The first thing Tiffany did after waking up was rub her eyes and then keep them tightly shut. She recalled the events from the night before, and didn't have the courage to open her eyes to see if the girl, the fairy that had slept over her house and in her bed was still there. But curiosity and obligation spoke louder and, reaching her hand out to her side, Tiffany could breathe in relief and open her eyes when her hand touched an empty spot in the bed, and not a thin body. She looked sideways and chuckled quietly, landing her palm on her forehead and then sliding it down her face. "My, that was the wildest dream," she muttered to herself.

She got up and, after completing her morning hygiene, she put on a dressing gown and made her way out of the room, yearning for some breakfast. Stressful or hectic days and nights usually accentuated her hunger in the next morning.

Tiffany reached the first floor of the house and looked around. Everything seemed in perfect order: the living room was quiet and ​even the fireplace was tidy. Except...

Tiffany quirked an eyebrow and followed a sweet scent that came from the kitchen, which was not very far, for Tiffany's house was, in fact, not all that large. She reached the kitchen and pushed open the wooden swing door, only to find the same blonde she thought she had only seen and would only see in her dreams, clad in the pajama shirt she had lent her last night, and in that pajama shirt alone, laying a plate of deliciously smelling pancakes on the table.

"You're still here," Tiffany breathed out.

"Oh, good morning!" Taeyeon greeted her. "I made you breakfast. It was the least I could do to thank you for allowing me to stay over last night."

Tiffany smiled faintly. "Good morning. Thanks for that."

Taeyeon nodded, and gestured Tiffany to sit down as she resumed to pick up the plates and the silverware for them to eat. Tiffany did as she was suggested, never removing her eyes from the blonde.

"Taeyeon... why don't you have pants on?" Tiffany finally asked, a bit embarrassed and feeling guilty for eyeing the fairy's thighs from behind.

"Hm?" Taeyeon hummed and looked at Tiffany, then looked down at her own bottom. "Oh! Those things were uncomfortable. Don't you have something similar to a dress? I'm not used to wearing that kind of thing."

"I... I might have a winter nightgown somewhere," Tiffany responded.

"Good! Would you mind lending me that, too?" Taeyeon asked and returned to the table, placing two plates on it and a fork and a knife beside each.

"Not at all," Tiffany said, looking away.

The fairy placed two pancakes on Tiffany's plate and then two on her own, and sat down by the table to eat. Tiffany did the same.

"Wow," said Tiffany, "these are really good! How would a fairy know how to make such good pancakes?"

"I once helped a couple of two friends who lived together, and they would eat pancakes for breakfast every single day. One day, the both of them left some pancake leftovers on their plates because they had to leave home in a hurry for work, and because I had always been curious about the taste of these fluffy sweet things since the day I laid my eyes own them, I tried a piece. I loved it so much that I promised myself I would quietly watch the two humans prepare it so that I could learn to do it myself. And I did!"

Tiffany chuckled. "You certainly did. Thank you, again."

Taeyeon smiled. "Oh, and speaking of work... What's your job, Tiffany?" the fairy inquired.

"I'm a journalist."

The blonde eyed the clock on the wall. "Why, it's past 9:30 in the morning. Shouldn't you be at work, then?"

"I've taken fifteen days off this winter. I had been overworking myself too much for the past year. My boss agreed that I should rest for a while."

"Oh, I see. Well, then, I suppose we'll have time to work on our quest."

"Our quest?" Tiffany asked, munching on a piece of pancake.

"For your true love."

"Oh, that. I suppose so," Tiffany said, nodding. "What do you want to do?"

"I thought we could take a walk on a park."

"And what?"

"What do you mean?"

Tiffany put down her fork. "What are we supposed to do at the park? Wait for my true love to miraculously fall from the sky onto my lap?"

Taeyeon giggled. "Quite frankly, yes."

"Is this really going anywhere, Taeyeon?"

Taeyeon's face fell upon hearing Tiffany's words, but she forced herself to beam a faint smile, nonetheless. "So I hope, Tiffany. But I will understand if you don't wish to invest on it."

Tiffany noticed the fairy's despondecy right away. "No. Let's do it. I don't want you to die. Much less do I want to be the reason why." She smiled shyly at the blonde. "I see it is important for you. And really, I have nothing to lose."

Taeyeon's half-open, disheartened eyes popped wide open when she heard the same bell ring sweetly in her head from the previous night. She furrowed her eyebrows and hit lightly on the side of her head twice.

"Is everything okay?" Tiffany inquired, noticing the blonde's reaction.

"Oh, yes," Taeyeon grinned awkwardly. "I just... I thought I heard something."

"Right. Well, again, thanks for the pancakes. I'll get dressed. Will you come along? I need to give you some clothes. You can't leave the house on... that," Tiffany said, pointing up and down to Taeyeon's body.

The fairy nodded. "I'll be right up."

Tiffany agreed and took her leave, leaving Taeyeon alone in the kitchen. The blonde reclined back on the chair and exhaled heavily. "Something must be terribly wrong," she muttered to herself. "Have I lost my touch? Or have I gone insane?"

She sighed. Nothing of the kind had ever happened before.

"Well, I'd better just clean up this mess and head upstairs. I'll follow the plan and everything will be perfectly fine. In the best scenario, Tiffany will have found the one and will be in love by the fifth day," she thought out loud, and did as she told herself.

"Didn't you really have any dress to lend me? I really don't like wearing... what do you call them? Pants. I don't like wearing pants," Taeyeon protested as she and Tiffany walked through the park leisurely, side by side.

"Those are not pants. Those are called tights. They're supposed to keep you warm. In case you haven't noticed it, it's freezing cold."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. Fairies don't really feel hot or cold, unless we are sick," Taeyeon justified.

Tiffany looked at her, surprised. "Oh, wow. Well, but you'll have to dress like a normal human being for now, and normal human beings feel cold during the winter and wear many layers of clothing."

Taeyeon mouthed an 'Oh,' nodded, and fell silent.

"Say, speaking of fairies... why don't you tell me more about your people? The ones who sent you to me?" Tiffany proposed, interested about the blonde and her history.

"Oh, we call them the Council. The Council consists of three Earth fairies, the three remaining experienced Earth fairies on Earth: Bertha, Gilda, and Lorena. There is no kind of fairy more respectable and more powerful than theirs, nor there's any fairy more experienced than any of them. This is why they are responsible for our people and for every important matter regarding fairies and their deeds and duties," Taeyeon explained.

"So they are, like, your bosses?"

"Yes, like bosses."

"I see. And what do you mean by 'the three remaining Earth fairies?'"

"The three remaining experienced Earth fairies," Taeyeon corrected. "For a fairy to be considered experienced, she must be at least five centuries old. The fairies in the Council each have over a thousand years of existence."

"A THOUSAND?!" Tiffany exclaimed, startling Taeyeon and turning some heads that passed by.

"Shhh!" Taeyeon rebuked. "Yes, a thousand. We exist for a long time. Anyway, these fairies, currently, are the oldest among us, the most powerful, and also the most highly experienced. Once the newer Earth fairies come of age, they'll replace Bertha, Gilda, and Lorena in the Council, and then the fairies will have new rulers, so to speak."

"Gee..." Tiffany made a face. "It's all too complex. Nearly hard to believe."

"Why, our world is just as complex as yours, if not more."

"Why more?"

"Well, for example... for an Earth fairy to be born, the Earth must align with the other planets. For a water fairy to be born, there must be a titanic storm, or a disaster such as a tsunami. Wind fairies are born from cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes. This is why we live so long; because we are not born that easily. At least, not most of us."

"And how are fairies of love born?" Tiffany inquired further.

Taeyeon smiled. "When the lips of two lovers touch for the first time, but only if it's true love."

Tiffany grimaced. "That is... cringe-worthy cheesy. And cliché."

Taeyeon chuckled. "Well, but it is the truth."

Both of them fell silent for a few seconds, until Tiffany broke the silence with yet another curious question:ㅡ​ "Taeyeon... how old are you?"

"Two-hundred and twenty seven years old."

Tiffany stopped in her tracks as her jaw fell and her eyes widened. 

"What?" Taeyeon said, frowning when she saw Tiffany's reaction. "I'm young!"

"Young?! You have lived for two centuries and a half, nearly! And if you're that old, how come you look like you're in your early twenties?"

"Fairies age normally, like humans, until they turn 21. Then, they stop aging, and only start aging again when they turn five-hundred years old. The oldest a fairy could ever look would be like, in human age, let's say... 70."

"That's... that's..." Tiffany blabbered and gulped. "That's wild."

Taeyeon grinned. "You'll get used to it."

Tiffany chuckled and shook her head, and the both of them resumed walking in silence through the park. Taeyeon observed the people and the animals with curiosity. Tiffany noticed that, and found it quite cute. It was still hard for her to believe all of what was happening, but something told her that Taeyeon was telling the truth, and that it wouldn't hurt to give the golden-haired fairy a chance. 

"So? Have you seen anyone interesting yet?" Taeyeon asked, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"We're looking for your true love, remember?"

"Oh, that. No," Tiffany responded, shaking her head, "I haven't."

"That's bad. Maybe if we tried somewhere else? Do you have any suggestion?"

"In fact, I do," Tiffany said, checking her watch. "I suggest we have lunch. It's nearly 1p.m. Have you ever tried a burger, fairy?"

"What's that?"

Tiffany chuckled. "Come on."

After lunch, they kept walking aboutㅡTiffany freezing and Taeyeon keenly expecting the human to point at a person, any person, and say she was interested in them. But that didn't happen, not even once. By the time the two came back to Tiffany's place at night, Taeyeon was quite disappointed, though she had not yet begun to lose heart.

"Don't sulk. You're asking me to find love, true love within a week. It's not easy," said Tiffany, trying to ease the spirits of a morose fairy sitting moodily on the couch.

"Actually, it is. People can fall in love in a day, and it can be true love. It happens when you're least expecting," Taeyeon argued.

"Maybe that is why it isn't working. We're expecting it to happen."

The blonde shrugged. "Maybe."

"Regardless," Tiffany began, sitting on the couch herself, but not too close to the fairy, "thank you for keeping me company today. You know, you're not all that bad. Today has been nice. It was quite funny to see you eat that burger."

Taeyeon laughed. "That burger thing is nice. Can we have that again for the next six days?"

"God, no!" Tiffany chuckled amusedly. "Burgers are not healthy. You can only have them once in a while."

"Not healthy?! Then why did you make me try it?"

"Well, I thought, since you'll be, in a way, spending a week as a fellow human being, you might as well try out the best our world has to offer. Maybe tomorrow we can look for my true love nearby an ice cream parlor and you can try chocolate ice cream," Tiffany suggested.

Taeyeon smiled brightly and nodded. "Okay," said she. "I don't know what that is, but if it is as good as the burger, I'm in."

For the first time, Tiffany smiled amusedly at the fairy.