Tiffany was staring at the calendar on her desk. It was December 31st.

She remembered the conversation she had with Jessica.

 

 

[FLASHBACK]

 

Jessica and Tiffany were talking on the phone that night.

 

"By the way, I bumped into Taeyeon yesterday." Jessica told her. "I mean I literally bumped into her."

"And?" 

"I asked her why she's not coming."

"You...what??"

"Yes I did. And she was confused. Taeyeon told me that she didn't saw you that day."

There was silence.

"She's telling the truth, isn't she?" Sica asked.

"Yes." Fany sighed. "I didn't talked to her."

"Why?"

"..Did she ever mentioned if she's going or not?" Tiffany avoided the question.

There was a pause on the other line.

"She told me she's not coming." Jessica said finally. "I think she was upset when she knew that you lied."

Tiffany went silent again. 

"What are you going to do now?" Jessica asked.

 

[[END of FLASHBACK]]

 

 

That was the question now.

What will she do now? What will she do if Taeyeon didn't arrive?

What will she tell her mother?

 

"I'll be expecting her and her brother here on the 31st . . . I know I can count on you . . " Her mother's voice flashed back on her head.

 

Tiffany buried her face on her palm. "It's too late. I can't——"

 

"Oh Tiffany, there you are~" Mrs. Song entered her room. "Why aren't you prepared yet? Mr. Kim and his family will be here any minute."

"Mom.. I have to tell you something." Fany started.

Mrs. Song turned to her. "What is it, dear?"

 

Suddenly, the door bell rang.

 

"Ooh. That must be them." Mrs. Song looked at her wrist watch. "Let's go downstairs, Tiffany."

 

 

 

[ downstairs . . . ]

 

 

"Can you please open the door, Tiffany? I'll just call your father." Mrs. Song said as she headed to the lounge room.

 

Tiffany felt nervous. She reached for the door knob and clicked it open.

When she pulled the door open, she saw Mr. Kim standing there.

At his back were Heechul and Taeyeon.

Tiffany can't believe what she's seeing. Her eyes were glued on Taeyeon.

"You came.." Fany murmured.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Hwang." Mr. Kim bowed at her.

"——G-Good afternoon." Tiffany was stammering.

Heechul and Taeyeon bowed at her too.

"I'm glad you all came here, Mr. Kim!" Mrs. Song and her husband suddenly appeared behind Tiffany.

"Thanks for inviting us, Mr. and Mrs. Song." Mr. Kim replied.

"Come in." Mr. Song welcomed them with his warm smile.

 

They all entered the lounge room together.

 

Mrs. Song noticed that Tiffany wasn't talking to Taeyeon.

"Why don't you entertain your friend, Tiffany?" she asked her daughter.

"Ah——yes." Tiffany gulped then turned to Taeyeon. "Hey Taengoo~ How are you?"

There was a slight pause.

"I've been good." Taeng rides on with her acting.

"Let's go upstairs. I'd like to show you something."

"Where..." Taeyeon was bewildered.

Tiffany moved closer and leaned on her.

"Just ride on." Fany whispered. She took Taeng's arm and led her upstairs.

 

 

 .   .   .   .   .

 

 

They were in Tiffany's room. Fany closed the door gently and locked it.

Taeyeon was just standing there, confused.

When Tiffany turned around, Taeyeon was looking at her.

 

"Listen." Fany said. "Mom shouldn't know our situation."

Taeyeon just nodded.

"By the way..." Tiffany suddenly felt uneasy. She wanted to say 'Thank you for coming.' but her pride won't let her.

"Nevermind." Fany looked away from her and sat on her bed.

Taeyeon was still standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

She looked at Tiffany who was rummaging through her magazines.

"Umm, Tiffany..."

Fany looked at her.

"..May I?" Taeng pointed at the chair beside her.

"Just sit down." Fany replied impatiently.

Taeyeon reluctantly sat down.

Fany continued on rummaging through her magazine rack.

 

"I'm trapped." Taeyeon thought. "I shouldn't have come here. Now I have to spend the whole day——"

 

Tiffany tossed a magazine to her.

"We'll be staying here until evening. Read that so you won't get bored."

Taeng looked at the magazine and flipped through the pages.

"There's more here if you're done with that." Fany was pointing at the magazine rack.

Taeyeon nodded. "Thanks."

Fany turned around and put on her headphones.

 

Taeyeon wanted to go out of the room but she knew Fany will get mad.

"Mad? She's already mad at me." Taeyeon thought to herself.

 

After reading 3 magazines, Taengoo finally got bored. She put down the magazine and looked around the room.

The Totoro stuffed toy caught her eyes. It was sitting above the drawer, grinning at her.

"She still has it." Taeng smiled. She glanced at Tiffany who was playing with her tablet.

"I'm just near you but it feels like you're so far from me." Taeyeon thought as she looked at her.

Tiffany suddenly looked at her. Their eyes met.

Taeyeon felt her heartbeat going faster. She quickly looked away from Tiffany and picked up a magazine and acted like she's reading.

Fany removed her headphone.

"If you want more magazines, just get some over there." she pointed at the magazine rack.

"O-Okay." Taeng acted cool.

Fany turned her back on Taeyeon, put on her headphone again and went back to her game.

 

They didn't talk the whole afternoon.

While Tiffany was enjoying with her games, Taeyeon already fell asleep while reading magazines.

When Tiffany looked at the time, it was 5pm. They've been staying at her room for 3 hours.

She removed her headphones and turned around.

 

Taeyeon was already snoring.

 

Fany let out a slight smile. She was fascinated by it.

Tiffany stared at her for a moment then tapped her back.

"Yahh, wake up." Fany said. "Don't drool on my desk."

Taeyeon panicked and quickly rubbed her chin. "Was I drooling?!"

"Just kidding." Tiffany prevented herself from laughing. She opened the door. "Come on, let's go downstairs."

 

 

 

 .  .  .  .  .

 

 

 

When they went downstairs, Heechul, Mr. Kim and Mr. Song were having tea.

Mr. Song greeted them as they entered the lounge.

"You guys want some tea?" he asked.

Tiffany looked at Taeyeon then replied. "Sure."

They both sat down on the couch opposite to Mr. Song.

Heechul was smugging at Taeyeon.

He was obviously mocking her. Taeng gave him a 'knock-it-off' look and Heechul chuckled.

Tiffany saw them but pretended that she didn't notice.

 

A few moments later, Mrs. Song appeared holding a tray of tea and biscuits.

Taeyeon and Tiffany continued their acting.

 

 

 

 

*  *  *

 

 

 

 

It was 10:00 in the evening.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Song were playing chess while Mrs. Song was making rice cake soup.

Taeyeon went to the balcony with Tiffany. There were already some fireworks display.

They just stood there, looking into the dark sky. They weren't talking to each other.

Taeng finds it awkward so she started a conversation. 

 

"How's the practice for the play going?" Taeng asked. She almost forgot about their situation.

Before Taeyeon realized it, Fany already answered her question.

Tiffany looked at her for a moment, then looked at the sky again.

"Good."

That was all she said.

"A-Ah. I see..." Taeyeon nodded slowly. She didn't ask any more questions after that.

Taeng looked up into the sky again.

At the corner of her eye, she was watching Tiffany.

"I wonder what she's thinking now.." Taeyeon thought to herself.

 

 

. . .

 

 

Meanwhile, Heechul was wandering around the house. He was walking back and forth, looking at the picture frames and paintings hanging on the walls.

He stopped when he saw a slightly opened door. Curioused, he walked inside.

It happened to be Tiffany's room.

The walls of the room were coated with pink and white stripes and most of the furnitures were pink.

When he was about to go out of the room, Heechul saw the old Totoro toy at the pink drawer.

At first he ignored it but he stopped when he noticed the red stitches on its tail.

He took it and examined the stitches carefully. His brows furrowed. 

 

Heechul hesitated for a moment, remembering something.

 

 

 

[FLASHBACK]

 

"What happened??" Heechul asked his little sister.

Little Taengoo was sobbing. "The tail is broken."

Heechul took the Totoro toy and examined the tear on its tail. A few stitches was removed and the cotton was puffing out.

"The boy bwoke it." Taengoo explained while sobbing. "He said he wants to borrow Totolo but when I came back it was brooowkeen."

Heechul patted her head. "Don't worry. We will fix it."

 

Heechul searched for a needle and a thread on their father's stitching kit. 

Apparently, there was no gray thread, so, he used a red thread instead.

It took him 5 minutes to finish stitching Totoro's tail.

 

"It's done!" Heechul smiled proudly.

 

 

. . .

 

The next day, Heechul took Taengoo to a park.

"Taeyeon-ah, look!"

"MWOO~ Coffon candyyy!!"

"Yeahh! Stay here. I'll just buy some, ok?"

"Mm!"

He left Taeng for a while to buy some cotton candy for them.

 

When Heechul came back, his sister was missing.

"Taengoo?" Heechul looked around. 

"Taeyeon-ah, where are you??" he felt rising sense of panic.

Heechul kept on searching.

 

Suddenly, he felt someone pulling his sleeve.

 

He looked down. It was Taeyeon.

"Aishh. Where did you go?? I was worried about you!"

"Sorry~" Taengoo giggled.

Heechul noticed that she doesn't have her stuffed toy.

"Where is Totoro?" he asked.

Taeng pointed at something. "I gave it to that girl——ooh.. She's gone."

"Did she borrowed it from you?"

"Nahh. I gave it to her."

"But...isn't that your favorite toy?"

"Yeah it is. She was crying. She doesn't want coffon candy so I gave my toy."

Heechul just shrugged. "I see."

Taeng was looking at the cotton candies he was holding.

"Can I have my coffon candy now??"

 

 

[[END of FLASHBACK]]

 

 

 

Heechul can still remember how the stitches looked like. He can't be wrong.

"So they met again, huh? That's what they call, destiny." he smiled slowly as he thinks of it.

 

 

 

 

.  .  .  .  .

 

 

 

 

It was finally midnight.

They did the countdown at the patio outside the house.

 

           "Happy New Year!!"

 

They watched the fireworks roaring intensely into the sky.

The two families had dinner together with the other servants. They talked and laughed a lot throughout the dinner.

It was one of the most memorable New Year that Taeyeon had.

 

 After the dinner...

 

"Thanks for the wonderful dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Song." Mr. Kim bowed at them. "We're going——"

"Why don't you stay here for the night? You can leave tomorrow morning." Mrs. Song said.

"She's right," Mr. Song looked at his watch. "It's already 2 am."

Mr. Kim hesitated for a moment. "Alright. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

 

Heechul and Taeyeon looked at each other.

 

"We'll just stay at my room." Mr. Kim said.

"No, no. The guest room is vacant. Heechul can stay there." Mrs. Song said. "It's near the study room. You can go there and rest now."

"Thank you, Mrs. Song." Heechul bowed. "Let's go, Taengoo."

Taeyeon was about to follow her brother when Mrs. Song suggested something.

"The guest room only has a single bed. You can stay at Tiffany's room if you want, Taeyeon."

Taeng stopped. Before she can reply, Mrs. Song spoke again.

"I guess you're comfortable to each other since you were roommates." she added.

It was more of an insisting than a suggestion.

Taeyeon looked across Tiffany who was behind her mother. She didn't say anything.

 

Mrs. Song led them to their rooms.

 

 

 

 .  .  .  .

 

 

 

"Goodnight, girls." Mrs. Song closed the door and left.

While she was walking downstairs, she remembered something.

 

"I believe Taeyeon and Tiffany had a fight."

"Was it serious? Or was it just a sisterly quarrel??"

"I'm not sure, Mrs. Song. But I know you can help to reunite their friendship again."

"I'll see what I can do, Jessica. Are you sure you're not coming?"

"I'd like to but I'm sure my parents won't allow me because of the family reunion."

 

"They looked fine. I think what they had was just a sisterly fight." Mrs. Song chuckled. "Oh really, girls these days..."

 

 

*  *  *

 

 

 

Taeyeon and Tiffany were alone in the room.

 

"I'll sleep on the floor." Taeng told her.

"No. You'll sleep in the bed."

Taeyeon blinked. "You're going to sleep on the floor?"

"Of course not." Tiffany said. "Mom let you sleep here because I have a double bed."

Taeyeon thought about it then gulped. "You mean.."

Tiffany looked at her. "What?"

"N-Nothing."

Taeyeon reluctantly sat on the bed beside Tiffany. It was like déjà vu.

Tiffany checked her phone. Siwon has called her 8 times.

She immediately called him back.

 

"Sorry if I wasn't able to answer your calls. I left my phone upstairs.."

 

Taeyeon heard Tiffany talking on the phone.

She covered herself with the blanket and pretended she didn't care.

Taeng knew it was Siwon. She tried to cover her ears so she wouldn't hear them but it didn't work.

The conversation went on and on.

After a few minutes, Tiffany finally said goodbye to him.

 "Bye Siwon... Yeah.. I love you too."

 

Taeyeon felt her chest heavy with jealousy and bitterness.

 

 

 

 

 

  [ The next morning . . . ]

 

 

 

The next morning when Tiffany woke up, Taeyeon was gone. Taeng left early with her brother and her father.

 

Tiffany felt a slight pang of disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I made looooong one!

yay~

It's nice to see TaeNy moments again, right?^^

Mrs. Song's idea was good. haha! 

 

4-5 chapters left!!

To be continued.