I looked at my watch as I handed my car's key to the valet who was staring at my Ferrari Spider. It's already 7.45pm. Jessica had just left me a message 10mins ago, saying that she's already in Taecyeon's car and that they're already on their way. 

I was about to proceed to the reservation counter when another message came in. Reading the message, I smiled as I continued walking.

To Jaegi: 

Sweetheart, I'm so sorry but I think we'll be late. This pabo just told me that it'll take him about 30-45mins to reach the restaurant. I can't believe he'll take that long when he's driving a sports car.

"Hi, there's a reservation under the name of Ok Taecyeon. I'm one of his guests." I smiled and bowed slightly to the guy in front who then gestured me to follow him inside. "I'm sorry. But before that, is there a florist shop around here?"

"There is. But it's quite a distance away.Are you planning to get some flowers?" He asked me as I nodded my head. " If you don't mind, our restaurant can also prepare the flowers for you but it's a little bit more expensive than a normal florist shop."

After looking at my watch and thinking about it, I agreed to his suggestion. I didn't mind to pay a little bit more instead of having Jessica to wait for me later. I thanked him for his effort and told him to prepare a bouquet of yellow tulips for me which he will send to my table later on.

Jessica's POV

It was a great movie. But it would have been better if I was watching it with Jae. Initially, I thought that it'll be fine if I just concentrate on the movie but Taecyeon kept on talking to me. About his family, his father's business and about how he'll have to take over it sooner or later. Seriously, I wasn't really interested in all of that. Obviously.

If that wasn't bad enough, I noticed that he tried to stay close to me and create unnecessary skinship throughout the movie. The moment we walked in to our seat, he had lifted up the armrest that was between us, citing the reason that he felt a little cramped in his seat because of his arm muscles. I rolled my eyes at him and just ignored it.

30mins into the movie, after talking about his father's business, he tapped me on my knees. An action that got me glaring at him.

"Mwo?" I frowned while trying to control my voice volume as I folded my arms, clearly showing to him my displeasure.

"Are you cold?" He suddenly asked and was about to put his arms over my shoulders when I shifted my body away from him.

"Don't even think of it. Keep your hands to yourself." I said as I slammed the armrest down to create a border between us. "And keep your mouth shut. We're here to watch a movie. Not to listen to your life-story."

The glare that I gave him and my venomous tone of voice must have scared him a little as he sat up straight up and faced the movie screen. I thought he would have understood that I was already upset with him but 30mins before the movie ended, he started talking about his future plans that made me bored again.

Even after the movie ended at 7.15pm, he wanted to introduce me to some of his so-called future business partners but I declined since I don't see the need for him to do so. But he still brought me around to meet a few of them. I got irritated when they started teasing him about having a new pretty girlfriend and complimented him about being able to get all the pretty chicks. Seeing how he just smiled and laughed at their teasing without even trying to do anything about their comments, I decided that I needed to straighten things out.

"I'm sorry but I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just a normal friend. My girlfriend is actually waiting for us at a restaurant for our dinner plans. And I think we're running late. Don't you think so, Taecyeon-shi?" I put the emphasize on his name as I gave the rest a half-hearted smile.

The glare that I gave him and the embarassment that I created for him must have made him felt awkward as he quickly excused himself while I followed him from behind towards the carpark.

"Do you really have to do that?" He hissed at me, clearly upset with my actions.

"Of course. They were saying that I'm your girlfriend which is an obvious lie. You shouldn't lie to your future business partners, Taecyeon-shi. It's not good for your business." I ended my sentence with a sarcastic tone as he suddenly stopped in his tracks when we were almost reaching his car.

"Jessica, I know I've made mistakes in the past but I've always believe that what we had before was special. At least it was to me." Taecyeon said, trying to sound as pitiful as he could.

I looked up to him and sighed. "Taec, you've helped me a lot in the past. Protecting me from the bullies and helping me whenever you could. That is why I felt indebted to you. To me, you're a good friend and honestly, I've never felt any love connections to you. Not in the past, obviously not now." I walked towards his car and stood in front of the passenger car door. "We're running late, Taec. If you don't mind."

Seeing me pointing to the car door, he sighed and unlocked it while he walked to the driver side. I entered the car and took out my phone, typing a message to Jae to inform her that we're making a move soon.

"Can't wait to see your poor girlfriend?" Taecyeon said with a sarcastic tone after he entered the car.

"Yes." I replied with a straight face, realising that he had used the word 'poor' on Jae.

"I really don't understand what you see in her. What does she have that I don't? I'm confident that I'm much more capable than her. Obviously she's lacking in a lot of things. Like for instance....."

"How long is the journey to the restaurant, anyway?" I cut off Taecyeon's words since I'm trying to control my anger towards him. I can't bear to hear him belittling my Jaegi.

"It takes about 30-45mins to reach there." Taecyeon replied as the car exited the carpark.

"Mwo?! But it's already 7.35pm now. Which means we'll arrive later than 8pm." I was starting to feel very upset at the moment.

"Don't worry. They will keep my reservations until I arrive. I'm one of their regular customers and I don't think they will dare to offend me." Taecyeon answered confidently with his trademark smirk.

"Yah!! Who cares about your reservations? I'm more concerned about Jae. She would have arrived by now and will be waiting for us." Jessica half-yelled at Taecyeon.

"Relax. It's only 7.50pm now. She won't be there so early. Maybe she'll even arrive at the same time as us." Taecyeon tried to defend himself.

"She's not like you, okay. Not even once has she been late for any of our dates. She'll even come earlier than the meeting time. That is one of the things that makes her better than you. I don't care how you're going to do it but you better make sure we arrive there by 8pm." I shot him my deadliest stare as I saw him swallowing his saliva before stepping on the accelerator. "Another thing is. If you wish to continue with the dinner plans, I would prefer that we reach there in silence."

We were arrived at 8.05pm with Taecyeon concentrating on his driving without saying a word which at least ease a little of my anger. While waiting for Taecyeon to hand over his keys to the valet, I was looking around for Jae outside the restaurant.

"See. I told you she won't be here yet. So much for not being late." Taecyeon scoffed as he walked to the reservation counter. "The name is Ok Taecyeon." 

I sniggered at the way he pronounced his name as if he's such a big shot but what came out from the waitress mouth, put a smile on my face.

"Your guest, Park Hyun Jae, is already here since 7.45pm. She told me to inform you that she's already seated inside." 

I could see Taecyeon's expression turned sour as the waitress led us to our table. But what I saw next made my eyes widened as I saw Jae handing a bouquet of flowers to a girl who then walked away with it.

"Looks like your girlfriend is a flirt too. Does she always do that behind your back? Maybe that's why she's always early." Taecyeon gave out a sarcastic laughter as we made our way to the table.

"Omo omo omo, what do we have here. Guess what? Jessica caught you flirting earlier." Taecyeon opened his mouth the moment he stood beside Jae.

Jae's POV:

I felt a big presence beside me as I looked up from my phone. Hearing what he said to me, I frowned since I couldn't figure out what he meant.

"I didn't expect to be greeted in this manner but anyway, annyeonghaseyo." I bowed slightly at Taecyeon. "Now, would you please explain to me in what way was I flirting?" I asked as I saw Jessica's blank expression.

"Trying to deny it when we clearly saw it with our own eyes. What a liar." Taecyeon replied as he poked me on my shoulders.

"Can we at least sit down first and don't create a scene? Everyone's looking at us." Jessica said as she sat down beside me and pulled me down to sit.

I noticed Taecyeon's disappointed expression when he saw Jessica sitting beside me. I had just sat down when the girl from earlier came up to the table.

"Ms Park, I've already sent the bouquet of flowers to the valet who will then place it inside your car. Hope your girlfriend will like the surprise." She smiled before bowing down but when she saw Jessica beside me, she covered . "Omo, is she your girlfriend? Oh no, that means the surprise..."

I saw the panic in her eyes as I told her that it's fine and she quickly excused herself after apologising. I then turned to the front to see a dark-faced Taecyeon with a blushing Jessica beside me.

"So, back to our issue. In what way was I flirting and why am I a liar?" I asked again as I shifted my attention from Jessica to Taecyeon.

"It's just a misunderstanding, Jaegi. Taec thought that you were flirting with the girl earlier when we saw you giving the bouquet of flowers to her." Jessica explained.

"Aaahhh.. Now I get it. Don't worry, Taec. The flowers are actually for Jessica. When you've already got an angel in your arms, you won't want anyone else." I said as I wrapped my arms around Jessica's waist and smiled at her. "So shall we order now? I'm hungry."

"Sure. I'm hungry too. Super hungry that I can eat a whole cow. Both of you can just order want you want but this restaurant is well-known for their steak. Korean's top beef and even though is very expensive, it's really nice." Taecyeon said as if he was doing a promotion on behalf of the restaurant. "Is wine okay for you, Jae? Since you'll be driving later."

I saw the arrogant smirk on his face as I nodded my head. "Wine is fine. Don't worry, I've got a high level of alcohol tolerance. You can order soju if you want also. I'm fine with it."

Dinner was super awkward as all 3 of us didn't really have any common topics to talk about. Taecyeon was the one who did most of the talking while me and Jessica would just listen. Most of the time, he would just looked at Jessica while talking as if I was invincible. He purposely chose to sit opposite Jessica so it made me feel like I'm the 3rd party.

I wasn't really bothered though since Jessica had her left hand on my thighs throughout the dinner, an assurance to me that she acknowledged my presence. I was relieved when dinner was over and Taecyeon had called for the bill. When the waitress arrived at our table, Taecyeon looked at the bill and I saw him putting his hands into his back pocket before withdrawing his hand out again.

"Oh my god. I think I left my wallet in the car. Jae, do you think you can settle the bill first? I'll pay you back later." He said as I almost wanted to laugh at his poor acting.

It was so obvious that he was faking it. I don't know for what reason but I just took the bill from the waitress's hand and placed my card on it. "Sure. No problem. It'll be my treat then. Don't have to pay me back." I said as I bowed slightly to the waitress who then left to process the payment.

Taecyeon looked at me as if he wanted to punch my face but I just smiled at him and pretended to look out of the window. It was total silence until the waitress came back and I signed the bill. We left the table and walked out as we waited for the valet to bring our cars.

I noticed that there was a long queue outside the restaurant even though it was already 9.30pm. Taecyeon must have noticed my expression as he explained that even though the restaurant was expensive, people would still visit it because of the quality in their food.

"They would usually close by 1am. Anyway, I'll pay you back in cash once I retrieve my wallet." Taecyeon said as I shook my head.

"It's okay. I've already said that it's going to be my treat. It's not that much anyway." I said as I felt Jessica wrapping her arms around me.

"Are you really sure about that?" Taecyeon asked in disbelieved as I nodded my head. "By the way, did the both of you plan together on what to wear tonight? Because both of you are wearing something similar." Taecyeon asked as he pointed at the both of us.

(This was what Jessica and Hyun Jae were wearing)

"We didn't plan. I don't even know what she's going to wear tonight." I said truthfully.

Before Taecyeon could say anything else, we heard a lot of noises coming from the people in front of the restaurant when they saw Taecyeon's car appearing in front of their eyes. Sounds of admiration and amazement could be heard as I noticed Taecyeon smirking.

"I'm used to this actually. Typical reaction whenever they saw...." Taecyeon's words was cut off when the noise level increased among the bystanders.

I could recognise the sound of my car approaching as the valet parked it just behind Taecyeon's car. By now, all the attention was already shifted to my car.

I thanked the valet when he handed me the car keys. "I understand how you feel, Taec. I'm used to it too." I smirked at him as I heard Jessica giggling beside me. "Thanks for the dinner invite, anyway. We'll make a move first. Drive safely."

I opened the door for Jessica to sit but I saw the bouquet of yellow tulips on the car seat so I had to hold on to it first. Once she was seated, I handed the flowers to Jessica and walked to the driver's side.

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

As I switched off the engine and opened up the car's top, the breeze from the Han's river swept in as I noticed Jessica shuddering.

"Should I just close the top?" I asked as my finger was still on the open/close button.

"It's okay. The fresh air is nice." Jessica said as she looked at the bouquet of flowers on her lap. "Jaegi, what's the flowers for?"

"Oh, I was thinking that you must have had a hard time while hanging around with Taecyeon so I wanted to get you something to cheer you up. Yellow tulips used to mean hopeless love but their meaning has evolved over the times and now it means cheerful thoughts and sunshine." I explained before breaking out into a dorky grin.

"Gomawo, Jaegi. It's so sweet and thoughtful of you. The flowers are really pretty and bright. Did you get the flowers before you reached the restaurant?" I shook my head as I told her about the help from the restaurant staffs when I had arrived early just now. "I was right when I told Taecyeon that you're always early. He didn't believe me at all. Anyway, how much was the dinner earlier? I can't believe he had forgotten his wallet. It seems like he did it on purpose. He ordered a big piece of steak for himself. That is surely going to be expensive. Their Korean beef is well-known for being pricey."

"It's not that much." I answered as I shifted my gaze to the Han river in front but Jessica pinched my arm. I knew I had no choice but to show her the bill when she held out her palm at me. I slanted my body to retrieve my wallet from my back pocket but before I sat back properly, I kissed Jessica on the cheek. "I'll show you if you promise not to be angry."

"Jaegi, you know I don't do empty promises. Even if you bribe me with a kiss."

I pouted and sighed as I handed her the bill. The dolphin shriek that followed after that, made me winced in my seat.

"What the hell? It's almost KRW400,000." Jessica said as she scanned through the list of food on the bill. "He ate a plate of steak that cost around KRW120,000 and drank wine that cost almost KRW90,000. He spent more than the 2 of us. I can't believe that you even agreed to pay for this. Did you even look at the bill, Jaegi?"

"I only saw the final amount." I chuckled nervously, not daring to look at the fuming Jessica. "I just want to get the dinner over and done with. I was almost suffocating in there with him around."

I pouted and tried to act pitiful but all I received was a slight smack on my shoulders from Jessica who continued to nag at me for allowing Taecyeon to bully me. After 10mins of nagging, Jessica stopped and folded her arms while she looked out the window. My right hand that was previously on the steering wheel, stretched out to the front of Jessica's folding arm. I held out it out and put on my charmest smile.

Jessica saw my hand and turned to face me. In the end she sighed before grabbing my hand and entwine her fingers with mine.

"Pabo." She said as she leaned her head on my shoulders.

"Your pabo." I replied as I kissed the top of her head. "I don't know why but I got a feeling that Taecyeon thinks that I'm poor. Maybe he purposely didn't want to pay the expensive bill to try to make me lose face."

"I've got the same feeling too. He did mentioned the word poor when talking about you earlier in the car. Wonder how he will react when one day he realise that you're so much richer than him." Jessica said before she covered as she yawned.

"Let him find out himself then. How was your movie date by the way?" I teased as Jessica started to nag again about her experience in the cinema. I just chuckled, looking at her frustrated expression. 20mins later, I could feel the change in the weather as I pushed the button to cover the car's top. "It's getting colder. You'll catch a cold."

"It's okay. I've got you to keep me warm. Anyway, you really look good tonight. I like it." Jessica said as she giggled. "I didn't expect us to wear similar clothings though. Grey blazer with black jeans."

"It means we're connected even when we are apart." I giggled as Jessica slapped me softly on my thighs.

"You and your cheesiness." Jessica said as she yawned again. "Jaegi, let's go back now. I'm already sleepy.But before that, can we stop buy to get some food for the girls? I promised to treat them something since I didn't bring them along to the resataurant."

"Okay, sleep first then. I'll wake you up once we've arrived. While on the way, I'll stop by and get some fried chicken for the girls." I said as I felt Jessica nodding her head while still having it rested on my shoulders. I then started the car engine before droving off.

I had just returned from tucking Jessica into her bed and noticed that Sooyoung, Taeyeon, Yuri and Hyoyeon were already waiting for me in our dorm's living room while watching the TV. I showed them the boxes of fried chicken in my hand and without having to say anything, Sooyoung was already in front of me, helping me to carry it to the table.

"As expected of Choi Sooyoung, the shikshin." I laughed out loud as I made my way to the kitchen to grab some drinks for everyone.

"Wow, this is a lot." Sooyoung said as she opened the 4 boxes. "Should we give some to our girlfriends?"

"I've also bought their share and they're about to eat it when I left their dorm earlier. Sica had fallen asleep though. Anyway, I think the 5 of us won't have problem finishing it up." I said as I took a seat on the floor after placing the drinks on the table.

"5 of us? I though you already had dinner at a posh restaurant?" Taeyeon asked as everyone looked at me.

"Do you think I could even digest my food properly in that awkward atmosphere? I don't even remember what I ordered. I even ended up settling the bills." I said as I took a piece of the chicken.

"Mwo?" All 4 of them had the same shocked expression.

While everyone took their own food, I narrated to them the whole story form the moment Taecyeon appeared by my side and started to say that I was flirting. The expressions on their faces could clearly show their unhappiness towards Taecyeon's attitude.

"It's so obvious that he's looking down on you, Jae. From his words and actions, he's trying to make you look bad in front of Sica." Taeyeon said as the other girls nodded their heads. "You shouldn't have settled the bill for him. Let him pay for what he ate."

"That idiot. He thinks so great of himself. I can't wait to see his expression when he finds out who Jae really is." Yuri added on.

"But I don't understand why he had to ask Sica to the premier movie. I thought he had a girlfriend? Why didn't he just bring her along?" Sooyoung asked as she chewed on her 3rd piece of chicken.

"He told us that they had broken up because she didn't come to watch him play any of his matches during the Futsal Tournament." I explained before taking a sip of my drink. "Anyway, the faster I settled the bills, the faster we'll get out from that restaurant. It was really uncomfortable being around him."

"He broke up with his girlfriend because he couldn't stand her bossing him around. His ex-girlfriend was richer than him. She's the type of girl that doesn't mind other guys oogling at her even though she already has a boyfriend. I think that's the real reason why they broke up." Hyoyeon said as she munched on her food.

"How did you know all this, Hyo?" I asked to which Hyoyeon just smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever it is, I hope we won't have another dinner with him again. The whole session was full of him telling Jessica about his father's business and his future plans for the business after he takes over."

"What business is his dad in, anyway?" Yuri asked.

"Travel agency." I said as I noticed that Sooyoung had finished one box of fried chicken. "Yah, Choi Sooyoung. I thought you said it was a lot just now but you ate one box of chicken all by yourself."

Everyone laughed at the grinning shikshin as we continued eating while chatting the night away.