3 months later

“It’s this song! Oh my god, I love this song ‘Tiffany’! It’s been number 1 for 3 months, ever since it was released…” one of the customers exclaimed when a song came on.

The other girl nodded her head, “It’s so sad and beautiful, this song. But no one knows who’s the singer….”

“Strange, isn’t it? The singer refuses to show her face. She has never done any public appearances… Perhaps, she’s not pretty?”

“With a voice like that, she must look really pretty silly!” The other girl exclaimed, “Ah, I’m in love… I wonder who this Tiffany is…It must be perfect being this Tiffany. The song talks about a missing lover called Tiffany whom the singer would do anything for and that’s she’s been waiting for her return all this while….”

It was a small café facing the sea, in a small sleepy town.

A lady with short hair that was cut neatly and uninterestingly cleaned the table, they called her ‘fany’. She turned the radio off.

“Fany, must you?” her workers pleaded with her, and she was firm about it.

“We know you hate this song, but it’s so nice! And the customers all really want to hear it!”

She gave them a look and they backed down, “Alright, alright… we wouldn’t play it. Nevermind, that it’s been the number one hit for 3 months now.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I hate it,” Fany said as she cleared the tables.

She was the owner of this small café thanks to the lucky draw she had won 3 months back. She was a multi millionaire now. She really must thank Dan.

Speak of the devil, “Dan!”

“Tiff……” Dan paused when he saw how Tiffany’s faced had changed, and he quickly called her “Fany” Instead.

“It feels as if I haven’t seen you in forever. How are you!” Dan asked and gave Fany a hug.

She patted his shoulders, “Couldn’t be better.”

“Ah, I see, I see…

“Fany, do you still hate ‘her’?” Dan asked carefully. Tiffany knew who the ‘her’ he was referring to. She thought about it for awhile and sighed, “To be honest, I can never hate her. I don’t hate her for what she’s done to me. I just feel disappointed…. That she couldn’t love me the way I wanted her to, that she couldn’t stand up for me when I needed her to believe in me. And that is where she have failed me, in that sense….But, like what I said, I don’t hold it against her.”

Tiffany sighed, “I know what I’m asking for, is probably too much, and inhuman, since no one could possibly love like that. But once, just once, I wished she could be the impossible…”

Dan nodded his head understandingly, who didn’t want a lover like that? A lover who could trust and love one unconditionally -

He went out of the café and into a sports car that was hiding behind. He smiled thinly, “I think you heard what you needed to, haven’t you? That’s all I’m helping you…the rest is really up to you.”

---

Too smooth… it was too smooth. Everything in her life was going too smoothly. Every little blip that came out mysteriously disappeared.

Little things such as…having her lost wallet returned to her, having priority reservations when it came to eating in crowded restaurants, having her dinner and lunches mysteriously paid for by ‘another customer’ that she never ever got to see…

Even her older housekeeper who usually gave her a black face appeared friendlier when she sees her in the morning.

Tiffany sighed and looked out of her house. It was cold as she stared out into the empty streets from the fulllength windows. There was a orange glow to the streets from the streetlights and a slight drizzle was beginning to fall.

Her gaze sharpened when she saw a figure standing quietly standing behind a tree but it disappeared swiftly into the shadows.

She thought she saw a head of blonde hair….

Tiffany frowned, and then sighed out loud. She decided to do an experiment.

---

“Is this the end for me?” Tiffany asked slowly as she looked at the doctor who looked as troubled as her heart felt.

The doctor nodded his head, “I’m sorry, Miss Hwang, but it appears that you’ve damaged your vocal cords from over-exertion, and you’ll lose your voice completely. The best scenario, you could keep it for 3 months, the worst, it’ll completely disappear in 1 month. Unless…” The doctor paused.

“Unless?” Tiffany raised her brow, her hopes went up a little and the doctor sighed, “Unless we have a transplant, but that’s usually almost zero chance since the person would end up losing his/her voice completely.”

Right, zero percent…. Tiffany nodded. Who would want to lose his/her voice completely for another?

Who would be that great?

Tiffany nodded her head, “Thanks Doctor.” She got up and left. Her heart felt exceptionally heavy.

---

“It’s on again! The ‘Tiffany’ song! Yay…….” Her staff exclaimed but the cheer was abruptly cut off since Tiffany had taken the speakers off the wall and threw it into the bins furiously.

Her staff looked at her dumbstruck. Fany was usually not so fierce, “Fany?” they looked at her worriedly.

“Yes?” She looked at them with her usual expression and they hurriedly shook their heads, “Nothing, nothing. We’ll get back to work.”

They scuttled away like mouse and Tiffany sighed and clapped her hands to blow off the dust, when the phone rang abruptly.

She answered the phone and then dropped it when she heard the Urgent news. “I’m going off now! Urgent matter!”
Her staff looked at each other, after she had gone. Their eyes were full of curiosity, “What’s going on with Tiffany?”

Who knew?

---

Tiffany nodded her head, as if she were trying to comprehend or digest the news fully, “So you’re telling me that….. there’s a donor?”

The doctor smiled kindly and nodded his head, he pushed his specs up as he said, “Yes, it appears so that we do. You’re very, very fortunate Tiffany.”

I am? Am I?

The doctor shook his head, in disbelief, “It’s almost like a miracle!”

She nodded her head, dazed. “When’s the operation?”

“The donor insists that we do it asap, so it’s up to you. As I said, you’re very fortunate to have such an obliging donor.” The doctor repeated and Tiffany looked at him, “Is it ok for me to thank the donor personally then?”

This time, the doctor looked troubled, “Ah, that’s the thing. The donor wishes to keep his/her identity anonymous. That’s the donor’s only wish.”

Tiffany nodded her head, still dumbfounded, “Right, thank you, doctor. We’ll do it at 3pm today, is it okay?”

“Absolutely.”

---

Taeyeon stared at the clock. 39 minutes and 21 seconds. She touched lightly then , strange how you notice the little things now that it’s been brought to light.

She noticed the slight protruding veins and how milky white the skin around there was.

She coughed once, and said in a very low voice, “Do,”

Then “Re.” and then “Mi.”, “Fa, So, La, Ti, Do..”

“Right, sounds absolutely pitch perfect. As always.” The pretty young nurse who was attending to her said, her eyes appeared sad when she saw Taeyeon. She looked at her, her thoughts were almost apparent on her face, looking as though she was thinking ‘what a waste, such a nice voice…”

“You’re the singer who sang that song that’s been really famous recently, aren’t you?” The nurse tilted her head, “Tiffany, that’s the song title, isn’t it?”

Taeyeon looked at her and smiled charismatically, “Sharp ears.”

“I know…” The nurse appeared flattered and pleased of herself, but her face soon looked serious again, “Aren’t you going to miss your voice?”

Taeyeon looked at her, then at the window, “Absolutely not. The person whom I’m giving this to deserves it more than I do.”

---

Why so tough, love? Tough, tough love.

Tiffany sighed out loud as she laid on the bed. She wasn’t dressed for operation. Her shoes were still on, and the air around her felt suffocating. She ruffled her short hair, made a strangled sound and finally got off the bed.

“This has to stop.”

---

Taeyeon was about to change into the hospital’s dress, when the door was pushed opened abruptly. She looked deeply surprised, “Tiff-?”

“Stop. Stop whatever you’re doing.” Tiffany said.

“What?” Taeyeon looked at her, unsure of where this was going.

“I said, stop trying to be nice to me!” Her voice rose louder. She appeared agitated as she paced around the room, “You.” She turned to look at Taeyeon, looking almost as if she were about to explode.

Almost as if she were to say “Do you know what you’ve done to me? After all this while? After all that harm you’ve caused me…..is this enough? Do you think this is enough?”

Instead, Tiffany sighed and sunk to the floor, her face looked lost as she said, “Please stop.” Tears were welling up in her face, “Please stop, Taeyeon. Stop being nice, or attempting to try to be nice to me. I know you’ve been doing all those things quietly behind my back. And, giving me your voice! Who would be so silly as to do that? But I can’t forgive you, and all this that you’re doing, they’ll make me forgive you, Taeyeon. Don’t you understand? So please, just, please. Stop trying.”

Taeyeon looked at her. Her heart felt as though it was torn into pieces but she could only look at the sobbing figure that was sobbing quietly at the corner.

Her hands were about to reach out to comfort the sobbing figure, but she took it back again. She was not allowed to. The pain was muted, and stretched out like a band that was about to snap.

It probably did snap, a long, long time ago. Was this not salvageable? Was their love, truly, truly over?

Tiffany’s meaning was this: It’s not that she couldn’t forgive, but she didn’t Want to. She didn’t want to feel anything for Taeyeon… She knew that she would be swayed easily – by Taeyeon’s every actions, she could come to forgive her…

But she really didn’t want to.

And that was worst. Because Tiffany wasn’t even going to allow her to try. She was taking away Taeyeon’s chance to even try.

Taeyeon nodded her head lightly, “Right.” She got it. She took her black blazer that was lying on the side of the bed and was about to go out when Tiffany stopped her, in a strangled voice, “….The operation was a lie, I’m wasn’t going to lose my voice. I just needed to lure you out to tell you this.”

She closed her eyes, just as she let go of Taeyeon’s hand, their moment was over. Truly, for good?

“Give up on this. Give up on me. We’re over, Taeyeon. For good.”

For real? Yes. For real.

Experiment over.