Sunny was in a daze. She barely registered Hyomin asking her what was wrong, and she doesn’t even remember the words she used to explain the situation to Hyomin. She vaguely remembered her friend clasping her hands to in shock and her manager arriving a few minutes later to take her back to the dorm.

Her manager opened the door to the dorm for her because for some reason Sunny couldn’t seem to muster the strength to push the door open on her own. It seemed to weight a ton and the air inside the dorm itself was even heavier. It was as if she entered a space with a different gravity than the one outside.

“Just hold on for a moment. I’ll be back soon. I need to make a lot of phone calls.” Her manager told her and left the room. Sunny couldn’t even nod to acknowledge his words. She could only drag her weary body to the couch where all 7 of her other members were waiting for her. All 7 members that were left. Sooyoung had gotten up from her seat to place a hand onto the small of Sunny’s back, gently guiding her to sit down.

No words.

No words were exchanged between them for the next fifteen minutes. Neither of them knew what to say, and they were all too nervous to break the silence.

“How did all this even happen?”

Yoona’s weak voice came out from beside her, and Sunny had to clench her fists to keep her tears in check as she heard the cracked and worn voice of Yoona ask the innocent question.

“Things were going so well. I thought things were okay.” Yoona sobbed, wanting an explanation for the situation.

“Where is Sica now?” Sunny found herself asking, worried about the wellbeing of their now former ninth member.

“She’s in New York. Meeting with designers for Blanc.” Tiffany replied dryly.

“Does she know?” Sunny asked again, completely upset that Jessica wasn’t even here to go through this with them. It made no sense for SM to just drop this bomb on them. Eventhough they had given fair warning, she was pretty sure none of the SNSD members ever thought that the management team of SM Entertainment would actually go through with it.

“She was the first to find out. She called Yuri, and that’s how we found out as well. By the time we got confirmation from manager oppa, we can’t contact her. She might’ve switched off her phone.” Tiffany explained and Sunny nearly broke into tears right then and there. Jessica must have felt so betrayed by her own group, so hurt that Sunny wanted to just take the next flight to New York to comfort her.

“SM went back on their word didn’t they? They said if the situation didn’t change they would kick her out. But it did change! We managed to get the old Sica back and it was amazing! There was absolutely no reason for them to kick her out!” Sooyoung said angrily.

Sunny always figured that Sooyoung and Sica never really got along well, but she could see now she was wrong based on how Sooyoung’s fists were clenched and shaking in fury.

“We’re a group. We’ve been in this together for so long. Don’t we get a say in this?” Hyoyeon asked, voice sounding shaky as well.

There was a sudden movement at the end of the couch, and all eyes were now on Taeyeon, the leader of Girls’ Generation who was silent throughout all the previous round of questions but had now gotten up and was standing in the middle of the room.

“We did have a say in this. Or more like, I had a say in this.” Taeyeon said firmly, She looked like she was trying her best to look as unshakeable as possible, but the trembling of her knees and the way her fingers were absentmindedly tugging and twisting the hem of her shirt betrayed her mask of courage.

“Tae….” Sunny began in slight disbelief. There was no way….

“What. Did. You. Do?” Yuri spoke for the first time, punctuating each syllable. Her voice was dripping with venom but it was also laced with her feeble attempts to control it. The rest of the girls were taken aback by the look in Yuri’s eyes who looked as if she was about to break something. Or someone.

Taeyeon recovered from the look Yuri was giving her and challenged the Black Pearl by meeting it with an intense gaze of her own. Taeyeon looked determined and she wasn’t going to back down.

“A few days ago, Management had a meeting with Jessica. They noticed that she was improving her work ethic, but they weren’t content with the fact that her priorities were still split between the group and her company, Blanc.”

Taeyeon took a moment to breathe and compose her words, before continuing.

“They made an agreement with her before that she should stay for one more album, but it was costing them financially to try to make excuses for Sica not attending fan meetings and sponsor shoots. So, they gave her an ultimatum. Choose Girls’ Generation, or Blanc.”

Sunny wasn’t sure if anybody else in the room other than Taeyeon had even taken a breath throughout the explanation. Taeyeon took a look around the room, and finally said “She chose Blanc & Eclare.”

“It makes sense actually. Girls’ Generation has almost reached their peak, but her company has so much potential for growth.”

“But unnie…Sica loves the group. There was no way she would have made that decision if she knew that would mean she would get kicked out of Girls' Generation. She must have still assumed that she would still be apart of the group until the promotions for our next album ends.” Yoona tried to clarify, because the facts didn’t add up.

“The deal was still on…but then they had another meeting after that, with just me alone. They asked me what my opinion was. Should they keep the agreement, or should they let her go as soon as possible?” Taeyeon confessed, lip trembling but she was steeling her eyes.

“I love Sica, but her heart is not in the group anymore. She’s only staying here in this group for us. There’s no passion in her voice when she sings anymore, so even if we were to produce one last album, it wouldn’t be a high quality piece of work, and we would be giving our fans a half-assed song.” Taeyeon paused and this time she couldn’t bring herself to meet her other members’ eyes as they glared at her and stared in disbelief.

“We’ve already begun practice for our next album, and I don’t think she even knows the lyrics to our title track! She’s attached to us, but if she were to stay with us she would have dragged us down like an anchor. So, I chose to drop Jessica from the team.”

Yuri stood up at this and Sunny immediately reached out and grabbed her wrist to prevent her from lunging at their leader, who visibly winced at the hostile act.

“YOU were the one who suggested for her to stay for one more album! YOU gave her hope!” Yuri seethed, trying to free herself from Sunny’s grip.

“The choice wasn’t easy for me as well Yuri! Do you think I like this?!”

Yuri proved to be too strong for Sunny and managed to twist her way out of Sunny’s clutches and was about to lunge at their leader again when Sooyoung managed to hold her back by grabbing her other arm, and Sunny reached forward to hold Yuri by the waist, trying her best to restrain the enraged girl. Yuri had stopped with her face inches away from Taeyeon’s and the whole room just stared wide-eyed as Yuri spat through clenched teeth,

“You LIED to her.”

“I did it FOR US!” Taeyeon fired back.

“Did you really?! Why on earth do you get the right to decide anyways? Who gave you that right?!” Yuri asked. The moment has escalated and Sunny wished that their manager would return to the unit as fast as possible to avoid anything happening. Sunny was frowning as she stared at Taeyeon, feeling as if she didn’t recognize the person standing in front of her, assuming the role of their leader.

“You gave me that right! When all of you chose me to be your leader 8 years ago.”

“Way to make us regret that decision Kim Taeyeon.” Sooyoung had stood up as well, but her grip on Yuri’s arm never loosened. Sunny watched as the two women in front of her stared down the shorter Taeyeon, who was surprisingly still able to hold her ground although Sooyoung’s usage of her full name affected her noticeably.

“Don’t gang up on her! She was just doing what she thought was right for the group!” It was Tiffany’s turn to speak now, as she got up from her seat on the couch and stood beside Taeyeon, capturing the leader’s hand in hers to show support for her.

“Well of course you’re happy that Jessica is out of the group, aren’t you Tiffany? Now you can have all of Sica’s parts. You finally have the spotlight you’ve always wanted!” Yuri directed her anger to the girl standing beside Taeyeon now, who could only stand there with open looking as if Yuri’s accusations had somehow physically slapped her in the face.

“That’s…That’s not fair Yuri…” Tiffany began but was cut off again by an irate Yuri.

“No, THIS is not fair. Jessica getting unceremoniously kicked out of the group as if the past 8 years she spent with us meant nothing.”

Taeyeon exhaled in indignation as she prepared a counter-argument.

“It wouldn’t have benefited anyone if she had stayed Yuri! Think about it for a second! Her heart is just not in i—“

Taeyeon never managed to finish her words as her head whipped to the side as a result of Yuri’s palm connecting with her left cheek. Everyone in the room just stared at the pair in the centre of the living room with eyes wide in disbelief and hands clasped over their mouths in shock. Even Taeyeon looked like she had no idea what had just happened to her.

The only sounds in the room were Yuri’s shallow and ragged breathing as she tried her best to control her rage, and the sobs that were coming out of Seohyun and Yoona. Yuri was the first to speak when she finally calmed herself down enough to verbalize her thoughts.

“Don’t you talk as if you know what’s in Jessica’s heart.”

Taeyeon just stood there, left hand caressing her own cheek where Yuri had slapped her, as if she was in a daze.

“She loved you. You broke up our family. You betrayed your friend. I hope you can live with that.” Yuri hissed and turned to walk out of the living room and into her room.

Sooyoung took one last look at Taeyeon and Sunny swears that she saw a flash of regret and uncertainty in her eyes before she too turned to leave to join Yuri, followed closely by Hyoyeon who had managed to remain silent throughout the whole ordeal.

Nobody spoke in the living room as they were still trying to let the events that transpired a few seconds ago sink in. Tiffany gently rubbed Taeyeon’s shoulder to comfort the girl, though she wasn’t sure what else she could do at the moment. Nobody knew what to say to rectify the situation.

“She’ll…come around eventually Taeng. She’ll see that you meant well.” Tiffany assured the leader, who could only nod.

“Seohyun could you please get some ice for Taeng’s cheek?” Tiffany politely requested and Sunny noticed that Taeyeon’s cheek was starting to change colour from red to slight tinges of blue.

The maknae snapped out of the trance she was in and immediately got up and headed towards the kitchen.

“The rest of you should pack up. In case you forgot, we’re headed to China for a fan meeting tomorrow.” Taeyeon said after a long moment of silence with a voice that sounded weaker than she intended. Sunny could tell that she was still trying her best to be the leader of the group, but her quivering lips and shaky hands shattered all commanding presence that she tried to muster.

“I’m g-going to go pack my clothes.” Taeyeon said before marching to her room, followed closely by Tiffany who was still holding onto Taeyeon’s hand and Seohyun who was carrying a bag of ice. Sunny spotted a few tears drop onto her leader’s cheeks before she disappeared around the corner along with the rest of TaeTiSeo.

What on earth just happened? Sunny couldn’t believe the events that has transpired in the last few hours. Everything was going so well, and then suddenly Sunny couldn’t even name a single positive thing that can be taken out of this. She let her face fall into her hands, and just sat there trying her best not to break down into tears although even the slightest bit of provocation could probably leave her a sobbing mess at the moment.

“Unnie…are you going back to Seongbukdong tonight?” Sunny heard a soft voice speak up from beside her, barely audible. She had forgotten that there was one more member of the group that was still in the living room with her.

Sunny felt tiny fingers possessively tug onto her sleeve, and she looked up from her hands to see the tear-stained face of Yoona, looking back straight at her. Yoona’s watery eyes looked lost and Sunny wasn’t sure she could guide the younger girl this time because she herself felt equally as lost.

“Please don’t go. Please stay the night. I…I don’t know what to do.”

Sunny immediately enveloped Yoona in an embrace before the younger girl could break down and cry, but it was of no use. At least Yoona’s tears were staining Sunny’s sleeves instead of her own cheeks now. Sunny lightly Yoona’s back, looking up to the ceiling to try to prevent her own tears from falling. She still felt the need to be strong for the younger Yoona, and she couldn’t be a good pillar of support if she herself was crumbling down.

“It’s okay Yoong. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

The pair just stayed in the living room of the SNSD dorm, seeking comfort in each other’s arms for what felt like forever. Nothing was ever going to be the same again and already the apartment felt strangely emptier than before, as if the halls of the building itself were already missing the 9^th member of the family.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that was a tough thing to write. Jessica was actually my first ever bias in Kpop, but it didn't really hurt me to see her go. It was more like this weird numb feeling that hasn't subsided until now. It was hard to imagine what would have happened during the time the girls received the news, but this was my attempt at it. Hope it made a lot of sense. I'm not too good at making sense. hahahaha

It took me longer than usual to post this one up because I'm still having issues with Chapter 15. I've rewritten that chapter so many times I might as well turn it into it's own spin-off short at this point. I decided to move on and release this chapter anyways because the lack of progress is killing me right now. 

Also, Yuri is now dating someone in real life, so there goes my attempt at making this fic seem as realistic as possible. I'm not going to change the future chapters of this fic to reflect her real life relationship though. Congrats to her!

I got so many comments from that last chapter, and I'm thankful for all of them! All of you are too kind!