Hidden Mask

Bickering, Teasing, and some flirting....?

Jessica looked down at the floor from her seat in the chair as she finished with her story. 'Don't cry...don't cry' Sica told herself. Losing 8 sisters was not the end of the world...she blinked away a tear before it rolled down her face. Kris was still looking at her and he cleared his throat and looked away, slipping his hands into his pocket. 

"Leaving a group is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do..But I can't imagine getting kicked out and leaving behind people you love." Kris's voice echoed throughout the room as he looked back at her. "I can't really offer any advice to erase those memories you have, but I can say that whatever happens, just live life happily and with a smile on your face. A smile is the best way to indirectly slap Youngmin in the face....plus you look so much better with a smile on you face" Kris chuckled and winked playfully at her. Was this way of cheering her up?

"Did you just insult me with a compliment?" Jessica laughed and shook her head. She felt a lot better now that she released all the sad memories from her mind. She wiped her face to get rid of any evidence of tears and smiled and stood up from where she was sitting. 

"Well, thanks for listening to my life drama" she grinned and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "but its already 2am and I've got a long way home."

"No problem, I'm actually a great listener when I want to be" Kris walked up to her and nodded his head, with a smile on his face. "Let me at least walk you out, since I'm leaving as well. I heard this place was haunted, don't want you to get scared" He teased her as he started walking out of the room. 

"Really? I'm sure the ghosts would just leave me alone if I stared at them with my cold expression" Sica laughed and followed after Kris, as they walked out of the building.

"So where's your car parked? Mine's just around the corner" Kris pointed to the left side of the building and glanced at her.

"Um..well I was actually just going to take the taxi home" She shrugged and met his glance, his face giving her a judging expression.

"Really Jess? A taxi at this hour? You want to die a horrible death? Just follow me, I'll take you home pabo" he started walking towards his car, laughing quietly to himself.

"Y-yah! Idiot?! A horrible death? Since when have taxi's been the cause of death? Jeez, so morbid of you. Pfft!" Sica resisted the urge to kick his long legs as they reached his car. "And also, just cause I expressed some frustration over my departure of snsd to you does not mean we are close. So don't call me Jess" Sica crossed her arms and looked at Kris as he unlocked the car and opened the car door for her.

"Shh, be quiet and just get in Jess. Do you want to be caught out here by journallists? I imagine their imagination would go wild just thinking about what we were doing in the building this late at night" Kris raised an eyebrow at her as he gently laid his hand on her back and pushed her to sit down in the passenger side, closing the door. Argh! This guy! She turned to look at him as he sat down next to her in the drivers side, her arms still crossed.

"Aww are you pouting? How childish of you. A grown woman pouting, how unattractive. tsk tsk. And I thought you were more mature than this" Kris tsked some more and turned on his car, having fun as he teased her. Her reactions were so funny.

"Galaxy Boy. What kind of nickname is that anyway?" Jessica gave up and decided to poke fun at him too. "Are you someone who came from the stars?" she laughed at her own joke and turned to look at him to see his reaction. He quickly glanced at her while he drove before speaking.

"Yes, I came to kidnap you and take you to back to my planet." Kris chuckled softly as he played along. Just then, a weird gurgling noise came from somewhere in the car. "What was that...?" He groaned and muttered "dumb car better not be breaking down, not at this time!" Sica was glad it was night and he couldn't see her red face. The gurgling sound was actually her tummy...she hadn't eaten at all and now she was starving. Her stomach made the same noise again so she tried to cross her arms over her stomach, trying to make it stop.

"Wait...is that you?" he turned to look at her, noticing her movements. "Are you hungry? Why didn't you tell me? You're so weird Jess" Kris couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Even if you don't like it, I am your friend now. You're not alone anymore, ok?" With those last words, Jessica smiled softly and looked out the window. A friend. She hadn't had one of those in a while. Who would've thought she would be friends with Kris? Life does sure have its surprises. Kris soon parked the car near a street market. Not too close, yet not too far either.

"Time for food!" They both exited the car and slowly walked to the market. "Hopefully no one recognizes us" Sica was glad there weren't that many people at the market around this time. "Mmm.. I smell tteokbokki" Craning her neck, she searched for the the vendor that would be selling it. "Where's the smell coming from?" She walked up towards one of the vendors, finally finding tteokbokki. Kris followed silently behind her, not wanting to call attention to himself.

"May I have three servings of tteokbokki please?" Sica smiled at the vendor, confident that he wouldn't recognize her. At first, the vendor didn't say anything and cooked the food for her. When he went to hand her the bag of tteokbokki he leaned close to her before widening his eyes.

"Jessica! Its Jessica Jung! Quick, someone bring a camera!" Uh-oh. Someone recognized her. Jessica suddenly felt a tug on her elbow, and she panicked. She took a step back, trying to releases the person's grip as it tightened.

"Relax it's just me! Come on!" Kris's deep voice sent a wave of comfort through her, as she let him quickly guide her back to his car. They could hear a commotion getting louder behind them. Without hesitation, they both climbed into the car and Kris sped off. After about a minute of silence, she couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"Well I'm glad you're amused by our close call. It could have been worse, you know" Kris was focusing on driving while Sica managed to control herself.

"But it wasn't. Oh! This tteokbokki smells so good, are we almost there?" She was too busy trying to untie the bag where her tteokbokki was that she didn't notice the car had turned off.

Kris faced her as she finally looked up. "We're already here. Welcome to my home."