"Number 22 you are up."

Jessica looked over at Taeyeon standing next to her, "I will be here the whole time," the older girl told her with sincerity.

Taking one last breath, Jessica stepped up to the mat facing one of her seniors, "Remember this is a friendly match. Anything done that shows intentional harm, will affect your overall score." The referee stepped back, "bow." Jessica bowed her head down before looking back into her senior's eyes and taking a defensive stance, "Start!"

Taeyeon couldn't tell if she or Jessica were more nervous about this match as she gripped onto the railing in front of her with a bruising force, "come on Jessica..."

"Go number 22!" Taeyeon jumped when she heard a large voice yell out next to her, "Come on Tae, how can Jessica hear you cheering if you say it so quietly?"

"I have never been a loud mouth like you Yul." Taeyeon laughed.

"Well it comes in handy for things like this." Yuri leaned on the railing as she watched Jessica constantly dodging attack after attack, "didn't you teach Jessica any offensive moves?"

Taeyeon was also getting worried that Jessica never once tried to throw out a hit, "of course I did. Maybe she is nervous."

"Well it looks like the first round is a draw if Jessica doesn't do something."

*ding* "First round draw."

Taeyeon ran down to the mat since she knew that she could talk to Jessica between rounds, "Hey, what is going on down there. I didn't see you try and take her down."

Jessica breathed in heavily, "I know...but it feels wrong that she is my senior and all."

Taeyeon laughed, "This isn't the time to be nice. Maybe you can imagine her being someone else. Someone you don't like or have grudge against?"

*ding* "Competitors back on the mat."

Taeyeon patted Jessica on the back, "just give it your all."

Jessica just nodded before going back out on the mat.

"Tell her anything useful?"

"She doesn't want to hit her senior so I said just to imagine it is someone else."

"Oh? Is that what you do when you spar me?"

"No. I imagine messing up that pretty face of yours," Taeyeon said confidently.

"Wow...I didn't know you loved me like that Tae."

Taeyeon laughed, "We are practically sisters...that is how much I love you."

Yuri laughed, "I get it but you are very complicated to love."

"She brought her down!" Taeyeon jumped up for joy when she saw that Jessica won the second round.

"Nice. Just one more win then."

*ding* "Third round start!"

Taeyeon and Yuri watched in silence as the next round started, "Jessica looks to have some fire in her eyes."

"I think her confidence finally kicked in."

Jessica saw the girl coming at her but left a huge opening on the right side, so Jessica ducked and threw her body into the girl. “Match over!”

Taeyeon ran down like a proud parent when she saw Jessica win the match giving her full points on the physical part of her exam, “I knew you could do it!”

Jessica grunted when Taeyeon collided with her but she returned the firm hug, “It is because my teacher is amazing.”

Taeyeon was blushing when she released from the hug, “Anyway, do you want to get something special? Yuri told me she horded some sweets away for celebrations?”

“Oh…I can’t take her sweets…”

Yuri swung her arm around Jessica, separating her from Taeyeon, “No worries. You still have the written exam after this so some candy would be good for you.”

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

Jessica was twiddling her thumbs nervously at the door, “what are you doing Jessica? Come in.”

Jessica looked around the room, “Are you sure I can? I mean…this is level 2…”

Yuri got up and pulled Jessica to sit on her bed, “no worries. We let you in.”

Jessica was still nervous as she looked around the room, “Where are your other roommates?”

“Ara…she has been on mission for a few weeks now. Where is Yoona Tae?”

Taeyeon’s cute little was sticking up as she looked under the bed for the sweets, “Yoona? Not sure. Around somewhere.” Finally the older girl found the sweets, “Here they are!”

Jessica took the tin from Taeyeon’s hands, “Wow…how did you get this Yuri?”

The brunette just flipped her hair confidently, “It is cause I have a lot of charm.”

Taeyeon scoffed, “She probably stole it. One of her many talents.”

Yuri laughed, “Stealing is a great talent if you do it right.”

“You really stole this?”

Yuri took the tin from Jessica, “don’t worry, the Party has lots of these. I just help myself on the way out.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes as she looked in the tin to take out a hard candy, “Just take what you want Jessica. Yuri will take more if she wants.”

“Are you saying you go into the Party a lot?” Jessica questioned.

Yuri shrugged, “I think everyone in level 2 does.”

Taeyeon nodded her head, “We all have access along with level 6 and one section of level 3.”

Jessica finally took a candy to pop in , making her crumble on the inside, “wow…I forgot how much I loved these.”

Taeyeon smiled at Jessica being so happy, “Enjoy. That was a great match.”

“What happens to that senior…since she lost?”

Yuri shrugged, “I think she just spars again. Winning is the best way to get your points but losing doesn’t mean you get kicked out or anything like that. They still judge on skills they see you do.”

“In any case, you would just push back your training time if you fail completely. Since you want to get out in the field fast, I think you should attack fast and win quickly. It will cut down how much time you spend training if you win everything.” Taeyeon retorted as she popped in another sweet.

Just then a knock came on the door causing Taeyeon who was closest to the door to answer, “Yes?”

“Taeyeon can I have a word?”

Jessica looked around and saw it was Yunho at the door, “Yea sure.”

Yuri took the tin from Jessica so she could rummage around and find something she liked causing Jessica to get up and look around the room. It wasn’t that big of a room but enough space for 4 beds to fit in without it being too crowded. Jessica found it interesting how she could spot which bed was Taeyeon’s by the simple trinkets that were near her bed but the one thing that caught her attention was a photo face down. Out of curiosity, Jessica lifted it up to get a good look at it. She recognized the uniforms Taeyeon and the other girl were wearing was from level 6, but before Jessica could look into it further, the photo was snatched from her hands.

“You shouldn’t touch other people’s things.”

Jessica was at a loss for words as she heard the harshness in Taeyeon’s voice, “Sorry...”

Taeyeon huffed before she put the photo back face down next to her bed, “It is just a past memory. Anyway, I have to go out on mission. Yuri is going to take you to the exam center for the written exam after dinner.”

After hearing Taeyeon’s slightly angry voice, Jessica didn’t dare to look the girl in the eyes, “I understand...”

Taeyeon turned past Jessica to take her jacket, “Yuri take care of her.”

Yuri had full of random sweets, “No...problem...”

Taeyeon took one more glance at Jessica before taking her leave. Jessica was able to catch her breath once Taeyeon left, “I made her angry...”

Yuri managed to swallow what was in , “Don’t take it to heart. She is just a bit sensitive about a few things.”

Jessica took a seat next to Yuri on the bed, “Do you know the girl in the picture?”

Yuri nodded, “Yep. Taeyeon’s first love.”

Jessica suddenly remembered Yuri saying that Taeyeon was in level 6 with the girl she loved so that would make sense, “She is pretty...was pretty...”

Yuri nodded once again, “She was and she had a very good heart. Sometimes good people leave us...but the Party made a huge mistake the day they made her leave our side. I wouldn’t want to be Taeyeon’s enemy and the Party is Taeyeon’s number one target now.”

“I see...”

Yuri patted Jessica on the back, “Don’t worry though! You are far from joining Taeyeon’s list. Personally, I think Taeyeon is quite fond of you...I have never seen her take such good care of a junior before.”

Jessica finally found the courage to look up at Yuri, “really?”

“Really really. Consider yourself lucky since Taeyeon is a pretty closed off soul. You have no idea how surprised I was to hear that she voluntarily let you into the warehouse the night we first met.”

“She...always seems so carefree when we are together. I thought she was like that to everyone?”

“She is nice to everyone but not like that. I could tell you were special from the start.”

“Special how?”

“I don’t know. I guess Taeyeon sees something in you...well that is just my guess. Who knows what is going on in that pretty little head of hers.”

Jessica giggled, “How did you end up first meeting Taeyeon anyway? I know you have been together a long time.”

Yuri leaned back on her hands, “Taeyeon has always been here. She knows the ins and outs of the Resistance better than most people...heck she could be one of the Resistance leaders secretly for all we know with the knowledge she has about it. I came into the Resistance in my early teens and she caught my attention right away. The girl looked younger than me yet she was someone almost every senior officer bowed to. Before the Resistance, I was a street fighter for survival and I was pretty confident about my fighting skills. For the final exam, you can choose any instructor to be your sparring partner. Most people pick someone they think they could beat. I thought I could beat Taeyeon.”

“What happened?”

“I got the beat out of me...hard.”

“I-I thought there were rules about not harming the other fighter?”

Yuri sighed, “Not for the last exam. The last exam is brutal because we need to see if the juniors can face the realities of the upper world...the world where the Party will kill you.”

Jessica gulped, “...I guess.”

“Don’t worry...just pick a senior that won’t do that to you. I can give you a heads up on who is nice and who isn’t.”

“Well what happened with you and Taeyeon?”

“I talked some ...so she smashed my face in...broke a few bones...I was put in the infirmary for several months and had to retake the exam,” Yuri let out a bitter chuckle.

“But you are friends now?”

“We are. After that incident, I grew to respect her...idolized her for a few years. She eventually took a liking to me since I wouldn’t leave her alone anyway. Yoona helped too I guess...she was friends with Taeyeon before me. Yoona said something to Taeyeon one day that made Taeyeon do almost a 180 and befriended me. Like I said, Taeyeon is complicated and I have no idea what she is thinking half the time but I do know one thing. If Taeyeon trusts you, she will put her full faith into you. She is very loyal.”

Jessica nodded in amazement, “She sounds like an amazing person...”

“She is...you should see her fight for real. When she is serious about a fight, you will see this fire in her eyes...it will burn you to the core.” Yuri sat up, “I only faced those eyes 2 times in my life. The first was that fight and the second was when we found out...she died...” Jessica looked up to see Yuri's eyes staring at the photo facing down near Taeyeon’s bed, “I’d say pray that you never have to see those eyes.”

Jessica made a mental note that day...Taeyeon might have another side she has never seen before.

Author's Note

Sorry for going away longer than usual. There was a 7 day holiday by me and I took it so no access to a computer during those days. Also, i am sure most of you were busy enjoying Taeyeon's solo debut!!!! Since she is my bias, i have been watching everything she is in for the solo promotions (therefore, author isn't writing much.)

Anyway, I hope you like the update. If you like YulSic, I started a story: Lucky Charm