“So, about that unmerciful torture you’ve said you’ve been put through, Seo,” Tiffany started, closing the library’s door. She was not asking out of interest, however, for her mind was far too busily concerned about what the outcomes of Seohyun’s encounter with Taeyeon might come to be, but out of the conscience that her cousin adored talking about herself, and wouldn’t spare a single detail of whatever it was she had to tell. That would keep Seohyun’s mind busy for a while. Or at least, so Tiffany thought. “What happened?”

Indeed, Tiffany’s plan worked. Seohyun’s eyes flicked rapidly towards Tiffany as the latter gained her attention. “Would you believe Mother and Father decided, after Christmas, that I should go to a boarding school? A boarding school! Imagine that. I, who have been home-schooled my entire life, taught within the comfort and familiarity of my own house, thrown into an institution which name is a polite term for ‘prison!” the younger girl said, perching cheekily on the couch as she rolled her eyes.

Tiffany chuckled faintly. “But, Seo, you don’t like being at home.”

“Indeed, I don’t. But I don’t like being bossed around by old, grumpy nuns either!” She sighed annoyedly, leaning back. “Well, anyway. They decided, given my, to quote my mother, ‘absurd behavior’ last summerㅡcertainly you remember that day in which I had too many drinks at the club with those handsome fellows, don’t you?ㅡas well as my ‘lack of discipline’ throughout the rest of the year regarding my studies, that I should be sent somewhere, to quote my father now, ‘with a good, strict routine, where regulation, order, and decency were taught above all else,’ so they sent me to this dreadful school in England a week after we left New York, after spending Christmas with you. I’ve been there ever since. I mean--I had been there ever since. I managed my way out of it just this past weekend” Seohyun finished, grinning mischievously.

“You-- I thought you were on your summer vacations! Did you run away?” Tiffany asked, sitting upright on the couch.

“No.”

“Then?”

Seohyun eyed her cousin and, with a shrug, responded nonchalantly, “I was expelled.”

“Seohyun! For heaven’s sake!” Tiffany reprimanded. “What did you do?”

“I was merely trying to have some fun,” Seohyun tried to defend herself. As she bit on her lower lip, an impish smile crept on . She continued, “You see, our school was just in front of a bay, and right across it there was another school, but one for boys only. My friends and I would watch from afar, with these old binoculars we had stolen from the principal, those sturdy, handsome young lads training outside, and boy, did we love the sight. So last weekend, on a Saturday night, when the boys were having a fire outside and everyone in our school had already gone to bed, we decided to get an old boat that was hanging around by the bay and cross it to meet with the boys. We succeeded, at first; we managed to cross the bay. But we were caught with the young men by their principal, who then called ours and, well, the rest you can assume. However, it does not end there.” She shifted in her seat, making herself more comfortably, crossing her long legs sensually as she accommodated herself. “Naturally, we were to be punished. But when the two other snakes I once called friends told Sister Palmer I had been the one to craft and execute the greatest part of the plan, I was expelled, while they were not. Surely they were punished, but who got the worst of it? I did!” She inhaled profoundly as to regain the air that had been lost and exhaled throughout such a long, pauseless speech. “The wretched hag called my parents and told them to fetch me at once.”

Tiffany twisted her features with repproval, but she couldn’t say she was surprised. “But is it true?”

“What?”

“Oh, please, Seo. Is it true that that was your plan?”

Seohyun arched an eyebrow, looking away. “Perhaps. Well, yes, it was. But was that information necessary?”

Tiffany sighed.

“But if you think about it,” Seohyun said before Tiffany could speak, “in the end, it was good. I did get out of that jailhouse, did I? I mean, frankly, cous’! They made us go to bed at 8:30 and rise at 5 in the morning. We had sewing lessons and we spent half an hour praying every morning and every night. Do you really think that’s an adequate place for a young girl who wishes to be a broadway star?”

Tiffany’s eyes grew large and round. “A broadway star?! You spent half of your life telling me you wanted to be a writer.”

“I changed my mind. Creating different stories is nice, but I’ve come to the conclusion that living them ought to be nicer. Once the summer is over, I’m going to ask daddy dearest to send me to an acting school.”

“And do you think he’ll agree on it?”

Seohyun eyed Tiffany and uttered a wry, slightly sad chuckle. “My parents are crazy to get rid of me, Tiff. They’ll agree on sending me anywhere as long as I stop bothering them.”

Tiffany observed as her cousin’s face darkened a little, giving her features a discreet resentful twitch. She knew that Seohyun’s relationship with her parents wasn’t like the idea of a perfect family; Robert and Helen were soft, positive people, and parents who unfortunately did not manage to raise their daughter with much discipline. Seohyun had always been a free spirit, an elfin girl as a child and now a wild soul as a young woman, and even though her spriteful personality had always required forceful management most of the times, Robert and Helen couldn’t really tame it. At some point, they simply gave up, and Seohyun knew that. Seohyun knew that their efforts to rein her back were always either in vain or simply not enough. And even though Seohyun always told Tiffany that she was lucky things were that way, Tiffany knew that behind all the naughty things Seohyun did there was a hidden yearn for having her parents occupy a more assertive position in her life, even though Seohyun insisted that she did not care about making their relationship any better. Tiffany has long assumed that, deep down inside, Seohyun wanted to be tamed; but she also wanted to be understood. But, of course, the girl would never admit to that.

“So, how long are you staying this time?”

Seohyun shrugged. “The usual, I suppose. I shall return to California mid-July. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents decided to let me stay until early August.”

Early August. She couldn’t, Tiffany thought. Seohyun couldn’t stay for that long. Of course her father wouldn’t stay around that much; his business would call to him, sooner or later, and he would have to answer. But with or without Anthony, her cousin’s presence would still deprive Tiffany of her time and privacy with Taeyeon, and if that were to be perpetuated throughout a month and a half, Tiffany thought she would go insane. Either that, or throw Seohyun out of a window.

“Why?” the older girl inquired, trying not to lace her tone with any emotions.

“You know how my mother trusts you and Mrs. Winters. She decided to send me here instead of keeping me at home because she was certain you two would 'keep an eye on me and prevent me from doing anything she wouldn’t approve of,'” Seohyun justified, paraphrasing her mother.

“Well, she’s not wrong. You know that, even if it depends on me alone, you won’t do anything stupid.”

“Of course. You are such a square, cous’. If you were to do anything mildly out of line, the shock would tear this family apart,” she remarked with a mocking tone.

Had Seohyun said that a couple of months before, Tiffany would’ve probably laughed it off and cousin back; but given her current situation, Seohyun’s words bore an enormous weight, which Tiffany felt pressuring her down. If you were to do anything mildly out of line, the shock would tear this family apart, Tiffany repeated in her mind. What if her family found out about her and Taeyeon?

“I’m not a square. You’re just a delinquent,” Tiffany retorted playfully, forcing a sound that was supposed to come out as a natural, amused chortle. “Anyway, you must be hungry. Would you like me to fetch us a snack?” she asked, getting up.

“Um, no, cous’,” Seohyun said, lifting her foot and placing it in front of Tiffany’s legs as to prevent the girl to walk away. “Instead, since I’ll be staying for an undetermined time and we’re having a nice heart-to-heart chat, why don’t you tell me a bit more about your friend out there?”

Tiffany blinked. “Pardon?”

“Daddy’s new wife,” Seohyun said, with a naughty smirk on her lips, which displeased Tiffany thoroughly.

“Oh,” the older girl said simply as she sat down again. She repressed a sigh which wished to escape her lips representing her unwillingness to discuss the issue. It had been silly of her to think the topic could be avoided; Seohyun’s curiosity wouldn’t rest. “Her name is Taeyeon,” she corrected her cousin.

“Yes, I know that,” Seohyun mumbled as she observed Tiffany suspiciously; the latter seemed rather uncomfortable, and did not meet Seohyun’s eyes. “And what? Where did she come from? How and where did she meet uncle Tony? How--” she puckered her eyelids as she closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head rapidly. “Tiffany, what in the world happened for your father to marry again? And without telling his own family?”

Tiffany opened and closed a couple of times, then just shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know, Seohyun. He must have had his reasons,” she lied. “All I know is that they met at work. That was all Taeyeon said to me, and father did not give me much information when he first told me he was to marry again. I know just as much as you do.”

Seohyun’s eyebrows shot up. “She told you so, huh? So I presume you to have established a decent rapport.”

Tiffany glanced away for a second before returning her gaze to Seohyun. “Well, what did you expect? We have been spending twenty-four hours a day under the same roof for the past few months. Of course we would… establish a decent rapport, sooner or later. And for your information, she’s not bad.”

“I’m not saying she’s bad,” Seohyun remarked. “Nor do I have anything against your father’s marriage. That’s his business. But the fact that he didn’t mention a single thing to us and that you, cous’, seem to be taking this much too lightly and well, does puzzle me.”

“I didn’t take it well at first.”

“But you are now.”

“Gosh, I told you! She’s not bad. We naturally grew close, she-- I don’t have anything to hold against her.”

Seohyun giggled amusedly. “That’s even more puzzling, because as a stepmother, she should be despicable, shouldn’t she?”

Stepmother. Tiffany felt like wincing at the word. “Perhaps. But she’s not, so why shouldn’t I just accept it?” she responded.

Touché. Seohyun did not counter that. But that did not mean she was satisfied. In fact, she had grown even more intrigued, particularly by the way Tiffany seemed to shy away from her questions and flinch uncomfortably as she responded.

“Very well,” the blonde girl said, getting on her feet. “Let’s talk to her.”

Tiffany’s eyes shot up and met Seohyun’s. “What?”

“Let’s. I want to see if she really is as nice as you say. Now, where does she usually hang around in this house?”

Just as the two opened the door the leave the library, they met with Mrs. Winters, who carried a silver tray with two glasses of lemonade and smiled warmly as they met. “Why, girls, I was just about to knock. Would you care for lemonade?” she asked, gently and quickly lifting the tray to call the girls’ attention to it.

“Oh, thank you, Nana, but we were just leaving. ...Do you know where Taeyeon is?” Tiffany asked a bit hesitantly.

“I think I saw her going to the backyard. Why?”

“We’re going there,” Seohyun chimed in. “I’d like to talk to her. I feel like we weren’t properly introduced. Could you get us another one of those, please?” she asked, pointing at the glasses of juice on the tray.

“Certainly,” Mrs. Winters agreed with a smile, bobbing her head. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Tiffany and Seohyun thanked the old woman and started for the backyard. Tiffany could feel droplets of sweat form on her nape, and she didn’t know if it was because of the hot weather or her collapsing nerves. She should keep calm, she told herself repeatedly. Should her control over her emotions falter, Seohyun would soon notice something unusual, and her suspicion would only grow stronger. They were just going to talk to Taeyeon. It would probably be a small talk, those people have when they are just getting acquainted, and there was nothing for Tiffany to be worried or nervous about: so was the train of thought she tried to etch on her brain.

Taeyeon sat quietly on a bench, absently reading a book she kept open over her lap, one Tiffany had lent her earlier that day. She turned the pages unenthusiastically, either as though the book bored her, or as though her mind simply wasn’t quite there. Her face and eyes were calmly lifted as she heard and sensed the two girls approaching, and her hand ably closed and set the book aside as she straightened her back, changing her dangling position to a proper posture.

“Frankly, it’s a shame how poorly introduced you and I were,” Seohyun spoke confidently. “Seohyun Hwang,” she said, holding out her hand.

Taeyeon glanced at Tiffany, who watched the scene quietly. Sensing the girl’s uneasiness, she grinned nearly imperceptibly at her as though to assure her everything would be fine and encourage her to play along, and albeit small, that gesture was enough to relax Tiffany a little. Taeyeon was there for her. That was enough.

The blonde’s gaze quickly returned to Seohyun as she readily took and shook the girl’s hand. “Taeyeon. Nice to meet you, Seohyun,” she said courteously, and promptly let go of Seohyun’s hand.

“Likewise,” Seohyun mumbled, smirking discreetly. She took a couple of steps further and sat down by Taeyeon’s side on the bench, facing the woman directly. “Oh, I feel excited about having a new person in the family. Ours is so small and dull, really. We don’t have much fun within ourselves, except when uncle Tony throws a party. But then, again, there is more people. If it depended on uncle Tony and my parents alone, this family would not know what it feels like to have fun. It’s pathetic that we depend on outer aid to amuse ourselves when we are supposed to be so close with each other. But oh, well; hopefully, you aren’t as boring as the rest of them.”

Seohyun watched attentively as the woman’s eyes flickered around for a moment, a clear sign of her uneasiness before Seohyun’s overwhelming talkativeness. Seohyun took Taeyeon’s half-minute of silence to observe her more closely. The woman was beautiful: that she acknowledged. She wasn’t one to notice another woman’s beauty, but Taeyeon’s soft features caught her attention. Seohyun envied the woman’s delicate nose and demurely plump, but luscious lips, and she thought her golden blonde hair perfectly complimented her fair skin. No wonder uncle Tony wanted to marry her, she thought, and intended to say it to Tiffany, but she found herself staring at the charming blonde’s scarlet lips instead.

“Hopefully not,” Taeyeon responded, forcing a small friendly smile. “Though Tiffany does say that I can be quite boring, sometimes,” she added, glancing at Tiffany.

Seohyun looked at Tiffany for a couple of seconds, then back at Taeyeon. There was a small tilt of the girl’s head as she sat more comfortably on the bench, which Taeyeon interpreted as either confusion or suspicion, and the lack of certainty made the woman feel slightly anxious.

“I take it you and Tiffany have become wonderful friends,” Seohyun remarked, with a tinge of irony in her tone. Taeyeon could swear she noticed the girl quickly and slightly squint as the latter looked at her.

Taeyeon and Tiffany looked at each other for a moment, with a glance that suggested they both noticed the not-so-innocent tone Seohyun used.

“We get along just fine,” Tiffany chimed in.

“Yes, we do. But that’s now,” Taeyeon remarked, returning her attention to Seohyun. “She absolutely hated me at first,” she completed with a chuckle, praying her remark would make the conversation more light-hearted.

“Oh, I would hate you, too, if I were in her place,” Seohyun responded nonchalantly.

“Would you?” Tiffany asked.

“Naturally,” Seohyun replied, turning to her cousin. “How do you think I’d feel if my father married such a beautiful woman and I had to welcome her into my life? Threatened, of course.”

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows at the unexpected compliment.

“But I’m glad you managed to cope with it,” said Seohyun to Tiffany before the turned to Taeyeon again. “Surely you must have felt uncomfortable at first.”

“At first, yes. But I’ve been treated wonderfully ever since,” the blonde replied simply.

The three women’s attention was veered by Mrs. Winters arrival. The woman carried a tray with drinks for them as she approached, which was put under the housekeeper’s arm once they had all picked up the glasses.

“I sincerely hate to interrupt, but Seohyun, I’d like you to accompany me to the guest room so that I can help you unpack your things. Your luggage is upstairs already. It is preferable that we do so now; I must help prepare dinner and I’m sure your uncle would like you to be settled and comfortable as soon as possible,” Mrs. Winters said.

Seohyun rolled her eyes playfully as she sipped on her drink, and then rose from the bench. “Well, it seems like I have no other choice.” She turned around and eyed Taeyeon and Tiffany quickly. “I’ll be back soon. Ta-ta!” she exclaimed, waving her fingers, and then proceeded to twine her arm with Mrs. Winters’s to follow the old woman back into the house.

“They do seem to get along well, don’t they?” Seohyun remarked as they stepped inside.

“Tiffany and Miss Taeyeon?” Mrs. Winters asked, eyeing the young girl that walked beside her. “Why, yes. Yes, I suppose they do. I admit Tiffany got me worried at first. She reacted very badly when the woman arrived. It made me feel so bad for the poor thing. She looked so scared. But, thankfully, they’ve come together on their own.”

“Just like that?” Seohyun asked, snapping her fingers.

Mrs. Winters nodded. “The next thing I knew, they were together all the time. Heart-warming, isn’t it? I think it’s been good for Tiffany to have another feminine presence in the house, one that isn’t old and wrinkled like me.”

“I suppose so,” Seohyun mumbled absently. “And what do you think of her, Mrs. Winters?”

“Oh, Miss Taeyeon is a lovely woman. A real lady, and so kind and polite. No wonder she managed to earn Tiffany’s affection,” she said with a chuckle. “I like her, I truly do.”

“Her affection, huh?” Seohyun said, smiling. “But, tell me, why do you call her ‘Miss Taeyeon?’ Shouldn’t it be, ‘Mrs. Hwang?’”

The old woman shrugged. “I call her that upon her own request. At first it did feel a tad odd to me to refer to her that way, but I suppose I’ve grown used to it now.”

Seohyun hummed. “I wonder if she doesn’t like the surname.”

Mrs. Winters looked at her and blinked, then shook her head. “All right. Enough with the prying now, child,” she said with a small chuckle, then opened the door to the guest room and stepped inside, pulling Seohyun along. “Let’s start unpacking. And, by heavens, how is that much luggage necessary?”

“She’s suspicious of me,” Taeyeon said rather calmly as she exhaled heavily.

“What? That’s impossible,” Tiffany responded, shaking her head. “How could she?”

Taeyeon shook her head. “I don’t know. But I feel she is.”

Tiffany watched sadly the way the summer breeze blew a few thin strands of hair against Taeyeon’s tense face. In hopes to comfort the woman, she reached out shyly to hold Taeyeon’s hand, but Taeyeon retracted as soon as Tiffany’s fingertips brushed her skin.

The blonde sighed as she turned her face to look at Tiffany, understanding her action had upset the latter. She could feel a sharp pain in her heart when her eyes met with Tiffany’s unhappy ones.  “I’m sorry, darling. We can’t take the risk,” she whispered.

Tiffany withdrew her hand with slow, despondent moves. “What’s so wrong about holding your hand?”

Taeyeon shook her head slowly with agape, as if at a loss of words. “It’s inconvenient. With your father and your cousin around… You do understand, don’t you? We musn’t.”

We musn’t, Tiffany repeated in her mind. What was with the bushes and the flowers and the way they never worked for her and Taeyeon? She made a mental note not to ever bring the woman to the garden again. That had been the second time Tiffany had to endure a painful rejection from the blonde there.

“Of course. I do,” the girl finally responded, albeit sans conviction, with a sad smile on her lips. “I’m sorry.”

When Taeyeon parted her lips to speak, Tiffany had already gotten on her feet, and so the woman simply sat quietly on the bench, watching as the girl walked away.

Forgive me, my love. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m scared of your cousin and of your father. I’m scared for you and for me. I promise I’ll make up when they’re gone. Just… please understand that I must stay away from you for now.

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, feeling them warm with tears. Her hand blindly reached for the book laying beside her on the bench, and she clutched it as though she were clutching Tiffany’s hand.

The day proceeded uneventfully, and sans any interactions between Taeyeon and Tiffany. At dinner, the four Hwangs ate quietly, the only conversation at the table being the casual questions Anthony asked to Seohyun about his brother. Tiffany barely touched her food, and Taeyeon lost her appetite when she realized that the girl barely glanced at her, knowing she had been the reason behind Tiffany’s low spirits. She wished she could kick everyone out of the houseㅡAnthony, preferably, out of the window, pull Tiffany into her arms, and keep her there. But since she could not do so, all she did was put on and keep her best neutral, indifferent face.

Seohyun did not let Taeyeon’s discomfort go unnoticed, and neither her cousin’s rather unbecoming blue demeanor. She watched attentively as Tiffany poked her food with the fork, unwilling to eat it, and as Taeyeon stole nervous and regretful glances at the girl from time to time. Seohyun squinted as her mind worked around the suspicious behavior of the two, trying to make something out of it. She glanced at Anthonyㅡwas he unhappy as well? No, he didn’t seem to be; surely, then, it wasn’t a family matter, like an argument or anything of the sort.

It was just between Taeyeon and Tiffany.

“So, have you ladies picked your outfit for the party next week yet?” Seohyun asked nonchalantly, and stuffed a piece of baked potato in .

Tiffany and Taeyeon glanced at each other rapidly.

Tiffany cleared . “No, I’m afraid we haven’t,” she answered as her eyes traveled to her cousin.

“And when do you plan on doing so?”

The raven-haired averted Seohyun’s eyes. “It all depends on Taeyeon,” she mumbled, with a tone a tad bitter than she intended to use, and sipped on her glass of water.

Anthony looked up. “I thought I had asked you to accompany them downtown, Tiff.”

Tiffany just shrugged.

For a second, Taeyeon’s eyebrows were knit together as she stared at Tiffany, unfamiliar with the girl’s sharp behavior. "It all depends on Taeyeon." The blonde knew there was a covert meaning in those words.

“What about you, Seohyun?” Taeyeon spoke as she turned to the youngest Hwang. “Have you your outfit yet?”

Seohyun shook her head.

The blonde forced a smile. “Then we should go out tomorrow  and pick our outfits out together,” she said, eyeing Tiffany quickly, then returning her gaze to Seohyun. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to invite a friend to join us.”

“Not at all,” Seohyun responded. “It shall be nice to have new people around. Going out with Tiffany can be pretty boring,” she said, looking tauntingly at her cousin.

Tiffany hurled her napkin onto the table and pushed her chair back with a sudden and loud move, which caused the other three people on the table to all set their eyes on her. She, however, did not glance back to any of them, and instead, turned around and marched out of the dining room without uttering a word.

“What’s wrong with her today?” Anthony asked impatiently, with a frown on his face.

Taeyeon gulped quietly as she glanced towards the direction Tiffany had just gone.

“Women’s stuff,” Seohyun answered absently as she side-eyed Taeyeon, then looked at Anthony. “You wouldn’t understand, uncle.”

“Jesus,” Anthony muttered, and resumed to finishing his dinner.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” the girl said, dabbing her napkin on the corners of , “I’m finished. I’ll check on Tiff. But I’m sure she’s perfectly fine,” she assured as Anthony stared at her. “I’ll let you know if she needs anything.”

Anthony just nodded. Taeyeon tried her best not to, but she accompanied Seohyun with her eyes as the girl exited the room.

When Taeyeon decided to leave herself, which was not later than a minute after, Anthony intervened:ㅡ

“You too?” he asked, looking at the woman.

Taeyeon blinked. “May I?” she said. The man pretended not to notice her slightly sarcastic tone.

“Actually, I’d like you to stay for a while. Let’s talk.”

Taeyeon eyed the man suspiciously, but eventually sat back down.

“Who’s this friend of yours? The same Tiffany has mentioned at lunch?” he asked.

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows. “Yes, actually.”

“Since when do you two have friends in common?”

“We don’t.” She pursed her lips. “Well, I suppose we do now. It’s a friend of mine from the office, Irene Bae. Mr. Morris’s secretary. I had her over once. That was when Tiffany met her.”

Anthony hummed. “And do you think it is right for my daughter to hang around with your friends?”

Taeyeon understood what the man implied, and it filled her with so much anger she had to hold herself back not to lose her mind and snap at him.

“I can assure you there’s nothing to worry about Irene. She’s a wonderful girl and she and Tiffany seem to get along just as well as any girls their age,” she said, nearly through gritted teeth.

Anthony’s gaze was uncertain and shamelessly prejudiced upon Taeyeon.

“What do you take me for, mister? Some sort of a maniac? Is my image so rotten to you that you are even suspicious of my friends?” Taeyeon inquired angrily, offense clearly showing in her tone.

“Not a maniac, no,” he said, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it up before he placed it between his lips and took a puff. “Believe me, in my travels, I’ve seen quite a number of women like you. But your conduct has been... questionable, to put it mildly. Frankly, I’d call it immoral. How can I be certain your friends don’t act the same way? Certainly you must have acquaintances of your sort.”

“Of my sort? I beg your pardon?" she huffed, straightening her back on her seat.

Anthony grew quiet for a few seconds, taking slow puffs of his cigarette from time to time. “On a second thought, Taeyeon, I don’t really mind if your friends are like you... as long as they don’t come anywhere near my daughter,” he said, glancing at her with a piercing look. “I don’t want my Tiffany involved in anything of that sort.”

Your Tiffany, she repeated wryly in her mind.

“How come you trust me around her, then?” she asked with a scoff, and immediately regretted it.

She knew nothing good could come from provoking the man, but she couldn’t help herself. Anthony’s calmness as he uttered his insults disguised as formal, passive-aggressive remarks had the power to anger her so terribly to the point she nearly lost her mind every time she tried to carry a decent, normal discussion with the man. A cold shiver ran through her body as she watched the man turn around and bend forward, toward her. His free hand clasped her wrist, and the other one he used to point threateningly at her as he held his cigarette between his fingers.

“Because I don’t think, I really do not think,” he began in a whisper as he wagged his fingers, his grip tightening around Taeyeon’s wrist, “you would have the nerve to be disgusting and stupid enough to mess with my daughter. Not under my own roof. Not after all I’ve provided you with.”

“Let me go,” Taeyeon muttered through gritted teeth. “You’re hurting me.”

Anthony only wrung the woman’s wrist with more force upon her request. His intention was but to show her that she was in no position to defy and speak to him in the tone she had used, no; Who did she think she was?

 Taeyeon clenched her jaw to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes, then gasped audibly when she felt the man pull her closer by the tortured wrist, twisting it as he did so.

“Listen to me, Taeyeon. I’m trusting you, despite all I really think about you. I trust you still have a bit of decency in you. But if it ever comes to my knowledge that you’ve betrayed my trust…”

“Let me GO!” Taeyeon demanded, cutting Anthony off and yanking her wrist away, compelling the man to let her goㅡhadn’t he, she would’ve probably broken her arm, so forceful was Anthony’s grip on her. “That’s not something you have to warn me about, Anthony.” She paused, inhaling deeply. “I’d never lay a finger on Tiffany,” she lied, and she thanked the heavens the man couldn’t hear her nervous racing heart as she uttered those words.

A mockingly satisfied smile spread dryly across Anthony's lips. “Good,” he said with a bob of his head, and took another puff of his cigarette. “It’s all settled, then.”

Taeyeon felt her wrist ache, and glanced at it only to find her pale skin red and warm from the man’s violent hold. She clenched her jaw and fists, and for a moment she considered smashing her plate on Anthony’s head. Perhaps the bottle of the wine he had been drinking, too. But, knowing better, all she did was abruptly get up and then exit the room, rubbing her throbbing wrist.

She walked as quietly as she could until she reached the door to the library, and then leaned on it with an exhausted sigh, as if she could finally breathe out the air she had been holding in her lungs. She closed her eyes for a second, still fighting the tears that insisted on remaining in her eyes and threatened to spill out of them. Still holding her wrist, she looked down at it: her skin was still red, and it was pricking. She tried moving it a bit, and grimaced when she felt it sore. Although fragile in her childhood and early teen-age years, life had taught Taeyeon to be a physically strong adult. The fact that Anthony could hurt her so easily scared her.

She ran her fingertips across her pained skin, and she thought about Tiffany’s touch. Tiffany’s touch would be able to soothe that pain. Tiffany’s presence would manage to ebb the fear. Tiffany would make her feel safe, secure, certain of the path she had taken, willing to continue to follow that route. Tiffany. All she wanted in that moment was Tiffany.

Taeyeon sighed, closing her eyes again, then shook her head. “Tiffany musn’t know about this,” she mumbled to herself.

A couple of tears streamed down her eyes, but she wiped them quickly, wary of her surroundings. She pushed the library door open and entered the room, swiftly closing the door behind her back. She trod towards the couch and then threw her body onto it with another heavy sigh. The quietude of the room eased her nerves, and the fact that Tiffany’s perfume could be faintly felt on the couch almost made her smile, even if bitterly. She closed her eyes, hoping she would fall into a deep slumber and only wake up when the nightmare she thought she was in was over.

“So, cous’,” Seohyun called as she entered Tiffany’s bedroom, already in her nightwear, “what will we be up to tonight?”

“What?” Tiffany responded absently, just noticing the younger girl’s presence.

“What do you mean, ‘What?’ You know we celebrate my first night here every summer. Last year we stayed up all night playing games and stealing sips from the drinks from your father’s liquor cabinet. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten it?”

She hadn’t. Not after the terrible headache that ensued from that night. It made Tiffany decide she swould never have whiskey again.

“No, of course not,” she said, rising from her lying position. “I’m sorry, Seo. I’m afraid I am not feeling very well today.”

Seohyun lifted an eyebrow. “So I’ve noticed. Would you like to talk about it?”

Tiffany eyed Seohyun and forced a small smile. “No. I myself can’t tell what’s making me so morose. Silly, isn’t it?”

“What about Taeyeon?” Seohyun asked, her eyes fixated on Tiffany like stone. “Do you know what’s making her so morose?”

Tiffany was bewildered by Seohyun's quesion for a moment, but eventually uttered a nervous, forced chuckle. “Oh, come on, Seo. Taeyeon is in a good mood. You saw how friendly she was earlier.”

“But she certainly didn’t look like it during dinner.”

"Well, then it’s not my problem,” she said, trying to sound indifferent, as she got up from the bed and moved toward her wardrobe, avoiding her cousin’s eyes. “Surely she has her motives. It’s not for me to inquire on them.”

“I thought you were friends."

Tiffany contained a sad sigh, taking a few seconds to respond. “We are,” she finally said. “But even friendship has its limits.”

Seohyun watched as Tiffany rummaged through her clothes before she picked a nightgown. Supporting her weight in her hands, she leaned back in her seat, her eyes following Tiffany’s every movement, from the way the girl anxiously tried to her dress on her back, to the way her chest moved rapidly, indicating a nervous pattern in her breathing.

“Limits,” Seohyun repeated, her tone rather complacent. “Limits are boring, don’t you think?”

Tiffany directed a puzzled glance at Seohyun, finally managing to grab ahold of the zipper of her dress.

“I think rules were made to be broken. Don’t you?”

“What’s with that talk?” Tiffany asked, ping herself.

Seohyun shrugged. “I’m simply asking your opinion on doing things you are not supposed to.”

“Like crossing a bay in the middle of the night to meet with the male students of your local male boarding school?” Tiffany retorted, chuckling.

No, Tiffany. Like seriously crossing the line and engaging in something illegal and arguably immoral, Seohyun thought. “It was worth it,” she said instead, letting the topic go. Perhaps it wasn’t the right time to broach it yet.

Seohyun waited until her cousin had changed into her nightgown, then got up and strolled out of the room, dragging Tiffany along by the hand.

“I feel like having something sweet to eat,” she said with a whine. “I hate how Mrs. Winters only allows desserts on the weekends.”

“I might have chocolate secretly stored somewhere in the kitchen,” Tiffany replied as she allowed Seohyun to take her downstairs.

Seohyun turned to Tiffany to look at her with a funny, mischievous expression on her face, which made Tiffany giggle.

“You’ll have to look for it, though,” Tiffany added as they descended the staircase. “I might have stored somewhere high where I can’t reach.”

Seohyun clicked her tongue. “How could you have done that and not be able to get it back? Frankly...”

“Touché,” Tiffany gave in, giggling again.

They reached the ground floor and looked around, surprised to see so little movement. Only rustles could be heard, from Mrs. Winters's and the cook's accommodations.

“Strange,” Seohyun muttered, then turned to Tiffany. “Your father was here just minutes ago.”

Tiffany glanced at the clock in the living room. 9:30p.m. Usually, her father only went to bed after ten.

She felt small droplets of cold sweat forming on her forehead. Where was Taeyeon?

“This whole day has been strange…” Tiffany muttered, almost inaudibly, but loud enough for Seohyun to hear.

"Why so?” the blonde girl inquired.

Tiffany turned to her abruptly, wary and self-conscious of her own recklessness at blurting out those words, and faked a chuckle. “Well, I mean, you are finally here after so long. And I’ve introduced you a new member of the family, and we’ve dined much later than the usual… I’m sure father was just tired and decided to go to sleep earlier. He is normally very tired from his travels when he gets home,” was the justification she came up with.

“I thought he had taken a nap during the afternoon,” Seohyun retorted.

Just as Tiffany was about to respond, the two girls’ attention was seized by the sound of a door opening. They followed the direction of the sound with their eyes, and their gaze fell on the library's door, which was slowly being pushed. They stood quietly in their position, and a few seconds later, Taeyeon appeared in front of them.

The woman jumped at the sudden meeting, not expecting to see the two girls there. Tiffany analyzed Taeyeon’s appearance for a moment: she looked tired and uneasy.

“Do you girls need anything?” Taeyeon asked in the best and most convincing polite tone, discreetly pulling her sleeve over her wrist, which was beginning to look rather purplish. Her gaze fell on Tiffany, lingering there longer than originally intended. “Is everything okay?” she asked again, finally shifting her glance toward Seohyun.

“What are you doing down here?” Seohyun inquired. “Still in your evening dress?”

Taeyeon her lips anxiously, then forced a smile. “I felt like doing a bit of reading after dinner, so I went to the library. I must have fallen asleep there. I didn’t even see the time pass.”

Seohyun uttered a suspicious and fleeting hum. Tiffany sighed sadly, but quietly at the sight of the blonde, an agonizing feeling of being so close yet so far crushing her heart.

“I've already finished that book you lent me earlier,” Taeyeon said, looking at Tiffany and handing her the book she had in hands, though it was a lie. Taeyeon wasn't as quick as Tiffany when it came to reading poetry, and truthfully, she hadn't even gotten halfway through the book. But she had, indeed, kept it close to her throughout the rest of the day, and as she lay on the couch in the library, she cuddled it, holding it close to her chest. “Thank you. I've enjoyed it very much."

Tiffany reached for the book, and her fingers dawdled on Taeyeon’s skin for a few seconds as she took the object from the woman's hands. We shouldn’t, Taeyeon’s voice echoed in her mind, making her quickly withdraw.

“I'm glad” she uttered simply, averting her gaze.

Seohyun breathed in deeply. “Say, why don’t you two discuss our plans for tomorrow? I’m tired of waiting for you, Tiff. I’m going to look for that chocolate you’ve mentioned,” she said, and strolled away, toward the kitchen.

Taeyeon watched anxiously as Seohyun walked away, and released a relieved sigh once she was sure the girl was out of sight.

“Tiff, listen...” the woman cooed, taking a step closer to Tiffany.

“I got the message, Taeyeon,” Tiffany mumbled, taking a step back by reflex. “We’re not supposed to be close in the meantime.”

Taeyeon stopped. “That is not what I was going to say.”

“I thought that was all there was to be said.”

Taeyeon pursed her lips. A sigh escaped her nostrils as she watched Tiffany. She took another step toward the girl and held her hand, and then glanced at the path Seohyun had made toward the kitchen before she began to pull Tiffany closer to her.

“Tiffany, I understand your being upset, but don’t you think it is a bit unfair to blame it all on me?” she crooned, rubbing the back of Tiffany’s hand with her thumb. “You’ve been looking troubled ever since that moment in the garden.”

The young woman eyed Taeyeon for a few seconds, but not a word escaped her lips. 

“I found it!” They heard Seohyun’s cheerful voice from the kitchen. Tiffany wondered angrily how her cousin managed to find the chocolate so quickly. Not even Tiffany herself remembered where she had kept it.

Taeyeon let go of Tiffany’s hand and stepped back with a fright at the sound of Seohyun’s voice. Tiffany watched as Taeyeon’s hand lowered itself, and her eyes accidentally caught a glimpse of a large darkening spot on the woman’s wrist. When Taeyeon grew aware of the direction of Tiffany's gaze, she immediately tugged her sleeve over her wrist and then hid her hand behind her back.

"Be ready at 1:30 tomorrow," she said, eyeing Seohyun, who was still approaching, and then Tiffany for the last time before she started toward the staircase.

Tiffany remained immobile, only following the unfamiliar colors on Taeyeon’s skin with her eyes as the woman ascended the stairs. Her breath shortenedㅡwas she imagining things? The marks looked like a bruise. But then, again, the light they were under was dim. Still, those marks looks unsettling...

Seohyun, herself, followed Taeyeon with her eyes as the blonde marched upstairs, then shrugged once she was out of sight. “All right,” the girl said, munching on a piece of chocolate, as she stopped by Tiffany’s side. “Now get the games and the liquor and let’s go to your room have some fun.”

Tiffany did not respond. Her mind was busy thinking about the marks on Taeyeon’s wrist. How did she get them? They weren’t there earlier that day.

Had that been her father’s doing? The thought sent a cold shiver down her spine.

“Tiffany!”

“Jesus, what is it, Seohyun?” she asked, impatient and a tad annoye.

“I said, get the games and the liquor and let’s go to your room have some fun,” Seohyun repeated, frowning.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “No liquor tonight.”

Seohyun whined.

“But do get the deck. I could use some beating you on Poker." 

Tiffany was thoroughly distressed, and perhaps that was influencing her to see things that weren't quite there. Maybe all she needed was a fun night with her cousin to clear her thoughts and relax a little.

Still, after Seohyun had fallen asleep, late into the night, Tiffany couldn't manage to get some rest herself. The image of the dark spots on Taeyeon's wrists came back in her mind to haunt her, and remembering Taeyeon was locked inside her father's room with him only worsened her torment. She tossed and her bed with her eyes closed, sometimes angrily kicking the sheets away, but her night wound up being restless anyway.

“What took you so long?” Anthony asked as he watched Taeyeon enter the room.

Taeyeon frowned. “I didn’t know I had a curfew.”

“But you certainly do know that, when a husband goes to bed, his wife is supposed to accompany him, don’t you?”

“I owe you no wifely duties,” she snarled, closing the door behind her back. Her eyes scanned the room, and her heart raced at the realization that Anthony had done nothing to appease to her wishes. “Where is spare mattress or the sleeping bag I requested, may I ask?”

“Oh, come on,” the man responded, unconcerned.

“I mean it,” Taeyeon insisted. “I thought I had been perfectly clear when I said I would not sleep in the same bed as you.”

“Listen, I am not going to lay a finger on you, so what’s the problem? Just lie down and go to sleep.”

“Oh?” Taeyeon said under a wry chuckle. “Does this mean not lying a finger on me, perchance?” she said, showing him her bruised wrist. “It is bad enough I am stuck in a single room with you, mister. I refuse to sleep by your side. Particularly after what you’ve done to me tonight.” She didn't want to sound like she was victimizing herself, but it was true. She rebuffed the thought of sleeping next to the man who had so casually and shamelessly hurt her just a couple of hours before, and now acted as thought nothing had happened.

The man tossed the book he was reading aside and suddenly got up, startling Taeyeon and making the blonde take one step back. “You are very petulant, do you know that?” he said as he began to walk away from the bed.

Blood ran cold in Taeyeon’s veins. The man had already injured her once; surely, he could do it again, especially if she kept pushing him. But she breathed relieved once she realized Anthony was actually walking toward his wardrobe.

“What are you doing?” she mumbled.

“You sleep on the damn bed,” he growled, opening the wardrobe and taking a couple of thick blankets out. “I’ll sleep on the floor. I might not truly like you, but I won’t let a woman sleep on the ground.”

Won’t let a woman sleep on the floor, but will hurt her to impose your power over her, eh? A true gentleman, Taeyeon thought wryly.

She didn’t say another thing; she simply walked warily toward the bed, and then settled quietly on the mattress. Soon Anthony himself had improvised his own bed on the floor and had already lain down, grumbling something inaudible, that Taeyeon assumed was complaints about her.

Regardless of the decent distance between the man’s body and hers, however, Taeyeon did not manage to sleep peacefully; At most, she dozed off a few times during the night. The thought of being in the same room with Anthony, particularly in a closed space, disturbed her thoughts so vehemently that neither her mind nor body could rest. At some point during the night, she glanced at Anthony, sleeping peacefully on the floor. How could he? Did he really not care about the fact that he had left her bruised? That he had treated her like nothing?

For a couple of minutes she questioned herself, doubting the decisions she had made thus far. Accepting Anthony’s proposal had wreaked havoc on her life. She was at a mercy of a man who saw her as nothing but an object, and was not only willing to treat her like one, but also intended to ask her to agree on being one. She lived in a house that, although could offer her all sorts of comfort, made her feel out of place and uneasy twenty-four hours a day. She was tied by a loveless marriage so fake any judge would nullify it without questioning it twice. And what for?

She glanced at Anthony’s nightstand, and her eyes fell on a portrait of Tiffany, standing neatly atop the furniture. She stretched on the bed and reached out for it , then picked it up to analyze it closer. The picture seemed recent. She brought it closer to her face, as her eyes couldn't see all that well in the darkness of the room, broken only by a faint lamp on the nightstand, which she had left on, hoping Anthony wouldn't notice and complain about it. The date, nearly hidden behind the frame, said August 1st, 1948. Tiffany’s 16th birthday. Taeyeon smiled sadly and sighed as the tip of her fingers touched the picture.

For you, darling. I suppose it’s all for you, she thought, rubbing her thumbs across the picture before she quietly placed it back on the nightstand.