*

KBS Music Bank Backstage

City of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province

Girls’ Generation’s live performance just concluded. Even with their lack of practice due to other schedules, the girls still nailed the stage. Right after they said their goodbyes to their live audience, Tiffany Hwang went straight to the ladies’ room to attend to a very persistent texter. Choi Seunghyun have been sending her random text messages, from art photos, to book quotations, and even weird photo and video selfies. The man was definitely king when it came to update overload. Finally, after his 24th SMS to Tiffany, she entertained him with a response.

Mr. Da Vinci wrote:

So this trip is just with us two…

Mona Lisa wrote:

See you Saturday night. I’m coming from Music Core, so I’ll be a little late.

Mr. Da Vinci wrote:

It's our first trip alone since... you know. Would it be that kind of trip?

Mona Lisa wrote:

This weekend's all about Ilsan and our search for the couples of The Great Pact... Nothing else.

This filthy old grandpa! How insensitive, ugh. How can he think I’d want to have with him after he chilled with that Hyeyoon?

After two weeks since she’d been rejected, Tiffany and TOP still haven’t discussed why TOP turned her down. Yes, they saw each other thanks to their provincial trips with Kim Taeyeon and Kwon Jiyong. But the other couples’ presence prevented them from discussing that awkward moment. Being the confident woman that she was, Tiffany chose to act like nothing happened. And so she was civil, cheerful, casual, and very breezy during the days when they saw each other.

Mr. Da Vinci wrote:

I'm really sorry...

Mona Lisa wrote:

About?

Mr. Da Vinci wrote:

You know…

Mona Lisa wrote:

I don’t. I’m really busy. See you.

Mr. Da Vinci wrote:

I get it Mona Lisa. You’re mad at me, and I deserve it. This next trip, I’ll show you my sincerity.

Tiffany just sighed upon reading that last text. She didn’t want to assume anything, especially since she’d been assuming he’d apologize for every single day that passed. When the man just acted like he did not just turn down the Tiffany Hwang’s invite, Fany just conceded to the fact that Big Bang’s TOP might have played her for a fool.

“Okay, this ends here,” Kim Hyoyeon exclaimed the moment Tiffany returned from the ladies’. It just so happened that Kim Taeyeon also just reentered the dressing room after chatting with the leaders of her personal fanclubs.

“Huh? What ends where?” asked Taeyeon, sitting by the vanity table.

“What's up girls?” also probed Tiffany, situating herself in the small dining table with Yoona and Sooyoung. Of course the two were eating.

“A post from @hwafanfan: Grandpa Da Vinci riding a mini segue way for the first time… #beautifulgwangju,” muttered Kwon Yuri with so much emphasis, reading from her cellphone. “@davincighost posted: Thanks for teaching this old grandpa to ride this, Mona Lisa.”

With those words, Tiffany and Taeyeon’s attention were definitely caught. They stared at each other in horror, and Taeyeon was the more awestricken of the two. She was muted in anxiety, while Tiffany’s smart head quickly thought of excuses on the spot.

It became Choi Sooyoung’s turn to read from her device. She stated, “@yeonnie3989 posted: How is my #babyboy such an awesome hiker? #daegu #hiking.  Meanwhile, @peaceminusone also posted: Best hike of my life yet. Never knew Korean provinces had this much beauty to offer. Thanks to my #babygirl for hiking the trails with me.”

“The four of you have been double dating in various provincial tourist spots and you're not telling us anything?” Sunny asked rather emotionally. Even the SNSD stylists and managers joined in the intervention. Afraid of a controversy, one of the staff shut the door locked to prevent outsiders from hearing.

But Taeyeon and Tiffany were still speechless. They weren’t exactly prepared to face the wrath of Girls’ Generation.

“Errr...”

“Well...”

“The secrets end here,” firmly declared the ever matured Lee Soonkyu.

With a less confrontational tone, Im Yoona said, “Jessica kept everything from us, and look what happened.”

“What's going on Tae and Tiff?” investigated Kim Hyoyeon.

Seo Juhyun softly followed up with, “Are you really hwafanfan and yeonnie3989?”

The secrets were finally out, and now it only required Taeyeon and Tiffany’s explanation to put some logic and story in those private Instagram posts. Fany could read her best friend’s face, and she knew Taeyeon did not do gracefully under pressure. She was probably apprehensive while overthinking about how to explain The Great Pact, the fake engagement with Kwon Jiyong, and the public display of affections for Mizuhara Kiko’s eyes and ears.

“How did you find out?” inquired Tiffany, trying to be calm. She could see that each and every one of the six other members, the staff, and the managers, were browsing through the Instagram spaces of hwafanfan and yeonnie3989, with hashtags, comments, mentions and all. Oh God, they’d misinterpret our friendship with Jiyong and Seunghyun’s gang.

“Dong Youngbae asked me about it,” Yuri answered matter-of-factly, sounding like she was just betrayed. “He recognized Tiffany and Taeyeon's faces in all the photos.”

Sooyoung shared, “Seungri also begged me for details. I can't believe he knew before any of us!”

“Why are you hiding this from us?” Hyoyeon asked defensively. Now the managers began to ask more serious questions, SM and YG related and all. But never mind the career and media repercussions. What Taeyeon and Tiffany were most frightened of was the girls thinking they were deliberately betrayed by them.

“Look girls, it's complicated,” Tiffany began to explain.

But Taeyeon found her voice and immediately cried, “It's not Stephanie's fault. This is all about me and Jiyong. It was our idea to hide this from you.”

And now the most fear-inducing questions and comments finally came. One by one, the SNSD members and staff threw endless inquiries and conclusions that sprung from such incriminating private Instagram accounts that have persisted unfounded for about three weeks now.

“So you and G-dragon are dating?”

“Not just dating but engaged.”

“By the looks of these posts, you two are in love.”

“You even met his family, and he has met yours.”

“But what about Baekhyun?”

“Are you broken up?”

“Really? Finally? Tell me you and that kid’s over, please.”

“What the hell is going on?!” angrily summarized Sunny. She was the most worked up of the two, being the next closest to Taeyeon.

But just then, one of the producers knocked on the dressing room door. From outside, the female PD announced, “Last call, girls. They’re announcing the winner soon.”

“We can't talk about this here and now,” declared Tiffany, standing up to prepare for the last stage. “Let’s get to work first, and then we’d explain it all.”

“But we already prerecorded the weekend goodbye stages, and we have separate schedules until Monday!” whined Yoona, thirsty for enlightenment. She was in utter disbelief that two of her closest friends were buddying it up with the YG crowd.

“Let’s talk about it in the van,” suggested Seohyun. “Oh wait… but the driver is very loyal to the SM execs. We can’t freely discuss this in his presence.”

“Then let’s just set up a video conference later when we get home,” advised Sooyoung.

Taeyeon shook her head and stated, “This is not something we can talk about over the phone or the Internet. It’s too risky.”

They heard more knocks and last calls, and the staffs egged them to prepare. They dressed up and retouched their make ups. All eight left the dressing room to walk towards the stage.

Now that the staff was out of earshot, Tiffany huddled with the girls and whispered, “Okay, if you really want to know, then prepare your to-go bags. We’re going camping. The trip starts at 9pm, Saturday, and ends at 6pm, Sunday. Meeting spot is Taeyeon's house.”

“A weekend camping getaway? For what?” asked Hyoyeon.

“For Taeyeon and I to explain everything.”

“But I thought you and Seunghyun got this next trip?” Taeyeon wondered.

“I really don't want to spend another weekend alone with that weird ghost. He never sleeps, it bothers me.”

The curious Sooyoung asked, “Who’s Seunghyun? Who’s a weird ghost?”

“Seunghyun is Choi Seunghyun, aka Big Bang’s TOP,” Taeyeon answered her, which earned a collective gasp from the girls. “I guess Jiyong and I will be in the trip too. But Steph… do we really have to involve them?”

The six members all expressed their disappointments and cries at Taeyeon’s skepticism.

“The girls are right,” Tiffany expressed to her best friend. “We already trusted Jiyong’s crowd. Why can’t we trust ours? It’s not fair to you or to our best friends.”

Taeyeon thought for a while, and then sighed. “Alright. So who’s free?”

With that, the six girls cheered and expressed their delight.

“I'm soooooo in!” shouted Yuri.

“And me too!” Yoona also cried out.

“I'll find a way,” answered Sunny.

“GD&TOP's going to be there?” clarified Sooyoung.

“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” Hyoyeon declared.

“I'll make time too,” Seohyun softly announced.

*

Expressway 24

Village of Handeu, Province of South Chungcheong

With two hours down the road trip with Dong Youngbae as the driver, the eight members of boyband Big Bang and clique Nuthang have grown jaded. The music became repetitive and boring, their snacks and drinks tasted old, and Kwon Jiyong still refused to share any juicy explanation. Jiyong was on the passenger seat. Big Bang’s Lee Seungri, Kang Daesung and Choi Seunghyun were in the middle back seat. Meanwhile, stylist Yang Seungho and models Lee Hyuksoo and Hong Jonghyun were in the farthest back seat.

“I want to know why we're going camping again,” Seungho tried to squeeze out information. The boys have just stopped by a coffee shop and a gas station.

Seunghyun answered, “This is the perfect way to explain Jiyong's secret dates.”

“By going on a trip to Ilsan with SNSD?” asked model and actor Hyuksoo.

“Wait, so SNSD's really coming?!” Seungri panicked. “I'm not prepared for this!”

“You should really have told us before we got in this truck,” whined Daesung, drinking his Frappuccino.

“You selfish bastards, we really look stupid right now,” model and actor Jonghyun also expressed, checking himself out in the windows.

“Who cares? This trip is about Jiyong and Taeyeon's problem, not your chances to flirt with SNSD,” the calm and matured Youngbae enlightened.

Seungri playfully inquired, “So you finally admit you're dating?”

“Taeyeon and I decided that it’s best to explain everything at once,” Kwon Jiyong muttered under his breath for the nth time. He’d been saying the same message over and over again. “How many times do I have to tell you? Just wait until we get there and you would get the whole story straight from the source.”

“I can't believe I'm really going camping and swimming with SNSD,” expressed Daesung.

To which Hyuksoo exclaimed, “, and I look like crap!”

“SNSD's