August 1st 2015

Jessica

Today was the opening of my mother's clothing shop and I was at the boutique, helping with the last details. Although she had been very anxious about the opening for the past few weeks, she was particularly calm today.

"Everything has been taken care of. " I told her after checking the clothes and the inventories.

"Thank you, baby! I would not have been able to do all of this alone. I can't wait!" My mother replied.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"More than ever!"

"Hold it in for one more hour!" I told her.

I went to the back to make sure that her staff and part time workers were ready for their first day.

"I count on you all, today!" I said.

I really wanted to encourage them, and make them understand how important this is, for my mother.

"Dae!" They replied enthusiastically.

"Sica, they are here!" My stylist told me.

"Oh great!" I exclaimed as I followed her to the parking lot.

I managed to get "Playback" to perform at the opening of the shop. I thought that it would be a good opportunity and publicity for them, and as a potential future company colleague, I also wanted to take care of them.

I also wanted to show Tyler how grateful I am for all the support he has shown me thus far. There are a lot of things that I would not have been able to do so quick after leaving SM entertainment, if not thanks to him.

"Annyeonghaseyo seonbanim!" The girls said when they saw me.

"Call me Eonnie! How are you girls?" I asked them.

"We're doing good! Thank you so much for this opportunity!" Yena said.

"How are you?" Tyler asked me.

"I'm good! Thank you for letting the girls perform today!" I told him.

"My pleasure."

"Come on, let's go! You should check the microphones and everything before it starts."

We started walking towards the back door when another car pulled in. We all stopped in our tracks to see who it was, only to find out that it was Krystal.

We waited for her and her manager to get to our level.

"Annyeonghaseyo!" Krystal said, greeting everyone.

"Soojung-ah, these are the girls of Playback! Girls, this is my sister Krystal!"

"Nice to meet you all!... Oh! Soyun Eonnie!" Krystal exclaimed.

"How are you, Soojung?" Soyun asked.

"How do you know each other?" I asked, surprised.

"We go to the same university! We have all of our classes in common." Krystal replied.

"That's crazy! What a small world!" I said.

"Congratulations on your debut! I didn't know you were training to debut!" Krystal added.

"Thank you!" Soyun replied with a smile.

After all the congratulatory speeches we walked bac into the shop. We joined my mother inside, and I introduced her to the girls.

"Where is Jaehyun? I thought you were supposed to come with him." Krystal asked me.

"He cannot be here today. Your father is helping him move to the dorm right now." My mother replied.

All this time she showed us a very strong side of her with all this Jaehyun moving away thing. Knowing our mother, we could imagine that she was in fact having a harder time than she was letting appear. I guess she just did not want to worry Jaehyun any more.

It is a completely normal thing for her to feel this way. Her baby is leaving the house. He is the maknae after all.

"Oppa neun?" Krystal asked.

"He will be here soon. He is coming with Hongbin and Hyuk." I replied.

"Oh! You girls are matching!" My mother exclaimed.

She pointed at mine and Krystal's white shirts. I looked down at our outfits and realized that she was right.

"Jung Soojung! We're even wearing the same shoes!" I exclaimed.

"Woah! Daebak!" She replied.

"Didn't you guys decide to wear the same thing today? These are the shoes I gave you." Our mother asked.

"No, I swear! I just wore the shoes because they were the first item that you received for your store." Krystal said.

"Me too!" I interjected.

My mother laughed and fished her phone out of her pocket.

"Let me take a picture of this."

We giggled before naturally posing for her.

"Good. New phone wallpaper."

My mother, Krystal and I were standing in the middle of the store, watching Playback's balance.

"Who else is coming?" My mother asked us.

"I invited Minhyuk but he is busy today."

"I sent a message to Eunhyuk, Jonghyun and Jinki. They said they would come if they are free. I did not invite anyone else." I replied.

"What about Taecyeon Oppa?" Krystal asked.

"I don't need to invite him, he is part of the family! He said he would stop by a little later." I said.

My mother smiled at me, probably happy that I referred to Taecyeon as part of the family. I know that she really wants our relationship to work. She wants me to get married so bad.

We all turned to focus on the girls on stage.

"They're really good... how come they're not more famous?" Krystal said.

"It's because there's a lot of competition at the moment. But being famous is not everything. Their mini album did relatively well and with that potential there's so much room for improvement!" I replied.

"It seems like you thought about everything already." She said, chuckling.

"It's just that I really want them to succeed. They're talented."

"Have you decided on what to do? Are you going to sign with Tyler?" My mother asked.

"I think I am... I know that he will take good care of my career."

My mother and Krystal just nodded their heads without saying anything else. I let them enjoy the girls' rehearsal while I went to make sure that everything was in its right place.

As I was walking back to the room, I heard the door opening behind me. I knew that it was a celebrity because only the friends I invited were given access to my mother's personal parking lot, and therefore could be entering from that back door. I turned around, ready to welcome the friend who just arrived.

"Sica, look who's here!" My stylist told me, walking the guests in.

"Sica-ya!" Siwon said, walking in.

I ran towards them to greet them.

"Oppas! You made it!" I exclaimed, seeing my friends.

"Of course we did." Eunhyuk replied.

Before I could say anything else, my gaze turned towards the door and I froze into place at the sight of the person who walked in after Eunhyuk. I thought I was seeing things at first, but when he spoked up, I almost had a heart attack.

"How are you, Sooyeon-ah?"

"Donghae oppa..."

"Congratulations on the opening! We bought a gift for your mother." He said, almost immediately.

"Ah, yes. Where is your mother?" Siwon asked me.

"Erm... She's at the other side."

"I'll take them to her. Another car was pulling in when we walked in, so you can welcome your friends in the meantime." My stylist suggested.

I knew that she was trying to give me a chance to erase the effect of surprise, and I was thankful for that.

"We'll see you inside." Siwon added before following my stylist.

Donghae just gave me a small smile before following them. I stopped Eunhyuk in his track before he got a chance to get away. My first instinct was to hit his arm.

"Why didn't you tel me that you were coming with Donghae Oppa?" I asked him.

"Yah, appeo! You said to tell your closest SuJu members. I just did what you asked me to!" Eunhyuk said.

As soon as he finished talking he instinctively protected his arm from a second hit.

"I didn't want things to be complicated or awkward for him, that's why I didn't invite him!" I explained.

"Sica-ya... What did you expect? Up until late last year, your mother was his mother in law for two years and half. And not even that! We've known your whole family for so long, that it would not have made sense for us not to be here for Eomonim."

"Still. Taecyeon's going to be here!" I insisted.

"I know that! And he knows it too! Don't worry about that, he is a grown man. Plus, it's been a while since you guys broke up." Eunhyuk assured.

"Yes, but-"

"Sooyeon. He just wanted to come and show his support. Don't take it for something it isn't."

I looked at him, surprised at how his tone had changed suddenly.

"To be honest... this might be the last time you see the both of us in a very while. We're enlisting this October." He continued.

"Already?! Is it official?!" I asked, panicking.

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