♫ - If this symbol appears in the passage, you can right click on the accompanied music (open link in new tab) to intensify the mood when reading. 

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Taeyeon noticed the girl was driving in a lower speed now as compared to before which she actually preferred, but still how slow would a sport car can actually go. 

The horror and gory scene which she saw earlier was still fresh in her mind, making her heart thumped rapidly whenever the image of that bald guy flashed through her head. She reckoned the other's deed was maybe due to a mixture of pressure, rage and worries which came crushing her all together, causing her to take it all out to the man. 

Her eyes slowly travelled to the girl beside her, she realized the other had her eyebrows furrowed together, almost losing herself in her fright again.

"Tipani..." She saw dried tears on her cheeks.

When the other was not responding to her, Taeyeon rested her palm onto her left tight, patting her softly to bring her thoughts back to the current.

"Tipani ar..." Taeyeon was starting to get worried about her.

"Hmm?" She finally turned her head after a numerous pats.

"Stay with me, alright?" Taeyeon shifted her body sideways to get a clear view on her expression.

She just nodded her head.

"What is your favorite food?" Taeyeon randomly asked, anything to avoid her from drifting to her thoughts again.

She thought for a little while before answering softly. "Western..." Her voice still contained a slight trace of her cries earlier.

"Pink is your favorite color?" 

She nodded lightly before she slowly opened .

"How... do... you know?" Her after-crying voice made her sounded like a kid who was surprised with the sudden details known.

Taeyeon managed a smile as the other finally responded to her, glad that her attempt actually worked.

"Guess." Taeyeon wanted her to talk more.

She tried to think for an answer but eventually gave up within seconds, shaking her head.

Taeyeon pointed the car interior while looking at her, indicating the color which she mentioned earlier.

"Pink." Taeyeon said while smiling before she pointed towards the bracelet and the sneakers that the other was wearing,

"Pink."

"Pink."

She continued pointed towards the handphone, the sterling wheel,

"Pink. Pink. Pink. Pink. Pink."

She repeated in a playful manner before her eyes accidentally landed onto her luscious lips.

"P—" She found her voice slowly trailed off by its own as she was staring at her luscious, pink lips.

A hue of red slowly garnered on her cheeks, followed by a burning sensation, she quickly turned her head away.

The ambience in the car suddenly turned silent, making the other to look at her.

Taeyeon noticed she was under her gaze before she slowly turned her head, only to find her looking at her curiously, questioning her about the abrupt silent.

"Huh? Ehrm..." She did not dare to meet her eyes. "It's... Ehrm.... Nothing..." She suddenly felt the blouse she wore was too tight and discomforting, feeling the rise of temperature of her surrounding despite sitting in front of the air-conditioner. Her cheeks were still burning that she felt like suffocating the longer she sat in the car.

Luckily, the other didn't say anything nor realized anything, placing her eyes back to the road while continued driving.

Taeyeon quickly adjusted the air-conditioner, making sure it was directed towards her face, she just needed to get rid of the flush on her cheeks.

♫

When they had finally reached the river, Taeyeon realized that the sun was about to set on the horizon, it painted a beautiful sight of the river as the sky emitted a gradation of red and orange.

Taeyeon raised her arms out while feeling a slight breeze of wind blowing over her face, it was soothing and relaxing while she stood rooted beside the car hood. It was as if the wind temporary took her issues away.

She turned her head towards the other girl.

Her eyes were closed while the gentle breeze ruffled the strands of her hair, she looked peaceful at a particular moment, feeling the gentle breeze on her face under the sunset. Taeyeon realized she had been staring at her for the longest time, her eyes, the bridge of her nose, her shoulder, her features were all beautiful. She wished time would stop at this moment to capture this breathless sight in front of her.

When she finally opened her eyes, she took a look at Taeyeon, accidentally making eye contact with her, Taeyeon felt like her heart was going to explode when their eyes met with each other intensely until Taeyeon had to break the contact.

She saw the other girl hopped onto the car hood, letting her legs dangled above the ground while her back facing her, her back was beautiful and mesmerizing, she would continued stared at her while her heart thumped heavily on its own if not for the other girl asked her to join her. 

She followed suit, letting her heart thumped furiously while sitting beside her.

Taeyeon realized the sky was getting darker once the sun disappeared under the horizon, slowly replaced by the illumination of the street and bridge lights, followed by the shops and cafés nearby while the cars started to switch on their headlights.

She looked at the river, the sounds of water gently lapping against each other was soothing to her ears.

"Will you run away if I asked you to?" She asked while looking at the river.

"I..." She knew she should be, every sane person will, every person who wanted to live should do it but not her anymore, not when she first saw her in the alley anymore.

"I... wouldn't..." She looked at the lights on the bridge sadly.

"Why...?" She was unhappy, Taeyeon did not need to look at her to know that she was really upset with her.

"Because I know if you were in my place, you wouldn't." She said while looking down onto the river.

"You don't get it.." She was fighting the urge from breaking down, digging her nails into her palms. "He will kill you without any reason to do so. I was bounded with him, he taught me everything, so I had to follow everything that he said." She finally turned to look at her, her eyes were all teary, "This is who I am, the one that he wanted me to become."

Taeyeon was shocked to hear her opened up so much for the first time.

"I am so sorry..." Her voice faltered as her cheeks slowly covered with moisture. She repeated her words for numerous times, there were so much grief within her, so much sorrow which she had kept for many years.

It hurt her so much to see her so broken and wounded like this.

"You have to leave now..." Her body shook and convulsed as if she had no controlled of it.

Her heart ached at the sight of her.

"Don't..." Taeyeon shook her head and gently placed her palm onto the damp skin of her cheeks.

"I am a malice.."

"Don't..." She gently placed her forefinger onto the other's soft lips before looking into her eyes tenderly, her heart was still hurt from the words she said, "Whatever happens I will still stay... Called me a dumb or a fool, my answer will still be the same."

The girl shook her head at her words, she was afraid of the consequence if the other girl still continued to remain. Her eyes were all red from shedding tears.

"This is what I choose..."

She shook her head.

"When I first saw you, I knew I will have to bear the consequences."

The girl continued shaking her head, until she heard the next sentence which immediately stopped the girl, 

"Remember the words that I said when I was in the alley?"

She remembered.
That two words... The two words that she cannot seem to forget. No matter how much the words didn't make any sense to her over and over whenever she thought of it, the words will always be in her head. 

Taeyeon smiled when she saw the girl's response, knowing how the words affected her.

The two words which left her hanging once she whispered them to her, the words which made her became fragile once she met her.

The way how she tenderly looked at her, her sincere tone, her lack of fear...
The bruises on her neck, the dagger, her shrieks... Her whisper.

They flashed through her mind like a rewind and finally stopped.

Protecting you.

Tiffany felt that the girl in front of her was the dumbest person she ever met in her life, so dumb that it actually hurt to hear her words.

It was always her who brought out this unexplainable emotion that it pained her to perceive her tender gazes, the one who managed to induce this f-ucking weirdness within her, making her so confused and lost again and again.

The one who was now staring at the river.

The cool breeze blew over lightly, ruffling strands of her golden hair, bringing several out of its place without the owner's consciousness.

Her sharp jawline soon became apparent which travelled up towards her ear while her smooth-like marble skin glowed under the moonlight.

The warm touch on her cheeks earlier still lingered when she gently comforted her with her words and tender gestures, making her looking at her with adoration.

The other girl realized the constant gaze on her, turning her head towards her, only to find that the other quickly looked away.

She immediately frowned. "Do you started to resent me?"

She shook her head.

"Are you worrying?"

She paused awhile, it was only half correct, the other half was the one, she herself would only knew.

Taeyeon thought that from her reaction, it would be, so she tried to smile, "Let's talk about happy stuff rather than depressing issue, what do you think?" She wanted her to talk to her again.

She just blankly looked at her as she realized that she didn't have any happy stuff to talk about.

She showed a sad smile to her, hoping she would started talking.

"I don't have any..." She reasoned before she looked back to the lights.

"Clowns?"

"What?" Her eyes went wide, she was surprised on the question popping out from nowhere, "That's unrelated to the topic at all."

"That's not the point." She smiled at her reaction. "The point is you are talking now."

"Alright..." She slowly heaved out a breath with defeat, "You want me to talk?"

"Yep." She answered quirkily while swinging her dangled legs.

Somehow the girl in front of her reminded her of a cute and dainty kid, that she cannot help but to adore her and her personality.

A strong upfront but sometimes delicate inside...

Pretty and petite.

Playful in her own way but managed to convey her message across...

There, she said it. She wondered when did she she ever started thinking of her that way.

The girl looked at her while tilting her head, still waiting for her to say something.

"Are you not afraid?"

She stopped swinging her legs, "Not anymore..." She replied honestly, "At first, yes. But when I got to know more about you, you are not what you seems to be."

"You know what I am talking about..."

She paused awhile.

"I think... I had started to get use to this type of brutal living... Call me crazy..." She tried to joke. "But thanks to someone, anyway..."

She scoffed but there was a slight hint of smile from her. "You already lost when you met me in the alley."

"Yeah..." Her voice trailed off by its own.

"But why that two words?" She looked at her.

"Because your eyes and your actions were contradicting with each other." She did not dare to meet her gaze. "So I thought that there must be a reason behind that."

"You are crazy, you know... Taeyeon..." She shook her head on her ridiculous acts.

"I know..." She whispered to herself.