"Bye, Jess." Taecyeon smiled at Jessica as she got out of the car. "I hope that you'll seriously consider about it, but I won't rush you or anything like that."

Jessica nodded and stared as the car drove away. was dry; it wasn't like she rarely received confessions, but Taecyeon? She had never looked at him in this way and will never. He was more like a brotherly figure, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Besides, her heart was already claimed by someone else.

Taeyeon had decided to go to the art gallery to calm her thoughts. The art gallery was like her fourth home (after her own home, her dorm and the company). Being there allowed her to discover her inner feelings and everything that she couldn't sort out in her head before. Just by looking and observing the pictures, she could see herself in a whole new light. If not for the art gallery, her mind would have been very confused right now.

She walked in and greeted one of the employers there, Madame Jung. Madame Jung was like a motherly figure to her, and she would never fail to interpret her feelings on a picture whenever Taeyeon had difficulty conveying her thoughts into words. Madame Jung was the one whom guided her through the tough times in her life, and really, Taeyeon felt like she owed Madame Jung a lot. It wasn't even like she was paid to do this for her.

"I'm really glad you're here, Taeyeon. There were some new pictures that came in yesterday and I would like for you to look at them."

Madame Jung led her to a room behind an art gallery, and Taeyeon found herself staring at a picture she had never seen before, but could already relate to it. There were two figures sitting with their backs to each other and staring at the blank, empty space in front of them.

After she had observed the picture for around 5 minutes, Madame Jung gently asked Taeyeon, "What do you feel about this picture?"

Taeyeon felt like she had so much words and emotions to say and to pour out on this picture but she just couldn't find the right words to. She could relate so much to this picture that it was driving her crazy, but what was it in her life that could relate?

"It seems like.... they have so much words to say to each other but they can't...can't do it." She sputtered. "Also... alhough they are sitting close to each other, they seem far away from each other. You know, something like the saying, 'so near yet so far'."

"Mhmmm." Madame Jung nodded her head. "How about this then?"

She led Taeyeon to the picture beside it. There was nothing on it except for a figure sitting down with his head on his knees on the floor while the second figure was standing up and had his back faced to the first person, but his head was turned, looking at him on the floor.

"It feels like....he wants to leave but he can't." Taeyeon stared. "Not can't...it's more of he doesn't want to."

Madame Jung smiled. "You've done it without realizing, Taeyeon."

"Done what?"

"Figuring out your inner thoughts and hidden feelings."

"Have I?'

"There must be somebody that you're losing but you're not willing to let go off. There must be somebody that's close to your side but you can't approach him/her, right?"

Tiffany.

Taeyeon nodded.

"Well, you know what to do from here on, then."

---

Taeyeon arrived back at the dorm to a very flustered Jessica.

"Oh my gosh, Tae, you WOULD NOT believe what just happened."

"What?" Taeyeon raised her eyebrows and looked at her.

"Taec just confessed to me."

"Taecyeon?!" Taeyeon guffawed, and started laughing. "Wae? I thought he liked Yoona."

"Exactly!" Jessica sighed. "I've only seen him all along as a good friend, and I don't even know what to do after his confession. You should've seen us on the way back, man. We were so awkward."

"What did you say, then?" Taeyeon asked.

"Huh??" Jessica was taken aback. "Of course I would've said no, but...."

"But??" Taeyeon narrowed her eyes at Jessica.

"He...he told me that he would give me time and I didn't want our friendship to end just because of this, and I didn't want to reject him on the spot...."

"Whatever." Taeyeon turned away.

"What?" Jessica huffed, surprised at Taeyeon's sudden cold behaviour. "Are you jealous?" she laughed.

"Why would I be?"

"What do you mean by that?" Jessica glared at her.

"What do I mean? It doesn't matter if you just spent the whole afternoon listening to a guy's confession or flirt with other guys, just make sure no scandal breaks out, please. We still need to keep our image, okay? Watch what you do outside."

Jessica looked at her with a blank look in her eyes for a while. "You're jealous." She said quietly.

Taeyeon looked away. "No, I'm not."

Jessica gently took hold of Taeyeon's face with both her arms and squeezed her cheeks. "Aigo, you're jealous."

Taeyeon looked at her, and......

leaned in and gently kissed her on the lips.

Jessica's eyes widened in surprise. She shouldn't be doing this, she really shouldn't. Her mind was telling her to push Taeyeon away. What if she got hurt again? What if Taeyeon still loved Tiffany and used her for a substitute? However much her mind was telling her to stop, she still found herself leaning into Taeyeon. Taeyeon smiled against her lips and gently took Jessica's hand.

And they stayed that way for a long, long time, simply because neither of them wanted to pull away.