CHAPTER TWO: Jessica's Reunion

"Hello, Taeyeon."

"Hi, Jessica," Taeyeon said, completely expressionless.

Of course she didn't care. Taeyeon hadn't contacted her since September. Every other member had sent messages and called, not that Jessica had entertained them. But Taeyeon... Taeyeon had cut her off completely. It must have been easy for her to just ignore everything. 

Jessica hadn't thought about Taeyeon in a long time, and seeing Taeyeon now with her typical DGAF face just pissed Jessica off.

"Good morning, Taeyeon," Kim Youngmin said. "Take a seat. Glad that the both of you could be here today."

Jessica and Taeyeon waited.

"The both of you have been preparing your solo debut albums, and both are now ready. Your solos are highly anticipated, but you know how things are. Albums by girls don't sell as well as those by guys. But if we give fans something to root for, they'll get excited about this. With the drama in your group, I thought that it would be great for the fans if we released your albums at the same time."

Which testicle-eating turd thought of this?

"I don't think that's a good idea, President," Taeyeon said. "Girls' Generation needs to re-establish itself instead of rubbing our past problems in the face of fans."

"Ah, that's a reasonable concern, but it's not sufficient," Kim Youngmin said. "Girls' Generation is on it's way out-"

No it's not.

"-and right now, your solo album might do even better than the group album. That's how well Marketing thinks you will do. With this, Jessica's album is also predicted to make more sales."

Jessica felt that her months of effort in New York were being dismissed, and it was not a good feeling. "I don't need the extra help to sell my albums. I don't want people to buy my album just to see who is more popular."

"This," Kim Youngmin said, "is not a discussion. Neither of you are in the position to make demands. And your album sales are not expendable gambles. The both of you have already lost company enough money as it is. Especially you, Sooyeon. So I am informing you two that you will be promoting in tandem, and that is all."

Taeyeon said nothing and just stared downwards, hands on her lap.

"Sooyeon, you can go first. Taeyeon, I still want to discuss Girls' Generation with you."

Jessica stood up, decided not to say something uncouth, bowed slightly to Kim Youngmin, and left. While her morning had been ruined, Jessica didn't let it keep her down for long. She still had B&E designs to finalize for Fall season. And starting tonight she would be filming the MV for Shine.

In the van, her manager passed her solo album CD to her. Everything had been prepared, but now she knew why her debut had been pushed back. She reread the Thanks To section and double-checked the track list.

1. Reborn
2. Feature Track: Looking Good
3. To My Face ft. Krystal
4. Feature Track: Shine
5. On The Plane ft. Jason Derulo
6. Pretty Lies

"Do you know anything about Taeyeon's album?"

"No. I don't think they know anything about yours either."

Jessica looked out the window. Watched other cars pass by. "Good."

Jessica hadn't been into KBS for a long time. She arrived after a late lunch meeting with B&E's Seoul partners. After getting off the van, she followed her stylist, Minyoung, into the waiting room with her name on it. After makeup, clothes and hair, all Jessica had to do was wait for her rehearsal turn. Instead of letting the loneliness get to her, she did some vocal warmups.

Jessica was going to meet Taeyeon again today. What if they met in the restroom? What if the walked by each other along the corridor in front of other hoobaes? And god forbid, the other members were probably going to come to support their dear leader. Jessica would rather eat a cucumber macaroon.

Thank god f(x) was on a break. Krystal picked up two calls later, sounding sleepy. It was almost dinner time for chrissakes.

"Soojung, why aren't you here yet?"

"There's still two hours to six-thirty. I'm obviously not going until you perform later."

"No, come now. I can't be alone... it's weird."

"Right, okay, okay. KBS right? I'll be there in forty minutes or so."

She should have thought of this earlier. Jessica had just been too busy with the business and rehearsals to give the actual performances much thought. She would have to get used to this now. Tomorrow, they'd meet at MBC. The day after, SBS. For the rest of her career.

Jessica couldn't wait to get on stage. Then all of this would be worth it. She'd be able to express everything she was feeling with her song. 'em. She'd show them she could stand by herself.

Rehearsals came and went without a hitch. Krystal kept Jessica company in the waiting room. Sometimes, juniors would barge into her sanctuary to greet her. Some of the non-SM juniors were less sensitive, saying stupid things like, "Ah I just went to see Taeyeon-sunbaenim", "I came to see you first before Taeyeon-sunbaenim", or "Wahh it's such an honor to see sonyuhshidae-sunbaenim". Jessica just smiled and wished them well.

Then it was time. Jessica stood in the middle of the stage. On television, they were currently showing the thirty second teaser filmed earlier that day for her. Then her in-ear sound switched to her own mic, and the MR started playing. Jessica stared straight at the camera, fierce but gentle, alluring but coy. When she sang her ad-libs she let it go, riding the high notes the way she could. And then it was over. 

A boy band greeted her as they went up on stage. Krystal jumped into her arms. Jessica passed her mic off to a soundstage staff and the hoobaes waiting along the corridor shouted their greetings as she walked through. 

But of course they couldn't be avoided forever. They were standing around the monitors. It was strange because all eight of them were they. Usually, they visited in twos or threes. Jessica supposed that a member making a solo debut was particularly important. Only Taeyeon's face was blank as usual. On everyone else, Jessica could read the emotions that flitted across their faces when they looked up collectively and saw her. Joy, hope, sadness, guilt, longing. 

"Hi unnies," Krystal said, breaking the silence.

"Hello, Krystal, Jessica-unnie," Seohyun said. Not 'Sica-unnie'.

"Hi Krystal. It's been a long time, Jessi," Tiffany said.

"It has been." In front of so many other other people, Jessica couldn't muster up any anger, when she could understand their feelings for her just by looking at them, but this was unbearably awkward. "Hi, everybody."

Everyone seemed to be mute.

"The song you performed was nice. It's catchy and it suits your voice," Tiffany said.

"Thanks."

They weren't running up to each other and hugging, which made the divide between them even more pronounced. People were starting to notice the reunion of the original Girls' Generation. The background started buzzing uncomfortably. That was her cue to leave.

"Well, good luck, Taeyeon." Without waiting for a reply, she walked away, Krystal on her arm.

"That wasn't awkward at all," Krystal said in a low voice.

In the waiting room, Jessica sat on the couch and put her face in her hands. She needed a moment. 

There was a knock on the door. It was Yuri. 

"We wanted to see you. That's why all of us came."

"What's the point?"

"Sica..."

"Don't. Yuri, I missed you so much, but I don't want us to get into this now, not when the company is making us compete... using me to boost your sales."

"Come on, SM spins an angle on everything. It's the way we approach it that makes it different. You know this. We want you back, Sica. Even if it's not officially in the group, none of us ever wanted you out."

"Then why am I here?" Now that they were in the privacy of the waiting room, with Yuri approaching her so earnestly, Jessica was finding the anger that she couldn't grasp just a minute ago. "Whatever we promised each other, it was broken the moment you let the company kick me out."

"We tried-"

"And it wasn't enough. We were Girls' Generation. We had leverage against the company. You guys didn't have the balls to fight for me."

Yuri took a deep breath. "Just shush, Sica. Let's not talk about the group... I just want to talk about you and me right now. You said you missed me. I miss you a lot too. Could we please get back in touch? Can you answer my messages and calls?"

"Just you and me?"

"Yes. And I promise you I won't pressure you about the group."

"Okay, fine."

They finally hugged. 

"Stay with me here?" Jessica said.

"You don't even have to ask. Taengoo's performance should be in a couple turns."

Krystal looked at her phone face on. "Sulli-unnie, my older sister just used me. She doesn't need me here at all even though I woke up early and spent hours stuck in a tiny room in KBS."

Jessica clipped her on the arm. "You're my younger sister. Deal with it."

They watched Block B and Secret, and then the trailer for Taeyeon's debut stage started playing. A few quick shots of staring at the camera like an , and then the live footage came on and the camera dollied in for a closer shot. The MR opened with a gentle but quick drum beat, then rounded off with a snare. Then Taeyeon lifted the mic to , and started singing.

Taeyeon moved around the stage in tune with the beat, making simple movements to match the lyrics. As usual, she drew the mic a little too far away when she started belting. But other than that, it was a good performance. Jessica could tell that Taeyeon had spent much longer than she had on rehearsals. 

Beside her, Yuri was typing notes in a long text message to Taeyeon, as usual.

"Where's my monitoring?" Jessica asked.

"Just wait. We only just agreed to start talking to each other again, how would I know if you wanted feedback? I thought you did well, except you made too much eye contact with the camera. Did too many expressions. I almost thought you were Sunny."

"I wasn't that bad." Jessica frowned. "Did Taeyeon do better, or me?"

Yuri laughed. "If you think I'm going to compare you two, you got another think coming."

"Yulllllll..."

"Ask me again when you two make up."

"That's a never, then," Jessica said. "Don't start on me. You know how she is."

"Sica, everyone misses you, and I mean everyone."

"Whatever you say."

"Could you at least give us a chance to be friends again?"

Jessica sighed. "Of course I would. You know that. But you promised me that we wouldn't talk about the group, so let's not. I'd rather talk about how you've been doing. What've you been up to?"

"You know, variety shows, photoshoots."

"You're busy."

"We all are, but not as busy as we could be. The main focus these days has been vocals and dancing again. It's like we're back to debut days... I had an offer for a supporting role in a drama, but had to turn it down."

"I'm sorry," Jessica said. Yuri didn't have to say it outright for Jessica to know that it was her fault.

"No. It's okay. It makes me feel more like a singer."

"You're more interested in acting though."

"No, I'm not more interested in acting," Yuri said. "I've been thinking about it, and I realized that I used to think I liked acting more because I got to do more with it. But in the end, what I really care about is yoga, friends and doing fun things."

"You're so chill," Jessica said, putting her head on Yuri's shoulder.

"That's rich coming from the ice princess. How's Blanc been?"

"Blanc and Eclare now, Kwon Yul."

"Too long. I still think of it as Blanc."

"Fine. The brand's reputation is gaining traction. Not a lot, but it's something. We're planning to step it up for Fall and Winter. Get onto magazines for Fall, and a fairly major fashion show in New York for Winter."

"Nice."

"Yeah. It's been busy. It's a miracle my album came together. Somehow the producer and my manager made it happen."

"Hmm."

Jessica regretted her last sentence, admitting that she had any trouble juggling B&E and singing. But with some luck, tonight she'd win MusicBank and prove that she was still right.

She didn't win, but neither did Taeyeon. They made their debut stages on the three major music programs and, as was usually the case, first performances won nothing. Beast was still making the rounds with their latest chart topping single. But they had been promoting for five weeks now, so Jessica was fairly sure that she'd get a chance next week.

In album sales, she was losing, at second place. Single sales were better though. Looking Good and Shine were doing better than Taeyeon's feature tracks, although for some reason, Taeyeon's You Know Nothing cemented itself at number one. Taeyeon didn't have an MV for it. Not even a live performance. Jessica supposed that the fans liked the edgier, more honest lyrics. 

Meanwhile, she loved being able to communicate freely with Yuri again. They were like a couple in a new relationship, texting each other every two hours. Getting back in touch, at least with Yuri, had been a good idea.

"Jessica. Hey, Jessica."

Jessica covered her phone with a hand and looked at her manager. Myungmin gestured at her to wrap it up. Jessica put her phone back to her ear. "Sorry, I got to go. The cherry red sounds good. We'll talk again next time." 

Myungmin gathered the binders and magazine cutouts spread across the table and put them into the canvas bag. "We have to get to MBC in thirty minutes. Dreaming Radio."

On the highway, Myungmin brought up what he had conveniently forgot to mention before. Not winning any of the music programs the past weekend had rankled the nerds in Marketing who came up with the rivalry plan. So now the company would allow MCs to ask Jessica and Taeyeon select questions about each other. Jessica looked at the list of approved questions.

Myungmin glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "I know what you're thinking. Yes, the suggested answers are bull, but it would be better for you if you said them."

Jessica snorted. "And what do you want me to do?"

"The company pushes you around enough. Say whatever you want. I trust you."

A/N: Thanks for the comments, subscriptions and upvotes last chapter! Canon, even though it's not real, is surprisingly hard to write, so thanks so much for the feedback T.T What did you think of this one?