That day, Jessica came visiting Yuri during lunch break as usual. Yuri, however, didn't want to let her go back after the break but kidnapped her to somewhere else instead.

"Where are we going?" Jessica asked as Yuri turned left, the car diverging from the Jung Enterprise's building.

"You'll see," Yuri smiled, keeping her gaze on the road.

"Yuri, I must go back. A lot of work is waiting for me. I think dad has got some problems with the main projects we're doing. He needs me there."

"Baby, just trust me, okay? We'll be back in half an hour or so."

Jessica sighed as she gave in. To tell the truth, somewhere inside, Jessica could already feel the excitement, for she knew very well Yuri was always full of surprises. She was dead curious to see where Yuri was taking her. The responsible part of her wanted to go back helping her dad, but the adventurous part just wanted to let Yuri take her away.

"That place better be worth it." She mumbled as she looked out the window, trying to figure out where they were driving to.

Yuri let go of the wheel with one hand, reaching for Jessica's and squeezed it.

"You'll like it. I'm not just talking about the place."

Jessica turned around looking at her, confused. But the blonde girl decided to let Yuri surprise her and didn't ask any further.

They drove five more minutes just in silence, having their hands intertwined. The car climbed a hill and Jessica started to slowly figure things out. Yuri was taking her to the Chalk Peak. It was a wonderful place, she had heard people talking about it often. Looking to the South, one would face the busy city life, seeing the skyscrapers, the many business buildings. Being on the northern side of the peak, however, the scenery was completely different. No houses, no buildings, no noises of honks and officious people. It was a complete green of the forest, refreshing, relaxing, mind-blowingly beautiful. The two opposite sights and feelings were separated by a big, old clay gate. It was like a miracle - just taking a few steps through the gate and you were going into another world. Jessica had always wanted to go there, but people also said it's only a place for lovers to come, taking a break of the hectic life, enjoying their time quietly together.

In complete excitement, Jessica tightened her grip around Yuri's hand. The dark-skinned girl turned around and smiled at her, caressing the back of her hand with the thumb. They arrived at the top and Jessica literally jumped out of the car. She was too excited for words.

"Slowly," Yuri laughed, getting out of the car as well.

The Chalk Peak was quiet, only two other couples were present, but of course both in their own little world, paying no attention to the newly arrived couple. Yuri approached Jessica, who had leaned over the railing with narrowed eyes, looking down at the city.

"Are you trying to spot your house?" Yuri laughed, reaching for the railing to stand next to Jessica.

"No. I'm not that much of a kid," Jessica said, pouting. "I'm looking for a nice place where we can probably live together in future."

Yuri chuckled and moved closer to Jessica, her arm possessively wrapped around the girl's waist.

"So, did you find a place? I want it to be one of the quieter quarters."

"Quiet? Then you should put up a cottage. In the forest." Jessica giggled. "Let me take a look there."

The girl got out of Yuri's hold, running to the big gate the get to the other side. Yuri just smiled at Jessica, watching her struggle to open the grating door. The tanned girl chuckled at Jessica's cuteness as the girl deftly slipped through the small crack of the double door, adorable like a baby weasel scurrying into her den. Yuri smacked herself mentally for comparing Jessica with a weasel for one second, then followed the smaller girl through the gate. She found Jessica completely in awe, leaning over the railing again. Yuri stopped two steps behind Jessica, just looking at the girl with a smile on her face. The sun shone down onto Jessica's face, especially the eyes, and lit up those sparkles in them again. Jessica looked like an angel in her white dress, her golden locks reflecting the sunshine, the beauty almost blinding Yuri's eyes.

Yuri embraced Jessica from behind, resting her chin on the girl's shoulder, breathing in the familiar strawberry scent. She felt Jessica letting go of the railing, leaning back into her body.

"I think I have a thing for the woods," Jessica said. "It's so breathtakingly beautiful, Yuri."

"Not as breathtaking as your beauty," Yuri whispered in Jessica's ear, closed her eyes and placed a soft kiss on the girl's blushing cheek.

"I'm willing to live with you in your cottage. You're my Robin Hood." Jessica joked, causing Yuri to let out a chuckle.

The taller girl then let go of the shorter's waist, one hand slid into her own pocket. Jessica looked down onto Yuri's fist as the hand came out from the pocket again. She waited for Yuri to bring up the balled fist and held her breath in anticipation as the other girl opened up. A glistening necklace was seen on Yuri's palm.

"Oh my..." Jessica gasped, stunned by the silver chain and its small heart-shaped pendant. Yuri pulled Jessica's hair aside carefully before putting the necklace on the girl's neck.

"It looks beautiful on you." Yuri said sincerely, looking down onto the additional object lying on Jessica's skin.

"Thank you..." Jessica whispered, just as sincerely. She felt Yuri's arms sneaking around her waist again, the taller girl's breaths close to her ear. "But what's the occasion?"

"I just feel like it's time to give you something special." Yuri whispered in her ear, tightening the embrace from behind. "Sica, can you promise me something?"

"Promise what?"

"That no matter what happens, you will always believe that my heart is beating for you, belongs to you, and that my love for you is eternal and never changing."

Jessica turned her head around, facing Yuri. Tears - dewdrops - could be seen in the corners of her speckles eyes, looking pure like diamonds, the kind of dewdrops Yuri had only seen early in the morning on the blades of grass in front of the vacation house. The taller girl couldn't help it and pulled the shorter even deeper into her embrace.

"I-I promise." Jessica choked.

"Don't cry, baby." Yuri softly said.

"I'm not crying..." Jessica tried to keep her voice stable. "My smile is only melting into happy tears."

Yuri couldn't help smiling back.

"I love you, Sica. So much."

"I love you too."

Jessica closed her eyes as Yuri leaned in capturing her lips, a small glistening tear escaped the corner of her eye. She leaned back against Yuri's shoulder, letting the girl take her away with the kisses, sealing each other's promises.

"I think we shouldn't kiss here," Jessica said then, breaking the lips contact first. She remembered they were on the Chalk Peak, a place that was definitely not appropriate to do things like making out. And she knew too well how easy it was to lose control.

Yuri just smiled and gave her a last kiss on the cheek before pressing her own cheek against Jessica's.

"Then let's go back. Dad is waiting for you."

----------

Yuri drove Jessica back to the Jung Enterprise building. She waited for Jessica to unbuckle her seatbelt, the girl leaned in giving her a peck on the lips and got out of the car. Yuri was about to start the engine and drive off when she saw Ms Han, the president's secretary, rushing out of the building, approaching Jessica with a worried face. Yuri got curious and decided to watch their conversation. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Jessica moving her right hand up to her face. She could only see Jessica from the back, but she knew that gesture - the girl always covered her mouth when she's surprised or shocked. A second later, Jessica had already turned around, running back to the car.

"Yuri!" Jessica wrenched open the car door. "Come with me!"

Yuri didn't have much choice, nor did she have time to think, because Jessica was already running back to the building again. She quickly jumped out of the car, chasing after Jessica.

"What happened?" She asked as she had caught up with Jessica.

"Dad's calling for an urgent meeting." Jessica said out of breath, both entering the elevator. "Something happened with the two main projects."

Yuri pressed the button and the doors closed, the elevator began to move up.

"Yuri," Jessica grabbed her hands, worry shown in her eyes. "I told you I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry," Yuri rubbed the back of Jessica's hand immediately. "The board has certainly already found a solution for whatever the issue is."

She pulled Jessica in for a short hug and caressed her back, feeling the girl's heart pondering against her chest. She was anxious herself, but just didn't show it. As soon as the elevator door opened, both rushed towards the meeting room. The doors were closed, but Jessica didn't spend a second to think about it and knocked shortly before opening one leaf of the double door.

The board with all the managers was already present. Mr Jung sat at the end of the long meeting table, looking clearly more tired than usual.

"Jessica," a hint of relief could be heard in his voice as he saw his daughter entering, followed closely by her girlfriend. "And Yuri. Thank God, you girls are back. Take seats, please. We've just begun."

Yuri and Jessica took two free seats at the end of the table. They listened intently as the main managers began to report the situation. It turned out the calculation of the needed financial investments for the two main projects were totally amiss.

"The approximate calculation is far under the actual needed expenditures." The financial manager said. "The calculated numbers were already huge, but we were capable of covering the costs. I had personally compared them with our financial status, and the President has also signed, granting permission. But the real expenditures are too high, we cannot afford the money."

"How much did the calculated results miss the needed expense?" Mr Jung impatiently asked.

"The total expense of both projects added together--" the financial manager gulped. "Is the triple fold of all we have now."

The meeting room went dead silent. Mr Jung's face was emotionless, but Yuri could see Jessica turning completely pale. She quickly reached for the girl's hand under the table, holding it tight. It didn't help much at the moment, though. There was that truth no one spoke out, but everyone knew - triple was too much to handle.

"If... if only the calculations had been more accurate--"

"They were accurate when I submitted them!" The project manager cut off the financial manager. "I've had them double-checked. I knew the projects were important and risky at a level, I'm not that inexperienced to not see it, Mr Park."

"Then how come they failed that much?" The execution manager meddled in. "It never happened before, Mr Sung!"

"It wasn't my fault! I knew from the beginning the expenses were high, but it got approved by Mr Park. I've been with the Jung Enterprises for so long, how could I intend such a thing to happen?!"

The financial manger snorted, knowing too well the project manager was blaming him.

"Excuse me, but are you saying I purposely changed the calculation to have us being deep in debt like this?!" Mr Park's voice was furious. "In case you forgot, I'd like to remind you I've been in the Jung Enterprises much longer, Mr Sung. Watch you words, please!"

"I wasn't pointing at you, Mr Park. I was just--"

"Enough." Mr Jung silenced everyone, stopping the unnecessary fight of the disappointing, but obvious internal division. "This isn't the time to blame the fault on each other." Mr Jung's voice was, unexpectedly to Yuri, absolutely calm. "We have to find a way to get out of this wicked situation."

"Can we cut down any costs?" Jessica asked, her voice clearly not as steady as before. Yuri threw her a worried look and again tightened the grip under the table.

"We can't," the quality manager shook his head. "Either it's that huge amount of money, or we have to give up on quality, which can't happen."

"The more we delay the execution, the more costs are added." The operation manager again remarked, desperation in his voice. Simply because this meant the situation would only become worse, and eventually, there couldn't be any solution found.

"We can only count on the banks to lend us money." Yuri quietly said.

"Mr Park, please take care of this as soon as possible." Mr Jung told the financial manager. He was tapping on the table's surface with his index finger - the only sight of impatience that Yuri could see.

"We can't continue those two projects if we don't have the money. But we can afford at least one." Mr Jung took a look at the project descriptions in front of him before continuing. "We will now focus on the project for the Kim Company, since it requires less expenditure."

"But we have to use all the money left for it, President." The financial manager feebly said. "Even the salaries' part."

"There's no other way. And our employees will get to know this sooner or later." He looked over to the personnel manager. "I want them to hear it from the board personally, so please inform them as soon as possible. If they hear it from somewhere else, they might feel betrayed and there's no way they would sympathize the back wage situation."

Yuri watched Mr Jung with impression, seeing how everyone was intently listening, waiting for the president to tell them what to do.

"Everyone else, I want you to go back to what you've been doing. We still have several smaller projects to do, and we can't afford any of those becoming another issue."

This, however, left the rest shocked. Mr Jung let the two managers that received precise instructions go and ended the meeting. The other managers were clearly not ready to leave, obviously because it seemed ridiculous to just keep working like usual. There was still another, even huger project waiting, and this was why the surviving chance was still too small to stay cool and to simply 'go on with what you've been doing'.

With mixed emotions on their faces, the managers threw each other meaningful glances. Hearing the emotionless voice from the president that indicated an already steel-and-iron-fied mind, they knew it wouldn't help arguing with Mr Jung anymore. Yuri saw it all - she understood that the managers were more or less already giving up, worrying for themselves more than worrying for the enterprise. Yuri also saw the suppressed disappointment in Mr Jung - she knew he could feel how his staff was desperate about the situation.

But what hurt Yuri most was Jessica. The girl looked too clueless, oblivious to the complicatedness of the situation. Jessica was the only one still with hopeful eyes, even though half of her was worried to death for she could feel the unmistakably heavy atmosphere. Uncertainty was cloaking the trembling girl completely.

The managers shook their heads, none of them being able to utter a word. After another while of hesitation, everyone obeyed, leaving the meeting room one by one. Yuri and Jessica waited, not counting themselves in 'everyone else'.

"Dad!" Jessica ran to her father when the last manager had left. Yuri closed the door before walking next to Jessica.

"Dad... what are we going to do?" Jessica asked, and Yuri swore she could hear the girl's anxious heartbeats even with the one-step distance. "Shouldn't we find out who's caused this? We could make him take all the responsibility!"

Mr Jung shook his head tiredly and Yuri sighed upon Jessica's cluelessness. The dark-skinned girl took Jessica's hand and pulled her away to stop her from gripping Mr Jung's arm tightly.

"We can't make one person take the whole responsibility." Yuri explained. "The project was assigned to the whole company, so the company has to be responsible for it." And unfortunately, since the Jung Enterprise was no joint-stock company, 'the company' meant nothing else than the Jungs - Yuri added in her thoughts.

"But--"

"Jessica," Mr Jung cut his daughter off. "You should go home."

"W-what?" Jessica was totally caught off guard. "You can't send me home at times like this! I'm not that little, naive girl anymore. I'm grown-up, dad, I want to help!"

"You can't do anything right now!" Mr Jung raised his voice all of sudden, startling both girls.

Yuri sensed the anger that was starting to boil inside of both of the Jungs. She knew her girlfriend was worried and couldn't just go home  and do nothing, leaving her father alone. It's more of a torture to have to stand still than to struggle and fight oneself through the storm.

But then again, a light had dawned on Yuri as she now understood why Mr Jung had ended the meeting so abruptly. The way the meeting went earlier, with the managers keep doubting each other and no one really thinking of a solution, Mr Jung certainly knew there had to be a traitor in the Jung Enterprise. This person couldn't be a normal employee, who definitely couldn't get anywhere near important data, but one of the 'white-collar' employees. Yuri knew Mr Jung didn't know who to trust, so he had to end the meeting and think of a solution on his own. Now the fact that he sent Jessica home only proved that he already had something in mind. There's no reason for Jessica to refuse complying her father's words right now.

Yuri gulped down her nervousness and patted Jessica's back lightly.

"Sica... There's really nothing much we can do right now. Even if we stay. Let's go home and look after Krystal."

Jessica didn't look at her. The blonde girl stared at her father, waiting for him to say something. She didn't understand why her father did not want her to be there. But Mr Jung didn't aspirate a single sound.

"Sica..." Yuri tugged at Jessica's sleeves.

"Fine." Jessica finally said, suppressing the disappointment and fury. She turned away from the man on the chair and walked out of the room without even saying goodbye. Her hand was holding tightly onto Yuri's, pulling the girl along.

If there's no way to release anger, there's always Yuri's hand to squeeze.

----------

Yuri drove into the Jung's huge front yard and turned the engine off. She got out of the car, walked to the other side and opened the car door for Jessica. The smaller girl, however, didn't move an inch and just kept staring into the air. Yuri sighed and leaned in, unbuckled Jessica's belt.

"Sica, baby..." Yuri gently stroke Jessica's hair and took the girl's hand into hers. "Come on."

Jessica still didn't move. She heard Yuri's voice, but those information didn't really digest in her head. All she could think of was her father, the enterprise, and another downfall of her family. Jessica didn't want it to happen.

"If you're not going right now, I'm gonna carry you again."

Finally, Jessica's head turned around and the blonde girl looked at Yuri. The consoling smile on the dark-skinned girl's face calmed to storm inside of Jessica down a bit. Still half unwillingly, she got out of the car and followed Yuri into the house.

"Unnie!" Krystal came running to her sister and sister-in-law. "What happened? I saw things in the news, I--"

Krystal got stuck in her sentence as she saw her sister trembling. The issue got to the news. This fact was like a blow hitting Jessica's head, hard enough to cure her Nephelopsia instantly. She finally fully understood how huge the issue was, slowly realized why the managers seemed so hopeless earlier. Jessica breathed unevenly as she felt Yuri's hand holding her arms, her eyes were burning. Dad sent her home possibly because he was also desperate - she bitterly told herself. Not knowing what to do, Jessica brushed off Yuri's hands and walked up the stairs with an absentminded face.

"Sica..." Yuri called after her, worried. The girl was about to run after Jessica, but got hold back.

"Yuri unnie," Krystal looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please. Tell me what happened."

Yuri sighed. She could fully understand the anxiousness that was torturing the little girl, so she stayed and filled Krystal in with the most basic information. After assuring the girl that everyone's trying their best, Yuri ran up the stairs to get to Jessica's room. Her heart felt a tiny twitch as she thought of a broken Jessica, crying alone on the bed. But she wasn't sure whether the sight she really saw was any better.

Jessica was sitting on the windowsill, back leaning against the sidewall, looking out the window. She was still in that long, white dress, still looked like the most beautiful angel in the world, especially with the sunlight giving her a glowing outline. However, Jessica wasn't the excited and happy angel Yuri saw earlier this day. Jessica now was a sad angel with empty eyes, no sparkles, and surprisingly, not even dewdrops - just nothing. She was suppressing the disappointment, the despair, the hurt, the fear, and this caused her tears to dry even before they could roll down her cheeks.

Yuri heaved a sigh of grief upon the heartbreaking sight of her love crumbling inside, and approached the girl slowly. She carefully took Jessica's folded hands into her own. An arm of hers wandered around Jessica's shoulders, pulling the girl to lean into her. Jessica's muscles didn't object a bit. She allowed Yuri to comfort her and laid her head on Yuri's shoulder, closing her eyes.

"There's no hope, is there?" She whispered. "You knew all along, didn't you?"

"Hoping or not depends on only you." Yuri whispered back, stroking Jessica's arm gently.

The tanned girl then released the hand that she was holding and slid her arm under Jessica's legs. Yuri picked the girl up from the windowsill, and Jessica instinctively cuddled closer to her neck. She walked to the bed, putting Jessica carefully down in a sitting position. Yuri then kneeled down and took Jessica's soft hand into her own, caressing the back of the hands with her thumbs.

"I love you." She said, and placed a kiss on Jessica's knuckles. She sat herself next to Jessica, pulling the girl's head to lean on her shoulder again. "I love you, Sica. So don't hold back your tears and fears when you're with me. Just cry. It will make you feel better."

As soon as Yuri's sentence ended, Jessica started to sob and shed her tears as if she had been waiting for permission for too long. Yuri didn't say anything but just stroke Jessica's hair, once again letting this girl's tears wetting her clothes as Jessica was pouring her heart out. She knew Jessica was scared, but she also knew she couldn't do anything to help Jessica's family to get out of this. At least, she could be a shoulder for Jessica to cry on, today. At least, she was still able to hold Jessica in her arms, right now. And Yuri was more than glad about that.

They stayed in that position for a while, Jessica's sobs subsided slowly to small whimpers until the girl fully fell asleep. Yuri heaved a small sigh, stroking Jessica's cheek gently. She carefully laid the girl down and tucked her in.

"Be strong, Sica baby."

Yuri whispered before leaning in, placing a kiss on the sleeping girl's forehead. Her phone vibrated in her pocket the next second. Yuri stood up and glanced at the caller ID, reading 'Shikshin BF'.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Yul, I've seen bad stuff all over the news. Why didn't anyone tell me? What exactly is going on?"

Yuri paused to sigh tiredly, and her voice turned sad. "Sooyoung..." She paused for another sigh. "The Jungs are not surviving this time."