May 2024

Klaire closed her eyes while bracing herself for the loud sound that was about to be heard when her precious, newly-bought tea pot was on the way down to hit the marbled floor. When she finally opened one eye to check, she saw shattered glasses everywhere. Yoona was looking at her with wide, apologetic eyes.

"Unnieeee." She whined. "I literally just bought that yesterday." Klaire purchased it with her credit card so technically she hadn't even paid for it yet and now the thing was all over the floor.

Before Yoona could apologize, the bedroom door was opened harshly from the outside revealing Jessica, who rushed in with a slight pale face. "What happened?" She panted.

"Unnie, watch out!" Yoona quickly stretched her hand out to stop Jessica from stepping further forward. "There are glass shards everywhere, I broke the tea pot." Hearing the warning, the rest of the girls who were behind Jessica stopped themselves by the doorway.

"Are you guys hurt?" Jessica said, panic still apparent in her face. She sighed in relief when Yoona shook her head assuringly although her heart was still beating fast as she had imagined something much worse.

The broken tea pot was taken care of in no time by the girls' experienced hands. Thanks to the many drunken nights and clumsy hands of theirs, they could now clean broken glasses with their eyes closed, metaphorically of course. The girls then left Taeyeon and Jessica in the room with Yoona and Klaire, telling the unnies that if they didn't want to talk to them, they at least owed an explanation to the maknaes so they should talk to the two girls who had been isolated in the room while the 'adults' were having a conversation outside.

Jessica sat awkwardly at the foot of Klaire's bed while Taeyeon preferred to lean on the door of Klaire's closet. Yoona had positioned herself next to the room owner on her bed, sitting obediently while looking expectantly at the two.

For the first time since she didn't know when, Jessica turned to look at Taeyeon in the eye with a certain gaze that indicate cooperation. Although she wasn't sure what kind of situation they were in, she knew they needed to work together to come with an explanation for their unexplainable relationship the past decade. They owed the whole group an explanation, but let's start with the two they had in front of them.

Taeyeon caught her eyes and signaled for her to speak. She added a nod that Jessica interpreted as 'lead the way, I'll back you up'. A sense of familiarity could be felt as she remembered how they used to be able to communicate without having to verbally speaking to each other. A nod, a smile, a pat on the shoulder; all had different and special meanings.          

Jessica took her time to gather her thoughts but in the end settled with, "I honestly don't know where to begin, so if you two have any questions for me.. for us.. please ask away and I'll try my best to give you honest answers."

"Hm." Taeyeon hummed, pledging her compliance.

Yoona and Klaire looked at each other, not knowing what to ask when put on the spot. Klaire then gestured with her palm for Yoona to take the lead, she was the older one after all, not that it mattered here.

Yoona hesitantly asked after contemplating for awhile, "Can I ask, what happened between you two?"

"And by that, you mean...." Jessica fished carefully.

"I mean.." Yoona exhaled dramatically, trying to prevent herself from saying the wrong thing. "I'm not imagining things if I said that.. uhm.. a year or two before Sica unnie left, that the two of you had.. uhm.. a fallout, right?"

Jessica gave a simple 'no, it's not just your imagination' as an answer, without explaining further. The maknaes were still waiting for her to elaborate before realizing that was all they were getting.

"May we know.. w-why?" Klaire said rather impatiently, but stumbled in the end as she looked like she wasn't even sure if she wanted to ask that, and definitely wasn't sure if she was ready for the answer.

The two unnies exchanged glances again. This truly wasn't the best idea. How were they suppose to work together when they hadn't even had the discussion about it yet.

"Do you girls mind if Jessica and I talk privately for a moment?" Taeyeon suddenly asked, the question definitely surprised Jessica.

"Not at all." Klaire said so quickly it was almost funny. Yoona nodded her head in agreement to her friend.

"Can we use this closet?" Taeyeon asked, pointing at the door beside her.

"Uhm.. maybe go the bathroom instead?" Klaire said, pointing to another door at the other side of her room. "We might still be able to hear you if you talk there." She explained honestly.

"Okay, thanks." Taeyeon nodded. "Sica?" She gave her a look, only then checking if Jessica was fine with the idea.

The fashion designer stood up and made her way to the bathroom. While Jessica quickly settled down by sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Taeyeon closed the door behind her. Her fingers locked the door in reflex, but then realizing that she wasn't in this room to do her private business, so she instantly unlocked it again.

"We need to just get this over with quickly." Taeyeon went straight to the point.

Jessica nodded, appreciating Taeyeon taking the lead. However, it was always easier said than done, so she said nothing and waited, leaving it to Taeyeon to finish whatever she started. But Taeyeon didn't say anything afterwards, leaving only her face scrunched in concentration.

After what seemed like forever, Taeyeon looked at her carefully, saying, "I feel like you will throw things at me if I start speaking, but.. although I'd prefer to pretend that I've forgotten the past and moved on, the fact is.. I still hold grudges. There are things that you did in the past that I just-"

"Kim Taeyeon, you asked for this yourself." Jessica cut her, hand holding the bottle of bath sea salt, ready to be thrown to her opponent's head.

"Wait!" Taeyeon warned, ducking her head a little bit in case Jessica would be insane enough to really throw it. When she finally put the bottle back down roughly, Taeyeon continued, "We don't have much time and we both know none of us really are in the mood or have the mental capacity to dig deeper than necessary so.. can we.. for now.. let's just settle with an agreement that you made mistakes in the past-" She put her palm up to stop Jessica from protesting again, before quickly continuing, "and I made mistakes too. We're both wrong and we're both right. Do you agree?"

Jessica closed her eyes, inhaling more air than her lung could handle in order to calm herself. "You're oversimplifying things, but.. yes."

"I know. Like I said, we don't have much time and we have this responsibility to them." Taeyeon said, tilting her head toward the door. "It's not fair to make them wait until we can truly solve our problems. God knows how long it'd take.. or if ever."

"Hm." Jessica nodded. "So what do you suggest we do now?"

"Let's not apologize to each other.. just yet. What's the point of apologizing if we're not sincere about it, right?" Taeyeon asked. "We're both adults so we should act like it; there's this community, or whatever this is called, that we're both a part of, so it's our duty to not.. or rather, to make sure that everyone is comfortable with us being in it. So for now, even if it's only an act, I think we should act normal around each other and.." She paused to clear . "..try to do things like.. make small talks and whatnots, if you now what I mean. Just for the show."

If Jessica was impressed, she did not show it. Instead, she said simply, "I don't know if I can do it convincingly, though."

Taeyeon scoffed, "You used to be an idol, acting is part of the repertoire."

Jessica stayed in deep thoughts; she hated having to admit that Taeyeon's suggestion was actually a sensible idea. It was a reasonable thing to do at the moment, but something inside her just didn't want to give in so easily. She had spent most of her life being a celebrity, she was tired having to put up a facade. Doing it for the sake of her work was one thing, doing it in her private time with people she considered close friends was a whole other thing.

Taeyeon looked at Jessica weirdly when she stood up and walked past her, heading to the sink to wash her hands. She waited