Clouds (Perspectives) [2/2]
pairing: jeti - jessica/tiffany
4,195w, oneshot
rating: PG
Clouds (Perspectives)
Part 2 of 2
One year and three months ago
MBC
Yoona laid on the couch in her assigned dressing room, waiting eagerly for her turn to perform on stage. Her mobile phone buzzed atop the table and she picked it up to check the newly received message.
From: Sica
Hey Yoong, is it your turn yet? The fans here are so loud, I’m on the verge of exterminating all of them with an ice age. Some of them are holding banners for you, though. I’ll exclude them when I do.
I’ll be cheering for your performance! Hwaiting!
Yoona laughed at the message, a warm feeling engulfing her chest. However, it was short-lived as she suddenly remembered another girl who was probably somewhere next door. Tiffany was having her comeback stage today, and Yoona wondered if Tiffany knew that Jessica had turned up for the music show.
She got off the couch and left for Tiffany’s dressing room. Finding it empty, Yoona wandered around and her feet led her to the backstage area, where she found Tiffany in a discussion with her manager, probably running through some last-minute arrangements before her stage. Yoona caught her eye and signaled for them to continue, opting to ask Tiffany about it later when she was done with her discussion. She shifted her weight around a little and watched boringly at another artiste’s performance on the TV broadcasting the music show live.
Before she knew it, the MCs of the show were introducing Tiffany and a wave of panic shot through Yoona, worrying if Tiffany would show any negative reaction to seeing Jessica in the crowd. The past three months after Jessica’s departure had been anything but pleasant, and Yoona knew just how much Tiffany had forced herself to get by without the blonde haired girl.
***
One year and five months ago
Tiffany & Yoona’s apartment
“Unnie.. You gotta eat something. You can’t go on like this, you know? Thankfully you have your comeback preparations as an excuse to escape the public eye, but are you gonna return as a skeleton, huh? I’m going to leave the food on your table. Please eat it, whether you have the appetite or not. I have a schedule now, but when I come back, I hope it won’t be here anymore, kay? As much as I love eating, I can’t keep eating your share for you. I’d get fat.”
Completing her long lecture which had become a daily occurrence since almost a month ago, she gave a pat to the blob hidden under the bedsheets and exited the pink bedroom.
Tiffany thought long and hard, her conscience digging at her to look for Jessica and apologize. Yet, her steel-hard stubbornness refused to give way, rocking her mind between self-justification and surrender. With one last curse at herself, and perhaps her stardom, she yanked off the bedsheets covering her. She’d have to get by, with or without Jessica.
When Yoona walked by the room later on, she found the plate of food cleared and noticed a tear-stained pillow thrown aside. The bathroom was occupied and she pressed her ears to the door, just in case anything was going on inside.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Yoona stumbled back in shock, revealing an unamused Tiffany.
“Had fun listening to me bathe?”
Yoona observed the girl before her.
Slightly swollen eyes, but nope - not crying. Red nose, typical after having sobbed for days. Chapped lips, ah, better get her some lip moisturizer on the way back… An arched eyebrow… Hmm?
“Im Yoona. Having fun staring at me now?”
Yoona jolted out of her daze and gave Tiffany a gentle smile.
“Nope! Glad to see you back again, unnie.”
The two months after that, Tiffany had practiced for her comeback without a word of complaint - of Jessica, too, much to Yoona’s disappointment. She had hoped that the older girl would do something to recover her friendship with Jessica, but it seemed like she had completely thrown it to the back of her mind and treated it like it never existed. Yoona couldn’t do anything about it though. Better this Tiffany than a depressed and self-depriving Tiffany hidden under the blanket.
***
Yoona rushed to a spot that was blind to the audience, her eyes immediately straining to pick out a certain blonde head among the massive cheering crowd. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much to go through due to the space constraints of the studio, and Yoona found Jessica watching expectantly amidst the fans at the dimmed stage.
Seeing the look in her eyes settled Yoona’s fears and a new emotion arose.
Perhaps, there was still hope for Tiffany and Jessica’s relationship..? Holding on to the newfound hope, Yoona returned to the TV she had been watching before, silently praying that something good would come out of her by-standing in this affair. There was nothing more she could do anyway. She couldn’t possibly barge into Tiffany’s performance halfway, then pretend to be a accompanying act, right? Shrugging, Yoona crossed her arms and fixed her gaze on the main figure in the TV.
Tiffany took a deep breath to calm herself; she had flawlessly pulled off her first comeback stage, and to her dismay earlier on, the producers had arranged for her ballad to come right after her exhausting title track performance. Heck it, she thought. There was no point in complaining anymore, might as well treasure the fact that she even had the honor to perform two songs and what’s more, she ain’t that weak right?
Her eyes slowly skimmed through the crowd, conveying her emotions as she stably began.
“Please, just walk by without acknowledging me,”
“I’ve closed my heart, I’ve hidden my tears, just like a stranger you’ve seen for the first time,”
She let her emotions take over just like the hundreds of times she had practiced singing the song, memories of a certain girl subconsciously playing in her mind.
“In the memories I alone cherished, my tears fill up; even though you’re far away, I wish you happiness,”
Just then, it caught her eye. The blonde hair was impossible to miss.
You’re …here.
Jessica stared back, unable to tear her eyes away from the captivation in Tiffany’s eyes. For a few seconds, their sights were locked on one another; like the world was just the two of them - that world under the clouds they had held and squished. It might have as well been an eternity.
A few chords struck in Tiffany’s chest, and she was more than thankful that her best friend was a million times more magnanimous than herself to have come for her performance.
She made sure to put in her best effort for the remaining seconds of the song; well, she had someone to account to later.
In a moment of Jessica-glorification she had forgotten about Yoona and the strong possibility that Jessica wasn’t there for her, but for Yoona.
Tiffany paced around her dressing room, still on the high of the delight and exhilaration she had received back on stage (ironically, from the ballad and not the pop). After the last act of the music show had ended (that was Yoona), she burst out of the room, scaring a few staff members who were passing by.
She caught a glance of Jessica in the next room.
“Jessi. Jessi! Jessica!”
Yoona and Jessica turned to the source of interruption. While Yoona was delighted to see the grin on Tiffany’s face; Jessica’s forehead creased into a frown.
“I’ll leave you guys to talk.”
Yoona shuffled out of the room, busying herself with greeting fellow artistes and thanking staff members.
“Um …so. You wanted to talk?”
Tiffany’s head tilted at the lack of enthusiasm in Jessica’s voice, realization finally hitting her that Jessica was in Yoona’s dressing room first, not hers.
Though, still harbouring a sliver of hope, she took a shot at being casual.
“I missed you.” Add a puppy look to that. She can’t possibly be that hard to crack…
Something tugged at Jessica’s lips in an upward pull.
Something, the two of them recognized, as politeness.
“Thanks… I gotta go. Bye.”
Her fingers circled around the straps of her handbag in a suffocating hold as she turned and left, while the feeling of Tiffany’s eyes on her back suffocated Jessica.
I can’t trust you, Tiffany. Not yet.
Back in the dressing room, Tiffany wondered. Was this how it felt?
At least she got a goodbye in return for her shattered heart.
***
“Tiffany!”
Jessica runs, laughing and beckoning for her to follow. The sepia atmosphere baffles Tiffany, but she follows anyway; the blonde gaining in distance from her.
“Jessi, wait!”
The girl doesn’t look back, disappearing in the woods. Panic strikes Tiffany as she ventures deeper into the darkness, the trees seeming to tower over her with startling animation.
“Jessi!” she screams.
All of a sudden, the trees morph into menacing beings circling her; beings she recognize as her company’s shareholders, men she’s met at parties, women who’ve befriended her but secretly tried to bring her down. They laugh with evil intentions; of mockery, of delight at gaining a new slave under their wing.
Under all that, a resounding echo whispers to her.
“- let me go… Don’t let me go… Don’t let me go… Don’t…”
“Jessica!”
Tiffany jolted with alarming alertness; her senses heightened. Her heartbeat reverberated throughout her entire body, every vessel pumping her blood vigorously.
The door opened, revealing a threatening dark figure which headed for her with horrifying speed. Tiffany screamed her lungs out.
The figure cowered in fright, limbs flailing in defence.
“UNNIE, UNNIE, STOP, IT’S ME!”
Stick thin arms wrapped around her, and just as her brain calculated how much (or little) strength it would take to break these arms, her eyes adjusted to the light seeping in from the corridor and she found a pair of doe eyes staring widely at her in fear.
Her self-defense mechanism shattered in an instant.
“Yoo-Yoona…”
The younger girl held and stroked a broken Tiffany as she sobbed, walled-in stress and depression of the past period all releasing at once.
***
“Tiffany Hwang, who has gained a significantly impressive reputation through her talent as a performer, has unexpectedly announced her plans of withdrawing from the entertainment industry. A press conference held with her management revealed that the decision was made due to personal reasons which Hwang has requested to be undisclosed. Interviews have been rejected, but we seek to bring you further updates as soon as possible. This is Kang Jang-Eun, reporting live from KBS News.”
Jessica sat with mouth agape, stunned by the shocking news. Never mind the press, but the news would definitely have created an uproar amongst her expansive fanbase, of which she would have hated to let down.
Why?
She picked up her phone; there was only one reliable source she could count on.
“Yoong?”
***
Tiffany took a deep breath, enjoying the serenity of good ol’ nature. She plopped down on the grass without reservations, brushing her arms and legs on the feeble greens beneath her.
Still as soft as summer.
She smiled. Letting go of everything she had worked for had been wasteful, but she didn’t regret it one bit. The cotton clouds set against the azure sky was rewarding enough; a gentle breeze brushed her cheek.
She lifted her arm, reminiscing as her finger dragged the white decoration across the wide canvas, even if they were out of reach. Her eyes drooped to a close.
Some things you don’t need to possess to enjoy…
“So, have you woken up from your dream already?”
Tiffany’s eyelids sprung apart at the intrusion to her peace, but realization of its identity appeased her. She dropped her arm back to her side.
“No... In fact, I think I’ve finally returned to it.”
Both girls stared up at the passing clouds, silently admiring their beauty.
A/N: Finally completed after months of start-stop procrastinative writing. Creds for the opening quote go to darkaslay@LJ, I've gotten approval from him/her for it. (: Hope you enjoyed this read!
4,195w, oneshot
rating: PG
Clouds (Perspectives)
Part 2 of 2
One year and three months ago
MBC
Yoona laid on the couch in her assigned dressing room, waiting eagerly for her turn to perform on stage. Her mobile phone buzzed atop the table and she picked it up to check the newly received message.
From: Sica
Hey Yoong, is it your turn yet? The fans here are so loud, I’m on the verge of exterminating all of them with an ice age. Some of them are holding banners for you, though. I’ll exclude them when I do.
I’ll be cheering for your performance! Hwaiting!
Yoona laughed at the message, a warm feeling engulfing her chest. However, it was short-lived as she suddenly remembered another girl who was probably somewhere next door. Tiffany was having her comeback stage today, and Yoona wondered if Tiffany knew that Jessica had turned up for the music show.
She got off the couch and left for Tiffany’s dressing room. Finding it empty, Yoona wandered around and her feet led her to the backstage area, where she found Tiffany in a discussion with her manager, probably running through some last-minute arrangements before her stage. Yoona caught her eye and signaled for them to continue, opting to ask Tiffany about it later when she was done with her discussion. She shifted her weight around a little and watched boringly at another artiste’s performance on the TV broadcasting the music show live.
Before she knew it, the MCs of the show were introducing Tiffany and a wave of panic shot through Yoona, worrying if Tiffany would show any negative reaction to seeing Jessica in the crowd. The past three months after Jessica’s departure had been anything but pleasant, and Yoona knew just how much Tiffany had forced herself to get by without the blonde haired girl.
***
One year and five months ago
Tiffany & Yoona’s apartment
“Unnie.. You gotta eat something. You can’t go on like this, you know? Thankfully you have your comeback preparations as an excuse to escape the public eye, but are you gonna return as a skeleton, huh? I’m going to leave the food on your table. Please eat it, whether you have the appetite or not. I have a schedule now, but when I come back, I hope it won’t be here anymore, kay? As much as I love eating, I can’t keep eating your share for you. I’d get fat.”
Completing her long lecture which had become a daily occurrence since almost a month ago, she gave a pat to the blob hidden under the bedsheets and exited the pink bedroom.
Tiffany thought long and hard, her conscience digging at her to look for Jessica and apologize. Yet, her steel-hard stubbornness refused to give way, rocking her mind between self-justification and surrender. With one last curse at herself, and perhaps her stardom, she yanked off the bedsheets covering her. She’d have to get by, with or without Jessica.
When Yoona walked by the room later on, she found the plate of food cleared and noticed a tear-stained pillow thrown aside. The bathroom was occupied and she pressed her ears to the door, just in case anything was going on inside.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Yoona stumbled back in shock, revealing an unamused Tiffany.
“Had fun listening to me bathe?”
Yoona observed the girl before her.
Slightly swollen eyes, but nope - not crying. Red nose, typical after having sobbed for days. Chapped lips, ah, better get her some lip moisturizer on the way back… An arched eyebrow… Hmm?
“Im Yoona. Having fun staring at me now?”
Yoona jolted out of her daze and gave Tiffany a gentle smile.
“Nope! Glad to see you back again, unnie.”
The two months after that, Tiffany had practiced for her comeback without a word of complaint - of Jessica, too, much to Yoona’s disappointment. She had hoped that the older girl would do something to recover her friendship with Jessica, but it seemed like she had completely thrown it to the back of her mind and treated it like it never existed. Yoona couldn’t do anything about it though. Better this Tiffany than a depressed and self-depriving Tiffany hidden under the blanket.
***
Yoona rushed to a spot that was blind to the audience, her eyes immediately straining to pick out a certain blonde head among the massive cheering crowd. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much to go through due to the space constraints of the studio, and Yoona found Jessica watching expectantly amidst the fans at the dimmed stage.
Seeing the look in her eyes settled Yoona’s fears and a new emotion arose.
Perhaps, there was still hope for Tiffany and Jessica’s relationship..? Holding on to the newfound hope, Yoona returned to the TV she had been watching before, silently praying that something good would come out of her by-standing in this affair. There was nothing more she could do anyway. She couldn’t possibly barge into Tiffany’s performance halfway, then pretend to be a accompanying act, right? Shrugging, Yoona crossed her arms and fixed her gaze on the main figure in the TV.
Tiffany took a deep breath to calm herself; she had flawlessly pulled off her first comeback stage, and to her dismay earlier on, the producers had arranged for her ballad to come right after her exhausting title track performance. Heck it, she thought. There was no point in complaining anymore, might as well treasure the fact that she even had the honor to perform two songs and what’s more, she ain’t that weak right?
Her eyes slowly skimmed through the crowd, conveying her emotions as she stably began.
“Please, just walk by without acknowledging me,”
“I’ve closed my heart, I’ve hidden my tears, just like a stranger you’ve seen for the first time,”
She let her emotions take over just like the hundreds of times she had practiced singing the song, memories of a certain girl subconsciously playing in her mind.
“In the memories I alone cherished, my tears fill up; even though you’re far away, I wish you happiness,”
Just then, it caught her eye. The blonde hair was impossible to miss.
You’re …here.
Jessica stared back, unable to tear her eyes away from the captivation in Tiffany’s eyes. For a few seconds, their sights were locked on one another; like the world was just the two of them - that world under the clouds they had held and squished. It might have as well been an eternity.
A few chords struck in Tiffany’s chest, and she was more than thankful that her best friend was a million times more magnanimous than herself to have come for her performance.
She made sure to put in her best effort for the remaining seconds of the song; well, she had someone to account to later.
In a moment of Jessica-glorification she had forgotten about Yoona and the strong possibility that Jessica wasn’t there for her, but for Yoona.
Tiffany paced around her dressing room, still on the high of the delight and exhilaration she had received back on stage (ironically, from the ballad and not the pop). After the last act of the music show had ended (that was Yoona), she burst out of the room, scaring a few staff members who were passing by.
She caught a glance of Jessica in the next room.
“Jessi. Jessi! Jessica!”
Yoona and Jessica turned to the source of interruption. While Yoona was delighted to see the grin on Tiffany’s face; Jessica’s forehead creased into a frown.
“I’ll leave you guys to talk.”
Yoona shuffled out of the room, busying herself with greeting fellow artistes and thanking staff members.
“Um …so. You wanted to talk?”
Tiffany’s head tilted at the lack of enthusiasm in Jessica’s voice, realization finally hitting her that Jessica was in Yoona’s dressing room first, not hers.
Though, still harbouring a sliver of hope, she took a shot at being casual.
“I missed you.” Add a puppy look to that. She can’t possibly be that hard to crack…
Something tugged at Jessica’s lips in an upward pull.
Something, the two of them recognized, as politeness.
“Thanks… I gotta go. Bye.”
Her fingers circled around the straps of her handbag in a suffocating hold as she turned and left, while the feeling of Tiffany’s eyes on her back suffocated Jessica.
I can’t trust you, Tiffany. Not yet.
Back in the dressing room, Tiffany wondered. Was this how it felt?
At least she got a goodbye in return for her shattered heart.
***
“Tiffany!”
Jessica runs, laughing and beckoning for her to follow. The sepia atmosphere baffles Tiffany, but she follows anyway; the blonde gaining in distance from her.
“Jessi, wait!”
The girl doesn’t look back, disappearing in the woods. Panic strikes Tiffany as she ventures deeper into the darkness, the trees seeming to tower over her with startling animation.
“Jessi!” she screams.
All of a sudden, the trees morph into menacing beings circling her; beings she recognize as her company’s shareholders, men she’s met at parties, women who’ve befriended her but secretly tried to bring her down. They laugh with evil intentions; of mockery, of delight at gaining a new slave under their wing.
Under all that, a resounding echo whispers to her.
“- let me go… Don’t let me go… Don’t let me go… Don’t…”
“Jessica!”
Tiffany jolted with alarming alertness; her senses heightened. Her heartbeat reverberated throughout her entire body, every vessel pumping her blood vigorously.
The door opened, revealing a threatening dark figure which headed for her with horrifying speed. Tiffany screamed her lungs out.
The figure cowered in fright, limbs flailing in defence.
“UNNIE, UNNIE, STOP, IT’S ME!”
Stick thin arms wrapped around her, and just as her brain calculated how much (or little) strength it would take to break these arms, her eyes adjusted to the light seeping in from the corridor and she found a pair of doe eyes staring widely at her in fear.
Her self-defense mechanism shattered in an instant.
“Yoo-Yoona…”
The younger girl held and stroked a broken Tiffany as she sobbed, walled-in stress and depression of the past period all releasing at once.
***
“Tiffany Hwang, who has gained a significantly impressive reputation through her talent as a performer, has unexpectedly announced her plans of withdrawing from the entertainment industry. A press conference held with her management revealed that the decision was made due to personal reasons which Hwang has requested to be undisclosed. Interviews have been rejected, but we seek to bring you further updates as soon as possible. This is Kang Jang-Eun, reporting live from KBS News.”
Jessica sat with mouth agape, stunned by the shocking news. Never mind the press, but the news would definitely have created an uproar amongst her expansive fanbase, of which she would have hated to let down.
Why?
She picked up her phone; there was only one reliable source she could count on.
“Yoong?”
***
Tiffany took a deep breath, enjoying the serenity of good ol’ nature. She plopped down on the grass without reservations, brushing her arms and legs on the feeble greens beneath her.
Still as soft as summer.
She smiled. Letting go of everything she had worked for had been wasteful, but she didn’t regret it one bit. The cotton clouds set against the azure sky was rewarding enough; a gentle breeze brushed her cheek.
She lifted her arm, reminiscing as her finger dragged the white decoration across the wide canvas, even if they were out of reach. Her eyes drooped to a close.
Some things you don’t need to possess to enjoy…
“So, have you woken up from your dream already?”
Tiffany’s eyelids sprung apart at the intrusion to her peace, but realization of its identity appeased her. She dropped her arm back to her side.
“No... In fact, I think I’ve finally returned to it.”
Both girls stared up at the passing clouds, silently admiring their beauty.
A/N: Finally completed after months of start-stop procrastinative writing. Creds for the opening quote go to darkaslay@LJ, I've gotten approval from him/her for it. (: Hope you enjoyed this read!