Disclaimer: Although I do want to illustrate a conflict between SNSD8 and Jessica, the conversations in this chapter in no way depict the real situation.

Seo Joohyun stood outside the big convention center where the fashion show would be held. The line was getting longer and longer, but she didn’t want to get into it before Yoona got there, so she just stood rooted to the side of the big entrance gates. She was as rigid as a statue, her features slightly contorted into an expression of concern as she continued to wait. Seohyun was nervous; afraid. She knew she was going to be facing a part of her life that she didn’t feel ready to face. If only she didn’t like Yoona so much, she would have declined the invitation, but the fact that the older girl was going to be there with her reassured her. Just go, it’s going to be okay.

            But now, standing there, that reassuring voice was nowhere to be heard and all she was left with was panic. On top of knowing she was going to be in the same place as Jessica Jung, was her social anxiety. People walked by her, bumped into her, talked all around her, cars honked near the sidewalk… It was slowly making her dizzy, to the point that she almost felt like her knees were giving up on her. The faces were blurred, the voices were distorted as if she were underwater. This is too much for you. Just leave.

“Seohyun?” The addressed girl jumped slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder. It even took her a few seconds to actually realize it was Yoona, getting her attention as she looked at her questioningly, with a slight look of concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She answered, even if she partly didn’t believe herself on it. However, looking into Yoona’s eyes, she felt much more secure, like a castaway being rescued by a fisherman in a boat that can barely fit two people in it. She knows that what is coming won’t be easy, but she knows she’s going to be okay. “I was just a bit distracted.”

“Well, you sure had a faraway look in your eyes. It was quite endearing and beautiful to be honest. Picture-worthy, I’d say.” Yoona complimented, placing her hand on Seohyun’s arm, which was covered by her coat. Even through the thick fabric, Seohyun could feel the warmth of Yoona’s touch. The latter’s words caused a smile to slowly take over her features, as butterflies danced in her stomach. There was such a contrast to how she’d been feeling just a few seconds prior.

“Thank you…” Seohyun whispered, averting her eyes briefly. Her words had a double meaning, and from the deep stare that Yoona was giving her she was almost sure that the doe-eyed girl knew that. And so far, Yoona had been truthful. She did not have to act out the fact that she was totally captivated by Seohyun. She would have considered that an advantage if not for the fact she knew the younger girl would be hurt in the end and probably hate her forever. She felt horrible about knowing she was going to harm such a beautiful and pure soul.

“Let’s go in.” Yoona said, nodding towards the gate and finally tearing her eyes from Seohyun’s. The latter looked at her confusedly, tilting her head to the side.

“Don’t we have to get in the line?” The doe-eyed girl shook her head, further confusing Seohyun.

“Didn’t you check the tickets? We’re VIP guests” Yoona wiggled her eyebrows with a playful smile.

“Oh, right.” Seohyun said. To be perfectly honest, she had stuffed that ticket in her purse ever since her coffee date with Yoona. She had done everything in her power to not think about this night. She hadn’t even read what the ticket said.

            Yoona held her hand and guided her towards the entrance, where the security guard took their tickets and let them through. Still inside, Yoona didn’t let go of her hand and Seohyun took the chance to intertwine their fingers together, to make sure that Yoona wouldn’t go away. For a moment, she worried that the older girl would consider the gesture a bit clingy, but that thought was soon pushed to the back of her mind when Yoona looked back at their linked hands and then into Seohyun’s eyes, giving her a sweet smile that the young musician returned.

            The two girls attracted people’s eyes as soon as they entered the convention center; they were both gorgeous and very fashionable. Seohyun wore a purple cocktail dress under her maroon coat and silver jewelry, while Yoona wore a black knee-length skirt with a white, long sleeved blouse that was tucked in. From their height and elegance, anyone would have thought they were supermodels.

            It did seem a bit strange to Seohyun that no one greeted Yoona or vice versa; it was weird that the doe-eyed girl had VIP tickets to such an event without knowing anyone there, but in the end she deduced that Yoona’s friend who had given her the tickets was the one who’d know people there and not the doe-eyed girl. It also gave Seohyun a sense of privacy amidst all the people and the chaos; Yoona’s attention was only for her and, at the time being, Seohyun’s was also only for Yoona. The younger girl was purposefully focusing only on Yoona, but couldn’t help but look around from the corner of her eye, trying to locate Jessica. So far, she hadn’t seen her. Yoona suddenly stopped their walking as she narrowed her eyes and looked around the VIP seats section, which was right beside the runway.

“I think our seats are on the other side.” Yoona whispered into Seohyun’s ear so that she could hear her over the crowd. As she did so, the doe-eyed girl placed her hand on her shoulder, moving Seohyun’s long hair to the side so that it no longer covered her ear and neck. As she whispered, the young musician could feel Yoona’s warm breath fan Seohyun’s slightly heated skin. It instantly soothed her, to the point where she could finally show a genuine smile. She gave Yoona’s hand a slight squeeze.

“Sure, let’s go.” Yoona started leading the way again. This time, Seohyun strut behind her with a confident smile on her face. No more social anxiety, and she was sure that if she saw Jessica’s face now, she’d be able to show a smile and even wave at her. Thing is, would Jessica smile back? Wave back?

            The two girls reached their seats, and before Seohyun had the chance to sit down, Yoona kindly took her coat and placed it on her lap, making sure that Seohyun was comfortable. The younger girl murmured a quiet ‘thanks’ to which Yoona just smiled. The seemingly kind gesture had only been because Seohyun’s thick coat was the perfect object in which she could hide the sound isolating microphone she had in her pocket. Quite the novelty in audiovisual technology, this microphone had been designed to help deaf kids who had just gone through cochlear transplants to recognize their own voice amidst many other voices, but its use had gotten to the extent of helping maximize a certain voice by recognizing it from a prior recording, which was exactly what she was about to do with Seohyun. All the while, another person would be listening to whatever Seohyun had to say that night. And Yoona felt damn bad for setting Seohyun up like this.

“Had you been waiting outside in the cold for too long?” Yoona asked, again leaning closer to Seohyun. The latter shook her head.

“Just about five minutes. You weren’t late, I was early.” Seohyun answered. She had even begun to appreciate the noise around them because it drew them closer together as they spoke, creating an intimate moment where there should have been none.

“That’s good. I don’t want you catching a cold.” Yoona said before pausing slightly. “You know you look absolutely beautiful tonight, right?” The younger girl blushed crimson red at the compliment, biting her bottom lip.

“I only know that now that you’re telling me.” Seohyun answered after a few seconds of just blushing and fighting the urge to smile big. “You look quite beautiful yourself miss Im.”

“So we make a beautiful couple?” Yoona continued to flirt, a playful sparkle in her eyes. Seohyun’s blush combined with her shy, flirtatious smile was melting her like she was butter under the sun.

“So we’re a couple?” Seohyun raised her eyebrows. Even if she was playing along, she was actually curious to know. Yoona chuckled slightly before leaning towards Seohyun again.

“To me, we are.” She whispered groggily, her lips grazing the maknae’s ear, reaching for Seohyun’s hand that rested on her lap. The latter’s heart was doing summersaults in pure bliss.

“To me, too.” Seohyun whispered back. The two girl gave each other a flirtatious smile, not letting go of each other’s hands. It amazed Seohyun that she could have so much chemistry with someone she’d met shortly before.

            A slightly distant gasp distracted them from their moment. Sitting across the runway, with an expression that spoke of surprise, hurt and even a bit of anger, Jessica Jung was staring at them. When her eyes met Seohyun’s, the latter instantly wiped the smile off of her face. She could read Jessica’s eyes, and she knew just how much the older girl instantly didn’t want her there. Yoona noticed what was happening and found the key moment of her job for the night, but one of the first rules of her job was to never rush things because rushing is the perfect alarm for suspicion. Instead, she opted for bowing her head at Jessica with a polite smile. The designer bowed her head briefly as well before locking eyes with Seohyun again. The expression of Seohyun’s eyes only spoke of hurt, because she knew just how much her unnie’s heart had been hurting lately. She knew Jessica thought she didn’t care for her at all, but that couldn’t be further away from the truth. The designer shook her head at her, her expression hardened as she glared at who she once called one of her best friends, before she turned away, masked her feelings and picked up an animated conversation with the guests sitting next to her.

“Hey, are you okay?” Yoona asked softly, putting her hand in Seohyun’s back and the ends of her hair. The gesture soothed Seohyun, but what had just happened wouldn’t go away so easily. “I saw that…”

“She’s sitting in front of us…” Was all that came out of the maknae’s mouth. She couldn’t look away from Jessica. She couldn’t get over the hateful glare she had received from her.

“Do you want me to try and change our seats? I could ask…” Seohyun shook her head. Yoona was being so pleasing; how could she cause her more trouble? She would it up.

“No, Yoona-unnie. We’re staying here.” Seohyun said, her voice wavering. Yoona nodded, leaning a bit closer to Seohyun.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Yoona asked, looking between Jessica and Seohyun. The latter finally tore her eyes from Jessica and looked into Yoona’s own. The latter’s heart stopped beating for a few nanoseconds when she saw that Seohyun’s eyes had watered. She genuinely felt concerned for whatever it was that had happened between Jessica and Seohyun, if it could make Seohyun so indisposed in a matter of a few seconds and a wordless staring contest.

“We hurt her.” Seohyun said simply, swallowing back the tears. “And she has all the right to hate us.” Yoona’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. We? If there were more people closely involved with Jessica Jung in Seoul, how come her boss had told her that Seohyun was their only safe link to Jessica?

“Listen, it might be too early for me to assume this, but look at you, Seohyun. I really doubt you’d hurt anyone…” Yoona whispered, meaning each of her words. Seohyun closed her eyes, willing the tears to not fall and ruin her makeup, as she nodded her head frantically.

“We did. We turned our backs on her when we should have defended her.” Although her words made Yoona further confused, she knew that whatever information Seohyun was giving them would give her and her team important leads to follow up on Jessica.

“Hyunnie, if there is one thing I know it is that there is a solution for everything in this world. Whatever mistakes we made in the past can’t measure up to the opportunities we have to fix them. You care for her, I can see it in your eyes, in the way you’re trying so hard to not cry…” Yoona trailed off, making Seohyun bite her lip to keep it from quivering. “I know she can see it too, no matter how mad she might be. I know you two will work things out.” Yoona ran her thumb over the back of Seohyun’s hand, slowly drawing random circles on it. When she was finally sure that the tears wouldn’t fall, Seohyun opened her eyes to find Yoona’s staring back at her. There were no words to describe the way Yoona’s words had consoled her.

“I hope you are right, Yoona-ah.” Seohyun smiled lightly. Her heart was still very much shaken.

“Just so you know, I always am.” Yoona wiggled her eyebrows playfully. Seohyun let out a soft giggle, when a voice coming from the speakers on each side of the runway announced that the show was about to start.

            Seohyun set herself to only pay attention to the fashion collections, and try to convince herself that Jessica wasn’t there anymore. When she wasn’t looking at the models, she was looking at Yoona, her anchor, from the corner of her eyes. Yoona looked so immersed in the designs that Seohyun knew she wouldn’t even try to ask her to leave the fashion show early. For Yoona, she would endure it all, including the cold stares Jessica would send her way from time to time.

            After the big fashion houses exhibited their designs, it was time for the minor designers, and the first one was Jessica’s scarf collection. Seohyun couldn’t help but look at Jessica from the corner of her eyes. The latter looked so happy, proud and satisfied as she observed her creations. It was the first time in the night that Seohyun saw her smile genuinely. And truth be told, the twenty scarves that were modeled were truly gorgeous and elegantly made. Seohyun knew first-hand how much time and effort Jessica had put into designing them, so she had all the right to feel extremely proud about them. The guests themselves seem to love them as they took picture after picture. When Jessica’s models were done and did the final runway walk as a whole, Jessica stood up from her seat and bowed, earning a round of loud applause. Both Seohyun and Yoona cheered loudly, no matter how awkward the situation was.

            Sometime during the next round of designs, Jessica excused herself from those around her and stood up from her seat. Encouraged by Yoona’s words, the naïve and always pure Seohyun found what seemed the perfect opportunity to go and congratulate her unnie, ask for her forgiveness and make things right again. Oh, was she wrong.

            Yoona, seeing Seohyun stand up right after Jessica and assuming what was obvious, softly grabbed Seohyun’s wrist.

“It’s cold backstage, the calefaction broke. Take your coat.” Yoona said with a sweet and kind smile. Seohyun smiled back at the cute gesture, putting on her coat and leaving right after, taking Yoona’s smile as a lucky charm. The doe-eyed girl sank back in her seat, her heartbeat speeding. She was taking a huge risk because the tiny microphone could easily fall from Seohyun’s coat collar, but it was risk worth taking. She knew that whatever Jessica would say to Seohyun would be extremely important.

            Seohyun was thinking of what words to say, how to act. Surprisingly, she wasn’t as nervous as she thought she’d be in such situation. She was completely confident that she and Jessica would leave the fashion show as friends again. The young musician followed Jessica towards a room backstage that was only meant for designers, and the security guard must have thought she was one as he let her in without a word. Jessica knew Seohyun was following her, so she decided to just let it be and leave the door open for her. Taking a deep breath, Seohyun went inside.

Jessica was in front of a mirror, checking her make up. Through it, she locked eyes with Seohyun. The two remained unmoving, wordless, for a few seconds.

“You have some nerve to come here, don’t you?” Jessica asked, leaving her make-up and turning around so she could look directly at Seohyun.

“You’re the one who let me in, u-unnie.” Seohyun stuttered out, attempting to smile. She always tried to smile whenever she was nervous. Jessica pierced her with a cold glare.

“Don’t play dumb. This is my first show as a designer, and you have the nerve to show up, as VIP guest? For someone who wanted me to stop designing, that’s quite contradictory.” Jessica said, a tinge of sarcasm in her angry voice. She was ready to say everything she had been holding in for so long.

“You know I never wanted this, unnie…” Seohyun said in a strained voice. How she wished Jessica could believe her.

“Then why, Joohyun?! Why did you suddenly turn against me?! If I had only felt that one of you girls still supported me, even if just one, we would have found a way to get through this together! But no, you were just thinking of yourselves, as always!” Jessica shouted, shutting the door so that people wouldn’t eavesdrop. The first couple of tears ran down Seohyun’s cheeks, but it’s safe to say that Jessica didn’t even notice them.

“Unnie, what’s done is done and I can’t change that, but you know that things are not black and white. There were so many things going on…” Seohyun tried to reason, but Jessica stomped on the floor so hard that her high heel made a loud sound as it collided against the tiles.

“So it was better to dispose of me than to face the rest of the issues, right? That makes me feel much better!” Jessica threw her hands in the air, tears burning the back of her vision. “For the first time since you girls threw me away like I was some sort of garbage, I feel like I’m slowly getting back on my feet, but you had to appear tonight, right? And remind me of all the pain I’ve had to endure on my own!”

“Unnie, please listen…” Seohyun tried to interrupt her. Her heart was breaking into a million pieces.

“You girls took away the most important, precious thing I had! You all meant everything to me! I could sketch 3000 designs right now and they’d never mean to me as much as you girls did!” Jessica continued to shout, shutting her eyes. There was an indescribable pain settling on her chest. Heartache. “Only Soojung knows how much I’ve cried. If you cared for me or had the slightest amount of respect towards me, you would have never showed up here.” Jessica finished in a whisper. By now, Seohyun couldn’t bear to look her in the eye. “Just leave, Joohyun. Leave before I call security on you.” Wordlessly, only sobbing, Seohyun turned around in her heel and went towards the door. “Oh, and your friend seemed very sweet. Consoling you and all. I hope you won’t drop her like you dropped me.” Jessica seethed, having obviously noticed the chemistry between Seohyun and Yoona. A few more tears ran down Seohyun’s cheeks as she finally opened the door and decided to leave. It had all become too much for her to handle.

            Yoona watched as Seohyun stormed out of the convention center. Genuinely concerned because of the tears running down Seohyun’s cheeks, she decided to follow along, calling after her but getting no response. The temperature outside had lowered considerably, but Seohyun didn’t notice at all. She was so hurt emotionally that physically, she had become numb. She was so hopeful that Jessica would accept her apology and they’d make up, that she hadn’t stopped to think of the many things that could have gone wrong. It had been so stupid of her, but she had realized it too late. She finally stopped walking when her legs threatened to give up on her; she had walked at least a few blocks away from the convention center, but she had lost track. She didn’t care.

“Seohyun!” Yoona called, jogging up to her. Her breath was coming out in visible pants because of the coldness and her doe-like eyes were wide with concern. Seohyun looked up from the ground and met Yoona’s stare. “What happened?”

“Unnie and I… we f-fought…” Seohyun choked out, wrapping her own arms around herself when she finally felt the cold catching up to her skin. The older girl stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the maknae, one of her hands going to her lower back and the other to her silky hair, snuggling Seohyun’s head into the crook of her neck. Seohyun immediately wrapped her arms around her neck, crying into it.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I’m here…” Yoona whispered softly before kissing the crown of Seohyun’s head.

“I know, Yoona. Thank you so much… and I’m sorry for ruining our date.” Seohyun cried harder at the thought. Yoona’s heart broke as she saw the younger girl crying so hard. She shook her head, cupping Seohyun’s cheeks softly. Both their eyes fluttered close when Yoona delicately pressed her lips to the younger girl’s forehead, lingering there for a few seconds. Seohyun’s sobbing stopped and now her tears were silent, but not less painful. However, there was a fire in her heart that was being slowly ignited by Yoona’s loving kiss; a light that threatened to dispel all the darkness that had settled inside her for so long. As Yoona pulled away slightly, with their eyes still closed, Seohyun could feel Yoona’s breath fanning over her lips. This contentment that seemed to be pushing away all the pain that consumed Seohyun… it was magical. And Seohyun needed more of it. Her hands that were still wrapped around the doe-eyed girl’s neck had a mind of their own as they swiftly pulled Yoona in, and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

A/N: Hey readers!! Glad to announce that in this fic, Yoonhyun is not eventual, but happens in the third chapter! Such a contrast from my past fics xD but I’ll take change as a good thing. I want to apologize for not updating sooner keke… I had to start my semester normally so I wouldn’t lose my scholarship, so it’s been pretty hard juggling med school and helping my mom with her condition and such… but well, doing the things I love (like writing this fic lol) makes it all easier to handle :) So thanks for reading and I’m looking forward to your comments about Yoonhyun’s sweetness haha Also, loving Catch me if you can! Let’s support our girls so that they can be happier and more cheerful <3