[zero.]

beautiful.

no matter what the haters or netizens falsely claimed or spread, that was what all nine of them were.

beautiful in each and every way of their own.

[one;soonkyu.]

soonkyu might not have been first in looks, but she definitely had the prettiest heart. "you can shower first, i'm okay" and "do you want me to bake anything" were the constant phrases hanging on her pouty lips.

even if the other members would assure her continuously that soonkyu could bathe first, the latter would always make sure to shower quickly so that the other members could shower and turn in faster, too.

baking was another of soonkyu's strong points.

her favorite pastry to make was sugar cookies, and they were, at the same time, the members' favorite pastry to eat. soonkyu would bake a batch of her famous cookies after a long day, even when she was practically dragging her feet to get home.

she'd always put others before her, especially those that she loved.

soonkyu was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[two;taeyeon.]

as leader, taeyeon truthfully underwent the most stress. when things went wrong with the group, she was always the first to be called out to give a tongue-lashing to.

"you're the leader, what do you think you're doing? can't you handle them properly?"

taeyeon always had to bite back her colorful retorts, when actually she wanted so bad to tell her manager oppa that being the leader wasn't easy--being the leader wasn't what she wanted, it was just because she was the oldest--that it pained her when she couldn't control the members too.

but at the end of the day, she was just really tired. tired, disappointed, and sad.

however, despite her hurt, she'd still try to put on a smile and a giggle for the fans whenever the camera was trained on her.

she didn't want people to worry because of her, she didn't want to be a burden to the people she cared for--she would truthfully rather keep all her troubles bottled up.

as much as that wasn't the best option for her, she still did it.

because she loved her members so much more than she loved herself.

taeyeon was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[three;tiffany.]

tiffany was the happy virus--the optimistic, bright, adorable girl. her personality was something you'd instantly fall in love with. scratch that, she was someone you'd instantly fall in love with.

when the members would slouch in after not performing well (it was something about off-key notes and dance mistakes), tiffany would pat them on all the sixteen shoulders and say, "guys, there's always a next time! c'mon, we can practice now, even! the dance room is empty!" even when her own heart felt heavy, her legs shook from all that dance practice yesterday, and she had a sore throat because of how much she had practiced her part in the van today on the way to the performance venue.

she spread the happiness around, and soon, most of their spirits would lift and tiffany'd receive all the "thanks for brightening the room again, steph" or "fany, thank you, really". but tiffany didn't do it for the praises and thanks--obviously not.

she did it because she cared, because she wanted to.

because she loved.

tiffany was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[four;jessica.]

jessica was strong. not really physically, but more like mentally.

tiffany wasn't like her, though. tiffany'd stay up late and scroll through girls' generation hate fansites because she wanted to see what they really thought of girls' generation, but somehow the comments were much worse than what she had been expecting.

"ignore them, steph. you can never please everyone." jessica'd say, sitting down beside tiffany before pulling her close, listening to tiffany’s miserable sobs.

and that time they got something thrown at them from the anti-fans, jessica frowned and put on a straight face although inside her blood was boiling and she was trying not to explode right there and then. she only glared at the fans through her sunglasses and hoped fervently that they'd stop soon--if not she might just cross the line and yell something reckless.

when they reached the dorm later on, the other members started chatting about the incident until their voices were nothing more than croaks and soon after, endless tears ensued. jessica was the only one who didn't cry. instead, she unwrapped new boxes of tissues and handed them around--instead she tucked the members' stray strands of hair behind their ears--instead she murmured soothing words into their ears--instead she hugged them tight--instead she stayed strong for all of them.

jessica stayed strong, because she believed in the bond she and the girls had. and the bond that they and the fans had.

as long as the fans stayed with them, jessica was very confident that nothing could get in girls' generation's way. so she stayed strong.

crying was useless anyway.

jessica was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[five;hyoyeon.]

hyoyeon appeared as if she didn't care.

it was a skill--a mask, a cover, when actually below, she cared too much for her members.

she was the kind that'd goof off, crack sick jokes (that never failed to make seohyun cringe) and blabber truthful nonsense on variety shows because that's who she really was. however, off screen, she was the kind that'd fuss over bacteria and wipe your mouth for you after a meal because there was a speck of food on the corner of your lip. she showed everything of herself on screen, except the part of her which showed that she cared a lot.

"it's typical. if people see that you're weak, the more they'll like to attack you. so i act strong, although it can be the hardest thing in the world sometimes." hyoyeon told seohyun.

it pained hyoyeon whenever the photographer would say "sooyoung! you're too unnatural!" at modelling shoots or whenever her dance instructor would slap tiffany because she was stiff that day. not to forget whenever the director would yell "cut! soonkyu, you need to try harder!”

hyoyeon felt like a little bit of her died whenever she heard insults flung at the other members like doll rags through the air.

it hurt her a lot.

but did she show it?

no.

she did what she could offscreen--help the members as much as she could. she’d have heart-to-heart conversations with them, joke around to make them feel better and wipe their tears.

because hyoyeon was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[six;seohyun.]

seohyun was, undoubtedly, the most unique out of the many ‘maknaes’ out there.  her maturity level was far ahead of her age, and she put it to good use.

“unnie, wear your seatbelt, okay?”
“unnie, sleep early! the skin cells stop regenerating at two!”
“unnie, i love ban ki moon’s books. do you want me to lend you one?”
“unnie, sweet potatoes are good for your health.”

when they’d just met seohyun, the other eight members sometimes found her mildly irritating and they would nod at questions like “unnie, did you study your chinese already today?” even if they didn’t.

however, as the years passed and they got to know seohyun better, they never did get the heart to tell seohyun off because after all, seohyun only reminded them because she cared.

so, nowadays, whenever seohyun would say “unnie, switch of the television. it’s late. go to sleep.”

the members would react kindly and heed seohyun’s advice, especially hyoyeon, and she’d give seohyun a hug and whisper “thank you for caring, hyun” before heading off to bed.

seohyun would take some time for you to get used to, but if you did, you’d know that she was only being that “goody-two-shoe” because she wanted the best for you and cared for you a lot.

seohyun was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[seven;yoona.]

dramas, photoshoots, cfs, performances and movies.

those were packed back-to-back in yoona’s schedule, and it tired her greatly.

her off days were always taken up by new projects from different companies. the most her manager oppa would offer was: “i’m so sorry, but you know, your job calls.”

seven days of the week, she’d reach the dorm at early morning and, without undressing, flop onto her bed and fall asleep.

“why don’t you just tell him you don’t want to do them? you know, the cfs and dramas?” yuri asked one day as she took yoona’s hand in hers and felt how bony it had become as a result of skipping meals to save time.

yoona craned her neck and offered a tired smile to yuri.

“it helps. it makes us more popular, it promotes us more.” yoona replied a worried yuri.

sooyoung had also tried to think of ways to get yoona out of her hectic schedule.

“well…if you…uh…don’t do so well, maybe they’d stop calling you and you’d get some rest.”

yoona shook her head. “that’d bring the whole group down. we don’t want that. i don’t want the group’s reputation to be tainted because of me.”

even if yoona had a super busy life, she always tried her best at everything she did, because she realised that when she acted in a movie or modelled for a new spring fashion line, she was representing girls’ generation.

and how she did during those solo events reflected on the other eight members, whether yoona liked it or not.

so she’d grit her teeth and just do it to her fullest potential.

yoona was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[eight;yuri.]

yuri was a peacemaker.

she was the one that’d rush to a fight between her members whenever something happened—there were always, undoubtedly, many fights in the dorm housing nine different girls.

there was that one time sooyoung and hyoyeon got into a huge fight because of which football team they supported—yuri solved that. also the one where jessica had accidentally fed prince chocolate and tiffany had to rush him to the vet before it died—yuri had also solved that. not to mention that time when jessica and taeyeon had fought because of some silly small minor problem—yuri rushed to the scene and broke them apart before taeyeon could slap jessica across her face.

even if yuri sometimes got really tired of trying to make peace with all eight girls, to the extent where she just felt like shouting and shrieking at them that they were all wrong before cursing and storming off, she never did.

she kept in her frustration and tried to talk calmly to the members, try to convince them to see from the other’s point of view and to try and think rationally.

yuri was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[nine;sooyoung.]

sooyoung was the first member anyone would run to if they had any problems or questions.

sooyoung was understanding, approachable and comforting.

normally, if jiyoung came running to her that her members were making fun of her again, sooyoung would take a bag of chips from her secret stash and offer jiyoung some before starting to comfort her give some helpful suggestions.

however, if her own members had problems, sooyoung would even put food (which was her heaven on earth, so to say) away and listen to them before trying to solve their problems.

“sooyoung, i don’t think i’m funny on screen.” hyoyeon would tell her dejectedly.
“sooyoung unnie, do the other unnies hate me because i’m so annoying?” seohyun would ask fearfully.
“sooyoung ah, i’ve been feeling unwell and…”
“sooyoung…”

sooyoung would first tell hyoyeon to just be herself because she was already funny—then assure seohyun that they all loved her—then give yuri medicine or vitamins—and assure and comfort the rest that they were perfect the way they were, because they really were.

sooyoung was just that kind of person.

beautiful.

[ten;all of them.]

at the end of the day, all nine of them were just like nine stars. nine stars that always stood together no matter what—encouraging, loving, comforting, joking, crying and laughing together. nine stars that each had their own talent—each were beautiful in their own way—each shone in different ways. nine stars that shone the brightest ever out of the whole galaxy, because they were together.

and, needless to say,

beautiful.

[end.]