Taeyeon waited the following night for her friend at their usual meeting spot. She unconsciously had a smile on her face as she fiddled with the neatly- folded hoodie sitting on her lap.

Although she was a bit embarrassed that J was able to witness that vulnerable side of her, and that she spilled some of her deepest secrets with a mysterious girl she doesn't quite know yet, she somehow felt okay to let her in like that. Taeyeon doesn't understand why she was able to tell her all those things she kept inside her for a long time just like that.

Maybe it was because of the intensity of her feelings at the moment, or maybe it was because she just felt a deep connection with J that she never felt with anyone else before. A kind of connection that allows her to be vulnerable, that allows her to tear down her walls just to let her in, and that allows her to tell her the secrets and thoughts she had pretty much kept to herself.  Not even her own parents knew. Of course. They were the primary cause of her problems anyway.

Taeyeon waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But the girl she was waiting for still hasn't show any sign that she was around. Taeyeon squinted her eyes as she looked at the time in her watch. It was way past the usual time that J would come up to the roof. She decided to wait some more, thinking that the other girl must have been busy finishing something before coming up. After over an hour, Taeyeon began to lose hope and became worried. But a faint figure making its way over to her house's rooftop erased those thoughts.

Taeyeon stood and met J halfway.

"Hello, J."

"Hey. Why are you still here? Isn't it way too late for you to still be out here?" J sat down, and Taeyeon followed suit.

"I was waiting for you. I wanted to thank you for what you did last night. I... also want to apologize. You shouldn't have seen that. A-and sorry I fell asleep."

"It's okay. You shouldn't be embarrassed by that."

"I also want to thank you for treating my hand, and for lending me your hoodie. Here."

"Oh. You're welcome."

As J carefully reached out to get her hoodie back, Taeyeon noticed the outfit the other girl was wearing. Black long sleeved-shirt, a handkerchief worn as a scarf, and a face mask. She then realized that this was the first time she saw the other girl wearing something different. She only sees her wearing the hoodie she's currently returning on top of whatever she's wearing.

"You shouldn't have waited for me. Don't you-- a-choo! *sniff* excuse me--have school tomorrow?" 

"I wanted to thank you personally, 'cause no one's ever really known that about me."

"It's no problem. Just... just please don't do it again. If you want to talk about something, I'm always here, okay?" J turned her head and looked at her. She caught her eyes a split  second later, and they engaged in a few seconds of eye contact where they simply couldn't break, until J successfully did so.

Taeyeon stifled a smile. "Thank you."

There was a long silence afterwards. It would've been a comforting silence, except that the long silence kept being interrupted by a persistent coughing coming from the girl next to Taeyeon, and it worried the latter. When she heard another sneeze, she decided to confront J about it.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"It's because of--" Taeyeon didn't even have the chance to complete her statement because another sneeze cut her off. "... that. Are you sick?"

"No, I just cleaned the house and it was really dusty so my nose is runny."

"Oh, I see..."

"Which reminds me, I still have to pack up and put away the cleaning equipment I used earlier." J stood up and dusted herself off. "I have to head in. You head in as well, okay? Don't stay up too late." 

"Yes, mom" Taeyeon giggled. J looked back and seemed to give her somewhat of a squint-glare, but it was a playful one so Taeyeon didn't even flinch. In fact, she found it adorable. "Hey, J." Taeyeon managed to say before the other girl turned back around. 

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I really appreciate it."

Taeyeon couldn't see J's mouth, since it was covered by her mask, but through her eyes, she could see that she was smiling.

As she watched the other girl's retreating figure, Taeyeon caught herself smiling. She quickly wiped it out, but there was one thing she couldn't  wipe out.

It was the way her heart was beating so fast.

-

Why isn't she coming? 

It was Taeyeon's 37th time of checking her watch since she came up, but there was still no sign of the other girl. She tried to rack her brain for any explanation for why the girl was late, but unlike the previous night, Taeyeon had a feeling that the girl wasn't coming at all. After all, it was already two hours after the same hour they met yesterday, and that previous night's meeting time was also already beyond the usual time the girl would meet her. Thinking about it now, there was never a time when she arrived earlier than J, 'til yesterday. Of course, there were those days when they haven't met yet, and stuck to leaving notes but even that, proved that J was always earlier than her. It's like she was always there... one call away.

But now... 

Taeyeon let out a sigh. 

Where are you?

Despite only seeing each other the previous night, Taeyeon couldn't help but admit that she missed the other girl. Last night wasn't even enough for her to convey her gratitude. Her thoughts then came back to the previous night. The persistent coughs, the sneezes... then she gasped.

J may be sick. Since when? Last night? But why did she still come up last night if she was sick? 

Suddenly, her mind told her about the other night's situation. J hugged her, held her, treated her wrist, and gave her her hoodie. 

She gave her her hoodie the night she fell asleep on the rooftop.

But was that enough to make J sick? It wasn't, right?

-

"Hey, Taeyeon."

"Huh?"

"I swear you've been spacing out a lot these days. Is it because of your crush?" 

"W-what? No! J isn't my crush."

"I never said it was J." Sooyoung smirked. Sunny internally laughed as they watched how embarrassed Taeyeon was, but decided to drop the teasing to save their friend's pride.

"By the way, Sunny and I went to the library for the past two days to look through the different year books..."

Taeyeon looked up in anticipation.

"... but we