“I-what?” Taeyeon said in shock as she stared at Jessica, wide eyed.

“Why did you let me get kicked out?” Jessica repeated. “You didn’t fight for me or anything. I had to know while I was at the airport. Tell me, Taeyeon-ah... Why?”

Taeyeon could hear her heart thumping in her ears as her palms grew sweaty. She knew this day would come, she just didn’t think about what to say. “I don’t know I-“

“You do know, Taengoo,” Jessica grabbed her former leaders’ hands and rubbed her thumbs across Taeyeon’s knuckles. “Relax, I’m not mad. I just want to know.”

Taeyeon released a deep breath and stared into Jessica’s eyes. “You’re not mad? But I deserve this, all this hate... you should hate me... feel betrayed by me.”

Jessica chuckled and wiped away a tear from Taeyeon’s cheek, “I spent a long time away from you, Tae. Of course I was mad and I did feel betrayed but I had a lot of time to think about it. I know you, Taeyeon. You don’t do things without thinking about them thoroughly I-“

“I didn’t want you in the group anymore.”

Jessica stared at Taeyeon, waiting for her to continue, calmly.

The kid leader squeezed Jessica’s hand, the one she hadn’t let go of, tightly as she continued. 

“I know you still wanted to be with us, perform and all that and start your company. But I just felt like you weren’t 100% sure if you could do both. I know you love us, Jessica but singing with us and all, it just wasn’t for you anymore wasn’t it? I couldn’t bear to watch you exhaust yourself so much. So I decided to agree with the CEO on getting your contract terminated. I know I should’ve let you know what was happening, but I promise you Sica, I only did it out of your interest. I knew running a business was your dream job and you being in the group would have made it harder for you to achieve. That’s why I had you kicked out. I just wanted to see you truly happy.”

Jessica smiled slightly as she finally felt she could breathe again, knowing Taeyeon didn’t actually hate her or had ill intentions against her.

“Thank you for telling me, Taengoo. I knew you couldn’t have hated me.”

“You’re one of my best friends, Sica.”

Taeyeon let go of Jessica’s hand only to wrap her arms around the other woman’s waist. Jessica wrapped her arms around her neck and squeezed tightly.

“I still love you, you dork.” The fashion designer whispered in Taeyeon’s ear.

“I love you too, Sica. I’m happy you’re not mad at me anymore.” She whispered back and after a few seconds she let go of Jessica and smiled genuinely for the first time in months. “Let’s get back, the girls should be waking up soon.”

As they walked back, Jessica asked. “Are you going to tell the others what you told me?”

Taeyeon sighed and rubbed the back of her neck,”I don’t know.. would they even listen to me? Maybe I should earn their trust back first.”

“Yeah that’s true, everything will be fine Taengoo. I mean we do have two weeks out here. You have to talk to them eventually.”

Taeyeon modded solemnly,”Yeah, I know. But... you’ll help me though, right?” She tilted her head slightly to look at Jessica as they walked. 

“Of course, I’ll be there to back you up. Maybe you should start with Yuri? You could rebuild your relationship with her first.”

Taeyeon sighed as they neared the campsite, “Yeah, maybe. I figured I should tell them as a whole, but I’m not ready yet. I need to get my mind prepared.”

“It’s okay, Tae. Just think about it for now,” She pointed towards her tent, “I’m going to try to get some more sleep, it’s still pretty early. You should try to get some rest too, okay?”

Taeyeon nodded and smiled, “Yeah, will do. See ya in a few hours, Sica.”

“Have a nice sleep, Taengoo.” And with that and a last smile aimed towards the kid leader, she entered the tent.

Taeyeon chuckled to herself and slipped back into her tent carefully, trying not to wake up the others and laid back down next to Tiffany, putting her arm around her waist and snuggling her from behind. 

“Hopefully everything will be better from now on.” Was her last thought as she drifted off to sleep.

[A/N: Sorry it’s short, but I usually just wing it lol hope you enjoyed this chapter. By the way, if you have any ideas for this, let me know! :) please leave a comment I appreaciate them! :D]