It’s been a month since that scene happened at the café. And like the past few weeks, Jessica is still living like a half-alive body. She asked for a leave at her work as she made an alibi about her condition. Fortunately, her boss, which is also her father, understood her situation and let her breathe and relax for a while.

Also, since that day, she cut all her connection to everyone, except her family. All her friends tried to reach her out but she ignored all of them without hesitation. Among everyone, there’s only one person who could talk to her properly. And apparently, that’s her younger sister, Krystal. Now, they’re about to start their video chat.

“Hey unnie.” Krystal called the older Jung’s attention. Jessica has been looking at her laptop, with Krystal’s face in it, for a full minute already.

“O-oh, I didn’t notice you, I’m sorry.” The former apologized.

“That’s okay unnie, so how are you now, feeling anything better?” Although Krystal already knew the answer, just by looking how Jessica looked like a mess right now, she decided to ask her directly.

“Still the same thing, I’m still alive but I’m barely breathing.” She tried to drop a joke while singing her response with an awkward laugh but then, she failed.

“Not funny, Jess. Jokes really don’t suits you well.” Krystal stated. “Seriously, you look like a big mess, unnie. Please take care of yourself.”

“I’m okay Krys, I can still manage myself. See?” She insisted but Krystal was still not convinced.

“You’re such a bad liar, Miss Jung Sooyeon.” She said with a frown. “Stop acting so strong in front of me, unnie. You’re making me stupid, and I’m not like one.” Jessica could only sigh.

“I’m just… tired, Soojung.” Jessica said. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Take a rest unnie, or at least, I can ask Dad for me to go home tomorrow, if you want.” Jessica just shook her head while answering.

“No, don’t do that, you still have some business to take care there in San Francisco, just stay there.” Krystal just frowned even more.

“But unnie-” Jessica interjected immediately. “Jungie, don’t worry about me.”

“No unnie, the more you lie to me that you’re okay makes me more worried sick, like seriously, I know what you feel and I’m here for you. I’m your sister. Don’t keep pushing us away.” Krystal exclaimed in frustration.

“Sorry Soojung, it’s just that I-” At that point, Jessica’s voice faltered, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“Unnie, don’t say that.” Krystal sadly requested. “Don’t give up on this. I know you can still get this under controlled.”

“How, tell me Soojung, how can I?” Jessica started to sob silently. That made Krystal moved her face nearer to the screen in panic.

“Unnie, please hold on. Don’t you dare leave me, okay? I’ll be home soon. You still have me, you still have Mom and Dad, and you have us. You’re not alone in this fight, unnie.” Jessica buried her face to her palms and spoke.

“I know that Jungie, but this hurts so much. It feels like this pain is killing me little by little, taking my life bit by bit. I feel like I’ve been cheated by everyone, they’re so unfair, and everything is so unfair, what have I done for these things to happen to me?” She questioned.

“We can’t blame anybody, unnie. These things happened already and we can’t just bring everything back again like the usual thing. I know that this is hard but unnie, let’s just move on. Be courageous, Jess.” But all that is left from Jessica’s mind is just one unanswered question.

“Tell me Soojung,” She said. “How can I move on if I still love her so bad?”

***

For those days and weeks that had passed by, Jessica was stuck in a daily routine which is to wake up and do nothing. She barely talks or speaks in a full sentence for a day. Since then, she only walks out of her place when that idea her mind or if Krystal forces her to go out and buy something to eat. Speaking of, there even comes a time that she won’t even eat at all.

That results to what she looks like right now, she got thinner and paler, her high-class fashion sense became a little off nowadays. Not to mention that her house looks like it was a house of a normal guy. Like her own house, she looks like totally messed up which is very rare to see to organize-conscious person like her.

Because of that, Krystal was forced to call her sister every hour or two to assure that Jessica isn’t doing anything wrong. And like the other days and weeks, Jessica’s friends didn’t fail to approach her but she didn’t paid more attention to them.

Right now, she’s at the terrace as the wind blew coolly because winter is about to approach them. Krystal’s latest call was still six hours ago. She missed her sister so bad, but she misses the person whom she loves very much. Suddenly, her phone rang, informing her about the incoming call. Expecting that the call was from Krystal, she answered the call without hesitation.

“Geez Krys, what took you so-” before she could continue, another voice, that is not owned by her sister, interrupted her.

“U-unnie, is that you?” Without looking at her phone, she recognized the caller’s voice. “Unnie, are you still there?”

‘Unnie? This girl called me unnie?’ Jessica thought. For the first time, she heard the caller gave her that which is weird and strange. At that time, she already knew that something was up.

“H-hey Soo, yeah it’s me. I’m here, why?” She simply answered. On the other side of the line, Jessica can hear faint sobbing sounds from the caller, which is Sooyoung.

“U-unnie, I-I have to-” Sooyoung wasn’t able to speak properly because of the hiccup effect of her while crying. “S-sorry unnie, we’re sorry, I-I can’t j-just take this secret any longer, we can’t. I’m sorry.” She, then, made faint sobs and sniffing sound.

“Soo, hey what’s wrong?” Ignoring her own condition, she asked the sobbing girl with concern. Fortunately, even though it was quite hard to comprehend what Sooyoung was saying, she was able to understand every word she wants to say.

“I-I can’t just take this anymore, we’re sorry for keeping it to you. This thing should be a secret b-but I can’t just keep this any longer, I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” Sooyoung exclaimed, making the latter more confused.

“H-Hey, what’s wrong? What happened to you?” She asked then she heard a frustrated sigh before Sooyoung could react.

“Can you… come here instead? I-I don’t think I can explain everything to you on the phone.” Sooyoung requested.

“Okay Soo, just inform me where you are and I’ll come there.”

“Thanks unnie, I’ll just send you the full address and wait for you here.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here, and please, while you wait, don’t do something crazy, okay?”

“Okay Sica unnie, I’ll hang up the phone now, bye.”

After a half moment, Jessica received the location from Sooyoung. Seeing the address given by the younger, she dropped the phone on somewhere in her house and went already. The phone was left on the floor while flashing the address of a hospital nearby her place on the screen.

She arrived by using the cab. Jessica paid the fine before she went out in it to rush inside. From the waiting area, she saw Sooyoung spacing out on the corner.

“Youngie,” Jessica called her, “Soo, I’m here.” Sooyoung glanced up to look at her and showed a depressed, yet relieved expression.

“Unnie” She spoke as she came near Jessica with a tight hug.

“Youngie, tell me what’s wrong?” She asked.

“Sica unnie, its Fany unnie” She simply answered causing her to frown. “S-she’s dying.”

***

Sooyoung looked at Jessica with a frustrated and worried expression. The older girl was spacing out with her blank unreadable face.

“Soo, h-how, I-I mean, how come? How did these things happen like this? Why?” She let her tears flow as she interrogated the younger girl.

“I don’t know unnie, but she already explained her situation to us. She… was diagnosed to have brain tumor at her temporal and occipital lobe when she was ten years old.” Sooyoung answered sadly. “At that time, she said that her illness wasn’t severe but a year later, her parents noticed something wrong with her attitude control and frequent headaches. So, they decided to move to US for her disease to be treated well.” She paused while seeing the latter buried her face on her palms while whispering two words.

“Why her?” Jessica asked. Sooyoung just hung her head low, ignoring Jessica’s question and continued to tell the story.

“After a few years of taking treatments and therapies, they came back to stay here while knowing that Tiffany has already survived. B-but, those symptoms, those headaches, her short-term memory, dizziness, seizures, hallucinations, and poor memory were the evidences that her disease was back. And that was five years ago, Sica unnie.” Jessica rubbed her face that won’t stop on shivering.

“H-how come we didn’-” Her voice suddenly wavered. “Why didn’t I noticed her-Goddammit!?” she shouted in distress.

“It’s because, she didn’t want us to worry about her. Remember that happenings five years ago? She was about to go back and take another therapy but she told us, she’s already tired and all she wanted to happen is that to spent all of her remaining  time to be happy.” Sooyoung replied.

“Then, a few months ago, her personal Neurologist told her and her family that the tumor inside her was already spread out her cerebrum and cerebellum so they concluded that there will be only less than a year for her to live.” Upon hearing that, Jessica glanced at Sooyoung with widened eyes.

“Less than a year?! When did they said that?!” She asked. Sooyoung averted her eyes at Jessica and silently answered.

“That was four months ago, the same month when… she broke up with you.” Jessica felt like she was stabbed by a huge knife straight to her heart, making her hard to breathe.

“N-no, no way!!” She kneeled from her place. “This can’t be happening, please wake me up! Soo, please tell me this is not happening!” Sooyoung cuddled her friend and cooed her.

“S-Sica, I-I’m sorry.” She whispered. Just then, five girls went to their place and looked at them.

“Sooyoung unnie, why are you here?” A familiar voice asked. It was owned by Yoona.

“Unnie, is that-” Joohyun’s question was interrupted by another woman.

“Jess, is that you?” A sweet voice calmed Jessica. That voice, that voice is one of the voices that can calm her.

“S-Soojung?” She asked while glancing up. “Is that you?” The latter widened her eyes in many reasons, happy, shocked, sad, and more. All she did was to run from her sister’s arms and hugged her.

“Unnie, I’m sorry. I was late. We just, arrived.” She whispered. The older Jung tightly hugged her as she sobbed. “Soojung, I-I can’t accept this.”

“I know unnie, but please you have to be strong.” She whispered.

“B-but this can’t happen now, I-I can’t lose her now.” Then, the other girl joined them and cried as they let their emotions out.

“Unnies, please let be strong for now, just for Tiffany unnie.” Krystal said.

***

Now, the eight of the girls are outside the Intensive Care Unit with Tiffany’s parents and siblings as Sunny went inside the ICU. Tiffany’s family went to the nurse’s ward to ask for some assistance. Then, Sooyoung invited the girls to go out for lunch.

“Unnie” Joohyun tapped Jessica’s shoulder. Jessica, who was spacing out, looked at the younger and hummed lightly. “Do you want something? We’re going out to buy food with Krystal and the others.”

Jessica smiled weakly and shook her head. “I’m okay, you guys go ahead.”

“Are you sure, unnie?” Yoona asked then she received a nod from the latter. “Yeah, I can handle myself, just go ahead now.”

“Is that so? Then, we’re going now, take care of yourself Sica.”  She just nodded while she watched them disappeared from her sight.

That left her alone in the waiting area with Taeyeon. Jessica, again, spaced out while looking at the door entering the ICU wherein Tiffany and Sunny can be found. Little did she know, Taeyeon keep on looking at her, trying to figure out how to start a conversation that she wanted to start.

“S-Sica” After a few months, for the first time, Jessica heard Taeyeon calling her again. She surely missed her best friend a lot.

“W-what is it?” For the first time, Jessica felt the awkwardness between them but the other girl ignored them.

“Can we, talk? You know just the two of us?” Taeyeon asked. Jessica just nodded her head and Taeyeon stood up. “Let’s talk somewhere else.

After a moment of walking, they found the garden of the hospital. They decided to go there and sat for a while.

“Sica, actually I-” Before she could explain, Jessica already commented.

“Is it about your relationship? Don’t worry, I’m not against it already, I just want to-” And like she did earlier, before she could continue, Taeyeon already answered her question.

“No Sica, it’s not about the relationship, because on the first place, me and Tiffany are just friends, there’s no us.” She explained, causing Jessica to glance at her.

“Wh-what do you mean?” She asked with confusion written all over her face.

“Sica, there’s nothing going on between the two of us, we’re just friends.  That thing that she told you, that was just… nothing but an act.” Taeyeon replied.

‘Nothing but an act’ those words kept on repeating on her mind, ‘just an act?’

“You mean to say that she was never been yours?” Jessica asked as if she still don’t believe it. Taeyeon just nodded her head.

“You know me Sica. You know whom I really love.” Taeyeon replied.

‘Oh Soonkyu, why did I forgotten that?’ she mentally face-palmed herself.

“First of all, sorry for not telling you the truth, I failed to be an honest best friend to you.” Taeyeon started. “Next, I just want to know if we can still bring back our old self, you know, the Byuntae partners.” Jessica and Taeyeon chuckled while hearing that.

“Of course, we can. I can’t lose my partner-in-crime.” Jessica replied.

“That’s good to hear. Well, lastly, I just want you to know that Tiffany loves and will love you, no matter what or why, but now that these things had already happened, I also want you to know that we’re just here for you through thick or thin, is that clear?” Taeyeon asked.

As for Jessica, she immediately hugged Taeyeon and whispered her answer. Of course, Taeyeon heard that.

“Of course, partner.”

But after their scene, Sunny came rushing to where they was and called them.

“Sica, Taenggu” She huffed between her breaths. “It-its Tiff…Fany… she-” Before she could finish, the two already guessed what could happened as they went inside running towards the ICU.

***

“What now, Krystal Jung?” the latter whose talking with somebody on the phone asked.

“Unnie, we can’t start without you in it, could you make it faster?” The voice on the other line requested.

“Okay okay, just give me a half hour, I’m still making the bouquet of flowers for her so just keep quiet, I’m busy here.”

“Fine, I’m hanging up the phone now, bye. Take care, Jung Sooyeon.”

“Aish, don’t you dare call me Jung Sooyeon. I’m still your sister.” She reminded.

“Oh whatever, just take care, love you.”

“Yeah, love you too, bye.” Then the call ended. She put down her phone as she continued making a bouquet of flowers, Sunflowers and Daisies to be precise. As she continued what she was doing, a dog beside her yelped.

“What do you need, son?” The dog beside Jessica whimpered and tilted his head cutely.

“Why, are you hungry? Do need a potty break?” She asked while placing down the bouquet which is beautifully made by her on the table in front.

“Oh, I know,” She carried the white dog and placed it on her lap, making the dog face her. “You miss your mom, don’t you?” She asked. The dog whimpered more while wagging his tail side to side.

“Yeah, I miss her too, so shall we go now? Come on Prince, let’s visit her.” She placed the dog down on the floor and grabbed the bouquet of flowers carefully. The dog, somehow, followed her as she went down on the parking lot.

As Jessica was already finished going in her car, with Prince Fluffy in it, she started to drive on her way to where Krystal was.

After a couple of minutes driving and driving, they finally arrived at their destination. She sighed as she got the bouquet in her hands. The two went out of the car immediately. Prince Fluffy went running to where Krystal and other girls where located. There the dog continued to whimper very loud.

Jessica was standing frozen to where the dog had left her.

Her feet were like rooted on the ground as she glanced to where her family and friends are. Krystal went near her and held her hand tight.

“Hey Jess, everything will be fine, okay?” She whispered at Jessica but the latter wasn’t able to respond. She let Krystal drag her to where the others were waiting.

“Krystal, I don’t think I-” She said but, too late. She already saw her face.

“Sica, you’re here.” Sunny greeted.

“Unnie, I thought you won’t make it.” Joohyun said.

“But you came.” Taeyeon said while an encouraging smile on her face.

“Y-yeah I came but where’s Leo oppa, is he here? He said that he’ll give something to me.” Jessica asked.

“He’s talking to their relatives there, just go see him.” Hyoyeon informed her. Jessica nodded her head and went directly to where Leo, Tiffany’s brother, was. She saw him talking to his parents

“Oppa” she called. “Can I excuse you for a second?” The man just nodded with a familiar eye smile that she’d been missing for so long.

“Sure, I thought you forgotten what I told you last month.”  Leo said as he stood up. Before Jessica could speak more, Leo handed her an envelope.

“Here,” Leo said “it’s for you.” Jessica eyed him in confusion.

“From whom? I don’t remember someone telling me that they’ll send me this.”

“It’s from…” Leo paused, hesitating if he’ll answer the question of not. “from my sister.” Jessica stared at the envelope with her eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t get it.”

“S-she, gave me that over a year ago. She said that I should give this to you after...” His voice became weak and mellow. “her first… death anniversary.” He whispered.

“O-oh, thanks.” Those are the only words that came out from .

“Sorry to keep you waiting, I-I just followed her wish so just read it. Don’t worry. I didn’t let anyone read it, I myself, hasn’t opened that. She said that it’s for your eyes only.

“I-I understand.” She said weakly with her head hanging low. “Thanks oppa.” She kept the letter in her handbag.

“I’m just going to… see her.” Leo nodded in acknowledgement as she, walked in front, to where Tiffany’s grave is. She already saw her face, on a picture frame, smiling brightly. Beside it, she saw their dog, Prince Fluffy, whimpering endlessly.

“Tiff” She said as she knelt down, placing the bouquet of flowers and grabbed the picture frame. She wiped it using her hands and smiled.

“Hey, how’s heaven? Is it good? I-I’m sorry I haven’t visited you for a while.” She faded as she eyed Tiffany’s picture.

“I… I miss you so much. Prince Fluffy missed you already. I-I just want to let you know that,” She stopped for a while to prevent herself not to cry.

“Tiff, after all these months, I still love you.” Jessica whispered as her tears fell to the picture frame.

“I hope you’re aware of that. I love you, and no one’s going to change that.” She also grabbed Prince Fluffy and showed her that picture.

“Look Prince, our queen is smiling to us. Say hi to your mom.” She said but the dog just lied on her lap while making faint whines.

“See Tiff, we already miss you so much.” She spoke.

“Whatever happens, we just want to let you know that you will always be our queen.” Jessica said, "because no one can and will ever replace you."

=== END ===

I'm very sorry for the ending, even I, am sad while making this.

Oh by the way, maybe some of you are wondering why the title is Day By Day. Actually, this sequel is inspired from BIGBANG's Haru Haru (means day by day in English) and I just made a JeTi version of that songs mv.

And again, sorry for breaking your jeti heart. Thank you for subscribing (as well as for commenting your thoughts) from the prequel to the sequel. For those who upvoted, thank you so much, I don't know if I satified you all but you guys are the best. (Well, maybe, just maybe, upvote if I do deserve, but I'm still an amateur tho so I would appreciate it if you'll comment down your thoughs)

Lastly, I just want to ask your opinion what genre you'll like to read (because I have a couple of jeti stories hiding in my files and folders) just answer this poll because I'm about to publish it next month. Again, thank you for reading ^^

Here's the link: https://www.asianfanfics.com/poll/aff_view/118725