Chapter Sixty-Six

The atmosphere in the dining room was unusually tense. Taeyeon and Yoona had been staring at one another ever since they settled down around the small dining table. Tiffany, of course, was well-aware of their glaring competition and knew she was the cause of it. But there was nothing she could do to stop them, not when they were both equally important to her like a pair of hands.

Letting out an inaudible sigh, Tiffany ate the foods on the table quietly by herself. She had decided that she should leave the duo alone with their glaring business since she doubted they would do anything to one another when she was around.

At least not in front of her.

“Taeyeon, is it?”

The silence soon broke as Yoona finally made her speech. Taeyeon was surprised, but she still nodded to her question as a form of acknowledgment.

“Why are we here?”

Tiffany was going to ignore them, but Yoona’s question prevented her from doing so. That question… she, too, had been wanting to ask Taeyeon as well, but she didn’t dare to even think about it.

She couldn’t remember what exactly happened after the frosts covered her body, but she faintly remembered falling into someone’s embrace when the wall of fire engulfed her.

And there was a scent on the person’s body… it was peppermint.

As compared to Tiffany’s nervousness, Taeyeon was a lot more composed than her. Picking up a piece of meat and stuffing it into leisurely, Taeyeon replied with an indifferent tone, “I found the both of you in the woods, so I brought you back to my house.”

“I see…” Yoona stared directly into Taeyeon’s eyes. “It must be hard for you to carry the both of us back huh?” There was no way she would believe it was as simple as how Taeyeon explained.

Tiffany didn’t believe Taeyeon’s explanation either. She was so certain that it was Taeyeon’s embrace she was lying in before she lost her conscious.

“Yeah, it wasn’t easy.” Taeyeon admitted honestly. The brightness in her eyes became dull suddenly as she looked at Tiffany and said, “But I can’t just leave Tiffany out there like this.” And allow Sunny to take her life.

Tiffany is hers. If there is anyone who wants to take her life, it can only be her.

Yoona furrowed her eyebrows. She didn’t like the sound of that. Not how Taeyeon only saved her because of Tiffany, but how Taeyeon only had her eyes on Tiffany.

“I see you really care a lot for my unnie.”

Taeyeon withdrew her gaze from Tiffany and finally looked at Yoona as looked deeply into young hunter’s eyes. “That’s because I’m in love with her.” Taeyeon confessed without giving the hunters a chance to prepare themselves from hearing this, hence pushing the atmosphere from bad to worst.

The frown on Yoona’s forehead grew deeper. Just as she was about to continue with the debating, the main lead of this topic couldn’t stand anymore and interrupted them. “The dishes are turning cold.” Tiffany said with an extremely icy tone. She used the chopsticks and randomly grabbed the ingredients on the table before putting them into both Taeyeon and Yoona’s bowls one by one. “Stop talking and eat.” Her stern voice implied no objections.

Taeyeon and Yoona immediately stopped upon hearing Tiffany’s speech. Both quickly lowered their heads and dug into their rice.

An angry Tiffany was definitely the last person they ever wanted to deal with.

*

Dinner had ended.

While Taeyeon was in the kitchen washing the dirty plates and utensils, Tiffany went out of the house and sat on the edge of the port, enjoying the view of the lake in front of her. Yoona was with her initially, but after she failed to connect her device with Sooyoung’s device (in order to inform her partner their whereabouts), she decided to head to the land to try it out.

So when Taeyeon came out from the house, she saw a lonely Tiffany sitting on the port by herself, staring at the lake mindlessly.

“Like the view?”

Tiffany pulled her gaze away from the lake and turned to the source of the voice. Taeyeon dropped herself on the ground and sat next to Tiffany.

“Tae…”

“I like to sit here too whenever I feel lonely.”

The casual tone in her voice was implying her indifference to this matter, but Tiffany didn’t like what she heard and what she was seeing right now.

The loneliness in Taeyeon’s eyes.

Almost in an instinct, Tiffany slipped her hand into Taeyeon’s and intertwined their fingers together.

Taeyeon turned to her in surprise and was greeted by the hunter’s infamous eye-smile.

“I’m here, ain’t I?”

The warmth smile on her face was so visible in Taeyeon’s eyes that Taeyeon felt as though it was burning her loneliness away. Flashing a similar smile back at Tiffany, Taeyeon watched Tiffany leaned towards her and rested her head on her shoulder.

“Let’s stay this way." Tiffany said softly, almost like a whisper.

Then, Taeyeon felt Tiffany tightening the grip on their intertwined hands. And her free arm had just reached over to wrap around her arm before pulling it into her embrace and hugged it tightly against her chest.

Taeyeon couldn’t control the curves forming on her lips. Tilting her head slightly towards Tiffany, she caressed the hunter’s hair with her lips.

“Forever?”

She whispered.

Tiffany lifted up her head and looked at Taeyeon.

“Do you wish to?”

Taeyeon didn’t reply immediately because her mind and soul were already drawn into Tiffany’s eyes. Bending down unconsciously, Taeyeon planted a kiss on Tiffany even before she realized what she was doing.

“Fany,” She pulled herself away from Tiffany slightly, but not having their lips broke apart. “Don’t go. Stay here with m––”

“Unnie!”

The sudden call from behind startled the couple. Tiffany pushed Taeyeon off her body out of reflex and stood up hastily. Fortunately for Taeyeon, she managed to balance herself just as she was about to roll off the port and fall into the water.

“Unnie, the device isn’t working.” Yoona shot a glare at Taeyeon as she stated sternly. Yoona never liked Taeyeon, but she didn’t want the history to repeat itself so she decided to keep her comments to herself.

However, that doesn’t mean she will unseen any suspicious part she sees in her.

The failed connection of her device was irking Yoona. The communication device was invented by their I.T. genius years ago and it never had any problem until recently when Yuri had encountered a problem in connecting her device to Tiffany’s device.

Seeing that the same situation was happening again, the very first person to suspect was Taeyeon obviously.

Yoona always wondered how and when did Tiffany met Taeyeon? For she never knew about that person’s existence until she spotted them kissing in the café weeks ago. She suspected Tiffany only met Taeyeon recently and Taeyeon was the cause of the recent failed connection between their devices.

As compared to Yoona’s worry, Tiffany appeared to be calm, though her face was still full of redness because Yoona witnessed her kiss with Taeyeon.

She observed Yoona in silent. Seeing that Yoona wasn’t getting sensitive with their intimate movements, only then she was able to reply comfortably. “Don’t worry about the device. The signal is always bad around here. We will just stay for the night and return to Aurales first thing in the morning.”

“But unnie––”

Tiffany ignored her and turned to Taeyeon.

“Taeyeon, where will we be sleeping tonight?”

Taeyeon already got up from the ground by then. She approached the duo with her hands tucked in her pants’ pocket. “I’ll show you.” She flashed her usual gentle smile at her. “Come with me.”

*

Yuri, Jessica and Sooyoung had just returned to their dormitory from the garage. After comforting Yuri for awhile, Sooyoung went back to her room, leaving Yuri and Jessica alone.

“Yuri…”

They were both lying on the bed now. Jessica was lying on her side, looking at Yuri, while Yuri was staring at the ceiling. Upon hearing Jessica’s call, Yuri twisted her body and lied on her side as well, turning to face Jessica who was looking at her with a pout on her face.

“Why aren’t you sleeping yet, silly girl?” Yuri pushed Jessica’s fringe to the side gently. Her hand slid down slightly and she caressed Jessica’s cheek with her thumb. “It’s late already.”

Jessica closed her eyes and snuggled into Yuri’s embrace, burying her face into the nook of Yuri’s neck.

“You aren’t sleeping either.”

Yuri let out a sigh through her nose.

“Yuri,” Jessica slipped her arms around Yuri’s waist. “I believe Tiffany and Yoona will be alright.”

Yuri sighed again.

“I hope so.”

Jessica lifted up her head and looked at Yuri with a frown. “You don’t have faith in them?”

Yuri shook her head. “It’s not that but…” She paused, pressing her lips into a straight line. “I don’t know how to stay positive after seeing their wrecked car.”

Jessica understood what she meant. A severely damaged car was more than enough to explain the kind of situation Tiffany and Yoona were facing before they went missing.

“But that doesn’t mean they are in danger, isn’t it?” Jessica tried to cheer her up.

Yuri turned and lied on her back again. “If Tiffany and Yoona are safe, they would have came back or at least sent us a message informing us where they are. But neither Sooyoung nor I received anything.”

“Yuri…”

“I’m sorry, Sica. I’m really frustrated right now.”

Jessica swallowed the words she was about to say down . Any more comforting was useless. It was a known fact that Tiffany and Yoona were missing. Unless they returned, Yuri would continue to stay this way until who knows when?

Jessica sighed to herself inwardly as she turned away from Yuri and faced her side of the bed.

I hope you’ll come back tomorrow Tiffany.