Prologue

It was their 8th debut anniversary. The anniversary of a group of people she had known over half her life. The anniversary of a group of friends she had worked with, shared dreams and successes with, tears and happiness with. The anniversary of a group of sisters she fought and exchanged silly banter with; who gets to have the last slice of pizza, who gets that new arrival trench coat from the sponsor, who gets to sit next to a handsome male idol at an award show, who has the best eyebrows, and probably the biggest fight ever happened on one chaotic morning back in 2010, who deserved the honour to wake Jessica up with a cucumber.

Memories from last year's anniversary crossed her mind. How messages flew in their group chat when the clock 12; Taeyeon with her short and simple greeting, Sunny & Tiffany who sent a picture of the two of them with a sleepy Prince Fluffy at the dorm, Yuri who quickly grabbed Hani for a shot and Yoona with her cute and playful message.

Her phone vibrated 2 hours later, signaling a chat from Actress Choi Sooyoung; who had just done filming her drama, and the message read, "Happy Anniversary, girls! I'm starving, do we have anything to eat at the dorm?", to which no one bothered to reply.

Well, at least that was better than the non-existent response from Hyoyeon, who they later found out went clubbing with her friends and unsurprisingly got home too drunk to even remember what day that was. And last but not least, Ms. Sleeping Beauty, who went to bed at 7 PM and did not wake up until the next morning.

This year, however, was totally different. The legendary nation's girl group was no longer nine. Things were no longer how she thought it would be.

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Chapter 1: The Beginning

Klaire Han was born and raised in the city that never sleeps, New York City. Her father's business was doing quite well until one day, or to be exact, on September 11th, two planes hijacked by the al-Qaeda crashed into the World Trade Center. Long story short, the whole nation was devastated, the country suffered from the immediate economic impact and the great United States was no longer a safe place to live in. Mr. & Mrs. Han lost a fortune that year and their hearts broke when they had to send their only child to live in South Korea with her maternal grand-parents.

Klaire was not exactly the easiest kid to handle. She was a bit of a character, in fact, she still is. When she was forced to live in Seoul, she refused to speak to her parents for months. Being the strict parents they were, they did not spoil her knowing that that was the best they could do back then.