A beautiful melody wafted throughout the first floor of the dormitory.

Seo Juhyun was puzzled, wondering why someone would be playing the piano at that time of day when she was certain all her members were supposed to be out and about at their respective activities. She peeked inside the music room and was surprised to see none other than her Sica-unnie tinkering with the keys.

The maknae didn’t want to bother the obviously “lost in her own world” Ice Princess but curiosity got the better of her. She cautiously stepped inside the room trying to minimize making noise as much as possible but wasn’t really successful as Jessica paused and looked up the moment the young girl closed the door, confused as to why her dongsaeng was back home so early.

“Juhyun-ah. Why are you here? Did something happen?”

The taller girl sheepishly smiled at her unnie and shook her head before sitting beside her on the piano bench, Jessica automatically reaching out and fixing the other’s fringe out of habit.

“It’s that time of the month again, Unnie, so I had Manager-oppa drop me off here so I can freshen up again and take some painkillers. Manager-unnie’s picking up Tae-unnie and Fany-unnie before coming to pick me up in a bit before going to our next schedule.”

Jessica nodded and smiled at the maknae, gently caressing the younger girl’s back to relieve her from any lingering discomfort before resuming her playing.

The two lapsed in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Juhyun enjoying the soft sounds the instrument was giving off as her unnie concentrated on playing a simple yet soothing piece.

The younger woman subtly glanced at her second-eldest sister after a while. When the news that Jessica was planning to go on hiatus got out, the maknae refused to believe it. It was difficult for her to imagine the group without all nine of them together, even though in reality, individual activities kept on taking up most of their time and prevented them from seeing each other as is.

And with Jessica currently preoccupied with her business alongside her work as a celebrity, Juhyun could only be with the older woman during their overseas activities as a group. Even then they couldn’t spend that much time together since her unnie preferred to barricade herself inside her room and sleep since she needed to regain her stamina for the next day’s set of performances.

“Something wrong, Hyunnie?”

Juhyun snapped out of her thoughts and blushed when she finally noticed that her unnie had stopped playing and was looking back at her.

The younger woman bit her lip nervously, unsure if she should voice out whatever was on her mind.

“Unnie…“

Jessica offered the maknae a kind smile, reassuring Juhyun that she’d listen to whatever it was that she wanted to say.

“Go ahead, Juyhun-ah. You want to ask something?” Said girl nodded her head timidly.

“I-I was just curious as to why you suddenly decided to go on an indefinite break next year. I mean, it’s so sudden, and I don’t really understand, Unnie.”

Jessica affectionately the younger girl’s head as she gave her precious sister a sad smile. She knew that the two maknaes were sad and confused about her decision, the same went for everyone else who was kept in the dark.

“You may not get it now, Juhyunnie, but I truly believe it’s for the best. Unnie’s just getting really tired of juggling everything right now. I’m still here, though. I will try my best to not leave you girls hanging.”

Juhyun nodded, even though she still couldn’t accept her unnie’s decision.

“Did we do something wrong, Unnie? I’ll change if you want me to. I really don’t want you to leave us.”

Jessica was stunned when she heard the vulnerability in the younger girl’s words. She quickly faced the maknae and held her face tenderly, gaze firm but Juhyun tried to avoid her eyes.

“Hey. Hey, look at me, Love.” Juhyun reluctantly looked up.

“I’ll say this only once, okay? Nobody’s at fault, Seo Juhyun. Not you nor anybody else. I will never blame you for anything, and I will never ask you to change just for me. I know it’s hard to accept now, and I know that we need to talk about this again with the others, but even though this decision makes me selfish, know that I will always love and appreciate you and your unnies till my last breath. I’m doing this for me, Hyunnie, so don’t feel guilty about anything. You understand?”

The maknae nodded and lowered her gaze, eyes misty.

“Look at me and answer me properly, Juhyun. Do you understand?”

Juhyun met Jessica’s gaze again, the latter wiping a stray tear from her dongsaeng’s cheek.

“Yes, Unnie. I may not understand your reasons now, but I trust that you know what’s best for you and the group. I love you, too, Sica-unnie.”

Jessica smiled and welcomed her sister into her arms, the younger girl snuggling into her unnie’s warm embrace.

They stayed in that position for a few minutes before they were rudely interrupted by the door being abruptly opened, their Manager-unnie staring at them intensely.

“We’re late Juhyun-ah. Get in the car, the others are waiting.” She then turned her hard gaze towards Jessica.

“I don’t know why you’re still here, Miss Jung. You know the repercussions if you miss your activities, and you know I won’t tolerate that princess attitude of yours if you’re planning to ditch again. I suggest you get a move on before I report you.”

“Unnie!”

“Out, Juhyun! This is my last warning, Jessica.”

And with that, their manager stomped outside the room, heading back towards the car. Juhyun scrambled to collect her belongings before making her way towards the door.

“She can’t keep treating you like this, Unnie. I’ll tell Taeyeon-unnie so we can talk to her, okay? I’ll see you soon!” Seohyun said before running out.

Jessica turned back to the piano, raised her arms, and smashed down on the keys as hard as she could.

“It’s my day off, damn it,” she whispered, tears flowing down her face as she unconsciously rubbed her chest right above her heart.

It was another hectic morning.

Their concert was to be held that evening but, due to individual activities the day before, some of them would only be leaving the day of while the others were already in Japan.

“Yoona! Aren’t you done yet?”

“Almost, Unnie! I just need to get our medicines.” Yoona hurriedly gathered the girls’ supplements and took them down from the cupboard before arranging them inside a special bag. They forgot to pack them beforehand because they were too busy lately so the young girl was tasked to bring them.

She needed to be careful because some of the girls would unintentionally mix their personal medications with the others so she had to check all the bottles she wasn’t familiar with just in case she needed to bring them, too.

As she was finishing up and was putting away the medicines she wouldn’t take, Yoona accidentally hit a small white bottle that rolled down from the cupboard to the counter. She caught it in the nick of time before it fell to the floor and was about to put it back but the name on the label caught her attention.

“Sica-unnie?” The bottle was empty, but Yoona was curious as to what the pills were for since she didn’t know that Jessica was taking something that was complicated to pronounce. For her brain that lacked medical knowledge, hard to pronounce usually meant it was something important.

She took a picture of the label so she could ask her unnie when she saw her and hurriedly tidied up when Stephanie called for her again.

“Coming, Unnie!”

Another concert, an additional notch on their ever-growing belt of achievements.

The girls were still basking on the high of yet another successful evening, running around, thanking the staff for a job well done, and celebrating loudly as they ate in abundance and took their obligatory backstage pictures and videos