(Past: 2007)

“You’re still mad at me?” The shorter girl handed a can of softdrink to her friend, who avoided her recently. Taeyeon found the younger girl kept herself in silence since that incident. “Drink it, Sooyeon-ah! Why are you even colder than this can, huh?”
“Don’t pretend like you care, leader Kim.”

Taeyeon, who was about to leave, decided to sit right in front of Jessica. Crossing her legs, she grabbed the softdrink she put near to Jessica and opened it right away. Later she handed it once again to Jessica.

“Please… Drink it. I know you need it.”

Jessica indeed felt so exhausted that time, so she decided to take a sip. That day, she finished the dance session alone in that room for hours, before Taeyeon entered the room, bringing her the drink.

“How does it feel to train alone like this? You must be so tired. Not to mention there’s nobody to talk, or give you drink, or do you even remember to bring your towel?” Jessica was still cold as ever, so Taeyeon decided to hide her smile and looked seriously. “It’s a good thing I still have a can to drink, so I can share it with you.”

She lied. Of course, she did. She came to visit Jessica, who trained on a different room silently, so she could bring her something to drink. She did it purposely.

“Let’s cut the crap! I don’t feel like needing your attention —not when you cornered me like what happened that day, in front of everyone. Tsk.”

Jessica glanced her face away, so she didn’t have to face the leader. Taeyeon, on the other side, knew that it was a tough job to handle Jessica, but as a leader, she had to try.

“Because I do.” She replied. “I do care about you, Sooyeon-ah. I realized you were so tired. That’s why I gave you two options so you could choose which one is best for you.” With full of confidence, she pulled Jessica’s face, lifting her chin, so she could see her face. “Now look at me, please… Do you really think I don’t care about you? Sooyeon-ah, really? I try my best to be a leader? Yes. But I also try my best to be a good friend for everyone, for you.”

Jessica is a stonehead. She stood up and hurried her way, so she could reach the way out to leave Taeyeon. She really insisted that Taeyeon was just doing her a formality, that she didn’t mean it, all the words she said. It wasn’t under her expectation that Taeyeon suddenly stood up and gripped her arm tightly, but her face looked soft. Both were facing each other while zipping their mouth for a moment.

“Jessica, I’m sorry.” She said. “I’m sorry if I made it hard for you. I didn’t mean it.”

Taeyeon didn’t blink her eyes and Jessica was stunned to react. Her voice sound so softly and her face was calm like a deep ocean. Jessica realized something weird inside her as she couldn’t afford to stare at Taeyeon’s sharp gaze, so she looked away.
“Errr… Y-You… Really don’t have to…”

“TAENGO, EVERYONE’S READY! Are you—“ Hyoyeon appeared suddenly and froze to find out she just disturbed a private conversation between Taeyeon and Jessica. She grabbed the papers she dropped and looked straight. “Ah… Mianhae… I thought you’re alone here, Taeng. J-Just continue!”
“Hyoyeon-ah, gwenchana!”
“Err… I was just about to tell you that everyone’s ready. Do you want to start it now or?” Still, Hyoyeon felt a little uncomfortable to stand between them.
“Arra… Let’s start it now. You go first, I’ll follow.”
“Got it!”

Hyoyeon nodded, realizing that she indeed had to begone as soon as possible, leaving another Kim who was trying to solve a problem with the ice queen.

“Gajja!” Taeyeon glance at Jessica. “Come on… Let’s train together as we should! Don’t mind about Sooyoung —if that’s your concern. I’ll take care of her. Arra?” Her smiled melt Jessica’s heart just like that and the way Taeyeon ruffled her hair while chuckling, Jessica lost it. She gave in, with a little smile on her face.
“Go first… I’ll follow.”
“Okay. I trust you.” She winked.

Taeyeon entered the vocal room, where everyone was waiting for her appearance and several minutes later, Jessica joined in. The temperature was cold and nobody talked seeing her entering the room.
 

“Sica… I’m sorry for what happened.” Sooyoung moved closer to reach Jessica, causing the older woman a little surprise in return. She looked at her eyes and suddenly remembered of what Taeyeon just told her, so she decided to break the ice. She realized she acted childish and egoist, so she had to fix it. “I’m sorry for acting so childish. I’m sorry. Maybe I was just so nervous about our debut day. That’s all.” She moved a little closer to finally give a big hug to Jessica.
“Arra… All good now. I’m sorry. I was wrong too.” She hugged Sooyoung back. “Let’s not talk about it. Okay?”

Behind them, Taeyeon smiled with such a big relief as she looked at the two members who finally made up with each other. She couldn't imagine if the dispute would extend and even destroy the harmony within the group. She folded her arms, feeling proud of her members while looking straight at Jessica deeper and smiled silently for any clear reason. She didn’t realize, there were a pair of eyes observing the look and the smile she gave someone there.

“Gajja, unnie! Let’s do the warm up now!” Seohyun bursted out her imagination. Everyone agreed with that and prepared to focus on the vocal session.

As the main vocalist in the group, Taeyeon spent more time to work on the vocal training with the coach and when it finished, she entered the dorm to find Sooyoung and Yoona was eating some snacks.

“Yahhh! Both of you! Don’t forget to clean up… Look at those crumbs.” Taeyeon slammed her body down to the couch. “Have y’all had dinner?”
“Not yet.” They replied concurrently.
“Do you mean you haven’t eaten for 3 times today?” She tapped their foreheads softly.
“Yahhh, Unnie! We’re still hungry. Don’t you wanna cook for us?” Yoona whined like a baby.
“Why should I cook for you?”

With a little chuckle, Taeyeon left both of her members to enter her own room. After a while, she lied down her body to the bed and plugged the earphone to listen to those particular songs, their soon-to-be debut songs. For several minutes, listening to the songs, she started to smile to herself, remembering some of the moments that happened lately, especially about one of her coldest and stubborn members, Jessica Jung. Her mind continued to play the image of her face, the way she acted and everything made her smile broadly as she listened to Jessica's part of the song — without even realizing it.

“Sooyoungie…” She called her member softly.
“Wae? Don’t call me if you don’t want to cook for me.” Sooyoung sound annoyed, but it made Taeyeon bursted her laughter.
“Arraseo… I will cook for you tommorow. For the breakfast. Okay?” Sooyoung and Yoona cheered for that statement, cause the leader laughed one more time. “Sooyoung-ah, I want to ask something.”
“What’s that?”
“What makes you decide to say sorry to Sica?”

Sooyoung and Yoona stared at each other. Sooyoung herself felt like it was one weird question that Taeyeon threw at her.

“Uhhh… Nothing? I mean, I realized what I did was wrong —that I was overreacting.” Sooyoung replied. “Why do you even ask? What a weird question. You should just be happy we’re not fighting anymore.”
“What’s weird about it? Nothing…” Taeyeon looked awkward.
“I guess Taeyeon unnie just feeling happy to finally see Sica unnie train with us again.” Taeyeon, who realized that Yoona was teasing her, stood up right away. “I mean… Taeyeon unnie, don’t worry! I won’t tell anyone that you like Sica unnie. Oops!” She laughed louder after the shocking statement.
“JINJJA??? WHAT DID I JUST HEAR?” Sooyoung looked so surprised but joining the laughter. “How could you know about it, Yoong?”

Yoona rolled her eyes and stared at Taeyeon who stood behind them, looking so pale. Later she covered to push herself to stop laughing. Taeyeon looked so nervous, she couldn’t afford to torture her like that.

“I guess I’m right, am I not, unnie?” She teased Taeyeon. “It’s been around 2 years since I realized about it —that you care about her more than you do to anyone else.”
“Yoong, what do you mean? I care about all of you.” She gulped, feeling way too nervous.
“I didn’t say you don’t care about anyone else, just… The way you treat her, Sica unnie, it’s soooo different. I could sense it.”
“What? I-I don’t think s—“
“Taeyeon-ah… Gwenchana!”

Sooyoung realized Taeyeon's awkwardness and tried to calm her leader. After stuttering in answer to Yoona's question, Sooyoung realized that Taeyeon might really like Jessica, more than a friend or a member of the group.

“Jinjja… Gwenchana…” Sooyoung winked while tapping Taeyeon’ shoulder. “It’s okay if you really like her. Just make sure, as leader, you gotta treat everyone fairly. Don’t complicate personal thing within the group.”

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In the meantime, a girl finished her running session on the treadmill that caused her body was bathed in sweat. With all of those schedule, she pushed herself to hit the gym to satisfy her need. Lately, she tried to runaway from the thought of someone who has stolen her heart. The one that she should’v