Tiffany stood awkwardly beside the rest of the girls. She squinted at the glare of the lights and tried to cover herself but the bodyguards beside her held her tightly from the back.

Oh god… She heard voices going off, “$1….”

One dollar? She scoffed. Hey, she should redeem herself! She was about to say that when the bodyguard nudged her hard, “That’s $1000 for your information. Every dollar represents a thousand.”

Tiffany gulped. She didn’t even have a thousand in her bank account to start with.

“$20…”

Thank God, Daniel! He was waving at her, giving her a ‘he got this’ look… she really did owe him a lot, a lot.

“Is that the highest….? We have $20,000. Going once…going twice…..”

The MC was about to let that go when someone said, “$100.”

Everybody in the crowd gasped. That was the highest they had heard so far – and this was a crowd who often came to such ‘events’... Therefore, their surprise meant a lot.

Everyone was trying to see who had bidded so high, but they couldn’t spot the guest.

Tiffany herself was trying to figure out who had bidded her, based on the voice, it was a girl, it sounded pretty familiar… In fact, it sounded very much like Taeyeon’s. But it couldn’t be – that’s wishful thinking…, she’s still in Paris, isn’t she? And why would she even pay a $100,000 for her when she hated her so much…

“That’s it, we have the highest bidder.” The MC said excitedly as he pushed Tiffany towards the bodyguards who were dragging her off to the backstage. And then, she saw… Sunny.

She recoginsed her as Taeyeon’s manager. Sunny looked disapprovingly at her and she couldn’t hide her revolt, “I don’t know what she sees in you…”

“Who?”

Sunny looked at her, giving her the ‘are you dense or are you dense’ look, “Taeyeon of course.”


---

Taeyeon had prepared everything. She looked at the bouquet of flowers (lilies, her favourite) in her sportscar, and the presents she had placed at the back of her car. All of them were expensive stuff: dresses, handbags, earrings, shoes.

She figured Tiffany would like all that. It screamed money.

Tiffany sighed, rubbing her arms to hide the cold. She couldn’t believe that Taeyeon had arranged all these.

She knew this sounded silly, but she actually felt happy being this close to Taeyeon’s presence….

When Taeyeon opened the door for her and placed her in the car, she couldn’t say a word. Just like that, she couldn’t open in front of Taeyeon.

Taeyeon was hers, hers and only hers!

Tiffany was about to open but Taeyeon shook her head somewhat coldly, “Nah-uh. I don’t want to hear a word.”

“Okay, fine. Can I ask where are we heading to at least?”

It felt so familiar, yet it was not familiar too – the things they were talking were all the same, it seems as though time had stood still – back to 3 years ago but the setting was so different, they were in a sports car, Taeyeon was a mega rich… She no longer had to be a penny pinchers… Everything she did including her money pinching ways, it was and always will be for Taeyeon….

Tiffany thought in silence as she sighed, looking out of the window as the car drove silently by.

She rather admired the ‘new’ Taeyeon who was silently driving towards their destination…

Even though this ‘new’ Taeyeon had also changed into someone who could hurt her so much…. Easily enough - like “now”.

“It’s a surprise,” Taeyeon said almost non-commitedly, but Tiffany just shrugged. Time had indeed changed certain things after all…

And then, they were here. It was a quiet restaurant along the cliff that overlooked the sea. It was a quiet night, the kind that would make people sigh softly while they walked and talked.

But it was not the case for Taeyeon and Tiffany. They were walking beside each other, but it almost felt as if their gap was becoming wider with each passing moment.

They’ve been so quiet for so long that Tiffany felt she had to break the silence, she looked at Taeyeon who was walking beside her. She looked so good in her razor dark outfit, the kind that combined edgy and chic altogether into one.

She was so contented being beside Taeyeon, she wished that time could stand still,

“…Taeyeon? I love you, always have and always will,” she said slowly and meaningfully, “I never meant to break up with you…It’s all in the letter that I asked Sooyoung to hand over to you…” Tiffany murmured softly.

So there, she had explained everything. Taeyeon would surely believe her. Why not?

She also wanted to ask Taeyeon why had she abandoned her… and if she really did love Sooyoung.

But she stopped when Taeyeon looked at her before breaking into an amused cold laughter, “You’re saying all these now? Really, Tiffany? Now? Sooyoung never handed me any letter….”

“But I did hand a letter to Sooyoung…” Tiffany whispered and sigh. Was this where it all went wrong..?

Before Tiffany could react any further, Taeyeon moved forward to hold her shoulders, and then she placed a hand to lift her chin to study her, “You’re really saying that you love me now?”

Tiffany nodded once. Firmly.

Then, Taeyeon shook her head and chuckled, “Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany. You’re a really good actress, aren’t you? You’re only saying all these now? When I’m rich? Really, now?”

Tiffany sighed softly and she closed her eyes. With her back turned, she lifted her head up a little to stop the tears from falling, she should feel angry…

She should. She could see how deluded Taeyeon had become. She could see Taeyeon wouldn’t believe a word she had said…But she couldn’t muster up any anger.

All she felt was a sense that she had to convince Taeyeon that what she was saying was indeed the truth.

“I’ll prove it to you,” Tiffany said finally with her eyes closed and her back to Taeyeon, “I’ll show you that money isn’t everything to me. And I’ll show you that my feelings for you have always remained constant…it never wavered one bit. ”

Taeyeon stared at Tiffany’s back for the longest time before finally opening to say.

“We’ll see.”

---

Someone once said, that there are always two sides to human nature… within us, there lies a dualistic nature. It seems as though Tiffany managed to bring out the worst in Taeyeon.

The more determined Tiffany was in proving her side of the story, the more Taeyeon rebelled against that….

She was unexplainably mean towards Tiffany.

Perhaps, there really is a fine line between love and hate.

And, Taeyeon showed that contempt in every opportunity she had….

From her open affections with Sooyoung, to her little snubs. While Tiffany used to mean the world to Taeyeon, Tiffany now meant absolutely nothing to her – absolutely nothing.