Chapter Four



Tiffany
Present

I sighed at the thoughts that were occupying my head; it was full of my former lover, and it was kind of putting me in a bad mood. But honestly, I didn't know how to get rid of this. "Chearin, you're friends with Jessica's sister right?" I asked my childhood friend who was a very good friend of Krystal and Nicole.

We were inside our main house for dinner with all my family and our family friends. "I just heard about it the other day. You can even ask Amber and Sandara. They were there when Nicole introduced Jessica to us," she said nonchalantly as she took a bite of her food. 

Amber joined in by adding, "No wonder you fell in love with her. She's sooo beautiful but of course, Krystal's more beautiful."

I glared at her. "I fell out of love. I don't love her anymore but just so you know, Jessica is a walking Goddess. She is the most beautiful person in this planet!"

They all looked at me and so I tried to cover up from my spills and said, "Isn't it only natural for me to be fair? Even if I hate her, I can't really deny the fact that she's the most beautiful woman I've seen and you can't deny that ether." I told the three, which caused them to roll their eyes. But it wasn't a lie. Jessica grew even more beautiful through the years we were separated. I didn't think it was possible for someone to bloom that much, but she proved me wrong. 

"No, Chearin's the most beautiful for me," Sandara argued as she wrapped her arms around the girl.

Amber shook her head and said, "No, Krystal's the prettiest!"

"Yah! You don't consider me beautiful?" I asked them and tried to lighten up the mood as my words were accompanied by giggle.

"You are but you're not the most beautiful for us," Amber explained as she pointed her fork at me.

We all laughed and continued on with our jokes and conversation when my father came to us. "Tiffany," he called as he wore an apologetic look on his face. Something told me that there was something wrong with the business or that he would break a promise he made with me, which I didn't think we have one right now anyway.

"What is it, Daddy?"

He then hugged me. "There's an emergency in Las Vegas and so I need to go there right now. There's a plane that leaves in an hour," he finished with a sigh. Actually, I was expecting for something like quality control or something similar for the reason he had that look.

"Vegas?"

"Yes, so I'll leave the company here with you. You should be the one to decide about our new mall design." 

There was no need to complain. For him to entrust me our company and decision with our new project was something big, and I enjoyed the fact that he saw me as a responsible adult. I smiled at him to try to ease his feelings on leaving me. "Okay Daddy, I won't let you down." I flashed an eye smile. I love my Dad so much since he supported me with whatever decision I decide on so I only wanted to return the favor.

He smiled back and kissed my forehead. "I'll be leaving now." He then looked at the girls, "I'll see you soon, girls. Be good."
 

Jessica
Present

I noticed that my eyes were still swollen I had been crying all night; I sighed at the thought of my patheticness. Not just because I cried because of seeing somebody who looked so much like Tiffany, but I hadn't had any decent sleep for more than a week now. But I couldn't really stay home and pretend to be sick just because Tiffany wasn't around or because I was hurt. I couldn't go to Tiffany's house since it was the Hwang family's main house and I didn't think they will just give out their heiress' whereabouts even if it was me asking.

Should I just hire a private investigator?

No! That was stupid. If the Hwang family ever found out that I hired someone to stalk their princess, it was going to look ugly for both families. The only thing that I could do was wait for her to return, and until that day I would continue on living. It wasn't like I had a choice, was there? Honestly, I was feeling more and more pathetic by the second; however, I got so used to this state that it no longer hurt my pride.

"Hello, I'm Jessica Jung. I have a meeting with Chairman Hwang," I said to the receptionist whom I've spoken with more than week ago.

"The Chairman is unavailable but we are instructed to introduce you to our Vice President instead. She's in her office on the twenty-second floor, you can go ahead and use the elevator and there would be another receptionist in there who would assist you." She finished with a smile on her face. 

I went straight to the floor and was lead to the Vice President's office. The petite receptionist knocked on the door, informing that I was already there.

"Send my eleven o'clock in." I walked in just to see Tiffany's cousin, who happened to be her spitting image. My heart shuddered with her presence. She looked at me and flashed a smile, but there was something in me that loathe it. It was pretentious of her to flash me that beaming perfect set of white teeth, as though she was crying inside. But then again, I based that on Tiffany and not Hwang MiYoung. How many times do I have to tell myself that the woman in front of me wasn't Tiffany? What would it take for me to convince myself on this fact? Because it wasn't healthy at all. Not for my heart or brain, at least.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you again, Jessica, right?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm here to represent Jung Enterprise and to finally decide on which design to pursue." She offered me a seat and so I placed myself on the leather chair right in front of her, and then handed her the tubes, where my blueprints were.

She studied the designs for a while. I did nothing but stare at her. How can she not be Tiffany? My Tiffany. I feel that she was, but I couldn't just say to MiYoung that shes Tiffany when she was really someone else. I mentally shook my head to focus on the meeting because thinking of Tiffany right now wouldn't get me anywhere. 

She finally spoke, "I actually like this modern design, plus it looks more elegant." She placed the blue print on her desk. It was the design I made last week. I was thinking about Tiffany when I made it. It was an eight story building with a twist of modernity in it: metals and glass.

I flashed a smile and noticed that it's already lunch time. "Do you want to continue this meeting over lunch?" 

Even if I have to pretend that she was Tiffany to ease down the pain I was feeling in my heart, I would. She reminded me so much of my Tiffany that I would rather see her, Hwang Mi Young, than live without her cousin. 
 

Tiffany
Present

I was startled with the sudden invitation. If my heartbeat could be heard right now, it would be as loud as those drums during festivals. 

How could she actually invite me for lunch? Oh, wait, it's just a meeting and she's being professional. But then, the door suddenly burst open and there she was, a petite friend. Taeyeon is my best friend when I was in Harvard. We both graduated Global Management in that University. "MiYoung-ah! I'm here for a visit from Boston!" She yelled in English and rushed to touch her lips unto mine. It was her way to greet her best friends, me and Seohyun.

Taeyeon grew up in the US not knowing how to speak Korean and I was the one who taught her to speak it. She never called me Tiffany and preferred calling me, MiYoung. Thanks to that, I could prove to Jessica that I was not Tiffany. Good job, Taeyeon. I mentally praised my great best friend.

Our lips were separated from each other after a second of touching. "I'm still in a meeting. Jessica, this is Kim Taeyeon, my best friend. Taeyeon, this is Jung Jessica."

"You mean, she's the Jessica Jung?!" She asked me with surprise in her eyes. "She her?!" She knew about Jessica since I told her everything there is to my previous relationship with her. But it would be lovely if she reacted somewhat more natural than that. 

I widen my eyes for her to not spill anything anymore. "Yes, she's the Jessica with Jung Enterprise. She's well known around the business world and it's really a great honor for you to meet her." 

My best friend was confused and looked at me with a blank expression. She nodded and finally caught up. Good thing that we don't really need words to understand each other. "Hello, it's really an honor since I also work with my Dad's company, we've made business before. Well, your company and ours."

"Hello, it's so nice to meet you." She greeted her in English. "I think we should just continue this some other time. I'll leave the blueprints with you for you to decide. Let's reschedule." She gathered her things in a rush.

"How about tomorrow? I'll contact your office."

She stood up and bowed at me. If I wasn't mistaken, I saw tears welling in her eyes, and seeing that just made me feel really bad.

"Jessi---" She was already out the door before I could even finish. I wanted to console her. I wanted to embrace her right there and then. It was not common for Jessica to cry especially if there were people around. And I knew it was my fault, that was why I wanted to be the one to mend her.

But no. I can't. I'm supposed to hate her!

"What is your ex doing here? You have to explain a lot." Taeyeon demanded but she suddenly hugged me from the back, "I'm getting jealous."
 

Jessica
Present

Seeing her kiss Taeyeon broke my heart. She may not be Tiffany but she looked exactly like her. It seemed like I was looking at Tiffany kiss another person aside from me. Those lips that were once mine was now owned by someone else. It just seemed like it. I really had to make it clear to myself that Tiffany and MiYoung were two different people. For my sake, I had to. Hwang MiYoung was not Hwang Tiffany, but why did my heart not listen to what my mind's trying to say?