Chapter Sixty

Their kiss ended when Stephanie suddenly pulled away from Taeyeon and sneezed into the empty space beside them.

“Ah choo!”

It was until then Taeyeon realized Stephanie only had a thin piece of fabric covering her body. Her usual coat was nowhere to be seen.

“Yah!” Taeyeon quickly took off her coat and wrapped it around Stephanie. She pulled her girlfriend into her embrace and hugged her tightly. “You should at least wear a sweater or something before coming out of the house!” Taeyeon shot her a blaming glare, but Stephanie looked away and sulked. “Aish! Okay, okay! It’s not your fault, it’s my fault! I’m sorry for making you worry. Will you forgive me please?”

Stephanie glared at Taeyeon fiercely before sticking her tongue out at her. She pushed Taeyeon’s arms away from her waist and stomped to the other corner.

“Aish!” Taeyeon scratched her head in frustration. How could she forget that whatever Stephanie had done was all for the sake of her? She got to stop blaming her girl!

Walking over to Stephanie, Taeyeon wrapped her arms around her waist from behind and rested her chin on Stephanie’s shoulder.

“Phanie-ah~~~ I’m sorweee!” Taeyeon snuggled her nose against the nook of Stephanie’s neck as she apologized with aegyo. “Will you forgive me pweaseeee?”

“Yah! You’re giving me goosebump!” Stephanie slapped Taeyeon’s arm and reprimanded. Although that was what she said, the curve on the corner of her lips betrayed her feeling.

And Taeyeon saw it obviously.

“Ppanie! Ppanie! Will you forgive Taetae pweaseee?” Taeyeon jumped up and down with her arms still embracing Stephanie’s waist. “Pweause? Pweaseee? Pweaseeeeee?”

“Yah!” Stephanie spun around and held Taeyeon down by pressing her palms on the latter’s shoulders. “Stop!”

Taeyeon stopped obediently and looked at her girlfriend with puppy eyes.

“I’ll forgive you.” Taeyeon was about to clap her hands and celebrate when Stephanie suddenly added, “But! You got to promise me to be back home before sun sets everyday! Unless I’m with you.”

“Promise!” Taeyeon said with a wide grin on her face. She hugged Stephanie by her waist again and planted a light peck on her cheek. “Can we go in now? I’m freezinggggggg~~~” Taeyeon shivered tremendously as though there was an earthquake going on under her feet.

Stephanie knew that was an act however – seeing how thick her long-sleeves shirt was – but she couldn’t bear to see a shivering Taeyeon even if it was only half-true. Intertwining her hand with Taeyeon’s, Stephanie dragged Taeyeon back into their house quickly.

*

The two hunters and one blonde were sitting in the center of the training room with packets of snacks (brought by Sooyoung) stacked up in the middle of their circle. Sooyoung was busy explaining her discharge matters to both of her friends, but only one was paying attention to her while the other one – the blonde – had, not only her gaze, but her mind too, fixed on the snacks in front of her.

“… He said my body is in great shape, so he let me go.” Sooyoung shrugged, grabbing a few pieces of chips from the packet on her laps and shoved them into .

Yuri frowned upon seeing that. “Did he really say that? Or did you run away from the ward? And are you sure you can eat these snacks now?” If only there was an apple in her hand now, Yuri would have stuffed that healthy fruit into Sooyoung’s mouth and threw away all her junk foods.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes at Yuri, “Do I look like a liar to you?”

Yuri nodded without any hesitation, “I strongly believe you will do anything for food.”

“YAH––Ow!”

Sooyoung had already lifted her from the ground and was about to tackle Yuri when a piece of broken potato chips came out of nowhere and hit the corner of her eye. Her met the solid ground with a loud thud as she fell backwards. She rubbed the ‘injured’ spot and glared to her left.

It appeared that Jessica had secretly taken – in other word, stolen – a bag of potato chips from the pile of snacks and was trying to open it when the packet tore open suddenly due to her exerted force, causing one of the chips to fly away while some of them found their ways to Jessica’s lap and the ground before her.

Jessica flashed an awkward and embarrassed smile at them, “Sorry…” She quickly scooped up the chips on her legs and swept them back into the packet again. She didn’t expect the chips to fly out like this.

Yuri quickly leaned over and helped Jessica with the cleanup.

“Yah Jessica…” Sooyoung crawled over as well and helped the both of them. Except that the chips went into instead of the ripped package. “You know you can always ask for help if you can’t open that thing.”

Yuri rolled her eyes at Sooyoung’s behavior and slapped her hands away. “Will you ever stop eating for a second?”

“Yah!” Sooyoung was provoked by Yuri’s reaction. “You are in no position to say that to me!”

Yuri was annoyed by Sooyoung as well. “Well, tell me.” She folded her arms across her chest and returned a glare at her fellow hunter.

“You!” Sooyoung narrowed her eyes and pointed at her. “My love for foods is equivalent to your love for Jessica! As much as you can’t take your hands off her body, I can’t take my hands off my foods too! We are in the same situation just for you know, Miss Kwon!”

“YAH!” Yuri lost the battle instantly. Along with the quiet Jessica, they were blushing like a mad tomato. “You… you!” Yuri wanted to retaliate, but ‘you’ was the only word she could come out with her shocked mind now.

“Well, cat got your tongue?” She knew it alright?! Yuri was always soooooo passionate towards Jessica that she wasn’t even surprise to see them kissing earlier on––But she was kind of shock to see two people eating one another’s mouth inside the training room.

Sooyoung pulled the bottom of her eyelids and stuck out her tongue at Yuri.

“Face the fact Kwon Yuri, we are the same!”

*

Stephanie wanted to hang Taeyeon’s coat on the hanger when Taeyeon suddenly grabbed her hands and stopped her. “Don’t take it off yet.” Taeyeon looked at Stephanie with gentle eyes. She whispered, “Give me a second.” She let go of Stephanie’s hand and went into their bedroom. A minute later, Taeyeon came out from their bedroom with a coat over her body.

“Come with me.” Taeyeon took Stephanie’s hand again and led her to the kitchen.

Stephanie was confused. “Where’re we going, Taetae?” It was going to be midnight already and they should be sleeping.

Taeyeon did not answer her. She stopped in front of the door which led to their backyard and looked at Stephanie.

“Close your eyes Phanie.”

Stephanie looked at her with an arched eyebrow. As much as she wanted to question, she decided not to since she trusted Taeyeon. She closed her eyes and waited for Taeyeon’s next instruction.

“Taetae?”

Stephanie waited for awhile, but nothing happened. She tried to call for Taeyeon but there was no response either. Fear took over her instantly. Although it was just a minute ago when Taeyeon was still with her, she couldn’t help but worried for her girlfriend seeing that there was no reply from her. Moreover, Taeyeon had been missing for the whole evening. It made Stephanie suspected that she was actually hallucinating… Taeyeon was still missing in reality.

Stephanie was about to open her eyes when she felt a palm covering her eyes.

“Taetae?” Her voice was trembling with fear and worries.

“Don’t be scared Phanie-ah, I’m here with you.” Stephanie felt Taeyeon’s palm left her eyes and held onto her hand. “You can open your eyes now.”

Stephanie opened her eyes as instructed.

“What’s going on?” She observed their kitchen and found that nothing was changed. For a moment, she thought Taeyeon was trying to do something, which was why she asked her to close her eyes.

Taeyeon grinned at her confused girlfriend, “Come with me.” Taeyeon turned the knob on their backdoor and led Stephanie out of their house.

Although still curious and confused, Stephanie followed her nevertheless.

It was pitch dark outside, but since their backyard was facing the cliff, Stephanie could clearly see the bright round moon floating right before them. It was a pretty sight no doubt, but something on the table in their backyard diverted her attention away.

“Taetae, what’s that thing over there?” She pointed at their table. The table was usually empty, unless they were having their meals outside. Stephanie clearly remembered that she had cleared the table after having an early dinner with Taeyeon in the late afternoon.

“Hold on a second.” Taeyeon replied without looking at Stephanie. She was staring at her watch intently as though something was going to pop out from it.

“Tae?”

“Happy birthday Phanie-ah!” Taeyeon looked up from her watch and exclaimed excitedly. With a click on her fingers, a small fire was lit up above the object on the table.

Stephanie realized that was a cake.

Taeyeon held Stephanie’s hands and led her towards the table. Her gentle voice was playing in Stephanie’s ears.

“Happy birthday to you~ happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to Stephanie~~ Happy birthday to you!”

They had reached the table by the end of the song. Taeyeon let go of Stephanie’s hand and held up the cake. Under the limited brightness, Stephanie saw a big ‘Happy Birthday My Love, Stephanie’ on the cake and she easily recognized that as Taeyeon’s handwriting.

“You made this for me?” Her eyes were b with tears. Words were unable to express the touch overwhelming her heart.

“How is it?” Taeyeon flashed a wide grin at her. “I only made it in Sunny’s house this evening… In other words, it is still fresh!” She winked at her.

But Stephanie was too preoccupied to register that. Her brain was busy digesting the new piece of information which she had just discovered.

Taeyeon waved her hand in front of Stephanie’s face when she saw no response from her girl. “Phanie? Phanie-ah, are you alright?”

“Did you…” Stephanie looked at Taeyeon with sparkling eyes. Tears had, once again, gathered and were hanging onto the corner of her eyes, threatening to fall any time now. “You came home late because you were making me this cake?”

“Uh… yeah.” A tinge of redness crawled onto Taeyeon’s cheek. “I thought baking a cake is an easy task, but apparently, I’m wrong…” Taeyeon forced out a chuckle, intending to hide her embarrassment, but when she noticed the watery eyes of her girlfriend, she became guilty instead. “I’m sorry Phanie-ah, I didn’t mean to make you worry…”

“Babo…” Stephanie chewed on her lower lip and pouted. If only the cake wasn’t in Taeyeon’s hands now, she would have jumped into Taeyeon’s embrace and hugged her with all her might.

Taeyeon took a glance at the cake and noticed that the candle was going to reach its bottom. She urged Stephanie anxiously, “Quickly make a wish, Phanie-ah! The candle’s going to light out soon!”

Stephanie saw that and became anxious as well. Closing her eyes, she quickly clasped her hands together and made a wish in silent. Once she was done with it, she opened her eyes and blew the candle.