"What's wrong with Yuri? Why is she in the hospital?" Taeyeon asked as soon as she got into the car. Jessica turned the car ond she drove to the hospital.

 

"I don't think I'm the right person to talk about it," she said, seeing her ex-partner's frown from the side. "I found out today what's going on. I don't even know all the details. You'll find out at the hospital."

 

"But then, is she sick? Is it something from long ago?" the older one continued to ask with increasing concern.

 

"It seems so."

 

Taeyeon took her hands to her head. This couldn't be happening. Once again, Yuri had pushed her aside when she needed her. Is it that hard for the black pearl to trust her? To let herself be taken care of? Caring... Taeyeon thought of the days they'd spent together recently. Yuri's lack of desire, problem, her fever, and the concern of others. Did they know? Was she the only one who didn't know what was going on? 

 

"I don't know what movie you're making in your head, but stop." Taeyeon looked at her directly. "When you get like this you think a lot about it. Wait and talk to the others later. Don't draw your own conclusions."

 

Taeyeon let out an unwanted laugh. "Like this afternoon?" she asked without even meaning to. It just came out.

 

"Taeyeon, I'm going to be clear and direct," Jessica started. The leader signaled that shewas listening her. "Yuri and I have never stopped seeing each other. We've had contact all these years. On the sly."

 

"I... see." 

 

"I haven't talked to the rest of them because I didn't know exactly how to. The separation was difficult and... Yuri was the only one who wasn't there at the time so she talked to me after that and we realised there was something behind my expulsion. Something that was slipping away from us. She promised to find out what. But we still don't know."

 

"It's better that way" whispered the leader.

 

Jessica opened her eyes wide. "What are you saying? Did you...?"

 

"... Yes. I know," Taeyeon said more seriously than ever. "Not the rest."

 

"...if that's true. Then I won't insist on it."

 

Taeyeon quickly turned her head to Jessica. "Didn't you want to know why? Do you give up?"

 

"You told me you're the only one who knows and that it's better this way. I trust you" confessed the American turning her head for a second to give her a smile.

 

Taeyeon's eyes filled with tears. "Why?"

 

Jessica knew exactly what she meant. Why he trusted her after all these years. Jessica then set out to speak from the heart. As honestly as she could.

 

"Taeyeon, I love you. We've spent many years of our lives together. Even though we've been separated, I've heard about you from Yuri and others. I know you haven't had the best of times, that you've suffered. You've always been an admirable leader, standing up for yourself when others couldn't, smiling when others cried. I know you love the group, that they are your family. If you've kept the secret all this time to yourself it's for a reason and I know you're suffering for it. I'm not going to ask you to tell me, but I'm going to ask you not to let it pierce your chest any more. Don't torture yourself about it. I don't hate you. Or them. I have missed you so much," Jessica confessed, her voice breaking and tears streaming down her cheeks.

 

Taeyeon was not much better. There were tears on her face as well, and she had begun to sob. She was not wrong in saying that Jessica was the person who knew her best, the one who was always there when something went wrong. The one who listened to her, hugged her, and stayed with her when she needed it. So when "that" happened and she left, she felt empty. Not only because she knew what had happened, why, the helplessness of not being able to do anything... but because she had lost her strength.

 

"I... I loved you, Jessica," she confessed without any shame.

 

"I know. I loved you too," the American woman replied by placing her hand in the leader's. "And, if you leave me, I want to come back into your life. I want to be your friend again."

 

"Can we?" asked the leader in a broken voice.

 

"Nothing will stop me."

 

-----

 

When they arrived at the hospital, they ran to the room where the others were. There, some scolded Taeyeon for turning off her phone while others were glad because all of them were there. It wasn't long before a doctor came out asking about Yuri's family. All eight of them woke up expectantly.

 

"Yuri has hanahaki disease, as I guess you know," she started. Everyone nodded except Taeyeon, who was left in shock. "It seems to be growing faster than normal. She has roots in her lungs and her neck is suffering more and more; now whole flowers are coming out."

 

"But is she okay?" asked Yoona worried.

 

"Yes, she's out of danger right now. But if we don't operate soon, it will be too late. She has days at most."

 

"Days?!" Tiffany was surprised. "How is it possible?"

 

"This is a very strange disease, but we're finding that it's more and more common for people to be upset, to be confronted, to argue, to have bad moods... it's very influential. And even more so if it's with the person you love."

 

They're all silent. The doctor's words were logical.

 

"Can we see her?" Sunny asked.

 

"Yes, but please, not all at once. The rooms are small and if she wakes up we don't want her to be overwhelmed."

 

The two youngest were chosen by the others to go first. The girls were having a very hard time. So they accompanied the doctor. The others watched them leave until they disappeared from sight.

 

-----

 

"Who is she?" Taeyeon suddenly asked after waiting.

 

"Who's who?" Sooyoung asked again.

 

"The person Yuri loves. Maybe if we bring her in, she can do something. If she reciprocates her feelings, she'll be cured, right?"

 

"If the person corresponded to her Yuri wouldn't be sick," corrected Hyoyeon with a sigh.

 

"Do you know who that is?" Taeyeon insisted.

 

"Yes, we know," confessed Tiffany.

 

"Tell me, I have to bring her here. I'm sure she can do something," Taeyeon despaired. "I'm not going to lose Yuri without doing something."

 

Everyone was silent. Looking at the floor, the ceiling, the wall... anywhere but her. Taeyeon noticed.

 

"What's going on? Why don't you want to tell me? What do you get out of it? I think I have a right to know. I love her too and I care about her. I..."

 

"We can't bring someone who's already here," Tiffany cut.

 

"What...?" Taeyeon thought she heard wrong.

 

"Unnies!" a voice suddenly came out. It was Yoona, who came with Seohyun running. They came smiling so everything seemed to be fine.

 

"Yuri-unnie has awakened" reported the maknae with watery eyes. Sunny immediately embraced her.

 

"Taeyeon" called Tiffany. They all looked at them. "Why don't you go now? There are things you want to know that we can't tell you."

 

"Is it okay?" asked the leader looking at the rest, who nodded. "Okay, here we go."

 

"Hey" Jessica stopped her. "Remember she's sick."

 

"I know."

 

------

 

Taeyeon took several deep breaths. Her hands were shaking, her heart was racing, was dry... She knocked on the door a few times and walked in.

 

There was Yuri, lying in a hospital bed, with saline in her arms, a mask that helped her carry the necessary oxygen to her damaged lungs, and covered with white sheets. It was certainly an image Taeyeon wished she had never seen.

 

When Yuri saw the newcomer, she was somewhat surprised. But, at the same time, it was something she had expected. She was in the hospital, sick, and it's normal that the others would have called her. What she didn't expect was for her to come in so soon. 

 

Taeyeon closed the door and stood there. Away from the bed, from the girl on it. Near the exit. Once again, Taeyeon had to find courage. Not to fall apart under the circumstances.

 

Yuri, seeing that their leader was unresponsive, took one hand to the mask to remove it.

 

"Taeyeon" she said as best she could in a voice that was too hoarse. Then she tried to breathe heavily so that she could keep talking but ended up coughing.

 

Taeyeon reacted within half a second and reached out to her. She took the mask off her hands and put it on correctly. "Breathe, Yuri. Take it easy."

 

Yuri followed the directions and within seconds she was fine again. Well, as well as she can be in that situation.

 

Taeyeon sat up on the bed, with one hand on Yuri's chest, which helped calm her down, and the other on her face. She gently pulled a lock of hair from her face and lost herself in it for a moment.

 

Yuri placed one of her hands over Taeyeon's on her chest. Wanting to speak again she tried to remove her mask again with the other but her leader prevented her from holding her hand. Now four hands were joined.

 

"No, please. Don't say anything," said the older one looking at the sheets. Then her sight went to the young woman's eyes. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. For having reacted before in this way, for having left. I'm also sorry that I haven't been more attentive to you this time. If I'd known you were ill I... I-I don't mean that I only care about you when you're sick or that I feel pity, it's just that I wouldn't have left you alone."

 

Yuri's eyes lit up and Taeyeon could see her cheeks taking on a pinkish hue, which is very evident given her pale skin at this time.

 

"The doctor said what's wrong with you and... I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help you. I know feelings can't just come up, you can't make someone fall in love but if I had one wish right now it would be that Jessica felt the same way."

 

Yuri frowned during the whole speech. First she wondered if it was possible that Taeyeon had noticed. Then because she didn't know why Jessica was in the conversation.

 

"I guess seeing Jessica for so long has stirred up feelings," said the leader with a rather forced smile.

 

Yuri tried not to laugh, but in the end she laughed as quietly as she could. The last thing she needed was to cough more. This time it was Taeyeon who looked at her in confusion.

 

Yuri managed to remove her mask, this time without Taeyeon's impediment.

 

"I'm not in love with Jessica" she said with a smile.

 

"Are you telling me that in all these years of secret relationship you've had nothing?"

 

"I... didn't say that" confessed Yuri. "But I'm not in love with her. I love her, more than myself, really. But it is a different love."

 

Now Taeyeon was really confused. Her head was spinning. There were several things to take in. The first is that, indeed, between Yuri and Jessica there had been physical contact. The second thing is that Yuri said she didn't love her, but she did feel for her. The third is that another of her companions was the chosen one by Yuri, the one who occupied her heart, but who?

 

Yuri sighed in defeat at the sight of Taeyeon. Seeing how she became slow with certain things. Yuri thought to tell her, to confess everything. In a short time, it would all be over. She would receive a rejection, which she would live with for the rest of her life and then remember nothing. Yuri thought Taeyeon deserved at least the truth.

 

The problem came when she thought about all this. A tingle was going through her chest. She took one of her hands to it and rubbed it uncomfortably, which Taeyeon noticed. She started to breathe deeply trying to be as calm as she could but then the tingling came up in . "No, not now" Yuri said mentally. Was it perhaps the disease trying to curb her feelings? Was she being warned not to let them go? Who knows? But Yuri, at that moment, made up her mind.

 

"Taeyeon, there's something I want to tell you" she said before she started coughing softly.

 

"Don't say anything, Yuri, please. Just breathe," asked the leader with her hands on her chest not knowing what else to do.

 

"This is important," insisted the black pearl.

 

Taeyeon looked at her worriedly and pressed the bell beside the bed to call the nurses. "I'm not going to lose you, Yuri."

 

Yuri could hear her heart beating twice as fast as normal, she could even hear Taeyeon's. Also the footsteps coming quickly through the corridors about to enter her room. Then, Yuri finally let out what had been inside her for so many years.

 

"It's you," she said, looking her leader in the eyes. "It's always been you."

 

Then a lot of things happened all at once. Taeyeon having a mini heart attack, Yuri starting coughing up blood all over the place, the door opening wide, people coming to her side screaming things she didn't understand, Yuri falling into bed, Yuri closing her eyes.

 

Yuri.

 

Yuri.

 

"YURI!"

 

------

 

Don't kill me, pls. I have a family.

Anyway, we are almost at the end of the story.

I know I could write more but I don't want 20 chapters of Yuri being ill, Taeyeon feeling guilty and the others worried.

The good thing is that I have more ideas to write so yay!