“Taengoo~” 

“What do you want?” 

Jessica laughs from the doorframe, closing the door behind her. “Can’t I just check up on my childhood friend?” 

“You only do that when your dad tells you to. And that was back when we were 11,” Taeyeon responds from her desk as Jessica takes a seat on her bed. 

“Nice place you’ve got here, Head girl,” Jessica says instead, completely ignoring Taeyeon’s response to her. “A whole room to yourself while I’m stuck with Yuri? I’m jealous.” 

“Don’t be. Fany and Yul like to spend more time here than I do. I’m surprised they’re not here right now.”

“The invitation extends to me right?” 

Jessica doesn’t hide the coy smile on her face even as Taeyeon turns to look at her incredulously. 

“You’re audacious as always.”

“We all have to be. So yes?” Jessica asks again as her eyes travel around the room. There’s nothing overly showy about the decor, but there are bits and pieces there that add a homey touch to the place, let it known that it’s Taeyeon’s residence.

For starters, the matching duvet and pillowcase are of silk tinted every so slightly blue and it comes back to Jessica that it was Taeyeon’s favourite colour. The curtains catch her eyes next; White with faint stripes which matche the light of the lamps illuminating the room. The brightest sits at Taeyeon’s desk in the corner, surrounded by files sorted into trays and a cup holding feathers and pens. 

It doesn’t go unnoticed by Jessica the little photo collage Taeyeon has stuck on the wall right in front of her desk. There’s a picture of Taeyeon, Seohyun, and herself when they were kids, still dressed by their mothers in frilly dresses with matching pigtails and headbands. They’re smiling at the camera with their arms linked and Jessica feels as if she was back at that time just by looking at it. 

Next to that one was a family photo of the Kims, a candid outtake from the portrait shoot where they’re laughing at each other. Under that one was the photo they took on Jessica’s last day at Hogwarts all that time ago, which Sunny insisted they take the moment the 8 of them had gathered to capture at an instance before all the tears. 

Jessica smiles at the memory, frankly touched that Taeyeon had stuck it up in the first place. She has her own copy somewhere, they all do, and Jessica finds it endearing to know that they’ve all got the same memory captured at slightly different times to each other. 

Her eyes follow the photos to the last two next to the one with their friends. The first is a selfie that Jessica guesses wasn’t taken too long after she had left judging by Taeyeon’s brown hair. She was smiling at the camera in her shy reserved manner that almost looked awkward, unlike the girl next to her who was beaming from ear to ear, caught mid-laughter. Had Jessica not realised before, there was no way she wouldn’t have recognised Tiffany by that smile. As she watched the scene unfold, with what seemed to be Taeyeon nodding and giving her awkward toothy grin after being instructed by Tiffany, and the girl laughing at that,  Jessica realised how precious that moment must have been to Taeyeon. 

She moves on to the last photo and it jumps out to her that it’s still and unmoving; it’s a muggle photo. What’s more intriguing seems to be the subject of the photo which is Tiffany looking back and smiling back at the camera, her dark hair, and rosy cheeks and lips standing out amongst the snow she was standing in. Her hand was stretched beyond the camera, holding the hand of whoever the photographer was. 

Seems like a lot has changed. Jessica thinks to herself.  They must be close. Did Taeyeon take this? 

 “Yes.” 

Jessica snaps out of her reverie. 

“What?” 

“Yes, you can come too, as long as you don’t go digging around my stuff and knock first. If I’m not in, the password’s “melio