Tiffany

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Choi Sooyoung was the lost member of Tiffany’s crew.

The seven of them assembled at a bar popular for its lychee cocktails and understated music. There, around a collection of short tables pulled together, Sooyoung owned center stage, going into indelicate terms on how much alcohol she could consume. Which shocked the lot of them, taking her wisp-like build into consideration.

And such consideration absolutely thrived in the eyes of Hyoyeon and Sinbi, who’d parked themselves on either side of Yuri’s best friend. Aptly charmed. And drooling.

Yep. Women who gave Tiffany a hard damn time about her non-heteroual girlfriend lusted over the ruler-straight bestie. Smirking, Tiffany curled her fingers into Yuri’s under the table.

“You’re not ually flexible at all?” Hyoyeon asked, going right for the jugular. “The majority of our population’s a tad fluid, in my book.”

Sooyoung flipped a piece of her pink hair. Both coquettish and attractively campy. “Besides a couple celeb crushes…nah, sorry.”

Sinbi flagged their waiter by swaying her phone in the air like a concert lighter. Eyes on Sooyoung, offering, “Another drink?”

“Putting my tolerance to the test, I see. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” she purred.

“I’m half a decade older than you.”

“Yeah, leave the adult women to their devices,” Hyoyeon teased, hailing the same flustered waiter. “Another one of whatever this model—” She nodded to Sooyoung. “is having, thanks.”

Tiffany watched Sinbi fight off an immature pout. Yuri surprised them all, adding, “Soo, don’t pretend you’re above s.”

The women fake gasped, growing louder.

“They were moments of weakness,” Sooyoung wagged her finger, feigning insult. “But, to your credit, my Prince Charming will probably be in his forties.”

Adamantly queer, Sinbi deepened her own cleavage with a tug. Giving a peep show Tiffany hadn’t signed up for. “I’ve slept with experienced older women.”

Yoona cackled. That line obviously pertained to her. “Oh, go to hell.”

Hyoyeon drew a stirring straw along her bottom lip seductively. “Soo needs her mental and ual equal.”

Sinbi sneered. “I’m an adult, last time I checked.”

“Your mom drops you off at work.”

“My car’s getting detailed, damnit!”

“You’re probably grounded.”

“Ladies,” Seohyun waved her hand of reason through the commotion. “Sooyoung’s heartbroken. Let’s try on some sensitivity or else she’ll think the lesbian predator stereotype is true.”

Tiffany really liked Seohyun. She winked at Yoona, who appeared just as proud. “Well said.”

“Yul doesn’t talk about me enough, then,” Sooyoung placed placating hands on Hyoyeon and Sinbi’s shoulders. “Attention feeds me.”

“It does,” Yuri confirmed in a saucy grin. “It’s her favorite food group.”

Nobody could’ve prepared Tiffany for her and Sooyoung’s first meeting outside the bar. Where both their eyes stretched in recognition. In tandem, they exclaimed, “You’re that nosy sales associate!” and “You’re that sketchy fake idol!”. She’d surely seen pictures of Tiffany beforehand, but the in-person encounter jogged her memory.

Sooyoung performed her one-woman act, their party engrossed as the waiter refreshed their drinks. “I’ve been analyzing social mores. Who the hell dictated the one-partner rule and why did we listen to them?”

“Him,” Yoona tersely corrected.

“Bingo. Him. Why is monogamy so widespread, you know? We should be bucking against that.”

“Here, here!” Hyoyeon cheered, clinking her glass to Sooyoung’s.

As their crew erupted into debate, Yuri bent to Tiffany’s ear. Breath tickling as she whispered, “I don’t want anyone but you.”

“Good, because I’m stingy.” Tiffany leaned her chin onto her wrist, gaze purposefully smoldering. “I don’t think you could physically handle more than me.”

“Should I, um, spend the night at yours?”

She shivered at the intention, though knowledge of tomorrow’s duties doused that flame. “Sorry, my sweet, but I’ll have a tragically responsible number of errands to run. You’re the opposite of a sleeping pill.”

“We could just cuddle.” Yuri’s grin couldn’t convince the most gullible lesbian.

“Tomorrow’s Friday. What I’d do for an entire weekend to ourselves.”

“I could pull some strings.”

“Really?”

“If...if you’d like.”

“Can you imagine? Undisturbed hours with me. Under me. On top of me.” Tiffany relented no shame in kissing a receptive Yuri deeply, murmuring, “In me.”

“Yul, what the hell?!” Sooyoung begged, pulsing an invisible heart within her hand. “Han and I swore you were raised in a cult since you responded so timidly to PDA and now you have a hot girlfriend and hot gay friends and you’re like, hot.”

Hyoyeon and Sinbi’s laughter was over the top, trying to out-obnoxious each other. Sinbi dipped her head, raking in Sooyoung’s undivided sight. “We’ll be your hot gay friends, too.”

“My dream to be a token straight is fulfilled!”

“After you heal more, you should club with us,” Hyoyeon glanced to everyone, nodding her blonde head as if she’d proposed the world’s greatest way to get into Sooyoung’s pants. “Then, I’ll test your heteroflexibility.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Sooyoung betrayed a smidge of pain. Clearly not towards Hyoyeon, but to the inevitable healing. “Anyways, I should find a new job before clubbing even graces my schedule.”

“Where are you working again?”

“At Craftie’s, with Yuri,” Seohyun supplied. One of the only people who actually listened. “Have you given your notice?”

Sooyoung mimed a noose at her neck. “I’m contracted for one more week. Then, back on the job hunt.”

Hyoyeon spoke with a cherry stem hanging from her teeth like a toothpick. “Well, that’s dumb. Work for us.”

Tiffany blinked as rapidly as a meme. Um…

“That’s a great idea!” Sinbi’s fingers flirted with a loop of Sooyoung’s hair. “My old position is open. Full time. Benefits.”

Yoona avoided Seohyun’s glare as she stated, “Don’t sleep with Sinbi if you’re gonna be her coworker. It’s a nightmare.”

“Hit on her or hire her. You can only do one,” Tiffany warned. She shot a look worth a thousand questions to Yuri. All asking, help?

Yuri’s eyes twinkled in a smile. So genuine, so open. “Soo’s great on the job. If constantly losing her name tag is a deal breaker, seek elsewhere.”

Sinbi yanked her head far enough of out Sooyoung’s orbit to scoff. “Name tags are ing tacky. We don’t wear those at THY. Duh.”

Sooyoung, on the immediate defensive, smacked Sinbi’s hand from her hair before Tiffany could intervene. “That’s how you talk to your boss’s girlfriend!? You have some nerve.”

“What’d I do?”

“Everyone spoils Sinbi,” Tiffany casted a nod to the youngest, who appeared more than wounded. “She doesn’t even sense her own attitude anymore. You’d make a wonderful addition.”

“Well, my attitude is older and half a decade louder.” Sooyoung reached for Yuri’s free hand, giving it a solid squeeze and Tiffany beamed. Yuri deserved love from every angle.

Again, Tiffany met Yoona’s eyes. Mutually, they agreed that Sooyoung would be just the boost THY needed.

“No take-backs,” their soon-to-be employee snapped. Tone playful, and more than relieved.

“Making my friend’s day? You’re the best.” Yuri pecked Tiffany’s cheek. “Tomorrow, pick me up outside Taek’s.”

Tiffany eyed her warily. “Why?”

“I oughta do a quick measure of my furniture. For when I eventually move and all. Is that okay?”

She loathed the bite of her own insecurity. “Yeah…yes. Sorry, I’ll reiterate this stingy streak I have for you.”

They hadn’t noticed Sooyoung keyed into their conversation. “Tiffany, girl, you can rest your unfairly stylish head ‘cause Yul practically prays to your selfies before she sleeps.” She stole some time, swirling her cocktail. “Like, you’re her focal point of the universe. And Taek’s a fading blip. All she’ll do is gush about you the second we head to my parents’.”

Looks like the loose lips of alcohol kicked in. Speaking of kick, Yuri probably knocked Sooyoung in the shin, judging by the latter woman’s abrupt swearing. Everyone else at the table quietly sipped from their glasses. They knew Tiffany was a sure thing. And now that Sooyoung confirmed Yuri’s requited feelings...

“Polyamory, then,” Seohyun announced, journalist-level committed. What a godsend. “It’s not very mainstream. How does one approach that?”

Hyoyeon hopped on that train. “With whom would you approach it?”

“Unlike Yul, I was born with trash taste.” Sooyoung fixed a kind smile on Tiffany, causing her heart to skip. “Douchey guys sorta do it for me. Edgy sheared hairstyle, playboy swagger, deep, manly voice, chest hair…”

Yoona raised her lychee cocktail to the sky. “And thus, expands the mighty chasm between lesbians and the lady straights.”

Everyone toasted to that.

…

“Buttercup, you made it.”

Tiffany awarded her father a tight smile as she crossed the threshold into his bachelor pad. Which, ultimately, she found depressing being that she’d lived in this bachelor pad as a young teenager. Were she to visit her old bedroom, she wouldn’t find her childhood fixtures frozen in time. No, she’d moved everything out years ago. The room now housed barbells, a treadmill, and anything else that contributed to the muscled arms pulling her into an uncoordinated hug. Weird to picture how puny he used to be.

She’d loved him puny.

“It’s been sweltering since 10am,” he said, offering a bottle of water .

Taking one out of politeness, Tiffany waited in the foyer until he indicated for her to take a seat—any seat. She stiffly fell onto an impossibly uncomfortable recliner. What purpose did an uncomfortable recliner provide?

Right. Eye candy for his women.

Dad rubbed at his hair—a mix of salt and pepper that’d done his appearances well. He screwed open his water, gulping hard. “You still look sixteen to me. Funny, how time slips by.”

Tiffany tapped painted fingernails to her bottle. How could a house so familiar seem so foreign? Not a trace of their past besides a couple of grade school Tiffany photos (she’d checked) and a framed image of her mother. “New window shades?”

“They block out the sun perfectly. Your father really knows how to spruce up a place, huh?”

Sharp edges, exposed brick, greys, stainless steel. “It’s nice. A little masculine for my tastes.”

“Mm, you sound like Chun-ja,” he muttered, assessing the room. “She swears a lady’s touch would even it out.”

“Many ladies have touched this place, I’m sure.”

Dad threw her a ‘watch your mouth’ glare. Resembling a father who actually disciplined. “Feminine and masculine are to be matched. They balance. How nature intended.”

Now, Tiffany glared. She wasn’t a stranger to homophobia. Especially from this guy. “I could leave, you know.”

“You never stay long. Let’s talk.”

“About?”

“Anything.”

She took in the Fitbit on his wrist, his black training pants. “Is the gym still your second home?”

“Is the boutique yours?”

“Undoubtedly. It pays my bills.” Tiffany met his stare. “A few of yours, too.”

“How’s that, uh, friend of yours? Opinionated little Yoona?”

“Yoong hasn’t been ‘little’ in years, Dad. She’s taller than either of us.”

He dismissed her sass with a shrug. “She married yet?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”

“That’s a pity. I have sons of coworkers who’d tap-dance over coals for anyone remotely as pretty as her. You, too, but we’ve exhausted that old chestnut.”

“Ad nauseam,” she gritted out. God, how her father irritated her. “I’m happy.”

“You don’t look happy right now.”

“What do you expect? You’ve never tried to understand my point of view.”

“Do I succumb to the desirable assets of the female ? Yes, there I can relate. As I’ve observed—taboo is celebrated nowadays. It’s fun, it’s dangerous. Eventually, you’ll tire of those games.”

“Does that apply to you, too, Dad?”

“Ah, settling down and being a man.” He chuckled, ticking a checkmark with his pointer finger. “I’ve run that course of my life already.”

Not really. Her father must’ve omitted all the childrearing he’d miss