"...and the past doesn't matter anymore. You're here, I'm here, and for once it feels beautiful..."
 

YoonA heaved a deep sigh as soon as she entered SooYoung's office, followed by a shake of her head seeing the girl's sullen look. Her bestfriend had been devastated and was barely scraping by since she learnt about the truth and YoonA knew SooYoung was blaming herself. The girl stumbled through the prior days, doing her work in a mindless disengaged fashion, staying stubbornly withdrawn as possible.


What made things all the worse was the fact that Tiffany's nowhere to be found. Not in the villa. Not in her condo. Not even in the Hwang's mansion. And the redhead's friends weren't telling anything. They'd been keeping their mouths shut and were somehow mad at SooYoung for hurting their friend.


It had been going on for days now and SooYoung looked like crap when YoonA stepped into her office. The girl was just staring into space, not moving in the slightest. YoonA understood she was having a hard time and felt somewhat guilty about it.


"Hey.." she called out as she sat across SooYoung's desk and the latter somehow snapped out of her trance.


"H-Hey.." SooYoung greeted back and forced a smile, one that didn't even reach her eyes. The doe-eyed felt sorry for her and held the girl's hand.


"It's gonna be alright. You'll see her soon," YoonA said comfortingly then let out a sigh when SooYoung gaped at her hopefully, like she's silently begging for something that only YoonA can give.


YoonA couldn't help raising her hands in resignation. "Fine. You might be thinking that I'm a bad friend cuz I wasn't helping you. But I can't stand it anymore seeing you hurting, Soo. When you're looking such a mess like this," she then sighed once again, "I'll talk to Jessica."


"Or you can just let me talk to her myself.."


"No. You absolutely know she's mad at you. And they're all thinking you're just pursuing to see Tiffany because you wanted that divorce. Aish. Why did you even mention that in the first place? What were you even thinking?"


"I-I was already feeling like the worst person in the world, Yoong. And I really don't need an additional guilt trip from you today," SooYoung drew in a breath dejectedly, "I-It's just that, my emotions got the better of me that time.. I was so badly hurt.."


"And Tiffany wasn't?"


"She was.. She is.. And I.. I-I fully know that now.."


"And you also know you needed to work out that now so you could both move on from the past and stop suffering. Tiffany's been crying. And you must know it's all because of you and that damned divorce thing you mentioned."


YoonA's words landed their mark and SooYoung even lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose the way she did when she was stressed to the limit. 


"I should've known this will all lead to some jibe about me being at fault. And I know I am. That's why I needed to see Tiffany now. I need to see her. To make everything right again. The thought of her hurting because of me.. it kills me, Yoong.."


"And to think you've been hurting her all this time," YoonA quipped sarcastically.


"Yoong!"


"What? I'm afraid I have to make a point, Soo. Now that you already know the truth, it's easier to knock some sense into that thick skull of yours. You have to make it up to Tiffany. I saw how she's trying hard to pull through with everything that has happened. She's been talking about that divorce over and over and I see--"


"What the hell, Yoong?!" SooYoung interjected quizzically, "You saw Tiffany?!"


"What?" YoonA then immediately realized that her big mouth just said things that shouldn't be said. She acted calm and went on, "I didn't say I actually see her. It's Jessica who told--"


"Yoong, I don't need you fooling around with me this time!" someone’s practically growling with rage now, SooYoung realizes. And it’s her. "I'll ask you again, did you see Tiffany?"


YoonA didn't seem to be fazed by the anger, though. She sighed and dared to look straight at SooYoung's blazing eyes, "Jessica told me the other day where you wife is staying. I went to check on her and I had to say, she looked miserable. I talked to her and said that you've been looking for her. She seemed afraid when I told her that. She made me promise not to tell you where she is and I understand where she's coming."


"Im YoonA! There you were saying I should ing fix this now and all along you know where Tiffany is?! You know I've been struggling to see her and--"


"Of course, I know. And I've seen how wretched you were, too. But you both need a little space, SooYoung." YoonA smiled a little and shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I guess we can't stop you anymore from seeing Tiffany. And I'm glad I just made you a little pissed off just now."


SooYoung shot YoonA an incredulous look but didn't say anything.


"Well, you're like a zombie these days with all this drama going on and you barely react on things. So I'm quite pleased I made you a bit mad like that."


"Oh Yoong, just shut up and tell me where Tiffany is before I urge myself to strangle you," SooYoung threatened and YoonA just had to laugh it off.


"TaeYeon's."


"What?!"


"What 'what'? She's staying at TaeYeon's house."
 

***

 

"Tiffany, are you even listening?!" Jessica bellowed irately which startled the zoning redhead and the latter nodded almost absentmindedly in turn.


"Yeah.."


"As I was saying, you should keep your guards up, " Jessica rolled her eyes, "Aish. Now you're saying you don't want to see SooYoung but I'm pretty, and pretty sure that once you see her, you'll came running back at her. Begging for her, all head over heels for her and such."


"N-No, Jessi. I won't be like that anymore.."


"Great. Because I swear if I ever see you cry again because of that girl, God knows what I can do to her."


"Hey.. We're still talking 'bout my wife here," Tiffany protested in a weak voice.


"There you go again! Defending SooYoung when she just hurt like you're just some-- ugh! You shouldn't let her treat you like that. You're stronger than that, Tiff! You are--"


"Yah, Jessi," TaeYeon butted in, cutting the blonde off. "Stop your lecture now and we're gonna be late for the event. Sunny and Hyo are already here." the said two suddenly emerged from the front door wearing casual dresses. They're going on a ribbon-cutting event of their friend Hyomin's restaurant opening but they can't convince Tiffany to go with them. They even said that they could stay but the girl insisted that they should go.


"You sure you're not coming, Tiff?" Sunny asked one more time, "You know, you should go out once in a while. I think we'll enjoy there since celebrities were also invited."


Tiffany shook her head stubbornly and grinned, "Guys, I'll be fine here. I'll just watch movies and wait until you all come back. No need to worry.." she said in a jolly tone but the girls knew better. Yet, they can't do a thing about it.


They tried to hold their sighs and bid their goodbyes to Tiffany as the latter waved at them and closed the door.




Tiffany then paced across the living room and settled herself on the couch, sighing heavily. Now, she regrets not going with her friends since she doesn't have any idea what to do alone in the huge house. She really doesn't feel like watching movies and by actually staying there by herself, doing nothing, all the dreaded thoughts came creeping on her brain once again.


But her stupor was interrupted when she heard a car pulled off near the house. TaeYeon's house isn't confined, it doesn't have those walls as confinement, so is a gate but it stretched out prominently as the largest mansion on that village. The midget owns the entire place, actually.


Tiffany thought it was just the girls forgetting something and didn't even move when the doorbell went off, knowing TaeYeon has her own key. The ringing went on and she didn't care at all. Finally, it relented and Tiffany breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing back into the couch.




" it, Tiffany! I know you're in there!"


Tiffany bolted upright. That wasn't TaeYeon's nor the other girls' voice at the door.


"Open this ing door or I'll tear this down!"


Heart pounding, she stood and walked to the door on autopilot. She doesn't know what to do. She just stood there, listening as the person rants at the other side of the door.


"You're stronger than that, Tiff!' Jessica's words then rang in her ears and it only made her unable to think any further. With a deep breath and trembling hands, she unlatched the door and threw it open.




"You're.. really here.."


Tiffany deadpanned and gave the girl a blank stare. But then, the gaze thrown upon made her intimidated and weak like always. "W-What are you d-doing here?" she stammered, eyes dropping to the floor.


SooYoung knew she shouldn't have expected anything before coming to the place considering everything that had happened.


She deserved no better.


Tiffany was clearly hurt. And broken, too. Her eyes were slightly puffy and she had a sad look about her. She's the sole reason, SooYoung knew that.


But, she couldn't just let Tiffany slip away from her, not again.. Not now. Not ever..


"I'm here for you. You're coming home with me now," she muttered firmly and briskly pulled Tiffany towards her.


The action gets a blink, startled flickering of eyelashes like stormclouds in the wind. Tiffany wanted to say so many things. But her breath has tangled up somewhere in and she can’t talk, because that was SooYoung gazing down at her, head tipped in that same scrutinizing manner.


She tried to speak a few times without success, her mind processing what was happening. Then she realized something:


SooYoung was there. For divorce. Only that.


"No. I-I'm not going w-with you," Tiffany finally croaked in a broken voice and got herself out of SooYoung's hold in a haste, stepping back inside the house.


She had a forlorn look in her eyes. Tears wanted to come out, held back by her iron resolve. The invisible tears drowned her broken heart, but they would not show themselves. She couldn't be vulnerable ever again. She had promised herself as much.


"G-Go away.. I-I'm not coming.."


"Why?" SooYoung asked, disheartened as she tried to step nearer Tiffany.


"Don't go near me!"


"