It was a busy time for Sunny. Finals were looming up in the distance but before that, she had to practice real hard for her school’s musical production. She didn’t have time for Jessica outside of classes as she spent all her time at the musical club with Taeyeon and the rest of the cast and dancers.

 

Jessica would have gone to their practices to visit Sunny but her own Taekwondo club had its own event – an annual, interschool Taekwondo competition that So Nyuh High would host. Donghae had learnt most of the ropes from Jessica on the running of a Taekwondo club but he had no experience in organizing a competition, hence Jessica was basically handling most of the work by herself. It was stressful and she got frustrated and tired, not to mention, her missing Sunny wasn’t helping.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

Jessica flopped onto her bed, exhausted, drained and a gnawing feeling ate away at her insides. She needed her daily fix of Sunny. She missed the little ball of sunshine badly. Reaching into her Mulberry bag, she fished out her cell phone and called Sunny.

 

‘How was your day, Bunny?’

 

‘We did a rehearsal of the musical from start to end today. It’s starting to come together now!’

 

Sunny sounded excited and energetic; the opposite of what Jessica was feeling at the moment. She wondered how Sunny could stay so cheery when she was feeling dead tired.

 

‘Taeyeon and I harmonize really well! The director told us that our voices blend very well.’

 

Jessica felt a surge of mixed feelings. She was learning how to handle those negative feelings and thoughts when it came to Taeyeon but undeniably, it still stung a little when Sunny was overzealous about Taeyeon.

 

‘I miss you Bunny.’

 

There was silence at the other end.

 

‘Bunny? Are you there?’

 

‘Sorry, what did you say? I didn’t catch that.’

 

‘Nevermind. What are you doing now?’

 

‘I’m having supper with Taeyeon and the rest.’

 

‘Oh… I’ll hang up then. Enjoy your supper with them.’

 

‘Jessica…’

 

‘Don’t worry, I’m okay. I’m just very tired.’

 

‘Sleep well Jessica.’

 

‘I will.’

 

‘Goodnight.’

 

‘Goodnight.’

 

Jessica looked at her phone as she tried to manage her own emotions. She was tired, she was missing Sunny so she was more sensitive. There’s nothing to it really.

 

Sleep – that’s what I need right now.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

‘Ya! Taeyeon ah!’ Sunny shrieked as Taeyeon smacked her and ran away, laughing like an ahjumma.

 

They had been playing a silly game of tag and Taeyeon caught Sunny right on her . The petite girl gave chase and jumped onto Taeyeon’s back, bringing the both of them to the ground where they collapsed from laughter.

 

‘Taeyeon lost! FORFEIT! FORFEIT!’ The cast and crew of the musical club yelled at the top of their voices.

 

‘Okay, okay…’ Taeyeon panted from laughing too much. ‘… what is my forfeit?’

 

Hyoyeon placed a bottle in front of Taeyeon. ‘Spin it. You will have to kill whoever it points to on their lips.’

 

‘Is that it?’ Taeyeon was at ease. ‘That’s easy.’ She spun the bottle with confidence that she’d have no problem with her forfeit; or so she thought.

 

Oh crap.

 

The bottle came to rest, pointing at Sunny, whose eyes grew wide in alarm. The air around them was tense. Sooyoung, Tiffany and Hyoyeon froze as the bottle came to rest in Sunny’s direction. Oh boy, this wasn’t good at all.

 

To their surprise, Sunny stood up and faced Taeyeon.

 

‘Go on, get it over and done with.’

 

She spoke matter-of-factly, as though it didn’t bother her at all… but did it? Her heart was thumping hard but she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. Before she realized what she was doing, she had already stood up and the words had flown out of .

 

This is nothing, Sunny ah. This is just a game. Breathe!

 

She shut her eyes as Taeyeon leaned in and pressed her lips against hers. Sooyoung, Tiffany and Hyoyeon looked at each other and shrugged. Maybe Taeyeon and Sunny were indeed over each other and were comfortable enough to kiss without having overly complicated feelings. Some of the more clueless cast and crew cheered and clapped their hands as Taeyeon executed her forfeit without any fuss.

 

‘Taeyeon jjang! Sunny jjang!’ went the other members of the cast and crew.

 

Taeyeon didn’t linger. She pressed in and left as soon as she felt the contact made. Sunny opened her eyes and tried to breathe normally again. That all-too-familiar feeling of Taeyeon’s lips on hers did unearth a lot of memories, mostly the good ones. Taeyeon too, experienced wave after wave of fond memories resurfacing in her mind.

 

This is just a game Taeyeon. There’s nothing to it.

 

The two of them blushed as the cast and crew cheered and clapped. What the two of them didn’t know was that one of the cast had taken a picture of them as their lips met and had already posted it on the most dangerous online social media platform known to man – Facebook.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

‘Do you think they are really over each other?’ Sooyoung asked Tiffany as they headed home after the supper.

 

Tiffany shrugged. ‘Taeyeon can be a little hard to read at times. She keeps a lot of things to herself. And I’m guilty of not spending as much time with her as before.’

 

‘Am I the cause of it?’

 

Tiffany looked at the taller girl with amusement. ‘And what will you do if I say yes?’

 

Sooyoung grew solemn and pondered over her answer while Tiffany grinned at her.

 

‘I would consider inviting her to join our dates.’

 

Tiffany laughed till her sides hurt. ‘Sooyoungie… seriously… ha ha ha…’

 

‘I wasn’t kidding!’ Sooyoung pouted.

 

Tiffany giggled and tiptoed to plant a peck on Sooyoung’s cheek. ‘You’re so sweet! But don’t worry about Taeyeon and me…’ She smiled sweetly. ‘… I’ll make time for her.’

 

Sooyoung smiled and nodded. She draped her arm around Tiffany’s shoulder and sent her home.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

Yoona was in the midst of completing her homework when her phone buzzed excitedly. It was Yuri.

 

‘Yoong, look out your window.’

 

Yoona peeped out of her bedroom window and saw Yuri standing on the sidewalk below, waving her arms hysterically. Beside her were two bicycles.

 

‘Can you see me?’ Yuri asked excitedly.

 

Stifling her laughter, Yoona managed to reply in a choked manner.

 

‘Yes, I see you. What’s with the bicycles?’

 

‘Let’s go cycling together! It’s a sunny day and I want to spend it with you.’

 

Yoona melted under her simple yet touching words. Yuri always had her way of melting Yoona’s heart in the most ordinary of ways.

 

‘But I’m doing my homework…’

 

‘But I’m already here…’

 

Yoona didn’t have to look to know that Yuri was pouting at that very moment. She gave in.

 

‘Give me a minute to change.’

 

‘Okay!’ Yuri hopped about excitedly.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

It was a lovely day indeed. The wind blew gently and the leaves rustled in the wind. They cycled to the park where they stopped to take a break. Yuri took out a bottle of juice and a packet of snacks. And there they sat, close together on a bench, idling away with their juice and snack.

 

‘Thanks for being there for me all this time.’

 

Yuri spoke all of a sudden.

 

‘I didn’t do anything.’

 

Yoona blushed.

 

‘You did!’ Yuri sat up straight and became serious. ‘You didn’t get angry with me when I had to be close to Hara. You even comforted me when I knew that you were very worried yourself.’

 

‘That’s the least I could do for you.’

 

Yoona jabbed Yuri with her elbow playfully but Yuri was too touched to return the favour as she normally would.

 

‘You’re too good for me Yoong.’

 

‘You’re pretty awesome yourself.’

 

‘Me? No… I’m not a good girlfriend at all. I caused you so much hurt…I…don’t deserve you at all but you’re still here with me.’

 

Yuri wrapped her arms around Yoona and leaned in to hug her. Yoona shook her head.

 

‘No…I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I know that you’ve changed a lot for me. You’re the best girlfriend to me, Yuri ah.’

 

Yuri smiled. ‘You think I’m the best because you’ve never had girlfriends before. I’m sure that there are plenty of better girlfriends out there.’

 

‘They can’t be better than you. I don’t love them. I love you.’

 

Once again, Yoona’s simplicity astounded Yuri. Everything was so simple and uncomplicated when it came to Yoona. If she were happy, she’d show it. If she were sad, she’d show it. She had nothing to hide and it was so refreshing to Yuri. To her, Yoona was like the coolest, clearest, cleanest spring water on a hot summer day.

 

‘What happens when I graduate from high school?’ Yuri wondered out loud.

 

‘We’ll take things as they go,’ was Yoona’s simple reply.

 

‘You are so… easy… for lack of a better word.’ Yuri laughed.

 

Yoona raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m easy? Is that a good thing?’

 

‘Yes! I meant it in a good way.’ Yuri hurriedly explained. ‘You make things less complicated. You always calm me down and lessen my worries.’

 

‘Well, we can’t worry about what hasn’t happened yet.’ Yoona reasoned. ‘Which colleges are you applying for?’

 

‘I’m going to the college that offers me a scholarship.’ Yuri laughed. ‘I hope I get at least one scholarship offer.’ She grew solemn.

 

Yoona smiled and patted Yuri’s head lightly. ‘I’m sure you’re going to get many offers. Who wouldn’t want to have such a fantastic runner in their school?’

 

Yuri couldn’t help smiling. ‘See? You’re so good at it. You always make me feel so much better about everything.’ She nuzzled Yoona’s hair and took a deep breath.

 

‘And you always smell so good.’

 

Yoona was the definition of red. ‘We’re in a park!’ She whispered loudly.

 

Yuri grinned and continued nuzzling her. ‘Who cares?’

 

Yoona squirmed. ‘Not here, Yuri.’

 

Yuri lifted her head and laughed. ‘Yoong, I was just kidding. Let’s go… we gotta get you back home so that you can complete your homework.’

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

Jessica didn’t know what to think. There it was, staring her in her face, a picture of Sunny and Taeyeon caught in a kiss. She knew that it was probably some silly dare that they played since the caption read ‘They dared!’ but her heart was pinched in all directions all the same. She felt the beginnings of winter setting into her heart as she stared at that picture unwaveringly. It was that strange phenomena of a person having that insane urge to stare at things that would disgust or frighten themselves. The more disturbing the image, the more you couldn’t tear your eyes away from it. And so she was still looking at that picture when Sunny peeped over her shoulder.

 

‘Jessica…’ Sunny was absolutely worried stiff. ‘Please don’t get the wrong idea. We were playing tag and the forfeit was for the loser to spin the bottle and kiss whoever it pointed at.’

 

Sunny said it all in a rush. She didn’t know how Jessica was going to react to this picture but she was sure that it wasn’t going to be pretty.

 

‘After all the assurances you gave me… this… has to show up.’ Jessica said quietly as she stood up from her chair. She walked out of the classroom in full view of the teacher who was arriving for the first lesson off the day.

 

‘JESSICA JUNG, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?’ Mr. Choi hollered as she disappeared down the hallway. ‘WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?’ He turned to the class, absolutely livid at her blatant display of disrespect.

 

With a teacher like Mr. Choi, no explanation would be good enough so Sunny kept shut and eyes down. Tiffany was staring at her in the strangest way which had her squirming in her seat – it was most unsettling.

 

She was glad that Taeyeon wasn’t present. That girl had to miss school because she had fallen ill. Too much time was spent on both the musical and her preparations for the release of her single, leaving her with little time to sleep and she had finally caught a bad case of flu. If Taeyeon had been present, she’d be feeling really guilty right now, so it was better that she wasn’t around. Hopefully, she’d be able to resolve this situation with Jessica without Taeyeon having to know.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

Jessica walked blindly. She had heard Mr. Choi calling her name in the most irate manner but she was beyond caring. Her heart was absolutely torn. Shredded to pieces. Shattered. That nagging feeling of Sunny belonging to Taeyeon had always been an undercurrent within her. It didn’t take much for it to develop into a devastating tsunami that destroyed everything that she had built up in defense of it. She cursed her insecure nature. She cursed her inferiorities that never failed to drag her down. She cursed herself for allowing herself to be in a vulnerable position like that, subject to the rough weather out there. She cursed herself… again and again… but she just couldn’t curse Sunny nor Taeyeon. She couldn’t get mad at them. All she could feel was pain… and more pain.

 

And just like that, Jessica withdrew, shrinking back into her little black hole; running away from pain and heartache. She couldn’t handle it.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

‘Sunny, you need to know something about Jessica… she isn’t your regular girl.’

 

‘What do you mean?’

 

‘She has fears and… issues.’

 

‘I don’t understand Tiffany. What kind of fears and what issues does she have?’

 

Tiffany sighed. This was going to be a long story.

 

‘Let’s find a place to sit down and talk, shall we? I think it’s time for you to know something about Jessica that only Taeyeon and I know about.’

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

‘You do know that Jessica was adopted right?’

 

Sunny nodded.

 

‘Then you should also know that she isn’t the most sociable person around here.’

 

Sunny nodded again.

 

‘Well, Jessica… has a very low opinion of herself. She doesn’t quite believe that she deserves to be loved. This developed from her losing her parents at a very young age and although she was adopted at five, she still has some issues – albeit less severe than they might have been; had she not been adopted.’

 

‘I…I did know it was this serious.’ Sunny was in shock. ‘I thought that she was simply a cold person although she’s very warm towards the people who are close to her.’

 

‘She’s insecure. She doesn’t believe or trust easily and the only reason why she’s close to Taeyeon and I is because we met her early enough. And to make things worse, she and I… we went through a rough patch together.’

 

Tiffany took a deep breath. Talking about this was painful to her; even after all this time.

 

‘We were two-timed by a guy.’

 

‘The same guy?’

 

Tiffany nodded.

 

‘At the same time?’

 

Tiffany nodded again.

 

‘Oh for the love of –‘

 

‘Yeah… I encouraged her to take a chance. She decided to accept the guy’s advancements on her after a lot of nudging from me but she never did let me know who the guy was – she was that shy – and subsequently, I met the same guy without knowing who he was and he got closer to me too.’

 

Sunny’s jaw dropped and she clamped her hands over her gaping mouth – absolutely horrified by the atrocity.

 

‘I can’t tell you how badly it affected Jessica. She didn’t react as badly as we thought she was but in a way… that was worse. That meant that she guarded herself from the inside and that would just lock even more doors in her.’

 

‘And is this why you are her ‘special’ friend? Taeyeon mentioned it once.’ Sunny remembered Taeyeon talking about this before.

 

Tiffany nodded. ‘She identified herself with me after that. We shared the same fate. In her world, we became equals and so, she became that much closer to me after that.’

 

Sunny was reeling from the revelations of Tiffany’s confession. This was way too much to handle for one afternoon.

 

‘So you’re telling me this because of that picture of Taeyeon and I kissing?’

 

‘Yes. Be careful. Jessica might shut her heart forever. She already sees herself as inferior to others. She might be convinced that you and Taeyeon still love each other and you are going to lose her, Sunny.’

 

It began to dawn on Sunny. All the things that Jessica said in the past, the things she did… it all pointed to this. But what could she do now?

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•

 

 

Taeyeon was absolutely horrified to see the picture on Facebook. She called the girl who did it immediately, requesting that she take the picture down. She hoped that Jessica hadn’t seen it yet but a sense of foreboding seeped in all the same and she was somewhat sure that Jessica had already seen it. This could destroy her relationship with Sunny and she knew it. She chided herself for allowing this to happen. She should never have played up to the dare in the first place. What had she been thinking?

 

And with a huge sigh, she hung her head low. She knew why. It had been selfish of her but she couldn’t deny it. She couldn’t deny that she still had feelings for Sunny. Based on Sunny’s reaction, there was a possibility that Sunny still liked her as well. However, this was wrong. Jessica had been extremely supportive of Taeyeon and Sunny when they were together and she should do the same for them. Jessica deserved to be love as well.

 

Jessica needed to be loved.

 

 

•°★°••°★°••°★°•
 

A/N: My writing for this fic has been really stuck for the longest time. For some reason… I feel really conflicted when I write this fic. Nevertheless, here is this latest installment of SNH.

 

Hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers!