In which Tiffany is the personification of fire and her anger could mean the end; a burning, fiery end.

The first time Tiffany had hurt someone as a new person was for Taeyeon’s sake.

It happened after they had finished dancing and had gone to the backstage. Taeyeon immediately collapsed.

Literally collapsed.

The moment she was out of the audience’s view, her knees immediately folded and she came crashing down the small flight of stairs. If it wasn’t for Tiffany waiting at the bottom, she would have gotten a nasty concussion.

Fortunately, she was light and Tiffany had seen her wobble, so the latter caught her with ease and had easily kept the two of them upright.

Unfortunately — well more for others really — Tiffany’s temper began to simmer.

‘Something’s wrong.’

The moment their skin came in contact, the sound of sizzling echoed in the now silent backstage — no one dared come near, not even their manager — before their touching bodies began to emit steam, their skin glowing pink; Taeyeon’s icy coating was due to fatigue, leading to a momentary loss of control, while Tiffany’s flames flared up due to anxiety and her budding temper.

Tiffany quickly rushed to their waiting room so that Taeyeon could lie down where no one else followed them. The other members understood though; Tiffany is running on instincts now.

Tiffany trusts all of her members of course, but she doesn’t know them that well enough despite the fact they have trained side-by-side for years. As of now, she trusts Sullie more with Taeyeon than any of her members since they had been living together.

So everyone waited for half an hour for any news while Tiffany tended to Taeyeon. To their surprise, a doctor was called for but he left as quickly he had come.

According to their manager, who was talked to by the doctor, Tiffany had simply asked for professional opinion along with any needed medication. That and what was wrong with Taeyeon.

Apparently, it was fatigue. Taeyeon had been losing sleep and was stressed more than usual. She doesn’t seem to be eating enough to meet the demands of her body. Nothing was physically wrong with her though, so the doctor guessed it was a mental problem.

Their manager began to noticeably sweat then. The reason why came in the form of a pissed, almost combusting Tiffany Hwang.

When Tiffany came back to the backstage, flames were literally at her heels. She had come to their manager so fast that she left blazing trails behind her.

“Is it true? You were ually harassing her?” she asked while obviously trying to reign her anger. She was failing though because the black ends of her chin-length hair had caught fire while muffled crackles could be heard from her tightly clenched fists where sparks would, no doubt, fly off the moment she opens her palm.

But what caused their manager into silence was the other war happening in the girl’s eyes. Red began to bleed towards the brown color of her sclera, planning to overtake, but a wall seemed to erect right at the middle. Now, red and brown mixed like a non-homogenous mixture where bits and pieces could not coexist harmonically; each one sticking out like a sore thumb.

“…”

At his silence, the molten magma inside her chest finally rose to the surface like a time bomb.

“Answer me!” Tiffany bellowed in a voice so gruff and rough it didn’t match her supposed sweet image. She usually is though, a sweet, kind girl with a big heart, but when Taeyeon is involved, things take quite a drastic turn.

“…”

When he continued to remain mute, Tiffany shoved him by the shoulder, unable to control the sudden pulses of violence in her head, where sparks immediately flew off at the moment of contact before the cloth caught on fire just as quickly.

However, he didn’t have time to fret over the fire because her sudden rough shove was powerful enough to send him almost flying to the wall behind him. A loud, slightly muffled, thud! was clearly heard at the impact. It was strong enough to immobilize him with enough pain to keep him sore and bruised but not enough to break his spine.

But, he could sense another sensation other than the throbbing that seemed to come from every part of his body. That sensation was a steadily increasing warmth that continued to sting at his skin, slowly numbing his senses. The warmth gradually rose in temperature, like his skin was being heated, as if he was getting hot—

“…!”

That’s when he noticed the fire on his shoulder, the flame crackling in greeting, that was as large as his palm and had begun to eat away at his shoulder and a small portion of his upper arm. He began to roll on the ground to put it out.

The flame stayed there though. It never grew in size and it never marched anywhere, but it held the same intensity that gradually stabbed at his nerves.

“AhhhuhhhAckAhhhAkhhhhhhhhhh!” He wailed, a mixture of desperation, panic, and pain clouding his rationality.

Tiffany has had enough of his noise, however. She snarled to get his attention, her fangs flashing behind the curled upper lip, before stalking towards him, “I asked you a question, you bastard, so you better humor me. And it better be good.”

His only answer was an unintelligible noise, having choked on his own wailing, as he tried to crawl away from her, though the wall immediately stopped his advances; the fear making him completely forget about the pain radiating from his left shoulder to his left upper arm.

This only further infuriated Tiffany where waves upon waves of heat began to radiate off of her body. Every mounting irritation caused her to lose more of her control. Looking at her now, it was the same as being in a desert and looking at a far distance.

“You dared lay your hands on my mate,” Tiffany started, her eyes now a devilish red and her hair fully burning — every strand was enveloped by orange flames that simmered and crackled but it still molded to the length and shape of her normal hair — as she took another step towards him. All he did was whimper in fear, continuing to claw at the floor as he stared at her, “And yet you had the audacity to be afraid? How dare you?”

Tiffany, sensing something deep within her snap, stomped her right foot the ground.

“Hiie!” It was all he could utter. At the next second, he was screaming again, but it was all noise. Nothing tangible could be discerned.

The smell of urine rose in the air the same time the fires of hell erected walls around the two of them. That’s why, even if he did manage to say something, it would still have been swallowed by the roaring black flames.

The people neared them also cried out in pain and surprise because the intensity alone was enough to burn their skins.

At the same time, Tiffany raised her voice as well.

“Listen to me, you disgusting garbage, and you better listen well! Kim Taeyeon is mine, you hear me? Mine! She’s mine in every sense of the word! She’s in my protection. The only reason this got past me is that you’re my manager. But you’re not the first one to try and hurt her. Oh, there had been so many, and not all of them were humans, enough for a whole new species but do you know where they all are?”

Tiffany then laughed out loud, and if a sound could be felt, it would feel like jagged knives that are slowly, bit by bit, being inserted into soft flesh, the handle twisted just as slowly before the knives are pulled out so abruptly it tore a hole.

He screamed in pain but all that came out was a hoarse cry. There was no blood on him, of course, because Tiffany had simply kneeled in front of him. There were no knives either. There’s just flames and Tiffany.

The same Tiffany whispering to his right ear, “They’re gone. All of them. Do you know why? That’s because I killed them all, enough for me to be called a mass murderer. Unfortunately for you, dead men tell no tales. They could have warned you. Pity.”

She stood up, then her red eyes glowed once. In response, the wall of fire surrounding the two of them began to move closer.

Tiffany intends for him to be eaten alive and swallowed whole. After all, he had let himself be greedy, so she just wants to return the favor; show him how greedy she could be.

He couldn’t discern where his pain started and where it ended. All he knows is that it’s hot, his pants are wet, and his left shoulder to his upper arm is still being eaten away by a separate flame.

Only he could feel the melting heat and the pain that repeatedly seared into his nerves. Hot was actually an understatement. These flames came from the fiery depths of hell and that the one standing in front of him, he was sure, is the Devil herself. Satanette.

As he stared at her, he saw the ends of her hair beginning to rise higher and higher as the space around them grew smaller and smaller, and he also noticed that she was smiling too, but it wasn’t her usually sweet, pretty idol smile.

No.

Tiffany was smiling out of sadistic, predatory glee. She was harming the one that harmed Taeyeon and she had proven that she was stronger, mightier than he could ever be. It made her inner creature purr in delight — after all these centuries, Taeyeon and she still don’t know what that other part is.

Soon, he’d be gone. At least, she began to think to herself, he’d make a good example to others.

‘He’s not as useless as I thought he was.’

And he was about to be swallowed whole by the flames until not even his ashes would remain if it wasn’t for the voice that every single one working in the company knows of.

Kwon BoA.

“Miyoung.”

All at once, everything stilled; everyone’s breathing, the walls of fire, his whimpering, and even Tiffany.

She tried to defy the authority in that voice, to keep her will steeled, by latching into her fury but the two of them knew it was useless.

“Miyoung.”

She will always be mommy’s girl. Tiffany knew that. BoA knew that even better.

Immediately, Tiffany’s shoulders sagged, followed by the rest of her body losing tension. The burning sunset that had swallowed her hair was slowly doused like a sun being swallowed by the sea. The red in her eyes receded as well until all that was left are her baby browns.

The walls of fire, along with the flame on his left shoulder and upper arm were the next ones to disappear in a small poof, leaving a light gust to blow as they left.

If it wasn’t for the black scorched marks left on the floor and nearby walls along with the burned skin and tattered clothing of their now former manager, one could say that nothing out of the norm had ever happened.

“Tiffany, come here,” BoA said in a motherly tone, something only Tiffany is familiar with. Tiffany whined then as she turned around, purposely trudging towards her mother.

“Umma,” she whined again when she was now standing in front of her, displeased at being non-verbally told to stop.

BoA replied first with pats on her head, silently praising Tiffany for listening, before beginning to card her fingers through the short, tousled strands of the girl’s now black hair. It was the best way to calm Tiffany down if you aren’t Taeyeon, that is.

“What did I say about murdering humans?” BoA started, carefully placing her hands on Tiffany’s shoulders, making sure that her thumbs don’t touch the junction where Tiffany’s neck and shoulder meet. It might have been covered with make-up but BoA knows that underneath is bite marks on each side, given by Taeyeon as proof of claim.

“No more,” Tiffany whispered as she looked down. Justified anger still brew in her heart though, which is why she was looking down because she doesn’t like lying, either to BoA or to Taeyeon, and she doesn’t want her mother to know that, this time, she doesn’t agree.

BoA already knew though. A mother will always be a mother after all, even if the bonds that she shares with both Taeyeon and Tiffany were abnormal at best, and that the definition of mother dictated by said bonds does not contain the same definition as a human mother.

Tiffany felt a finger lifting her chin. At first, she was going to refuse but the thought of upsetting the woman left a bad taste in , like fire burned wrong, so she instead chose to relent until she was staring at a pair of jewel-like purple eyes.

Immediately, the fire that’s eating at her nerves were doused. Tiffany couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Gone was the incessant need to erase her manager’s existence even if he was just only a few feet behind her, probably still whimpering in pain. Disappearing with it was her self-hate; of doing better in being Taeyeon’s mate, of being there by her side to prevent all of this from happening.

“Better?” BoA asked, her own eyes returning to their original browns. She already knew the answer to her own question of course since she fully knows what kind of effect she has on the two.

This calming effect she induces is the main reason why wherever Taeyeon and Tiffany are, BoA’s always with them; to prevent catastrophic incidents that could decimate their nation, if not the whole world.

Tiffany nodded at first, still reveling at the peace that had wrapped itself around her mind and her instincts, before coming back to the present, “Thank you, umma.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie,” BoA smiled as she then took Tiffany’s hand into her grasp. She then gave a gentle tug before beginning to walk towards what Tiffany recognized as their waiting room.

BoA then looked behind her and signaled for the other members of the group that it’s alright now and that they could come to check up on Taeyeon. She knows that those girls were worried as well, just not on Tiffany’s level for obvious reasons.

Two men in black uniform passed by them, stopping only to salute at BoA, but Tiffany’s attention returned to her mother when she spoke again, “Just always remember that no one will ever be worth it to dirty your hands for. Both of you. Never again. Alright?”

“Never again,” Tiffany repeated in assurance, a small smile tugging on her lips.

‘How long has it been, though?’

Tiffany didn’t bother to count the moment she looked back and saw that their former manager is being cuffed and dragged away by the same two men in black uniform with a different doctor following them. All she really knows is that they’re not from the police force. Actually, the only one who knows anything about them is her mother, BoA.

“Now, let’s go and check on Taeyeon. I want to congratulate her on her performance. You were great out there too by the way,” BoA praised to redirect Tiffany’s attention, knowing that the girl’s curiosity never ends and would likely to ask again.

Actually, it wasn’t really a special secret, BoA muses to herself. She’s the head of a special, very special, division. What they specialize in is a company secret of course.

Anyway, she just likes messing with Tiffany’s head because the girl’s whining is adorable. That, and the fact that a childish Tiffany is a far cry from the devil Tiffany could be.

As proof, the moment BoA opened the door of the waiting room where they found Taeyeon was already awake with the beginning of a whine echoing in the silent room, Tiffany quickly let go of her mother’s hand before bounding over to Taeyeon like a happy puppy sans the tail and paws.

Full of glee and relief now that Taeyeon has a healthy color to her cheeks again, Tiffany eagerly joined her mate at the couch before letting Taeyeon drape herself on top of her like a wet blanket.

Taeyeon then let out another, less pronounced whine when she nuzzled her face to the junction of Tiffany’s neck, probably unhappy that her mate wasn’t there when she woke up.

Tiffany simply chuckled before pressing a kiss to the side of Taeyeon’s head, riding the bliss only her mate could provide. Sure, her mother could calm her but having Taeyeon pressed up against her, the smell of cinnamon, peaches and forest trees emanating from the smaller girl’s neck, was a feeling like no other. It felt like coming home.

BoA could only smile at the two as she stood in the doorway, not wanting to intrude seeing that the two were enjoying the other’s presence, though she knows they were going to be disturbed either way by seven other girls that were just as raucous.

‘Well, they need a new manager now. Maybe, I should handle the managers this time. The company is obviously not doing a good job if bastards could get in. Hmmm…that’ll be my new agenda then. Still, he’s quite lucky to still be alive. Taeyeon could have easily killed him. A ual harasser isn’t enough of a reason for her to be distressed though since she could easily take care of them. She was probably stressed and worried for her members. She’s going to be a great leader.’

Coincidentally, it was the last time any member of the company had reported ual harassment.