Chapter 32: A Childhood Friend

As the group settled down in the Wei Family's Falcon 7X, Miyeon glanced at the handsome young man sitting beside her and tilted her head in slight apprehension. Her friend looked visibly perturbed and preoccupied with his thoughts since the group left the hotel. Miyeon tapped her friend's hand that lay on the armrest and made an 'okay' gesture with her fingers when Jesse looked over.

Upon seeing the concerned look on Miyeon's face, Jesse grabbed the young lady's outstretched hand and slowly intertwined his fingers with hers for a few seconds. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance before regrettably releasing her comforting warmth. Miyeon gave Jesse a soft smile in response and nodded in acknowledgement. Since their university days, the two had a tacit understanding of sorts. There was no such thing as a trouble-free life but they both weren't the type to pry into each other's personal life. Instead, after they've had sufficient time to reflect on their issues and are ready to reach out, they become each other's sounding board. 

Jesse recalled the time in uni when their soccer team had lost an extremely important match due to a careless mistake on his part. The coach and the rest of the players were being extremely considerate perhaps due to the fact that the team was funded by donations from the Evans family. Unsurprisingly, this made his mood worse. He had been ignoring communications from his friends and family for a few days after the match. It was a Friday afternoon in a small cafe where he'd been trying to catch up on school work when he'd accidentally overheard a few of his teammates shite talking about him.

"That arse Jesse! Callin' a play like that! That wanker cost us our shot at the playoffs!"

"With skills like that… how did he even make center forward?"

"Come now. Without his family's dosh he's basically just a dog with two dicks."

"What do you expect from him hanging around with that slag Rich?" 

"You think he's a homo like Rich? That's why he can't even kick a ball properly. He's prolly more used to getting his balls played."

Raucous laughter erupts from the group as they continue to chat while waiting for their drinks.

"Nah. You see how badly he's been trying to get into Irene's pants?"

"He must have just been in need of a shag. Man I can't stand homos."

"Can't blame him. Irene is fine. I'd want to tap that too."

Out of sight from his teammates, Jesse gritted his teeth at their jeers and willed himself not to confront them. No good will come out in getting into a fistfight right now. He will only come off as a spoiled rich brat who can't handle some trash talk. It was true that he had been too cocky during the game and the last play was a really bad call. But he really disliked how the guys spoke about Miyeon. 'Dammit all to hell!' he cursed underneath his breath. 

  Suddenly there were whistles and catcalls that came from the group of jocks. Miyeon was passing by the cafe on her way to an afternoon shift at the library.

"Looking good there, Irene." Someone called out from inside with a leering smile.

"We missed you last Tuesday. You should've come to see your man mess up the match," one of the men shouted as the rest cackled in agreement. However, Miyeon simply gave them an exasperated look and continued on her way. 

When Jesse finally came to find Miyeon at ANNA's a few days later, she'd given him a slice of banoffee pie with his coffee. The English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and a thick caramel sauce, combined on a buttery biscuit base was one of Jesse's favorites from childhood.

"Irene, I didn't.." Jesse began to point out that he had not placed this order.

To which Miyeon only laughingly replied, "It's on the house. Are you feeling better now?"

"Hooo. I got too cocky at the game. Cost us our shot at the playoffs," Jesse spoke recalling the source of his ire. Yet contrary to the reaction he had expected, Miyeon simply nodded and smiled in agreement, "Yep. You are pretty cocky." 

"Wait, what? But uh you weren't at the game," Jesse felt somewhat embarrassed. He didn't know this was how Miyeon saw him as well. 'What if she didn't like this sort of guy? What if this was a huge turnoff?' Jesse wondered. 

"Dear customer, do I need to remind you how many of you soccer matches I've watched," Miyeon tried to speak with a straight face while stifling a laugh. "At first it was surprising to see you so heated about something; you're usually pretty easy going about everything."

"Ugh. Bloody hell. This sucks," Jesse lamented before continuing with, "Do you hate it?" Jesse referred to his Jekyll and Hyde transformation on the soccer field. 

"Why would it? Isn't it good to be passionate about something. Your fans seem to like it too. I think I lose ear cells at every match I attend." Miyeon casually responded. 

"Ugh. They are pretty loud huh. Sorry," Jesse apologized for his admirers.

"Hahaha. Don't be. They're cute" Miyeon said, patting Jesse's back.

"Anyway...I got an earful from the coach. I'll play better in the next match," Jesse confessed. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders after he had confronted the coach for some honest feedback.

"Okay. I'll look forward to it. But you're already better than the guys who talk behind your back when you're not around," Miyeon continued with a smile.

"Irene you.." (Jesse)

"You were pretty awesome. Holding back in there." (Miyeon)

"Ugh How did you know I was there?" Jesse inquired wanting to hide from embarrassment.

"You always sit at the same corner table. I saw your cap and hoodie," Miyeon answered, tapping her chin slightly with her finger. "You were trying to catch up with homework huh."

"Ahhh. Dammit!" Jesse muttered as he watched Miyeon walk back into the kitchen. So she'd been aware of what he'd been going through these past few days but Miyeon didn't pry into his private matters. After he had cleared the air with the coach, he felt mollified and suddenly found himself walking towards ANNA's. Since it was an odd time (~ 2pm in the afternoon), Jesse was thinking to order something sweet with his coffee when Miyeon had given him the banoffee pie. 

'Mm. Delicious,' thought Jesse after taking a bite of the pie. A few minutes passed when Miyeon emerged from the kitchen and walked over to Jesse's table. She placed a small cup of eton mess in front of him. The dessert was another one of his favorites - a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, meringue, and whipped cream. 'Seriously, I like her so much.'

That afternoon, the pair ended up chatting until the end of Miyeon's shift and then decided to watch a film at the cinema. What was another normal shitty experience became a fond memory for Jesse. Suffice it to say, Jesse truly treasured his friendship with Miyeon and is ready to take the relationship a step further.

......….

Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was 4 years younger than Jesse and the daughter of a business associate of his parents, Marguerite and Theodore Evans. Liz had been a handful ever since she was a child, always tagging along Rich and Jesse every chance she can get. Completely unapologetic, she had caused the breakup of several of his previous relationships. From playing harmless pranks on his exes to constantly crashing in on his dates. Back then, Jesse just disregarded Liz as an annoying 'little sister' but also didn't bother to clear things up with his romantic partners since he wasn't serious about the relationships in the first place.

Things have apparently come to bite him in the arse since people began to think he harbors some special consideration for Liz. The latter had been confessing to Jesse ever since she was 11 years old and had basically told everyone who would listen that she would marry him in the future. It didn't matter how often Jesse rejected Liz's feelings either, the girl simply came back insisting that no one will love him and match him better than her, all to Jesse's dismay. Thankfully, the past years have been relatively quiet after her parents decided to ship her to a boarding school in Italy. But now that she has graduated, the first thing on her agenda seems to be tracking his whereabouts and inquiring about his relationships. 'I need to get in touch with that troublemaker before she sets her sights on Irene,' thought Jesse. The reappearance of Jesse's childhood friend had really brought a damper on his mood.