The girl on stage let her fingers play the last chord of the song. Her eyes could finally focus on the people in the bar that were there to eat for lunch, her eyes immediately caught a familiar face in the crowd. When their eyes met she got a smile and a nod from the girl sitting by the bar counter.

Taeyeon thanked the people for listening and told them to enjoy their food before she finally got off the stage with her guitar in hand. The familiar girl she had seen among the people walked up to her with a proud smile on her face.

“Good job there.” Sunny praised and gave her shoulder a pat.

“I still have a lot to improve.” Taeyeon said.

“Well, I must say that you sound better than the first time you performed. You’ve gotten more used to playing live in front of people.” Sunny pointed out.

“Maybe that.” Taeyeon mumbled.

“I think you should listen to your friend. You get better and better by the week. I’m afraid a music producer will come in and steal us from you.” Junjin that was behind the bar counter popped in. Taeyeon felt herself blush in embarrassment, and she turned from the two of them to hide her flushed cheeks.

“I highly doubt a music producer would find me worthy to invest in.” Taeyeon said.

“You never know.” Junjin said with a wink before he went off to take the orders the customers.

Taeyeon turned back to Sunny that smiled at her. “He has a point.” She said.

Taeyeon frowned and went to the side of the stage to get the case for her guitar. She wasn’t convinced of what they were saying. She thought they probably said it just to give her more confidence. Her performance wasn’t that good, she knew that, and she also knew she had a lot to improve before she even could count herself as good.

“Are you free after this?” Sunny asked when Taeyeon had put her guitar in the case. The brunette turned towards the blonde girl, thinking of whether she should make an excuse to go home and practice playing, or just tell the blonde girl that she needed to practice.

“Well, I was thinking of practicing when I get home.” Taeyeon choose to be honest. No use lying. And there was no point in hiding the truth this time.

“You can practice at my place! I don’t mind having you there.” Sunny said with a smile.

Taeyeon bit her lower lip. She wasn’t sure if Sunny’s parents would like her being there and playing. What if she disturbed them? What if they got annoyed but could tell her to stop playing because she was Sunny’s friend and Sunny had invited her over?

“Will your mom be okay with it?” Taeyeon asked.

“Of course! She asked me why you’re not playing at my place anymore. She misses it.” Sunny assured.

“Oh…” Taeyeon wasn’t sure if Sunny was telling her the truth, or if the girl had said that just to assure her it was okay. But even so Taeyeon went with believing in the girl, and hoped that if Sunny’s mother or father found her playing disturbing they would tell her so she could stop.

She didn’t want to force people to listen to her. If they didn’t want to hear it, she hoped they would just tell her.

“Okay, I can go to your place for a bit.” Taeyeon agreed. A pleased smile appeared on Sunny’s lips and the latter took the lead as they went out of the bar.

It wasn’t that many people on the street at this time of the day. But Taeyeon figured people would probably stay home or be inside during a Sunday afternoon. That’s at least what she would have done if she hadn’t had a job to go to.

“How are your savings going?” Sunny asked as they crossed the street.

“Well I guess. I don’t spend that much money, so I save most of what I earn.” Taeyeon said with a shrug.

“That’s great. Sulli will be grateful to you for helping her out.” Sunny said and patted Taeyeon back.

“Yeah, I just wish I could do more for her…” Taeyeon mumbled.

“You’re already doing enough for her. If you ask her I’m sure she will tell you that. You can’t expect to do everything on your own.” Sunny pointed out.

Taeyeon nodded her head to what Sunny said even though she didn’t fully agree with the girl. Even if she couldn’t do everything on her own, she wished she could.

The two girls continued to walk to Sunny’s place. Sunny talked university and the exams period that had been. Taeyeon listened to the girl without giving the girl any verbal opinions. And Sunny didn’t mind it, appreciated that Taeyeon listened, and she didn’t need the girl to give a verbal response to everything she said.

They finally arrived at Sunny’s place, and the older girl took the lead as they entered the apartment. While they were taking off their shoes Sunny’s mother appeared in the hallway, a happy smile appeared on the woman’s lips when her eyes landed on the two girls.

“Oh, Taeyeon is here!” The woman exclaimed happily.

“Hello.” Taeyeon greeted the woman with a bow. She noticed Sunny’s mother glanced at the guitar case Taeyeon was carrying, and she figured it was best to ask the woman if it was okay if she practiced, even though Sunny had assured her it would be.

“Is it okay if I practice here?” Taeyeon asked.

“Yes, of course it is! I missed you playing.” Sunny’s mother assured. And Taeyeon felt slightly relieved to know that Sunny hadn’t lied to her, but she felt kind of bad for believing the girl would lie.

Taeyeon mustered up a small smile when the woman had given her approval. And when she had finished taking off her shoes she went after Sunny to the older girl’s room. Sunny took a seat by her desk in front of the computer, and Taeyeon took a seat on the floor beside the bed.

“You can practice if you want. I’ll be here doing my thing.” Sunny told the girl.

“You sure it’s okay?” Taeyeon asked one last time just to be sure she would get in the way of the girl. Sunny glanced at her, and a smile appeared on the girl’s face.

“I would honestly rather listen to you than trying to find a good album to listen to now. So yes, it’s more than alright.” Sunny said.

Taeyeon nodded her head and began taking her guitar out of its case. Sunny turned to her computer and immersed herself with the things she had to do on it, and Taeyeon sat herself in a good position to play.

She already had a song in mind she wanted to practice, and she had already provided herself with the notes and chords she needed, she took out the sheet of paper of the songs, and skimmed through the chords while she was mindlessly playing something on the guitar to warm up her fingers.

“Taeyeon, can I ask you something?” Sunny suddenly asked.

“Yes, you can.” Taeyeon said and thought it was a bit strange of the girl to ask permission to ask something. But he shrugged it off and waited for the question Sunny wanted to ask to come.

“What will you do when you finish high school?” The older girl asked.

Taeyeon stopped playing and stared at Sunny’s back. She hadn’t thought of what to do, and now when she thought of it, it was her last semester in school, so she only had a few months to decide. She bit her lower lip, and she realized she hadn’t given the girl an answer when she noticed Sunny turned around in her seat.

“I don’t know.” Taeyeon admitted.

A small smile appeared on Sunny’s lips and the girl turned back to the computer screen.

“At least you have a job, so it’s okay if you don’t know yet.” Sunny said.

“Yeah…I guess.” Taeyeon said and continued to move her fingers over the strings of her guitar, playing a random melody.

“Do you know what Jessica’s plans are?” Sunny asked.

Taeyeon stopped playing once again. She and Jessica hadn’t talked about any future plans together, Jessica hadn’t even mentioned what she wanted to do in the future, and she don’t remember the girl asking about her future either. She realized that might be a good topic to talk about, especially if both of them will finish high school soon.

“Taeyeon, do you know if you’re part of Jessica’s future plans?” Sunny asked.

The older girl had turned around in her seat and was looking seriously at Taeyeon. The brunette girl couldn’t answer, she only stared at Sunny. And by her silence Sunny seemed to have figured out the answer on her own.

“If you get the answer you might find out if your relationship is only temporary or not.” Sunny said. A bit of sadness appeared in Sunny’s eyes and the older girl turned back to the computer screen. “And for your sake, I honestly hope that this relationship isn’t only temporary.”

Taeyeon remained motionless for minutes. She realized she hadn’t thought much about her future at all, neither had she thought about what was going to happen with her and Jessica in the future. And she felt they needed to have that talk, but at the same time she felt like she dreaded the talk. Because what if Jessica had future plans that didn’t involve her? How would she handle that?

Taeyeon realized that after the girl had started being around her in her life she had taken that for granted. She had gotten used to having Jessica with her. And now she didn’t know what she would do if in the future Jessica wouldn’t be part of her life.

---

The brunette girl let out a sigh as she entered the apartment. She quickly took off her shoes and hung up her jacket, and with her outer clothes off she walked further into the apartment. She glanced into the living room, catching a glimpse of the TV that was on.

“I’m home.” Taeyeon said before she walked to her room. She put the guitar case on her bed and walked out of the room towards the kitchen.

With a glance in the sink she confirmed the only unwashed plate that was there was from yesterday. Her eyebrow rose and she looked at the dish rack. No plate, no glass, and no utensils. Her eyebrows furrowed.

She went over to the refrigerator and opened it, her eyes quickly landed on the bowl of food she had left there this morning for her mother to eat. It was completely untouched. A sigh left her lips and she grabbed the bowl.

“Mom, why haven’t you eaten?” Taeyeon asked from the kitchen. She got no respond from the woman in the living room, and she didn’t expect one either as the woman usually was asleep around this time.

A tired sigh escaped her lips and she brought the food to the microwave to heat it up. While it was inside of it she went to the living room to wake up her mother so the woman could sleep.

As she entered the living room she noticed the arm chair was empty. The woman was not in the seat Taeyeon usually found her. Taeyeon slowly walked closer, and closer, thinking it was strange of the woman to not be there. Her second guess would be that her mother had gone to her bedroom to sleep there.

“Mom?” Taeyeon called out, and just went she was about to turn around to check in her mother’s bedroom she caught the sight of a pair of legs behind the arm chair.

Taeyeon felt her blood go cold, her heart beat fast. The adrenaline that shot through her veins made her shake as she rushed towards the limp body of her mother that lied on the floor.

“Mom? Mom, wake up! Hey!” Taeyeon shouted.

The woman didn’t respond or move.