arrow twenty: jealousy, jealousy and- what's this? more jealousy!

Minho was not surprised in the least when Krystal immediately ran once they left the fancy, overpriced restaurant. He, of course, gave chase as she ran down the streets, taking frantic and random turns.

She was trying to lose him. All Minho could do was laugh at her attempt.

(Since Minho and Krystal knew each other, they were always doing things like this. Krystal (and Taemin) would always try to run, and he would always give chase. He was always running after his two favorite dongsaengs.)

Unfortunately for Krystal, Minho was trained very well in this game. Three blocks later, Minho had Krystal where he wanted.

“Caught you!” he sing-songed, holding her still by her jacket sleeve. She scowled immediately and tried to shrug out of her cardigan. She was halfway out of the light jacket (and showing her bare shoulder) when Minho frowned.

“Krystal, decency!” Minho scolded. The younger girl rolled her eyes and adjusted the jacket accordingly. She stuck her tongue out at him as he continued to hold her in place.

“No fair! Your long legs give you unnatural and cheap advantage over me!” Krystal complained and crossed her arms.

Minho looked rightly offended. “Cheap? You’re calling my long legs cheap?”

“Yes I am.” Krystal said this with as much seriously as she could muster. “And you know what?”

“What, Krys?” asked Minho, tone flat as he let go of Krystal’s jacket sleeve so that he could cross his arms as well.

“You and your cheap legs should make it up to me.” Krystal was adamant about the cheapness of Minho’s legs. And she was determined to get something out of it. “Let’s eat at one of the night market stalls! I want fish cakes!” Krystal jumped up and down, clearly excited.

Normally Minho would have flicked her forehead and said no, but their date did get ruined by cursive and overpriced things that he could not, for the life of him, understand.

“Fine.” He rolled his eyes and slung an arm over her shoulder, directing her to the closest night market.

“You’re paying, right oppa?” asked Krystal, tone cheeky. She was grinning up at him, which made him roll his eyes again.

“When do I not pay for you, Jung?”

“Never, Choi.”

--

Jessica sighed later that Friday night; Jaejoong had left a while ago, and Tiffany had to get back to studying. “I don’t even know why this is hard.” She muttered to herself. No one was home; Krystal was still on a date with Minho (which made the older Jung smirk) and both of her parents were working.

Jessica pursed her lips before shaking her head in frustration. “This is ridiculous!” She dialed a set of numbers furiously and waited for the person to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hey Yoona, do you want to hang out on Sunday?”

--

Krystal zipped through the crowds at the resident night market so fast that even Minho had a little trouble keeping up.

“Slow down!” he complained. She waited with her hands on her hips for three seconds before running towards the closest fish cake shop. “Two please!” she shouted at the vendor. Minho rolled his eyes and automatically took out his wallet. Krystal immediately grabbed at the two treats and started nibbling on one.

Minho took a napkin and dabbed at , still complaining. “How can you look like that but eat like a monster?” he wondered. She just stuck her tongue out at him. “Such a child~~” he teased.

“I’m not a little girl anymore, oppa. Stop treating me like one.” Krystal said this with a fish cake hanging out of and her arms were crossed and Minho thought that she looked like the splitting image of a spoiled little girl- but he said nothing. “Stop treating me like one.”

He looked at her curiously, almost like she tried to tell him what the meaning of life was. “No.” he said slowly.

“No what?” asked Krystal, handing Minho a fish cake.

Minho took the treat gratefully, but shook his head in amusement. “You’re not a little girl anymore.” He admitted.

“I’ve known that for a long time, oppa!” she stuck her tongue out again and proceeded to gobble up one whole fish cake.

Minho shrugged playfully and handed her a bottle of water from some other stand. “I’m just so used to taking care of you, so I always think of you as a little girl.”

Krystal looked at him carefully and cheekily grinned. “I may not be a little girl anymore, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop taking care of me~”

He laughed a little at the ridiculous statement but obliged. “I guess I can start seeing you as a real girl now, Soojung.”

--

Minho returned home after dropping Krystal off with warm feelings and a gentle smile on his face.

The day had ended.

--

Leeteuk sighed as he sulked at home on a Saturday, his fiancées words ringing in his head. “She would so be happy with me.” He mumbled to himself, almost as an assurance.

He figured that he would just need to show her, Taeyeon, and Junsu all wrong.

In his mind, he knew that Park Jungsu was supposed to be with Kim Taeyeon.

He had a one track mind.

And that one track mind could very well be his downfall.

--

Jessica spent most of her Saturday freaking out about Sunday, much to the amusement of Krystal.

And then Krystal called Jaejoong and Tiffany over and things just got chaotic as Tiffany demanded to see Jessica’s outfit tomorrow; Jaejoong rolled around most of the day, saying unnecessary comments about how to “get a man”. (He figured he knew best, seeing as how he was a man. But really, all he did was list what he liked in a woman.)

--

It was Sunday morning and Donghae felt great. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and he was about to go on a shopping not-date. (Him going on a not-date wasn’t why he was so chipper- no, of course not.)

Donghae grinned happily as he bustled around his house, getting ready.

“Hyung, where are you going?” Yuhan followed Donghae around with a curious expression on his young face. Although it wasn’t strange to see Donghae happy in the morning, it was weird to see him so happy to go out.

“The mall~~” replied Donghae, dragging out the last word as he fixed his hair in the mirror.

“Can I come too?” Yuhan asked excitedly. “Please?”

Donghae stopped fixing his hair for a moment and sadly patted his younger brother’s head. “Sorry dongsaengie, not today.”

Yuhan immediately pouted, and Donghae knew what was coming. “WHY NOT?” The younger’s voice raised several decibels and he stressed out the question.

“I’m going with your Jessica noona.” explained Donghae.

The moment Jessica’s name was uttered, Yuhan calmed down. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh.” Donghae went back to fixing his hair.

Yuhan watched his older brother fix his hair for a couple more moments before asking, “Are you trying to look good for your girlfriend?”

The older Lee turned around slowly and asked, “What girlfriend?”

“The one that you’re meeting today.” Yuhan looked like Donghae was going crazy- how could he forget his girlfriend?

“You mean Jessica?” clarified Donghae.

“Who else, hyung?” deadpanned the younger.

Donghae laughed loudly, almost crazily. (Yuhan almost wanted to take his wheelchair and roll away.)

“Jessica isn’t my girlfriend, Yuhannie. Don’t say such silly things~” chided Donghae, tapping his younger brother’s nose playfully.

“But you’re fixing your hair.” stated Yuhan.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Donghae held a curious expression on his face as he stared at his little brother with a pout.

“Well, you want to look good, right?” asked the younger Lee.

Unfortunately, Donghae did not know how to answer this question.

“And you’re going out with Jessica noona.” said Yuhan.

“…yes…I am…”

“And you are happy.”

“I…am…” Donghae’s response time had gotten slower and slower with each question Yuhan asked.

“And you think she’s pretty.”

“I never said that!” Donghae immediately defended himself, crossing his arms with a pout.

Yuhan tilted his head in curiosity and asked a simple question that not even Donghae could refute. “But aren’t all goddesses pretty?”

Donghae stared at Yuhan blankly for the entirety of half a minute before he almost whined, “Jessica is not my girlfriend!”

“But she’s pretty?” asked Yuhan, smiling cheekily.

“Yuhannie!” And now he was whining.

(Donghae knew all too well how pretty Jessica really was.)

--

It was Sunday morning and Jessica could not have felt more irritable.

Although she would probably could have blamed her bad mood on Jaejoong. (And a little bit on Krystal, since she let Jaejoong in.)

(“Baby Soojung is so nice- I forgot my keys and I was about to go home, but she just let me in right away!”

“Why are you even here?”

“So what are you going to wear?”

“Get out.”

“Are you going for the nice, girl next door look today or are you going all out as ica so you can seduce your fish?”

Jaejoong thanked the gods for his amazing reflexes- but really, he should have seen Jessica throwing that lamp at him coming.)

--

Donghae arrived at the mall right on time; he spotted an irritated looking Jessica near the front entrance almost immediately. He didn't expect to see Jaejoong right next to her though.

He greeted both of them cheerfully while they each gave a wave. He didn't mind the addition of another person- really, he didn't.

“You guys came together?” asked Donghae. The question was asked cheerfully as the greeting, and innocently, but Donghae felt a little nagging sensation form in the pit of his stomach.

Jaejoong threw a casual arm around Jessica’s shoulders and watched Donghae carefully. “I just thought it would be nice to pick up Jessica and spend some time with her~”

“Ah. So are you staying~?” asked Donghae. The question left his mouth before he could really think about it, but he internally face palmed. Why should it matter if Jaejoong was here or not?

His question made Jaejoong smirk as he brought Jessica a little closer to him. “I intend to. Is that a problem?”

Jessica rolled her eyes- it was clear to her what Jaejoong was doing. She elbowed him slightly, making him release her.

Donghae laughed a little at the scene; he didn’t know why, but he felt a little relief course through him when he saw that Jaejoong no longer had his arm around Jessica. “Is it just us three then?”

“Nope!” a cheerful voice coming from behind him quipped. Donghae whipped his head around so fast, he thought he would get whiplash.

He was pleasantly surprised to see a pair of smiling eye-crescents. “Tiffany!”

She waved to him cheerfully before bypassing him and hugging Jessica. Well. She hugged her head. “You came with Jaejoong oppa, didn’t you?” accused Tiffany.

Jessica flailed in the hold and whined, “He showed up uninvited! Stop squeezing my head!” Tiffany reluctantly let go of the (slightly) shorter girl with a pout.

“That better be the truth! You told me yesterday that I wasn’t allowed to come over, so if you let Jaejoong oppa but not me…” Tiffany trailed off, playfully glaring at Jaejoong.

“Don’t be too jealous, Fany~” drawled Jaejoong, mimicking what Tiffany had done just before by hugging her head.

Jessica playfully hit at Jaejoong, demanding that he let go of her best friend. If anything, the light hits from Jessica made Jaejoong hug Tiffany’s head even tighter. “Jessi! He’s squishing my brain!” she squealed.

Donghae laughed at the interaction, clapping his hands in amusement.

“Is that everyone?” teased Donghae. He had initially thought that today would just be him and Jessica, but he supposed having Jaejoong and Tiffany join them wasn’t too bad. (Although something about how handsome Jaejoong was unnerved him- he just didn’t know why.)

“One other person is going to be joining us…” Jessica admitted.

“Who?” asked Donghae, curious.

Almost as if that was the cue, a loud, “Jessica unnie!” could be heard cutting through the crowd of people walking in and out of the mall.

“Y-yoona?” Donghae sputtered.

“Yeah. Yoona.” Jessica said, a hint of a pout visible on her lips.

--

The five of them stood in front of the entrance awkwardly for a couple moments with no one suggesting that they enter the mall.

But of course, Donghae felt that it was his duty to have no awkward moments when he was around.

And so he said the first thing that popped into mind.

“You are so handsome.” Donghae said this as seriously as he could to Jaejoong; he really did think the other man was though. He turned to Jessica and asked once more, “Really, how on earth did you get this guy?”

“Yah!” Jessica slapped his arm lightly. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Tiffany laughed and patted Jessica’s head, while Yoona attached herself to Jessica’s arm. “Unnie is gorgeous, oppa!”

Donghae smiled a little sheepishly, but didn’t answer- but Jaejoong knew what the look on his face meant.

He knew- from a guy to guy perspective- that Donghae knew Jessica was gorgeous.

So excuse him for laughing out loud.

Obnoxiously.

All three of them gave looks that obviously said, “What’s wrong with you?” but Jaejoong couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Today was going to be fun.

--

All five of them walked into the mall (attracting attention because in the words of Jaejoong, they were gorgeous like that). Immediately, Tiffany, Jessica, and Yoona linked arms and began window shopping.

That left Donghae with Jaejoong for some period of time.

“Really, since when did you look like that?” asked Donghae; he had been staring at Jaejoong’s side profile for the past three minutes as they sat outside one of the “girly” stores.

It was at this opportune moment though, that all three women decided to walk out of the aforementioned “girly” store.

“I need to know- are we about to start a bromance?” asked Jaejoong, tone suggesting that this was indeed a very serious question. (And for all Donghae knew, it really was a serious question.)

“Bromance?” Yoona questioned, quirking an eyebrow. Tiffany looked like she was about to laugh, while Jessica looked like she was about to face-palm herself.

“You know~” Donghae said. “Because he’s so good looking!” he explained. His reasoning was simple; Jaejoong just found the whole thing hilarious.

Yoona laughed loudly and smiled sweetly at him afterwards, which made Donghae’s mind automatically go to thoughts like “BE STILL MY HEART”- but for some strange reason, the feelings weren’t as strong as usual.

Donghae turned to his right and looked to where Jessica was standing next to Tiffany.

“Hey Sica-” Donghae started. But of course, he didn’t get to finish.

“Don’t call me that!” (She had a hard time hiding her blush since Tiffany was around.)

--

After the whole bromance escapade, they decided to collectively walk around as a group. Donghae looked a little to the side at Yoona, and felt himself smile a bit.

Donghae felt like he was improving- although improving might not be the right word. But Donghae no longer felt as nervous, as heartsick when Yoona was around.

Actually, he was almost having too much fun with Jessica to even notice how Yoona made those little butterflies explode in his stomach.

“Hey! Evil demon tiger goddess! Buy this for me!” He pulled on Jessica’s arm, gesturing to a crepe shop. He was grinning brightly and was still tugging on her (probably because he knew how irritated she would become because of it).

She shrugged him off and sounded offended. “Buy it yourself!” But the important thing was that she was smiling (at him).

He was having fun.

--

Normally, Yoona commanded Donghae’s attention. All of it, all the time, whenever she was around. She knew that, but she didn’t know why it was a little different today. She tried a little harder in conversing with him then she usually had to, in giving him brighter smiles, and in paying more attention to him.

She did that for a while until she realized something; the moment she stopped talking to him, he would immediately go talk to Jessica. In fact, she could probably say that he was paying more attention to Jessica than her. She loved her Jessica unnie with all her heart, but the realization made her frown a little bit.

She felt it; her instincts were telling her that something was shifting. And it was something that she knew she wouldn’t like. She felt like she had to protect whatever it was that was hers.

Yoona had to do something.

It was with that goal in mind that she tapped on Donghae’s shoulder, immediately claiming all of his attention (like usual).

(Or maybe not.)

--

Jaejoong watched from the corner of his eye as Yoona laughed along at some (probably lame) joke that Donghae told her.

“Dang, Yoona’s gotten a lot prettier since the last time I’ve seen her.” mumbled Jaejoong. He may have mumbled it, but Jessica clearly heard him. And then proceeded to thwack him on the head.

“Don’t you dare go after Yoona!” Jessica would probably be protective of Yoona for the rest of her life; she was, after all, one of her favorite dongsaengs.

It was with that thought that she realized, almost bitterly, that her mission was to help Donghae get Yoona. She forgot momentarily- but as she saw the two of them side by side, saw how good they looked together, she almost grimaced.

“I won’t, I won’t!" he held his hands up as a means of signaling his surrender. "But damn, Sica. I can definitely see why you’re jealous of her.” he muttered, still looking on as Donghae and Yoona talked.

Jessica almost looked offended. “I never said I was jealous of her.” Jaejoong gave her a pointed look, to which she scowled at. She waved him off, but he continued to look at her pointedly.

Jessica watched as Yoona made Donghae smile effortlessly, a light pink coating his cheeks as she laughed at one of his jokes. Her previous scowl morphed into a little pout. “…okay, maybe I am a little jealous of her.”

--

Tiffany figured that she couldn’t just do nothing; watching Jessica pout unknowingly while she watched Donghae and Yoona was something she couldn’t stand for.

(And Jaejoong was very, very willing to help.)

--

“Hi Taem.” Minho casually walked into the young Lee’s residence Sunday afternoon.

“Hey hyung.” Taemin greeted him with a cheerful smile. “I tried calling you on Friday, where were you?” asked Taemin.

“I had a date with Krystal that day.” Minho admitted this nonchalantly, like there was nothing to it.

But there was apparently something to it because the smile on Taemin’s face slowly faded until his lips were pursed in an annoyed line.

“I thought you said that you didn’t like Krystal.” Taemin suddenly sounded very, very hurt and then there were warning signs that stared to going off in Minho’s mind.

Minho shrugged a little. “I don’t. But Jessica noona is persistent in getting us together and who am I to say no to Jessica noona?” (Minho honestly didn’t like Krystal in that way- but he wouldn’t mind dating her either.) 

“So if Jessica noona tells you to take Krystal to the altar, you will?” asked Taemin, voice completely serious (and uncharacteristic of the normally bright boy). “If Jessica noona asks you to take a knife-”

“Noona uses forks.” Minho interjected. He tried to alleviate the tension in the air, but it looked like his little joke did the opposite.

Taemin rolled his eyes but restated his question. “So if Jessica noona asks you to take a fork and stab me through the heart, you would do it?”

Those warning signs were now suddenly exploding as if shrieking, “Danger! Danger! Bad situation!”

“Taemin…” Minho looked to be having trouble phrasing his question, but the hard look in Taemin’s eyes made him press on. “You’re not…jealous, are you?” He tried to smile reassuringly and hoped it comforted his favorite dongsaeng. “Come on, you know that it doesn’t mean anything when Jessica noona tells me to date Krystal.”

“So Krystal means nothing to you.” stated Taemin, tone flat.

“I didn’t say that.” Minho denied his statement immediately; Krystal was his best friend and Taemin knew that. “Taemin, really. What’s going on?”

The younger boy suddenly froze, body going stiff as he continued to stare blankly at Minho.

“Taem…” Minho started, but he couldn’t finish. Taemin wouldn’t let him.

“What if I am?” This was an expression that Minho almost never saw on Taemin’s face, which worried Minho. “What if I am jealous?”

“What are you getting at?” Minho sounded a little exasperated, but in his defense, he was both worried and confused because of the younger.

“Hyung, there is no one I am more jealous of in this world than you.” His face was serious; there was no hint of a teasing smile or hidden mirth in his eyes.

And then it suddenly clicked in Minho’s mind.

“You like Krystal?”

“So what if I do?” Taemin bit out, not moving- not doing much of anything. He continued to stand still with only his mouth moving as he kept his gaze trained on the person he called “hyung” so happily.

Everything now made sense. All those subtle little hints, those tiny little questions about Krystal. Now Minho understood why Taemin always lost his smile whenever Jessica favored him more, whenever she brought up the topic of “MinStal”. Why Taemin was always so serious whenever another guy was involved with Krystal (no matter what circumstance). Why Taemin was extreme and sincere in anything in regards to Krystal.

Oh.

--chapter end.

TAEMIN FINALLY ADMITTED WHAT I’VE BEEN HINTING FOR FOREVER. xD JEALOUSY HERE, JEALOUSY THERE, JEALOUSY EVERYWHERE. Both Taemin and Leeteuk have staked their claims as Taemin’s feelings are finally known to Minho and Leeteuk has decided to finally really do something about the whole TaeSu situation.

Yuhan got a little section of this chapter due to popular demand xD hehe.

Meanwhile, the whole YoonHaeSica situation gets worse as Yoona feels a little jealous over Sica, Donghae is a little jealous of Jaejoong (and thinks he is super handsome because I am the author and I worship Jaejoong), Jessica realizes that she needs to help YoonHae but is jealous of Yoona, and JaeFany are being their nonsensical selves. Yay~~ haha. TIFFANY MAKES HER MOVE THE NEXT CHAPTER (WITH THE HELP OF JAEJOONG). ;D

Hope you enjoyed the update, lovelies! Thanks to everyone that has read subscribed, and/or commented! <3 UNTIL NEXT TIME, SWEETHEARTS.