Tiffany let out a throaty groan as her consciousness began returning to her. The first thought that processed through her addled mind was that the soft pillow beneath her head was far too comfortable for the unsavory taste in to bother her too much. In other words, she didn’t find the need to pry the blanket from her body to make a quick morning detour to the sink, yet. God knows that the cool autumn temperature would instantly make her regret rising for the morning anyway. The second thought came nearly a minute later. She cringed at the feeling relatable to a few thousands of pin pricks jabbing mercilessly on her right arm. There was this warmth that compensated for the less than pleasant feeling. It was cuddly, soft, smelled really nice and.. was breathing. She pried her eyelids apart and a tuft akin to a loose bale of hay greeted her sights. She inhaled the nice scent, something in her mind instantly giving the answer to her half-formed question. Taeyeon was there, sleeping comfortably in her arms.

 

A smile instantly pulls at her lips as she curls her free arm over Taeyeon’s stomach, pulling the smaller girl closer to her body as to both cuddles closer to the squishy Taeyeon, and to relieve the pinpricks from her sleeping arm. The sleeping girl mutters something under her breath, twisting around Tiffany’s embrace until they were face to face. Her scrunched brows relaxed as she let out a sigh. The additional warmth was welcoming, will forever be welcoming, and Tiffany resettled, inhaling the familiar scent.

 

Taeyeon always did have that refreshingly minty scent to her. Tiffany had both complimented and about it. She remembered the almost destructive outcome of one of her teasing that went a little too far. It had happened a year ago. She was commenting on the ever present minty scent and had raised the notion that she should ask whoever she was trying to impress instead of sticking to her. Of course, Taeyeon had flippantly denied the accusation, but for reasons Tiffany couldn’t remember anymore she had continued to press on. Eventually, Taeyeon had reached her snapping point and had told Tiffany off before storming away from her, leaving her completely baffled and guilty. What more, Taeyeon had failed to show up during their regular meet ups and left her calls and messages unanswered, throwing Tiffany into a state of confusion and fear. Suffice to say, Tiffany was a downright mess for the rest of the day, unable to concentrate on anything with her best friend giving her the (rare) cold-shoulder. Taeyeon eventually calmed down from her anger and acted like nothing happened between them the following day. Tiffany chuckled at the memory of sticking extra close to Taeyeon for the whole week and being uncharacteristically careful of her words.

 

Her eyes carefully traced the outlines of Taeyeon’s peaceful face. She held back from pinching Taeyeon’s squishy cheeks, not wanting to disturb the peaceful visage. She’ll settle for hugging her, for now.

 

With the calming sounds of Taeyeon’s light snoring, Tiffany’s thoughts strayed to the event the night before. Jessica’s teasing, Taeyeon’s subsequent reaction to the teasing, and her thoughts on Taeyeon soon occupied her mind.

 

She knew Taeyeon had a huge impact on her life. She had helped in molding her to who she was now, more so with her Korean and keeping her a bit more restrained with her shopaholic tendencies and her loudness. She was thankful for Taeyeon for having the initiative to come to her on that awkward first day of class when no one else wanted to go near the American girl. They had both struggled with the language barrier, making do with broken English and Korean accompanied by wild gestures and confusing drawings, but look at them now.

 

With her free hand, Tiffany reached for the light trace of drool at the side of Taeyeon’s mouth. She tenderly brushed the pad of her thumb down the trail, wiping it off without even grimacing. Her thumb remained, absently caressing the soft skin under the parted, pink bottom lip.

 

She wondered since when did Taeyeon’s bottom lip look so supple? What flavour of chapstick does she use? How long does the flavour of the chapstick actually stick on a person’s lips?

 

If she kissed Taeyeon’s lips, can she actually taste the flavour of her chap stick? Was kissing her best friend on the lips alright for Korean as it was in the states? Was kissing really that normal in the states as the rumours said (she couldn’t really remember)? Would Taeyeon wake up if she kissed her right now? And would she mind?

 

Does Tiffany mind?

 

Tiffany blinked, her hand retracting from the somehow hypnotising act. She rewound her thoughts on that last one. Would she mind kissing her best friend?

 

No, she wouldn’t mind.

 

Would it mean anything to her though?

 

Her heart did a particularly big thump, almost as if missing the next beat. Her eyes fell on Taeyeon’s supple lips. She leaned close, angling her head so that her nose was closer to Taeyeon’s mouth, trying to get a sample whiff of the flavour of the chapstick.

 

She scrunched her nose in mild disgust and chuckled. What she smelt definitely wasn’t chapstick.

 

A light moan and the twisting in her arm signified her to Taeyeon’s rousing. She watched silently as the girl’s tongue darted out from her parted lips, wetting and smacking her dry lips. Taeyeon’s eyelids peeled back and Tiffany giggled at the confusion slowly showing on her sleepy face.

 

She leaned in, pressing a quick, chaste peck on Taeyeon’s cheek. “Good morning Tae-Tae.” She chirped.

 

Taeyeon grimaced at her chirpiness, rolling over the end of the bed to sit up. She did a little stretch then rubbed her face. She muttered a greeting, shivering at the cool temperature biting her exposed skin as she shuffled lazily towards the small bathroom, flicking on the lights of the room on her way.

 

“I have an extra toothbrush in the drawer.” Tiffany called out. Taeyeon made a sound of acknowledgement, which was closely followed by the tell-tale rattling of the old drawers. “Will you be okay there? Do you want me to bathe with you?” she teased, stifling her giggles when a loud thump came from the bathroom.

 

“N-no, I’m fine.” Taeyeon’s cutely squeaked.

 

Unable to resist Tiffany continued. “Are you sure? I can scrub your back for you.”

 

The full flowing water from the tap took over the silence. She could imagine Taeyeon’s red face as she hurriedly scrubbed her teeth, deliberately making the brushing sounds loud to drown out her teasing. A smart choice as Tiffany would have loved to keep goading the girl. Taeyeon’s reactions were just absolutely (and unfairly) cute.

 

She abandoned her initial plan of following after Taeyeon when the girl kicked the door close. With her target gone, she changed course, redirecting her attention to peruse her roommate’s unoccupied side.

 

Obviously, Jessica hadn’t come back the night before. The girl makes an effort to wake up early for morning classes, but the sleepyhead always had trouble waking in the morning. Besides, her discarded night clothes still lay crumpled over the unmade bed, at the same spot. Also, her books and notes were still compiled in a neat pile on one side of the study table instead of being neatly packed into her bag.

 

A sly smile slowly pulled at Tiffany’s lips. Though they didn’t have the same time schedule they did have some classes in common. Jessica, she remembered, was mulling over an assignment for the better part of yesterday, algebra if she hadn’t mistaken Jessica’s grumblings of x’es. Her next class was on Monday and as luck might have it, they had the same teacher. That gave her a day to finish the worksheet the teacher had sent home with them. Jessica should be finished with it, and it wouldn’t hurt if she took a little peek – just to get a rough idea of the answers. It wasn’t like she was going to copy everything piece by piece.

 

Conscience stated, Tiffany pulled the covers off her and made little morning stretches as she stood over her bed. Rubbing her skin to ward off the cold, she skittered over to the table and grabbed the binder with a folded sticky note over it. She thumbed through it, picking out the worksheet from the last plastic holder and checked Jessica’s answers. The paper was littered with scribbles and deep, angry scratches. Tiffany summarized that whatever it was that was bothering Jessica resulted to this rather untidy display. But answers were answers. She slipped the paper over on her side, slipping it in between one of her notes for later when Taeyeon wasn’t around to poke and prod at her conscience. Replacing the binder back on Jessica’s side she then noticed the presence of Jessica’s mobile amidst her scattered clothes, the small notification light blinking steadily.

 

“That’s weird. Jessie never goes anywhere without her phone.” She muttered, reaching for the mobile. Her fingers itched to flip the phone over and check, but she smashed it down. Curiosity killed the cat, and Jessica probably wouldn’t think twice about hurting her to teach her a lesson. She placed it beside the stack of books for Jessica’s convenience- as a form of repayment for lending her answer sheet.

 

She headed over to the bathroom, swinging the door open forcefully. Taeyeon yelped, in a surprisingly girly shrill, pulling the pink pyjama bottom and her underwear up in a flash. “Yah! Mi Young!”

 

“Hey! No using that old name. You know I don’t like it.” Tiffany berated, applying toothpaste on her pink toothbrush.

 

“Don’t you know how to knock?! I was using the toilet!”

 

“We’re both girls Tae-Tae. I have what you have.” She said dismissively waving the toothbrush in her hand, making the pea-sized paste fall on the sink. Tiffany frowned at the waste, reaching halfway down to salvage the paste. The corner of her eyes caught the disturbed look on Taeyeon’s face and, not knowing whether it was from the whole barging in or the toothpaste, she retracted and grabbed the tube for a fresh one.

 

“Ppany-ah, the decency… and it’s embarrassing.” Taeyeon whined cutely, her face turning a darker shade of pink as she pulled her stare away, too embarrassed to even attempt escaping the small room.

 

“Stop being cute, Tae-Tae. It’s too early.” Tiffany lightly admonished in between her furious scrubbing. She didn’t stop from watching Taeyeon’s actions reflected in the mirror. The girl had gingerly flushed the toilet, closing the lid to prevent splashing? Or maybe it was to hide the evidence of her body’s morning expulsion. Taeyeon was always the shy, private person.

 

“Have you brushed your teeth?” Taeyeon’s head jerked in an affirmative. She quickly rinse out the minty foam from she replaced her toothbrush on the cup, noting the additional blue brush. “Do you have any plans today?”

 

Taeyeon took a moment to think over her schedule. “Well I should..” she stopped, hastily shaking her head as if to rid herself of whatever it was she was thinking. “Just recheck my assignments then go over my notes.”

 

“Oh, boo! That’s boring. Let’s go out and have some fun. It’s a Saturday!”

 

“Ppany-ah, you do know it’s like 8 in the morning?” Taeyeon pointed out, nodding her head towards the analogue clock that hung above Tiffany’s bed. Tiffany took a quick look, giving a half shrug.

 

“I’m already up. Might as well do something productive.”

 

“Studying isn’t productive?” Taeyeon playfully raised her brows, failing to keep a smile from surfacing.

 

Tiffany groaned. “Urgh.. when did you start being a good noodle? Last I remember, you’d be the first to propose playing a video game or waste away daylight with binge watching sci-fi shows.”

 

“Hey, I’ve always done my school works before then.”

 

“That’s boring Tae-Tae. Let’s do something fun!”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Well…” Tiffany snapped her fingers, wearing a broad, excited grin. “We’ll get everyone together for a girl’s day out! I haven’t seen Hyoyeon, Sooyoung and Yoona since game day, and you guys promised to meet up more frequently. I’m sure Yuri would love to see them again.”

 

The smile fell from Taeyeon’s face at the suggestion. She stepped around Tiffany, carefully avoiding eye contact. She started picking up her clothes from the night before, all somehow ending on the floor from their original perch over the edge of Tiffany’s bed. “Uh.. I don’t think Yuri can make it today.”

 

“What makes you say that?” Tiffany asked. She leaned against the bathroom doorway and crossed her arms, playfully narrowing her eyes in faux suspicion. “Are you hiding something from me again?” she asked, lowering her tone to make it seem threatening. When Taeyeon continued silently fixing the creases on her clothes Tiffany had the answer to her question. “Taeyeon, you know I don’t like it when you hide things from me.”

 

Taeyeon stopped. She took a seat on the edge of Jessica’s bed, keeping her back to Tiffany, and sighed. “It’s… personal Ppany-ah. Please, let it go.” Taeyeon softly pleaded. The reaction and the soft tone of her voice had Tiffany gradually slackening her posture.

 

Fearing another cold shoulder treatment Tiffany decided it was enough teasing for the day. She took a cautionary step forward, and when Taeyeon didn’t react quickly slid up to sit beside her. “Okay.. but you’re okay with meeting up with them, are you?” she tested.

 

“Of course! I miss those dorks.” Taeyeon turned slightly, flashing Tiffany one of her cute crooked smile. Tiffany beamed back, wrapping her arms around Taeyeon’s torso for a quick friendly hug.

 

“I’ll ask them then.” She announced, getting up from Jessica’s bed to dive into her own. Her hands roamed over her messy bed, in search of her cellular device. She dug under her covers and pillows a couple of times only to come up empty-handed.

 

“Hm.. I can’t find my phone.”

 

“Don’t you usually put it beside your pillow?” Taeyeon says, lazily joining the search with her eyes.

 

“I do…” Tiffany muttered, pulling her pillow and feeling around the pillow case. Her eyes roamed over the top of her mattress, then move to the crack around the edges. “Tae-Tae, can you call my phone?”

 

“Uh.. no?” Tiffany threw Taeyeon an incredulous look over her shoulder. Taeyeon immediately began waving her hands in front of her. “Not that I don’t want to help you or anything, Ppany-ah. Thing is, I can’t do that. I uh…” The rest of Taeyeon’s sentence trails off in a fast mumble.

 

“What?” Tiffany asks, naturally slipping into her mother tongue, turning her torso around to give Taeyeon her full, unhindered attention.

 

Taeyeon avoids meeting her gaze, repeating her sentence in an even lower mutter.

 

“Taeyeon-ah, I can’t understand you if you don’t speak up.” Tiffany patiently tells her best friend. Taeyeon’s response is to lower her head, using her hair as a shield as she took a deep breath in.

 

“I accidentally dropped my phone into the toilet bowl.. after I used it.” She repeats, just right above a whisper. In the silence of the morning, combined with the small space of the room, it was just loud enough for Tiffany to hear.

 

Tiffany touches two fingers over , just catching the beginnings of her laughter. “Oh my.” She managed to push out, quick to clamp them back into a tight line. But her lips betray her as they curl up around the edges against her wishes, her eyes forming their signature crescent shape.

 

Taeyeon catches the movement and sees the eye-smile through her peripherals. She groans her regret as her ears burn in utter embarrassment. Yesterday was not one of her finest moments. After her poor escape from Jessica’s teasing’s, she had rushed all the way to her room, intending to just grab her things and leave. Nature’s call couldn’t wait so she made a quick detour to the bathroom. Unfortunately, as comfortable as it is to have one’s phone in the back pocket, pulling up one’s pants after a bathroom break can lead to accidents if one wasn’t careful. Taeyeon had heard the splash and a loud thunk on ceramic and she instantly knew what happened.

 

“Don’t laugh!” she buried her face into her hands. “It was stupid and careless, but I just.. I was in a hurry.” She continues, muffling her words into her palm.

 

Tiffany can’t hold her grin at the cute display of her embarrassed best friend. “Taeyeon-ah, it’s okay. Accidents happen. Aw, come here Tae-Tae. It happens to everyone.” She coos, reaching to pull the red faces girl into her embrace. Taeyeon instantly hides her face into the crook of Tiffany’s neck to hide her face, wrapping her arms around Tiffany’s back to get into a comfortable position. Tiffany runs her hands through the soft hair, making shushing noises to keep her mind occupied enough to not imagine the unfortunate scene.

 

“No it doesn’t. No one drops their phone into the yellow water.” Tiffany bites her tongue, surreptitiously clearing as not to get caught.

 

“It happens to the best of us.” She says in a leveled voice.

 

“Yeah, sure. There’s stupid Taeyeon and… hm.. no one else is dumb enough to drop their phone into the toilet bowl.”

 

“A lot of people drop things in the toilet bowl.”

 

“Not when there’s still-“

 

“Okay!” Tiffany interrupted, pushing Taeyeon’s body away from her. One more mention of the yellow water and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it in. “Taeyeon..” she reaches up touch Taeyeon’s cheek, forcing her to look at her. “It happened. As they say in the states, no use crying over spilled milk. Let’s go out, just you and me. We’ll get you a replacement phone. Your phone was old anyway, and well tell aunty and uncle that your phone is finally, irrevocably damaged and you needed a new one. Sound good?”

 

“You won’t tell anybody?”

 

“The only person I won’t keep secrets to is you. I promise you, I won’t tell anybody.” Tiffany pledges, making a cross over her heart. “So! Objectives of the day: get a new phone for Tae-Tae then spend the rest of the day catching up with the goofy squad. Sound like a good plan?” Taeyeon makes a feeble noise of affirmation before slumping onto the bed. Tiffany giggles as she pats Taeyeon’s thigh. She skips off the bed, swiping Jessica’s phone from the table, intending to only use the phone to find her own.

 

The screen lights up with alerts of missed calls and messages popping urgently up at Tiffany. A slight twinge of worry pulls at her nerves when she sees the number of missed calls all registering to the same screen name.

 

Mom.

 

It wasn’t like Jessica to miss her mother’s phone calls.

 

She brushes the thought away, not wanting to be nosy. She was positive that her roommate had gone to Yuri’s place to rant after she left. She would be back, Tiffany reasoned as she dialed her own number.

 

 

 

 

Tiffany laughs at the grain of rice flying out of Sooyoung’s open mouth. The tallest girl turns a shade crimson as she smiles sheepishly, brushing the grain into her palm and tossing it under their table. Taeyeon is by her side, clutching at Tiffany’s arm as she tries and fails in stopping her laughter. She starts to choke on her own saliva which only fuels the others laughter. Tiffany brushes the happy tears from the corner of her eyes. Sniffing she reaches over Taeyeon’s shoulder, turning the girl around and encouragingly patting her back to expel whatever found its way in her windpipe.

 

It was inevitable that one of them would be hacking from too much laughter. The trio of lovable goofballs would see to it that no day would go by uneventful, whether it was done on purpose or not. It was a shame neither Jessica nor Yuri could be able to come with them. Despite Taeyeon’s earlier plea Tiffany still shot a text to Yuri, inviting her and Jessica to their little get together. She didn’t get a response from either of the two and not wanting to come off as annoying decided not to try her luck in calling.

 

“Whoo. I didn’t think I’d laugh at any of those lame- puns.” Yoona says, lightly nudging Sooyoung with her elbow. “Thanks, S’young unnie.”

 

Sooyoung scrunches her face and retaliates with a light shove. “Whatever lover girl.”

 

“Lover girl?” Tiffany speaks up, her eyes widening in delight. Taeyeon, now over her coughing fit, turned her head slightly, eyeing Tiffany through her peripherals in exasperation. “Does our lovable Yoongie have something to share with her other unnies? Hm?”

 

“Not really.” Yoona said cautiously. She sent a kick meant for Sooyoung underneath the table. She misses and accidentally hits Hyoyeon instead. Hyoyeon yelped, pulling her left leg up to rub at the sore spot, throwing Yoona an annoyed look.

 

“Jesus, Yoong. Tone down the violence, will ya? You’ll never get to her if you keep this him personality of yours.” Hyoyeon growled.

 

“Who?” It was Taeyeon’s turn to cast her junior a curious look.

 

“Sweet, humble Juhyun. Our Yoongie turns to mush around her.” Sooyoung grinned, blocking the frantic hands trying to slap shut. Hyoyeon, stuck in the middle, tried her best to block the flying limbs, pushing her away from accidentally elbowing her nose while Sooyoung spilled her secret. “You should see Yoongie whenever she’s around Juhyun. She would have this dumb look on her face and be smiling goofily like one of those manhwa school girls looking after their dear oppa.” Sooyoung clasped her hands, bringing them just right under her chin and sighed. “Oh, Juhyun-ah~”

 

“I don’t do that!” Yoona protested, crossing her arms over her chest and settled for pouting in her corner.

 

“A girl?” Tiffany’s question pierces the lively atmosphere and four pairs of nervous eyes turned to her.

 

A few seconds of frozen silence passes.

 

“It’s just a little joke we throw around.” Sooyoung tried to laugh it off. Hyoyeon not so lightly nudged Sooyoung’s legs to get her to stop her awkward laugh.

 

“Don’t mind us. We’re just teasing Yoona here. She’s always shooting down suitors left and right, but she gets uh… extremely… conscious with a classmate of hers. Probably because Juhyun’s one of those good role model kind of girl.”

 

“Yeah.” Yoona sunk back to her seat, twiddling with her thumb underneath the table. She didn’t dare look up at Tiffany’s face.

 

“Well, okay..” Tiffany said, looking between the four girls. Her gaze locked with Taeyeon’s for a little longer, with Taeyeon the one breaking the contact first.

 

Taeyeon grins at their other friends. “So, new number for Yoong and a new phone for me. Some freaky coincidence, huh?” Taeyeon chuckled, trying to ease away from the uncomfortable atmosphere between them. There was a couple of not so subtle kicking under the table. Taeyeon resisted the overwhelming urge to slap her face with her palm. She opted for staring hard at her palm rather than the cringe-worthy look on the trio’s faces.

 

So much for trying to fix things.

 

“I’m okay with it, you know.” Tiffany spoke up. The jerky movements halted and four pairs of eyes returned to her. She averted her gaze to her clasped hands on top of the table. “I know you guys. And just because one of you tells me you’re into.. something different doesn’t change the fact that you guys are my friends. At least, I think we are friends.” She raised her eyes, looking at each one of them, daring them to tell her otherwise. Her eyes twinkle mischievously and everyone’s stiff shoulder deflates in relief.

 

Taeyeon couldn’t help the proud grin etching across her face. She slipped her hand onto Tiffany’s, squeezing it to show her appreciation. She looked back to the trio with her smug grin, almost as if to say ‘isn’t she one heck of a girl’.

 

Tiffany took a brief glance at their hands. It gave her a light feeling in her head, almost like as if she had inhaled copious amounts of helium. It was weird, feeling what she was feeling now when before she had never thought too much of it. They’ve held hands before, on multiple occasions in fact, that holding Taeyeon’s hands became a sort of compulsion to her whenever Taeyeon was near. It was like her hands would switch to auto-pilot and be reaching for Taeyeon’s. So, why the feeling? And why now?

 

“Yo, you girls know any Taecyeon’s?”

 

Tiffany blinked. The boggling questions pushed to the back of her mind, for now. “Taecyeon?” she repeats. “Like, Ok Taecyeon?”

 

“Unnie, you know the guy?” Yoona perked, leaning over the table with wide eyes.

 

Sooyoung makes a short bark of laughter, lifting her hand for a high five, one that Hyoyeon was more than glad to give.

 

Tiffany an eyebrow at Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s reactions. “Ah.. well.. I know he plays for the Knights. You know him Taeyeon? Best friend of that hunky Thai.” Tiffany asked, nudging Taeyeon’s side. Taeyeon frowns at her and mutters a short yes, completely uninterested in the topic.

 

“Oooh, a basketball player! Is he tall, dark and more importantly, handsome?” Sooyoung playfully asks.

 

“Yes, yes and.. yes.” Tiffany nods at every yes. “Why do you guys ask? Doesn’t seem like you know him.”

 

“He’s the reason for Yoona’s sudden number change.” Hyoyeon says in between her fit of laughter. “Hey, Yoong. Tall, dark and handsome, he’s the whole package. If you overlook his quirky interest in lame food based puns, you and he could be a match made in heaven.” Hyoyeon jibes, nudging the reddening Yoona around her ribs.

 

“Wait, what?” The question leaves Tiffany’s mouth in her mother tongue. Her hands slammed on the table top, her brows furrow as her gaze lands on the startled Yoona. “Yoona! How does some guy get your number without you knowing? And more importantly, food-based puns and Ok Taecyeon? How did that happen?”

 

“Ppany-ah, priorities.” Taeyeon mumbles, reaching for Tiffany’s arm to calm her down. Her expression then mirrors Tiffany’s and she turns an expectant look to the youngest. “But Yoona-yah, you know you should never give your number to people you don’t know.”

 

“I didn’t, unnie. Believe me, if I can help it I wouldn’t give out my number to schoolmates. I don’t know how he got it. I swear.” Yoona groans, burying her face into her palms in frustration, while Hyoyeon and Sooyoung continue to laugh at her troubles.

 

Taeyeon furrows her brows, unconvinced.

 

Tiffany keeps her eyes on Yoona, wearing a small frown of disproval. How could Taecyeon get her number when none of them were friends with him? The only person she knew that ever talked to Taecyeon was Jessica and…

 

Her eyes widen in a eureka moment, a low chuckle rumbling in her chest. Of course, who else could it be?

 

She spots Taeyeon looking at her from her peripherals and pretends not to have noticed.

 

And Yuri says she was bad at going along pranks. Well, they’ll see who plays games better.