Donghae couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Taeyeon, Yoona, Yuri and Sooyoung taking off their hair wigs and helping Jessica to untie the ropes and removing the cloth from . It was then Donghae noticed that Jessica had tears in her eyes. The 5 of them walked up to him with Yoona holding on to Jessica's shoulders.

"If you were someone else, I swear to God, I would have swing this bat into your face. But you're our classmate and we'll be seeing each other again." Sooyoung said as she lifted up the bat and let it rest on her shoulders.

"If not because of my promise to Jae to remain calm, you won't even be standing right now." Taeyeon glared at Donghae.

By now, Donghae was already surrounded by all 9 girls. "Wooow... are you girls trying to be gangsters? You could face severe consequences if I reported this to the university." He gave a sarcastic smirk but his voice clearly showed that he was nervous.

"Go ahead and try. We dare you." Yuri replied with a firm voice.

Donghae kept quiet as he thought things through.He then turned to look at Jessica and tried to give her his most innocent look. "Jessica, please forgive me. I didn't mean to lie to you. My feelings for you is real. At least I won't cheat on you like Taecyeon or even Jae."

The moment Donghae mentioned Jae's name, Jessica walked towards Donghae slowly. Thinking that Jessica was taken in by his words, Donghae stretched out his hand. He thought that Jessica would walked into his arms but he wasn't expecting a hard slap on his left cheek. As Donghae hold on to his left cheek, he saw the icy glare from Jessica.

"DON'T YOU EVER DARE TALK BAD ABOUT MY JAE!" Jessica started to walk away but she stopped after a few steps. "One more thing. Please don't ever appear in front of me, ever again."

As Jessica walked to the main road, the rest of the girls followed her soon, leaving Donghae standing alone at the alley.

The girls were now gathered near the bus stop as they talked about what happened earlier. Tiffany and Sunny were teasing their girlfriends about how good-looking they were while Hyoyeon was teasing Yuri by saying that Yoona looked more handsome than her. The girls had kept the baseball bats into a duffel bag that they had brought, along with all the hair wigs.

"Girls, I don't feel like going back to the dorm." Jessica said as everyone turned to look at her. "I need to see Jae right now."

The girls looked at each other as Taeyeon looked at her watch. It was almost 10pm and visiting hours were already over. But Taeyeon understood the reason to why Jessica wanted to see Jae at the moment.

"Soo, can you help to ask your Appa if it's okay for Sica to come over to see Jae now?" Taeyeon gave Sooyoung a warm smile.

Sooyoung nodded her head and dialed her Appa's phone. While she was on the phone, Taeyeon suggested for Jessica to take a cab straight to the hospital so that it'll be faster. Taeyeon then asked Yuri to look out for a cab for Jessica.

"Taeng, my Appa said that it's fine if it's only one person since it won't create any disturbance."

"Thanks, Soo. Looks like Yul already got a cab for you, Sica." Taeyeon showed Jessica a cab that was slowing down to the side road.

Before Jessica stepped into the cab, she thanked everyone for everything and also apologised for all the trouble that she had caused due to her ignorance. The girls just smiled at her and by saying that 'her Jae' was waiting for her. Jessica then entered the cab with a blushed face.

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

Two nurses had came earlier around 8pm to remove the wires at my chest area and to replace the glucose bag with a new one. Since I no longer had the wires on me, it was easier for me to move around since I can just carry the glucose bag along with me. Staying alone in the room was making me bored and I can't wait to be discharged. After the girls left earlier, I made a call to Appa

Flashback a few hours ago

"Appa.." I said with a timid voice when I heard the line connected.

"Yah!! Park Hyun Jae!! What happened to you? Uncle Choi called to inform me that you came to the hospital on a stretcher. Collapsed during a match. He said that you looked exhausted and your body showed signs that it's lacking proper rest and nutrients. Are you skipping meals and not resting  enough? Is the renovation project taking a toll on your health? Even though I did ask you to oversee the whole project, it doesn't mean that you've to be there always. Just leave it to Uncle Kwon to handle...."

"APPA!!" I had to raise my voice to stop him from talking. "Appa.. I'm fine. I'm sorry for making you worried. But I'm fine now." I lowered my voice to show that I was apologising.

"Jae-ah..." I heard Appa's voice softened. "I've already lost your mum. I can't afford to lose you too."

Both of us became silent for the next few minutes. I understand that Appa was just nagging at me because he was worried and I feel bad for worrying him. "Appa, mianhae. For not taking care of myself well. Jinjja mianhae.. I promised it won't happen again."

"Why don't you just stay here with me, Jae? You're so far away and I can't take care of you when you're there. Have you eaten? Did they placed you in the VIP suite like I requested?"

"I've eaten and the room is very big and spacious. Thank you Appa. For making sure that my stay is comfortable enough. But I like it here in Korea. I know it's my fault that you've to worry about me all the time. This won't happen again. Anyway, you don't have to come down if you're busy. I knew you've got a new hotel coming up in Japan. Boa told me about it when she stopped over to meet me."

"It's Boa-Unnie. You have to learn to start calling her that. Both of you are no longer kids anymore. What will others think if you keep calling her by her name. It's disrespectful."

"But Appa, she's the one who doesn't allow me to call her Unnie. It's not my fault anyway. Appa, you must take care of yourself too, okay. You've got so many on-going projects."

"Says the one who is currenyly lying on a hospital bed. I'm waiting for you to graduate and help me with my projects. Maybe you can take over our upcoming Asian region hotels since you planned to stay in Korea anyway."

"Jinjja??!! You mean you will allow me to stay here in Korea? Wooohoooo!!!"

"Hold your horses, young lady. You can only do so if you graduate with a dual degree in 2 yrs time and also if you prove to me that you can really look after yourself."

"Dual degree? You mean you still want me to take a degree in business management besides my interior design like what we've discuss before?"

"Of course. How do you expect to take over my business if you don't have the knowledge for it, Jae?"

"Okay, Appa. For the sake of staying in Korea, I'll do my best and will also take care of myself well."

"By the way, if something bad happens to you again, I would not procrastinate to have you back in the States and no arguement will be entertain. Understand?"

"Mwo?!! Jinjja?!!.... Fine. I'll prove to you then. I love you, Appa."

"I love you too, Jae. Get some rest then. Good night."

Thinking back about the conversation made me think about my mum. 'Omma, mianhae. You must be worried about me too, right? I'm sorry for not taking care of myself well and causing worry for Appa and you. Please take care of us, Omma. From above. Love you too.' I was about to doze off to sleep when I heard the door open. I was shocked to see Jessica standing there and I think she was shocked too when she quickly covered .

"Mianhae, Jae. Did I wake you up?"

"Anni. I wasn't asleep yet. But how come you're here? Is everything okay?"

Jessica walked up to my bed and sat by the side. Then suddenly, she hugged me. Her head was resting on my chest while her arms were wrapped around my waist. I heard sobbings as I quickly returned her hug with my left arm across her back while my right hand was slowly her head. I noticed that the sobbings slowly stopped. I was just about to ask Jessica, what's wrong when I heard soft snoring coming from her.

"Aisshhh.. This girl... Falling asleep already." I chuckled to myself as I shifted my body slowly and let Jessica lie down on my bed. I then took my phone and dialed Taeyeon's number while I walked towards the window, carrying the glucose bag along with me.

"Hey, Taeng. Are you asleep yet?"

"No. I just finished showering. What's up? By the way, has Sica arrived?"

"Yes. She's here but she's already asleep." I started to explain to Taeyeon what happened from the time Jessica came into the room. "I wanted to ask her what happened but since she's already asleep, I've to ask you."

Taeyeon then started to tell the story starting from when Donghae and the girls appeared at the back alley. "The best part was when Sica called you 'my Jae' and she told Donghae never to appear in front of her again. She was the one who wanted to see you while we waited for the bus."

"I guess after knowing the truth, she felt bad to everyone and it's taking a toll on her physically and mentally. That's why she fell asleep here. Anyway, thanks Taeng. For making sure that everything was settled and now we already knew the truth."

"Maybe she fell asleep because she felt safe in your arms." I heard Taeyeon giggled at the other end. "But if she's on your bed, how are you going to sleep? Are you both going to sleep together?"

"Stop your wild imagination, Taeng. I'll push the reclining sofa nearer to the bed and sleep on it. You should get some rest then. Good night, Taeng." I hang up the phone after Taeyeon said good night to me too.

I pushed the beige colored sofa nearer to the bed slowly just to ensure that I won't wake Jessica up. I walked to the switches and dimmed the lights. As I walked back to the bed, I pulled the blanket over Jessica and sofly kissed her on her forehead. She squirmed a bit but she continued her sleep. I hang my glucose bag on the stand, sat on the sofa and reclined it to an angle that's comfortable enough for me. I looked once again at Jessica and smiled at her before I closed my eyes to sleep.

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

I was woken up when I felt someone shaking my shoulders. Opening just my right eye. I saw Jessica with folded arms, sitting on the edge of the bed while looking at me. Then I heard another voice on my left that shocked me. Jessica giggled when she saw my shocked reaction.

"Morning Jae." Uncle Choi was smiling at me as I awkwardly bowed my head at him. "I'm not sure if sleeping on the sofa is more comfortable than the bed but it seems that you slept well last night."

I chuckled nervously as I slowly pressed the button to make the reclined sofa back to it's sitting position. Uncle Choi said that he's here to check on my progress so he'll need me to lie on the bed. Jessica got down and sat on the couch as Uncle Choi and a nurse closed the curtains. After the checks were done, the nurse removed the tube and the needle from my hand, applied a plaster over the wound before she opened the curtains.

"Well, I guess you are good to go, Jae. I'll go and prepare the paperworks for you. I'll inform your Appa and also your coach about your discharge. Remember what I told you before Jae. Don't overwork yourself, don't skip meals and eat properly." I nodded my head. "Young lady, you'll ensure that Jae follows what I say, right?" Uncle Choi turned to Jessica who also nodded her head shyly.

After Uncle Choi and the nurse left the room, I messaged Taeyeon to inform her that I'll be discharge today and I'll make my own way back to the dorm with Jessica. By then, Jessica had already sat on the bed in front of me. I smiled at her as I put my phone aside.

"What's with the pout?" Jessica folded her arms and continued to glare at me. "Ahhh.. you must be upset with me for letting you sleep on my bed while I sleep on the sofa. Am I right?" I saw Jessica jaws dropped, a sign that I was right.

"Why does it seem like you're able to read my mind, Jae?"

I just shrugged my shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. "Good morning, Sicababy. Oh wait... Can I still call you that or you hate it already?" I asked with my puppy eyes look.

"I'm sorry, Jae. I didn't mean what I said that day. I...." Jessica bite on her lips as she looked down.

"Yeahhhh!!! I can still call you Sicababy." I jumped out from the bed and danced around the room weirdly, causing Jessica to laughed at my childish behaviour. I stopped dancing and walked over to her side. "There's something that I need to tell you and somewhere that I need to bring you to. Let me change first, settle the hospital stuff and I'll bring you there, okay."

We left the hospital at around 1pm after settling whatever was needed. I was still wearing my futsal outfit that I had worn when I was brought to the hospital. Jessica kept giggling at me while I just walked with a poker face. I hailed a cab and 30mins later, both of us had arrived at our destination. Jessica saw where it was and looked at me with knowing eyes. I smiled at her, took her hands and walked into the building. I bowed at the staff inside when they acknowledged my presence as I continued walking until I stop in front of a glass cabinet. It was the crematorium where my mum ashes were placed.

"Omma, I'm back. As what I promised, I brought Sicababy along." Jessica turned to look at me with a blushed face but I continued looking straight. "Omma, you must be angry with me for whatever happened, right? If only I had told Sica the truth in the first place, all of these could be avoided. Mianhae, Omma. You've always taught me to be honest with myself and to the people around me but I didn't do so. Mianhae." I bowed down my head low as I bite my lips to prevent the tears from flowing down.

"Jae, what's going on? What are you talking about?"

I looked up and gestured her to sit down at the round couch before joining her. "Firstly, can I ask you something?" After Jessica nodded her head, I continued. "When did you start having feeelings for me?"

Jessica paused for a while. "The day both of us watched Iron Man 3 together. When you put on the jacket on me after the movie ended, I felt my heart flustered. When you stood so near to me, I felt nervous but at the same time, I felt safe being near to you. But at that time, I was still in the arranged marriage with Taecyeon so I didn't want to think much about it."

I nodded my head as I paused to think. "If another person comes along and tell you that he/she is the one who cleared your family debts, will you accept their love just because you feel indebted?"

"Anni.." Jessica paused before she took a deep breathe. "Jae, I've said this before and I'll said it again. There's only you in my heart. I was thankful to Donghae when he claimed that he cleared the debts but I had never even once thought of returning his feelings. I just thought..." Jessica couldn't finished her sentence as she sighed and looked down.

"You thought that if you let him wait long enough, he'll get sick of you one day? Is that why you asked me to wait for you when I was lying down on the bench while we waited for TaeNy to finsih their meeting?"

Jessica's eyes were wide open. "You were not asleep during that time?" I shook my head as Jessica nodded her head and blushed when she remembered what she did that day.

"Sica, mianhae. I'm sorry for causing you all these trouble and heartache." Jessica turned to look at me with a frown. I took her hand and entwined our fingers. "I've not been totally honest with you actually. I've been keeping a secret from you all this while but I hope that you'll forgive me."

I noticed Jessica's expression turned into a serious icy glare as she let go of my fingers and folded her arms. "Just tell me the truth now. I don't like to be lied to and I obviously don't like to be kept in the dark."

I swallowed my saliva, looking at her deadly stare. "Actually, I was the one who send over the cash to your mum's office." I started to tell her everything from the moment I went back to the States, about the orphanage and until the day I handover the cash at the receptionist counter of her mum's office.

"Wait a minute.." Jessica closed her eyes as she swiped her hair to the back with both her hands and placed both palms on her cheeks. She then turned to look at me. "You did all that and all this while, you didn't even try to tell me about it?"

I saw the anger slowly building in Jessica's eyes as I tried to think of a proper sentence to explain my reasons. "I didn't want you to feel indebted to me. I want you to accept my love because of who I am and not for what I've done for you. None of us expected things to turn out this way."

"None of us? Who else knew about this besides you?"

Jessica's glare seemed to be illuminating lasers out of it. I cursed myself in my mind for the slip of tongue as I softly replied that all the girls knew about it.

Jessica suddenly stood up in front of me with her hands on her hips. "I can't believe that all of you hide it from me. Do you know how much it hurts me to have to force myself to stay by Donghae's side just because I had believed in his lies? If you or any of the girls had told me the truth, I won't have believed him and won't have to go through all that. Not being able to spend my time with you, feeling guilty everyday for ignoring your messages, not having to see your smile or hear your laughter and even shouting at you which caused you to be..." Jessica's choked on her own words as tears started to pour out.

I quickly jumped up and hugged her tight. She tried to struggle from my arms but I held on until she stopped and just sobbed into my shoulders. "Mianhae. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause you hurt, Sicababy. I'm sorry."

Jessica looked up as I looked down into her eyes. For a minute, both of us just stared straight into each other's eyes until Jessica looked down and lean her head on my chest. "You were hurt too, Jae. I've hurt you too. I've caused you more hurt than you've caused me. I left you alone. I didn't take care of you. I even doubted you. You deserve someone better, Jae. Someone who won't hurt you the way I did."

I kissed her on the forehead, causing Jessica to look up.. "Do you love me, Sicababy?" Jessica nodded her head immediately. "I love you too and that's all that matters to me."

Jessica wrapped her arms around my waist and smiled. "Gomawo. For loving me. I love you, my Jaegi."

"Jaegi? Is that my nickname from you?" I held her shoulders, making a distance between us.

"Since you call me Sicababy, I'll call you Jaegi. Baby in korean is Agi so Jae and Agi will be Jaegi." Jessica explained as she bite her lips and blushed.

I chuckled at the way Jessica came up with a nickname for me. "So it means we are each other's baby? That's cute." Jessica continued to blush as I looked at my watch and saw that it was already 4pm. I asked Jessica if she was hungry and she nodded her head while pouting.

I turned to face the glass cabinet again. "Omma, I'm going off for now. I'll come again soon to visit, okay." I was about to bow down when I heard Jessica's comment.

"And I'll be coming with her too, Omma. I'm sorry for whatever happened between me and Jaegi but I promise you that I'll take care of her starting from today. Please continue to look after us, Omma." I saw Jessica bowed down and for once, I've never smiled as wide as I did at that moment.

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

Me and Jessica decided to just eat at the school's cafetaria as we messaged the girls to come down and meet us there. By the time we reached the cafetaria, TaeNy, SooSun, Yuri and Hyoyeon were already there. They saw me and Jessica walking towards them with our hands entwined together so they started to whistled at us.

"Yah!! Are you having a party here?" I said the moment I reached the table. Jessica sat opposite me, beside Tiffany.

"I can see tha someone is making a lot of progress already. So how was your night? Did the two of you..... Aaarrggghh!!" Taeyeon received a kick in the leg from me.

"Taetae, did you hit your knee on the table again?" Tiffany asked with a worried face.

Before Taeyeon could answer, she was intercepted by Jessica. "Jaegi, did you kick Taeng just now?" I just grinned dorkily at Jessica.

"Jaegi?!!" I heard Sooyoung, Yuri, Hyoyeon and Taeyeon shocked reply before they broke into laughter. By then, I was already blushing as I scratched the back of my neck and just continued grinning.

"Is there a problem with that name?" Jessica glared at the 4 girls as she folded her arms. The atmosphere suddenly felt cold as the girls vigorously shook their heads. Seeing their reactions against the icy glare of Jessica, I chuckled to myself.

"So who's taking orders? It'll be my treat." I said as I saw Sooyoung hurriedly raising her hand. Hyoyeon then volunteered to help her with the orders.

When the two of them left for counter, the rest of us started to chat. Taeyeon asked me about where I went since it took me some time to reach back to the dorm so I told her where I brought Jessica to and also about what I told Jessica. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon came back with the orders just in time when I ended my story as both of them distributed our food and drinks.

"Speaking of that, I'm actually pretty upset with the fact that everyone knew about Jae settling my family debts while I'm the only left in the dark." Jessica said as she glared at everyone. "So for keeping it a secret from me, everyone will have a punishment given by me when we reached the dorm later."

The girls turned to look at me with a questioning expression as I just shrugged my shoulders. For the first time, all the girls ate in silence as everyone was busy thinking of the punishment that Jessica was talking about. After 30mins, we were done with the food and headed back to our dorm. I was the last one in as everyone gathered in the living room. Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung and Taeyeon were seated on the floor while Jessica, Tiffany and Sunny sat on the couch. I joined the girls on the floor.

"So, is everyone ready for their punishment?" Jessica asked as everyone nodded their heads slowly. "Your punishment is to promise me never to hide things fron me again and also to forgive me for all the trouble and hurt that I've caused for the past few weeks. I know that all of you were upset with me and I sincerely apologised.  Mianhae." 

I saw Jessica looking down, covering her face as she finished her sentence as I stood up and kneeled in front of her. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I whispered into her ears that everything will be fine from now on. The girls who were initially worried about the punishment then gathered around Jessica and assured her that they've already forgiven her.

"How about we have some patbingsu?" Sooyoung suggested as the rest of us burst out laughing with her addiction to food. Sunny then volunteered to make it with the help from Jessica and Tiffany. 

As the 3 girls left for the kitchen, the 5 of us gathered around and started our random chats with them mostly teasing me about my new nickname that was given by Jessica. Yuri and Hyoyeon also complained that they wished their girlfriends were staying in the dorm so that they can take part in all these gatherings. We then played scissors-paper-stone to decide who will be the one who have to clean up the bowls and the kitchen later. Yuri ended up as the unlucky one as she pouted and stamped her feet while the rest of us just laughed at her.