#since1765

*

I did a double update today, so make sure to read Chapter 16 first before this one.

*

Yeonsan Camping Ground

City of Ilsan, South Chungcheong Province

The crickets continued to provide the night’s music. Almost all the Big Bang and Nuthang members were knocked out from drunkenness. Meanwhile, the girls of SNSD opted to have a heart-to-heart conversation with their leader by the sea shore. They talked more freely since the boys were gone. By almost three in the morning, the ladies decided to sleep in their respective tents.

After almost an hour of separating from her members, Tiffany Hwang remained restless. The natural environment couldn’t make her sleep. She felt like the insects, the sea, and the animals were just watching her. Finally, she decided to spend time by the sea shore. For a few minutes, she enjoyed her silence and solitariness. To her dismay, someone approached her, and it was the last person she wanted to be alone with.

Choi Seunghyun sat comfortably next to her, and the two of them watched the sea waves in silence. Tiffany opted to ignore the man, even if he had been throwing cautions and direct approaches to the wind.

“Look Steph, how long do I have to stay here and talk before you acknowledge my existence?” Seunghyun desperately asked. He had been talking for half an hour, and still Stephanie Hwang did not look nor replied. “I haven't dated anyone in five years. It’s the truth.”

“So you say,” were Fany’s first words in a long time. She still did not look at her company.

“I'm a certified hermit. Before you, the last time I had was a year ago,” Seunghyun explained with all the sincerity he could muster. He was decided to show his heart to the angry woman. “You can ask anyone of those rascals, and they’d tell you the same thing.”

Tiffany was surprised at his honesty, and that was enough to make her turn her head. She looked at him, and even if she hated it, she actually saw honesty in the man’s deep set eyes. Of course she could only hold out for so long. It was already such a difficult task ignoring a handsome and talkative weirdo who was only a few feet away from her.

“How about that Hyeyoon girl?”

“She's my elder sister.”

“What?!” shrieked Tiffany, astounded. She clarified, “Hyeyoon’s your sister?”

“Yeah,” answered TOP, a small smile forming on his face as he recognized Tiffany’s jealousy. “I was chilling in her house because she asked me to babysit her 2-year old son while she was shopping.”

“You were babysitting, seriously?” Tiffany verified, still in disbelief. Then, she remembered the handsome little man that was littered all over choi_seunghyun_tttop’s accounts. She then realized, “Oh, he’s the cute boy in your public Instagram.”

“Right. That’s all I did that weekend, and that’s all Hyeyoon is. I told you Steph, I never sleep around.”

Tiffany felt as if she was bathed with icy cold water. She was glad it was still dark, or her face’s violet shade of red would be displayed out in the open. She felt an ugly combination of silliness, foolishness, childishness, and so many other emotions. Upon studying the man’s face closer, she recognized more and more the sincerity in his voice, his face, and most especially his eyes. There was no denying that Choi Seunghyun only spoke of the truth.

With the smile fading off his face, Seunghyun looked her straight in the eye and confessed, “I don't know how to date anymore, so I turned you down.”

“That's why I asked you out first!” exclaimed Tiffany, now the one beaming from her silliness. “Jiyong told me you were an almost-, so I bridged your shyness. And instead, you just hurt my ego.”

“I panicked, okay? I'm really sorry Steph,” pleaded Seunghyun, and he looked as if he could just cry. The sight became funnier to Stephanie Hwang. “I think I suffered an anxiety attack when I realized that you were asking me out. I didn’t mean to hurt your self-esteem. I’m just really, really, really shy. But I really, really, really like you.”

Choi Seunghyun was being overly defensive, pleading and explaining like he was in front of the grand jury. The moonlight shone on his face, and Tiffany recognized the heat on his cheeks. She also saw that the man was sweating profusely. How could she ever doubt the sincerity of such an old grandpa? Of course Choi Seunghyun was a hermit. He didn’t even know how to use a properly. Tiffany had to help put them on all those times. That’s when she reached the peak of her amusement that she blurted out laughing loudly.

“Why are you laughing at me?” wondered TOP, dumbfounded at the sight of the woman giggling and howling on her own.

“I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at myself,” Tiffany explained, using her two hands to show her dismissal of TOP. She laughed even more and fanned herself, then when the hilarity has worn out, she was able to calm. Still smiling, she elaborated, “Do you know how much I pitied myself for being rejected by Big Bang’s TOP? I didn’t even realize I was performing voodoo spells on your sister, calling her a and a . Now I feel so freaking stupid.” She laughed again.

Seunghyun only got energized upon absorbing what she said. He slowly stated, “So you were that jealous…”

“Well of course, duh?!” cried Stephanie, slapping TOP’s arm as she chortled again. “Would I sleep with you that many times if I didn’t like you too? Would I mind putting on the protection for you if I didn’t like you too?”

“You like me too? R-really?” TOP was in disbelief, and strangely in cloud nine too.

He stuttered as he clarified her last statement. If he wasn’t mistaken, the woman just acknowledged liking him not just once, but twice. Granted that she talked about the embarrassing fact of assisting him with the rubbers. He was far too ecstatic to recognize shame.

“Yeonjun's really, really, really cute,” was all Tiffany replied. “He's waaaaaaay cuter than you.”

“I'd like for you to meet him one day. He'd really like you, because he likes pretty girls. Even if he’s only two, I can say that Yeonjun is my best friend.”

Fany watched the man talk about his nephew, and her heart was moved. Choi Seunghyun spoke with so much love and affection, and he became that much more attractive in her eyes. He went on and on sharing about the funny things Yeonjun did or said, and Fany felt such happiness hearing about TOP’s pride and joy about his nephew.

“Hey Da Vinci…” she called out.

“Yes Mona Lisa?”

“I wish we can slow down,” Tiffany declared her most inner thoughts without beating around the bush. “I just got out of a really serious relationship that ended in a painful breakup. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy your company, and I really like you. But I’m also really scared. Like really, seriously, overly scared.”

Fany wasn’t smiling as she confessed that, and Seunghyun didn’t look away from her. TOP recognized the pain behind Tiffany’s wonderful eyes. He knew what being really, serious, overly scared felt like, and he felt sorry that a beautiful woman like Tiffany Hwang was feeling just like that. He’d do anything so she wouldn’t be scared anymore. But TOP also acknowledged that one can’t hurry the bravery of leaping forward.

“Okay, I understand,” he replied, feeling Tiffany’s rosy cheek with his fingers.

“Meeting your nephew is not taking it slow,” Tiffany said, treading lightly. “I’d like to meet him someday, when we’ve taken that leap. But not now, when we’re still here.”

“So where is here, exactly?” honestly asked TOP, also refusing to beat around the bush. He has now figured out that the best way to deal with Stephanie was to be as honest and forward as her. “Where are we? What are we?”

“Friends?” offered Tiffany, holding out her left hand, palm up, towards him.

Seunghyun just looked at her hand, and he thought for a while. Afte