Taeyeon threw the vase on the floor and was about to flip over the coffee table but a tight grip on her arm was preventing her, “Taeyeon calm down!”

“No! I can’t take it! I just want her out of my life!”

“Let’s talk about this first! Please don’t take it out on the furniture.”

Taeyeon collapsed out of exhaustion while the tears flowed down her cheeks. Her friend came up and consoled her, “There there Tae. Everything will be fine.”

Taeyeon leaned into her friend, “How could she do this to me? I wish she never walked into my life.”

“I am sorry it is all my fault. I shouldn’t have introduced you to her and brought her over tonight. It was my mistake.”
Taeyeon looked up at her friend, “Soo...I can’t go out and face her again.”

Sooyoung rubbed the back of Taeyeon’s head, “You don’t have to. I will be here with you as long as you need me.”

Taeyeon nestled her head into Sooyoung’s neck, “Thanks...”

~2 Days Prior~

Jessica sat on the couch but she was shifting around uncomfortably, “Is something wrong with my couch now?”

Jessica looked up at Taeyeon, “Nothing wrong but do we always have to meet like this?”

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean always you sitting there and me always sitting here.”

“Do you want to change seats? Would that make you feel better?”

“No not that. Can’t we go out and do something more casual? This office .”

Panic struck Taeyeon. The girl wanted Taeyeon to leave her sanctuary. What an absurd idea. Her thoughts started racing on how to diffuse this situation but from the past several sessions, she learned that Jessica was very stubborn. “I think this place is good to allow privacy. Anything you tell me here won’t go beyond these walls. If we go out, others might hear our conversations....”

Jessica stood up, “Privacy is not needed. Let’s go.”

Taeyeon’s idea backfired so she resorted to an emergency plan B, “I have a proposition!”

Jessica stood next to Taeyeon with her arms crossed, “I am listening.”
“If you sit with me this session without asking me random questions and answering some of mine, I will allow for our next session to be somewhere of your choosing.”

The deal sounded very tempting to Jessica however, she was not ready to answer all of Taeyeon’s questions yet. It was risky. Can she stand staying in this office for another 3 months or talk about something that she doesn’t want to bring up again? “This place is like a prison. I will agree to your deal as long as you give me 2 chances not to answer your questions and you can only choose 5 questions to ask me.”

Taeyeon sighed in relief that she didn’t have to go out with this girl and as a bonus will get a chance for the girl to open up to her finally. “Deal.”

Jessica made her way back to the couch, “Okay doc, let me have it.”

“Okay first question is to tell me what you were like from grades 1-3 in high school. Just how high school life was before your senior year.”

Jessica thought for a while how to answer this question. Should she tell the truth or not? Maybe giving her therapist a little treat wouldn’t hurt, “High school was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone was there for one purpose and one purpose only; college entrance examinations. I remember that I studied hard to make sure my resume was perfect while the others around me did the same. You could say that I was prettier than most so I had many friends. Not to mention that I was involved with several clubs such as student council. One would say that I had it all. Very normal and not very special high school life.”

“What changed your senior year?”

Jessica’s facial expression changed to be very cold again, “Strike one doc.”

Taeyeon sighed knowing that was a risky question to ask but Taeyeon had a few tricks up her sleeve still, “Still don’t want to talk about that I see. Okay...I still have three more questions. How about you tell me now, who is your best friend and what you two do together.”

“Why should I give a name if you don’t even know her?”

“You can give me a fake name if you want but since I don’t know her, using her real name wouldn’t matter right?”

Jessica nodded because the shrink had a point, “Yuri. She and I hang around together now. We do stuff like eat and just hang.”

“What about your romantic life? Are you involved with anyone or have interest in someone?”

“Jeez doc. Getting personal are we? That will be strike two.”

“So I have one more question.” Taeyeon smirked knowing she backed Jessica into a corner. The girl had no more strikes so she could choose to ask anything she wanted and the girl had to answer. Taeyeon saw something interesting when she was reading Jessica’s school file and she has been wanting to confront Jessica about it. “Can you tell me about Goo Hara?”

“Just a schoolmate. That is all.”

Taeyeon could tell that Jessica was putting up a front, “Just a schoolmate?”

Jessica took out her phone to distract herself from Taeyeon’s stare, “Yes that is all.”

“I saw that she was in your homeroom, student council, and entrepreneur club with you. Is that just a coincidence? You must know her better to be in all those things with her.”

Jessica grabbed her bag in anger, “I said she was just an acquaintance!”

Taeyeon cringed when she heard the door slam after Jessica’s departure. She kind of knew the ending of this conversation would be this way. Taeyeon took the photo out of her notebook and looked at it, “I know I am getting closer but what actually happened to you and Hara? You both look so happy together in this picture.”

Taeyeon’s day ended, “Have a good night Soo.”

“Oh? Not Ms. Choi? You normally don’t address me like that at work.”

Taeyeon massaged her temples, “Ah I am sorry. My brain is a bit messed up today.”

“You should take it easy. Was it because of Jessica? I saw her storm out of here earlier.”

“I don’t think so. The session with Jessica went well today.”

Sooyoung didn’t believe Taeyeon, “So you call her raging out of your office like that good?”

Taeyeon nodded her head, “Yea. That is called progress.”

“Ah Taeyeon I don’t know what is going on in that little head of yours sometimes. If you aren’t feeling well, you don’t need to come to the party the day after tomorrow at my place.”

“No no. I am coming. I wouldn’t miss it. You are still my best friend after all.”

“I know but don’t force yourself. I know you hate gatherings...especially with so many people.”

“I will be fine. I am doing better now.”

Sooyoung looked her friend up and down, “If you say so.”

Taeyeon finally left her office and went home to maybe do some cleaning to clear her mind.

~Day of Party~

Taeyeon didn’t know how to dress for events like these so Sooyoung helped her find a dress. This kind of dress was out of her comfort zone but she didn’t want to stick out much so after much encouragement, Taeyeon decided to wear the dress tonight. Although she didn’t compromise on her hair being up in a bun tonight.

She made her way into the mansion and grabbed champagne on the way in. Taeyeon was weaving her way through the crowd of people trying not to make any contact as she tried to find her friend somewhere in here. However, there were too many people so she couldn’t find her taller friend. Tired of avoiding contact with people, she made her way to one of the seats. After carefully examining the seat she was about to sit on, Taeyeon finally sat down.

Taeyeon sat in her seat sipping her drink while watching all the people having a good time. “Miss is this seat taken?”

Taeyeon heard a familiar voice so she turned suddenly, “Sunny?”

“Haha surprised to see me?”

Of course Taeyeon was surprised. She heard nothing about the girl after graduating high school. Almost like the girl disappeared off the map, “Of course. How have you been? I didn’t know you and Soo kept in contact.”

The shorter girl gave her a bright smile, “I actually only returned to Korea a few months ago and ran into Soo right away. Life is funny sometimes.”

“I haven’t heard from you since you know…ah that happened…” Taeyeon was starting to feel very uncomfortable again rethinking events from high school.

~3 Months After Sunny’s Confession~

Taeyeon sat at the lunch table with Sooyoung feeling defeated, “Soo…do you think Sunny will ever talk to me again? She has been avoiding me for so long and I just want to talk to her.”

“I don’t know what happened between you two but she has been hanging out with that new crowd over there since.”

“I don’t like them…”

“Me neither. I am surprised someone as bubbly as Sunny chose to get involved with them.”

“That is why I need to talk to her.”

“Since I am such a good friend and introduced you two in the first place, I will return that favor. I will get you two to talk. Don’t worry buddy.”

Taeyeon finally smiled, “Soo you are the best!”

The next day Taeyeon waited in the courtyard after school. Sooyoung said she would get Sunny to show up even if she had to drag the girl. After a few minutes of waiting, she finally saw Sunny approaching. When Sunny’s eyes locked onto Taeyeon, the girl started to walk towards her faster. The closer she got, the angrier the girl’s face became. Suddenly Taeyeon felt a sharp pain on her face. “I don’t want to see your f***ing face again! Just get out of my life!”

Taeyeon stood there with tears going down her face. She didn’t want it to go this way. She wanted to make up with her friend and tell her that she was sorry for running out on her like that. She wanted anything but this to happen. It was a failure…she was a failure as a friend.

“I am sorry for you know…acting like that. I was so childish back then. Do you forgive me?”

Taeyeon returned her gaze back to Sunny, “It is fine. I might have deserved it then but that was the past. What have you been doing these days?”

“Moved to Australia and attended a university there. Umm I write for a travel journal and have been going from country to country writing. I decided to settle down and write for the travel section in a newspaper here.”

“Wow your life seems to be going well.”

“Of course. What about you. You ah well look different? Not used to seeing have your hair up.”

“I am a psychiatrist now. Life has been good so far.”

“Wow a psychiatrist. Out of all our friends I knew you would be the most successful. You were the smartest out of all of us.”

“Your career is amazing too. I shouldn’t be the only one that is being praised.”

Sunny laughed before her eyes locked onto someone in the crowd, “Oh my date is here. I will get going.” Sunny reached into her purse and pulled out a business card, “I know we left on a bad note last time, but I would like to see you again. Maybe over coffee.”

Taeyeon hesitantly took the card and put it into her purse before waving good bye to Sunny. Quickly, Taeyeon took out her hand sanitizer to clean her hands. Who knows where that business card had been? Without someone to talk with, Taeyeon became bored so she scanned the crowd. “What’s up doc.”

Taeyeon cringed when she heard a familiar aegyo, “Jessica?”

“The one and only.” Taeyeon eyed up the girl. She wasn’t wearing her usual clothes. The girl was dressed very feminine that highlighted all her features. In one word, she was gorgeous.

“Why are you here?”

“Sooyoung invited me and my family. She didn’t tell you that we are neighbors?”

“No she didn’t….” Taeyeon became speechless when a ghost of her past walked in front of her.

Author's Note

Wow 20 upvotes by the second chapter. Thank You! I am getting so much love!!!

I know I am updating fast, but it was the weekend. I have more time to write over the weekend..actually I was really bored this past weekend so writing was the only thing I could think of doing. But the weekend is over...maybe it will take longer for updates cause of that.

I hope you like the progression! Leave comments ^^