The aftermath of a discovery is usually just as jarring, if not more, than the discovery itself.

Humans are not programmed to take absolutely everything in stride, much less be able to expect everything coming their way.

It is simple human nature why they are reacting the ways they are.

=

Stephanie is leaving school alone when Siwon appears from around the corner. Judging by the way he calmly gets up from the bench on the side of the walkway, it was obvious he had waited pretty long. How long, Stephanie didn’t know. After all, she stopped keeping track of time after Kyuhyun bid his farewell and left the classroom earlier on. Siwon’s appearance was the (poisoned) cherry on top of an already messed-up day.

“Fany,” he calls out.

She flinches. Knowing how things turned out earlier on, Siwon’s appearance spoke volumes about the nature of the outcome. And even now, even in a pivotal moment like this, she couldn’t help but still feel the tingles when he says her name.

“I can’t talk right now.” She brisk-walks ahead, intent on leaving him behind because she just couldn’t—

He reaches out and holds her back, the firm but gentle tug keeping her from escaping reality at this moment.

“Then don’t. You don’t have to talk. I just… I just want you to listen.”

Stephanie turns around and glances at him.

=

“So did you expect me to be fooled forever?”

“That’s not what I mean—“

“Then why didn’t you just come clean from the very beginning? Why? Why, exactly? Were you scared? Was that why your best plan was to run away like a coward?”

Taeyeon felt a different kind of hurt inside of her. Just as much as there was a gratifying sensation at having found out about the truth, there was just as much fury inside of her. There was no way she could avoid feeling like her entire life was a lie. Who else lied to her? What else was being kept from her?

Jungsoo gets up from the fence he was leaning on for support. “You don’t get to call me a coward!”

“Why not? Because I was one too?”

There were so many reasons why she should just shut right then and there, but she learned, after all these years, that keeping quiet didn’t work all the time.

She doesn’t realize that she had tears running down her face until she feels his hand on her cheek, gently wiping away each drop that fell. She leans away, before completely edging away from his touch.

“No. You’re right. I was a coward,” Jungsoo folds his arms and looks away, “I was scared. You intimidated me. Back then, and even now. You were just a little girl back then, and you’re not that much bigger now.” He guffaws, a weak chuckle, the humor having evaporated with everything else weighing down in his mind.

She looks at him, unsure of what emotion he was trying to convey. “And now you’re telling me I’m scary?”

“No. I’m telling you that you will always be that same girl to me. I wasn’t actually scared of you… I was scared of the thought of approaching you. I never had any actual self-esteem to call my own. And I think that’s the same thing you said about me last year, when I became famous for hanging out with all the girls from the school down the street. You were right—my self-esteem was fabricated. And even now, standing before you, I have no idea how I’m supposed to tell you how I feel.”

How he feels? “Fine. We can forget about everything that happened in the past. We’ve grown past that, haven’t we? You don’t have to talk about it—“

“How I feel, Taeyeon… Not how I felt. It’s not just a thing of the past.”

“What are you talking about—“

It only hits her a moment later that Jungsoo meant it when he said that she didn’t get to call him a coward.

“Like I mentioned before, I read your essay. And I don’t care what label you bestow onto me from now on. I just need you to know something, and I need you to hear it from me.”

“I don’t want to hear it—“

“Well, you have to. I don’t think I can forgive myself knowing that this is everything that has been weighing down on you from the very beginning. You need to hear what I need to say. And then I’ll go. And perhaps that’s where we go separate ways.”

She lets herself go and slumps against the fence.

“I’m sorry for being a coward who lied to you; who kept the truth from you, even if that truth was a thing from the past. Even if we were just kids, you deserved to know. I should’ve known how it would’ve haunted you even till this day.

“Yes, I did give you the name Taengoo. And yes, I was fond of you. I was very fond of you and Kangin knew everything about how I felt. Maybe if I told you this a little earlier you wouldn’t have carried this hidden emotional burden the whole way.

“I know it’s a little late to tell you about what happened all those years ago when we were just kids. But there’s something else you have to know that’s not a thing of the past. And that’s the fact that even till today I still have feelings for you.

“Everyone thinks elementary school crushes never last, but sometimes there are those exceptional exceptions that never seem to leave. If life was a book and I was living my life by flipping page after page, I can’t just pretend that there aren’t any pages that have left particular impressions on me. I have those pages dog-eared. So many of those pages include moments with you in it. And I guess it’s no coincidence that we’ve been around each other our whole lives, but for some reason we thought it’d be cool to cut off all contact with each other after Kangin left. I’ve always noticed you, Taeyeon, even when nobody else does. I’m always joking around with you but the truth is I can’t take my eyes off of you. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing. I don’t know anything anymore. And I—“

He doesn’t realize that halfway through his speech he had shut his eyes, out of fear perhaps. A pair of arms wrapping themselves around his waist cuts him off and he feels her crying into his shirt.

=

“I don’t really know how to go about telling you this,” Siwon starts, his grip on her slowly relaxing. He lets go of her arm and lets his own fall limply to his side. “But I’ll just do it, because if I don’t do it today, then I don’t know… When I’ll ever get the courage to.”

She turns to face him, figuring that she could be courteous enough to allow him an audience.

“I’ve never entertained the thought of romancing someone before. I’ve always thought that it was okay for someone to do without affairs of the heart. I mean I’m not exactly the type who knows how to deal with it. I just figured it’d be easier to ignore it. I had friends and they were really all I thought I needed.”

She was already fearful of where the conversation was heading.

“But up until recently, I realized that all I was doing was lying to myself. Back when Taeyeon told me that you liked me, I didn’t have much of a reaction in particular. It was after I found out that Kyuhyun liked you that I just… Perhaps it’s my fault. Perhaps I had to watch myself lose you in order to realize that I needed you…”

He trails off, giving her a quick glance. She wasn’t looking at him, eyes focused on something in the distance beside him. He looks away.

“I just wasn’t ready… For anything. I tried to deal with it, that feeling that kept bugging me inside my heart. I tried to be happy for you. And though I appeared as I was, I guess I felt the exact opposite of that. And then after I thought you and Kyuhyun were ready to sail, you told me again not too long ago that you still liked me.”

She flinches. He looks at her this time, a weary, sorry look taking over his countenance.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to break your own boundaries so many times, just for me. And I’m sorry it took me so long to come to this conclusion—that…”

It’s hard for him to say it, and they both felt the discomfort pressing down on his composure. She looks at him. He looks up and makes eye contact with her and his words—the truth—finally comes flowing free.

“That I’ve always been in love with you too.”

=

Taeyeon felt herself relax into his arms, which were now wrapped around her as well. Their body language was enough to convey everything else that needed to be said.

“If you don’t mind… Just stay here like this for a while.”

=

Krystal slams the front door shut when she sees Donghae speeding down the stairs in an attempt to leave as quickly as possible.

“Not so fast.”

“Krystal, just… Let me go home.”

“I want to know what happened.”

Donghae looks down to the floor. He has the most apologetic face plastered onto his face and Krystal tones down on the fierce voice she was using on him. “What happened, Donghae? Why is Jessica—“

“I’m sorry, Krystal. I know you’ve been helping out so much with getting Jessica and me together. But I guess it’s just that I’m not good enough to keep the relationship going.”

“Donghae…”

He manages a sad smile and slides past her to leave the house. “I’ll see you around.”

Krystal stands in silence long after Donghae has left and goes upstairs to Jessica’s room. The door was locked, and understandably so.

That night, Krystal never really sleeps, hearing the barely audible sounds of Jessica’s crying echoing through the walls.

Just next door, Donghae stares at his wall of Jessica till just before sunrise. He finally gets to bed just as Kangin, Heechul and Yoona wake up.

Both Donghae and Jessica miss school the next day.

=

The next morning, Kyuhyun walks into school with Hyukjae, Hyoyeon, Jongwoon and Yuri. They see Siwon packing his stuff into the locker alone.

Then they see Stephanie walking to her own locker, strolling past him as if he were just another stranger. Nobody else notices anything off about this except for Kyuhyun, who notices everything.

He puts a hand on Siwon’s shoulder as a greeting. Siwon looks at him, and his bloodshot eyes say more than what’s needed to be said. Kyuhyun frowns.

“What happened?”

“Maybe it’s too late.”

“What?”

“’Sympathy is the last thing I need right now.’”

“… What?”

“That’s what she said to me last night. Sympathy is the last thing I need right now. Then she left.”

Siwon looks at her quietly, before resigning to his fate.

“But it’s not sympathy—“

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Kyuhyun.”

=

Jungsoo is standing at his locker alone, hesitating after grabbing his stuff for his first lesson. He ought to get going, but his eyes were fixated on his foot. He wiggles his toe a bit and it felt like it was okay. Then he feels someone smack the back of his head and he almost slams his foot into the locker. Luckily for him, he had good reflexes—

“Hey!”

He spins around and finds Taeyeon staring at him with a smile on his face. It was her usual one, bright and sparkling and all things nice—

“What is it?” He asks, as warily as he could, given what happened the previous night.

They stand in silence for a while, much like the night before. Except the night before ended with Taeyeon retreating back home while Jungsoo stood still for what seemed to be about another two or three hours.

“I was wondering if you’d like to get some ice cream later.”

“Ice cream?”

His mind takes him back to when he had extended a similar invitation to her just a while ago.

“Yeah, you know, the frozen confectionery? It’s sweet and most flavors are delicious—“

“I know what ice cream is,” he deadpans.

“So what’s with the hesitation?”

“I…”

“Is it because—you don’t like me?”

“What?”

“You don’t like me, is that why you’re not saying yes to me?”

“What are you talking about—“

“Do you dislike me?”

“Of course not—“

“Then why don’t you just say yes to my invitation to ice cream?”

“I—“

“Yes, or no? Come on, be a man!”

“… Yes.”

“Great. I’ll see you at the main gate later.”

A dumbfounded Jungsoo stares on. She disappears into the distance for a while, before he sees her returning in a jog. She smiles at him.

“I figured we had to start somewhere. So let’s start from here.”

He stares on.

“Don’t be late for class, you idiot.”

=

Krystal makes two bowls of cereal and puts them on a tray, then takes uneasy steps up the stairs. The bowls wobble on the tray, just as her hands are. A figure manifests at the top of the staircase and nearly sends Krystal flying off of it in shock.

Jessica merely stares quietly. Krystal lifts the tray a little higher. “I made breakfast for the two of us. It didn’t seem like you were going to school.”

Jessica is wrapped in an old cardigan, and it looks like it didn’t help much with keeping her warm, given her sullen look and gloomy expression. After waiting for a response from her and not getting any, Krystal clears .

“We can have it in your room, if you want.”

Minutes later, Krystal is settling into Jessica’s bed, just a little distance separating the two for safety’s sake. Jessica starts eating wordlessly.

“Do you want to talk?” Krystal starts, her words exiting as a light whisper. The older girl shakes her head.

Krystal bites back a sigh. “Will you ever want to talk?”

Jessica stops eating for a moment or two, then shrugs.

“I hope that’s a maybe. I’m… I’m always going to be here, you know.” Krystal lowers her bowl in order to make eye contact with her sister.

Jessica looks up at the younger girl, finally making real eye contact with Krystal.

“For you, I mean. I’m always going to be here, for you.”

Jessica resumes eating after that. Krystal knows she didn’t get much out of the conversation, but she can hear the unspoken ‘thank you’ from the older one, anyway.

=

Donghae sits alone in his room, knees up to his chest. He stares blankly ahead, as if the answer would come to him if he stared long enough.

It didn’t.