Author’s POV

“I’m coming in!” Sooyoung shouted from outside of Taeyeon’s house. The sight she sees when she walks in is Taeyeon sprawled out on the couch with an Xbox controller in her hands and a bowl of popcorn on her lap.

“Have you been sitting there all day?” Sooyoung asked. Taeyeon nodded her head, her eyes never leaving the screen. Sooyoung watches the game from behind the couch. “Tomb Raider?” Taeyeon nods again. “You can’t even understand it. There aren't any Korean subtitles for this game.”

“I looked up what the game is about.” Taeyeon said. “She’s trying to save her girlfriend from some ancient Japanese chick or something like that.”

“Girlfriend?” Sooyoung scoffs.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Taeyeon protests. “You don’t even know. You haven’t been playing this game all day. The relationship between Lara Croft and Samantha Nishimura is really gay. I swear they are a couple.”

“Right…” Sooyoung sat beside Taeyeon and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Lara’s pretty hot.”

“Right???” Taeyeon said. “Lara Croft.. is a.. a Goddess. How can they make an animated character so damn y?? It makes people feel weird for having a huge crush on her!”

“You don’t need to blame fake Lara for feeling weird, Taeng.” Sooyoung said. “You’re weird even without this. This just happens to make you weirder.”

“Yah, what are you even doing here besides to annoy me?” Taeyeon glared at Sooyoung for a split second before she turned back to the game.

“Hyo and I were wondering why you weren’t talking to us on the earpiece.” Sooyoung said. She waved toward the earpiece abandoned on the coffee table. “Now we know why.”

Taeyeon shrugged. Sooyoung got up and began digging through the food cabinets for something to eat. Popcorn just wasn’t going to do it.

“I already looked it up and they don’t go anywhere with this Sam and Lara thing. It ..” Taeyeon said with a pout. “But one of the writers actually said she liked the idea of Lara and Sam together. And did you know they have fanfics of these two? See? I’m not the only one that pairs them together!”

“Are you reading fanfictions, Kim Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon shrugged. “Thought crossed my mind.”

“I would never have thought Officer Kim Taeyeon, number one in our branch, would be a fanfiction reader.” Sooyoung gasped dramatically.

Taeyeon shrugged again. “Seems to be better than living my pathetic love life.”

Sooyoung sighed and made her way back to sit beside Taeyeon. “Where is Hayeon?” She asked.

“With some friends. They’re having a slumber party or something.”

“So it’s a good thing I’m here.” Sooyoung sighed again.

“You didn’t have to come, Soo.” Taeyeon said halfheartedly. She was too focused on trying to stealthily get through a part in the game. “It’s not like I’m wallowing in my tears and depression. I’m perfectly fine here by myself for a night.”

“Tae, I was thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Taeyeon said.

Sooyoung glared at her. “You know what, nevermind. I was going to offer you , but if you’re gonna be a about it.”

“Wait, what??” Hyoyeon said through the earpiece in Sooyoung’s ear.

“Wait, what??” Taeyeon said.

“I hate seeing you with that blob of trash, unnie.” Krystal said the moment the front door closed behind Taecyeon.

“He’s not a bad guy anymore.” Jessica defended.

“Oh so now you’re defending him?” Krystal shot. “Don’t forget he hit you. More than once. And now he’s got you locked up here like it’s the seventeen hundreds. This is like a case of Stockholm Syndrome.”

“This is not a case of Stockholm Syndrome.” Jessica growled.

“Oh right, sorry, I forgot. Taecyeon didn’t force you to get back with him. Dad did! You’re twenty-three years old and you still obey every word that man tells you like you’re fourteen.”

“How about you mind your own ing business, Jung Soojung.” Jessica was tired of this.

“That’s all you tell me now, Jessie. ‘Mind your own business.’ I think it’s somewhat my business if it’s got most of my family involved in it.”

“I’m sick and tired of this, Soojung!” Jessica yelled, reaching her limit. “Every time you’re here, you have to bring up Taeyeon’s name! You don’t think I’m absolutely ing miserable here when I want to be with Taeyeon every waking minute of my life?? Do you think this is fun for me??”

“But yet here you are!” Krystal exclaimed. “You’re just sitting here arguing with me about how much you miss her and doing everything Daddy says instead of taking action! And I didn't even mention her name this time; you did.”

“It’s not that simple, Soojung!!”

“IT REALLY IS, SOOYEON.”

They looked at each other, chests heaving as they caught their breaths. Krystal was the first to speak.

“Taeyeon had with Sooyoung.” She simply stated in a heavy breath.

The words were like an anchor for Jessica and she dropped back to the couch she hadn’t noticed she stood up from. The sky had suddenly turned grey and the weather matched her entirely as the sudden downpour rapped against the window. It was minutes until she spoke, her voice quiet and threatening to break. “When?”

Krystal sat beside her and they both stared straight ahead. “I don’t know the exact day. I just know it was after we were taken away. I know that they were super drunk.” Jessica didn’t say anything. “Hayeon told me that she started drinking a lot. Almost every night, she’d go out and get back late and drunk.”

“Why..” Jessica fought hard to keep her tears at bay. “Why are you telling me these things?”

“I’m trying to get it through your head, Jessie, that it hurts the both of you more to be away from each other than it does to be with each other. This isn’t what you two should be doing. You shouldn’t be finding ways to cope, you should be finding ways to be together…”

“She wouldn’t want to be with me after everything I put her through…” Jessica sobbed.

“That may be so at first,” Krystal patted her sister’s shoulder. “But you have to try…”

Jessica sat quietly for a moment, thinking it over. Suddenly, she got up and grabbed for her keys on the key holder by the door.

“Where’re you going??” Krystal asked from the couch.

“I’m going to try.” Jessica said before swinging the door open and walking into the rain storm.

“Count me in!” Krystal smiled to herself and ran after her sister, texting Hayeon on the way.

“Damn, Taeyeon…” Sooyoung sighed. “Frustrated much?”

Taeyeon laughed. “Shut up or I will literally kick you out of my bed.” She winded her feet up, ready to kick.

“Okay, okay. I won’t talk about it.” Sooyoung surrendered. They lay in bed in a comfortable silence, appreciating the company of their best friend. “You know what I like about this?” Sooyoung said, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” Taeyeon hummed.

“I love that this is just a little agreement among two bestest friends and their ual frustration.”

Taeyeon giggled. “ual frustration.”

“I’m serious!” Sooyoung nudged at Taeyeon’s bare shoulder. “It’s like it doesn’t even phase us at all that we’re in bed together right now. Does it even like really cross our minds that we just had ?”

Taeyeon barely thought over it. “Not really. It just feels like another night from college when we were living in the dorm together. I saw yours and Hyoyeon’s bodies plenty of times to not care.”

Sooyoung laughed. “Oh god, remember that time when Hyoyeon was just walking around and didn’t realize I had brought a guy over?”

Taeyeon was immediately brought back. “Oh jeez, yes!” She exclaimed. “She walked out of her room bare as a stripper’s hoo-ha and he saw her and she just kept right to the refrigerator like it was nothing!”

“And the next day, we find him sneaking out of her room with just his boxers on!” They were slapping each other in hysteria now.

“God, Hyoyeon is one crazy .” Taeyeon laughed. "I bet she’s on the way here now to harass us."

“You guessed right!” The door to Taeyeon’s room burst open as Hyoyeon came in. “Even when you two are doing the nasty you can’t stop thinking about me!” She jumped onto the bed and squeezed in between the two girls.

“You know you’re the center of our life, Hyogre.” Sooyoung wrapped her arms Hyoyeon and rubbed her s against the blonde.

“Ew ew ew!” Hyoyeon shouted as Taeyeon laughed. “You guys are freaks, get away from me!” She pushed Sooyoung and the tall girl fell off of the bed with a thump.

“Yah!! You ! I was there first!” Sooyoung yelled, standing up and crossing her arms.

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s get dressed and go downstairs!” Taeyeon waved Sooyoung off. “We should go out to eat or something.”

“The weather is .” Hyoyeon complained. “I’m not going back out there.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes. “Well I’m not cooking, so one of you two can do it.”

“I volunteer!” Sooyoung said as she hopped on one foot trying to put her pants back on.

“Our shikshin is going to cook!” Hyoyeon exclaimed, slipping Taeyeon’s shirt over the shorter girl’s head. “Let’s get downstairs now!”

Downstairs, Sooyoung started on the food. Hyoyeon and Taeyeon fought over what movie they would watch when there was suddenly a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Taeyeon called. No response. “Who is it??” Nothing.

Suspicion struck them and Taeyeon reached for her pistol on the side table beside the couch. She got to the door and tried again. “Who is it???”

What she got in response were three loud bangs. She swung the door open and pointed her pistol at the person standing on the other side. It was a drenched Taecyeon.

“Give me one good reason not to blow your brains all over my porch.” Taeyeon said.

“I’m here for Jessica.” He said, raising his hands in the air in surrender.

“Jessica?” Taeyeon repeated. “What about her?”

“Can I.. can I come in?”

Taeyeon stepped away to let him in. Sooyoung stepped into view, curious to see who the newcomer was.

“Ok Taecyeon?”

“Oh,” he said, seeing the other two officers in the room now. “I wasn’t expecting an audience…”

“What is it you want?” Taeyeon asked. “You’re dripping water on my floor.”

“Right…” Taecyeon seemed to have lost his confidence. “Um.. Where do I start…”

“You can start with what you’re doing here.” Hyoyeon said.

“I’m uh..” he hesitated. “I’m here for Jessica. I’m here to tell you that you should go to her.”

“Go to her?” Taeyeon repeated. “What are you talking about?”

The door opened behind Taecyeon and Hayeon came rushing in, the top of her shirt slightly wet from the storm.

“Hayeon? What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked.

Oooo! I see I’m on time! Hayeon exclaimed under her breath. She looked at Taecyeon. “You are?”

“I-I’m Ok Taecyeon.” He stuttered, baffled by the new person in the mix.

Hayeon’s eyes widened. “Whoa… No way.” She blew out a dramatic breath and looked to Hyoyeon. “We need popcorn. Now.”

“What are you doing here, Hayeon? I thought you were staying the night with a friend?” Taeyeon asked again.

“Eh, I decided I’d rather be home with my big sis.” Hayeon stood with Hyoyeon and Sooyoung now. “What’s going on?”

Taeyeon turned back to Taecyeon now, waiting for that same answer. What was going on??

“Okay, well.. see, I—uh..” Taecyeon gave a deep breath. “Jessica misses you.” He finally said.

Taeyeon scoffed.

“No, she really does.” Taecyeon assured. “I don’t know much about what is going on, I only know what I live with, and I know enough from that. She plays it off like everything it okay, but there’s something about her that is different. She’s not the same as she was before; not with me, not with Krystal, not with herself. She’s depressed, I can tell she is. I know it’s because of you. She misses you, Taeyeon. She loves you.”

“I’m sure it’s something else.” Taeyeon said, rolling her eyes. “Is that all you came here for?”

“The girl cries every single night, Taeyeon.” Taecyeon said. “She doesn’t think I know, but I do. Usually, she just stays quiet, but on occasion, I’ll hear her say your name; every single night, she cries. The night that we saw you at the store, she cried harder than I’d ever heard. That’s how I know it’s about you.”

“Why should I care?” Taeyeon said stubbornly.

“Because I know you miss her too, Taeyeon. I’ve heard Krystal talk about you to Jessica. Hell, I heard her talking about you right before I got here. I knew I should have done this weeks ago, but…” He sighed. “I couldn’t… I love Jessica, see. I really do, though my past actions say different. I wanted her to be with me and I was hoping that she’d feel the same way again as time went by. But I can’t listen to her crying every night anymore… She’s hurting too much to ignore it… She wants you, not me.”

“What makes you think I want her?” Taeyeon said. Taecyeon looked defeated.

“Oh come on!” Hyoyeon objected as though she were watching a drama show and the main character just made a stupid choice. “You know as much as everyone else in here that you want Jessica! Don’t do that !”

“Why should I go after someone who couldn’t tell me to my face why she couldn’t be with me? Instead she sends Krystal like she’s the messenger boy to tell me she doesn’t love me and never did. She still couldn’t be bothered! Taecyeon is here in place of her because she has too much pride to say this to me herself!”

“Jessica has no idea I’m here, Taeyeon.” Taecyeon said. “She has a good reason for why she did what she did, I’m sure of it. It probably has something to do with her father, I don’t know.”

“Taeyeon…” Sooyoung said. “You owe it to yourself to know the truth at least. You deserve to know why she did it and she can’t keep it from you forever… If you’re not going to fight to get her back, at least know why you’re giving up.”

Taeyeon snorted. “Giving up? I’m giving up?”

“You know what I meant.”

“Taeyeonie,” Hayeon tried this time. “She loves you still, you just heard it from Taecyeon. Isn’t that what you wanted to hear this whole time?”

Taeyeon steadied her breathing. Hayeon was right; they were all right. All this time, she just wanted to know the truth. She wanted to know if Jessica truly did not love her anymore oand why she just up and vanished the way she did. She deserved that much from her, didn’t she?”

“Go get her back.” Sooyoung said.

That was what she needed to hear. She grabbed her coat and her keys and reached for the door. She swung it open but was blocked in by two figures on the other side. This was a very different night from she thought it would be just thirty minutes ago.

“Taeyeon.” She said.

“Jessica…” Taeyeon breathed.

Jessica and Krystal stood outside this time, soaked to the bone from the storm as though they had been standing there for much longer than just this moment. Taeyeon backed away and Jessica and Krystal stepped in.

“Taecyeon?” Jessica noticed her fiancé. He smiled awkwardly and shrugged, rain water still dripping from his hair and jacket. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Probably doing the same thing you came here for.” He said.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked Jessica. “And why are you so wet?”

“We’ve been standing out there for at least five minutes while she got up the courage to knock on the door.” Krystal mumbled. "We proabably would have been standing there for another five if you didn't open the door."

“I.. I shouldn’t have come.” Jessica said, backing away toward the door.

“Don’t you dare, Jessica Jung.” Taeyeon growled. “I deserve the truth and now is the time that I get to hear it.”

Jessica looked sadly up at Taeyeon. She knew she hurt the girl beyond repair. She was ashamed of herself and she was a coward for everything she did and an even bigger coward for wanting to leave just now instead of face it.

“Taeyeon, I am so.. so sorry for what I did…” Jessica said, immediately feeling warm tears drip down her face, camouflaging with the rain. “I was stupid for thinking it was the best option I had. I was so scared…” she sobbed loudly and the crowd stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. She soon composed herself and started again.

“When they took us away from you, my father was furious… He threatened me with so much… He threatened to get you fired if I continued to see you. He threatened to do worse to you; he didn’t say what but my father is a very powerful man… He has connections and ways to deal with people that I try not to think of… He said he’d stop paying for my school and other things but I didn’t care about those things. I’d live on the streets if that’s what it took to keep you safe and he knew that… I stopped contact with you because I didn’t want anything to happen to you, Taeyeon… I let everyone think I didn’t love you because I thought it’d make it easier for them and you to let go… I’m so scared of my father, Taeyeon, you don’t understand… I’m scared of what he’d do to you and your family… I thought doing what I did was the best thing for you, even if it was the worst thing for me…”

She covered her face in her hands and cried hard. It was painful to watch and made everyone uncomfortable. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon shifted toward the kitchen to add more food to the pile, seeing that dinner was going to most likely be a full house again.

Taeyeon looked at Taecyeon and he gave her an encouraging nod. She walked up to Jessica and placed her hand under Jessica’s chin, pulling her head up to face her.

“Why would his threat to me matter, Jess?” Taeyeon asked softly.

“Wh.. why?” Jessica repeated. Wasn’t that obvious? “Because I l-love you, Taeyeon… I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me anymore. I deserve it. But I needed you to know…”

“My job is nothing but dealing with abusive s like him.” Taeyeon said. “That’s what a lot of the people under protection are there for. I have been trained to defend me and the people around me. I know how to hold my own, Jessica. Otherwise I wouldn’t be the best in the office.”

Jessica furrowed her brows at the shorter girl. That sounded familiar… Could she have purposely said the exact thing she said the day they first kissed?

“I know that..” Jessica mumbled.

Taeyeon smirked. “Don’t ever do that again, Jessica. Ever.”

She was.

Jessica smiled sheepishly at the girl she was totally in love with. “I’m sorry…” she decided to play along. She laid her hand on Taeyeon’s chest right over her heart. “Does it hurt..?”

“Obviously it hurts.” Krystal said from by the couch with Hayeon. “You broke her heart, you .”

Taeyeon shrugged, ignoring Krystal's remark. “I’m fine. It doesn’t really hurt anymore.” She let go of Jessica’s chin. “But you..”

Jessica grabbed Taeyeon’s hand before it completely pulled away. ““I’m fine.” She gave a weak laugh. Time to give up the act. “I don’t care about myself. I only care about you.”

Taeyeon leaned in and captured the lips she had only been able to dream about for months.

“That was quicker than I expected, honestly..." Sooyoung said from the kitchen counter as she chopped up vegetables and threw them in the wok. “It's a happy ending afterall! I need all of you to dry the hell up and put on some new clothes! I’m making a ton of food now!”

Taeyeon smiled against Jessica’s warm lips.

“I think I’d better go now.” Taecyeon said as closed in on the door.

“Not so fast, Taec.” Taeyeon said, smiling at him. “Join us for dinner. Sooyoung’s a great cook.”

“I don’t—”

“We’re not taking no for an answer.” Hyoyeon said from the kitchen, flailing a knife around lazily.

Taecyeon took the friendly yet mildly disturbing gesture with a smile and a nod.

“Jiwoong left some clothes behind that I haven’t given to him yet.” Taeyeon said, pulling away from Jessica but grabbing her hand. “It’s down in the basement, I’ll go get it for you. It might fit a little tight, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

She pulled Jessica down to the basement with her, not daring to let go of her for a second.

“We need to get you dried up and changed too.” She said after taking an outfit from the old dresser.

Jessica pulled Taeyeon into a hug. “I’m sorry, Taeyeon. For all the pain I caused.”

“Not tonight, Sica.” Taeyeon said, kissing her lips. “Tonight we need to celebrate. Save the other stuff for another day.” Jessica took Taeyeon’s face in her hands and kissed her passionately. “I guess I need to get dried up and changed now too.”

“I love you, Taengoo.”

“I love you, Princess.”

Aaaaand scene. Well guys, I was going to make this into two shorter chapters but I just made it a big finale chapter instead. Happy ending after all, like I said! And Taecyeon was welcomed with open arms after his courageous attempt at getting them back together in front of three armed officers! Hahaha so this is the ned guys... *wipes tear away* I would love to thank all of my readers for sticking with me! Thank you to all my interactive readers along with my ghost readers! you're all awesome and I love you <3

Now that this story is over, you might want to check out my other stuff? Check out my Taengsic one-shot collection Everyday Love if you want more Taengsic of course ;D I haven't updated on that in a while but I've been meaning to for quiet some time so expect something from that soonish. If you like Kryber, check out my (soon to be) one-shot collection Ending Page! At the moment there is only one story on that one, but I've been meaning to update with a follow up of that one-shot and I'll get to it soon too I hope! I've got another drama story out that I am absolutely loving and am excited to put all (or most) of my attention to now! Be sure to check out Up In Smoke as it gets juicier and juicier the closer it gets to it's part one finale (Yes, there will be more than one "book" or "season" for it). I've also got a lot more stories boiling in the pot of ideas in my head but I want to focus on one continuous story at a time so you'll have to wait for those!

As for this story, there's a possibility that I'll add one last chapter as maybe an epilogue but who knows. I put it as complete in case I don't do that. Thank you guys once again for all of the love and support! Hope to see your comments in my other stories! MWAH! <3