A/N: Did anyone notice that I also updated my foreword and there is now a background? Hehe, I'm learning slowly... Sorry it took me so long to update though my exams ended a little over a week ago. I had a bit of writers block after not writing for so long. I dedicate this chapter to my subscribers who were so patient. I am very thankful :) I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't flow as well as previous ones since there was quite a long period of time before I could update. Merry Christmas! ^_^

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Jessica was left dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe the stunt Krystal just pulled on her. What an evil little sister! She glanced up at Taecyeon who was now busily fiddling on his phone. He was calling the numbers of 2PM one after the other, but no was unable to reach them. Jessica knew what Krystal’s intentions were, but what were Taecyeon’s?

“Aish! Why aren’t they answering?” muttered Taecyeon as slid his thumb across the phone to end the call. He scrolled through his address book and called yet another number in his cell phone.

Jessica sat with a cold, blank expression as she sat back in her chair. What should she do? Did he really say he was her date earlier? He probably meant it in a friendly way. People often said things like that in Korean when they meant a meeting or an appointment, but Taecyeon had spoken to her in English. In English it really only meant one thing, but Taecyeon looked nonchalant. He didn’t look at all like a guy who just asked a girl out on a date. She was definitely reading too much into it. This was her good friend she was thinking about. Jessica allowed herself to relax. Still, she didn’t want to trouble him. She slung her handbag onto her shoulder as she stood up. Taecyeon didn’t notice, so she tapped him on the shoulder.

“You know what? I’m just going to go,” said Jessica softly. “You had plans and I’m really alright. You should go to practice.” As she turned to walk away Taecyeon grabbed her hand and held it firmly.

“One second,” he mouthed to her and motioned towards her chair for her to sit back down. Jessica decided it would be rude to just leave and lowered herself into the seat. Taecyeon returned his attention to his phone.Someone seemed to have finally answered his call as Taecyeon put on his mock-serious face.

“Yah! Why weren’t any of you jerks answering my calls?” he said with an annoyed tone. He tilted the phone away from his face so that the guys couldn’t see the wink he gave Jessica to show that he was only joking with them.  He turned the phone to face him again.

“I thought you guys were practicing. Why are you guys watching videos on Daum?” said Taecyeon. He rolled his eyes, making Jessica laugh. The guys apparently heard her as there was a sudden uproar on the other end of the phone. Taecyeon held the phone away from him and grimaced. Jessica giggled.

“Taecyeon ditched his bros for a girl,” exclaimed Jaebum’s voice.

“I wish I had a girl to ditch you guys for,” whined Chansung. Taecyeon and Jessica heard a loud thwack. “Oww! Mianhe hyung,” whimpered Chansung.

“Chill out you guys. Nunsongi isn’t feeling well today, so I’m going to cheer her up. I’ll check in with you guys later,” said Taecyeon. He turned the phone to show that it was Jessica. She raised one hand to show that she acknowledged them with a slight smile. She tried hard not to laugh as she saw their heads piled atop one another to look at the phone.

 “We want to come too!” several voices exclaimed over the phone.

“Yeah! Nunie, we’ll cheer you up! We’re a lot of fun,” said Wooyoung full of aegyo. He held his fists along his jaw line and blinked rapidly. He looked adorable. Jessica smiled warmly, touched by their kindness towards her.

“Paboyah!” said Taecyeon, turning the phone back to himself. “If all seven of us are walking around, people will notice.” Unhappy groans issued from the phone. Taecyeon shook his head. Sometimes they could be so childish.

“It’s not fair. We want to go out too,” said Nichkhun.

“Tell you what. Let’s all go out for samgyupsal when I get back. My treat,” said Taecyeon. There were whoops of joy and suddenly the line went dead. “I offer to buy them dinner, and they hang up on me. Aish,” said Taecyeon. He looked at Jessica’s expression as he slipped the phone back in his hoodie pocket.

“Nunsongi. Snowflake?” asked Jessica with a raised eyebrow. Taecyeon smiled sheepishly.

“Keke… Yeah, we came up with a code name for you so people at JYPE don’t know when we talk about you,” said Taecyeon. “I came up with it,” he added proudly. Jessica looked skeptical. What were they saying about her? She decided she’d rather not know.

“Why Nunsongi?” she asked instead.

“Because you’re the ice princess. Your expression is always blank when you’re with guys you don’t know well unless you’re in front of the camera. Case in point when you waved at them just now. The guys say you give off a cold vibe. Wooyoung and I assured them that you’re actually a softie, so we joked around with the nickname a bit. Chansung suggested calling you patbingsu,” said Taecyeon. Jessica’s face scrunched up unhappily.

“Yeah, exactly what I thought. All that guy thinks about is food. Then I thought of nunsongi and everyone thought it was a good name,” he concluded.

“So then what do you call Tiffany?” she asked.

“Cheonsa,” scoffed Taecyeon.

“How come she gets to be an angel and I get to be precipitation,” pouted Jessica.

“Trust me. I fought against that name choice, but Wooyoung insisted on it,” said Taecyeon. “She may be all sweet and innocent in his eyes, but that girl beats me up all the time.” He rubbed his arm instinctively, recalling the many times it felt bruised after meeting up with Tiffany. Jessica smiled sadly. Tiffany must be really happy to have someone who loves her so much. Taecyeon felt the mood shift and changed the topic.

“So did you have anything in mind when you decided to go out today?” he asked. Jessica shook her head.

“I just want to do something distracting, so that I can’t think about… anything,” she said. Taecyeon paused for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Then his eyes lit up.

“Well then I know the perfect place,” said Taecyeon, wiggling his eyebrows. He stood up and offered Jessica his hand which she gladly accepted.

Taecyeon led her out of the café onto the main road in Apgujong. Jessica followed him from a few paces behind, lest they be recognized. About 15 minutes later, they turned off the main street and stopped in front of an apartment complex. Taecyeon stepped up to the glass security door and proceeded to type in the lock combination. Jessica froze.

“Where are we?” she asked. Taecyeon turned around to see her stand at the end of the walkway looking at him dubiously.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t our destination. It’s just a pit stop,” he said as he walked through the glass door. Jessica didn’t move an inch. He was about to push the elevator button when he turned around and realized the glass doors closed and she was not inside. He pressed the side of the door and it slid open.

“Where are we then?” she asked again.

“The 2PM dorm of course,” he said as if it were obvious. He positioned himself in the doorway so that it wouldn’t close. “You’ve been here before you know.”

Jessica looked at her surroundings, and sure enough it was familiar. She could not recognize it immediately since she had only ever been there at night and Tiffany was always the one doing the driving. She was curious about the 2PM dorm, but was also very much aware that they would be in his apartment alone seeing as the other members were currently at JYPE.

“Look,” he said frankly. “You look great, but I was planning to practice all day. I can’t just walk around in sweats.” He pointed out his current outfit. Jessica realized he was right. He didn’t look bad, just really comfortable. He was a handsome guy no matter what he wore.

When Jessica still didn’t reply, Taecyeon walked back outside until he stood in front of her. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees until his face was just inches in front of hers. She felt like she was back on the soccer team in grade school and her coach was about to give her words of encouragement.

“I’ll give you two options. You can either wait out here where fans might spot you, or you can come inside and wait in the living room while I change,” he said, emphasizing the second option. Jessica contemplated both options. She then sidestepped around him and walked up to the door. When Taecyeon turned around she smirked and gestured with her chin for him to type in the combination.

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Taecyeon pressed the button for the 6th floor once they were in the elevator. As he felt the pull of the elevator upward, he became a little nervous. He had acted cool when they were in front of the apartment, but this would be the first time he invited a girl to the dorm. In fact, this would be the first time any girl idol was in their dorm. Not only that, but he would be alone with her. He had been alone with her plenty of times before, but something was different this time. He held his breath as the elevator stopped. It made a ringing sound just before the doors opened into a small hallway.

The hall was shaped like a bracket with the elevator at the center. There were only four apartments per floor as the apartments were rather large. They had to be in order to fit 7 guys plus their manager. Taecyeon gestured towards their apartment and let Jessica walk ahead of him. He slid open the cover of the combination pad on the door, but paused for a moment. He knew the guys were at JYPE, but what about the manager?

“Hey, could you stand back a little just for a second?” he asked Jessica, who was standing to the side of the door with the door knob. She obliged and took three steps backwards. Taecyeon typed in the password and peeked inside.

“Anyone home?” he called out. When no one responded, he stepped into the shoes area and kicked them aside so Jessica would have somewhere to step. He stuck his head out and invited her in. He held the door open for her and chuckled at her gasp upon seeing the piles and piles of shoes.

“How can you guys have so many shoes?” she asked in wonder.

“We’re celebrities. We need to accessorize,” he joked.

“Still, we have nine girls and there aren’t anywhere near this many shoes in our doorway,” said Jessica. She opened the shoe closet which was less than half full. “Well that might explain it,” she laughed.

Jessica proceeded to take off her sneakers. Remembering his manners, Taecyeon kicked off his shoes and stepped around her. He opened the closet door and stuck his head in as he searched for slippers. The guys didn’t use slippers, but Chansung’s mother left a pair once. He was pulling out shoes from bins in case the slippers got stuck behind when he heard Jessica clear . He pulled his head out and looked around for her. She was already standing in the apartment beyond the doorway with only her socks on. She grinned and wiggled her toes. He gave her a quick tour of the apartment, the common space anyway, before leaving her on the couch with the TV on while he went to change.

Once Taecyeon was in his room, he locked the door and leaned his back against it. His heart was pounding. What was wrong with him? He thought about it and realized he began feeling weird when Krystal told him about Jessica’s would-be anniversary with her ex. He never really thought about Jessica having a boyfriend before since she was so closed off, but he didn’t really think she had never dated either. As he recalled Krystal’s explanation he felt angry. Jessica acted strong and detached on the outside, but she was still a sensitive girl on the inside. The guy obviously didn’t end the relationship cleanly since she was still pining for him. It had to have been at least 6 months ago. Considering how close they were, he doubted Jessica would have hidden the fact that she had a boyfriend from him. Taecyeon’s anger subsided as he became more worried about Jessica. Taecyeon stood back up and raided his closet. He was determined to make her forget whoever the jerk was. A few minutes later he emerged wearing a nondescript white graphic tee, faded blue jeans and a worn baseball cap. Jessica looked him up and down.

“Aren’t you going to put any effort in hiding who you are? We could get in trouble if people spot us,” said Jessica hesitantly.

“Well, in my experience, if I wear a hoodie sweater and sunglasses in the summer people are more likely to notice me. At le