“Donghae?”

“Yeah?” The man turned around and joined Yunho’s side. Jessica had quickly turned away then, but had not moved. Huh, trying to be nonchalant.

“Do you know that girl over there? In the grey silk dress?”

“Ahh, Jessica?” Donghae’s mouth went into a tight line. “Yes I do.”

“She works at White Hall?”

“Technically, yes.”

Yunho raised an eyebrow. “Technically?”

“I’m sorry Yunho, but it’s classified. I’m sure if you get to know her, you’ll find out.”

“If you know her so well, perhaps you could tell me why she’s easy to judge and has a fiery temper.”

Donghae heard the note of rage in his friend’s voice. “She has a mysterious past. Doesn’t like to talk about it. From what I can deduce, there was either abuse or violence, perhaps both. It’s why she’s so guarded.”

Guarded. Why does that word seem to ring a bell? Someone else…

“And what about her friend Tiffany?”

“Tiffany? She’s here?” Donghae looked around. As Yunho watched him, he noted a new light in Donghae’s eyes.

“So you have met her as well.” Yunho turned to look back.

At that moment, Jessica grabbed Tiffany’s arm. “See? He’s been out to get me since day one!” she hissed.

Tiffany shook her head. “Now you’re just getting paranoid. How long were you planning to stay here?”

“I have to stay here for a while. It’s the company’s happy hour after all. They said you can’t secure promotions if you don’t stay for a decent amount of time.”

“But aren’t you an intern, not an employee? Do interns get promoted?”

“Well, maybe they give a good impression and perhaps can secure a job?”

Tiffany shook her head. “Anyway, I think I can only stay an hour. Someone has to make sure Krystal doesn’t go crazy when she’s alone.”

“She won’t go crazy. And her lesson is supposed to take four hours.”

“Huh. You never have seen your sister do her lessons. She races through them like she was a cheetah. And unless you finally figured out the reason why she’s hiding everything that’s a possible weapon in weird places, I’m keeping an eye on her.”

“She’s not hiding-“

“Okay, who moved the knives the first time then? What about the scissors a week later?” Tiffany crossed her arms. “There’s no one else in our apartment besides you, me, and her. We don’t have a maid, and you assured there is no spare key.”

Jessica rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “Right. Sorry. I’m so busy trying to push my worries away and keeping that stuff in Soo-yeon’s world, I forgot their importance. Anyway, thanks for reassuring me. I think I can handle being alone.”

Tiffany smiled. “Hey, it’s fine. I didn’t come here just to console you, this girl needs to PARTAAYYY!” she cheered over the noise. She grabbed Jessica’s hand. “Come on! We need make your nervous energy productive!” With that, she dragged the other woman out into the dance crowd.

 After letting herself surrender to the rhythm of the music blasting from the speakers for some time, Jessica felt herself relax. A smile easily came on her face as she was swept along with the energy of the crowd. She waved her hands in the ear and bounced up and down, whooping when the DJ let the bass drop. How did I forget that clubbing was fun?

“Jessica!” She turned to see Tiffany give her a nod. She nodded back, and she watched her friend weave through the crowd to the exit. However, she didn’t feel her confidence ebb away and when Tiffany was gone, she turned back to the direction of the DJ.

After a while, Jessica felt complain as she tried to swallow. So she walked away from the crowd and searched for refreshments.

“Miss?” She turned to see a bartender gesturing to the tray of drinks on a table.

“Thank you.” She flashed him a look of gratitude and took one of the small glasses and downed it. She suddenly realized that the burn in was not due to her thirst.

…that wasn’t beer?