Alive Pt 3
Title: Alive Pt 3
Author: limnological
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: TaengSic
Description: AU
It just happens. Visiting the kids on Tuesdays becomes visiting the kids and Jessica on Tuesdays. Something about pissing off the authoritative figures around here had bonded the two to become friends.
A knock on the door reverberates throughout Jessica’s room as Taeyeon enters, yellow paper crane in hand. Jessica is sitting in her bed upright with a blue notebook and pen in hand. The cap of the pen hangs from her mouth as she chews on it gently. She doesn’t seem to notice Taeyeon until the girl sits next to her bedside.
“What are you doing?”
The blonde’s brows are furrowed in deep concentration.
“Writing my hit list.”
Taeyeon peeks over, noting that none of the words look like names.
“Liar.” Setting the paper crane onto her table side, she asks, “Can I read it?”
“I’ll read it to you,” Jessica speaks slowly, pen cap still in between her lips. “Roses are red, violets are blue, people are dead, and soon you will be too.”
“That is so not what it says.”
Jessica smiles cheekily, “Wasn’t that a great poem for my hit list? It’ll be a nice warning to them.”
Taeyeon just scoffs and snatches the notebook from Jessica’s hands.
Here I am again, writing about you,
trying to set you free with my words
but the reality is that
I’m just building you a bigger home in my heart.
Taeyeon is taken back as she stares back and forth between the poetic words and Jessica.
“You did not write this.”
“First you steal my notebook, then you accuse me of plagiarism. How dare you?”
“Jessica. This is good. I didn’t know you wrote poetry.”
Jessica just plasters on that same cheeky grin she usually has.
“I’m the queen of bullshitting.”
“Singing sad love songs, writing poetry… I’m starting to get the impression that you’re quite the closet romanticist.”
Jessica just grins, a certain twinkle in her eyes as she holds out her hand.
“Notebook, please.” The blue notebook passes between their hands. “So what’s the visit for?”
Nudging her head towards the crane, Taeyeon takes out more paper from her bag.
“Kyungsan wanted me to deliver it to you. He said that ‘Sleepy Ahjumma’s hair is this color.’”
Jessica snorts at the comment, picking up the crane from the bed side to inspect it.
“Are they getting bored of folding cranes yet?”
“Almost. They enjoy your company, too, by the way.”
“As they should. I do bring the party with me wherever I go.”
It’s moments like these that Taeyeon wants to strangle her.
“Oh shut up.”
Jessica just grins.
--
Taeyeon sits by her bedside as they fold paper cranes together. She holds her laughter in as she steals glances at Jessica’s unshapely attempts scattered on top of the bed sheets.
“Origami is the devil.” Jessica mutters as she almost rips one of the wings off.
“Quit blaming your lack of talents in folding paper on some entity.”
Counting off her traits with her fingers, she grins, “Good at singing, good looks, great personality, beautiful smile… I don’t have enough fingers to count my redeemable traits. God just couldn’t let me have it all so he took away my talents in the origami category.”
Taeyeon just scoffs, “When does your cocky side take a break?”
“Never. It’s one of my charms and you like it.”
“Whatever. By the way, what were you diagnosed with?”
“A disease.” She doesn’t even look up from the crane as she replies.
“What kind of answer... What’s the name?”
Eyes still kept on her hands, she speaks, “You don’t need to worry about such petty details. This paper is defected.”
The change in conversation was abrupt. Taeyeon picks up on the behavior, carefully noting that Jessica didn’t seem too fond about talking about her illness.
--
After making her weekly visit to the kids, Taeyeon peeks into Jessica’s room only to find her sleeping soundly already. Her blue notebook is left open on her lap as her pencil has fallen to the ground. Quietly, Taeyeon tiptoes over to move the notebook for her. Picking up the notebook, she reads the first poem she sees.
Shake me to the clouds, lift me to the ground
Crash me with your wind, soak my skin with your dreams
She wonders how Jessica comes up with words like that, construing them together for interesting images. As she takes her leave, her eyes catch the stack of paper cranes in the corner. There must be at least fifty of them so far.
A smile surfaces on Taeyeon’s face.
Perhaps Jessica was trying to fold a thousand cranes like Taeyeon had jokingly challenged her to do so their first meeting.
--
“It’s not even Tuesday and you’re here to visit again. Can’t get enough of my presence, eh?”
Taeyeon just scoffs as she pulls out colorful paper from her purse.
“You’ve heard of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes right?”
“Yeah. Little girl tried to fold a thousand cranes before she passed away from leukemia. Aren’t you proud that I’m well versed with literature?”
“Please don’t try to act proud; I was required to read it when I was twelve years old.”
“Heh, whatever. Anyway, why bring up the story?”
“I think you’re trying to make a thousand like she did.”
Jessica waves her hand off at the statement.
“Now you’re putting words in my mouth.”
“I’m here to help.” Taeyeon hands her a green piece of paper.
Jessica takes it and shrugs her shoulders.
“Why not? There’s not much to do here anyways. What do you do after you make all one thousand?”
“You make a wish and burn it.”
“All that effort just to burn it!?” Jessica’s face scrunches up in surprise, “That’s ridiculous.”
“I didn’t make the rules,” Taeyeon says after chuckling, “What are you going to wish for?”
“It’s a secret,” Jessica sticks her tongue out.
--
Hospital food isn’t anyone’s favorite. Jell-O was Jessica’s companion while sandwiches and peach juice was Taeyeon’s. Even when Jessica makes a snarky remark about how plain Taeyeon’s sandwiches are, the older girl doesn’t bite back. She lets Jessica win during dinner time as she just relishes in the moment.
She sits in front of Jessica, eyes watching the red Jell-O get scooped up and then averts her eyes to her own sandwich.
Dinner for two.
Not one anymore.
--
“Drinks are on me tonight, Taeyeon!” Sooyoung hooks her arm around Taeyeon’s shoulders, excited for the weekend to begin. It’s almost time for them to clock out.
“Can’t. Sorry, I mean, I won’t be going tonight.”
“What! Why not!”
“It’s Tue -” She wants to say Tuesday for the sake of their conversation always turning that way, but it wasn’t Tuesday. It was Friday.
“Wait a minute. You going to the hospital again? But it’s not even Tuesday!”
“I’ve got someone to visit.”
“Such an angelic soul. Who are you visiting besides the kids?”
Taeyeon just laughs at the statement.
“I’m vising a woman who is rude and arrogant, bitchy, haughty and cocky at times. Scratch that, all the time.”
“Sounds like a keeper. She must have saved a country in their last life to be graced with your angelic presence.”
“Pfft. I’ll have to let her know you said that one. She’ll have a good laugh at that.”
“One day I’ll grow some wings like you and do charity work… But tonight I’m going to party!”
Taeyeon just laughs as the door suddenly swings open and their supervisor raises his eyebrows at the loud employees. The two women bow their heads out of respect and return to their offices.
--
“She said that I must have saved a country?” Jessica’s face is distorted into pure horror, “She’s got it backwards. You must have saved a country to be graced with my presence.”
“If you weren’t sick, I would take that pillow and beat you with it.”
“I guess there are some perks to being ill.” She sticks her tongue out playfully. “Oh, quick hand me my laptop! Hurry!”
Taeyeon does so and Jessica flips the lid up, typing in a URL with Godspeed.
“What are you doing?” Taeyeon asks as she moves her chair to face the computer screen.
“A new episode of ‘Attack on Titan’ came out.”
“What’s that?”
“Shh.”
The opening song plays as Taeyeon shrugs her shoulders and watches with her.
“Is that a giant naked man eating - Ew?”
“Shh! The badass character is coming up.”
A black haired girl uses her blades to slice flesh off the back of the titan’s neck. Its grotesque, but both of them cannot take their eyes off the screen.
Twenty minutes later, she’s engrossed into the show like Jessica is.
“I have got to catch up.” Taeyeon mutters as she is still awestricken by the episode.
Jessica just nods her head, handing the laptop back to Taeyeon.
“Go forth, young Padawan.”
--
“Ahjumma, tell us a story.” Jiyoo mutters, head resting on her hand as she sits cross legged in front of Taeyeon. The kids pick at the paper, clearly bored of folding cranes. They’ve started to make airplanes and rip the paper into weird shapes.
“Alright, alright. Gather round.”
The others form a circle as she opens up the big picture book.
“Legend says there once was a village where a rabbit, a fox, and a monkey lived. The three devoted themselves to Buddhism and spent much time in its study and practice. One day, the Emperor of the Heavens looked upon them and to test their faith, told them to bring him something to eat. The three set off to fulfill his wish. Consequently, the fox returned with fish, the monkey with fruit, and the rabbit, who could do nothing but gather grass, lit a fire with it and jumped in, offering his own self. His commitment earned the approval of the Emperor and he was placed in the moon as its guardian, with “smoke” surrounding him as a reminder of his endeavor.”
All of the kids stared at Taeyeon with wide eyes and she realized that they must’ve been a bit confused by the gruesome ending.
Clearing her throat, she tries to explain.
“The rabbit sacrificed himself in a valiant way for the Emperor of the Heavens. By doing so, the Emperor of the Heavens really respected him for that.”
Some of the kids nod their heads while Kyungsan starts to rip the piece of paper into a bunny shape. The others quickly join, making a monkey and fox at first, then other animals. Taeyeon just smiles, glad they weren’t too focused on the death of the rabbit.
--
Taeyeon knocks on Jessica’s door, making her way to the usual seat.
“Hey.”
The big picture book is tucked underneath Taeyeon’s arm.
“Read another one of your stories to the kids?”
“Yeah, just finished. They seem officially bored of folding paper cranes.”
“I’ve been bored of folding them.”
“Uh huh.” Taeyeon grins as she peeks at the corner of the room. There’s probably at least a hundred stacked up.
“Why do you read those folklores and stories to the children? They are probably too young to understand the morals and values of them.”
“It’s to distract them. Sometimes a good story is all you need for a good laugh or moment to take you away from reality.”
“You’re pretty soft.” Jessica mutters as she tosses her finished crane into the corner.
“I could say the same about you.”
Jessica’s hands come up in a shooing motion. “Go home already.”
Taeyeon just smiles, noting the tinge of red on Jessica’s ears.
Author: limnological
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: TaengSic
Description: AU
It just happens. Visiting the kids on Tuesdays becomes visiting the kids and Jessica on Tuesdays. Something about pissing off the authoritative figures around here had bonded the two to become friends.
A knock on the door reverberates throughout Jessica’s room as Taeyeon enters, yellow paper crane in hand. Jessica is sitting in her bed upright with a blue notebook and pen in hand. The cap of the pen hangs from her mouth as she chews on it gently. She doesn’t seem to notice Taeyeon until the girl sits next to her bedside.
“What are you doing?”
The blonde’s brows are furrowed in deep concentration.
“Writing my hit list.”
Taeyeon peeks over, noting that none of the words look like names.
“Liar.” Setting the paper crane onto her table side, she asks, “Can I read it?”
“I’ll read it to you,” Jessica speaks slowly, pen cap still in between her lips. “Roses are red, violets are blue, people are dead, and soon you will be too.”
“That is so not what it says.”
Jessica smiles cheekily, “Wasn’t that a great poem for my hit list? It’ll be a nice warning to them.”
Taeyeon just scoffs and snatches the notebook from Jessica’s hands.
Here I am again, writing about you,
trying to set you free with my words
but the reality is that
I’m just building you a bigger home in my heart.
Taeyeon is taken back as she stares back and forth between the poetic words and Jessica.
“You did not write this.”
“First you steal my notebook, then you accuse me of plagiarism. How dare you?”
“Jessica. This is good. I didn’t know you wrote poetry.”
Jessica just plasters on that same cheeky grin she usually has.
“I’m the queen of bullshitting.”
“Singing sad love songs, writing poetry… I’m starting to get the impression that you’re quite the closet romanticist.”
Jessica just grins, a certain twinkle in her eyes as she holds out her hand.
“Notebook, please.” The blue notebook passes between their hands. “So what’s the visit for?”
Nudging her head towards the crane, Taeyeon takes out more paper from her bag.
“Kyungsan wanted me to deliver it to you. He said that ‘Sleepy Ahjumma’s hair is this color.’”
Jessica snorts at the comment, picking up the crane from the bed side to inspect it.
“Are they getting bored of folding cranes yet?”
“Almost. They enjoy your company, too, by the way.”
“As they should. I do bring the party with me wherever I go.”
It’s moments like these that Taeyeon wants to strangle her.
“Oh shut up.”
Jessica just grins.
--
Taeyeon sits by her bedside as they fold paper cranes together. She holds her laughter in as she steals glances at Jessica’s unshapely attempts scattered on top of the bed sheets.
“Origami is the devil.” Jessica mutters as she almost rips one of the wings off.
“Quit blaming your lack of talents in folding paper on some entity.”
Counting off her traits with her fingers, she grins, “Good at singing, good looks, great personality, beautiful smile… I don’t have enough fingers to count my redeemable traits. God just couldn’t let me have it all so he took away my talents in the origami category.”
Taeyeon just scoffs, “When does your cocky side take a break?”
“Never. It’s one of my charms and you like it.”
“Whatever. By the way, what were you diagnosed with?”
“A disease.” She doesn’t even look up from the crane as she replies.
“What kind of answer... What’s the name?”
Eyes still kept on her hands, she speaks, “You don’t need to worry about such petty details. This paper is defected.”
The change in conversation was abrupt. Taeyeon picks up on the behavior, carefully noting that Jessica didn’t seem too fond about talking about her illness.
--
After making her weekly visit to the kids, Taeyeon peeks into Jessica’s room only to find her sleeping soundly already. Her blue notebook is left open on her lap as her pencil has fallen to the ground. Quietly, Taeyeon tiptoes over to move the notebook for her. Picking up the notebook, she reads the first poem she sees.
Shake me to the clouds, lift me to the ground
Crash me with your wind, soak my skin with your dreams
She wonders how Jessica comes up with words like that, construing them together for interesting images. As she takes her leave, her eyes catch the stack of paper cranes in the corner. There must be at least fifty of them so far.
A smile surfaces on Taeyeon’s face.
Perhaps Jessica was trying to fold a thousand cranes like Taeyeon had jokingly challenged her to do so their first meeting.
--
“It’s not even Tuesday and you’re here to visit again. Can’t get enough of my presence, eh?”
Taeyeon just scoffs as she pulls out colorful paper from her purse.
“You’ve heard of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes right?”
“Yeah. Little girl tried to fold a thousand cranes before she passed away from leukemia. Aren’t you proud that I’m well versed with literature?”
“Please don’t try to act proud; I was required to read it when I was twelve years old.”
“Heh, whatever. Anyway, why bring up the story?”
“I think you’re trying to make a thousand like she did.”
Jessica waves her hand off at the statement.
“Now you’re putting words in my mouth.”
“I’m here to help.” Taeyeon hands her a green piece of paper.
Jessica takes it and shrugs her shoulders.
“Why not? There’s not much to do here anyways. What do you do after you make all one thousand?”
“You make a wish and burn it.”
“All that effort just to burn it!?” Jessica’s face scrunches up in surprise, “That’s ridiculous.”
“I didn’t make the rules,” Taeyeon says after chuckling, “What are you going to wish for?”
“It’s a secret,” Jessica sticks her tongue out.
--
Hospital food isn’t anyone’s favorite. Jell-O was Jessica’s companion while sandwiches and peach juice was Taeyeon’s. Even when Jessica makes a snarky remark about how plain Taeyeon’s sandwiches are, the older girl doesn’t bite back. She lets Jessica win during dinner time as she just relishes in the moment.
She sits in front of Jessica, eyes watching the red Jell-O get scooped up and then averts her eyes to her own sandwich.
Dinner for two.
Not one anymore.
--
“Drinks are on me tonight, Taeyeon!” Sooyoung hooks her arm around Taeyeon’s shoulders, excited for the weekend to begin. It’s almost time for them to clock out.
“Can’t. Sorry, I mean, I won’t be going tonight.”
“What! Why not!”
“It’s Tue -” She wants to say Tuesday for the sake of their conversation always turning that way, but it wasn’t Tuesday. It was Friday.
“Wait a minute. You going to the hospital again? But it’s not even Tuesday!”
“I’ve got someone to visit.”
“Such an angelic soul. Who are you visiting besides the kids?”
Taeyeon just laughs at the statement.
“I’m vising a woman who is rude and arrogant, bitchy, haughty and cocky at times. Scratch that, all the time.”
“Sounds like a keeper. She must have saved a country in their last life to be graced with your angelic presence.”
“Pfft. I’ll have to let her know you said that one. She’ll have a good laugh at that.”
“One day I’ll grow some wings like you and do charity work… But tonight I’m going to party!”
Taeyeon just laughs as the door suddenly swings open and their supervisor raises his eyebrows at the loud employees. The two women bow their heads out of respect and return to their offices.
--
“She said that I must have saved a country?” Jessica’s face is distorted into pure horror, “She’s got it backwards. You must have saved a country to be graced with my presence.”
“If you weren’t sick, I would take that pillow and beat you with it.”
“I guess there are some perks to being ill.” She sticks her tongue out playfully. “Oh, quick hand me my laptop! Hurry!”
Taeyeon does so and Jessica flips the lid up, typing in a URL with Godspeed.
“What are you doing?” Taeyeon asks as she moves her chair to face the computer screen.
“A new episode of ‘Attack on Titan’ came out.”
“What’s that?”
“Shh.”
The opening song plays as Taeyeon shrugs her shoulders and watches with her.
“Is that a giant naked man eating - Ew?”
“Shh! The badass character is coming up.”
A black haired girl uses her blades to slice flesh off the back of the titan’s neck. Its grotesque, but both of them cannot take their eyes off the screen.
Twenty minutes later, she’s engrossed into the show like Jessica is.
“I have got to catch up.” Taeyeon mutters as she is still awestricken by the episode.
Jessica just nods her head, handing the laptop back to Taeyeon.
“Go forth, young Padawan.”
--
“Ahjumma, tell us a story.” Jiyoo mutters, head resting on her hand as she sits cross legged in front of Taeyeon. The kids pick at the paper, clearly bored of folding cranes. They’ve started to make airplanes and rip the paper into weird shapes.
“Alright, alright. Gather round.”
The others form a circle as she opens up the big picture book.
“Legend says there once was a village where a rabbit, a fox, and a monkey lived. The three devoted themselves to Buddhism and spent much time in its study and practice. One day, the Emperor of the Heavens looked upon them and to test their faith, told them to bring him something to eat. The three set off to fulfill his wish. Consequently, the fox returned with fish, the monkey with fruit, and the rabbit, who could do nothing but gather grass, lit a fire with it and jumped in, offering his own self. His commitment earned the approval of the Emperor and he was placed in the moon as its guardian, with “smoke” surrounding him as a reminder of his endeavor.”
All of the kids stared at Taeyeon with wide eyes and she realized that they must’ve been a bit confused by the gruesome ending.
Clearing her throat, she tries to explain.
“The rabbit sacrificed himself in a valiant way for the Emperor of the Heavens. By doing so, the Emperor of the Heavens really respected him for that.”
Some of the kids nod their heads while Kyungsan starts to rip the piece of paper into a bunny shape. The others quickly join, making a monkey and fox at first, then other animals. Taeyeon just smiles, glad they weren’t too focused on the death of the rabbit.
--
Taeyeon knocks on Jessica’s door, making her way to the usual seat.
“Hey.”
The big picture book is tucked underneath Taeyeon’s arm.
“Read another one of your stories to the kids?”
“Yeah, just finished. They seem officially bored of folding paper cranes.”
“I’ve been bored of folding them.”
“Uh huh.” Taeyeon grins as she peeks at the corner of the room. There’s probably at least a hundred stacked up.
“Why do you read those folklores and stories to the children? They are probably too young to understand the morals and values of them.”
“It’s to distract them. Sometimes a good story is all you need for a good laugh or moment to take you away from reality.”
“You’re pretty soft.” Jessica mutters as she tosses her finished crane into the corner.
“I could say the same about you.”
Jessica’s hands come up in a shooing motion. “Go home already.”
Taeyeon just smiles, noting the tinge of red on Jessica’s ears.