She didn’t ask. She didn’t probe. She just let her cry.

A few moments later, the little blonde ceased crying. She sat on her bed, wrapped in Jessica’s jacket and sniffled. The older girl simply sat next to her, with her arms wrapped around her and remained silent. Her presence had an immense calming effect on the blonde who now felt much safer and better.

“Thanks for coming,” whispered Sunny.

“Sunny… what happened to you?” asked Jessica, unable to hold back her desire to know anymore.

“… I don’t know… Taeyeonie seemed really angry about something… was it because I wanted to play a few more rounds with Hyomin?” Sunny winced at the memory of Taeyeon’s violent aggressiveness.

“TAENG? IT’S TAENG? I thought Sungmin had done something to you…” said Jessica, reeling from the shock of learning that her friend was the real perpetrator.

“No, it’s not Sungmin. I met him earlier to talk things out. We’re friends now.”

So, her ‘sick friend’ really is Sungmin.

“Is he really okay with how things are now?”

Sunny nodded slowly. “He’s okay. We’re now oppa and dongsaeng… he said that he’ll treat me like his little sister.”

Jessica smiled then sighed.

Sungmin is settled but now Taeng is going off the deep end. When will her problems stop?!

“I’ll talk to Taeng and find out what’s bugging her. Don’t you worry your cute lil’ head over this alright?”

Sunny looked into Jessica’s warm, chocolate brown eyes and smiled like a sun rising again. Jessica couldn’t help but to smile in return and hugged Sunny tightly in her arms.

“Why were you so cold to me for the past week?” asked Sunny in a very small voice. “I thought you didn’t want to be my friend anymore…”

Jessica stiffened and leaned away from Sunny, chewing her inner cheeks. She contemplated how she could answer her without giving too much away. In the end, all Sunny got as a reply were three letters – P. M. S.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

[The next day]

Yoon was leaving the locker room hurriedly when she bumped into a tall, tanned girl. She looked up in surprise to see that beautiful face that had popped into her mind ever so often at random moments for the past few days. She gasped in surprise and mumbled an apology before dodging the girl and scooting out of the room.

“Yoona! Stop!”

Yoona froze in her tracks. Yuri’s face reappeared in front of her. It was difficult for Yoona to avoid her gaze as they were of similar height. She ended up looking to the side instead. Yuri sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

“Yoona… can we talk… please?”

Yoona shook her head.

“Why? Why not?”

“I feel cheated.”

“Why? I didn’t cheat on you!”

“Yes you did. You pretended to be my friend when you really wanted something else from me.”

Yuri felt like pulling her hair out.

“Yoona… lots of people have different motives for being together. I simply liked you and wanted to spend time with you. Does it matter if I wanted to be more than a friend from the start?”

Yoona looked at her and blinked. “You… you mean… you…”

“Yes Yoona… I liked you from the moment I saw you in the cafeteria. Now… is that wrong of me? How else could I have gotten closer to you? You don’t just walk up to strangers and say that you want them to be your girlfriend, do you?”

Yoona remained silent for a while before speaking up again.

“But you were going to snatch me from Sooyoung! All the while I had thought that you were helping me to get closer to her!”

“I would never have stopped you from confessing to Sooyoung. And if she did accept you… I would have given you my blessings. Yoona… I just want a chance with you. I’m very happy when I’m around you. I think you are happy with me too. Aren’t you?”

Yoona nodded slowly.

“You like me too, don’t you?”

Yoona tensed and stood still before nodding her head slowly as a faint pink began spreading across her cheeks.

“Yoona… will you be my girlfriend?” Yuri asked in a soft and gentle voice that sent tingles down Yoona’s spine.

The fair girl bit her lip and looked into the pair of chestnut brown eyes that were gazing into hers. The intensity of their gaze blew her mind away and she was rendered speechless for a moment. Yuri nudged her gently and asked again.

“Will you be my –“

She didn’t have to complete her question as Yoona had nodded her head and smiled. Yuri took a second to digest that before whooping in glee. She bear hugged Yoona and laughed heartily. Then she grinned at the fair girl before leaning in to peck her on the lips. Yoona’s eyes opened wide and her hand instinctively shot up to cover her lips.

Yuri laughed at her surprised reaction and said jokingly, “Ha… ha… you look like you just got your first kiss.”

Much to her surprise, Yoona lowered her head shyly.

“That was your first kiss?!”

Yoona nodded her head shyly again.

“You… have never kissed anyone before?” Yuri gasped in surprise.

Yoona blushed and shook her head, her eyes averting Yuri’s hot gaze.

“Then let me show you what a real kiss is like,” said Yuri who grinned from ear to ear as she leaned forward and pressed her lips on the pair of quivering lips.

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

[Taeyeon’s room]

“Talk to me Taeng.”

Jessica felt like grabbing her shoulders to give her a good shake. A desolate looking Taeng was definitely not something she wanted to see.

“Why didn’t you go to school today?”

The petite brunette remained silent. She looked down at her fingers and fiddled with them, pulling on the skin around her fingernails.

“Taeng… come on… it’s me Sica… trust me.”

The words ‘trust me’ seemed to have some effect on Taeyeon as the girl looked up very suddenly and connected with Jessica’s eyes. She knew that she could trust Jessica. It was Jessica who had brought her to her senses when she was infatuated with that gold digging b*tch and it was Jessica who had slapped her out of her self-pitying that she was wallowing in for the longest time.

Truth be told, Taeyeon was dorky most of the time but what lingered underneath that bubbly exterior, was her pain – the pain of being left alone. Her parents were never around for her. They did not expect anything of her either. It was almost as if, she didn’t exist in their lives; they were so caught up in their own. What was really eating her up from the inside at the moment, however, was the knowledge of what she had done to Sunny. It was a moment of insanity. She had really lost it but what really really killed her was knowing that it wasn’t just Sunny she was angry with but also Sookyung. She had taken it all out on Sunny in one full blown episode of venting.

She never did get closure for her very first relationship. She had left instantly, ignoring calls from Sookyung and acting as if nothing had ever happened. Except for the crying session she had with Jessica and Tiffany, she had never really addressed her pain. She simply swept it into a dark corner where it lay dormant till that episode with Sunny.

“Taeng… tell… me…” Jessica’s voice popped the bubble of her thoughts.

“I… h-hurt… S-S…” Taeyeon couldn’t even say her name without feeling an intense jolt of pain shooting right through her heart.

“I know,” stated Jessica matter-of-factly.

Taeyeon looked up in surprise. “You know?”

Jessica nodded.

“H-How???”

“She called me.”

“WHAT? Are you two even that close?” Taeyeon literally yelled in Jessica’s face.

The taller girl sighed and said, “We’re not exactly close, but let’s just say I know a secret or two about Sunny and that’s why I’m here now – to find out what happened – and then I can fix it.”

Taeyeon couldn’t believe her ears. “Sunny has a secret and you know it but I don’t?”

Flames of jealousy her heart and her temper rose in that instant.

“That secret is about a guy isn’t it?”

It was Jessica’s turn to be stunned. Her jaw dropped and although she tried to regain her calm, poker face, her initial reaction had given the game away.

“So… it’s true… she has a guy.... and you know about it but I don’t. HA HA HA HA HA!” laughed Taeyeon in a rather crazed manner.

“It’s not what you think it is at all. What exactly do you know about this guy?”

“Oh… I don’t know anything about the guy but I pretty much saw everything. She was kissing him like there was no tomorrow out in broad daylight outside the café and to think that she always acts so shy with me, dodging my kisses and all that… IT WAS ALL AN ACT!!!” shouted Taeyeon angrily as she burst into tears.

Jessica was stunned.

Kiss? What kiss? Sunny didn’t tell me about a kiss!!!

“Sunny didn’t tell you that she kissed him did she? They hugged real tight too and walked down the street looking exactly like a couple in love.”

Every word she said stung her like a bee but she let it fuel her anger.

Jessica shook her head and said, “Taeng… no matter what you saw… no matter what she did… you need to believe that she wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

“HA HA HA HA HA!” laughed Taeyeon, “Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? You didn’t see how she behaved with that guy. I did. I saw with my very own eyes. SHE IS CHEATING ON ME!”

Jessica had heard enough of Taeyeon’s misunderstanding. She stood up and grabbed Taeyeon by her collar and pulled her face within inches of her own.

“SUNNY ISN’T CHEATING ON YOU! THAT GUY IS HER EX-BOYFRIEND THAT SHE HAS BEEN TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS! YOU’RE A TOTAL IDIOT TAENG!!!” Jessica yelled in frustration.

She released the collar and Taeyeon fell back onto her chair in a daze. Thoughts flew in all directions in her head making her feel giddy and confused.

“Wha..what did you just say?”

Jessica growled in frustration and sat down on her chair, running her hand through her hair roughly. She felt like kicking Taeyeon in her shins for being her silly jealous self.

“Taeng… you didn’t even ask her about it did you? Did you give her a chance to explain? How can you have so little trust in her?” fired Jessica rapidly, throwing Taeyeon into even more turmoil.

“But… but… she… I… she… I saw her kissing him!” said Taeyeon obstinately.

“Taeng.. you gotta ask her why. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for that.”

Taeyeon looked at Jessica for a long time.

I’ve never seen Jessica stand up for anyone like this. Except for me and Fany. She… cares… a lot… for Sunny…

“You seem to trust Sunny a lot Sica. What makes you so sure that she’s not playing the two of us right now?”

Jessica held Taeyeon’s strong gaze unwaveringly for a moment before she answered without a trace of doubt in her voice, “I trust her. Completely.”

It was a simple statement but it meant so much more coming from Jessica. Taeyeon couldn’t believe her ears.

Is this really Sica? Is this really the Sica who had once said ‘Trust no one but yourself’’ before hastily adding that she trusted me and Fany too???

“You can trust that she is innocent even though I clearly saw her kissing that guy?” sputtered Taeyeon in disbelief.

“Taeng. Trust me. I was right about Sookyung and I’m right about Sunny too. Have a good talk with her. Listen to her side of the story before you decide to call her a cheater or not.”

Jessica stood up, squeezed Taeyeon’s shoulder and left the petite brunette sitting alone in her room trying to figure out what had caused that tremendous change in Jessica. She sat still, thinking about what Jessica had told her. Almost an hour later, she picked up her phone and made a call…