Tiffany rolled on her bed as she reached for her phone on the nightstand. It had been ringing for the past minutes while she was trying to get some sleep. She had stayed behind on campus the previous night practising for her upcoming musical. Although the school term had just started, her professors had begun organising musical practice for the students of the School of Drama.

She squinted her eyes at the bright screen coming from her phone. 

“Hello?” She answered groggily. 

“Tiff, let’s go on a date?” asked the person on the other line.

“It’s Saturday, Syoung ah~ I just wanna sleep in today,” Tiffany whined as she stretched her achy body. 

“Yahh, andwae! You bailed on us yesterday too. So you have to come today, please!”

Tiffany scoffed. “Hello~ I didn’t bail on you last night. I had practice, remember?”

“Still! Come on, Tiff!” 

Knowing Sooyoung, that woman was probably pouting on the other end of the line. After a short moment of thinking, Tiffany huffed before speaking.

“Fine! But I’m going home early tonight, alright?”

“Hais, arraso arraso!”

After a final look in the mirror, Tiffany grabbed her mini bag and went out of her room. Her house was empty since her dad and Minjoo went out to the park. She wanted to tag along but Mr. Hwang insisted that she sleep in since she got back home quite late the previous night.

Knowing that her friends would never be on time, she decided to walk to their meet-up point instead. While walking she thought of how lucky she was to be back in Korea. Being able to meet the friends she made during her exchange program after a long distance contact. Luck seems to be on her side too; her dad’s company asked him to relocate to Korea for the new company branch, and then she was invited to complete her final year in K-ARTS. What are the chances, huh? 

Her mind then spiralled to a certain someone. Tiffany sighed out loud as she waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. 

Taeyeon’s question had been ringing in her mind ever since they met at the school’s cafeteria. Despite the good words she received about Taeyeon from her friends, she can’t just tell the blonde-haired woman something so personal about her, especially when they’ve only met a few times. There was this bugging feeling in her that said Taeyeon was nothing like her friends in New York, was nothing like him. But each time that feeling came, the overwhelming fear of being ostracised by her friends soon followed.

Let’s not fall for the same trick, Tiff.

She crossed the road with a frown etched on her face; in dilemma.

“Alright, Daddy. Jeez, calm down, will you?” Tiffany chuckled huskily, holding her phone between her right ear and shoulder as she tried to open her locker with her musical file in her hand and a bag on the other. “I gotta go, okay? Let me know when you’ve reached.”

She was about to close her locker when a pair of hands covered her eyes. 

“Guess who?” A manly voice said while giggling. 

Tiffany knew who it was but decided to just play along with him. “Um, I don’t know. Is it Jay?”

The hands that were covering her eyes immediately disappeared the moment she said Jay’s name. 

“Babe~” Nichkhun whined. “You know I don’t like him. Come on!”

Tiffany turned around and giggled when she saw her boyfriend pouting. She shouldered her bag and cupped his face, pecking his lips briefly before pulling him for a hug. 

“Then you shouldn’t have pranked me like that.” Tiffany released their hugs to lock her locker securely. She felt arms snaking around her waist and smiled. 

“Fine, I’m sorry. Shall we have lunch after this? There’s this new restaurant I wanna check out.”

Still in his hold, Tiffany turned around and looked at him sympathetically. 

“I gotta fetch Minjoo from the care centre, remember?” 

“Thought your dad would fetch her?” Nichkhun grumbled. He groaned when he saw Tiffany shake her head. 

“Not today, he’s caught up with work. You can tag along, you know? Fetch Minjoo and have lunch afterwards.” Tiffany looked into his eyes, hoping he would agree to it. She wants her boyfriend to meet her sister and maybe bond together. Nichkhun had already met her dad so it was about time Minjoo met her boyfriend.

Nichkhun scratched his forehead. “Uh, I don’t know. What if she doesn’t like me?”

Tiffany slapped his chest lightly. “Nonsense! She’s a good girl. Why would she not like you when y’all haven’t met yet?”

“Fine. Let’s go fetch her.”

“She seems different,” Nichkhun said out loud when he returned to sit next to Tiffany. The couple were at a mini park accompanying Minjoo. The little girl wanted to play with the swing before going home.

“What do you mean?”

Nichkhun observed Minjoo as she swung herself on the swing. No matter how many times he tried to befriend the little girl, it felt as if there was this barrier. Strange. Little girls like Minjoo would usually like to see his face and ask to be carried. But Minjoo is different. 

“Am I handsome?” Nichkhun turned to his girlfriend. He frowned when he saw Tiffany looking at him as if he was an alien. 

“What are you talking about, love? Of course, you are. What’s wrong with you?” Tiffany laughed. 

“Your sister didn’t seem to like me. Kids usually like to be carried but she pushed me away when I tried to carry her.”

“That’s because she doesn’t like to be carried. So I guess that's why she’s reacting like that to you.” 

A tap on her shoulder interrupted her reminiscence of the past. She glanced up and gasped when she saw the young lady whom she had not met since the school term started. 

“Annyeong, unnie!” Seohyun gleefully jumped on her spot.

“Oh my God! When did you come back?!” Tiffany jumped on her feet and hugged the younger girl. Seohyun was another one of her roommates in K-ARTS during the exchange program. A very soft-spoken but friendly lady. Always poised and calm, and also always eating baked sweet potatoes in the dorm. 

“Yesterday!” Seohyun giggled. “You’re so early, unnie. Let’s head inside first.”

Tiffany nodded and grabbed her mini bag. “So how was Jeju?” 

Seohyun had a commercial filming in Jeju when Tiffany got back to Korea. Hence, Tiffany couldn’t see her when the school term started.

“It was fun, unnie! The scenery there was so picturesque, and the atmosphere was so peaceful at night.”

Seohyun linked her arm to Tiffany’s as she excitedly shared more about what she did on Jeju Island. The two were about to enter a cafe when they heard Sooyoung and Yoona calling out for them, more like squealing when they saw Seohyun and Tiffany. 

The sun had just set when the girls exited the lift to the basement carpark. Yoona groaned as she put the shopping bags in her car boot. 

“Did we shop too much today?” She asked while buckling her seatbelt with Seohyun’s riding shotgun, and Tiffany and Sooyoung in the backseat. 

“Mhm, you definitely did,” Sooyoung commented as she leaned back in her seat.

“B-but the dress was too pretty to let it go!” Yoona defended herself.

“Pftt, you’re just greedy, Yoong ah.” Sooyoung retorted. Yoona gasped as she turned the ignition. 

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