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Jessica was back at home, tapping away on her phone, in the room that she used to live in when she was still staying with her family. Krystal was lying lazily beside her, reading, or in fact re-reading, one of her sister’s books.

 

“Soojung ah,” Jessica suddenly called out, and Krystal lowered her book as she looked back at her sister. The older girl bit on her lower lip, before she spared Krystal a troubled look. “Should I…text Taeyeon?”

 

Krystal only stared blankly at Jessica, blinking a couple of times. “Who? Taeyeon unnie?” She asked with a tone that barely hid her disapproval. When Jessica nodded, Krystal frowned. “Whatever for?”

 

“I don’t know… Talk to her maybe?”

 

“About?” Krystal raised an eyebrow.

 

“Just, you know, talk?”

 

“Talk? On what basis? Friends? Ex-lovers?”

 

Annoyance was beginning to build up inside of Jessica the more she listened to her younger sister. “Krystal just so you know I really hate this tone you’re using right now.”

 

The tensed up expression on Krystal’s face eased for a moment, and then she let out a sigh. “Jessi… I’m not— I just… I don’t know if it’s the right thing for you and Taeyeon unnie to keep in any form of contact, but when I see the both of you like this, it really hurts me and I just… And then there’s Taec. I don’t know… Sorry sis I didn’t mean to speak to you like this…”

 

Jessica felt that same knot in her heart once more with Krystal’s reminder. Had I been selfish? she wondered. She clenched her teeth, letting her thoughts come to a standstill. “Can’t I just…talk to her?”

 

“You know that you’re gonna want more after that. You’re gonna talk to her now, and then you’re gonna want to meet her, then you’re gonna want to hold her in your arms like you once did, then you’re gonna want to kiss her, then… You know there’s no end to this Jessi… I just wished you never left. I wished things stayed the way they used to be. But it’s just different now. Everything’s just— Jessi…” Krystal stopped when she saw the tears that were forming in her sister’s eyes again.

 

Jessica closed her eyes as she slightly tilted her head downwards. She shook her head while her tears fell gently. “Can’t I just see her? Can’t I just…” Her words trailed off as the sound of her crying took over.

 

Krystal sighed at the sight. “Okay. To hell with rights and wrongs. We don’t need rules to live. Jessi just do what you want. I’ll always be here for you no matter what you choose, who you choose. Anyone s with you s with me too. I don’t give a damn even if it’s mom. I’m on your side sis. I just hate to see you cry. I swear I ing hate it.”

 

Jessica took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Then, the crying finally stopped. She looked at Krystal, and for once she realised how much her younger sister had grown, how much that little girl who used to be shorter than her had become such a fine young lass. A small smile slowly appeared on her tear-stained face. “Thank you,” she said as she ruffled Krystal’s hair.

 

Jessica reached out towards her bedside drawer and fetched her phone. Chewing on her lower lip, she unlocked her phone as she searched for Taeyeon’s contact. Then, it struck her. “Um, Krys I kinda…don’t have her number.”

 

“Huh?” Krystal responded with an absurd look on her face. “Ah. I’ve been wanting to ask. Why do you not have her number?”

 

Jessica hesitated before she replied, “I…deleted it when I left for the States…”

 

“Seriously?” Krystal rolled her eyes, and then she fetched her own phone, retrieved Taeyeon’s number and saved it on her sister’s phone.

 

Nervously, Jessica finally started to type a message to Taeyeon.

 

 

When she sent it, she let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. Krystal reached out and gave her sister a light squeeze on her shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay,” she comforted.

 

Jessica almost jumped when a reply came after two minutes or so.

 

 

She felt almost sad by how much of a stranger the girl had become, but still, she turned to give Krystal a smile that was too obvious a sign that Taeyeon had replied. Krystal returned a warm smile, and Jessica’s attention was quickly switched back to her phone while Krystal, to her book.

 

 

A reply didn’t come so fast this time round. When it did, Jessica hesitantly opened the message, her heart heavy with too much expectation.

 

 

“I asked her out,” Jessica suddenly broke the silence, and Krystal once again brought her book down, her eyes fixed on her sister. “But she said no.”

 

***

 

Taecyeon sat at the café with a thousand thoughts in his mind. His train of thoughts was broken when rushed footsteps reached his ear before a petite girl came into view.

 

“I’m sorry I’m late,” the girl apologised.

 

Taecyeon quickly stood up as he took a step or two to the seat opposite of him. “Oh you aren’t late at all. I was early,” he replied with a smile while he pulled the chair out.

 

The girl gave an embarrassed smile before she sat down, and Taecyeon gently pushed the chair inwards. “Thanks,” she muttered as she bowed slightly.

 

“You’re welcome.” Taecyeon flashed a grin and then he returned to his seat. Studying the girl’s features for a brief second or two, he greeted, “So…hi. Taeyeon, right?”

 

Taeyeon smiled warmly, nodding. “Taec…yeon? Am I right?”

 

“Yup.” Taecyeon brought his palms together, and then he asked, “Let’s just… Okay, what would you like to drink?”

 

“I’ll go with you.”

 

“Ah no. Let me. Just tell me what you would like to drink.”

 

“I can’t let you pay.”

 

“But I can’t let you pay either, can I?”

 

Taeyeon wanted to protest, but the look on Taecyeon’s face told her that he was as stubborn as she was. Letting out a soft sigh, she said, “Okay… I’ll have a vanilla latte then. Thanks.”

 

Taecyeon returned shortly with a vanilla latte for Taeyeon, and an espresso for himself. He took a sip of coffee, and then staring at his cup, he started, “I know it’s a little bit…out of the blue for me to, sorta, ask to meet you like that. But…” He paused to phrase his words properly in his mind. “I have something that I wanna tell you and…I just hope that you’d, you know, think about it.” Taeyeon only nodded nervously. “Alright so…I’m sure you know that we’re…married.”

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

“I think you know too, that our marriage isn’t exactly…I don’t know, a marriage?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I think it’s really important for you to know that it’s really…nothing. Like, our marriage is just… It’s basically just a piece of paper. It means nothing. There’s nothing. I mean, you can say we’re not married if you want to.” Taecyeon was beginning to fumble over his words. It pained him to say those things. It pained him more to pretend like it didn’t hurt him at all. “I just wanna say that… Taeyeon, you don’t see that happiness in her eyes when she talks about you. In fact, I myself have never seen that kind of happiness before, until she talked about you for the very first time.”

 

Taeyeon felt a familiar choked feeling, and she decisively picked up her vanilla latte, hoping to drown that feeling with coffee.

 

“You mean a lot more to her than you think you do. She… She cried on the day we got married. It broke my heart to see a girl like her crying her heart out on the day of her marriage. Even now I remember how she cried herself to sleep that night. And, one more thing. 9^th March. It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

 

At the mention of her birthday, Taeyeon’s eyes widened, and her reaction confirmed Taecyeon’s question.

 

“The first time I spent 9^th March with her, I didn’t know why she was acting all weird. She wouldn’t talk to anyone as much as she could. She cooped herself in the room for the entire day. I caught her crying a few times, but she brushed it off every time. I later found out that she wrote a letter every year on your birthday, I presume it’s for you. It wasn’t until the second 9^th March when I finally found out that it was your birthday, because she called me while she was drunk, apologizing non-stop, and crying. At that point in time I guessed that she mistook my name as yours.” Then, Taecyeon looked straight into Taeyeon’s eyes. “My point is, she loves you a lot, Taeyeon.”

 

By this time, the first stream of tears had already fell from Taeyeon’s eyes, and she carefully dabbed a tissue on her face to dry those tears. She didn’t know what to say, so she nodded instead.

 

“I know what Jessica said to you sounds like a very bad idea, but sometimes we have to break those rules. We’re humans, Taeyeon. We aren’t robots so we don’t have to follow every rule systematically. Sometimes there are things that we can’t explain and this is exactly one of those times. Follow your heart. I told Jessica that it was okay, and I assume that she did tell you that, but it seems that she couldn’t get past you. You probably feel bad to do this because we’re married, right? But I feel bad as well, that because we’re married, it’s denying the two of you of the love that you deserve. It just doesn’t make sense to me why you should let her go, when she’s clearly who you love, and when you’re all that she ever wanted.”

 

Taeyeon only looked at Taecyeon, her eyes teary. “Are you really fine with it…?”

 

No. In fact, it ing hurts. The answer rang in Taecyeon’s head. However, with a straight stare, he replied, “Yes. Absolutely.”

 

***

 

Jessica stole a quick look at her wristwatch – 7.24pm. She was late, again. Biting her lower lip, she quickened her pace as she entered the restaurant.

 

“Hi miss, did you make a reservation?” the receptionist greeted.

 

“Ah, yes, 7pm. I’m a little late actually. Reservation was made by Mr Ok Taecyeon.”

 

“Mr Ok, 7pm. Give me a moment.” Giving the list on her hands a quick scan, the receptionist tapped on a ‘Mr Ok Taecyeon’. “Table 18. This way please.”

 

Jessica smiled as she followed the waitress. However, when she reached her table. What welcomed her was Taeyeon’s face, instead of Taecyeon’s, much to her shock. She furrowed her eyebrows, before she turned to the receptionist. “U-uh, I’m sorry but I said that my reservation was made by Mr Ok at 7pm?”

 

Surprised, the receptionist checked her list again and found no mistake. “Yes, it’s a reservation by Mr Ok Taecyeon at 7pm. He requested for a table by the window. Is there a problem?”

 

Jessica looked at Taeyeon once more, and then with a confused expression, she turned back to face the receptionist. “Ah n-no I guess. Thank you.” With that, the receptionist returned to her spot, and Jessica on the other hand, stood where she was. She only swallowed her saliva, her eyes wandering nervously, but not stopping once to meet Taeyeon’s eyes.

 

“Are you gonna just keep standing there?” When Taeyeon spoke, Jessica finally locked her eyes with Taeyeon’s again. Feeling lost, she hesitantly took a seat opposite the girl.

 

“Why are you…here?” Jessica brought herself to ask.

 

Taeyeon stared at those brown orbs for a few seconds too long, and then she replied, “Your husband looked me up.”

 

At the mention of her husband, Jessica’s eyes widened. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know that he would go to that extent. I’m… I’m really sorry. I’ll talk to him about it.”

 

“I was just…wondering if I should.”

 

Jessica knitted her brows. “Should…what?”

 

Taeyeon didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked out of the window, away from Jessica. “Do you remember the first time we met? You helped me. I wanted to thank you but I ended up pissing you off. Yet when I lost my job, the first person that popped up in my mind was you. You were merely a stranger. You were…Kitty.” Jessica clenched her teeth in her attempt to stop those tears from filling her eyes as she listened. “Genie shot. Do you remember that?”

 

“Mm.” It was the best answer that Jessica could provide at that point in time.

 

“I found a job, and I had you. There was nothing more that I could ask for. I should have known that things would never be so simple, and good. I thought that you being Jessica Jung would be the worst problem, but I was…so wrong. The worst problem, the worst pain… It was…not having Jessica Jung. It was staring at the empty corridor hoping that she would be there for some reason. It was holding on to my phone waiting for her messages that never came. It was looking at all those half-faced selfies and regretting not looking at her more when I had the chance.”

 

Jessica’s head hung low as tears began rolling down her cheeks.

 

“When I found out that you were married, for a while I hated you. Didn’t you say that you loved me? I waited for you. All those years I waited for you. People in the company, Heechul, Kibum, Chen, Hara, Noeul… They asked me out. I thought that I should let you go, but I couldn’t do it. The thought of being with anyone else but you… I couldn’t do it. But you got married. I hated you. I really hated you. Then you told me that you still loved me. I started hating myself. I hated myself for wanting to brush off the fact that you were married. I hated myself for just wanting you. So what if you were married?” Taeyeon was slowly finding it difficult to talk with her tears choking her. “The one I love was right in front of me, but why couldn’t I hold on to her? Why must I suppress how I feel just because you were married? Why must I stop myself from holding on to you just because you were ing married? Why must I push you away when you mean the world to me? Why must I let you go when I…” Taeyeon broke down in tears. “When I love you…?” she muttered almost inaudibly amidst her crying.

 

This time, Jessica couldn’t hold it back any longer as she stood up and squatted beside Taeyeon, pulling the girl into her arms.

 

“Sica…”

 

Hearing Taeyeon call her name like this while crying broke her heart. She patted the girl’s back in a slow rhythm, and then she smiled. “Hush now. People are looking at us. I have something important to ask you so you’ve gotta stop crying. Hmm?”

 

Taeyeon took in a few deep breaths as her crying slowly stopped. Jessica then pulled away from the hug, looking deeply into Taeyeon’s puffy eyes. Fixing a loose strand of hair on Taeyeon’s, Jessica bit her lip, and then she said, “There were too many obstacles, and there still are. I left you, us, thinking that I could get over it and everything would return to normal. I’m afraid it’s not so. I’m in love with you and I can’t stop myself no matter what I do. I told you that I wouldn’t leave you but I did, and it was the worst decision I’ve ever made. I don’t know if you’re ever gonna trust me again, but I’m promising you right now that if you’d give me another chance, I’ll never let you go again. It’s not an empty promise. I swear I’d keep it. I… I don’t know how am I suppose to convince you… I’m really scared that you’re gonna say no to me right now and I’m just…blabbering so that I wouldn’t have to hear that. Taeyeon I really... I won’t let you down again. I can’t say that I won’t make you cry any more but I promise I’ll be the one to dry your tears. I just hope—”

 

“Kitten.” Jessica stopped immediately at the nickname that she had not heard for what she felt like ages. Her heart pounded as she stared at Taeyeon, not knowing what the girl was going to say. “Will you be mine?”

 

“Kitty, can you be mine tonight?”

 

Jessica kept her eyes locked with Taeyeon’s, as the memory replayed itself inside her head. She couldn’t believe her ears. Then, she saw that smile on Taeyeon’s face. I love you, the smile seemed to say. Then, the smile turned into a charming half-smirk. You mean you didn’t know? that semi-smirk seemed to say.

 

 

---

[A/N] 9/1/2015

Anybody missed having a LA chapter on a Friday? :) This chapter took me over 3000 words, and it's about twice the length I usually write. I've decided to end this story in 30 chapters or less, because I initially planned for it to be short, and because even if I had thoughts of extending it, I felt like I was incapable of accurately bringing out the characters' emotions (from the feedback I guess).

That being said, it came to my attention that there were some of you who weren't too happy with TaecSica interactions/scenes per se. Maybe I'd just like to say that most of you, if not all, are rooting for TaengSic. In fact, so am I. There are plenty of stories out there, even some of my own, that revolve plainly around TaengSic or whichever pairing the story is supposed to have. But it's not the case for every story, and particularly in this case, Love Assumed. The story sure started out with Kitty-Jessica and Taeyeon interactions, but Taecyeon's entrance in this story creates a new turning point. By turning point I don't mean that it's going from TaengSic to TaecSica because...I don't have to state the obvious. Things happened and Jessica got herself married to Taecyeon. It may not be to your liking, just like any other stories or just anything in this world, but Taecyeon's character is very important in this story especially at this point. If I were to put it straightforwardly, it just doesn't make sense for me to brush Taecyeon's character aside with a few words because he is, afterall, Jessica's husband. I admit, the past few chapters might have been a little more Taecyeon-centric. It was the "right" thing to do in my opinion. You either like it, or you don't. I'm thankful when you do, of course, and it's regretful when you don't. But in the end, I'll only be able to tell you that I put my soul into my writing. That's all.

To be honest, a lot of Krystal's thoughts in this story are my own. As in, my opinions about this story. I don't know why I ended up writing all these, but I guess I just did. In any case, if any of you actually like those conversations that I love to write in my stories, don't forget to check out my latest story Forever, It's Girls' Generation. The entire story is conversation-style, and of course a little bit more uplifting than my usual angsty stories. ;)

I'll see you there, or here in the next chapter, or Twitter. Anywhere. :) Write me something.

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