"You like me."

Tiffany couldn't help but chuckle as she noticed how Taeyeon's eyes widened in surprise when she pointed out the obvious. It was as if her straightforwardness had caught the fire captain off guard.

Well, what else could the Captain mean by all she said during their talk?

As Taeyeon took another sip of her wine and seemed momentarily flustered, Tiffany's lips curved into a playful grin. She liked seeing Taeyeon like this, slightly disarmed and losing a bit of her cool. It made the usually composed fire captain seem more human, more real.

Taeyeon's response was still pending, hanging in the air like an unsolved riddle and Tiffany waited patiently as the captain tried to compose herself. 

Finally, Taeyeon set her wine glass down on the coffee table, her eyes locking onto Tiffany's.

There was a brief, almost imperceptible moment of hesitation, as if Taeyeon were teetering on the edge of a precipice, deciding whether to leap or step back.

Tiffany, of course, wanted her to take that leap.

She didn't expect all the things the fire captain told her. About being scared of someone worrying about her well-being as a fire firefighter. The thought didn't even occur to her until Taeyeon said it. And sure, she couldn't possibly say that she wouldn't ever worry about the firefighter, but she sure as hell wouldn't stop getting to know Taeyeon just because she's scared of eventually losing her.

Then, as she was busy on her own thought, Taeyeon spoke, her voice softer, and nowhere near playful. "Yes, Tiffany. I like you."

Tiffany felt her heart skip a beat at those words, a wave of warmth washing over her. It was a simple admission, but it held so much meaning, so much value to her.

"I know we don't know each other very much yet, and we, uh, got off on a wrong foot. But I would really like to get to know you more, if you would let me." Taeyeon continued.

The smile on Tiffany's face widened as she took in the sight of the fire captain in front of her. Taeyeon's face was getting redder and redder, and she was sure it was more than just because of the wine that she almost drank half of a bottle of.

"I would very much like that." she replied her eyes locked with Taeyeon's, the tension in the air now getting a little more intimate.

"Huh?" Taeyeon replied, momentarily lost.

Tiffany chuckled softly. "I'm saying, I like you too Captain."

They sat there, in Taeyeon's apartment, staring at each other's eyes, sharing a moment that seemed to transcend words. Something that Tiffany was sure, she has never felt before.

It was a turning point for her, one that had the potential to change everything.

Tiffany didn't plan on meeting anyone in Seoul, she didn't even plan to stay long in Seoul. Nor in South Korea, for that matter. She has a medical license in LA, and the plan is for her to do medicine there and eventually start her own practice. 

The sole reason she was in Korea is because of her parents. They were a family of doctors. Her mom is an OB-GYN like her and her dad is a general surgeon who practiced medicine in LA, where she was born and raised. 

However, as her parents were getting old, both her mom and dad went back to their home country, South Korea, and started a clinic in Seoul. 

Now, about five years since her parents started their own practice, they called on their only daughter to go back to South Korea. Tiffany has no plan at all to go, as she didn't even want to do medicine in the country. However, her parents insisted that she at least take the Korean Medical Licensing Exam for her to be able to practice medicine in the country. She really wanted to say no, but her parents knew so well how to get to her.

She remembered her mom saying "Are you scared you're not gonna pass the exam?"

And Tiffany is not one at all to back down from any challenge. So after about a year of studying for the test, she flew to South Korea to take the darn exam. 

She did pass. Of course. And was about to go back to LA since she has already proven her mother wrong but a week before her return to LA, she saw a paper magically (or put there by her mom) appeared on her desk. 

It was a data of expecting mothers' mortality rate in Seoul Central Hospital. They have lost mothers a lot more than she thought acceptable and Tiffany was intrigued. In her years of practice in LA, she have never lost a patient, a mom. So to see the data, she immediately knew she has to do something about it.

So, there she was, now an attending doctor of Seoul Central Hospital, doing a research on how to lower the mortality rate of mothers in the hospital.

She was going to go back to LA after her study. That was the plan.

Until Captain Kim Taeyeon, at least.

Now, staying in South Korea doesn't sound so bad at all.