The next day, everybody was very busy with their schedules but all of them are distracted by other thoughts. They did not get the chance to meet up until it was almost dinner time. Jessica was the first to notice the one person missing.

“Where’s Sooyoung?” she asked, knowing that Sooyoung’s schedule for the day had finished at least an hour ago.

Everybody looked at each other with confused faces, they had no idea where Sooyoung was. Then Yuri came from her room and said, “I remember she went outside after coming back to the dorm. She told me she was going somewhere.”

Seeing the look on her best friends’ face, Tiffany quickly took Jessica by the hand and pulled Jessica to her room calling out to the other members that she had just remembered that she had bought a new dress and she wanted her best friend’s opinion on how she looked in it.

“So where’s the dress?” Jessica asked with one eyebrow raised as she looked around Tiffany’s room.

Tiffany put her hands on her hips, “Jessica Jung, I know that you know perfectly well why I brought you here.”

Jessica sighed, “I was just acting.”

Tiffany glared at her. “You are not going to find Sooyoung.”

Jessica glared back and said in a frosty voice, “If I do, you’re in no position to stop me. What if something happens to her?”

Tiffany softened her gaze, “I know how much you care about her Jessica but she can look after herself. She’s 22. She’ll be back soon anyway, it’s almost dinner time, you know how much she loves food. There’s no need to go and look for her.”

Jessica shook her head and said “Sorry Tiffany, I can’t do that.” She grabbed one of Tiffany’s coats and opened to ask if she could borrow it.

Tiffany saw the determination and love in Jessica’s eyes and gave up. She said, “Take it. As much as I think it’s one of the worst ideas you’ve ever thought of, I knew I would be doing the same if Sooyoung was Taeyeon. Go, and good luck.”

Jessica smiled, “Thanks Tiffany, I don’t know what I would do without you. Could you wait for me to come back?”

Tiffany nodded “Sure, but if you come back really, really late I might be asleep.” she joked. She put on a serious expression, “I will wait for you until midnight, but if you don’t come back by then I’ll have to tell the others the truth and we’ll arrange a search party.”

Jessica had already climbed out of the window, she gave a small salute to Tiffany and hurried off into the darkness.

Tiffany looked at her best friend going off, already regretting her decision to let her go; she would be worried sick until Jessica came back safe and sound. “Love makes us do stupid things” she said shaking her head. She quickly went to Jessica’s room and slid a few pillows under Jessica’s blanket before heading to the kitchen where dinner was being prepared.

Yuri looked suspiciously at Tiffany, “Where’s Jessica?” she asked.

Tiffany gazed into Yuri’s eyes steadily, “She suddenly felt very faint so she decided to go to her room to sleep. I think she’s really exhausted, her schedules have been packed for the past few weeks. Hopefully she’ll be feeling better tomorrow.”

Tiffany had a feeling that Yuri did not believe her words and this was confirmed when Yuri gave her a challenging look and said “Maybe we should go up and check on her then.”

Tiffany tried not to panic, she didn’t know if the pillows under the blanket would be enough to fool Yuri. All of a sudden, Taeyeon stepped between the two with her hands outstretched.

“Hey, you two; it’s almost dinnertime. Why are you having a staring competition? Yuri, it’s probably best to leave Jessica alone if she’s not feeling well, you know her temper well enough. I think she will be fine after a good night’s sleep. Tiffany, you should go and set the table. And Yuri, you should come and help me cook.”

Both of them obediently followed Taeyeon’s orders and Taeyeon went back to check on the omelette rice.

Tiffany’s heart fluttered in her chest, Taeyeon had just saved her from a very awkward situation. Did Taeyeon know she was lying? As she set the table, she secretly peeked at Taeyeon every now and then, a feeling of warmth enveloping her body.  

Soon, dinner was finished and they sat down to eat.

*

Jessica hurried through the streets, with the collar of the coat tugged high to hide her face from passing people. Where would Sooyoung go she wondered. Then, she remembered that place Sooyoung had taken her many times before in the past. She stopped in the midst of the crowd, trying to recall the directions to get there, she knew it would take an hour or so by walking but she wasn’t going to risk taking a taxi or bus.

She swiftly weaved through the crowd not noticing a tall and slender figure, a flowery scarf carefully wrapped over part of her face heading back to the dorm. In the satchel she carried was a single yellow rose.

*

All the other members had finished their dinner and were wondering where Sooyoung had gone. It was not like her to miss dinner. Suddenly the door opened and Sooyoung smiled slightly at them.

“Sorry, I’m late. I had to go somewhere urgently.” she said.

The other members replied, “That’s alright. We left you some food.”

Sooyoung nodded her thanks and went to her room to take off her disguise. She noticed a lump in Jessica’s bed, was she sleeping, Sooyoung wondered. Treading softly, she placed the yellow rose on Jessica’s bedside table. After removing her disguise, she headed to the kitchen for dinner.

*

Jessica had finally arrived at the place, it was a beautiful rose garden. She was surrounded by the sweet scent of roses of countless hues. She smiled as she remembered the moments she had shared with Sooyoung here; this was where they had talked about their achievements, their fears and their dreams. But Sooyoung was not here. Jessica sat down on the grass and cried her heart out. All the emotions she had been holding in for the past few weeks came pouring out. As if in response, it began to rain.

*

Tiffany glanced at the clock anxiously, watching the second hand tick slowly and slowly by. It was 5 minutes to midnight and she was incredibly worried. It had begun to storm a couple of hours ago and Jessica had not brought an umbrella. She had tried distracting herself by reading but that had not worked. The only thing she could do was to keep on praying that Jessica would come back safely by midnight but the possibility of that happening was diminishing with every tick of the clock. There was one minute to midnight, when there was a sharp knock on the window. Tiffany whirled around, and seeing it was Jessica quickly opened it.

Jessica clambered in, dripping wet and shivering in cold.

“Are you crazy?” Tiffany hissed, keeping her voice quiet to not wake the other members. “You’re going to catch a cold being drenched in rain for so long, and wearing so little.”

“Is Sooyoung back?” Jessica whispered.

Tiffany frowned, “She was back hours ago, I told you that you didn’t need to worry about her. What are we going to do about you now? You’re soaking wet and it’s in the middle of the night.”

Jessica sneezed.

Tiffany’s frown deepened, “Look, you’ve caught a cold. I guess you have to have a shower, even if it wakes the other members up.”

Jessica sneezed again.

Tiffany sighed, “Bless you. You can borrow my clothes for today and it would be best for you to sleep in my room. Go back to your room in the morning. Sooyoung leaves early tomorrow.”

She handed Jessica some items of clothing and nudged her in the direction of the bathroom. Then Tiffany went to Sooyoung/Jessica’s room to remove the cushions she had placed under the blanket.

*

Tiffany opened the door nervously, trying to make as less sound as possible.

“Sica” Sooyoung called out.

Tiffany froze, did Sooyoung think she was Jessica?

Sooyoung turned in her bed, her voice choked by tears. “I’m so sorry” she whispered. “Please forgive me. It’s for the best but it hurts so much.”

Tiffany realised that Sooyoung was probably sleep-talking and crept to Jessica’s bed and swiftly removed the pillows tucking them under the bed. She went out from the room trying to make sense of the words Sooyoung was saying. She decided not to tell Jessica until she had figured out what the words meant.

*

In the morning, Jessica crept back to her room. Sooyoung was not there as she had some matters to attend to very early in the morning. She then noticed the yellow rose on her bedside table. Picking it up, she gently traced the calligraphy, I’m sorry. Closing her eyes, she breathed in the sweet fragrance of the rose, and one word tumbled out of .

“Sooyoung..."

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Wow! This is quite a long chapter compared to all of my other ones. I think I got the motivation to write so much from all the wonderful comments you left. Please keep on commenting, it's lovely to read through all of them. 

Did any of you know that one of the meanings behind sending someone a yellow rose is 'I'm sorry'? I didn't know that until I decided to do a bit of research for this chapter. Please look forward to the next update. And subscribe.

Thank you for your support♥