“So then we climbed up this huge mountain and he proposed!”

Ugh…Jessica hated this. She knew this would happen. It was story after story of her friend’s happy lives. Tiffany clearly got engaged recently on top of a goddamn mountain with her hunky new boy who looked like some Hollywood actor. Sooyoung was married 2 years ago to her college sweetheart that was romantic beyond belief. Hyoyeon was dating the same man for 4 years and if it wasn’t for the company blocking the dating news, they would be wed by now. Yoona was too shy to explain her love life but she was the most famous person here from the whole school. Jessica already knew about Yoona getting casted into modeling and is now on practically every billboard in the city. Within first 30 minutes Yoona arrived to the reunion, she must have signed something for everyone here.

Then there were the girls that were not admitting or denying a relationship happening like Sunny who is the CEO of some major gaming company or Seohyun who decided to go into musical acting. It was amazing to see both of them accomplish so much. She already knew Yuri was a playgirl praying on young women who came into her coffee shop, but Jessica didn’t know Yuri had two other shops around the city. Jessica made a mental note to ask for a whole year of free coffee cause Yuri was rich.

Then there was Taeyeon…Jessica didn’t hear the girl talk at all. She watched her laugh and listen to the other girls talk but nothing from her personal life. Jessica was curious but she wasn’t going to ask.

“Jessica we haven’t heard anything about you! Come on tell us what you have been up to for the past 10 years!” Dammit Sooyoung, Jessica cursed under her breath. How come Taeyeon can stay silent but she has to spill about her life?

“Oh yea! Jessica you went to Europe to study fashion. Are you a famous fashion designer now?” Tiffany leaned forward in her seat too.

Jessica let out a bitter laugh, “Not really. I did go to Europe but…I work on writing about fashion now. Getting into the fashion field designing was very competitive and difficult so I came back to write instead.”

“That is so cool!” Tiffany practically yelled, “What magazine? I read like all of them.”

“InStyle.” Jessica whispered wondering why her job was so interesting all of a sudden. In fact, since she started working at the company, Jessica was bitter about the whole situation. Instead of designing and making clothes, she wrote about other people who got to do that. She once had big dreams of opening her own fashion line and owning many stores with her name on it. All of that came crashing down with no money and no support to stay in Europe. Like a coward she came back home and got a real job. Jessica didn’t exactly hate her job though. She still loved the fashion and she was surrounded by people who loved it just as much as her.

“Oh I love that magazine! You should have told us earlier, I would have been bragging to all my friends about your articles!” Tiffany beamed as if she was a proud mother.

“Yea that is so cool!” The other girls chimed in giving praise to her, but Jessica didn’t know she deserved it. It wasn’t her dream to be a writer, but now that she thought about it, she did have a job that sounded nice.

“I knew you would end up doing something great Jessica. I remember back in high school when you were in art and you designed a beautiful dress for the class project.” Sooyoung leaned back, “I saw your talent right there.”

“School went by so fast…” Tiffany pouted, “I missed you girls so much. I loved the lunches together, the class trips, and all that juicy gossip! I miss the childhood tiffs and all the stupid stuff we were able to do together.”

“Speaking of class trips remember the one time Sunny…” Yuri’s face was nearly smashed on the table by Sunny covering her face.

“It isn’t nice to share secrets Yuri-ah…” Sunny gave her an evil glare.

“Oh come on it was 10 years ago!” Yuri tried to argue but Sunny’s death glare made her shut up fast.

“How about we switch to Tiffany’s relationship to Nichkhun!” Sooyoung intervened.

“Oh how about not.” Tiffany snapped.

“Why not? Two foreigners finding love in a foreign land? It was sweet.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes, “Yea well it ended for a reason.”

“Well I am still trying to bleach out my eyes when I caught Yuri in the bathroom with that one chick,” Seohyun intervened causing the girls to burst out laughing.

“Our innocent junior had to catch you out of all of us!” Hyoyeon was nearly off her chair laughing.

“Yea you should have taken your business out of school.”

“Sometimes the time is right,” Yuri justified with no shame for her actions.

Not that Jessica didn’t care for her friend’s reminiscing of school, but Jessica found herself bored. She didn’t have all these fond memories that her friends were sharing. She never dated, she didn’t care when her friends dated and she skipped out on most class activities to study so she could get into a great college. The memories they were sharing were not hers so Jessica excused herself to get punch but instead of returning to the table, Jessica beelined it to the doors and went outside for some fresh air.

Jessica thought she was going to be the only person outside when the whole class  was inside having a good time, but there was a lone figure also enjoying time away from the crowd too. Walking towards the figure, Jessica stopped abruptly when she noticed it was Taeyeon. Jessica didn’t even realize Taeyeon left earlier.

Jessica thought she might not get noticed but when she stopped, Taeyeon quickly turned around and gave Jessica a soft smile. Knowing she couldn’t avoid the girl all night, Jessica walked up to her slowly, until she was leaning on the same post, “Hey.”

Taeyeon mimicked the action, “Umm hi.”

It was so awkward, “I didn’t know you were here.”

Taeyeon nodded, “how did you get out? I faked telling Tiffany I had to use the bathroom.”

Jessica chuckled, “I left to get a drink.”

Taeyeon didn’t dare to look at Jessica, as the later did the same by looking at the ground or any spot in the distance, “do you plan on going back in?”

Jessica shook her head, “Not really. I don’t know what they are talking about.”

Taeyeon agreed, “same.”

“Hey Taeyeon…” Jessica looked up deciding to bite the bullet, “c-can I say I am sorry?”

Taeyeon matched Jessica’s eyes, “don’t worry about it. When I think back, it was a stupid fight.”

“Yea…but you know…I am sorry okay?”

Taeyeon finally gave Jessica that beautiful toothy smile, “Thanks. It means a lot.”

Jessica let out a breath of relief, “So since then, how are you?”

“Fine I guess.” Taeyeon was quick to cover the ring on her finger but it didn’t go unnoticed by Jessica.

“A-are you married?” Jessica didn’t care to handle this conversation carefully, she had to know.

“It is complicated.” Taeyeon put her hand in her pocket, “are you dating?”

Jessica shook her head, “No. I haven’t been in a while.” Picking her cup, Jessica wanted to circle back to Taeyeon, “I know we haven’t been close in a while Tae but if you wanted to talk about it…”

Taeyeon sighed as she took her hand out of her pocket, “I haven’t told the girls yet with all the wedding news, but I am getting a divorce.”

Jessica felt betrayed that Taeyeon got married without her knowing.

“You were in Europe at the time…I was young and stupid…” Taeyeon played with the ring, not daring to see Jessica’s reaction, “do you ever umm…” There was a silent pause, as if Taeyeon was trying to formulate a thought in her mind.

Jessica could see that Taeyeon was having a hard time telling her what was bothering her so she put her hand on Taeyeon’s back to reassure her it was okay.

“Do you ever wonder if there is this mold you need to fit in? Like you meet a boy, you date, you get engaged, you get married….it is the pattern everyone needs to take.”

“There is no mold…everyone should live a life they love. I know the girls are getting married but me and Yuri never took that route.”

“I know…but it is hard. Not knowing if you will be alone your whole life or if you are disappointing your parents because you didn’t go through with a relationship they loved.”

“Yea but, they are not you. You should live a life that makes you happy, not your parents.”

“I know that now…I guess I could have used your life advice 6 years ago.”

“So kids?”

Taeyeon shook her head, “No…I didn’t want them.”

Jessica didn’t know what to say to that at all so she was glad when Yuri was her pesky self and broke up their little reunion, “There you are!”

Jessica turned to Yuri, “Yea I was out here talking to Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon waved before walking towards the door, “It is late…it was good talking to you again Jessica.”

Jessica wanted to say something to keep Taeyeon with her longer, but she only squeaked out, “you too.”

Yuri walked up and leaned on the fence, “I should have guessed you would find a way to run away but with Taeyeon? That is new.”

Jessica ignored the comment, “Is the party winding down?”

Yuri raised her brow, “Yea…a lot of them have kids or whatever. The other girls assumed you already left and I was nice enough to not tell them I was your ride.”

“Thanks,” Jessica laughed, “You still owe me free coffee. I came and stayed the whole night.”

“With Taeyeon…”

Jessica nudged Yuri’s shoulder, “Whatever, let’s get going okay?”

Yuri was smart enough to not say anymore on the matter while Yuri caught Jessica up on the latest gossip as they walked back to the car, but right as Jessica was to buckle in, she realized her cardigan was still on the seat, “Wait…I forgot my sweater.”

“You dummy.” Yuri joked, “I will get it.”

Jessica held her back, “No wait, I will run back in. It was my fault.” Not waiting to have Yuri answer back, Jessica ran out of the car and back into the building. The whole gym was practically empty when she found her sweater set aside, neatly folded. Someone must have noticed it on the chair and put it aside.

Jessica was planning on going straight back to her car, but the sight of her old hallway caught her attention. Carefully, Jessica took a turn back down the hall she went down every day to get to her locker. Jessica noticed the same metal lockers were still there and then she reached her number, stopping in front, “it has been so long…” Jessica reached out to touch the cool metal on her finger tips. Her hands lingered on the lock until she lifted up on the door. Jessica was surprised when she realized the locker wasn’t locked.

Curious to see inside, Jessica pulled open the locker but instead of a dark empty locker, Jessica was blinded by a bright light causing her to stumble backwards and hit her head on the floor.

Jessica groaned in agony as she held her head in pain, “that was ing bright…” Slowly Jessica opened her eyes to get her boundaries again, but she did not expect a crowd of students standing around her, “what the…”

Taking a long look at the students, they were dressed in her old uniform, “Jessica Jessica! Are you okay? Let me take you to the nurse!”

Jessica was confused to see Yuri in a school uniform too, “W-what?”

“You lost your memory! Make way! I am taking her to the nurse.” Yuri said yelling at every student.

“N-no…I am fine…what is going on.” Jessica eyed up Yuri up and down, “what are you wearing?”

Yuri looked down at her uniform, “What do you mean? The same thing as you…”

Jessica stumbled backwards to look down and see she was wearing the same exact uniform she had on years ago. Did she just travel back in time 10 years ago?