Where am I? Why am I lying in here? The news…! What is that about? Those were Jessica’s thoughts when she woke up after fainting. She tried to sit up but wasn’t strong enough to do it by herself.

At this moment, the door to her room open, Jimin and Tyler came walking in. Once he saw her awake, he hurried to her side.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I am, but where is this place?” Jessica asked.

“This is the VIP lounge room in Hong Kong. You fainted earlier and we brought you here. The doctor said you are alright, passed out due to exhaustion…” Tyler answered

“Then my flight…”

“We missed it, since you are awake, we would book the next earlier flight, but destination is back home to Seoul.”

“But I promised the girls..i will be there…”

“After what they had done?! Are you kidding me Jess?” Tyler was pissed, he can’t believe she still defending them after what they had done to her.

“You know nothing! Don’t you dare badmouth them, we spoke before I leave US. They won’t do this to me!” Jessica shouted.

“You are the one that is kept in the dark! We called SM earlier, we demand to know what is going on. They refused to say anything at first. So i got my connections to check and guess what, they made this decision when you are away! The girls consent to it!” Tyler raised his voice as well. He felt unworthy for her, she stretched her hours, trying to accomodate to both sides but this is what she gets in return.

“I don’t believe this! I don’t believe! They won’t do that!” Jessica cried.

“This is proof!” Tyler printed out the documents that he had gathered, there were minutes of the meeting and endorsed consent by the girls. Her girls. Her heart just shattered at the sight of these documents. “I have gotten B&E to issue an official statement, the news they released has caused damage to us, we can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Whatever Tyler said, Jessica couldn’t process. She just hug clutch the blanket close to her and sob uncontrollably.

“You take a rest first, we will pop by once the flight is confirmed.” Tyler told her before they left the room.

China

On the other hand, the rehearsal was delayed and afterwards carried out in a solemn mood. Gone were their usual dorkiness, no one was fooling around even their mood maker was out of sorts. In fact, they all wish they were not here, they didn’t know what to say at tomorrow’s event, are they supposed to be all smiley? Their hearts were crushed yet they have to continue.

“Let’s take a break” One of the fan meet producer announced. The girls all gathered sparsely, some getting a bottle of drink, some sitting on the floor to stretch or just rest. But their expression were the same, no smiles and only sadness can be felt.

“Okay, we have discussed and decided that no changes would be made to the choreography. The lines have been redistributed, here are the copies to take note. We can dismissed now.” The producer came back to them with their Manager and informed the girls. Due to the sudden announcement, they have to react to the changes for now to ensure that tomorrow’s fan meet can proceed through with no hiccups.

Once the girls gotten their copy of line sheets, they all left for backstage. Once in their waiting room, Manager oppa got the remaining staff to vacate the room. It was only him and the remaining eight girls.

“I have asked around, no one knew who gave such statement to the press. PR team had a shock when they received it from different press heads. It was too late to intercept it when they know about.. they suggested to retract the statement but with Jessica’s official statement released, there is no point. What they can do now is to minimize the damage to SNSD’s brand..” As Manager oppa explained, several of them starts to tear up again and some were holding in their anger.

“I don’t care about all those! What did she do to deserve this? What did we do wrong to be on the receiving end of this? Why?” Sunny bursted out. Tiffany immediately went over to hug her.

“This whole mess is ridiculous, I want to see the CEO. Oppa, please help me arrange. As the leader of SNSD, I deserve to know why such important decision wasn’t discuss with the group.” Taeyeon spoke in her leader mode. Her heart was shattered as well but she knew she needed to find out.

“We will go with you” Yuri stated as she placed a pat on Taeyeon’s shoulder, everyone else were nodding their heads in agreement.

“Okay.. i will try to arrange that when we get back.. but meanwhile, have some rest.” Manager oppa promised before leaving the room. Silence filled it even though the eight of them were still there.

“How did we get to this stage? Why did Sica issued the statement before calling us?” Yuri questioned no one.

“Yah, did anyone managed to get hold of Sica?” Sooyoung asked.

“I sent her a message earlier, for her to call me back asap. I will send again, hopefully she replies.” Tiffany answered.

Message chat

Tiff: Jessi, SM screw up big time, dont worry we are finding solution to it. Call me back asap

Tiff: C’mon Jessi, call me asap, we need to discuss this. We weren’t in any discussion with SM at all.

Tiff: hey… return call pls?

[Slide to power off]

Seoul

It was late night in Seoul, she doesn’t know how she managed to get back her. What she remembered was being woken up and they had to board the plane. Throughout the flight, she couldn’t understand what they were trying to say to her. It’s like she lost her ability to process. She didn’t sleep or eat, just staring blankly at the window like what she is doing now in the car.

“We have reached..” Jimin said softly. Jessica looked out and realised they have drove her back to her parents house. She was puzzled.

“It will be better for you based on the current situation. Don’t think so much and have some rest. We will handle the media and press.” Tyler said after noticing her confusion.

The place that I called home… i can’t even return to it now… Jessica gave a slight nod before leaving the car. Once she reached her room, she tried to put her things in place until she caught sight of the photo that was at her nightstand, that photo was taken during their Japan concert earlier this year, they were celebrating her birthday, nine girls, nine smiles, where did it go to now? She clutch it close to her chest, feeling the unbearable pain and cried into her pillow.

China

Eight girls were getting ready for the show tonight, none of them had smiles. Their eyes were closed while their makeup team were working on it. It’s the first time after their long debut that they felt this nervous. They didn’t know what to expect on stage later with such news happening. They waited last night but there was no reply from Jessica, they called but it didn’t went through. Nobody pick up the phone at the dorm too or her house. They didn’t want to call her parents or Krystal to worry them further.

All they wish right now was for the show to end as soon as possible. They wanted to get back to find out what is happening and where is their sister. She must be lonely and afraid and crying. If other people are afraid of the ice princess, then SNSD are more afraid of a crying Sica.

“5 more minutes to go!” FD announced. The girls gathered around, regardless of their situation, the show must go on. The world doesn’t stop just because theirs stop.

“Jigeumeun So Nyuh Shi Dae!”