"You Are My Constant"
by Akino_Makoto

A/N: Taeyeon’s thoughts that Fany can hear are in italics.

Life had never been easy for Tiffany Hwang. Ever since she was three-years-old, she’s been plagued with something unexplainable. Her mother had it too, but she left Fany early on, so Fany had no one to turn to. How her mother handled dealing with such a thing for so long has always been shocking and confusing to Fany. Her mother was really something remarkable to live her life with all of the voices tangled between her web of thoughts. It’s been nineteen years ever since it first struck Fany, and she still doesn’t have a hold of it.

For Fany, it’s made relationships with other people impossible. She would walk up to someone, and the usual first thought others would have is “what does she want from me?” If someone else would walk up to her, they’re usually thinking something erted. And so despite Fany’s longing to make friends and her want to find a special someone and eventually get married… well, it didn’t look too good for her, or so she thought. That all changed the day she met Kim Taeyeon.

********
“Fany-yah, you have another appointment today. You can’t miss this one either. They’ll help you out, I promise.”

Fany sighed. Her best friend, Kwon Yuri, was always full of worry, and those thoughts filtered through the phone, despite the two of them being miles apart from each other. “Yuri- yah, I know. What I don’t know is whether or not I can deal with everyone’s thoughts flooding me again. They’re getting worse these days, you know?”

“I know what you mean, Fany, but you have to get out sometime,” Yuri replied. Coaxing Fany out from her apartment had been useless for the past year. What made her think anything would change on this particular day?

Yuri’s thoughts struck Fany hard. It had been a year, hadn’t it? A year during which time she had her best friend and her best friend’s girlfriend catering to her every whim, a year that she lost to herself because she had become too afraid of the outside world. Upon crossing a man who thought he could have his way with her, she decided to hide away. What she hadn’t planned was the day that she would come out from hiding.

“You’re right,” Fany said in a deadpan voice. “I have to get out sometime, and today is that day.” Not only had she grown bored of her life indoors, but she also wanted to prove Yuri wrong. She, herself, knew she was strong and that she could fight the thoughts that would bombard her upon leaving the sanctuary of her home.

“What?!” Yuri said, completely shocked. She never thought she would get through to Fany. “Are you serious?”

“I’m as serious as could ever be, Kwon Yuri,” Fany said, trying to sound as strong as she possibly could. However, on the inside, she was a nervous wreck, but she couldn’t let that show. Her own thoughts were then disrupted by those of Yuri’s, who immediately began to worry and wonder who she could get over to Fany’s place in time to take her to her appointment. “And don’t worry, I can walk myself there.”

“Nope, no way am I letting that happen,” Yuri shouted. Fany could hear the rustle of papers coming from the other end of the phone. It was obvious that Yuri was at work, and Fany didn’t want to be a bother.

“Yuri, I’m fine, really,” Fany said in her softest voice.

“I’m a big girl, I can do it myself.”

The rustling on the other end of the phone stopped.

“It doesn’t matter,” Yuri said, “you can end up becoming disoriented or a number of other things. Look, I’ll call Sica now to let her know. Just stay put until she shows up. And don’t forget to wear your sunglasses either. I don’t want you going blind because you’re not yet adjusted to the sunlight.”

“Yes, umma,” Fany said, rolling her eyes. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jessica Jung or anything, but she had a problem with the ADD-like thoughts the girl had. One moment, she could be thinking about a book, and the next moment she would be thinking about making Yuri some pizza.

Fany hung up the phone and went to take a shower. She surely wasn’t going to wait around for Jessica to show up to take her to her appointment. If she were to start living again, she would have to learn how to make mistakes on her own, too.
After dressing herself in the best clothes she could find, she grabbed her handbag and a pair of sunglasses and headed out the door, ready to face the day.

********
It had not been my morning at all. I woke up late and missed the bus, and so I couldn’t make it to work on time. The worst part was that today was evaluation day, and the head chef would decide which of us line cooks would be promoted. Looks like it definitely wouldn’t be me.

I decided to skip out on showing up late to the restaurant, so I headed out to the park downtown for a stroll instead. However, once I got there, I realized it was no fun hanging out alone. This is why I don’t like going out – I can never enjoy it. Oh well, maybe a trip to the music store would provide me with some solace.

So there I sat on a bench in front of the park entrance. This probably wasn’t the best place to situate myself, as a grubby-looking man wearing tattered clothing and pushing around a shopping cart stopped right in front of me and stared. Not only did he stare, though, but he stared and smiled. I felt like getting up and walking away, but doing so would make me miss my bus. I was definitely not going to go to the city by foot… even if it was just two miles away. I sat there and avoided eye contact with the man. And that’s when I saw her.

She wore sunglasses, a sleeveless red plaid shirt with some sort of frills at the shoulder, dark- wash skin-tight jeans, and flats, and she had this big, leather brown handbag hanging off her left shoulder. She looked rich, or, well, at least she dressed the part. If she was, then why was she hanging around the park?

I watched her for a little longer as she walked to the fountain across the street from me. She took off her sunglasses and revealed to me her beautiful smiling eyes. I haven’t a clue what she was smiling at, but I couldn’t give a damn if it was bird poop that she was smiling about – her smile was captivating.

Her smile… it’s so beautiful. She’s so beautiful… compared to her, I’m nothing…

Almost as if I had said something, she turned around and looked at me. Well, at least I thought she was looking at me. She could have been looking at the bench or the park gates or the creepy man who hadn’t stopped staring at me.

Is she looking at me? No, get a hold of yourself, Kim Taeyeon. You’re just dreaming now. Oh man, that guy is still staring at me. What does he want? Money? My innocence? Well, as long as that girl’s around, I’m sure he won’t do anything.

I looked away from the direction in which she stood and distracted myself with my phone. If I stared at her any longer, I’d probably be just as creepy as the man with the shopping cart. Then it began to process through my head that playing with my phone probably looked as if I had taken pictures of her or something. I put the phone back in my pocket and lifted my head slightly just to catch a quick glimpse of the girl.

…Is this a dream? She’s walking over here. Maybe she’s going to give the man some money. Yeah, that’s probably it. Okay, just remain calm and – wait, why am I even acting like this? I’ve seen pretty girls before. I’m being unreasonable now. I must be tired or drunk or...

I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I’m not sure what it was, but something was definitely wrong with me today. Missing work, overreacting – there will probably be a full moon out tonight.

I opened my eyes and I see shoes. Not just any shoes, but these dark grey flats I had seen earlier. My head shot up to look the shoes’ owner in the face, and I began feeling light- headed. It was her. I’m sure she was probably lost and needed directions, so I just smiled at her and tried to looked away.

“Hi,” she said, following it up with that smile that made me feel as if I was being hugged by an angel.

I blushed and looked around me. What are the chances that she’s speaking to me?

“Are you talking to me?” I managed to stutter out.
Her smile brightened upon hearing my words, and she extended out a hand to me. “Of course, why not you?”

I looked at her hand. She had such pretty nails compared to mine, which I constantly chewed.
I took her hand in mine and lightly shook it.

“Because I’m a complete stranger,” I mumbled, avoiding her gaze. Yep, surely making myself look like a winner right now, aren’t I?

Even without looking at her, I could feel her smile shining on me. What on Earth could this girl be so happy about?

“It’s always nice to meet new people,” she cheerily said. “My name’s Tiffany, what’s yours?”

Of course even without me telling her my name, she already knew what it was. I, however, wasn’t aware of it at the time.

“Ti-ppa-ni?” I said aloud, embarrassing myself further. So this girl isn’t from around here? I knew it! I knew she only came to me to ask me for directions.

She laughed. “Yes, that’s my name. I was born in America, but I’ve been living here for the last six years,” she said. “And now, tell me your name.”

“Oh, right, I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s Taeyeon.” Babo, babo, I’m such a babo. Why did I ignore her question the first time?

“Taeyeon… nice to meet you,” she said and shook my hand. It was then that I noticed that we hadn’t let go of each other since I first took her hand. I blushed at the thought.

“Nice to meet you too,” I said. Looking away from Tiffany, I noticed that the creepy man was still staring at me.

What does he want with me? I can’t believe he’s still staring at me like that when someone else is around. Maybe I should have called the police…

Suddenly, Tiffany leaned into me. “Don’t worry about him; he just thinks that you look like his daughter who passed away two years ago,” she whispered into my ear.

What did she say? Does she know this man? Is she some type of mind reader? This is getting a bit strange.

Wide-eyed, I looked at her and was about to speak before she cut me off.

"Hey, I, uh, have something important to do in the city,” she said. “Can you walk me there?”

I don’t know why I felt like I could trust her, but I did. I nodded in reply, and looked at the man who was still staring at me and smiled. I nodded my head at him in acknowledgement, and he nodded back. As soon as I stood up from the bench, he walked towards it and spread himself across it. I laughed on the inside.

Well, if that’s what he wanted, he could have just asked.

I followed Tiffany to the end of the street. Although she said she’s lived here for six years, she appeared to be a bit disoriented. She looked up and down the empty, intersecting street as if to decide which direction she should go in.

“Where are we going?” I spoke up. I figured that maybe I could be of some assistance to her.
“I’m not cutting in between you and your plans, am I?” she suddenly asked.

I shook my head. I mean, I was going to go to the music store, but I could leave that for another day.

“Alright,” she said. “Well, after I’m finished at this first place, there’s some place I’d like to take you to.”

“Okay,” I said shyly. This girl was strange, yet familiar. I couldn’t help but to warm up to her. “But first, where are we going now?”

Ignoring my question, she walked ahead of me. If you think it couldn’t get any stranger, she kept rubbing her ears and smacking her head as she walked.

Is she sick? What is she doing? Did something fly into her ear?

She looked back at me and smiled reassuringly, as if she had heard my t