Jessica cleared . Yoona looked at her with eyes full of anticipation. Jessica again cleared . She kept on clearing repeatedly and Yoona knew full well what she was doing.

“Jessica Jung, I’m having none of this. Till when will you keep on clearing your throat?” Yoona rolled her eyes. Jessica grinned sheepishly as she composed herself.

“Wait, how’d you even know my full name?” Jessica wondered. “I’m pretty sure I only gave you my first name.”

“Well, when I was looking for you, I stumbled on your family tree down the hall.”

“Oh.”

“You aren’t angry, are you?”

“I’m not.” Jessica offered a sincere smile.

“Okay, since all is well. We’ve got two options here: 1. We talk about what made you cry or 2. We watch the movie and forget about your sobbing fit.” Yoona spoke.

“Wow, so business-like.” Jessica mocked.

“Oh, shut up.” Yoona lightly hit Jessica’s arm.

“Okay, okay. I guess I’ll go with option 1. That is if you’re okay with hearing a pretty sad story. I’d prefer not to make you sad, but I want to be honest with you.” Jessica carefully held Yoona’s hands and rubbed her thumb against it.

Yoona felt that Jessica was going to be sharing something heavy, but she was glad that the girl already trusted her enough to be willing to share such things.

Yoona gave Jessica’s hands a light squeeze. “I’m ready.”

Jessica settled on the sofa comfortably. She put a grim expression on her face as she began.

 “We were a happy, contented, blissful and loving family. My parents loved each other dearly. They showered me and my sister with all the love they had. Our lives were filled with nothing but joy, love and gratitude. We never felt any despondence or hatred. Our parents sheltered and protected us very well. We never knew sadness or any of the ugly things that reality would slap on our faces. We were perfectly happy and it seemed like nothing would change that.”

Jessica suddenly thought that things were too good to last.

Jessica choked on some tears, but she still continued. “However, a tragedy fell upon us. There wasn’t any forewarning. It just happened out of the blue.” At this point, Jessica’s eyes began tearing up and Yoona held her hands.

“My Dad. He, He” Jessica started stuttering. “He d..died.” Tears slowly flowed down as Jessica’s thin frame started to tremble. Yoona held her close and enclosed her in a tight embrace as Jessica held on as if for dear life.

Yoona felt Jessica move from her e