Jessica nearly screamed at the top of her lungs when she read a particular headline in the entertainment section, “how could she!”

“Oh my God Jess you are going to blow my ears,” the idol’s manager covered her ears in pain.

“Tiff call the director! I am not working with her! I refuse!”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Kim Taeyeon.”

Tiffany grabbed Jessica’s phone to read the article, “oh wow she was casted into your drama.”

“Yes! Get me the director now!”

Tiffany threw the phone back at Jessica, “what good will that do? The media announced it and her getting cut would cause suspicions. Right now the netizens see that in a musical drama two of the most famous singers in Korea were casted as the two female leads.”

“I don’t care! I can’t and won’t work with her.”

“My dear Jessica you are a professional. it up because this idol business is anything but fair.”

Jessica grumbled to herself for a bit, “you are the worst manager ever.”

“Love you too Jess! Now get rid of the phone so you can go up and perform.”

“Aye aye dictator Hwang!” Jessica turned her phone off and handed it to her manager, “keep good care of my baby.”

Tiffany only rolled her eyes at Jessica whilst they walked down the long hallway towards the stage. At the moment, Jessica was finishing up the promotional period for her new mini album and getting ready for her TV comeback role. Tiffany watched Jessica’s power-vocals blow the audience away as she went through the performance only twice. Although Jessica can be a little diva at times, Tiffany would agree at times like these, she was very proud to be the manager of the one and only Jessica Jung.

After a few weeks, Jessica found herself in a conference room for her first press interview and script reading with the cast of her new fall drama. She asked Tiffany to call the director many times to recast a certain role but Tiffany said she was busy and would forget, but Jessica knew better. Tiffany knew her past with a certain woman who Jessica hates, but Tiffany either didn’t care or wanted Jessica to face her mortal enemy so she can finally move on with her life.

Just a few minutes after Jessica sat down, she saw her. That baby-face has aged to be a bit sharper and those once cute bangs were now melted into that light wavy blond hair. . She looks amazing. Jessica had to look away because there were too many feelings emerging with just the sight of the beautiful woman.

Jessica tried to occupy her time waiting by reading the script and greeting seniors but when Taeyeon laughed Jessica couldn’t resist the automatic response to look over to see what was funny. Even strange feelings would come about when Taeyeon would simply touch another cast member causing Jessica the need to look away. Why did she still have these feelings? Wasn’t 4 years apart long enough to forget and wash away these bothersome feelings?

“Ok everyone please get seated so we can start.”

Jessica was pleased she already had her seat far from Taeyeon or so she thought, “Jessica dear I believe you have the wrong seat.”

Jessica looked back at her senior and bowed before getting up in a haste, “sorry sunbae I didn’t see the name cards.”

“Oh no worries. Sometimes we have assigned seats and sometimes not. Simple mistake, but I think I saw you placed next to Taeyeon there.”

That was when Jessica cursed inwardly all the way to her new seat. She didn’t make eye contact or greet her fellow artist although everyone else who was watching saw Taeyeon ready to do so. Jessica didn’t care for prying eyes on their interaction because it would soon be no secret that she hates Kim Taeyeon.

“Ok we will start from page 5.” The director took control and the dialogue progressed. It would take nearly 4 hours to get through the script reading and after, Taeyeon would try to reach out to Jessica before the main cast left to enter the press conference but Jessica was quick to avoid any contact with the idol. Jessica was here for just work.

The cameras flashed as 8 members of the main cast entered the stage. They posed and answered simply to questions regarding the plot, but then the questions started to get more personal, “Ms. Jung I have a question for you.”

Jessica searched for the floating mic to take from the boy next to her, “Yes?”

“Recently you have promoting your new album and have been away from the TV screen for a while now. Will you be able to adapt to this role well because this role will be a student who has never débuted?”

“I think this role fits very well. I will use my past memories during my trainee days to aid in my character development.” Wasn’t it that time in her life Jessica wanted to forget?

“Also to either Taeyeon or Jessica…you were both from the same company for a while, did you know each other as trainees and will this affect your roles as Taeyeon’s character doesn’t get along with most of the students working to be idols in this drama?”

Jessica opened to only have it close quickly wondering if she should answer. However, as Jessica was processing an answer, Jessica felt Taeyeon’s velvet hands touch hers to snatch the mic away, “Jessica and I were in the same trainee groups due to similar age and ability…. Actually we were thought to début as a duo for a while,” Taeyeon laughed but Jessica was ready to chew off Taeyeon’s head for revealing so much of their history. “But to answer your second question, I have been an idol long enough, I could grasp this role very well.”

The crowd murmured comments regarding a Jessica-Taeyeon possible duo but the press was cut off with the director calling an end to this press conference. However the media was busy calling Jessica’s agency to confirm the information and netizens were online making Taengsic a number one topic item. The director also received several calls to have Taengsic sing a duet for the OST. Of course Jessica was at home angry that Taeyeon opened up this huge can of worms again because tomorrow she, Taeyeon and the director were going to have a meeting.

Although Jessica was rather busy with a line of photoshoots later in the day, the director had to be her priority because this drama casting was her big break back into the business. Yet the sight of the other girl sitting in the waiting room put a sour taste in . Sitting as far as possible from Taeyeon, Jessica was hoping the director would call them into his office soon so she could head to hair and makeup for the magazine cover.

“Jessica can we talk?”

Jessica’s eyes shifted to her side where she saw Taeyeon situate herself next to her, “No.”

Taeyeon sighed and played with the hem of her shirt, “I know why you are ignoring me, but can we at least try and get along again? This filming will be 6 months…”

Finally turning to give Taeyeon the attention she wanted, Jessica was quick to kill any dreams she had of friendship, “Never. I don’t know what you expect of me but this friendship thing you want is never going to happen and there is no way I will ever forget what you did to me. As far as I know, we are strangers so stop acting like we know each other.”

Taeyeon bit the side of her cheek hoping to not let her face falter, “I get it…strangers…” Slowly getting up, Taeyeon resumed her original spot near the door. For a second, Jessica thought Taeyeon was going to cry but Jessica didn’t care.

“Girls you may go in now.”

Jessica straightened out her skirt a bit before following Taeyeon into the meeting room where the director was all smiles, “My stars! Please sit.” The director waited for the girls to sit before passing out a few pieces of paper, “so I talked with the network and they agreed for you two to sing a duet! It may not be the main OST since that was already decided, but we can add this into the script and the CD after the drama finishes. Please take a look and see what you think. The song will be played for the 12th episode so you can see here is the new script for that episode. Only you two will have changes in the script.”

Jessica reached forward to read over the new script teetering on whether to accept the changes or pull out some kind of diva behavior and reject the changes. Meanwhile, Taeyeon was seriously reading the script and going over the bars from the song, “This doesn’t make sense.”

Jessica was surprised Taeyeon rejected an extra scene.

“This is clearly a love song. If Soo In [Jessica] and Eun Ji [Taeyeon] are using music to bond, why would it be over a duet that should be between a man and woman?”

Jessica quickly went to read the lyrics as well as the director, “You have a point but most duets are love songs.”

Taeyeon nodded, “I get that but if you see here that the lyrics are directed to be at one another. We should change the lyrics to direct the song to someone else. There are many great duets that don’t have to be between a man and woman to get the same point across. However, I like the melody.”

Jessica hummed a bar and she agreed. So Taeyeon still was a musical genius.

The director took down a few notes, “I see we can make those changes. Do you have any input Jessica?”

“So…you want us to be friends?” Jessica read the script wondering how this intense rivalry the characters had throughout the whole series could be fixed through a mutual song.

“It would be good if your characters resolve their differences in the end. I think this episode would be a great bridge for that and it is something the audience wants.”

Jessica groaned at the way Korean dramas had to make unrealistic situations turn into a fairytale, “I don’t…”

Taeyeon was quick to put her hand on Jessica’s lap signaling she wanted to talk, “Jessica is right. This rivalry between the two characters was supposed to drive Soo In to be more successful than Eun Ji but here you just want them to be friends. I don’t get it either.”

The director rubbed his chin in contemplation, “I get that this is a major plot change and I will consider how to fit this into the original ending but I believe you two can act this in a way to make both parties happy. We will begin filming the first few episodes soon and we can discuss the changes in episode 12 later on.”

Jessica didn’t know what magic she could pull to make this duet happen without her character using her rivalry to surge success but Jessica was going to think about it as a challenge. This was her time to shine and if her director wanted to showcase her acting ability, then she would do it. Unfortunately, she had to admit that she needed Taeyeon’s help. Her acting needed to be perfect and Taeyeon’s needed to be flawless to make this scene go well.

“Alright girls I have another meeting. See you next week for filming.”

Jessica looked up to see Taeyeon gathering her things and bowing to the director which she did also, “See you in a week.”

Taeyeon was the first to leave the office followed by Jessica who started staring at the back of Taeyeon. She wondered if this story might be very similar to what happened all those years ago, but things did go about a little different.

----------------------------

“Are you trying to kill her with your mind?”

Jessica stopped barring holes in the back of Taeyeon’s skull to redirect her glare onto her manager, “Are you watching me?”

Tiffany shrugged as she played around with her phone, “If you were going for subtle gawking, you failed.”

Jessica leaned back in her chair as she watched Taeyeon act out her scene, “I never saw her act before. I want to know what I am dealing with.”

Tiffany laughed as she pocketed her phone, “Oh please. I know you streamed all her TV appearances. I think there are other reasons why your eyes won’t leave her. Just admit that you still have feelings…”

“Tiffany Hwang! I swear!”

“Quiet on the set please!” The director yelled back to the staff.

Jessica was so engrossed in her feud with Tiffany that she forgot that she was on a closed set, “Sorry.”

Tiffany smiled in triumph, “Jessica I know what happened so my advice to you is give her a chance. It has been eons ago that this all happened. I get why you don’t want to open your heart to her again but no one is asking you to. Just prod around and get to know her…the girl she is now not the stupid teenagers you both were.”

Jessica played around with her script as she watched Taeyeon act, “her acting is so much better.”

“Some things get better with age.” Tiffany sighed as she waited for Jessica to return to the set.

After some time, Jessica was called to and from the stage for the various scenes. Although she was one of the main leads along with Taeyeon, Taeyeon occupied most of episode 1 and their interactions were not as important, however going into episode 2, Jessica stood on the set face to face with Taeyeon. Ready, set, action!

~TO BE CONTINUED~

Author's Note

I have been working on this story for some time. It wasn't going to be 2 parts but I thought why not? I will be giving the second (final) part soonish :)