(Taeyeon’s POV)

I was lying in bed and stared at my clock. 3.09am. What was I supposed to do at this time of day…? I couldn’t really sleep. The events of the night were making me restless and I was still worried about Krystal’s condition. I would feel better once the test results returned but that wouldn’t be for hours yet. I decided to get up and work on the project that I was showing Krystal. I looked at my mock ups and thought about what she had commented. She was right, they were too one dimensional. In fact, they were too… clean… I started redoing them, keeping in mind to factor in all the things that Krystal had talked about.

That girl really is a smart one…

As I finished the new mock ups, I compared them to the old ones. They still needed work, obviously, since they were only mock ups but I was much happier with the new ones. Unlike the old ones, the backdrops were now able to tell their own story. It could become another character in the game itself.

I looked at the clock again. 7.43am.

Oh wow! Hmm… there’s still time before I need to get ready for work.

I decided to get ready early and go to the hospital to check up on how Krystal was doing before going to work. That way I could show her the new mock ups before I had to submit them.

(Krystal’s POV)

*Knocking sound*

There was a faint knocking sound on the door but I wasn’t really awake yet. So I just ignored it.

I heard the door open and I just figured that it was a nurse. I knew if they saw Jessie and me sharing the bed they would be mad but I didn’t care. It wasn’t like they could do anything but scold me. So I just kept on sleeping.

“Krystal, you awake?” I suddenly heard Taeyeon unni’s voice.

I opened my eyes and she was standing by the bed.

“Oh! Unni… what are you doing here?” I asked, startled. I sat myself up.

“Oh, uhm… sorry to wake you… I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to check and see how you were doing,” she said apologetically.

Aww… she’s so sweet.

“I’m feeling a lot better… The doctor said my temperature has gone back to normal…” I told her.

She reached out one of her hands and placed it on my forehead while she placed the other on her own. She nodded.

“Good…” she let out a huge sigh of relief.

“It’s pretty early, unni…” I commented.

“Yeah, sorry… I couldn’t sleep… I woke up to finish the project I was working on and then I decided I had some extra time so I came to see you before I need to head off to work.”

Jessie stirred in the bed but she was still asleep.

“I see Sica spent the night here…” she chuckled seeing Jessie sleeping like a baby.

“Oh… yeah… She’s so stubborn… I told her to come back in the morning but she refused and I couldn’t let her sleep in the chair…” I explained feeling a little embarrassed that I had been caught.

“I see… I figured as much. Is she always like this?” she asked.

“Like what?”

“So protective and relentless?”

“Worse! She’s OVERprotective… but I love her anyway.”

She laughed. “I think she’s a really good sister…”

“The best!” I agreed. “Anyway, so how did your project turn out? Are you happy with it?”

“Thanks to you! I actually brought the new mock ups with me…” she said as she reached for them and showed it to me.

I thought the old ones were good but these ones were amazing.

“Unni, these are amazing! I love them… I mean they’re supposed to be just the backdrop but they have so much personality.”

Her eyes beamed. “I thought so too… I’m much happier with these, even though they still need some work…”

“Kryssie…?” Jessie said as she stirred again.

In my excitement, I must have been too loud.

“Sorry, Jessie did I wake you?”

“Why are you up so early…?” she asked groggily still unaware that Taeyeon unni was around.

“Morning, Jessica-shi,” Taeyeon unni greeted.

She was so startled to hear someone else’s voice that she nearly fell off the bed but I caught her.

“Oh, Taeyeon-shi… I didn’t realize you were here…” Jessie replied.

“I just wanted to see how Krystal was doing… I didn’t mean to wake you both up so early…” Taeyeon unni apologized again.

“Well then you shouldn’t have-“

I slapped my hand on Jessie’s mouth to stop her from saying something rude. She wasn’t exactly a morning person especially when she was abruptly woken up against her will.

“It’s fine, unni. I’m happy you came…” I gave Taeyeon unni a smile.

“Where’s Tiff? You didn’t come with her?” Jessie asked.

“No, actually I didn’t tell her I was coming… I was just stopping by before work.”

“Jessie, don’t you have to go to work too?” I reminded her.

“Damn, I forgot to ask Tiff if it was okay for me to take the day off…”

“Just text her now… I’m sure she’ll understand,” Taeyeon unni said.

Jessie sent a quick text and she received a reply pretty quickly.

“You’re right… She said she already figured that…” Jessie told us.

“Uhm… anyway I should get going. I have to submit these, first thing…” Taeyeon unni informed us.

“Aww… Already? Okay well… good luck! Although I don’t think you need it. I think they’ll definitely be impressed.” I was a little disappointed she was leaving so soon.

“Thanks my little one. If it goes well… I’ll treat you to dinner okay?” she winked at me and patted me on the head. It was so cute because she couldn’t really wink that well so she looked like she was blinking. “I hope you’re all better and that it’s nothing serious.”

“Sounds good! Bye, unni!” I replied.

“Bye, Sica. Sorry again for waking you up…” Taeyeon unni said to Jessie.

“That’s fine… I should have been up anyway… See you later,” Jessie said back although I could tell that Jessie was still a little grumpy.

Taeyeon unni waved goodbye and left.

“Jessie… Maybe you should go to-“ I turned to look at her and only to be greeted by the Hellsica death glare.

“Wha… what did I do now?”

“Is there something going on I should know about?” she asked with a huff.

“WHAT?!” That was totally unexpected.

“You and Taeyeon… What’s going on between you two? You didn’t want to come to dinner with me and you went over to her place… Now she comes to see you before she goes to work?!”

“What are you talking about, Jessie? I didn’t go to dinner with you because I wasn’t feeling that well but I got bored so when she called I decided to just go over for awhile… and can’t she just be nice and come visit me? It doesn’t mean something’s going on…”

“You don’t have to lie to me… I’d want to know if my baby sister is seeing someone…”

“You’re crazy! There’s nothing going on… If anything you and Tiffany unni have something going on!” I blurted in the heat of the moment.

I am the one who has cause to be jealous not her!

“WHAT?! Don’t try and turn this on me…! Don’t think I haven’t noticed you two… You guys have been all flirty with each other since the night we met her.” She turned her back to me and started walking away.

Ohmigod! What the heck is she talking about?! She’s definitely gone to crazytown and she’s dragging me along…

“Jessie, stop!” I went after her to stop her.

I had forgotten that I had an IV going into my arm and I moved too quickly, yanking on the tube. It really hurt.

“Ahhh!” I cried out and grabbed my arm in pain.

She stopped abruptly when she heard my cry and turned back to me.

“Kryssie! Are you okay?!” She ran back to check on me.

I was so frustrated with the situation that tears started falling from my eyes.

“K-Kryssie…?”

“Jessie… Why do you keep doing this…? I’ve told you over and over there’s nothing going on…”

“I… I just… It’s just that… You… and her… You just…” She couldn’t answer me. She was just babbling.

I grabbed hold of her face.

“Jessie! Stop! Look at me…” I instructed her.

She fixed her eyes on mine reluctantly.

“I swear nothing is going on… You’re just being paranoid. Taeyeon unni isn’t even like that… She’s just being nice. We just get along well because we have similar tastes and interests, and she’s a good person to go to for advice. That’s all!”

“I know, Kryssie… I know… I just… I let myself get carried away…” she said guiltily.

“If you know then why are you being like this?”

“I don’t know, Kryssie… I don’t mean to be like this either… I’ve gone mad! I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“I think my being sick has just caused you to stress out. You need to calm down, Jessie… Everything is going to be alright…” I comforted her with a hug. She looked so fragile that I felt like my embrace was the only thing holding her together. If I let her do, she might fall into pieces.

“I should be the one comforting you… not the other way…” she said softly.

“I don’t care… I only care about you…”

I felt so weak around her… I couldn’t control my feelings nor what I said… I was really afraid that I couldn’t stop myself from telling her how I really felt.

She cupped my face back. “You’ll feel differently when you find someone you like… I guess that’s why I was acting so crazy…” she admitted.

“Jessie… no one can ever take your place… You’ll always be the most important person…”

As I said that, I suddenly felt all the energy drain out of my body…

“Jessie… I…”

Then everything went black.