The tears wouldn’t stop flowing as Taeyeon left the restaurant in a hurry. And as she made her way out, the table fell silent. Not even Jessica said anything for a good 10 minutes. All the girls seemed to be in shock, and Jessica, perhaps, a tiny bit guilty for having pushed the conversation to an uncomfortable level.

But she cared for her friends. She may not have been in Korea whilst the ‘cold war’ started, but she had heard enough from her friends to know that there was something seriously wrong with their relationship. And from the little display of affection she saw when they arrived at Sooyoung’s restaurant, or rather, the lack of it, she knew that they hadn’t talked it out. Taeyeon, it would have seemed, was quite as clueless as the rest of the 7 girls.

And that was what frustrated Jessica. If Taeyeon was going to have to go through this heartbreak, she at least had the right know what was going on. And if Tiffany wasn’t going to tell her on her own, then Jessica, at least, wanted to ensure that the much needed talk between them happened. She supposed, on hindsight, she should’ve done it privately. But then again, there was nothing they couldn’t say between the 9 of them. They were sisters. They shared everything, from the silliest of occurrences and the most important matters. Jessica sighed inwardly.

It was Sunny who broke the absolute silence.

The shorter girl was the closest to Taeyeon, having shared a room and many secrets with her during their time as Girls’ Generation. And even after that, Sunny had been the one with the most contact with Taeyeon, other than Tiffany. Sunny, more than any other member, would know how Taeyeon would think.

She stood up much like Taeyeon did. Sunny didn’t want to take sides yet, so she didn’t glare at Tiffany, no matter how much she wanted to at that moment. Her focus now, was to ensure that Taeyeon was safe. Their leader was a strong woman, brave too, but she tended to keep all her problems inside of her, and everyone was worried that one day, she might break.

As Sunny stepped out of the restaurant, the tense atmosphere vanished with the cool night’s breeze. She headed to the parking lot, and as expected, Taeyeon’s car was no longer there. She entered her own car, thinking of where Taeyeon might be.

Somewhere familiar, that’s for sure.

Somewhere comfortable.

Somewhere she loved being.

And then, Sunny had her answer, as she shifted her gear stick, throwing her Mini Cooper into drive and cruising down the empty roads towards her destination.

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Taeyeon sat by the upright piano. The old practise room always gave her a sense of belonging and comfort. She had grown up spending a lot of time in this very room. And for once, she was thoroughly grateful to her agency that they didn’t change their practise rooms from the time they debuted.

The familiar smell of the wooden flooring of the room, the lingering scent of detergent, and the phantom odour of the sweat and tears that had been shed in that very room, year after year, made her feel at home. The ancient piano was still at the very same spot it had been when the 9 girls last walked out of that mirrored room several years ago. The little drawings they had done on the walls as part of an effort to leave their mark in the room was still there, albeit a little faded with time.

Now, Taeyeon sat on the rickety old piano stool, next to the relatively advanced sound system. She tried to play a tune, but her hands shook too much. She tried to sing, but she realised, that the tears would not stop, and that, as she choked on her sobs, she was in no condition to sing. She thought back to the events that had unfolded in the past hour.

How had things gone so wrong?

One question seemed to remain in the forefront of her mind.

Had Tiffany ever really loved her? Was it all a lie?

There were others, but they weren't quite so important.

Why did Tiffany look for someone else? Was she not enough? What should she do now?

She contemplated the answers, and each situation that her mind came up with was more depressing than the last.

She wondered when it had started.

When had Tiffany started looking for love elsewhere?

How many others had she gone out with?

Was he the first? Did she really love him?

How did this even happen?

Weren’t they happy together?

Or had she read the signs wrongly?

She cried out at each question. Her heart ached in a way she never thought possible. She felt hurt, she felt betrayed. And yet, she realised with a start, that the anger she felt wasn’t because she had been cheated on. No, that was the pain of being cheated. The anger stemmed from the fact that Tiffany had purposefully left her in the dark for so long. She hadn’t said a word for over a year, and she would’ve continued doing so if Jessica hadn’t demanded an explanation.

The tears flowed freely now, as she hunched over the large instrument. Her shoulders shook violently as she wept hysterically. She paid no mind to her tears, seeping through the wooden keys of the piano, nor to the opening door.

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And that was how Sunny found her not too long later.

Even though she had been expecting it, the sight of her usually strong leader bawling her eyes out in their practise room still shocked her. The tough front that Taeyeon had kept all these years crumbled to dust as Sunny held the trembling girl.

Taeyeon, with her red eyes and messy face, looked every bit the child she had never been. The tears she had kept in for years and years seemed to flow without hesitance now, as if the floodgates had finally been opened.

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A couple of hours later, Taeyeon found herself on the doorstep of a rather familiar house. She had nothing with her, since Sunny hadn’t given her time to return home to take some of her belongings with her. But then again, Taeyeon didn’t really want to return to her house at that moment. She didn’t think she would be able to handle all the memories that came with every nook and cranny of the place she had lived with Tiffany in for the last 4 years.

No. She would go there some other day to take the things that she really needed. For now, she’d just make do with whatever Sunny had.

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Sunny peeked into the dark room, watching as Taeyeon’s small frame quiver. The girl was crying in her sleep. She wondered just how much tears Taeyeon had, and just how much love she had for the girl she was wasting her tears on.

She pitied Taeyeon, she resented Tiffany. And yet, she loved the both of them. They were sisters. Nothing could ever change that, not even what happened between the two of them. It hurt Sunny to see her friend like this, especially since she knew that she simply couldn’t do anything about it.

She knew that things had changed drastically for the older girl, and Taeyeon would definitely need a friend amidst what seemed like a never-ending black ocean of misery. And Sunny was determined to help Taeyeon in any way possible.

The girl had to move on, fast. And Sunny would make sure that happened.