The broadcasting station of MBC had always been hectic and busy, and that day was no exception. Big groups were making comeback and rookies were debuting. Some members of senior groups also made their solo debut, thus with their already enormous fandoms, the station became a bit too packed and heated that day, both the venue and the backstage area.

However that didn’t really affect some certain girls who came and supported their fellow members, whom they cherished dearly.

Standing close behind the stage and observing her fellow member on the stage was none other than the leader of Girls’ Generation, Kim Taeyeon, with a popsicle stuffed in . Tiffany was making her solo debut and had been busy promoting it these days in every broadcast station. As one of the closest—and possibly most important—person to the American born singer, it was impossible for Taeyeon not to attend her recording and give her fullest support, for the latter had done the same for her when she made her earlier solo debut.

And it was more than that. Above all the status as a fellow member or as the leader of the group, Taeyeon had always been more than that to Tiffany, so had Tiffany been to Taeyeon. Which was why, the blonde’s throat felt dry and the popsicle went tasteless when Tiffany started the pre-recording, dancing and performing all the daring, y moves of her new song.

The loose shirt that exposed her milky white thighs—which Taeyeon loved so much—didn’t help at all. Taeyeon had even foolishly asked through the phone in a live broadcast whether Tiffany wore any pants underneath her loose shirt.

Because boy, that treasure inside the almost non-existent pants was only for Kim Taeyeon’s eyes to see.

Her thoughts and attention were directed to Tiffany fully, until suddenly she heard a gasp from behind, followed by a shushed whisper that came too loud.

“Oh God it’s Kim Taeyeon sunbaenim!”

Taeyeon turned back reflexively, because it was not really common to hear a fellow artist show such admiration and even squeal at the backstage. Although it was fascinating to meet in person the seniors they had grown up while watching, they would usually feel shy and just greet them formally with a deep bow.

 “Oh, hello..?“ Taeyeon wanted to greet the taller, blonde girl who was having her jaw dropped widely, but then she scrunched her eyebrows upon realizing that memorising the names of new people was never her forte.

Realizing that the senior idol was having a hard time in identifying her, she introduced herself without being asked, “H-hello, I am Moonbyul. Moonbyul of Mamamoo, in charge of performance and rap! It’s such an honor to finally meet you in person, sunbae!” Moonbyul greeted nervously as she bowed ninety degrees.

Taeyeon’s confused frown turned to a friendly grin as she bowed back. “Ah, no wonder you’re familiar. You’ve been on TV these days, haven’t you? Your new album is really good!”

“R-really? You listen to our album?” Moonbyul’s eyes went wide and Taeyeon nodded with a smile in response. “Oh, wow, what an honour. Thank you very much, sunbae!”

“Ay, don’t thank me, Moonbyul-ssi. It’s normal to enjoy fellow artists’ wonderful work, don’t you think so?” Taeyeon couldn’t help but chuckle as Moonbyul’s fidgety gesture reminded her of her old self, when she was also just a rookie. “Besides, I don’t really consider Mamamoo as a newcomer. You guys are seriously monsters—in good meaning, of course.”

“Thank you, sunbaenim! That means a lot to me and my members,” Moonbyul said, her smile almost splitting her face. “They’re not gonna believe I actually have a conversation with you.”

“And why wouldn’t they? Today I’m just here as a friend, supporting my fellow member.” Taeyeon laughed as she took a glance over Tiffany, who was now recording the second take. She couldn’t help but feel slightly worry.

Poor soul, she must be tired of singing and dancing to the whole song for the first time.

Taeyeon knew it well since she had been through that.

“Ah right! Tiffany sunbaenim’s new song is really good and she dances amazingly well,” Moonbyul mused, and Taeyeon just had to turn to the younger girl again upon hearing the compliment, feeling proud of her beloved member. “Girls’ Generation sunbaenim is truly jjang.”

“Thank you, I’ll make sure she knows that Moonbyul of Mamamoo says so.”

Moonbyul scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly. “She probably doesn’t even know me, sunbae.”

“I’m sorry about earlier, Moonbyul-ssi. But unlike me, Tiffany’s memory is so much better. She’s also friends with many celebrities. I’m pretty sure she knows you. Besides,” Taeyeon had her gaze fixated back on Tiffany, before turning to Moonbyul and patting her shoulder lightly. “We watched your performances on TV a few times. And I recall she talked about it a lot since she loved it so much.”

Especially on some certain parts, but Taeyeon could not say that.

“Now you’re making me blush, sunbaenim. That’s too much of compliments to take.”

“I’m just saying the truth.” Taeyeon shook her head slightly at the rookie’s giddy yet anxious attitude. Eight years had passed yet she never got used to people looking up at her. “Say Moonbyul-ssi, what brings you here? I thought Mamamoo had just finished the promotion a while ago?”

It was interesting, at least for Taeyeon, how Moonbyul’s face suddenly lit up from being all nervous and shy to brightly excited, then to rather bitter in a matter of split seconds.

“Ah well.. The leader of our group, Solar unnie, she’s currently on a, um, virtual marriage program.”

Taeyeon tried brushing off the sudden down atmosphere around Moonbyul, but this intrigued her. “You mean ‘We Got Married’? God, I joined that once—not really a pleasant memory.”

“I watched your season! But you actually looked good with Hyungdon oppa, sunbaenim.” Moonbyul snickered and she didn’t even realize since when she didn’t feel too anxious anymore around her senior—who was possibly one of the best singers in Korea right now.

“Don’t you dare say that again.” Taeyeon threatened jokingly with a grin. “So what’s with Solar-ssi joining WGM? Are they going to film it here, on the stage?”

“She’s going to have a special performance here, with, um.. her ‘husband’. Since they’re both amazing singers.”

The gloomy vibe was evident, again, and Taeyeon could slowly decipher the meaning. “And who’s the lucky guy?”

“It’s Eric Nam. He treats her really well.” Moonbyul smiled, but her eyes weren’t really sparkling. And that didn’t go unnoticed by Taeyeon.

“Good for her.”

Moonbyul nodded meekly, but the next question somehow caught her off guard.

“What’s Solar-ssi like, Moonbyul-ssi? People always say Mamamoo has it all—talents, looks, and personalities. But I never really know you guys in person.”

 “Oh, Solar unnie?” Moonbyul was confused as to why her senior would ask about her member—whom she doubted Taeyeon even knew the face. “Solar unnie is.. She’s a really bright person. She smiles a lot, laughs a lot, and does stupid things a lot, too.” Moonbyul scoffed to herself upon remembering all of Solar’s clumsiness and clueless face. “She’s so kind, hilarious, caring, attentive, and—“

“Are you two dating?”

“Yes, and she’s—”

There was a good moment of silence before Moonbyul, with widened eyes and shocked face, broke from her thoughts about her unnie. She turned to Taeyeon, who was folding her arms, smiling at her in utter amusement with a somewhat understanding gesture. Moonbyul, meanwhile, was losing the heat from her body and frozen in place, completely bewildered by her own actions.

“S-sunbae, no, that, I mean—“

“Relax. The way you talk about Solar-ssi,” Taeyeon said as she stared at Tiffany, who was now reaching towards the end of her performance, “is exactly the same as how I would talk about her, Moonbyul-ssi.”

Moonbyul was about to talk again, but then closed . Without any further questions, as she saw the way Taeyeon look at the other Girls’ Generation member, she immediately understood well what the senior singer meant.

They were on the same page.

“You and Solar-ssi have always been admirable.” Taeyeon sighed, as she recalled how Tiffany hugged her arm and swooned ’gosh they look soooo cute together’ as they watched Moonbyul squeezing Solar’s cheeks when Mamamoo performing on a music show. “Like, I envy how you can be so playful on stage and tease each other freely, even though everyone is watching. I’m kinda jealous of how you can display your affections towards one another.”

“Ah, that.. I don’t think it’s something to envy? It just happened that most of our choreography lets us do some impromptu, sunbae,” Moonbyul explained as a matter of fact. “And can’t we all freely show that we love someone?” she asked innocently.

“People are watching.” Taeyeon smiled bitterly, knowing a bit too well about facing people’s judgements.

“Yeah, but whenever Solar unnie is right beside me or in front of me, there’s like this invicible force that attracts me to her—to touch her,” Moonbyul’s confident tone was slowly quietening down upon realizing that she had just blurted out some real cheesy words to the older woman she had just met minutes ago. “..or whatever, as long as she’s close to me..?”

Taeyeon chuckled at Moonbyul’s reddened face. “That’s greasy, Moonbyul-ssi. But cute.”

“I’ve been told,” Moonbyul replied shyly. “But don’t the fans like it, sunbae? When we interact with fellow members or do skinships.”

“Perhaps they do? Some of them would, some of them wouldn’t, I suppose,” Taeyeon said in a questioning tone. “It’s hard to understand what those fans want, these days.”

“I see.. But aside from the fans, I guess what matters the most to me is when—“ Moonbyul’s eyes diverted from Taeyeon to the figure in a beautiful dress who had just come to the backstage and was now listening carefully to the instruction from the PD, along with a good-looking man in suit standing beside her. Moonbyul’s gaze softened and Taeyeon couldn’t help but follow where her eyes went—Solar. “—when I can make her happy because she’s with me. Like, when she laughs shyly as I hold her hand or hug her. That—I wouldn’t trade that for anything, sunbae.”

Moonbyul was still staring at Solar preparing, while Taeyeon was at loss of words.

She didn’t expect that the junior she had just encountered some moments ago would make her rethink about her all actions. Never did she have the courage to hold Tiffany’s hand in public, or show the world her affections towards the latter. The furthest she could go was through supporting, heartwarming words on letters and shows, or Instagram and Snapchat posts.

Tiffany used to hug or cling onto her arm in public in their early years, but as their group went bigger, she decided that they had to act professionally, to prevent any of them from getting the hate and hurt. It was for the best, or so she had thought.

It was when Moonbyul did a fist pump to Solar as the latter went up to the stage with Eric Nam, did Taeyeon realize that Tiffany had finished her recording and was now approaching her.

Moonbyul bowed to both of her seniors in respect, greeted Tiffany and complimented her performance, before excusing herself to come closer to the stage to observe Solar.

“So how was it?” Tiffany asked, heavily sweating and her face was nothing but excited yet nervous about her performance. Out of her expectation, Taeyeon suddenly wiped her sweaty forehead with the jacket sleeve, careful enough not to smudge her make-up. Her eyes went round in curiosity when the shorter girl smiled at her with such newfound brightness.

“You’re.. wonderful.”

Throughout her entire career as an artist, Tiffany had heard countless compliments, but the ones coming from Taeyeon never failed to make her heart skip a beat.

“Come, let’s get you something to drink.”

Taeyeon offered a hand, and Tiffany couldn’t hide her shock. Taeyeon had always avoided skinships in public, so this one was a real surprise. A delightful one, nonetheless. She gladly accepted, her eyes forming perfect crescent shapes and her smile stretching from ear-to-ear as she watched their fingers intertwining.

Along their short walk to the vending machine, Taeyeon witnessed how wide Tiffany’s smile was and how the latter continuously stole glances at their interlacing hands. Tiffany’s exhaustment was no longer visible anymore and it was fascinating, really, to see such lovely response from just a small gesture.

I should’ve done this earlier, Taeyeon thought.

She eventually understood what Moonbyul meant with; ‘I wouldn’t trade that for anything.’

And for that, as she tightened her hold of Tiffany’s hand, Taeyeon had promised herself to buy Moonbyul a drink, if ever they had their next encounter.

All hail Moonsun and Taeny. *throwing confetti*

Tell me what you think <3

-melts-

:]