“Unnie!” Yoona whined, throwing her arms around Tiffany. Tiffany laughed, gently patting SNSD’s visual on her head like the little child she often acted like.

“Yes, Yoona?”

“Unnie, I’m going to–” Yoona hiccupped drunkenly, “– miss you so much!”

“It’s okay, you have Seunggi,” Sunny grinned, mimicking Tiffany’s gesture earlier as she smoothed down their younger member’s hair gently.

“Unnie,” Yoona leaned in, her eyes impossibly wider than they already were as her voice dropped to a hushed whisper, “I think he wants to marry me.”

“Yah!” Hyoyeon thumped Yoona’s back threateningly. “Don’t whisper in that corner, Im Yoona! No secrets in the dorm!”

“We’re not in the dorm,” Yoona whined petulantly. “and don’t hit me, unnie!”

“I’m not hitting you! Get your head on straight!”

Tiffany and Sunny exchanged exasperated, yet fond smiles. Hyoyeon’s drunken tendency towards violence was often amusing and occasionally worrying.

“We’re in public, Hyoyeon,” Sunny laughed. “Behave yourself.”

“Eh?” Hyoyeon glanced around the private room in the noraebang that they had booked for the night before Jessica shut the door behind her.

“I could hear you from outside, Kim Hyoyeon,” she said dryly, taking a seat.

“Sica unnie!”

Jessica blinked confusedly, rather taken aback by Yoona’s explosive aegyo as she peeked over Yoona’s shoulder at Tiffany and Sunny. “What happened to her? I only went out for, like, ten minutes.”

“She chugged down a few beers,” Sunny shrugged, obviously unconcerned.

“Yah, Sica,” Hyoyeon pointed a finger at Jessica, shaking her head. “I look better blonde than you do.”

 “I even did a musical called ‘Legally Blonde,” Jessica returned calmly, “I don’t think you can beat that.”

Hyoyeon only blinked, slightly stunned by Jessica’s counter attack as Tiffany cut in hurriedly. Once Jessica and Hyoyeon really started going at it, they’d never be able to get them home without a ruckus.

"Alright, alright, break it up you two. No fighting in public."

"Speaking of fighting in public," Jessica said, "T.O.P. oppa and Nichkhun really didn't hit each other or anything like that yesterday?"

"For the last time, Jessi," Tiffany sighed in exasperation, "No, Seunghyun didn't hit Nichkhun, and Nichkhun didn't hit Seunghyun."

"It looked like T.O.P. oppa would have though." Sunny said casually, tipping back a glass of orange juice. She was the designated driver for the night – the girls were always careful. After all, they had all seen the aftermath of drunk driving with–

Tiffany cut herself off before she went back there.

"T.O.P. oppa is a gentleman," Jessica murmured distractedly. "Even Jiyong said so. You're a lucky girl, Fany."

"I know," Tiffany smiled before a thought occured to her and she looked at Jessica, hard. "You seem pretty close to Jiyong sshi."

Jessica barely froze, barely paused as she shrugged. "He's a nice guy. Interesting."

Her tone indicated the subject was to be pursued no further and Tiffany took the hint.

“What took you so long outside?” she asked Jessica who was now reclining against the leather couch as Yoona half-fell into her, a mic in hand.

“Phone call,” the blonde replied dismissively, flicking through the selection of songs as her eyes stayed on the pages.

Tiffany looked at her thoughfully – something about Jessica’s tone of voice told her it was more than just any phone call, but she knew better than to push her friend about it. Jessica was notoriously private – even more than Taeyeon who was reserved enough already. Tiffany turned away, rising from the couch.

“I’m going to the washroom.”

The door clicked behind her, shutting off Yoona’s drunken warbling and the new bickering that had started up between Sunny and Hyoyeon. Only Jessica sat silently in one corner, blonde head still bowed.

Tiffany cut the stream of water from the tap off with a flick of her wrist as she pulled out several paper towels from the dispenser next to the basin. There was a slim girl leaning against the edge of the granite basin, applying lipstick, and she shifted slightly to allow Tiffany better access to the sink as Tiffany wet the paper towels to dab the slight sheen of perspiration on her forehead.

The girl was tall, pretty in the kind of slightly ambiguous way that could have easily been created by a Gangnam surgeon, with dyed red hair and a tight black dress. She looked barely older than twenty and unhappy and lonely with red lips that turned down at the corners and thick dark makeup that didn’t hide the sullen resentment that smoldered in her eyes.

Tiffany smiled to herself as she rinsed her hands. She had once been young and unhappy too, but Girls’ Generation had changed a lot of things over the years, and her loneliness had been the first to go.

“You know, unnie,” the girl said suddenly, eyes meeting Tiffany’s in the mirror, “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

“Oh?” Tiffany blinked slightly startled at how light and airy the girl’s voice was before recovering as her famous eye smile made an appearance. She had thought the girl couldn’t care less about the fact that she was Girls’ Generation but apparently their brand still was pretty strong. “Really?”

“Yeah,” the girl said, screwing her cap on her lipstick and slipping it into a  small purse which she placed on the sink before turning to look at Tiffany head on. “I’ve wanted to tell you a thing or two for a long time.”

Tiffany stared for a long second before smiling, an automatic twitch of her lips this time, as she turned away casually to leave despite the slight shiver that crept down her spine. Years in the industry, years of obsessive fans and deranged antis had given her an instinct for danger and that very instinct was urging her to get out of that washroom and back into the private room with the safety her members provided.

“Where are you going, unnie?” Fingers clamped around Tiffany’s wrist and she twisted halfway, frightened, to see the girl glaring at her. “Is it fun?”

“What?” Tiffany managed to eke out.

“Is it fun playing with Khun oppa?” the girl clarified with a snarl that was all gleaming white teeth and full red lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Khun and I–”

“Don’t talk about oppa like you own him,” she hissed, her breathy voice lending her words a lilt. “Did you think you’d be able to get away with treating oppa like trash when we were already nice enough to give him up to you?”

Tiffany turned, panicked and fearful as she wrenched herself out of the girl’s iron grip and rushed for the door. Strong hands clamped around her upper arm, and she felt herself being pulled back and she twisted instinctively and the two girls fell in a flurry of hair and long limbs and clothes.

A sharp pain shot up through Tiffany’s leg and she cried out, arms automatically stretching out to brace herself. She could feel the impact against her palms, but the loud thud that sounded as the girl slipped and hit her cheek against the edge of the sink was louder than anything else.

“Oh my God,” Tiffany whispered as the girl slumped against the wall, still lucid for those eyes were far too bright with anger for her to be severely injured. But there was a large red mark spreading across her right cheekbone already, and Tiffany put her hands to . “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s your fault,” the girl said accusingly. Even from where she was, half-sprawled on the floor with long bright red hair falling over her face, she managed a glare that made Tiffany shrink back instinctively. Her eyes were wide and flat black and frightening. “You screwed with Khun oppa. I’m not going to let you go so easily.”

The door slammed open.

“Shut up,” Hyoyeon’s familiar voice snapped, and Tiffany looked up in shock which instantly morphed into relief.

“Hyoyeon–”

Hyoyeon’s eyes took in Tiffany’s disheveled state, flickered across the redhead’s bruised cheek, and snapped back to Tiffany with alarming alacrity. Tiffany wondered dimly if Hyoyeon was drunk, because she certainly didn’t seem like it.

“Fany,” Hyoyeon said as she knelt by Tiffany, gentle hands helping her up as she smoothed back her hair. “Are you alright?”

Hyoyeon's voice was so kind and gentle that Tiffany nearly wept as she clung to her member with trembling fingers and wide, dark eyes. Taeyeon was the leader, and Tiffany the "manager" but Hyoyeon had always been a mother figure to the girls despite her drunk violent habits and tendency to swear in fights.

Tiffany had never been so grateful for Hyoyeon's reassuring, maternal presence than that moment as they crouched together in a cold, draughty washroom where the off-tune warbling of noraebang customers filtered through the tiled walls.

"I'm alright," Tiffany said, voice trembling. "I'm alright."

The redhead spat a word that sounded very odd in her girlish voice and Hyoyeon’s lips thinned as she stood with an arm around Tiffany and answered with an expletive of her own.

Tiffany saw the slap before she heard it, the sharp sound of skin hitting skin. Hyoyeon barely moved, hardly even blinked before she answered with one of her own, hitting the girl square across her face.

“Crazy ,” the girl laughed in disbelief with her hand pressed to her cheek. “Do you think SNSD will survive a scandal where one of your members gets investigated for physical assault again?”

“Go ahead, bring me to court – we’ll see who’s the crazy then.” Hyoyeon said calmly, hand on the doorknob.

The door cut off the redhead’s airy laughter and Hyoyeon led Tiffany away.

A/N: Thank you all for being so patient! I'm really grateful for all of you who stuck around so thank you thank you thank you.