It was mid-afternoon on the day before Jessica’s birthday and her parents called to let her know that they would be there to pick them up at 7PM for dinner. Since Krystal was preparing for her debut, SM had her and her members move into a dorm nearby, so neither was living at home anymore.

 “Araseo umma. I’ll let Krystal know. Love you,” said Jessica into the phone just before she hung up. Jessica was chatting with Hyoyeon and Seohyun in SNSD’s practice room on the third floor of the SM building when her mother called.

“Who wants to go with me to the trainee practice room?” asked Jessica.

“I will,” volunteered Hyoyeon. She sat on the floor by the wall, exhausted after having practiced her dancing for three hours.

“I think I’ll go home and do my homework,” said Seohyun.

“Alright,” said Jessica. “I’ll be back soon to pack too.” Seohyun picked up her backpack and left the room.

Jessica offered Hyoyeon a hand and pulled her up. They walked up the stairs to the seventh floor and cracked open the door to peek. There were five girls having dance practice with Solmi, one of the SM choreographers. When Solmi declared practice over for the day, Hyoyeon knocked and entered the room with Jessica trailing behind.

“Annyeong,” called out Hyoyeon and Jessica with a wave. They hugged Solmi with whom they were close, having worked together often.

“I’ve got to meet up with MKB, so I’ll catch you two later,” she said and rushed out.

“She so obviously likes him,” said Hyoyeon to Jessica. “I wonder when he’s going to finally realize it.”

“Sunbae, annyeonghaseyo,” said they all greeted with a bow. Hyoyeon laughed and linked arms with Victoria.

“Unnie, don’t speak to me so respectfully. It’s weird,” said Hyoyeon. Victoria was two years older than both Hyoyeon and Jessica, but joined SM much later and would be debuting with the younger girls.

“Was that your new song that you were dancing too?” asked Jessica to the rest of them.

“No, it’s the intro song for our debut. Only Amber raps in it,” said Sulli.

“I thought I heard you guys had a song though?” asked Jessica.

“Yeah, they decided on a song. We’re going to the studio to record tomorrow,” said Luna.

“I see,” said Jessica. She glanced at Krystal who had recommenced practicing in front of the mirror. Jessica walked around her from behind and leaned against the mirror where Krystal could see her.

 “Mom and dad called. They said they would pick us up here around 7, so you might want to head back to the dorm to shower and pack first,” said Jessica. Krystal looked at the clock that hung above the mirror. It read 5:30 PM.

“Araseo. I’ll just practice for another half hour, then head back,” said Krystal. She practiced one of the dance steps again.

“Will you have enough time?” asked Jessica.

“I can handle myself unnie,” said Krystal firmly.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure,” said Jessica. She and Hyoyeon left to do back to their dorm.

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

After dinner the Jungs returned home and had cake. Their parents went to bed soon after as they still had wake up early for work the next morning. Jessica went to her room and lay down on her bed. She her charm bracelet, rotating it around her wrist as she stared at the white ceiling. She felt the familiar shape of the cat charm and sat up. She opened her duffel bag and pulled out a small black bag. She removed something from it and inspected it carefully. She stuffed the black bag in her pocket and headed to Krystal’s room.

Jessica knocked on Krystal's door, but there was no answer. When she opened the door, the room was dark. Where was she? Krystal was still in school and had class the next morning. Why wasn’t she getting ready for bed?

Jessica walked downstairs and faintly heard music coming from the basement. She opened the door and tiptoed down the steps. This house was Jessica’s first gift to her parents after her debut. She wanted to give them something extravagant for all their support in her pursuit of becoming a singer. Since she joined SM at 10 years old and debuted 7 years later, there were many occasions where she wanted to give up. She knew that if it was hard on her, it was also hard on her parents who showered both their daughters with love and affection.

When Jessica bought the house, she had the basement renovated. She had them expand it by making it deeper and extend out underneath the backyard. It was now a recreational studio of sorts. It was soundproof except for the little sound that escaped underneath the door to the basement.

In one corner she had a set of boxing equipment for her dad who used to be a boxer, complete with punching bag and speed bag. When she was little, she was daddy’s little girl. Her dad taught her boxing. She enjoyed it, but she didn’t have much strength and did it only as a hobby. In another corner she had mats and aerobics equipment set up for her mom who used to be a gymnast.

Unlike Jessica, Krystal was mommy’s little girl. She did gymnastics as a child as she inherited her mother’s coordination. With Krystal and herself in mind, the floor was a dance floor and one wall was lined with mirrors. It was in front of these mirrors that Jessica found Krystal.

Krystal was watching herself sing with her ipod plugged into the stereo. It was playing an upbeat melody. She sang:

Under that table, even inside her purseit’s overflowing

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Flashing, shining sound, I like this style today

Yes, you’re doing good.

Follow me once again, let’s go

Stop fighting with the ones around and jump on

Krystal stopped music after the last line and tried singing it again. It seemed to be a higher part of the song. Krystal was reaching the note, but her voice became much softer at the same time. She must have trouble projecting at that particular range. Jessica knocked on the wall to make Krystal aware of her presence and sat down on the last step. Krystal acknowledged her and continued practicing.

“Krys, it’s getting late. Shouldn’t you go to bed soon?” asked Jessica.

“I can’t. We’re going to the recording studio tomorrow to decide who gets what parts in the song. They told us to have the entire song prepared,” said Krystal. Jessica nodded as she went through the same experience before.

Jessica never had to go through that process these days since the producers were all familiar with each SNSD member’s voices. Their vocal coaches also helped the producers, so they usually had their parts decided before they even went to the recording studio.

Jessica looked