Jessica was a complete wreck; she had been crying her eyes out ever since she reached home and was about to unleash another waterfall at the very memory of what she found out a while ago. Plus, she hadn’t left her room although she reached home almost 6 hours ago - it was so unlike Jessica Jung and she herself knew it.

Flashback.

“The thing is…” Sunny breathed out, taking a couple deeper breaths to brace herself for what she was about to reveal, “T-Taeyeon… h-he,” she sniffled into her palm, “he’s b-been hurt… deeply hurt by his ex-girlfriend.”

Jessica’s heart was already pierced at the very mention of an ex-girlfriend but she couldn’t afford to lose it now; there was something obviously very wrong if Sunny was hesitating like this and the other seven were unbelievably quiet; even Hyoyeon was abnormally quiet.

“A-And?”

Sunny couldn’t continue; she grabbed her purse and ran towards the ladies’, unable to hold her tears in at the mention of her best friend’s past. Seohyun and Sooyoung got up from their seats without hesitation, charging after the latter to check on Sunny before she did anything silly.

Yuri, Yoona, Hyoyeon and Tiffany knew they had no choice but to reveal it to Jessica slowly – she might not be able to take this horrible blow. Yoona moved to sit beside her cousin and grabbed onto Jessica’s hand, massaging it tenderly to calm Jessica down first. Jessica’s hand unconsciously tightened its grip on Yoona’s hand, squeezing it to reassure herself that the news was not as severe as she thought.

“Sica, listen to me first,” Yuri started, turning to look at Tiffany for support, “there are things that you need to know before you decide to give up on Taeng just like that. I think it’s obvious to everyone that he doesn’t see you as a mere friend.”

The ice princess mentally scoffed at Yuri’s words but she was immediately hit with huge pangs of guilt at Tiffany’s next few sentences.

“TaeTae… he once told me that he hadn’t seen anyone in that light after his last relationship was over. His eyes were practically sparking when he spoke of this someone and I immediately knew that he was talking about you. You two might bicker all the time but in the midst of it, he fell for you harder than he ever expected to and I guarantee that.”

Yoona knew Jessica was still feeling doubtful of everything because of the way Taeyeon had treated her the last time they interacted. Taeyeon had pushed her away multiple times and broke down in front of her, demanding for her to basically leave him alone from then onwards.

No one could blame Jessica for being skeptical, honestly.

“Now… I have something worse to tell you.”

Tiffany had no idea why she was doing all the explaining and revealing because there were two other idiots sitting at the same bloody table – she wasn’t going to call Yoona an idiot because the latter was busy calming Jessica down. She inwardly groaned and grabbed Hyoyeon’s hand, trying to give herself strength.

“TaeTae… he was ually abused by his ex-girlfriend.”

Jessica’s world came crashing down on her.

“W-What?” She forcefully laughed, “Yoong… she’s joking, right? You guys are only telling me this to make me less angry at him… No?”

Oh dear Lord.

If Taeyeon had been ually abused, it would explain why he always maintained a distance from their female classmates. He was fine with hugging Yoona, Sunny, Tiffany, basically anyone in their circle of friends but outside of it, he was like a brick wall.

No one was to go in.

Then… it would also explain his meltdown the other day.

Flashback end.

“Unnie?” Krystal poked her head in through the little gap, “time for supper.” Jessica was staring at the ceiling with a blank gaze with tears rolling down either side, having been at the position for the past few hours. “I don’t want any, Soojung.”

Krystal shook her head and marched into the room, sitting on the bed beside her sister. She knew everything after Sunny called her and warned her to keep an eye on Jessica while Yoona made her way to the Jungs’ after class finished. Speaking of Yoona, she should be reaching any time soon.

“I know you have no appetite but you have to eat something, Unnie. There are so many other ways to get rid of the pain that you’re feeling but making your body suffer is not one of the methods.”

Jessica finally formed a small smile after so long; her little sister was a miracle worker indeed. She sat up weakly and leaned her head against Krystal’s chest, “Soojung… what am I to do now? I don’t know how to help him or let him know that I’ll be here for him. All I know how to do is snap and scold him without even knowing his story.”

Yoona and Yuri were walking towards the door, their fingers tightly entwined together. Though both of them had their main source of happiness standing right by each other, neither could bring themselves to have fun or laugh like their usual selves. It was so tough to act as if everything was fine when it wasn't. 

“Baby,” Yuri whispered, nudging his girlfriend, “don’t think too much… I know they will be fine; time will