Riiiiiiiiing. Yoona's phone suddenly rang, distracting the both of them.

"Aish." Yoona pulled her phone out of her pocket. However, when she saw the caller ID, Yoona's face softened and she smiled. Jessica looked at her, and leaned over to peep at the caller ID. Yoona tried to cover it, but it was too late, Jessica saw everything.

---------

"Seunggi oppa?" Jessica said, and immediately, Yoona's face started to blush. "Omo, Yoona. Lee Seunggi? The one that said you were his ideal type for years?"

Yoona nodded and smiled sheepishly.

"Aigo, so cute. Don't let the reporters take your picture when you go on a date," Jessica teased.

"Ah, unnie! We're not at that stage yet!" Yoona pouted.

"Arasso. I'll leave you alone so that you can take his call." Jessica smiled. "Come back early, okay?"

"Yea, unnie." Yoona picked up the phone. "Hello? Seunggi oppa? No.... sorry.. was talking to someone." she tried not to laugh as Jessica made her way out, forming a heart with her hands.

---

Jessica stood outside the dorm. She wanted to go in, but her feet didn't want to move. She was afraid, afraid to see Taeyeon and her reaction. Would she ignore me again like she used to? Or would she give me one word replies again? Jessica sighed, took off her shoes and stepped in.

It was quiet, there was no one outside in the living room. Everyone was probably in their rooms, resting, as they had to get ready to fly to Japan 2 hours later. Jessica realized that she hadn't packed and quickly rushed to her room. Oh my god, the bed looks tempting. Jessica realized that she hadn't got enough sleep and was extremely tired. No, don't sleep now. She reminded herself. I can sleep on the plane later.

Taeyeon stood outside Tiffany's door, with a cup of Tiffany's favourite strawberry ice-cream. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I can do this, Taeyeon thought. If I don't, I'm going to lose her. She was sure that she didn't want to lose anyone anymore, like how she lost Jessica.

Knock knock.

"Who is it?" Tiffany called, with a puzzled voice. The members were close enough to the extent that they barged into each other's room without knocking. Is it manager oppa?

"It's me...Fany-ah."

Upon recognizing the voice, Tiffany's expression hardened. "Come in." she said with a cold tone. "What do you want?"

Taeyeon closed the door behind her. "I....I brought your favourite ice-cream." Taeyeon held it out to her, and tried to smile.

"Tiffany...I'm sorry. I know I disappointed you." Taeyeon apologized, and looked at Tiffany with sadness in her eyes. "Forgive me please? I don't want us to have a cold war, like what happened to Jessica and I."

Tiffany sighed and took the ice-cream from Taeyeon's hands. It was hard for her to stay angry at anyone for long. She patted the space on the bed beside her, gesturing for Taeyeon to sit beside her.

"Thank you." Taeyeon smiled.

"If you took this fast to mend things between us, you should quickly mend things between you and Sica too." Tiffany muttered.

"I-"

"Tae, listen to me." Tiffany turned towards her. "Both you and Jessica are my closest friends in the group. Jessica has been my friend for almost half my life, and you are my friend whom I always turn to whenever I have any problems. I value both of you so much, much more than you think. And can you imagine how hard it has been, to see both of my closest friends having a close war?" she sniffed. "I would do anything to mend the friendship between you two. I could even give up wearing pink for the rest of my life- and you know how much I love pink." she finished bitterly.

Taeyeon almost laughed. Tiffany always sounded funny even if she was being serious. "I'm sorry for not considering your feelings, and me too, I would do anything to mend this friendship now. I just realized how much of an idiot I've been."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Tiffany exclaimed. "Go apologize to her, before she changes her mind!"

"She has already...changed her mind." Taeyeon said softly. "She told me that she gave up on trying to mend the friendship."

"What? That's impossible. The last time I talked to her-"

"She really said that." Taeyeon sighed. "Guess I took too long, huh?"

"Oh...Tae." Tiffany hugged her. "It's okay. It's just Jessica's ice freezing again because it's been melted for too long. Maybe with a little warm fire, the ice will start melting again." Tiffany hugged Taeyeon even tighter. "You will be that fire. And I'll be the oil that helps spread the fire."

Taeyeon was so touched that she almost started crying; she could not imagine what life would be like without Tiffany.

---

2 hours later, all 9 girls were standing at the doorway of their dorm, with a huge luggage each. It was going to be a long trip, they had several interviews and variety programs scheduled in Japan. Oh well, Jessica sighed as she rubbed her eyes. We expected this from the moment we debuted, didn't we.

They lugged their luggage downstairs and got into their van. Taeyeon hopped onto the van first and headed to the back seat, hoping that Jessica would notice her and sit beside her. However, Jessica sat at the front seat and immediately dozed off. "It's okay," Tiffany whispered. "She's just tired."

They finally reached the airport. Fans and reporters could be seen everywhere, and all the members who had been sleeping woke up and immediately started fixing and checking themselves in the mirror.

"Ah...my hair is out of place! Does anyone have a can of hairspray?" Seohyun whined.

"Gosh...where is my brush?" Yuri muttered.

"Yah, there are so many reporters," Sunny exclaimed, looking out of the window. "Faster! We look like wrecks right now, especially since we just woke up." She leaned over and kicked Jessica, who was dozing off again. "Sica! Wake up!"

"Uh...." Jessica sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Jung Jessica! Don't rub your eyes! Your eye makeup will be ruined." Sunny glared at her.

"They're waterproof and smudge-proof! Do you think I'm an idiot? Wearing non-smudgeproof makeup to the airport?" Jessica glared back, and the both of them started to giggle.

Taeyeon watched them at the back, and sighed. How she longed to be in Sunny's place, to be giggling with Jessica, just like they used to.

As soon as they started to step out of the van, fans started to scream and cameras started to flash. They all put on their sunglasses, and waved at the fans while walking into the airport, with bodyguards surrounding them.

Taeyeon observed that the bodyguards were a little rough. Her manager too, she frowned. Every time a fan tried to touch any of them, they would grab him/her and push them away roughly towards the ground. She decided that she would talk to their manager about treating their fans nicely.

As they reached the escalator, there were more fans rushing up. Jessica stepped behind a bodyguard and continued to walk towards the escalator. She was so tired that she didn't think she could deal with any fans, so she left that job to the guards.

Suddenly, a fan launched himself towards Jessica. "SICAAA!"

Taeyeon looked up in alarm. In front of her, a fan was "attacking" Jessica. "Omo," Tiffany said. "Should we help her?"

"Nah, the guards will do it." Sunny replied.

"AHHH!" screamed as she backed away and knocked into a bodyguard.

And then, as if it was a nightmare, all 8 girls looked on in horror as the bodyguard whirled around, grabbed Jessica and threw her onto the floor just like he would do to a fan- except to realize seconds later that it was not a fan. But it was too late.

Jessica lay on the floor, eyes closed, unconcious.