Taeyeon sat on the couch greeting the pain with a smile on her face as Tiffany formally introduced Jessica. She rubbed her hands together as cold sweat beaded on her forehead and began trickling down her neck. Every passing minute made Taeyeon succumb in self-condemnation and forlornness.

“Taeyeon, I want you to meet my friend,” Tiffany pointed at the blonde, extreme excitement was eminent in her voice. “Her name is–”

Jessica. Sooyeon, Taeyeon thought in her head even before Tiffany was able to completely utter the blonde’s name. Although she knew she wouldn’t gain a thing or be in an advantage from subtly declaring Jessica’s name before Tiffany does; Taeyeon still felt the need to show off the fact that Jessica was her friend first – even if it was only saying it subconsciously to herself.

“Jessica” Tiffany smiled from ear to ear, “She works at the library two blocks from our studio”

Eventually finding the bravery to stop her eyes from wandering elsewhere, Taeyeon finally fixed her eyes on the girl; who sat uncomfortably on the couch across from her while intently staring at the hardwood floor.

“Jessica, this is my friend and co-worker Taeyeon. Sooyoung and I met her at this photography symposium 2 years ago” Tiffany placed her hand on Jessica’s shoulder startling the girl and earning a faint gasp from Taeyeon.

Finally catching on with the unbearable tension Sooyoung butted in the conversation – only for the sake of getting over the formalities and moving on with the day. “It’s actually quite a funny story, it was only a few months after Tiff and I opened up our studio when we decided to purchase photographs to display in our location and so we attended a two day symposium in Busan-”

Tiffany cuts Sooyoung off to continue the story, “And there’s a photo on display that caught our attention. We wanted to buy it so badly that Sooyoung even agreed to not spend money on food for a month just so we can purchase it. So we pleaded the organiser to contact the artist and the photographer turned out to be Taeyeon”

“Taengoo said it wasn’t for sale, she was a tough nut to crack too she literally said ‘no its not for sale’ and walked away. If she wasn’t half my size I could have seriously beaten her up” Sooyoung finished earning a hearty laugh from Tiffany and a soft giggle from Taeyeon while Jessica remained unperturbed.

Tiffany paused for a second, “What was the photograph again? Oh right, it was this landscape photo of two empty yogurt drinks placed on a ledge of a building accompanied with a nice sunset in the background. Don’t get me wrong it was a really nice photograph but we wanted to buy it because it looked rather strange..but unique ” the two best of friends giggled at the memory.

Jessica’s eyes grew a little bigger than they originally were after hearing Tiffany’s familiar story. She knew all too well what the photograph was about. It was rather too close to heart for it not to ring a bell. Her eyes hovered at Taeyeon who was lightly rocking her body back and forth looking awfully distressed, biting down on her own lips.

“Actually, we went to the same school. Taeyeon and I” Jessica blurted her voice toneless. Tiffany and Sooyoung was dumbfounded, their jaw went slack.

Taeyeon too was caught off guard with the bold statement, she looked up and found Jessica’s eyes staring right back at her. Taeyeon looked into Jessica’s eyes and maybe even saw her heart, what are you doing? Taeyeon wanted to ask the girl.

“Oh, I remember now, she does look familiar. I attended J.A.H.S for a couple of months and then I left for Japan” Taeyeon continued her voice hoarse and eyes never leaving Jessica’s

“Were you two close friends?” Tiffany nervously asked, she balled her fists while anticipating for an answer.

Taeyeon is well aware that Tiffany is trying to court someone she really likes and unfortunately now she knows who it was. Tiffany is a friend, a good friend at that but out of all the people in Seoul, why did it have to be Jessica? And what hurts the most was seeing Jessica happy and getting along with someone else - and slowly turning into a complete stranger.

She wondered what kind of heinous sin she had commited in her past life for her to completely fall out of luck. Even though Taeyeon is sure that meeting Jessica in this lifetime wasn’t a mistake rather the best thing that’s ever happened in her life she couldn’t help but think that maybe it’s really not meant to be and now it’s finally time to let go.

“No, I'm afraid not. I didn’t stay long enough to make friends with anyone” Taeyeon finally answered, fast enough to stop Jessica from answering. Taeyeon bit her lips again maybe a little too hard this time.

“Taeyeon your lips..it’s bleeding” Tiffany worriedly blurted about to take some kleenex from the coffee table in front of her to give her friend but Jessica beated her to it.

Taeyeon’s eyes widened and her body tensed up with Jessica’s obvious act. She wanted to tell the girl that, if you keep this up, I really might not let go and I could have told them the truth but it seems like you’re finally opening up to someone else so I’m just gonna pretend the memories of the two of us doesn't exist. Taeyeon grabbed the handful of tissue from the latter, “thanks, and ya’ll need to relax, I’m not gonna die from this”

“Okay, we have a big day tomorrow, let’s all go to bed!” Tiffany announced standing up from the couch gesturing everyone to go to their respective rooms. Everyone else complied but Sooyoung who stayed seated on the couch with her brows furrowed in confusion. She knew something was off but couldn’t exactly determine what – she had a feeling it’s going to be one interesting weekend.

Finishing up with her daily night time fac