Jessica’s POV

Following Yoona’s advice, I did practice Fading when I Jumped to Taeyeon. On my days off, I’d sit in the corner seat of the café with school work on the table and Jump. It took a lot of concentration, but after a few days, I got the hang of it. I’d Jump to Taeyeon, but in the back of my head I could still hear the soft talking of the people in the café and Krystal’s voice calling out names every once in a while. One day, my Fading ability was put to the test.

“Hey, Sica.” A voice said when I was watching Taeyeon drink with her friends one night. I Jumped back to my body immediately to find Yuri pull up a chair and sit in front of me. The sun was setting and the other people that were still in the café were obviously high school and college students studying.

“Yuri-yah, what are you doing here?” Even though I knew the answer.

“I came to see you. Krystal told me you were here studying.” She gave me a big smile to hide the lie. Well, it’s not entirely a lie, but I knew the truth.

From my first day back at work and all of the days after, Yuri, Krystal, or my parents would come by the store before we closed with some excuse for why they’re there and they’d walk or drive me home. I did appreciate it, really. I just wish they’d go out and say it instead of making up excuses. But I didn’t call them out on it.

I felt as though I had also been making progress with Taeyeon. I managed to get her to meet me at the library two more times for tutoring, though she did manage to make me mad both times with her inappropriate comments. Today would be our fourth get together and I was going to try and make some sort of connection with her in hopes of speeding up the helping process.

“Taeyeon!” I smiled at her happily when she strutted toward our usual table in the library. Instead of her annoying half smirk she usually carried, she just stared at me before slowly smiling back at me and sitting down. “You ready for today’s lesson?”

I pulled out the English book and turned to the right page. “I figured we’d change it up a bit today. Instead of learning things like greetings or ordering or asking for directions, I thought we’d get to know a little more about each other while also learning English.”

Suddenly, a stifled giggle came from across the table. I looked up to see Taeyeon trying to keep a straight face. I eyed her suspiciously. “Something wrong?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head like a little kid. “Nah, it’s all good.”

I stared at her until she opened her eyes again. That’s when I noticed the redness and glassy look to her eyes. “Are you high right now?”

Her eyes widened in false shock. “Of course not! I don’t do that stuff!” And then she started laughing.

I was furious. Too furious to calm down and think. Instead, I closed the book back up and stuffed it into my messenger bag. “I give up my time to help you not be an idiot and you mock me by coming high???” I angrily closed up the bag and stood from my seat. Without a second glance at Taeyeon, I stormed away.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Taeyeon said from her seat still. I turned around to glare at her. “Does this mean the lesson is over? But I just got here.”

Without another word, I turned away and walked right out of the door. So much for making progress. I climbed into my car and closed my eyes, calming myself down.

“Well that was interesting.” A voice said beside me. I jumped in my seat behind the wheel and turned to see Hyoyeon looking out the window in amusment.

“Jesus, Hyoyeon.” I breathed, clutching my chest. “Can’t you give a girl a warning next time?” Hyoyeon laughed a little. “Do you only watch when something bad is happening?”

“No, I just don’t have a reason to Appear when you’re doing something good.” Hyoyeon said, looking at me.

“So you’re saying walking out was a bad idea?” I challenged. “She came to the lesson stoned! I’m not going to just act like it wasn’t a problem!”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t a bad choice.” Hyoyeon said. “I just figured you might have wanted to vent about it to someone. Maybe your mentor?”

“My mentor doesn’t even bother explaining things to me. Why should I confide in her?” I spat before I could think it over. I closed my eyes when I realized I had been rude and exhaled deeply. “I’m sorry. That was out of line—”

“Don’t.” Hyoyeon said. I looked over at her to see she wasn’t upset. “It’s fine, Sica.” She smiled at me. “I know you’re frustrated right now.”

I sighed. “I just can’t deal with stuff like that, you know? Like, why did she have to smoke before seeing me? That’s so rude!” I growled in annoyance. I could tell Hyoyeon wanted to say something, but she waited until I calmed down a little.

“I just wanted to remind you that your choices with her are now a very important factor for her future. You walking out on her could result in a better future or a worse one, whether it be a big change or not.”

I looked up at Hyoyeon in surprise. “How do I know I made the right choice?”

Hyoyeon nodded, as though she were expecting that question. In the blink of an eye, I was no longer in my car. I was standing in a white room with a few people standing on either side of me; one of which was Hyoyeon.

“Where am I?” I asked, looking around. The room kind of reminded me of a hotel lobby. It was very big with chairs and couches all around; people were all around us, sitting/standing and talking to one another or reading.

“This is the true In-Between.” Hyoyeon simply said.

“What do you mean?” I had grown used to her not explaining things the first time around.

“The In-Between used to be just this area. After a while, people started calling what is now known as the In-Between, the In-Between. Now this is known as Headquarters. It’s kind of where some of us go to hang out or take a look at the people of the world.”

I watched the people all around in amazement. All these people had tried to commit suicide? There were so many people and this room was like never-ending big. There were much, much older people sitting on the couches staring off into space—my guess was that they were Jumping; there were actually kids that looked to be in their early teens as well! I guessed this was a universal Headquarters because there was a wide variety of races and nationalities here.

I looked at Hyoyeon, who was facing the wall, but looking at me. She nodded her head to the wall and I turned to face it as well. I was confused, but very curious. Hyoyeon faced the wall as well and waved her hand slowly in front of us. A clock appeared as she dropped her arm. There were no hands on the clock; but there was a set of numbers in the middle of it and a very small line under that. Above the set of numbers was a name: Kim Taeyeon.

“This is what’s going to tell you if you’re succeeding or not.” She said to me. “This is Taeyeon’s clock. It tells you how much longer she has until she makes that fatal mistake.”

I took a better look at the clock and realized it was counting down. 1519:29:55... 1519:29:54… 1519:29:53… Hyoyeon tapped the clock and another set of numbers showed up above it: 63:07:29:50… 63:07:29:49… 63:07:29:48…

“Sixty-three days, seven hours, twenty-nine minutes and fourty-six seconds.” Hyoyeon said. “That’s how long until Taeyeon dies.”

I stared at her in shocked horror. “Sixty-three days???” I repeated. “I have sixty-three days to keep her from dying???”

“For now.” Hyoyeon said. “It could go up, it could go down. When I looked at it earlier today, it was still at sixty-three days. That means one thing, at least.”

“Which is?”

“That you walking off didn’t change anything for the worse. But it also didn’t change anything for the better. It’s the butterfly effect, Jessica. The smallest choices made could be huge changes in the future. And not just your future anymore.”

“This is ridiculous…” I murmured as I watched Taeyeon’s life ticking away before my eyes.

“You’re panicking right now, I can see it.” Hyoyeon said beside me. “You’ve got plenty of time to take care of her, Jessica. Just don’t take the time for granted.”

And just like that, I was back in my car all by myself. I barely had time to adjust to the new information when I noticed a familiar figure leaving the library. Taeyeon spotted me in my car and started toward me. Instead of waiting to see what she wanted, I turned the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, leaving her behind.

 

~~~

“So, where exactly are you taking me?” I asked the deer-like girl behind the wheel.

“It’s a place where Guardians go to know they aren’t alone. And we’re here!” Yoona said as we turned into a parking lot. The building in front of us looked old and abandoned, with a faded outline of what used to be a sign.

“Kopo’s Foster Care Center?” I read questioningly.

“It closed down about ten years ago.” Yoona said. “Well… More like it was shut down. Some crazy guy came in one night and slaughtered about half of the children before Kopo—the head of the Center—killed him. They didn’t want to tear the place down as a memorial for the children who perished that night. This place is a ghost house now.”

Panic filled my every being from the story. “S-so why are we here?”

“What better place to gather a bunch of once lost souls than a place with truly lost souls, huh?” She said before unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car.

I followed her out of the car and toward the building. At the door, Yoona knocked once, paused, knocked twice, paused, knocked once again before pausing and knocking three times. When she finished, she lifted her tattooed wrist toward the door. I watched her curiously. She looked back at me and took my arm, bringing it up to the door as well and pulling the sleeve down to reveal the winged tattoo.

The door latched open and Yoona swung it, allowing me to step in first. I walked in and came face to face with a decently built man who eyed me up and down. I squirmed under his searching eyes and turned to Yoona.

“Hey Yoona,” The man’s deep voice echoed through the medium sized room. “It’s been a while. Got a new girl?”

“Taecyeon! I’ve missed you!” Yoona said brightly, hugging the man. “Yep! Bringing her to her first meeting!”

He nodded his head and looked down at me. He smiled and extended his hand out to me. The wings on his wrist were fierce looking; much different from mine or any other Guardian I had seen yet. I was ready to take his hand, but a millisecond of hesitance had stopped me completely. I looked at his hand anxiously waiting for him to pull it away from me. When he did, his smile didn’t falter.

“Ok Taecyeon.” He said to me.

“J-Jessica Jung.” I said.

He nodded his head. “Very nice to meet you, Jessica Jung.” He nodded to Yoona next. “I’ll be seeing you downstairs in a bit.”

Yoona led me away and toward a door by the staircase. She opened it, revealing stairs leading to what I guessed was the basement.

“Kopo led the surviving children into the basement before calling the police so they wouldn’t run into what used to be their friends’ bodies. We didn’t want to do this in any of the rooms upstairs out of respect for those kids. And because it’d be pretty creepy, don’t you think?”

“Because having… whatever this is in a slaughterhouse foster care center isn’t creepy enough…” I mumbled.

“That’s the spirit, Sica!” Yoona said, laughing with wide open.

The basement was brightly lit—a complete one-eighty of the dark and dismal ground floor we were just on. There were chairs placed in a circle; quite a few of those seats were taken. As the faces looked at us, I noticed some of them were smiling brightly and some were looking nervously at us. Yoona led us to two empty seats and we sat down. Immediately after, Yoona started talking to the boy beside her casually and I kept to myself, avoiding all eye contact and hoping Yoona wouldn’t try and grab my attention.

I noticed every once in a while, a new face would appear from nowhere while other ones noisily walked through the doors I had walked through. I wondered just how many of these people were simply Appearing for us and how many were physically here. About twenty minutes later, Ok Taecyeon came down the stairs and nodded to a female sitting a few chairs to the right of me.

“Alright everybody, get to your seats, it’s time to start.” The woman said, standing from her seat and smiling at everyone. “Welcome to the Guardians’ Meet, everyone. There are quite a few new faces here today, I see. I would first like to start off by saying… I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. Truly, I am and I know everyone else can agree with me here.

“Now, some of you may not know what this place is. Some of you may have been told to come here at this time without a reason and some may have to brought in surprise. Let me tell you what this place is. Guardians’ Meet is a meeting place that shows you that are not alone. Despite the promise of a better life you might have been promised by your mentors, you may still feel that loneliness, or depression, or anxiety you felt before you became what you are now. You might think you are alone in whatever battle you’re fighting with yourself and that the added responsibility of taking care of another person is too much and no one understands or is there to listen. This meeting is to prove you otherwise.”

The woman went on to explain that the duration of the meeting would consist of, firstly, an introduction of everyone in the room, and secondly, anything the newbies wanted to talk about; advice or comfort or whatever.

“Before we begin the introductions,” The woman said. “I want to remind you all that there is no room for judgment in this world we live in. We have all been past the breaking point and we’re all in the same place now; some longer than others. No story is more significant than another so keep your opinions to yourself unless asked for.

“I’ll start. My name is Park Sojin, I’m twenty-six years old and I’ve been a Guardian for nine years. When I was sixteen, I was a witness to my mother’s murder. Long story short, my father had been sent to prison years before that and was released the day before. He broke into our house the next night while my mother and I were in the kitchen cooking and stabbed her. My older brother ran in and subdued him, but my mom passed away before the ambulance came. I became depressed after my brother took me and my younger brother in. One day, I took a kitchen knife and… We’re not going to get into details. But here I am.”

She turned to Ok Taecyeon, who was sitting beside her.

“I’m Ok Taecyeon,” He said as he stood from his seat. “I am twenty years old and I have been a Guardian for five years. For practically my whole life, my dad beat me and my brother. Occasionally, he would break one of my bones and send me to the hospital with the excuse of falling or sports. During one of those hospital visits, I actually jumped out of my window. It was only a few floors up and I landed on a car. I barely lived through it and after months and months of physical therapy, I made it through. Wouldn’t change a thing about it.”

I listened to everyone’s stories as the introductions came closer to me. Some of who I’m guessing were the new Guardians chose not to tell their stories and Sojin had told them it was perfectly fine if they weren’t comfortable with it yet. The moment the first person opted out, I had decided I would do the same.

Finally, it was almost my turn. Yoona stood from her chair and smiled and bowed to the group. “Hey everybody, I’m Im Yoona. I’m twenty years old and I have been a Guardian for two years. It happened after I went to a frat party with what is now my ex-boyfriend. It was a normal college party at first until I set my drink down and went to the bathroom. Somebody had drugged my drink while I was gone and when I came back, I finished my drink. I was .. by my boyfriend and four of his frat boy friends.”

I watched in horror as she explained a little in detail about what had happened, teasing the line but not yet crossing onto the too-much-information side. Her story was horrific, but she seemed to have told it plenty of times before in this meeting, for the only people who looked petrified were what I had assumed to be the new members. I personally could feel tears b my eyes and I wiped them away quickly before they spilled.

“They had recorded the whole thing and sent it around campus. Everyone thought of me as the . I lost my friends, I lost my happiness, I lost my reason to live. So one day, I drove right off of the rode and into a street light. Obviously I didn’t succeed, because I’m standing here right now. My mentor is great with her words of persuasion.” She smiled brightly at Sojin and winked and Sojin rolled her eyes. "Happy ending though! All five of those guys are in prison now!"

Yoona sat down and it was my turn. I cleared my throat, feeling all eyes on me. “I’m Jessica Jung.. I’m twenty and I’ve only been a Guardian for nine days.” I sat back down, opting out of telling my story. Everyone greeted me and turned to the girl next to me.

The girl sitting on my right fidgeted nervously with the sleeves of her sweater as she slowly stood up.

“H-hi… I’m P-Park H-Hyomin… I’m uh—eighteen a-and I’ve been a Guardian for three days…” She bowed several times before sitting back down, lowering her head, and wrapping her arms around herself. This girl, I could tell, had been through a lot.

 

 

Taeyeon’s POV

The whole house was dimmed and the music blasting from the speakers muted everyone’s talking unless they were right at your ear, but I didn’t mind it. I loved it. This was my home. Well, technically this wasn’t really my home. I honestly had no idea whose home this was, but I was invited by a friend of mine who was invited by a friend of theirs who was invited by a friend of theirs who was invited by the host… or something… It’s a party and that’s all that matters, let’s be real. Not to mention the kush was supplied to us by the host. Obviously, this was weak as hell if he managed to get enough for everyone to smoke or he’d have spent a ton of money. A lot of other people brought their own and some were even willing to let you take a hit from theirs. Basically, it just meant that this party would consist of a lot of drinking. And I mean a lot.

Little did I know that a sly mother er, whom I would no doubt be screwing tonight, would come to the party with a small Ziploc bag of little round white pills to make this night even better.

“Hey hot stuff!” I said as Tiffany sat on my lap and took the bottle from my hand. “Where’s boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend is studying tonight.” She leaned closer, leveling her lips with my ear. “You’re in the clear tonight.” She pulled away again and took a swig of my beer. “How lucky are you? I’m starting my period in a couple of days.”

“Lucky me indeed.” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist.

As the party went on and everyone got drunk or high—or drunk and high—Tiffany and I were dancing in the middle of crowd. She grinded up and down, slamming her against my core from time to time. She very well knew what she was doing and I loved that about this Americanized girl. She turned back around and slammed her lips to mine, hungrily at them.

“Lookie what I brought.” She said when she pulled away. She lifted her hand to show the pills.

“Oh Tiffany, you know me so well.” I smirked at her. She gave me a devilish smile and pulled two pills out. To my confusion, she put both of them in . was on mine again and I opened my mouth to grant her tongue access. I felt a pill slip into my mouth and I took it as I continued our game of tonsil hockey.

About thirty minutes after taking the ecstasy pill, I could feel its effects. My heart started to rapidly beat, my muscles tightened, my vision started to blur. Further into the time, things started to get real interesting. Dancing became so much more exotic and sensual to me. A single graze of someone’s arm sent a tingle up my spine. The cold air from the open windows hitting my sweating forehead made my head spin in the best way. At some point, I had to sit down on the couch. I watched Tiffany dance her hipster raindance. Her bag of E was almost empty after she decided that “sharing is caring” but I could barely tell the drunk from the high due to the room spinning so much.

Something extremely cold and wet hit my shoulder and made me jump—or so I thought I jumped. I weakly turned my head to see a beer being offered my way.

“Thanks.” I said happily and drank more than half of it in one go before it was pulled from my hand. Some of the alcohol slushed onto my shirt and chest, but I didn’t care as I watch the majestic Korean-American, who was now straddling me, gulp down the rest of the beer as she swayed her hips against my bottom half to the rhythm of the music. She leaned down and the flesh of my chest, tasting the bitter flavor of sweat and alcohol and I withered by the contact. My head spun faster and faster.

“Where’s your friend to pull us apart this time, huh?” Tiffany said hotly into my ear.

Sunny, I’m guessing she was talking about, had refused to join me this time or next time or any time from now on. But I didn’t care. Tiffany had a point. She wouldn’t be here to pull us apart anymore.

~~~

“Ungh… Taeyeon!! Gah—Uh…”

The door burst open. Not again… Sunny isn’t supposed to be here… I slowly looked toward the light but everything was spinning so much I could barely tell up from down.

“…hands where I can see…” I was so high I was blacking out bit by bit, I could tell.

“TaeTae, I think we’re being arrested.” Tiffany said humorously under me before she laughed.

A tight grip on my arms as they were locked behind my back told me she was right.

~~~

The sun pierced my closed eyelids, waking me up. I opened my eyes to a familiar room—but not the one I expected…

“What the hell…?” I mumbled as I looked around. Drawings and paintings covered the walls. A dresser was across from the bed I was lying in and a cluttered desk was against the wall by the door. What was I doing in my room?

I climbed out of bed and left the room into the familiar hallway and down the familiar staircase and into the familiar living room. I stopped at the entrance of the kitchen when I heard pans being moved around in the room. She was in there…

I turned around slowly, deciding I wasn’t that hungry and I could just get dressed and stealthily leave the house before she noticed.

“Kim Taeyeon.” Her ice cold voice froze me to my spot. “Get in here right now.”

I cursed to myself for not leaving as soon as I woke up and slowly walked into view. My mother had her back turned, but I always suspected she had eyes behind her back from all the times she caught me and my sister screwing around.

“Are you sick?” She asked, still not looking at me. The edge in her voice was tinted with anger that hid well in front of others, but I could always see past it. I kept quiet. “Huh?” I wasn’t going to bite the bait.

“Answer me!!!!” She yelled, her back still turned to me.

“No!” I bit it.

“So why,” She heaved a sigh as she gained her composure. “In the hell are you going to parties and smoking and drinking and taking drugs???” All composure lost again, she turned around, a saucepan gripped tightly in her hand. “And… And doing… things with other girls????”

I wasn’t going to back down from her. I never do. “Because that is fun, Mother.” I growled. “And I don’t know—maybe because I’m gay—”

A very loud bang from the saucepan striking the counter stopped me from speaking anymore.

“Don’t you talk back to me!” She yelled. Her face was redder than the tomatoes I knew would be in the fridge. “You just wait until your father comes home—”

“I’m not waiting for anything.” I said. “I’m going back to my dorm.”

“You do know that you were arrested last night, right?” She said.

Mostly, I remembered slamming my fingers into Tiffany as she screamed out my name, but I did vaguely remember being forced out of her and handcuffed. And in the back of the cop car, I was making out with her some more before we were separated in the police department. An officer asked me who I wanted to call and I told them Sunny. Everything else was a mystery to me.

“Why am I here? I called Sunny to get me last night.” I said.

“Sunny called us at three in the morning and told us where you were.” My mother said. “She also told us that you’ve been doing this kind of stuff since you moved into the dorms. She said she thought you should move back in with us because she needed that kind of thing out of her life so she could focus on school.”

Sunny kicked me out? I couldn’t believe it… My best friend Sunny kicked me out and called my mother on me???

“You’re living with us now.” She said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

The betrayal of my best friend had me defeated and drained. I sighed. “For how long?”

“Until we say otherwise. Until you get your act together, young lady. You should be grateful we’re still allowing you to go to that university. After a long talk with your father last night, we decided to let you stay for the rest of the school year. But if you do not improve your act, we’re pulling you out and sending you to a much more… conservative school.”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever… I turned to leave.

“We’re going to check on your school progress too. We heard some not so great things so far.”

I ignored her and went back to my room. I fell onto my bed and curled into my blankets again, thinking about sleeping some more.

A quiet buzzing sounded beside me in my bed and I turned to find my phone. I took it and read who the message was from. I opened it up when I decided it was someone I wanted to talk to.

 

From Tiff:

interesting nite, huh?

 

I chuckled and wrote back.

 

To Tiff:

I guess this means someone got you out

very interesting… kekeke

 

It didn’t take long for a reply to come again.

 

From Tiff:

yep… my dad just got me..

im surprised he didnt kill me rite on the spot.

 

To Tiff:

yeah, still waiting for my mom to do it

ive been forced to live back home

wont stop me from doing what i want tho

 

From Tiff:

a real rebel, i see ;)

i like rebels

 

I chuckled again as my phone buzzed again.

 

From Tiff:

round two 2nite?

im gonna b home alone

 

To Tiff:

theyre leaving you alone in the house still?

 

From Tiff:

they had these plans 4 4ever. theyre not going to let this stop them.

wat do ya say, hot stuff?

been thinking about u all morning

im already wet just thinking about it ;)

 

This was why I enjoyed Tiffany the most out of all the girls I’ve ever hooked up with. She was always down to and she kept the act interesting. I’d be stereotyping if I said it was the American in her that made her so and easy, but I don’t care. It’s hot and I’m not complaining.

 

To Tiff:

im down.

 

I set my phone down and waited for a reply that didn’t come. Bored, I brought it back up and started typing to a certain someone before I changed my mind.

 

To Sunny Bunny:

did you seriously rat me out to my family and kick me out?

some friend you are.

thanks a lot for NOT being there for me when i thought i could trust you.

dont worry about me anymore.

screw you.

 

I exited the message box and scrolled through my recent texts, looking for someone to talk to. A name I was slowly getting used to came up: Jessica Jung.

Last I talked to her was earlier yesterday and she wasn’t too happy with me after I came to the study session high. I found it amusing and I found it amusing that she didn’t find it amusing. Usually when a girl wants to spend so much time with me, it’s because they want a casual hook up. I am after all the school’s top lesbian player. But this girl didn’t seem to be like that. Or maybe she was… she didn’t want to come off as it? Maybe she needed a little… push. I didn’t get her. But she was damn fine and I wanted in her pants. Why else would I keep up with these stupid English lessons?

“Hello, my name is Kim Taeyeon.” I said in English absentmindedly. “I wood like a rhocky rhoad-eu ice-ceuream.” She had said I was improving on my pronunciation. “I laike.. sleeping.. eating.. smoking…” Jessica hated it when I asked her what the word for smoking was, but since it’s an English word, she told me.

I typed in a message and hesitated right before I pressed the send button. It was a mere “Hey” but still… Did I really want to talk to her? What would be the advantage of me texting her? There wasn’t one. I deleted the message and set my phone down again. I rolled to my side and shut the world out as I fell back to sleep.

 

 

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Extra late with this update... Sorry guys, it turns out I am in fact very busy with my life right now... But I'll try and update whenever I can. What do you think of this update? After this chapter, I think there will be more Taengsic interaction. Either next chapter or the chapter after that who knows. Leave me many comments!

Captain out! <3

11/4/2015