Ice Princess.

That was what they all called her.

Sometimes, they said it as a joke; but, sometimes, they truly meant it.

“Ugh, you stupid Ice Princess!” Sooyoung had yelled that one time when they had gotten into an argument.

Sooyoung was already having a bad day, and coming home to Jessica’s fault-finding was not the best cure.

“Sooyoung, is that you? Did you buy any milk?” Jessica shouted from her room once she heard the door open.

“No, I didn’t.” Sooyoung replied and flopped onto the couch.

Jessica was in front of Sooyoung in a second. “Why not?”

“Nobody asked me to.”

Scowling, Jessica flipped her hair. “Well, you should have known that we had run out and went to buy some. I mean, don’t you drink it too? You know—”

Jessica was cut off when Sooyoung raised her palm in the air. “Jessica... please. I’ve had a long day. Not now.”

“Long day? Not now?” Jessica huffed. “Really, Sooyoung? You can be such a pig sometimes.”

“Jessica...”

“I mean, you don’t even really do much in the team anyway, and then you always come home acting all tired and sulky and all, ‘Oh! Don’t talk to me. I had such a long day!’ Also, you—”

“Jessica.”

“—eat so much. You finished all that cereal, right? And those chips I saw you stuffing yourself with the other day? The milk too, I’m sure! And you still refuse to go buy some! I mean, seriously, Sooyoung.”

“Jessica Jung!”

“Long day? Sure. What did you even do today? Sleep? Shop? Eat some more?”

Sooyoung stood up, weary yet angry. That was when the infamous nickname was yelled at Jessica once again.

“Ugh, you stupid Ice Princess! Don’t you know when to stop?”

Jessica watched Sooyoung’s back disappear into the hallway.

She shrugged and the television.

Ice Princess.

Even her younger sister called her that.

“Unnie... you’re such an Ice Princess.” Krystal had bitterly remarked after Jessica had made Sulli cry.

“Congratulations on getting first place, girls!” Taeyeon squealed as she grabbed both of Victoria’s hands and jumped up and down.

Victoria grinned and nodded in thanks. It had been a while since f(x) got their last award, and it was overwhelming for her. “Thank you so much, unnie!”

Jessica entered the room, only to be attacked by an excited Krystal.

“What in the name of—”

“Unnie!” Krystal shouted ecstatically. “We won first place!”

Jessica eyed her skeptically. “...first place? f(x)?”

Having run to snatch the trophy off the table, Krystal returned and proudly showed it to her older sister. “Look!”

Jessica’s face went blank and unreadable for a moment, and Krystal grinned, waiting expectantly for the thrilled outburst that the younger girl thought for sure would come.

Instead, what cut through the joyful atmosphere was a curt laugh.

Krystal took a step backward in surprise. “...unnie?”

“It’s about time.” Casting one last disdainful look at the trophy, Jessica crossed the room. She sat down on the couch and took out her iPhone.

“Unnie!”

“Jessica! What are you saying?” Taeyeon chided, glancing over at Victoria and hoping with everything that the leader of f(x) did not hear.

“I’m saying the truth. I mean, for ‘The Boys,’ we got a total of twelve music show awards.” Jessica said nonchalantly.

“Jessica, stop.”

“We also got a Digital Daesang Award at the Golden Disk Awards!” Jessica continued, despite Taeyeon’s warning and the clear hurt on Krystal’s features. “How can you guys be so happy with a simple award from today? If you have this kind of mindset, you’re never going to achieve what we have.”

Taeyeon put a comforting hand on Victoria’s arm and gave Victoria a look that said, “Don’t mind her.” Smiling reassuringly, Victoria patted the hand on her arm. “It’s okay,” the strong leader of f(x) mouthed.

“You’re right, Jessica unnie.” Victoria said humbly. “We’ll work hard to be like SNSD.”

Jessica huffed. “Of course I’m right.”

A certain maknae didn’t take Jessica’s comments the same way that Victoria did, though. “How can you say that, Jessica unnie?” Sulli retorted from her corner of the room where she had been quietly listening.

Jessica’s head snapped towards the direction of the voice. “How can I? Well, how can I not?”

“Sulli unnie, ignore her.” Rushing over to Sulli’s side, Krystal shot her older sister a look. “Today’s our day. It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters!” Sulli shouted. “We work hard. We work very hard. SNSD is SNSD, and f(x) is f(x). Yes, there are some things we should learn from them; but we work hard, and that’s enough. Why compare?”

Jessica laughed. “You’re right, Sulli... you’re right. Why ever compare?”

The innocent girl failed to catch the slight tint of sarcasm in Jessica’s tone. Eyes widening, Sulli stuttered, “I—I’m... right?”

Jessica walked over and took the trophy away from Krystal. Bringing it up to her eye level, Jessica scrutinized it contemptuously. “Yes, you’re right. Why ever compare SNSD to something like f(x)?”

Sulli watched as Jessica continued to flippantly examine the trophy. Suppressing a sob with her hand, Sulli ran out of the room.

“Sulli unnie, wait!” Krystal shouted.

Victoria was gone in a blink, her motherly instincts taking over as she ran after the crying Sulli. Rubbing her temples wearily, Taeyeon followed after, leaving the Jung sisters alone in the room.

Jessica watched them go with bored eyes. Her gaze moved slowly until it landed on her bewildered sister.

“Unnie...” It came out barely as a whisper, but the hurt in her voice was undeniable. Suddenly, as though something came to her mind, Krystal straightened up and looked at Jessica with strong, defiant eyes. “You’re such an Ice Princess.” she said indignantly, before walking off to find Sulli.

Jessica merely shrugged and put the trophy down on the table, a little too harshly.

They all called her Ice Princess.

Except one person.

This one person was always forgiving and always understanding. He never got angry at her cold ways, though getting hurt was a different question. It seemed as though he was the only person who believed differently about what everybody said about her.

It seemed as though... he saw and knew a different Jessica than everybody else did.

After each time she got too far with her caustic comments, all he would do was slowly raise those sad eyes to meet her indifferent ones and say one word.

“Jessica...”

Her name.

Disappointed yet tender, frustrated yet tolerant—that was he.

She always shrugged it off and changed the topic. Inside, however, she was happy.

Jessica was happy because she knew that no matter what she said, Jonghyun would take it. She knew that he would never call her that disgusting nickname that she hated so much. She knew that in his eyes, she was different. In his eyes, she wasn’t an Ice Princess.

...but she took his tolerance for granted.