She felt her body being shaken. Jessica’s voice resonated from far away.

‘ Tiffany? The girl you were ranting on about?’

But Taeyeon only had eyes for the two figures on the dance floor.

‘Taeyeon! Taeyeon!’

Her friend’s voice seemed to get more distant with every passing second.

‘Taeyeon, say something for god’s sake!’

She kept quiet.

She felt the tears b at her eyes. Hot. Salty.

Was her face on fire?

‘Taeyeon, snap out of it!’

Jessica slapped her shoulder.

She turned to look at the brunette girl, whose eyes were now moving frantically, as if they could somehow find the source of her pain and cure her just by staring at her face.

Jessica noticed the shiny tear drops running down Taeyeon’s face and pulled her in for a hug.

‘Taeyeon, what’s wrong?’ she kept whispering in her ear.

And Taeyeon replied.

‘Everything’

***

They were now at the club’s toilets. Taeyeon leaned over the sink while Jessica sympathetically rubbed her back.

‘Want to talk about it?’

‘Is she really that bad?’

Taeyeon looked up and saw her reflection, staring back at her from the grimy mirrors.

She shook her head.

‘It’s not that’

‘It’s not?’

‘Well, it is but it isn’t at the same time’

‘Okay’ said Jessica ‘okay, I get it’. She began to draw circles on her friend’s back.

‘She’s...‘

‘She’s not ALL of the problem, right? She’s just a part of it’

Taeyeon gulped. She turned around to look at Jessica.

‘What do you think of my brother?’

Jessica stared back at her quizzically.

‘That he’s like the male version of you? ‘

‘No, as in' she took a deep breath ‘romantically and such’

‘As in, would I date your brother?’

‘Do you think he’s a good catch?’

‘Well’ the girl stared pensively at the ceiling ‘okay, he doesn’t have a degree but he’s doing really well as a police officer. You know, getting promoted and moved to Seoul-‘

‘He applied for a transfer to Seoul though, they didn’t call him-‘

Jessica interrupted her.

‘Still, he’s here right? And then he’s pretty good-looking if he wasn’t your clone, which I admit, might put me off a bit but that’s cause we’re friends and you’re like madly in love with me-‘

‘No jokes…please’ she begged

‘Okay, fine.’ Jessica conceded ‘Then let me see…he’s a nice person as well. I remember that time he gave me a lift back to my house. And he’s really polite and well mannered- very funny too, if that prank he pulled on you is anything to go by. And, he remembers everyone’s names and all those little details- I guess because he’s in the force and it’s a skill or something but, still, it makes you feel special and…he’s quick witted and has all these funny stories and then, then, I guess, you know what they say right?’

‘What?’

‘About seeing how a person treats their family to see what sort of person they are’

‘Oh yeah’

‘Yeah’ Jessica smiled ‘He ing adores you. Like really, it makes me jealous that I don’t have an older brother like that. You always keep complaining about how he’s on top of you but at the end of the day, he still supports you in what you do, right? He’s like straight out of a comic book. One of those perfect characters that are the protagonist’s best friend and then their death encourages them to become vigilantes or something’

‘Thanks for the last bit’ Taeyeon replied sarcastically ‘nice way to cheer me up’

‘But I’m serious though. He really does care for you so much and-’ her eyes widened ‘you’re jealous, aren’t you?’

‘WHAT?’

‘That that girl is going to take him away or something’

‘No, of course not!’

‘Come on, you’ve been practically inseparable. You live together!’

‘Are you suggesting that I’m in love with my brother or something? Cause that’s very twisted logic right there’

‘Don’t be stupid, Kim Taeyeon. I’m saying you rely on him a lot and feel scared that he’s suddenly not going to focus all his attention on you’

Taeyeon snorted.

‘He doesn’t focus all his attention on me, you know. He loves his work more as evidenced by the fact he’s with…that girl’

Jessica’s expression darkened.

‘Tell me honestly, Taeyeon. Why did he move to Seoul? Wasn’t he relegated one position or something?’

‘It was natural though! There’s more people here and-‘

‘Yeah, but he could have waited for a bit or something. You said he practically insisted on coming and taking ANY position-‘

‘Cause it’s easier to have a proper career and it would pay more in the end and-‘

‘Have you ever honestly asked him why he choose to pretty much throw away a third of his salary, leave his parents and friends behind and come to the big city to live in a small apartment- with you?’

Silence.

‘No’ Taeyeon mumbled.

Jessica gave a small whistle.

‘Wow, he really is the perfect comic book character’ she laughed ‘leaving everything behind to look out for his little sister’

Taeyeon remained silent. She turned the tap and splashed water on her neck.

***

‘Jessica, Taeyeon, there you are!’ Yuri came running- as fast as her high heels permitted her- towards them.

‘Look who I found!’ Yuri said gleefully, grabbing Hyoyeon tightly by the shoulder

‘Yuri, you totally messed my groove!’ the latter complained.

‘What are you? A llama? You were dancing by yourself and there was like no-one around you- for three feet!’ the other girl replied

‘That’s because they were watching me dance, you idiot! Seriously, you should consider a career change, so many standing-on-your-head yoga positions are turning your social skills into mush’

Yuri scratched her head thoughtfully.

‘No, actually, Hyo, they’ve always been a bit like that. There was this time-‘

‘OH MY GOD TAEYEON HAVE YOU BEEN CRYING?!’ Hyoyeon pushed Yuri out of the way to get to their friend. The tanned girl fell on the floor with a thud.

‘I was just thinking about the song and those things, you know’ Taeyeon lied ‘it’s a bit stressing’

‘And YOU’ Hyoyeon pointed her finger angrily at Jessica ‘let her THINK about these things?’

Jessica, on the other hand, looked thoroughly unimpressed. She walked past Hyoyeon, pushing the accusing finger away, as she went to help out Yuri- who was still struggling to get up wearing her heels.

‘Yeah, I forgot to bring the ‘mind-control’ cap along. Sorry, Taeyeon’ Jessica said, as she pulled Yuri up. She looked around at the crowd of the people.

‘It’s fine, Hyo, I think I just need a drink’ Taeyeon replied apologetically

‘Or ten’ Yuri added.

‘Or ten’ Taeyeon forced a smile ‘that’s why we’re here for anyways’