A/N - sorry for taking so long. I didn't forget about it, just got a bit stuck on how to continue and had work to do.

Over the following days, she barricaded herself in her room. Frantically practicing the chords, her finger tips had become too sore to even hold a pen and her index finger sported a small cut from the metal springs. She left the house only when the café was in dire need of an extra hand and even then, she would go straight back, straight to practice. She relied on Jiwoong to stock up the fridge, clean up and do the laundry and in an attempt, or so she suspected, to win her favour, he seemed to happily comply.

Hyoyeon had called her friend and they had agreed to meet in ten days. The other three girls were reluctant to practice together, which exasperated Taeyeon, but after her conversation with Jessica, she was suspicious and weary of their motivations for doing so. She had managed to convince them to get together the last day before the meeting and practice as a group. She hoped that would be enough.

Meanwhile, Jiwoong was spending more and more time out at night. On one occasion, he had gone back home during a lunch break, quickly changed out of his stuffy uniform and thrown on chinos and a collared shirt. When Taeyeon heard the ruckus, she had poked her head out of her room. The only explanation she got for his unexpected ‘visit’ was a mumbled ‘coffee date’ before he ran out of the door. She concluded things must be going on well with Tiffany.

But it was still a shock when the next day after the ‘coffee date’ incident, Jiwoong had asked Taeyeon if she minded if he brought Tiffany over for dinner.

“You’re bringing her over for dinner?” she had yelled, albeit unintentionally.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. It’d be nice if you did since you guys are same-age friends but, I’d understand it if you would rather lock yourself in your room or eat out”

“Why should I?” she had huffed “It’s my house as much as yours. I’m not getting kicked out just because you’re bringing a date”

“It’s not really a d- we’re not that serious”

“I don’t want to know how serious you are, thank you very much”

He had grabbed by the shoulder.

“We’ve just gone out on a couple of dates. That’s all.”

“No, it’s not”

“Yes it is. Look, Taeyeon” he scratched his head “honestly, we haven’t even-“

“I DON’T WANNA KNOW”

She had plunged her fingers into her ears

“…kissed”

“What?”

“Yeah”

“Lies”

“No”

“Yeah. I saw you. YOU. HER. At the club. Want to deny that?”

“That…was nothing”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Fine, we were dancing kind of close but that was it…she” Jiwoong had mumbled the last words.

“She what?”

“She pulled away”

Her brother was embarrassed.

“I guess I was just drunk” he had continued “and she…I don’t know. Look, the reason why she’s coming over is...as a way to thank her for the song and”

“And as date”

“…that too, but because we were talking about different ways to make pasta and I said I made quite good carbonara and-“

“Oppa, I make good carbonara. You just grate the cheese.”

“I know. So it’d be nice if you could help me…”

Taeyeon sighed.

“When is she coming?”

“Tonight”

“…you’ve got to be kidding me”

She made Jiwoong go out and get the necessary ingredients. She also made him clean up the house and find the nice cutlery they kept in case their parents decided to ‘surprise-visit’ them and their mother fainted from seeing the disposable cutlery they liked to use- mostly because it didn’t require cleaning. When it got time to actually boil the pasta and make the sauce, not that it was that complicated, she sat on a stool and ordered him around, orchestrating his movements like a conductor.

He had complained, saying if he did everything himself, it wouldn’t turn out as good. She responded that he had told Tiffany he was good at making carbonara, not her. Really, he should be glad she was giving him this chance to redeem himself. He shrugged his shoulders in defeat and immediately got yelled at for spilling some of the cream. In a twisted way, she was sort of enjoying it.

“What time did you say she was coming?”

Jiwoong wiped his brow.

“Erm, around 7:30”

He pursed his lips in concentration as he heated the sauce, making sure the eggs wouldn’t set.

Taeyeon glanced at her old Casio wristwatch.

“It’s seven”

“It’ll be done in time, right?”

“I’ll take over, you go and shower”

“What?”

Jiwoong spun on his heels. Taeyeon could have said she was about to give birth to a green gorilla and her brother would have had same the reaction.

“I’ll take over, oppa. You go and shower. She’s your date, I guess”

She sighed as she pushed herself off the stool. Seconds later, she felt a warm pair of sweaty arms embracing her.

“Thanks” Jiwoong mumbled against her head.

Taeyeon pushed him away, uncomfortable with the lack of space, the heat and she had to admit, the sweat. Not to mention the feelings.

“It’s fine. I’m not that evil”

“It means a lot to me” Jiwoong was refusing to let her go. “Tiffany at the end of the day, may just be some girl I once met. But you’ll forever be my little sister. Got that?”

“What’s with the emotional outburst. Geez” she wriggled out of his embrace “and really, shower now. You’re all sticky and disgusting”

Jiwoong fled out of the kitchen, his footsteps echoing throughout the apartment.

She exhaled and looked up at the white kitchen ceiling.

Huh, I’m really going to go through this, she thought.

It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay. If it makes him happy, then it’ll be okay.

She placed her hands on her back and stretched before taking hold of the whisk.

Just please Tiffany, she pleaded, don’t take him away just yet. Don’t hurt him. Don’t break him.

I still need him.

Need him to be the perfect comic book character.