“Let’s start over”

“What?” taeyeon has her eyebrows furrowed at this sudden demand

“I know it sounds crazy, but…”

“Sica..”

“I really want us to try again. Let’s try again, taeyeon” she looks at taeyeon with anticipation

“Sica, let go of my hand”

“No, I’m not gonna let go!” taeyeon felt jessica’s grip on her get tighter and she went silent. “I can’t let go of you again. Last night I thought, after telling you what I’ve been feeling, I thought I could move on…I thought I just needed a proper closure, but then memories of us flashbacked inside my mind and…I just couldn’t. Seeing you again.. I want more.”

Jessica tries to collect herself, trying not to break down in front of taeyeon “Am I the only one who feels this? Didn’t your feelings come back when you saw me again, because mine never went away at all. Don’t you feel the same way?” taeyeon puts her hand above jessica’s loosened grip and pulling her wrist back from it. “Am I the only one who witnessed sooyoung get wed yesterday and imagined that it was you and me? What we’ve been imagining back when we were still together?”

“We are both unavailable now, jessica. You have tyler, I have seolhyun…You don’t just suddenly ask people that”

“But I’m willing to give it all up for you now…”

“That’s not what you fought for four years ago.”

“I know I said I’ve found what I’m supposed to be doing, but it costed me you! I realized that nothing mattered when you’re not with me through all. I’m willing to try now, taeyeon, and I know you want this too. Give us a chance, please….”

Taeyeon sighed and shook her head slowly, her lips pursed “…I’m sorry…it’s unfair to the both of them. I don’t want seolhyun to feel that she’s just a rebound. I don’t want us together now at the expense of other people’s feelings...”

“I understand what you’re trying to say, and I'm sorry.” Jessica looked away and nodded. She too understood how selfish she was for asking but she looked up at taeyeon, her words are firm “But I’ll call it off with tyler. I’ll only be prolonging my regret and guilt if I don’t. I don’t want him investing more of his time to me, only to realize later on that I’m still in love with my ex.” she sighs “That’s more unfair to him.”

She approached and opened the door, looking at taeyeon “If…you change your mind, I’ll always be waiting for you. I’ll be going back to paris in three days. Call me…” she closed the door and left, leaving taeyeon who has a heavy heart.

Jessica waited anxiously for three days, but she went back to paris only receiving a text from taeyeon, saying “I’m really sorry jessica, I want to try at least with seolhyun. Have a safe flight” she sighed, understanding taeyeon’s decision.

-

2 years later…

“To a successful launch!” jessica raised her glass and her staff members cheered. The people around her gave her congratulatory greetings before they dispersed and chat amongst themselves.

“Today was H E C T I C” Irene approached her with a wide smile and a glass of champagne on her hand “Congratulations! I’m really glad you finally decide to launch a branch here in korea. About time girl!”

Jessica let out a giggle and nodded “Yeah, of course I was testing the waters here first, but the brand has been very well received so far, so I think, I’m gonna stay here for good.”

“Did I just hear you’re staying here for good?” yoona who was initially trying to approach the confectionery area, swerved her way to jessica and Irene after hearing this and jessica nodded.

“Yes, although I’m gonna have to fly back to paris every now and then, our hq is still there. But tyler’s handling things well there, so I think I have no trouble handling things over here in korea”

“That’s really great news then! We’ll get to see you often, right?” irene looks at yoona “So are we gonna be your brand ambassadors or…” she tries to hint jessica something in which the latter just laughed and shrugged

“I mean, why would you look anywhere else when you have four beautiful models as your friends?” yoona jokingly flipped her hair.

“Four?” jessica got confused with the numbers, she only remembered inviting 3 of her model friends, which are Irene, yoona, and sooyoung.

“Well, taeyeon eonnie isn’t exactly a full-fledged model like us, but she has a large female fanba—” Irene nudged yoona’s arm “What?…oh….uhh yeah, I mean…business wise..you know…” yoona awkwardly looked away in which jessica just smiled

“I’ll try to contact her. Anyway, I have to leave you guys here. I’m gonna need to check reports and emails at home.” she puts her glass down to a near table “If you need anything, my secretary’s just around the corner, okay?”

“Awww…” both girls pouted

“We can hang out some other time, yeah? Alright, I’ll see you around” she hugged and kissed cheek to cheek with the two girls then went on her way out, her bodyguards following her behind.

Sooyoung hurried over to yoona and irene after eating at one section, earning a weird stare and frown from the two “What? What did I miss?? Where’s sica??”

-

“Mmm…” Jessica was at Baskin Robbins, deciding if she’ll get her favorite strawberry cheesecake as usual, but decided to try something new “Mint-chocolate chip” she smiled as she ordered.

In truth, she really has no reports to check. She went out because she needed fresh air, suddenly having an urge to buy ice cream and go to the park she and taeyeon used to. She asked her two bodyguards to be five meters away from her while she walks to the park so she could feel like she’s still a free girl just enjoying her ice cream.

She sat on a concrete bench where they used to and ate her ice cream. “Hmm…” she has frowned face tasting taeyeon’s favorite ice cream flavor, and she doesn’t exactly like it. She eats anyway.

She smiles, enjoying the simple delight of being a normal girl, eating an ice cream at a quiet park while looking at the beautiful night sky, taking in a large breath of fresh air that she most definitely needed.

She wasn’t able to enjoy that silence for much too long because she hears a dog barking from far away. She was getting ready to leave when a familiar dog came running in front of her, in which case, she immediately recognized the dog and picked it up, her head quickly turning left and right, searching for the owner.

“Where’s your mom, huh?” jessica asked the dog as it her lips.

“Zero-yah!!” a tired looking taeyeon came running towards her dog “Oh my goodness, miss I’m so sorr—“ she stopped on her tracks when the lady turned her head to look at her and realized who it was “Sica??”

“Hi taeyeon” a beaming smile landed on jessica’s face. Taeyeon approached her slowly and looked at her with a toothy grin “What? Aren’t you gonna sit with me?” taeyeon immediately sat beside jessica. As she gets zero from jessica’s arm, jessica saw taeyeon’s other hand, holding an ice cream from baskin robbins.

“Strawberry cheesecake” she smiles at taeyeon while the girl puts zero down to the ground, allowing him to run around.

Taeyeon looks at her ice cream shyly then to jessica’s “Mint-chocolate chip!” her face lights up a ton like an excited kid.

“Do you wanna switch?”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause it’s a better deal for me than it is for you” taeyeon looks at her half-empty cup then looks at jessica’s still a bit full one.

“It’s fine” they switched their cups and she heard a mumbled thanks. Jessica silently laughs at taeyeon who gets excited over an ice cream "I love how we're back here 13 years later, still eating the same flavors of ice cream"

“I thought you hated this flavor? You had a change of heart?” taeyeon asked as she her spoon, rolling her eyes and sighed contently after.

“I still don’t like it. I only chose that flavor today ‘cause I missed you I got curious why you like that flavor so much. I mean, it tastes like toothpaste…why didn’t they just name it ‘toothpaste flavor’ instead” jessica shrugged and ate her ice cream, witnessing taeyeon’s small eyes get large and wide at her, as if she was personally attacked.

“Excuse me? Mint doesn’t taste like toothpaste, okay? TOOTHPASTE tastes like mint, fyi. It's like you're saying that all birds are penguins”

“That's a terrible analogy"

"It makes PERFECT sense"

"You’re not gonna change my mind, it tastes horrible”

“Ugh, whatever” taeyeon digs a large scoop and devoured it, looking at jessica with a mocking angry face. Jessica just chuckles at her. She looked at her surroundings and saw that aside from her two bodyguards, there’s only taeyeon, zero, and her at the park.

“Are you here alone?”

“No, my manager’s around here somewhere. She might be looking out for paparazzis.”

“I see.”

“Congratulations today, by the way. I saw on the news. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to go, I had a shoot earlier…”

“I know. It’s fine” she smiled genuinely

"Aren't you supposed to be there?"

"I was, but I needed a breather."

"Same.." she eats a scoop hesitantly "So I heard from yoona that you're gonna stay here? She messaged me..."

Jessica nods, looking at the running zero "I missed home."

"I'm glad..but what about paris?"

“Tyler handles things there”

“Oh…” she looks down at her ice cream “I thought you two…you know…”

“Broke up?” taeyeon nodded “We did.”

“Well? Why...”

“He didn’t exactly take it well…I mean, anyone would be mad if they learn that their girlfriend’s still—“ she didn’t continue that part. “Even now, I know he’s still mad, and his feelings are valid. He has every right to feel that way. But we’re business partners, and business is business. He doesn't mix personal life with work. I at least admire him for that. Professionalism.”

“I’m really glad.”

“I’m just glad that I’m finally free of my burdens.” she looked at taeyeon “You two, I heard, ‘conflict with your schedules’ last year” jessica laughs as she mentions SM ent’s very much scratched statement, earning an eye-roll from taeyeon

“I don’t even know where their obsession with ‘conflict schedules’ statements for breakup news came from. They could just straight up say ‘the two artists fell out’ you know? Straight to the point”

“So you two fell out?”

“Yeah, something like that. It’s a mutual decision. We’re still good friends though! But I guess that’s the reason, we started off being really good friends, then we tried, we're going great with the 'honeymoon' phase, but after that we realized later on that we’re really better off just being friends.” she nods at jessica

“You don’t have the same level of weirdness?”

“…I guess that’s another way you can put it, yeah. We're not in love, we're just infatuated because maybe, we both feel lonely. Bottomline, we thought we’re compatible as couple, but we’re not.” she looked down on her ice cream and played with it “The breakup’s not all that bad. After we broke up, I had time to properly think of myself and reflect.”

“What did you find out about yourself?”

“That I got too dependent on others for my happiness. I tried with seolhyun because I unconsciously thought I could find it from her if we’re together. I realized I need to find the happiness I’m looking for within myself first before looking for it from somebody else, 'cause if I rely on another person for that, if they go away, they're just gonna take that happiness away with them, and I would be left empty.”

Jessica thinks of her past self and how she greatly relates to this. She has always relied on taeyeon to make her happy that when taeyeon left, she felt like she couldn't smile properly again. Too broken to smile. And she thinks maybe she should do the same as taeyeon.

"Jessica?" taeyeon softly calls her name "Are your words still true?"

Jessica looks at her with confusion "What do you mean?"

"Are you still waiting for me?" taeyeon looks deep into her eyes, she can feel her blood rise up, her nape shivers that she had to hold it as she nods to taeyeon's question.

"Always."

Jessica’s quick and firm answer elicits a smile from taeyeon’s face.

"Let's heal and love ourselves better first. Maybe we can have our chance again."

-

"Taeyeon, are you in?" tiffany knocks twice and heard a muffled "Come in!"

"You look so pretty!" tiffany complimented the twirling girl who wears a flowy cocktail dress, her new blonde tresses glide beautifully sideways as she twirls. "You look stunningly ethereal, you don't look 35 at all" tiffany flashes her eyesmile

"That's too much" taeyeon hid her face behind the bouquet, blushing and grinning at the compliment. Sunny walked into her room followed by sooyoung who posed at the door, holding a kid on her side.

"Hi kyungsan~" taeyeon and tiffany greeted the shy kid

"No one even bothered to say Hi to me. But I'm gonna let it pass since it's your wedding and you look really gorgeous" sooyoung teased as she carries her son, taeyeon just shook her head and smiled

"Who would've thought that you two would get back together" tiffany said while fixing a bit of taeyeon's hair

Sunny smiled and answered before taeyeon "I already knew there's at least 70% chance they would get back together after she and seolhyun broke up"

"But we didn't get back together immediately. We both took some time dealing with personal stuff first, we had no contact for a year. Then finally she asked me 3 years ago if I wanted to be her brand's ambassador, I agreed, you guys know that part. We worked together and you can fill up the blanks."

"So who proposed?" asked sooyoung

"Me"

Tiffany got giddy, thinking how romantic it must be "Tell us! Tell us! What happened? Were you at a romantic dinner or you proposed after the dinner while kneeling? Was it romantic???"

"Well..."

~

Taeyeon wakes up with jessica doing her morning routine inside the bathroom. She thinks it's finally her chance to ask the big question after loosing her chance last night at dinner because of nervousness.

She stands in front of the bathroom door, holding the small box with one of her hands, and quickly fixing her messy hair.

As soon as the door opened, she crouches to kneel but stopped halfway when jessica speaks, leaving her awkwardly crouching

"Yes"

"H-Huh?"

"You're gonna ask me to marry you right? I said yes." Jessica explains nonchalantly "Come on honey, let's eat breakfast. I'm really hungry, you can put the ring in my finger while we eat" she pecked taeyeon's lips and went out the bedroom.

Taeyeo was left dumbfounded, standing in the middle of the bedroom, thinking how anti-climactic and unromantic her proposal was.

~

"......yeah, it was very romantic." Taeyeon nods at tiffany.

"So whose idea it was, the house wedding?"

"It was our idea" jessica interrupted from the door, smiling at her bride "Girls, you go ahead at the backyard, taeyeon and I will follow soon"

"Are you even supposed to be in here?" sooyoung asked as they're being pushed out the door

"We'll see you guys later!" she closes the door and approached taeyeon, her hands sneak behind taeyeon's waist. "Hi~"

"You look so beautiful.." taeyeon widely smiled at the brunette with flower on her hair, she puts her forearms on jessica's shoulder, "Sooyoung's right, we're not supposed to see each other until we're at the aisle"

"We're gonna see each other anyway. Besides," jessica's lips hovered before taeyeon's "I just needed some time alone with my wife." she gently kissed while taeyeon smiled.

Jessica stepped and looked at the window, overseeing the backyard full of their family and friends.

"We're finally here..."

"Yeah, finally.." Taeyeon lovingly stares at jessica and smiled. All the years they've spent apart, their different ways still led them back to each other. 

She looked back at the window, scanning the backyard "Although we still don't have that pond and swings that you wanted"

"We can have this house renovated in the future, we can...put sand dunes on a side if zero wants to play there. Do dogs play on the sand..? Anyways, we now have the rest of our lives to plan that out" she smiles at taeyeon.

"Come here" she pulls jessica closer to her, their cheeks pressing against each other. Taeyeon started stepping left and right, slow dancing while she sings to her bride.

"I found the love for me

Darling just dive right in and follow my lead

Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet

I never knew you were the someone waiting for me~

'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love

Not knowing what it was

I will not give you up this time

But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own

And in your eyes you're holding mine~"

She moved to look into taeyeon's eyes, feeling more loved now than before. She was about to kiss taeyeon again when the door suddenly opened "I hate to break your moment, but let's go" krystal hurriedly said.

-

The two walked together on the aisle, hand in hand, 'til they've reached the end, and they smiled lovingly at each other as the ceremony went on. 

I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you, to fiercely love you, in all your forms, through your best and your worst. To agree or to disagree on mint-chocolate chip ice cream, to always sing to you whenever you feel like the world is pulling you down,  hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, from now and forever.

I vow to love you with all of my being. To leave you the last slice of your favorite cake. To speak when words are needed and to share silence when they’re not, and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

They looked at each other as they put on their rings, flashing through their eyes, the imperfect road they’ve walked on together and separate, and finally finding their way back to where they belong.

"By the power vested upon me..." their faces inch towards each other "...I now pronounce you partners for life"

They smiled at each other and smiled through their kiss.

The dream that they shared, a life of being together, growing old within the house they’ve built, they dream of it once more.

And then they felt 18 again.

~

And all I can do is say that these arms were made for holding you

I wanna love like you made me feel

When we were 18

~

Fin.