"Deep in thoughts.."

Yuri murmured staring at the girl in front of her intently. The sound of the lute could be heard behind them while some were sitting around the musician enjoying the music, and the others were either trying out the bartender's new creations of alcoholic beverages or sitting around talking to each other inside the inn. As for Yuri and Taeyeon, they were sitting at a table in the corner enjoying a simple ale.

Taeyeon was lost in her thoughts as she didn't seem to hear whatever Yuri was talking about, though a loud sound of Yuri clearing and the sound of the glass of ale that slammed on the table snapped her out of her thoughts.

"H-huh?"

Taeyeon asked, earning a smirk from Yuri.

"Mind sharing your thoughts?"

There was a moment of silence as Taeyeon was tapping her fingers on the table, while Yuri was just staring at her patiently.

"I was assigned to do an impossible mission"

"Impossible? The Taeyeon I know never found anything hard"

Taeyeon sighed

"Ever heard of the name Miyoung?"

"Miyoung.. I've heard this name before" Yuri furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember where she heard this name. "Ah! Miyoung!"

Taeyeon looked at her confused. Yuri leaned on the table dividing the two and motioned Taeyeon to come closer with her hand.

"There are rumors.." Yuri whispered, casting a suspicious look around the tavern "You see, ever since I began training at the palace, I've always heard Sooyeon's father mentioning that name to the high ranked soldiers. Apparently, he was chasing her for an unknown reason. But now that he's dead, the chasing has stopped, as far as I know."

"What about the rumors?" Taeyeon whispered back

"There are a lot of rumors about her. But the most possible rumor is that she is a long lost family member of the Jungs, or something like that. Yet, the Jungs never opened their mouths to any of the rumors. So no one really knows what is so special about her." Yuri paused. "Though I doubt if that's the case, I mean if so..then at some point, she should've been to the palace, at least the day she was born at. But no one has ever seen her."

Taeyeon, to say the least, was even more confused. Seeing that Taeyeon had nothing to say, Yuri continued.

"But what does Miyoung got to do with your mission?"

"Sooyeon wanted me to find her. No hints, or anything. Although she said that her father had been chasing her ever since she was born. So I don't think that the rumor is true"

Yuri leaned back to her chair crossing her arms, Surprised and confused. She hasn't heard that name again since the previous king had died and Sooyeon took over the throne. She thought that Miyoung was long forgotten, But it seems that her guess was wrong.

"Something must be wrong" She murmured, before taking another sip from her glass.

Jessica was sitting on her king-sized bed, leaning on her hands that was behind her keeping her balance, closing her eyes enjoying the feeling of darkness all around her–or at least that's what was all her closed eyes can see. Her room was decorated with the finest decorations, every material placed in her room was fancy, it had everything a low or middle classed person could ever dream of when they imagine their own room. Yet she didn't have the desire to open her eyes and enjoy it.

She sighed for the nth time, she couldn't erase her last encounter with Taeyeon from her mind, specifically the name she called her. The scene kept on repeating inside of her mind as if it was presented in front of her eyes to see. It has been more than a decade that someone called her by that name, and she liked it that way. She never wanted anyone to call her with that name again, Sooyeon would be enough for those who are close to her. Though Taeyeon was an exception, she just liked to see Taeyeon making a fool of herself.

"As much as I remember, we are both 24, Jessica"

Jessica..

Jessica..

Without realizing, her hands had already crumpled the sheets underneath her, her fists were clenched tightly.

Jessica..

This time it wasn't Taeyeon's voice that was inside of her mind that she heard. Her mind had used another voice, a voice she dreaded to hear again. A voice that called her ever so sweetly again. She growled loudly as her hands went up to her head holding it tightly, as if almost ripping the mind that was inside of that head, wanting to torture it for allowing her to hear that voice again.

Jessica..

She heard it another time, that same voice. Her head was pounding as if someone was ripping it open. The pain was unbearable, nor the voice. She kept growling loudly and letting out whispers that said shut up repeatedly as the voice kept on repeating inside of her head. The pain was pounding against her head even more until she couldn't control herself anymore.

"Shut the up!"

She screamed so loud, clutching onto her head as her eyes were shut tightly. She doubted if the whole palace have heard her scream or not, that's how loud it was. The voice has stopped the moment she screamed. Her eyes slowly opened yet if someone looked at them, they would think she was drunk–her eyes were unfocused and empty.

Slowly she got up from the bed and walked shakily towards the mirror. Normally, people would see their exact reflection when they look at the mirror, but not for Jessica–at least now that is.

Instead of meeting her own current reflection, she saw the happy-go-lucky 9 year old Jessica that was her younger self, smiling ever so brightly at the 24 year old dazed Jessica. Jessica was terrified to say the least, nothing made sense anymore. Her breath got heavier, her head was spinning and she found it hard to breathe normally.

The reflection changed to the 10 year old Jessica, that was kneeling on her knees crying miserably locked up inside of her own room. It became harder to breathe, as if someone was choking her hard. Sweat was trickling down her body, whimpers could be heard with her heavy breath and she was finding it hard to keep her balance.

Still looking dazed, Jessica noticed a figure beside her when her own current reflection finally showed up in the mirror. A figure that didn't even bother to look at the mirror, but was staring at Jessica herself.

Slowly turning her head towards the figure, she saw her current self staring back at her standing right beside her. But it was the fragile side of Jessica that was hidden and locked up underneath her deepest wall. A side that she made sure to never come out–yet it made its way through and now was standing in front of her. It was like a ghost that no matter how much she tried to destroy, it would still show up and haunt her down. The fragile side of her was staring at her with eyes full of misery and pain. Jessica was standing dazed with eye