A/N: Late update I know. After this update, you guys will inevitably have to wait another month for the next update. Exams are coming up and prom is next week for me so I won't be able to update. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter because I certainly enjoyed writing it XD

Oh and yes, I hate elevators too btw.

The Color of Our Memories:

Chapter 12 – Along the Battlefield

Hyoyeon huffed down the hallway, her strides long and rushed as she tried to beat the elevator that would whisk away Jessica before she had the chance to grab hold of her. She balled up her hands unknowingly and even though she had no reason to feel so, guilt battled with her justified right to feel angered.

It's like a bizarre game in the world of psychology: whoever sheds the first batch of tears, wins. By those standards Jessica was definitely winning and it probably wasn’t hard to win at all. Not when her “opponent” had a soft spot for her to begin with.

“Sica!” Hyoyeon agitatedly hollered down the hallway with each step she took closer towards the crying ice princess.

Jessica let the warm tears openly stream down her cheeks. Hyoyeon was actually chasing after her! Jessica didn't expect that and with that thinking she hoped to save herself a lot of explaining.

Anger pulsed through her veins but now it was accompanied by a quickly invading emotion―fear, and crazily enough, a hidden tinge of restrained gleeful happiness. She got what she wanted but the timing was horrid.

“Just go away. Leave me alone.” Jessica thought to herself.

Turning her head to the side to look at Hyoyeon virtually stomping towards her meant death at this point. Her right side burned with every passing second. She desperately pressed at the already lit elevator button, jabbing at the metal with her index finger. Six times she pressed; that damn lift took forever!

Jessica looked up above the elevator and continued to wipe at her wet cheeks. The floor numbers were slowly ascending, each number on the panel lighting up one after the other. It was a mere ten floors left until the lift would arrive.

Within the ice princess' peripheral vision, she searched for Hyoyeon and was met with nothing. Did Hyoyeon finally give up?

Her tense shoulders relaxed and without her knowing she let out a long sigh. She sniffled and rubbed her puffy eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. There was relief, but why also disappointment?

Just then she felt small, cold fingers wrap around her thin wrist. Jessica jumped and turned to look around her, catching sight of blonde strands draped over narrow shoulders.

Her eyes widened.

Hyoyeon was behind her the whole time glaring holes into the back of head, waiting until she would notice.

“Stop running away from me!” Hyoyeon―now frustrated beyond imagination―took hold of Jessica’s shoulder and slammed her hard against the elevator button panel. Jessica winced at the impact. The dancer pressed her palm firmly against the older girl’s shoulder and effectively disabled any sudden movements.

Jessica wriggled her shoulders in Hyoyeon’s grasp, thrashing left and right in an attempt to escape, and when she began to weakly push the other girl away by the chest, Hyoyeon.... all she did was stare at Jessica. Stared until Jessica noticed and stopped. Stared until the look of defeat and fragility in Jessica’s eyes softened her features. Stared until Jessica’s lower lip trembled and quivered as she tried to hold back the next onslaught of tears. All Jessica could do then was look back into Hyoyeon’s piercing eyes with unrestrained hate... and the utmost love.

“I hate you.” Jessica whispered behind the tears that hung over her upper lip, threatening to dribble down her lips to her chin.

The way Hyoyeon effortlessly brought out the best and worst in Jessica—it was absolutely mind boggling... and absolutely frustrating. She hated how Hyoyeon made her so irrational, so fragile, so needy, so demanding, so jealous and most of all, she hated how Hyoyeon didn't know she was the reason for it all.

Hyoyeon showed no reaction to the words that should have stung and made her retreat, and neared closer to Jessica. She put a thumb over the ice princess’ lips and carefully wiped away the tears that could have easily been swallowed.

Hyoyeon ignored the trail of sparks that kissed their way up her arm as her thumb met Jessica’s extraordinarily soft lips. She continued to console Jessica by fixing her hair, drying her tears and at one point, she even thought to give Jessica a kiss on the cheek to make her feel better. However, deep down Hyoyeon was well informed that if she were to do that it would mean so much more and so she ignored the urge. That one boundary that was never meant to be broken was broken. Crossing it was a different matter.

Hyoyeon hesitated at first, her anger holding her back from showing any sorts of mercy. Eventually though, she hesitantly placed a hand on Jessica's head and began to the top of the girl’s head       (kind of like how one would with a small puppy). Jessica always calmed down whenever she gently patted her on the head. She was sort of like a baby in that way.

Jessica's eyes widened a bit in surprise and her sniffling began to calm down a bit. She raised her head to meekly look at Hyoyeon who had an uneasy smile on her face and right there and then she felt like collapsing into the girl's arms. What held her back though, was the image of Hyoyeon and a certain B2ST member. With that, she forced herself to hold back, to not give in.

"Y-You," Jessica sniffled, "You forgot about me..."

Hyoyeon’s face stiffened and she stopped caressing the side of Jessica’s head, allowing her limp hand to slide down the ice princess’ cheek and to return to her side. She took one look at the girl sniffling before her and shifted her gaze to the floor, taking a step away.

“You wanted me here and yet..." A lone tear rolled down Jessica's red cheeks, "Is he really that more important?"

Hyoyeon hesitantly lifted her eyes to look at Jessica and instantly she felt her heart twitch.

She gently took Sica's hand in hers and sighed exasperatedly―a sign that she felt uncomfortable with having to deal with a situation where her conscience nagged her into uttering words of apology (which wasn’t exactly her forte). She didn't know what to do with this girl. One minute Jessica would have her shaking with fury and the next, melted into a puddle. Jessica was completely mistaken about her and Doojoon yet why did she still manage to make Hyoyeon feel as if she were at fault?

Hyoyeon took Jessica’s small hand into hers and pulling Jessica away slowly from the wall, she s her arms around the crying older girl's waist and pulled her into a snug, comforting embrace. She tightened her arms around the curve of Jessica's back and let the girl rest her head on her shoulder.

Hyoyeon understood now why Jessica seemed to be particularly frustrated apart from the obvious sign that she was jealous. She told Jessica to visit previously and yet she ignored her very own invitation by going out. Though she herself wouldn’t be particularly upset to the point of tears by something simple like that, Hyoyeon could sympathize with Jessica. It wasn't her fault though. Didn't Jessica say she would be busy? Besides, Jessica was supposed to be visiting because of all the members, not just her.

"You must have looked forward to this day." Hyoyeon said softly, rubbing the small of Jessica's back tenderly.

Jessica didn't respond and instead hastily wrapped her arms around Hyoyeon's neck and let her tears silently soak through the blonde's t-shirt.

"Did you have fun with Doojoon?" Jessica blurted out with a hint of venom in her voice, once again failing to review her choice of words. She began to calm down now, her breathing evening out and her tears drying up to leave her voice cracked and hoarse.

Hyoyeon let out a weak smile, her hold on Jessica loosening.

"If I said yes what would you think?" Hyoyeon whispered softly into Jessica's ear, her warm breath tickling the top of Jessica’s earlobe. She decided to play along with how convinced Jessica was about her and Doojoon. Perhaps she would get some straightforward answers from Jessica for once.

Jessica took hold of some of the fabric of Hyoyeon's shirt and gripped it firmly, almost possessively.

"I don't know."

"You're usually better at this," Hyoyeon let go of the embrace and stepped away,  "lying I mean."

Jessica's fingers twitched in surprise and her eyes widened unnoticeably. All breathing stopped. Her vocabulary spontaneously became limited to primitive "umm"s.

Hyoyeon couldn't possibly have... it was impossible--Jessica did everything to make sure Hyoyeon would never find out!

"Uh, w-what? N-No. I'm. You're—"

Hyoyeon cupped Jessica's cheek with her hand, "You hate the thought of me with him don't you?" she said quietly with a hint of rigidity in her voice.

Jessica looked away towards the ground where she imagined herself digging a hole all the way to the depths of the earth and hiding in the newly made ditch forever. Subtlety really wasn’t a skill of hers.

As the seconds passed by without either of them saying a word, all sorts of thoughts passed through the dancer’s mind. Jessica never particularly said she was in love with her. Hyoyeon simply assumed it all along... what if she was wrong?

She panicked.

She let go of Jessica’s cheek, her eyebrows furrowing. Her heart sunk at the thought of being wrong about Jessica and it confused her for a moment, because why would she even be disappointed if it weren't true? However, the embarrassment she felt for being so stupid, for being self centered enough to come to such a conclusion overpowered her confusion. How could she be wrong? There was no other explanation for Jessica's sudden outburst was there?

"That kiss... what did you think?" Hyoyeon asked expectantly, her eyes growing large with curiosity.

"I don't know—"

"Liar. You were angry!" Hyoyeon looked desperate now. She couldn't have been mistaken about Jessica. It was impossible. All the sleepless nights, the worrying, the frustration... it couldn't have been because of some silly false assumption. It couldn't have been all for nothing. How pathetic it would be if it were for nothing. Even Sooyoung agreed with her!

"You were jealous sica―you hated it. Why else would you be angry? Because I forgot about your little visit? No... no."

"Can we just drop this?"

"You're the one that brought it up!"

"You're being stupid. Why would I be jealous of Doojoon? We're friends. You're a girl. Don't you hear how ridiculous that sounds? Me,” Jessica’s face contorted and out came the hot air from her nose, “Me? Like you?" Jessica crossed her arms and glared at the dancer in disbelief.

Hyoyeon scoffed, her nostrils flaring up obnoxiously as she rolled her eyes. "Friends? Really Sica? Is that how you see me?"

Hyoyeon grew brave now, very brave. Tired was she with all these guessing games and playing cat and mouse. Tired was she with looking a fool and being strung tightly around Jessica's manipulative finger. She wanted a definite answer and if Jessica wasn’t going to come out with it, well―Hyoyeon would make her come out with. Would it really help Hyoyeon at all? Probably not. But at least it would settle something she had been fighting herself about these past few months.

Hyoyeon took a step towards Jessica, the firmness in her eyes turning sultry. With the look of feverish desire she gave Jessica―a look she kills legions with on the dance floor―Jessica felt cornered, a defenseless mouse trapped, watching helplessly as her predator prepared to pounce.

“W-What are you doing?” Jessica nervously asked, completely confused by Hyoyeon’s actions but at the same time guiltily drinking in the look Hyoyeon was giving her.

Hyoyeon took one final step closer to the melting ice princess, their eyes never leaving one another, until Jessica found her back pressed against the cool metal of the elevator button panel once more. Hyoyeon put a hand over Jessica’s shoulder and pinned her against the wall with ease. As her hand cupped Jessica’s cheek, the elder forgot about what they were arguing about in the first place.

Closer and closer Hyoyeon brought her face to Jessica’s and paused. Paused just as her lips lingered around the older girl’s―teasing, luring,baiting. Paused to be close enough to smell the particularly fruity scent of Jessica’s fragrance spray. And when Hyoyeon’s warm breath brushed the top of Jessica’s lip, every inch of restraint the ice princess could muster up until that point vanished like a newly cured cold.

Hyoyeon was this close. So close to losing sight of her objective and for a split second she almost didn’t care, but she caught herself. Caught herself before she would do something she might have enjoyed at that moment, but would regret later. But something went wrong―

“Hyoyeonnie...” Her name flowed out of Jessica’s lips breathlessly in a whine, somewhat resembling... a moan even. Hearing that, Hyoyeon felt the the floor beneath her turn to jelly. She lost herself and whatever she wanted to prove went out the window.

She stared at Jessica’s lips and remembered kissing Doojoon. These were the lips she had imagined kissing and here they were right before her. If only Jessica knew that. They wouldn’t be here at the moment if she did.

Hyoyeon her lips, rubbing her thumb on Jessica’s cheek in preparation and when Jessica responded to the touch by biting her own lips, Hyoyeon couldn’t handle it anymore. Her face became dyed in red similar to Jessica's.

In one languid motion the dancer brought their faces closer, diminishing the miniscule distance between them with nothing but the loud beating of drums in her ears. She instinctively closed her eyes and held her breath, Jessica doing the same, and as their lips―

Ding!

Hyoyeon stopped and immediately distanced herself away from Jessica.

The elevator doors opened with a whoosh. After what initially seemed like an eternity for that lift to arrive, it came. The only difference was now, it was completely unwanted.

Hyoyeon combed her hair back once she noticed that no one was coming out from the elevator. She closed her eyes, embarrassed at what she was just about to do and pinched her nose bridge. She didn't intend to go as far as to have nearly kissed Jessica on the lips.

Jessica stared at her in bewilderment her heart rate revving wildly. She blinked a couple of times to bring herself back to reality. Exactly what happened just then?

“If you thought of me as a friend, you would’ve pushed me away." Hyoyeon combed her hair back irritatedly for the thousandth time. She couldn’t believe what she was just about to do. She really expected for Jessica to push her away because she didn’t think that she would go this far. Nonetheless, she proved her point.

“And if we were friends,” She took one look at Jessica and within that one millisecond, her eyes gravitated to the floor shyly, “I-If we were friends, you wouldn’t be so jealous of Doojoon.”

And just like that, Hyoyeon walked back towards their dorm unit leaving Jessica breathless against the wall to ponder on her words.

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

Sooyoung walked back over to the living room after closing the front door and ploppeddown onto the leather sofa, taking hold of the abandoned stuffed dolphin along the way. She stared at the ground deep in thought once she made herself comfortable and ignored the expectant look on Sunny's face.

"I hate this!" Yuri exclaimed as she rolled around on the wooden floor in exaggerated agony, "Everything is so messed up!"

"We're always so busy doing our own thing now. Its like... we've lost touch with each other." Yoona added, darkening the dreary mood.

"Don't say that." Yuri rested her head near Yoona's on the floor and curled up to hug her knees to her body. "I mean we still text and stuff right? Everyone is just so stressed and tired lately."

Sunny shook her head, "Pages of texts can't possibly compare to the presence and company of another person. Its not the same."

Minutes went by. It might have been a few seconds or hours and it would have been the same thing. All that filled up the silence were Sunny's lingering words that clung to the air, dangling over everyone's thoughts.

"Secrets." Yuri blurted out, "Since when did we keep so many from each other?"

"It kind of can't be helped. There'll always be one or two tiny things that we'll all keep from each oth--" Yoona said but was cut off by Yuri.

"But this—Hyoyeon and Jessica, Tiffany and Taeyeon—this isn't exactly tiny." Yuri said, “Its different from before.”

Once again the quiet crept in, alloting for time to be spent on pondering.

"Its because Sica wanted to move out for who knows what reason. Ever since then Hyoyeon unnie has been... I guess you could say, drained?" Yoona said, cutting into the silence. She closed her eyes and tried to relax despite the situation they were in.

Sunny scoffed, and rolled to be flat on her back "Its before that. Way, way before that. They don't say anything and thats what makes it so obvious."

Yuri sat up hurriedly as if she just realized something. She stared down at the two on the floor who had their eyes closed. "Why did Sica want to move out anyway?"

"I don't know," Sunny replied. She fluttered her eyelids open and stared at the shikshin on the couch, "Do you know why Sooyoung?"

Sooyoung wasn't entirely present. Her mind traced back to thinking about what Hyoyeon and Jessica might have been talking about that very moment. Did things get worse? Did Jessica burst out into more tears? What if they realized what they felt for each other? Sooyoung smiled at the thought.

"Sooyoung-ah!" Sunny exclaimed, "Sooyoung!"

"What?" Sooyoung responded, annoyed, and turned her attention to Sunny after being hit in the head by a sofa cushion by the girl twice.

"Aish, she probably overheated. Too much stress on her one track mind—Yah!" Yuri rubbed her head after getting a cushion to the face by Sooyoung.

"Sica and Hyoyeon. Do you know why Sica moved out?" Sunny asked, knowing well that Sooyoung wouldn't be able to dodge the question anymore with everyone present.

Sooyoung looked away to the direction of the kitchen. A sandwich sounded nice at the moment.

As the shikshin stared at Sunny worriedly, out of the blue she heard the raspy voice of that troublesome choding,

“Don't mention any of this to anyone else okay?”

She had two options: tell everyone what she knew or to shut up and act clueless about the whole thing. Sooyoung was heavily aware of the consequences of revealing such information. What she knew would change so many things and what if the rest of the group wasn't okay with Hyoyeon and Jessica's budding romance? What would happen to the group then? Acceptance can come with time but how much time? How much time would be needed until they all felt truly comfortable with the idea of two of their best friends dating, of being in love? They all knew of how the fans liked to pair them up. They approached that with joking hearts. Seeing it play into reality would be a whole different ball game. Entirely different.

Inevitably some would willingly accept the idea, support it even, like Sooyoung. Others would disapprove, become uncomfortable with the notion. Was Sunny—was the rest of Sooyoung's second family—on that side or hers? As long as Sooyoung was unsure, she wouldn't be able to say anything. There was too much at stake and the timing too raw to drop a bomb such as this.

"We all need to sit down and have a talk. We can't simply go on with assu—"

"But you know, Sooyoung. You know." Sunny deadpanned, "Is it really so bad that you can't tell us?"

“Who said I knew anything?”

Sooyoung sighed and slid down farther in her seat, her head meeting the seating of the leather couch. She played around with the flippers of the stuffed sea creature, deep in thought.

She had no idea what to do. She was stuck in between two walls, not allowed to find a way out to save herself. To keep her word to Hyoyeon or to respond to her responsibility to the group to inform them of the two former roommates? They were all worried. They deserved to know.

Sooyoung stood up, "I'm going to my room. I need a nap."

The three watched as Sooyoung dragged herself to her room, scratching her head as she slid her feet across the floor tiredly.

Sunny spread herself out on the floor like a starfish and bit the inside of her cheek. Sooyoung was being difficult. She couldn’t exactly force the shikshin into saying anything. They had all witnessed enough conflict for one day.

“Oh and you might want to check on Tiffany and Taeyeon.” Sooyoung muttered under her breath as she waved a hand dismissively in the air. “You’ve been so busy obsessing over the ‘violent couple’, that you completely forgot about one of the royals.”

“Royals?” Yoona raised an eyebrow. The door to Sooyoung’s room closed with a soft click.

“Royal family? You don’t know it? Honestly?” Yuri shot up from her spot on the ground, “You honestly never go online or anything? I swear I showed it to you one time.”

Sunny got up from her spot, ignoring the conversation going on behind her concerning fan pairings. She took Sooyoung’s advice and walked over to Tiffany’s door not sure how to approach the subject. She forgot about Hyoyeon and Jessica for a moment and shifted her worries to Taeyeon and Tiffany. She had to get ready soon, but that didn’t matter too much. Here. Thats what mattered, even if it's only for a few moments.

Sunny hesitantly knocked on the door, “Fany-ah?”

The aegyo queen looked down at her feet while waiting for a response. She tried to hear what might have been going on within the mushroom’s quarters: any signs of movement, sounds of sobbing even. All she could hear however was how Yoona laughed as Yuri explained to her the mysterious workings of the soshi fandom.

“And Hyoyeon unnie? Who does she get paired with?”

“Nicole.”

“Nicole?”

“Yeah. Nicole.”

“...Nicole?” Yoona repeated incredulously. “She’s not even in our group.”

“Who says you have to be in the same group?”

“But we hardly have any appearances with them.” Yoona stated a matter-of-factly.

Yuri shrugged her shoulders, “We only have nine members what can we do.”

Yoona rested her chin on her palm as she drew invisible patterns onto the hardwood floor. Yuri watched her absentmindedly and soon enough, she found herself doing the same thing as the doe eyed girl.

“Or usually she just ends up being the aual dancing robot.” Yuri said.

Yoona stopped what she was doing and stared at Yuri in surprise. Yuri shrugged.

“You read that stuff?”

“They’re not so bad.”

“But you’re reading about yourself!  ...Don’t you feel,” Yoona pretends to shiver and eyes Yuri, “Don’t you feel weird?”

“Some of them are pretty funny actually. Besides its not as if any of us would actually do that.... stuff, y’know.” Yuri took a piece of her hair and twirled it around her finger. She turned her head to see Yoona with furrowed eyebrows and instantly, an idea came to her.

“Unless...” Yuri wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and neared Yoona’s ear, “You want to.”

Yoona turned to look at Yuri in disgust. The older girl pouted her lips, her lips stretching out like a blowfish as she jokingly got ready to kiss the younger girl. Yoona pushed away Yuri’s face roughly and wrapped her arms around her body protectively, raising her knees up to keep Yuri at bay as her toes curled beneath her socks. She made note to ask Seohyun if she could sleep in her room later that night lest she wanted to be robbed of her innocence.

Yuri laughed to her heart’s content, rolling around the floor and cackling in that quirky way of hers with her head thrown back in delight. Seeing the sight, Yoona couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“Yah! Shut up!” Sunny yelled at the two twins, her grip on Tiffany’s door handle tightening. Her nagging held no effect and the two just laughed harder which lead her to roll her eyes in defeat. She faced Tiffany’s door once more and stumbled backwards in shock to see Tiffany ready to go out.

“Whoa! You surprised me there.”

“I’m going now.” Tiffany mumbled under her breath emotionlessly. She stared at Sunny through her thick rimmed sunglasses that covered nearly half her face and once the twins heard her voice, they stopped laughing and peered at Tiffany worriedly.

“Are you okay Fany-ah?” Yuri stood up and made her way over to Tiffany.

“Yeah.” Tiffany replied, clearly not in the mood for conversation. She brushed past Yuri who had her hands out ready to comfort her and stood at the foyer to put her shoes on.

“Aren’t you gonna wait for Taeyeon? You’re supposed to go together.” Sunny said.

Tiffany glanced at Sunny behind the black frames, her foot halfway into her shoe. There was silence as the three waited for the mushroom to respond, but all Tiffany did was finish putting on her shoes, acting as if she didn’t hear anything.

Tiffany stood up, now six inches taller, and straightened out her coat. She fixed a few buttons and smoothed out a few creases, then after opening the steel front door with an air of professionalism. Gone was the fragile and angry Tiffany from a few moments ago. The girl before them now was ready to work.

“I’m going now. I’ll see you guys later tonight.” Tiffany said in monotone. She analyzed the worried look on the girls’ faces and felt guilty for acting a bit harsh. She gave them the tiniest of smiles, using all that was left of her strength to reassure them she was fine, and clutched her handbag close to her body.

“What about Taeyeo—” Sunny tried to add, only to have Tiffany completely disregard the fact that she was talking and shutting the door on her before she could finish.

The three looked at each other, completely stupefied.

“Is Taeyeon going or what?” Yuri asked, more concerned about Taeyeon actually going to work rather than what happened between her and Tiffany.

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

I love you too guys lol   

I know, I know  "Where's Seohyun?" you're probably saying lol.

I kind of wanted to focus on everyone else for a bit, especially Hyosic. Its

hard to fit everything in one chapter without it being ridiculously long.