Taeyeon immediately plopped down on the couch as soon as she got home. She rested her arm over her face to cover her eyes and decided to take a nap.

Due to exhaustion, she didn’t bother to wait for Jessica. She didn’t even know that the latter was brought into the health room. Well, actually she didn’t want to know at all.

It wasn’t even been five minutes after she fell asleep and she was already awaken by the voice of  a girl shouting her name from outside while furiously knocking on the door.

Taeyeon jolted up in confusion. She was kind of hesitant to open the door but she thought that the person had no plan to stop if she just let it. In the end, she opened the door and she was surprised when she saw her sister-in-law, Krystal.

Krystal stared at Taeyeon with a pair of eyes filled with anger and hatred. Her fingers curled up into a tight fist and her chest was rising and falling rapidly.

There were Tiffany and Sooyoung behind Krystal. They were supporting Jessica to stand up properly by holding onto the poor girl’s arms because she was still unconscious ever since she fainted at the school earlier.

“What with the sudden commotion?” Taeyeon asked emotionlessly and instead of being worried, there was only annoyance evident on her expression.

With a teardrop running down her cheek, Krystal raised her hand and landed her palm hard against Taeyeon’s cheek without hesitation.

Due to the unexpected slap, Taeyeon involuntarily tilted her head to the right side by force. She shut her eyes in pain and bit her bottom lip with her hand covering her cheek.

“Does it hurt?! Huh?! Does it hurt?! Answer me! Does it hurt enough? You jerk!” Krystal grabbed Taeyeon by her collar and pushed her back against the couch.

Taeyeon was unable to react while she was being pushed because she was still unaware of what was happening now. She was still confused and shocked even with blood flowing out of the corner of her lips.

“Krystal, stop it!” Tiffany threw her arms around Krystal from behind and pulled her back away from Taeyeon.

Sooyoung laid Jessica on the couch and ran to the kitchen to get a wet towel. She tried to wake the unconscious girl in the midst of the chaos by wiping the dampened towel on her face.

“Let me go! I want to kill this bastard! Let me go!” Krystal yelled in tears but Tiffany refused to let her go, knowing that she might hurt Taeyeon again.

Taeyeon, on the other side, was still with her cocky act. She wiped the blood off her lips with the back of her hand and looked up at Krystal with a mixture of hatred and amused in her dark brown orbs.

“I thought you would take care of my sister well! I thought you had promised to love her always!” Krystal continued to speak in tears, “But look at her now! She was in a miserable state at the bus stop this morning and I met her again looking so ing miserable and unconscious at school! And when all of these s happened, I didn’t see you at all, Kim Taeyeon! I didn’t see you at all! Where were you?! What have you done to her, you ing jerk?! I've never seen her like this! Not even once! You know? Not even once!”

True, Krystal didn’t have a single idea of what was really happening between Taeyeon and Jessica, but after seeing her sister in that condition, she knew that her sister had been treated badly.

“If it’s not for that ing business cooperation, do you think you could take her from me?! No, Kim Taeyeon! Even if you kill me, I would never let her to be with someone like you! I'll never. You heard me? You...” Krystal can’t continue her words and just cried. Tiffany turned the young girl towards her and hugged her tightly, trying to calm her down in her embrace.

Taeyeon rolled her eyes and leaned back against the armrest of the couch behind her. She was silently trying hard to control herself after being treated like that.

It didn’t really matter for her, the fact that Jessica was in a miserable state at the bus stop and dying on the school ground, just like what Krystal said. She won’t budge and she had no reason to care. For her, it was not her fault. She blamed Jessica for not taking care of herself well.

Yes. For Taeyeon, it was Jessica’s fault. And she had nothing to do with it.

“Tae...” Jessica called out for Taeyeon with her eyes still closed.

Tiffany and Krystal immediately approached Jessica upon hearing her voice despite how weak it sounded.

Taeyeon just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Looking at the situation, she can’t help but to feel more annoyed because it seemed for that Jessica was trying to make her look like the worst person ever. She didn’t feel guilty, not even a tad. In fact the situation gave her more unpleasant feelings inside.

“Crap.”

—

Tiffany and Sooyoung left, leaving Krystal to look after Jessica alone in the bedroom while Taeyeon was just lingering in the living room without doing anything. She didn’t even bother to help Jessica to get into the bedroom earlier.

Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Jung came after Krystal gave them a call and told them about their oldest daughter’s condition. But she didn’t say anything about Taeyeon and what she had done to Jessica.

Taeyeon greeted her parents-in-law like nothing was wrong. She escorted them to the stairs and let them make their way to the bedroom by themselves.

Taeyeon sat back on the couch and leaned against the backrest with a sigh as she closed her eyes; trying to find the peace that had gone missing since the riot that occurred earlier.

Krystal appeared after letting her sister have her alone time with their parents. She looked at Taeyeon from afar for a while before she approached her and stood in front of her.

Taeyeon realized Krystal’s presence but she didn’t give a damn about it. It was just a waste of time for her.

“Are you really going to be like this forever?” Krystal asked.

Taeyeon stayed silent and didn’t budge.

“Can’t you give her a chance?”

“...”

“I know you two are married by compulsion, but is it that hard for you to make some time to care about her whenever she needs you, like, now?”

“...”

“Is it that hard?”

“...”

Taeyeon opened her eyes, and as always, her orbs were full with hatred.

“Do you think I wanted to marry that troublesome girl?” Taeyeon responded in a resentful tone.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Krystal raised her voice, “That so-called-troublesome girl is your ing wife! What the hell are you thinking about? She is your wife! She is the one who will be your company throughout your life, you know? She is the one who will surely take care of you whenever you get in trouble, when you get sick, when you get no one to rely on! Are you aware of that? Wake up, Taeyeon! You have gone too far!”

Taeyeon snorted in a mocking. Wife? there’s no such term in her life. For her, Jessica was just a person who gave her more difficulties in her life.

“Do you even know the that you’re talking about, Krystal? Do you even know how it feels to be forced to marry a stranger purely for money? We got married because of those greedy parents of ours! What do you want me to do about it? Huh? Do you want me to love your sister because of money as well? Do you want me to take care of your sister because of money? Do you want me to do that even though it’s not because of sincerity? I would love to divorce her now if I could! But unfortunately, I have no right to do that,” Taeyeon breathed in deeply before she trailed her words, “So please. Stop blurting out something you have no idea about.”

“Then give it a try? I know it’s hard, but nobody is going to stop you if you want to learn to love her and accept her. Think positively, God damn it! Don’t just think about the causes of your marriage. It’s not like you have made a pact not to love each other. I know you can, but you don’t want to give yourself a chance. You’re too narrow-minded and selfish! You don’t know how to be grateful. You’re blind. Your heart is blind!”

Taeyeon just sighed. She didn’t know how to handle Krystal anymore. She chose to shut .

“If it is too hard for you, at least go and see her and stay by her side until she recovers. It’s not hard, right? So, please, just this once. She needs you, Taeyeon.”

“...”

“Please.”

—

In the end, Taeyeon gave in and headed upstairs by herself. She reached her hand out to the doorknob and when she was about to turn it, she stopped when she heard Jessica’s voice.

“It was my own fault. Please don’t blame her. She looked after me very well. It was my selfishness that made me like this. I didn’t listen to her. I didn’t obey her and I failed to be a good wife. I’m sorry about that and please don’t worry about me. I’m fine."

There was a little guilt that hit Taeyeon after hearing Jessica’s words. But it was just a little and it did nothing to stop her from the feeling of hatred and anger towards the girl. As expected, again she thought that Jessica was trying to make her feel bad.

Taeyeon let go of the doorknob and thought of leaving but then she saw Krystal, who was watching her from downstairs. She had no other choice but to open the door in the end and walked into the bedroom. Doing that was better than listening to the younger girl nagging.

“Mom, dad, you can leave now. I’ll call later.” Jessica said. She knew it will be extremely uncomfortable for Taeyeon if her parents were to stay there longer.

The spouses each left a kiss on their daughter’s forehead before they turned to Taeyeon.

“Please take care of my daughter. Don’t let this thing to happen again.” Mrs. Jung pulled Taeyeon into a brief hug.

Taeyeon nodded and bowed respectfully. She voluntarily opened the door for them, and closed it after they stepped out and left.

Finally, Taeyeon and Jessica were left alone in their bedroom.

Jessica tried to smile to Taeyeon even though it looked bitter but still her love for the latter was still glistening in her eyes.

“You planned this, didn’t you?” Taeyeon accused, breaking the silence that occupied the air in the room.

Jessica was speechless at Taeyeon’s unexpected accusion. She never thought that Taeyeon will say something like that to her.

“You are deliberately acting like this to make me look like a bad person, aren’t you?”

“Tae, that’s not...”

“Why are you doing this?” Taeyeon added without giving Jessica a chance to speak, “Don’t you know that you look like a ing pathetic fool right now? So, stop it. I beg you. Stop showing that pathetic side of yours. You don’t have to go that far because trust me, it wouldn’t change anything. Remember that. It wouldn’t change anything.”

Jessica tried to hold back her tears with a forced smile and took a deep breath before she spoke, “I know. I’m nobody to you but it is fine, you know? As long as you know that I never once tried to change anything, to change you. I’m just grateful that you still let me be your wife even though I know that you hate me more than anything else. I want you to know that I’m really, really grateful for that. It’s more than enough for me, Taeyeon.”

Taeyeon emitted a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms below her chest. She was obviously getting annoyed at Jessica’s stubbornness.

“Even if I’m in pain, I will still choose to stay with you until my last breath. And I want you to remember that.”

In the end, Jessica let her tears flow. She knew that she was not supposed to cry in front of Taeyeon, but it hurt so much and she can’t hold it anymore.

Taeyeon was actually surprised when she noticed the tears leaving Jessica’s eyes. But she didn’t show it and still acted like she didn’t care. Yes, she didn’t care, but she can’t deny it either, the fact that the guilty feeling had came back and hit her again.

“Then it’s up to you if you choose to be a fool forever. I don’t care.”

Taeyeon realized that she shouldn’t linger there longer. She needed to leave as soon as possible because Jessica’s tears were weirdly threatening her and she didn’t want to appear weak because of that.

“Just rest and stop troubling people.” Taeyeon eventually walked out of the room and left Jessica alone.

Jessica just continued to cry. Again, her heart was stung by the person she loved.