Chapter 35.2

“Hey, where are you going?” A very familiar voice of my one and only sister sounded from behind us. “Umma said you have to ‘babysit’ us until the party’s done so come back down.”

I rolled my eyes. Tiffany and I had made up and came back down to join the party. Two hours passed since then and we were getting tired of just sitting around, looking at the kids dance and play games. I had promised my girlfriend that we would spend some time alone, but we were stuck with babysitting. My Tiffany was getting sleepy as well, so I decided to call it a night. Unfortunately, now my pesky little sister was interfering with Tiffany’s and my meeting with our beloved sleep.

“This is my house too. I can do whatever I want.” I held tighter onto Tiffany’s hand and began to walk up the stairs again.

“You’re going against Mom’s order?”

“Yoona and Yuri are there. You don’t need us.”

“Uhh actually we do. YoonYul’s currently trying to get Sulli to drink.” I looked around the wall and saw the scene that Krystal just described: Sulli cornered by the two older girls and Minho and Taemin standing around, unable to do anything as they were scared of their sunbaes.

My sister smirked, knowing that she has won this round of argument, and skipped down the stairs.

“YAH! Yoong, Yul, what do you think you’re doing?!” The glare that I shot them froze them up. I walked up to them with Tiffany in tow and grabbed the beer can out of Yuri’s hand. Sulli quickly ran away to Krystal and Taemin.

Yuri rolled her eyes and attempted to grab the can back but I handed it to Tiffany to get it out of her reach. “Come on, Sica. Don’t be such a spoilsport. It’s not like you haven’t drank underage before.”

“Stop it or get out of my house.” With the sudden change of mood from happy to scary, everyone seemed to look our way.

Yuri was about to say something back to me when a hand was placed over .

“Yuri-ah, let’s just go do something else.” Yoona tugged on the sleeve of the tanned girl’s Tee and dragged her away by the hand. I continued glaring at my best friend until she was well occupied with playing a harmless prank on another youngster.

Tired, I slumped down on the chair behind me and let out a big sigh. Tiffany stood beside me, my head soothingly. I pulled her closer by the waist and rested my head on her flat tummy, wondering what else I can do to get some time alone with my Tiffany.

“Tiff?” I called her name after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?” She stopped patting me for a while until I answered.

“I said that we’ll spend some quality time together but now we’re stuck with ‘babysitting’.” I apologized while nuzzling my nose into her stomach. “What about you come over tomorrow night and I’ll cook you dinner?”

“Sure, Jes—hey! It’s ticklish!” She pushed my head away while giggling, but I didn’t let go of her waist. Instead, I spun her around slightly and pulled her so that she was sitting on my lap, and resumed snuggling against her body. My girlfriend is so warm and soft and sweet smelling that I can never get enough of hugging her. Then something caught my eye.

“Sweetie, why do you still have that beer can?”

“Huh?” She raised the drink in confusion. “This?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t tell me what to do with it, so I just held onto it.” Tiffany turned to me with a smirk and whispered into my ear. “Wanna drink it?”

I chuckled at this bold naughty side of Tiffany that seldom comes out. “Sounds tempting, but if Yuri catches us, she won’t stop calling me a hypocrite.”

“Baby, no one has to know.” Ooh, mischievous Tiffany is so y.

“Again, tempting but no.” I ignored the tingling feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Just one sip, come on! To take things off our minds.” She stretched her arm, taking the can away from my reach.

Guilt punched me in my stomach. No, I was not going to let her get drunk and feel more miserable. Maybe I can do something to make her feel better and apologize to her.

“No baby. Drinking doesn’t solve any problems. Let me make you feel better instead.”

“Ok, fine.” She unwillingly let me take the can away when I trailed my hand along her arm and grasped the beverage. Bringing it back to place it on the counter behind us, my knuckles accidently brushed against her chest because of the small cramped position we were in.

“Hey! Byuntae!” Tiffany slapped my hand away while chuckling. The mood turning unexpectedly lighter, I turned back to give her my undivided attention. She slung her arms around my neck and leaned against my shoulder with a slight pout.

“You’re the one responsible for turning me into this…” I poked her chest again in a teasingly blaming manner. “monster.”

“Not my fault you enjoy touching me so much.” She pushed me back in the same way. “Mehrong.”

“Your fault for being too y.”

“Please, I was born this way.” The cocky singsong voice with which she said it got us laughing.

“For me?” I brought our faces closer and rested my forehead against hers, nose to nose.

Tiffany’s eyes curved into smiles at the question. “For you.”

Then she kissed me. It was a kiss that told me of her conflicting emotions, needs, wants, desires, frustrations, insecurities, and what she wanted me to do: prove again my love for her.

“I’ve actually never really gotten drunk.” Tiffany admitted in a small voice after we broke apart as we ran out of air, sounding very innocent unlike just a few seconds before. The innocence stirred something deep within me. The monster within was evoked even more when she chewed on her bottom lip while playing with a lock of my blonde hair that had fallen over my shoulder.

“Do you want to feel that intoxication?” I whispered in her ear while sliding my right hand down from her waist to her bare thigh.

“Jessi…” She gasped at the unexpected movement and squirmed slightly on my lap from the internal emotions that were heating both of us up quickly, but leaned forward when I approached her slowly.

“Answer’s too late.” I mumbled against her lips before placing mine upon them.

Tiffany was better than drinking; I can get drunk on her kisses and touches. She’s the alcohol I’d willingly get addicted to. I wanted to show to her also that I want to be the one she can always come to when she needs things taken off her shoulder and mind, the one to depend on instead of alcohol and other vices. Although I initiated the kiss, Tiffany added more passion and aggression. Tiffany’s lips parted and her warm tongue caressed my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I quickly allowed her to continue while repositioning Tiffany so that she won’t have to twist her head around. She wrapped her long bare legs around my waist and the back of the chair and hung onto me. I placed my hand on her smooth thigh again and slowly moved it up until my fingers brushed against the seams of her hot pants that were hidden under her long T-shirt.

“Hmm…” She softly moaned into my mouth and kissed me with more passion and aggression, quickly dominating me. “My Jessi…”

Her scent, her voice, her touch... My heart began to beat faster and irregularly. The warmth in my body spread out until the tip of my ears.

“Mine…” She whispered to me again when we broke apart to catch our breath. “Say it Jessi… that you’re mine.”

Tiffany trailed her lips away from my lips, along my jawline, and down to my neck, while her fingers were tangled in my long hair at my nape. Little wet fluttery kisses sent my brain into a state of whirlwind. “Say it.”

“Tiff…” I nearly lost it when she nipped on my skin above my collarbone and gently on the spot, marking her territory. “I’m…”

I let out a soft gasp, unable to finish my sentence, when her teeth grazed my softened skin and her tongue left a warm trail around her mark. Her lips made the journey back up. I could feel her moist breath against my lips when she stopped a second away.

“Yours.” I breathed out as she kissed me again, and again, and again.

Wow Tiffany…

“Wow Tiffany.” Footsteps stopped right beside us, their owner voiced out my thought. “Impressive.”

“What now Yuri?” Tiffany moved away from my lips with a contented sigh and curled up in my arms again while I confronted my best friend.

She wordlessly motioned with a flick of her thumb towards the group of young boys on my couch who were staring, unblinking, at us. If this were a manhwa, they would have blood gushing out of their noses, drool dripping out of their open mouths, and eyes popping out of the sockets. Geez teenage boys… I looked back at Yuri and Yoona grinning at us in amusement. Geez erted twins.

“Perhaps you two would like to get a room?” Yoona spoke up first, speaking with faked coyness.

“Or would you like to continue your live show and kill those boys by overactivating their hormones?” Yuri finished the question with a dirty smirk.

I glared at the two while Tiffany turned towards them with a deep frown, muttering “what the hell?” under her breath. She uncrossed her legs behind my back and slid off my lap with ease, leaving me pouting at the lack of warmth and the comfortable weight.

“You need a love life.” Tiffany pointedly stated in Yoona and Yuri’s faces. “Why don’t you two go hook up in a corner?”

With that, Tiffany grabbed my hand and led me past the gaping couple, straight towards the stairs, confidently as if my house was her own house. I stumbled along after her, still trying to process what was happening through the various irrelevant thoughts that were jumbled up by how hot my girlfriend looks at the moment. Looking back, surprised faces of my friends and my sister’s friends greeted me, but Krystal let out a smirk.

“Don’t make too much noise. Remember to use your strawberries.” She flashed me a wink and fell back into Minho’s arms, laughing like a child.

Strawberry? Wha—oh… sheesh that girl. I looked down at the stairs to prevent anyone from seeing the blush that had filled my cheeks.

“Jessi?” Tiffany’s tentative voice brought me out from mentally screaming at Krystal. We were already upstairs, the sounds of the party on the lower floor seeming to come from another dimension, as if it’s another world. And the mood between us has long lost its spur of the moment passion, only an aura possessiveness and love clinging in between.

I rested my arms on her waist and directed her to walk in front of me upon remembering one of my wishes. “I want to show you something.”

I led her down the hallway wordlessly, up another flight of narrow stairs, and up into the open air.

“Where are we?”

“Rooftop.” I covered the ground with one of the blankets that I had grabbed from my room on the way before sitting down on it, tugging on her hand for her to do the same. “Come here.”

It was a clear night, no clouds in the sky, leaving all the stars and the half-full moon twinkling in the sky. She moved closer to me when the cool air brushed against her bare arms and thighs, enveloped herself in my warmth. I lay down on my back to see the sky more widely, dragging her down with me so that she was sleeping on my arm.

“It’s so pretty.” I told her.

“Really?” She faced upwards as well, holding her hands up in the air as if she could touch, as if she could see, the stars.

“Yes.” I held her right hand in my right, weaving my fingers through her so that I can direct her movements. “That, over there, is the star that is always near the moon. People say that if that star gets close to the moon, there is trouble in the world. So I think of them as two lovers separated by fate… the moon and the star, they’re always near each other… so close yet so far away… they can’t love each other fully without bringing conflict and disaster to other people.”

“That’s such a sad story…” Tiffany said softly. She clutched my hand tighter, frowning a little. I kissed her temple to wipe that frown away and nuzzled my nose against the size of her head, just above her ear, dropping an ‘I love you’.

“I’ll tell you another one.” I used her finger to point at another star. “That one is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and it is also the very first one to come out every single night. You can see it even before the sun has completely set. Now, this star has a story too. It fell in love with a sunflower. But of course, as you know, a sunflower sleeps at night, wakes only in the morning, completely dependent on the sun. The star comes out extra early, as soon as it can, hoping that it will be able to meet its love, but the flower would already be asleep whenever it arrives because it’s already too dark without the full glow of the sun. The flower never found out about the star’s love because it was happy with the sun, happily in love. The poor little star never stopped trying though, so it continues to appear as soon as dark descends, trying just to get a glimpse of its love.”

The silence hung in the air after the end of the story, me staring up at the stars, Tiffany deep in thought, their hands resting in between them, bound together tightly. I adjusted my position after a few moments to make us more comfortable, thinking that Tiffany was asleep when she broke the silence with a sniffle.

“Jessi…” She to her side, facing me and scooted forward, wrapping an arm around my waist and tangling our legs together. “Why do you keep on telling such sad stories?”

“I don’t know Tiff.” I heaved out a heavy breath from my nose to ease my own confusion that came with the question and rested my chin on her head. “But… I do know something.”

“What?”

“If I were the star, and you the moon or the sunflower, I would never stop trying too.”

Tiffany rested her head against my chest, and I felt her smile, her fingers gripped her shirt in her fists as if she’s scared of losing me at that moment.

“Thank you Jessi.”

I looked up at the stars again, losing myself back in my own thoughts when I was reminded of something. “So beautiful.”

“Describe it to me.” Tiffany asked. “It is going to be another sad story?”

I shook my head and closed my eyes.

“There is another star. I just found it a few months ago. It’s very bright, shining all the time with all its might, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. This star is special, very special, because I can see it all the time, no matter day or night, clear or cloudy. And whenever I see it, I feel happy because it gives me hope, hope that everything will be okay in the end, hope that I can survive as the star can remain even in the daytime. But of course, as always, as it always is in life, there’s a problem, a slight twist of fate. I can see the star, but the star can’t see me. I want to show the star that I love her, but she can’t see me.”

I reopened my eyes and allowed myself to take in the star in front of me. I placed my hand against her warm cheek, it gently, moving slightly up to trace the outline of her eyes. The star raised her face and opened her eyes, staring straight into my eyes as if she can see.

“I was talking about this star, this very beautiful star, right next to me. It is outshining all the others in the sky, it’s the only one I can see.”

She brought her own hands up to my face, her fingers moving around, tracing the contours. She reached my eyes and hovered her fingers over them. My eyelids fluttered close when she gently touched them.

“No, Jessi.” Tiffany retracted her hands from my face and placed one over mine on her own face. She took the hand and pressed a light kiss onto the palm. “Even if I can’t see anything else, I can see your love.”

She brought my hand down to her chest and placed it upon her beating heart. “And I can feel it here.”

Tiffany let go of my hand to take the whole of me instead. “So Jessi, don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’m still yours. I will still love you.”

“Let’s stay like this forever?”

“Forever is a long time, we shouldn’t make promises that we can’t keep… But this, you and me? Forever and always.”

~~

Narrator’s POV

It was already well into the night, around 10 pm perhaps, when Jessica rejoined the party downstairs after tucking her sleeping honey into her bed. Tiffany seemed to have been tired out by the emotional roller coaster she rode today. She had fallen asleep while clinging onto Jessica and it took the blonde girl a lot of effort carrying her girlfriend down from the rooftop. Jessica made a mental note to tell Yuri to take her when she goes working out at the gym with Yoona and Hyoyeon as she descended the stairs.

Oh and I need to grow taller too, so that I’ll be exactly the same height as Tiff. Maybe I should ask Taeyeon for some hints. Wait, her methods are obviously ineffective; she hasn’t grown an inch since high school. Still, won’t hurt right? Maybe Tiff won’t like it though? She said once that I’m at the perfect height for her to kiss me. Oh.. her kisses…

So absorbed she was in her thoughts, still savoring the sweet scent of Tiffany and the delicious taste of her lips, that Jessica did not notice a taller version of herself come flying at her. Something wet and gooey came into contact with her pretty face with a splat. The pretty face distorted into a scowl, less pleasant looking now. Before Jessica could register what hit her face, Krystal answered for her.

“That hit was epic!” Krystal high-fived her partners in crime, Yoona and Yuri, and turned back to her sister to laugh more in her face. “Haha! Cakeface!”

Finally regaining her senses, Jessica immediately got into action, flying at her sister with hands outstretched.

“You little RASCAL!” She wiped the cream and bits of cake off her face and flung them at Krystal, who ran away to hide behind the two fellow pranksters.

“UNNIE, it was just a joke!”

“Joke, my !”

“Come on Sica-unnie…”

“Loosen up a little…”

Yuri’s taunting tone faded off with a gulp shared with Yoona. Jessica was now facing them with a smirk that meant nothing but trouble.

“Loosen up huh?”

The two troublemakers were not given a chance to respond; Jessica attacked them with her cream-covered hands. Yoona and Yuri stared at the smugly grinning girl in front of them who was clearly enjoying their shocked and messy faces.

“Why are you still standing there? Want more?” Jessica asked them with a smirk and sauntered towards the two while shaking a bottle of soda in her hand.

“KYAAAA!!!” Yoona and Yuri immediately turned around and ran around the room together, Jessica chasing them.

From the other side of the room, Krystal had found another prey with her creamy hands. Sulli almost choked on her drink when she felt something cold, wet, and slimy trail down her back. When she turned around, she was stopped by two dirty palms in her face. Krystal chuckled when Sulli threw her hands off her face and shivered from the disgusting feeling of the ice cube that she had put into Sulli’s shirt.

“You meanie!” Sulli wiped her face with her hands before running after Krystal to get revenge.

Krystal ran straight towards the other chasing party but was able to turn last minute so that she was in stride with Yoona and Yuri. Unfortunately however, Sulli ended up crashing into Jessica who threw her open bottle of soda onto the younger girl, surprised by the side tackle.

Both girls couldn’t control their momentum so they fell down onto the ground together. “Omo! Unnie, I’m so sorry!”

Sulli immediately rolled off her best friend’s sister and apologized, sitting up. But Jessica was laughing too hard to be able to reply. Waving off the apology lightly, she got up and even helped Sulli up. Upon seeing the terrible states of their clothing, Jessica abruptly stopped laughing. Yoona and Yuri did not even have time to react when Jessica twirled around and held them in a tight headlock.

“It’s all your fault. You two clean up the mess.” The two were dragged to the storeroom where the mops are kept. The kids stood around, not knowing what to do with the sudden change of mood, but they felt relieved when Jessica turned her head to give her sister a wink.

“Sorry guys, my sister is bipolar.” Krystal rolled her eyes and exaggerated a sigh.

“Come on, you should wash the cream off and change if you don’t want to get sick.” She beckoned Sulli over to her, pointedly staring at the girl’s white shirt that had turned purple.

“And whose fault was it?” The tone was accusing, but playful as Sulli bounced over to her friend, hooking her arm through the younger’s.

“I wanted you to be sweeter.” Krystal answered with a wink when they were out of earshot of the two boyfriends. “The stain will come off anyway.”

“You’ll take responsibility if it doesn’t?” Sulli headed straight to the closet after Krystal the lights of her bedroom, searching through the pile of clothes for her own clothes that she had left behind to use when she stays over. She pulled her wet T-shirt over her head and wore her pink pajama top, not noticing Krystal uncomfortably staring at the top of her chest as she was busy buttoning up.

“I’ve been taking responsibility of you since forever.” Krystal mumbled, but then covered up by changing the topic and pushing a towel into the latter’s face to prevent Sulli from seeing her guilty red face. “I think you would should wipe the cream off before washing your face.”

“Gosh, wait a minute, will ya?” To make things worse, Sulli had to stop buttoning to grab the towel and she noticed the flushed face of the girl in front of her. “Why are you so red? Are you sick?”

“NO!” Krystal stuffed the towel back into Sulli’s face. “You clean up. I’ll button your shirt for you.”

Sulli frowned at her friend’s weird behavior, but she put it down to the late night and the one too many sodas they drank. Still unaware of the effect her bared skin and close proximity on Krystal, she happily conceded to the request, allowing the girl’s trembling fingers to finish the buttons. Krystal, on the other hand, did not know whether she was in hell or heaven. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen Sulli undressed before; they even used to bathe together when they were young and it wasn’t uncommon to change in front of each other even to this age. But it had become different when Krystal realized that Sulli wasn’t just a friend or a sister. That had changed a lot of things—at least for Krystal—and brought a great deal of trouble and awkwardness for both girls.

Krystal bit down on her bottom lip to lessen the shaking of her nervous fingers so that they won’t accidently brush against the exposed skin and she commanded her eyes to look away, but her body didn’t seem to give a sh*t to what her brain was commanding. Her fingers quaked to move closer and just touch the soft milky skin. Fortunately (her heart said ‘unfortunately’), she had already reached the top final button and Krystal dropped her hands back to her sides with a sigh of relief and exasperation mixed.

“D-done!” Stuttering, she moved away to calm her racing heart before she has to face Sulli again. But Sulli also decided to be done at the same time.

“It’s good to finally have this icky stuff off.” Sulli smiled very widely in gratitude, her eyes curving down into pretty crescents that rooted the younger girl to the floor, eyes fixed on the other pair of smiling eyes.

Krystal found herself staring again, this time the puffy cheeks that were bright pink from being rubbed too hard, or specifically the remaining of cream left on Sulli’s right cheek. Before she realized what she was doing, Krystal found herself moving forward to wipe the cream off. But it wasn’t her hand that she decided to use.

Sulli choked on her breath, her heart jumping into , when she felt Krystal holding her steady by the shoulders and something warm and wet sliding across the bottom of her cheek, stopping right at the edge of her lips. Krystal had her eyes closed. She slightly parted her lips, away the sweet cream, and ended with her lips pressed to the corner of Sulli’s mouth.

Sulli jerked back in realization when Krystal stopped moving. “W-what are you doing?!”

Krystal’s wide eyes mirrored her own shock, but they fleeted away, narrowing with the well-known smirk. The younger girl hid away behind her cool exterior again. “You left some cream.”

Sulli couldn’t comprehend the situation. It was simply too much to take in. What the heck just happened? Was Krystal just joking around again? And if she was, then why does the joke seem so serious this time round? Why wasn’t she looking straight back at her? What was this gnawing emotion in the pit of Sulli’s stomach? So many questions, but Sulli couldn’t think straight, especially when Krystal was standing so close that their noses would brush against each other if they even slightly fidgeted.

Thinking that having some space would clear her head, Sulli took a big step back, only to the back of her shin against the edge of Krystal’s bed. Because she had moved too fast, too abruptly, the collision made Sulli lose balance and fall down flat onto her back, dragging Krystal down with her as she had grabbed her in an attempt to stabilize. Krystal tried to break the fall but instead sank into the soft mattress and thus into Sulli.

Her face was once again only a millimeter away from Sulli’s. And her lips were pressed against the other girl’s. Sulli let out a startled gasp, partially from the fall and partially from the accidental kiss, and her wide eyes grew bigger. But Krystal had her trapped between her arms, and she decided to let her heart lead. She parted again and delicately the girl’s lips. Her heart fluttered and fireworks exploded in her mind. Sulli was so sweet, just how Krystal always imagined her to be.

Sulli, in the meantime, felt a jolt of what seemed like electricity go up her spine at the thought of Krystal kissing her, and involuntarily closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the girl on top of her, reciprocating the intimate action. It was too perfect: the kiss so gentle, the lips so soft, the arms so warm, the embrace so secure, the taste so sweet…

Sweet. Sulli’s eyes reopened in alarm at the thought. How can it be perfect? Krystal was kissing her! What about Minho and Taemin?!

A/N: this is a real update.