It was 7pm when Taeyeon walked into the office building. The lights at the entrance were already dimmed and Taeyeon noted that the lobby was void of any office workers clad in their business suits.

Silly, it was 7 pm after all. Who in their right mind would still be working at such timing on a holiday eve no less? There was only one person Taeyeon could think of and she was seriously hoping that her intuition would be right. The person Taeyeon had come for had better be in the office or it would have been a total waste of time making that detour.

A single breathing soul was spotted at the lift area, and he gave Taeyeon a jovial wave. She had been such a familiar face at this time of the night for the past few months that the night shift security guard, Mr. Johnson, did not bother asking for identifications before allowing her into the establishment. Taeyeon acknowledged the middle aged man with a smile of her own before getting into the metal box and jamming her finger on the button for the 23^rd floor. The doors closed and the elevator began its ascend.

Taeyeon slouched against the wall, fidgeting with the brown leather strap of the watch on her right wrist. It was a birthday gift from 9 years back, but Taeyeon had only dug it out from where it had been collecting dust a week ago, when she briefly flew back to Korea for family matters.

Reason being, it hurts like whenever she looked at it and got reminded of the person who gave it to her. Though recently, the pain had subsided to just a dulling ache. She had also convinced herself that she was only wearing it because she had somehow managed to smash her previous watch to bits and there was no time to go shopping for a new one. Accidence. But in reality, there was nothing wrong with the previous watch apart from a few scratches from years of wear and tear.

The person who gifted her the watch had been someone who meant the whole world to Taeyeon then, and looking at it now, Taeyeon wondered if that person still means that much to her. Before Taeyeon could drown herself in her own thoughts, the elevator dinged, signaling her arrival on the 23^rd floor.

She in a deep breath, exhaled and exited.

The office area was pitch black, save for the light coming through the door gap at the far end of the corridor. Taeyeon had never been afraid of the dark, or believed in the existence of supernatural beings for that matter. She much preferred the security darkness provides to be herself, but that day, she found herself walking quickly towards the source of light for some unknown reasons, wanting to leave the dreariness behind.

When the source of light was just a door away, Taeyeon collected herself, patting away imaginary dust on her navy blue duffle coat, not like she could see them in the dark anyway. She rapped on the door once, and without waiting for permission to enter, she turned the knob and pushed it open.

“H-h.” Damn. Her voice came out raspy, probably due to the cold wind outside. She cleared and tried again. “Hey.”

“Taeyeon.”

Hearing her name rolled out of the brunette’s tongue in such a familiar manner, the corner of her lips tugged upwards forming a little smile in spite of herself. She coughed once, putting her straight face back on.

“It’s New Year’s eve.” Taeyeon invited herself into Jessica’s office, leaning against the brunette’s work desk. “What are you doing alone in the office? Shouldn’t you be out celebrating?”

“I was waiting for you.”

Ha. As if.

Taeyeon scoffed and shook her head with a smirk. They both knew Jessica was not aware of Taeyeon’s visit beforehand. She was merely ‘passing by’ when she decided on impulse to check if the workaholic was in her office by any chance, and there she was.

Taeyeon knew Jessica was there because of work. There was still work to be done and Jessica always set an agenda for herself at the start of each day. The ambition to tick them all off the list by the end of the day was very real, even when she had accidentally penned down more than she could handle. The brunette never changed since their university days and Taeyeon doubted she ever will. This particular trait of Jessica was probably the reason why she always came in second place for exams with the first place going undoubtedly to Taeyeon, because Taeyeon was kind of smarter and nobody could beat her no matter how hard they tried. But she would not go as far as calling herself a genius, definitely not, just a tad bit smarter than the average people.

“And now that I am here, shall we leave?” Taeyeon was bored and needed some company thus she decided to play along, flicking her wrist to check the time- 7:16pm. “The jam near the hotel is pretty bad. I’ll be damned if I miss the fireworks.”

Just then, a familiar pen on Jessica’s desk piqued her interest. Taeyeon lifted it up and inspected it under the light- A classic white Montblanc fountain pen with rose gold ts and light pink Italic prints ‘Jessica. J’ lasered onto the side. Taeyeon had most certainly not expected to see the pen on Jessica’s desk of all places.

Jessica Jung. You mysterious little thing.

It was an expensive fountain pen; that much she knew. But it did not stop Taeyeon from twirling it between her fingers boldly, not caring that there was a small possibility of her dropping that thing onto the ground, and if she did drop it, chances were that Jessica might get very upset.

“No, you won’t miss the fireworks. I’ll personally see to it.”

While Taeyeon was busy toying with the pen, Jessica had finished picking up her belongings and noticed what Taeyeon was doing. Immediately, the pen was grabbed back mid twirl, leaving Taeyeon to stare blankly at the empty spaces between her fingers where the pen had been moments ago. Taeyeon dropped her hand limply onto her lap and observed the way Jessica gingerly placed the pen back into its casing before locking it in the drawer.

“Come on Taengoo, I’m switching off the lights.”

Taeyeon’s eyebrows twitched at the sudden use of endearment.

Taengoo? How interesting.

It had been a very long time since she last heard someone use it. Only one person ever called her that, and that one person…never mind, she would much rather not think about it.

“Taeyeon?”

At the call of her name, Taeyeon pushed herself off Jessica’s desk with a soft grunt and followed the latter out. Her world was once again plunged into darkness but this time round, strangely, she enjoyed her walk in the dark, gaze fixated on the silhouette walking confidently in front of her.

Taeyeon squinted her eyes when they got to the brightly lit lift area, mildly annoyed by the lights. The both of them rode the elevator in silence and Taeyeon did not miss the way Jessica was stealing side glances at her every now and then. She smirked and pretended to not notice it.

Mr. Johnson was sitting at his desk flipping through the newspapers when Taeyeon and Jessica got to the lobby. As the both of them walked past, he lowered his papers and looked at them though his reading glasses with a fatherly smile.

“Happy holiday!”

“Happy holiday, Sir.” Taeyeon returned with a slight nod, while Jessica opted to give him a friendly wave to which he reciprocated. 

A cold blast of wind greeted them as soon as they stepped out of the building and Taeyeon shivered despite being wrapped up in layers. Jessica only had a sweater draped across her thin frame and if she was cold, she did not let it show. Instead, she calmly led Taeyeon to her white BMW in the parking lot.

“Are we catching the fireworks from your hotel?” Jessica asked softly when they had both gotten into the car.

“Yep, because unobscured view of Central park. Who wouldn’t kill to have the view from my room? If they even have the money for it.” Taeyeon grunted, knowing that she sounded arrogant though she did not meant for it to come out that way.

Then again, she was with Jessica Jung, confined in a car, and Taeyeon never thinks before she speaks when she is with the brunette.

“You obnoxious pig.”

Her lodging was in fact paid for by her company and Taeyeon did not have to pay a single cent. That Jessica did not have to know. No point explaining and wasting saliva.

“Of course you’d think of me that way.” Taeyeon grumbled under her breath, but her tone became softer as she turned to ask Jessica if she had had her dinner.

She highly doubted that Jessica did and her suspicions were confirmed with a shake of the brunette’s head. Without a word, Taeyeon fished her phone out from her jeans to send a few messages, making sure that necessary arrangements regarding dinner plans will be made with the hotel staff - she made no mention of that to Jessica of course.

The ride from Jessica’s office to Taeyeon’s hotel usually takes about 20 minutes on a normal day but due to the festive season and road closures, they were stuck in the traffic, barely moving forward for a little more than an hour until Taeyeon decided that enough was enough. She was never the most patient person to begin with.

Coincidentally, there was a hotel just right in front of them. Having gotten tired of being confined in a seat for so long, Taeyeon demanded for Jessica to pull over and handed over a wad of cash for valet parking.

“Taeyeon!” Jessica gasped. “What are you doing?”

“Getting back to my hotel of course.”

“You did not just gave him that stack of cash for valet! Are you insane?” Taeyeon heard Jessica exclaimed exasperatedly from behind. She felt a tug on the hood of her coat and the next second, Jessica appeared beside her. “Seriously, Taeyeon, just what were you thinking!?”

To be honest, it was a small stack of money consisting of small notes Taeyeon had just exchanged with the bank and had not had time to sort them out. It was enough to cover for valet and overnight parking with barely enough left to spare for tips. But what Jessica did not know would not kill her. In fact, Jessica’s reaction was priceless and it was amusing to watch.

Taeyeon chose to not answer and instead held on to Jessica’s wrist as she pulled her through the crowd. That shut the nagging woman up. The latter’s hand was cold, and Taeyeon suddenly remembered that Jessica only had on a sweater in the midst of a cold winter night.

Sighing, she ed her coat and shimmied out of it, ing it straight into Jessica’s arms.

“It’s too warm in it. Hold onto it for me.” She lied through chattering teeth. It was cold even with the additional layer on.

“Please. Am I your slave? Do you not have arms?” Despite Jessica’s words, Taeyeon could see her clinging tighter onto it, burying her cold hands into the material. “It’s your coat. Why don’t you hold onto it yourself?”

“Wear it slave girl.” Taeyeon grunted, slightly irritated by all the questions. “Because apparently your arms are too frail to bear the weight of a mere coat.”

“Really?” Jessica asked, a grin appearing on her face as she pushed in front of the sulking woman, walking backwards.

Taeyeon gave her a stiff nod. Trying to keep on a straight face was proving to be a very difficult task with the way Jessica was smiling at her. Despite the weather, Taeyeon was feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

“You could have just told me you were worried I’d freeze to death and offer me your coat like a normal human would.” Jessica teased, seeing through Taeyeon’s intention and making her scowl even harder. “You sure you don’t need it?”

All Jessica got was a grunt in response as Taeyeon maneuvered them onto the train platform.

People were everywhere, on the streets, on the platform and in the train. Which meant that Taeyeon had to make sure Jessica stuck close to her at all times or risk them being separated. Throughout the short train ride, Taeyeon had an arm warped protectively around Jessica while her free hand grabbed onto the hand rails to keep them steady. Even as they walked back to the hotel, she made sure Jessica stuck right by her side.

On New Year’s Eve 9 years ago, when Taeyeon was still an exchange student at one of London’s top University, her younger self had her arm wrapped around a fellow exchangie as they made their way to the River Thames for the firework display. The night was unusually chilly but Taeyeon was contented to have the girl snuggled so close beside her as they worked their way through the crowd, teasing each other every so often. Even if the other party was not aware of her growing feelings, Taeyeon was so happy then. She was so in love. So much so that her heart still ache with just the memory of that night.

Being with Jessica reminded her of the girl who used to mean everything to Taeyeon, the one who gifted her the watch. And with Jessica by her side like this, it made Taeyeon thought of those painfully happier times, when all she wanted was to have those memories locked away in a place so deep they will never resurface again.

So many years had passed since. Things happened and Taeyeon was no longer the same person she was back then. Taeyeon now was much more guarded and she was well aware of the change in herself.

As she walked along the street with Jessica in her arm who was telling random jokes in an attempt to make Taeyeon laugh, Taeyeon wondered if she will ever love again with the same intensity, with the same amount of passion. 

Jessica, oh Jessica. Stop being so ing nice because you’re ruining me.

Her lips twitched yet again at another one of Jessica’s stupid jokes. It was not even that funny, just Jessica having one of her bimbo moments. At that instant, Taeyeon hated herself. She hated the fact that Jessica Jung was making her feel all sorts of things she did not want to feel on a cold winter night.

So here’s part 1 of the 2 shots (: How was it? As you might have guessed, this chapter is written from Taeyeon’s POV and we’ll have the next chapter in Jessica’s POV. At this point in time things are a little ambiguous including the relationship between our 2 characters but everything will be made clearer in the next part. I promise it won’t be long till the next update, meanwhile, do drop a comment and let me know what you think of this chapter!

Till then~