Tiffany approached the two girls, her gaze fixated on the one Taeyeon was on the brink of kissing. About to kiss. About to kiss. The mantra echoed in her mind, her nails digging into her palms in jealousy. She yearned to be the one held between Taeyeon's arms, pined against that wall, receiving Taeyeon's kiss, not this stranger.

As Tiffany positioned herself beside Taeyeon, she cleared , attempting to conceal the coldness in her tone. However, her death glare toward the other girl betrayed her inner turmoil. Tiffany gently moved Taeyeon away, lowering her arms.

“Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?” the girl asked, visibly irritated by Tiffany's interference. The girl, pale and slightly taller than Taeyeon, sported green eyes enhanced by fake contact lenses and heavy makeup. Fake eyes, fake face, probably a fake everything.

“Helping a friend...” Tiffany responded, bitterness evident in her tone.

“Helping a friend? Who the heck are you?” Ah, a foul-mouthed girl, Tiffany observed.

“I'm Taeyeon's roommate, and I'm here to take her home.”

“Tippany...” Taeyeon's voice reached Tiffany's ears, the omega's cheeks flushed, and a hint of embarrassment rolled off her tongue.

“You've been drinking?” Tiffany asked, incredulous. Taeyeon looked away. “Come on, let's go inside.”

“Excuse me...” the other girl interrupted. “Can you give us some privacy? We're in the middle of something here.”

“Yeah, we're in the middle of something here, Tippany!” Taeyeon affirmed, attempting to push Tiffany aside. Tiffany rolled her eyes.

“You're drunk, Taeyeon, come on. We gotta go inside.”

“Couldn't you at least wait for a minute?” the girl argued. “Seriously, out of all the moments to try and get her inside, you choose now? We're on a date here, Third Wheel, give us a bit of privacy.” The girl attempted to pull Taeyeon closer, but Tiffany halted the maneuver by positioning herself between the two.

"Yaah, Tippany! She's my date tonight, not yours!" Taeyeon complained, but Tiffany didn't take that too seriously.

"She's not into you," the other girl replied, much to Tiffany's displeasure. Tiffany's nails dug into her skin almost to the point of bleeding.

"Get out of my sight."

"Or what? What are you gonna do? Kill me? Pfft, come and try, Alpha, I'm used to dealing with ty likes such as yourself." The girl pushed the alpha away, breaking free from her grip. Is that the type of woman Taeyeon is attracted to? Really? Tiffany found it ridiculous.

Not wanting to waste time with the situation, Tiffany declared, "You know what? You're not worth my time. Come on, Taeyeon." She grabbed Taeyeon's arm. "You're drunk, it's late, and we need to go inside!"

"Spoilsport," Taeyeon muttered, displeased by her roommate's intervention, as she allowed herself to be dragged to the dorm.

"See you tomorrow, Taengoo." Taengoo? What is that? Taeyeon's nickname? Why can that woman call Taeyeon by her nickname? Who even is that girl? Tiffany puffed her cheeks and dragged Taeyeon inside, relieved that she could put a stop to what she feared the most.

"What was that for?" Taeyeon asked, not understanding the situation.

"Who is that? Are you going to tell me that the girl is Heechul?"

Taeyeon burst out laughing, her drunken giggles soon followed by hiccups. Tiffany rolled her eyes, disliking what she was seeing. When they were finally inside, Tiffany felt herself calming down, her senses recognizing that place as home. Tiffany cupped her face with her hands. "Are you okay? How much did you drink tonight?" she asked curiously.

"Not much."

"Where did you go this time around?"

"A nore(hic)bang." Tiffany offered her a glass of water, and the omega bowed her head, thankful for the gesture.

"So lovely you're being tonight, ain't ya?" Tiffany wasn't sure if Taeyeon was being sarcastic or not. Her inner voice told her not to take Taeyeon's words seriously right now, as the girl was lightheaded and tipsy.

"So...who is she?" Tiffany crossed her arms.

"Friends with Heechul," Taeyeon answered, unbothered.

"Friends with Heechul? But not your friend?" Tiffany's brows frowned.

"Nope. We met casually at the norebang," she replied, moving her hand away randomly, getting closer to her couch. But Tiffany didn't allow her to lay down, stopping her midway.

"What's her name?"

Taeyeon didn't answer.

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Of course I do! Why does that matter anyway? Why are you so annoying tonight?" The omega complained, annoyed by her friend's interrogation.

“Why you were about to kiss her?” 

“Because I wanted to.”

“You wanted to?”

“Yeah,” She shrugged her shoulders. “You know when...” And Taeyeon got closer to Tiffany, her voice lowering its volume, as if she was trying to tell a secret. “You feel a person is into you. Like. Really. Into. You?” 

Tiffany squinted her eyes. “Hm.”

“That's what I felt all night long. She and other friends with Heechul stayed with us in our room at the norebang, you know? And it was totally weird, because she couldn't stop staring at me, you know?” 

“Hm.”

“And after I sang Tears she told me I had a good voice, can you believe it? Girl is out of her mind!” 

“She was hitting on you.” Tiffany commented, even though she was curious to know how Taeyeon's singing voice sounded like. 

"Exactly!" Taeyeon looked completely astonished that a person could even suggest that. "So, we both started drinking and talking about things and life, and she was really nice and fun. But I started to get sleepy, you know, and I told Heechul that I was going back home. She offered to walk me home because she thought it was dangerous for me to walk my way all alone to the dorm, and I thought that was okay. I didn't mind."

"It is dangerous for you to walk your way home from the norebang though," Tiffany seconded. "What were you thinking? Why didn't you call for a chauffeur service or something?"

"Why are you guys so afraid of everything? The norebang is just a few blocks away, there's nothing dangerous about that. Better to walk than to pay for Uber or a taxi." Tiffany didn't like that Taeyeon was putting herself at risk.

So she kindly took the walk with me, and when we got here, I said 'Okay, then… I guess this is it. Goodbye.' And then she stopped, not saying anything. I thought she was waiting for me to invite her in, you know?”

“Hm.”

“But I guess she realized I wasn't inviting her in and then asked, 'Can we meet tomorrow?' And I said, 'yeah, sure.' She smiled and kept staring at me, you know?”

“Hm.”

“And I guess the silence irritated her because she bluntly asked, 'Won't you give me a kiss?'” Tiffany felt her heart fasten its beats. “And then I felt like I wanted that. You know… that I wanted to kiss her. I felt like I should follow your advice...”

“Follow my advice?”

“Yeah, you said I should kiss people.”

“I never said that!” Tiffany denied vehemently.

“Yeah, you did. You said...I should open myself to other people. Take risks and don't shut myself from love and these feelings.”

“That's totally different from kissing strangers on the street, Taeyeon! You can't kiss people you barely know!”

“I know her! She's friends with Heechul!”

“You don't even know her name!”

“Joo Ki Boksu.” Taeyeon replied instantly.

“That's the norebang's name!” The karaoke close to their dorm, just a few blocks away, was called Jukebox, and Tiffany had even gone there a few times with her friends.

“Whatever.” Taeyeon dismissed. “What if my feelings for her can be developed after the kiss? Shouldn't I even try it?”

Tiffany munched her inner cheeks. 

“I wanted to kiss her and I thought it wouldn’t hurt anyone doing that. So I decided to bid the bullet, you know? That’s when I pushed her against the wall. Did you see it? And she seemed to love it!” Tiffany felt her nails marking her flesh harder. “I was just inches away from kissing her! But you had to stop me!” She groaned, annoyed, her index finger touching Tiffany’s chest, disapprovingly. “Man, you killed my vibe! Not cool, Tippany. Not cool!” Taeyeon complained, her head falling over Tiffany’s shoulder. 

“Sorry. For killing your vibe.” 

Taeyeon grunted something unintelligible and Tiffany realized the girl was tipsy and sleepy. “You okay?” She asked the omega kin. 

“You smell…so good.” She heard