PAINKILLER
By hecate_aristocrat




Taeyeon was sighing inside a black van, strolling in the night street of Seoul. It was another tiring end of the day routine and usually she will be happy at this time because she is going home to her dorm, to her comfy bed, but not this particular night. She sat with no strength on the seat, head tilted slightly to the side, looking at the passing
buildings and cars out the window. She wasn’t tired, not at all, she was disappointed at herself.

Her eyes shifted slowly to her right foot. She had put it up on a lower seat in front of her with a bag of ice right on her ankle. She squirmed in pain as she tried to straighten her position.

“Ah…,” she sighed.

Injuries were common in what she does. Dancing with full energy and passion combined with really tall high heels was sometimes resulted in falling or twisting ankles. But today, the cause of her now swollen ankle was not dancing with high heels. It was a proof that she could be as air headed as one of her best friend, Jessica.

Taeyeon was doing a late night radio broadcast that night and had so much fun. After the broadcast, some of the staff was having a match of who can raise their leg the highest. Taeyeon was not interested in joining in at first, considering her height and her flexibilities, she just enjoyed the ridiculous people in front of her doing their best
to make their legs as straight up as they can. Then, she saw a male staff was pushing a cabinet with small wheels underneath. The cabinet was perfectly matched Taeyeon’s height. So she, seeing that as a chance to impress everyone, raised her legs as high as she can and put it on the top of the cabinet.

“Guys, look at me!” she said.

The staff turned to her and laughed hard.

Taeyeon was glad to make them laugh. One problem she realized later, she had put her leg so high on the cabinet, she couldn’t put it down. She stumbled and accidentally pushed the cabinet to the side, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Thus the twisted swollen ankle.

Things like these were never a big deal, the injury would heal in two or three days, Taeyeon was sure enough about that. Plus, she had no schedules, not in four days. Enough time to recover from this stupid debacle. But what worries her that night was she had a promise with Tiffany. Last night, when she was about to go to sleep, Tiffany knocked on
her door. Sunny, her roommate, opened the door.

“Fany-ah? What’s up?” Sunny asked.

“I need to talk to Taeyeon,” Tiffany grinned.

Tiffany dragged Taeyeon out of the room to the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyeon said.

“Well… I need your help,” Tiffany said with soft eyes.

“What?”

“I’ll be doing a 300 meter run the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah, idol athletic show, huh? Fighting!” Taeyeon said casually.

“Yeah, thanks,” Tiffany clearly showed that she hasn’t finished yet, “You see, I don’t run that fast, you know that, and my stamina is not that good, either.”

“You’ll be good, don’t worry.”

“Yes,” Tiffany nodded, “Thanks. But can I ask you to be there?”

“Eh?”

Tiffany scrunched her face, waiting for answer.

“Why?”

“I need morale support and with you being there, I think I can do my best. Unless if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Taeyeon shook her head, “Of course I’ll come. I’ll go with you.”

“Really?” Tiffany shrieked, “Great! Thanks!” she pulled Taeyeon to her embrace and hugged her tight.

If Tiffany was happy then Taeyeon would be three times as happier. Why? Because Tiffany was a very special person for her. But she might break the promise. She was sure that her manager won’t let her out of the dorm.

“So, Tiffany is recording the athlete show tomorrow… I think it’ll be fun if…,” Taeyeon casually tried her luck.

“No!” her manager said from the passenger seat at the front, “You can’t go. Look at your ankle, if you don’t heal by Saturday, you will miss your schedule. Stay in the dorm, okay?”

Taeyeon sighed. “Okay.”

**

The clock struck at eleven. Tiffany had yawned for the fifth time and she decided to end the day. She just finished her night bath and walked to the kitchen where Yoona was crouching down in front of the snack cabinet.

“Yoona…,” Tiffany said, “What are you doing?”

Yoona looked up, “Oh, I get hungry in the middle of the night so I might as well stock some food in my room,” she grinned.

“I envy the way you never get fat no matter how much you eat,” Tiffany pouted.

“You’re body is in great shape too, Unnie,” Yoona took some chips and a bottle of water.

“This takes a lot of hard work. Last time my stomach was bulging out and when I finally toned it down, people said I'm skinny,” Tiffany said.

”Don’t mind them,” Yoona walked pass Tiffany, “You’re beautiful, Unnie.”

The dorm door opened slowly, revealing Taeyeon and her manager. Taeyeon’s hand was at the manager’s shoulder, her right foot bended, not touching the floor.

“Night, girls,” the manager casually greeted.

“Night, girls,” Taeyeon smiled.

“Unnie!” Yoona gasped. She threw her chips and her water bottle to the sofa before helping Taeyeon into the dorm, “What happened?”

“She twisted her ankle because she’s stupid,” the manager cackled.

“I was playing around and fell,” Taeyeon said. She took Yoona’s hand and shifted her weight on her, releasing the manager.

“Oh my God, Taetae!” Tiffany came out of the room, “What happened to your ankle?”

“Nothing important,” Taeyeon grinned.

The manager straightened his suit, “Okay, so I’ll be heading home. Tiffany!”

Tiffany turned to the manager.

“Here’s your leader’s painkiller,” he tossed a thumb size container to Tiffany, “Make sure she takes two pills before she goes to bed, okay?”

“Yes,” Tiffany nodded as the manager went out the door.

Yoona helped Taeyeon to her room and dropped her on the bed slowly, careful not to wake the already sleeping Sunny on the other bed.

“You’re okay, Unnie?” Yoona crouched down and checked Taeyeon’s foot.

“It’s nothing,” Taeyeon smiled.

“It swollen pretty bad.”