“Ne, I’ll be right there.” Jessica heard SooYoung say in a hushed voice. “Just wait for me, araso? See you.” The supposedly sleeping girl shifted her position on the bed when the door closed silently. Where is she going? It’s almost midnight. Jessica thought to herself. The girl shrugged it off, too sleepy to care.

SooYoung practically tiptoed through the SNSD dorm to get to the front door. She’ll be in trouble if she gets caught. Her hands almost reached the door handle when someone spoke from her back, making her heart jump in surprise. “Unnie? Where are you going?” It was SeoHyun. Damn, how can she forget that the girl stays up late to watch cartoons?

She turned around rapidly to face the maknae. SooYoung desperately racked her brain to come up with a legit excuse. “Uhh.. I’m just going to the convenience store.. uhh.. to buy some food.” The tanned girl said nervously. The questioning look at SeoHyun’s face told SooYoung that the girl wasn’t buying it. “Unnie we have plenty of food here. I’ll advice you not to go out since it’s already late. But I’m sure wherever you’re going, it is important since you have to sneak out. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” SeoHyun said smiling.

SooYoung returned the smile back. “Gomaweo Seo. Jalja.” The maknae watched her unnie opened the door and disappeared from it.

Jessica woke up to find that her room mate is not on her bed. Maybe she’s already outside. She thought. With her bed made, she went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. In there, she found Sunny, HyoYeon, and Yuri eating and talking animatedly. Everyone greeted her a good morning while she proceeded to the cabinets to prepare herself some cereal.

She brought her bowl to the living room where Yoona was watching TV, SeoHyun was reading a book, while TaeYeon and Tiffany were beside the maknae on the couch talking to each other. That’s odd. Where is SooYoung? If she’s not in the kitchen devouring food, then where is she? Jessica thought to herself. But she decided to speak up in case the others know.

“Guys, where is SooYoung?” SeoHyun immediately stopped her reading and looked at Jessica. Yoona didn’t seem to take notice of Sica because she’s busy with her program but Taeng and Tiffany stopped what they’re doing to give Jessica a reply. “Uh no. I haven’t seen her today.” Tiffany said. She noticed that Sica has a confused look on her face. “Why? Do you need anything from her?” Tiffany continued.

“Ani, it’s just that I think she went out last night.” Jessica said while feeding herself the cereal. At this point, the three girls in the kitchen have joined everyone in the living room.

“Who went out last night?” Yuri asked to no one while she seated beside SeoHyun.

“Guess who’s not here Yuri.” Jessica said coldly.

Yuri looked around. “Oh.. okay.” Said the brunette. “Where did she go?”

“No one knows.” Sunny butted in.

“Maybe she went to her relatives.” HyoYeon suggested.

“But she usually tells us when she visits her family, right?” YoonA said with her attention still on the TV.

After that, everyone got themselves busy. Since today is one of their rare free days, the girls decided to make the most out of it by catching up to some sleep and rest. As everyone got into their own thing, no one noticed TaeYeon’s worried expression. When Tiffany left for her room, the SNSD leader sat beside the unmoving maknae on the couch

“SeoHyun-a~ do you really have no idea where SooYoung went?” TaeYeon asked the taller girl quietly. SeoHyun tensed a bit but held her composure. “Unnie, wae are you asking me?” SeoHyun tried to avoid the question thinking that Taeng would just drop it. But the leader didn’t. “It’s just that I know you stay up late and maybe you saw SooYoung leave the dorm. And besides, you’re usually quiet and observant. I bet you know stuff here about everyone.” TaeYeon explained. “So please tell me what you know. Please?”

SeoHyun sensed TaeYeon’s desperation although she wasn’t sure why. Her SooYoung unnie will probably kill her with violence but everyone already knows she was gone. Where is she anyway? And why isn’t she back yet? If she doesn’t want to get caught, why didn’t she return before everyone woke up? That confused the maknae even more. Well, her TaeYeon unnie will get confused with her. “I saw SooYoung unnie last night. She said she was going to the convenience store to buy food but I know that’s not where she’s going.”

The light in TaeYeon’s face after hearing SeoHyun said that she saw SooYoung disappeared instantly when the maknae finished her sentence. “What do you mean? Didn’t she say anything else?” The leader asked concerned. Why didn’t SooYoung leave a message? Or didn’t tell anyone where she went? “I didn’t question her any further. I just said that wherever she was going must be important, since she left in the middle of the night. And unnie, she told me not to tell anyone I saw her. That’s why I didn’t say anything earlier.”

TaeYeon nodded at the information she just received. What is SooYoung up to and why did she want to hide it? So many questions were swirling in TaeYeon’s mind at the moment. She didn’t know why but she’s so nervous that she thought she’s gonna hurl. “Unnie, are you okay? You look pale.” SeoHYun asked anxiously. “I’m fine.” TaeYeon lied. “Gomaweo SeoHyun-a.” The older girl smiled weakly. She patted the other girl’s shoulder and stood up from the couch to head to her room.

Taeng entered and found her room mate Sunny on her bed listening to her ipod while texting. When she closed the door, Sunny turned her head around to acknowledge her presence. “Hey, you okay? You don’t look so good.” Sunny pulled out her earphones and sat on the bed. Before TaeYeon could answer, Sunny’s face brightened as if she just solved a difficult puzzle. “You’re worried about SooYoung aren’t you?”

TaeYeon was caught off guard by the question. How did Sunny know? Once again, before she could answer, her room mate cut her off. “You’re going to ask me how do I know, right? Well, to answer, it’s pretty obvious to me actually.”

TaeYeon furrowed her eyebrows at the statement. “What do you mean obvious? What is obvious?”

“That you like SooYoung!” Sunny said knowingly.

“What? Of course I do! I like everyone!” TaeYeon retaliated hoping she doesn’t sound too defensive. How could Sunny possibly know that she likes SooYoung? Unless the girl is psychic or something.

“Yeah, but not as much as you like SooYoung.” Sunny deadpanned.

TaeYeon didn’t know how to reply so she decided to end the conversation before it went further. “Whatever SoonKyu. I’m going to sleep. It’s rare that we can do this.”

“I hear you. Sleep well.” Sunny put her earphones in with a smile on her face.

TaeYeon woke up a couple of hours later and saw that her room mate was sleeping. Noiselessly, she crept through the door and made her way in the living room. SeoHyun hasn’t moved from her spot. She’s holding the book she was reading earlier but she’s watching TV now with Yuri and HyoYeon. The leader approached her members but sat on the couch beside the maknae.

“So did SooYoung arrive already?” She interrogated SeoHyun again.

“Aniyo unnie. She’s not back yet.” TaeYeon let out a sigh and the maknae didn’t fail to catch the look of sadness in TaeYeon’s face.

“Why don’t you call her or send her a message unnie? So you wouldn’t worry so much.” SeoHyun advised. The girl really is mature for her age.

“No, I don’t want to disturb her or anything.” Though it’s normal for everyone to worry about the other members, TaeYeon is the only one who’s been so worked up about SooYoung’s disappearance. It’s probably because she’s the leader. But her worrying is too much for her. Why is TaeYeon unnie so affected? The maknae thought.

Dinner time arrived and the SNSD members started gathering at the dining area. Their cook prepared a glorious meal for them to celebrate their success in the past few days.

“Woah! The food looks awesome!” YoonA exclaimed.

“Yeah! Too bad SooYoung will miss out on all these!” HyoYeon replied enthusiastically.

TaeYeon stopped on her tracks. SooYoung isn’t here yet? Where the hell is she? The bothered expression etched on her face caught both Sunny and SeoHyun’s attention. Everyone dug in, not aware of their leader’s predicament. Sunny saw her room mate head to their room and she followed suit. When Sunny poked her head on the door, she saw TaeYeon with her hand phone clutched on her hand. “If you’re so worried, give her a call.” Taeng spun her neck to the door. When she saw Sunny, she dropped her gaze longingly on the floor. Clearly undecided of what to do.

“Ya!! Choi SooYoung!! Where have you been?” The two girls caught each other’s gaze at the sound of Yuri’s voice. Sunny peeked outside and saw the tallest member making her way to the kitchen. “She’s here.” TaeYeon dropped the phone on her bed and scrambled for the bedroom door. Sunny giggled at their frantic leader.

“Where have you been?” TaeYeon heard Jessica ask the tanned girl.

“I just met with someone.” SooYoung said as she gave everyone a wide smile. TaeYeon kept staring at taller girl, looking for the real explanation. SooYoung seemed happier than usual. As if reading her thoughts, she heard Sunny asked, “Who did you meet?”

SooYoung turned her attention to Sunny. “Uhh.. a friend. We haven’t seen each other in a while so— OMO! Where did all these food come from?” Seeing the food on the table, SooYoung got distracted from the conversation. What else will you expect from the Shikshin?

Sunny shook her head and TaeYeon let out a smile at their friend’s behavior. They’ve all settled in and ate the delicious dinner contentedly. As usual, SooYoung was the last person left at the table. Being the food god, she lived up to her nickname of course. But tonight, she felt that someone was watching her from behind. She craned her neck from side to side until she spotted the culprit.

“Wae? Do you need leg massages again midget?” She jokingly asked TaeYeon. The other girl gave her an annoyed look while mumbling ‘huisshh’. SooYoung laughed at the irritated leader but she motioned for her to sit down. “Seriously, we should get you acupunctured, shorty.” TaeYeon smacked the taller girl’s arms.

“Shut up SooYoung. Where did you go?”

“Why do you want to know?” asked the younger girl, still eating.

“Nothing. I was just…”

“You were worried about me aren’t you?” SooYoung teased.

“What if I was?” TaeYeon asked without hesitation. SooYoung felt the seriousness in TaeYeon’s question. She stopped eating and stared at their leader. “I’m sorry if I made you worry.” The leader eyed her suspiciously as if waiting for another sarcastic joke to be thrown at her but the other girl said nothing.

“Oh okay. Please do me… I mean us… a favor and tell us where you’ll go next time, araso?”

SooYoung nodded her head, unable to speak because of the food in . It’s weird that TaeYeon is getting worked up about SooYoung’s business but she assumed that because she’s SNSD’s leader and the eldest, she’ll worry about everyone.