The Pitied and The Pitiful

Taeyeon and Jessica went way back. Back when the beautiful sun first rose up, and when the trees sung their best lullaby, that’s how far they went back. But the hatred between had never existed then.

“Taengoo, do want to share my lunch?” A small girl, yet a bit larger than the other, asked as she opened the small, pink box that contained her lunch and extended her arms towards her. The smaller smiled, identical to hers, and nodded vigorously. “I’ll also share mine with you!” She giggled, putting her lunchbox next to hers.

“Thank you, Taengoo. You’re the best!”

“No, you’re the best, Sica!” Taeyeon chuckled heartily as she halved her food and put it on Jessica’s box; the same action done with Jessica. The two ate their meals happily, sometimes laughing at the stories that they told each other.

Oh children, how innocent can they be?

“Students, recess is over!”

Taeyeon and Jessica smiled at each other while they packed up their things together. “Yeonnie?”

“Hmm? Did you forget anything?” Taeyeon asked, glancing back at the table that they sat on. “No, but can you promise be something?” She stopped in front of the entrance and held Taeyeon’s right hand with her left hand. “Sure, anything!” Taeyeon said enthusiastically. “Promise me that we’ll always be together, through thick and thin. And if anything happens, promise me that we’ll always remember to look back at our friendship and never betray each other.” Jessica held her little pinky out, giving a hopeful smile towards her.

“Always Jessi, I promise.” She enlaced her pinky with Jessica’s and stamped their promise. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.” Jessica wrapped her arms around the girl, kissing her forehead as if she was her very own sister.

The Platinum Duo, better than gold.

The two never quarreled, never played foul against each other.

That was until sixth grade kicked in.

“Hello, I am Hwang Miyoung. Please take care of me.” A round of applause could be heard as the brunette took her seat that was placed in the middle of Taeyeon and Jessica. “You’re also from California?” Jessica asked in her perfect English, which interested Taeyeon into their conversation.

Tiffany smiled brightly at her question and nodded. “You’re also from Cali? Ohmehgosh, it’s a pleasure to meet you then! What’s your name?” She exclaimed, quickly reaching out towards Jessica’s hand. “My name’s Sooyeon, Jung Sooyeon. But you can call me Jessica.” She replied, shaking her hand as well.

Taeyeon hoped that Jessica would point to her and say that she was her best friend, but to her surprise, Jessica paid no attention to her at all and kept chatting with her newly found friend. Taeyeon felt a little bit of sting in her heart, but paid no attention to it.

Taeyeon was more than relieved hearing the bell ring, for it finally meant that she would get a break from hearing this and that about California. “Really, they should be quiet when the teacher’s speaking.” Sighing to herself, she waited for Jessica near her locker.

Seconds turned to minutes.

And those minutes were enough for Taeyeon to grow impatient on the girl as she started thinking of ways to somehow strangle the girl. She marched to the cafeteria, and what she saw had somehow made her heart boil in anger. Jessica and Miyoung were happily chitchatting while feasting on their lunch.

But she knew better than marching there and confronting them.

And so she pursed her lips to prevent any sore words from coming out and walked quietly to their seat. She sat beside the new girl since she took her original spot, and hoped that somehow they would take notice of her. But the two continued to chat restlessly, about boys perhaps, Taeyeon guessed.

She cleared , deciding to pave a way for her to get noticed, and tapped on Miyoung’s shoulder. “Hi.” She muttered faintly, contrasting with Miyoung’s reply, which was loud and boisterous. “Oh em gee! You must be Taeyeon! Jessica was just talking about you!” She nudged the girl to her right, giggling crazily.

‘Huh? What did she say?’

“You’re right, she’s a living doll!” Pinching Taeyeon’s cheeks, Miyoung gave a thumbs-up to Jessica who smiled cheekily.

“My name’s Miyoung, but you can call me Tiffany!”

♦♦♦

‘We made a promise that we’ll always be together, but you we