Pairings in this chapter: TaeTeuk; HyoHyuk; YulSung; a little HaeFany, HaeSica, HeeSica, and JongSica; SiFany. Hope this makes you guys happy. :)

On another note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIM HEECHUL! He's 28/29 now--wow--and same as Leeteuk, manages to look as youthful as ever. xD HeeSica, Lady Heehee, Heenim, anything else he's known as, I hope he has a fantastical birthday. ♥

<---- Heenim doing 'Genie' ♥

Chapter Seventeen

Nine days until the concert...

Not surprisingly, the next day’s rehearsal was not as crazy and wild as the previous ones.

It seemed that after all the chaos of the previous night, when the two groups found out about the leaders’ relationship, everyone remembered what happened at the photoshoot.

The silence was maddening.

Luckily, half the members of SNSD and half the members of Super Junior couldn’t make it to the rehearsal, due to other schedules.

Leeteuk glanced around the room, doing a quick head count: Donghae, Eunhyuk, Henry, Heechul, Yesung, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Jessica, Yuri, Taeyeon, and himself.

Donghae, Hyoyeon, and Eunhyuk reserved a corner for themselves to practice their dance-off. Henry, Jessica, and Tiffany worked on their song, no one understanding a single word that sang, since it was in English. Yesung and Yuri tried to work on their piece without Sooyoung and Ryeowook, and Heechul’s partner, Yoona, was off at a photoshoot, so he tagged around Taeyeon and Leeteuk, both of them too lazy to actually practice.

“Donghae, you messed up the same move again.” Eunhyuk frowned and put a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “What’s up?”

Donghae just shook his head. “Sorry, I-I’m tired.”

“Yeah, right.” Eunhyuk rolled his eyes.

Even Hyoyeon refused to believe the pathetic excuse. She responded all-knowingly, “Is this about Tiffany?”

“Um, maybe,” Donghae muttered to the grinning couple.

“Just ask her out.” Eunhyuk nudged him in the ribs. “She has no reason to say no!”

“I’m telling you, she doesn’t like me.” Donghae said, exasperated of repeating the same statement over and over again.

“She’s probably just confused.” Hyoyeon told him, shrugging and plopping down on to the floor. “Girls are very complex.”

To this statement, Eunhyuk nodded fervently. Hyoyeon noticed, chuckled, and added, “Remember how long it took Anchovy over here to ask me out?”

Eunhyuk frowned and pouted. “Hey, that’s not my fault! There was so much competition!”

“Oh, whatever,” Hyoyeon pushed her boyfriend playfully, smiling.

“Guys, stop flirting, it’s making me feel worse.” Donghae groaned, running a hand through his hair.

“Sorry, dude.” Eunhyuk patted him on the back. “Let’s start again. Don’t think about Tiffany.”

Donghae glared. “I wasn’t thinking about her, until you mentioned her name just now.”

“Oh, uh, whoops.”

“Yeah, whoops.” Hyoyeon threw Eunhyuk a dirty look and smiled kindly at Donghae. “Let’s take a little break. Go clear your head a little.”

Donghae smiled in appreciation at Hyoyeon and walked out of the room silently.

Eunhyuk stared at Hyoyeon dumbly. “How do you do that?”

Hyoyeon laughed at Eunhyuk’s weird facial expression. “Do what?”

“Get everyone to listen to you!”

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s a gift.” Hyoyeon flipped her hair.

Eunhyuk folded his arms grudgingly. “Hmph.”

The Dancing Queen pecked Eunhyuk on the cheek. “Better?”

“I’m better.” he grinned.

“No kissing!” Taeyeon hollered from across the room.

Hyoyeon pointed a finger at the two leaders. “Go make-out with your boyfriend!”

“Unlikely,” Taeyeon snorted, receiving a playful nudge from Leeteuk.

In a separate corner of the room, Yesung and Yuri had abandoned trying to practice their song, as Sooyoung and Ryeowook were both missing.

Yuri was sprawled across the practice room floor, staring at the ceiling. “I’m bored~” she complained, moving her arms and legs in sync.

Yesung raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “What are you doing?”

Yuri grinned. “Making floor angels.”

“And I’m guessing those are like snow angels?”

“Yup!” Yuri said cheerily, going back to her pointless task. “Make them with me!”

Yesung, with nothing else to do, joined Yuri on the floor and began imitating Yuri’s actions. “Like this?”

“You’re a natural.” Yuri laughed.

“And better than you.” Yesung grinned.

“Psh, yeah, right! I invented this!” Yuri momentarily stopped making floor angels to whack Yesung in the chest.

He winced. “Still as violent as ever, I see.”

“That’s my violent nature.” she smiled charmingly.

Yesung nodded and sat up, watching Yuri intently. “You’re weird.”

“Funny, coming from the King of Weird himself.” Yuri stuck her tongue out stubbornly at her companion.

Yesung rolled his eyes, but smiled, agreeing with her statement.

“Hey, weird people are awesome!” Yuri nudged Yesung in the foot with hers. “Without weird people, it’d be like...like ice cream without the toppings!” she concluded proudly.

“Interesting statement, Yuri...” Yesung commented, chuckling.

“Mm, you know it makes sense.” she sat up, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Let’s go make fun of the leaders. Join me?”

Yesung linked arms with her, happy that they were back on normal terms. “Sounds fun!”

While Yesung and Yuri harassed the newly-appointed couple, the English speakers were huddled by the door, speaking in their native tongue.

“They’re definitely together, don’t you think, Henry?” Jessica smacked him on the arm.

Henry nodded immediately. “Uh, yeah, sure, sure...”

“Yesung and Yuri...hm. Who’d have thought?” Jessica watched the pair’s interactions.

“Shouldn’t we be practicing the--”

“It’s English; it’s easy.” Jessica said dismissively.

Henry sighed; there was no winning with Jessica. He wondered how Donghae and Heechul managed to stay close with her.

“Tiff, what’s wrong?” Jessica turned to her friend. “You’re really quiet.”

“Oh, I’m just really...tired.” Tiffany answered weakly.

“That’s the most over-used excuse ever.” Henry smiled.

Jessica nodded and smiled. “Hey, come on, you can tell us. No one else will understand a word you’re saying.”

“That’s a good point.” Henry pointed out.

“Boys are stupid.” Tiffany mumbled, and quickly added, “Except for you, Henry. You’re not like...”

Henry frowned. “Like who?”

“Donghae, of course...” Jessica sighed, shaking her head slightly, watching him dance on the other side of the room.

“Eh? What’d he do?” Henry asked curiously.

Jessica answered first. “He breaks girls’ hearts unknowingly.”

“Whose?”

“Tiff’s...others...mine.” Jessica finished quietly.

Henry’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “D-Did you and Donghae have a thing?”

“In the past,” Jessica said quickly, noticing Tiffany’s sullen expression. “Let’s not talk about it.”

Henry nodded in understanding.

“Hey, why don’t you text Siwon? He always makes you feel better, right?” Jessica tossed Tiffany her phone.

“He’s busy doing a photoshoot.” Tiffany said, slouching a little.

“He always makes time for you, though.” Jessica insisted.

“I’ll try then...” Tiffany murmured, stepping out of the room.

“I’ve never seen her so depressed.” Henry whispered.

Jessica nodded subtly. “Me either. I don’t even know what’s going on inside her head right now. I wish I did...”

---

“Finally, peace and quiet!” Taeyeon sighed loudly, walking through the corridors of SM with Leeteuk by her side.

He tapped her nose. “You’re just lucky that I made a dumb excuse to get us out of there.”

Taeyeon settled down in a comfy, plush white loveseat that was quite some distance from the practice room, and Leeteuk situated himself next to her.

“We’ll have to go back in a few minutes.” he reminded her.

Taeyeon held back a groan. “I just wanna take a long nap here.”

“You can’t!” Leeteuk smiled. “We didn’t even practice yet.”

“It’s too early and,” Taeyeon yawned tiredly. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“I told you to go to bed earlier, didn’t I?”

“Well, I didn’t get the text.” Taeyeon rolled her eyes. “The girls were basically playing Hot Tomato with my phone.”

Leeteuk snorted. “You mean, Hot Potato?”

“You know what I mean!” Taeyeon pouted, unconsciously resting her head on Leeteuk’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I just like messing with you.”

“Mean ahjussi.”

“Cranky ahjumma.”

“Annyeong, Taeyeon-noona, Leeteuk-hyung!”

Leeteuk and Taeyeon scrambled up from the couch and stared at the intruder.

Lee Taemin blinked up at them innocently. “Um, sorry...was I interrupting something?”

“Nothing.” the two older idols responded together.

“Taemin-ah, what are you doing over here?” Taeyeon asked, trying to change the subject.

“Ah, I was looking for Jjong-hyung.” Taemin answered with a shrug. “Have you guys seen him?”

Leeteuk and Taeyeon shook their heads. “Well, we should get back to practice.” Leeteuk said to Taemin. “You wanna hang around?”

Taemin nodded eagerly and followed the leaders.

“Maybe he’s in our practice room...” Taeyeon said, re-entering the practice room.

“Oh, Taemin-ah!” Heechul ruffled the kid’s hair. “What are you doing around here?”

Taemin grinned. “Hyung~ I was looking for Jonghyun-hyung.”

“Annyeong~” he greeted everyone, receiving warm hellos and hugs in return.

“He’s not here.” Jessica piped up.

“Who knows, he might turn up here.” Donghae said, just as the door opened.

“Hyung!” Taemin exclaimed, seeing Jonghyun poke his head into the room.

“Oh, there you are.” Jonghyun walked in, grinning. “I was looking for you!”

“I was looking for you!” Taemin said with a laugh, walking up to his hyung.

“Hi, everyone!” Jonghyun greeted, nodding his head.

“Oppa!” Jessica smiled.

Heechul and Donghae unconsciously glared at Jonghyun, and he smiled nervously back at Jessica. “Hey, Sica. Uh, Taemin, let’s go?”

“Oh, okay.” Taemin waved to everyone. “Bye, everyone! Good luck with everything!”

The two SHINee members disappeared out of the door, bringing in a cool rush of air.

“What’d you guys do that for?” Jessica snapped at Heechul and Donghae.

Heechul rolled his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t think I didn’t see you guys glaring at him.” Jessica folded her arms crossly.

“I didn’t do anything!” Donghae protested, defending himself.

“That’s what you say every time, Lee Donghae.” Jessica said in a cold voice, her voice wavering slightly.

The room was dead silent. Heechul glanced at Donghae, who was staring at Jessica, shock etched on his face. Jessica looked intently at the both of them, never blinking.

Taeyeon cleared and made her way over to Jessica. “Jessica, are you--”

“I’m fine, I don’t need you--or anyone else--worrying about me.”

Taeyeon gaped at Jessica, astonished. Jessica had never spoken to her in that kind of tone before, in all the years Taeyeon knew her. Something had snapped inside Jessica, and it was unlikely that she would tell anyone.

Hyoyeon had a fierce look in her eyes, and she strode across the room in an instant, taking Jessica by the arm. “Let’s go.”

“Yah, where are you taking me?”

Hyoyeon yanked open the door and dragged Jessica through it with her. The door closed with a loud slam, and it was silent once again.

Outside, Hyoyeon pushed Jessica down into a chair. “Okay, what’s wrong with you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jessica simpered, refusing to look at her friend.

“You’re not acting like yourself. The Jessica we all know would never say harsh things to her friends, or yell at the leader.” Hyoyeon shook her head slowly, as if trying to analyze things.

“Jessica, you have to talk to us. We’re your sisters.”

Jessica slowly raised her head to look at Hyoyeon. “...I know.”

“Then talk to us!” Hyoyeon insisted. “It’s not good to keep all these things bottled up inside. We need to know what’s going on.”

“...What I’m about to tell you...promise something.”

Hyoyeon frowned a little, but nodded. “Sure, anything.”

“Promise me you won’t speak a word of this to Tiffany or Yoona.” Jessica bit her lip.

“Promise?”

Hyoyeon hesitated for a few moments, but eventually said, “I...I promise.”

---

Siwon-oppa~

Are you busy?

Sorry, Tiff, I’m going to a filming right now. :(

What’s wrong?

Nothing, I just needed to talk to someone.

Are you okay? :(

Yeah, fine.

Practice is boring without you here, hehe.

Aww. :)

Everything okay over there?

No one’s acting too crazy?

Haha, nope. Things are actually pretty quiet.

Is it because of the other day...?

Most likely...

You’re okay, right?

Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, oppa. :)

Anytime. :)

Am I keeping you from your filming? :(

Nope, not at all.

I just got here and they have to set everything up.

Oh, I see. Must be tough being an actor, huh?

I like it. :)

Choi Siwon can just do it all, can’t he? ;)

You know it!

Haha. x)

Hey, I’ll be done with filming right around lunch time.

Pick you up for lunch? :)

Sure! :D

Okay, see you then, Tiff^^ <3

Okay! <3

COMMENT REPLIES!

@SuGenLover: HaeFany ftw! :) Hehe, honestly, I want HaeFany too, unnie, but I'm still deciding the final pairings...ME TOO! Even though it was only like ten seconds...aahhh~ it was so amazing! Did you see the part where Tiffany looked like she was about to leave and then he grabbed her arm like: No, wait, stay! Cute!!!

@lostdiamond: Thanks so much, Dia! :D I love those three pairings, they're all so cute--haha.

@shalalapaula: Oh, sorry. I thought the readers would be able to figure it out, heh. :) Yup, that's their couple name! Wait no more, for I have updated! xD

@pauley: Aw, thanks so much! I love them, too! :D Updated!

@QueeeenB: Omo, really? [Secretly, I still love HeeSica more. x3] But I'm still deciding on what pairings to make "happen" at the end. :) Haha, me too! I'll admit, HaeSica IS cute...thanks for always commenting and loving my story. /hug

@StrawberryFantasy: I KNOW RIGHT?! /sob Just kidding, haha. I CAN'T DECIDE HOW THE ENDING'S GONNA BE. Rawr. Because all Chois are perfection. It is a proven fact. xD I know! You just wanna hug him! <3 The magic words mean nothing. They are not magic! HP is magic! x)

@StarryKelly: Updated! And yes, SiFany and HaeSica ARE cute, I'll admit...:)

@chococcino30: Yup! Shocker, lol.

@murdering_thespian: There's more SiFany for you SiFany lovers in this chapter, Shin! :D And yes, I love HaeFany, but they might not be together in the end...who knows~

@TiHae4ever: Aw, it did, unnie? D: Haha, yepp! Gotta love KkabYul, lol. Btw, thanks for always leaving long comments, it means a lot to me! :) ♥

@cutieyzza: Aw, really? You're so nice! Hehe. :) I could write certain pairings into this story, if you want to! Ah, thanks so much again^^

@KathyXVII: No problem! :] It could go anywhere, really, haha. Updated!