REALLY LIKE YOU [Sim Jake]

10

Jake softly called the girl's name, causing her to turn around.

Her expression turned into a confused one when he suddenly walked towards her direction.

The guy suddenly took the phone from the girl's hand before typing his phone number, adding it into her contact list.

"Text me the location of your academy later." He spoke.

He then bid his goodbye to the girl who was still processing the situation before leaving the place.

Jiyeon cupped her mouth with her palms, trying not to scream.

"I got Jake's number!" She squealed, excitedly jumping in her place.

Upon getting into her house, Jiyeon made her way towards her room.

The door to her step-sister's room was widely opened.

The younger purposely let it opened so that she could notice Jiyeon's presence when she got home.

She immediately got out of her room upon hearing Jiyeon's footsteps.

"Jiyeon." She approached the elder.

Jiyeon let out a sigh before turning her head half-heartedly to look at the younger.

"The one with you at the library the other day, is he your boyfriend?" She asked.

"It's none of your business." Jiyeon replied. She knew that her step-sister was trying to bring up any topic just to create conversation with her.

"I see." The younger responded.

Upon hearing her response, Jiyeon proceeded to walk towards her room.

"Actually..." The younger stopped her again.

Jiyeon just waited for her to continue talking, but she didn't bother to turn around to look at her step-sister's direction.

"I'm performing for my school's talent show... and I wish you could come." She requested while extending her arm with the invitation letter on her hand towards Jiyeon.

Jiyeon looked down at the letter before taking it with her into her room. She didn't say anything but just left the younger there.

It's already night time. Jiyeon plopped herself in her bed after freshening up. She then took out her phone, recalling that she had to do something.

JAKE

Hi, it's Jiyeon.
[location]
Did you arrive home safely?

She finally sent the texts after few minutes contemplating. She threw her phone away, too shy to wait for the reply.

Jiyeon didn't need to wait long for his reply as it took only 2 minutes for the new notifications to pop out of her screen after she sent the messages.

JAKE

Hey.
I waited for your text.
I was scared that I typed in the wrong number.

Upon receiving his replies, they both texted until late night, mostly about random topics, trying to get to know each other. No one bothered to end the conversation, both were too invested, not until Jake started to get slow replies from the girl, indicating that she was already dozing off few times.

After that night's conversations and the incident that occurred in the school earlier, Jake was sure about his feelings.

He suddenly felt nervous thinking about the fact that he would be seeing Jiyeon in school tomorrow for the first time as the person he liked, not as a friend.

One thing he worried the most was the fact that he needed to be direct with the girl if he wanted her to know about his feelings because the girl could be really slow sometimes. However, he knew that he could count on Seoyeon when it came to this matter.

The next day at school went by as usual for Jiyeon.

However, it was a different case for Seoyeon, Sunghoon and Jay, where they felt like Jake was being strange from his usual self at times.

It seemed like he couldn't get rid of Jiyeon's name from his mouth.

He would ask Seoyeon things like "Did you come to school with Jiyeon today?" or "Will Jiyeon come to our class to pick you up for lunch later?" or "Does Jiyeon have class duty after school today?".

He thought he was being sneaky about it, but he might be forgetting that he was talking to Jiyeon's quick-witted friend, not Jiyeon.

"Do Jake like Jiyeon?" Seoyeon asked Sunghoon. Sunghoon exchanged glances with Jay before returning his attention back towards the girl.

"We suspected that." He replied, earning a nod from the girl.

********************

Upon entering her house, Jiyeon met eyes with the people she despised the most.

They were currently at the countertop, eating together the homemade food made by her step-mother that she would never get to taste.

She overheard their conversations while she was on her way to her room.

"Gayoung, do you have plan on the weekend? Let's go for a vacation?" The elder asked her daughter.

"Ohh, I... have an extra class." Gayoung replied.

Jiyeon raised her eyebrows when she heard the younger's answer to her mother.

She plopped herself in her bed upon closing the door to her room.

"Did she not tell her mother about the talent show?" Jiyeon thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on the door, causing her to got up from the bed.

She raised her eyebrows upon seeing her step-sister's face at the door, holding a food container in her hand.

"I saved some food for you." The girl said.

"I- urmm.. it's fine, I'm not hungry." Jiyeon replied.

The truth was she actually dying to try her step-mother's cooking. It had been so long since she ate homemade food after the passing of her mother when she was 5.

She was never offered to eat together by her step-mother. Why would she? She never considered Jiyeon as her daughter.

"It's okay, eat this when you're hungry." Gayoung forcefully handed the food container into Jiyeon's grip before leaving the place.

Jiyeon sighed, sitting on her bed while staring at the food in her hand.

She slowly opened the lid to the container, causing the pleasant smell of the food to fill the air in her room.

She picked up the chopstick before feeding herself.

"It's good." She said, sighing while closing her eyes. She couldn't help but to feel emotional as this reminded her to her late mother.

Unconsciously, a single tear rolled down her cheek. She tried to wipe them off but more tears flowed down, causing her to break down.

Jiyeon put the container aside, bringing her legs closer to her chest, burying her face in between her knees.

"Mom, I miss you." She mumbled while sobbing.

Incoming call... [Jake]

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Love, Nia♡