October 15th 2014

Jessica stayed away from the public eye for as long as she could. After two weeks, she realized that she needed to come back to life.

Of course she is going to feel down sometimes. She is going to feel bitter and she is going to cry, but it's okay. What happened is not the end of the world. She is going to be okay.

She kept repeating the same thing to herself, on her way to SM Entertainment. She was going to meet the representatives to discuss her contract. Now she only gets to meet the representatives and not the CEO. Life is so bitterly funny sometimes.

As expected, there were a lot of news reporters in front of the building. She has been dreading to meet any of them during her getaway but now she could not avoid it. She sat in her car for a minute before finally gathering the courage to go out.

As soon as she stepped out of her car, they all rushed to her and started asking questions about her future, her decisions, the group and the company. All the things she did not want to discuss at the moment. She rushed inside the building and passed the usual security check. The staff was very nice to her. At least one thing did not change, she thought.

"Jessica" Someone said as she walked through the hallways. She turned around and was met with a tight hug.

"Victoria! How are you?" She asked the girl.

"Kwenchana?" Victoria asked her instead.

"Eo! Don't worry! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Japan?" Jessica asked.

"I came back yesterday after the fan meeting. I had an audition for a movie and now I came over to practice a bit."

"How was your audition?" Jessica asked her friend. After Krystal, Victoria and Luna are the closest to Jessica, in f(x).

"I think it worked out but I am worried about you. How are you dealing with all of this?" She insisted.

"Ah...Vic, go back to practice. I will call you later." Jessica said before playfully pushing her friend to the door.

"I will be waiting for your call" Victoria said before leaving.

Jessica smiled at the thought of someone worrying about her. Someone else than her family. She turned back and walked to the conference room where she was waited. When she walked in she was surprised to see some of her members sitting at the table. Ex-members.

It was Taeyeon, Tiffany and Yoona. She immediately recomposed herself and sat at the opposite without saying a word.

"Jessica-" Tiffany started saying.

"Please don't talk to me." Jessica calmly said in English.

She did not want to sound so harsh but her anger suddenly came back from out of nowhere. She thought she was past that but apparently not.

When the representatives walked in, Jessica put her phone away and sat straight.

"How have you been, Jessica?" One of the two representatives asked her.

"Good, thank you. Should we start discussing the contract?" She replied.

"We want you to understand first why we called the girls in. Taeyeon is the leader and since Sunny could not come we called Tiffany who is the oldest after her. Yoona just wanted to be here but if you feel uncomfortable having them, just let us know and we will reschedule this meeting."

"If you did not want me to feel uncomfortable you should have asked me before I came over. Now that we are all here, it doesn't matter and no thank you, I don't know when I will be free to come back. I just want to settle things today." She simply replied.

"Alright. So as you know, the girls and the company have decided to take you out of the group as off two weeks ago now. The different reasons are the building lack of self investment and interest in the group activities to focus on your personal endeavors. The CEO wanted to prevent a bigger situation to occur in the future. Even though you are no longer part of the group, you still have three years left on your contract so of course we will take great care of your career and-"

"Did I miss a single schedule? Did I complain that it was too hard on me because I was constantly on a plane? Did I ever come to you for any sort of help concerning my company? Do you really think that I would want to stay in a company where I will have to see the people who threw me away, everyday? All of these questions have the same answer, which is no. I wish to settle things quickly."

"Jessica!" Tiffany screamed, standing up.

"We agreed to it for the sake of the group! What if you decided to leave when your company became big? We would not have been able to control the situation if that happened!" She continued.

"Jessica, we didn't want it to go this far. We suggested a group meeting but you were in LA so." Taeyeon chimed in.

"Cham! I told you not to talk to me! A meeting three days after I left, what a great time to gather everyone Taeyeon! I am not even here to argue or try to understand what happened. I came here to settle my contract so could you all please stop talking to me while I try to figure my future out? Thanks to all of your care, I need to do this quick." Jessica replied.

It really isn't her type to get mad but that's the only thing she could do at the moment to prevent her tears from falling. How could they sit right in front of her and try to make sense of all of this. None of this made sense and she did not want to hear any of their excuses.

"So, are you saying that you want to leave?" The representative asked.

"Yes. I will have my lawyer write down a paper for the company and I to sign and we will come back to sign everything with you. Is there something else that you wished to discuss?"

"Well, not anymore... Are you really sure of your decision?"

"Completely. Well then, I will leave first. I will contact the company when the papers are ready. Thank you for your time, goodbye." She walked out after politely bowing to the representatives.

She was making her way to the lobby when someone grabbed her arm from behind.

"Unni!"

It was Yoona. She didn't say anything back there in the office so Jessica was wondering why she followed her.

"I am so sorry... I really am. I really didn't want it to go this far." She said, looking at Jessica.

Jessica stayed silent for a minute then looked back at Yoona.

"Your intention doesn't really stand out because all I see now is the end result. Thank you for always being on my side for the past 7 years. I'm sorry that you felt like you had to leave it. I'll be going now." She turned around and walked away without adding anything else.

She rushed to her car and as soon as she was inside, she let out the biggest sigh she had ever held. She tried so hard for 15 years and after this meeting she felt like they really threw her away without a second thought. She fished her phone out to contact her mother.

"Eo, Sooyeon-ah. Eodisseo?" Her mother asked, as soon as she picked up the phone.

"In front of the company. I just got out of a meeting about my contract. Are you home?"

"Ah... Yes, Jaehyun and I are home. Come over."

"Okay, I will be there in thirty minutes."

Meanwhile, Krystal was in the car on her way back home after being in Japan for a week. The girls and her had a photoshoot and a fan meeting in Osaka.

She couldn't wait to get to her parents' house and see her sister. She figured she would be there after her meeting with the company today. Even though she was there for her the first days after the news came out, she felt guilty for leaving for a whole week.

Krystal was glad to have two brothers who could take care of Jessica when she was not home. Although, Leo is also very busy, he always makes time for his family. Jaehyun is also often at home since he is in high school. She dialed a number on her phone when she was close to the house.

"Eo, noona!" Her younger brother said as soon as he picked her call.

"Jaehyun-ah, I am close to the house. Can you come down and help me with my luggage? I don't want to bother Joon oppa."

"Oh, you won't bother me at all, Soojung-ah! I can take care of it." Her manager said from the driver's seat.

"Ani, oppa. Jaehyun is going to do it, don't worry!" She replied with a smile.

"Jaehyun-ah, we will be there in three minutes!" She continued, on the phone.

"Arrasseo, noona. I'll be down in two minutes then." Jaehyun replied.

She hung up and started wearing her shoes. She gathered her belongings and as soon as the car parked and the garage's door closed behind, she got out. Her brother was already there, waiting for her. He went to the back and took Krystal's luggage.

"Thank you, oppa. I will see you tomorrow right?"

"Yes. It will be a quick meeting so don't worry. Galkae! Annyeong, Jaehyun-ah!" Her manager said.

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