Purple

"Did you know purple boosts our creativity?"

"Does it?"

"It's also rare in nature. Doesn't that make it special?"

"I guess."

"Jessi, are you okay?"

"No."

Tiffany recoils as if she's been struck, and her eyes sport a wounded look. Jessica clenches her jaw and tenses her shoulders, she's not enjoying this moment in life. The plane is shaky and thick with the smell of processed food, Jessica blocks her nose with the length of a finger. She wants to stare out the window, but it's shut for the convenience of others. Tiffany is wriggling in her seat by the aisle, and tugs the sleeve of Jessica's shirt pitifully.

"Are you mad?"

Jessica lowers her eyelids and Tiffany is frightened at the averted gaze.

"Jessi, are you - "

"Yes."

She releases her hold on the sleeve, too surprised to do anything, and weakly asks.

"Why?"

Jessica says it begrudgingly.

"A fight with my parents."

Tiffany is happy to know that she is not the reason for Jessica's distress, but wants badly to soothe her girlfriend.

"Can I help with anything?"

It has nothing to do with Tiffany, but she hasn't been able to unleash her pent - up anger properly, and Tiffany was such an easy victim. She bitterly says the words, not meaning them at all.

"You can't."

---

"I really like how coffee is everywhere."

Tiffany glances over to the other girl. Jessica is watching the people walking past them with faint engrossment. Her eyes trace their gurthra's and shela's, inspect their flowing kandura's and abaya's, she's completely fascinated with seeing only black and white.

"Jessi?"

"Huh?"

"Were you listening?"

No, and she feels awfully guilty. Jessica swivels her seat and faces Tiffany.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

Tiffany smiles meekly and plays with the green straw in her drink. She tries again in distracting her girlfriend.

"I really like how coffee is everywhere."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's comforting to know something is the same in a different place."

Tiffany pushes her drink to Jessica, and puts her head down on the tabletop.

"Right?"

"I guess."

"I like having coffee in the mornings - "

"You don't have to do this."

"Do what?"

"Distract my mind from the fight."

"You shouldn't keep it buried."

"I just need time alone."

Tiffany closes her mouth, then reluctantly slides off the high stool. She walks to the exit and throws away her drink, even though it's not empty.

---

"DaeSung's lost the keys, so you guys might have to hang out by the pool for a bit - it's around the back of the hotel."

SeungHyun offers an appeasing smile, then heads back to the concierge, DaeSung is frantically searching through his bags at a far corner. Jessica is too irritated to speak, but listens to Tiffany.

"Let's go to the pool while they figure this out."

---

"It's sweltering. Suffocating, almost."

"Dubai's summer is usually like this."

"I don't like humidity."

Jessica pries off a button by hooking an index finger over her shirt's opening, her chest feels constricted. Tiffany swings her legs back and forth in the glimmering pool water, and creates a sprinkle of droplets to rain down over them. The water is warm due to the day's earlier heat, and Jessica grimaces at the tepid temperature.

"Even the water's warm. Some pool this is."

She shouldn't be complaining as both traveled the same distance - thirteen hours of turbulence along with three or five filled with impatience. Jessica knows Tiffany is tired as well, but cannot resist voicing out another dissatisfaction.

"Stupid DaeSung."

Jessica exhales a scoff and kicks one leg down into the pool. The water splashes up, then bubbles down into a ripple. It does little to alleviate Jessica's ill mood.

"Jessi."

And no matter how angry or weary, Jessica always turns her head to Tiffany's call.

"Yeah?"

Tiffany stares down at the lukewarm water with a forlorn smile and asks quietly.

"Do you not like it here?"

Jessica screws her eyes shut then clenches her jaw. She hates hearing the loneliness in Tiffany's question.

"I like being here. I'm sorry, the heat's been getting to me."

Jessica pulls back from the pool, and dampens the floor with her wet leg. She cautiously peeks at Tiffany, making sure not to move her neck, and bites her lower lip uncertainly. Tiffany is looking elsewhere and is silent, a sign that means she's thinking, usually of bad things.

"Hey..."

Jessica whispers and twists her body around to face Tiffany directly, The other girl pulls back her lips into a surprised frown, and watches curiously as Jessica inches forward with caution.

"Hey - look... I'm sorry."

Jessica's eyebrows furrow into a searching look and she holds her girlfriend's hand gently, feeling the heat of their skin intensely.

"I was tired today, that's all."

She lowers her shoulders to kiss Tiffany's neck, and leans one leg against Tiffany's back, the other over her legs. Jessica sighs apologetically against her girlfriend's throat. She glances down to Tiffany's legs, swaying carelessly in the water's slow current, looks away because she hates the reflection of her eyes - sorry and ashamed.

"You really hurt me back on the plane."

Jessica cringes and her mouth twists to a sour taste, a mixture of disgust and regret. She nuzzles the crook on Tiffany's neck, and her fingers curl to tighten their hold on Tiffany's pale blue shirt. She speaks with difficulty, prying her teeth apart as her mind is yearning for the right words.

"This is how I am, rarely, but it is how I am. Horrible, isn't it?"

She presses her dry lips to the pulse on Tiffany's chest, and opens her eyes.

"I was horrible today, but I'll be better tomorrow."

---

"Looking for ice? It's down onto your left."

Jessica jerks her head to the side and sees DaeSung coming in from the empty hotel lounge. He smells like the sand from outside, and has a smile lit too bright for her sore eyes. She looks back down to the card in her hand, and he slows his steps, aware of the sulk in her face.

"I'm guessing you're not out here for the ice."

She says nothing to the observant reply, but nods just enough to agree.

"Why aren't you in your room then?"

She breaks her silence and answers.

"Because Tiffany's inside."

"And?"

"And I feel like a jackass next to her."

"Did you two have a fight?"

"No, I was just a jackass."

"Did you apologize?"

"Yes."

"Did she take it?"

"Yes, but I don't feel right."

"Maybe you need to say more then."

The air in the hotel has a spicy smell, it's cooling and nice from the contrast outside. But Jessica feels suffocated.

"I'm afraid if I say what I really mean, she'll realize how much better she is than me."

"In other words?"

Jessica turns away and whispers before leaving.

"I don't want her to go and find someone better than me."

---

"Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere."

Tiffany turns off the television and tosses the remote control to the side. She smiles as Jessica undresses into her nightwear, a simple shirt and cotton pants. Tiffany asks tentatively when Jessica steps into the bathroom.

"What do you see in me?"

Jessica retracts her steps and looks at Tiffany from the doorway.

"What?"

Tiffany smoothes the wrinkles on her blanket, and hangs her head as she asks again.

"What do you see in me?"

Jessica walks backwards and out of the bathroom, she knows she should answer sincerely. Tiffany demands quietly.

"Say something romantic."

"That's not easy."

"Please."

Jessica struggles when she sees Tiffany's smile.

"Tell me, please."

The curl of her lips is so sweet.

"It's like seeing purple, and everyone else is blind."

Tiffany does not understand, and whispers in a smaller voice.

"Purple?"

Jessica takes a few shallow breaths before explaining.

"It's like seeing purple and everyone else is blind. It's beautiful - something that shouldn't belong only to me. But it does, because everyone else is blind to it. And the imperfect but best part of me doesn't want to share it."

Tiffany gapes and her gaze stays fixed on Jessica's face, she sees the creeping blush, but dares not tease the other girl. She simply stares and waits for Jessica to say more.

"Was that romantic? I don't know if it was, but it was the truth. Would you be satisfied with the truth?"

Her eyebrows raise and she's waiting for Tiffany's answer, nervously shifting her eyes back and forth to the carpet and to her naked toes, too timid to stare candidly.

"Very."

Tiffany sticks out her arms and is wordlessly asking for a hug, Jessica willingly obliges. She knees the bed's cushion and watches as fingers latch on to the nape of her neck.

"Why were you outside?"

"I made a call to my parents."

"You apologized?"

"Yes."

"Did you talk about anything else with them?"

Tiffany lifts a corner of the blanket and invites Jessica in, they settle under the covers and give each other a chaste kiss. Tiffany closes her eyes and feels a hand trace her ribs, she sucks in a breathe when nails claw her stomach lightly. Jessica busily unfastens the knot on Tiffany's drawstrings, and kisses the spot under her chin. She whispers distractedly to Tiffany.

"I told them that you make me better."

Tiffany drags her forward, and Jessica breathes deeply in relief. It's no longer suffocating.

---

"Tiffany? It's six in the morning..."

SeungHyun's voice is slurred and Tiffany cradles the hotel phone worriedly.

"I know... but is Jessi in your room?"

"No, why?"

"I woke up, and she's not in the room..."

SeungHyun sounds alert but calm as he reasons with Tiffany.

"Get some sleep, I'm sure she'll come back soon."

"But - "

The door to her room opens with a click, and she hears Jessica's breathing.

"Nevermind, she's back. Thanks, SeungHyun."

"No problem."

Tiffany hangs up the phone and is about to lecture Jessica for making her worry, but holds her tongue to the sight of a dripping plastic cup. Jessica places it on a table by the bed, and stands in front of Tiffany.

"I got you coffee, since you said you like them for your mornings. They only had Starbucks nearby, so it took a while to get to Coffee Bean."

"Why - "

"They have purple straws."

Tiffany stares at the purple straw in her ice - blended drink, she blinks then hugs Jessica's waist fiercely, her body is warm from the outside air. Jessica blushes and replies modestly.

"It's just a drink."

Tiffany murmurs against Jessica's stomach.

"You got me a purple straw."

"Anyone could have done it."

"But only you did it."

---

"Comfortable?"

"Yes, but just a little sad that we're leaving."

Tiffany chuckles and leans her head against Jessica's arm, they both stare out the airplane window.

"We can always come back."

Jessica nods and whispers.

"Tiffany?"

"Yeah?"

"I lied about what I said on the last plane. You always help me with everything."

Tiffany shuts her eyes, then reaches over to hold Jessica's hand, squeezes it reassuringly.

"Stop thinking about that, I already forgave you."

"You really can help me with everything though. Just the fact that I'm not alone makes me happy."

Tiffany cracks one eye open and smiles at Jessica.

"Does the incident on the plane bother you that much?"

"Yes."

Tiffany lifts her head to kiss Jessica's mouth, then slides her lips across to an ear, she whispers before going to sleep.

"Then promise to always be there when I wake up."

She promised.

Jessica always woke Tiffany up to a coffee with a purple straw.

The End.

Enter

"Take a look around, this is me, what, I, see.”

A girl is singing outside her window.

"You tell me now, that, nothing matters to you.”

Jessica herself hates it when people sing without music. Oftentimes, they are out of tune, making up the words, or just plain horrible. But this girl can carry a tune, a low but likeable voice, and Jessica taps the pads on her keyboard softer, afraid that the girl might stop if she realizes someone else is listening.

She usually pulls the shades up in the mornings; it's harder to fall asleep with the sunlight hitting your face. Well, she found it was harder sometimes, but not always. Today, though, her landlord informed her that a group of painters would be coming, thus the shades.

"I think re-painting the walls will attract more customers!"

It was what her landlord had explained and quite frankly, Jessica cringed inwardly at the remark.

She likes her apartment. It's located in an affluent neighborhood, partially thanks to her livelihood, and mostly thanks to her parents. But what lured her in was the lack of residence. It wasn't surprising really, with the recession and all; in fact it was a wonder the apartment complex stood at all. Jessica thought it was perfectly fine the way it is, fading paint and prolonged silences.

She didn't voice this though, and so a worker – a painter – is singing outside her window.

And she wants to make a connection – feels a strange connection, even if it'll be strange.

She shuts the lid to her laptop, carefully of course, and leans back into her chair. It makes a small squeak, but she doesn't think the girl notices. She sees her shadow swaying against the curtains, oblivious and freely singing. Jessica closes her eyes; she should finish her assignment, but she always does better under pressure. So why not procrastinate to build the pressure? A breeze slips by the slim opening created by her window. It blows against her shade and enlarges the girl's shadow. Jessica catches sight of the girl's unoccupied hand, tapered fingers smudged with white. But the girl completely misses Jessica, whistling along to her melody.

It's two in the afternoon, and Jessica is falling asleep to a song.

---

She wakes up three hours later, a crick in her neck, along with an unfinished assignment. She flips open her laptop and groans, rubbing the nape of her neck while she groggily blinks.

She stares at the blinking line on her document, the consistent flashing urging her to finish – start, anything. Hurry, it seems to say, you're running out of time. Jessica scoffs because she no longer cares much of finding inspiration, and instead looks toward the window. She gets out of her chair, walks over lazily, and then slides a finger over the glass, wiping away a thin coat of dust.

---

As usual, the workers come on time at ten in the morning.

Jessica waits patiently at her chair, unconsciously strumming blunt fingernails over her closed laptop. She's holding her breath, and she hears it, the clang of a ladder against the outside wall. A happy whistle, because her shades are drawn, and the girl thinks, once again, that no one's there to hear her sing. The girl perches herself on the top step of the ladder, then pulls out her bucket of paint and brush. Her sleeves are rolled and bunched around her elbows. How quaint, Jessica thinks, the girl is serious in doing her job, even if she sings like a child.

The girl wipes the panel between two windows, rolling the brush leisurely, then stops suddenly. Jessica smirks, excitement brewing in her stomach. The girl is staring at the window Jessica touched the night before, and concentration is stiffening the girl's posture. The girl's hand lowers; it looks like she's figured out she's not alone. She stares straight ahead to where Jessica is behind the curtain, but is able to do nothing, as there is a screen beyond them. A flimsy, netted material, but enough to stand in her way in reaching for the obstructing curtain.

So she does what she can, and sings her favorite song. Jessica is amused that the girl does not try anything else. She expected an angry confrontation, or a retreat, not obedience. But this suits her fine.

She leans back and drifts away to sleep, this time with a quirked grin on her face.

---

Jessica is smugly smiling, arms crossed and reading the question again. She is delighted that the message is subtly taunting her. What a thing to wake up to. She writes back her response, hoping it'll be just as playfully teasing.

---

Tiffany Hwang.

And it looks as though she's figured out her name. It couldn't have been too hard, given that Jessica is a client. Tiffany could have easily searched her name on a sheet somewhere in her company's list. But it was cheeky, and it made Jessica smile. Widely.

The girl is not singing today when she sits by the window. She's working efficiently, almost like she's hurrying. Jessica is dissatisfied at this. Call her greedy, but she's never liked the idea of losing. She pulls, nearly rips, the curtain aside and stares at the stranger, Tiffany. Tiffany is caught off guard, gaping and frozen in place. Her hands are slightly shaking when she gazes into Jessica's unflinching glare, and she can't break away. Ms. Jung, Jessica, looks angry. Why? Could she tell how Tiffany wants to leave? And then Tiffany gets angry. How dare someone display displeasure at her decisions? She has her own free-will, she is able to do whatever she likes, and she will stop this – whatever this is – right now. Tiffany glares back at her stubbornly, her eyes hardening as her mouth sets firmly into a frown. She might get into trouble for this – she is an employee after all. Her boss always emphasized on how every customer's satisfaction mattered. But how could Tiffany let Jessica stare down on her like this? She is working quicker than usual, yes. And it is because she wants to avoid Jessica, yes. But did Jessica have a say in that? No. So why was she shaking?

Jessica raises an eyebrow, intrigued at Tiffany's mute defiance. She notices her hand clutching at her curtain, loosens her grip, and then crosses her arms. Her soft insult makes Tiffany wince.

"Cheeky."

Cheeky? Her? Why that arrogant – what the hell is she, anyway? Tiffany wildly scans the room. A laptop, papers all over her desk, some scattered on her floor, and books everywhere. A student? Writer? Editor? Journalist? Oh, whatever.

She musters up her courage, and fires – sputters - back.

"Y - you have no right to call me that!"

And this makes Jessica smirk and Tiffany shrink.

In the fourth grade, boys constantly bothered Jessica. She never got what her mother had meant when she had said, “They do it because they like you.” But she gets it now; she cannot get enough of Tiffany’s lack of composure – it’s cute.

It's honestly adorable. So she says it again.

"Cheeky."

Tiffany is flabbergasted, her mouth twitches as Jessica grins impishly, laying a hand over the window's bottom edge. She sticks her chin forward, and waits for another lame retort.

Tiffany gives her none; instead, she slams the paintbrush back into her bucket. It dangles off her elbow as she rolls her sleeves back down. She's had enough of this girl's play.

"I don't do this job for the money. I don't need you to be rude to me."

She starts down the ladder, and Jessica disappears from the window. Tiffany feels somewhat frustrated that the other girl doesn't offer an apology, but makes do with the sound of a closed door – at least it's over and done with. Or so she thinks.

She reaches the end of the ladder, dusts off her hands, then turns around. Her yelp is swallowed down forcibly when she's greeted with Jessica's face.

"H - how-"

"I took the elevator."

Elevator? Elevator and a damn burst of speed is more like it, you cocky-

"So. You say you don't do this for the money. Is that really true?"

Oh, God, Tiffany thinks, are we really continuing this?

"Look... Ms. Jung, I'd appreciate it if we could end this."

"You already know my name, so it's all right if you call me by it. And no."

Tiffany flares her nostrils as she exhales some of her stress. She snaps back at the girl – Jessica.

"Fine, Jessica, I'll tell you why if you apologize."

Jessica doesn't miss a beat.

"I'm sorry, Tiffany."

And it pisses Tiffany off to see her nonchalant gaze, but it jolts her to hear the soft tone along with her name. She keeps to her promise.

"I'm doing this to sleep right."

Jessica tilts her head, her frown matching the slant of her eyebrows.

"I don't understand how this would help with your sleep."

Tiffany huffs, she regrets telling Jessica her reason, as it looks as though the other girl's curiosity heightened through it.

"I don't think I have to answer any more of your questions-”

"Should I apologize some more?"

"What? No, no, that won't get you anywhere."

The paint-can hanging around her elbow jostles, and Tiffany clasps the handle to hold it by her thigh. She hopes Jessica is tactful enough to interpret the gesture; she's done for the day. She side-steps so as to not come in contact with the other girl, but halts at the voice.

"You're coming back tomorrow?"

She's about to fume and yell at Jessica, but stops when she listens to the whisper.

"I think you have a lovely voice."

TBC.

Enter Pt. 2

"Unbelievable."

Tiffany is wallowing in her agitation, but blushes as she traces back her memories. Her voice... lovely? She shakes her head and snorts. What does a stranger's opinion matter? A brunette with tightly pulled-back hair, severe eyes, and a set line for a mouth... why should such a person's opinion matter? It shouldn't.

Tiffany flops down onto her bed, eyes glued to the ceiling above, and tells herself repetitively: don't go back.

---

Tiffany stares at the letters in wonder. Jessica's not by the window, nor at her desk. Her laptop hums on quietly while its screen swirls with different images. Tiffany cranes her neck to look at the room's furthest corner; no one's in the room. She focuses her eyes back to the window; the letters sprawled across her reflection. She shrugs her shoulders and starts painting, ignoring the pang of disappointment somewhere in her chest. She wanted to be left alone yesterday. She's not sure what she wants today-

"Hey."

Tiffany jumps, almost losing her grip on the ladder, then leers back at her caller. Jessica is peering up at her, arms crossed and lips askew to a smirk.

"I see you came back again."

Tiffany scoffs, pushing away a small grin, then snaps back to the wall. Painting uneven coats as she refuses to look at Jessica.

"Giving me the silent treatment?"

Jessica is provoking her with a smile on her face.

"Still punishing me for yesterday?"

But Tiffany won't look at her. She colors the wall with rapt attention.

"But you came back. So I guess you're willing to forgive me eventually."

Stroke after stroke, the wet paint glistens nicely.

"How does this job help you sleep right?"

Tiffany glances down on her watch. Three more hours until lunch. And lunch means she can go home. Let's see if Jessica can keep pestering for three more hours. She realizes Jessica has stopped asking, a few more minutes pass in silence. Tiffany, against her better judgment, looks down. Jessica's gone, and again, she feels the familiar pang.

It looks like Jessica can't even last for a few minutes, let alone three hours. She fixes her eyes back at the window, and is startled at her reflection. She's frowning.

---

Her right arm is a bit sore and her left arm is a bit stiff. Her stomach growls, and she doesn't check her watch; she knows it's time for lunch. She wearily makes her way down the ladder, her bucket bouncing off each step. The wind is blowing pleasantly today, and she turns to face it, gasping when Jessica is before her. The other girl has a sacked paper bag in her right hand, she thrusts it against Tiffany's chest, and Tiffany hurriedly accepts it. Jessica is wordless for a minute, and then spins on her heels, walking away with a whisper.

"Maybe you'll let me know tomorrow. Enjoy your lunch."

Tiffany gapes, the bag in her hands along with her brush. She opens it, the brown paper crinkling as she stares curiously. Inside is a tuna sandwich, complete with a small soda can and chips.

---

"Liked the sandwich yesterday?"

Jessica's later than yesterday by three hours and forty minutes. Yes, Tiffany has been counting.

She lets a droplet of paint fall as she suspends her brush in the air. Her knuckles pale as she tightens her hold on the ladder's top, and she feels Jessica's scrutiny on her back.

"Yes."

She replies because it's the least she could do. Jessica had gone out of her way to get the sandwich after all. She can see the curves in Jessica's smile when she asks.

"So tell me, how does this job affect your sleeping? Or do I have to get another sandwich?"

The persistence is attractive, Tiffany will not lie to that, but it baffles her.

"Why do you keep asking? And what are you trying to tell me on your-"

She flings her hand to the dusty glass in front of her.

"In front of your window..."

Jessica tips her head back, her bangs falling over the crown of her head, and a canine tooth appears as she smugly grins.

"You'll know soon enough."

Tiffany sighs deeply through her nose at the reply. She wants precise answers, then it dawns on her that perhaps Jessica wants exactly the same.

"I finished my four years of college a year ago."

She knows Jessica is holding her breath.

"And I haven't been able to find a job, no one has in this economy, but I didn't expect it to be so hard."

Tiffany hangs her head, a drop of paint on her brush now rolling down to her wrist.

"They say it'll always get worse before it gets better. I don't know, I hated seeing the worst, and I got insomnia because of it."

The bead of liquid is now dangling off her elbow.

"I'm not doing this job for the money, I told you that. But it makes me wake up at exactly ten in the morning. If I quit this job, um, I'll probably stay up all night... or at least that's what happens when I don't have any responsibilities."

She feels awfully small. She's standing high atop a ladder, way above Jessica, and yet, she feels so tiny and vulnerable. She peeks down and sees Jessica's shadow, stock still and seemingly pensive. Jessica walks away quietly, leaving Tiffany with a feeling that is strangely close to abandonment.

Tiffany nervously examines her watch. Five minutes until the end. She goes down, each step making her face grow a shade deeper in red. She's humiliated at having shared her personal problem, and been given a cold response. She wants to run, leave the ladder along with her unfinished work, but stalls at the sound of a jingling key. It's Jessica, and she's walking toward Tiffany, tossing and catching a set of keys high into the air casually with her strides.

"Hungry?"

Tiffany's stomach shamelessly answers for the other girl. She ducks her chin, mortified and shoulders raised. A corner of Jessica's mouth lifts up, and she chuckles.

"Cute. I'll take that as a yes. Follow me."

Tiffany blushes ferociously, but follows with leaden feet.

---

"Never been in a car before?"

"N - no! It's just that... I never rode in a stranger's car before..."

Tiffany chews on her bottom lip. She leans her shoulder against the car's window, distancing herself from Jessica as much as possible.

"You think I might do something other than buy you lunch?"

Jessica looks to her with a frown conveying slight offense, but also with eyes understanding that there might be a reason. Tiffany squirms in her seat. She had accepted Jessica's offer so readily, she forgot to actually consider the consequences: mugging, harassment... murder? But she heard the word "cute," and she had seen the smirk. Tiffany blushes again, slightly unwillingly, as she replays Jessica's voice.

"Cute. I'll take that as a yes. Follow me."

Tiffany's been called cute by many guys before. But somehow Jessica makes the word different. Maybe it's because she's so honest? It's like Jessica doesn't simply throw words around even if she'll tell the truth. She probably doesn't say the word "cute" because it's easy to say, but because she really thinks something or someone genuinely is "cute." Someone like Tiffany.

"You kind of go cross-eyed when you think too hard."

Tiffany snaps her head up with a gawk, appalled at Jessica's light chuckle. She's about to yell back, but Jessica's laughter vanishes and her mouth's set to a serious line once again.

"Did you really think I might do something other than buy you lunch?"

She's keeping one eye on Tiffany, the other on the side of the road she's driving. Both of her hands are steadying the steering wheel as she listens intently. Tiffany flushes, then scowls because she knows Jessica sees her changing complexion, and repositions her body correctly back on the seat. She admits through the corner of her lips.

"No..."

Jessica snorts then relaxes her shoulders, leaving only one hand on the steering wheel. She goes into a parking lot, a few other cars inside the structure, and slows down to a valet waiting at the back of a building. He opens the door once she stops the car, and another man opens Tiffany's side. Tiffany sits still, trying to get a clue of where she's at, and starts at the sound of Jessica's voice.

"Getting out?"

She steps out, smiles apologetically to the man holding her door, and glares at Jessica as she follows her behind.

---

"Should I order for you?"

Jessica mistakes Tiffany's silence for ignorance, and takes the menu out of the other girl's hands.

"I - I can order for myself."

Jessica lifts an eyebrow and asks.

"Why are you taking so long then? You've been staring at the menu for almost twenty minutes."

Tiffany presses her lips together, her eyebrows lowering as she shamefully gazes down at her pants. She whispers while tugging on her shirt's hem.

"This is an expensive restaurant..."

"So?"

"I'm not dressed appropriately...and people are staring..."

Jessica watches as Tiffany continues looking down to her paint-covered shirt, shakes her head then gets up from her chair. Tiffany peers up curiously to see Jessica mundanely looking ahead, locking eyes with everyone who's staring - they quickly look away in guilt. She strips off her jacket and folds it before offering with a tilt of her head.

"Here. Wear it."

Tiffany hesitantly lifts her hand into the air, and accepts the garment. Jessica keeps standing and Tiffany knows she has to wear it for the other girl to sit down. She looks up - no one's staring at her anymore - and slips on the jacket, then mumbles, at ease at letting Jessica see her blush.

"Thank you."

---

"So what are you, Jessica?"

"A student."

"Shouldn't a student be studying instead of picking up a date with a stranger?"

"I do whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want."

"So no one could ever change that about you?"

"Only if you could break my heart."

"Well that's... one way to change someone, I guess."

"In other words, no one's been able to change me."

---

"You think all lies are bad?"

"You're getting crumbs on my jacket."

"Sorry - hey, you gave it to me! Anyway, do you?"

"Not all of them are bad."

"Why-"

"Some give hope. I don't think it's bad to give someone hope."

"I never thought of it that way before-"

"You're dipping my jacket's sleeve into the balsamic vinegar."

---

"Still trying to figure it out?"

Tiffany scrunches her eyebrows then sits down atop of her ladder. Jessica is on the ground, yawning with her arms crossed. Tiffany whines feebly, frustrated at the written puzzle and hungry.

"Couldn't you just write it all out?"

Jessica snorts and taps the ladder's side with her foot.

"Let's go get lunch."

---

"Are you always going to lend me jackets?"

"Are you always going to get paint on your clothes?"

"Yes..."

"Then yes for me too."

---

Jessica disinterestedly asks Tiffany.

"Would you like to try a drink? I heard the cocktails-"

"Yes."

An intrigued smile peeks out of Jessica, and she questions Tiffany while propping her palm against her cheek.

"You like to drink?"

Tiffany coughs into her hand and turns her head. The light above her head accentuates her face's profile in the dim room, and Jessica appreciates it silently as Tiffany admits somewhat bashfully.

"I do."

---

The alcohol gives Tiffany unusual courage along with a refreshing kind of stupidity. And a silly grin. She cannot stop smiling, and Jessica is also smiling. But she wonders if Jessica is smiling at her, or with her. All she knows is that Jessica's sober.

And kind of sexy, but she'll never admit to that.

---

"What do you think about me?"

"Why are you... asking?"

"Because you're drunk, and there's a high chance you'll tell me the truth. So I'm taking advantage of that."

"Hmmm... what... was the question again?"

"What do you think about me?"

"You know what I think about you... Jessica Jung?"

"What?"

"You don't lie... so I like it when you say something is cute..."

"What else?"

"You're cocky..."

"Cocky?"

"Cocky, cocky, cocky, cocky... cocky..."

"That's all?"

"No..."

"Then?"

"You're sexy."

---

Tiffany groans. She peels her eyes open slowly then screws them shut tightly. It's so bright, and it feels like someone's hammering nails into her brain.

"Ugh..."

Her neck feels scratchy and she trudges her arm across to itch the particular spot. She smacks her lips successively as she doesn't understand her throat's parched quality.

"Feeling brand new?"

Tiffany's eyes fly open, and she moans at the pain the sudden movement triggers in her. She turns her head to the right and cracks open one eye. Jessica is smirking that damnable smirk, and sitting in a chair. Tiffany checks the room: it's her room, and she's on her own bed. With her own clothes on. She glances back at Jessica and asks.

"How did you get in here?"

"You gave me the key. Actually, to be more precise, last night you threw the keys out of the car's window, and I picked it up on the street."

Tiffany squeezes her eyes and cringes into her pillow, embarrassment flooding uncontrollably all over her body. She weakly whispers.

"Sorry..."

Jessica crosses her legs and grins.

"I guess you can't work today?"

"Unless you want me to?"

"No, you'd probably paint over my windows with your current state."

Tiffany chortles, then groans pathetically, immediately blaming Jessica for her pain and for trying to make her laugh.

There's a dull scraping noise as Jessica moves away from the chair. Tiffany asks with closed eyes.

"Where, um, where did you sleep last night?"

"I didn't sleep."

"Was that because of me? Gosh, I'm so sorry..."

"It's all right. You can thank me later by washing my jacket."

"What? Why?"

"You threw up on it."

"God..."

The door is being opened, and Tiffany winces as she yells.

"Hey - ow... are you going now?"

"Yeah."

"Oh..."

"I'll get you some hangover remedies."

"So... you'll be coming back?"

Jessica glances back at Tiffany, the other girl's back turned to her and motionless. The question hangs in the air, and Jessica knows Tiffany is unblinking and waiting breathlessly for an answer.

"I'll be back in half an hour. With the remedies."

She hears a sigh, and turns the door's handle.

"Oh, and Tiffany?"

Tiffany croaks nervously.

"Y - yeah?"

"It usually makes me mad when someone ruins my jacket, or in your case, throws up on it."

"Gosh, I'm so-"

"But you were cute last night, so I'll forgive it."

TBC

Enter Pt. 3

"Did I say anything... weird last night?"

"You don't remember anything?"

"I just remember drinking the first glass..."

"You don't remember all five?"

"No..."

Tiffany is lying. She remembers some things. She remembers all five drinks, calling Jessica cocky, and then calling Jessica sexy. The memory burns her face painstakingly with a blush. She doesn't remember throwing up on Jessica's jacket, or throwing her keys away. Yet she remembers the way Jessica's had laughed and smiled before closing her eyes to sleep.

"Oh... I guess you wouldn’t be able to remember with all those drinks."

She expects Jessica to be sad, but the other girl waltzes to her from the small kitchen with a drink in hand. Tiffany asks warily.

"What is that?"

Jessica snatches a jutting note out of her pocket, and hangs it in front of Tiffany, using her memory to recite the title printed on the note monotonously.

"Banana milkshake sweetened with honey."

Tiffany swallows reluctantly, her gulp echoing along through the dryness of her throat. She loves food, but she’s not sure if she should trust Jessica’s skills in making drinks. Something about the way Jessica had previously slammed and mishandled Tiffany’s blender, tells her that the other girl is not apt in cooking.

“Do you, uh, do you make drinks often? Or is this your first time in making – “

Jessica pushes the tip of the glass into the other girl's mouth, the shake's foam coats Tiffany's upper lip, while she tries to gurgle out a protest. Jessica shakes her head and makes a disagreeing noise.

"Drink it. It took a lot to make it."

The drink consists only of banana, milk, honey, and ice. Could it really be that hard to make? Sure, Tiffany’s not a chef herself, but who exactly has troubles on–

“Stop daydreaming, and drink it.”

Tiffany tries to give Jessica her doe-like eyes, but those fail miserably, as Jessica instead pinches Tiffany's nose.

"You want me to force you to drink it?"

Tiffany slowly shakes her head, making sure the drink doesn't spill, and Jessica lets go of her nose. She starts to smile as Tiffany finally drinks from the cup, and asks while Tiffany finishes the milkshake.

"Didn't your third drink also have a banana in it?"

Tiffany wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

"No, that one had a kiwi... the last one had a banana."

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You're cute when you try to lie."

Tiffany seizes up. She realizes her slip, and ducks her head with cheeks enflamed and widened eyes.

"Did you think I looked sexy when I was making you the shake?"

"Shut-up."

---

Tiffany lets the paint drip off from her paintbrush. She wants to become miniscule, microscopic, anything, other than visible at the moment. Because Jessica Jung is staring at her through her window, smirking, while drinking a glass of what is undeniably a banana milkshake. And Tiffany knows a taunt when she sees one.

"That's very funny."

Tiffany mutters, trying to narrow her eyes into a displeased expression, but Jessica snorts and pushes her window open.

"What is? Can't I like banana milkshakes?"

"You're obviously trying to remind me of that night. I thought you promised to never mention it again when you left yesterday."

"I didn't mention anything yet, I'm just enjoying a drink."

Jessica slurps and empties the drink. She walks over to her desk and places the glass on the edge of a notebook, before facing Tiffany with a sly grin.

"I‘m guessing your paranoia is coming from your hunger. Let’s go get lunch."

"Can't you at least ask me out nicely on a date?"

Jessica cocks her head at the suggestion. She crosses her arms then heads out the door. Tiffany sighs and goes down her ladder, loosening the elastic around her ponytail, and closes the lid to her paint-can. She turns around and sees Jessica, keys in hand and in deep silence. It makes Tiffany nervous.

"W - what are you thinking about?"

Jessica goes forward, brushes the back of her hand against Tiffany's cheek, and whispers.

"Spend time with me. Please?"

Tiffany is speechless; she remembers she should breathe and starts doing so, as Jessica steps back with raised eyebrows.

"Was that nicely done? Or would you like for me to ask you out again?"

---

"What would you rather have? A successful relationship or a successful job?"

"Can't I have both?"

Jessica scoffs, and then grins at Tiffany's naïveté.

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"Because you have to give your all to one, and that makes you automatically lack for the other."

"Well then... I guess I choose work."

"Really?"

"Trust me, it sucks not being able to land a good job."

"Even if it'll mean you'll be alone?"

"I'm used to being alone."

---

"What do you think about the name Jessi?"

"Is that going to be my nickname?"

"Yeah, I like it."

"It doesn't matter if I don't?"

"Nope."

---

It's a weekend.

Therefore, no Jessica.

Nothing but rest.

And boredom.

Tiffany grabs the pillow from underneath her head, and crams it to her face, screaming into it as she hates herself for what she's about to do next.

---

"I didn't expect you to call so soon."

Tiffany had not either. But boredom quickly called upon loneliness in her small and quiet home. Jessica had given her number a couple of days ago, and so Tiffany decided to put it to good use today.

"So where do you want to go today?"

Tiffany looks at Jessica who stares back at her with eyes half-lidded, seemingly disinterested. But she knows Jessica is interested. Or else why would Jessica bother with her?

"I want to go to the beach."

---

The air is salty. A few seagulls call at one another, using the wind to their advantage as they soar higher and higher. Tiffany watches them as Jessica sits by her on the sand. The warm grains felt perfect with the view of the cool and on-coming sunset.

"When's the last time you've been to the beach?"

Jessica asks while looking straight ahead, her eyes never leaving the horizon created by the moving waves. Tiffany digs her toes deeper into the sand and curls them, liking how they feel against her skin. She answers, squinting, as she leans back on her hands.

"A few years ago I guess."

"With someone?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"My ex."

Jessica's questions end after that.

---

"You know, I think it's time you pay for the dates sometimes."

Tiffany stiffens involuntarily and glares at Jessica. It hurts a little to know Jessica no longer sees her the same: no longer deserving of free meals, but instead having to pay for the companionship. Tiffany stands by her doorway, not inside or outside, and sets her right hand on the doorframe. It shocks her to hear her own words.

"Yeah, I guess I should."

The smell of the sea still hangs in Jessica's hair, faint at an arm's distance, pungent only when she bends over to whisper.

"I'd like for you to pay back for today then."

Tiffany is flabbergasted. She agreed to pay back, but never suspected Jessica to ask for the money so soon. She clears her throat and tips her chin up, trying to appear unfazed.

"How much was today then?"

"Today's total includes the gas for the car and the dinner. So it comes up to eighty dollars."

Tiffany cannot remain unfazed.

"What? That's insane! I-"

"I always paid for that amount or more on our dates."

Jessica smirks as Tiffany mentally calculates the sum. She gasps when her head settles on an estimated figure. Her words jumble, a little apologetic at having Jessica already spend so much.

"F - fine, let me, um, let me go get my wallet in-"

Jessica reaches out and grips Tiffany's hand, preventing her from leaving the doorway. Jessica sounds curious with her own question, her palm warm against Tiffany's trembling wrist.

"Who said I wanted money?"

"You..."

Tiffany's lungs stop momentarily, aghast and incredulous, she squeaks with a waver in her tone.

"You... want my body?"

Jessica chuckles and brings Tiffany closer, slipping her hand over to tug on the front of Tiffany's shirt. She inclines her head to whisper into the other girl's red ear.

"I just want a kiss."

Tiffany is finding it difficult to inhale and exhale. She's shaking against her own will as Jessica positions her face directly in front. She wants to answer, dammit, she wants to say something. But she's frozen as Jessica blows softly against her lips.

"What happened to the person who agreed so readily to my request? She was willing to pay for such a huge price, and now she can't even say anything to a kiss?"

Tiffany finally hisses.

"It looks like you really want a kiss from me."

This amuses Jessica. She breaks into a chuckle and pulls back, crossing her arms as she leaves with a whisper.

"It looks like you always take forever in answering simple questions."

Tiffany is still standing by her door an hour later after Jessica leaves. Her face a rosy shade despite having been outside for so long. Her silence ends with a dejected cry to no one.

"You're so impatient! You probably would have gotten an answer if you had waited a little longer!"

---

It's been weeks, and Jessica hasn't mentioned the question of the kiss ever since.

Every night they go somewhere, and every night they stand by Tiffany's door.

Sometimes, Tiffany thinks Jessica is waiting for her to say something, but she leaves before Tiffany thinks of anything.

---

It's time to say everything.

She waits for the bus, going over her practiced lines, exercised emotions. There's a foul smell coming from the corner of the bench she’s sitting on, but Tiffany shuns it from her senses, as she concentrates on her speech.

She doesn't take heed of anything outside of her mind, not even the rain that starts to fall. It gets heavier with each passing second, and by the time the bus rolls around Tiffany is drenched from head to toe. But she honestly doesn't notice anything, not even when the bus passes; she's too busy perfecting her speech. She mumbles under her breath, over and over again.

"Sure, I'll give you a kiss. I mean, what's so wrong about a casual kiss? I used to kiss my pet dog all the time. Kissing you shouldn't be anything different from-"

Tiffany sneezes.

---

"Are you one of those hippies that go outside to embrace the rain for hours?"

"Shut-up."

Tiffany growls, her voice thick and lower than usual, her eyes red and watery, her nose chafed from the abuse of rough tissues, and her pride hurt like hell. She sniffs, coughs while shutting her eyes, and pulls the covers of her bed over her head. Jessica snorts, grips the end of the blanket and pulls it down as she sits at the edge of the bed.

"Feeling any better?"

Tiffany grumbles, glancing away with a frown.

"A bit."

"Those medicines cost a bit too."

Tiffany blushes, her body's fever increasing while she whispers.

"So you want compensation?"

Jessica grins like a cat who's caught an adorable mouse.

"Would you be willing to pay me back?"

Tiffany's mouth dries. She feels Jessica's fingertips run over her knuckles; they're cold from having held the medication bottles earlier. She refrains from shivering, her answer controlled and lacking courage.

"It depends. What do you want from me?"

Her eyes peek out of the blanket as Jessica nudges the hem further down.

"How about a kiss? Or will I have to wait in eternity again?"

"You didn't even wait that long!"

"Oh? Well, then, I'll start waiting again. I'm hoping your answer will be quicker this time."

Jessica watches Tiffany, her eyes downcast as Tiffany's eyes are shifting, everywhere, avoiding the other girl's expectant stare. She's glad the blanket is covering her mouth, which is open and stupidly hanging. Jessica sighs through her nose, removing her hand and slowly retracting it to her side. She starts to rise and Tiffany acts before thinking, catching her by the wrist. It surprises Jessica, pleasantly. She stares at Tiffany for an answer, and is given a command.

"Close your eyes."

Jessica obeys, the lift of her smirk fading as Tiffany slowly pulls her in under her blanket. She stammers as the heat of Jessica's body intensifies.

"Y - you might get the virus from me."

Jessica almost opens her eyes then, but snorts and playfully replies.

"If we even get that far, because at this rate I'll probably fall asleep on-"

Tiffany's the one who lunges first, initiating the intimate act recklessly, but she’s also the one gasping at the touch of their lips, overwhelmed by the sensation. Jessica's mouth is so soft, warm, unlike the rest of her face, which is angular and cold. Jessica rubs her tongue over Tiffany's bottom lip teasingly, licking gently, savoring the taste of the other girl. She hesitantly darts her tongue into Tiffany's mouth, the tip pushing past and gliding over smooth teeth. It horrifies Tiffany, but she finds herself whimpering helplessly, Jessica’s tongue provoking such unbridled responses.

"Ughn!"

The sound drives Jessica wild. She swipes her tongue hard against the roof of Tiffany’s mouth as her fingers creep over Tiffany's face.

“Hnh!”

Jessica cups Tiffany's jaw with both hands, and sucks the corner of her mouth before biting down on it.

What illness? Tiffany's never felt better.

They part when Tiffany's mouth is swollen and red, when Jessica's breathing is ragged and erratic. Tiffany, for the first time since meeting Jessica, asks cheekily.

"You really wanted to kiss me, didn’t you?"

Jessica pants against Tiffany's cheek.

"Yes."

They kiss for a while longer, leading them to fall asleep together in exhaustion, eventually waking up at an irregular hour. Jessica is stroking Tiffany’s arm fondly, her face stoic but relaxed as Tiffany talks on and on about a movie.

"And then the guy is fighting with a baby in his arms while the-"

"A baby?"

"Yeah, he holds the baby like a football while fighting-"

"What's the movie’s name again?"

"Red Cliff - Stop interrupting me!"

"You talk really fast when you’re-"

Jessica sneezes.

TBC

Enter Pt. 4

“When will you guys ever stop coming?”

There's another bill on the table, and Tiffany refuses to look at it as she mutters lifelessly.

“It’s not like I want any of you.”

She's leaving through her door, ready to forget about the pile of bills on her desk, on her way to Jessica's place. A sick Jessica’s place. Jessica, who is her… customer? What was Jessica exactly? She could be an infatuation, the kind that never lasts. Or she could be more… right?

Oh, screw it all.

Tiffany twists her mouth as she enters a mini–mart. She takes several strides before sliding into an aisle and grabbing a bottle. It’s the medicine Jessica had bought for her when she had been sick. She stalls; staring down at the label, and slowly removes her thumb that’s covering the price tag. The medication is so much more expensive than she had thought it would have been. It shouldn’t make her upset; she should be grateful for the money Jessica spends on her, but she cannot stop the sinking feeling of discomfort.

She's not sure if it's because of envy, or if it's because she can't do the same – not caring about money - for Jessica as easily.

So while she plunks the bottle down in front of the cashier, she picks up her cell phone and starts to call everywhere. She even calls the people she's grown distant with. Anyone who'll be able to offer her a job worthier than the one she has now.

She sort of finds it on her sixth call, when she’s almost at a bus stop. The call is a distant cousin who is willing to speak about her to his boss. She hangs up with her hand gripping tightly over the bottle, her back facing her dingy apartment home.

---

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

Jessica is sitting on Tiffany’s work ladder, wearing a large shirt, the buttons all aligned incorrectly. She raises one arm, the sleeve of her large shirt falling to her elbow, exposing a brown square bandage.

“I went and got a shot.”

“Oh…”

“What’s that behind your back?”

“N – nothing–“

“I’d like to see what nothing looks like.”

And before Tiffany could chuck it into a bush, hurl it far into the air, smash it under her feet, Jessica swiftly grabs her wrist and examines the store bought item.

“This is the same thing I got you when you were sick. You bought it for me?”

Tiffany sighs, looks away while her arm slackens in Jessica’s hold.

“I’ll probably have to return it now.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, you don’t want to use it since you’ve already treated your–“

“Let’s go then.”

“Huh?”

“To the market. Let’s go.”

---

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"I might get another job.”

“When?”

Jessica is picking up the cans of ham as Tiffany watches nervously.

“Um, I don’t know yet, my cousin has to call me back on that for – are you going on a picnic?”

“No, why?”

“Then are you preparing to disappear from the world?”

“No. You ask weird questions.”

“Then why are you buying so much food?”

Jessica stops herself from shoving in three crates of soda into her cart. She explains, in exasperation, as if it’s so obvious.

“This is for our lunch.”

What lunch? Spam and soda? First of all, that is a horrible diet.

“What… lunch?”

Jessica tosses in four cartons of eggs.

“The lunch we’re going to have at your home. We’re going to make fried rice.”

Flashes of Tiffany’s nearly destroyed blender come to mind, and she grapples with the soy sauce in Jessica’s hand.

“We don’t need this much!”

“Yeah?”

And it alarms Tiffany to see the genuine surprise in Jessica’s eyes.

“Y – yeah… Jessica, have you ever cooked fried rice before?”

Jessica ignores her, and swivels her head around.

“Where’s the pasta section? I like pasta more than rice.”

“You want pasta with fried rice?”

“Why not? You can cook the rice while I boil the water. It’s simple if you think about it.”

“Thinking and doing are not the same!”

“Stop spitting, you llama.”

Tiffany hurriedly claps her mouth shut with a full–faced blush, and fumes as Jessica rounds the corner, avidly searching for other possible ingredients for their “lunch.”

---

“You fail at cooking.”

“How can you say that when you burned the pasta to the bottom of the pot?”

Jessica shrugs and leans forward onto her toes as she inspects Tiffany’s sizzling pan; she coughs into the rising smoke, and goes over to open the far window. Tiffany sulks while Jessica grins, the smoke smoothly flowing out of the house as she announces to Tiffany, who’s clutching her spatula pitifully.

“Let’s clean up, and go out to eat instead.”

Tiffany tries to glare back, but ends up squinting her eyes and wheezing, the hot fumes sweeping across her face. Jessica steps forward to pull the other girl aside, smiling as she asks.

“So how long are you going to pout?”

“Forever.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Will it last even after I clean up the mess… alone?”

Tiffany frowns and looks out the window. She leans her elbow over the bottom edge, and broods while she supports her hand on her chin.

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll get started, and wait until you know.”

Jessica sets off and heads to the disaster area. She picks up the pot and pan, dumps them both into a sink, and turns on the faucet to a full blast. She twists the knob until steaming hot water shoots out from it, and looks around for the gloves. Tiffany watches as Jessica ferociously scrubs, her bangs matting onto her cheeks while droplets of water jump over the sink. Jessica is not excellent with washing the dishes, but it’s a bit better than her cooking. And the effort is something to take note of, Tiffany thinks. She finishes, slapping the wet gloves over the kitchen counter and grins back at Tiffany.

“Do you know now?”

Tiffany mumbles, brushing away her bangs as she looks to the side.

“Yes.”

A wry smile hangs on Jessica’s face, and she suggests in a quiet tone.

“Next time you should join in. Messes are always a lot faster to clean up with two people involved.”

---

The lunch was better than burnt rice with bloated pasta. And toiling over the kitchen worked up Tiffany’s appetite, to the point where she over-ate, and went into a slight food coma. She’s not sure how Jessica pushed her through the front door, or how she managed to extract her from the car, but Tiffany’s on her bed, tucked in and without shoes. She hears a rumble and peers down to her floor; her cell phone is vibrating. She picks it up and listens to the bright voice that greets her.

“Tiffany?”

Tiffany blearily rubs away the sleep in her eyes. She yawns and stretches her left arm above her head, pushing her head further into her pillow.

“Hey, Nichkhun… what’s up?”

“I talked to my boss about it, and he seems interested in having you work for us!”

---

“And this is to getting your new job.”

Jessica tips her glass to Tiffany's, clinking it and tilting her head with a smile.

"Congratulations. So when do you start?"

"I don't know, they haven't told me yet, but I'm so excited!"

Jessica thinks Tiffany deserves a treat for her accomplishment, which means having another look over the menu for drinks. Celebratory drinks.

---

"Jessica..."

"Are you going to sing everything you say to me?"

"No..."

"What number drink is that in your hand?"

"Hey... there's two glasses in my hand..."

"I guess this is a sign for you to stop."

"No more questions?"

"No, not tonight. You seem really drunk."

"Why? It's not like you really care about me that much..."

"I do."

"Prove it."

---

“Sober now?”

Tiffany whimpers, weakly wiggling frail fingers to indicate her abhorrence to the loudness in Jessica’s voice. Jessica rolls her eyes because she knows her voice isn’t loud, it just would be if you had a hangover though, like the one Tiffany has now.

“Is that a yes?”

Tiffany whines, then mumbles.

“Yes.”

Tiffany normally knows when to stop drinking or how much is too much. But drinking with Jessica is another experience. And with last night, God, she needed a lot to swallow in hopes of forgetting what she had said.

“Do you remember what you said last night?”

“No.”

She does.

The drinks brought a hangover, but they failed to bring along temporary memory loss. Jessica is lenient though, and does not probe further into the lie. She settles over the edge of Tiffany’s bed, and puts a dripping can on Tiffany’s forehead.

“I went out to get you this.”

She rolls the drink slowly over the other girl’s brow.

“My doctor says it’s the best for hangovers.”

Tiffany tries to swat Jessica’s hand away; it looks feeble and sluggish, and ends up making Jessica chuckle.

“I’ll leave the drink by your desk. Call me if you need anything.”

---

When the phone rings, Tiffany thinks it’s Jessica, and bothers with clearing her throat as she answers.

"Hello?"

She stifles her moan, ignoring the pain as she clasps her forehead and listens to the other end.

"Tiffany? It’s your cousin, Nichkhun?"

"Oh, hi..."

"Hey, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that your job starts in about less than a month."

Tiffany groans audibly this time.

"Where is it?"

"Thailand."

"For a trip?"

"No... it’s in Thailand."

Tiffany's sober, and wishes for a drink, many drinks.

---

It’s a dull movie. Tiffany’s probably seen it a dozen times, but this time it’s a lot more interesting, particularly the part where the protagonist needs to leave his lady. She’s raptly watching because the once unnoticed scene now feels like a divine sign.

The movie’s protagonist is leaving the woman to finally build upon his future with a new job. He worked hard for his degree and never planned in getting into a relationship.

Just like her.

The new job will allow him a safe and predictable future.

Just like hers.

And his relationship has barely begun with an unpredictable future.

Just like hers?

---

“You didn’t come today.”

“Sorry…“

“Is it because of your cold?”

“Y – yeah.”

“Should I come over?“

“No! Uh, I just need rest…”

“Ah… well, get better soon.”

“Yeah… sorry for having you call like this.”

“It’s all right.”

But Tiffany hears the bitterness clinging in Jessica’s farewell.

She’s not sure how to end this. Whatever this is.

---

She watches more movies. They all leave the girl in the end; the media always has break-ups. Always loves sad endings. But maybe sad endings are the majority because they’re reality.

---

“I feel like you’re avoiding me.”

“I’m not…”

“It’s been a week, and you haven’t returned any of my previous calls.”

“I’ve just been sick.”

“And you’ve stopped saying my name.”

“What?”

“You haven’t mentioned my name once during this entire phone call or in the last one.”

“What does that–”

“I liked it when you said my name.”

Tiffany sighs and Jessica says one last thing before hanging up.

“Come tomorrow. I’d like it if you could see the window now.”

---

Tiffany's taken enough French in college to understand the wish: When will you enter?

The paint on the house is complete. No more empty or missed spots. The house has a vibrant and pleasing color, telling others of Tiffany's successful finish.

She starts to hastily climb down her ladder, her paint sloshing inside the bucket hooked over her elbow, spraying all over her shirt. She is down to the second to final step when Jessica speaks to her, tone a bit accusing and...angry.

"Going home?"

"I..."

Tiffany has one hand still on a ladder's step, the other shimmies the bucket off. She doesn't face Jessica, she's not foolish enough to, and Jessica approaches closer. Her whisper now felt on the back of Tiffany's neck.

"How else can I prove to you that I care about you?"

“You really – this makes things complicated…”

“How?”

"Jessica... I have to leave the country soon for my job... this won't work out..."

Jessica freezes, a place above her lungs clenches then releases painfully, hurtfully. She staggers a step back, her mouth still hanging slightly, but her words dead and gone. Her arms that had been crossed fall limply to her thighs. Tiffany witnesses all of this through Jessica's shadow on the ground. She fumbles, apologizes, hoping it'll give her an escape.

"S - sorry, I'm sorry, look... I need to–”

“How long?”

“Huh?”

“How long will you be away?”

“For as long as the job exists...”

Jessica scoffs, shaking her head with a disbelieving smile.

“So… you did choose job over relationship in the end.”

“Don’t make me feel so guilty… this is a casual relationship, right?”

“Don’t kid yourself. This stopped being casual long ago.”

“Why are you being like this? Are you really that upset that I got a job finally?”

“I’m upset that you won’t give us a chance.”

“L – look, I’ve got to go, really.”

She turns around quickly, dodging Jessica's body and blank gaze, half-running out of Jessica's driveway with her spilling paint.

It seems conceited, but she expects Jessica to grab onto her wrist. She expects Jessica to yell at her in indignation. But her run back to her home goes silent and undisturbed.

---

She sits on the edge of her bed, showered and a towel draped over her head, the hem of it falling over her brow, allowing her to ignore everything surrounding her. Everything except Jessica, who isn't even in the room. Which is probably why she is not able to block her; it's so much harder trying to ignore something that's on your mind.

She falls asleep with the coldness of her towel, heavy and damp, along with the emptiness of throwing away Jessica.

---

Tiffany wakes up. Her hand is over her eyes, and her hair is soft. She moves her arm, grimaces at the red mark formed on the heel of her palm because of the pressure. Her clock reads at ten in the morning, but Tiffany swears it's earlier than that. She groans with effort as she pushes herself off of her bed. The towel that was on her head falls to the floor, making a small flutter before sliding to her feet, she stares at it in realization.

She's made a mistake.

It shouldn't hurt this much to leave anyone behind. But she left someone behind. And Tiffany wonders if she'll ever be able to correct her mistake.

"Dammit..."

She brings up one hand to slide over her brow and grips her forehead in self-loathing.

Screw jobs with lots of money. Screw break-ups. And screw sad endings. Tiffany herself will decide what to believe.

She doesn’t think anyone who believes in a sad ending ever understands happy realities.

After a minute of silent regret she gets off her bed, fixes up her hair quickly at the mirror by her door, and puts on her shoes. Under normal circumstances she would have reconsidered her outfit, mainly her pajamas, but nothing's normal anymore, and she only wants one thing to be reconsidered now.

She has her hand on the doorknob, and turns it without looking up. It's only when she does that she sees Jessica leaning against the railing outside, arms crossed and eyelids lowered, dangerously.

"Had a good sleep?"

The words drip with severity and Tiffany gulps weakly.

"H - how long were-"

"All night."

Jessica pushes herself off the fence and walks over to Tiffany, causing the latter to cower with each coming step.

"You know, ever since I've met you... I've been lacking a lot of sleep. And I'm not very agreeable when I lack a lot of sleep."

Jessica's eyes pierce into hers, and Tiffany ducks her head, stumbling backwards as the other girl walks forward.

"It got really cold at around three-thirty in the morning. But I stood there like a stupid tree because I didn't know if you'd leave without a word."

She slams the door closed, backing Tiffany up further into her room.

"And it wasn't like I could ring your doorbell, because God forbid you see me and run again like yesterday - that was lovely, by the way."

Jessica kicks off her shoes, and Tiffany is crawling onto her bed, her back flat against the wall with her legs bent and tangled with her blanket.

"You had better make my visit worth the wait."

"No one said you had to wait out in the cold!"

"No one said you'd leave me."

"I didn't..."

"Then what was yesterday?"

"That was..."

Jessica comes forward until one of her knees digs into the bed. Tiffany feels her tongue dry up as her mouth hangs open, as the other girl looks at her intensely. She mutters in growing guilt.

"That was a mistake..."

Jessica hisses.

"How?"

"I... I shouldn't have run away like that, and..."

Tiffany locks eyes with her, wordlessly communicating her helplessness; she can't explain anymore. Jessica leans in and now has both knees on the bed, her head tilts to the right and she asks cautiously.

"Was your answer to my invitation also a mistake?"

Tiffany thinks back to the writing on the window, and slowly nods. Jessica asks, even more quietly this time.

"Do you know what I'm about to do?"

Tiffany lies and shakes her head; the idea of being truthful is still uncomfortable at the moment. But she reveals her deception by licking her lips, getting prepared for the kiss, and Jessica snorts before cocking her head. Grazing her lips gently to Tiffany's lower lip.

"You're cute when you lie, you know that?"

Jessica is then pushing Tiffany down onto the bed, and Tiffany’s shirt slides up as she's being pulled over the rumpled blanket. She blinks rapidly while Jessica looms over her, nearing as she whispers.

"Remember what I said?"

Tiffany stutters, her breath bouncing back off of Jessica's hovering face. Jessica's lips tantalizingly close to her own.

"R - remember what?"

"I do whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want."

"O - oh, that... what about that?"

Tiffany sucks the air sharply between her teeth as Jessica moves her lips slowly to her ear, barely touching but scorching a path on her skin. Jessica's words reinforced as she puts both her hands on either side of Tiffany's head, forcing her to listen to her answer and understand the sensibility beneath it.

"So I want you here with me. But I don’t know if I’ll get that wish. I can’t stop you even if I wanted to…not if you really wish to leave."

“I–”

“But if you think you’ll regret leaving me, if you already do, then don’t leave…please.”

“We might be moving too fast in this relationship…”

“No, we're not.”

“How can you say that?”

Jessica growls then, but it sounds helpless, and Tiffany sees the other girl avert her eyes. She whispers, so low, trying to hide her vulnerability.

"You can...change me."

Tiffany stares, eyes unable to blink, too stunned. Jessica hangs her head, brushes her brow against Tiffany's temple. She doesn't care when Tiffany yelps as she bites the place below her ear, tracing her tongue over it, and feeling Tiffany's breath quicken. Tiffany breathes out a whimper as Jessica cups her face. Jessica's tongue tastes like wine, Tiffany thinks, it's faint and nice-

"Jessi?"

Tiffany breaks away, emitting a whine from the other girl, and stares up at her. Jessica is all narrowed eyes and wet lips.

"Jessi... have you been drinking?"

Jessica grumbles, annoyed with Tiffany for killing the mood by wanting such an apparent answer. She scrapes the corner of Tiffany's mouth with her teeth, replying as she lowers her body, the heat of the other girl’s stomach seeping through her cotton shirt.

"I had a drink. It's hard to do otherwise when the girl you've fallen in love with runs away from you like you're the new plague."

"Then… are you drunk right now?"

"No, the cold air outside sobered me."

Tiffany winces again with guilt at envisioning Jessica outside her home in the cold, leaning against the railing and stubbornly waiting with a cemented frown.

"Sorry - ngh!"

Tiffany gasps as Jessica slithers a hand down to dip under her shirt, tracing over the contours of her ribs. She writhes as Jessica slowly starts undressing her, kissing her longer, deeper, while she admits in a desperate tone.

"I'll change whatever you dislike about me. So don’t go anywhere yet."

---

It's hard to think about anything else when Jessica's body is pressing down on you. It's hard to get up when her legs are intertwined with yours, disabling you from going anywhere else.

Tiffany slides her hand down Jessica's back, tracing the red little welts from last night's love.

"I'll change whatever you dislike about me. So don’t go anywhere yet."

Tiffany actually doesn’t want to change anything of Jessica, not even her cockiness, and especially not her sexiness.

She reaches over to the little table by her bed and searches for her cell phone. When she finds it, she presses the memorized buttons and brings the phone down to her right ear, away from her left, because Jessica's cheek is pressing against that one.

"Hello? Hi, this is Tiffany Hwang... yes, the one that was recently hired. Listen, I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline the offer."

Because she’s no longer used to being alone. Not when there's Jessica.

---

"You know your message on the window?"

"Mhmm."

"It's kind of creepy if you think about it. I mean, you obviously wanted me in your room before properly getting to know me."

"I figured that if you hung around long enough for the message to finish... I'd know you pretty well."

"So this is your home..."

"This is it."

"Well, let me enter."

---

[Two years later]

Tiffany leans over Jessica's body, pressing her chest against Jessica's naked and warm shoulder. She reaches out and balances her weight so that she's pressing a finger against the bedside window.

Her letters before knowing Jessica were reverse and written from the outside. Her letters now are the complete opposite, correct and written from the inside.

I'll be wherever you are.

She sinks back into Jessica's embrace, kissing Jessica on the lips until she wakes up.

"Hngh?"

Jessica is always a little disorientated when she rouses, one eye open slightly larger than the other, and Tiffany always chuckles at the sight of it. She slides her face to press against Jessica's throat, leaving the other girl blinking and confused while she, herself, starts to doze off.

When Jessica entered her life, sleep entered as well, making insomnia leave.

Tiffany yawns as Jessica whispers, miffed and amused.

"You woke me up for no reason."

The reason is on the window next to them, but Jessica is facing the other way, and Tiffany is getting too drowsy to explain. Jessica will see the window's words sooner or later, anyway. She cups the other girl's cheek and strokes her fingers up and down soothingly, apologizing to her for disrupting her sleep.

"Sorry, go to sleep..."

Jessica lifts her arm and fits her hand along the small of Tiffany's back, silently accepting the apology and forgiving her with a kiss to her forehead. She murmurs, inhaling Tiffany's scent as she nuzzles closer, and causes Tiffany to smile at the contact and clear words.

"It's okay. I love you."

Then Tiffany feels the sag in Jessica's arms around her waist, the deep breaths blowing over her head. She drags her nails lightly down Jessica's jaw, resting it over her throat, over the mark she had made last night while making love. She whispers, Jessica's heartbeat pulsing steadily under her touch, and swears she sees Jessica smirk.

"Love you too."

They sleep for a couple of more hours, wake up, and start the weekend with lopsided smiles and wet kisses. The kisses progress into something more, and longer, causing Tiffany to miss work the next day. But Tiffany can’t seem to mind, it’s impossible to care about work when Jessica’s happy to have her close and by her side.

The End.

Loser

"So."

YuRi slumps back onto a mossy wall, her knees bent as her chin rested atop of them. She repeats the word that is neither a statement nor a question; a mere word she is using to express her dulling surprise.

"So."

The only direct thing about her utterance is that it is aimed at Jessica, who is standing up, and blankly sizing their current territory.

"So."

It's not the first time Jessica’s ignored her, nor will it be the last, but YuRi sighs heavily and attempts a different approach.

"Jessica."

The calling of her name seems effective, as Jessica spares a shred of interest.

"Hm?"

"We're in a ditch."

YuRi raises her hand and plants it on the wall behind her, her nails digging into the soft dirt. She rakes a path down, little pebbles falling as she further explains.

"We're inside a ditch with-"

She eyes Jessica's shoulder.

"With paintball guns over our shoulders."

Jessica lazily trails her eyes down to her crouched friend and mutters.

"Your powers of observation are stunning, YuRi."

"We're stuck inside a ditch with paintball guns."

“You’ve covered that point."

"So."

This time Jessica sighs.

"So what about it, YuRi?"

"So... how did we – I - end up here?"

"By foot."

YuRi shakes her head and plays through the scraps of her memory as she raises a finger, jabbing it towards Jessica’s direction with each enunciation she stresses.

"No. No, see... I don't remember walking. All I remember is waking up in a car with a gun strapped over my shoulder. And then you were pulling my half-awake body into this ditch without a word. There was no walking for me."

Jessica looks over her shoulder and stares down at her friend.

YuRi has her gaze set on the ground, whispering.

"So."

Scrunches her eyes.

"How."

Grips her gun.

"Am."

Ducks her head further between her knees.

"I."

Grits her teeth.

"Here?"

Jessica turns around fully, her shirt's front smudged with mud from leaning across the fresh earth. She encloses her fist over the nozzle of her own gun and tips her goggles back, her bangs springing up as she pushes away her protective gear. She cocks her head at YuRi’s intense glare.

"By foot-"

"JESSICA!"

"I made a bet with Tiffany."

YuRi softens her eyes.

"What?"

Jessica shrugs.

"Tiffany and I watched a movie together. It had a lot of guns. And we just decided to go to paintball range to decide who would be best at sharpshooting."

YuRi isn't convinced. If there's something to be known about Jessica, it's the fact that Jessica rarely talks if never asked. And if she is asked, she rarely tells the whole truth.

Jessica and Tiffany might have gone to the movies. They might have seen a movie with a lot of guns. But YuRi is scrambling around her brain to figure out just why Jessica is here to prove a point in marksmanship.

She broods, bites her lower lip then jerks her head up in triumphant revelation.

"You two had a fight."

Jessica seemingly bristles. She wordlessly brings her goggles back down and turns back to the dirt wall. Her eyes narrowed and peeping out to the open grounds.

YuRi struggles up and nearly shouts while holding her own gun in her hands.

"You guys probably had a fight at the movie! And it somehow led to this... but a fight about what..."

YuRi looks down, her brow pinched and her jaw tight.

"What could you two have fought about-"

"I hear someone."

YuRi presumes Jessica is lying. The girl never liked talking about her fights with Tiffany, and YuRi knew all too well of Jessica's moods when pushed into an uncomfortable conversation.

But she needs to know the origins for this war. Jessica relents easily to Tiffany, and hardly ever drags a fight on for more than a day. Hours of silent tension and terse responses, but they usually end quickly with a:

"Sorry."

A chaste kiss, and another:

"Sorry."

And if Tiffany is still peeved and needing of more, Jessica frowns and softly says:

"I missed talking to you."

And if YuRi is present at the given moment, she will roll her eyes while Tiffany melts and buries her head into Jessica's neck.

YuRi knows all about these fights.

She's seen the apologies more times than she'd have liked. It never disturbed her to see them argue. All couples have their moments of disagreements. It's impossible to be completely compatible when no one is exactly alike to another. There's bound to be differing opinions, and fights will sometimes come along as products.

But it disturbs her to see Jessica step further into her apology.

Which is always.

The last time a "sorry" happened, it had occurred in YuRi's room. And she had spent the entire evening washing her sheets with a fiery passion. She had poured all the detergent into her washing machine, and it had frothed. Leaving a mess on the floor. But YuRi repeated the process without a pause. She avoided lying in her bed for as long as she could that day.

"That movie you guys watched... who was in it?"

"Shh."

"Who was in it?"

"I said someone's coming."

"You're lying. I don't hear a thing."

"I'm not. You're just deaf. It must be because of all those times you blended that damn ma."

“You didn’t complain once all those times I made it for you.”

“You remember that cactus Tiffany bought me?”

“Hellraiser?”

“Yes.”

“What about your cactus?”

“Hellraiser’s been drinking your ma. Not me. That’s why I never complained once.”

YuRi fumes.

“YoonA always drinks it in front of me!”

“It’s because she loves you. People do stupid things when they’re in love.”

YuRi bolts up and hisses.

"Listen. I know you're hiding something, Jessica Jung. And I know that reason must be ridiculous, maybe even childish, but you've got to tell me why we're doing this."

She adds with clenched teeth.

"I was supposed to stay at home and watch a movie with YoonA this afternoon!"

Jessica merely looks at her with half-lidded eyes and monotonously replies.

"Why? So you could show her how fast you can fall asleep?"

YuRi quickly retorts back, her anger at a simmer.

"For your information we both looked forward to watching this movie together!"

"What movie?"

"Vendetta something..."

"V for Vendetta?"

"Yeah..."

"He dies in the end, and she-"

"STOP SPOILING-"

A blur, a round colored ball if suspended in air, whizzes past Jessica's head and grazes YuRi's hair.

Jessica has her eyes widened, and YuRi has her mouth open in a gape. She moves stiffly, her clothes rustling with her strained action, and croaks to Jessica.

"I think we’re spotted."

Jessica's eyes close, she sighs, and grumbles.

"I told you I heard someone."

"What's – yah! Where are you going?"

Jessica is climbing over the ditch and running towards a pathway full of trees and bushes. She yells back.

"Away from you! You'll get anyone near you killed with your complaining!"

"Yah!"

YuRi scrambles up the hole and hurries after her disappearing friend.

"YAH-"

She trips over a tree’s root and falls onto her knees. She whimpers when she picks her head back up.

"Jessica Jung, you stupid chicken nugget..."

She looks around with slanted eyebrows and sullen eyes.

"You traitor, Jung... you crappy-"

"You should try and be quiet or you'll get shot again..."

YuRi cautiously peers up to check her captor.

Sunny.

She is grinning crookedly and offering a hand to YuRi. YuRi clasps it and the other girl whips her head over her shoulder to shout towards a distant figure.

"It's YuRi!"

A shrub shakes and SooYoung's head protrudes from it with twigs decorating her hair. She starts walking forward to the other two and brushes off the leaves stuck onto her clothes.

"This is worse than the time Tiffany baked me a cake. No. This is worse than the time HyoYeon threw up while drunk."

"Why would that be worse for you? SeoHyun's the one who cleaned up after her."

SooYoung scoffs.

"They make the perfect couple."

Sunny shrugs her gun.

"I think we should go, SooYoung. There might be others."

"Sunny, do you know how much I care?'

"You should-"

"Do you know how much I care though? Ask me how much. Go ahead. Ask me."

Sunny sighs.

"How much?"

"Look at my hand."

SooYoung holds out her hand, fingers spread, palm bare to YuRi and Sunny's gaze. YuRi knits her eyebrows and quizzically states.

"There's nothing."

"Exactly. That’s how much I care. I don’t care at all."

TBC

Loser Pt. 2

“How did you guys end up here?”

YuRi asks with a fist planted on her cheek, sitting with her legs crossed. The three girls have been sitting under a tree’s shade for about an hour, and YuRi decides talking would be better than doing nothing. Sunny answers her with an eye squinting down the barrel of her gun.

“Tiffany invited us.”

“When?”

SooYoung murmurs.

“Last night.”

YuRi frowns.

“That’s such a short notice.”

“Same for you.”

“I was dragged. Wasn’t conscious.”

SooYoung sighs.

“Well… She seemed pretty desperate and I was bored at home.”

She jerks her head towards Sunny.

“Sunny here was given an earlier notice.”

YuRi hugs her knees.

“Tiffany seems just as determined to win as Jessica.”

She hangs her head low, and groans for a long while before whispering.

“Why did I talk with YoonA last night, I swear she always keeps-“

Sunny pipes in.

“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”

“She is…”

“Well didn’t you kind of expect long - hour talks to be part of the relationship package?”

“Yeah, but she always talks past my bedtime, and any other night would have been fine, I guess, but last night…”

YuRi sighs greatly.

“Last night ended up as today’s morning, and now I’m paying for the price of lacking sleep. If I hadn’t lacked sleep, I would have woken up when traitor Jessica decided to drag me out of my bed…”

She mumbles, her arms crossed, and fingers digging into her elbows.

“I would have been able to remain at home and watch a movie with YoonA…”

YuRi snaps her head up and knits her eyebrows.

“Wait… why didn’t you guys shoot me? If you were picked by Tiffany then that obviously means we’re on opposing teams.”

SooYoung leans back onto her hands and drawls with her face tilted, facing the cloudy sky.

“Aren’t you already tired? None of us had breakfast yet. And there’s no prize at the end for us.”

She spreads her legs and lets her feet flop to their sides.

“And we know this fight would be for nothing if we were to claim victory quickly…”

Sunny puts her gun down to the ground and smiles at YuRi, chuckling.

“It might take a while, but we just want Jessica and Tiffany to meet.”

SooYoung picks up her arm and rotates her limp right hand.

“So that the two could solve their own damn problems without dragging us into it again.”

YuRi raises an eyebrow.

“So you both know about their fight?”

SooYoung guffaws and Sunny closes her eyes to a helpless grin. YuRi frowns and asks while leaning forward, her eagerness apparent to even SooYoung who has her eyes to a squint.

“How much do you guys know? What did they fight about? Is it stupid? It must be stupid.”

SooYoung scoffs and tips her head all the way back, her throat working as she explains with exasperation.

“Well, one of the few things I heard from Tiffany’s yells – I swear she sounds like a sugar – high squirrel when she’s mad – is that they both went to watch that movie with WonBin in it.”

She brings her head forward, chin close to chest.

“And apparently they met YunHo oppa there.”

YuRi grimaces and combs back her bangs with her fingers.

“That explains a lot already…”

Sunny raises a knee and hugs her arms around it.

“Tiffany also mentioned about how YunHo oppa came back from the army recently, and learned how to use a gun.”

YuRi places her palms over her eyes and presses until she can see white. She mumbles in a weary tone.

“Let me guess then. Jessica and Tiffany went to see a movie. They met YunHo oppa. The movie ended and all three talked outside afterwards. No, Tiffany talked with oppa, and Jessica pretended to listen. YunHo oppa went into details about how he had to use guns in the army. Tiffany got impressed. And dear, sweet, lovely Jessica was killing YunHo oppa with her eyes.”

SooYoung and Sunny nod in unison and the girls sit in silence. Mentally tired with both Jessica and Tiffany and their equally stupid habits.

YuRi lets out a hollow laugh.

“Tiffany should have expected Jessica’s jealousy.”

Sunny shrugs.

“Jessica should know Tiffany never means anything with her flirting.”

SooYoung slaps her hands together, dusting away the bits of bark and pieces of leaves.

“Jessica should just control her jealousy, and Tiffany should stop flirting – even if it is unintentional – whatever, both of them need to grow up.”

YuRi gives a half – hearted grin and laments.

“I just wish this would end soon so I could go back home…”

Sunny is turning her head slowly to check for any on – lookers and asks with her back turned to YuRi.

“Why?”

“YoonA.”

“Oh… By the way, she should be here too actually.”

“What?”

“She came together with Tiffany. Did you forget that they’re related?”

YuRi smacks her forehead and feverishly whispers.

“So that’s what she meant by: I’ll see you soon…”

YuRi covers her mouth and her eyes turn into slits as she talks to herself.

“That girl… making me stay up… she probably wanted to tire me out so I could become an easy target…”

SooYoung snorts.

“Porbably. YoonA isn’t one to lose a game easily. Tiffany and YoonA, those two really are cousins.”

YuRi furtively glances around the area, convinced of YoonA’s appearance at any given minute. Sunny breaks her concentration as she plucks out a cellphone from her pocket.

“Do you think they’ll do deliveries here, SooYoung?”

SooYoung mutters, defeated, a growl rumbling out of her stomach.

“Don’t bet on it.”

She sighs.

“All the places I know wouldn’t come here even if you offered a fifty percent delivery tip.”

Sunny inspects her cellphone, rolls through the names that appear on her list of calls, and stops at one with a smile.

“I can think of someone who could bring us something good to eat.”

SooYoung glances at her friend, lower lip puckered out in curiosity.

“Who?”

Sunny puts the phone next to her ear and doesn’t answer to SooYoung, opting instead to greet the person who picks up her call on the other line.

“HyoYeon? Yeah, hey, what are you doing right now? Uh – huh, you’re with SeoHyun? Where are you? You’re – what?”

Sunny’s jaw slackens and YuRi supposes she should fill her chest with more hopelessness while Sunny cocks her head and lets out three words of simple acceptance.

“Huh, all right.”

SooYoung cranes her neck to Sunny and YuRi joins along, the three of them huddled beneath the brightening sky and still – wet tree leaves. Sunny hangs up the call, grinning, but grinning meant a lot of things from Sunny: good, bad, weird, or nothing at all. YuRi doesn’t know what to do make of the faint expression and is thankful of SooYoung’s demand, which is more impatient than worried.

“So?”

Sunny puts her phone away, the smile fading away into an intrigued frown. YuRi curls her fingers to prevent ripping out her own hair in anxiety and asks, a little hurried but without a tone of irk.

“What did HyoYeon say, Sunny?”

Sunny inhales, releases it gradually, as she looks upwards and replies.

“She’s here.”

SooYoung raises both her hands, and snaps at the shorter girl.

“Can you please explain more? Or should we sacrifice a lamb for you, your highness?”

“Can you sacrifice a cow?“

While SooYoung is trying to reach over and grab at Sunny’s neck (who is dodging her friends’ hands swiftly), YuRi’s eyes glaze in a dull plea.

“Sunny, please, I haven’t had much sleep, and I didn’t drink my ma today. I’m lacking energy, and I just want to stop feeling stressed…”

Sunny grabs both of SooYoung’s wrists, gives a smug smirk to SooYoung, before turning to YuRi with a far gentler smile.

“HyoYeon is here. With SeoHyun.”

SooYoung and YuRi both cry out.

“WHAT?”

But Sunny isn’t sharing their shock and lets go of SooYoung’s frozen hands to nod with more news.

“They’re on Jessica’s team.”

YuRi feels her spirit lift, while SooYoung deflates, her shoulders sagging as she slurs out her dejection.

“We are so screwed…”

It is now Sunny’s turn to be surprised as she asks.

“Why?”

SooYoung barks out a laugh, and with her head still limp, she paws the soft dirt next to her feet.

“You both don’t understand. SeoHyun can aim a gun like she’s been trained in the North Korean army.”

SooYoung draws mindlessly into the fresh earth, her voice getting quieter by the second.

“One time we went to an arcade –Tiffany, HyoYeon, SeoHyun, and me… Do you guys remember that game: Duck Hunt?”

The two other girls nod slowly, memories of the game emerging from the back of their minds.

“Yeah, well, Tiffany wanted to play the game, and so I proposed to make a bet. The bet was that the loser would have to pay for the winner’s meal…”

Sunny clucks her tongue and looks at SooYoung with a knowing smile.

“And you lost.”

“I thought SeoHyun would definitely lose! I mean the kid just came to school when we first met and she was shorter than all of us at the time!”

Sunny shakes her head and chastises SooYoung.

“That’s what you get for trying to pick on SeoHyun like that.”

“No one told me she came from a farm – she shot real ducks every winter! She cheated!”

Sunny closes her eyes, but YuRi sees their movement underneath the eyelids, and knows Sunny is rolling them far back. Far, far, far back. YuRi cannot blame her, but asks without any intent to further SooYoung’s shame.

“How much was SeoHyun’s meal?”

“In the end, SeoHyun felt it was inappropriate to take my money.”

YuRi straightens her back.

“Oh… then why are you still so sad about the incident?”

A sad sigh slips from SooYoung’s lips.

“In the end, Tiffany insisted SeoHyun won the game fair and square, so she ordered a meal on her behalf.”

YuRi suppresses her chuckle and SooYoung buries her head back into the crook of her arm.

“And stupid HyoYeon ate the meal in the end.”

Sunny finally opens her eyes and ignores SooYoung ‘s woes with a more relevant question.

“How’s HyoYeon’s shooting? Do you know?”

SooYoung mumbles.

“Who cares? It doesn’t matter since that girl’s a cheater with every game. She’s the type to wipe off the paint and say she never got hit once.”

YuRi hums a noise and wonders outloud, content with the teammates she’s acquired.

“I wonder what Jessica’s doing.”

---

Jessica is high up on a tree.

A branch about the width of her waist is supporting her weight. She has her legs hanging over the side of it, and her back is to the smooth bark.

Sitting motionless as the wind crawls over her whole body.

She is nearly falling asleep, her eyes blinking heavily and she peers down below with her gun close to her stomach. She tries to stay awake, but she had woken up extra early to force YuRi into the game, and now the soft breeze and calm silence is gently rocking her into a tempting slumber. Her fingers start to loosen their hold on her gun and she starts to dream about Tiffany.

It isn’t a bad dream, and so she completely relaxes. There are images of Tiffany’s smile and unfortunately this is where the gun slides from her grip and falls freely to the ground. It makes a cracking sound, when the barrel of ammo detaches entirely on impact. The pellets come out in a burst and roll away down a small hill. Jessica wakes up with a start at the small explosion and bites her lower lip, a curse at the tip of her tongue. She pushes down her goggles, letting them swing around her neck, as she climbs down the tree hastily, earning a long thin scratch on her forearm. She doesn’t bleed, but it welts into a swollen pink line, and she curses then without restraint.

She reaches the bottom but is utterly disappointed to find all of her bullets gone except one. The lone round ball swirling pathetically inside the clear kidney - shaped case. Jessica picks it up gingerly. Chewing her lip in frustration and mentally berating herself for falling asleep on a tree.

“Dammit…”

Jessica screws her eyes shut, wrinkles her nose, and proceeds to walk in the direction from whence she came from, complaining to herself with no regards to keeping her voice low.

“Stupid…”

She begrudgingly adjusts her goggles back on, pieces her gun together, and huffs sulkily.

“This totally isn’t-“

Something flies past her right shoulder and Jessica stiffens. She sees another fly above her left shoulder, exploding into a small web of solid color onto a tree in front of her.

She drops to her knees, flattens herself to the ground, and scurries towards a shrub. The scratch on her arm burns against the ground, but Jessica pushes past a small hole in a hedge.

She feels like an idiot, and presumes she looks worse, but garners all the confidence for one loud yell, as she hides inside her small and bushy cave.

“So that’s where you’ve been all along! Too scared to come and look for me?”

Tiffany’s voice does not sound far away.

“Look who’s talking? You’re the one that was sitting in a tree for a century!”

“I did it because I don’t like to run when I don’t have to! It’s called strategy!”

“Well, look how well your strategy worked!”

“The game’s not over yet!”

Jessica goes to a nearby tree, silently treading on her toes. Escape being the only possible way to survive. The blunder with her gun has left her at a disadvantage, and Jessica can smell determination emit from Tiffany’s body.

She can’t lose. She has to win.

She can hear the movement of metal against metal. She can even hear the fabric of Tiffany’s glove rub against the handle of a gun.

And this is the perfect opportunity to taunt her. Tease her, and have flames erupt behind her girlfriend’s deadly stare.

“HyoYeon and SeoHyun are coming for me! You can’t win if I have SeoHyun on my team!”

“I brought friends too!”

“Totoro’s here?”

“Up yours, Jessica!”

Jessica chuckles condescendingly until a shot whizzes past her face and hits a rock close to her. The paint splatters and stains the left corner of her goggles. Her smirk replaces into a surprised frown, and she clears her throat to slide her shoulders down the bark, yelling.

“You missed!”

“I missed on purpose, genius!”

Jessica raises her eyebrows briefly then scowls, crawling on her elbows and knees to a thicket.

“Then try shooting me accurately this time, Hwang!”

“Are we really going to use our last names, Jessica?”

Tiffany says in a low and dangerous voice, but Jessica ignores the chill on her spine and shouts back loud and pompous.

“Bothered… Hwang?”

Tiffany thins her lips and cocks her gun into a better grip.

“Not at all, Jung.”

Jessica is inside another shrubbery, brings her knees in, and rattles her gun. Curses at the single bullet left in her tank.

She can’t risk taking a shot with this distance and view. She needs to get closer to have a clear aim at Tiffany.

“What to do…”

She peeks her head out of the leaves and brings it back in quickly when a series of pellets fly past her. Their colorful deaths marked onto a tree a few meters away. Jessica grimly trudges her lowered body to another spot, stepping lightly and with restraint, as if the dirt below was made of weak glass. Tiffany has her shares of hearing problems, but Jessica believes underestimation of any of Tiffany’s senses at the moment might lead to an undesirable downfall.

“Just admit defeat and stop running away, Jung!”

Jessica growls.

“Who says anything about defeat?”

“I know you only have one bullet left!”

“One bullet is enough to take you down!”

“Then prove it!”

Their voices are getting louder, shriller, and Jessica sniffs, irritated at how quickly her chances of winning seem to be dwindling.

She sulks, bouncing her gun across her knee and looks up slowly, speaking with a lilt in her voice.

“You know, Hwang… there’s a way to make sure you don’t win.”

Tiffany is silent and suspicious in Jessica’s suddenly happy tone. She lowers her gun to the ground, and she hesitantly yells out to Jessica.

“You’re – you’re lying!”

Jessica smugly grins and rises up to her feet, popping out of her hideout with her gun pointed to her toe.

“No, I’m not.”

Tiffany knits her eyebrows.

“Explain.”

Jessica chuckles. Her mouth slightly open, and flaunting a smile to Tiffany’s nervous gaze.

“You get to win if you get a single shot on me... But what happens if I willingly shoot myself? What happens it I commit suicide to remove myself from the game? Then you couldn’t be crowned as the true victor because I stepped out from playing. The game will come to an end, but it wouldn’t be because you won over me.”

Jessica gestures to her foot, gun directly in place above her toes.

“I made sure to wear thick boots for today. If I shoot myself there, I’ll be considered out and… it’ll be painless.”

Tiffany grits her teeth.

“Jessica. SooYeon. Jung. I will kill you if you-“

“Not if I kill myself first.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Tiffany whispers as she comes out from her hiding, and hastily starts walking to her. Her eyes are big with fury and filled with an understandable wrath, a sight that makes Jessica step back unknowingly. But Jessica springs back with mustered courage and boldly walks forward, matching Tiffany’s pace and meeting at a cleared spot in the woods. She crunches down on a weak and thin branch, and suspects Tiffany wants to inflict similar pain to her dignity and being.

They’re a foot apart, and Tiffany is drilling Jessica with her eyes. She has her jaw tight, her teeth shut together in grim annoyance.

“You’re really something, Jessica…”

She whispers and Jessica nods in accordance.

“Yeah, I’m pretty impressed with myself too.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Sure.”

“You cheater-“

“Drop your guns.”

“No.”

“Fine, I’ll just shoot myself.”

Tiffany growls, a corner of her lip bearing teeth as she throws her guns down and fists her hands while Jessica smiles amiably.

“I’m going to go away now.”

She leans into Tiffany’s face, and continues.

“So don’t try to pick up your guns and shoot me. You wouldn’t want to win by cheating, would you?”

Tiffany exhales loudly through her nose and hisses.

“You have a lot of nerve suggesting me to be a cheater when you’re-“

“Shh.”

Jessica boldly places the knuckles of her fingers over Tiffany’s mouth, feeling her girlfriend’s lips tremble then close into a stern line. She gets even closer, her breath blowing over the stray hairs over Tiffany’s left ear.

“C’mon, don’t be mad, you have to admit this game might have started with stupid reasons, but it’s now more than just that. It’s pretty fun, right?”

Tiffany brusquely turns her head away, leaving Jessica’s finger hanging in the air. It serves to amuse Jessica more as she tilts her head to accommodate the angle of Tiffany’s face.

“Tiffany.”

Tiffany moves her eyes only to give Jessica a peevish sidelong glare.

“Frowning causes wrinkles.”

And Jessica kisses her on the cheek, lingering instinctively but pulls away as her mind insists on fleeing, then wisely picks up Tiffany’s guns, starts running and throws them into a pair of bushes to ensure her safety. Looks back once to check on Tiffany, who is still standing, stunned, with rosiness centering over her cheeks.

Jessica yells to her, smiling with her small victory.

“See you soon, Hwang!”

TBC

Loser Pt. 3

Tiffany is nursing her wounds. Her injuries are not visible, but very much stinging and fresh on her pride.

“That cheater.”

She grumbles, huffing while walking in mindless circles. She bends forward to grab at her gun, and releases a long suffering sigh, not bothering in straightening her back all the way.

The kiss from Jessica had been pleasant, and if Tiffany did not know her girlfriend better, she would have claimed it as a tactic in reducing her senses. But knowing Jessica, the kiss had been based purely in affection, perhaps dipping a bit into lust.

And now she misses it. Misses her.

The leaves flutter listlessly in the wind, and they bring back a memory of a big fight she and Jessica once had. It had been something to do with not listening on Jessica’s part, Tiffany can’t recall if it was the result of smaller annoyances built up, or if it was the result of blatant neglect, but she had blown up on the day Jessica had “forgotten” to bring her jacket:

“I told you to bring it five times yesterday.”

“I forgot, sorry.”

“No, you didn’t. You just weren’t listening.”

The jacket could have disappeared from the face of the earth, and land on the moon for all Tiffany had cared, but what bothered her was the fact that Jessica had not paid attention, no matter how trivial her request.

Harsh words ensued. Jessica had coldly stared, and Tiffany had brazenly walked back home. Their movie-night had been snuffed into ashes.

Tiffany had spent the remainder of the evening shunning calls from YuRi and HyoYeon, swinging alone on a park full of leaves.

Jessica had found her in under an hour.

“How’d you find this place?”

“Instinct.”

“YoonA told you, didn’t she?”

“She was part of my instinct.”

“Go away.”

“Can’t. I told YuRi to come here and pick us up.”

“You’ve been ignoring the things I say more and more these days.”

“Forgetting your jacket doesn’t mean-”

“You don’t care much of what I say anymore.”

“Maybe our love has gone cold.”

Tiffany had frozen, in fear, in shock, and in anger. She had rasped.

“You really-”

“Did you think I meant that?”

“Then why did you say it?”

“Well... you were saying ridiculous things… so I thought I might as well play along.”

“That wasn’t funny. At all.”

“I thought it was witty.”

“It didn’t charm me. You’ve actually managed to anger me more.”

“I brought your jacket.”

“No, thank you.”

“I washed it.”

“I wouldn’t care if you put it inside a golden frame and hung it around your neck.”

“Rappers would care.”

“I’m not a rapper.”

“I folded it neatly.”

Tiffany had not retorted, her anger having ebbed somewhere far. Jessica had cocked her head and said.

“I’m not ignoring you now, right? Maybe I’ll unknowingly – honestly, unknowingly – ignore something you’ve said, but I’ve never ignored you when you were hurt. Have I ever?”

It had been a pity that YuRi appeared at that moment with a car. Jessica’s words had done their effect on Tiffany, and she gave her own heartfelt “apology” to Jessica in the backseats. None of them had cared that YuRi had screamed at her rearview mirror while speeding.

Tiffany helplessly smirks.

“I’m going to lose at this rate…”

She’s about to surrender when a sharp pain pierces her right buttock.

---

“Are you going to shoot us? If you’re going to shoot us, could you at least give us the basket first?”

SooYoung drawls monotonously and eyes both HyoYeon and SeoHyun. SeoHyun has a basket while HyoYeon holds a pair of guns, grinning at the three girls lying down on the dirt ground. Sunny isn’t exactly flat on her back, but reclining against a tree. YuRi has the crook of her elbow draped over her eyes. And SooYoung is the only one staring at both the newcomers with hands folded neatly across her stomach.

SeoHyun answers, voice a calm and rational tone.

“We decided our time would be better spent by having a picnic than fighting with guns. It’s getting harder and harder to meet… so I thought this was the perfect chance to instead have lunch.”

SooYoung claps her hands, gets up and welcomes the duo with open arms.

“SeoHyun, you should consider presidency.”

“I think that’s a very serious job that takes an incredible amount of consideration and planning.”

“Perfect. You already sound like a president.”

HyoYeon hooks her left arm over SeoHyun’s shoulders and walks forward to sit around the girls.

“Where’s TaeYeon? YoonA?”

Sunny shrugs, YuRi groans, and SooYoung daintily pries the basket away from SeoHyun and centers it before everyone.

“Who drove? SeoHyun, or you, HyoYeon?”

“I drove first, and then SeoHyun took over the wheel after I went over a curb.”

SeoHyun interjects quietly.

“It was two curbs, unnie…”

HyoYeon shrugs.

“Maybe.”

SooYoung shrugs as well.

“It was two, definitely. So Yuri and you two are on Jessica’s team, while Sunny and YoonA are on Tiffany’s team.”

“You?”

“I’m on Tiffany’s team too.”

“TaeYeon?”

“I’m pretty sure Tiffany spoke to her first…”

HyoYeon looks over her shoulder.

“So where are the rest?”

“Tiffany and Jessica are probably running around only God knows where. And who knows where TaeYeon or YoonA are? Hey, Sunny, where are you going?”

They all see Sunny flash a smile over her shoulders.

“I’m going to find Jessica!”

---

“TaeYeon?”

Jessica rears her head back, and suspiciously squints at the girl in front of her.

“You’re on Tiffany’s team, aren’t you?”

TaeYeon pulls up her chin and makes a grimace that’s meant to be an unsure smile.

There’s still only one bullet left inside her gun, but Jessica lifts it in front of the other girl. TaeYeon shakes her head, and gently pushes down the nozzle.

“I’m on Tiffany’s team, but I’m not going to fight you.”

“Why?”

“I lost my gun while walking.”

TaeYeon sheepishly looks down and laughs in an effort to convince herself that the matter is more funny than embarrassing.

“How do you even lose your gun while walking?”

“It… well, I was calling my mom, and I sat down for a moment and we talked for a while… about half an hour long? And I move around a lot when I talk, so I got up and began walking again… and…”

“And you left your gun behind.”

“Yeah… I tried to find my way back to it, but I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going while talking on the phone, so… here I am. And my phone died too…”

“What do you have then?”

“I have bullets?”

“You do?”

“Yeah… not much use for them now though.”

“Give them to me.”

“I don’t know about-”

“I’ll let you go if you give them.”

TaeYeon widens her eyes.

“You would really shoot me even though I’m defenseless?”

“If you don’t hand over the bullets.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“So?”

“Friends protect each other.”

“All kinds of rules disappear when love and war are involved. Now hand them over.”

TaeYeon reluctantly reaches into her pocket and gives the casings of bullets to Jessica. She asks cautiously, understanding that the other girl isn’t likely to express any mercy or affinity to her currently.

“Do you think you could direct me back to the entrance at least? I would have called someone for help, but with my phone dead and all-”

“You should have brought an extra battery.”

“Yeah…”

“And you’re out of luck since I don’t know the way back either.”

“Could you call someone to-“

“I think I hear something. You stay here.”

There are sounds of twigs breaking and footsteps falling, and Jessica starts to jog while keeping her gun’s aim to TaeYeon.

“Don’t let this affect our friendship, TaeYeon. You understand that I still like you, right?”

TaeYeon gives a halfhearted grin, arms limply hanging to her side while she waits for her new attacker as Jessica abandons her with a fleeting smile. She starts blaming everything about herself in her lack of strength with physical games. She should have been born stronger, taller, or smarter… then she wouldn’t be such a sap in these kinds of events. She even blames being born months away from January. If she had been born on January or February then she would have been born on the year of the dragon. Dragons are fiercer than snakes…they breathe fire, have claws, and fly in the air. What do snakes do? Spit venom? Hiss? Slither?

“Unnie?”

TaeYeon focuses her eyes - she had been caught daydreaming - and deflates with relief to find YoonA quizzically staring at her.

“Unnie, what are you doing here?”

“I think I should have been born earlier. Then I wouldn’t be here.”

“What?”

“No, nothing.”

TaeYeon smiles a little, and YoonA smiles uncertainly along with her. She goes over to TaeYeon, and balances her gun over her shoulder.

“You don’t have a gun…”

TaeYeon chuckles.

“I lost it. And my ammo was taken.”

“Who took it?”

“Jessica.”

“Where did she go?”

YoonA wildly scans the area, and TaeYeon bites her lower lip.

“Behind me, but she was running so I’m not sure if you’ll be able to catch up to her…”

YoonA sighs, and turns her head back to TaeYeon.

“Are you… you’re lost, aren’t you, unnie?”

“Yes…”

YoonA picks up her cell phone and dials a number, a corner of her lip downwards, as she waits for the receiver.

“SeoHyun? Hey… I’m about fifty feet from the entrance, and you? Oh… really? Wow, that’s everyone… okay, we’ll be there too – oh, I’m with TaeYeon unnie. All right. Bye.”

YoonA hangs up, and beams at TaeYeon.

“The rest are having a picnic not too far from here. Let’s go.”

She holds out her hand, and TaeYeon grips it, walking hand–in–hand before asking.

“Do you think we’ll be here in the range for a while?”

“Hmmm… maybe for an hour.”

“What if Jessica and Tiffany argue again when they meet?”

“Then two hours?”

“Is there a lot of food at the picnic?”

“SeoHyun said there was.”

“Then two hours is fine. Who do you think will win?”

YoonA grins, shrugs, and TaeYeon affectionately asks the younger girl, amused at the expressed lack of care.

“You don’t care if Tiffany loses?”

YoonA swings her gun around, chin upwards and eyes shining merrily.

“It doesn’t matter. I already know the ending.”

“What’s the ending?”

“Someone will say ‘sorry’, and then it won’t matter who won or lost.”

“I guess we’ll just have to support and keep them together in the meanwhile.”

“And enjoy a picnic!”

“And enjoy a picnic.”

---

“HyoYeon unnie?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think we shouldn’t worry at all about this fight?”

HyoYeon smiles, shakes her head in endearment at SeoHyun, and sticks her hands into her sweater’s pocket.

“Young people are so scared of fights.”

“I don’t want them to stay mad.”

HyoYeon shrugs.

“You can’t control their tempers, but you don’t have to keep frowning… fights between sensible people don’t last long.”

“You’re always saying Jessica unnie and Tiffany unnie are too childish at times.”

HyoYeon waves her hand, alike to a grandmother exhausted of having to repeat an age-old wisdom to a grandchild.

“Anyone can be an idiot when they’re angry, but those two are going to think further than their emotions with their relationship, and that’s what makes them sensible. Agreed?”

While the basis of HyoYeon’s explanation could use more foundation and details, words have never been a strong suit of HyoYeon’s, so SeoHyun nods with uncertain eyes. HyoYeon sees the doubt and grins.

“You don’t have to agree if you don’t understand.”

“I don’t want bitterness to be born from these fights.”

“Not fighting can mean you’re unhappy, and fighting can mean you’re happy. Agreed?”

SeoHyun strangely understands.

“Agreed.”

“Is that YoonA and TaeYeon approaching us?”

SooYoung perks up her head and shouts to TaeYeon.

“Seen Sunny?”

TaeYeon shakes her head.

“Nope, have you seen Jessica?”

YuRi rushes to YoonA, and scoffs at TaeYeon.

“She’s probably having too much fun running around abandoning her friends.”

TaeYeon glumly adds.

“And threatening them…”

---

“Boring.”

Jessica mutters against the crook of her arm. Having sat on a tree branch for the past twenty minutes, she finds herself close to sleep again, and lonely.

Her stomach growls.

“Hungry…”

She leans against the bark and mulls around. Silence tends to make her think a lot, particularly about memories involving Tiffany.

One of her favorites being the first time Tiffany had unsuccessfully asked her out.

She had been circling Jessica’s desk for the entire hour of lunch before coyly asking:

“Do you know any good eateries around the neighborhood?”

Jessica had knitted her eyebrows and had answered:

“You live here too… shouldn’t you know?”

It had earned a kick to her chair from SooYoung who sat behind her, and a deep frown from Tiffany. But Jessica’s naivety hadn’t stopped the other girl, and she tried again, smiling forcefully:

“Yeah, but I was wondering if you had any favorites… maybe you could, you know, take me?”

Tiffany’s intent had been clear, but Jessica’s naivety had been bigger. She had mumbled slowly:

“Well, there’s a McDonald’s not too far from here.”

The response had made Tiffany pull up her chin and walk away. SooYoung had given a strangled growl, and hissed:

“She was trying to ask you out!”

“No, she wasn’t.”

“Yes, she was! How can you not tell? What are you? A robot? Do you not understand human emotions? Are you my calculator’s cousin? What idiot programmed you?”

Jessica had flushed, her chin stuck to her chest, and was wordless throughout the whole day. She spoke again the following morning when she had caught Tiffany alone in a hallway

“About yesterday…”

Tiffany had been carefully avoiding her, but color flooded to her cheeks when Jessica shyly began speaking.

“What about yesterday?”

Jessica had rubbed the back of her neck.

“I checked out McDonald’s yesterday. Not as great as I thought it was…”

She had bitten her lip before continuing, eyes flickering to Tiffany’s unwavering gaze.

“So I thought maybe I could show you a better place? Ever been to Kraze Burger? It might be a little far for walking though… and a bit pricey… so you don’t have to go if-“

“I’ll go.”

“Oh…”

“And I don’t mind the price.”

“I’ll pay for your meal.”

Jessica had blushed when Tiffany widely smiled at her.

“You look lovelorn.”

Jessica awakens from her reverie and stares down to see Sunny.

“I knew you’d be in a tree somewhere. You look tired.”

“Are you here to shoot me?”

“No, I feel you lost your interest with this game. I always give you about a couple of hours before you want to sleep for the rest of the day.”

Jessica doesn’t reply but climbs down the tree.

“Sunny?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not sleepy. Not that much.”

“Then why are you bored? It hasn’t been that long since you’ve threatened TaeYeon.”

“Yeah, I also found Tiffany a while ago.”

“Why didn’t you shoot her?”

“I was having too much fun to have it end.”

“And now you’re suddenly not having fun anymore?”

Jessica frowns, cocks her head, and shrugs.

“I was having a lot of fun when I met her. Now I’m bored.”

“So go find her again!”

“I’m hungry, I’d rather eat and go home with her.”

“That’s fun?”

“I told you. I have fun when I’m with her.”

Sunny shoulders her gun.

“You always have fun when you’re with her?”

Jessica ponders, bites a corner of her lip, and grins.

“I don’t regret my time with her if that’s what you’re asking.”

Jessica stretches her arms high up into the air, and breathes out a lungful of air. She rolls her neck a bit, and speaks nonchalantly.

“I’m going to lose at this rate.”

---

“YoonA?”

YoonA looks down to YuRi’s head on her lap. The other girl’s profile is basking in the dimming sunlight, eyes shut with fatigue.

“YoonA, tell me why my friends are stupid.”

“I shouldn’t answer that.”

“You’ve seen Jessica enough to know everything she’s done to me.”

“This was actually a blessing in disguise. I really wanted to have a picnic.”

YuRi grunts, turns her head to the other side and stares at her friends.

“Jessica told me today that she’s been feeding Hellraiser the ma I made all those times for her. All those times. All of that money and time… wasted.”

“I like your drinks.”

“Thank you.”

Yuri abruptly jerks her body up.

“Please tell me Sunny’s with a ghost.”

The girls all look up to see Jessica and Sunny trudge forward and slump to the ground. Jessica crosses her legs, and pushes off the straps of her guns on her shoulders.

“I’m bored.”

---

“Can someone shoot Tiffany for me?”

SooYoung raises an eyebrow.

“Who died and made you king, Jessica?”

Sunny cocks her head.

“Did you even shoot your gun once?”

Jessica looks down the barrel of her gun.

“Nope.”

Sunny chuckles helplessly.

“You spent all that money on the guns and gears and you don’t even want to shoot it once?”

“I just don’t feel like playing anymore.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe go eat somewhere?”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Kraze Burger?”

“Did you really not know anything? Or did you plan to eat at Kraze Burger all along?”

“I really didn’t know until several minutes ago.”

SooYoung brings out her phone.

“Might as well call DooJoon for the extra ride…”

She tips her head back and looks down the bridge of her nose at Jessica.

“How about shooting it once in the air?”

SeoHyun whispers.

“It might hit a bird…”

TaeYeon points her finger to a distant tree.

“Why not shoot there? There doesn’t seem to be any moving targets there.”

Jessica shrugs, lethargically lifts her gun and pulls her trigger to the general vicinity of TaeYeon’s direction.

She sets her gun back down after shooting it, and listens to SooYoung’s call to DooJoon.

“Let’s see here… HyoYeon brought a car, so you probably need to seat the four of us. Don’t you have a bigger car? TaeYeon’s asking if you can bring ice cream for us…“

Jessica tinkers with her gun, tossing it from side to side, mouth slightly parted as she numbly goes back to thinking of her memories again. She’d like it if Tiffany could magically appear in front of her. Then she wouldn’t have to wait with such boredom.

She brings up her gun and shoots it in another direction without thinking. The sound isn’t as loud as she first presumed when starting the game, but it is satisfying to hear, and she drops the hunk of metal. Bored of it completely.

“Oh, and DooJoon, make sure to bring napkins with the ice cream. Bring a lot. Of both. Stop griping about the money and hurry up. Uh – huh. So? Oh, and I’ll text you the directions. Call us when you arrive since it’s the woods. No, we’re not lost! I just said I’d give you instructions once you arrive here! Jessica what kind of ice cream do you want?”

“Anything.”

“All right, DooJoon, get one-”

“Tiffany likes mint chocolate.”

SooYoung pauses, smirks, then resumes to a blank look as she continues talking to DooJoon.

“Yeah, so there’s nine of us, and we each want-“

There’s an explosion, full of snapping branches and a scatter of pebbles as Tiffany storms into their picnic.

She is solemn, gaze steady and voice quiet.

“Who just shot their gun?”

Everyone dumbly stares, especially Jessica, and Tiffany narrows her eyes.

“Who shot their gun about ten minutes ago?”

Jessica starts to slyly shrink away slowly from the scene. Tiffany catches her movement and deduces the culprit.

“Thanks for shooting my a-”

“It was an accident.”

“Some accident.”

“But at least you found us because of it?”

“I already knew I was nearby, I didn’t need to be shot to be told the rest of the way.”

“Does it hurt?”

“It wasn’t a marvelous experience if that’s what you’re wondering.”

SooYoung pushes Jessica’s shoulder, and the shorter girl unceremoniously lurches forward to her knees. Her nose is a foot away from Tiffany’s boots, and she picks her head up to smile shakily at Tiffany’s thinned lips.

Sunny sighs exasperatedly.

“Take a walk, you two!”

Tiffany listens, albeit at her own pace, disregarding Jessica’s clumsy scrambling to match her girlfriend’s strides.

TaeYeon hugs her knees, and looks down at her dead phone.

“We’re going to grow old and die here.”

---

“Are you really mad?”

Jessica has to hurry her steps, as Tiffany’s pace isn’t slowing.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Tiffany abruptly stops, which in turn makes Jessica slam onto her back.

“No… but you cheated earlier.”

“I wouldn’t consider that cheating.”

“It was!”

“I guess it was then.”

“You’re just agreeing for the sake of ending this argument instead of agreeing because you really mean it!”

“I’m agreeing because I’m sorry.”

“It was honestly an accident?”

“Yes.”

Tiffany sighs.

“Is this blue paint permanent?”

“No, it’ll wash off.”

“It better-”

“I’ll wash it for you.”

“I can do it myself later.”

“At my place?”

“Do you still have some of your fabric softener left?”

“Yeah.”

“I like how it smells… so yeah, I’ll wash my clothes at your place.”

“You like how my clothes smell?”

“How does this conversation always end up being about you?”

“I like how your clothes smell too.”

“Thanks… we should go back to the picnic. I overheard something about ice cream.”

“Hey.”

Tiffany turns around to Jessica’s soft word.

“So how’d you teach Totoro to shoot a gun?”

“Shut up, Jessica.”

“I hear he only communicates with children… so just wondering.”

“You’re very funny. Thanks for the blue paint on my butt by the way.”

“Blue suits you.”

“Hah.”

Jessica grins, and Tiffany’s mouth has a hint of a smile.

“Hey.”

“One more comment about Totoro and I will hurt-“

“You make really good memories.”

“What?”

“Every good thing I remember is with you in it.”

Tiffany gapes, and Jessica brushes back her bangs, lingering her fingertips over Tiffany’s brow.

“Just felt like saying it. Sorry if it was overly sentimental.”

“N – No… it was nice to hear.”

Jessica clasps Tiffany’s hand, tugs her forward to where all their friends stay gathered.

“I already ordered mint chocolate for you.”

Tiffany interlaces her fingers with Jessica’s, not bothering to have more words break the special silence.

---

“So who’s the loser? Tiffany or Jessica?”

DooJoon receives a sharp slap from SooYoung to the back of his head.

“Is that the first thing you say to us?”

DooJoon rubs the sore thump on his skull and squints his eyes.

“Where did all the ice cream go?”

Sunny puts her hand out and gestures in a wide arc to the girls’ stomachs.

“They all went there.”

DooJoon breathes through his nose sullenly.

“I didn’t even get a bite…”

He relaxes his shoulder and suggests to everyone.

“We should have a bonfire.”

Tiffany moves her right shoulder in order for Jessica’s head to slide closer to her neck.

“Here?”

“Maybe somewhere near the river? After we go to Kraze Burger, I mean. I brought a car so we wouldn’t have problems with getting everyone there…”

HyoYeon leans her head into their conversation.

“But we don’t have anything to create a fire with.”

Jessica blearily stares at HyoYeon and mumbles.

“We can burn that dress you wore a few weeks ago.”

HyoYeon lunges for Jessica, and SeoHyun reaches in time to stop her. Jessica closes her eyes and adds:

“Along with the hat you wore that day.”

---

“Tiffany?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you the loser? Or am I the loser?”

Both girls have their eyes shut, their heads bobbing gently, as SeoHyun drives the car expertly. Tiffany leans her head to Jessica’s shoulder, the seatbelt sliding away from her body.

“Jessica?”

“Yeah?”

“Who the hell cares?”

“Does your butt still hurt?”

“I think it might be a bruise.”

“Blue suits you.”

“Shut up.”

“Need anything?”

“Some vitamin C would be nice. I think I might get a cold from all this…”

“I have some oranges you can eat at home.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you more than oranges.”

“Where did that come from?”

Jessica tilts the side of her face to press her cheek to Tiffany’s temple.

“Just saying.”

Tiffany yawns, voice lowering.

“That’s all? I love you more than kiwis, you know.”

“I love you more than mangoes.”

“Oh…mangoes are pretty nice. You love me more than mangoes?”

“Yeah.”

“Love you too.”

---

“Jessica?”

“Hum?”

“Did we miss breakfast?”

“The clock says its noon, but it might be wrong.”

“It’s ticking.”

“Hm.”

“Are we at your home? Sorry, I don’t want to open my eyes yet. Still tired from yesterday.”

“I’m pretty sure this is my blanket.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, it can’t be HyoYeon’s car, since she kicked us out of it last night after we apologized… Our friends hate my apologies.”

“Our friends hate our apologies.”

“But apologies aren’t bad.”

“Our apologies are just a little too… revealing. By the way…”

“Huh?”

“Winner has to cook loser breakfast.”

“You’re going to declare me as the winner for that reason?”

“Yes, and in return, I’ll take on the title of the loser.”

“The title doesn’t really fit its image...”

“Three strips of bacon, please.”

Jessica turns her head to look at Tiffany, who now has her eyes open and is impishly smiling. Jessica succumbs, whispering.

“Anything else?”

“I also want you to know that I love you.”

Jessica doesn’t reply, but kisses her.

She cooks four eggs.

And thirteen bacon strips. She carefully cuts and arranges them to spell out “loser” on the plate, before presenting the dish with a warm smile to Tiffany. She gets a light jab to the ribs in payment.

Otherwise, they share the breakfast in harmony, eager to fight, eat, play, and be with someone they love.

The End.