Taeyeon POV

"Finally, you decided to come home!" my older sister, Dambi, 'greeted' me as I went inside our house.

"Noona, I'm sorry for ditching you yesterday."

Yet, she ignored my apology and continued ranting on me, "You didn't leave a message or call, you even turned off your god damn phone! Don't you know how much you've got me worried?!"

"I was with my friend okay. There's nothing to worry about."

I passed by her. Yet, I stopped halfway as she suddenly snapped, "Friend? Or you meant Jessica?"

"..."

"Do you think I didn't see you? Tell me, are you trying to get back together with that girl again?"

"..."

"You do know enough that mom is totally against you being together with her or even just trying to be friends with her."

I sighed loudly, "Please, not now, noona. This isn't a good time for an argument. Maybe next time."

She grabbed my shoulder to make me face her, "You have to stop. Look. I don't have any objections with who you choose to love or to be friends with but, at least think about mom. Jessica's father was the one who murdered ours. How do you think will mom take this?"

"..."

"Please, at least consider it as a respect to our dad's spirit."

My sister... Although she treats Jessica normally, somewhat, I still feel her hatred against my ex-girlfriend. Well... at least, that's acceptable, unlike how my mother did when she found out about Sica's parentage back then.

"Taeyeon, my dear!" my mom snapped as soon as she saw me while climbing down the stairs. She immediately went closer and gave me a hug. "I'm so glad to see you again. Oh I missed you so much."

"I missed you so much too, mom."

She broke away, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"You're just in time. I cooked your favorite."

"That's great."

"So, are you finally going to stay here with us for real?"

I looked at my sister and she sort of nodded, signaling me to agree. I returned my attention to mom and smiled at her, "Yes, mom."

She smiled in return. "I am so happy to have you back. Sulli missed you so much too."

Afterwards, the four of us gathered for dinner. Mom then opened up a topic, "It's really good to have you near now, Taeyeon. Now, my worries are lessened. Your brother's situation is more than enough for me to be stressed to."

"Did something happen to Jongin-hyung?" I asked.

"He said he's currently being tailed by strange men. They seemed to have chased him from Europe and even to United States." She sighed, "That brother of yours... I already told him to return home. It's been years already. Besides, he'll be safer here."

"You shouldn't worry much about him, mom. I'm sure he'll be okay. He can take care of himself."

She sighed again, "I hope you're right."

The rest of the night went on with us chatting with regards to updates with our lives. I told them that I will stop on schooling for a while and wait over next year to continue. I didn't have any choice though as it's almost the end of 1st semester. For the mean time, I think I may find a part-time job. Nonetheless, my mom understood my situation.

---

For two days, Jessica and I have been frequently visiting Tiffany in the hospital. Luckily enough, we have never crossed paths with our old friends ever since. It's odd, isn't it? Yet, it's too much favorable from our end, especially with mine. I still don't have guts to face them and be showered by their hatred at this point in time.

Anyways, this afternoon, we decided to visit Tiffany again. And immediately, as we got inside her room, Tiffany's mom, Ms. Elizabeth, greeted us with a little happiness on her face. "Oh. Jessica, Taeyeon. It's good you two finally came."

"Why, auntie? Did we miss anything?" Jessica asked her.

"Well... it's good you have missed it though. Anyways, past is past. Quickly." She then guided us to Tiffany's confinement room.

"Mom? Who was it?" a female voice asked.

A smile quickly formed on Jessica's face. We hurried towards the room. Tiffany's finally awake. "Bestie?" she uttered.

Jessica then answered, "Bestie." She went closer to the bed side and gave her best friend a warm embrace. "I'm so glad you're finally awake." She broke away cupped Tiffany's face with both of her hands. "Please don't make us too much worried."

Fany smiled faintly, "I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore."

"No, I mean it. Death is my thing, Tiff. Not yours. Stop trying to take that crown from me."

And that successfully made Tiffany chuckle delightfully. "You..." She also cupped Sica's face with her hands. "I really missed you."

"And I missed you so much too." Jessica then leaned closer and gave the former a kiss on the forehead.

I then butted in, "Honestly, if I didn't know you guys in the first place, I would have thought of you as lesbian lovers."

Jessica suddenly returned a glare at me.

"And that was a bad joke." I zipped my mouth.

Tiffany finally realized who I was then, uttered my name, "Taeyeon?"

"Uhh- Hi?"

"Oh my God, you've returned."

"Yup." I went closer. "Fany-yah, I'm really so sorry for what happened between us back then. I know it's already been much of an old issue but... I've been really guilty about it." I breathed deeply. "I'm really sorry for blaming you and hurting your feelings for no justifiable reason."

She smiled warmly at me. Then, she pulled me in for an embrace. "Tae-Tae, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

After we broke away, she immediately asked us, "So, are you two back together again?"

"Well, uhh-- n-"

Tiffany suddenly cut Sica off, "Oh this is so great. It turns out we're exactly the same. Back to happily-ever-after. I'm back together with him again."

We both looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Yuri came back for me."

"What?" I uttered again.

She chuckled, "We're back together again, Tae-Tae. What's too confusing about that?"

"So, Yuri's actually alive?" Jessica asked her with so much confusion on her face.

Tiffany's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her best friend in return, "Excuse me?"

"Uhhm, Jessica? Taeyeon?" Ms. Elizabeth immediately snapped. "Can I talk to you two for a bit?"

"Mom, please, are you gonna interrogate my friends again?" Tiffany said. "They're all good people, okay?"

"You can't take away the worry from me, I'm still your mother." Her mom smiled at her teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Tiffany responded and rolled her eyes at her playfully.

---

Ms. Elizabeth led us outside and settled at the second floor's lounge. She firstly took a deep breath then uttered, "Just a reminder, Stephanie's not completely okay."

"Yeah, but that does not necessarily mean she'd end up hallucinating of Yuri being alive." Jessica responded. "What happened?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out since this morning."

"Probably, it's due to her severe depression?" I snapped and they both looked at me. I continued, "That might have triggered the distortion on her memory. That, her mind might have reset back to the time when she could still bear everything."

"So, you're practically saying my daughter's insane?"

"I…"

"…"

I looked away, "I didn't mean it that way, ma'am."

She sat down on the free seat and sighed deeply, "That's actually what have been bugging my mind."

"It might just be a temporary state though." Jessica said then sat beside Ms. Elise. She held the latter's hand as form of assurance, "Cheer up, Auntie. I'm sure she won't be getting to that path."

"I hope so too. Probably, this is all just a temporary side effect. The doctor said it could be due to her pregnancy too, so…"

"She's pregnant?" We both repeated in question.

Ms. Elise nodded in return, "Yeah. We just found out about it when she was rushed here in the hospital."

"And Yuri's the father?" I asked.