Chapter 1:

“Yoboseyo?”

“Taengoo! My beloved-precious little Taengoo!”

“Err Kwon Yul, can I hang up? Got a plane to catch so I can be as far as possible from you.”

“Aaah waeee??? Hajimaa~~ Kajimaaa~~”

(Trans: Aaahh why? Don’t do that. Don’t go.)

“First thing first, please stop with the aegyo before I throw up. And second, do you really don’t know why I feel like running away at this very moment?”

“I have no idea, buddy. Please tell me.” Yuri answered almost immediately. But Taeyeon swore she can hear the stifled laugh in that way-too-calm voice of her best friend.

“It is because! The last time you called me with that terrifying nickname, in that exact singsong tone, I ended up babysitting your girlfriend’s little sister for 2 days straight because you and your ex-girlfriend who is now your wife, all thanks to me, decided to leave everything behind, quite literally, and had a super fun vacation in Jeju without her parents know!”

And Yuri lost it. She’s laughing so hard that Taeyeon had to pull away her phone from her ear to protect her eardrum.

“Buddy, I love you. And I’m forever indebted to you for the big sacrifice you did for me. Kwon Yuri will be nothing without Kim Taeyeon.”

“Stop giving me goosebumps. And save those sweet words to Sica, not me.”

“Hehe alright.”

“So, why did you call?”

“Just checking on my buddy. Can’t I?”

“We just met last Saturday. And today is just Tuesday. So really, cut to the chase and just tell me what you want this time.”

“Hehe, you know me best, buddy.”

“Of course. You’re too easy to ready anyway.”

“Hey!”

“C’mon, tell me what it is. We’re both busy people.”

“Right.. So Tae, you remember Minjeong right?”

“Ah, the new kid in the office that you said reminded you of me, my younger self to be exact. Though I haven’t met her personally since I’m staying in the branch office and she’s in HQ with you. But from the online meeting we once had, I gotta admit that we indeed shared some similarities. She could pass as my younger sister with how alike we look.” Taeyeon chuckled.

“Yes yes, her.”

“Okay, what’s up with her?”

“Her mom is sick. It seems quite serious. So she needs to take an emergency leave and go back to Busan to take care of her mother. She said she doesn’t know when she will come back because she can’t leave her mother until she gets better. And so she submitted her resignation letter to me today. Man, I like that kid. She’s a hard worker, smart, has a good manner, and always full of enthusiasm at work.”

“Aww, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah. But anyway, until I can find her replacement, I was wondering, if you could back her up?”

“Yul, I’m in our branch office. I can’t just leave this office and go to HQ with you. Who will take care of the staff here?”

“I know buddy, I know. I mean you don’t have to physically be here. I just need a bit of your time and your help to cover one of her parts. You can do it from anywhere.”

“Okay. And what is that?”

“You know Minjeong is the one who wrote the horoscope section for our magazine. And I remember that you used to like to read horoscope thingy since we were in high school. Maybe you can help to do the research and write for that section?”

“Ah, I see. No problem then. I can handle that.”

“Jinjja, Tae??”

“Yeah.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Taeng! I love yo—-“

And Taeyeon hung up the phone.

“Told her to stop saying that cringey stuff before I puke.” Taeyeon involuntarily shudders and continues to type rapidly on her keyboard.

And so that’s the start of Kim Taeyeon, the branch manager of Forever 1 magazine, to also become a horoscope writer for their magazine, to help the annoying CEO, Kwon Yuri, who unfortunately(?) also happened to be her long-time best friend.

They might argue and bicker a lot, like all the time. And especially Taeyeon, she always acted like she can’t stand Yuri, but at the end of the day, Taeyeon always knows that she will do anything for her annoying best friend. Anything. Because they always get each other’s back.

***

Turns out that finding Minjeong’s replacement was not that easy.

Maybe Yuri sets a too high standard for the candidates.

Or maybe Yuri is just low-key waiting for Minjeong to return.

Or maybe, this one is the most plausible one according to Taeyeon’s depth analysis, that Yuri is simply wants to torture Taeyeon by giving her more job to do without giving her a salary raise.

So Taeyeon has been writing for that horoscope section for a month now.

The magazine will be printed every two weeks. So Taeyeon had written 2 times already.

And today after a long day at work, Taeyeon decided to turn off her PC and clock out.

The clock shows 8.05 PM.

Luckily her apartment is not too far from her office. Just around 15 minutes walk.

Taeyeon decided to stop by a Chinese restaurant near her apartment to grab her dinner.

“Eoseo oseyo~” The restaurant’s owner politely greeted after Taeyeon walked in.

“Annyeonghaseyo.” Taeyeon greeted back with a small bow and smile.

Taeyeon chose one of the empty tables at the corner of the room and waited for her food.

“Kim Taeyeon?” A low-soft feminine voice called out.

Taeyeon lifted her head out of reflex and their eyes met.

“Omo! Tiffany Hwang?” Taeyeon gasped.

The woman in front of her smiled, so blindingly that it shows her white perfect teeth. And her eyes, they turned into crescents.

So pretty.

Unchangingly.

An older and more mature version of what Taeyeon could last remembers about the taller woman. But one thing Taeyeon can tell for sure is Tiffany aging like a fine wine.

The Tiffany Taeyeon met in high s