April 2015

“Thank you so much, Aunt Yoonsook! Again, I’m so sorry to bother you at this hour.” Jessica said, flashing the sweetest smile she could muster.

“It’s fine, dear. Go.. go take care of your friend.” The old cleaning lady said while mopping the floor that was decorated with vomit. She didn’t mind the extra work, especially after she had a glance of the generous amount of tip Jessica slipped into her pocket.

Jessica closed the front door and made her way to the living room, where Klaire was seated with a glass of warm water in one hand. Her pale face had slightly gone back to its natural colour after she swallowed the prescribed painkillers she received for her injured shoulder.

“Sorry for that.” Klaire apologized softly, feeling a little bit uncomfortable to be left alone in a room with someone she hadn’t met in such a long time, it was like meeting an old high school friend that you were not even close with. Jungyoung had left in a hurry after she helped Klaire cleaned herself and served her the warm water. She was the stylist for this newly debuted girl group from WM Entertainment and she was late to prepare them for a late night radio schedule.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jessica settled down across Klaire. “Listen, I’m sorry. I can’t risk having people seeing us together and I also don’t want to get you into trouble for that. Meeting here is the only way we can talk properly.”

Klaire raised the glass to and sipped the liquid slowly. “I understand.”

“So.. how are you?” Jessica asked. Here it was again, the most useless question for the humankind.

“Just cut to the chase, unnie. What do you want from me?” She asked with a friendly yet unfriendly tone.

Jessica sneaked a worry glance at the painkillers and cleared . “That was the chase. I want to know how you’re doing and if your shoulder is fine.”

“Painkillers are sometimes needed for the first few weeks. I was just too preoccupied earlier and forgot to take them.” She explained. When she saw Jessica was still waiting for her to talk more, she answered to the main question. “I’m fine. Feeling much better after I puked actually.”

Jessica forced a small smile. ‘Typical Klaire’. Answering but not answering the question. But she knew better than to have a high expectation from the girl at a moment like this.

“Sorry Soojung did this to you. Please don’t blame her, she was just looking out for me.”

Klaire just waved her off. “I get it. If I had a sister I’d probably did the same.”

‘But you said I was like a real sister to you.’ Jessica thought, giving a sad chuckle. “So, are you really leaving the company?”

“Why did you ask? Wanna give me you lawyer’s name card?” She asked while looking at her surrounding. Noticing new things in the living room. The television certainly looked different and bigger than the previous one.

“You know, it will save us both a lot of time if you can stop the sarcastic remarks and start talking like an adult.” The Ice Princess said as politely as she could, although she couldn’t deny that she was getting slightly irritated.

Klaire rested her chin on her right palm, looking straight at Jessica’s brown eyes. “You would have saved us both a lot of time if you had replied to my messages five months ago.”

She was pretty sure she heard a whimper escaped Jessica’s throat.

Klaire 1. Jessica 0.

When Jessica didn’t give anything back, she felt challenged to get something out of the girl. “Okay, you wanna talk? Let’s talk.” Klaire sat herself straight. “I hate you.” She states with an incredibly neutral tone.

Jessica stared at the young lady in front of her, trying to see if Klaire really meant those words. She looked into her eyes but she saw nothing. Had she lost her ability to look right through that girl or had the girl changed so much she was just not the same person Jessica knew anymore?

“Hate is a rather strong word.”

“Exactly. That’s how strongly I feel about you.” Klaire said with a smile.

The smile terrified Jessica. She was expecting the girl to be shouting and screaming at her. She thought Klaire would be angry and emotional. But no, the girl was so calm and collected.

Jessica had so many questions she needed to ask, but she deemed them too sensitive to discuss after Klaire’s continuous attacks. So she asked about the shoulder for the sake of changing the atmosphere. Not that she didn’t care about Klaire, but she knew the girl played a lot of sports in school, minor injury like this wasn’t rare for her. Being her friend for ten years, Jessica also knew that Klaire would not complain over a dislocated shoulder but when the girl got a simple stomachache or a fever, she would whine non-stop and would make sure everyone’s attention was on her. As mature as she seemed, all the members knew Klaire could be really childish at times.

“Actually, the company might need to