Chapter 14

"It's been a long time for you huh?" Jay asked Jessica. They were both on the plane back to South Korea - and indeed, it has been a long time since they've last set foot down on the country.

"About 2 years? it doesn't seem that long, yet it does at the same time."

"I'm glad you came back to the United States for the last two years, because you've found me - no, more like I found you." Jay smiled, reaching in to give Jessica a kiss on her cheek, she was surprised at the action, but didn't do anything to stop it. He lightly nuzzled against her neck and stroked her face tenderly.

"Remember what happened on cam when you were chatting with Yuri?"

Jessica nodded, "I'm still mad at you for that." she said, removing his hand.

"I'm sorry, you know how I get jealous easily, I should have trusted you. You and Yuri is the past - you and me right now is the present and the future, right?"

"Right." Jessica smiled. But she herself does not know whether she wanted to spent the future with Jay or not. With all these news about Yuri and Tiffany - it was just adding fuel to the fire to her already complicated thoughts and feelings she had yet to figure out completely.

Oh, and guess what was showing on the mini TV screen in front of her?

"Look, it's Tiffany - and Yuri?" Jay said in confusion as the news began to show clips of Yuri and Tiffany together from when they were trying to run away from the paparazzi.

"Weeks before, there has been reports of Tiffany Hwang and a unknown girl together. As we dug more into the story, we found out the 'unknown' girl was a internet photography blogger by the name of Kwon Yuri. Recently, a photo of the two had been uploaded to Kwon Yuri's blog and had been circulating 'round the net. The picture - as shown here, gave an impression of a playful teasing between the two which shows the friendly relationship they have with each other, a few netizens have commented on the original blog saying 'they were cute' among the others. To end this mini celebrity news segment, Tiffany Hwang's new movie, 'The Korean-Egyptian Princess' is slated to come out early next month."

The news segment ended with a trailer to the movie.

"Yuri knows Tiffany?" Jay asked, rubbing his chin, trying to think up of an explanation. How could someone like Yuri meet Korea's top star out of the blue? something must have happened.

"They met in Egypt." Jessica replied nonchalantly, picking up a magazine from the seat in front of her and began flipping through the pages - she stopped when she reached the article about Yuri and Tiffany, the pair was practically every where now. On the news, on the magazines, where else?

"How? do you know how they met?" Jay questioned.

Jessica closed the magazine and placed it back.

"I don't know." She lied, leaning her head against the seat and closed her eyes. She then crossed her arms and appeared to be taking a nap - as the flight was still a long way to go anyway.

Jay, however, was oblivious to Jessica's change of personality after Yuri and Tiffany was brought up.

"I'll ask her when we reach there. I wonder who she's getting engaged to."

'Surely not to Yuri?' Jessica thought in her head, but she shook those thoughts away. It was impossible, they only met for a few weeks tops. It's impossible that Tiffany will be getting engaged to Yuri, it just doesn't click to her.

'What are you thinking about Jessica Jung? Yuri and you are the past. You are straight. You and Yuri should not be romantically linked to each other - not anymore, and it shall stay that way.'

---

"Unnie! what are you doing?!" Seohyun whined, trying to shield Yuri's camera away from her project. It was her last project for the class before the quarter ends, and Yoona was giving her a hand with it - they have to recreate a model of an archaeological dig site, and it won't be finished any time soon with Yuri pestering them for the last 20 minutes or so.

"It's for my blog!" Yuri insisted, swatting Seohyun's hands away from the camera.

"I got this!" Yoona called out. She picked up the model and quickly ran upstairs to her room in a blink of an eye.

"Take pictures somewhere else." Seohyun teased Yuri, she stuck out her tongue at her Unnie and ran after Yoona giggling like a little kid.

Yuri chuckled at the cute actions, indeed Seohyun's personality has changed a bit since she've met Yoona. She watched as Seohyun walked upstairs and rose up her camera before taking a photo of the girl's backside.

"You're such a creeper."

Yuri turned around at the voice,

"Oh, am I?"

Tiffany sat down on the couch near her and just let out an exasperated sigh, refusing to answer the obvious question.

"Say cheese!" Yuri yelled out, quickly pressing on the shutter button before Tiffany could do anything. She got into a fit of laughter upon seeing the final photo on the lcd screen.

Tiffany's eyes were half lidded on the verge of blinking, and the way her mouth was shaped was beyond hilarious, at least to Yuri it was.

Specially because it was THE Tiffany Hwang herself - depicted in such an embarrassing photograph.

"Hey! delete that!" Tiffany said, pointing at her.

"No! it's too priceless!" Yuri cracked into laughter, quickly showing the photo to Tiffany before she took it back, not giving Tiffany a chance to grab it from her.

"Delete it now!" Tiffany demanded, walking up to Yuri trying to take the camera away but Yuri's height gave her a disadvantage.

"Give it to me!" Tiffany yelled. She tried reaching to grab the camera that was held above their heads but was done so with no avail.

Yuri snickered, waving the camera around,

"Imagine if I post this up on the blog."

"Why I oughta―" Tiffany started; but didn't finish her sentence when she stepped on Yuri's feet, causing the girl to shriek and drop the camera - in which Tiffany successfully caught and proceeded to sit casually back down on the couch.

Yuri on the other hand, was rigorously rubbing the top of her foot from the pain.

'Damn Tiffany and her sharp slippers, who the heck wears a high heel version of home slippers!? why are those invented in the first place anyway!'

"Did you really have to do that?" Yuri groaned, limping over to the couch as Tiffany fumbled to delete the picture.

"Where's the photo?' Tiffany mumbled, pressing on the random buttons. She wasn't the most tech savvy person out there.

"Gimme my camera back!" Yuri said, reaching in to grab the camera but Tiffany shifted away, causing her to fall flat onto the couch.

"I'm deleting the photo!" Tiffany stated, continuing to fumble with buttons until she found where the photo galleries were, but it wasn't the picture she was looking for.

"Give it back!"

"No!"

Yuri gave her an irritated look as she went over to her and began to hold her down, squishing her with her own body as she snatched away the camera when Tiffany wasn't aware.

"Yah! get off!"

"Look look look!" Yuri encouraged her after getting off of the girl. She skimmed through the photos for Tiffany to see on the screen.

"I deleted the photo long ago."

"Why didn't you say so!"

"I just wanted to have some fun, aish." Yuri murmured, continuing to rub her foot against her leg,

"Why did you have to step so hard!?"

"Sorry." Tiffany murmured.

"I seriously can't joke around you, you can never take jokes!"

"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Tiffany countered.

"Okay okay okay!" Yuri said in succession, raising both of her hands up.

"THE Tiffany Hwang said she was sorry to me, I'll be content with it for the rest of my life." Yuri grinned. A pleasant expression was visible on Tiffany's face now that Yuri coaxed her.

Tiffany's smile became cheeky,

"That's more better."

On the other hand....

'Jay Park is calling'

---

"So who's coming again?" Yuri asked.

"My friend, remember that movie extra I told you about?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's him and he's bringing his girlfriend with him here too. I invited them - specifically him, to my engagement party." Tiffany explained.

"We need a engagement party crasher, maybe me and him can join forces, you know?"

Tiffany rolled her eyes, "Sure."

"Okay okay good, because no one will be crashing it and you'll soon be married to that douch*bag~ and when you marry him ohohoho, good luck with that." Yuri teased.

"Shut. Up." Tiffany deadpanned, picking up a pillow beside her and smacked Yuri repeatedly with it.

"Okay sorry!" Yuri pleaded, laughing.

"Too late." Tiffany snickered, standing on her knees on the couch as she held onto the pillow with both hands and struck Yuri once again with it. The strikes didn't hurt Yuri at all, but it was fun messing around with Tiffany.

"My bad my bad!" Yuri pleaded again, but it wasn't enough to stop Tiffany.

"You said something you shouldn't have said!"

They were both giggling with each other as Tiffany continued to fight Yuri with the fluffy pillow.

Feathers were flying every where all over the place.

Sigh, more cleaning for the maid later.

"Tiffany?"

Tiffany froze in place, still holding the pillow. She turned around at the voice and quickly got up along with Yuri to pat the feathers off them.

"Yuri?"

"Jessica?"

"Jay?"

The three of them said succession, questioning each other's presence.

"How did you get in?" Tiffany asked in confusion.

He pointed to the women in her late 30s,

"The maid."

"Oh right, right." Tiffany said,

"Long time no see Jay." she smiled pleasantly.

"Long time no see." Jay returned the greeting with a hug.

"Wait, this is Jessica right?" Tiffany asked, pulling away from the hug as she focused her attention on the slender, average height girl. If she remembered correctly, Jessica was Yuri's former girlfriend.

The girlfriend who left her because she couldn't admit she was gay.

"Yes, I'm Jessica." She smiled, facing Tiffany.

'Oh how the world is so small.'

"Yes, she's my girlfriend I told you about before." Jay grinned proudly. Who knew the Jessica he always talked about was Yuri's Jessica?

"It's been a long time." Yuri said, one hand behind her neck, lightly scratching the skin as she stood awkwardly amongst the others.

"Yeah..It has been a long time." Jessica replied, equally awkward as the latter.

Funny how they used to do all kinds of intimate things together; cooking (usually turns out to be a disaster), hugging, kissing, the-you-know-what, but now look, they're just standing there awkwardly greeting each other like two complete strangers. Things can definitely change in such a short time.

"So what's up with the sudden engagement? I haven't heard you date anyone, and now suddenly you're getting engaged? to who?" Jay questioned Tiffany.

"It's a long story."

"Make it short then."

Tiffany glanced over to Yuri, and then to Jessica. She had ranted about her problems to Yuri already, but she wouldn't want to tell this 'Jessica' all about it,

"I don't think I can tell you about it here."

"Should we go somewhere else then?" Jay suggested.

"We should."

Jay turned over to face Jessica, "Since it's been a long time, you should have a small chat with Yuri to catch up with each other." He said, looking at Yuri and then back at his girlfriend once again,

"I'll be back soon." He leaned in for a kiss - in front of Yuri as an act of jealousy; he just wanted to tell and prove to Yuri that Jessica now belongs to him.

Yuri had no intention of getting Jessica back though, the ceramics Mickey Mouse that broke had already signified their end of the relationship. She kept holding on to the statue Jessica specifically made for her because she thought they would have a chance of being together again, the downside was that keeping the thing was just like a jar holding their memories of being with each other, it was just an excuse to keep having those lingering feelings. Good thing Tiffany broke it, Yuri was surprisingly thankful for that.

Sure,

the lingering feelings were still always there even with the missing Mickey Mouse; but she thought Jessica already seems happy the way she is with him, she knew better then to break up the couple.

But what if Jessica isn't happy with him?

Well, it doesn't even matter anymore. Jessica had told her clearly that she cannot accept the fact that she's gay, so why should Yuri even bother with her anymore...right?

Jessica lightly pushed Jay away from their kiss,

"Yeah, me and Yuri do have a lot to catch up. Nice to meet you Tiffany, I really enjoy your movies. I can't wait until your newest movie comes out to theater."

Tiffany nodded, "You too, and thanks, it'll be out soon. Please give me lots of support!"

"I sure will." Jessica smiled.

"Okay, Jay, let's go." Tiffany signaled him to the dining room and he quickly followed her, leaving Yuri and Jessica behind in an awkward situation.

"Should we go out for a walk around the garden?" Yuri asked, trying to ease the awkwardness between them.

"I'd love to."

---

"You're getting engaged to WHO!?"

"Choi Siwon."

"CHOI SIWON?!" He repeated out of anger.

"Choi Siwon...there's no other choice I can make. If only you knew the status of my dad's company right now, only his dad can help my dad."

Jay lightly scratched his chin,

"There really is no other way out of this so-called engagement?"

Tiffany shook her head,

"No. I don't know what to do Jay, there isn't much time left. He's already preparing everything, there's only 3 days left!"

"Hold on, hold on. Lemme think." He told her, his eyes closing as he rested his head on the table, both of his index finger were rubbing his temples.

"Well?"

"Just marry him." He said, rising his head from the table.

Tiffany was taken aback by Jay's blunt answer.

"Just marry him?"

"There's nothing you can do right? Plus, this is just the start, this is just an announcement of you two getting engaged, it's not like you'll be married right away in 3 days."

Tiffany bit her lip,

"Are you sure about this?"

Jay grinned,

"I'm positive."

---

"How's your relationship with Jay doing?"

Jessica hesitated a bit before answering,

"Pretty well. He loves me...and I love him a lot."

"That's good, I'm happy you found your true love." Yuri smiled, genuinely happy for the couple.

"Thanks, we're planning to get married next year."

"I'll be invited right?" Yuri teased.

Jessica smiled, "Of course!"

A bit of silence went by as they both took seated on the swing near where the garden was.

"I can't believe it's been 2 years already, seems like it was yesterday when you first left Seoul" Yuri said, leaning her back onto the swing as she lightly pushed the swing with her feet.

"I can't believe it myself, so how are you these past 2 years? I didn't get a chance to ask you all about it last time on cam. By the way, Jay wants to apologized, he gets a bit jealous sometimes."

Yuri smiled,

"It's alright to be jealous, I would be too. Remember the time I took you go karting? that pervert that stared at your chest! I was so jealous I wanted to punch him right in the face."

Jessica's eyes was lit up as she laughed, reminiscing what had happened back then,

"Ugh! I felt so uncomfortable too, he was practically undressing me with his eyes!"

"And guess what? when I went karting with Tiffany last week—"

Suddenly, Jessica's big smile faded into a slight grim expression.

"—that guy was still working there. He tried to take advantage of her too, but of course I didn't let that happen." Yuri said proudly.

"So.. I see that you two are getting really close now.."

Jessica said, fiddling with the daisy she picked up from the near by flowers.

Yuri gave out a small chuckle,

"I'm surprised myself."

"Even news programs are saying how you two are close―gossip magazines too!"

"Really? I haven't really caught up with the current news these days, but what can I tell ya? she's the nation's little sister, she's practically every where in Seoul at the moment."

Jessica laughed, pulling out the last petal from the daisy before discarding it,

"So, how did you two get to this stage? weeks before, you complained how she was a pain in the butt remember?"

"That's what I thought, but then I got to spend time with her. She's those kind of people who act strong on the outside, but on the inside, she's weak and fragile. I feel like I want to protect her sometimes."

"O-oh really?" Jessica asked, a bit of jealousy rushed through her although she profusely keep trying to deny them from entering her.

"Yeah, I do. I want to protect her." Yuri smiled, her hand reaching behind her neck as she lightly squeezed it, a bit embarrassed of what she just told Jessica.

"Hold on! stay still!" Yuri yelled suddenly as her eyes turn big.

"Wh—what's going on?" Jessica said, slightly panicking.

With her hand, Yuri quickly used it to squish the mosquito on Jessica's cheek. Quickly using her thumb to brush away the remnants of the bug as the thumb gently grazed against Jessica's skin.

Jessica can feel herself blushing.

One of the exact reasons why she first fell in love with Yuri in the first place.

"That is one fat mosquito, look at all this blood!"

"Yeah.." Jessica said, trying to wipe her cheek when Yuri just took the initiative instead.

"You're missing the spot" Yuri laughed.

She brought up two of her hands to her face, and with both hands, Yuri gently brushed away the blood when all Jessica could stare at - was Yuri's lips.

She missed the feeling of those lips against hers.