39th Piece of the Puzzle

 

 

Taeyeon was looking at their intertwined hands. She tightened the hold, gently squeezing it from time to time.

She felt lighter than usual, as if all the weight was lifted off of her. Her mind was escalating to the heavens, reaching the clouds that were still lingering in the night sky.

Tiffany was feeling the same. Two hearts finally beat as one.

“Tae,” Tiffany muttered. She waited for a while until the stranger was nowhere in sight. “Is she okay?”

She was referring to Sunmi.

“She’ll be fine.”

 

Taeyeon released Tiffany’s hand when a little girl ran into them.

“Aunt Tiffany! Let’s play together!” Seohyun said as she tugged her aunt’s coat.

Tiffany struggled to carry the little girl on her arms. The latter wasn’t exactly ‘little’ as compared to the girls her age.

“Where’s your daddy?” She asked.

 

“He’s right there!” Seohyun pointed at the nearby ice cream stall where a couple was standing by.

The couple waved their hands while showing their ice creams.

“Ice cream!” Taeyeon exclaimed together with the little one.

Seohyun broke free from Tiffany’s grasp. She ran towards her parents.

Tiffany was smiling with her eyes at the sight of the kid-looking dork beside her.

“You want ice cream too?”

 

Taeyeon hid her hands in her pockets. “But It will just melt right here.”

Tiffany tried to analyze what Taeyeon meant by that.

But she couldn’t.

She studied how the dork would release whistling sounds while looking at the sky.

 

Taeyeon then smiled at her. “Because the girl beside me is too hot.”

 

It couldn’t be denied that Tiffany liked the fact that Taeyeon hadn’t changed a bit. She was still making her heart flutter.

“You still have that in you, Kim Taeyeon,” she said while blushing.

 

 

Leo and his family didn’t bother to go near the couple. They were pretty busy enjoying themselves. And knowing that the couple needed to bring their old flame back, it was pretty much necessary to give them their own time.

“Tiff! I’ll just call you, okay!” He shouted from a distance.

Tiffany nodded and did an ‘okay’ sign using her hand.

 

***

 

She had a lot of things to say.

Her mind was filled with words that couldn’t come out. She was stuck.

And Taeyeon understood that.

 

She sat upon the swing.

Taeyeon followed suit, plopping herself onto the empty spot.

 

Tiffany remembered how Sunmi left. She knew it. That girl loved her Taeyeon.

Her.

It was clear that she claimed Taeyeon all to herself now. And no one has the right to take that dork away from her.

 

She smiled.

 

“You can be dense sometimes,” she turned her head to her right, facing Taeyeon.

 

Taeyeon wasn’t dense. Or so she thought.

She was just cautious. She never wanted to assume things. Even if the signs were clear enough, she tried building walls just to guard her heart.

 

It was like before; when she and Tiffany weren’t together yet. She knew at the back of her mind that the feeling was mutual. But she was afraid; too scared that she might just be wrong after all.

“You know, Sunmi likes you.”

 

Taeyeon played dumb. “Everyone likes me anyway.”

 

“You know what I mean, Tae.”

 

“I don’t like her LIKE that.” Taeyeon extended her hand, waiting for Tiffany to hold it.

“My heart already belongs to a certain someone.”

 

It was all that Tiffany wanted to hear; a confirmation that Taeyeon’s heart was hers and hers only. She took the older one’s hand and interlaced their fingers while moving the swing in a gentle motion.

 

Taeyeon stood up from the swing while holding Tiffany’s hand. Both of them never wanted to lose each other’s warmth.

 

“Wh