Jess
When I wake up in the morning, instead of Mark, I see a bunch of Lilacs beside me. Mark comes in just when I get them in my hands and admire their scent. OMG! This is just the sweetest. Forgetting about last night, a smile creeps in my face.
"You like them?" He says smiling.
I nod, "Thank you. I love them."
"You feeling better now?"
I nod again.
"Great!" He kisses my forehead and pulls me off the bed. "Now, get dressed cause we're going out."
"Where?"
"Just!"
As the warm water hit my body under the shower, I replay everything that happened last night. Lei, saying he loves me. My heart beats fast. Should I go to him? Can I just forget about all this and follow him. But, the company. No. I have to stand my ground. For my family...for me.
Mark, saying he loves me. Should I tell him now? It would break his heart. But, it's the right thing to do. Suddenly, I feel a very heavy thing pulling my heart to the ground. Guilt? I can't dare to tell him just yet. Maybe after the vacation. Yes. Just a couple more days.
I look for Jackson when I finish changing.
"Let's go?" Mark says.
"In a while." I walk to the boys' room and sit beside my cousin's bed. "Jackson," I shake him awake.
"Hm?" He squints at me through his sleepy eyes.
"We need to talk." I have to whisper since Junior is still asleep on the other bed.
"Can't it wait?"
"Just the question I would want to ask you. Can't it wait? Just until we go back to Seoul."
"What?" He looks confused, still half-asleep. After a minute of analyzing, his eyes open wide.
"I can't ruin this vacation for him, Jackson."
"Ugh. Ok! When we get back, ok?"
I hug him and run outside to the waiting Mark.
"So, where are we going?"
"It's a secret."
When we get out the house, a white convertible is already waiting for us.
"Get in," he says, opening the passenger door for me.
I look at him questioningly.
"Just get in," he chuckles, pushing me gently.
He drives the car to a really cute Teddy Bear Museum. We head to their dining area first for breakfast.
"What about the others?" I ask him. Although, it's nice that it's just the two of us for now. It's been chaotic with all the boys in the house.
"It's just you and me today." He smiles.
We roam around the museum and take pictures of the cutest things ever. He gets us a couple teddy bears and gives me the male bear. "Look," he puts up the girl bear, "this looks just like you when you're drunk." He chuckles.
"Ugh..." I hit him slightly on his arm. "I don't want to remember that. I suck at acting cute."
"Good you know," he teases even more.
"Mark!"
"You're cute no matter what," he puts his arm around my waist and kisses the top of my head.
Next, we go to this park with neatly trimmed bush walls that stand out. "What is this place?"
"It's the Maze Park," he says. "Wanna try it?"
"I don't know. I'm bad at mazes. We might get lost." I feel a bit worried although it's not that wide, still you can get lost in it.
"Not we. You. Just stay on your phone and I'll guide you."
"You want me to go there alone?" Seriously?
"C'mon. It'd fun."
Before I know it, he leaves me at the entrance and runs up to the view deck.
My phone starts ringing, "C'mon, go in," he says.
"I swear, Mark, if you mislead me, I'm gonna make sure you stay in this maze forever," I threat, but all I get is a chuckle.
I've been on the phone listening to his directions for fifteen minutes now. I'm starting to get worried. Is he seriously misleading me? He's so gonna regret this.
"Mark!" I yell for the nth time. "Get me out of here, it's freakin' me out."
He chuckles again. "Just take the left...that's it."
I grumble and turn to my left. Why do I even bother to listen to him. I'm already pissed off.
But, what do I see? Mark standing in the middle of a round opening, encircled with tall bushes, holding a bouquet of Lilacs.
Mark! This is just the most romantic. Aaawwww....my heart just melted. All my anger - gone. I run to him and give him the tightest of the hugs.
"I hate you!" I say under my breath.
"Hey, you're squishing the flowers," he pushes me gently just to pull the flowers to his side, and takes me back in his arms. "Here!" He hands me the flowers. "I love you, baby." And kisses me on the forehead.
Enough with the 'I love yous' already. You're just making me more and more guilty. I just stay on his arms, breathing in the scent that I would soon not be able to smell.
"So, how do we get out of here?" I ask, remembering we're still in the middle of the maze.
He just chuckles and takes my hand. "I have this maze memorized already," he says. We get out in no time.
For lunch, we stop by a restaurant overlooking the beautiful water below. Then we just drove around the island, taking in the breathtaking view of the different landscapes the island has to offer, only stopping to take pictures.
"This is beautiful," I look down at the crashing waves underneath us and feel the soft breeze hitting my face.
"You're beautiful," he says, staring at me from the side.
"Thank you, Mark," I turn to face him.
"What for?"
"For this." For everything. For being here. For making me forget, even just for a short period of time. It has been fun. I won't ever forget you.
"For you, always!" He steps forward, closing the gap between us and wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me in for the sweetest kiss. A tear trickles down my eye. I'm sorry, Mark.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jackson
Mark and Jess went out for a date. I let her do what she wants for now. I don't want to ruin this for Mark, either.
I take the opportunity to go and talk to Lei, face to face. He agreed to meet me in the bar of his dad's resort.
"Hey!" I nod at him as I enter the place.
"Jackson," he nods back. "What do you drink?" He asks as I take the seat at the bar beside him.
"Whiskey."
"So," he starts after the bartender hands me my drink, "how've you been?"
"Busy. Stressed. You?"
"Same." He breathes in, then continues, "I talked to her last night."
That got my attention. "And?"
"I screwed up again." He huffs.
"You always screw up, Chenglei. What's new?" I can't believe he messed it up again.
"I do, don't I?", he lets out a bitter chuckle. "I don't know what to do anymore. She hates me. She hates my family. I can't blame her. We're all jerks." I can't agree more.
"So, what do you plan to do now?"
"I think I'd just go back home. I don't think I'm needed here."
"You're just leaving just like that? Just like what you did last time? You're just quitting on her? Is that it?" I'm outraged. He's doing it again. The coward that he is, he's running away from all this.
"It's not like that Jackson. I'm never gonna quit on her ever again. I'd just wait for everything to calm down. I don't want our family problems to get on the way."
I sigh. He's right. It's one of the dilemmas of being born in a rich family, most especially the ones we are in. There are too many complications. Love is the last thing to consider.
"Jackson!"
"Hm?"
"Do you think she still has feelings for me?"
If I tell him, I would be betraying my cousin. If not, he would leave her and God knows what he's gonna do to the her family. Shit! I decide not to answer.
"I finally told her I love her, you know?" Another bitter chuckle. "I'm just so bad at this. It wasn't even romantic at all. I just shouted it at her. And she ran away." He breathes in deeply, maybe trying to stop himself from crying.
I feel sorry for him. I do. My messed up cousin has already hurt a lot of people because of her pride. I understand her though. If I were in her shoes, I think I might do the same - fight. Fight for my family, for what my family treasures.
I just hate to be in the middle of all this. Why do I have to be related to all the people involved in this problem? Why should I bother? It's not my problem, is it? But, I care about all of them - my cousin, my best friend, and my old friend. Shit. I don't even have time for myself anymore. I swear, after all this is over, I'm gonna let them do whatever I want.
________________________________________________________________________________
Mark
It's been one of the happiest days of my life - being with her, just the two us, nothing to worry about but us. I've told her I lover her again, I didn't get a reply. But that's ok, I know it's too soon.
After last night, I know I don't want to lose her. This feeling is even much deeper than my past relationships. She's more special than any other girl I've been with. I might have fallen too soon, but she's worth it. She's worth everything in the world.
Yes! I am very cheesy. But, that's just who I am. I don't care what other people say, I show what I feel and I speak what I think. She, on the other hand, is very mysterious. I know there are still a lot of things she's not telling me, but I can wait.
Jackson just cares about me, I know that. But, he should know his limits. He's been right many times about the girls I went out with, but not with Jess. He might know her better than I do, but I love her more than he does. Whatever is troubling her right now, I can make that go away.
Even with the smiles she's been showing me today, I can still see a bit of a frown behind them. I hope she would open up to me soon, on what she's really worrying about. I know I can help her. I'd do whatever it takes to make that frown go away.
The ride back to the resort is comfortably silent. She is dozing off on her seat, maybe tired from all the places we've been to. I smile at her peaceful face, if only she's always as peaceful as now.
"Hey," I pat her shoulder lightly, "we're here." I remove my seatbelt and move closer to her to wake her up. "Jess," I shake her.
"Hm?" She's just the cutest when she opens her eyes from sleep. She squints at the light from the house beaming through the windshield.
"We're here, babe," I help her take off the seatbelt. She stretches a bit and stares at me. There's somewhat a pained look in her eyes. I can't really tell because it's already a bit dark.
When we get into the house, the guys are all gathered in the living room.
"Hyung," Bambam is the first to see us. "What took you so long?"
"Huh?" They know we'd be coming back late. I scan the room and all of them look kinda disappointed or sad maybe. "What's wrong?"
"Ugh..." Yugyeom exclaims, "manager-hyung just called and he said we need to go back tonight."
"Tonight? Why? I thought we're going back the day after tomorrow?"
"There's this event we have to perform in. The 2pm hyungs are supposed to do it, but they can't go because of some reasons. JYP- hyungnim asked us to substitute for them." JB explains.
"But we haven't practiced anything."
"He says we just have to do the old ones. So we have to go back tonight so we would have time to at least go through it before the show."
"Wait," Jess looks up from the floor beside Snow. "Where's Jackson?"
"Just called him," Victor comes out from the kitchen, holding a bucket of ice cream, "he's on his way."
"You should go pack your things now, the both of you," Junior shoos us towards our rooms.
After Jackson arrived and finished packing, two vans come to pick us up and take us to the airport.
Jess is especially quiet. I guess she's as disappointed as I am that we're going back too soon. She clutches the bear I bought for her as she looks out the window from the plane.
I take her hand and she slowly turns her head to look at me. "You ok?" I ask her.
"Yeah!" Her smile is weak and it didn't reach her eyes. I know something's wrong, but if she isn't ready to tell me yet, that's fine. I don't want to push her.