“I hate Im Yoona!” Krystal complains, slumping down onto the sofa beside Jessica. Her sister stops whatever she’s doing on her phone to pay her fullest attention to her, even twisting her body to face her direction.

 

“What’s up Krys?” Jessica asks, reaching forwards to her sister’s brown locks. Krystal sighs and closes her eyes.

 

“She doesn’t realise that I don’t like it when she’s surrounded by people that aren’t me and clearly have a crush on her! Just now, I saw her wrap her arm around some midget and pull her to that sushi restaurant that she always takes me to. She just took someone who isn’t her own girlfriend to eat at our restaurant! And not only that, but that was making her laugh throughout their meal. Yoona never laughs that hard, even with me. Just talking about it makes my blood boil!” Krystal rants, running a weary hand through her hair.

 

Jessica sighs and pats the top of her head as if she’s a sulking puppy that needs comforting.

 

“Krys, it’s not nice to refer to Yoona’s friend with those terms and you haven’t even confronted your girlfriend about this. Also, that restaurant is Hyoyeon’s so you can’t say that it’s yours and Yoona’s,” Jessica comments in a matter of fact manner.

 

Krystal dramatically rolls her eyes at her sister’s response. Her sister can be so blunt and state the obvious at the most unnecessary times possible.

 

“You’re terrible at cheering people up Jess,” Krystal remarks, swatting away her sister’s hand from her hair. Jessica giggles and brings her knees up to her chest on the couch.

 

“You know I haven’t been in a relationship for a while and I’m not the type of person to give advice so clearly you’re ranting to the wrong person.”

 

“Like I said, you’re terrible at making people feel better about themselves.”

 

Jessica’s about to open to defend herself against Krystal’s claims when the doorbell rings throughout the house. She sits up from her seat and engages in a five second glaring battle with her sister on who should open the door. Failing to win against Krystal’s intense gaze, she reluctantly gets up from her seat and makes her way to the door.

 

When Jessica opens the door, she’s surprised by the appearance of a youthful looking woman who flashes her a polite smile.

 

“Hi, is Jung Soojung here?” The stranger kindly asks, rubbing the back of her neck out of nervousness. Jessica’s eyes narrow in response and she thinks to herself, is her sister tutoring children despite telling her repeatedly that she has a strong dislike for kids?

 

“Er yeah, may I know who you are and why you’re looking for her?” Jessica answers, raising her eyebrows at the action.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I’m Kim Taeyeon and I have something to give to her,” The woman says although her hands are empty and free of packages or boxes or bags.

 

Wary of this stranger’s motives despite the innocent and genuine expression Taeyeon wears on her face, Jessica slowly turns her body to the direction of the living room.

 

“Krys, someone’s looking for you,” Jessica calls over her shoulder, pointing to the door with her thumb when her sister’s brow is furrowed. Krystal silently walks over to the front door and her eyes widen when she registers the person standing outside their home.

 

“You!” Krystal exclaims, pointing her index finger in Taeyeon’s direction. The older woman is momentarily stunned before a look of recognition passes over her face and the corners of her lips turn upwards as she smiles at the woman.

 

“Hi, you must be Soojung. Yoona always mentions you –”

 

“I’m going to kill you!” Krystal interrupts, lunging forwards to wrap her hands around the woman’s throat. Unfortunately for her, her sister pulls her back and blocks her from approaching Taeyeon.

 

“She doesn’t mean what she said,” Jessica tries to alleviate the situation as she struggles to keep Krystal a safe distance away from their guest.

 

“I said exactly what I mean,” Krystal growls, glaring hard at the petite woman.

 

Taeyeon gulps and nods her head furiously.

 

“I understand,” She squeaks. Krystal narrows her eyes at her and pats her sister’s arm for her to be released, whispering in Jessica’s ear that she won’t throw herself at their guest. When her sister finally lets her go, she grumbles and crosses her arms in front of her chest. Krystal smirks when the intended effect is successful; Taeyeon noticeably gulps for the second time and bunches her hands into the ends of her grey shirt.

 

“Why are you here?” The youngest woman asks in a low voice.

 

“Yoongie told me to –”

 

“What the did you just call my girlfriend?” Krystal snarls.

 

“Er, Yoongie?” Taeyeon innocently says, not realising that instead of simply saying her nickname for her friend, she’s only added more fuel to the raging fire.

 

“I’m going to bloody kill you!” Krystal yells, attempting to lunge forward and being blocked a second time by her sister.

 

“Jess!” Krystal cries, struggling in her sister’s arms. Jessica shakes her head and glares at her.

 

“I’m not going to release you until you stop threatening or attempting to kill Taeyeon,” Jessica voices sternly, staring hard at the woman in her embrace until Krystal relents and stops squirming. She drops her arms but maintains a steady hold on her sister’s elbow in case the woman sets off into another fury.

 

“Why are you here?” Krystal says gruffly.

 

“She wanted me to give this to you!” Taeyeon squeals, hurriedly reaching into her pockets and extracting a sealed white envelope. She extends her hand to Krystal but when the younger woman continues to glare at her, she sends a desperate look of plead to Jessica. She’s grateful and relieved when Jessica understands her urgent signal because she nudges her younger sister in the arm and successfully breaks the fierce eye contact.

 

“What?”

 

“She’s holding something out for you and apparently it’s from Yoona,” Jessica answers, nodding her head in Taeyeon’s direction. Krystal reluctantly extends a hand to pry the letter from Taeyeon’s hands and opens the envelope. She takes out a piece of folded paper and smoothens it out.

 

Taeyeon and Jessica watch as Krystal’s face transitions from annoyance to surprise before her eyes crinkle and settle into tiny slits.

 

“Are you Yoona’s cousin?” Krystal asks carefully, a heavy feeling being lifted off her chest when Taeyeon meekly nods.

 

“Unnie!” Krystal screeches, immediately latching onto their guest’s arm. Taeyeon’s eyes widen at the action and she tries to quickly recover from her shock by lightly and awkwardly patting the woman’s arms.

 

Cute, Jessica thinks. She internally slaps herself when she realises what she’s thinking about.

 

“I’m sorry for being rude,” Krystal meekly murmurs, releasing her hold on Taeyeon but giving her a warm smile instead of the fierce glare she had displayed on her face seconds before. The older woman returns the smile and nods.

 

“It’s okay; you didn’t know who I was,” Taeyeon replies, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck out of habit. Krystal finally seems to realise where they are standing because she relatches onto Taeyeon and pulls her into the living room.

 

“Sit, sit!” She excitedly says, gesturing to the couch before dashing off into the kitchen to fetch a cup of tea. As Taeyeon sits on the sofa, her eyes flicker towards the figure settling down onto one of the armchairs.

 

“I didn’t catch your name earlier,” Taeyeon carefully initiates the conversation, stifling a giggle when Jessica jumps in surprise. She watches in amusement as the woman fans her red face, embarrassed at having being caught of spacing out and staring at a wall.

 

“I’m Jessica,” The woman offers, smiling when Taeyeon’s eyebrows scrunch together as she processes the name in her head. After a few seconds, she hears the woman sigh and rub the back of her neck.

 

“Ummm…is it okay if I call you Sica? Your name is a bit difficult for me to pronounce and I’m not familiar with English,” Taeyeon unexpectedly asks, suddenly bowing her head out of embarrassment from the fact that she can’t say the woman’s name.

 

So cute, Jessica thinks. She blinks when she registers the fact that she’s called the guest cute twice in the span of a minute – she never finds anything adorable; not even her five-year-old cousin Wheein. Then again, she still has a grudge with her cousin when the little devil had told her “Soojung-Unnie is my favourite!” before running off into the house to find her pet hamster, Moonbyul.

 

Jessica’s response, or lack thereof, makes Taeyeon’s hands sweaty and she immediately retracts her statement.

 

“If you’re uncomfortable with it then I’ll try my best to learn how to pronounce your name correctly!” She squeaks out of fear and that makes Jessica’s eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise.

 

“Don’t be silly! A lot of people in Korea also find it difficult to pronounce my English name so yes, you can call me Sica,” She replies warmly, a smiling appearing on her face when Taeyeon raises her head and brightens up upon her words.

 

Unfortunately, they both fall into silence and end up staring at each other until Krystal comes bustling in with a steaming cup of tea.

 

“Here you go Unnie!” Krystal says, holding out the cup for Taeyeon to accept. The guest thanks the woman and raises the mug to her lips to take a few sips before placing it down on the table.

 

“Are you still mad at me?” Taeyeon quietly mumbles as Krystal settles into the second armchair beside the sofa.

 

“No, I’m no longer mad at you. I’m angry at Im Yoona,” Krystal grumbles like a child before she shakes her head and a smile appears on her face.

 

“So I heard from Yoona that you studied abroad in the US for a few years?”

 

“Yes, I went to a music school in Los Angeles to study vocals and learnt English along the way and – oh,” Taeyeon begins to speak before she realises that she’s just contradicted what she’s said a few minutes ago.

 

“Does that mean you can speak English?” Jessica asks, eyes widening before narrowing at the guest as she registers the woman’s words.

 

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