Chapter 9
The Exiled Ice Princess
“Annddd...stop!” Taeyeon ordered. All the girls exclaimed with true happiness. “Wooooh! Thank God.” Tiffany and Sooyoung exhaled in chorus.
As if on cue, the drained and overly exhausted girls started to fall down on the polished floor one by one. Practicing, for their upcoming performance
on stage as an 8 membered group, non-stop for 5 straight hours in their newly renovated practice studio surely made the knees of the girls turn like
jellies causing them to wobble. It’s now the third day of their non-stop practicing cycle and are planning to continue and finish it for another 4 days.
They all agreed that an entire week should be sacrificed in order for them to master their slightly changed choreography, mainly about the positions,
to cover up Jessica’s parts. And for the vocals, Jessica’s parts are assigned to Taeyeon and Seohyun. This means more effort for them.
“But we’re not yet done for the day girls. Let’s just take a break for 30 minutes, okay?” she smiled to the girls hoping their appetite for dancing gets
boosted. All the girls heads turned to Taeyeon’s direction almost on the same time.
“Taeyeon-ah, we’re so tired already..” Sunny pouted and after about 5 seconds she continued with a big smile on her face
“..can we take a break for an hour? Just one hour pweeeassee?” and the rest of the girls supported with “Yeess, we need at least an hour to regain
our stamina. Huhu” and showing off their irresistible pouts in front of Taeyeon’s clearly exhausted face.
“Yaaah, stop that already! Okay, fine. But only an hour, got it? All of you should be back here at exactly 1:00 p.m.” every one of the laying bodies
started to rise and charged at Taeyeon’s direction for a hug. All at the same time.
Everyone stopped midway, “Come here and I’ll kill each one of you. Hahaha” ahdjumma laugh filled the warm practice studio as she threatened
the approaching angels. “Tsss.” everyone retorted, stared at each other, then continued to attack Taeyeon. “Yaaaahhhh”. The eight girls stumbled
and laughed together dreamily.
The ice princess entered the practice studio shortly before everyone could make their exit, heading for their lunch break. All stopped.
Shocked once again. Breaths were loosely held, afraid to catch Jessica’s attention.
But the ice princess’s eyes were locked only to the person directly in front of her. Like she’s the only girl displayed in front of her.
“Yuri, come with me. Would you like to eat lunch with me?” she patted her eyes and smiled sweetly to the dumbfounded girl.
“aa..aahh..yeah.. Sure.” Yuri presented an I-can’t-believe-that-this-is-happening face to everyone while roaming for their approval
since they have already planned everything for their lunch.
And all heads nodded in the most conservative way that’s possible, never wanting to draw Jessica’s most prized attention.
“Thank you, Yuri-ah.” and hugged her lovingly.
Jessica’s POV
I can feel their eyes on me, especially Taeyeon’s. I already feel like winning. I withdrew my hug from Yuri and fished for her hands.
“Yuri-ah, after we eat lunch, can you also accompany me to the dress shop? I need to get something new to wear for my interview tomorrow with Krystal.”
and looked straight at her eyes.
I saw hesitation on Yuri’s face. “Sica-ah, I ah..” Yuri trailed off when Taeyeon interjected.
“Uhm...Jessica.” Taeyeon addressed to me, she then cleared her throat when I bored my eyes on her. “The thing is.. Yuri cannot go with you because
we only have an hour break before we resume for our practice.” Ahhhh talking straight to me, that’s new for her to do that given how she casually neglected
my presence even before I was casted away.
“Ohh, You really talked to me?” I acted as if it was the most unbelievable thing that could actually happen to me.
“Taeyeon, let me ask you a question. Why, all of a sudden, did you break your long streak of successfully ignoring my presence?” everyone gasped
as if the biggest secret of all time was revealed, but of course except Taeyeon. She just stood their, eyes meeting the floor. I traced the steps toward her
position, held her jaw up enough for her eyes to meet mine.
“What’s the problem?” glassy eyes greeted me back. I smiled triumphantly. “Oh well, so it’s settled then, right? Can Yuri and I go now?”
Grabbing Yuri’s soft and delicate hand, we walked away from them. Sashaying my hips as I take my step one at a time. This feels great. I feel great.
Nothing was actually settled in there. I just took the liberty of deciding, thank you very much. I laughed ily at the thought.
Strike one for you, Kim Taeyeon.
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