"So that's why you were gone." 

Tiffany gasped in surprise. "Woah Daddy you scared me!" Tifffany said clasping her hand on her chest. 

"Sorry I was reading and noticed the car that pulled up on the driveway. Say Stephanie are you dating someone?" 

"Wha-What NO! I am not-We are no-Taeyeon is-" 

"Its okay Stephanie, no need to be scared. We maybe old but we are not close minded, you should know that, it's okay if you prefer girls." Mr. Hwang said gently smiling at his daughter who was fidgeting. 

"Daddy! Taeyeon and I are not-We are not dating." 'yet.' 

"Oh okay." Mr. Hwang, trying to not let his lips curl up. 'At least you could admit that you are totally smitten by that girl with that flashy car that was clearly not hers.' 

-----------------------------------------------

Tiffany saw the girl from across from the classroom, and smiled, Taeyeon smirked a little and gave her a nod. Tiffany rolled her eyes. 

'You always got to act cool, don't you.'

"Tiff is that punk staring at you? giving you trouble?" 

Tiffany looked up at her friend who was standing beside her seat, "No we made eye contact, she is just being friendly." 

"Kim Taeyeon? Being friendly? You are imagining things Tiff. Come on it's time for lunch." 

"Okay let me pack up, I will meet up with you guys in the cafeteria." 

As Tiffany was putting her books in the bag, she noticed a balled up piece of paper that landed on top of her backpack. She grabbed it and looked around to see the only person who would send it. 'Stop smirking Kim Taeyeon. What are you upto now?' 

Tiffany opened up the piece of paper, so see Taeyeon's handwriting, which was surprisingly neat. Tiffany realized she had never seen Taeyeon's handwriting before. Even in the tutoring sessions, Taeyeon would refuse to write or do anything, or she'd skip. 

The note says: Meet me on your balcony at 11:45 Tonight? 

'HOw are we going to meet at my balcony?' 

Tiffany looked up after reading the note and saw the writer of said note looking at her with her eyebrows raised, clearly expecting an answer, so Tiffany gave the writer of the note a big nod. It made Taeyeon break out in one of her rare grins, with chin dimples and all. 

From that moment on, Tiffany couldn't wait for 11:45pm to come. She picked up the last of her papers and skipped her way to the cafeteria. 

------------------------------------------------------

It was finally 11. Tiffany felt that time was just not moving. She changed her outfit about three times already. At dinner time, her mother even commented on how dressed up she looked for dinner. Tiffany brushed it off as experimenting with her clothes to wear to school tomorrow. 

Tiffany looked at the clock and it was 11:30, she was lying on her bed, playing with her phone. She was just thinking, what Taeyeon is late, 'she is always late to class,' what if Taeyeon does not show, 'she does skip detention'. Upon this realization, Tiffany's spirits dampened a little. 

Then she heard the door bell ring and rushed her way to the end of the staircase that leads to the front door, just in case if it was Taeyeon, although the girl did say she'd meet Tiffany at the balcony. 'How would she ever get on the balcony? Maybe she just came in through the front door.'

However, to her great disappointment, it was just her brother, who was coming home from his friend's house. 

"What's up Stephi? You happy to see me?" her brother teased, seeing her disappointed face. 

"Leo stop teasing me!" with that Tiffany stomped her way upstairs to her room. 

She gasped in surprised and almost screamed in terror, when she saw a silhouette on her balcony. 

She grabbed the baseball bat that kept at her door, after watching a home-invasion horror movie last year and slowly approached the balcony. She opened the door and hit the figure and immediately dropped the bat after hearing the quiet yelp. 

"Omo! Taeyeon-ah! I am so sorry. Oh my god! Where does it hurt?" Tiffany hovered over the girl who was crouching down on the balcony. 

"Shhh Fany, I don't want your parents to wake up and find me here." Taeyeon said.

'Did she just call me Fany?' 

Taeyeon smiled at the girl who seemed too worried. 

"Gotta say you have a nice swing there Hwang." 

'And we are back to Hwang.' 

TIffany's displeasure at the fact was probably was showing in her face, because immediately Taeyeon asked, "Sorry did I say something offensive?" 

"What-No...no you didn't. Are you hurt? Let me see that." With that TIffany grabbed the sides of Taeyeon's head and turned her to face Taeyeon. For a moment, with the ample moonlight falling on Taeyeon's face, the stars on Taeyeon's eyes, Tiffany felt surreal. Her eyes travelled to the bridge of Taeyeon's nose, down to her lips. SHe was broken out of her trance by the voice of none other Kim Taeyeon. 

"Yah! Hwang! I am okay, Now let's go." 

"Can we go through the front door?" 

"Are your parents all asleep?" 

"Yea my parents are already asleep, and Leo is probably watching something or listening to music" 

Taeyeon nodded at the response, calculating the risk and decided at last to go through the front door, since Tiffany seemed scared of the scheme of jumping from her balcony to the tree right beside it. 

They walked two streets away where Taeyeon parked. It was one of the expensive looking cars which was in no way Taeyeon's. 

Taeyeon drove them to what looked like a light house and stopped the car. 

"What are we doing here?" 

"Apparently this meteor or something is supposed to pass today, and something about the orange moon a bit later in the night." Taeyeon explained.

'You took me here to see stars with me? You're the sweetest person underneath that tough girl look.' 

Taeyeon picked up two packets from the back of the car and started making her way toward the lighthouse, Tiffany tried to follow Taeyeon but it was hard to see in the dark and she tripped over something, but Taeyeon grabbed her and steadied her on her feet. 

"Here." With that Taeyeon held her hand and kept walking, totally missing the blush on Tiffany's face. 

They came in front of the door of the light house and Taeyeon let go of Tiffany's hand to look for something in her pocket. Tiffany pouted slightly missing the warmth. 

SHe saw Taeyeon taking about some pins and now hovering over the lock. "Are you trying to pick the lock?" 

"Yes." Came the simple answer. 

Tiffany knew there was no point of making the point that maybe that's not legal but she was sure Taeyeon was well aware, and just didn't care. And that's what she liked about Taeyeon. The carefree attitude, she made her own trail in the world and walked on her own path without caring what people would think or say. Some looked at that side of Taeyeon as arrogant and offensive but to Tiffany it was something that she admired. She spent her whole life trying to please people, abiding by the rules, trying to not step on anyone's toes, and that could sometimes be suffocating for her. At what point was it worth it to do the things she does just to look a certain way to the people who didn't even care about her as a person, who she truly is. 

*Click*

Tiffany looked at Taeyeon who was looking back at her with a wide smile on her face, with the locked door now ajar. Tiffany followed the tug at the hand, and let herself get dragged by Taeyeon, who was suddenly very different from the sluggish, slouching kid in the classroom. It's like Taeyeon is revitalized, she is skipped her way up the stairs of the lighthouse, dragging Tiffany with her. At last they were at the top, Taeyeon opened yet another door to what looked like a balcony, ushering Tiffany to follow her. 

The scenery of the night took Tiffany's breath away, the air smelled different, so fresh from how it smells in the city, the sea extending till the horizon around the panorama, the moon at that point was a huge orange ball, it's reflection on the sea underneath. Tiffany looked at the girl beside her who was taking in the panorama that was laid out in front of them. 

"Beautiful isn't it?" Tiffany heard Taeyeon say, almost a whisper. 

At that moment, with the moon falling on Taeyeon's short blonde hair for which she has gotten in countless trouble and detention, Tfiffany couldn't help but agree. "Beautiful!" 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tiff! I am so glad you could make it." Tiffany hugged the girl who welcomed her inside, the host of the party. 

She made her way to the kitchen where the drinks were, when the school's star baseball player, senior, Nickhun approached her with two drinks and gave her one. 

"Thanks." Tiffany said. 

"No problem, You looked like you were looking for a drink. Can't let a pretty girl not have what she wants now, can we?" 

Tiffany giggled at the obvious flirting. 

They continued talking until Tiffany's eyes landed on a familiar girl at the corner of the living room, quietly sipping on her drink, looking around. Tiffany got a bit distractred from her current conversation partner, when she saw this girl walking upto Taeyeon, leaning really close to Taeyeon speaking right into Taeyeon's ear. 

'The music is not that loud to lean that close to talk.'  Tiffany begged to differ with the girl who she now recognized as one of the graduates of their high school, she was a lot older than Taeyeon that's for sure, Tiffany wondered how she even knew Taeyeon that well, cause judging from the way Taeyeon's hand was on her waist, and the way they stood so close, they definitely knew each other closely. 

Tiffany's blood boiled when she saw the older girl lean in and kiss Taeyeon's cheek and then wipe the lipstick with her thumb. 

"Tiffany?" 

"huh?" 

"You looked like you zoned out there for a second." Tiffany looked at the boy and moved closer to him. 

"Sorry oppa, so you were saying?" Tiffany said mustering her best eyesmile. 'I don't care whoever older girls Taeyeon hangs out with or kisses.' 

Kichun went on about his baseball game again, when someone bumped into him. 

"Hey watch out!" Nickhun yelled at the person who bumped onto him. 

Tiffany saw Taeyeon suddenly taking something out from Nickhun's pocket and dumping it onto his drink. 

"Oh I have to borrow Hwang for a minute." 'Still referring to me as Hwang.' 

With that Taeyeon almost dragged Tiffany away, "Why did you just bump into him purposefully?"

"Who said I bumped into him?"

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Taeyeon I saw you. And what did you put in his drinks?" 

"Well first of all, I technically didn't bump into him, also, I put whatever he was about to put in your drink when you were busy flirting with him." Taeyeon said the last part with enough spite to make Tiffany breakout in a grin. 

'So it bothers you if I flirt with him.' 

"You are a strange girl! Why are you smiling when I just told you that guy was going to drug you?" Taeyeon asked, not understanding Tiffany's expressions. 

"Because you'll be my knight in shinning armour." 

"What? I am no knight in armour." 'Oops did I just say that out loud? Taeyeon is never gonna let this down.'  "I just drugged the guy." Taeyeon said in her defence. 

Tiffany smiled at the girl in denial, letting her pull her out of the crowd, but then she suddenly remembered the girl with Taeyeon and jerked her hand out of Taeyeon's loose grip, making the shorter girl look at her in surprise. "What happened?" 

"Who was that girl with you? Kissing you an-and-"

"Who? You mean Narsha unnie?" 

"Narsha? you mean that was NARSHA the idol??" 

"Shhh don't be so loud. Her company doesn't know she was here." Taeyeon said in a hushed tone. By this time they were outside the party house and in the backyard pool area. 

"How can I be quiet!! NARSHA WAS KISSING YOU!?!?!" Tiffany didn't know what she was feeling, it was jealousy mixed with defeat. There is no way she could compete with one of the top kpop idols, who is older, more beautiful and so talented, who came all the way from wherever her whatever idol schedule was to see Taeyeon, where Tiffany was just a high school girl, who cared too much about what her stupid, classist friends would say if she was friends with Taeyeon. she wasn't courageous enough to be even Taeyeon's friend and it was all too much for Tiffany. 

She didn't realize when her feet kept moving away from Taeyeon, away from the party, she just wanted to go home, she didn't want Taeyeon to see her eyes welling up in tears. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tiffany was breathing in the fresh air of the night time, looking at the sky, she could kind of make out the stars. 'Definitely not as clear as when we went to the lighthouse.' 

Before Tiffany could check herself, her thoughts went back to the girl she has been avoiding. 'Well not too hard to avoid you when you don't even show up. Are you okay? Did you get into some trouble?' 

"Stephi?" 

Tiffany was broken out of her thoughts when she heard her brother's voice. 

"Hey Leo, what are you doing in my room?" 

"Nothing just wanted to check up on you. You have been awfully quiet recently and even mom is starting to worry." Leo said, leaning into the railing like Tiffany. 

"I just have been thinking-" 

"About that little punk who picks you up at midnight?" Leo asked supressing the smile when Tiffany looked at him with her eyes wide in surprise. 

"Wha-How did-"

"Don't think I don't know about your midnight rendezvous and your outings when you skip away to the door and get on some super expensive car that clearly not hers." 

"Taeyeon is not a bad kid." Tiffany said immediately just to clear taeyeon's name to her brother. 

Leo put both his hands up and smiled. "Never said she is. I have jacked cars with my friends from valet parking lots as well. It's fun." 

Leo looked at his sister who looked at him with disbelieve in her eyes. "What? You can't expect me to always be this proper person, it's good to let loose every now and then Stephi. That's what I was going to tell you. You look happy when you go out with Taeyeon. you skip your steps, making more noise than usual. I wonder how parents haven't heard you sneak out yet." Tiffany hit her brother on the arm at the last part. 

"I am not that loud." 

"Well loud enough for me to hear you. I know that from the social standing that our parents are from, we have to put up a certain proper facade to be liked and such, but it can be tirind. That's all I am saying. And if this Taeyeon can help you let loose, then why are you stressing so much." 

"WHo said I was stressing about her?" 

"Well she seemed worried about you when I saw her working at the supermarket earlier today and asked me about you." 

"Oh." 'She was worried about me?'

"She seems nice Stephi. Yes, she may not your knight in shinning armour," 'She'll probably deny it, but she is.' "but she definitely brings out the stars in your eyes. The other day you were so chirpy that it almost scared Dad, and I figured that you were out with Taeyeon the night before. You don't have to care about what your other friends think or say. Do what makes you happy. And you are very apparently totally smitten by her." 

"I am not!" Tiffany replied almost too quickly, hitting Leo's arm, trying to stop him from seeing her blush. He will never let her live it down. 

"Sure are not. Keep telling yourself that. That's why you have been sulking these past two days. Go talk it out with her, whatever it is ask her without assuming." 

"I don't know where she lives." 

"SHe is waiting for you down at the bus stop." Leo pointed to the bus stop near their house. Tiffany could see a hunched figure sitting at the seats in the shed and somehow felt a bit better. "Go get her. And stop worrying about what people will think and say." Leo encouragingly bumped into Tiffany's shoulder. 

Tiffany looked at her brother and suddenly hugged him. "Wha-Oof you are so much bigger now." 

"SHut up oppa!" 

"Now go get her. Poor girl has been waiting for you." 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Taeyeon looked at the clock on her cell phone. She was almost going to give up waiting. 'Maybe he couldn't convince her to talk to me.' Taeyeon was ready to get up and leave, when she heard a familiar voice, "So you are just leaving, when I came out all the way here in the middle of the night?" 

Taeyeon looks up in surprise. "Tiffany I can explain. Narsha unnie is just my friend, we grew up in the same orphanage and she just always looked out for me. There's nothing more than that. She just an unnie that I care about, after she got recruited to be an idol, we don't get to see each other much. But she still comes back to visit me but that's all there is to it. I promise." Taeyeon explained all in one breath. 

'You just called me by my name. Also you are an orphan? I never knew.' 

"Tae" Tiffany approached the girl who was shuffling her weight on her feet looking down and couldn't help herself but pull the girl into her embrace. "Sorry I didn't know." 

"Not your fault that you thought that Narsha unnie and I, well are a thing. She is kinda touchy. But I swear you're the only one in my mind." 

Tiffany broke away from the embrace and looked at the girl in front of her who was looking everywhere else with her cheeks a rare shade of pink, "wait say what? You-you actually like me?" Tiffany couldn't believe her ears. 

"I don't know what you are talking about. Umm...It's late, I will walk you to your house." Taeyeon said still not looking at Tiffany. 

"So you just told me you like me and now going to walk me home but don't wanna know if I like you or not." Tiffany asked, holding Taeyeon's hand, preventing her to walk away. 

Taeyeon mumbled something, staring at her shoes. "Sorry you are going to have to do better than mumbling to your shoes." 

"I said, I don't feel like getting rejected tonight." Taeyeon spoke up, looking up at Tiffany with pleading eyes. 

Tiffany sighed, "Taeyeon-ah, I don't just sneak out of my house and go on midnight drives with just anybody." Tiffany giggled at the puzzled look on Taeyeon's face. "Since you are just a dense head, I will spell it out for you. I like you too Taeyeon-ah. A lot." Tiffany couldn't help herself anymore, and pulled the dazed Taeyeon into a deep kiss.