Inserting the key into the right place and twisting it in the correct direction, a sound clicked and the door became unlocked as two girls walked in, each having a different expression on her face. One was looking awfully tired, as she lazily helped herself to some hot drink in the kitchen, while the other was skipping happily to the sofa, turning on the television and making herself at home.

Observing around, Tiffany noticed that the house was missing a couple of people. “Where are Krystal and your cousin?”

“Krystal is with her little groupie and Seohyun is off somewhere with her friend.” Jessica brewed some hot drinks in attempt to warm herself up in the cold winter weather. “Fany… how long are you planning to stay here?” Jessica asked, refreshing her worn-out mind as she drank her hot coffee. She poured another cup for her friend, laying it down on the coffee table, as she sat herself next to the hyper girl while staring straight at the device that was flashing through random channels without paying much attention.

“Until it gets warmer outside. Why? Do you not want me here?” Tiffany turned away from the screen and scooted herself closer to Jessica, pouting her lips while cupping her face with her hands in a cute manner.

“Hwang Miyoung, cut that out.” Jessica said in a threatening voice while glaring straight at Tiffany with an icy look.

Despite the fact that she had known Jessica for a long time, and had, numerous times, experience the coldness from her, Tiffany still couldn’t get used to not shivering at those eyes. Recalling what Jessica had called her, she instantly dropped her cute act and replaced it with a frown. “I told you many times not to call me by that name! Especially not ever in front of Jaejoong…”

Jessica sighed and shook her head at her friend’s hatred for her own Korean name. “At a time like this…I kind of feel sorry for your boyfriend…” Tiffany’s face lit up, thinking that maybe Jessica is not that hateful toward her boyfriend. Jessica smiled, knowing what was on Tiffany’s mind, but, “He’s not special enough,” she finished. The wrinkles on Tiffany’s forehead returned as Jessica laughed at the girl’s reaction.
Without letting Jessica noticing, Tiffany lips formed a smile upon seeing her best friend’s laugh. ‘At least she’s not overly emotional.’

“Not that I don’t want you here, but I promised I’ll let my cousin and her friend study in quiet this time. Last time I got a yelling from her for being too loud… just because of you.” Jessica stated her reasoning for her question earlier, while throwing the blame on her best friend.

“It was your fault for watching Dennis Oh while I was staying over.” Tiffany argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She refused to accept her fault for the loud fan-squeals that could possibly be heard across the whole living area. “Speaking of your cousin… I swear to God, every time I see her and her friend, they don’t give off the ‘friend aura’.”
Jessica’s eyebrow tilted upwards, staring at Tiffany confusingly. “What ‘aura’ do they give off then…?”

“The ‘love-birds’ one.” Tiffany answered with a straight face, receiving a scoff from Jessica.

“Oh please, Fany. You think too much. They’re best friends, of course they’re close. I’m pretty sure they’re not lov-”

Ring ding dong… the bell sounded, interrupting the girls’ conversation. Jessica got up from the sofa and headed toward the door, unlocking the inside lock and twisting the door knob. She was immediately greeted by two familiar faces on the other side.

“Hello unnie!” The innocent-looking girl said giving Jessica a warm hug.
Jessica returned her cousin’s hug, patting the girl’s back lightly. “Welcome home, Seohyun.”

Another girl with long brown hair appeared behind her and bowed her head upon seeing Jessica. “Hi there, Jessica-unnie!”

“Oh, hello Yoona! Haven’t seen you in a while.” Jessica greeted, walking over to Yoona to give her the same hug. “Come on in you two.” Jessica led the two girls in the warm house and shut the door once they all stepped in. ‘Speak of the devils. I am so glad I locked the door…’ Jessica thanked herself, as she bit her lips imagining what kind of lecture she would get from her cousin if she had accident heard the conversation.

Turning away from the door after locking it, Jessica saw Tiffany signaled with her finger calling her to come to her. Jessica walked over to her friend and sat back down on the sofa. Tiffany leaned in closer and started whispering in English so that others in house would not hear of what they were talking about.

“I seriously think there’s something going on with those two.” Tiffany said, continuing the conversation from earlier…one which Jessica tried to escape from.

“I seriously think you’re just over thinking things.” Jessica pulled back from being way too close to her friends but was quickly tugged back to her earlier position by the stubborn person in front of her.

“I saw Seohyun pouted earlier when you hugged Yoona.” Tiffany stated her evidence.

“You’re just seeing things.” Jessica replied, trying to escape from Tiffany’s grasp on her wrist, which failed miserably because the girl was just too strong.

“How could I when I’m right here, and you guys were like right there?” The brunette continued to argue as she pointed straight to the direction of the door, which was indeed not far away from where she was sitting and was obviously clear in sight.

“Well okay, but that doesn’t really prove anything.”

“Aish, you’re so insensitive.” Tiffany fell backward, slapping her forehead with her palm, and closed her eyes in distress. She heard some giggles in the kitchen as she opened one eye to see what was going on. She witnessed the two ‘friends’ fooling around with the funny logos on the food products. She scanned around for a few seconds as her eyes witnessed something that caused her to suddenly clap loudly, startling Jessica. The other girls were way too into their own business to even notice the noise. “Okay face this way,” Tiffany cupped Jessica’s face toward the direction of where the other two girls were standing.

“Okay…I’m looking…so?” Jessica half-heartedly said, not paying much required attention at the place she should be staring at.

“Are you even looking at the right place!?” Tiffany asked loudly in frustration, averting the other girls’ attention. The ‘stalkers’ quickly slumped down on the sofa and pretended they were watching the show on TV. Tiffany glanced back, checking that they were no longer looking as she dragged her best friend back up. “Take a look at their hands.” Tiffany hinted in a whisper.

The blonde just quietly turned her head back to where Tiffany was pointing to. At first, her eyes were half-closed but as soon as she noticed what Tiffany was trying to point out, her eyes widened in surprise, wiping them constantly to see if she was seeing the wrong thing. She ducked quickly when she saw the two of them heading toward the living room to grab their stuffs.

Still in shock, Jessica leaned toward Tiffany, trying to speak in the quietest and most audible way. “Why are they still holding hands…?”

“Told you.” Tiffany smiled that her friend finally caught up on the whole thing.

“You know…” Looking straight at Tiffany with gaped opened, she noticed her nodded in happiness that Jessica finally understood the whole point. “That still doesn’t prove anything.” Jessica leaned back to her original position, distancing herself from Tiffany, dropping her little act. “I hold hands with you all the time, too. It’s really no big deal.”

“Oh. My. God…Jessie.” Tiffany now had her head buried in her arms and legs as she ruffled up her hair in frustration. “Argh, I can’t believe you!”

“Is something wrong, Tiffany-unnie?” Seohyun asked in concern to Tiffany’s sudden outburst.

“Oh don’t mind her Seohyun. She’s just a bit messed up in the head more than usual today.” Jessica replied teasingly, receiving a glare from Tiffany that had no effect on her whatsoever.

“If you say so then… I’ll go in the room to study with Yoona now.” Seohyun picked up her bag and had already starting to head to her own room.

“Sorry for intruding.” Yoona bowed before reaching down to the floor to grab her bag, only to find out Seohyun had already carried it for her.

“No it’s alright. Have fun you two.” Jessica said waving to the girls.

“Yeah, have fun, you two.” Tiffany said loudly afterward, carrying a different meaning behind her words.

Jessica stared at the mischievous girl beside her. “You are one stubborn person.”

“I picked it up from you.” Tiffany replied flashing her eye smile.



“Do you think Yuri-unnie invited Sica-unnie?” Seohyun asked Yoona, even though she was staring at her Keroro plush doll.

“I don’t know… I’m scared I would see the same scene from a year ago if I brought up the subject.” Yoona replied, unpacking the books in her backpack.

Yoona glanced over at her best friend who was still greeting all her Keroro plush dolls with a bright smile. She found it annoying that she was to be jealous at something that’s not even human…or alive to even begin with. ‘Out of everyone in the world… I have that green thing as my rival.’

“Do you think we should invite Sica-unnie? They’re best friends after all. I’m sure they missed each other.” Seohyun placed her Keroro back down on the bed and walked over to Yoona, sitting quite far from the other girl…to Yoona’s disappointment.

Yoona placed her elbow on the table and allowed her chin to rest on her open palm. She led out sigh, not really to the problem regarding Jessica and her cousin but more because of her own situation. “Yuri-unnie did say we could invite anyone…wait…she did say that right?”

“Yeah, she did.” Seohyun confirmed.

Yoona got up from her seat and reached for her bag in search of her phone. She strolled down the phonebook on the device until she reached the desire number. “I’m going to call to make sure.”

Tiffany rolled around on Jessica’s bed, holding a modeling magazine. Right next to Tiffany, Jessica was surfing the internet on her computer, in search of netizens’ opinions on her performance earlier that day. She smiled upon seeing positive comments and tried her best to ignore all the negative ones. Annoyed with the silence in the room, Tiffany tried to spice up a conversation by shoving the magazine in front of Jessica, blocking her keyboard. Tiffany opened to a page where there were a lot of girl models dressed in rather revealing pieces of clothing.

“Hey what do you think about her?” Tiffany asked, curiously observing Jessica’s reactions.

“Hmm…I prefer something a bit less… provocative.” To Tiffany’s surprise, Jessica gave her an actual reply instead of the usual cold look. Tiffany flipped a few more pages backward but was stopped by Jessica. “Wait, let me see that.” Jessica flipped forward one page and stare at the piece of paper. “Oh this guy looks cute.” Jessica then let go of the page and allowed Tiffany continued her page-turning.
Tiffany finally stopped at another page with a lighter, fluffy feel...along with more female models. “How about now?”

“Yeah, these outfits are better.” Jessica replied, observing at the clothes the models were wearing.

Tiffany sat up from where she was laying and stared at Jessica with a weird look. “You were looking at the clothes?”

“Yes… isn’t that what I was supposed to look at?” Jessica returned the look with a confused one, not understanding what Tiffany was getting at.

Tiffany hit face with her palm, shaking her head at her fail attempt of getting Jessica’s attention elsewhere. Jessica still had no clue what was going on, and she was half glad that the girl did not catch on since she wouldn’t want to freeze up from Jessica’s glare. After a couple of seconds, she saw her friend flipping back to the page with the more y models in black outfits. Testing to see if her assumption was correct, Tiffany blurted out a tease, “I think Yuri would look really hot in that.”

“Yeah…” Jessica replied…unknowingly that she had. In shock of what she just said, she covered and turned back to look at Tiffany who was on the verge of laughter. “Yah! Hwang Miyoung!”

“Hey, you admitted it yourself.” Tiffany defended.

Jessica reached for a nearby pillow and was prepared to throw it at her best friend, who had her arms up and ready to block. Both stopped what they were doing when they both heard several knocks on the door.

“Sica-unnie, can we talk to you for a bit?” Seohyun requested from the other side of the door.

“I’ll get back at you later.” Jessica sent a look at Tiffany before dropping her pillow back on the bed and approached the door. “Yes?” She opened it and allowed the two girls to come inside.

“Sica-unnie, are you free tomorrow night?” Seohyun asked, wanting to confirm Jessica’s now-busy schedule.

“I’m free from five to the rest of the night. Why?” Jessica replied, noticing a sigh of relief from the two girls in front of her.

“Do you want to come with us to a party at seven tomorrow…?” Yoona asked nervously as she fiddled with her fingers.

“What kind of party?” Jessica asked, not really curious.

“Well…it’s a formal welcome-home party.” Seohyun replied, also getting nervous herself.

Tiffany took notice of the strange behaviors of both girls and continued to watch from her seat.

“Well I can go if you guys want me to, but whose party is it?” Just by wanting to know who the hosts were, she raised the tension level up to its maximum. Seohyun and Yoona immediately realized that Yuri did indeed…not inform Jessica of the event.

“It’s…the Kwons’…” Yoona replied, almost wanting to run away because the pressure was just too much to handle.

“Ahs the Kwo-…” Jessica paused for a minute as she looked at Yoona in shock, then at Seohyun, and also at Tiffany who had almost the same expression as herself. “Wait…what did you just say, Yoona?”

“It’s Yuri-unnie’s family’s party.” Not wanting to run away from the truth any longer, Seohyun confessed straightforwardly.

Tiffany, wanting to verify the situation more, directed another question that Jessica wanted to ask but was too speechless to. “Wait, so… Kwon Yuri is back in Korea. The same Yuri that we all know is back…?”

“Yes. She just got back today.” Seohyun answered, grabbing on Yoona’s hand to relieve herself of the pressure.

Jessica, at that moment, felt the need to grab on a stable object or she was afraid she could fall on her knees out of sudden shock. ‘Yuri is…back? She came back…?’

Afraid that her friend would be hurt, Tiffany was ready to deny the offer… but was one step slower than her best friend.

“I’ll go.” Jessica suddenly replied. “But… Fany is going with me.”

“Wait wha-” Tiffany’s protest was immediately halted by Jessica’s icy glare, knowing the consequences if she continued any further.

Yoona and Seohyun simultaneously released a sigh of relief, as their face turned back to its normal color.

“Okay, then I’ll come pick you up tomorrow at 6:30.” Yoona said as her mood lighten up. The two girls excused themselves outside, as Yoona walked out of Jessica’s room, and Seohyun followed close behind.

As soon as the door shut tight, Tiffany got off the bed and walked in front of Jessica. “Why did you suddenly dragged me into this?!” She exclaimed, feeling everything just happened in a snap without warning.

Tiffany waited for an answer but instead she got a half-dreaming-doll reaction from the girl in front of her. “Hey…Jessie…Hello…?” Tiffany waved her hand in front of the stilled blonde to get her attention. Her shoulders were suddenly grabbed by the person in front of her, making her jolt backward.

“Fany… Yuri’s back.” Jessica said, still wide-eyed from shock.

“Yes… I know…” Tiffany replied, feeling the sudden chills on her skin.

“Wh- What…What do I do now!?” Jessica asked abruptly, stuttering on her words. She shook Tiffany in panic, making the other girl dizzy from the impact.

“Wow, calm down there princess!” Tiffany forcefully removed Jessica’s grasps on her shoulders and instant held the other girl in place to calm her down. “Look, it’s not the matter of ‘what do I do now’ kind of thing. You just have to get out there and just face Yuri in person. You can’t expect to run away from her for the rest of your life and you know that, Jessie!”

Jessica slumped down on the floor and leaned her back against the wall, looking helpless as ever. Tiffany wordlessly watched her friend as a feeling of sympathy seeped in. The blonde girl dug her head into her arms as she hugged her legs tight, trying to clear her mind so that she would be able to think straight.

“Tiffany…” Jessica suddenly called out, sounding calmer than earlier.

Tiffany bent down and sat herself next to the other girl. She lightly pushed the girl’s head to let the girl lean on her shoulder. Gently petting her friend’s head in comfort, she gave her reply, “Yes?”

“I was a fool to let her go. I was scared… and ended up running away from the truth.” Jessica began to slowly pour out all her emotions, as tears started to form in her eyes, sliding down her cheeks one by one.

Tiffany listened carefully, occasionally rubbing the girl’s shoulder in attempt to make her feel better, and giving her any advices that would best fit the situation. “It’s not your fault, Jessie. It’s no one’s fault. Not everything goes the way you plan in life. There are things that you just have to let go.”

Jessica hugged Tiffany tightly as she cried silently onto her friend’s shirt, as the memories of the past stormed in her head. “It’s my mistake…”
 

Changing to new another pink shirt, the brunette threw her tear-stained piece of clothing in her bag, as she sat on the bed waiting for a certain someone to come out of the shower. After a couple of minutes, she heard the bathroom door clicked opened, as a blonde girl walked out in her pajamas while drying her wet hair with a white towel.

“Are you feeling better cry-baby?” Tiffany asked teasingly, seeing her friend finally stepped out of the restroom. Even though the girl’s eyes were swollen, her tears had stopped their rampage.

“Who are you calling a cry-baby!?” Jessica asked, annoyed, pouting her lips at Tiffany, causing the other girl to laugh at the cute expression. A small smile appeared on Jessica’s lips as she approached her friend and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, Fany.”

“No problem.” Tiffany appreciated the gratefulness, patting the other girl’s back. They released themselves from each other arms and just relaxed their backs on the bed, looking straight at the white ceiling. There was a couple of seconds in silence as no one said anything else, until Tiffany finally decided to ask a question she had meant to ask earlier, “So… are you still planning to go tomorrow?”

“Yes.” Not expecting such a quick reply, Tiffany turned her head in surprise to look at Jessica, whom wore a confident look on her face. She knew then that Jessica meant what she had said. “I thought about it…” Jessica continued as Tiffany listened to every word, “Like you said, I wouldn’t be able to run away from her forever, and eventually I would have to face her. Tomorrow’s a good opportunity. I want to be friends with Yuri again, if that’s possible.”

“Well, good luck.” Tiffany got up from the bed and began to brush her clothes properly.

“Where are you going?” Jessica also helped her lazy self up.

“Home, of course. I’ll come with you tomorrow since I know you’re not that good with crowded places.” Tiffany headed for the door and already began turning the knob.

“Tiffany,” Jessica halted the other girl back. She took a deep breath and smiled sincerely, “you really are my best friend.”

Tiffany returned the smile with her signature expression along with a small giggle. “Oh wow, I must seriously cherish this moment… since it’s rare after all.”

“What do you take me for!?” Jessica pouted, almost feeling like throwing a pillow at the other girl but ended up laughing it off.

Jessica bid her final farewell of the day to her best friend, watching the girl’s back until she finally disappeared around the corner. She went back to her room and jumped back on the bed, spreading her arms and legs freely, while staring at the white space on her ceiling. She took a glance to her right where her desk was and saw a professional camera laying on top the surface. Dragging her feet off the bed, she walked over to her work space and picked up the black camera. She wiped the specs of dust off the item and stared at it deeply…yet with a sad smile.

“Yuri… Do you still remember our promise?”
 

Just as a fore-warning but the next chapter is going to be quite long (>__< )

Anyways, this chapter was to go deeper into JeTi’s friendship [see the emphasis here? (^__^ )] and also on how important Tiffany’s role is. It also reveals both of the girls’ personalities (and how they’re pretty much the opposite) with a bit of YoonHyun included lol…
I just notice so far…I concentrated on YoonHyun more than other couples (o__o ) Just wait YulSic fans, the drama is storming in~
Thanks for reading!
-June