Tiffany wakes to the smell of pancakes and a blob of blonde hair. Taeyeon’s facing the other side of the bed, her form rising and falling with every breath she takes. Tiffany spent the night at the Kim’s house. She told her dad that she would be staying, and Mr. Hwang––although a little reluctant––agreed.

The half awake girl is startled when Taeyeon rolls to her other side, an inch away from Tiffany’s face. Tiffany can feel Taeyeon’s cool breath on her lips as she feels the temperature of the room suddenly rise. Her chest feels like a chimney as it roars to life. If Taeyeon opens her eyes, she’ll be welcomed by a blushing Tiffany.

Without a second thought, Tiffany bolts up as she tries to calm her hammering heart. This isn’t the first time she’s had to calm herself. The first time she slept with Taeyeon, she awoke to a clinging Taeyeon. Taeyeon had her left-hand inches away from Tiffany’s right as her right one held onto Tiffany by the waist. Tiffany felt like she died that morning. The second time she slept at the Kim’s, Taeyeon was spooning her, legs tangled with her own along with Taeyeon’s right arm pressed against her chest as her right hand gripped onto Tiffany’s shirt. 

Sure, the last two times Taeyeon was a little handsy and what not, but she was making progress, albeit rather slowly. And she’s learned something about Taeyeon, Taeyeon can be a cuddler.

Tiffany slipped out of bed, leaving the sleeping girl on the bed, and deciding to go explore who’s making pancakes. She isn’t surprised when she see’s Mrs. Kim humming a soft tune as she flips one of the fluffy cakes. “I knew I’d wake someone up. Good Morning, Tiffany.”

“Good Morning Mrs.– Sarah.” Tiffany quickly corrected herself. Mrs. Kim has corrected Tiffany countless times about how Tiffany should address her. 

“How many would you like?” Sarah asked as she places two more warm pancakes to the stack that were already made. “Just two please.” It’s not the first time Tiffany has eaten with the Kim’s, but she still feels shy about it. “Here you go.” Mrs. Kim hands Tiffany her serving and pulls out the maple syrup right afterward, along with a carton of milk.

“You’d think that David and Taeyeon would be up by now.” Mrs. Kim mutters as she serves Tiffany a cup of milk, and Tiffany can’t help but giggle as she pours the silky syrup of her fluffy stack. “You know what they say, like father like daughter.” 

Sarah laughs. "I like you Tiffany, so humble and honest. I hope my idiot daughter doesn’t scare you away anytime soon.” Tiffany doesn’t catch the underlying meaning of Sarah’s words, the bright girl just grins. “I’m sorry to say Sarah, but Taeyeon has me stuck to her like a piece of gum on the bottom of a shoe.” Mrs. Kim can’t help but laugh some more as she serves herself breakfast and sits in front of Tiffany on the table.

“How have you been honey?” Mrs. Kim is sickly sweet, just how Tiffany likes it. It reminds her of her mother. “Taeyeon told me the other day that your dad just came back.” 

Tiffany swallows the bit of pancake she was chewing on and it hurt to do so. She barely talked about it with Taeyeon last night as it. Her site casts down on the plate of food before her as she thinks about the last few days she’s spent with her dad. “I… I’m confused. I don’t know how I should feel about having him back.”

Mrs. Kim put down her fork to grab one of Tiffany’s hand and into her own. “The grieving process is very confusing, but you shouldn’t be afraid of letting any emotion out sweetie. It’s normal to feel certain... unwanted emotions, just as long as you don’t let them take control of the situation at hand.” Tiffany looks up from her food to meet Sarah’s understanding eyes. “I lost my mother at a fairly young age too, but I was well into my twenties at the time. I know how confusing it is to get through the process. I remember bottling up certain emotions because I was scared of hurting others and all that did was hurt David in the same process. It hurt him just as much that I was bottling things in.”

“How did you overcome it?”

Sarah smiles warmly, “I wrote. I didn’t want to hurt anyone in the process, so I wrote letters to let out that negative energy out of me. You should try it.”

Tiffany bit her bottom lip as a small smile formed, “Thank you, Sarah.”

With a small squeeze, Sarah lets go of Tiffany. “You’re welcome, sweetie.” Sarah felt like Tiffany was another daughter she could never have. It gave her a sense of joy that she’s able to help the bright girl in any way possible.

Tiffany suddenly feels better about all the confusing feelings she’s been having ever since her dad came back into her life. She can’t wait to get home and try what Sarah suggested to her. She wants to get all of those negative emotions out, but she doesn’t want to lash out at anyone in the process. 

“Good Morning.” A deep voice greets them as he steps into the kitchen, wearing a white cotton shirt and long blue flannel pajamas with loafers. Mr. Kim still had his bed hair, but Tiffany thinks he still wears it good for his age, she doesn’t care what Taeyeon says. David is handsome, even Jessica agreed with her. 

––––

So I decided to give this chapter to Tiffany. I mean, the grieving process is confusing, I speak from experience. It's not something I can easily brush off in the future chapters either. It's something that Tiffany will have to slowly get through herself, of course with the help of others as well. 

I know I've already said this, but seriously, this story was not supposed to be this long. I was planning on making this like a 10-15 chapter story, now look at it! we're almost 30 chapters in! Wow! But, I mean, the chapters aren't long so.... we'll just keep it our little secret ;)

Next Chapter, we'll either see some more character development in Tiffany's part or we may see Tiffany hearing Taeyeon sing for the first time... in the shower. I think it might be Taeyeon in the shower first. Until next time!