"Unnie... I'm tired."

The sweaty girl slumped down with her back against the wall, clutching a water bottle in her hand as she wiped off sweat with the other.

"Do I really need to learn this?"

"Why not? You are doing well?" Her petite manager threw a pink towel to her before squatting down opposite her.

"But it's tiring." The girl pouted, causing her manager to chuckle.

"Everything is tiring for you. You are too lazy to even move up to your bed to sleep."

"I'm not. I don't get tired when it's time for me to go home."

The girl pouted once more as her manager stood up with a bright smile on her face.

"I know. That's why to keep you from whining, I invited someone over instead."

As if on cue, the door opened with a slight creak and the occupants looked up at the new visitor. One with a grateful smile, and the other with a startled look.

---

It was another day at home, doing nothing and counting the minutes off the clock. But it was the day of her only off day. She had thought she had things to do when apparently she did not. Her boss had insisted her on taking the day off saying something along the line of wanting her favorite worker to rest; yet she knew it was not true. Being the only full-timer there, she knew the Sunny would not be able to keep up alone but nothing else she said would go into the ears of the tiny yet strong boss. Hence, there she was, lying on the bed at 2 in the afternoon just simply waiting for time to pass.

It was only till one hour later that her phone rang, a call from a school stating something about Hyoyeon being in trouble in school. Tiffany frowned at the message. Indeed, after knowing the Kim sisters, Tiffany had grown fond of the younger Kim, but the two rarely met, as Hyoyeon would always be busy dancing or running about. Even Taeyeon herself was unable to see her sister as often as she like. However, for the younger Kim to be calling her instead of her sister, Tiffany wondered if it was something that the older one should not know.

Sighing, the red-haired reluctantly got out from bed as she made her way to freshen up.

---

"So you are really going to reveal your face to the public?"

The question was thrown at her once more as the blonde sighed. She had been avoiding those straightforward questions by pretending to be nonchalant about it or by laughing it off, yet she knew it was impossible now that her best friend was sitting right beside her, her eyes staring intently for any tell-tale signs.

"I don't know."

Her fingers rubbed against each other uneasily, which was easily caught on by her best friend. Almost immediately, a warm feeling engulfed her as she was pulled into a small embrace.

"Whatever your decisions are, just know that I will support you. No matter what, you are still my best friend."

Her lips curved upwards, thankful for the supportive words as arms wrapped around her skinny best friend. Comfortable silence engulfed them, leaving them to enjoy the warmth before the skinny girl decided to break the silence.

"But I don't think you think of me as your best friend." Came a soft whine. Jessica looked up to only find a pout on the porcelain-skinned face.

"Since when did I..."

"Since you decided not to tell me about your girlfriend. I can't believe I had to find out from the magazines that you, the Ice Princess had been dating this girl from a cafe."

"Tiffany. Her name's Tiffany."

"Yeah, Tiffany. And I can't believe that you, the Ice Princess, were actually pouting in public? And you are letting all the fans stalk you, taking pictures and screaming at your face. I thought you hated that!"

Feeling an impending headache from the constant rumblings, Jessica closed her eyes and rubbed the sides of her head.

"I don't. It's just that I don't have time to tell you, that's all."

"Right. All you need to do is just open your phone, type in "I have a girlfriend" full-stop, type in my name and press the send button. I'm sure I would have received it in a blink of an eye, but you didn't. Instead, you decided to let me, your best friend, the friend that went through thick and thin with you, to actually find out through the news and magazines. Imagine how shocked I was and how embarrassed and awkward I was when people around asked me if I knew. I mean, I knew you swung the other way, but at least let me have time to craft my answer in explaining. I don't want to... Ashgendodksn..."

A hand pressed against the rambling girl's mouth, muting off all the unimportant rambles while the other hand continued massaging the aching forehead.

"I wanted to... It just... Just slipped my mind."

"Slipped your mind? It had been a year! Or wait was it more than a year? Whatever. You had all the time in the world to tell me, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,546,000 seconds to tell me."

Jessica heaved a silent sigh. Sometimes she really hated how good the girl was at mathematics.

"Trust me when I say I wanted to. It's just... You were going through a rough patch so I thought..."

Her voice trailed off catching sight of the sober look on the younger girl as silence engulfed them once more.

"It's okay. I was over it, am over her already."

The younger girl mustered a small smile, looking up at the older one.

"I am over her now. So you can tell me anything about your relationship, I'll be happy for you."

Without saying anything, Jessica tightened her embrace, providing the other with the comfort and support that she regretted not being able to give during that one year.

---

Feet stopped right in front of the large building as Tiffany looked up in awe. What kind of person was able to afford such magnificent building for a dance school? Statues of graceful ballerinas, hip-hop dancers, ballroom dancers stood grandly near the entrance, awing those who walked past them, something the red-haired had not expected.

Stepping into the compounds, as contrast to the outside, the inner building was simply full of soundproof rooms where professionals, novices and newbies practiced and learn. As much as the red-haired wanted to stop and watched, there was a more important thing for her to attend to.

With a cautious knock on the door, Tiffany waited for a 'come in' to boom through before she opened and peeked her head in the room. A quick glance around the room told her that the person she was supposed to help was in trouble.

Her head was bowed; her shoulders were slumped; yet there seemed to be no sense of remorse on the expression of the girl. She was just looking solemn, probably just keeping her mischief to herself for the moment.

"Good afternoon, I believe you are Miss Kim, Hyoyeon's older sister? I'm the principal of the school."

A tall lanky woman with spectacles sitting on the bridge of her nose stood up, putting out her hand for a shake.

"Ah, no... Actually I'm..."

A sharp glance from the younger Kim caused Tiffany to stop in the mid her sentence as the latter glanced back towards the principal with a pleading look. Mustering up a smile as real as she could probably come up with, Tiffany nodded her head and shook the wrinkled hands of the principal.

"Tiffany. Tiffany Kim, Hyoyeon's older sister."

A friendly smile from the principal as she gestured towards the seat.

"I'm sorry if we have disturbed you from your busy schedule but Hyoyeon here has done something that left us with no choice but to inform her guardian."

Another nod from Tiffany since the girl still could not trust herself to speak yet.

"Hyoyeon is a good dancer. She can dance well, listens to the instructor's lectures properly, work well with other kids..." Tiffany nodded at the slight praise, still not understanding the reason why she was there. "It's just that Hyoyeon seemed to have a problem with this one new kid. I know it might be normal for kids to fool and play around, but the kid's mother had complained to us about how her kid would whine to them about how she was treated in class, especially by Hyoyeon."

Tiffany took a glance at the girl standing by the side who has her head bowed.

"And today we happen to catch Hyoyeon pushing the girl towards the wall. It's a sign of bullying, an act that we cannot condone or take lightly."

---

Walking out of the door of the building, Hyoyeon immediately turned to Tiffany, looking up at her puppy eyes.

"You won't tell unnie right?" Tiffany shrugged. "Tiffany unnie..."

"Maybe, if you tell me why you push the girl."

Hyoyeon pouted as she walked quickly forward causing Tiffany to chase after her.

"Fine! I promise I won't tell, only if you promise not to bully that girl anymore."

A bright smile and nod from the younger one as she grabbed the older's hand, swinging them as they walked towards home.

---

"Am I taking too much of your time? It's almost evening. From what I gathered from the magazines, you should be with your girlfriend by now."

"But I miss my best friend too."

The pout coming from the girl caused the other to chuckle.

"I still can't believe this is the Ice Princess that has made the headlines with her alluring voice and cool personality."

"Well, I am cool just like that..."

An arrogant smile coming from Jessica as she shrugged her shoulders in swag, causing the younger to smile.

"Right. Cool! If only people knew the real you, will they still say you are cool?"

The younger tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Why not?"

"Because you are not acting like one! Your on stage me and off stage me are so different that it's hard to believe you are the same one, not to mention your nickname, Ice Princess."

"Yeah. This me and that me are totally different. What if nobody likes me-me?"

The atmosphere of the room grew solemn as Jessica sank deeper into her thought process causing a frown on her head. Seeing the situation, the younger girl snuggled in closer, snugged an arm around the older's waist, pulling her into a hug.

"Everyone will like you. Because I like you, Minyoung unnie likes you, Tiffany unnie likes you, Taeyeon unnie and Hyoyeon like you too. See, so many people likes you."

"But that's before they see the real me."

"Both are the real you. One that is cold yet passionate when you are on stage but cute and shy when you are off stage."

A phone was flipped out and websites were scanned through quickly before finding the most suitable one.

"Look... Ain't all these pictures you? Look at the comments below, everyone is saying how cute you are. Look at all these fan accounts; everyone is saying how lovely you are. The fans are slowly growing to like your true self, so don't worry so much. Minyoung unnie must have thought about it for you, that's why she encouraged you to reveal yourself."

A nod from Jessica showed she is listening.

"Your fans will definitely like you, maybe not all, but most will. They have been dying to see the real you. But, if you think that you can't do it then don't. Everyone will understand."

A tighter squeeze of her arms gave Jessica the much-needed comfort. Nothing else was needed to be said at that moment, only to let words to sink through her brain. It was another 30 minutes before anyone spoke again.

"Anyways unnie, I should leave now, I have practice later."

A nod of her head as the duo gave each other a last tight hug before the younger one gathered her things.

"By the way unnie, don't worry too much on your comeback. I will always support you!! Hwaiting!"

With a pump of her fist and a large encouraging smile, the girl disappeared behind the door leaving Jessica to her thoughts.

They will like the real her, right?

-TBC-

A/N: Never thought I did be happy to read comment, though I don't exactly mind not having any. Still, a big thank you, it makes me look forward to more comments. :P But drama seems fun, no? Close. Real close... I'm tempted to update the next chapter... :D See ya!!