WARNING: READ IT CAREFULLY

(I MEAN IT...)

 

“Tae?” I looked up from my phone and stared at the owner of the voice, “What’s up?” The brunette smiles at me, “Well, I was thinking if it’s okay with you that I could just you know—“

She fidgets with her fingers, a habit she developed whenever she asked for favors. I beamed widely, so typical of Jessica, “What?”

“Well, the dancefloor is available and Kwon is asking me to dance and you have your stuck to your seat and—“

“So?” I raised my brow, “So I was wondering if I could dance with Kwon if you don’t mind?”

I giggled why would I? “No, not really, go wild!”

She smiles, “Really?! Awesome, thanks Tae!” I watched Jessica walk towards to Kwon Yuri’s table. seeing that sun-kissed girl beam so widely at Jessica made me smile to myself, ah… Some things just never change.

I could still vividly remember Kwon Yuri asking Jessica out back in the days, god! Was it so embarrassing! All those flowers and chocolates, only to know that the poor girl she was trying to court were allergic to flowers. I always thought Jessica would die because of that.

“That’s a dangerous move you did there Kim.” Ah. I know this voice. A voice I always knew so well. I turned around and saw a beautiful woman with her hair down, smiling that familiar smile I’ve always come to love.

“Not really, Hwang, I was being boring so I let her.” She giggles and I joined in her giggling fit too, “Take a seat though, don’t want the pretty lady to have such muscular legs later on.”

She laughs again then takes the seat in front of her. “So,” she starts, “How’s the party going for you?”

I smile, tucking my phone inside my pocket, “Well honestly, it’s like our prom version two-point-oh”

“That bad?” I laughed again, “Yeah, that bad.”

“Would it feel better if I asked you for a dance?” I smiled at her, it’s just like the old times.

“Yeah, yeah it would Tiffany.” She smiled back at me, “Great! Now if you’d take my hand so we could now continue our affair on the dancefloor”

“Why does it sound like it’s such a bad thing?”

Tiffany giggled, “I assure you we’re not doing a bad thing Taeyeon and it’s just dancing, so relax.”

“But you said affair—“

“Not.A.Bad.Thing.” So I just nodded, then once we were on the dancefloor, dancing to our song, the nostalgia just eats me. She smiles at me lovingly, “Thank you for asking me out Taeyeon.”

Too nostalgic.

 

+++

 

 

I remember it was back in English class when I met her. Her hair was just right by her shoulders, eyes forming into crescents as she smiles while introducing herself in front of the class. Right there and then, I knew that she just had to be my friend.

Yuri, who sat behind me suddenly whispers the most ridiculous thing in my ear, “Bet you’d want to get into her pants Kim.”

I could feel myself blushing, “No you ert and I’d prefer not to be acquainted with your ual desires Kwon Yuri, thank you.”

“But you think she’s pretty right?” I gulped. Yeah, I’d be a big idiot not to notice that beauty emanating from her. The way she just smiles is so captivating that if it’s possible, she’d be capturing everyone’s hearts in this whole forsaken campus.

I nodded with Yuri’s sentiment, “I wouldn’t deny that. But! I would like to deny the part wherein you’d want me to get into her pants, because that’s just purely disgusting.”

“Yeah, yeah, you nun, this is why you never get laid.”

I scoffed, “Okay Kwon, now stop whispering, I don’t want another detention.”

Hwang, if I could remember exactly, was her surname, is now walking towards me— Wait, towards me, I-I, wait, is this some sort of movie or something? I saw this scene before wherein the girl of your dreams just suddenly walk towards the main character then finally—

She takes that seat in front of you. But is actually two seats away from you. Ah. Right. This is reality. Never get ahead of yourself Kim Taeyeon.

Going back, Hwang, the eye-smiling girl, puts her bag down on the ground and pulls out a pink notebook. Then next a pink pencil case. A pink pen. Seriously?! There’s like no end to this pink obsession, it’s so ridiculous. Okay. She certainly have a soft spot for pink stuff. Mentally noted.

The whole class ended with everyone fawning over the new girl. Everyone behaved so well in front of her that it just started to give me the creeps. What a complete bogus if you’d ask me, if the new girl hadn’t been here, the class would have been a total ruckus and we wouldn’t be able to end the class with such peace like now.

I was packing my stuff when Yuri gave a gentle pat on my shoulder and I looked at her.

“What now Kwon?” Yuri wiggled her eyebrows and I know something’s up. “No. You wouldn’t—“

“Oh watch me Kim.” She got up from her seat quickly and went to Hwang. Yuri pulled that charming smile of hers, a skill Yuri uses if she wants someone to be her “friend.” And if you’re wondering if she used that trick on me for us to be friends, I tell you, she did not. We became friends because I used an encyclopedia to slap her face with because I thought the poor girl was a robber.

Anyhow, as I watched the two of them talk, rather animatedly, I quickly but stealthily packed my bags and tried my best not to get noticed as I walked out of the room there’s in no way Kwon Yuri will drag me into th—

“Taeyeon! Come meet my friend Tiffany” I stopped my tracks. God, I should’ve ran for it. I breathed out exasperatedly. I am so going to wring Yuri’s neck for this.

I turned around and plastered the friendliest smile on my face as I walked towards the two of them, “Hello there, Tippany—“

She laughs. Oh god how that sounded so heavenly, but god am I confused at her reaction. So I stared at her until she gets it, “I’m sorry, your pronunciation of my name is just quite unique.” I smiled, “So I made a little mistake.” I rubbed the back of my neck. How embarrassing.

“Nah,” she waves off, “I’ll definitely remember you really well, Kim Taeyeon, right?”

I nodded at her, “Rest assured I’ll just do the same Tippany.”

 

 

 

+++

 

 

“So, if you were to sleep with food, would you like to be covered like a burrito or prefer to be covered with fluffy French toasts?”

Tiffany snorts then resorts to giggling, “What?”

“I mean, everyone has their preference right, I’d like to know yours,” She smiles and taps a finger on her chin, “Hmm, you make an incredibly hard question but I would like to go for the burrito.”

“Oh, I see, so you prefer to be trapped inside a tortilla with sauces covering your skin? Chosen over the fluffy toasts.”

“I prefer to be warm while my skin is being exfoliated by the salsa.” We then guffawed. Ah, it’s been weeks since we became friends. After wringing Yuri’s neck, I thanked her a lot for making us friends (I gave her a discount coupon to a massaging spa to make up for it though).

 “But on the serious note Tae, the deadline for our English project is coming up, have you picked up a topic?”

I smiled at her while she just looked at me with this ‘I-don’t-get-the-smile’ look, “You tell me yours first”

“Wha— I asked you first!” I chuckled, “Not planning to tell though, free period is almost over, make up your mind Hwang.”

She grumbled incoherent words then sighed, “Fine, I’m doing Norse Gods, you happy?”

“Ah, what an interesting part of the myths to dwell on, but I made a fair choice.”

“Okay, and that is?” I beamed widely, feeling my heart ramming against my chest so wildly, “Love stories.”

She scoffed, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Then the bell rings, free period was now over and I walked ahead of Tiffany. She follows me with a weird look plastered on her face.

“Oh, come ‘on Tiffany, am I not allowed to be a romanticist myself? Besides it’s a good topic to be involved into.”

She shakes her head in disapproval, “No, it’s not that Tae, it’s just that, I’d imagine you doing Hercules or Golden Fleece, something like that”

I chuckled, “I’m in the mood for love Tiffany. Just watch me pull off those corny stuff, I’d make you fall in love with me.”

Her eyes dilated, quickly looking away from me. She laughs awkwardly, “Getting way too ahead of yourself Kim Taeyeon. I’ll see you later after class.”

“I—“Was she blushing? Or it’s just my mind tricking me?

 

 

+++

 

 

The project was to do an intensive research then make a report about it in front of the class. You know, as a well-known nerd in campus, not one of my classmates ever expected me to be dwelling on the topic of love stories. To them it felt like a silly part of the book and walked way past that. I say, it’s the loveliest part of the book and the author was kind enough to include that in his collection of stories. So once the title of my report showed up, it was like a big jab onto their gut.

“And so despite every trial, adultery or any inexplicable liaisons with each story, I would just like to convey in each and every one of you that everyone is capable of doing anything for their better half, and by anything—“

I looked at everyone inside the classroom and my eyes stopped at a certain girl. I gazed at her eyes deeply as she stared back at me, “I meant anything.”

I always knew I’d be ending up with this kind of situation. “Now, I would like to end my report with this quote, ‘Slowly but surely, love takes over the senses.’ Thank you everyone for listening.”

Everyone applauded, but not Tiffany. And that hurt a bit, considering that all of this was actually for her.

So once English was done, I quickly made my way towards her. “Tiffany,” I put a hand on her shoulder. She slowly looks up from me, as if I was some scary creature that has come to destroy her.

“So… h-how did you find it?” She cleared , “What? Oh, your report?”

I nodded, “Yeah.” She hummed while she puts her things away into her bag, “What’s with the humming? Come ‘on, don’t make me wait.”

Tiffany then slings the strap of her bag on her shoulder, “Well, all I can say is that whoever this person you’re loving…”

Okay. How can she just jump into such a conclusion so fast? “The person I’m loving is what?”

“Is lucky.” I chuckled, “Okay, how can you say I’m in love with someone when I just asked you about my report?”

She huffs, “Simply because a Kim Taeyeon would never waste her time on such trivial things such as love.”

Ouch. So does this mean I’m a robot now? “Okay, hold up, just because I’m a nerd Tiffany, doesn’t mean I am not capable of loving someone, that’s pretty much insulting you know?”

She sighs heavily. It looked like she was about to cry, “Well, knowing you, even if it’s just for a short time, I knew you were the type to put your mind to things one at a time. Clearly a person of focus, such as you, would likely put love aside then career first.”

I sighed exasperatedly, “Okay, clearly you’re being stupid—“

“I’m just saying that… Forget it Tae, let’s go home” She starts to walk past me but I pulled her wrist and made her face me. There’s no way in hell is this conversation going to end like this.

“No Tiffany, I cannot just forget it. Spill it out. It’s just my report, I wanted to know how we came to this point. How it actually was for you. What’s on your mind?”

Tears ran down her cheeks. She sniffs. Oh how this broke my heart.

“I just. You know. I’m just afraid that you might forget me because you’d soon be dating someone and I don’t want that… It makes me sad.”

Okay, what? She… Did she just not get what I did back there? Did she just… Okay… This is so freaking… Oh god… How can she just completely be…? Okay… Bollocks.

“You do realize that I was actually referring to you the whole time right?”

“What?”

 

 

+++

 

 

“You know, if there’s any change I can point out, it’s you having broader shoulders. I could remember exactly that you had weak posture.” I chuckled as we swayed slowly, “I’m a reformed person. I like being fit, besides, I remember you loving them a lot and I just can’t miss out on improving these babies out.”

Tiffany beams widely, “It added to that ‘handsome’ feature you had. But you don’t have to be so corny about it.”

I laughed then smiled, “How I missed the old days though, back when we were both a terrible dancer and just wrecked ourselves on the dancefloor.”

She laughs, “God that was embarrassing! But, pretty memorable.”

I nodded, “Definitely worth remembering.”

“Yeah.” We fell into silence as the music goes on the background. Tiffany leans in and rests her chin on my shoulder.

“What’s on your mind?” I piped up, She pulls away and looks at me with that familiar smile on her face, “Your lips are pale.”

I chuckled. Ah, nostalgia.

 

 

+++

 

 

“You two make me sick, won’t there be any minute or moment of you two being away from each other? Seriously guys, I always thought you were pure, but you guys are a bunch of erts! Ugh!”

Tiffany and I laughed at Yuri, “Apparently, you’re just jealous because you’re single and we have each other.”

“Oh don’t get me started Kim, who made you two meet each other? Yeah, that’s right, it’s this person who’s talking. Now stop eating each other’s faces out, we have a prom to attend for like I don’t know, in an hour?”

Tiffany gets off of me and we started straightening the creases on our dresses. I looked at myself in the mirror, “Ugh, my lips are pale—”

Yuri butts in, “That is because you—“

Tiffany then pulls me in and presses her lips at mine, I smiled as she pulled away, “Thank you.” She then shrugs and smiles triumphantly at Yuri who looks at us with a disgusted look on her face.

“Okay, I just had it with you guys, I’m outta here.”

When we arrived at our prom, it certainly looked like those prom you see in movies, just not that glamorous. The designs looked so rushed at being put into certain “places.” It looked like some 3 year old kid’s artwork.

“Welp. Is this really how you guys do prom in your country?” I looked at Tiffany, “I was about to ask the same question, but hey, there’s food and music, would it be cool if we’d just pretend this is a great prom?”

Tiffany smiles, “I wouldn’t mind as long as you’re near.”

“Bleh. You’re making me vomit.” I glared at Yuri and she just shrugged, “Fine, I’m just gonna go and get myself some punch, go feast yourselves on each other.”

Tiffany laughs, “I feel so sorry for her”

“Nah, she’d get by. But for now, if you don’t mind, can I have this dance with you?”

Tiffany blushes and holds my hand, “Just take me away Tae.”

 

 

+++

 

 

I chortled, “Somebody’s going to be angry if you’d give it a go Tiffany.” She laughs and stops our little dance.

Tiffany smiles, “If I’d been more intrepid about it, I actually would. I’m sorry. It’s just that, this very setup just makes me swim in nostalgia.”

“I’ve been doing that since I stepped here an hour ago.” We laughed together. But our laughing stopped when we heard someone clear their throat.

“You wouldn’t mind if I steal my wife back, right Tiffany?” Tiffany shakes her head, “No I don’t, I too, believe that I’ve stalled Taeyeon for too long.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to see you again Tiffany, you still look lovely as ever.”

Tiffany gives my wife a slight smile, “So you do too, Jessica.”

I shrugged my shoulders and pulled Jessica by the waist, “You’d be fine, right Tiffany?” She nodded, “I’ll be dancing with Kwon now.” I grinned at her, “Be careful though, she’s still the Casanova you always knew.”

She chortles, “I will.”

Once Tiffany was now away, dancing with Yuri, I looked back at Jessica. I knew she'd start to stare at Tiffany, so I called her out for it, “Stop it.”

“You’re thinking the wrong things Kim Taeyeon.” I snorted, “Then what are you thinking?”

“I was thinking about the dress she’s wearing, it could be Gucci or Chanel.”

I chuckled at that, “Okay that was so weird. Back then, a mention of her name, you’d go ballistic, let alone see her. What happened?”

Jessica smiled at me, “I don’t know too. But I always knew you’d keep your distance. She was planning to kiss you, why didn’t you let her?”

“Uhm, because I am married? And if I kiss her I’d be sleeping in our front yard.”

Jessica shook her head while she laughed. Then she suddenly stops. Okay, scary girl, “What if we weren’t?”

I sighed heavily, “I’d tell her, I already gave my heart to someone and that certain someone has completely tied me down that it’s hard to get away from.”

“Ugh, that’s the best you can do?” I beamed widely, “Well, you are most certainly charming Jessica, anything would be fine I think.”

I quickly pulled her in for the last dance, “Kim Taeyeon?”

“Yes?” Jessica smiles, “Thank you for trying and not giving up.”

Our foreheads met and I gazed deeply in her eyes, “Thank you for existing. At least you made me try and not give up. Because if you didn’t, god knows what may have happened to me.”

 

 

+++

 

 

Tiffany cried. Why did she cry? It’s not like I did something wrong right? It was just simply asking her to m—

“I’m s…sorry. Very sorry. Let’s stop this here. Whatever this is, whatever we are Taeyeon. Let’s just stop.”

I let my arms fall to my side. Clearly numb and at the point of rage, “I don’t understand. You said we could… Why are you… Did I do something wrong?”

Tiffany shook her head, “I can’t let you waste your future on me. I have to go.”

“No! Tell me! Tell me what made you change your mind!? You can’t just go as you please Tiffany! This isn’t a game! You promised me! And you…”

We were both crying. How stupid. We’re crying in an empty playground with these romantic pieces prepared all for her and this happens? God must be laughing at me right now.

“I have lost the ability to love you and I choose to go to a different path Taeyeon.”

“If this is you going back to America for fashion school, I can always wait. I’m not that stupid nor impatient.”

Tiffany shook her head. “No. This ends here. I’m sorry.”

 

 

+++

 

 

“So, if you were to if you were to sleep with food, would you like to be covered like a burrito or prefer to be covered with fluffy French toasts?”

My heart ached so much when the question popped up. I slowly looked at the person in front of me and saw a brunette with this cold, stoic expression on her face. Must be ridiculous to ask that question.

I cautiously asked her, “Fluffy French toasts..?”

“Hmm,” she scrunches her eyebrows, confusion painted on her face, “What now? I answered your question…”

“Not exactly, I haven’t asked you why.” She smiles slightly, “Well, why you ask?” The stranger nods, “Yeah, why?”

“Well, ‘cause since you said they’re fluffy, I’d assume that once I sleep on it I’d be on I’m-on-the-clouds-type-of-feeling.”

The stranger beamed widely, “I just thought the same. I’m Jessica Jung.”

I stared at the hand sticking out in front of me. What a weird girl, “Kim Taeyeon.”

“Hmm, now, you wouldn’t mind if I’d crash in your solitude with more questions would you?”

I shook my head, “Not at all.”

 

 

[A/N: So I'm back with only this. I've been swimming in places I shouldn't have. Hope you had fun reading this though, I've put my heart in it ;) Also, try listening to this: Lanes, hope you'd love it as much as I do.]