A/N: This was inspired by a conversation between Coiste and me about SicaRene.

It’s surprisingly not as awkward as Jessica expected it to be. Bae Joohyun really is pretty, and for a second something in her face reminds Jessica of Ste—but then Joohyun ducks her head, shy, and any resemblance is wiped away. Jessica prefers it that way.

It’s oddly endearing when Joohyun flinches as the person sitting behind her gets up and his chair drags loudly across the floor. In an attempt to defuse the tension, Jessica blurts out a lame joke about Joohyun’s last name and Joohyun just stares at her, confused.

“Sorry, it’s just me being lame,” Jessica says, clearing .

Joohyun smiles. “It’s okay. My friends always say I’m lame.”

“Oh yeah, in what way?”

“Well, I like doing laundry.” Joohyun looks at Jessica hesitantly, out of the corner of her eye, like she expects to be made fun of it. That’s oddly endearing too.

“Taeyeon likes it too. Is that how you guys met, at some laundry lovers club?”

“Do they have that?” Joohyun asks, perking up, before she realizes that Jessica’s poking fun of her and gives the smallest of pouts.

“I guess I can kind of see the appeal. Fabric softener does smell really good.”

Joohyun brightens. “Doesn’t it? I love the smell of fresh laundry.”

“It’s a nice smell,” Jessica agrees, mind involuntarily returning to the day they had to wash Stephanie’s sheets after getting Nutella all over them. They had used fabric softener then, and as nice as it had smelled, Jessica prefers Stephanie’s scent.

And suddenly, as pretty and nice as Bae Joohyun is, Jessica can’t stand another minute sitting opposite her. Not because of anything negative about her, not because of who she is, but because of who she isn’t. Taeyeon said that she doesn’t know if Joohyun is Jessica’s type, but Jessica doesn’t want a type, she wants one specific person and only that one person.

“Jessica unnie,” Joohyun says slowly. “You don’t really want to be here, do you?”

Jessica stares at her, wide-eyed, and Joohyun gives her a slow, sad smile.

“I have a feeling that you’re trying to forget someone.”

How could I forget her? Jessica wonders. And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.

“I understand, because…the truth is, I am too.” Joohyun looks down, her fingers wrapped tightly around her cup. “I know that Taeyeon unnie had good intentions, but I’m not sure either of us is ready to move on.”

“I know I’m not,” Jessica admits, “but I’m sorry for being…not all here. Although my friends would probably say that’s just regular me.”

At this, Joohyun smiles, but her eyes are distant, like she’s not all here either. Jessica can understand; Joohyun must be thinking of her Stephanie. Whoever she is, Jessica hopes that she knows how lucky she is to have someone like Joohyun care so much about her.

Jessica almost flinches when a familiar tune starts, and her ears are suddenly at optimal alertness as a husky voice fills the speakers of the restaurant.

“Are you a fan of Tiffany?” Joohyun asks.

Jessica manages a chuckle. “You could say that.”

“I am too. Well, a casual one anyway. This is one of my favourite songs by her.”

The words you are my once in a lifetime wrench Jessica’s heart like a vise. She has to squeeze her eyes shut and tell herself to breathe past the sudden pain in her chest. The memory of singing this exact song to Stephanie assaults her in high definition quality, too precise to be a blow; a stab perhaps, past her ribs and through her temples at once.

“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Joohyun says, and for a second Jessica thinks that somehow Joohyun can read her mind, and then realizes that she’s talking about the song.

“Yeah, but it’s beautiful too,” Jessica says, and she finds herself singing the last once in a lifetime along with Stephanie’s voice from the speakers, the closest to a duet that they can have now.

A/N: It's up to you who Irene's ex is. I had two (rather obvious) candidates in mind, but I don't have a backstory or anything, so go wild and write your own!

Also, this scene is like a "what if" and didn't actually happen in the story. Please keep that in mind because it'll come up in part 2 of TMOMH.