Second Arrangement

CHAPTER 21 - APOLOGY GONE WRONG(NOT)

ELLIE

I scrunched my nose at his confession, "Ew. Me and Jasper? No thank you. You knew that he used to want to be a plastic surgeon so he could work on boops?" I saw his jaw drop. "Yeah, he'S the one that's shallow. Not you."

"Thanks for clarifying that," he smirked. "Anyway.. Are we good?" Again, he looked worried.

"I don't know," I tapped my chin, "How about you take me to that second date and then I'll let you know?" I could see his face brightened at the mention of the second date.

"I might hold on to that," he warned me.

"Yeah sure. Go back here before you can hold it against me," I dared him.

The rest of the week went as usual after that video call. He went back demanding me to update my stories if I could, and somehow, I didn't feel burdened by it. I felt excited to show him whatever I was doing that day. And he updated his as well. I could see that he was working hard, finishing his project with Jinyoung so he could go back to China as soon as possible. His other team was on his throat when he suddenly ghosted them. Most nights we spent either calling or video calling. I asked him to give me a heads up if he headed back to China and he told me that Jinyoung made a comment about him disappearing from one place and appearing in another place as if he had a door-to-anywhere. Just like Doraemon. He was surprised that I knew about Doraemon, considering that I didn't read comic books nor watch movies.

Between the two of us, everything went back to normal. But I felt like I still had to face him. He didn't know that we had made up and his effort was useless. I was lucky that I didn't see him for the next three days as I was still furious and mad at him. I bet I would be cursing at him if I saw him right away. Jackson told me to ignore him, but it felt as if he would keep trying to come between us if I didn't put a stop on it. I had to lay it out for him, plain and simple so he wouldn't dare to try anything else. Again. It was not until the next day that I spotted him coming out from an operating room. I quickly approached him. He smiled when he first spotted me, but when he saw my furious face, his smile disappeared.

"What's up?" he didn't dare to ask anything else, which was good.

I looked around us quickly and when I saw there was no one else in sight, I decided to just tell him right there. "Look, I knew what you said to Jackson and let me tell you once and for all, stop meddling with my personal business. It's not your business at all. I'm not even your friend anymore, so you have the right to mess around my life. It's my choice to be with him. I appreciate the warning, but thank you, I don't need it. You know nothing about him, so you don't get to judge him. So, I hope, aside from talking business, please refrain from talking to me?"

"Fine," he gritted. "Don't come moping back at me when your heart get broken by him."

"I won't," I seethed and turned around on my heels, leaving him behind. I tossed my used gloves, mask and hair net into the bin and marched toward the changing room, feeling better already.

JACKSON

Everything went back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be. I resumed recording with Jinyoung and since I was in high spirits to finish it as quickly as possible, I managed to get it done in four days. Even though Ellie said that she forgave me for going MIA on her, I still felt bad. I felt like I had to make a special gesture to apologize to her. But she wasn't just any other girl. Yeah sure she would love it if I gave her chocolate, but chocolate was nothing special. I wanted to give her something special.

"What do you guys give to your special someone?" I decided to ask the two guys in front of me.

"As in for birthdays?" Jinyoung raised his eyebrow, "And by special someone, you meant like a girlfriend? Not family?"