Riannon's POV

6 months in and I've never been happier than this. After the incident, things were a bit hard for me. But Jackson kept true to his word and helped me through it. He even made it a point to drop me off almost every single day and check every nook and crevice before deeming that my apartment was safe and was satisfied enough to leave. Else some nights he would just stay with me after making up a fairly believable lie to his manager. On other days, when he wasn't free, he would call me up and stay on the line till I've reported to him that I'm safe and tucked in bed.

More paranoid than I was but I couldn't deny that I found that caring nature of his extremely lovable.

It still amazed me how he would always find the time to come see me despite his busy schedule. When he had his tours in various places abroad the last two months, even then he would still squeeze in a few minutes to skype. I couldn't help but smile at the thought, my heart involuntarily skipping a beat every time I thought of him. Quite a few months have passed yet he still managed to make me feel something new every single day. I shook my head as I focused on what I was supposed to be doing.

I was only halfway done with my assignments and in less than hour, I had to meet up with Jackson and Yugyeom. They didn't exactly say where we were headed off to but they did mentioned something about bringing an apron along.

Finishing my assignments quickly, I hurried off to take a bath and get dressed before they arrived. And sure enough, I could hear Yugyeom's loud voice all the way up in my apartment after a while.

'Riannon!! Get your fat ass down here real quick!! Or we're gonna be late!' Yugyeom yelled at the top of his lungs. I opened my window, flipped him off and closed it again but I could still hear their loud voices and laughter even then. Grabbing my jacket and bag, I made my way down to be greeted by a widely grinning Jackson and the clown on his side, Yugyeom.

'Come on fatass. We need to get there by 10.'

I punched him hard on his arm, earning a satisfying painful groan from him. Jackson was just leaning against the car,watching and holding back his laughter, being used to our usual bickering. He came forward and placed a kiss on my cheeks as he circled his arms around me. 'I missed you.'

'Eeew Jackson. Bro! Not infront of innocent kid please! And you just saw her yesterday like what the hell?' Jackson released me and was about to grab Yugyeom but he moved out of range and ran to the other side of the car and got in the back seat, sticking his tongue out at him while doing so.

'I can't imagine how you deal with him every day without breaking your head.' I laughed at both of them,as I opened the door and made myself comfortable in the front seat.

'Yeah me neither.' He just shook his head, but with a smile on his face and entered.

'So where are we headed?' I asked as he started the car.

'Well our good friend, Jin is opening a new cafe and asked us to come help him out if our schedule was free today. And luckily since we have a day off, I thought we could lend the extra hand. How does that sound?' Jackson eagerly asked as he drives.

'That does sound exciting! It'll be fun.' I can't say my skills in the kitchen are at a professional level but I think they're good enough.

'Please just try not to burn the place down Yugyeom,' Jackson added. 

'Hey! Says the guy who just practically boiled a plastic spoon to hot liquid with milk this morning! Like who does that and how does that even happen?!!' Yugyeom retorted, laughing hysterically and clutching his ribs.

'Hey! That wasn't my fault okay? It just... it was an accident.'

'Whatever bro. But you need to watch out for him Riannon. If you do end up marrying this walking disaster over here, you have to make the house, clumpsy Jackson proof.'

We were both too busy making fun of  him that we didn't realise we were already there in front of Jin's cafe. I pushed myself up from my seat and looked in awe at the cottage in front of me. It was definitely by far, the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I had expected some big luxurious building with some fancy boards and glittering lights. But what laid in front of me, was a cute cottage, painted in colours of pastel pink and white. It was surrounded by a fairly huge lawn,the grass freshly trimmed and with flowers planted on every corner. Table and chairs were set up under the shade of pink umbrellas. And all I could think of was, 'Wow. This guy must surely love the colour pink a lot.'

'Here we are,' Jackson announced. 'Lets go inside and check out what we can help with.'

We got out of the car and went to the front door. There was a cute signboard hanging from the ceiling with the cafe's name on it and I heard the sound of a bell ringing as we entered. And if I thought the external decorations were cute,it was nothing compared to how the inside was furnished. The ceiling was filled with pastel coloured helium balloons to celebrate the opening, beautiful tapestrys and paintings were hung over the walls, booths with light coloured pretty curtains were lined at the back of the cottage,the cabinets behind the counter were stacked with tons of books and various other cute items. I've never been the kind of person who believed in rainbows and unicorns, but this place made me feel like I was in some place conjured straight out a little kid's imagination.

'So much pink.' Yugyeom whispered beside me,gazing around the shop, looking horrified.

'Shut up Yugyeom. He likes cute stuff. Don't judge,' Jackson muttered from my other side.

Suddenly a man with light pink hair emerged from the door behind the counter. 'Hello Jackson!!! Hi Yugyeom!! I'm so happy you guys made it!!! Oooh and who might this be?' He looked at me with a huge contagious smile on his face that I couldn't help but return. 'I'm Riannon, a friend of theirs,' I replied and held my hand out. 

'Yay! More help!' He exclaimed and shook my hand enthusiatically. 'Thank you for coming Riannon! Any friend of Jackson's is a friend of mine.' He clapped his hands together, 'Now let's go, shall we? The others couldn't make it unfortunately, they'll arrive only later for the opening so it's just us and the help. Hence we better get to work immediately.' We all nodded and followed him to the kitchen.

We each put on our aprons and waited for jin to give us our assigned task.

'Psst. Do not burn down the kitchen. I repeat do not burn down the kitchen.' Yugyeom whispered to Jackson, to which he responded by pinching Yugyeom's arm.

'Oww! You guys are such a violent couple, I swear,' He whined as he rubbed the red mark on his arm. I only snickered at his words.

'Okay! Now you guys are in charge of the strawberry cupcakes and the chocolate chip cookies. Since we have to make quite a lot, you three can take the task together. Is that alright?'

'Yes sir!' We all shouted in unison. He chuckled and handed us the recipe and instructions which were printed on three sheets. 'That will be your work station,' he pointed at the other end of the kitchen which was near the oven. 'Call me if you need any help.'

We headed over and started on our task. Jackson went over to get the flour,which was missing from the other ingredients set out on our table while I decided to grind the strawberries and Yugyeom walked over to the oven to preheat it. Jackson returned a while later with a bag of flour in his arms and set it down on the table. I was about to open it to add it to the bowl but Yugyeon cut in. 'Here! I'll do it!'

'No! Let me!' Jackson intervened trying to grab it from his hands.

Oh no.

'Get off Jackson!'

'You get off!'

'I can do it jackson!'

'I got it! I'll do it!'

They were each pulling the end of the bag like little kids fighting over candy.

'What are you even fighting for, we just started! Stop it before you spill it all over!' I yelled in annoyance. But just as I finished that sentence, the bag of flour ripped from the middle and spilled all over me instead.

'Oops!' Both of them uttered, but you could tell they were trying to reign in their laughter.

'I'm gonna kill the both of you!' Just as I was grabbing both their collars as they were about to flee, Jin appeared again. 'As expected of these two troublemakers,' he sigh, 'Come on boys, we have only a few hours left. No time for fooling around.'

'Sorry Jin.' They said apologetically.

'Now shoo! Go back to work if you want free pizzas later.' They both brightened up at the mention of food. Seriously, these two. I sometimes wonder why I love these idiots so much.

I went to clean myself up then we resumed our work, with more seriousness this time as we focused on finishing our task. We were halfway done when Jackson got a call. He excused himself and went to talk outside while Yugyeom and I diligently worked on making perfectly shaped cookies.

He returned after a few minutes with a troubled look on his face which worried me. I dropped my work and went over and wrapped my hands in his, wanting to wipe away whatever was bothering him. 'Is everything okay?' I asked him quietly.

'Yeah.' He gave me a half hearted smile but didn't look at me directly. 'But sadly I have to leave, will you be okay with Yugyeom. I'll ask him to drop you off.' My heart sank a little but I understood that he was a busy person and had many other places to be at. I couldn't be selfish even if I wanted to spend more time with him.

'Yeah it's okay. We'll take care of everything. Don't worry. You can go Jackson,' I replied as I smiled at him.

'Yugyeom take care of Riannon okay? I need to leave for some urgent business. I'll see you later.'

'Yeah sure bro.' He said while still concentrating on the cookie batter.

'I love you so much,'Jackson pecked me lightly on my lips and left. I went back to helping Yugyeom,with an unsettling feeling in my stomach but I shrugged it off.
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We were finally done with our last batch of cookies and cupcakes. Yugyeom just stood there, admiring our work. 'I'd say we did an awesome job, don't you think? Give me a five!!' Shooting his palm out and waiting for me to respond.

I laughed along with him and returned his high five with a loud slap. 'BAM!' He shouted,concluding it with a dab. Typical.

Jin came in announcing that it was time for the grand opening and asked us to join him but we were contended with staying back in the kitchen. Yugyeom said he just wanted to relax for a day without the media crawling up his ass. I laughed at the comparison but was grateful at the same time, since I was always nervous around many people and these weren't just any normal individuals. I couldn't even believe Jin was a popular singer himself after Yugyeom filled me in on his band, he was so humble and down to earth.

We heard the sound of roaring applause and screams from the other side of the door and figured it had already started.

'I think it's already pretty late. Do you wanna go home?' He asked me.

'Yeah. I'm really exhausted. I have never baked that many cookies in my entire life.'

'Let's get you home then princess! Otherwise Jackson will kill me.'

We walked towards the back door but noticed there were too many people crowding around the cafe, most of them fans and some of them reporters. 'I just want to go home in one piece! Is that too much to ask?' He grumbled to himself.

'Oh wait. Follow me.' He suddenly suggested,but before leaving he took two cookies from the plate and stuffed one in his mouth and offered the other one to me. I took it and followed him, wondering what he was up to.

He crouched on all fours and started crawling on his elbows and knees. I almost laughed at the sight. He looked like a cat who stole cookies from the kitchen and was stealthily crawling away, if anyone saw him right now. But I decided to follow his lead anyways, since the lights in the back weren't turned on, we had more chances of not being seen.

There was a man,probably one of the security, who was lingering in the back yard checking the premises. He heard the rustle of our clothes and the snapping of twigs beneath our knees.

'Who's there??!!' He shouted in a scared tone as he scanned the area.

We were both trying our best to suppress our laughter but continued crawling away when we realised he didn't see us behind the flower shrubs. When we were finally out of the premises, we burst out laughing, unable to keep it in anymore.

'Man that was epic! We should do this again!' Yugyeom shouted,wiping the tears from his eyes, as we walked back to my place, still recalling the day's events with happy grins on our faces.
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I was currently in front of my laptop, adding the finishing touches to my assignment,my head throbbing terribly. I had been looking at my phone anxiously for the past one hour but I still haven't received any calls or a single text from Jackson. I wondered if he was okay. I tried calling him a few times but he didn't pick up either. He usually called by this hour but I guess he was too busy so I decided to head to bed.

As I laid my head on my pillow, my mind didn't feel at ease, I doubted that I'd be able to get some sleep any time soon so I decided to just scroll through the news feed on my phone for a while. The same old, same old news report filled my screen. Weather, news, fashion,politics, but as my eyes caught on a particular segment, my heartbeat stopped dead in it's tracks. I couldn't breathe.

My mind must be playing tricks on me. Even though I refused to believe it, it was right there in front of me. But .. but how?? Why?? So many questions were running in my head as I tried to hold myself together. I didn't know what to feel, my heart, my head in a state of shock as I read the headlines with a picture of the couple attached to it.

'JYP CONFIRMS THE RUMOURS TO BE TRUE: JACKSON AND JIYEON ARE OFFICIALLY DATING.'

A huge thank you to everyone who continues to support this story, even if it isn't really that great  ^_^". I am so grateful for all your votes and comments.
This is dedicated to each and everyone of you ❤ and a special thank you to MLovesGot7 for always making the most dope looking covers 😙😙😙
Ps: sexy gif for all