Chapter 6

(Flashback)

“Hello! I’m Yuri. Kwon Yuri.” Yuri extended a hand.

“Jessica Jung.” The girl responded without looking.

“It’s… nice to meet you.” Yuri replied, a little disappointed.

(after class)

While Sooyoung munched on a thousand things, Yuri continued sharing the bad experience she encountered earlier.

“…and I was asking her about something I didn’t catch, and she merely said ‘Ask Mrs Kang’ without looking at me, again! I swear she’s the coldest person I’ve ever met!”

Just then, Yuri spotted Jessica entering the cafeteria with another girl. “Oh, there she is. That auburn girl with the bored eyes. Try not to be too obvious.” Yoona and Sooyoung discreetly looked over.

“Man, that sucks. Pretty with a bad attitude.” Sooyoung stated with her mouth full. “Yuri, since she’s not interested in making friends, just ignore her. Why do you even care?”

“Yuri.”

“Yuri!”

“Hellooooo??” Yoona waved a hand in Yuri’s face.

“Huh?” Yuri finally responded.

“Why are you spacing out suddenly?” Sooyoung asked.

“Look, she’s smiling and laughing with that Tiffany girl.” Yuri said, with a tinge of sourness in her tone. “But why is she so cold to me?”

Sooyoung paused and observed Yuri for a moment, and then came to a realization. She shot her a look. “You are so gay, Kwon Yul.”

“Huh???”

“You’re so jealous that she’s not talking to you. Plus, you’re giving her that same creepy look you give when you see Won Bin on TV.” Sooyoung stated as she grabbed a sandwich.

Yoona diverted her attention to the tanned girl and gasped. “Ohhhh you’re right. It’s THAT look!” she said as she pointed a finger at Yuri’s face.

Yuri slapped her hand away. “What? What look?!”

“It’s okay Yuri. We’re totally gay-friendly.” Sooyoung assured while Yoona nodded indifferently. “Mmm hmmm.” The two girls then switched their focus back to the food. “Ya Sooyoung, pass me the tuna sandwich.”

“No. That’s mine.”

“The hell you talking about! I’m not in love with that girl!” Yuri exclaimed.

“Gotcha! We didn’t say you were in love.” Yoona said.

Yuri bit on her lip. “It was just a slip of the tongue--”

“Ahhhh love at first sight. How sweet, and I thought it didn’t exist.” Sooyoung said as she leaned her head against Yoona’s shoulder, totally ignoring Yuri’s defense.

“Guys, seriously. CUT IT OUT!” Yuri yelled with her hands in the air, garnering the attention of a few people in the cafeteria, including Jessica and Tiffany. The eye contact with Jessica’s icy glare made her shudder. She immediately sat back down and grabbed a sandwich. “Crap.”

“Seriously, Yuri, your face is red. You can’t see it but we can. And you’ve not stopped checking her out ever since she came in.” Yoona said as she grabbed the tuna sandwich.

“But…”

“YA Im Yoona, stop stealing my food. You have your own sandwich.” Sooyoung scolded.

“Sharing is caring, Sooyoung.”

Yuri sighed. She knew how stubborn her two friends were, she had known them since middle school after all. There was no point arguing now, she could never win. As she bit on her sandwich, she secretly took another look at Jessica. The girl seemed like a totally different person from hours ago. It intrigued her; she became even more curious to find out more about the girl.

There’s something about her that makes me want to get to know her better, Yuri thought.

“Yup, totally right about the creepy look.” Sooyoung said as she grabbed Yoona’s sandwich from her hands.

-----

(2 days later)

“Jessica.”

“Jessica…”

The girl awoke after a slight nudge, irritated that her beauty sleep was ruined. She turned to the girl sitting beside her. “What.”

The tanned girl gestured with her eyes, warning her about the situation ahead. Jessica turned to the front and saw Mrs Kang looking straight at her, arms crossed.

“Miss Jung, could you please tell us the answer to this question?”

“Uhhh…”

Suddenly, an eraser rolled across her table, with the number ‘22’ written on it. She wondered if she should trust the girl beside her.

Crap. Better than having no answer.

“22.”

“Good. Remember people, anyone caught sleeping in MY class gets sent to detention immediately.” Mrs Kang said and resumed teaching.

“Thanks.” Jessica whispered.

“No problem. Now you owe me.” the girl whispered back and retrieved her eraser.

“What??”

“You. Owe. Me.” Yuri responded, indifferently.

Jessica looked at her, incredulous. The girl was getting on her nerves, but she did save her from detention. She exhaled. “Fine. What do you want.”

“Easy. Just be nice. For a week.” Yuri whispered while copying notes from the board.

“A week? No way. Something else. I’ll buy you lunch.”

“You. Owe. Me.” Yuri continued scribbling notes without even looking at Jessica.

Jessica shot the girl a death glare. Seriously! Nobody orders Jessica Jung around, nobody. she thought. This girl was a first. No one else had dared treat her this way.

“3 days.”

“1 week.”

Jessica inhaled deeply. She wanted to strangle the girl so much now; it seemed almost impossible to fulfill her demands now.

“Fine.” Jessica surrendered eventually.

Yuri smiled a little, and shot her a side glance. “Starting from now.”

URGHH! Now?! Jessica glared at her.

“Miss Jung, answer to question 5 please.”

“Uhhh…”

Just then, the same eraser rolled across her desk.

“21.” Jessica responded without hesitation.

“Good! That was a difficult question. Looks like I’ll have high expectations of you from now on, Miss Jung.” Mrs Kang smiled at the girl.

Jessica smiled slightly at Mrs Kang and then glanced over at Yuri, who was still staring at the board.

When in the world did she solve that?

“Make that 2 weeks.” Yuri suddenly said.

-----

(after school)

“Bye Jessica!” Yuri smiled earnestly.

2 weeks, no way. “Bye.” Jessica responded whilst packing her bag, not bothering to even look up. When she did however, the girl was already gone.

Jessica sighed. I’m not gonna play your little game, Kwon Yuri. she thought, wondering if there were alternatives to ‘repay’ her debt.

Just then, Tiffany hopped over to the girl. “Jessi! How did you get the answer to question 5? Teach me!”

Jessica hadn’t had the time to attempt the question since just now. She had been too busy staring the tanned girl down and also trying not to fall asleep in class. “Ask Mrs Kang.”

“Oh come on, I need help. Mrs Kang’s scary.” Tiffany pleaded.

Jessica sighed. “I didn’t solve it.”

“Then how did you--”

“Excuse me.”

Both girls turned towards the voice. They came face to face with a slightly shorter girl. She was smiling and looking at Tiffany.

What’s with that creepy look…

“Hi, Tiffany? I can help you.” the girl said.

Jessica narrowed her eyes at the girl and wondered what her intentions were. “You were eavesdropping on--”

“Oh that’s great! You’re Taeyeon, right?” Tiffany, on the other hand, didn’t. The girl nodded, and shortly after Tiffany dragged her away to her table. “So how did you calculate this--”

Jessica watched the pair from where she was, and sighed. She wondered why she couldn’t be a little more ‘Tiffany’; extroverted and trustful. She didn’t understand why she was wired this way.

“Taeyeon, you’re such a genius! You make it sound so easy!” Tiffany suddenly exclaimed while showering the other girl with her eye-smiles.

Jessica sighed again.

-----

(the next day, after school)

“Sicaaaaaaaaaaaa.”

“What. And I told you not to call me that.”

“Oh. What happened to being nice for 2 weeks? It’s only Day 1, you know.”

“What? It’s Day 2 today!” Jessica exclaimed.

“You weren’t the least bit nice yesterday, so yesterday doesn’t count.” the girl stated with her arms crossed.

Jessica groaned inwardly. Why did I get myself into this… she thought as her eyes shifted to Tiffany’s table. The girl was busy chatting up with Taeyeon, and once again, showering her with eye-smiles, effectively charming the girl into helping her with her Math homework.

Maybe I could try this…

Looking away from Yuri, she inhaled deeply, and then turned to face her, flashing her most gorgeous smile ever. “Okay, Miss Kwon. How may I be of assistance?” she said, sweetly.

It did work. The tanned girl seemed to be taken aback.

I’ll kill you, kill you with my charms!

“Yuri, is something wrong?” she leaned closer to Yuri’s face.

The girl backed away immediately. “N-nothing?” she stammered and averted her gaze from Jessica, who happened to be looking deep into her eyes on purpose.

Good, it seems to be working better than I thought. Let’s see who has the upper hand now, Kwon Yuri.

“Yuri-ah, I really need to spend extra time on my Math and Science. But these textbooks are soooo heavy, and I can’t manage. Can you help me carry them home? It’s not far from here.” she said as she stacked 4 huge textbooks on top of each other.

Yuri looked at her for a moment, and then at the books. “I guess I can...” she proceeded to pick up 2 of them.

Jessica looked at the remaining 2 books on the table and pouted. “I fell down a few days ago and grazed my arm. Look.” she extended her arms and showed her injury to Yuri. “It still hurts.” Jessica’s careless fall from a few days before had come in handy.

“But it’s such a small injury…” Yuri muttered under her breath.

“What’s that?” Jessica leaned closer to her face again.

“Nothing!” Yuri quickly replied, taking a step back from the girl.

“Won’t you?” Jessica used her sweetest tone ever and flashed another killer smile at the taller girl. This was a time when her naturally high pitched voice had come in handy.

I’ll make you my slave!

“F-fine.” the girl reached over and picked up the other 2 books.

Jessica smiled. “Thanks, Yuri. Let’s go home!” she said as walked ahead, out of the classroom.

-----

“Sicaaaaa, I thought you said your house was nearby?” Yuri panted.

“It is. But I’m suddenly craving for a strawberry tart, so we’re heading home only after I get it.” Jessica replied.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?!” the girl groaned and stopped in her tracks.

Jessica turned around and looked at Yuri. “Oh, sorry!” she said with a smile. Jessica had, of course, planned this just so she could torture Yuri. “It’s just that my whole mind was so focused on the tart...”

Yuri put the books on the ground and sighed. “Wait here. I’ll get it for you.” she stated and ran ahead.

Jessica smiled and nodded as she watched the tanned girl disappear ahead. She didn’t expect Yuri to offer to get the tart for her. Her plan was working better than she expected.

(after a slow 40 minutes)

By the time Yuri came back, Jessica was already irritated.

“Here...”

Jessica looked at the girl for a while, but decided to continue her act. “Thanks! Let’s go home!” she replied as Yuri picked up the books from the ground. However, beneath that sweet smile was an angry Jessica.

I bet she made me wait on purpose! Jessica thought, angered by the long wait. She decided to punish Yuri by taking the longer route home.

-----

After what seemed to be hours to Yuri, the two girls finally arrived at Jessica’s house.

“There… Finally… I better get going…” said the girl, panting, as she put the books down on the table.

Seeing the girl all sweaty and breathless, Jessica suddenly felt bad. After all, the girl did help her lug the 4 books back home. “Wait. I’ll get you something to drink.” she disappeared into the kitchen, then came back with a glass of water and handed it to Yuri.

“Thanks.”

As Yuri lifted the glass to drink, Jessica noticed that the girl’s forearms were slightly bloodied. “What happened?” Jessica exclaimed, grabbed onto Yuri’s free hand and lifted it up to examine the wounds. They were fresh.

However, Yuri was too thirsty and busy drinking her glass of water to respond. She merely shook her head.

Jessica glared at the taller girl. “When did you get this?”

When Yuri finished drinking, she explained, “Oh it’s nothing. I fell, that’s all.” she said sheepishly. “Can I have another glass of water please?”

“When? I didn’t see them when we left school.”

“I was bringing back the tart to you, and I fell and the tart got ruined so I went back and got you another one. You waited long, didn’t you? I’m sorry about that.” Yuri used a hand to fan herself. “And can I have another glass of water please?” she said as she brought up the glass to Jessica’s face.

Ignoring Yuri’s apology and request, Jessica dragged her to the couch and sat her down. “Wait here.”

“Water…” Yuri croaked with her hand still raised but the girl ignored her.

Jessica disappeared into the room, and then emerged again, holding a first aid box. She settled beside Yuri on the couch and cleaned up the girl’s wounds. Yuri winced a little as the cool antiseptic liquid came into contact with her cuts. She looked at Jessica, who was wearing her usual unreadable expression, and decided to remain silent. She wondered if Jessica was still angry with her for making her wait.

When the girl was done cleaning the wounds, she said, “Silly. I should be the one to say sorry. I was being mean to you.” and then took out a few bandages.

Yuri chuckled while looking into her empty glass. “I know.”

Jessica’s eyes shot open as she was wrapping the bandages around the girl’s arm. She looked up at the girl. “You knew? And yet you went along with it?”

“Well, I really just wanted to be friends…” Yuri said as she fiddled with her glass.

The words tugged at Jessica’s heart a little. She felt a pang of guilt for taking advantage of Yuri, who had been nothing but nice to her.

Maybe I should learn to be a little more ‘Tiffany’ after all…

Securing the bandage, she took the empty glass away from Yuri’s hand, then came back with a filled one. “Friends?” she said as she handed Yuri the glass.

Yuri eyes lit up when she saw the glass of water. She smiled and took the glass, excitedly.

“Friends.”

-----

(the next morning)

Jessica woke up, refreshed from a night of sleep. Another day of school, another day of trying to not get caught for sleeping, especially by Mrs Kang. As she was getting ready, her eyes shifted to the 4 textbooks on the table. It was too hard to miss.

Crap. I guess it’s my karma.

Reluctantly, she picked up the 4 books from the table, and instantly found herself struggling with them. Omgawd!! How did Yuri manage?!

“Krystal!” she yelled as she tried to balance the books on her arms.

“Krystal!! I need help!” she yelled again, but there was no response. Dropping the books back on the table, she ran out of her room and looked for her sister. However, the girl had already left for school, and her parents were also out.

“So I have no choice…” she muttered under her breath.

Picking up the books again, she slowly made her way to the front door. Balancing the onerous items on one propped up thigh; it took her a while before she finally managed to open the door.

“Sica!”

It was a pleasant surprise. Yuri was at her front gate, jumping and waving happily, like a dork. Jessica couldn’t help but giggle. “What are you doing here?” Jessica yelled from where she stood, a distance away from the gate.

“Can I come in?” Yuri yelled back.

Jessica nodded. “The gate should be unlocked!”

Jessica watched as the girl swiftly made her way to her. “I figured you might need help.” Yuri smiled as she took all 4 books from her hands.

For a moment, Jessica stared at the girl and wondered what ulterior motives she might be harboring. Seriously, she’s being way too nice…

“That’s ‘cos I AM nice.” Yuri said.

Jessica gasped. “You read my thoughts?!”

“Well you were thinking out loud.” Yuri chuckled. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late. First period’s Mrs Kang.” the girl said as she made her way through the gates.

While Jessica locked up her gate, she glanced over at the tall, tanned girl who was walking ahead. The sight of the bandaged arms carrying 4 heavy books erased her suspicions there and then.

Maybe she really is nice, Jessica thought.

When she was done, Jessica strode forward and caught up with Yuri. Being careful not to touch her wound, she clung onto the taller girl’s arm and said, “Thank you, Yuri.”

“You are welcome.” the girl smiled back, her gaze warm and kind.

This was the first time the Ice Princess felt a little bit of her being melted away.

(end of Flashback)

-----

Jessica stayed in the shower a little longer tonight. She was bursting with excitement and she needed the soothing warmth of the running water to calm her down. Being the shy girl she was, it wasn’t easy, even if it was Yuri, whom she always felt comfortable with. The previous night had been aided by alcohol, and it worked, though perhaps a little too well.  

“Because it does! I care!” Yuri’s words rang over and over in her head. She couldn’t stop smiling. She was in love with the girl.

Jessica was never short of suitors. However, she hadn’t been interested in any of them. Everyone wanted her, for themselves, not for her. She was skeptical. She believed that people are by nature, selfish, and the whole idea of love was something too perfect that no one could ever truly be able to grasp. It seemed impossible that she could give a love like that to someone.

But for Yuri, ‘perfect’ wasn’t ‘impossible’.

Like Yuri, Jessica couldn’t stop gushing either. She was thoroughly amazed by her ability to remain composed the whole time, despite feeling that uncontrollable rapid beating in her chest. After all, they don’t call her the Ice Princess for nothing. Even now, upon recalling the sight of Yuri’s puppy eyes and love struck face, she could barely contain herself.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

At this hour? Probably the pervy couple. Jessica shrugged as she turned off the tap. She hastily dried herself, wrapping her body in one towel and using another for her hair. Taeyeon and Tiffany were Jessica’s neighbors; she had preferred to live near her two close friends when she came back, albeit a little too near: they were right next door.

Being around the happy couple everyday made her envious. The two girls were happy, their relationship was smooth-sailing, and they were perfect together. She wondered how things would be like with Yuri if she didn’t leave 3 years ago.

If… things didn’t take a bad turn.

That aside…

To Jessica’s dismay, in just a week of being around the happy couple, she found herself being exposed to a rather… restricted area. Jessica shuddered upon remembering the previous incident. Seriously, I don’t want to see two semi-naked girls at my door this time…

The doorbell rang again, this time continuously.

“Coming!” she yelled as she trotted towards the door, dripping water along the way.

Seriously, are they that eager to… whatever?

She secured the 2 towels on her body before reaching for the door knob. “Seriously, what do you two want at this hour--”

Before she could finish, she felt someone’s arms around her, causing her to let out a soft shriek in surprise.

“I love you too, Jessica Jung Sooyeon.”