“Hyo, Jessica’s not inside our room. Didn’t she return early from her schedule?” Hyoyeon looked up from her phone into Sooyoung’s worried frown.

“What? She went to sleep after washing up, didn’t she? I didn’t even notice her go anywhere else.”

“It’s already past midnight, though.” The two looked at each other, eyes wide.

“Could she be - ?”

“Let’s go.”

The two hurriedly went down towards their practice room. The main lights were off but they could see that a lamp was on, and could hear some movement within so they peeked inside. As predicted, Jessica was alone inside, practicing. This was not the first time the Ice Princess had sneaked out to practice alone. Ever since they moved to their current dorm equipped with bigger and better facilities which included their own practice room and private booth for voice lessons, the girls made sure to use them wisely.

Every one of them knew that, despite her lazy persona, Jessica was a very hard worker. She thought that she needed to work twice as hard because she was under the impression that it was a fluke that the company even considered training her in the first place. It was no secret that it was her sister that was initially scouted that time, not her, and that she couldn’t even audition properly and made a fool of herself by bawling in front of the panelists. She owed Founder Lee Sooman a lot for giving her a chance despite her lack of abilities.

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon watched a bit more before deciding that nothing would happen, but, as they were about to leave, their eyes bulged when Jessica suddenly collapsed. The two quickly entered the room and ran straight to their fallen friend.

Jessica’s face was so pale and her lips were turning blue. While Sooyoung cradled her friend’s head, Hyoyeon rushed to get Jessica’s portable oxygen canister inside her bag then hurriedly brought the mask to Jessica’s face.

“Breathe, Sooyeon-ah,” Sooyoung coaxed the girl in her arms as Hyoyeon readied the oxygen tank inside the room for such emergencies.

It was also no secret that Jessica didn’t have the greatest stamina compared to the other eight. The public even assumed that she had the same condition as her sister, which actually wasn’t far from the truth. Both sisters really did have anemia, but since Jessica’s schedule kept piling up with little time to rest, her condition worsened, ultimately affecting her heart. Aside from her immediate family, only a handful of people knew the extent of her condition, being Lee Sooman, Park Minyoung, two managers, and Hyoyeon and Sooyoung. Jessica didn’t want to bother more people with her issues since all of them already had other things to deal with. Hyo and Soo just happened to be with her during one of her earlier episodes.

After several minutes, Jessica was stable enough to be moved to the couch where Hyoyeon handed over a larger mask that was attached to the oxygen tank. It would take a few hours for her to recover enough to continue practice, but Jessica doubted her friends would even let her out of their sight. She knew that the two weren’t pleased, and she was feeling bad for making them worry, again, but she needed the extra practice for their upcoming concert lest she be reprimanded again for being too lazy during official practice. Jessica was more comfortable practicing alone.

When the girls were sure that Jessica wouldn’t collapse again, they stayed seated for a while as they gathered their thoughts. After a few minutes, Hyoyeon sighed loudly and rubbed her face in frustration.

“Yah, Jung Sica! How many more times are we going to go through with this? We won’t always be here to help you. You know this! Why do you insist on being stubborn?” Hyoyeon was clutching Jessica’s shoulders firmly and trying to shake her stubbornness away. Silent tears were flowing from Jessica’s eyes as she stared at her friend forlornly. Sooyoung caught her attention by reaching for her hand and squeezing it gently.

“We understand, Sica-ya. We understand what you’re going through. All this effort just for us, for the group. But at what cost? Was calling me or Hyo to spot you too much to ask for? Everybody else is asleep. You know the risks of you practicing alone. Sooner or later your stubbornness will land you in the hospital. Why won’t you just listen to us?”

Jessica couldn’t meet their eyes as she kept on crying, mumbling apologies and clutching the other two’s hands. The three just kept silent as they moved to hug each other, waiting for Jessica to calm down, then escorted her back upstairs to wa