Taeyeon dragged Sooyoung home during lunch. The taller girl protested loudly, saying she couldn't be alone, but Taeyeon assured her she would stay with her for however long she wanted. After almost twenty minutes of persuading, Sooyoung seemed to realize that she was not in shape for school, and let Taeyeon take her home.  

The remaining six girls stayed at the table Sooyoung had found them at when she returned from her search for Hyoyeon. Eating felt like a distant and irrelevant thought. They sat together in a rarely broken silence, all wishing there was something they could do.

"What should we do?" Yoona asked quietly, staring down at the table as she felt the aftermath of shock coursing through her. Seohyun took her hand, but didn't say anything.

"What can we do?" Sunny asked back. She eyed the girls one by one, but neither of them seemed to have any ideas. "Shouldn't we call the police?"

Tiffany shifted, blinking repeatedly to suffocate the tears in her eyes. "Taeyeon assured me they'd take care of it," she said, her voice strained with tears. "She said Sooyoung was the one among us who could answer their questions about Hyoyeon the best, and she's right, don't you think?"

Sunny lay a shaking hand on the other girl's shoulder, not sure how to calm her down when she felt like she was about to break herself. "Are you okay?" she asked silently. Tiffany's lips quivered. "Sooyoung didn't mean what she said... you know, when she accused you like that. You know that, right?" Tiffany looked down with a very unconvincing nod. "She was just upset."

"She was right, though," Tiffany said. Jessica, who was sitting across from Tiffany with Yuri, reached over the table and placed a hand on her knee, her eyes showing nothing but sympathy.

"She was crazed," she said, squeezing Tiffany's knee. "She didn't mean it."

"But it's true," Tiffany argued, the first tear slipping down her cheek. "I knew... about Hyoyeon's father, and I didn't say anything to anybody because she wanted me to keep it a secret." She laughed unhappily. "At the time her wishes seemed really important, but now... Now the thought itself is ridiculous. I could have saved her. She would have hated me for telling people, but she would have still been here." Jessica tilted her head, tears filling her eyes as well. "I was selfish."

"No, Tiffany, you weren't," Yuri said calmly. "These things aren't easy."

"Aren't they?" Tiffany asked. "Apparently I would rather keep her by my side and let her father abuse her, than I would help her and risk having her hate me."

Sunny put her arm around Tiffany's shoulder and pulled her close. Tiffany cried, sobbed hysterically, the guilt and regret obvious in her every intake of breath. Jessica pulled her hand back and watched the two as they rocked from side to side, jerking a little from Tiffany's sobs.

"You couldn't have known this was going to happen, Fany," Yoona said, unknowingly pressing her nails into Seohyun's hand.

"Sooyoung knew as well, and she didn't say anything either," Seohyun reminded her. "Please don't blame yourself."

Tiffany listened and tried to take in the words she already knew, but couldn't quite believe, and she was happy they were there with her. Letting herself cry into Sunny's strong embrace, she allowed herself to trust that Sunny and the others would always be there for her, and love her unconditionally, like a family.

Their lunch break passed like that, with Tiffany gradually calming down, and with all of them wondering how they'd be able to go to their respective classes and focus on things so unimportant in comparison to their friend's health.

"I just... I just can't believe it," Yoona said after a long silence where they all listened to Tiffany's slowing breaths. "I would never have guessed this about Hyo."

Yuri and Jessica shook their heads slowly. Hyoyeon had seemed like any other girl - a little lonely, perhaps; they'd all known how she hadn't had many friends in the past, but never would they have guessed that she carried secret injuries beneath her clothes.

"Do you think it's possible that she will just... come back?" Seohyun asked, turned towards Yoona but throwing glances at the other girls.

Sunny looked carefully at Tiffany before weakly shaking her head. "Would you?" she asked the youngest, eyes sad and voice careful. Seohyun looked down with a nod that told her she understood.

"I suppose not."

"Let's not rule it out, though," Yuri interjected. "Let's try to keep some hope. She's only been gone for half a day; anything can happen." She tried to say it full of hope, but the insecurity in her voice gave her away. Jessica put her head on her shoulder.

At that moment, Sungmin walked up to their table. He was panting slightly, and his face showed fear, but when he saw the girls' red eyes and noted Tiffany's wet cheeks, his expression changed.

"Hi," Yoona said, heart both sinking and breathing a sigh of relief at the same time. She liked Sungmin's company when nobody was after him, but she really needed the other girls around her that day.

"Hello," he replied, staring blankly at her and ignoring the other girls' presence. "Class starts soon, so... should we go?"

Yoona looked around at her friends, and down at her and Seohyun's intertwined hands, wishing that a miracle would take place and let Sungmin get along with her friends without problems. But she knew, now more than ever, that Sungmin needed her protection, and how important it was. She let go of Seohyun's hand and was about to stand up when Yuri spoke.

"You know, Sungmin," she said, "you don't have to sit alone in class. We'd be happy to sit with you." She looked around at Jessica, Sunny and Tiffany, and they all nodded with wide-eyed expressions, staring up at him. Tiffany wiped the last of her tears.

Sungmin gave Yuri a quick stare before looking back at Yoona. "No thanks," he said, "I'd rather sit alone. Let's go."

Yuri looked at Yoona as if she'd just been slapped across the face, and Yoona looked down, feeling strangely guilty. The girls had told her repeatedly that they missed her in school, and asked her why she couldn't hang out with them all at the same time. She'd done her best to explain, but Sungmin was something of a person who needed to be experienced to be understood. Just like Seohyun.

Sungmin started walking away, and Yoona got up to follow him. She glanced apologetically at Tiffany as she turned away. If it would have been any other day, she might have tried a little harder to get Sungmin into the group, but not today. She had no energy to try. Not after what happened to Hyoyeon.

So she followed him, and when they'd rounded a corner and entered another corridor, she stopped him.

"Why are you being so rude to my friends?" she asked exasperatedly.

Sungmin raised his eyebrows. "I'm not being rude. I just told the truth."

"Yeah, well, your truth is pretty rude," she said, tears now unexpectedly rising in her eyes.

"Then so be it," Sungmin replied, shrugging.

Yoona stared at him in bewildered helplessness. "I don't get you," she said. "You want me to protect you from everyone in this school, but you want me to just watch and not do anything when you insult my friends?"

"I didn't insult your friends," Sungmin replied, his eyes narrowing. "You know why I'm like this."

He started walking away, but Yoona grabbed his arm to stop him. "I know why you don't like being around people. I know why you don't want to give them any chances. But I don't understand why you can't be nice to people who are nice to you."

Sungmin sighed and stared down at the floor. It made Yoona feel like a child and Sungmin was her parent, patiently trying to explain something that was just too big for her young mind.

"Don't you see how much better our lives could be if you had more friends?" she continued. "If the ten of us could be together..." she stopped herself, realizing she still counted Hyoyeon in the mix. She swallowed heavily and continued. "You'd never have to be alone."

"I see," Sungmin said with a nod. "You're tired of trying to help me. You want to push some of the responsibility to other people so you won't have to look after me." Yoona frowned, not believing what she was hearing. "That's fine, you know. You don't have to come with me just because I ask you to."

"Sungmin, that's not at all what I'm saying," Yoona argued, immediately feeling guilty, but also knowing she had a point. "You're one of my best friends. It would make me really happy if we could all be together, and even though you don't see it I think it could help you, too." She tried to say it calmly, but the frustration welled out through her voice.

Sungmin shook his head and kept silent as Minho and Taemin passed them. Yoona gave them a wave, and they smiled back as Sungmin ignored them.

"I can't be friends with them," Sungmin mumbled then. "I just can't."

Yoona's heart sank. "Why not?"

"I just..." he tried, but somehow he looked ashamed of himself, Yoona thought. "I get so jealous of them."

Yoona frowned again. "Jealous?" she asked.

"Because they get to see you outside of school, on the weekends," he mumbled, looking up to face Yoona's gaze. "Because sometimes I feel like you like them more than me."

"Sungmin..." Yoona said, shaking her head slowly. She understood a little better now why he never accepted her attempts to make them befriend each other, but she had no idea how to continue. She didn't want to compare her friends to each other; she loved them all. "That's not true." Sungmin rolled his eyes before catching himself and looking down, nodding. Helplessness took over Yoona's mind as she didn't know at all what to say. "I love you all," she said, "but you have to accept that they are my friends too."

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Sungmin interrupted. "Class starts soon, so..."

"Fine," Yoona said, both disappointed and relieved.

They stood together in the corridor, Sungmin's eyes not leaving Yoona's shoes for a while. Neither of them spoke, and the helplessness grew.

"Why did you all seem so down earlier, by the way?" Sungmin then asked, and Yoona realized that for a moment she'd forgotten the morning's happenings. They returned with full force, and hung heavily in Yoona's stomach.

"Hyoyeon..." she said quietly, not knowing how to continue. In a way she felt like revealing it to Sungmin wasn't such a big deal - mainly because he had no one to pass the information on to - but it still bothered her a little. "Hyoyeon is gone."

"Gone?" Sungmin repeated, staring into Yoona's eyes again.

Yoona nodded. "She disappeared last night. She sent Sooyoung a text, saying she's ran away and probably won't come back."

"Wow," Sungmin said, and for a second Yoona was sure she could see longing behind Sungmin's eyes, longing behind the fake worry and sympathy. She didn't doubt that Sungmin wished he could do the same.

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry, Yoona," he said silently, placing a hand on her arm. "Are you okay?"

Yoona felt clog up instantly at the question. The answer was no, not even close, not today. Everything she felt became too much for her, and she just shook her head before the tears welled up and spilled over her cheeks. Sungmin looked taken aback for a moment, not having seen Yoona cry since god knows when, and pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly and her back. Somewhere in the back of Yoona's mind, she knew that what Sungmin needed was not to comfort her, but to be comforted. But she couldn't help it. She knew she shouldn't, but she felt guilty for not having realized Hyoyeon's troubles, and she felt guilty for not being able to rid Sungmin of his own. She felt guilty for not being an as good friend to the girls as she should, and she felt guilty for not being able to keep her promises, however unimportant they were, to Seohyun.

And she couldn't do anything other than just surrender herself to the feelings.





"Can you make it up the stairs? Should I carry you?" Taeyeon asked Sooyoung as they walked into the latter's apartment building. Sooyoung had been a crying mess all the way home, and her added sleep deprivation had turned the usual ten minute walk into a thirty minute one. Taeyeon hadn't tried to say much, knowing that there was nothing she could say that would help, and now that they'd arrived home, she tried to act as normal as possible.

Sooyoung wanted to reply with a mocking 'I'd like to see you try', but the words wouldn't come out. Instead she shook her head, tears pouring heavier than she could ever remember experiencing, and Taeyeon allowed her to put an arm over her shoulders, steadying her as they walked up the stairs. She wasn't really sure what she wanted, though. Going home had seemed impossible, like a suicide mission; not only getting her exhausted legs to carry her there, but also just being in her apartment alone or with her mother. Taeyeon had promised she would stay for as long as she needed her, which made the scenario a little better, but nothing could really distract her from her broken heart.

Taeyeon's own heart was breaking at the state her best friend was in. She could only hope that some sleep would ease the pain at least a little bit, but the thought lacked reality. Never before had she seen her so broken over somebody, and she hadn't realized just how serious Sooyoung was about Hyoyeon until then. She had thought that their romance would fly by, strong and passionate but short-lived, like Sooyoung's all previous relationships. This was not at all what Taeyeon had expected. How would Sooyoung recover from it?

They made it up the stairs and into the apartment, and Sooyoung sank down onto the floor the second the door fell shut behind them. Her crying, that had been diminished from violent sobbing to silent tears, sped up again, and her sharp breathing made Taeyeon worry she would choke. She crouched down, helping her best friend take off her jacket. She was just about to get started on removing her shoes when Sooyoung's mother was pulled into the room by the sound of Sooyoung's crying.

"What," she breathed, at first not knowing how to respond. "What has happened? Sooyoung, sweetie..."

But Sooyoung cried even harder at the question, trying to form an answer in her mind, but the truth being too much for her to take. Taeyeon took off her shoes swiftly, turning around and giving a half-hearted smile to Mrs. Choi. It was supposed to be calming, it was supposed to say 'it's alright, the world isn't ending', but she wasn't sure she believed in it herself.

"Taeyeon? What on earth is happening?" Mrs. Choi demanded, worry instantly raising the volume of her voice. "Please answer me, dear."

Taeyeon pulled Sooyoung's arm over her shoulders again and struggled to bring the other girl with her into a standing position. Her legs were wobbly, from exhaustion or effort and probably emotions, and Mrs. Choi hurried to her daughter's other side. They pulled Sooyoung up together and started leading her towards her room.

"It's, uhm... It's a friend," Taeyeon said weakly, not sure how to explain. She'd known Mrs. Choi for as long as she'd known Sooyoung herself, and she didn't have a bad word to say about her. She was a woman who couldn't stand other people being hurt, someone who solved everyone's troubles but her own. Taeyeon trusted her, at times even more than her own mother, but telling her Sooyoung was in love with a girl felt like overdoing it.

They got Sooyoung into her dark bedroom, and carefully laid the still crying girl onto the bed. She rolled over on her stomach immediately, sobbing into her pillow, but there was a look of great relief on her face before she hid it in her sheets. Taeyeon's heart ached. She looked up at Mrs. Choi, who stood beside her full of worry, and motioned for her to come with her out of the room. Mrs. Choi obeyed at once, and the two walked out the door before shutting it behind them.

"It's a friend," Taeyeon repeated before Mrs. Choi had a chance to ask. "A friend of ours was abused by her father and ran away last night." Mrs. Choi's mouth fell open, and she covered it with one of her hands. "She and Sooyoung were very close."

"That poor girl," Mrs. Choi said. "Was it the same friend who was supposed to come over last night, do you know?"

Taeyeon nodded. "Yeah, that was her."

"Sooyoung told me she didn't come over because 'something came up'..." Mrs. Choi said questioningly, glancing at the closed door behind Taeyeon, obviously wanting to go in and comfort her child.

"She thought she was ditched, so she probably didn't want to talk about it," she explained. Her brain felt tired and burned from having gone over the incident over and over in her mind.

Mrs. Choi nodded understandingly. "Did anybody call the police?" she asked, and Taeyeon shook her head hesitantly.

"We're about to. I think the rule is to wait for twenty-four hours before reporting somebody as missing, but I think we're gonna overlook that rule this time."

Mrs. Choi nodded again, gaze locked at Sooyoung's bedroom door, and her eyes spoke clearly of a wish to set everything right for her daughter. "And the father?" she asked.

Taeyeon sighed. "He... doesn't seem to care."

Mrs. Choi stared at her, unable to comprehend her words. "That's horrible," she said, and her quiet tone spoke clearly to Taeyeon. In Mrs. Choi's world, there wasn't anything more horrible than a parent abandoning their child.

So Taeyeon nodded. "We are going to call the police, and then I'm going to try to calm her down enough to get some sleep," she said quickly, aching to get back into Sooyoung's room after she had pleaded with her to not leave her alone. "She hasn't been sleeping well these past nights, she's been so worried."

"Right, of course," Mrs. Choi nodded, tearing her eyes away from the door. "Just let me know if there's anything you need, okay? Even if it's just a sandwich or a glass of water, let me know, and I'll get it for you." She Taeyeon's bangs out of her face, and Taeyeon sighed in gratefulness.

"Thank you."

Mrs. Choi pulled her into a bone-cracking hug. "Sooyoung's lucky to have you as a friend. I'm glad you're here for her."

Sooyoung was lying on her back again when Taeyeon came back into the room. She was staring at the ceiling, the tears had slowed down and her sobs had subsided. Taeyeon's heart ached again at the sight.

"What did you tell her?" Sooyoung said, her tone dead and weak.

Taeyeon sat down at the edge of the bed. "That your friend was abused by her father and ran away from home." Sooyoung kept silent for a moment before nodding. "Should I not have?"

"Should you not have what?" Sooyoung asked, sitting up. "You didn't lie. Hyo and I never had time to become more than friends." She made to stand up, and Taeyeon moved in her way.

"Where do you think you're going?" she said, staring with wide eyes at her best friend.

Sooyoung paused, but the look she gave Taeyeon was determined and challenging. "I can't stay here like this, don't you get that?" she said, and Taeyeon heard clearly how rough and hoarse her voice was. "We have to go look for her!"

She tried to make her way past Taeyeon again, and the elder held up her hands to stop her. "Sooyoung, no," she said firmly, applying some force and pressing Sooyoung back onto the bed. "We can't do that."

"But we have to," Sooyoung said, desperation shaking her voice.

"Don't you remember what she wrote in the text?" Taeyeon asked. "She said she'd been on the road for hours, and we have no idea even in which direction she went. How she went."

Sooyoung sat down, her eyes widening. "She must have left by bus, there's no other way out of there..." she mumbled. Taeyeon looked at her questioningly. "She told me she was taking the last bus to see me..."

"What?" Taeyeon said.

Sooyoung gave her a mortified look. "Which means she had to have taken that bus to leave last night. I was late to the station where I was supposed to meet her... if I had been on time..."

Taeyeon shook her head. "Don't go there, Sooyoung. This is not your fault."

"I could have stopped her... if I'd been on time" Sooyoung repeated, lying down on her sheets again, closing her eyes, her face contorted from pain.

"And her father could have stopped her if he hadn't beat her up every now and again," Taeyeon dead-panned. Sooyoung opened her eyes and gave her a weak look. "Please, Sooyoung... if there's anyone who's not to take the blame for this, it's you. From what I understand, you were the only one who tried to help her at all."

"I just didn't do enough," Sooyoung said, so silently it was almost a whisper. "But I could have."

Silence fell as Taeyeon tried to think of the right thing to say. Sooyoung's tears had slowed down further, and seemed to be close to stopping. It calmed Taeyeon down a little, but she tried not to fool herself into thinking that the worst was over.

"It's not like it's guaranteed that we'll never see her again," she tried. Sooyoung frowned at her, obviously not agreeing at all. "I mean, once she sees how hard it is to make it by on her own..." she continued, but stopped herself when she realized how badly it came out. Sooyoung looked slightly horrified. "Wait, I don't mean like that," Taeyeon quickly corrected herself, but Sooyoung held up a hand to silence her.

"It's okay, I get it. You mean that once she's got a taste of being homeless, she'll come back." She said it slowly and tentatively, and it was clear she didn't believe in the words she spoke.

"Right," Taeyeon said, "maybe she'll come back and let us take care of her the way we should."

Sooyoung rolled over on her side, nodding slightly, and staring absently out the window. It was about to become another windy afternoon outside. Suddenly she reached for her phone on the nightstand.

"I have to apologize to Tiffany," she said, crawling closer to the nightstand as the phone was a little out of her reach.

"No, don't waste any energy on it," Taeyeon replied, feeling warm at the mere mention of Tiffany's name. "I'm sure she understands."

"I can't believe I blamed her like that," the taller continued, totally disregarding Taeyeon's words. "I have to apologize."

"Sooyoung, listen to me," Taeyeon said, standing up and grabbing the phone before the other girl had a chance to reach it. "Try to relax. I can talk to Tiffany for you." She felt her ears become warm as she spoke the words, afraid that Sooyoung would so how unbelievably pathetic she was at the thought of the other girl, but Sooyoung was oblivious in her emotional state.

"Give me that," she said, steadying herself on one elbow while reaching her other hand out for her phone in Taeyeon's grip. Taeyeon turned around, looking to place the phone in the opposite side of the room, far out of Sooyoung's reach, when the younger girl suddenly screeched a loud "Don't!"

Taeyeon was just about to look back at her friend when a bouquet of white flowers on top of the piano caught her eye. She frowned. They seemed relatively fresh, and they were lying on the piano without a vase or any access to water. From what Taeyeon knew, picking flowers was extremely out of character for Sooyoung, and she was just about to ask who she got them from when it dawned on her.

"Those flowers..." she mumbled, and Sooyoung looked confused for a second before following Taeyeon's gaze and remembering her forgotten confession present. She sighed. "You were going to give them to her, weren't you?"

Sooyoung lay back down, and Taeyeon turned around to look at her with sad eyes. "I was going to confess to her," Sooyoung choked out, her bottom lip quivering and tears filling her eyes back up instantly.

"Christ, Sooyoung," Taeyeon groaned, hurrying over to the bed and pulling her best friend closer to her. Sooyoung cried, this time with an accepting despair, into Taeyeon's lap, while the latter her back slowly, not having anything to say to make it go away.

"I'm going crazy thinking about her."

Eventually Sooyoung calmed down as well as she could. The matter of calling the police was pressing in the back of Taeyeon's mind all afternoon, and she wasn't sure if Sooyoung could take it. She wasn't sure if she could take it herself, even, so how could Sooyoung? But she also knew it wasn't something that they could just ignore, and judging from Sooyoung's description of what had happened at Hyoyeon's house, she didn't think her father would take care of it for them.

"We should call," she said carefully. Sooyoung just looked at her, leaning her back against the wall with her legs folded underneath her. "The police, I mean."

"You mean I should," Sooyoung said coldly. Her eyes were so red and tired that Taeyeon couldn't help but wish she would just close them. She nodded.

"Tiffany said that you are the one who can answer their questions," she stated. It felt good to write off some of the responsibility on someone else. "You knew her the best." Sooyoung gave her a harsh stare, and she hurried to correct herself, "know her the best."

"She wouldn't want us to call," Sooyoung said after a moment of silent contemplating. "She doesn't want to be found."

Taeyeon could do nothing but stare at her. She pulled out her phone from her pocket, punched in the number and held it out for Sooyoung to take. "You'll regret it if you don't," she said calmly, and Sooyoung took the phone from her hand without another word. Silent relief flooded Taeyeon's mind as Sooyoung pressed 'call' and put the phone to her ear.

"Remember to tell them what she said in the text," Taeyeon said. Sooyoung nodded tiredly. "And remember to tell them about the last bus and everything you told me, cause that could give them an idea of where she was headed to..." she rambled on, and Sooyoung waved her hands to get her to be quiet.

Somebody had picked up on the other line, but during Taeyeon's ramble she had missed what the other person had said almost entirely. The name was all she caught; Zhoumi.

"Uhm," Sooyoung said awkwardly. "Hello. I'd like to..." She swallowed down the lump in , "I need to report somebody missing."

"What's your relation to the person in question?"

"She's a friend," Sooyoung said, and felt almost guilty, despite it being true. Had she ever really seen Hyoyeon as a friend?

"And when was the last time you saw her?" Zhoumi asked.

"Uhm... yesterday at school," Sooyoung choked out.

"Well, that's not very long," Zhoumi replied, sounding almost relieved.

"She sent me a text saying she's run away," Sooyoung hurried on, irrationally not wanting the chance to slip away. "Her father... has been abusing her for some time."

The line went silent for a moment, and Sooyoung couldn't help but worry. "Did she tell you where she was going?"

"No," Sooyoung said numbly. "She didn't give me any details. Just that she was going away, and that she'd been on the road for hours."

"Has she previously mentioned to you any place she'd like to go?"

Sooyoung hesitated. "Uhm..." Trying to think back over the short time they'd spent together, the lump in threatened to rise up again. So she'd never even found out a simple place Hyoyeon had wanted to see? "No."

"Okay," Zhoumi said, and Sooyoung caught the sound of papers rustling on the other end. "Could you tell me her name, address and phone number, please?"

"Kim Hyoyeon," she said, and the name itself brought a bittersweet taste to . She read out the address and phone number from her own phone.

"You said you saw Miss Kim yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Could you tell me a little about what she looked like? Like what she was wearing, how did she wear her hair, did she wear glasses, and so on."

Sooyoung strained her mind and thought back on their last meeting. "She wore jeans," she said. "Regular blue ones. A black leather jacket... and a white shirt underneath, I don't remember it in detail." The view of Hyoyeon in the sunshine, turning around and smiling at her before boarding the bus, repeated itself in Sooyoung’s mind again. Yesterday was spring, today is winter, she thought. "She's seventeen, one hundred and fifty-eight centimeters tall, her hair is long and blond, she doesn't wear glasses, and she has" amazing "dark brown eyes."

"Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me that might be of importance in helping us find her?"

Sooyoung took a deep breath before retelling the story of what had happened the previous night, for the nth time. She had already lost count of how many times she's retold it by now. Living it once was bad enough. Zhoumi then thanked her for her call, promising to let her know if they found something and to pay a visit to Hyoyeon's father. Sooyoung couldn't help but smile at the thought.

They hung up, and Sooyoung sank down from the wall and buried her face in the pillow. Taeyeon remained beside her without a word, silently proud of her friend for getting through the call even in the state she was in. She knew that Sooyoung would probably slap her if she said it out loud, though, so she settled for her back again.

Before long, Sooyoung was fast asleep. Her sleeping position, with her face pressed into the pillow, made Taeyeon a little worried, but she didn't dare to move her friend in case it would wake her up again. She needed to sleep, and she deserved to. So, she settled for staying and listening to her breathing.

Taeyeon got up off the bed carefully, and walked over to the piano, all the time listening attentively to Sooyoung's soft snoring. She let her fingers dance carefully over the withering flowers, and tried to imagine what Sooyoung was going through. It wasn't like she wasn't mourning the loss of Hyoyeon, no, quite the opposite. But her best friend's despair somehow clouded her own a little for the moment; it was much stronger than her own. And of course it should be, it seemed to her like maybe Sooyoung even loved Hyoyeon. And if she did, Taeyeon could never put herself in her place and try to understand what she felt. She didn't know what it was like to love somebody, and in times like this, she was truly thankful.

Two sheets of paper stood on the music stand on top; one with lyrics and one with sheet music, both handwritten. Taeyeon knew it had been a long time since Sooyoung last wrote a song, but had she written one now? Feeling just a little guilty, she read the lyrics, feeling her heart burn with every word she read.

In your smile, that's like a spring day,
the whole world gets brighter
It makes me dream again
On the day when the sun sparkles
I hold your hand
and walk in sync with your footsteps

When I sometimes walk ahead
and suddenly look back
The face that looks at me
is so eye-blinding

When I hear the sound of spring coming
I walk on this path with blooming flowers
When the rainy summer comes
I walk as I see the rainbow
When autumn passes and winter comes
your hands give warmth
to mine
We walk together

How great is your love?

Love looks like the sky
that's been given to me
I've always been waiting for this
When the stars twinkle, the birds sing to me
I walk along to their melody
The four seasons go around
repeating like a secret
Because of your unchanging love
my eyes are blinded

When I hear the sound of spring coming
I walk on this path with blooming flowers
When the rainy summer comes
I walk as I see the rainbow
When autumn passes and winter comes
your hands give warmth
to mine
We walk together

How great is your love?

I was tired of the world
but you gave me a bright light
Together, walking this narrow road until the end
even when winter comes
But if you take my hand
this rough world will be
like spring
How great is your love?

How great is your love?

(SNSD - 봄날 (How great is your love?)
Lyrics: Choi Sooyoung)