sat down beside Jessica and grabbed a plate of tteobokki while Jessica brushes off the dead leaves and grasses from my head and body. I said thanks and offered to feed her a piece of tteobokki since her hands were busy brushing away. The moment Jessica opened to eat it, we heard a gasping sound.

"Ooouuuhhh... You both are so sweet to each other. If only, you're together." I heard Sunny said

"Sunny, did you forget that I'm already attached?" Jessica glared at Sunny while I just continued eating, pretending that I didn't hear anything.

"That's why I said 'if only.' Anyway, you're better off without that guy." Sunny replied sarcastically.

Jessica sighed as the mood suddenly became solemn. "Even though he doesn't treat me well, even though there's no feelings involve in our relationship, I can't break up with him. Because both of us are actually in an arranged marriage."

Everyone was shocked to know about it. Even Sunny and Tiffany were not aware since Jessica rarely opens up about her family.

"But if there's no feelings involve, why do you still want to torture yourself? It's not fair for you to be on a losing end of this deal. Why don't you and Taecyeon talked to both your families?" Tiffany tried to give a suggestion.

"Taecyeon said that his dad threatened to cut off his financial support and also remove him from the family's will if he go against them. Due to some reasons that I can't tell you, there's nothing much I can do on my part. But Taecyeon promised that he'll take good care of me."

"He obviously didn't keep his promise." Sooyoung said in an angry tone. "But do you have feelings for him, Sica?"

Jessica sighed. "I've been trying to but I can't seem to open up my heart to him and I think he can feel it too so that's why he don't really bother about me."

"I still don't understand why you can't just break it off. It's your life and it should be your choice on who you want to be with." Taeyeon added on.

"If it just concerns me, it'll be much easier but...." I saw Jessica hesitating. She was having difficulties trying to explain herself. It seems that she's not ready to tell the whole truth.

I decided to step in. "Everyone. Let's give Jessica some space okay. She already said that she can't tell you the reasons to why she has to do this and as her friends, let's respect her decision. I believe she'll tell us once she's ready so until then, let's just give her our full support and hope for the best okay." I smiled at everyone as they took turns to apologise to Jessica for being pushy.

"Since we are here to enjoy and relax ourselves, to liven up the atmosphere, shall we sing another song?" Everyone looked at me and quickly agreed as they cheered me on. "Any song request?" I giggled at my own remarks as Yuri and Taeyeon also took their guitars out and sat beside me. Since everyone shook their head, I whispered to Yuri and Taeyeon the song that we are going to perform.

Taeyeon:    Here I am yeogi Here I am                                                               Here I am, In this place,Here I am
                  Here I am naega yeogie yeogi inneunde                                            Here I am, In this place,I’m here.

Yuri:           Here I am jigeum Here I am                                                             Here I am, now in this place,Here I am                
                  Here I am jigeum yeogie naega inneunde                                          Here I am, In this place,I’m here now                   

Jae:            nal da jwodo mojara                                                                        Even if it’s not enough
                  nal beoryeodo mojara                                                                      For me to show
                  naega neol eolmamankeum saranghaneunjireul                                 How much I really love you
                  moreul geoya ama neon Here I am                                                   You may never know but Here I am

Yuri:           Here I am yeogi Here I am                                                               Here I am,In this place,Here I am
                  Here I am naega yeogie yeogi inneunde                                           Here I am ,In this place,I’m here.

Taeyeon:     nal da jwodo mojara                                                                        Even if it’s not enough
                  nal beoryeodo mojara                                                                      For me to show
                  naega neol eolmamankeum saranghaneunjireul                                 How much I really love you
                  gateun jarieseo neol gidarilge                                                           I’ll just wait for you in this place

Jae:            nal yokhaedo gwaenchanha                                                             Even if you think it’s not enough
                  nal beoryeodo gwaenchanha                                                            It’s fine, I'll show
                  naega neol eolmamankeum saranghaneunjireul                                 How much I really love you

All:            moreul geoya ama neon Here I am                                                    You may never know but Here I am

Jae:           moreul geoya ama neon Here I am                                                    You may never know but Here I am      

As I sang the last sentence of the song, I had my eyes locked on to Jessica who was staring at me. I ended the song while smiling at her. I saw her blushing as she pretended to look elsewhere while she joined the rest who were clapping for us.

********************************

Jessica's POV:

I'm really thankful to Jae. If not for her, I'll still be frustrated to find away to explain to the rest of the girls. If only things were much simpler, I won't be stuck in this situation. If only I didn't have to help my mum out or if only my grandfather had told us the truth, I believe that all this could have been avoided. I'm sorry everyone. I don't want to trouble all of you with my problems because you might not even be able to help me out. I just hope everything will get better but why do I feel like I don't want things to work out between me and Taecyeon. Why do the urge of wanting to be free from him, gets stronger lately? Is it because of Jae? Why did my heart skipped faster earlier when I found out that Jae is into girls? And when she sings, I could feel the emotions being put into it. Is Jae in love with someone? She must be one lucky girl since Jae is really a nice and caring person.

********************************

We continued eating our lunch. Seohyun asked me to teach her to play the guitar so I went over to sit beside her. I gave Taeyeon's guitar to her while I used my own guitar. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Jessica pouting as she keep playing with her food. I spend almost an hour to teach Seohyun. She's really a fast learner. She told me that she had tried to learn from her friends before so that is why she's quite familiar with the chords.

I went back to sit beside Jessica who was playing with her phone. I noticed that she didn't finished up the plate of tteobokki. "Why didn't you eat finish the food? Not nice is it? Should I complain to Sooyoung since she's the one who prepared it?"

"Anni, anni.. I just don't have the appetite."

"Wae? Before I left to teach Seohyun to play the guitar, you seem to be eating well."

"Because you left me alone." Jessica mumbled, trying to not let me hear it but I did. I pretended to ask her if she had said something but she just shake her head.

"How about this? You finished up the food and I'll grant you one wish." I smiled at her as I offered her the plate.

She paused for a while before she agreed to my idea. The moment she finished eating, all of us decide that we should head back to the dorm since it looked like it's about to rain. As the girls packed all the stuff, I helped Jessica to sit on a nearby bench and told her to wait so that I can help out the rest. It started to drizzle lightly once we were done packing up. I quickly ran to Jessica while the rest walked towards the dorm.

"Sica, get on my back quick."

"Mwo!! Wae? I can still walk."

"I'll give you a piggyback. It's going to rain soon. I don't want you to get caught in the rain and fall sick. You can't walk fast with your bandaged ankle so it'll be faster if you ride on my back. Let's go." I squatted down in front of her as she slowly climbed on to my back.

I walked as fast as possible to the dorm, even walking pass the rest of the girls as I didn't want Jessica to get wet. We were the first one to reach the dorm lobby as the rain started to pour heavily the moment we stepped in. The rest of the girls were caught in the rain for a bit as they were slightly drenched when they reach the lobby. Jessica just laughed looking at their wet appearance.

"Hey, Jessi. Just because you're dry, doesn't mean you can laugh at us. You're lucky that Jae pampers you a lot." Tiffany pouted as Jessica just meronged at her while the rest of us proceeded back to the dorm.

Yoona and Seohyun followed Tiffany, Sunny and Jessica back to their dorm for a change of clothes and to freshen up. The rest of us then went back to our own dorms.

*******************************

We were all gathered at the living room as the rain got heavier. We were talking about Hyoyeon and Seohyun went suddenly Taeyeon throw a pillow at me. 

"Yah!!! What was that for?" I threw back the pillow at her.

"Do you know something that we all don't? Why did you stop us from interrogating Sica about her relationship with Taecyeon?" Taeyeon said causing the other two girls to look at me.

"Trust me. I don't know anything about the reasons. I just saw how hesitant she was and it must have made her feel uncomfortable to talk about it. That's why I decided to put a stop on it."

"But aren't you curious, Jae? If they broke up, you've got a chance to go after Jessica." Sooyoung asked.

"Soo, if we are meant to be together, we will be together. I just don't want to add extra burden on her. Come to think of it, there must be a valid reason to why she's doing all this. Did you guys remember her saying about the matter doesn't concern only her?" The three of them nodded their heads.

"So you think that she's trying to protect her family?" Yuri asked me.

"I think she's protecting her mum to be precise. But I'm not going to speculate or dwell on it until she tell me about it herself. So until then, I'll just have to wait and hope for the best."

That night, Yuri and Hyoyeon came down to send their girlfriends off to the bus stop. I was about to doze off to sleep when I received a message.

From Jessica:

Jae, don't forget that you owe me a wish. Good night and rest well.

To Jessica:

Arasso. I won't forget. Good night to you too. Sleep tight and dream of me tonight. :P            

I put my phone to the side and stared at the ceiling. What are you hiding from us, Sica? Are you afraid to trouble us with your problem or are you afraid that we won't be of any help? Why do you have to suffer because of your family? Do you really have to be with him? Then what about me? Do I still wait or move on?

I couldn't sleep yet as I saw the clock showing that it's almost 1am. As I was deep in my thoughts, my phone rang to indicate an incoming call. I looked at the screen and quickly answered it.

"Appa!!! I missed you."

"Hahaha.. my dorky daughter. I miss you too. How have you been, Jae?"

"I'm fine. Although it has been quite hectic lately due to upcoming exams and the futsal competition. How about you, Appa? Did you eat well?

"It's been lonely without you here but I've been busy with new projects coming up. I ate well so don't worry. No wonder Uncle Kim told me that you and Taeyeon have not been returning home lately."

"Mianhae, Appa. I know that I promised to visit Uncle and Aunt Kim frequently but we've really been busy lately."

"It's okay. I understand. Actually, I was surprised that you are still awake at this hour. Something on your mind?"

"How.. how did you know?"

"You're my daughter, of course I know you well. And from your stuttering voice, I know you plan to hide it from me, so just tell me the truth."

"Hhhmmm... Appa,  what if you fall in love with someone that will never be yours? Will you wait or will you let her go?"

"It depends, Jae. Have you tried enough to really be sure that she will never be yours? Or you just presume that you can't be with her? Will letting her go ensure the future happiness of both of you or are you willing to stay around to ensure that the happiness belongs to you?"

"Woooww, Appa. I didn't know that you can be so deep. Hehehehe... Thanks, Appa. Talking to you have really enlighten me. Love you."

"I love you too, Jae. She must be very special for you to lose sleep like this. Remember that I'm always here for you. Always come to me if you need any help okay."

"She is special, Appa and thank you for being such an awesome dad. Hopefully one day I can introduce her to you as my girlfriend."

"Have faith in your love, Jae. If you're certain that she's the one for you, then fight for it. Now it's time for you to get some sleep. Rest well okay. I don't want you to turn into a panda tomorrow. By the way, don't forget to visit Uncle and Aunt Kim when you are free again."

"I'll be one cute panda then. Hahaha... Good night, Appa. You rest well too and take care of yourself okay. I'll go and visit Uncle and Aunt Kim once everything is less hectic."

Once again, I put my phone aside after talking to my dad. He's always good with his words and able to see things beyond my own vision. This time round, I felt lighter and was able to fall asleep soon after with a smile on my face.