“Are you seriously still mad at me for leaving you hanging?”

“How ‘bout more along the lines of used me, , then left me hanging?”

“Oh baby it wasn’t that bad!”

“You’re right, it wasn’t.”

“Tiff…now you’re just being passive aggressive.”

“Sure.”

“Tiff…”

“What!”

“You need a shower. You stink.”

“No I don’t. I just showered a few hours ago.”

“No. You stink. Now come take a shower.”

“Didn’t I just tell yo– oh…OH!”

“You coming baby?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The girls worked their asses off in the next few months. Practicing their first single over and over until their bodies could perform it even in their sleep purely by rote.

Their company made them do a TV show on how they were preparing for their debut called ‘Girls’ Generation Goes To School’ and it was a huge eye-opener for most of the girls in the group. Most of them had not been exposed to doing TV broadcasts and it took some getting used to. And as expected, Tiffany had the hardest time.

The thug disliked being captured on camera. It seemed very alien and unnatural to her. It took a lot of work on her own part as well as the other girls to even get Tiffany slightly comfortable enough with being filmed. The girl had to constantly remind herself to smile and smile and smile. Her default face-setting was rather emotionless and definitely not camera-friendly.

Jessica found herself constantly discreetly whispering encouragement into her girlfriend’s ear both on and off camera. Sometimes even resorting to promises of naughty proportions to entice Tiffany to smile.

It was hard work for all. But the end result paid off and Tiffany surprisingly was successful in passing off as a rather bubbly and spry eye-smile queen.

Jessica on the other hand…appeared a little more aloof on the final product than they had expected. All her members knew Jessica was not one for quick reactions, and being the one Tiffany was most susceptible to, Jessica bore the brunt of project ‘Make Tiffany Lovable’. The brunette had been too darn concerned about making Tiffany presentable that she was sometimes caught off guard when it came to her time in front of the camera and she came off rather distant and icy; something the princess was definitely not quite happy about. But of course, the many nights of personal comfort from Tiffany all but made up for everything and more.

The girls continued to frequently visit Lexi, sometimes as a whole group, sometimes as a subset, and sometimes alone.

Seohyun made a point of visiting at least twice a week to read stories to Lexi. The maknae, like Tiffany, was not usually a particularly expressive soul. Her unnies often had a hard time drawing her out.

But with Lexi, Seohyun was different.

The maknae’s countenance would light up immediately upon sight of the little girl. Her unnies had never seen their maknae more expressive than when she was reading stories to the Lexi. Seohyun would use different animated voices for each different character, sometimes even getting worked up enough to pace up and down the room in her excitement at the building suspense, her hands and fingers waggling about in anticipation. The transformation was quite remarkable and the older girls were happy that Lexi could bring out the less reticent side of their beloved maknae.

Hyoyeon often visited to show Lexi the new dance routines she had learned. The avid dancer was also thrown out many times for being a nuisance, but that didn’t even stop her in the least from coming back.

Hyoyeon would often get so into her routines she would actually worked up a sweat. The dancing queen’s favorite audience was Lexi. With Lexi, Hyoyeon felt more like herself. She didn’t feel the pressure that came with performing in front of other people. With Lexi…Hyoyeon started to really explore her abilities and gain her own confidence.

Yoona had begun to take pictures of her group members and filing them all away so she could use them to fill Lexi’s scrapbook. The doe-eyed girl often went to Lexi to ask for her opinion on what she should include. And even though Lexi never gave her a reply, Yoona found spending time with the child quite comforting amidst her busy schedule.

Yuri, for some odd reason, liked to do her homework in Lexi’s hospital room. She said the soft mechanical whirr of the machines made it easier to focus. The girl was often hyperactive and the other members had seen how she seems to calm down in Lexi’s room, so they let her be.

Sooyoung would bring cookbooks and magazines that had recipes and dishes that she liked she would talk about them and drool over them with Lexi sleeping beside her. The gentle giant also made it her job to groom the girl every time she was there, brushing Lexi’s hair, clipping her nails, wiping down her face and body and doing exercises with her limbs to try and prevent too much muscular deterioration. Sooyoung was very motherly with Lexi and Tiffany loved her all the more for it.

Sunny made paper cranes.

The danshin remembered reading a children’s book called ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’ when she was still a child. She didn’t necessarily believe in magical powers that could cure Lexi’s illness, but she wanted to feel like she was at least doing something. She wanted to feel like the situation was not as hopeless as it seemed. She wanted all the other girls to keep up hope.

And so Sunny would sit for hours on end in her own room, making multicolored paper cranes both big and small. She would string them up in rows and hang them all over Lexi’s room.

Even the nurses themselves could not bring themselves to tell Sunny that she shouldn’t do such things. The danshin seemed to be so heartened and hopeful that they didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop. So the cranes kept coming and coming, until Sunny ran out of room and started to hang them around their own dorm rooms, reasoning that it was the thought that counts, that the cranes don’t need necessarily to be within Lexi’s vicinity.

So Sunny continued to make cranes.

Jessica would come every now and then to paint Lexi’s nails, tell the little girl how things were going with her sister and the rest of the members, and just talk to Lexi in general. Sometimes Jessica would rant to Lexi about her often infuriating sister and her exasperating antics. Sometimes Jessica just talked about whatever randomness that came to mind. And at other times, Jessica didn’t talk much at all and just laid there beside Lexi and took comfort in the little girl’s resilient breathing.

She was breathing.

Lexi was still alive. Somewhat lost in translation but still alive. And Jessica took comfort in that fact alone.

The brunette ev