The Mall Pt. 1

Yuri was intently looking through a rack of blouses while Taeyeon was sifting through a pile of t-shirts, hoping to find one in her size.

“Any luck in finding anything?”

“No. Maybe I should try another section.”

“Yeah, maybe we can try a different store. This place doesn’t look like it has a kids section.”

“Yah!”

Taeyeon ran up to Yuri and hit her arm.

“Huh? What was that? Did a mosquito just bite me?”

Yuri let out a light chuckle. Taeyeon smacked Yuri’s arm again while sporting a smile on her face.

Taeyeon couldn’t believe she was actually ditching classes. At first she was terrified when Yuri took her hand and guided her through the back of the school. After many countless attempts of throwing their backpacks over and climbing the brick wall, they were able to navigate their way to the subway and eventually made it to the famous underground mall in Seoul.

Taeyeon’s first thought about the mall was nothing less of pure amazement. She couldn’t believe the vast amounts of stores around her. In Jeonju, when Taeyeon wanted to buy some clothes, she would go to the local department store or visit one of the outdoor markets. This was her first time to see rows of stores selling many items from dresses, to books, to cell phone accessories, to even gag gifts.

Yuri suggested checking out a random clothing store that was having a sale and they spent about half an hour browsing through countless pants and shirts, one shirt in particular had a frilly heart on it. As they were looking around, Taeyeon was a little worried that people would wonder why they were not in school right now. Obviously Yuri and Taeyeon’s book bags would be a big indicator of them being students.

“Hey Yuri, aren’t you worried people would know we’re skipping school? I think our backpacks are a dead giveaway.”

Yuri was shaking her hand as she also shaked her head. “Don’t worry about it. If anyone asks, school ended early and we attend school outside of Seoul. Easy.”

Still feeling uneasy, Taeyeon just nodded her head hesitantly. “If you say so, but if it looks like someone calls the truancy police on us, we have to get out of this place ASAP, okay? I don’t want my mom to know I was ditching during my first week of school.”

“Yeah, yeah Miss Worrywart, don’t you worry your cute little head. I’ll have you know I’ve never been caught ditching while I was here. Well, not yet at least, hee hee.”

Taeyeon’s eyes were wide open as Yuri was giggling to herself. “Caught yet? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Releasing a sigh, Yuri walked behind the blonde and patted her back lightly. “Would you relax? You need to lighten up and have fun. Life’s too short to be worrying about the ‘what ifs’. Just enjoy the moment for now and even if we do get caught, it won’t be the end of the world.”

“I guess you’re righ-”

“Of course I’m right! Now quit worrying and let’s go to the changing room. I want to try on a few things. Oh and don’t worry, I chose a few things you could try on as well.”

Without even thinking, Yuri once again grabbed onto Taeyeon’s wrist as she was skipping to the nearest changing room with Taeyeon trying to keep up.

“Yuri! Can you stop skipping and act normal, please? People around us are starting to stare.”

Yuri continued her childish walk as she was snickering at Taeyeon’s embarrassment.

“Aww, is Eomma Yul embarrassing her little Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon could feel her face beginning to redden.

“Don’t be embarrassed Taeyeon. You don’t know those people and they don’t know you. Their opinions of you should only matter if they’re someone you care about. Do you care about them?”

“Well no but…”

“Exactly. That’s your second lesson of the day. Don’t think about other people’s judgments. Unless they play a big part of your life, you shouldn’t worry about their opinions.”

Yuri had a point. Ever since elementary school, Taeyeon has always been cautious to how people would perceive her. Now the question was, why is Yuri giving her lifelong moral advice? When did Yuri become her life coach?

Before Taeyeon could ponder the thought, she found herself in a small room with 2 changing rooms available.

“All right, it looks like it’s just us here. Here you go.” Yuri handed Taeyeon what looked to be a black sleeveless shirt. It had black and white stripes on the collar and 4 black straps that went across the tummy area. “I just know you will look cute in that top.”

“Thanks.” Taeyeon took the shirt from Yuri. She was making her way to one of the empty rooms as she was inspecting the expensive looking shirt.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Taeyeon stopped for a minute and looked at Yuri questioningly. “I’m going to go change into the shirt.”

A mischievous grin appeared on Yuri’s face as she slowly started walking towards the confused girl. “Don’t you want to change in front of me? We can share the same changing room.” Yuri her lips seductively and Taeyeon just had a look of shock.

“Yah! Stop having byuntae thoughts and go change! I’m not a ert like you.”

“Hahahaha, I was only kidding Taeyeon.” Yuri made her way inside her own changing room and stuck her head outside the door. “No peeking.”

“Yah!” Yuri quickly closed her door as her snickering could still be heard.

Taeyeon just shook her head at her friend’s antics as she also walked in and locked the door of her changing room. She knew Yuri wasn’t being serious, but if she was… then it might be a problem. She didn’t want to see Yuri as nothing else but a good friend. Taeyeon learned from the past and had no intention to repeat it.

“So Taeyeon, since we’re both here let’s talk for a little bit. Tell me about yourself”

Taeyeon just slipped the shirt off of its hook. “What?”

“We only just met each other recently and there’s still so much I don’t know about you. So tell me about yourself, what makes Kim Taeyeon click?”

The sounds of hangers clanking and fabric moving could be heard from the room next door.

“There’s not much to say. I’m originally from Jeonju so I’m not used to the city life yet. I live with my mom and my dad lives in Busan. My parents aren’t divorced, but my dad lives far because of his work. I don’t have any siblings, I like puppies, and I’m new in school. Yeah, it’s not very exciting.”

“No, no. It’s very interesting. Do you have any hobbies?”

Taeyeon had to think about that for a minute. Taeyeon actually had a few weird hobbies. Even though she did normal things like watch TV, read books, and go on YouTube, she would never tell Yuri about her embarrassing ‘guilty pleasure’.

“Umm, I like to go on the internet.”

“And do what? Watch ? Hahahaha”

It felt like Taeyeon’s heart was just squeezed. How the hell did Yuri hit the nail on the head? Just to play it off, Taeyeon laughed nervously saying “what? Never! You’re the one who probably does.”

“Well if we’re being honest I have seen it before. It’s not really my thing, but I think it’s kind of funny.”

Is she serious? She just admitted that naturally as if she was talking about the weather. Wow, this girl really is something else.

Taeyeon couldn’t believe Yuri was so honest because never in a hundred years would she admit to something like that. Unless of course she was stuffed in a locker against her will and was forced to tell.

“Enough about me, how about you Yuri? Tell me about yourself.”

“Hmm, where to begin? Well I live in the same apartment as you, but I actually live alone.”

Taeyeon stopped what she was doing. “Wait a minute, you live by yourself?”

“Yup, I’ve living by myself since high school.”

“But what about your parents? How can they just leave you in an apartment by yourself?”

“Well my family actually lives far away. My parents wanted me to go to Soshi High since its one of the best schools in the country. Problem was that it was too far away. My parents couldn’t just move closer to the school, nor could I take the subway everyday and commute. Originally I was going to live with a family friend at her apartment, but she didn’t have any room for me. So they decided to rent out a place for me next to my family friend’s room. She would usually come over to cook me dinner which is nice.”

Taeyeon was staring at the floor, trying to comprehend what her friend was saying. She had no idea Yuri lived alone in that big apartment by herself. Her living room and kitchen was well maintained, unlike her bedroom. Maybe her family friend helps to keeps those rooms tidy.

“Wow, I never knew. I just assumed your parents were at work and were coming back later.”

“Heh, I usually don’t tell people since they might get the wrong impression. But yeah, that’s how I’m living now. Plus it’s not like I cut off contact from my family. I usually visit them once in a while and sometimes go back home for holidays. That is if they’re not working.”

“Even so if you ever need anything, me and my mom would be more than happy to help.”

There was a slight pause in Yuri’s changing room.

“Thanks Taeyeon. I really appreciate it.”

It was the least she could do. Even though she only just met Yuri yesterday, Taeyeon was taught to always offer a lending hand to whoever might need it. In Yuri’s case, she might need all the help she can. Then again, she’s been living away from her family for the past 3 years so she’s probably used to it.

“Okay Taeyeon, I’m done. Let’s show each other our outfits.”

Taeyeon managed to adjust her collar as she walked out of the changing room.

“I found these sunglasses near the rack and I think they help pull the outfit together.

Taeyeon’s mouth suddenly went dry. Yuri came out in a small black shirt that was just covering her chest. She wore a small military like jacket over her shirt and there was a long cape behind. In addition, she wore matching green short shorts and a pair of big black sunglasses. Yuri was pulling off a cool/y look. But the clothes were not what were getting Taeyeon’s attention.

Her eyes were glued to Yuri’s stomach. The girl had toned abs that were to die for. Taeyeon was starting to have fantasies of herself tracing her finger across those abs.

Oh no… calm down Taeyeon, calm down… Yes she looks really y right now, especially with those shorts and how her is just hugging the… NO! You are NOT going to have anymore byun thoughts about Yuri! Just look at her eyes and nothing else. Look at her eyes

Look at her eyes.

As if forcing herself, Taeyeon averted her gaze towards Yuri’s spectacle covered eyes. At the corner of her sight, Taeyeon could barely make out Yuri’s finely toned body but was holding herself back.

“What do you think? I don’t think I would wear it out in public. It doesn’t really cover much.” Yuri was inspecting herself while keeping her hands on her stomach.

Don’t say it’s y

“It looks - uh I mean it looks seu… umm”

Damn it Taeyeon!

“I was going to say a word that sounded like y, but wasn’t y. What I meant to say was you look amajjing.” Taeyeon forced herself to grin.

Smooth Kim, very smooth…

“Aww thanks Taeyeon. You look very cute in that top too. I could just eat you up!”

As if on cue, Taeyeon started to blush again. Normally Taeyeon didn’t have much fashion sense so she never really tried wearing really stylish clothes. The fact that Yuri thought she was cute in these types of clothes made Taeyeon feel embarrassed.

“No, I’m not that cute. You on the other hand look y.”

Taeyeon wished she could take those words back. She was mentally smacking her head in regret. She just told herself she wasn’t going to call Yuri y in order to not give Yuri the wrong impression.

“Haha, now I know that’s a lie, but I appreciate the compliment. By the way, why don’t we change back into our normal clothes and get you that ice cream I promised? I don’t know about you, but today’s lunch didn’t really fill me up.”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you in a minute.”

In a single moment Taeyeon turned around and shut the door quickly so she didn’t catch another glance of Yuri’s abs. She didn’t want to encourage her temptation.

Eventually they changed back into their normal clothes and were on their way to the ice cream parlor near the food court. According to Yuri they served a really fancy ice cream called gelato and had a lot of unique and interesting flavors.

“I’ve only been there a few times, but one of my favorite flavors was this chocolate banana-”

Yuri was caught off guard as she felt her backpack being pulled back forcefully. She looked to her right to see Taeyeon was pulling her back behind an advertisement banner near a makeup store.

“Taeyeon, what the fu-” Taeyeon placed a finger on Yuri’s lips as she was trying to keep Yuri quiet.

“Don’t move too quickly, but take a peek to the booth about 6 stores down. I think we’re in trouble.”

Doing as she was told, Yuri continued to crouch with Taeyeon and slowly peeked her head from the banner. Taeyeon was doing the same above her. Yuri couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Of all the places they had to go to…

A few stores away from them, a girl with long blonde hair was busy playing a game on her cell phone while a lot of shopping bags were lying near her feet. Next to her a familiar brunette had her hands on the booth in front of her as she was giving the elderly booth owner a death glare.

“What do you mean it’s impossible?!”

안녕! (annyeong)! Okay now you might be thinking to yourself "Tasihi, what kind of chapter was that? Tiffany was barely mentioned at the end!" Well let me explain myself patient reader. Originally this chapter was going to be posted with over 20 pages. Instead of posting it all in one chapter and making you readers constantly scroll down, I took it upon myself to break it up into 3 parts. So technically I didn't lie when I said Tiffany was going to be in this chapter. But enough of my ramblings. I plan to post part 2 ASAP. Remember comments are well appreciated!

Just in case you're curious, this is the outfit Taeyeon tried on.