Taeyeon was paralyzed. No one had ever bowed down and begged her to do something.

“Please!” Hyoyeon continued to beg for Taeyeon’s help.

No one moved. Time stopped for everyone. Eunhyuk had never seen Hyoyeon so vulnerable. Tiffany and Sunny had never seen Taeyeon so confused.

Time started to move again when Hyoyeon looked up at Taeyeon. Everyone followed suit and watched Taeyeon make a decision. “Why are you all…stop staring!” Taeyeon ran to her room and left everyone wondering what awaited Hyoyeon and her brother.

Eunhyuk rushed to Hyoyeon’s side. “Let’s go.”

“I need an answer though!”

“Hyoyeon, let’s just leave for now.” Eunhyuk pulled Hyoyeon onto her feet. “Do you think it would be okay to come back here? Maybe tomorrow?”

Tiffany nodded her head and gave Eunhyuk a note. “Here’s my number. One of you should call me before you come here. I don’t know how Taeyeon will react to your coming here tomorrow, but Sunny and I can try and dispel any ill will she may have.”

Sunny took the note from Tiffany’s hand and jotted her number down, too. “If you can’t reach Fanny, call me.”

Eunhyuk took the note and smiled gratefully. Tiffany walked Eunhyuk and Hyoyeon outside while everyone else waited in the living room. When the door closed and Tiffany returned, the remaining girls sat in silence. Sunny watched as Hyoyeon and Eunhyuk walked down the street from the window.

“I told them to call us when they got home.” Tiffany gave Sunny her phone. “They gave me their numbers, too. You should save their numbers in your phone, too.”

Jessica left the room and walked down the hall to where Taeyeon disappeared.  Yoona got up to follow Jessica, but Sooyoung stopped her and shook her head.

~~~~

“Tae?” Jessica knocked on Taeyeon’s door, but Taeyeon didn’t answer. “Tae, can we talk?”

“Sure.”

“Gah!” Jessica turned around. Taeyeon was standing behind her. “Where did you come from?”

“Bathroom.” Taeyeon snaked her arm past Jessica and opened the door. “Feel free to sit wherever.” Taeyeon waited for Jessica to go in before entering herself. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Really? Are you really asking me that?”

“Don’t sass me.” Taeyeon took a seat. “So what do you want to say?”

“You shouldn’t have just left.” Jessica stood in the doorway. “She deserves an answer.”

Taeyeon shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I don’t see why she thinks she can just come here and do this.”

“Do what, beg for help? Do you think she wanted to do that? Especially in front of the guy she likes?”

“She attacked me! She threatened me to find her. You saw the note.”

“That doesn’t mean she isn’t sincere. Hyoyeon wants your help. She needs it.”

“What?” Taeyeon started to get defensive. “You expect me to help her after what she did today?”

“In short, yes.”

“No way!”

“Why not? You two are in the same position. You can help each other.” Jessica was still calm, and that only irritated Taeyeon more.

“How can you expect me to work with her? I’m not going to trust some chick who shows up and threatens me and my friends!”

“We trusted you.”

“Wha?”

“You want to be trusted, but you wont trust anyone else?”

Taeyeon didn’t answer. She realized what had just happened. Hyoyeon really was just like herself, and Jessica made that fact very clear to her.

Jessica reached for her phone. “Shall we call Hyoyeon and tell her everything your answer?”

Taeyeon curled up into a ball. “Go away…”

“Uh, what did you say to me?”

“I said “go away”. Just go!”

“Tae, what’s wrong. Let’s just talk this out like adults and get things straightened out.” Jessica sat by Taeyeon and tried to comfort her.

“Just go away!” Taeyon swung her arms at Jessica.

Luckily for Jessica, she was able to move out of the way. “Hey, watch it!” Jessica tried to get out of Taeyeon’s reach, but Taeyeon accidentally hit Jessica in the face.

Jessica cupped her cheek where Taeyeon had slapped her. She looked at Taeyeon with anger before storming out of the room. “Jessica!”

“You wanted me to go away? Fine! I’m leaving!” Jessica ran into the living room before turning for the door. “Sooyoung! Yoona! Let’s go!”

Sooyoung and Yoona looked at each other, but didn’t dare question Jessica when she was in such an enraged state. They got up and bid their new friends goodbye. Taeyeon chased them out the door to Jessica’s car.

“Jessica! Wait!” But Jessica didn’t want to hear any of it. She drove off as soon as the car doors were closed. “Jessica!” Taeyeon couldn’t keep up with the car. It was cold and dark, and Taeyeon couldn’t do anything about it.

Taeyeon walked back inside and sat down in the living room with Tiffany and Sunny. “I really messed up…” Taeyeon started to cry. “I’m so stupid!”

Sunny gave Taeyeon a hug. “Don’t worry. It’s been a stressful day. I bet Jessica understands that, too. At least, she will after she calms down.”

“But I hit her! On accident, but I did. What am I going to do? I have to apologize!”

“Tae. Tae, listen to me.” Sunny took Taeyeon’s hands. “You need to calm down. The two of you wont be able to understand each other if you can’t even understand yourselves.”

Tiffany decided it was her turn to talk. “Sunny’s right. You have to understand the situation before you can try talking to Jessica. Right now, I can gurantee that Sooyoung and Yoona are trying their best to get Jessica calm, too.” Tiffnay handed Taeyeon a box of tissues.

“But…but…” Taeyeon wiped her tears with the tissues.

“No buts. Go to your room and rest.” Tiffany pulled Taeyeon to her feet. “We’ll tidy up.”

Taeyeon nodded and walked up to her room.

“Are you sure things will be okay?” Sunny asked Tiffany.

“Yeah. I’m going to stay here the night. Want me to drive you home?”

“No. I’ll stay, too.” Sunny and Tiffany started to clean up and put the left over food away. “Hey Fanny?”

“Yeah?”

Sunny sat and hugged a pillow tightly to her chest. “Do you really think Jessica will want to talk tomorrow?”

“I hope so.”

~~~~

“I am never talking to her again!” Jessica threw her jacket on the floor as soon as she stepped into the dorm. “I don’t care what she does. She can just shove it!”

“Jessica!” Yoona chased Jessica through the dorm. “Stop being so…so you!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Jessica went into her room and slammed the door shut. She locked it and, on the off chance her friends got the door unlocked, moved her desk in front of the door to keep the door shut.

Sooyoung banged on the door with her fists. “Jessica. You come out here right now!”

“You’re not my mom!”

Sooyoung muttered something under her breath. “Yoona, you talk to her. I don’t want to deal with her tonigaht.” Sooyoung walked away and retired to her room.

“Leaving me with the dirty work…” Yoona knocked on the door gently. “Jessica, can we please talk?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Yoona walked in place. She remained silent in hopes that Jessica might come out.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty minutes passed and nothing. Yoona had sat outside Jessica’s room for twenty minutes but Jessica never came out. Yoona knocked on the door again, but she didn’t get an answer. In a last ditched effort, Yoona put her ear to the door.

zzZZzzZ

“She fell asleep on me!” Yoona looked at her watch. It was already 11:24, so she guessed she shouldn’t be surprised that Jessica knocked out. “May as well get some rest, too…”

~~~~

Eunhyuk parked his car outside of Hyoyeon’s apartment. “You going to be okay?”

Hyoyeon nodded. “Thanks for driving me home.” Hyoyeon opened the door, but Eunhyuk reached across her and shut it. “Eep!”

“If you want to talk, now would be a good time.” Eunhyuk killed the engine. Hyoyeon didn’t say anything. In fact, she didn’t even move. The cool air froze her in place. “If you want, we can talk inside your place.”

Hyoyeon nodded at this. They got out of the car and quietly made their way to Hyoyeon’s apartment. Said apartment wasn’t extravagant. It was pretty dull, really. When the lights were on, they shined on a small table that was accompanied by miss-matching chairs. Apart from that, the room was practically empty. Hyoyeon motioned for Eunhyuk to take a seat. “Sit.” Hyoyeon was clearly tense.

“Mind if I change first?” Eunhyuk pointed out the fact that he was still wearing his uniform underneath his jacket. Hyoyeon pointed him towards the bathroom. “Thanks.”

Hyoyeon called Tiffany and told her they made it to her place fine. She then paced around the while waiting for Eunhyuk to come out. He was only in the bathroom for a few minutes.

“Relax, will you?” Eunhyuk hung his uniform on the seat, dropped the car keys on the table, and sat down. “I know you want to talk. So let’s just talk now while the topic is fresh.”

Hyoyeon sat across from Eunhyuk. “What else is there to say?”

“I don’t know. Is there anything you want to clear up or say on the matter? Anything at all?”

“No. Even if I did have something to say, you made yourself pretty clear when we were at Taeyeon’s house.” Hyoyeon got up and went to her kitchen area. She grabbed two cups and filled them with water. When she returned to the table, she gave one of the glasses to Eunhyuk.

Eunhyuk took a sip before continuing. “Okay then, would you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” Hyoyeon averted her gaze and forced herself to not look at Eunhyuk.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Jungsu?”

Hyoyeon was a little startled. She didn’t expect Eunhyuk to ask about her brother. “It wouldn’t have helped for you to know the truth. What would you have done if you knew? What could you have done?”

“I could have been there for you.” Eunhyuk looked up and leaned towards Hyoyeon, who still refused to return his gaze. “I would have been there for you.”

“Don’t make silly promises like that. You’ll just get people’s hopes up.”

“Sorry.” Eunhuk moved his chair closer to Hyoyeon. He tilted her head up so her eyes would meet his. “But you know that I would never break a promise with you.”

Hyoyeon pushed Eunhyuk’s hand off of her chin. “Stop that.” Hyoyeon got up and walked to the other side of the room. She turned on the radio and changed the station to…well she just stood there changing the station. She heard Eunhyuk’s footsteps behind her. Before she could react, he reached for the tuning knob and quickly found a station. It was a slow song that came on.

Eunhyuk took a few steps back and Hyoyeon turned towards him. He had his back to her as he took off his jacket in one slick motion. When he turned back to Hyoyeon, he walked to the middle of the empty space Hyoyeon called the living room and extended a hand to Hyoyeon. “Come here.”

Hyoyeon stepped towards him and gave him her hand. Eunhyuk gently pulled her towards himself and caught her before she collided into his body. Like before, Eunhyuk tilted Hyoyeon’s head so that their eyes would meet.

Eunhyuk planted a quick kiss on Hyoyeon’s forehead. “May I have this dance?” He asked.

Hyoyeon nodded. The melody of the song carried its way to the couple. Eunhyuk took the lead as they slowly waltzed from one end of the room to the other. For the longest time, neither party spoke. Hyoyeon was dazed by the fact that she was dancing as closely as she was with Eunhyuk, and Eunhyuk did not want to ruin the moment for her.

The song came to an end, but Hyoyeon didn’t want the moment to end. She clenched her hands a bit. Eunhyuk picked up the clue and didn’t stop. They kept dancing as the next song began to play.

“I hope you know that this is just like a cruel fairytale.” Hyoyeon said out of the blue.

“How so?”

“Because…” Hyoyeon stopped moving and let go of Eunhyuk’s hand. “I’ve always wanted this moment, but not like this. Not under these circumstances, and not unless you felt the same way about me.”

Eunhyuk stepped back and sat in his seat. “I’ll be honest with you. You’re one of the few girls who I can be with and not get nervous around. You and Jungsu are like family to me. I never saw you as anything other than that.”

“That’s not comforting.”

“Just hear me out. I’ll always be here for you. That’s what family is for, right?”

“But I don’t want to just be family. I want to be special to you.”

“And you are.” Eunhyuk sighed. “You’ve heard the saying, right? That friends will come and go, but family always stays?”

Hyoyeon nodded. The look in her eyes made Eunhyuk think that she knew what he was getting at.

“We’re family. No matter what you do, no matter what happens, I will never leave you behind.”

Hyoyeon sat down in her seat. “I can’t help that I feel this way.”

“I know.” Eunhyuk patted her on the head. “You’ll find the right person sooner or later. We both will. Okay?”

Hyoyeon fixed her hair. “Yeah…um…do you want to stay the night? It’s already late, and I’d feel bad making you drive home at this time.”

“You sure? It feels weird…what if Jungsu ever found out you had a boy over?”

Hyoyeon already skipped off to her room to find spare sheets. “We’re family, right?”

Eunhyuk was caught off guard by Hyoyeon’s remark.

“Well?”

“Yeah. We are.”