Chapter 22

Yuri's POV

This whole 'trying to get closer to Jessica' plan is making me obsess about her. It's been two days and counting since I haven't seen Jessica. Without her clinging onto my arm or hearing the sound of her voice made me realize how attached to her I've become.

Although I've been super busy with the Kko Kko Tour among other individual activities, my mind would always wander off to thoughts about her. When I'm having dinner, I would wonder if any of the girls have waken her up yet to go eat. When I'm reading my script, I wonder if she's finished reading all the books Kevin gave her. Or when I'm lying on my bed exhausted, I wonder if she's going to come into my room and sleep next to me. I must be desperate to have her as a friend and for her to treat me as one of her closest friends.

Even as I'm sitting on the side of the filming set waiting for Minwoo oppa to get out of the rush hour traffic, I can't help but think about Jessica. Flipping open my phone, I stare at the picture that Tiffany took of me and Jessica sleeping together. I didn't notice this before, but taking a closer look, it seems that we both had little smiles on our faces. I smile at this possible revelation.

Suddenly, I feel a strong urge to call her, to hear the voice that I've missed. Or maybe I should send her a text message instead since I don't really know what to say to her.

Staring at the phone, I contemplate some more. Should I start off by saying 'Hi, Jessica! This is Yuri. How are you today?'. No... That's too formal. Makes it seem like as if I'm trying to sell her a product, and the closeness level? 0%.

Hmmm... She did mention how she likes hearing me call her 'Sica baby', maybe I should try that. 'Hi, Sica baby! It's your Kwon Seobang!'. Nah, too scary! Not to mention informal. I don't want our first phone conversation to be our last too. Sigh, calling the other girls were never this difficult.

I take a deep breath to clear my mind. I should just say whatever comes to mind, whatever feels comfortable. As I'm building my confidence, the sudden vibration in my hands surprise me, making me jump.

Jessica Jung.

Caller IDs do not lie. But why is she calling me? I check the time on my watch. At this hour, she should be at a recording to promote her song.

"Hello?"

On the other line, a sad voice fills my ear. "Yul..."

"Oh, Sica baby, what's wrong?"

"I lost the necklace that my mom gave me for my birthday. I wanted to wear it on the program to show her." Although I haven't seen it since she just received it yesterday, I know how much her family's gifts mean to her. We seldom get a chance to see our families given our busy schedules. And when the times get tough, we miss our families' love and support the most. Since training, Jessica's had it the worst. Even before debuting, she's had more anti-fans than fans. She's had the nastiest names and accusations thrown at her. I could only imagine how badly she wanted her mom to be there to comfort her.

Knowing this, I try to help her. "Sica, are you sure you lost it? Maybe you just misplaced it somewhere. Where did you last remember wearing it?"

"I remember playing with it in the van. But once I arrived at Namsan park, I noticed it wasn't there." She's silent for a bit before quietly mumbling in her depressed tone, "The director scolded me for pouting during recording. That's why we're taking a break now."

Namsan park? That's just a few blocks from where I'm filming. Minwoo oppa's probably not going to be here for another while. I could always go visit Jessica for a bit instead of just sitting here not doing anything productive.

I signal to one of the staff members that I'll be stepping out to get water and he nods his head in approval. For an athletic person like me, I could get to Namsan park in no time. On my way out, I grab my hat so nobody on the streets would recognize me and start rushing over to where Jessica is.

"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure your mom will understand," I continue to talk while hiding my heavy breathing.

"But it was my birthday present..."

I see the filming location just one block down. "It's the thought that counts, Sica."

"I guess... But having that necklace made it feel like as if my mom was with me all the time." She continues to talk about the necklace's significance while I'm busy scanning the people to find her.

I easily spot Tiffany since her loud voice gave her location away.

"Yeah, I know. I understand, Sica." Where could she possibly be hiding? I even found the quiet Seohyun who's practicing her singing.

Trying not to let other people see me, I remain hidden behind this huge tree listening to Jessica whine some more. After scanning the area again for the second time, I finally see the brown haired girl sitting far away from everybody on a park bench. I start making my way towards the bench, not once taking my eyes off her. Jessica's body language showed how down she is. Her head is down and shoulders are slumped.

"...It had a beautiful diamond pendant too. I really wanted you to see it. You're the only one who hasn't seen it yet." As I'm standing behind her, I hang up and put my phone away. "Yul? Hello? Yul!" Seeing her staring at the phone, baffled, made me want to burst out laughing. "Stupid connection," she curses at her white expensive Samsung.

Holding back my snicker, I cover her eyes with my two hands. In a disguised voice, I ask her, "Guess who?"

Instead of playing my guessing game, she reaches for my hands, peeling them away. Turning around to see who it is, she looks up at me and almost instantly, her face brightens and a huge smile forms --matching my smile.

"Yul!" she shrieks as she steps around the bench to hug me.

I return her hug before breaking away to look at her. It only lasted a second before I pulled her in for another big hug to confirm how much I've missed her.

"Yuri, what are you doing here? I thought you had your Kko Kko Tour..."

"I do. But you called me and so now I'm here. Surprise!" I extend my arms out to the side as I said this.

She must have thought I was inviting her for another hug because she entered my open arms and wrapped her hands around me again.

The blissful moment just now was replaced by Jessica's sad voice. "Yul... Tell me that I'll find my mom's necklace again," she says into my shoulders as she holds me tighter.

A part of me wants to tell her to be a bit more realistic and just move on. If she really wants, I could always buy her another necklace. However, seeing her like this makes me want to shield her from anymore pain. Stroking her hair, I tell her what she wants to hear. "You'll find it."

This mood is far too serious and depressing. No wonder she can't meet the director's demands. To help her take her mind off of the loss, I try to cheer her up by making a silly face.

"Haha!" Jessica pushes me on my shoulder. "Yah! What are you doing?"

"Making you laugh. But your laugh isn't meeting the Kwon standards. Do you think..." I wave my fingers around. "...tickling will help?"

Before running away from me, she shrieks in her dolphin pitch. Of course, having the longer legs, it wasn't hard to catch her around the bench. As I trap her between the bench and myself, I lightly tickle her sensitive stomach, smiling as I do so.

Weak with laughter, Jessica desperately tries to push my hands away. Lost in our own world, we're both laughing very loud, attracting the staff's attention.

"Yuwree! I didn't see you come. What are you doing here?" Tiffany's loud voice booms across the park.

Letting go of Jessica, I greet her back. "Hi, Fany!" In a few long strides, Tiffany made her way over to us. "I'm on a secret mission and I think I just completed it successfully." I give Sica a wink to let her know that I won't mention her sorrows and she smiles back warmly with a look of gratitude.

Tiffany didn't press me further for the details of my acclaimed mission. And when she saw me wink at Jessica, she immediately suspected that there was a story to it.

Tiffany slowly nodded her head up and down, eyebrows raised, and a smile that said, 'What are you up to, Yuwree'. "Oh... I see... Well, we have to get back to our recording. See you at home?"

"Sure!"

From the bench, the sitting Jessica pinches my pinky finger with her index and thumb, causing me to look down at her. I expected her to ask me something, but she didn't. She was just staring at the green grass, smiling to herself as if she knew a little secret. I opened my hand wider and was about to intertwine our fingers together before she released my hand to hold onto Tiffany's. The mushroom head then starts to lead Jessica back to the set. Jessica turned around once and with a pursed lip smile, waves back at me shyly.

I watch them walk back together and the director starts giving them instructions the moment they returned. I lean against the bench noticing that Jessica didn't stop smiling once since she left with Tiffany.

"That's right. Forget about the sadness and just keep smiling. You'll finish recording in no time," I say to myself.

Now that everybody's happy again and I got to speak to Jessica, missions accomplished. Time to go back to the tour.

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As usual, I'm going to be finishing late again tonight. I decide to give Jessica a quick call before filming resumes.

"Yuri?" she answers in her soft voice.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No... I can't really fall asleep. Are you on your way home?"

I really wished that I was heading home right now. It's been days since I haven't really seen my girls.

"No, I don't think I'll be done until 3am. Anyways, how are you feeling?"

I hear her sigh. "Not any better..."

Without being there, I don't know what I could possibly do to cheer her up again. There's an awkward silence as I try to think of ways for her to forget about the necklace and I come up with the perfect idea. Read a book.

At a time like this, I really should give her the book that I've been hiding in my drawer. But the whole reason why I got Sooyoung to buy the last copy is so that Jessica could keep going back to Prologue to see Kevin. I should just let him give her the book.

"Did you finish reading all your new books?"

"Mmhmm... Finished them last night."

Should I tell her about the book? "What about magazines?"

"They're not that interesting... Plus there's bound to be a jewellery ad in there."

True. I should give her the book then. "How about reading newspapers? Not exactly the most interesting thing but they'll put you to sleep."

"I guess I could try that."

I won't be giving her the book. From the corner of my eye, I see everybody returning to their assigned filming places.

"Yuri... Could you sleep--"

"Sorry, Sica! I have to go now. They're starting to film again. Don't think too much. Goodnight!" I hang up before hearing the rest of her question.

As I'm walking back to join the other guests on the show, my cell phone starts to ring. I automatically assumed that it was Jessica calling to ask me her unfinished question and so I quickly answer the phone.

"Sica, I can't really talk right now. Whatever it is that you have to ask me, just text it to me and I'll reply when I'm free."

"Oh Yuri, sorry to disturb you. I didn't mean to call so late..." a male voice replies.

I look at the caller ID and am shocked to be receiving a second unexpected call of the day. Why is Kevin calling me?

"...I was wondering if Jessica is with you. I've been trying to call her this past week, but she hasn't been answering."

I think back to the couple of times when I heard her phone ring before she declined the call. She wasn't particularly busy which surprised me since she's always attached to her phone. Could she have been declining Kevin's calls?

I lie on her behalf. "She might have been busy. Is... Everything okay between you two?"

Chuckling, he tells me, "Everything's great! Or so I believe everything's great. Um... I'll let you go now since you're busy, but do you think you could tell Jessica to call me back? I want to ask her if she has time to go out for dinner, to celebrate her birthday."

I don't know why, but I really wanted to snap at him and tell him that she won't be going to dinner with him because she'll be celebrating her birthday with me. The anger that I'm feeling must be from him not showing up for his first dinner with Jessica after she went through so much trouble to get ready. It was also because of him that we got into that big argument. And now he wants to have dinner with her again? I don't think so.

However, instead of telling him exactly what I think, I answer back with a forced smile. "Sure, I'll let her know. I really have to go now. Bye." Well, Jessica and I aren't that close anyway so I'll just let her decide what she wants to do.

"Thanks, Yuri!"

After I closed my phone, I noticed that I had received a new text message. I flip it open again to read it.

Yul, you work so hard that we barely see you. I miss you.

-Sica

Instead of making me feel good, her text left me feeling hurt. Mixed with pain and anger, I message her back.

Call Kevin. He's waiting for your call.

-Yul

After seeing that the message has been sent, I turn off my phone so I can concentrate on filming. Whoever calls me after probably isn't important.

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