A/N: I’m really inconsistent with updates aren’t I? - _-  I always aim for a week but then it turns into two, then three, then... aughf! Sorry readers lol. I guess the length of each chapter will be proportional to how long it takes me to update? XD Also, I rambled a bit too much in this chapter. Please forgive me OTL I swear, reading this fic is like reading a damn novel. The chapters are always too long ;____;

The Color of Our Memories:

Chapter 9 – Moving On

Hyoyeon slid the key card through the door lock, the locking system then beeping in approval.

She needed sleep and the image of her fluffy bed sheets on top of her soft bed waiting to engulf her in their warmth was greatly enticing. Hyoyeon lazily made her way to her shared room, down the hallway, scratching her head. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt so drained if she didn’t feel so stressed over personal matters. Over Jessica.

“Why do I even bother with her?” Hyoyeon thought to herself. Jessica was her friend, yes, but she just couldn’t settle when she wasn’t here, and Hyoyeon felt that maybe, Sooyoung was right. Maybe she thought of Jessica as something more all along.

Crash!

Hyoyeon jumped at the sound. Now fully awake, she rushed to the kitchen along with the other members who emerged from their rooms in shock and dashed to the kitchen.

“What are you doing Seohyun?!” Taeyeon yelled out from the kitchen.

“I-I’m sorry.” The first person that greeted Hyoyeon’s field of vision was Seohyun who was busy holding onto her own wrist as she backed away, apologetic.

“What happened?” Yuri asked, surprised. She looked like she was in the middle of changing clothes, her jeans halfway on its way down her thighs. Sunny who was following behind, bumped into Yuri's back face first. Sooyoung slid along the polished wood in her socks and in overusing her speed, slipped and tumbled, entering the kitchen in a fall.

Tiffany was on the floor, a fairly lengthy cut on the fleshy part of her palm present, and in front of her were fragments of the glass plates they had just bought last week. Hyoyeon paid no attention to the shattered white glass, her eyes instead widening when she saw how much blood flowed out of Tiffany’s wound. Hyoyeon’s motherly instincts vaulted her into action.

...But just as she was about to tend to Tiffany, their trusty leader beat her to the punch with a giant wad of paper towels bunched up in her hands. Taeyeon immediately grabbed Tiffany’s hand, and in her alarmed state she wasted no time in applying pressure on the wound.

“Taeyeon I don’t think you need that many paper towels. You’re wasting—­”
“You’re bleeding!” Taeyeon whispered in a restrained shriek, her breathing erratic. It was as if through her vision Tiffany's hand may as well have been chopped off. “Who cares about the paper towels!”

Without saying a word, Hyoyeon moved to clean up the mess on the floor. She too thought that Taeyeon was overreacting, but then again she was about to do the same thing. Hyoyeon scratched the thought out: she would've have done the same but with less paper towels. Passing by Seohyun, she asked tiredly,

“What happened Seohyun?”

Seohyun nervously looked at Tiffany and Taeyeon on the floor, guilt written all over her face, and rubbed at her hand before replying, “I didn’t mean to do it. I just—”

“Its nothing really I’m fine.” Tiffany shook her head and began to wave her wounded hand in front of her before Taeyeon could pull it back down angrily as she clicked her tongue. “I probably surprised Seohyun a bit that's all. Sorry.”

“She seemed pretty surprised. What did you do?” Yuri asked as she weakly holstered up one side of her jeans, not caring if everyone could see a glimpse of her white underwear.

“I... I don’t know.” Tiffany stared at the ground in contemplation and tried standing up but again, Taeyeon forcefully sat her back down with one push. “I held her hand...?”

Everyone exchanged glances for a brief moment and in that split second saw the weariness drawn on each other's faces. They were all tired and surely a small issue like this wasn’t worth any further investigation. A few pieces of broken glass could easily be replaced, Tiffany’s wound, albeit small and exaggerated over, would heal, and of course Seohyun, although her behaviour today was questionable, was a peculiar person to begin with anyway. They would save the questioning for another time.

Almost simultaneously, they breathed an air of relief, their shoulders slumping. Yuri decided that they were fine without her and shimmied back to her shared room while pulling her jeans up. Sooyoung shrugged her shoulders and manoeuvred around Hyoyeon with her eyes on the fridge. She dove into the fridge in search for a “snack” that would satiate her hunger.

"Hey are you guys gonna make something to eat?"

Sunny sighed and rolled her eyes at Sooyoung. She went to help Hyoyeon with the mess and ignored the shikshin's question. She picked up a dustpan and broom, and knocked Hyoyeon on the head. “Don’t pick up broken glass with your bare hands pabo. You’ll get hurt like Tiffany."

Hyoyeon dropped the large shard she was holding and stood up, letting Sunny finish the clean up. She patted her hands on her thighs and stretched her neck, craning it back and forth. She could feel how tight her joints were and began to wonder just how old she was getting. Maybe she shouldn't have stopped her morning stretching routines.

She looked at Seohyun who was absentmindedly staring at the tiled floors of the kitchen with a frown on her face. The maknae's grip on her hand tightened and she rubbed small circles at it a few times. Hyoyeon watched Seohyun. She remembered seeing someone do the exact same thing before but she couldn't quite put her finger on it and unconsciously she held her own hand.

And then it hit her.

She did the exact same thing a few months ago at the radio station.

Seohyun was known as the weird one of the group in the way that she was a bit unconventional at times. Today however, her peculiarities seemed to have heightened. Disappearing before filming? Arriving late to the set? And goodness forbid, interrupting filming? Seohyun was strange but this was just out of character.

Hyoyeon gently patted Seohyun on the head and took the hand she was rubbing and held it, leading the two of them to the room they shared.

"I think we're both tired Seohyun-ah. Let’s go to bed."

Seohyun eyed their linked hands. She didn’t mind the contact, she liked it actually, but she couldn’t continue with it, blasphemous thoughts making themselves known, and wanting to get rid of those thoughts she shook her unnie’s hand away like slime.

She hurried to their shared room and slammed the door shut, right in front of Hyoyeon’s nose.

“What the…?”

***********

Top of Form
"Hey Seohyun," Hyoyeon emerged from underneath her bed sheets with her Smartphone in hand. Seohyun lay on her side in the bed opposite of Hyoyeon, hands flat together underneath her cheek. Her eyes were closed and if given a few more moments she would drift off to sleep.

"What is it unnie?" Seohyun replied. She was extremely drowsy and even answering took all her strength. Again and again her eyelids vied to stay open, but she deemed it useless and kept them closed. She could only hope that Hyoyeon would stop talking or wouldn't notice whenever she would fall asleep.

"I'm bored."

Seohyun found it odd as she journeyed to her dream world. The blond was the one who suggested sleep and was significantly wearier than she was, yet here Hyoyeon was, a lively bumble bee incapable of staying still.

"WOOT!"

Just then Seohyun felt her bed suddenly shift in weight. Hyoyeon had jumped on top of her bed from her own bed.

"Unnie...!" Seohyun's eyebrows furrowed and she groaned, throwing a pillow over her head. She wasn't in the mood for hyper Hyoyeon at the moment.

"Lets go to the convenience store!" Her unnie shook her roughly and jumped up and down on top of the bed, "Come on, come on, come on! Lets goooo." Hyoyeon whined.

Seohyun sat up somewhat frustrated at the elder’s behaviour. When Hyoyeon had been tired to the point that she couldn't sleep, she had a tendency at times to become excessively energetic and ran on the last ounce of energy she had for that day. This is what was happening now.

Hyoyeon stopped jumping for a moment and plopped down on top of Seohyun's lap. She tugged on Seohyun's pyjama sleeve and grinned mischievously. Seohyun couldn't possibly resist now.
"Seohyunnie ," Another tug, "Let’s go."

Feeling slightly uncomfortable with Hyoyeon sitting on top of her lap, the maknae pulled out her legs from underneath Hyoyeon quickly and nudged her unnie away. Hyoyeon was too close for comfort.

Seohyun ruffled her hair on the back of her head and rubbed the sleep away from her eye with her free hand.

Squinting, she looked at Hyoyeon. The older now stared at her blankly, her lower lip protruding a little to form a pout. Clearly she wouldn't move from the spot unless Seohyun agreed to go.

"Let’s go together..." Hyoyeon whined quietly and weakly tugged on Seohyun's sleeve again. The dancer did not intend it but her childish nature reeked of aegyo and with the way she was acting now, it made you want to just spoil her to no end.

Seohyun combed her hair back, "Okay."

She couldn't refuse Hyoyeon. Besides, if she did she would have to deal with a ten year old high on too much ice cream for a midnight snack.

Hyoyeon hopped off the bed with a satisfied grin. She danced her way to her closet, humming a tune, and quickly put together a good enough ensemble to go out in. Seohyun couldn't help but light up with the dancing Queen's cheerfulness. Her sleepiness vanished for a moment and she too felt lively just watching the choding. Hyoyeon always had that affect.

As she made her way to the closet, Seohyun heard Hyoyeon's phone vibrate underneath the bedsheets. She picked it up without thinking and opened the new text message.

"Who is it?" Hyoyeon asked, busy slipping a leg into her jeans.

Seohyun gripped the phone tightly in her hands.

She didn't expect for Hyoyeon to still be in contact with him.

"Umm," Seohyun paused. It wasn't something she should even think twice about, but she wondered if she should tell Hyoyeon who it was or perhaps... she should just erase the message altogether and not say anything.

"Who is it?" Hyoyeon repeated.

Seohyun chose the second option.

"Its no one unnie, just your phone bill. You went over your data plan again."
"Oh really?"
"I just deleted it. It’s not important anyway right?"
"If it was just a notice then it doesn't matter."

She threw the phone to Hyoyeon with hardly any force. Hyoyeon caught it completely oblivious as to what Seohyun had just done.
"Unnie," Seohyun sat on the edge of Hyoyeon's bed and looked up at Hyoyeon only to see the older girl's toned midriff completely exposed as she took off her shirt. Seohyun had never been particularly uneasy with Hyoyeon dressing in front of her, yet still, she found herself turning away in embarrassment.

"Yeah?" Hyoyeon pulled the slightly see through oversized shirt over her head, her hair tousling down over her small, bare shoulders and splaying over her chest. Seohyun looked down at her lap, afraid to look up.

"Have you been texting Doojoon-sshi lately?"

Hyoyeon had her arms in her shirt. She stopped what she was doing and looked at the floor with a faraway look. She hesitated at first but then responded firmly, "No."

"Hmm..." Seohyun nodded along. She didn't buy it. Not one bit. How could she when she got rid of the evidence to support her suspicions just moments ago.

Hyoyeon finished putting on a new, bland shirt. Nothing fancy, but something passable. It clothed her and wouldn't embarrass her, and that was all she needed. "Lets go."

Hyoyeon reached for Seohyun's hand but as soon as the younger saw what she was about to do, she hid it within the pockets of her sweatpants. Hyoyeon raised an eyebrow.

“With the way she’s acting, it's like I have a disease or something.”

Hyoyeon ignored the younger girl’s strange mannerisms and went out the door.

*************

Jessica sat in the living room of her parents’ home watching the television, but none of what was being shown even registered into a proper train of thought. The sounds and images simply served as something to keep her eyes and ears busy; a background track that endlessly looped and looped.

Everything in the quaint house felt familiar and nostalgic, memories coated in a warm orange tint within every item, and even if she had tried to convince herself that this is where she wanted to be, where she had to be, she would be lying to herself.

Jessica wanted to be back at the dorms. Back chatting away with the girls as they watched a movie, back eating breakfast during those rowdy mornings… back where Hyoyeon was. Back in her arms.

Jessica shook the last thought away. Why would it ever happen. Hyoyeon has Doojoon now.

Jessica rubbed her eyes. She had been staring at the screen without blinking for quite some time. Her eyes started to feel dry and it stung.

She closed her eyelids hard and tried to bring back moisture to her orbs and then…

“Don’t think no one can see.”

Jessica clenched her teeth.
There was no doubt about it. Sooyoung knew.

Jessica scolded herself. Was she really that obvious? Or was Sooyoung that attentive?

"She always had a way of knowing without me saying." Jessica thought.

Jessica should have known that better than anyone. A group of nine closely knit girls was impermeable to secrets. Her secret wasn’t sheltered from the light, neither was it hidden well in the shadows. She herself couldn’t escape Hyoyeon.

For Hyoyeon was everywhere.

Jessica got up from her seat and dragged herself over to the kitchen beside their open concept living room, shaking away her concerns about Sooyoung for the time being. She dug into the fridge in search for something to eat, but to her luck she found nothing she had a particular craving for.

Jessica stared at the half full fridge and tapped her foot. A trip to the nearby convenience store didn't sound bad.

Hyoyeon loves convenience stores.

Jessica stopped tapping her foot.

Jessica shut the fridge door. She suddenly wasn't feeling hungry anymore.

She paced around the kitchen, staring down at the polished black tiles. The tiles looked clean and the way they gleamed in the kitchen light made them seem new. Jessica could practically see her reflection in them and as she rubbed her sock covered foot onto the hard surface, she wondered if her mother was perhaps drunk when she polished them.

Hyoyeon polished the floor when she was drunk.

Jessica's eyes widened.

This was getting ridiculous.

She massaged her temples and groaned. This needs to stop.

Hyoyeon followed her everywhere she went. Running away just made her seem pathetic.

Jessica walked back to the fridge. She suddenly had a craving for something sweet and she prayed that there would be a tub full of chocolate ice cream in the freezer. As she put a hand on the steel door handles, she caught notice of the calendar stuck onto the metal door by magnets. Her eyes ran from left to right, scanning past the weeks of February and stopped at a particular day.

In a week it would be Valentines Day.

Jessica's eyes lingered on the day imprinted with a heart around it and in her cheek, thoughtful.
She broke away from the calendar and pulled open the fridge door. Grabbing the frozen treat that was (thankfully) present in the freezer Jessica thought, "I haven't gone out on a date in a while."

Jessica closed the door with the ice cream container in hand and―

"You're still awake?"

She squealed, like a dolphin, and dropped the tub of ice cream onto the ground.

"Mom!" She clicked her tongue and rubbed her head frustratedly.
"Shh! Your dad is still sleeping!" Her mother put a finger on her own lips, signalling her daughter to be quiet and folded her arms across her chest, "What? Am I that ugly?"

Jessica picked up the fallen tub of ice cream from the ground and picked up a spoon from the dish rack. She made her way to the kitchen table and sat down without a word, ignoring her mother who had woken up to the soft racket she was making on the main floor.

"I take that as a yes?"

Jessica remained quiet. Her train of thought gathered back towards valentines day.

"Wow, my daughter sure is mean."
"Huh? Did you say something?"

Her mother wordlessly took a seat beside her daughter, her night gown flowing behind her.

"Is something the matter Honey? It's late and you're still awake."
"I just got back from a schedule mom."
"That was five hours ago. You're not one to miss out on getting more sleep."
"Its nothing. Really. I was just wondering," Jessica waved her spoon in the air before continuing, "Do you maybe…"

She dug the metal utensil into the semi hard cream, picking at the white fluff, "Do you know of any good bachelors around?"

Her mother's eyes widened. She took a while to process the question and chuckled.

"I know you and dad don't like me dating but―"
"Well this is strange," Her mother had a wry smile on her face, "You never come to me about this kind of stuff. And you moving back was kind of sudden. Really, what’s going on?"

Jessica put a spoonful of ice cream in and stared off into space. She wouldn't dare tell her mother about Hyoyeon.

"You know I've always wanted to come back here." She replied coolly.

"But you said after So Nyuh Shi Dae," Her mother took the spoon Jessica was using and scooped up some of the cream for herself, "You haven't gotten into a fight with your friends have you?"

"Of course not mom! Its just… I'm not getting any older y'know? I just thought, maybe I should start looking around."

"Well," Her mother swallowed down the melted cream, "I have a couple of suitors in mind that might sit well with you, but then again my tastes differ from yours quite a bit... Wouldn't asking your friends be much better? I remember Hyoyeon-ah being quite popular with the boys, you should ask her."

Oh, if only her mother knew. Jessica mused at the irony.

"If this was dad he'd have a good list by now. You know how picky he is. Any guy that isn't rich and aual won't cut it for him."
Her mother laughed, "You may as well date a girl if that’s the case."

Jessica stopped what she was doing and stared at her mother. She blinked a few times, taken aback. Did she hear right?

"What did you just say mom?"

Her mother didn't bother looking up from the ice cream she was picking at and replied, "I said you may as well date a girl."

Jessica couldn't help but smile at what her mother said. She knew her mother didn't mean it literally, but it strangely made her happy.

"And what would you do if I actually dated a girl?"

Her mother paused, her hand still holding onto Jessica's spoon. "If you did..."

Jessica was nearly on the edge of her seat. The answer her mother was dragging out felt like it would never come. She had an inkling at what her mother's next response would be, but she still had hope that perhaps her mother wasn't as sceptical about these matters as she figured her to be. Maybe she was actually fine with—

"I don't know if I could still call you my daughter."

Jessica's heart sunk, dropping to the depths of the sea and then being devoured by a pack of hungry sea creatures.

Of course her mother would react that way.

"Well anyway, I'll arrange something for you. When are you free?"

Jessica stared off into space, reflecting on her mother's hurtful words. If her own mother wouldn't support her, throw her out on the street and disown her if she found out about what she felt towards Hyoyeon, who else could she possibly turn to? She was alone. Jessica was suffocating and all the bottled up feelings she kept was eating away at her. No one would understand. No one would bother to.

"Jessica?"

"Huh?"
"So when are you free? Or have you changed your mind?"

Jessica was drained of any mood to continue a proper conversation, but she still continued.  Her mother’s words pricked at her to the point it hurt. Wasn’t a mother’s love supposed to be unconditional?

“I’m free this whole week.” Jessica said, smiling bitterly.

                                                                                                ***********

As the maknae ventured down the dark hallway and into the living room, the barely audible sounds of the television echoed throughout the dorm in a dull mumble. She curiously thought of who could still be awake as everyone else, without protest, turned to bed once they arrived home.

Seohyun's eyebrows scrunched up in curiosity. Quicker. Seohyun's senses urged her to pace herself quicker to the source and her feet listened, shuffling down the hallway rapidly in night slippers. And then-

Seohyun stopped in her tracks. She ducked back into the hallway.

The sight before her caught her off guard and she flinched, but it wasn't the first time she encountered something like this.

It wasn't the first time Taeyeon and Tiffany left themselves unattended.
As Seohyun stood hidden behind the wall, shocked, she barely noticed Hyoyeon blindly walking into the living room.
And neither did Taeyeon and Tiffany.

Hyoyeon’s eyes widened in shock and she turned away from the scene nervously. It was only a split second but she saw.

The brief moment she saw that Taeyeon's and Tiffany's lips were connected was quick but it was impossible to dismiss as a misunderstanding. It happened. Her eyes did not fool her.

The two in the living room jolted apart and in an instant they separated themselves before Hyoyeon could further digest what was happening.

Hyoyeon scratched the back of her neck and when she made eye contact with a flushed Taeyeon, she became a stuttering buffoon.

"Hey guys," Tiffany asked with fake nonchalance, an excessively large grin on her face. She could hear how her pitch constantly rose uncontrollably and she gulped down her saliva to wet her now dry throat, "Y-You're still awake?"

Hyoyeon glanced at a very quiet maknae and before she could even answer Seohyun whisked her away towards the front entrance. The maknae didn’t even bother closing the door.

Taeyeon and Tiffany sat a meter apart from each other, their faces flushed. In their embarrassment the silence was almost deafening. Their heartbeats quickened in shame, the thumping ringing clearly in their eardrums accompanied by the rushing of blood. Fear radiated off of their blank faces and swarmed their thoughts, pushing out the initial surge of shock they experienced.  

Taeyeon looked over at Tiffany, who was fixing her bangs awkwardly, and face palmed.

"Your shirt..." Taeyeon pinched her nose bridge, "You didn't button it up."

***********

Oh noes. I have to update again.

On a side note,  I really wish the folks  over at ssf pick a shipper name soon for Hyosic.

All the suggestions sound so badass o.o