Margin of Error
Title: Margin of Error
Pairing: Yonghwa/Seohyun, Jessica
Genre: Drabble
Rating: g
Summary: First and lasting impressions
Jessica isn’t one to open up to people right away. She’ll introduce herself properly, but will quietly stand in the background. She doesn’t regret that she’s not outwardly open like her fellow American member, Tiffany, who is always smiling and witty and happy. It’s good that they’re like this, complementing each other in their own ways.
After meeting people, she will continue observing them, sometimes over a long period of time, to get a better sense of who they are and her first impressions have 99.8% been spot on. It’s made the difference between her being friendly acquaintances and good friends with the people who meet Jessica Jung.
She found out that Jung Yong Hwa would be paired with maknae on a We Got Married and her sensors went into overdrive, so she vowed to suspend judgment and observe, trying her best to refrain from making a hasty decision about him. There was something about him that she didn’t trust and it felt like everything about him rubbed her the wrong way; the way he smiled, spoke, sang, but she watched him, politely smiling when he and his members greeted SNSD.
And then she saw that one episode of Win Win and finally settled on an impression about Jung Yong Hwa. He had admitted to liking Taeyeon when SNSD first came out, in front of Taeyeon and the rest of the country. Taeyeon, being a good leader, supported him when he tried to defend his answer saying that questions like that would make Seohyun sad. Then he had mentioned feeling “compelled” to like Seohyun since they were posing as a married idol couple, which he quickly corrected, but the damage with Jessica had been done.
She really didn’t care that they shared the same last name and might have a common relative way back in their respective family histories. She didn’t like him. She didn’t like the way he was quick to smile. In her opinion, he was too quick about a lot of things and she certainly didn’t like that maknae was now virtually married to the guy. That dopey way he freaked out at the security image when she had first walked through the door unnerved her and two words came to mind: Fan Boy. “Ugh, not another one,” she had wanted to say to herself, but she had refrained. To be honest, she had had quite enough with JunK and Jinwoon and even Leeteuk, who was old enough to be Seohyun’s uncle. No, she didn’t know what she was going to do about the situation, not that she could, but well, she couldn’t be expected to throw a parade for him. Hell no.
Her calendar was free on the day the other members went to their housewarming party filming, but well, she just didn’t want to go. She loved Seohyun, but she couldn’t bear being in the same room as Jung Yong Hwa, especially if he was going to fanboy over a roomful of SNSD. When she watched the episode, she was almost disappointed that he wasn’t squealing about like a schoolboy. She had hoped he’d give her yet another reason to be distrustful of him. The only satisfaction she got from watching that episode was watching him fidget nervously while in their presence. The girls weren’t just sunbae, they were also his virtual wife’s sisters, who had watched Seohyun grow up and were watching carefully that he didn’t make her cry. If he screwed up, he’d be done for on so many fronts, so he looked like he was really trying to make a good impression.
After that, when Seohyun would come home, chattering more and more to Hyoyeon about Yonghwa, while the rest of the girls eavesdropped. Jessica sat quietly, flipping through magazines, but listening to the maknae rap about this virtual husband of hers that she appeared to respect and admire. Heck, she was even singing his songs in the shower! The other girls teased her, saying filming was over and that she didn’t have to keep talking about Yonghwa, but she smiled shyly, “Oppa is nice.” Seohyun’s sudden interest in Yonghwa still didn’t convince Jessica that Yonghwa was as perfect as people were making him out to be. So what if he acted in a drama and hoofed it up as a rookie band in Japan before debuting in Korea?
One night, Tiffany came into her bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“So what do you think about maknae? It’s cute, right?”
Jessica didn’t look up from her book and replied, “It won’t be cute when she gets hurt.”
Tiffany was silent for a few moments before brushing off the serious comment. “Hurt? It’s a TV show.”
“Is it, really?”
“It’s a good way for her to learn how to relate to guys.”
“What was wrong with her just liking Keroro?”
“You and I both know it’s not normal for a 19 year old to not know how to talk to guys, Jessica. Look at how she is around the SM guys. Do you want her to be 25 and still socially awkward? At least it’s all unfolding on camera.”
Jessica looked up from her book, her eyes narrowed, “Really? Because when she’s not rehearsing or studying, she’s either talking about Jung Yong Hwa or communicating with him on her phone. I don’t see cameras around. Do you?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s that bad,” Tiffany said quietly.
Jessica dismissed her with a “pffft” and returning her attention to her book, while Tiffany backed out of the room. It was best to leave Jessica alone with her own thoughts.
One day, she overheard a conversation between Seohyun and Tiffany in the living room, “After Ganghwado last month, he hasn’t texted back and he’s not wearing the ring. I’m worried, unnie,” Seohyun said sadly. “I stayed up all night making that book.”
Jessica walked from the kitchen to her room and made eye contact with Tiffany, shooting her a look as if to say, “I told you so.”
Tiffany ignored her and turned her attention to the maknae, “It’ll all be alright, Joohyun. He must be busy, right?”
That month, Jessica had watched Seohyun carefully. When she was around other people, she was cheerful to a fault, but once she thought no one was watching, she was back at her phone, checking for messages. She wanted to strangle Jung Yong Hwa, like she’s entirely capable. How dare he not call?
She called Tiffany’s phone. “I need Jung Yong Hwa’s cell number. Now.”
“I don’t have it.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have it?”
“Exactly what it sounds like, Jessica. I don’t have it. No one does. Only maknae.”
She still asked the rest of the members, except for Seohyun, for his number, but Tiffany was right. No one had it.
She was livid. How dare he choose to be inaccessible to the rest of the group. He probably planned it that way, so that they’d have to talk to him through Seohyun. After spending 30 minutes calling every idol she knew to find out Yonghwa’s phone number, Jessica was at her wits’ end. Not a single person knew his number, not even Seulong. She was positive that if Yonghwa appeared before her, she’d kill him with her bare hands.
Seohyun stood at her doorway after hanging up with the last possible lead, to get Park Shin Hye’s phone number.
“Maknae! I didn’t see you there.””
“Hi unnie. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Jessica said, inviting her to sit down beside her on her bed. Seohyun sat down beside her, “What’s up?”
“Mildang. How?”
Jessica heart broke. How can such a sweet and intelligent girl want to plot revenge with something as childish as mildang? Revenge and mildang would never have come up if it weren’t for him, so like a good unnie, Jessica taught Seohyun what she needed to know. She felt bad about it, but well, he ought to pay for what he did.
When she watched the episodes where Seohyun advanced “Operation Mildang”, she laughed bitterly at how flustered she made him feel. He was in the palm of her hand and she loved watching him squirm. If he wasn’t regretting his decision before then, he surely was on camera. Deep down inside, something tugged at Jessica’s conscience. She didn’t exactly know what, but she suppressed it.
She thought things were going well and that maknae was getting the hang of controlling guys’ emotions, until Seohyun returned to the group after filming We Got Married in Japan and cornered Jessica.
“Oppa asked that we not do mildang anymore,” she said. “And I agreed. I don’t like having to calculate every move with the sole intent of making someone miserable.” Jessica wasn’t surprised by their mutual decision to enact a ceasefire on mildang. “And oppa asked me to be his girlfriend.”
“What?!” Jessica didn’t know it even came out of her mouth and in a volume much louder than her normal voice.
“Unnie, what’s wrong?”
“Oh. Nothing. What do you think?”
Seohyun sat quietly, trying to formulate a response. “Unnie, I think too much, don’t I?” Jessica didn’t respond. “For the first time in my life, I’m starting to feel and I quite like it. And I like him. Yong oppa. So I said yes.”
Jessica didn’t know what to say, but at that moment, she felt she owed it to Seohyun to really give him a chance. If Yonghwa was the first guy she was going to give her heart to, Jessica needed to support her, so she did the only thing she could.
She went back to watch every episode of We Got Married with an open heart and mind and she began to see the little things that explained why Seohyun began falling for him. He was extremely careful and patient with her. He understood that she didn’t have a lot of experience, but he never pressured her. He never made fun of her and he was fiercely protective of her, even with his members. He made her laugh, he drew her out of her shell, and she felt safe enough with him to try new things.
And then there was the way he looked at her, particularly on music stages. It was the only way Jessica could watch them interact without video editing. Among all the beautiful and scantily clad girls around at those performances, he only wanted to look at her, his eyes drifting to where she was, no matter where she was on stage. When girls tried to talk to him, he was awkward, no doubt feeling uncomfortable around them and was soon removing himself from the exchange by walking away. Seohyun wasn’t subtle when she glanced around the stage either, looking for where he was situated in relation to her, despite being warned that cameras were everywhere. Then again, she took her cue from Yonghwa, neither of them wanting to be away from each other for too long.
There was also the uncanny way he befriended every guy who named Seohyun as their ideal, approaching them on music stages and looking extremely chummy with them. Not long after that encounter, those guys stopped talking about Seohyun publicly. It was really quite brilliant and she was impressed by his determination.
In backstage dressing rooms, Jessica watched as his hand rested at the small of her back when they were standing side-by-side in the dressing room and how they maintained eye contact whenever they spoke with each other. Those intimate little gestures told the whole story and that was all she needed to rescind her original impression of Jung Yong Hwa. She was finally convinced that he had Seohyun’s best interests at heart and that he was capable of loving her as much and in the ways she truly deserved. She could actually come to like the guy, so she buried whatever ill will she initially harbored against him and pledged to truly support them.
Jessica’s record of assessing people is tarnished thanks to Jung Yong Hwa. He gave her perfect record the miniscule margin of error of .2%, but she doesn’t quite care, as long as maknae was happy and Tiffany doesn’t rub it in too much.
Pairing: Yonghwa/Seohyun, Jessica
Genre: Drabble
Rating: g
Summary: First and lasting impressions
Jessica isn’t one to open up to people right away. She’ll introduce herself properly, but will quietly stand in the background. She doesn’t regret that she’s not outwardly open like her fellow American member, Tiffany, who is always smiling and witty and happy. It’s good that they’re like this, complementing each other in their own ways.
After meeting people, she will continue observing them, sometimes over a long period of time, to get a better sense of who they are and her first impressions have 99.8% been spot on. It’s made the difference between her being friendly acquaintances and good friends with the people who meet Jessica Jung.
She found out that Jung Yong Hwa would be paired with maknae on a We Got Married and her sensors went into overdrive, so she vowed to suspend judgment and observe, trying her best to refrain from making a hasty decision about him. There was something about him that she didn’t trust and it felt like everything about him rubbed her the wrong way; the way he smiled, spoke, sang, but she watched him, politely smiling when he and his members greeted SNSD.
And then she saw that one episode of Win Win and finally settled on an impression about Jung Yong Hwa. He had admitted to liking Taeyeon when SNSD first came out, in front of Taeyeon and the rest of the country. Taeyeon, being a good leader, supported him when he tried to defend his answer saying that questions like that would make Seohyun sad. Then he had mentioned feeling “compelled” to like Seohyun since they were posing as a married idol couple, which he quickly corrected, but the damage with Jessica had been done.
She really didn’t care that they shared the same last name and might have a common relative way back in their respective family histories. She didn’t like him. She didn’t like the way he was quick to smile. In her opinion, he was too quick about a lot of things and she certainly didn’t like that maknae was now virtually married to the guy. That dopey way he freaked out at the security image when she had first walked through the door unnerved her and two words came to mind: Fan Boy. “Ugh, not another one,” she had wanted to say to herself, but she had refrained. To be honest, she had had quite enough with JunK and Jinwoon and even Leeteuk, who was old enough to be Seohyun’s uncle. No, she didn’t know what she was going to do about the situation, not that she could, but well, she couldn’t be expected to throw a parade for him. Hell no.
Her calendar was free on the day the other members went to their housewarming party filming, but well, she just didn’t want to go. She loved Seohyun, but she couldn’t bear being in the same room as Jung Yong Hwa, especially if he was going to fanboy over a roomful of SNSD. When she watched the episode, she was almost disappointed that he wasn’t squealing about like a schoolboy. She had hoped he’d give her yet another reason to be distrustful of him. The only satisfaction she got from watching that episode was watching him fidget nervously while in their presence. The girls weren’t just sunbae, they were also his virtual wife’s sisters, who had watched Seohyun grow up and were watching carefully that he didn’t make her cry. If he screwed up, he’d be done for on so many fronts, so he looked like he was really trying to make a good impression.
After that, when Seohyun would come home, chattering more and more to Hyoyeon about Yonghwa, while the rest of the girls eavesdropped. Jessica sat quietly, flipping through magazines, but listening to the maknae rap about this virtual husband of hers that she appeared to respect and admire. Heck, she was even singing his songs in the shower! The other girls teased her, saying filming was over and that she didn’t have to keep talking about Yonghwa, but she smiled shyly, “Oppa is nice.” Seohyun’s sudden interest in Yonghwa still didn’t convince Jessica that Yonghwa was as perfect as people were making him out to be. So what if he acted in a drama and hoofed it up as a rookie band in Japan before debuting in Korea?
One night, Tiffany came into her bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“So what do you think about maknae? It’s cute, right?”
Jessica didn’t look up from her book and replied, “It won’t be cute when she gets hurt.”
Tiffany was silent for a few moments before brushing off the serious comment. “Hurt? It’s a TV show.”
“Is it, really?”
“It’s a good way for her to learn how to relate to guys.”
“What was wrong with her just liking Keroro?”
“You and I both know it’s not normal for a 19 year old to not know how to talk to guys, Jessica. Look at how she is around the SM guys. Do you want her to be 25 and still socially awkward? At least it’s all unfolding on camera.”
Jessica looked up from her book, her eyes narrowed, “Really? Because when she’s not rehearsing or studying, she’s either talking about Jung Yong Hwa or communicating with him on her phone. I don’t see cameras around. Do you?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s that bad,” Tiffany said quietly.
Jessica dismissed her with a “pffft” and returning her attention to her book, while Tiffany backed out of the room. It was best to leave Jessica alone with her own thoughts.
One day, she overheard a conversation between Seohyun and Tiffany in the living room, “After Ganghwado last month, he hasn’t texted back and he’s not wearing the ring. I’m worried, unnie,” Seohyun said sadly. “I stayed up all night making that book.”
Jessica walked from the kitchen to her room and made eye contact with Tiffany, shooting her a look as if to say, “I told you so.”
Tiffany ignored her and turned her attention to the maknae, “It’ll all be alright, Joohyun. He must be busy, right?”
That month, Jessica had watched Seohyun carefully. When she was around other people, she was cheerful to a fault, but once she thought no one was watching, she was back at her phone, checking for messages. She wanted to strangle Jung Yong Hwa, like she’s entirely capable. How dare he not call?
She called Tiffany’s phone. “I need Jung Yong Hwa’s cell number. Now.”
“I don’t have it.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have it?”
“Exactly what it sounds like, Jessica. I don’t have it. No one does. Only maknae.”
She still asked the rest of the members, except for Seohyun, for his number, but Tiffany was right. No one had it.
She was livid. How dare he choose to be inaccessible to the rest of the group. He probably planned it that way, so that they’d have to talk to him through Seohyun. After spending 30 minutes calling every idol she knew to find out Yonghwa’s phone number, Jessica was at her wits’ end. Not a single person knew his number, not even Seulong. She was positive that if Yonghwa appeared before her, she’d kill him with her bare hands.
Seohyun stood at her doorway after hanging up with the last possible lead, to get Park Shin Hye’s phone number.
“Maknae! I didn’t see you there.””
“Hi unnie. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Jessica said, inviting her to sit down beside her on her bed. Seohyun sat down beside her, “What’s up?”
“Mildang. How?”
Jessica heart broke. How can such a sweet and intelligent girl want to plot revenge with something as childish as mildang? Revenge and mildang would never have come up if it weren’t for him, so like a good unnie, Jessica taught Seohyun what she needed to know. She felt bad about it, but well, he ought to pay for what he did.
When she watched the episodes where Seohyun advanced “Operation Mildang”, she laughed bitterly at how flustered she made him feel. He was in the palm of her hand and she loved watching him squirm. If he wasn’t regretting his decision before then, he surely was on camera. Deep down inside, something tugged at Jessica’s conscience. She didn’t exactly know what, but she suppressed it.
She thought things were going well and that maknae was getting the hang of controlling guys’ emotions, until Seohyun returned to the group after filming We Got Married in Japan and cornered Jessica.
“Oppa asked that we not do mildang anymore,” she said. “And I agreed. I don’t like having to calculate every move with the sole intent of making someone miserable.” Jessica wasn’t surprised by their mutual decision to enact a ceasefire on mildang. “And oppa asked me to be his girlfriend.”
“What?!” Jessica didn’t know it even came out of her mouth and in a volume much louder than her normal voice.
“Unnie, what’s wrong?”
“Oh. Nothing. What do you think?”
Seohyun sat quietly, trying to formulate a response. “Unnie, I think too much, don’t I?” Jessica didn’t respond. “For the first time in my life, I’m starting to feel and I quite like it. And I like him. Yong oppa. So I said yes.”
Jessica didn’t know what to say, but at that moment, she felt she owed it to Seohyun to really give him a chance. If Yonghwa was the first guy she was going to give her heart to, Jessica needed to support her, so she did the only thing she could.
She went back to watch every episode of We Got Married with an open heart and mind and she began to see the little things that explained why Seohyun began falling for him. He was extremely careful and patient with her. He understood that she didn’t have a lot of experience, but he never pressured her. He never made fun of her and he was fiercely protective of her, even with his members. He made her laugh, he drew her out of her shell, and she felt safe enough with him to try new things.
And then there was the way he looked at her, particularly on music stages. It was the only way Jessica could watch them interact without video editing. Among all the beautiful and scantily clad girls around at those performances, he only wanted to look at her, his eyes drifting to where she was, no matter where she was on stage. When girls tried to talk to him, he was awkward, no doubt feeling uncomfortable around them and was soon removing himself from the exchange by walking away. Seohyun wasn’t subtle when she glanced around the stage either, looking for where he was situated in relation to her, despite being warned that cameras were everywhere. Then again, she took her cue from Yonghwa, neither of them wanting to be away from each other for too long.
There was also the uncanny way he befriended every guy who named Seohyun as their ideal, approaching them on music stages and looking extremely chummy with them. Not long after that encounter, those guys stopped talking about Seohyun publicly. It was really quite brilliant and she was impressed by his determination.
In backstage dressing rooms, Jessica watched as his hand rested at the small of her back when they were standing side-by-side in the dressing room and how they maintained eye contact whenever they spoke with each other. Those intimate little gestures told the whole story and that was all she needed to rescind her original impression of Jung Yong Hwa. She was finally convinced that he had Seohyun’s best interests at heart and that he was capable of loving her as much and in the ways she truly deserved. She could actually come to like the guy, so she buried whatever ill will she initially harbored against him and pledged to truly support them.
Jessica’s record of assessing people is tarnished thanks to Jung Yong Hwa. He gave her perfect record the miniscule margin of error of .2%, but she doesn’t quite care, as long as maknae was happy and Tiffany doesn’t rub it in too much.