It was a gloomy day. Rain fell and battered the windows of the ZoNE house.

“She still not coming out?” Sooyoung asked Yoona.

“Please. I don’t even know if she’s awake yet.” Yoona laid her head on the kitchen table. “Should we call Taeyeon?”

“Maybe we should call Tiffany or Sunny, first.” Sooyoung pulled her phone out of her bag. “Tiffany gave you her number, right?”

Yoona pulled out her phone, too. She recited Tiffany’s number and waited as Sooyoung dialed for their new friend.

“Hello?”

“Tiffany?” Sooyoung put the phone on speaker. “It’s Sooyoung and Yoona.”

“Oh hi. Let me get Sunny.” Tiffany put her phone on speaker, too.

“Morning!” Sunny said. “How’s Jessica?”

Sooyoung and Yoona both made noises that hinted at Jessica’s anger. “She refused to talk about the situation last night.”

“Poopie…Tae really wants to apologize and make up for what happened yesterday, though.”

“She up?”

“Still sleeping. We stayed here the night, but I don’t think she noticed.”

“I see. Yoona, go check on Jessica, will you?” Sooyoung said. Yoona nodded and went to knock on Jessica’s door. “Tiffany, have you heard from Eunhyuk or Hyoyeon yet?”

“Nope. I’ll tell you when they do call.” Tiffany said. “But at this rate, I really don’t think they’ll be able to talk to Taeyeon without her going insane.”

Sooyoung thought for a second. “Is there a way to force these two to make up? I’ve never seen Jessica so mad before.”

Sunny jokingly answered, “We could lock them in a room together.”

“Oh goodness, that would nev-Ahhh!” Sooyoung screamed into the phone. “Yoona, what happened?”

Yoona walked back to Sooyoung. Her hair was messed up there were feathers stuck to her body. “Jessica attacked me with a pillow. Where’s the vacuum?”

Sooyoung shooed Yoona away in the direction of a closet. “Hey Yoona, do you have any idea of how to get those two to make up?”

“No…how about we call Yuri? She might have an idea.”

“Yuri?”

“She’s a trainee in our company. She’s a smart one, so she might know what to do.” Yoona said from the closet. “Want us to call you back after we contact her?”

Tiffany agreed to the proposition. “We’ll talk to Hyoyeon and Eunhyuk about this while you talk to your friend. We’ll call you as soon as we talk to them.”

Sooyoung and Tiffany wrapped up the conversation and went to do their own things. Before calling Yuri, Sooyoung decided to help Yoona clean up.

~~~~

Eunhyuk woke up. He was a little confused when he didn’t recognize his surroundings. Oh right…I’m at Hyoyeon’s place. Eunhyuk saw Hyoyeon walk out of the bathroom. “Morning.”

“Morning Eunhyuk. What do you want for breakfast? I have eggs and toast. Not sure what else though.” Hyoyeon skipped off to the kitchen area. “Oh, and I have juice.”

“I’ll just have a couple eggs.” Eunhyuk joined her and helped make breakfast. “You’re taking this whole family thing pretty well.”

Hyoyeon quickly looked at Eunhyuk before returning to the eggs. “I can’t force you to feel something you don’t. And who knows. Maybe you’ll fall for me in the end.”

Eunhyuk laughed a bit. “Still haven’t given up, have you?” Just then, Eunhyuk’s phone went of. “Yes?”

“Eunhyuk? It’s Tiffany.”

“Oh hey. What’s up?”

Tiffany explained the situation to Eunhyuk, who then relayed the information to Hyoyeon. “We were wondering if either of you had an idea of how to get Jessica and Taeyeon to make up.”

“Not really. Did you try locking them up in the same room together?” Hyoyeon asked.

Tiffany giggled a bit. “You and Sunny think alike. But no, Jessica locked herself in her room and no one can get her to come out.”

“Darn…”

Eunhyuk sighed. “Sorry, I don’t think either of us really know how to get them to talk. If we think of something I’ll make sure to contact you.”

“No worries. Just don’t expect Taeyeon to want to talk to you guys until this whole Jessica thing is sorted out. I’ll call you later if the situation changes. Bye.”

~~~~

“The things you three get into when I’m not around…”

“Sorry, Yuri. We would have invited you but you have such a busy schedule for someone who hasn’t even debuted yet.” Yoona said into the phone.

“It’s okay. Maybe I can try talking to them.” Yuri’s suggestion made Yoona make a face. “I haven’t been around, so maybe they’ll listen to someone who doesn’t have a side to take.”

“I guess anything is worth a try at this point. But we don’t know how to get Jessica to cooperate. You know how hard-headed she can be.”

“Leave it to me.” Yuri hung up before Yoona could say anything else. “Hey Sooyoung, you trust Yuri, right?”

Sooyoung gave Yoona a weird look. “Did she say something weird?”

“No…it’s just that I’ve started to get suspicious of people around us. If a total stranger like Taeyeon, or someone who was as close to us as Seohyun could want Jessica dead…”

Sooyoung gave Yoona a comforting hug. “I trust Yuri. If anything happens, blame me, okay?”

Yoona nodded. “Well, she said she’ll try talking to Jessica and Taeyeon. I’ll wait for her to call us.”

~~~~

Jessica laid on her bed. Maybe I was too mean to Taeyeon last night. Jessica had been woken up numerous times during the night and staring at her phone until she fell asleep – only to be awoken by thoughts of Taeyeon. She contemplated if she should call Taeyeon or not – she never did. Probably shouldn’t have hit Yoona that hard with the pillow, either.

Jessica got up and stretched her body. She could hear as her joints cracked from being so lazy. Before she could change, Jessica’s phone started to ring. She dove for her phone and answered. “Hello?”

“…Hey…” replied a meek voice

Jessica blinked a few times. “Who is this?”

“Taeyeon.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“Can we talk? About what happened yesterday?”

“Yeah. Do you want to come over? Or do you want to just talk over the phone?” Jessica got up and walked over to her closet in case Taeyeon wanted to meet in person.

“Phone is fine. Unless you want to come here.”

Jessica thought for a moment, but was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. “One second, I'm getting another call.” Jessica pressed a few buttons and answered her new caller. “Yes?”

“It’s Yuri. Heard you were having some problems with Taeyeon. Yoona wants me to talk with you two and help you guys make up.”

“I think we’re fine. I don’t want to drag you into this. I was about to go see her anyway.”

Yuri’s voice lowered. “I really think I should be there in case something happens, between you two. And I think it would be helpful for someone else to be there to make sure there is progress.”

“Well…okay. Meet at my dorm as soon as you can.” Jessica hung up and returned to Taeyeon. “I’ll go see you. Yuri is coming with me. That okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll make some snacks so you don’t have to eat before hand.”

The phone call ended and Jessica quickly changed into a fresh set of clothes. She walked out of her room and sat in the living room. Sooyoung stared at Jessica as she sat like nothing was out of the ordinary. After a minute passed, Yoona walked in. She saw Jessica, then quickly scurried behind Sooyoung and used her as a human shield in case Jessica decided to attack.

Yoona quietly whispered to Sooyoung, “When did she come out?”

“Just now.” Jessica answered. Clearly, Yoona didn’t whisper quietly enough. “I’m going to go meet up with Taeyeon in a little. Yuri is coming along to make sure things run smoothly.”

“I see.” Yoona nodded her head in approval. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.”

Yuri showed up about twenty minutes later. The two girls left for Taeyeon’s house and arrived by 11.

Yuri knocked on the door while Jessica locked up her car. Tiffany answered the door. “Yes?”

“Hi. I’m here with Jessica. We’re here to see Taeyeon.”

Tiffany opened the door and let Yuri in. Jessica followed her and greeted Tiffany. “She’s in the kitchen.” Tiffany said.

Jessica nodded. “By the way, this is Yuri.” Jessica left Yuri in Tiffany’s care as she walked to the kitchen to talk with Taeyeon. When Jessica walked into the kitchen, Taeyeon had her back to her. She was arranging snacks and getting some drinks ready. “Hi Taeyeon.”

“Jessica!” Taeyeon whipped around. “I didn’t hear the door…sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jessica leaned against a wall while she waited for Taeyeon to finish up. She just watched as her girlfriend quickly placed food onto plates. “So, about yesterday…”

Before Jessica could finish her sentence, Taeyeon shoved a cookie into . “Is it ok? It’s not too sweet, is it? I made them myself, but I didn’t know if you liked cookies this sweet.” Taeyeon asked.

Jessica chewed the cookie slowly. It was sweet – maybe even a little too sweet. But for some reason, Jessica didn’t mind. “It’s really good. What’s in it?”

“It’s a secret.” Taeyeon winked at Jessica, leaving Jessica slightly confused.

“There aren’t any cucumbers in this, are there?”

“What? A cucumber cookie? Do you think I’m crazy?”

“A little…”

Taeyeon pouted. She picked up a handful of flour and threw it at Jessica’s face. “Help me bring this stuff out to the living room?”

“Psh, after what you just did, I don’t know if I want to.” Jessica crossed her arms. White powder coated her cheeks and clung to her hair.

Taeyeon gave her a damp towel. “Sorry. Please?”

After wiping the flour off of herself, Jessica grabbed the tray of drinks and brought them out.

The five girls – Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, and Yuri – sat around a table in silence. No one was sure where to start, and no one wanted to be the person who made matters worse.

Sunny got impatient. “Will someone say something already!” Sunny bit into a cookie and chewed loudly to fill the silence. “Don’t make me pick people to talk. Tiffany knows I will.”

Jessica noticed Tiffany squirm a bit in her seat. “It’s just a little weird with all you guys here.” Jessica said. “I expected Yuri to be here, but not the two of you.” She added as she pointed to Sunny and Tiffany.

“Sorry we were unexpected guests.” Sunny said. She sounded a little irked. “Want us to leave the room for a little then?” Okay, she sounded very irked.

“No, not at all…?” Jessica wasn’t sure if she was allowed to kick people out of the room since it wasn’t even her house she was at. Plus, they were Taeyeon’s friends and they only wanted to help. But at the same time, she wasn't sure if they would be any help in the situation. They were Taeyeon’s friends first, and that made Jessica a bit nervous for some reason.

Sunny rolled her eyes. She and Tiffany got up, grabbed a plate of food, and walked to the kitchen. “Call us if you need us.” Sunny said.

Jessica finally looked at Taeyeon. “So, you wanted to talk, right?”

“Yeah. Going really well so far, isn’t it?”

“Well then…” Yuri took a sip of water before she continued. “From how I understand it, you hit her. “

“On accident!” Taeyeon corrected. “I want it to be very clear that it was an accident.”

“Fair enough. And you then rushed home because you were mad, yes?” Yuri said, addressing Jessica.

Jessica nodded. “It was already super late, anyway. We needed to get home and sleep.”

“Also a fair statement.” Yuri looked at Taeyeon. “You didn’t contact her until this morning?”

Taeyeon nodded, too. “And now we’re here. Congrats, you’re caught up with our tragic story.” Taeyeon kept looking at Jessica, who for the most part didn’t return the look. But Taeyeon was captivated by Jessica’s beauty. It was a really weird time to be so attracted to Jessica, but Taeyeon couldn’t help but stare.

Yuri started to talk again. But Jessica sort of toned her out. It was hard for her to concentrate when Taeyeon was staring so much. She didn’t want to look at Taeyeon because she thought it would be awkward to have a staring contest with Yuri right there. Still, it was hard to ignore when someone as adorable as Taeyeon kept looking at her.

“…talk about what happened. Okay?” Yuri finished talking. When she didn’t get a response from her audience, Yuri started to wave her hands in front of Taeyeon’s face. “Hello~ Is anyone listening to me?”

The sudden disturbance of her view made Taeyeon jump in her seat. “Sorry, um, say that again?” Taeyeon gave Yuri a sheepish smile.

“What I was saying is that…Jessica!”

“What? I’m listening.” Jessica made her pouty face – the Jessica face as her friends had come to call it – and returned to staring off into space.

Yuri rolled her eyes. “Basically I was saying that you two should just talk about what happened. Maybe it was an accident, and maybe you really wanted to hit Jessica. I think you should figure that out.”

“Why would I want to hit Jessica? I don’t have anything against her, and I’m not really a violent person to begin with.” Taeyeon replied.

Yuri didn’t see it, but Jessica looked at Taeyeon in minor disbelief. Taeyeon, however, did notice. If Yuri wasn’t there, she would have called Jessica out on it, but Taeyeon just ignored it.

“Maybe you were stressed.” Yuri thought for a moment. “Or, did Jessica ever do something that made you mad?”

Taeyeon couldn’t think of anything. “Other than her leaving last night, I can’t think of anything. Well, there was the one time when I first when to her dorm, but that was resolved really quickly, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Jessica asked.

“The water? Do you not remember Sooyoung scolding us for that?”

“Oh. That was more fun in the end though.” Jessica smiled as she recalled the incident.

Taeyeon turned back to Yuri. “If anything, I owe Jessica. She took care of me when I was super sick.”

Yuri nodded. “Okay then, Jessica, your turn to talk.”

“About what? She hit me.”

“Yes, but don’t you think that running away from her was a bit dramatic?”

“She hit me! I was mad, and so I left. What, do you think I should have slapped her, too?”

“No, no.” Yuri backed off. She hit a sore note of some sort and she did not want to set Jessica off. “I’m just thinking that instead of leaving her house, you could have just left the room. Or When Taeyeon came running, you could have stayed and talked then.”

“Yeah, yeah, blame the angry child…” Jessica took a cookie off the plate and munched on it to sate her hunger. “Can you get to the point, Yuri?”

Yuri rolled her eyes. “You.” She said pointing to Taeyeon. “Apologize for hitting Jessica. And you,” Yuri said as she switched to Jessica, “Apologize for acting like a three year old.”

“Who you calling a baby?” Jessica took Yuri’s words harshly. “You said you wanted to help, but that doesn’t give you a right to talk to your senior like that.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it badly. Just…it seems like you were a little immature.”

“Me immature? Taeyeon was the one who was being immature and selfish last night!”

“What?!” Taeyeon wanted to stay out of the little spat Jessica was getting into, but Taeyeon would not stand by and be insulted. “I was only being that way because of the situation!”

“And I was only being that way because you hit me!”

“On accident! How many times do I have to say “sorry” for hitting you on accident?”

The tension in the room escalated out of control. Both Jessica and Taeyeon were standing up out of their seats with their hands balled into fists. Yuri was shocked and didn’t know what to do. “Hey, hey, calm down.” She said as she tried to get the girls back in their seats. “Jessica, forgive me for being rude. Let’s get back to making things right–”

Jessica knocked Yuri’s hands away. “I bet this is your way of slowing getting your job done, isn’t it? This was all just a trick!”

“You’re delusional!” Taeyeon screamed. Tiffany and Sunny both came out of the kitchen when the yelling started to get louder. They stood behind Taeyeon and tried to get her to quiet down. “Yuri’s right, you do act like a little kid when you don't get what you want.”

Jessica’s jaw dropped. “How dare you? How can you call me a baby after what I did for you?”

“Did for me? What did you do for me but cause trouble?” Taeyeon was quite ready to jump over the table and smack Jessica again. This time, on purpose.

“I trusted you and took care of you when you were at your low. And now you think you can just come in and screw with my life because I decided to let you be in it, don’t you!” Jessica took a handful of food and threw it at Taeyeon. “If this is your sick way of trying to do me in, I swear I’ll…I’ll…”

“You’ll what, princess?” Taeyeon picked crumbs out of her hair as her anger towards Jessica grew. “You’ll throw a fit until you get your way?”

“Ugh! I should have called the police on you when you told us the truth. Then none of this would have happened!”

“Police?” Yuri had been sitting back the entire time, but mention of the police got her interest. “Why did you want to call the police on Taeyeon when you first me her?”

“She tried to-mmph!” Before Jessica could finish her sentence, Taeyeon leapt across the table and covered Jessica’s mouth.

“Let that go already!” Taeyeon said loudly. She quickly leaned in and whispered, “She doesn’t know. Don’t say it, you dummy!”

Tiffany and Sunny rushed to get Taeyeon off of Jessica. Yuri also helped, but she was still shocked by Taeyeon’s actions and her ability to think quickly was not working. When Taeyeon was finally wrenched off of Jessica, Sunny grabbed a chair and dragged it away from Jessica. Tiffany handed Taeyeon over to Sunny and Sunny restrained Taeyeon into the chair. Tiffany did the same for Jessica with Yuri’s help.

“Yuri, do you mind if we talk in the hall for a little while?” Tiffany asked.

Yuri nodded and followed Tiffany into the hallway, leaving Sunny to play referee if Taeyeon and Jessica got physical again. “What are you two doing? I thought you two liked each other! At least, enough to not fight like this.” Sunny positioned herself about half way between Jessica and Taeyeon.

“She started it!” Jessica screamed, “You know what she’s capable of! At least now you do!”

“Jessica, be quiet for a second, will you?” Sunny gave her a pillow to take her anger out on. “Look, the situation is weird. I know that. But you guys wanted to work with each other and be friends, didn’t you?”

Taeyeon and Jessica both looked at Sunny. Neither said anything, though.

“You wanted to get along, right? Taeyeon, you wanted to protect Jessica, and Jessica you wanted to help Taeyeon, right? Right?”

The angry girls still refused answer.

“You two are so hopeless!” Sunny looked around and found the glasses of water still on the table. She took one. First, she went up to Jessica.

“What?” Jessica spat. “I’m not apologizing to her no matter what you eek! What, what was that for?”

Sunny took one of the glasses and splashed Jessica in the face. Taeyeon broke out in laughter as she watched Jessica sit in shock with water dripping from her face. Sunny turned back to Taeyeon who had yet to notice that Sunny was next to her with two more glasses of water. “Oh, you think this is funny?” Sunny held a glass over Taeyeon’s head. “Your turn~” Sunny smiled slyly as she slowly tipped the glass over and let water rain on Taeyeon.

“Stop it, stop it!” Taeyeon squealed.

Jessica grabbed Sunny by the arm. “She said to stop it.” Jessica hissed when Sunny emptied the second cup onto Taeyeon’s lap.

“Make me, you washed up excuse for a singer.”

Taeyeon stood up and grabbed Sunny by the shirt. “You take that back!”

“What are you gunna do about it?” Sunny continued to egg on Jessica and Taeyeon. “Slap me?”

“Sunny! Stop already. Taeyeon looks like she really will hurt you.” Tiffany said as she and Yuri rushed back into the room.

“Awww! But I was really getting into it.” Sunny sat down in dry seat. “But it sort of worked.”

“Oh my gosh, Jessica, let me get you a towel.” Yuri turned into the kitchen to find a towel for Jessica.

Jessica and Taeyeon both looked at Tiffany and Sunny. “What are you guys talking about?”

Sunny motioned for Tiffany to explain. “While the three of you were out here, Sunny and I noticed the situation was starting to get out of hand. We actually talked about this last night. This was situation c: somehow you guys get even more mad.”

“When we heard the screaming,” Sunny continued, “we decided to try getting you both mad at one of us and make you two realize how stupid you were being. Or…something like that.”

“So all this,” Taeyeon pointed to the water and the glasses, “was all some planned out thing to get us to make up?”

“Well, no. We didn’t know that the water was going to be here. It just worked out really well.” Sunny said.

Yuri came back and gave Jessica two paper towels. “Sorry, these were the last ones. Do you have more, Taeyeon?”

“Oh, I know where they are. I’ll be right back” Tiffany immediately went into the kitchen to find the towels. Jessica handed one of the towels to Taeyeon and they dried themselves as much as they could. Tiffany walked back in empty handed. “Never mind, you’re completely out. I’ll grab some actual towels from the bathroom.” Tiffany left again.

Jessica looked at Sunny as she tried to dry her hair with the damp towel. “So how exactly did you think me and Taeyeon beating you up would make us be on good terms again?”

“If you guys were both mad at me, we thought you two would look past your anger towards each other and make with the happy already.” Sunny answered.

“So you were really ready to get beaten to a pulp to that Jessica and I could forgive each other and move on?” Taeyeon asked.

Sunny gave a nod of approval. Taeyeon threw her wet towel at Sunny. “Hey!” Before Sunny could protest more, Taeyeon gave Sunny a hug. A big, wet hug.

“Thank you.” Taeyeon said.

“Yeah, yeah, just let go of me! You’re getting me all wet now!”” Sunny protested. She tried to wrench Taeyeon off of herself, but Jessica decided to join the hug and make Sunny victim to another wet hug. ”Wah, stop that!”

Yuri started to laugh to herself as the spectacle before her grew more and more hilarious. Her phone started to ring so Yuri excused herself into the hallway.

Jessica and Taeyeon eventually let go of Sunny who was very damp as a result of being embraced by two soaked girls. Sunny tried to wipe the water off, but was not at all successful.

Tiffany came back with towels for Jessica and Taeyeon. “Has Yuri been on the phone long?”

“No, just went out there. Did she seem worried about something?”

“Just curious. Took a while to find the towels, though. You really need to rearrange your bathroom.”

Taeyeon grabbed one of the towels. “Thank you for your concern about my bathroom organization.” Jessica and Taeyeon both dried off quickly. Taeyeon lent Sunny her towel when she finished.

“So Yuri is okay?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah, just curious because she was really deep in conversation. Oh hey, speaking of…” Tiffany pointed towards the hall.

Yuri walked back into the room. “Sorry about that, my to-be manager called and said that I need to go and deal with some schedule conflict.”

“Need me to drive you there?” Jessica asked as she dried a seat.

“No, I’ll just bus down. It won’t take too long. Hope you guys have made up nicely, and good luck with the Hyoyeon thing.” Yuri said her farewells as she pushed her way to the door.

“Hold on.” Taeyeon said. She put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder to make sure that she wouldn’t run away.

Yuri turned around. “What’s up? I really don’t need a ride, if you were going to insist.”

“I just had a question for you.”

“Yeah, what is it? If it’s long, I might need you to ask another time. If I don’t meet with my to-be manager soon, I’ll get into a load of trouble.”

“No problem. Just uh…”

“Yes?” Yuri impatiently nagged Taeyeon to spit out her question.

Taeyeon put both her hands on Yuri’s shoulders. “How did you know about Hyoyeon?”

Without skipping a beat, Yuri answered. “Sooyoung told me. She told me the situation one day after I asked about you and why you were around so much. Details slipped, I guess.”

“Oh, really?” Jessica stepped up. “Then, she told you about Amber, too, right?”

“Amber?” Yuri tilted her head in confusion.

“Yeah. Taeyeon’s sister, Amber. Sooyoung told you about what happened to her, right? How she was killed?”

Yuri winced a bit. “Oh right, that was her name. She told me something like that. I didn’t realize she was killed, though. Did that really happen?”

“No.” Taeyeon tightened her grip on Yuri’s shoulders. Despite the height difference, Taeyeon managed to keep a good hold onto Yuri. “My sister wasn’t killed. She was kidnapped.”

“Then….why did she…”

“One more thing.” Jessica added, “Her sister’s name isn’t Amber.”

Yuri’s expression changed form shock to panic and then back to collected in a matter of seconds. “I guess the jig is up then, isn’t it?”

---------

a/n

and....expect a 3rd update tomorrow 

Also, Happy Verterans Day~!