The following morning, Taeyeon was eating breakfast. Jessica walked past, her head down but Taeyeon saw that her eyes were red rimmed. Had the girl even slept at all? Taeyeon felt her anger falter and she brought herself to grab Jessica's wrist. Jessica let go and opened the front door.

'Where are you going?'

'Shopping', Jessica muttered without even looking at her.

'I'll come, just let me get dressed', Taeyeon shoved a huge chunk of bread in and ran upstairs. Without knowing, Jessica had already slipped out. By the time Taeyeon was done, which took quite long as she didn't have that many pretty clothes in her wardrobe, Jessica was practically already at the shops since it was only a 10 minute walk. Taeyeon huffed angrily when she saw Jessica had left without her. She rushed out the door and powerwalked. 

She got to the shopping centre and went into some random fashion store, she pretended to browse through clothes she had no interest in when really, she was just looking for Jessica. Where are you Jessica? She walked out of the fashion store and bumped right into Jessica. 

'I-I'm so sorry', Taeyeon muttered, not realizing it was Jessica.

'Relax', Jessica giggled and patted Taeyeon's head.

'Oh, it's you. Why'd you go off without me huh? Is shopping with me really too bad?'.

'Nah..I'm just sorry about yesterday..'.

'No need. I was overreacting. Why should you help me anyway?'.

'Because it's the right thing to do', Jessica whispered.

'Well..my mom is kinda scary so I understand why you wouldn't want to interrupt'. 

Jessica just bit her lip and nodded in response. They spent their time walking around fashion stores, picking out clothes and trying them on. At first, there was a little bit of an awkward and sad silence but as time passed, they began to laugh and reccomend clothes to each other.

'Hey Taeyeon, why don't you try this on', Jessica picked out a shirt that said 'Beware, evil monster' and she laughed when she saw Taeyeon's pout.

'Hey Jessica, why don't you try this on, since you're such a man', Taeyeon picked out a suit and tie for Jessica, barely concealing her mirth.

'I should', Jessica smiled slyly and bit her lip.

'For who, your boyfriend? Bet he'd like that huh?', Taeyeon laughed.

'Yah! Who says I have a boyfriend?', Jessica giggled and shook her head in amusement.

'Why wouldn't you, you're so pretty', Taeyeon poked Jessica's cheeks.

'Y-Yah', Jessica muttered.

The shorter girl just smiled and ran to the food court. Jessica rolled her eyes and followed her. Taeyeon bought them burgers, chips and soft drinks. They sat down together and ate. Going back home that evening, Taeyeon and Jessica both felt so happy. 2 days living together and it was already going so well, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all. They were surprised when they saw Yoona sitting on the couch.

'Yoonaaaa', Jessica walked over to her and pulled her in a hug.

'Hi guys', Yoona smiled and gave both of them a hug.

'What brings you here? Aren't you really busy?'.

'Oh, your mom let me in. She was really lovely and even cooked for me. I'm not that busy today, I finished filming earlier.'

'Let's watch drama together', Jessica sat down next to Yoona and put her head on her shoulder. Yoona moved so there'd be space on the couch for Taeyeon to sit there. Taeyeon sat down and wondered how Yoona managed to be so...nice and likable all the time.

She zoned out during the drama as apparently there were many inside jokes Jessica and Yoona shared. They're so close, Taeyeon thought. When she saw Jessica laughing and hitting Yoona's shoulder in protest, she thought Jessica had such a pretty smile and laugh. Yoona was just about to leave when she turned around and looked at Taeyeon and Jessica.

'Taeyeon unnie, Jessica unnie...'.

'Yoona?', they both replied in unison.

'I just want to say, I hope to see you two again. Goodbye, I love you both', Yoona smiled warmly.

They both smiled back and Yoona left, closing the door.

'Aigoo, I'm so hungry', Jessica whined.

'Go cook'.

'I don't know how to', Jessica pouted.

'Jinjja', Taeyeon rolled her eyes and got up.

'I want fried rice', Jessica said.

Taeyeon began to cook and when she was done, she called Jessica but there was no response.

'Jessica Jung', Taeyeon walked over to her to see what she was up to. She wasn't surprised to see Jessica was sleeping. She poked her stomach.

'Jessicaaa'.

'Ugh, why are you waking me up', Jessica muttered in frustration.

'Your fried rice is ready'.

'Thank you!', Jessica sprang off the couch and enveloped Taeyeon in a tight hug.

'Aish, you're so bipolar'.

Jessica ignored her and sat down at the table. She gobbled up her fried rice and Taeyeon ate hers slowly, just looking at Jessica the entire time.

'Are you enjoying it?'.

'Yes, it's so yummy. Taeyeon, you're so good at cooking'.

'Pft', Taeyeon smiled and continued to eat. Jessica saw her smile and it made her feel warm inside. Taeyeon unnie is so much prettier when she smiles. 

Her mother came out of her room and grabbed Taeyeon's hair.

'Isn't it rude to leave a friend waiting?'.

'N-No mom, I didn't know she was coming-'.

'Shut your mouth, child', her mother shoved her and Taeyeon could practically detect the stench soju from a metre away in her mother's breath. She glanced at Jessica. Jessica was staring, wide eyed, at her mother in fear.

'Mom, relax. Yoona didn't mind waiting, she just went on her phone. You're just finding an excuse to-'.

Taeyeon's mother raised her hand, as if to slap her.

'W-Wait! Mrs Kim, do you want some fried rice? Taeyeon made it right now, it tastes so good', Jessica blurted.

'Let's see', Taeyeon's mother leaned over and took a bite. She smiled with satisfication.

'I taught you to cook well. Put me a plate', Taeyeon's mother patted Taeyeon's head as if she wasn't on the verge of slapping her seconds ago.

'O-Okay', Taeyeon muttered and put her mother a plate quickly.

'I'm full', Jessica got up and went into her room.

'Me too', Taeyeon gazed after Jessica.

'Okay girls, go have some fun. I'm going to eat and sleep soon'.

'O-Okay, love you mom', Taeyeon kissed her mother on the cheek and slipped into Jessica's room.

'Thank you', she whispered.

'It's no big deal, just the right thing to do', Jessica's heart hurt. Taeyeon would never know how much courage she had to sum up to do that.

'Thank you anyway, I'm going to go sleep, okay?'.

'Okay, goodnight', Jessica gave her a warm smile and Taeyeon warmly smiled back.

When she left the room, Jessica stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes tightly, willing herself not to remember the horrible days she and her mother had. The one thing stopping her from thinking about all that was Taeyeon's smile.