“I want to know your name and who you really are.”

What does he mean? “I—I’m Tiffany Hwang,” she stammered, avoiding his empty onyx eyes.

“Tiffany Hwang?” Taeyeon frowned, and took the paper-bag on the table.

He looked at her hands, gently outstretching them out as if she was begging for mercy. Tiffany hid her face, her hair falling to curtain her face as she looked away from him. Taeyeon, on the other hand, was careful not to hurt the fragile human before him. He handled her gently and carefully, aware that the slightest of touch could cause her pain. His hands were still gloved, and she seemed to realise this. He set the paper-bag on her hands and looked at her expectantly. When she didn’t move, his confusion grew.

“Aren’t you human? Don’t you eat?” he snapped out of impatience.

She flinched and drew her hands from him. Warily, she eyed his gloved hands, but didn’t say anything. Dipping her hand into the paper-bag, she took out the sandwich and took a hesitant bite on it. Taeyeon watched approvingly. Soon, Tiffany found herself devouring all the sandwiches, not caring if there was a fallen angel staring at her wonderingly as she ate the human food.

“You’re hungry,” Taeyeon remarked.

Tiffany then stared at him wordlessly. Obviously?

“Tiffany Hwang…you are human, right?” Taeyeon admitted, he at communicating with humans. After Mi Young’s death, he had never had a proper talk with a human; all he did was smooth talk and curse.

Tiffany just looked incredulous now. She felt her patience run out. She wasn’t going to be the soft Tiffany who always gets picked on. “What do you think I am?”

She regretted it immediately, and braced herself for the sting of flesh against flesh, the slap that would snap her head the other way round. Instead, Taeyeon shrugged and smirked.

“You seem human enough,” he grinned lopsidedly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” for once, Tiffany was actually enjoying his company; he seemed fun to be around and was careless in his own nature. It attracted Tiffany.

She lost all sense of security with him, and forgot all her troubles when she was around him. It was ironic, knowing that he was the cause of her problems.

“Why…why did you bring me here?” Tiffany squeaked out, finally realising that she was still in trapped in a very sticky situation.

“You remind me of someone,” he shrugged again, absentmindedly this time. “I must’ve thought you were related or something. I couldn’t let you go without trying to get to know you, couldn’t I?”

As if by instinct, Taeyeon’s smooth talking was back, and Tiffany found herself blushing at the velvety tone of his voice, her frozen heart almost melting. Her smooth, milky white cheeks were replaced by a rush of crimson, and she bowed her head shyly. Taeyeon’s gloved hands went to touch her cheeks and under her chin, forcing her to look at up at him. He smirked, enjoying the clear contrast between her skin colour and those rosy cheeks. Tiffany’s lips parted when Taeyeon touched her face, her heart telling to run, but she didn’t. She had been hypnotised by Taeyeon’s onyx eyes and lured into his trap as how a lion would corner a deer. Taeyeon’s gentle fingers traced out the outline of her lips, drawing a shaky breath from his ‘victim’.

“I want you to stay here. Can I get you to do that?” Taeyeon’s husky whisper sent chills down her spine, and she found herself nodding almost immediately in response.

He smiled widely, releasing her from his grip and crawling out of bed. Before he left, he tossed something onto the bed, something pink with glitters and artificial flashy plastic on its cover. The rectangular device landed on the bed with a slight bounce, and Tiffany grabbed it at once. She stared hard at the vibrating object.

“There,” Taeyeon said, his back facing her. “You can go anywhere you want, with the promise that you will return soon.”

“Stephanie Hwang!” Tiffany pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at it as if it was the devil’s toy.

Hesitantly, she held the phone to her ear, bracing herself for the dolphin screams and the loud snaps of the devil’s associate on the other line.

“Yes?” she asked softly, afraid.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?” Tiffany had to hold the phone a considerable distance away from her ear to spare her eardrums from Jessica’s terrible onslaught.

“I’m…at my grandma’s place?” she lied unconvincingly, and being as sharp as she was, Jessica was quick to catch on.

“Don’t try to lie to me, Tiffany, you at it. You know I know that your grandma’s dead,” Jessica’s voice was flat now. “Plus, she lived with your parents—at LA!”

“I’ll explain later. What happened?”

“What happened?” Jessica’s voice was strained and it was unusual, unless she was stressed or afraid. “You disappeared! That’s what happened.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I’ll tell you when you get back. Bye, get back safely,” the line disconnected as Jessica hung up.

Readers’ Note:

I know this chapter’s a little boring. I’m sorry, needed some of TaeNy here. Anyway, hope you enjoy it! Anyways, I’ll be on vacation for a short period of time. To make up for it, I’ll be posting double-updates.

Thank you for reading!

Yours Faithfully
Jazzign