“How was it?”

            “Don’t ask Sunny.”

            Taeyeon directly goes inside her office to reflect on what just happened. She isn’t sure if answering back at Jessica is a good thing or not because no one’s ever tried to answer the boss back, not even Sunny who is known to have the bravest soul at the firm. The confused lawyer absentmindedly sits down on her throne and buries her face into her palms.

            “Did I just do that?” She asks no one but herself.

            “Do what?”

            She is startled by the radio-like voice and figures that it’s just Sunny speaking from outside the office.

            “You really like stalking me that much, Sunny?” She scoffs and presses the button, “I answered back and slapped Jessica with the reality that this firm can’t survive without me.” She answers back, omitting some of the parts of the story that could hurt the girl’s feeling.

            Sunny gasps at the revelation but that don’t mean she’s sad, in fact, she’s very proud at what Taeyeon has done, “Finally! You learn to stand up for yourself!”

            Taeyeon weakly smiles, “Yeah, it took a lot of courage, you know. And besides, I’ve had enough of me being an all-around dog to protect Jessica from her enemies.” she pushes her chair making it spin around with her in it. It’s like a marry-go-round, it’s something she didn’t experience as a kid.

            “Where’s Tiffany by the way?” She suddenly asks when she remembers that the girl and her still has a lot to talk about.

            “Speaking of Tiffany, what happened last night, Kim Taeyeon?” Sunny squints her eyes from the outside as Taeyeon’s gaze lands on her, “You kissed her in front of everyone last night! And I couldn’t even separate you two from the kiss! She had her arms wrapped around you and it was as if she was hynotis---“

            “Wait what? She had her arms around me?”

            “Well yeah. I brought her to the casino so she could help me take you home and poof, she became drunk because of the alcohol she smelled from you or whatever.” Sunny rolls her eyes at the memory, “but then I tried to separate you, guys and then I got tired and the last thing I saw was Sooyoung.”

            Taeyeon’s ears perks at the mention of Sooyoung’s name, why was she there?

            “You know, Bunny, I’ve been keeping an eye on Sooyoung and I think she has a crush on you.”

            It’s true though. Sooyoung always likes to be near Sunny, sometimes Taeyeon sees her talking to the girl even if she doesn’t need anything. She would also catch the other lawyer looking at Sunny with hearts in her eyes from a far.

            “You know, Tae, I think you’re very smart and very cool but this time, you ain’t very smart and very cool.”

            “But it’s true, Bunny! I think she’s stalking you!”

            Taeyeon pouts when she sees Sunny enter her office with two cups of coffee, she thinks it’s for the hangover and she is very thankful that Sunny has made two coffees for her.

            “Yes, just what I needed! Two black coffe---“ She stops when Sunny waves a finger at her,

            “One for you and one for Tiffany.”

            “Why her though?” Taeyeon asks with raised eyebrows and open mouth.

            “Because you love her.”

            “I what!?”

            “Oh come on, Tae, you just told her you loved her last night in front of the crowd and even kissed her! Don’t you dare deny what you said!” Sunny lectures as she sits on the couch facing Taeyeon.

            Taeyeon squints her eyes at Sunny, “Take note, I said “Loved” I did not say that I still love her.” The lawyer quips and turns her back at Sunny.

            “Oh so you know that you told her you loved her, then? I thought you’re drunk?” Sunny smirks.

            Taeyeon is caught off-guard, yes, she was drunk but she was fully aware that Tiffany was there and she knows what she said before her consciousness became too clouded.

            “You still love her, don’t you?” Sunny teases, wiggling her eyebrows at Taeyeon’s back.

            Taeyeon groans and grabs both the coffee that Sunny gave her, “I’m going to drink both of this.” Then sticks her tongue out like a kid.

            Sunny scoffs, she knows Taeyeon like the back of her hand, “Okay. Whatever you say, Boss.” She chuckles and leaves the lawyer dumbfounded.

~~~~~~~~~~

            The elevator dings and a certain lawyer looks around for any sign of Jessica or Sooyoung or Sunny. She exhales when she sees no one but associates who are all busy so she grabs the opportunity and stealthily goes out of the lift so she could sneak to the paralegal’s office. She looks around again to really make sure that there was no one from the high positions who could see her and she smiles in relief, but not for long,

            “Taeyeon what are you doing here?”

            Taeyeon almost drops the coffees because she is startled by the voice from behind her. She turns around, awkwardly with both hands occupied by the drinks and sees Sooyoung looking at her like she has no right to be in that floor.

            “Uhm, looking at the associates.” Taeyeon answers, “What are you doing here?” she returns.

            “I supervise associates, remember?” Sooyoung grins. She really loves the associates but she can be hard sometimes, “So, you’re here to look at associates with two cups of coffee?”

            Taeyeon purses her lips then looks at the cups in her hands then back to the lawyer.

            “No!” She denies and extends one hand to Sooyoung, “I…’m going to… give you the other cup.” She awkwardly laughs then pats Sooyoung’s arms again, “I thought I’d find you here, hehe”

            Sooyoung couldn’t help but cry at Taeyeon’s thoughtfulness. The woman’s never been this kind to her, no one’s ever given her coffee before. She launches at Taeyeon and luckily, the short girl managed to move the coffee away so it wouldn’t be crushed.

            “Thank you Taeyeon-ah, you don’t know how this would affect my day.” Sooyoung wails.

            Taeyeon smiles awkwardly then hesitates to return the hug, but she did.

            “I got to tell this to my secretary.” Sooyoung wipes her tears and runs away.

            Taeyeon exhales in relief as she sees the woman enter the elevator crying like a baby. She frowns when she looks at her hand though, there is only one coffee left. She hesitates; is she going to give it to the paralegal or just drink it for her own good? At least she shared it with someone else, right? She shrugs and decides to drink it but…

            “Taeyeon!”

            The lawyer feels something weird in her stomach as she hears the familiar husky voice. She clears and turns around, trying to look cool in front of the girl,

            “Yes?” she coolly asks.

            “Come here, I need to show you something.”

            She nods then follows the girl who looked like she’s found something important. As they enter the office, she sees Tiffany’s computer wallpaper and she can’t help but smile. It’s Seohyun! She wonders how the kid is, is she even still a kid?

            “I have been looking for information about Jung Yunho and found out that he had an affair with a co-worker a few years back which is why he got kicked out of the firm?” Tiffany asks, not even looking at Taeyeon who had her own mind occupied with Seohyun.

            “How’s Seohyun?” She suddenly asks, immediately getting Tiffany’s attention.

            Tiffany looks at the lawyer who was looking at her computer’s wallpaper; somehow, it made her heart skip beats. No one’s ever looked at Seohyun’s picture that way; full of love and happiness.

            “She’s fine. Very talkative, in fact.” Tiffany chuckles, “But Taeyeon, could you tell me the whole story of Yunho, here? Why he got kicked out of the firm, because I refuse to believe this piece of information.”

            Taeyeon snaps out of her trance and reads the information being shown to her. She puts the coffee down on the table and sighs,

“That’s not all. The thing is Jessica and Yunho were an item during that time. They’re partners in business, it’s not hard to fall for each other, right?” she chuckles as she looks at Tiffany who was dead serious.

“So anyway, They were about to get married but Yunho’s mother got sick so he asked for Jessica’s help because Jessica’s family is hella rich. So Jessica, being too caught in love to deny the requests agrees to help him. She let him borrow a lot of money from the firm until one day, a little birdie told Jessica of the affair. Then she asked me to confirm so I went to the hotel…”

“This bastard. He’s going down if the rumours are true.” Taeyeon murmured to herself as she looked for the room number that the informant gave her.

            She stopped and breathed heavily once she found it. She cleared and fixed herself then brought the wine to match her face level. She really just wanted to buy time because she wasn’t ready to see Yunho with another woman. Jessica loved him so much! How could he do this?

The lawyer knocked three times and shouted, “Room Service.”

A few moments later, Yunho opened the door and his eyes widened. Taeyeon’s heart was beating erratically as she tried to confidently enter the hotel room. Deep inside Taeyeon’s mind, she was beating the guy to death already.

“Surprise, surprise.” She faked an amused smile as she showed Yunho the bottle of wine.

“What are you doing here, Taeyeon?” Yunho asked between gritted teeth. He kept on looking at the bedroom, as if he didn’t want Taeyeon to see whoever was in there.

“I just thought we’d celebrate!” Taeyeon hollered in joy, trying to mask her nervousness. She looked at the bedroom and saw Hyoyeon fixing her hair.

“Taeyeon?” Hyoyeon was surprised too.

“You’re here too?” Taeyeon smirked as she looked back at Yunho then back to Hyoyeon.

“Then after that, the board voted that Yunho be kicked out of the firm for stealing millions from the firm. Of course, Jessica had to pay for it like she promised Yunho and that’s the only reason she told the employees.”  Taeyeon sits back then shrugs as she finishes.

“How about professor Hyo? What happened?”

“No one knows. One day, Jessica just announced that she quit her job because of doing something that could hurt the firm but of course I didn’t believe it so I confronted Jessica then she told me that she had the bar strip Hyoyeon off her license for the affair.”

“So that’s why Professor Hyo is mad!”

“Yeah, I guess.”  Taeyeon keeps quiet as she contemplates whether she’d give the coffee to Tiffany, “Uh, do you want coffee?” she unconsciously says.

Tiffany turns to her then raises an eyebrow, “Is that coffee for me?”

Taeyeon, knowing that she is caught in the act just nods, “I gave Sooyoung my coffee.” She gets the cup then hands it to Tiffany.

That simple gesture made Tiffany smile, it was small but it was big enough to make her day better. However it makes her feel guilty to drink with Taeyeon only watching so she grabs one of the cups that she keeps in her office and pours half of the drink in it,

“We can share.” Tiffany offers in which Taeyeon gladly takes, “Why did you give it to Sooyoung-ssi though?”

“Didn’t want her to have a bad day” Taeyeon reasons. She doesn’t know why she gave the coffee to the woman either.

Tiffany smiles at the answer then elbows Taeyeon, “You aren’t so bad, Tae.”

“You aren’t so stupid either.”

Tiffany rolls her eyes at the answer. It just ruined the mood! “Whatever. Just drink the coffee.”

“But seriously Fany, does Seohyun not ask about her father at times?” Taeyeon suddenly asks. Tiffany looks at her with huge, cute eyes and she can’t stop her heart from beating fast. The girl really has beautiful eyes and it’s very… soothing to look at.

“I already told her. She’s a very smart kid and she understands.”

Taeyeon nods then bites her lip. She doesn’t want to sound rude but she asks anyway, “Don’t you want to meet other… people?”

Tiffany puts the cup down and shrugs, “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m ready yet but I’m open to things just as long as the guy is okay with Seohyun.” She spins her chair so her back is now facing Taeyeon.

Guy.

Taeyeon just fakes a smile. Somehow, she’s disappointed, “What do you look for in a guy?” she asks again.

“Hm, I don’t really care about the looks just as long as he accepts Seohyun and of course if Seohyun likes him.”

“Well, Seohyun likes me.” Taeyeon unconsciously blabbers. She sits back on her chair again then shrugs, still unaware of what she has said.

Tiffany stops on her track. She would have found that weird but somehow, she wanted to smile at the words she heard. She stealthily steals a glance at Taeyeon who looks serious sitting comfortably,

Admit it Hwang she’s cute and you like her too. –Tiffany’s conscience

“What, No!” Tiffany says out loud. She immediately covers when Taeyeon looks back at her with wide eyes,

“Seohyun doesn’t like me anymore?! Does she even remember me?!”

It hurt Taeyeon that Seohyun has forgotten her. She’s already very sad that Tiffany left and now Seohyun is leaving her too!

“Come with me to dinner!” Tiffany covers again because she can’t afford to blab more stupid words to Taeyeon.

The lawyer looks at her, shock written all over her face. She frantically nods then grins at Tiffany.

Tiffany just sighs; she can’t just take it back now, right? And besides, it’s not like she doesn’t want to have dinner with Taeyeon.  

“My shift ends at 6 o’clock.”

She holds Taeyeon’s hand and pulls her to stand up then pushes her out of her office, “It’s time for work, please be professional, Miss Kim.” She gives Taeyeon a genuine smile and closes her door.

“6 o’clock, got it!” Taeyeon does a celebratory dance as she walks away.

            “So how did it go?” This is the second time Sunny’s asked the question to the same person. There are two girls who needs Taeyeon and that doesn’t make her feel good about herself.

            Judging by the cupids and arrows following Taeyeon though, she’s guessing that it went well. Taeyeon didn’t even look at her and just enters the office!

            “It was nice talking to myself too.” Sunny mumbles. She sits down and is suddenly disturbed by Sooyoung, “Oh hey, Soo, what’s up?” she asks.

            “Nothing, I got nothing to do so I decided I’d go here.” Sooyoung grins again. Sometimes, that grin creeps Sunny out, “But I would really like to know if something’s up with Taeyeon because she gave me a cup of coffee a while ago when I accidentally met her a few floors down.”

            Sunny bites the inside of her cheeks at the information. Taeyeon did not give the coffee to Tiffany!, “That woman, I’m gonna scold her later.” She murmurs.

            “What was that, Bunny?”

            “H-huh, Nothing Soo.” Sunny giggles then continues with her work.

            “Say, I really like to take you out for dinner.” Sooyoung timidly asks. The always confident lawyer is now looking down to avoid her red cheeks. Sunny just stares at her, not knowing what to and how to answer. The secretary spins her chair and wheels closer to Sooyoung.

            “Your treat, right?” she whispers.

            Sooyoung nods and grins.

            Taeyeon is never patient. She doesn’t like waiting so she tries to not bat an eye at the clock which was staring back at her. It’s only five minutes until 6 o’clock and she can’t wait to stand up from her throne to get the damsel.

            She doesn’t know what to do though or where would they eat? 

            “Bunny find me a restaurant!” she asks from the telephone, which she knows is . A minute later, Sunny replies but it isn’t the reply Taeyeon is expecting,

            “Sorry boss, I got a date tonight.”

            Taeyeon raises an eyebrow, “With who?”

            “That’s for me to know.”

            She lands her gaze on Sunny who was preparing to leave work now. When Sunny turns to face her, the shorter girl just sticks her tongue out then presses the button,

            “I told Tiffany that it would be better if you two have dinner in their house and she agreed.” Sunny winks then sends Taeyeon a flying kiss.

            Taeyeon is appalled to know that though. She doesn’t want to eat in Tiffany’s house! Her father is probably there and Mr. Hwang does not, and she means, does not and never will like her. She stands up and paces inside her office, should she cancel and say that she’s got an explosive case of diarrhea? No, no, she’s Kim Taeyeon and she can do everything…

            Everything but have dinner with Mr. Hwang.

            “Taeyeon?”

            She almost screams when she sees Tiffany at her office door with all smiles. The girl is very beautiful, indeed and very intelligent too.

            “H-hi!” The lawyer squeaks, she still doesn’t know what to do and here she is, shaking.

            “Sunny told me that we should probably have dinner at our house so you could see Seohyun.” Tiffany shyly says as she waits for Taeyeon’s reaction.

            Taeyeon could only flicker her eyes, “E-eer…”

            “And my dad can’t wait to meet you too.” The paralegal adds.

            Taeyeon feels like she’s going to have a heart attack. Mr. Hwang!? Mr. Hwang is waiting for her? Mr. Hwang can’t wait to meet her? Whatever the reason is, she’s praying to the Gods that Mr. Hwang doesn’t bring that up.

            “So, let’s go?” Tiffany smiles then nods her head.

            “Tae tae! Tae tae!”

            Seohyun can’t contain her happiness when she sees the familiar woman go out of the car. She even ignores her mother and goes straight to Taeyeon’s arms which the lawyer gladly opens for her. She giggles as Taeyeon lifts her up and carries her like she’s her child.

            Tiffany can’t help but smile too. This is the first time that Seohyun insisted to wait outside of the house for the visitor and this is also the first time that Tiffany is ignored by the child. Usually, Seohyun would greet her at the door and give her a kiss even if the woman has visitors with her.

            Taeyeon is just different for Seohyun, she guesses.

            “Wow Taeyeon you’ve… grown.” Yuri teases as she pats Taeyeon’s head. Of course, Yuri will always be taller than her. The lawyer just rolls her eyes at the teasing but then hits Yuri with her elbow.

            “That’s for teasing Taetae!” Seohyun laughs.

            “Wow, now you’re on Taeyeon’s side? Just a while ago you’re on my side!!” Yuri makes a sad face as she pouts in front of Seohyun. The child just buries her head on Taeyeon’s neck

“Taeyeon-ssi!!” Suddenly, out of nowhere, Yoona comes out next and launches herself at Taeyeon, “It’s been so looooong”

            Taeyeon puffs up her cheeks because she couldn’t breathe, “Can’t breathe, Yoona, can’t breathe.”

            “Oh, sorry. Got carried away.”

            “Wow, so I’m being ignored now?” Tiffany sulks like a kid. Everyone just laughs at her though including Seohyun.

            “Mommy’s being a baby, Taetae.”

            “Really? Too bad, because I already have a baby.” Taeyeon wiggles her eyebrows at the kid which causes her to giggle,

“According to Yuri-unnie and Yoona-unnie, You can have two babies though” Seohyun replies which makes Taeyeon and Tiffany laugh awkwardly as Yuri and Yoona stare at them with an apologetic look.

            Suddenly, a middle-aged man comes out of the house. His presence just sends shivers down Taeyeon’s spine. She dreads this, finally meeting the man again. She puts Seohyun down and holds her hand instead.

            “G-good evening, Mr. Hwang.” She greets as she bows.

            “Kim Taeyeon? Kim Taeyeon who went to my class stoked and almost puked on me? Is that really you?”

            Taeyeon timidly walks closer to the man then nods her head.

            “It’s nice seeing you again!” Mr. Hwang smiles and pulls the woman for a hug.

            “Dad? You know each other?” Tiffany asks as she looks back at Taeyeon then to her father.

            Mr. Hwang laughs then pats Taeyeon’s back, “Of course! How can I forget Kim Taeyeon who once told me “yo! I’m trying to sleep here, old man.”.”

            “I-I’m really sorry for that, Mr. Hwang.” As confident as Taeyeon is when it comes to other people, she just loses all of it at the sight of the man.

            Tiffany, Yuri and Yoona hold their laughter as they cover Seohyun’s ears.

            “What? What? I want to hear too!!” The child whines.

            The dinner was filled with laughter and joy as Mr. Hwang narrates what really happened to Taeyeon during her law school days. Mr. Hwang was her professor and there was a time that one of her friends drugged her soda and she entered Mr. Hwang’s class stoked. Of course, Seohyun couldn’t understand anything since she’s too young; seven years old.

            “Tae tae, put me to bed~” Seohyun whines as she grabs Taeyeon’s hands and tries to drag her to their bedroom.

            Taeyeon looks at Tiffany then to Mr. Hwang as if she was asking permission from them. The Hwangs just smile and nod their heads so Taeyeon just followed Seohyun. Tiffany watches as the lawyer carries the child and puts her legs around her neck, just like how parents do it to their children.

            It’s as if the moment is in slow-mo.

            “Stephanie… steph… my child… my beautiful daughter… stephanie Hwang…” Mr. Hwang has been calling his daughter for a few minutes now but the girl seems to be very entertained at watching the lawyer. He clears his throat and says, “Miyoung.”

            “Dad!” Tiffany whines. It’s not that she doesn’t like the name, it just sounds very old.

            “What? You weren’t listening.”

            “What were you saying?”

            “I forgot.”

            “Aish.” Tiffany scratches her head and grumbles some incoherent words which makes Mr. Hwang laugh.

            “You know, Taeyeon is very nice and Seohyun seems to love her so much.”

            “Yeah.”

            Mr. Hwang stares at Tiffany with a close-to-blank face because he noticed that the girl is pre-occupied again. So he decides to ask random questions about Taeyeon,

            “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

            “Yeah.” Tiffany dreamily answers.

            “And hot.”

            “Mhm~”

            “Are you in love with her?”

            “Yes.” Tiffany’s almost fainting because of the hearts around her.

            “You want to marry her, then?”

            “Yeeah.”

            “Tomorrow?”

            “Uhuh.”

            “And have more Seohyuns?”

            “A lot.”

            “I’m so handsome, ain’t I?”

            “Dad!”

            Mr. Hwang just laughs and continues to wash the dishes with his daughter. It’s been very long since they last laughed together like this.

            Meanwhile, upstairs, inside Seohyun and Tiffany’s bedroom, the child is excitedly showing Taeyeon all her school drawings and the stars given by her teacher and her pictures and it makes Taeyeon very happy to know that after two years, Seohyun still remembers her.

            “This is me with my teacher, she says I’m very smart.” Seohyun gleams as she shows the lawyer a photo. The photo shows Seohyun being awarded for being champion in a spelling bee contest.

            “This is a nice picture, can I keep it?” Taeyeon asks, hugging the photo near her chest. Seohyun shakes her head at the request though,

            “No, no, not that.” Seohyun stands up and goes to her playing area. She opens a chest and puts out all the toys from it

            “What are you doing?” Taeyeon asks. She doesn’t want the kid to play now because it’s already bedtime.

            Seohyun ignores her question and gets the photo that is hidden at the bottom of the chest. She smiles and shows it to Taeyeon; a picture of Seohyun and Tiffany smiling.

            “You can keep this though!” Seohyun grins, “Give me your wallet.” She demands.

            Taeyeon stares at her in disbelief, at such a young age, she sure is demanding. She pulls out her wallet from her pants and gives it to Seohyun. The girl then inserts the picture at the blank space in the wallet that is usually dedicated for family photos.

            “Next time you have to be in the photo too, Taetae.”

            Taeyeon laughs awkwardly at the request but nods anyway. She takes the wallet from Seohyun’s hand then kisses her chubby cheeks.

            “Well, you got to let mommy decide who’ll join you in the picture, okay?” Taeyeon says as she smiles lovingly at the kid. She doesn’t want to think much but she can’t really get her hopes up.

            “But… but, she has your picture in her wallet too!!!” Seohyun suddenly reveals and Taeyeon’s ears perked up. Seohyun covers afterwards though,

            “Seo…”

            “Oops, don’t tell mommy I told you.” She giggles.

            “Aigoo, okay, okay. Let’s go to sleep then?” Taeyeon invites. She smiles when Seohyun yawns then followed by a nod, “Little creature is sleepy.”

            She puts Seohyun on the bed and sings a short lullaby as she touches Seohyun’s hair. The child snuggles closer to the stuffed frog toy she has been carrying and drifts off to dreamland,

            “Sleeptight, little creature.”  Not forgetting to land a kiss on Seohyun’s forehead, Taeyeon turns on the night light and exits the room.

            She bumps into Tiffany on the way down, “Hi! Uh, Seohyun fell asleep.” She informs the mother.

            Tiffany smiles and squeezes Taeyeon’s hand, “Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome.”

            Tiffany frowns when she sees the clock, it’s almost midnight. She wishes that time is longer,

            “Fany, I got to go now. It’s almost midnight.” Taeyeon awkwardly says. She doesn’t want to go home at all, she just wants to stay there in the Hwang residence.

            “I-I’ll see you tomorrow.” Tiffany stutters. When she looks up, she sees Taeyeon staring back at her, as if waiting for something to happen.

            Unconsciously, both of them were nearing each other’s faces, Tiffany was leaning in more and Taeyeon was leaning much more. It’s as if there is a magnet pulling them together, not just their faces but them, as a whole. They’ve been separated for two years and yet that magnet seems to pull them closer and closer to each other,

            “Excuse me, not on my house.”

            Taeyeon and Tiffany immediately lean away from each other when they hear Mr. Hwang. Taeyeon blushes, she just embarrassed herself in front of the older Hwang again, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hwang. Just got carried away.” She awkwardly chuckles.

            Mr. Hwang gives her an are-you-kidding-me face but just nods,

            “I’ll go now, Mr. Hwang and Fany.”  She gives the girl a smile again then bows for the nth time at the older Hwang.

            Tiffany watches as she exits the door then sighs at her father,

            “Do not give me that face, Stephanie.”

            “Aigooo, dad~”