Krystal couldn't remember the last time she had been so excited to have a day off with no schedules. Perhaps she was so excited because she hadn't gotten a day off in over a month. Or perhaps it was because she had the house to herself and Amber would soon be coming over soon to spend the day with her.

It was probably the latter reason.

Even though Krystal had promised her parents, who were at work, that she would take it easy and get plenty of rest, that didn't mean Krystal couldn't have a little fun. She was currently in the kitchen baking a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies for Amber's arrival. Krystal was absentmindedly humming "Goodbye Summer" as she stirred the bowl of cookie dough for no good reason other than that the song was in her head.

She finished sliding the cookie sheet into the oven just as the doorbell rang. Krystal's heart leapt out of her chest in excitement. Amber had come over numerous times before to play with her, but today felt distinctly different now that their feelings for each other were out in the open. Part of Krystal wanted to run away out of fear and anxiety, but a much bigger part of her wanted to open the door and throw herself into Amber's arms.
 
With a grin on her face, Krystal ran from the kitchen and down the hall to answer the door. But although she had expected to find Amber waiting on the other side, it was actually Girls' Generation's Tiffany that stood there looking quite apprehensive. Krystal's bright expression immediately fell and darkened as she stared at Tiffany. Without a word, she quickly stepped backward and shut the door. But Tiffany, likely expecting such a reaction, was quicker and threw her hand out to catch the door.

"Please, just hear me out!" Tiffany pleaded as she held the door open. "You had no idea how hard it was for me to come here without anyone knowing. Just give me 5 minutes and I'll leave you alone forever. Please, Soo Jung-ah?"

More than anything else that Tiffany had just said, it was the affectionate calling of her name that caught Krystal's attention--in a bad way. Soo Jung-AH. Not just Soo Jung, but Soo Jung-AH. Only her close friends and family called her Soo Jung-ah, but Tiffany was now neither.

Krystal angrily threw open the front door, nearly sending Tiffany crashing into her. "Don't say my name like we're friends!" Krystal shouted angrily at Tiffany. The older girl recoiled a bit, looking apologetic. "We're not friends anymore, not after what you did to us."

The bond between Jessica and Krystal was unbreakable. It was impossible to be friends with one while hating the other, and it was equally impossible to betray one without betraying the other. Tiffany understood this, and therefore she could only nod sadly at Krystal's words

"Sorry, I know," Tiffany said, "And I didn't come here for forgiveness. I don't expect you to ever forgive me. I just came for... understanding maybe? To help you let go of your anger a little."

"Yeah? You want to help? " Krystal shot back. "Maybe you should have thought of that before you stabbed my sister in the back."

"Please, Soo Jung," Tiffany pleaded. "Just let me talk to you for 5 minutes. This'll be the last time I try to talk to you again, so please..."

To Krystal's surprise, Tiffany got down on her hands and knees and bowed her head. It was awkward for Krystal to witness this since no one had ever performed such a gesture to her before. But since Tiffany was bowing like this to show her sincerity to Krystal, the gesture the intended effect.

"Just... get in here before someone sees you," Krystal said at last, stepping aside to let Tiffany in. The older girl nodded and entered the house nervously. "Is your car parked in the open?" Krystal asked, wondering if Tiffany's bright pink car would cause a scandal if people realized a Girls' Generation member was visiting the Jung household.

"I asked Jung Young-unnie to drive me," Tiffany said. She held up a small gift bag that she had been carrying. "She wanted me to give you this, too."

"Jung Young-unnie?" Krystal wondered, taking the bag. Jung Young was a stylist who was particularly close to the Jung sisters. Krystal glanced into the bag and it appeared to be an energy drink, which was fitting considering that she had just fainted less than 48 hours ago.

"Are you parents home? Is Jessica here?" Tiffany asked quietly.

"They're at work and Jessica's whereabouts are none of your business," she responded coldly.

Tiffany nodded. "I came here to talk to you anyway. You probably don't want to hear it, but I want to explain what happened with Jessica."

"Jessica already told me, and it was pretty straightforward. She arrived for an event, you all got y and accused her of not putting enough effort into the group, and then you kicked her out. Which part of it did I not get right?" Krystal asked coldly.

Tiffany smiled sadly. "Well you've got the y part right," she agreed, "but you also left out the part where the 8 of us hadn't gotten any sleep for the last 2 days and where we had been fighting amongst ourselves before Jessica arrived. And the part where Jessica was just as tired as we were that day, too. Everyone's emotions were a mess."

"So tired justifies back-stabbing?" Krystal wondered. She was being difficult in this conversation, but she didn't want to hear Tiffany's excuses. Nothing that the older girl could say right now would change Jessica's situation, so she had little interest in Tiffany's words.

"It doesn't justify it, but hopefully it puts a little perspective on what happened. We didn't mean for things to blow out of proportion, but we were so tired, and so stressed out. I know the stuff we said to Jessica that day was way out of line and completely unforgivable, but you have to know that we wouldn't have said any of those things if we hadn't been so tired. I mean, Sunny once threatened to push Yoona down a flight of stairs because she was tired. We don't mean the things we say when we're tired." 

"Yeah, well there's a difference between saying something and doing something. Sunny-unnie didn't actually push Yoona-unnie down the stairs, which is why you can still laugh at that story. But the fact that you ACTUALLY kicked Jessica out?" Krystal shook her head in disgust. "God, I can't even look at you."

"It wasn't like that! It wasn't like the 8 of us stood there and told Jessica she was out. We had a really huge fight before our event in China and she walked away from the fight. We thought she was just cooling off. We didn't find out until the story blew up that the company called her and told her that she was out. And before we could talk to her, she had already posted about it on her Weibo. No one could take it back after the media found out."

"Don't you dare blame this on Jessica for posting about it," Krystal said through gritted teeth. "It's not her fault."

"I'm not saying it is," Tiffany explained. "I don't get why the company decided to kick her out, but I know the fight is the trigger. If we didn't have that fight with Jessica, there wouldn't have been an opening for the company to kick her out."

"Well why didn't you stand up for her during the fight?" Krystal asked. "Jessica told me that YOU were fighting with her too. Out of all the members, aren't you her closest fri