Chapter 18

Jessica's POV

The last words that Yuri said before falling asleep was beautiful. Last night was a beautiful night. Today is also a beautiful day. The sun is shining as bright as my smile, birds are singing a melodic love song, and everybody that I passed are in a jolly good mood.

Oooh! Even that dress in the Armani Exchange store is beautiful! I run into the store and a salesperson immediately comes over to greet me.

Afraid that she might recognize me, I push my sunglasses up. "Ahem... yes, hello." I point to the dress that's out on display in the window. "I would like to try on that dress, please."

"Certainly." The saleswoman hands me the black strapless mini dress and directs me to the fitting room.

I slip on the smooth material and walk outside to where the full-length mirror is. I'm walking and doing small turns here and there to see how the dress fits.

The woman who helped me get the dress tugs on the ends a bit to straighten it out. "You look absolutely stunning in that dress." I know.

"It really accentuates your legs, collar, and shoulders. You should definitely get it." Another salesperson who was steam ironing a blouse said to me.

I stretch out my right leg and examine it. Then I tilt my head up to see how my collarbone and shoulders look in this strapless dress. She wasn't lying. This dress is absolutely fabulous!

"I'll take it."

Walking out with my newly purchased killer dress, I think about how Yuri would react if I wore it to tonight's dinner. I saw the way she was looking at me last night in the bathroom, checking me out from head to toe but stopping at my bare shoulders and legs. Hehehe! At the thought of last night's incident, I smile to myself and blissfully swing the AX bag back and forth.

"Yah! Where did you run off to? Where did you get that bag?" I turn around to look at an out of breath Sooyoung.

"From the store."

"Yah! We're here struggling to lug all these bags of laundry back to the dorm and you took your free hands to go shopping?" She yells while adjusting the weight of the big white laundry bag.

"You guys were walking too slow."

Sooyoung turns to look at the other girl with two even bigger white bags. "Yuri, why are you carrying her bag? These aren't weights you know."

"She injured her hand," Yuri explains with a smile.

"Yeah and I think you injured your head. You're doing everything for her! Here take mine too!" Sooyoung hits Yuri on the arm with her soft bag full of clothes.

"Hey!" A surprised Yuri yells.

Sooyoung is now running towards me with Yuri following closely behind. She finally catches up and tries to hit Sooyoung back. While one is attacking, the other is using me as a dodging screen.

"Na na na na na! Yoooou can't get me!"Sooyoung provokes by sticking her tongue out at Yuri.

The two of them were being playful which would normally be suitable for this beautiful day --except I'm not playing along with them. I hit Yuri on the other arm to stop her from chasing Sooyoung.

"Kwon Yuri, stop! Enough running around. You two are making me dizzy."

"Sorry, Sica. Did you want me to hold that for you too?" Yuri reaches for my AX bag but I stop her. I would rather her see the dress on me first.

"No. It's fine. It's a very light bag," I assure her.

"Kwon Yuri... are you like, her Kwon Seobang? You carry everything for her, she tells you to stop and you stop..."

My Kwon Seobang? I like the sound of that. It makes it seem like everything that she's doing for me is out of her own will and not by manipulation of my injury.

"Hahaha! Kwon Seobang... don't be jealous, Sooyoung. You'll find yours one of these days. But today, I'll hold your bag too," Yuri says to the tall Shiksin. This is what I like about her. Always helping people unconditionally.

"Nah, I was just teasing. I'l hold my own bag... workout my arms. I know how you like arms with some muscle, Yul." Sooyoung winks at Yuri as she says this.

Wait a minute... how does Sooyoung know what Yuri likes. Did they already talk about what kind of guys Yuri is attracted to? Dammit! This long-legged, pretty face, So Nyuh is one step ahead of me.

"Uhh... Yul, you must be tired. I'll just carry my bag back to the dorm. Don't want the others to yell at me for making you carry everything." I take a bag from her. The heavier bag. "Plus, you still have to cook for me later tonight." Walking faster --as fast as the extra weight allows me to-- I pass the two girls so they don't see my blushing face.

"What?! You're cooking for her too? That's it, I think I should be on Team Sica instead,"I overhear Sooyoung yell at Yuri about... whatever Team Sica is.

The three of us finally return to the dorm. My arm is about to break off from carrying a big garbage-like bag around. Good thing reporters didn't catch us picking up our laundry otherwise tomorrow's newspaper headlines would have our pictures on it saying 'SNSD goes mobile --roaming street curbs for new home'.

Dropping the bag in the middle of the floor, I run over to the kid leader to complain. "Taengoo! We need a new dorm. Ours is falling apart. First, my heater, and now the washing machine doesn't work."

"I'll have everything fixed by tomorrow. So don't worry, you won't have to carry these ugly white bags anymore." She sees my black AX shopping bag. "Ooooh! What's in here?"She tries to peek in the bag but I pull it away from her.

"Nothing. Going to sleep now." As I head towards Yuri's room, I scream out to her, "Yul! Wake me up when you're ready to go out for dinner!"

"You guys are going out for dinner again?" I hear Taeyeon ask Yuri through the crack of the door before closing it shut.

As I make my way to the bed, something catches my eye. I look at my reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall. Hmmm... my arms do look a bit more toned now.

Jessica's POV

I take one last look before stepping out of the bathroom in my new AX mini dress. Usually, it doesn't take me long to get ready --especially since I'm almost always only waking up 10-15 minutes before leaving for our daily schedules. However, for tonight's dinner, it took me over an hour to get ready. I had to make sure that my hair and makeup was perfect. I changed headbands five times before concluding that I would look better without any head accessories.

Peeking around the corner, I looked into the living room shyly. I was going to stay here for a bit longer until I gained the confidence to show Yuri my new outfit and how much preparation I had put into getting dressed, but my cell phone rang causing Yuri, Sooyoung, and Tiffany to stop their goofing around and look over.

Avoiding their gawks, I look down at my phone. Unknown number... I wonder who this is. "Hello?"

"Oh hi! Is this Jessica?" the male voice on the other end asks me.

"Yes. May I know who this is?"

"Hi, Jessica! How are you? It's Kevin. Kevin Yang from the corner bookstore, Prologue," the now familiar voice replies.

Why is Kevin calling me? Oh, could it be that my book is in? But it's only been a couple of days and he said that it would take a bit of time to receive the book since he has to order it overseas.

"Did my book arrive?" I decide to ask anyway.

"Haha! I like how you're so direct. I wish I could more like that." There's a bit of an awkward silence since I didn't know what to say or have anything to say. "Anyway, to answer your question, no, your book still hasn't arrived yet. There's been a bit of a shipment delay. But I do have some good news." I hear him tapping a pen on the other line. "I just received some new books and, I dunno, maybe you would like them. Would you like to pass by later to see them?"

"Which books?" I'm curious to know yet I didn't really want to waste time going to the bookstore if I've already read them --I especially did not want Yuri to see Kevin again.

"Oh, there's so many! I think it's best if you pass by."

"Mmm..." I hesitate. "I was just about to head out for dinner."

"Some of them were just released," he continues to entice me. "If Prologue is along the way, please pass by. It'll be quick. Say... five minutes. At most, you'll just miss the appetizers, so just order a really big entr?e instead."

I laugh at his cheesy joke. I really don't have anymore books to read and like he said, it shouldn't take long to just browse his new arrivals. If Yuri was able to wait a whole hour for me to get ready, what's another five minutes... right? "Fine. Ill be there in ten minutes. Get the books ready."

"Great! I'll see you in ten minutes. I guarantee it'll be worth skipping the appetizers." We both hang up and I'm grinning at his words and how excited he sounds.

"Wowee!! Who's this hottie?" Tiffany comes over and pulls me out to stand in the middle of the living room.

I'm getting giddy from Tiffany's compliment and put the phone down so I can do a little twirl to show off my dress.

"What do you guys think?" I ask the three gawkers --specifically Yuri.

Tiffany and Sooyoung both respond at the same time, telling me how nice I look tonight. However, it took Yuri awhile to return her expression back to normal, meaning mouth closed and eyes less wide. "You look beautiful," she says to me and I put my head down to smile bashfully.

"What's the occasion?" Sooyoung asks.

"Nothing. Just going out for dinner with," I feel my ears turning red as I say her name, "Yuri."

"Wow! Jess, your shoulders are so soft... what cream do you use?" Tiffany digresses as she's rubbing my shoulders.

I'm about to answer but am startled by a jacket being suddenly draped around me.

"Are you sure you want to wear that? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?"

Yuri... is this your way of caring or... "Do you not like it?" I ask her.

"No, I like it. You look absolutely gorgeous in it. No, what I meant was it's a very pretty dress, so I like the dress. And of course, you in the dress. But we're just going out for dinner," she says to me nervously. "Speaking of which, I think we should go now before it gets too late. Don't want Taengoo to lecture us."

I take her hand and we head out the door. As we're walking to the restaurant, I remembered that I had to make a quick stop at the bookstore.

"Yul, I need to go to Prologue for a second."

"Oh... ummm... sure." I don't know why but she sounded rather disappointed. If anything, I thought she would be jumping with joy after hearing that she would get another opportunity to see Kevin again.

It didn't take us long to arrive at Kevin's bookstore. I push the door open, glad to be out of the cold air. Kevin sees me enter almost instantly and comes over to greet the two of us. I ask him to show me the books that he mentioned on the phone. The quicker he shows me, the sooner I can start my dinner date.

As he's showing me some books that I've already read, I notice Yuri walking further and further away from us. Looking rather sad and bored, she pulls out her phone to make a phone call. Curious to know who she's calling, I'm no longer paying attention to what Kevin is saying about the author's writing style. Instead, I'm straining my ears to hear what Yuri is saying to the other person. Although I wasn't able to hear clearly, she sounded rather down. I'm trying to understand her current mood through her phone conversation, but all I was able to make out was "Yeah, I'm sure. Just cancel it."

What was bothering her? Could it be that she's upset how Kevin was paying a bit more attention to me this time? It's probably because of this dress and him wanting to make a couple of sales. And what is she cancelling?

"Jessica?" I hear him call me, cutting off my concentration on Yuri.

"Huh?"

"I asked you if you wanted to get this bookâ?"

"Uh, sure." I said without even looking at the title. I just wanted to leave with Yuri. "I'll meet you at the counter. I just have to get my friend."

Without having to look far, I find Yuri by the front of the store, near the entrance. Instead of me meeting her, she approaches me and says, "Now I understand why you're dressed so pretty tonight. Maybe we should do dinner some other night..." she gives me a weak smile.

I'm about to argue with her but Kevin appears by my side, asking if it's just me and Yuri who's going out for dinner.

"Oh, something came up. Oppa, you should take Sica out for dinner." She answers for me. Then she turns to look at me with promising eyes. "We'll have dinner next time. You two have fun tonight. Bye." She turns around and faster than Usain Bolt, she's out of the door.

Kwon Yuri, this is what I hate about you. Why are you so blind to my love? This dress is for you, to look pretty for you. I wanted to have dinner with you.

Yuri's POV

I really shouldn't be upset. Afterall, wasn't my role to be a matchmaker for Jessica and Kevin? And after setting them up, the two of them would be grateful to me and thus confide in me which in turn means that Jessica will be closer to me. Get Sica the guy and I get Sica to be my friend. That was the plan. That's what Sooyoung said and everybody agreed that it would work. But how come nobody told me that I would experience all these weird inexplicable feelings?

"Yuri ah, why so down?" Jae asked me at the counter where I've been sitting for the past thirty minutes.

"Good question... I don't know." Maybe I'm PMSing.

"Cheer up! Here's the rose that you ordered. A pretty flower for a pretty lady." He hands me the single flower and flashes me a smile.

Taking the rose, I smile back at him. "Thanks, Oppa. But I don't think I'll be needing it tonight."

I put the flower down on the counter and pick up the fork in front of me and start tracing circles which then start to look more and more like hearts after.

"You hungry?" Jae asked.

"Not really..." Even though I'm not hungry, I didn't feel like going back to the dorm after leaving the bookstore. I just wanted to hide out at Yol Saek for a bit longer.

"Well, even though you told me to cancel it, I thought it would be a bit of a waste if I didn't prepare this fish specially ordered from Japan." He places a delicious looking plate in front of me, but I really didn't have the appetite.

"I'm sorry I made you go through so much trouble for me." I really should at least take one bite. "But I'm not that hungry."

"Aw c'mon! They say that food takes away all sorts of pain. Just one bite."

I'm about to refuse again but he already took the fork out of my hand to scoop up a small piece of fish and was holding it in front of my mouth.

"Say ahhh..." I laugh at him for treating me like a baby. Opening my mouth, I allow him to feed me the tasty fish.

"Mmmm! Oppa, this is actually quite good. Teach me how to make it." The way he prepared it was much different from how I had planned on cooking it for Jessica. After I learn Jae's secret recipe, I'll get Jessica to be my guinea pig again.

"Haha! Thanks! I'll teach you next time you come down though... because isn't that your friend over there?" I spin around on the stool that I'm sitting on to look over to where he's pointing at with the fork. Jessica. "Wow! She's looking really good tonight."

"She's really pretty, eh?" I say to Jae. She's sitting by herself next to the fireplace that's illuminating her face. "She's on a date with this guy, I think." Wait, where's Kevin?

I walk over to where she's sitting to ask her what happened. The whole time, she was staring at me as I walked over, but when I reached her table, she looked away and into the fireplace.

"Uhh... Sica, how come you're here?"

"Because I'm hungry and I didn't have dinner yet."

"Oh. I see. And umm... where's Kevin? I thought you guys were going to have dinner together," I enquire cautiously.

"Did you want him to be here? So you can make him jealous by having another guy feed you?" Judging from the bitter tone of Jessica's voice, she really thinks that I'm after her Kevin.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you getting fed and you receiving flowers," she said with her voice raised causing customers to look our way.

To avoid the attention that we're getting, I sit down at Jessica's table and whisper, "You saw? How long have you been sitting here?"

"Long enough to see all that!" She continued screaming in her loud voice.

"Hey, Yuri ah. I saw you sit down so I decided to bring your food to you," Jae said to me. He looks over at Jessica. "Hi, Jessica!" He says with a warm smile.

Instead of greeting Jae back, Jessica asks him in an annoyed voice, "Why are you always here?"

"Uhhh..." Jae scratches his head, unsure of how to react.

Geez, what is wrong with her tonight? She was fine this morning but now, she suddenly has this bad temper and is just asking for a fight.

I'm about to ask her why she's in such a foul mood, but Jae's mom joins us at our table to answer Jessica's question that was directed at her son. "Honey, I ask him that all the time too." Looking at Jae, she asks him, "How do you expect to meet girls when you're always here at the restaurant?"

"Umma... there's no need to go out when there's so many pretty girls here." Knowing how Jae's character is, I knew this compliment was directed at Jessica and me. I smiled at his flattering words to thank him.

"Sica, you look very pretty tonight," Jae's mom remarks.

Jessica looks at the old woman's dishevelled hair and messy apron. "And you look like a disaster."

I've had enough of her temper tonight. "Jessica! It's one thing to be rude to me and Jae, but another to Ahjumma. You better apologize..." I warned. Turning to Jae's mom, I say to her, "You want to know why she's dressed up like this? For a date! But guess what? He didn't show up and it's probably because he saw how ugly she is on the inside."

"Kwon Yuri! That is not a nice thing to say!" While scolding me, Jae's mom is patting Jessica on her back to comfort her.

"Kwon Yuri... you're a jerk." A teary-eyed Jessica says to me. She looks up at Jae's mom. "Excuse me, but I just lost my appetite. I'm going home now. Bye." She abruptly gets up from her seat and while covering her mouth, runs out the door.

While Jae, along with the rest of the onlookers, is clearly shocked and speechless by the scene, his mom slaps me hard on the arm. "I'm telling you, you better go after that girl otherwise I am going to... to..." She looks around and picks up the broom by the fireplace. "...beat you with this until your butt is all black and blue."

Given this threat, I didn't have much of a choice but to leave the restaurant and follow Jessica back to the dorm.

Even though she left before me, it didn't take me long to catch up to her since my legs are longer and I'm speed walking due to my fuming anger. However, once I see her in sight, I didn't pass her until we were close to the dorm. And the whole time that I was trailing her, I heard her stifled sobs. But I didn't care. She was being mean to Jae and his mom, she was spitting out cruel words to all of us, and worst of all, she had used me to go see Kevin.

Once inside, I ran into my room and grabbed my pillow. By the time I was back in the living room, Jessica had entered the house and slammed the door, surprising everybody. She's not the only one who can throw a temper, I can too.

"I'm sleeping with Yoona tonight," I announce and then dashed into her room, slamming the door loudly behind me.