As the brown-haired beauty strode purposefully down the sidewalk, she grabbed random passersby’s attention almost instantaneously. She suspected as much. Not only was it because of her stunning, yet simple beauty,--though that played a big part--but the main reason was that the young woman was none other than Jung Jessica, second oldest member and one of the main vocalists of the famous girl group, So Nyuh Shi Dae.

She paid no mind to the small mass of people ogling her with wide unbelieving eyes, following her secretly, trailing behind her, and taking pictures with their cell phones, probably to be uploaded online soon. Today, she didn’t care much about anything. Truthfully, Jessica didn’t care at all about anything most of the days lately. Having said this statement to herself in her mind a hundred times, she still wondered why she went out of her way to ditch her members and more importantly, her schedules, to meet up with an old friend.

Jessica’s plain, yet stylish brown boots trudged through the light pile of snowfall on the ground. She wrapped her black peacoat around her tighter and rubbed her hands together in a feeble attempt to warm them up. How could she have been so careless as to forget gloves?

She shook her head furiously, snowflakes drifting down overhead in flurries.

And a hat as well, Jessica added as an afterthought, spotting the gray, average-looking building further down the sidewalk. She turned her walk into a jog and reached the destination in a matter of moments.

Jessica took a moment to stop in front of the building and reminisce. It was an old, abandoned art studio that she often used to visit when she was younger. The building’s structure looked a bit unstable, and there was paint peeling off. The sign which once hung over the door in colorful, eye-catching letters was removed long ago, but Jessica had long forgotten the name of the studio anyway. She pressed her hand up against the stone and felt coldness shoot through her entire body, sending chills up her spine and to her very core.

Shivering, Jessica pulled open the creaky door and entered wearily. Had her friend even arrived yet, or was she early? She wrapped an arm around her small frame, trying to get rid of her shivers.

It was a futile attempt.

The door closed softly behind her, squeaking a little as it did so. She shuffled inside, stomping the snow off of her boots near the door and resumed rubbing her hands once again, trying to warm them. The first room was large; there was a lot of open space, and the place appeared to be much bigger than it actually was.

Jessica remembered rows of chairs set up in the corner nearest the door, which was the makeshift waiting room. The check-in counters where the kind, old secretaries and other attendants sat behind were removed as well, along with the playroom for the children who used to wait for their brothers and sisters to finish their art lessons.

The only thing that remained of the barren room was the giant mural painted on the biggest wall, opposite the door. Jessica took her time walking up to the wall painting. She started at the spot farthest left, and began tracing her finger along random spots.

The mural depicted a grand castle that seemed to be glowing with a magnificent golden light. The entryway was a big arch, made of silvery white bricks. There were many towers, each a periwinkle, bluish color, but the roofs of those towers were a teal shade. A small flag was visible on top of the tallest tower, seeming to billow in the breeze. The sky behind it was full of vibrant colors; dark blues, light blues, pinks, and purples. It seemed to be showing each part of the day. The light blues representing the middle of the day, the afternoon, while the pinks and purples represented the day ending--sunset. The dark blues would then be evening, or night.

It was a spectacular mural, truly beautiful and very pleasing to the eye, Jessica had to admit. She smiled in spite of herself, feeling sad that she never came back to the place she loved as a child.

“Some things don’t change, huh?”

Jessica whipped around instinctively, hearing the low voice that could only belong to a male. She relaxed when she saw who it was, and offered him a strange foreign sort of smile, that was unusual of the usual Jessica.

“H-Hi,” she stuttered, trying to cover it up quickly, but failing. Fortunately for her, the other person didn’t seem to notice or mind.

“Hey, yourself,” Heechul emerged from the shadows and walked towards her, stopping once he was right next to Jessica.

“When did you get here?” Jessica asked casually, still looking at the mural with pretend interest.

The second eldest member of Super Junior reached up and brushed some remaining snowflakes out of Jessica’s hair. He made a look of disgust.

“This looks like dandruff.”

Jessica laughed quietly, moving his hands away. “It’s snow, Heechul--my question?”

“Shortly after you,” Heechul answered after a few silent moments. “I was way behind you outside on the sidewalk; I saw you.”

“And you didn’t bother catching up with me?” Jessica questioned, facing her friend with a tiny frown.

Heechul shrugged. “Why should I have?”

“Whatever,” Jessica mumbled, growing a bit agitated with Heechul, like she typically would.

She folded her arms and walked past him, going to the other end of the mural and placing a hand on the ice-cold wall.

“Hey, that’s not what I meant.” Heechul called after her, jogging over to the right side of the mural, where Jessica was. He grabbed her arm. “You just seemed like you needed to be alone or something.”

“The last thing I want right now is to be alone.” Jessica divulged quietly, her hand slowly sliding down the mural, until it fell back to her side lamely.

Heechul slumped down to the ground, sitting with his back against the wall and his legs tucked into his chest. Letting out a random sigh, he tilted his head towards the ceiling. He eventually looked at Jessica, giving her a meaningful look. She frowned again at him.

“What?”

“Sit,” he commanded, gesticulating to the spot next to him, patting the hard, still solid and intact floor.

Wordlessly, Jessica slid to the floor by Heechul, tucking her legs into her chest and hugging them with her arms. A gap of about twelve inches separated them, but neither side complained about this arrangement.

“What’s up?”

Jessica let out a dissatisfied scoff. “What’s up?” she repeated.

Heechul shrugged, giving her the famous Kim Heechul Smirk. “What?”

“You’re impossible sometimes, Heechul.” Jessica mumbled.

“Yah, you’re the one who chose to be best friends with this impossible guy.” Heechul nudged her arm with his. “Now stop acting like your grandma just died and be the bright, happy Sica I know.” he stopped abruptly, and Jessica wondered if he meant to say more, or if his sentence wasn’t complete.

“You were saying?” Jessica persisted.

“Nothing--I said it all.” the opposing lied with a totally straight poker face.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Ah, clever as always,” Heechul mused with a smirk.

“I know you,” Jessica simply said with a slight roll of her eyes. “Since it seems like you won’t tell me, I’ll just stop asking then.”

“Sica, you’re too kind.”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, okay, let’s just talk then.” Heechul said, deciding to give up and forfeit the fight.

As winsome and victorious as Kim Heechul was, he could never win against the reigning Ice Queen, Jessica.

“What’s there to talk about?” Jessica wondered aloud, feigning innocence.

“Stop kidding yourself and stop trying to kid me. I know you just as well as you know me.”

It was inevitable that Jessica would try and avoid the topic, Heechul thought to himself.

Jessica was the kind of girl who didn’t like sharing her problems with others. She felt that she would burden her friends by letting out her frustrations and predicaments, and she most definitely didn’t like having people worry for her. Therefore, she always kept quiet, staying in the background and trying to help others to cover up the fact that she had dilemmas too. Heechul saw through it all though--no amount of acting could mask Jessica’s true pain. Jessica pretended to be tough, pretended to appear strong on the outside.

Only Heechul could see.

On the inside, Jessica was like a fragile porcelain doll, threatening to shatter at any second. It was frightening, how sensitive she really was. That was one of the reasons why Heechul was secretly protective over her. He hated how she never expressed her feelings and problems; he wanted to help her, but she never asked for his assistance. She never asked for anybody’s help; Jessica liked to pretend that confidence ran through her veins. Perhaps it was a pride thing.

Still, if only he could get her to talk now, to vent. She could scream, cry, kick--hell, she could punch him in the face and he wouldn’t care, even if his valuable image would get ruined. He needed, more than anything, to hear her problems.

“Yah, Kim Heechul, how long are you gonna space out?”

Grinning, Heechul winked at her. “You were staring at my face then?”

“Not really. I was calling your name for the past two minutes and you weren’t responding. I figured you were spacing out, Big Space Star.” Jessica replied wittily, with a cheeky smile to match.

“You,” Heechul grumbled, “are about to get hit, Jessica.”

The American brunette beamed, as if her smile let her get away with anything. The smile was the one she wore when she was happiest, Heechul recognized. It seemed that she knew that that particular trick always worked, as her small act deflated his anger almost instantly.

He always gave in to her smiles.

“Fine, just this once, I’ll let it slide.”

“You always do, Heechul,” Jessica puckered her lips. “You’re always letting me off the hook for everything.”

“Not everything,” Heechul denied grudgingly.

“Well, there was that time you let me borrow your iPhone to call Krystal and I dropped it in a sewer.” Jessica began ticking things off, sticking up her index finger.

“God, I can’t believe you did that. What kind of person does that?” Heechul roared at her in pure disbelief, remembering the terrible incident.

She blinked back at him with a tiny smile and a small bow of her head in apology.

“When you first came to SM, I talked to you with informalities all the time, even though you’re older.” Jessica stuck up her middle finger, the two fingers on her right hand now forming a V.

Heechul snorted. “That’s not a big deal.”

“Kyuhyun slipped and didn’t use formalities once and you threatened to beat him.” Jessica rolled her eyes, “It’s not a big deal.” she mocked.

“Kyuhyun’s a brat!” Heechul said, defending himself. “That kid, seriously...”

“And,” Jessica began, interrupting Heechul before he could blow up about Super Junior’s maknae, “when I first met Hangeng, I was being a total to him. The other oppas were all on my case, but you defended me, even though Hangeng’s your best friend.” she smiled sadly, suddenly regretting bringing it up at all.

“That’s different.” Heechul muttered, feeling like someone just stabbed him in the chest.

It was all because he heard the word Hangeng.

“No, it’s not, and you know that.” Jessica sighed, growing impatient with the man.

“Why?”

Heechul stared across the room, unblinking. He turned his head towards Jessica and let out a big breath he had been holding in.

“Okay, let’s make a deal.”

Jessica raised her eyebrows in curiosity. “I’m listening.”

“I’ll tell you why I never get angry at you and why I don’t explode at you whenever you mess up.”

“What’s the catch?” Jessica inquired immediately, naturally on top of things.

“You tell me why you’re so sad these days.”

Jessica’s eyes cast downward. Did he have a right to know? Would he even care? She was worried he would laugh at her, mock her, . That was the last thing she wanted. What she was going through wasn’t a big deal. It was almost petty. It was pathetic.

It was stupid.

But, she needed some major support at the moment, and she definitely needed answers. Heechul was, surprisingly, a good advice-giver. He always had been, but no one ever expected such a thing from him, so it was hidden well from others. Would he be willing to listen to her long, ridiculous past? It was something she had never revealed to anyone, not even her eight sisters.

Glancing back up, she saw Heechul’s outstretched hand sticking in her face. Heechul stared at her expectantly.

“Well?”

“It’s a long story.”

“And I’ve got time.”

“No schedules?”

“Ditched them,” Heechul shrugged coolly, like it was no big deal. “Do we have a deal?”

Jessica took Heechul’s warmer hand in her colder one, sealing the deal.

“Deal.”

I actually really love this story a lot. I hope you all will too! :)