Tiffany knocked politely. “You asked for me?"

 

Her team manager looked up. “Hey, Tiffany! How was it yesterday?"

 

“Weird,” she said with a wry smile. “Too many cameras."

 

“Easier to be on this side of the production process, isn’t it?"

 

Tiffany nodded vehemently. “Is there something you want me to do?"

 

“Ah, yes.” He gestured for her to sit before pushing his screen to face her. “As you already know, this issue of the magazine is going to go on sale this Sunday."

 

“Mhmm!"

 

“At this moment, there’s not much for you to do, given that you’ve always been a fast worker and your spread with Kim Taeyeon is all set to go. However, given the recent turn of events, the higher ups have decided to take advantage of the situation.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I hope you don’t mind, Tiffany."

 

“It’s fine."

 

“Because of the sudden publicity, there’s been a lot of enquiries about the upcoming release. The editors have decided to include a sort of limited supply incentive in the form of posters. Of Kim Taeyeon."

 

Tiffany nodded slowly. “Okay. And her company is okay with that?"

 

“Yes, I just got off the phone with her manager."

 

“Oh. Great.” She blinked. “So…what do you need me to do?"

 

He cleared his throat. “Well, the poster hasn’t actually been printed yet."

 

“So you want me to give Sunny a hand with the printing logistics?"

 

“Actually, it hasn’t even been made yet."

 

“Oh,” said Tiffany. “And you want me to...”

 

“Make the poster, yes. By the end of tomorrow, if that’s possible."

 

“The end of tomorrow?!"

 

“I know it’s short notice. But given your usual speed…?"

 

Tiffany sighed heavily. “I’ll do my best."

 

“Great! I’ll send you the specifications in just a minute. Thank you, Tiffany."

 

--

 

Tiffany fell into her office chair, stopping it before it rolled too far. Head back, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, she stayed like that for a while before someone kicked her leg. “Ow,” she said flatly.

 

“Just because you’re done with your job doesn’t mean you can block the road for the rest of us.” Sunny gave her chair a shove. “Move it."

 

“I’m not done."

 

“Oh, hell no. If you had any changes to make, you should’ve done them two days ago because I’m not going to call the printers again."

 

Tiffany sat up wearily. “No, they want me to make a poster."

 

“Of?"

 

“Taeyeon. They want it done by tomorrow."

 

Sunny raised her eyebrows. “Isn’t that really fast, even for you?"

 

“Yes! It is! It’s practically impossible!” Tiffany groaned. “I’ll have to bring the work home. Plus no lunch break. And here I was, hoping to work on the puzzle tonight."

 

“Get to work, then,” said Sunny, patting her consolingly on the shoulder. “I’ll buy you a sandwich."

 

“Sandwich? Is Sunny buying lunch?"

 

Yoona dodged a slap, the mug in her hand wobbling dangerously. 

 

“What?! What did I do wrong?"

 

“You didn’t get back to me! The printer called and asked what color the toilet paper was supposed to be, but you didn’t look at your email!"

 

“I didn’t see any email! I went to get coffee!"

 

Tiffany sighed, tuning out the argument as she called her computer out of sleep mode. She pulled up the shared folder to see the now familiar title: KIM TAEYEON 2016. Before clicking to open the folder, Tiffany checked the file number that their team manager had given her. “805, 805,” she muttered under her breath. “Aha!"

 

She clicked the picture, and three thoughts immediately came into her mind.

 

One: “What the , she took this kind of picture?"

 

Two: “What the , they’re going to make this into a poster?!"

 

Three: “…I haven’t even imagined seeing this much skin on her."

 

It was decidedly weird, this time around, to see yet another truly stunning picture of Taeyeon. After seeing her so much more in the past few weeks, it should’ve been easier, right? But this picture...it was surprisingly awkward to suddenly see Taeyeon, in HD, smirking at her in an all black ensemble of skin-tight croptop and leather shorts. Tiffany fought a sudden urge to avert her eyes.

 

She tapped her fingers against the table; this picture did not sit well with her at all. What should she do? Just do it? Ask the manager to change the picture? Or—

 

“Oh, ."

 

“Tiffany? Are you okay?"

 

“Uh—” She held her nose, hands flapping frantically around her desk, only to find that she was out of tissues.

 

“Here.” A box was shoved under her nose, and she took one gratefully, looking up to see Yoona and Sunny watching her worriedly.

 

“Danks."

 

Sunny frowned. “Nosebleed again? I thought you were over that?"

 

“Abbarently not,” mumbled Tiffany as she held her nose tightly. “Can you—” Just at that moment, her phone began to ring. Tiffany groaned.

 

“It’s okay, I got it,” said Yoona. “But you might want to minimize that,” she said, pointing at Tiffany’s screen, “before you get a heart attack."

 

Tiffany did so obediently, listening as Yoona answered her phone for her.

 

“Hello? No, this is Yoona. Who is this?” Yoona’s eyes widened. “Oh! H-Hi, Taeyeon!” She gestured wildly at Sunny and Tiffany before continuing in a calm voice, “Ah, yes. She’s here, but she’s…in a bit of a situation right now. Yes. Oh, no! No, she’s fine. Mhmm. Okay. I’ll tell her to call you back. Okay. You’re welcome! Bye!"

 

They watched as Yoona set the phone down carefully. 

 

“I just spoke to Kim Taeyeon on the phone,” she said.

 

“You did,” said Sunny.

 

“I can die now."

 

“No, you can’t. You still have to talk to the printers by 3 today!"

 

“I know, I was just kidding.” Yoona huffed. “Anyway, Tiffany, she said she had something to discuss with you, so call her when you get your nose under control."

 

“Danks."

 

After a while, as her two friends wandered off, Tiffany sniffed experimentally. There was no blood - she sighed in relief. This nosebleed had stopped pretty fast, which was a hopefully a good sign, because she sure as hell could not afford to get nosebleeds all over the place. She was about to go back to the picture when she remembered the phone call.

 

“Uh, hello?"

 

“Hey!” Taeyeon’s voice sounded worried. “You okay? Yoona said something was going on?"

 

“I’m okay. Just a nosebleed."

 

“Again?!"

 

Tiffany held her phone away from her ear. “It wasn’t a very bad one, don’t worry. Why’d you call?"

 

“Are you busy right now?"

 

“Kind of.” Tiffany glanced at her monitor. “Actually, I have something to ask."

 

“Go ahead."

 

“You know that the magazine wants to give out posters of you, right?"

 

“Yeah, Oppa told me today. What about it?"

 

“Well, they put me in charge of it—”

 

“Wait a second, is this why you got a nosebleed?"

 

Tiffany coughed nervously. “Maybe? Anyway—”

 

“Was it a picture of me again?"

 

“Anyway, I opened up the file an—”

 

“So it was a picture of me?” Tiffany could hear the grin in Taeyeon’s voice. “Was it a nice picture?"

 

“Are you actually happy that I got a nosebleed?"

 

A pause, and Tiffany could imagine Taeyeon shrugging with one shoulder. “Kinda flattered, yeah."

 

“Rude. Don’t interrupt again! Anyway, the picture is a bit…”

 

“y?"

 

Tiffany bit her lip. “Yeah. Did you pick the picture?" 

 

“No, I actually don’t know which one you’re talking about. What does it look like?"

 

“Well, you’re wearing a, uh,” Tiffany swallowed, “a black crop top and really short shorts."

 

“Tight crop top?"

 

“Quite."

 

“Ah. Okay, I know which one you’re talking about. So…are you just telling me this because you found it really y?"

 

“No!” Tiffany shrank back into her seat in embarrassment as Sunny and Yoona both glanced over with their eyes wide. “No,” she whispered fiercely. “I wanted to ask if you could ask them to pick another picture."

 

“Why?"

 

“Because…isn’t it too y?"

 

Taeyeon laughed. “This is pretty normal, Tiffany."

 

“Oh."

 

“Are you worried you’ll get more nosebleeds?"

 

Tiffany didn’t say anything.

 

“Or are you genuinely worried about people seeing really y pictures of me?"

 

“Mhmm."

 

“Are you perhaps a little jealous?"

 

“What?"

 

“You’re not jealous?"

 

“No! I’m definitely not jealous. Why would I be jealous?"

 

“Alright then,” said Taeyeon smugly. “You’re just worried for me and not at all upset that hundreds of people will get to hang a picture of the girl you’re dating on their walls at home?"

 

“No!"

 

“No as in you’re not not upset?"

 

Tiffany breathed heavily through her nose. “Forget it."

 

“Hey whoa whoa whoa, don’t hang up yet! Sorry, I went too far."

 

Tiffany sighed. “No, I knew you were kidding."

 

“I mean, I was kind of serious, but,” said Taeyeon hastily, “let’s get back on track. What do you want me to do?"

 

“Is it…is it possible for you to ask them to change the picture?"

 

“Huh?"

 

“Um. Never mind.” Tiffany winced. “It’s okay."

 

“Wait, tell me."

 

“It’s fine. I was just taken aback. Why did you call me again?"

 

“I can ask them to change the picture. Or, well, I can request a specific picture."

 

“You can?"

 

“Yeah! I can get Oppa to call them and tell them I told you which picture I wanted, so you can go ahead and pick whatever you like."

 

“Wait, I’m supposed to pick?"

 

“I don’t know which pictures you guys have on hand, remember?"

 

“Oh,” said Tiffany, scrolling through the folder. “How do I pick?!"

 

“Look through them and whatever doesn’t give you a nosebleed is the Chosen Picture. Easy."

 

“I’ll flip a coin later."

 

“Not fun."

 

“I shouldn’t have told you about today’s nosebleed."

 

Tiffany smiled at the sound of Taeyeon’s carefree laughter. “Oh, right,” said Taeyeon once she had stopped giggling. “Damn, got really sidetracked. Are you free this Sunday?"

 

“I think so. Why?"

 

“Third date?"

 

“Puzzle?"

 

“Uh, actually, no,” said Taeyeon sheepishly. “It’s…probably not even a really date-y date."

 

“You don’t want to do the puzzle?"

 

“I do! I want to finish the Totoro…but, well, do you know what Eyrie is?"

 

“The eye charity?"

 

“Oh? How did you know?"

 

Tiffany grinned. “I’m not a hundred percent behind with the times, Taeyeon."

 

“I’m impressed.” She heard Taeyeon clear . “Well, so there’s a fundraising event for Eyrie this Sunday and lots of celebrities are invited. Including me."

 

“Okay?"

 

“I was, uh, kind of wondering if you might want to come along?"

 

Tiffany blinked. “Me?"

 

“Yeah. As my plus one?"

 

“You’re inviting me to the Eyrie ball?"

 

“Yes. Do you want to come?"

 

“…You’re kidding, right? You’re pretending to go along with movie tropes but we’re actually going to have a quiet dinner somewhere, right?"

 

“Um, no. I’m serious."

 

“Isn’t it too late to add people to the guest list?"

 

“Actually, they’ve been trying to get me to invite you for weeks, but I didn’t, um, know how to ask,” said Taeyeon, trailing off. “It’s fine if you don’t want to come. Honest."

 

“Do you want me to go?"

 

“Yes, but if you don’t want to go, it’s okay."

 

“You’ll find someone else?"

 

“Nah, I’ll go by myself. If I went with someone else, the press would have a field day."

 

“Right."

 

“Yeah."

 

“You want me to go?"

 

“If you can, yes. I’d like to go with you."

 

“Then, yes, I’ll go."

 

There was a surprised pause. “Y-You will?"

 

“Yeah. I’ll go with you."

 

“Oh,” said Taeyeon faintly. “Great! Great!"

 

“Yeah."

 

“Okay. Um. I’ll text you the details later? I, uh, guess you have to get back to work."

 

“Oh, .” Tiffany grimaced. “I’ll probably be really busy these next two days, so don’t mind me if I don’t reply until tomorrow night."

 

“Got it. Good luck."

 

“Thanks."

 

“See you on Sunday then?"

 

Tiffany smiled. “See you.” 

 

Setting her phone down on the table, she pulled up the KIM TAEYEON 2016 folder and groaned.