Yerin always likes to nudge her, so Sinbi doesn’t even react to it anymore. However, this time when Yerin jabs an elbow into her stomach with force, Sinbi grabs her arm and wrenches it back.

“What?” she hisses.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention!”

“You’re always trying to get my attention.”

“Look,” Yerin stage whispers. “Taeyeon sunbaenim is staring at you.”

Sinbi blinks. “Taeyeon sunbaenim?”

“Yeah, she’s been staring at you for the past five minutes.” Sinbi turns to look at Taeyeon, but Yerin hurriedly grabs her chin. “Don’t look at her! She’ll be able to tell.”

“You’ve been looking at her!”

“I was doing it subtly, and you don’t know the meaning of subtle.”

Sinbi can’t argue with the second part, and she knows that Yerin can actually be pretty sneaky if she wants to be so she sighs and relents. Well, she does until Yerin releases her and then she turns and looks at Taeyeon.

Taeyeon is indeed looking at her, staring at her, and doesn’t even make an effort to hide it when their eyes meet. Her gaze is so…intense that it makes Sinbi jerk her eyes away, like she was the one caught staring.

Why is Taeyeon – Kim Taeyeon, leader of Girls’ Generation and successful soloist and sunbae of such legendary status that Sinbi would probably break her back bowing to her if they came face to face – staring at her?

“You should really stop staring over at GFriend,” Tiffany says calmly from Taeyeon’s side. “They’re going to get the wrong idea.”

“The wrong idea?”

“Yeah, maybe she thinks you’re checking her out or something. Isn’t she a bit young for that?”

“Tiffany!”

“I’m just saying.” Tiffany shrugs. “You don’t want to come off as some kind of predator.”

Why did they have to seat Tiffany next to her? Just because they’re friends and bandmates doesn’t mean that Taeyeon wants to sit next to her.

“You know that’s not why I’m looking at her,” she says through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I know.” Tiffany’s voice drops. “You’re looking at her because she looks like Jessica, right?”

Taeyeon stares at Tiffany, barely remembering to control her expression.

“Oh, it’s going to start.” Tiffany makes a shushing gesture even though she’s the only one talking. “Let’s talk about this later.”

Let’s not, Taeyeon thinks. Better never than later.

“She and Heechul sunbaenim are close friends, aren’t they?” Yerin says. “Maybe he talked about you to her and now she wants to adopt you or something.”

“Adopt me?”

“Then again, you’re legally an adult now…”

Sinbi has another idea. She remembers the double take Heechul had done when he first saw her, the way a shadow passed over his unflappable expression. People have told her so many times that she’s become desensitized to it, but she hasn’t forgotten. It’s kind of hard to forget when so many people have said it to her.

Did you know that you look like Jessica Jung?

Why yes, she thinks about telling them, she does know. This is her face, after all, and she knows what she looks like. Or, she supposes, who she looks like. She doesn’t know if people think she should find it flattering or what. Maybe it would be flattering if she hadn’t heard it ten thousand times already and if it didn’t seem like the only thing some people notice about her.

She’s her own person, thank you very much, not just a lookalike. No matter how pretty Jessica is.

When Taeyeon goes onstage to receive her award, she passes by where GFriend are standing and they bow to her. Sinbi bows especially low and then, as she looks up, holds Taeyeon’s eye for an extended second. Her expression is blank to the point of being apathetic, and it makes the resemblance so uncanny that Taeyeon almost stops in her tracks for a second.

Later on in the hallway, she and Tiffany bump into GFriend, almost literally. Their leader, whose height and build remind Taeyeon of Sooyoung, has to tug two of them away so they don’t collide into each other.

“Congratulations,” Taeyeon says.

“Thank you,” their leader – Sowon, Taeyeon remembers, almost smiling – says, bowing again. Even so, she’s still taller than Taeyeon.

“You too, Taeyeon sunbaenim.” It’s Sinbi who says it. Her voice is deeper than Taeyeon expected, and her cold expression had disappeared. Up close and in proper lighting, the resemblance isn’t strong at all. Sinbi’s face is much softer, baby fat still in her cheeks, and the way she looks at Taeyeon is completely different too.

“I hope”—Taeyeon swallows—“that you do well.”

“Thank you,” they all say this time.

“Your dancing is amazing,” Tiffany says brightly. “You fully deserved to win today.”

They exchange some more pleasantries, and Taeyeon tries not to look at Sinbi too hard – what if she really does come off as a pred—creep? – but Sinbi doesn’t take her eyes away from her.

“I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for, Taeyeon sunbaenim,” Sinbi suddenly says. Taeyeon almost starts but manages to control and collect herself.

“Thanks,” she murmurs, and then Tiffany has an arm in hers and is guiding her away while managing to look like they’re just walking off together. “I hope I do too.”

A/N: I was inspired by this pic but honestly I don't need an excuse to write TaengSic. SinB has directly addressed her resemblance to Jessica. Here is the apathetic expression I was thinking of when I wrote that line.