Jaiden entered Jessica’s room quietly and played with his toys at the corner without Jessica’s notice. She tried to get herself to sleep and convinced herself that she would get much better after getting some rest. However, things weren’t like how she expected. In fact, she felt worse than before. She lightly opened her eyes when she felt Jaiden’s presence on the bed as he was making noises with his toy car. “Jaiden ah—” she called his name gently, gaining his attention. He placed the toy aside and approached his mother’s extended arm, “Omma” his face brightened up, “Omma play with me—” He had this pout on his face which was exactly like how Jessica did it every time. She smiled gently, “But omma is si—”

 “Yah Jung Jessica—” Sunny stormed into the room with the girls which left Jessica shocked of their sudden appearance. After realizing that she was actually lying under her bed sheet, Sunny continued, “So you’re cancelling dinner just to get some sleep? It’s evening Sica-ah! Look at the clock beside you.”

“Are you okay?" She knew something wasn’t that right by looking at her face. “Are you sick?”

Jessica slowly sat up and smiled powerlessly, “Ani—just tired.” She lied. Headache. Dizzy. She placed the back of her palm on her foreheadand felt like her head was pounding intensively; and she could notice feel that her own body temperature was higher than normal.

“Omma—” Jaiden wrapped his small hand around Jessica’s and nudged her. “Yes sweetheart?”

“Where’s Yuri noona?” Jessica turned to her friends after Jaiden popped the question, “Yeah where’s she? Yoong..Fany, where are they?”

“Home. They’re catching up with the drama series since morning. Skipped breakfast..lunch.” Sooyoung paused and rolled her eyes, “Something that I would never do. Anyway, Jaiden ah—kkajja, let’s go have some food with Sooyoung noona, arasso?”

They all saw him nodding his head reluctantly. When most of them had left the room and headed to the kitchen, Jessica motioned towards the bathroom and splashed her face with handful of water. Looking at her own reflection from the mirror, she saw herself playing around with Donghae; mischievously “painting” each other’s face with toothpastes or having shower together. All these seemed to happen before their third anniversary. Although it’d been just a week..or maybe ten days since that day, it was like Donghae had changed in this short period of time. Literally changed.  Secret phone calls..unusual constant messages..He’s just being busy with work, Sica. Yes, he must be.

/

“Ahh—finally.” Tiffany tapped her thighs and collected the crumpled tissues around her; “Why must they make me cry so much over a kissing scene.” She used her hand and wiped off the last tear off her eyes before adding, “It’s six now. Want some dinner? I’m starving!”

“Yeah, macaroni cheese please.” Yuri ordered and did some stretching after hours sitting like a statue in front of the television. “I aint your maid so you better help me out in the kitchen.”

“Arasso arasso.” She groaned, grabbing the remote controller and changed the channel in order not to miss the entertainment news. “Not until I finish this.”

“Unnie—you’re such a gossiper.” Yoona joked and received intense glare from her roommate. SNSD Jessica’s marriage—

Three of the immediately became quiet once they heard of Jessica’s name being mentioned. Yuri maximise the volume up and three of them locked their attention back to the screen again.

“What….is thi—this?” Tiffany stuttered in dismay along with the duo. “The g—girls; Sica. Contact Taeyeon now Yuri ah. Jessica mustn’t see this!”

/

“Wait,” Sooyoung interrupted Seohyun’s line and looked at her phone, Yoona – calling. “Yoong’s calling.”

“Yoong ah—Told you you should have come, we had such beautiful dinner! We—”

“Unnie, is Sica unnie beside you now?”

“Yeah—yeah she is. Why?”

“Yah Choi Sooyoung!”

“Why did you scream into my ears Kwon Yuri. I can hear you ok, I can hear you.”

“Be quiet and listen to me now. Keep Jessica away from the television or phone or computer or anything.”

“Why? It’s not like she’s—”

“Use your phone to search the news now. It’s all over the web!”

“What’s wrong Soo?” Jessica asked. “Nothing—” Sooyoung lied, “Can we have some desserts please?” “Sure—” she responded without much energy, “I’ll ask the maid to prepare for you. Wait a minute.” She only had a small bite of steak which was tasteless to her at the moment and a gulp of cold water during dinner. When she left the dining table, the girls quickly gathered around the tallest in the living room, “What is it?”

They were completely astounded as they read along the headlines from various websites.

SNSD’s Jessica’s marriage: Could it be the end?

Lee Donghae and a mysterious girl hugging in the hotel's lobby

Good reputation gone? Lee Donghae got caught cheated behind Jessica

Jessica was sent home by famous model Nichkhun, Lee Donghae was seen with another girl: Parting ways?

Caught red-handed twice: Kiss on cheeks at night, holding hands in the afternoon

“What are all these ridiculous articles?” said Taeyeon furiously. “Where is Donghae? This man owes each of us an explanation.”

“What explanation Taeng?” Jessica stood behind of them with a tray of desserts on her hands. She placed it down on the table and stared at them, “Are you guys alright? You all look mad—”

“Ani—We just—”

As soon as Jessica bent down and reached for the television controller, Sunny jumped of her seat in a quick speed and snatched it away from her. “Don’t—don’t take it.”

“Why?”

“We—we enjoy the show.” They all lied in sync. Jessica turned to the screen and back to them, “Cartoon shows?”

“Y—yeah. Yeah cartoon. We’ve been watching cartoons lately. In order to have common topic to chat with Jaiden—” Hyoyeon didn’t even know what she was talking about, all she wished was that Jessica didn’t start to suspect anything.

They were relieved when she didn’t continue questioning, “I’m bringing Jaiden to the playroom; join if you want—after the kids show has finished.”

Jessica held his hand and both walked slowly away from them to the staircase. Her vision went fuzzy all of a sudden and everything was fading to grey. The next thing she knew she was on the hard floor, her limbs sprawled all around her and everything went pitch black as darkness took over her. “Omma!”

“Omo—Sica!”

/

During midnight, Jessica felt like she had woken up from a deep sleep, confused about where she was exactly at. “Hey—” Donghae’s caressed her cheek and spoke softly. She lifted her left hand up weakly and saw that it was attached with intravenous tube. “Why did you still go to work although you’re having headache hmm? You’re having high fever now—are you satisfied?” Donghae said gently, “No more next time—”

“Y—yes sir.” She smiled wobbly. She couldn’t hide her happiness as Donghae was just beside, taking care of her. He carefully held her up and gave her medicine, “Have more sleep okay? You’ll feel better tomorrow.” He gave her a light kiss on her lips, “You’ll always by my side right?” Jessica asked innocently, “Hae?”

“Silly—of course I will.” Donghae watched her drifting to her dreamland in just minute’s time. He her hand lightly with his thumb and went blank as recalled back what the girls and Eunseo had told him earlier.