The car ride to the hospital was quiet. Tiffany was lost for words and Taeyeon seemed very nonchalant. The latter was staring out of the window. Her features remained impassive as if she not just did an absolutely insensitive and insane action.

“I may need to ask your boss and co-workers.” Tiffany broke the silence as she turned the steering wheel to the left. 

“About?”

“You, your professionalism.” The attorney rolled down her side window and took the parking ticket from the machine. “We need all ammunition we can get. Their testimonial may help in one way to another.”

Taeyeon blinked once then easily stated, “You don’t need to do that.”

“I beg your pardon?” Tiffany furrowed her eyebrows together. She quickly parked the white Audi at the nearest spot then turned her body fully towards the surgeon. “What do you mean by your statement just now?”

“Let them bring me to the court. Let them do what they want. I don’t want to deal with this anymore.” The small woman unfastened her seatbelt. “Thank you for your help, Ms. Hwang. And you’re right, everybody is right, this is not an easy battle to win and I’m not willing to waste my time for this. Let them do it. I don’t want to fight anymore.”

Tiffany softened. “Just two days ago you said you’d try your best. What changes your mind?” She knew there was no use to be tough on Taeyeon at the moment. There was an invisible, impenetrable wall around Taeyeon. She’d be stupid to even try now.

Taeyeon sighed, biting her lower lip in deep thought. “I’m done with people threatening me for something that I believe is right.”

“They are hurting and grieving, Doctor Kim, and so are you. They don’t see this issue they way you do. With the right approach, we can settle this without anyone gets hurt even more.”  

The corner of Taeyeon’s lips tugged upward. The words – her words were very comforting. In a lot of aspects, Ms. Hwang had a point. What she liked about this woman was that she didn’t act cautious around her. Not like everyone else, she said what she had to say but always with a touch of foreign comfort. Her family, her friends, all tried to give her the same sentiment but it never worked because she knew they pitied her. It was there, very clear, from the way they act, the way they looked at her, the tone they used. They all pitied her. Ms. Hwang didn’t. She treated her like a normal human being. Not a sick human being.

“You know… you’re right, too.” The surgeon nodded. “But the time is up, Ms. Hwang. This is too much trouble. Too much that I’m not willing to go further.”

“But–”

Taeyeon touched a little of Tiffany’s bare arm effectively cut her sentence. “Please understand, Ms. Hwang.”

Tiffany couldn’t respond to that. The words were stuck in . Looking at how nervous Tiffany had become since the touch, Taeyeon withdrew her hand slowly.

“Thank you, Ms. Hwang.” Taeyeon nodded slightly then stepped out from the car without waiting for Tiffany to say anything.

-----

Hours later, after staring at the phone screen endlessly and didn’t find the courage, Taeyeon decided to end it for all and sent the text she had typed and saved to draft, edited it a little then saved it again.

Thank you for making me feel normal. I’m calling it over.

It was written.

-----

The next morning, Tiffany Hwang returned to the hospital. She was not as composed as she always was. The touch was still tingling on her skin – which was weird because they had made skin contact before. She even treated it like a skin disease or something. She scrubbed it over and over to no avail. Gosh, what is wrong with her?

There was a blasting fire burning in her very soul. This… unexplainable anger? Frustration? Excitement? Whatever it was, this unexplainable feeling confused her to no end. Doctor Kim didn’t reply to any of her messages. Every call went straight to voice mail. What the hell was she thinking? She couldn’t just disappear after that perplexing text.

… or Doctor Kim could and she shouldn’t work it up too much.

However, it was too late – far too late for her to back out now. The curiosity was getting out in unstoppable force, plain in the air and she was not able to hide it any longer. Her rational self said don’t. But the irrational part of her was screaming louder. It was deafening. She was always the instinc