Opening the door coolly she quickly flicked the lights on, illuminating the dark room. Scanning the room quickly, she went up next to her bed and stared at the ball covered in blankets that was curled on her bed with a frown.

"Of all places to hide, you choose my room? My bed?" She sighed, annoyed.

There was no answer, but she wasn't looking for one to begin with.

"Come on now, up." She poked at the ball once to no avail. So she sat on her bed and started poking the ball repeatedly on what she was sure was her friend's side.

Finally there was a squeal and what sounded like a muffled giggle. The ball shifted a little, then continued to remain still.

"I said up." she said with a little smirk on her lips before she went on a full on tickle assault until the blanket that covered the lump finally fell and revealed a girl with messy blonde hair and reddened dark eyes

The tickle assault stopped and so did the giggles and then there was silence.

"Good grief, you look awful" she deadpanned.

"I don't want to hear that from you," was the hoarse response, followed by a huff. The blonde looked mildly offended. Probably just to save some face.

"What's with that outfit? You gained some weight again, didn't you?" came another snarky retort from the now identified lump.

She would have hit her, she really would have but she knew better now than Taeyeon's half- attempts to make her angry. She just stared at the blonde, trying to make the other girl look at her.

"Well?" She encouraged, her eyes softening when they made eye contact. Baby brown met dark onyx. "Let me help you, idiot."

When she did not talk, the taller girl sighed. She slowly, awkwardly, got closer to Taeyeon until they were next to each other. Just as awkwardly, she hugged her with one arm and then pulled her into a full hug.

The action made Taeyeon grin ("You are so awkward, gosh") then laugh until there was a soft sob. Embarrassed she covered , trying to stop the sobs from coming but to no avail. In the end, she resigned to hiding herself her face into her friends shoulder. She really couldn't stop crying. She tried to reign in the tears, but she somehow couldn't

But it was hard, so hard. So far she had been able to hold down her emotions. She couldn't exactly stop the tears, but they were silent tears. At least she didn't have to embarrass herself in front of anyone. But everything broke when Jessica hugged her; somehow she couldn't keep her emotions at bay any longer. She was crying, really crying now as she felt Jessica's warmth pressing against her. Suddenly, nothing else mattered except for the fact that Jessica was here and no one else could see or hear them. So she let it all out in a torrent of snot and tears on her friend's shirt

She bawled.

And she hated it and resented Jessica for being able to do that to her with a simple hug. But she was also thankful, and suddenly everything wasn't as bad as she'd thought before.

"Stop." she whispered, not entirely sure if it was said to herself or the brunette.

"Shhh." was the response as the brunette placed a hand on Taeyeon's head and attempted to comfort her friend with little pats on her back and carresses on her scalp.

After a prolonged silence and as the quiet sobs eventually died down, Jessica stopped patting her and simply hugged the shorter girl.

Taeyeon eventually pulled herself away from the hug, creating space between each other. She pulled her legs closer to her body and laid her arms and head on top of her knees, avoiding eye contact again.

Jessica simply turned her body toward the opposite direction to look at the wall, their backs touching.

"You're supposed to be in class." Taeyeon eventually whispered in a childish voice."You're not supposed to be here."

"Speak for yourself." The brunette countered.

There was silence again, and neither fought it.

The phone in Jessica's pocket vibrated. She looked at her pocket, deciding whether to look who it was or leave it for later. She figured it was the others, asking if she had found Taeyeon yet. She was right. As she quickly typed a reply, she noticed Taeyeon's ever-curious dark eyes trying to see her screen; probably trying to figure out who it was or what she was writing. As she put her phone back in her pocket, she shot the blonde a smirk and said "Geez Taengoo, I can't believe you just ran out in the middle of the class just to buy that DVD you were always talking about. How irresponsible."

At the confused look on the other girl's face, Jessica sighed and continued on, "Really, we were all so worried when Yuri told us that you ran out of class. Yet when I finally find you, you're in my room watching that movie? It's one thing to sneak out of class discretely, but to make such a grand exit. Taengoo, what were you thinking?" The taller girl said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Taeyeon finally caught on, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course the oh-so-great Kim Taeyeon wouldn't be sobbing on my bed about some boy, right?" Jessica continued quietly, casting her red-eyed friend a questioning yet knowing look.

At that, Taeyeon bristled and looked up at Jessica with feigned disbelief.  "W-what are you talking about?"

Jessica sighed and gave her a little knock on her head before smiling. "You idiot. Everyone thinks your boyfriend broke up with you and that's why you ran out of class crying. Of course nobody actually saw you crying but rumors spread."

There was a chuckle as Taeyeon looked down at the blanket. "My boyfriend, huh?"

Jessica carelessly shrugged and leaned back on her hands. "I'm just saying what I heard."

There was another chuckle, and then silence.

Jessica sighed as she looked around her room again, deciding that maybe Taeyeon needed some time alone. She already told the others that stupid lie and felt slightly bad about it. She didn't like lying to her friends. Friends do not lie to each other.

But Taeyeon needed her, and she knew she would lie for that idiot. She would save face for her until she was ready -if ever- to tell the truth. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a head on her shoulder and arms around her waist.

"Thank you."

She smiled as she turned to look at the other girl's smiling face, and genuine gratefulness.

"You already missed your afternoon classes," Taeyeon teased with a grin. "The perfect Jung Sooyeon no longer has perfect attendance."

"I know. "

Taeyeon looked at her trying to figure out her angle. She was going to retaliate, but she didn't know how.

"Of course that now that you made me lie to everyone about that movie, you're gonna have to buy it so I don't come up as a liar."

Jessica found the evident shock in Taeyeon's eyes quite hilarious. "W-what?" the blonde spluttered.

"Saving face costs money, unless you really want to go for the boyfriend thing. Doesn't matter to me, I can easily get my hands clean" Jessica said carelessly, stretching out on her back.

Taeyeon puffed up her cheeks, unamused, and called Jessica unfair. "Sicaa~" she whined, extending the name far more than necessary.

"Okay, okay. Then we'll tell everyone that you didn't have enough money in the end and returned with nothing. What a loser." Jessica replied dryly, shooting her longtime crush an amused smirk.

The reply was a grin, and then a glomp. "You're the best." Taeyeon smiled and then whispered in an almost inaudible tone "Really, you are the best."

Jessica sighed, and out a hand on the other girl's back. "If only you knew…" she thought.

Taeyeon didn't notice, and made herself comfortable on Jessica's lap. Slowly she began to doze off, and within minutes she was fast asleep on Jessica Jung's lap.

"Love hurts sometimes Taeyeon-ah... but I can wait for you."

~Fin.~