Most of Korea would say today was a normal day. The sky was blue, the sun was out, the day was like any other weekend. And like usual, Jessica was going to meet her sister for a shopping trip.

“Jess!” A small hand waved over the crowd, before Krystal appeared, “Did you wait long? I wanted to get your favorite iced coffee.”

Jessica smiled happily, “You really are the best. I feel like such a ty sister now.”

Krystal laughed, “I was in a good mood and woke up early. Did you hear about the new Hermes bag? It is so pretty!”

Jessica shoved her sister’s shoulder, “Do you really need to ask?”

Krystal laughed as they entered the Lotte World Mall, “After shopping, did you want to go to the cinema? I never went to this one.”

Jessica sipped her coffee, “You mean the one on like the top floor?”

“Yea. I heard you can see the whole city up there.”

Jessica nodded, “Sure. There is the new Dong-won movie out now.”

“Since when did you like Dong-won? I thought you were more of a fan of Won-Bin?”

Jessica shrugged, “I don’t know a few years ago, I just started seeing all his movies, and this new one sounded good.”

“Okay, but shopping first! I need to get my hands on that bag!”

Jessica laughed as Krystal dragged her in the Hermes store and from there, they went to a few more luxury brands getting shoes and a few tops to go with Krystal’s new purse. So far, this was a great day.

Deciding to get a quick bite to eat, Krystal found a restaurant in the mall before going up to the next showing of the movie Jessica suggested.

Normally the girls would get a whole bunch of snacks for the movie, but they agreed they were still full from lunch. Getting a spot in the theater, Jessica opted for a seat near the back and the two girls settled in.

“How much longer till the movie starts? Stupid ads.” Krystal complained.

Jessica looked down at her watch, “10 minutes. Maybe we should have done something else for a while. This theater isn’t even close to being full.”

Krystal shrugged as she shrunk down into her seat, “Too late now, we are already here.”

Jessica also relaxed into her seat, “Yea…” Waiting for the movie to start, Jessica looked around the theater taking in that there must be only 20 people here, but one girl shoving her friend near the front row caught her attention. She looked very familiar, but just as the girl was about to turn around, the lights went off signaling the show was about to begin.

Krystal found herself really into the movie because she loved disaster films. The way the actors are trying to avoid getting killed, got her adrenaline pumping, but Jessica was the opposite. A pacifist herself, Jessica felt bad for everyone dying. She could hardly keep her hands away from her face every time another bad thing happened, “We should have watched Trolls World Tour.”

Krystal laughed, “I told you it was strange that you wanted to see this movie.”

Just then, the whole theater started to shake. Jessica let out a little shriek, “Gosh…why do they have to make these movie experiences so realistic.”

Then it happened again, but even stronger causing the rest of the theater to realize something isn’t right, “Jessica I don’t think that is the movie.”

The third time, the theater shook so hard, that the film suddenly stopped and the cries from people were heard outside the theater.

Jessica and Krystal stumbled up and were about to run out of the theater with the other movie goers, but quickly stopped as the person in the front of the crowd screamed, “Get back! Get back!”

The rest of the crowd pushed forward to see what was going on, but from what Jessica could see when the door opened, there was no floor outside of their doors, “What is going on.”

Someone with a much more boisterous voice took the lead, “I think it was an earthquake.”

The speakers came on in the cinema, “Dear Lotte guests. Reports have stated Seoul has just had an 8.5 magnitude earthquake. The mall has sustained significant damage. Paramedics are on the way, if you are in a store, please stay put. If you have someone who is injured, we will try to get to you as soon as we can. We are not sure if any more quakes will come, so stay in a safe place for now. That is all.”

The whole theater erupted in people talking and panicking so the person nearest to the doors spoke again, “Listen! Listen! We opened the doors, and there is a huge whole in the floor. We can’t get out for now. Everyone stay calm. I am sure we will get help soon, but we are stuck here.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t calm anyone down and several people were careless to look at the hole in the floor, while Krystal pulled Jessica back into the theater to sit down, “Well…the good thing is, none of us are hurt.”

Jessica was still in shock, “But we are stuck here…on the 11^th floor of a building…what if it collapses?”

Krystal could see her sister was on the verge of panicking so she reached over and held her hand, “Jessica we are going to get through this together okay? I am going to try calling mom and dad so stay here okay?”

Jessica nodded and watched Krystal walk away towards the door to get better cell service. Slowly, Jessica pulled up her legs to hold them, hoping to find some comfort in this situation.

“Jessica? Jessica is that you?”

Quickly, Jessica turned and saw her. Earlier she thought she saw someone she knew in the theater, and to her disbelief, it was, “Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon smiled and took a seat next to Jessica, “For not seeing you for several years, this is a strange way to get us to meet again.”

Jessica laughed, “I don’t find this surprising at all.”

Taeyeon raised her brow, “Really? An earthquake, stuck in a theater? This is a normal place to meet?”

Jessica shook her head, “No. In Seoul at a Dong-won movie. This seems like the perfect place to meet you.”

Taeyeon started laughing, “I guess you are right. It is almost like you were looking to find me to spend a natural disaster with.” Cocking her head, Taeyeon looked into Jessica’s eyes and reached forward to tuck a piece of hair behind Jessica’s ear, “The last time I saw you, you were boarding a plane and breaking my heart.”

Jessica reached up to take Taeyeon’s hand in hers, “Taeyeon you know why and you know why we shouldn’t do this again.”

“You are going back aren’t you?”

Jessica bit her lip, “I am here visiting family.”

Just then Krystal came back, “Mom and dad are okay. I told them where we are and they said on the news that they saw firefighters coming to the mall.” Seeing Jessica wasn’t alone Krystal pointed at Taeyeon, “Who is this?”

Jessica laughed, “You remember my friend Taeyeon from high school right? You were young, but I think she came over to the house.”

Krystal reached out to take Taeyeon’s hand, “Nice to meet you again. Sorry I don’t remember you much…”

Taeyeon let out a little laugh, “It doesn’t matter. I just recognized her from school. I didn’t know she came back to Seoul or I would have met her sooner.”

“Although this situation , at least you two met before we die.”

“Krystal!” Jessica yelled out, “No talking of dying.”

“I am just trying to lighten the mood.” Krystal huffed.

Taeyeon stood up from her seat with Jessica mirroring her actions, “Contact me before you go back to America, I want to catch up a little.”

Krystal looked back and forth between the two girls before speaking up, “We are going to be here for a while, you should like catch up now.”

“Didn’t you come here with someone?”

Taeyeon pointed back, “Yuri. She is taking a call right now.”

Krystal smiled, “Great! I will make a new friend while you both figure out what happened the past 5 years.”

Jessica mouthed for Krystal to come back, but the irritation she felt soon turned into fear when another quake hit and the theater started to rumble. Taeyeon quickly wrapped Jessica into her arms whispering, “It will be okay.”

At that moment, Jessica could feel her entire body fill with warmth from Taeyeon’s embrace. For that instance, she didn’t care that the world was starting to collapse because she was safe in Taeyeon’s arms.

After a minute the building stopped shaking and everyone checked to see if there were any injuries, but it seemed the theater was okay and no one got hurt from this aftershock.

Taeyeon looked down, “Are you alright?”

Jessica looked up, afraid to let go, “I think so.”

Giving her a warm smile, Taeyeon slowly let go, “good.”

Krystal came with Yuri, “Did either of you get hurt?”

Jessica let go and turned around to see Yuri and her sister, “fine…we are fine. Did anyone else?”

Krystal looked at the shocked bunch in the theater, “I think we are safe in here.”

“It is going to take a long time for firefighters to get to us. They have to go through 11 floors…”

Taeyeon crossed her arms and leaned on the chair, “there will be more aftershocks too. I hope this building was made well. That isn’t going to be the last of it.”

“My family is texting me updates. It seems the first and second floors are good so they are moving up.” Yuri spoke up.

Jessica reached over to take Taeyeon’s hand in comfort, “That is good.”

Taeyeon smiled a little while rubbing the back of Jessica’s hand with her thumb, “It will be alright.”

Krystal noticed the small blush on her sister’s face, “Hey Yuri do you want to go see what they are talking about over there?”

Yuri was a little confused but followed the younger Jung anyway leaving Taeyeon and Jessica alone again.

“So…are you happy?”

Jessica jerked her head up, “I think so.”

Taeyeon sighed, “How is LA?”

“I moved to somewhere else in California after graduation.”

“Still chasing your dream in fashion?”

Jessica shrugged, “The field is pretty competitive so I changed my degree a little. I am more on the production side of hosting fashion shows.”

Taeyeon was still amazed, “That is cool. I take it the company does shows in LA only.”

“I am afraid so…”

“That is too bad…you know there is a Korea Fashion week. I sometimes watch it hoping to see you in the crowd.”

Jessica giggled, “That is stupid. I will always be behind the scenes somewhere. Even if I was a designer, none of my stuff would be in any Fashion weeks. You have to be uber famous for those.”

“The only things that are impossible are the chances you don’t take. I learned a long time ago that I should take more chances.”

“So what did you do after college?”

“Elementary school teacher. I thought I never grew up so I belonged there.”

Jessica giggled, “Your height suits it too.”

Taeyeon lightly slapped Jessica’s shoulder, “you are nearly as short as me.”

Jessica laughed before leaning back and sighing, “it is amazing that 5 years doesn’t make me like you less.”

“I hate to say it, my feelings grew bigger?”

Jessica looked at Taeyeon with sympathy, “Taeyeon don’t. If we survive this thing, I am going back to LA. Nothing will change that.”

“The thing is, we don’t know if we will survive this, so if I were to ask you what you wanted to do in this moment as if it was your last, what would you do?”

Jessica looked at Taeyeon for a second before cupping her face and kissing her hard, “I would do that.”

Taeyeon smiled onto Jessica’s lips, “Me too.”

------------------------

A few hours passed and Jessica fell asleep in Taeyeon’s arms as they waited around for help. There were no more aftershocks and the situation grew to be a quiet one.

Then the whole theater was jolted awake when they heard voices outside the theater, “This is the Seoul fire department. Does anyone need help?!”

Nearly the whole theater started screaming that they were trapped.

“Don’t worry we will get you out!”

Taeyeon shook Jessica awake, “Hey.”

Jessica opened her eyes slowly, “W-what is happening?”

Taeyeon leaned down and kissed Jessica’s lips, “We are getting rescued right now.”

Quickly Jessica sat up, “Really?”

Taeyeon nodded, “The firefighters are here now.”

Jessica stood up and pulled Taeyeon near her sister who were watching what the firefighters were doing, “How are they going to get us out of here.”

Krystal stood with her arms crossed, “They are going to make a bridge and take us one at a time.”

“Is that safe?”

“It is the only way out, so we will have to see. I vote not being the first one.”

Taeyeon held onto Jessica, “I am in no hurry to get out of here.”

Krystal watched as the first person was brought across the makeshift bridge, “Oh they are making the girls go first. We don’t have a choice.”

The girls lined up for their turn to cross the bridge. Taeyeon never stopped holding Jessica until she had to let her go so the firefighters had her cross over the hole. She was right behind as the next one to cross. They wanted to wait for Jessica’s sister and Taeyeon’s friend, but the firefighters rushed all the survivors to exit the building.

Going through the mall, they couldn’t use any of the elevators and some of the stairs were crumbling so they were guided through a carefully crafted path that seemed safe. Taeyeon ran ahead of a few people so she could get back to Jessica and tightly grabbed onto her hand, “I won’t let you go.”

Jessica held on hard, “I don’t want you to.”

After exiting the mall, Krystal found Jessica and hugged her, “I saved my Hermes bag!”

Jessica laughed, “Glad you are safe too!”

Taeyeon hugged her friend Yuri who came out, “Did message your mom?”

Yuri nodded, “They said the subway is closed and busses might be too full. You should come to my place it is closer.”

Taeyeon turned to see Jessica and her sister talking, “Hey Jessica do your parents still live across town?”

Jessica let go of Krystal, “Yes. Why?”

“The lines are down right now. Do you want to stay with us for the night? We will see what the situation is in the morning to get you back.”

Jessica looked at Taeyeon with the thoughts of ‘what if this was your last day alive’ echoing in her head before looking at Krystal who smiled, “I will call mom and dad.”

Taeyeon grinned as she opened her hand out wide for Jessica to run over and take it in her own, “I want to live every day as if it was my last.”

Taeyeon cupped Jessica’s face with her other hand, “I don’t know English.”

Jessica giggled and kissed Taeyeon, “we will have to find a way to make the impossible, possible this time.”

“Are you talking about my English or you quitting your job and moving here with me?”

Jessica kissed Taeyeon one last time, “Who knows, we just survived a natural disaster so there are endless possibilities.”

Taeyeon squeezed Jessica’s hand, “that movie was too real.”

“Special effects were great.”

~END~