It had been several weeks since Tiffany had finally began to forgive her, and a couple of days since Taeyeon had begun to try. She was still a little confused as to why they had been so furious in the first place. In her heart, she felt that her suggestion was reasonable and extremely rational, and she always followed her heart.

The tension between some of the other members and herself began a few weeks after the release of 'The Boys,' when they had gathered together at the dorm.

They had all been busy with their own schedules that this rare evening with everyone available had them all wanting to do something they hadn't done in a long time: the candlelight confession.

It had started off lively; all of them joking about things that had occurred, smiling about jobs they had secured, laughing at the range of epic fails that befell them... The night was perfect. But then, the manknae opened and suddenly, things got serious.

"I've missed this," she sighed as the laughter quieted down. "I've missed us hanging out and bonding-without all the cameras and the scripts. This-" she said, motioning to her unnies, " this feels right."

Looking around the circle, they all smiled in agreement.

"But... How long will this last?" Seohyun whispered wistfully.

There was a moment of silence that lasted a bit too long.

In the past, no matter what the situation, whether they be serious or not, whenever the question arose, 'How long will you be So Nyeo Shi Dae?' The answer was immediate. But now-

"This can't last forev-"

"This will be for forev-"

Jessica and Taeyeon both stopped mid-way, staring curiously at eachother. The rest of the group were shocked at both answers.

"Why did you say that Sica?" Taeyeon asked. "You know it's a lie that this could forever. Don't make baseless promises. You said so yourself that you wanted to do things after So Nyeo Shi Dae. You have other dreams you cannot pursue if you're stuck with the label. So why?"

Sunny gasped in surprise, not believing her ears. She glanced around the circle with wide eyes and saw that she was not alone... And with another shock saw some faces in agreement with their leader. She was never one to be emotional, but when her round eyes landed on Sica, she saw a fleeting look of heartache and pain flash across her face. It almost caused a sob to escape her, but she choked it back before it could.

Jessica felt hurt, but didn't let it show. Now was not the time to be weak. So she proudly tilted her head up, straightened her back, and placed a hand at her hip- icing it up at full power.

"Baseless? Dreams? You're making no sense. No matter where we are in life, we all agreed. So Nyeo Shi Dae forever. We don't need the label to be SNSD because we are the embodiment of SNSD." Looking around the circle, she glared with indignation. Her eyes and voice softened as her gaze reached the manknae. "Didn't we agree that our dream was to be the female Shinhwa?"

"Jess," Tiffany began. "That's all true, but look at the facts. Even legendary girl groups haven't been able to last-"

Jessica's eyes flashed once more.

"We were going to be the first! Hadn't we agreed? We were going to break out on our own- after our ninth anniversary as a group- fulfill our dreams, start our families, but still be So Nyeo Shi Dae!" Jessica glanced imploringly around the circle, the hand on her waist falling powerlessly to her side. "We had it all planned out. Our departure- our temporary departure- from the entertainment world as a group was going to be beautiful... Because our fans would not be expecting our announcement that we will always remain So Nyeo Shi Dae a year later- with all our updates on our lives and our candid YouTube channel with our selfcams. Within two years of chasing our dreams, YulSooNa would become top rate actors; everyone begging them to be in their films, Hyo2Ny would be household names; everyone begging them to appear as guests or hosts on tv shows, SeoTae would further their music carrers; everyone begging them to star in their musicals or singing a collaboration with-"

"Stop," Taeyeon whispered.

"-and me? I'd be a fashion designer with a brand named Blanc-"

"I said STOP!" Taeyeon screamed. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing heavily. "Just please," she continued morosely. "Please stop."

Jessica had been caught up in the dream of their future that it stung to be the only one seeming to have been swept away by it's possibility. Was their trust in each other so weak now that they believed they could not pull it off?

"We have to ride this train of success for as long as we can," Tiffany said. "We won't be young for long so we need to keep this up... We have to-"

"But that's my point," Jessica cut in, determined to have them remember how simple the dream was and how easy they, as SNSD-Korea's Top Girl Group-could pull it off. "This wave of success is the stepping stone to us living out our personal dreams to make the dream of a long lasting SNSD a reality. If we just-"

"Sica," Yuri sighed. "I agree with Taeyeon and Fany."

"But-"

"We can't kid ourselves anymore. That was a dream we had when we first debuted... But that's all it'll ever remain."

"Sooyoungie?" Jessica pleaded. "Hyoyeonie?"

The two shook their heads as a sign that they were not commenting on the subject at hand.

"Yoonaya? Sunnyah?" her voice faltered as she made eye contact with each and they immediately hung their heads, avoiding further eye contact.

"Juhyunie?" Jessica tried, but the manknae would'nt even meet her gaze.

Feeling suddenly alone, Jessica shoved the feeling of betrayal away and forced the tears to remain at bay.

"I guess I'll be the only one sticking to the schedule of our-I'm sorry- I mean my dream."

And with that, she quickly arose from the circle, blowing out her candle and leaving it behind in her place. She needed to get out of there. It had become so stuffy and she could barely breathe with the feeling of betrayal gripping so strongly to her heart.

When did their dreams turn into an endless pursuit of money? And how did she remain the only one blindly pursuing their dreams alone?

She had trusted them with all her heart, they had been through so much and had always carried each others burdens... But that was her problem. She had trusted them with all her heart, yet they had only trusted in their own ambition-blinding them to their once innocent dream.

Now, they had all turned their backs-some of them doing so by believing in the dream but staying silent. No matter. She'd make them all see. Their dream was not so weak that it'd die with this little mountain in the way. She'd drill a tunnel straight through and get them to their Forever Soshi dream without them even realizing it.

And when she did, they'd all be back on the same page. Because a life without dreams is a life wasted.

Jessica sighed at the memory.

She still believed in the dream, but being the only one striving towards it was taking a toll on her.

She also didn't know why Tiffany had forgiven her, but she was grateful nonetheless. She had missed her friend and confidant.

"Jessie!" Tiffany called out to her. "C'mon! Taecyeon and Khun have arrived! We need to go pick up Sunny, Kwonnie, and Chansung!"

Jessica smiled, not realizing just how much she had missed Stephanie's loudness.

"Yeah, yeah," she responded lazily, a contented smile gracing her face. "I'm coming, calm down."