CHAPTER XLIV

GOLDEN SNAKE PART II

A couple of days had passed since Hyoyeon “persuaded” Jessica to help with Boa sunbaenim choreography, and Tiffany stood outside SME headquarters in the heart of Seoul next to her pretty blue-eyed girlfriend. The instructors were so happy to give her and her blonde girlfriend to skip training classes for today, agreeing that the girls would gain more experience if they could learn straight from a top star like Boa.

But now that Tiffany was standing right outside the building where they were supposed to meet the famous artist, something inside of her made her feel uneasy. The crescent eyed girl wondered; she was so happy and excited when she first heard the news that she would get a chance to meet her sunbae, the best idol of her agency, and an opportunity to learn straight from the best. At first she was determined to get the best out of the experience, preparing to take notes of everything Boa sunbaenim would say or do, but seeing Jessica’s expressions these last couple of days grew suspicion inside of her.

The blonde girl was not too excited with the news, and even looked unwilling to help her sunbae, when Tiffany felt that she should at least showed some positive reaction, since Hyoyeon’s “favor” had turned out not to be some “terrifying” things they had feared before. But the blue-eyed girl’s face was pale, like she had just heard a dead man came back to life. Her strange behavior peaked the crescent eyed girl’s curiosity, and her “woman” intuition, and Tiffany decided to ask her if there was something between her and Boa sunbaenim.

At first Jessica said that she simply felt that her dancing was not good enough to work with an already establish idol, that her skills wouldn’t benefit Boa sunbaenim in any way. The reason was not good enough for Tiffany, and she decided to press some more, and after 15 minutes of pretending to be mad at her blonde girlfriend, Jessica finally explained the real reason; that she and Boa used to be close. When Jessica first started as a trainee, Boa was the one who helped her adapt to her new life and routines. Although at the time she had known Hyoyeon and Sooyoung, but they were not best friends back then, and her rather cold personality didn’t help her getting new friends. Boa unnie was the first one to reach out to her, despite the fact that the older girl was very busy preparing for her big debut in Japan. Boa guided her to get better in singing and dancing, and was the one who listened to all her complaints, and the one who advised her on how to deal with any problems she had at the time. And as they grew closer, the older girl started to show more and more affection, like hugging her or petting her head. The blonde girl had always thought the affection was sister-like, and she had always thought Boa as her older sister, but she feared that Tiffany would get jealous and mad if she saw how close they were.

After hearing the real reason, the crescent eyed girl promised her blonde girlfriend that she wouldn’t get mad or jealous of Boa sunbaenim, as long as Jessica promised her that she had no other feelings for the older girl. Now, the truth was Tiffany was a little jealous when she heard how close the two were, but the crescent eyed girl didn’t want to be the over-protective girlfriend type. And after thinking about it, she wanted to show her appreciation to her blonde girlfriend for telling the truth. And she planned not to show any signs of jealousy or mean behavior towards the top idol. She even vowed not to get in a way of their reunion. She promised to be the best girlfriend in the world.

“Are you okay?” Jessica asked her and Tiffany woke up from her daydream.

“I’m fine.” The crescent eyed girl flashed her best eye smile and took the blonde’s hand. “Let’s go.”

The truth was she was still feeling uneasy and restless as they head into the front door, but she tried her best to hide it from her girlfriend.

As the tall glass door slid open, Tiffany could see a familiar face waiting for them in the lobby. A shorter girl with wavy brunette hair was standing in the spacious lounge area, watching the two American girls entering the building with a huge grin on her face.

“What took you guys so long?” Hyoyeon asked as she gestured them to follow her inside.

“Traffic.” Jessica simply said, and the black haired American girl knew she was still uncomfortable with the whole situation.

“Whatever,” The dancing girl said again excitedly. “You’re here now, so let’s get down to it.”

As they head into the elevator Tiffany took a good look around the agency, and realized that was only the second time she had been in there. The first one was when Youngjin took her here to get her measurements and photos and signings. And now that she was here again, she felt like it was a long time ago. She glanced at a big clock placed on top of the elevator area and noticed it was already 6pm, but the agency was busy as ever. People were rushing in and out the elevator and offices, and most were talking on their cellphones and carrying heavy pile of papers.

The elevator door slid open, and the crescent eyed girl followed her blue-eyed girlfriend inside. Once Hyoyeon pressed a button the elevator started to move, Tiffany glanced to her side and noticed Jessica was still tense. She leaned towards her and once she got her attention she quickly wore her best smile. The blonde girl immediately return the smile, and held on her hand a little tighter.

“I haven’t thanked you yet for helping me,” Hyoyeon suddenly said. “Just know that I really appreciate this.”

“Oh, we’re the one who should thank you, Hyoyeon,” The crescent eyed girl smiled. “For giving us this opportunity…”

“Your best friend seems to disagree with you.” The brunette nodded at the blonde girl.

“Oh, she’s excited too,” Tiffany answered before Jessica could say anything. “She’s so excited to see Boa sunbaenim again.”

“Isn’t that right, Jessie?”

“Yes. That’s right.” The blue-eyed girl gave a forced smile and answered like a robot.

“Thank you, Hyoyeon.” She gave a final cold glare at Hyoyeon before the elevator door slid open.

The self-proclaimed dancing queen of SM took the two American duos across the hallway, through several small office rooms, to the western most corner of the floor. There, at the end of the narrow hallway, Tiffany could see another glass door, and a note hanging that said “Keep Quiet.” Somehow she could feel her heart was starting to race in anticipation, but she didn’t know if it was the good or the bad kind.

“This is the studio,” Hyoyeon said as she took her shoes off and placed them on a shoe rack just outside the glass door. “You have to take your shoes off.”

“I know.” Jessica looked annoyed when she said that, but she took her shoes off nevertheless.

“I was talking to Tippany,” The brunette girl jokingly said. “Not the grumpy old lady…”

The black haired American girl could hear her blonde girlfriend clicked her tongue, but decided to focus on untying her shoelaces while trying to calm her racing heart.

And while Jessica and Hyoyeon were having a glaring contest, the crescent eyed girl tried to peek inside the dimly lit studio and noticed a person was doing a warming up exercise in front of the wall mirror. Although she could not see properly from the distance and the poor lightings, she could tell that the person had a great proportion. And suddenly she felt a big thump from her heart.

“Boa unnie,” Unnoticed by the crescent eyed girl, Hyoyeon had already entered the room. “We’re here…”

“Just a second…” The long dark brownish haired girl replied with a clear but gentle voice as she squatted and stretched her arms into the air.

As Tiffany entered the studio she could see the person clearer now; Boa sunbaenim was wearing a tight light grey tank top and she could see her black bra straps showing, and a pair of black training pants with two white stripes on them. The crescent eyed girl could hear Boa sunbaenim exhaled before slowly lifting her body and turned around to face them.

“Sica-Baby!” Was the first word that came out from her small and thin lips, and Tiffany felt her heart stopped.

Si-Sica-Baby?! The black haired American girl was so shocked that she left and eyes wide open as she saw the older girl ran across the room to her blonde girlfriend and gave her a big hug.

“I miss you so much!” hung even wider when she saw Boa sunbaenim literally showered Jessica’s cheeks with kisses. “Oh, my God!”

“How are you?” The older girl didn’t even let go when she asked that, while Jessica awkwardly smiled and tried to gently push her away, knowing that Tiffany was watching them in shock.

“I-I’m fine, unnie…” The blue-eyed girl gave an apologetic look to her LA girlfriend, but Tiffany didn’t even notice it. “How are you?”

“Oh, we have so much to catch up on!” Boa sunbaenim literally squealed as she hugged Jessica even tighter, and the crescent eyed girl thought she saw the older girl tried to smell the blonde’s neck. “I can’t believe it’s been two years since we saw each other!”

“Whoa, whoa, Boa unnie,” Hyoyeon laughed as she offered the idol a towel. “I can’t believe I just saw the cool and calm Kwon Boa squealed…”

“Ah, thank you.” The older girl finally let go of Jessica and took the towel.

“I just can’t help it!” Her voice pitch was like a little kid excited to ride her first ride in an amusement park. “I get to see my baby again!”

My-My baby?! Tiffany was screaming inside now.

She’s my baby! The crescent eyed girl glared as Boa took Jessica’s hands and dragged her across the room.

“How have you been, baby?” Boa smiled the widest as she sat on the floor in the corner of the room, near her purple sport bag and mineral water.

“I’m fine, unnie…” The blonde girl smiled as the older girl pulled her to sit next to her.

“Oh, my God!” Boa sunbaenim squealed again. “Look at you!”

“You look so pretty!”

“T-Thank you, unnie…” Tiffany was burned with jealousy when she saw the blue-eyed girl slightly blushed.

“You look pretty too…” And that comment made her clench her fist. How can you tell someone who’s not your girlfriend pretty?!

“Aww, you’re so sweet…” Boa sunbaenim pulled her blonde girlfriend into her arms once again, and Tiffany felt like screaming and crying. “Come here you!”

“Tsk, tsk, Boa unnie,” The brunette girl laughed as she rubbed Tiffany’s back, as if she noticed the crescent eyed girl was about to cry. “Sica is not the only person here, you know…”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The older girl clasped her hands innocently and Tiffany cursed her for acting cute in front of Jessica in her mind. “I didn’t mean it, Hyo-chan!”

“I see you’re becoming more and more Japanese these days.” The dancing queen as she guided the black haired American girl to them.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Boa sunbaenim smiled again and showed her perfect dimples. “I guess it has become a habit now…”

“I don’t mind,” The brunette girl said as she across Boa and Jessica on the floor. “I think it’s cute.”

“Oh, you…” The older girl smiled even wider, and cuter, and Tiffany wanted to throw up.

“Don’t you think it’s cute, Pany-ah?” Hyoyeon turned to the crescent eyed girl, who was throwing the meanest glare she had, which fortunately, went unnoticed by Boa sunbaenim.

“O-Oh, that’s right,” But the blonde girl was aware of the aggressive gesture all along. “Boa unnie, this is my friend, Tiffany…”

“She had just joined us as trainee—“ But Jessica couldn’t continue when she realized she was the new target of Tiffany’s glare.

“Ah, really?” Luckily the older girl seemed to had not realized all those death glares, and offered Tiffany a handshake. “Nice to meet you, Tiffany-chan…”

“Yes. Nice to meet you too, Boa sunbaenim.” The crescent eyed girl smiled but said in a scary flat tone. “My name is Tiffany Hwang; Jessica’s friend.”

The blonde girl immediately let out a small whine when she noticed her girlfriend stressed the word “friend,” and the black haired American girl was most likely disappointed with the way Jessica introduce her.

“Thank you for taking care of Jessica, Fany-chan,” The idol surprisingly hadn’t noticed anything strange and sincerely shook the crescent eyed girl’s hand. “Do you mind if I call you Fany-chan?”

“Oh, I don’t mind at all, Boa unnie.” Tiffany said as she squeezed the older girl’s hand a little bit stronger. “Is it okay if I call you that?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” The idol broke the handshake. “We’re all SM family and I don’t like to use honorifics anyway…”

“You don’t?” Hyoyeon looked surprised.

“Well,” Boa playfully pinched Jessica’s cheek. “At least not to Sica-Baby’s friends…”

And the blue-eyed girl laughed awkwardly when she saw Tiffany glare grew meaner by the second.

After that the crescent eyed girl had to bear watching Boa’s over affection towards her blonde girlfriend. The older girl kept asking Jessica questions about her life, and with every answer she got more and more touchy-feely. But as she watched the two, the black haired American girl couldn’t deny the fact that Boa unnie was very pretty; with long straight dark-brownish hair and perfect dark brown almond-shaped eyes, small nose and small thin light strawberry lips. And those darn perfect dimples, that flirted with Jessica every time Boa smiled. And Tiffany couldn’t help but feel herself lacking compared to the older girl, and that feeling frustrated her. The promise that she wouldn’t get jealous was long forgotten, and now the crescent eyed girl had to do her best not to slap the idol right across her ridiculous pretty face.

“I thought you called us here to help you with your choreography, unnie?” Tiffany interrupted when she saw Boa wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and her face was getting too close to Jessica’s.

“Oh, that’s right,” The older girl turned to her and giggled, showing a set of perfect white teeth. “But you don’t have to worry about that now…”

“I’ve already figured things out.”

“You did?” Hyoyeon looked equally surprised as Tiffany.

“I’m sorry,” The top idol suddenly apologized. “The truth is I didn’t need any help with the choreography…”

“I only asked because I wanted to see Sica-Baby…”

“You what?” The brunette girl seemed upset.

“B-But it was only because I know I wouldn’t be able to meet her with all my schedules…” Boa unnie quickly explained further. “And so I pretended I was having troubles making new dance moves and I asked my manager to contact Hyo-chan…”

“You did all that just because you wanted to see Jessica?” Hyoyeon shook her head in disbelief.

“I’m really sorry,” The older girl looked apologetic. “I know I shouldn’t trick you…”

“I guess it’s fine…” The dancing queen let out a sigh. “You don’t have to apologize…”

“Hyo-chan?” The idol stared at her younger friend with innocent look.

“I understand that you really want to meet with Jessica, and you can’t with all your schedules…” Hyoyeon said sincerely.

“I’m just amazed that you would trick your manager just to get her here.” The brunette laughed and patted the blonde girl’s back. “You must really like this girl…”

Boa switched glances with Jessica, and Tiffany could see the older girl smiled sheepishly, and the crescent eyed girl wanted to pull all her hair out.

“That won’t do!” The black haired American girl said. “What are we going to tell the instructors when we get back?”

“Pany-ah…” Hyoyeon shook her head. “Now’s not the time—“

“—But we told them we’d skipped training today to help her!” She persisted. “We can’t just show up tomorrow empty handed!”

“Pany-ah…” The dancing queen grabbed her shoulder to calm her down.

“That’s okay, Hyo-chan,” The idol said. “Fany-chan is right.”

“You can’t go back with nothing…”

“That’s why I’m going to teach you my new dance moves!” Boa unnie said with her sweetest smile, that even Tiffany had a hard time not to be swayed by it.

“B-But that wouldn’t be right, would it?” The crescent eyed girl didn’t want to give in to Boa’s innocent smiles. “If you teach us then we wouldn’t be helping you…”

“Please, Fany-chan?” The older girl grabbed her hands and pleaded with puppy eyes. “Please?”

And for the next two minutes Tiffany had to face Boa’s cute and innocent pleading, and Jessica’s equally adorable begging face. In the end she couldn’t win against the ridiculously beautiful duo, and with a long and heavy sigh she announced her defeat.

“Fine…” She said as she slouched, and the other girls immediately celebrated their victory with a loud yay.

The girls then spent the next one hour or so learning Boa’s new choreography, which she claimed would be used in her next concert in Japan. The practice was filled with laughter and jokes, as Hyoyeon occasionally made fun of the American girls for their awkward and rather stiff movements. The secret couple defended themselves by admitting that they were not the best dancers in the first place, and Hyoyeon teased them more by agreeing to the fact that she was the best dancer in SM, and they were lucky to learn a thing or two from her.

Despite being jealous of Boa and Jessica’s interaction, the black haired American girl couldn’t deny that she was having fun during the practice. Not only from Hyoyeon’s silly jokes, but also from being able to learn some dance moves from a top idol. Boa was almost always preoccupied with the blonde girl, but the older girl didn’t completely ignore the others. In fact, the number one Korean idol helped Tiffany with the choreography; from pointing out the correct moves to giving advise on how to express herself with dancing. By the end of the practice the crescent eyed girl felt she had gained more experience from Boa’s guidance than going to her usual training classes, and for that she really felt grateful, and somehow she felt a little admiration for the older girl.

But once their practice was over, Boa unnie went back to “flirting” with Jessica once more.

“You dance really good, Sica-Baby,” The older girl said as she wiped Jessica’s sweaty face with a towel. “I’m so happy to get to see you dance…”

“Are you tired, Sica-Baby?” Boa gave the blue-eyed girl her mineral bottle. “You didn’t force yourself too much, did you?”

“I’m fine, unnie…” The blonde girl said as she awkwardly took the bottle.

“You must be hungry now, right?” The idol smiled her sweetest. “Let’s go have dinner together.”

“It’s been a long time since we had a date!”

“D-Date?” Jessica and Tiffany exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Boa’s face was filled with expectation. “After dinner we can go to Han river and hang out!”

“And then we can have a sleepover at my place; just like old times!”

“Han river?” The crescent eyed girl was fuming with anger. “Sleepover?”

“What about me and Tiffany, Boa unnie?” Hyoyeon seemed to ignore the black haired American girl’s frustration. “We’re hungry too!”

“Of course you can come with us to dinner, Hyo-chan,” The pretty idol laughed. “Fany-chan too!”

“Yay!” The brunette looked excited. “Boa unnie is going to treat us to dinner!”

“Isn’t this great, Pany-ah?”

But the crescent eyed girl looked like she was about to eat someone; with her fiery eyes and puffed cheeks and pursed lips. Jessica caught the anger in her eyes and immediately her face turned pale. The blonde girl was about to say something when Tiffany stood up and gathered her things.

“I’m not hungry.” She said with a flat tone.

“Tiff…” Her blonde girlfriend tried to reach out, but the crescent eyed girl swatted her hand.

“I said I’m not hungry!” She suddenly yelled. “And I don’t want to ruin your date!”

“Tiff, it’s nothing like that…” The blue-eyed girl was about to cry when she saw tears were flowing from the black haired American.

“Stop it!” Tiffany yelled again before she turned her back and ran away as fast as she could.

“Tiffany!” Her blonde girlfriend shouted her name but she didn’t care. She had enough.

“Was it something I said?” Boa unnie asked when Tiffany was gone.

“Unnie, I’m sorry.” Jessica said as she gathered her things. “I think I’m not going to be able to go to dinner with you…”

“Stop.” The older girl grabbed the blonde’s hand and stopped her.

“Unnie…” The blue-eyed girl tried to break away, but Boa’s grip was too strong.

“Just this once.” The pretty idol said with sad and pleading eyes, and her seriousness surprised Jessica. “I need to talk to you.”

“Please.”

“It’s okay, Sica,” Hyoyeon said as she hurriedly grabbed her stuff and rushed outside. “I’ll go get Tiffany…”

Tiffany ran as hard as she could with tears flowing down her face. She ran without knowing where to go, as she only wanted to get away as far as she could from Boa and Jessica. When her leg gave up and she fell down the hard pavement, she had already reached a food market area she had never been before. A couple of young men tried to help her up when they saw how hard she fell, but she swatted their hands and stood up on her own. The poor two men were surprised by the gesture, but they could only awkwardly watch the black haired American girl ran towards the crowd without looking back.

But soon the crescent eyed girl was too tired to run, and when she saw an empty chair in the middle of the market she immediately threw herself into it. Her tears had stopped from all the running, and now she tried her best to catch her breath, while some people who noticed her could only watch with sympathy. When she finally got a hold of herself, she looked around and just realized that she was sitting in the middle of the food market, which was bustling with people shopping for food and snacks. When Tiffany turned around in her chair, she noticed she was sitting in front of a shop, and the owner, who was an old lady with white hair, was staring at her with pity. But before she could apologize for intruding, the old lady had already offered her some tissue. The crescent eyed girl hesitated for a while, but her nose was very uncomfortable and she needed to wipe her face, so she took it as she bowed her head and thanked the kind owner. The old lady smiled at her and went back into her shop, only to return a moment later with a glass of water and some bandages. The black haired American girl immediately stood up and bowed a couple of times to the old lady, and finished the water in no time. The shop owner then pointed at her right knee and Tiffany realized that it was scraped, most likely from the fall earlier. And now that she noticed the wound, it started to sting. The kind old lady told her to clean the wound with tissue and to put some bandages over it, and the crescent eyed girl did just that. After she finished, the old lady told her to rest for a while on the chair, and she took the offer.

As her strength slowly returned to her body, Tiffany entered the shop to return the empty glass and pay the owner some money for the water and the bandages. The old lady smiled and kindly rejected the offer, and the crescent eyed girl gave her sincerest thanks before heading out. Once she was outside the sky was already dark and the market was busier than ever, with people coming home for work looking for some affordable and good food. The crescent eyed girl took a deep breath and gazed upon the people; young, adults, couples, singles. She was more relaxed now, and she could think about what had happened with a clearer mind. She thought Boa and Jessica, and how close they were to each other. But instead of getting upset again, she tried to keep an open mind. Boa was a good sunbae and a great friend for the blonde girl, and the idol had every right to show her affection towards Jessica. Her blue-eyed girlfriend had already told her about that, and Tiffany had already promised to get jealous. Now that she thought about it, she felt a little bit guilty for getting upset and running away. She took out her cellphone and was about to apologize to her blonde girlfriend, when her mind offered her another opinion; But Jessie could’ve had shown more restraints. The blue-eyed girl didn’t have to go along with some or most of the affections Boa had gave her, since she had a girlfriend now. Wasn’t she supposed to consider her girlfriend’s feelings? What would she do if Tiffany was the one getting all touchy-feely with her friends from school? Or with Liz? Wouldn’t she get upset too? Or was it her intention to make her jealous in the first place?

She opened her cell phone and found her blonde girlfriend had texted her, and when she opened the message she was disappointed;

Tiff, I’m sorry.. Boa unnie wants to talk to me about something important.. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can..

Be safe..

The black haired American girl wanted to throw her phone away when she finished reading. So she thinks Boa unnie is more important than her angry girlfriend? Fine then! She can just date Boa unnie instead! I don’t care anymore!

The crescent eyed girl wanted to scream and cry, but she held it in and sent Jessica a short reply filled with all her anger;

Let’s just break up.