“Aleex!”

                I groggily opened my eyes. I heard the slightly muted pattering of water hitting tiled floor.

                “Aalleeeex!” I heard Jessi say again.

                I sat up in my bed and yawned, stretching my arms out at the same time. I reached over to look at my phone to check the time. “What’s up, Jes—Yeonnie?”

                “Can you help me with something?” she asked.

                “Did you forget that we’re being watched? I can’t help you wash your back,” I told her, pulling the blanket off myself and getting off my bed.

                “No, I meant I forgot to get my change of clothes. They’re on my bed,” she told me. I slipped on my own shirt and looked over to her bed, which was already made and had an outfit laid down neatly on it. I grabbed it and put it on the toilet lid before walking back out and changing my pajama pants.

                I heard the water squeak shut. I sat on the edge of my bed, rubbing my eyes. “Thanks Jinnie!” she said from behind the door.

                “No prob,” I replied, waiting for her to finish changing.

                “You know, I wouldn’t have been opposed to you joining me in my shower,” she said. I could imagine her grinning as she dressed herself.

                “Remember the camera?” I asked her. I suddenly realized that the camera must have seen me enter the bathroom. But, I reasoned with myself, I went in only because Jessi asked me to, so it should be fine. So I brushed it off.

                She laughed. “Don’t be so uptight. I’m just teasing you,” she said.

                “I know, but the people on the other side of the camera might not,” I said, reminding her.

                A bit of silence ensued before she replied. “True,” she said. I heard the sound of the faucet turning on before she spoke up again, “wait, don’t friends tease each other all the time?”

                “Well, not like that,” I told her.

                She made a noise of agreement. “I gueess…” she said in a whining tone

                After we finished doing our normal morning procedures, we went to breakfast. I removed her hand from mine after a while, remembering our last journal entry. Jessi frowned at me, but accepted it and we continued walking.

                “You know, if you want someone to hold hands with, just get a boyfriend,” I told her.

                “Will you be my boyfriend, Jinnie?” she asked in reply, smiling cutely.

                “Yah, don’t ask me,” I told her, smiling regardless.

                She pouted. “Why not? I like holding your hand,” she said, acting childishly.

                “That’s not the only reason why you should want someone as your boyfriend though,” I explained as if I was teaching her for the first time. She nodded, paying close attention to my words.  “You also want a boyfriend who cares for you, loves you, is willing to sacrifice things for your wellbeing, and able to listen to your problems.”

                She thought about it for a second. “Jinnie, would you be my boyfriend?” she asked again. I sighed. “What? You would do all those things for me, wouldn’t you?”

                “Yeah, but—” I looked around, as if the answer would be in my surrounding environment. Luckily, I spotted Tiffany. I was so relieved that I didn’t even take into account I didn’t even consider to think about why she was looking over at us. “Tiffany! Are you going to breakfast?”

                She looked over. “Oh, hi Alex! Hi Jessi!” she answered, waving and smiling her already famous eye-smile at us. “Yeah, I was!”

                I motioned for her to join us. “Come eat with us!” I told her. “Also, can you help me with something?” I asked once she walked up to Jessi’s right. She nodded. “What do you look for in a boyfriend?”

                She took a look of surprise. I could see her face turn slightly pink, which is expected considering the topic. “Um … I mostly look for someone who’s nice and easy to talk to, who meshes well with my personality, and mostly someone I love and someone who loves me back,” she replied.

                “Wow, that was so cheesy,” I commented. She flushed even more, and Jessi and I broke into laughter. “Sorry Tiff, thanks for answering,” I told her.

                Jessi nodded thoughtfully. “So Tiffany, will you be my boyfriend?”

                She took on a look of surprise. “Wh—...What?” she replied.

                “Well, you’re every characteristic you described to me, so…” she said, acting confused.

                “No, it has to be someone you romantically love and someone who romantically loves you,” she replied, giving her a strange look.

                Jessi nodded. “Oooh, I get it,” she said, nodding thoughtfully.

                I could see Tiffany mentally facepalm. I smiled at Jessi’s playfulness—this is how she tended to act around people she considered her friend.

                When we got to the cafeteria, we showed the lady at the front our student IDs before heading in.

                “Have you ever had a boyfriend, Fany?” Jessi suddenly asked Tiffany as we were waiting for omelets.

                “No, I haven’t. Have you?” she replied.

                “Yes!” she replied, gripping my arm. “Him!”

                Tiffany quickly adopted a sort of shocked expression.

                I, in turn, was sorta surprised by this. I figured that Tiffany would’ve made that conclusion, that we would have been a couple at one point in our lives, especially considering what she’s seen. “We were a couple for a few years in high school before deciding that it wasn’t really working out, and that we didn’t like each other romantically, even though we shared all the other characteristics you described,” Jessi continued to explain, seemingly unaffected by Tiffany’s expression.

                “Misses and Mister?” the chef said. We turned towards him. “Your omelets are ready,” he told us with a smile, putting 3 plates of steaming hot omelets.

                “Thank you!” we said, smiling back and taking our plates. We proceeded to other food stations to grab other breakfast items.

                “Were you surprised?” Jessi asked.

                Tiffany bit her lip in thought. “Uhmm … not really, actually,” she told us. “I just—” she started before cutting herself off. “Never mind,” she quickly said a few seconds later.

                “Aww, c’mon,” Jessi said, frowning with her puppy dog eyes. Her only reply was a shake of her head as she diverted her attention to the cup of orange juice she was pouring for herself.

                “Jinnie, you have to help me convince Fany,” she told me, turning her puppy eyes to me. I was quick enough to look away and followed Tiffany’s example.

                “If she doesn’t want to tell us, then she doesn’t want to tell us,” I said simply, pouring myself my own cup of orange juice. She grabbed my arm, but I simply ignored her and made sure I had a good amount of orange juice before grabbing my plate of food and walking off. Tiffany followed after me.

                “You’re no fun, Jinnie. You know that?” she said, making a humph noise.

                I shrugged and continued on walking towards an empty table. Jessi quickly got her drink before joining us at our table.

                “Do you wish you had one?” Jessi said, refusing to give up. “Is there someone you have in mind?”

                I swear I saw Tiffany’s face grow the slightest bit pink. I might also have been the mildly spicy omelet she was eating though.

                “Well, don’t all single girls wish she had a boyfriend?” she said, slightly quieter than usual, almost as a thought spoken out loud.

                “Oh, so you do have someone in mind!” Jessi exclaimed excitedly. I felt bad for Tiffany; Jessi was the type of person who absolutely loved playing matchmaking. Her excitement tended to rub off on others, and most ended up just sharing their love interest with her. It was quite the spectacle, watching Jessi affect others in such a way. “Who is it?” she asked, bubbling with enthusiasm.

                I could clearly see Tiffany being affected by Jessi, but she eventually shook her head. This time, her flush was a little more noticeable. “Aww, you’re blushing!” Jessi said, semi-squealing.

                “Yah Jessi, that’s embarrassing to her,” I said, noticing how flushed Tiffany was getting.

                “Let me have my fun,” she told me, sticking her tongue out at me. I sighed and gave Tiffany a half-hearted I-tried smile. She smiled back good naturedly, but was forced to turn back to Jessi who was trying to get Tiffany’s attention.

                “We won’t tell anyone, we promise,” she said, pouting. “Right Jinnie?” Before I could even nod, she continued. “See? You can tell us,” she said, begging. After a few seconds of Tiffany not replying, Jessi continued. “Can we play 20 questions?”

                “Um—”

                “Ok, do we both know him?” Jessi asked immediately.

                “Wait—”

                “Well since you’re not answering me immediately, it might mean that you don’t want me to tease you for liking that person, and it makes more sense for that to be the case if we both knew him, so that means that it’s a yes?”

                “I didn’t—”

                “Oh! I forgot! Is the person a boy or girl?”

                “A boy,” Tiffany said, finally able to complete a thought.

                “Oh ok. So that’s two. Um…”

                “Jessi,” Tiffany said, before she could continue her machine-gun style of interrogation. “I’m not playing 20 Questions.”

                Jessi frowned yet again and began to eat her breakfast. Then, suddenly, she smiled. “Oh, I know! Is it Kevin?” Tiffany gave Jessi a look. “Ok guess not…” she said, taking a sip of her milk. “Oh, is it Jinnie?” Jessi asked. Tiffany hesitated a bit before shaking her head, starting to eat her omelet. “It’s Jinnie, isn’t it?” she asked, smiling widely. Tiffany turned pink and shook her head. “It is!” Jessi said, squealing.

                I observed Tiffany, who turned to me with a desperate look in her eyes. “You believe me, right?” she asked.

                I shrugged. “I dunno … Jessi is usually good at this stuff, and you did turn pretty red there,” I said.

                Tiffany let out a whining noise. “What? That’s inconsequential! I was red because—”

                “—Alex is right here and you don’t want him to know that you like him?” Jessi ‘finished’ for Tiffany.

                “N-No,” Tiffany said, frowning herself this time. “I just ate a pepper in the omelet and it caught me by surprise,” she explained.

                There was a second of silence before Jessi spoke again. “Suure, blame it on the chef.”

                “J-Jessi!”

                We both laughed at this.

                “We’re kidding, Tiff,” I told her. Tiffany frowned, although I could see a mini sigh of relief. “Sorry.”

                She shook her head. “It’s ok,” she replied. “Jessi, you’re mean,” she told Jessi, sticking her tongue out at Jessi. Jessi replied with a similar action.

                “Aish, are we middle school students or college students?” I said, smiling at the pair.

                “Ok, never mind. Alex is the mean one here,” Tiffany said, looking at me. Jessi nodded and turned to me as well. I tried to hold in my laughter upon seeing Jessi’s extremely faint milk mustache.

                “Are you laughing at us, too?” Jessi said. God, I can’t get anything past this girl, can I?

                I shook my head, putting my hands up in defeat. “What did I do to deserve this?”

                They both made a humph noise before turning to their food. I shrugged and started to eat my own breakfast.

                “Oh, by the way, you have a date with someone tomorrow. You meet her at the fountain, and you’ll be going to the movie theater together,” Jessi told me, but looking at Tiffany for some reason.

                “Jessi, I told you not to do this anymore,” I whined.

                “Well, how else are you going to get a girlfriend?” she asked, looking at me. I quickly observed Tiffany, who just seemed curious at our conversation.

                “I can manage myself you know,” I grumbled, putting a piece of the omelet into my mouth.

                As I was bringing the next piece to my mouth, she grabbed my fork out of my hand and directed the omelet to my mouth for me. “Say ahh~”

                “Yah!”

                Jessi and Tiffany laughed, and I remembered to add the fourth entry when we got back to the apartment: “DO—Tease Each Other”.

Heey, I updated :D

I had a strong urge to write yesterday and decided I might as well finish this chapter today, so I did :D

Even though it's 11:17 rn (tomorrow me will kill now me...I was almost late to school today DX)

I have the topics for the next two chapters planned, but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll update quickly. Maybe more quickly than usual? Although that's not really saying much is it ...

Oh well, hope you enjoyed!