Staying up for hours thinking about how to get out of a rumour spread somewhat relationship was something Jessica would never think doing – yet here she was, stuck with being perceived on dating her own best friend Yoochun.

The two had been close even among their large circle of friends in their neighbourhood, even if they were compared to how intimate Junsu and Eunhyuk or Jaejoong and Yunho were. It was odd, since everyone expected that if a guy and a girl were close friends; they were expected to have fallen in love with one another at one point.

She just never felt any connection with Yoochun beyond being the best of friends and that was it for them. Or so she thought.

As Jessica thought about it, she did notice that her brother Yunho probably did have a role in this complex situation that has had its roots planted from years ago. He would always be there, sprouting out of nowhere, making sure that his best friend was not getting too affectionate with his sister.

Yunho had always been paranoid whenever the two were together, always making sure that nothing sticky was going on and that they weren’t going too far away alone. He hated to think the two would be alone.

It wasn’t even that he didn’t want them together or to see his sister and best friend getting together; it’s just because he felt something weird in his stomach when the two were together. He felt that there was something the two had, yet he was most likely the only one who noticed.

Who knows? He could probably be wrong- He could probably even just be delusional – Knowing him, Yunho might have just been over thinking things. Like everything else.

Jessica’s eyes fluttered open as the vibrations of her phone echoed loudly in her ears, much to her irritation. At four in the morning, the sun clearly not visible to be seen, her heater up high, and snuggled in between nearly three layers of blankets; it was a perfect time to be asleep – One would complain if they were suddenly disrupted from this state of peace.

            “This is definitely that bastard Yoochun- “She whispered under her breath, scowling tiredly as she reached forward to check her phone that was on her desk.

She was right. ‘Park Yoochun’ was clearly flashing on her phone screen, with an image of the two of them as thirteen year olds as the icon that was shown every time he called. Sometimes she wondered what went so wrong between the two of them, and how their friendship would turn into this twisted make-believe “romance”.

Jessica was clearly not in the mood for this, and if she could, she would have ignored the phone call. She had to answer the phone call. She had to.

            “Yes – What do you want?” Jessica spoke out sluggishly, as she yawned in the middle of the sentence and rubbed her eyes vigorously.

            “Jessica – I have to explain –“ Yoochun, who seemed too clearly awake at four in the morning, was clearly anxious and really did want to get across his point.

            “Chun – It’s four in the morning. Can’t we at least talk about this when the sun is up?” She stopped him before his rambling even started, especially since she was too exhausted and lacked too much sleep to even listen to what he was saying.

He let out a breathy sigh over the receiver, in which Jessica could actually hear through the phone on how fatigued he was. He too seemed too distressed and upset with the situation, wanting to get out of it as soon as possible.

            “Alright, we can talk about it at work. If you come up with some solution or something for us to get over this stupid scandal – Then please tell me later. I’ll see you later.” Yoochun replied nonchalantly.

            “See you, Chun.” She responded a lot more zealously and tenderly than usual, sounding as if she was excited to see him later. Jessica’s cheeks flushed as she hung up from the call and embraced herself with her thick, warm blankets.

She covered her pillow around her ears, the warmth clearly felt as she squirmed around in embarrassment and annoyance she felt. Jessica didn’t understand why her supposed perfect Christmas season this year was to be ruined by this dumb rumour Yoona spread and now responding to Yoochun over the phone like they were actually dating?

Things are going to get worse. They’ll be in the worst way possible, for sure.

…..

Jaejoong finished putting up the final and most glamourous accessory of the beloved Christmas tree in their café- the golden star. His legs shook vigorously while he stood on the rusty ladder that was probably in his father’s closet for decades.

“Be careful up there, Jaejoong-oppa.” Jessica warned as she polished three marble coffee mugs for the umpteenth time of the morning, making sure they were spick and span in time for customers to enjoy they warm coffee for the day.

He grinned brightly as the star from up the ladder, as he proved to her that he was going to be careful, unlike his natural nature of tripping on everything he probably stands on, which may include his own feet. Jaejoong climbed down the ladder and quickly set it aside, though an unnoticed stumble was not as prominent as usual.

Decorating the building went loudly as chatter and jokes that lightly made fun of Heechul filled the halls, as Jessica couldn’t help but giggle at them as his impersonations of his older brother was spot on. The fireplace trickled sparks of fire as she threw another piece of wood that warmed the place greatly.

Bells chimed surprisingly as Yoochun walked in, completely draped in his grey trench coat and dark purple scarf, and held a mug of coffee in his hands. Jaejoong enthusiastically ran over to greet his best friend, but Jessica awkwardly avoided eye contact with him as she resorted to keep mopping the floor again.

Yoochun panicked silently as he hesitated to run forward to Jessica to explain thoroughly on what happened five days before, but Jaejoong interrupted him.

“I know what’s going on between the two of you – No need to tell.” He said, crossing his arms as he explained his point.

Yoochun nervously gulped as his grip on his fist tightened, biting irrationally on his nails and he glanced at Jessica, who gave off a death glare with her arms crossed.

…..

“So the two of you went to the restaurant and then Yoona thought the two of you were dating?” Jaejoong asked once more like he didn’t hear it the previous time, biting on his red, shiny apple and speaking with his mouth full.

Jessica placed her hand across her face in disappointment as she was getting tired on explaining everything. Yoochun sighed tiredly and yawned, standing up to wear his wrinkled apron as the café was to open in a few minutes.

“The two of us went to a restaurant Eunhyuk and Donghae recommended us, and we ended up loving the food so much that we fed each other some of the food we ate. Our meal was going to be perfect until this idiot’s sister came over and spread the rumour that we started going out.” She reasoned out, defensive that it wasn’t her fault that it started.

“Don’t blame me – I wasn’t the one who insisted that you would feed me like some three year old child!” He rebutted, sitting lazily on the seat with his legs slouched below the table as he fondled with a new pack of freshly printed paper that would be used to take down orders.

“Stop – Both of you – Come on, the two of you know better than fight like you were in kindergarten again. Now, who else knows about this “rumour” she started?”

Jessica and Yoochun frowned at one another almost simultaneously, and Jaejoong knew that it was probably well spread by this point.

“Let’s see- our entire neighbourhood, who includes all those aunts and uncles that live thirty miles away from us. Even both of our parents are convinced and excited with the idea that they would be in-laws soon.” Yoochun snarled, completely upset that the situation was now at a point that it was impossible to stop as he rolled his eyes and irritatingly pulled the ribbon from his long ebony hair to tie it back in a ponytail.

Jaejoong sighed, clearly seeing how distanced and awkward the two had been with one another since the incident. As their friend and boss, he felt responsible to at least try to help them clear things up and make things better for the both of them.

            “How about the two of you can pretend that you’re dating, just for the Christmas holidays until the 1^st of January-?” He suggested, in which he was too excited to see the two of them painfully pretend to be a couple, which would be too obvious even if they tried their best.

Jessica couldn’t help but let out a frightened gasp, choking on her overly stirred orange juice and spitting it out, as Yoochun gently patted her on the back and looked back at Jaejoong with an unbelieving and disapproving expression, shaking his head repetitively.

            “That wouldn’t work – Soojung and Yunho absolutely know I’m a horrible actress, especially when it involved pretending to be in love, and with him especially- “She rambled on, standing up to turn on all the Frappuccino and coffee making machines found by the counter.

            “It’ll be better than outright denying it every time; the more that you deny it, the more they’ll think the two of you are trying to hide it from them. Now, we can decide on this at the end of the day as the customers are starting to impatiently want to come in.” Jaejoong said, already tired from this endless rambling exchanged by his two friends.

He turned towards the direction of the blockaded glass door, and watched crowds of shivering customers covered in their fur jackets and wool scarves as they stringently pounded on to the frost covered glass to come in. The snow had started to get stronger, as the speed of snowfall quickened at an alarming pace and blew into his face as he opened the door.

Hours went by, and the flourish amount of customers that came in and out of the café had continued to increase, and every table never went empty throughout the day. It made him extra giddy and happy for the rest of the day, but it was Yoochun and Jessica with their unnecessary arguing, death glares, awkward glances, and anxious laughter that made it impossible for him to hold down his laughter.

“If only this happened more often, I’ll probably get more entertainment here at the café for my pleasure.” Jaejoong chuckled to himself out of the blue, even if he did receive a painful smack in the back from Jessica.

….

It had started to get very dark early in the day as they were continuing being snowed in, as the level of frosted snow rose for a few centimetres, but were high enough to prove being a hassle and problem from driving back and safety reasons.

            “Jessica, would you be a dear and plough the snow in the backyard for today?” Jaejoong asked, blinking his eyes repetitively as he clasped his hands with a pleading look, hopefully asking for a favour.

            “Well, the idea of being a dear.” She shrugged her shoulders casually, setting aside three dirty mugs of barely touched caramel chocolate fraps and walking outside to take out shovel and the scraper, even if the horrid snow continued to fall under her.

Yoochun glanced at Jaejoong, waiting for a look of approval, before the elder gave an approving nod and even thumbs up to it.

            “Let me do it for you-“He insisted, reaching down to pull out the ploughing materials out of her hands, who somewhat was pulling it out a bit too forcefully out of the bin.

            “No- Go away- I can do this myself.”  She whined, whacking him on the arm to keep him away from doing her task for her.

            “Please let me help at least-“ He cut off insistently, tightly grabbing on to the scraper with the greatest of his strength.

He pouted at her, even if her glance pierced sharply through him, but she sighed tiredly and accepted his offer.

            “Fine. You can accompany me outside, but that’s it. No messing with me, or any disgusting hold handing or anything.” She murmured under her breath.

            “That’s great!” Yoochun hummed, wrapping one of his arms across her waist instead.

Jessica tensed against his touch, looking away and keeping a great amount of distance between the two as they walked towards the backyard of the café place.

            “I thought you were supposed to help me, not cling on me like a koala.” Jessica complained, already feeling uncomfortable with the extra weight he had been adding on to the upper right side of her body.

He was already intimately resting his head  on her shoulder with his eyes closed shut, with a greasy smile on his face when he slowly perched up, sad with the fact he had to get off her shoulder. Instead, he slid off his gray trench coat from his broad shoulders and long arms to put them on Jessica’s own narrower shoulders and shorter arms.

            “Yoochun, what are you doing?” She asked, torn between either throwing the coat back to his face or for wearing it for her own warmth.  She paused in the middle of the field, even if she was only a few more steps left before reaching towards the main storage of garbage.

            “I’m helping you now, right? See, I can be helpful too.” He mockingly insisted, pretending to be slightly hurt as he tucked his hands into his pockets to replace the warmth he had willingly given away.

A sudden flow of memories went through Jessica’s thoughts, as this wasn’t the first time in which he did this chivalrous and gentlemanly-like action, no matter how annoying he could be at times. Though she still thought he was still a prick for that unfortunate accident that caused her to feel such striking cold in her own chest.

During the time in which Jessica was seventeen and Yoochun was eighteen, he invited her to be his date for their graduation dance, which in a hundred years never happened to their school, so he took the opportunity to take out his own best friend’s sister- Jessica.

Yunho was for sure ticked to have seen his younger sister go to prom with his best friend Yoochun, and out of revenge, he was accompanied sixteen year old Yoona with him in return. (As he said, karma is a sometimes).

The graduation dance was held and sponsored by the suspiciously wealthy alumnae council at the newly renovated community centre just three blocks down the school campus, and boy, never had a one-day snow storm hit Seoul that terribly, until this year. Unfortunately, as the dance was poorly set into a horrible date, with horrible weather and timing to top on to it.

Many of the overly excited graduation students and their dates didn’t even hesitate to check the weather reports on how the weather would look like. The dance did end up smoothly, as it was held indoors the whole time and they did all have a great time. It was the weeping teens ranting over their snow soaked ball gowns and dripping wet leather shoes in which they borrowed from their fathers.

Jessica and Yoochun, however, were nothing close to caring how they looked in the freezing weather. Yoochun who had been wearing a tuxedo and had his hair all gelled up, was now here with his hair loosely hanging in threads in front of his face and his bow loosely hung over his shoulders over his party opened dress shirt.

Jessica similarly in her sapphire laced ball gown and braided up-do and jewelled tiara, had her make up smudged all over her face and her tiara falling out of her hair. Parts of her gown were tied up higher to make it more comfortable to walk, especially over the snow.

A snowball flew by Yoochun’s face, and shortly he was covered in icicles that surfaced Yoochun’s clear, porcelain skin. He rubbed his palms across his face, still in shock from the cold feeling that brushed his face without warning in a few seconds.

Yoochun turned around and assumed it immediately that it was Jessica who threw the snowball at him, and wickedly planned revenge, placing his hands across the layers of snow and scrunched them up into a ball within his own fingertips as he shaped it and molded it into a perfect sphere.

She sat by a wooden bench, patiently waiting for a cab Yoochun promised to call, and had his tuxedo jacket draped against her own shoulders. After making it clear that she wasn’t paying any attention, he targeted to hit his snowball right at the nape of her neck, but instead hits right below .

Unfortunately, Jessica turned around in time that he was able to hit in her front, and as the rounded snowball slid down - it slid into her dress. She jumped out of her seat and screeched in horror as the throbbing sharp pain of cold frost pricked her, in the most sensitive area a girl had in her body.

Jessica screamed the loudest she could at that day, and stomped vigorously as she attempted to take out the snow or at least slide it down before she could even get frostbite in there. She looked up, and was sure that Yoochun was the one who threw it at her, especially since he was stuck standing there in panic and fear, not knowing what to do next.

            “You ing bastard!” Her voice echoed, muffling through the snow, but was loud enough for him wanting to run for his life.

She grabbed as much snow as she could in her arms and threw them over and over again to Yoochun, who only started to feel the regret by now. It wasn’t her who threw the first snowball. Oops.

Jessica smiled. This would probably seem even childish and unnecessary to anyone else, but she needed to remind him of how it felt to be hit by a snowball first, especially when most unexpected. He took first hit last time, it was her turn now.

This time however, she took the rusty shovel into her hands and dug deeply into the sticky snow stuck into the soil and threw them into a bucket. Jessica carried the entire ton and dropped them over Yoochun’s head, who then groaned upsettingly and shivered now that his entire body and his clothes were completely soaked.

She laughed playfully, and stuck out her tongue at him before she ran away to keep her distance from him.

            “That’s what you get for throwing that snowball at me first when you invited me to your grad dance. Never forget it how you threw frozen ice at me while I was in a ball gown- A ball gown!” She howled, giggling as he was starting to move towards her.

He stood there, shaking off and squeezing off all the excess water and pieces of snow that stuck on his cream coloured sweater and his blue jeans. Yoochun looked up with narrowed eyes, and proclaimed his revenge.

            “It looks like you forgot I spent my entire childhood training for the track team, huh?” He growled and prepared his stance, like a predator eyeing his prey.

Yoochun took a pile of snow in his hands and formed it into a snowball as he chased her around the backyard, even if she struggled forming an odd looking snowball in response as they ran in circles.

He had started running at an incredible pace, quick enough to make it incredibly difficult for even the athletic soccer player Jessica could take, as he was seemingly close to being caught up within a few metres. Her breath had started to run short, and she could see that every time she exhaled, the fog in the air would form in her face.

Jessica continued to run for another circle, and threw more rounds of snowballs and odd looking shapes and molds of unidentifiable forms of mushed snow. Though in time, he was able to be right behind her and catch her as she grew tired of sprinting through a wide field of nearly thirty millimetres of sticky, wet icicles of snow forming on her boots.

Yoochun grabbed her by the waist and carried her off the air, making her shout in surprise slightly as he exclaimed a triumphant “Gotcha!” as he spun her in the air.

            “You thought I wouldn’t win-“

            “Put me down- Yoochun- please-“

The two tumbled down as the pavement of the ground went downwards and the snow covered them from head to toe. Jessica ended up being on top of Yoochun as the two quietly looked at each other carefully, their clothes and parts of the body touching with one another at the most intimately way they had ever been in contact throughout their entire friendship that stretched decades.

Stirred and drawn in to the moment, he gently tucked in the loose strand of hair in front of her face behind her ear, and took a moment to examine her features in intricate detail. Never had he found her so attractive and alluring, both in her physical features and her personality.

How her almond shaped brown eyes stared right into his, the same brown eyes he had so willingly looked at for years, and how her high arched nose, her pink, plump lips that were so tempting to kiss at the moment. Yoochun had always been fond of her, but never fond of her enough to – wanting her in this way.

Jessica felt her cheeks warm up as she had never taken notice on how handsome he actually was, and why the girls in high school always swarmed at him and sighed dreamily in his presence. His eyes expressed that he was asking for her consent to even lean forward, and how he seemed even more gorgeous as she saw him so closely like this. He had a sharp jaw line, his nose was perfectly shaped, and his lips were the definition of the ideal lips to kiss. Why hadn’t she ever noticed? It wasn’t even that he was hot (Her fourteen year old self would admit this), but his personality was what really drew her to him. No matter how annoying he could be, she would never be complete without her best friend by her side.

He leaned in, holding her face gently with his thumb on her cheek and rigorously kissed her right away as if it wasn’t the first time they had ever kissed like this. She responded with a moan of approval and arousal, pushing the back of his head to make him to closer to her and limit the distance between the two.

They were lost in the moment, completely forgetting that they were kissing passionately and were on the verge of making out on layers of snow that should have already been shoveled by now.

Jaejoong felt like he was watching those cheesy dramas his mother had stayed up watching the previous night, and the more that he felt like a schoolgirl. He had the entire thing on video footage and even have snapshots of the most important scenes that happened out there. (Especially the kissing part, that would be the selling topic of the month).

Would it even seem like pretend by this point?

...

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