“A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And then you have to put it back into the sky. And it's the most painful thing you'll ever have to do and that you've ever done. But what's yours is yours. Whether it’s up in the sky or here in your hands. And one day, it'll fall from the sky and hit you in the head real hard and that time, you won't have to put it back in the sky again.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

Tiffany thumped her fingers on the table, whilst Seohyun was busy reading the storybook she found in the doctor’s room.

After a few moments, a young woman dressed in a white coat entered the room. Tiffany stood up and bowed at the doctor.

The doctor bowed back at her. “Please take a seat Tiffany.” She said before taking her own seat across Tiffany and Seohyun.

“Good afternoon Seohyun! You seemed to be a little busy there?” The doctor said whilst observing Seohyun, whose face was hidden because of the book she was clutching.

“Hyoyeon Unnie!” Seohyun plopped down the book and ran beside the doctor.

“You’re very lively now, huh?” Hyoyeon said and patted the child’s head.

Tiffany and Hyoyeon were classmates in high school, along with Taeyeon and Taeyeon’s bestfriend, Sunny. They were the closest of friends, but Tiffany seemed to drift away ever since Taeyeon was gone. Hyoyeon and Sunny understood and gave her time.

“It’s a relief that Seohyun barely had sudden attacks now, though she still frequently has difficulty in breathing.” Tiffany stated and smiled.

Hyoyeon nodded and turned at the girl beside her. “That’s good Seohyun-ah!” she held the child by the waist. “We just need to admit her here for a week for observation and daily check-ups.”

“How long do we need to do this?” Tiffany inquired.

“When she stopped having any kinds of attacks and stopped having those difficulties in breathing.” Hyoyeon stated before turning on the hospital’s telephone to call a nurse who will accompany Seohyun.

After a few moments, the nurse entered the room and took Seohyun with her.

“Tiffany…” Hyoyeon called after the nurse and Seohyun left. “How are you?”

“Just the usual.” Tiffany shrugged. “I’m glad that Seohyun is slowly getting better. Taeyeon’s heart suits her.”

“But how about you? What about..” Hyoyeon pointed at Tiffany’s chest before continuing, “..your heart?”

Hyoyeon was really concerned for Tiffany. Since Taeyeon’s accident, she became distant and hid herself off at the island. She became emotionless.

Tiffany merely shrugged.

“Fany-ah, how long are you going to be like this?” Hyoyeon chuckled and looked at her friend with full of concern. She then opened her drawer and grabbed the small metal object.

Tiffany looked down when she felt Hyoyeon’s hand on hers. The coldness of the metal key filled her palm as Hyoyeon pulled her hand away.

“What’s this?” Tiffany asked.

“It’s time to face everything, Fany-ah. You can’t be like this forever. Let out your emotions. At least cry or something! You can even punch me and Sunny! Just let out everything that you’ve been keeping inside your heart for the last two years…”

Tiffany focused her gaze at the cold metal in her hand. Her fingers traced the carved characters on its keychain.

Room 427…. Tiffany clearly knew what is awaiting her if she goes inside that room again.

oOo

The afternoon sun illuminated the whole city, whilst the cool spring breeze made the city serene.

“Yul!!!” the young lady waved her long arms in the air.

Yuri turned in circles and searched for the familiar voice. The coffee shop was crowded. Too many customers blocked her view.

“Yuri!” the girl shouted even louder. When her friend still couldn’t notice her, she decided to stand up and jump whilst waving her arms up in the air.

“Sooyoung!” Yuri finally found the jumping girl and half-jogged toward her table.

Sooyoung welcomed her in a tight hug. “Yah! Why are you so blind? Can’t you see my long arms?” she pulled away from the hug and waved her long arms in the air.

“You think too highly of your arms.” Yuri chuckled and took a seat. Sooyoung did the same across her.

“Yah! Are you underestimating my long arms?!” Sooyoung scoffed and took a bite of her cinnamon.

“You could’ve stood up from the very beginning you know.” Yuri sneered and turned to look at their table. “Yah! Why are there so many foods?! Is there a feast or something?!”

“You said it’s your treat, that’s why I made the most out of it.” Sooyoung said whilst was still filled with food.

“What a shikshin!” Yuri sighed and smirked at the sight of her food-obsessed friend.

Sooyoung creased her brows then leaned across Yuri and put the back of her hand on Yuri’s forehead.

“Yah! What are you doing?!” Yuri swatted away Sooyoung’s hand.

“I was just checking if you have acquired some typhoid fever or what.” Sooyoung said, leaning back down on her seat.

“What? Why? Are you a doctor now?” Yuri raised a brow on her friend.

“You would usually scold me whenever I order too much food, and whenever I talk while my mouth is still full.” Sooyoung stated, taking another bite of her bread. “Like right now. But you didn’t.”

“I guess I just miss you too much that I can’t even scold you.”

Sooyoung almost choked at Yuri’s statement and coughed bits of her bread. She took a sip of her iced coffee and swallowed hard before answering. “Oh my God who are you?! Where is Kwon Yuri?! What did you do to my best friend?!”

“Such an overreacting shikshin.” Yuri mocked and bit her share of the bread.

Sooyoung pondered for a moment whilst munching off her bread. “You were only like this calm and cheesy Yul when you had your first girlfriend which was years ago.” Sooyoung tilted her head as she thought further.

“YAH!” Sooyoung shouted and pounded the table with her palms, making the customers look at their direction. Sooyoung noticed the number of eyes glued to her and she just bowed and mouthed an apology.

“What?!” Yuri was also shocked and almost jumped at her seat from her best friend’s sudden reaction.

“You’ve found a girlfriend in that island?! That fast?!” Sooyoung exclaimed.

“Girlfriend?? What are you talking about?!”

“If not, then you like someone, right?!”

Yuri just glared at her friend with a confused expression.

“I knew it!” Sooyoung snapped her fingers. “It is either you don’t want to admit it to me, or you just haven’t realized that you actually liked that person.” She observed her puzzled friend. “I guess I’ll go with the latter.”

Yuri was about to retort when her phone went off. “Yeobosaeyo?”

Sooyoung continued to finish off the foods, whilst hearing a bunch of ‘Okay’ ‘Yes’ and ‘Got it’ from her friend talking on the phone.

“Who was that?” Sooyoung asked as Yuri placed the phone back inside her pocket.

“Chief Lee. He’s asking me if we’ve already met and talked about the papers.”

“Oh yeah. Back to business.” Sooyoung cleaned her hand from crumbs and pulled out an envelope from her bag. “I have transferred your cases to my name. But, this one is a little complicated. It still needs approval from the hospital.”

Yuri extended her hand to reach the envelope. She pulled out the papers and scanned it. “Okay. I’ll go to Seoul Hospital later.” She said, putting the papers back inside.

“That fast? You don’t want to rest first or something? I mean, you just arrived here last night.”

“I’ll just rest after the work is done.”

“Oh yeah.. Sure. Whatever.” Sooyoung shrugged, knowing how stubborn Yuri is. “Yah! I thought you’ll stay at my apartment?! Why did you suddenly end up in a hotel?”

“I-Uh….” Yuri stuttered, racking her brain for an excuse. “I just don’t like to bother you… I guess..” her sentence sounded like a question.

Sooyoung stared at Yuri intently. She was like looking through her soul. It’s not likely for Yuri to worry about bothering her since they were best friends for ages. “Yah! Are you hiding something from me? Are you with someone?!”

Yuri was caught off guard, she suddenly thought of Tiffany. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of Tiffany since they have just coincidentally met at the train station. But she didn’t want to lie at her best friend either.

“Just a friend.” She pretended to look at her watch and stood up. “Gotta go! I’ll call you!” Yuri walked away before her friend could bombard her with numerous questions that she wouldn’t be able to answer.

oOo

Tiffany stood frozen in front of the white door. She couldn’t move a muscle.

She heaved a deep breath to ready herself, and slowly forced her arm to move toward the doorknob.

Her palm stung at the touch of the cold metal, she felt the coldness creeping up through her veins. She clenched her fists tightly, slowly inserting the key and twisting the metal knob in her hand.

The door creaked open. And there she was, welcomed by the familiar scent, by the familiar sight.

The room was empty, with an empty bed in the middle, surrounded by white walls and yellow curtains covering the glass windows.

Tiffany clenched her fists in anticipation, her knuckles turning white.

Every step she took was equivalent to a stab in her whole being. She felt like she was walking on thorns.

The coldness of the room made her every stab in her soul feel worse.

The emptiness of the room drained all of her.

Tiffany dropped the phone in her trembling hand, she felt her knees weaken, everything around her became blurry. She placed her hand on the cold marble wall for support, as if it is her lifeline.

She was devastated. She wanted all of this to be a dream.

Her chest became heavy. Her tears overflowed from her blurry vision.

‘Umma!’ Seohyun came rushing to her side as she slowly let weak body fall down on the carpeted floor.

‘T-Taeyeon-ah..’ She called for her, which was the only thing that mattered to her the most during that time.

Her knees weakened. She couldn’t contain the surge of memories inside of her. She felt suffocated. She needed to get away from there.

Tiffany hastily ran toward the door. And when she reached the hallway, her whole body surrendered. She let her body fall on the cold ground. Slumped against the marble wall, she looked at the metal chairs ahead of her.

Tiffany blankly stared at the white wall of the hospital whilst slumped on the metal chair for hours, not even daring to move a single muscle.

Loud cries from the room beside her echoed through the hallway, but she can’t be one of those cries anymore, she was too drained and exhausted to cry.

No, she will not enter that room. She wasn’t ready. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.

She believes that all of these were just a nightmare, and she would be back in Taeyeon’s arms, comforting her, giving her warmth.

She wanted the melody to play inside her head, but it wouldn’t, it couldn’t.

Tiffany felt the familiar coldness engulfing her whole being as she buried her face in her knees. Tears were rummaging down on her face. She wrapped her arms around her knees, yet she still felt the unbearable coldness.

Her whole being was aching for warmth. But there’s no more Taeyeon.

She hugged herself tighter. She must endure it alone.

Then suddenly, a pair of arms surrounded her, engulfing her with warmth. She felt like she was dreaming. She doesn’t want to open her eyes yet, afraid that she would wake up from this beautiful dream.

When Taeyeon left, Tiffany didn’t think that she would be able feel this warmth ever in her life again.

The familiar melody subconsciously played in her mind, in her heart.

And it saved her.

oOo

The bright moon along with the twinkling stars enlightened the dark sky. The spring breeze blew, making the night chilly.

Tiffany looked at the glimmering lights from the skyscrapers which surrounded them, feeling even calmer after her breakdown earlier. Her eyes still sting from crying for almost an hour.

Yuri just knew that Tiffany cried because of Taeyeon, but that is all. She didn’t know everything, she didn’t ask though her curiosity was killing her – no, maybe it’s not just plain curiosity… it’s mixed with concern.

“It’s beautiful, right?”

Tiffany turned to look at the girl leaning on the railings beside her. She nodded and looked up at the vast sky.

“Thank you, Yuri.”

“For what?”

“For everything… You didn’t know but today, you saved me.”

Yuri didn’t know how to respond. She felt the innermost sincerity in Tiffany’s words.

She just observed the girl who was looking up to the stars, taking a mental picture of her perfect side profile.

“Let’s make a wish.”

“Huh?” Tiffany turned her head at Yuri then back to the sky. “But there’s no shooting star.”

“Still, stars are stars.”

Tiffany let out a laugh at Yuri’s logic. “Well then, it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Yuri smiled and closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her.

Tiffany watched Yuri and did the same.

Honestly, Tiffany didn’t know what to wish for. She could just wish for Taeyeon to come back, but it was like wishing for nothing.

Tiffany suddenly felt warmth around her body. She opened her eyes and looked at Yuri beside her.

“What are you doing?”

“Keeping us warm.” Yuri continued on putting the other end of her coat around Tiffany’s body, whilst the other end surrounded her. She silently thanked her coat for being oversized.

Tiffany tensed; their arms were rubbing against each other under the oversized coat. She has never been this close to Yuri.

Yuri didn’t know what came up to her to have the courage to be this close to Tiffany. She felt Tiffany’s tensed body. “Relax. I just didn’t want to get both of us sick.”

And with that, Tiffany relaxed her tensed shoulders and heaved a deep breath.

“Have you made your wish?”

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Tiffany closed her eyes again and clasped her hands tighter. She felt the warmth engulfing her, the same kind of warmth she missed and dreaded for years.

‘Please don’t take away this warmth from me.’

Tiffany wished in her mind. She didn’t care if keeping that warmth would mean keeping Yuri with her. All she wanted right now was for this feeling to never leave her again.

She opened her eyes and turned to face Yuri, who was already looking at her.

“Yah! Were you watching me this whole time?”

“Errr… I’m afraid you just caught me…”

“Yah! Creeper!”

Yuri laughed out loud.

“Now, what’s funny?”

“I don’t know! You were just so immersed whilst making your wish I thought you have fallen asleep already!”

“Yah! Stop teasing!”

“Okay… I’ll stop now… Miyoung!”

Tiffany’s eyes grew round. “Yah! Where did you know my Korean name?!”

“I heard it from your loud best friend!”

“That loud sleepy cucumber freak!” Tiffany cursed under her breath. “Yah Officer Kwon, better stop now and save some of your dignity.”

“I wouldn’t mind losing it whilst teasing Miyoungieeee~” Yuri let her tongue out.

Instead of being annoyed, Tiffany laughed out loud at Yuri’s playfulness. “I didn’t expect a police officer like you to be such a kid! This is really amusing!”

Yuri chuckled. “Just wanna cheer you up!”

Tiffany blushed, she was touched by Yuri’s small yet meaningful efforts.

Both calmed down from their teasing and looked at the bright stars above them.

Tiffany remembered her wish earlier, which unknowingly involved Yuri. She then wondered what the latter wished for.

“What did you wish for?”

“If I tell you, it will not come true then.”

“Yuri…” Tiffany turned to face Yuri who also did the same.

“Hmmm?” Yuri stared at Tiffany’s eyes, sensing her seriousness.

“Thank you.” Tiffany said those two words full of genuineness.

She really felt light-hearted whenever Yuri is around, which none of her friends managed to do ever since Taeyeon was gone.

Yuri was speechless again at Tiffany’s words. Those were only two words but the way Tiffany said it made it much more meaningful than any proverb she had read in her life.

She just stared at Tiffany, when the latter did something that caused her mind to go in circles.

Tiffany smiled.

The smile that was different from her other smiles.

The smile that reached her eyes, turning them into lovely crescents.

The smile that made her knees and her heart weak.

The smile that could melt her soul at that very moment.

Yuri was still in dazed, she felt hypnotized; she just wanted to stare at the eye-smiling Tiffany forever.

The stars above twinkled brightly… Wishes do come true….

AN:
Yay Yuri finally made Tiffany smile sincerely :")
And now you all know whose heart is in Seohyun's?
Aaaand did you get what Yuri wished for? kekeke~
Thank you guys! Please don't forget to comment ♥