A/N:

I want to emphasize from the previous chapter, 'Three Years', that Tiffany was not suggesting that she and Jessica call it quits after three years is up. Tiffany said that to try and put Jessica at ease, to make the older girl understand her own desires more. Tiffany knew Jessica wanted to give their relationship a go, but the brunette was not sure as to how to proceed. There were just too many uncertainties.

But Tiffany made Jessica understand that even in the face of a possible timeline and expiry date on their time together, Jessica's own desires would still want to her give a relationship with Tiffany a try.

Tiffany just wanted Jessica to understand that the two of them would take this relationship as far as it can go, but Tiffany was also giving a warning to Jessica at the same time. Tiffany didn't want Jessica scarred and jaded to the world like she is. She wanted Jessica to stay a princess. So she suggested that they would call it quits when and if it becomes necessary.

In Tiffany's eyes, it's better for Jessica to be heartbroken for a while and then get over the hurt rather than for her to be damaged by the cruelties of the world like herself.

Tiffany wants to keep Jessica a princess...somewhat.

Hope that clears things up. I had quite a few comments believing Tiffany was giving Jessica a deadline, which is VERY MUCH NOT THE CASE!

Without further ado, here is the next chapter.

The girls started of their day with a nice breakfast at the resort dining hall. Afterwards, their manager took them to the beach and made them do various teamwork-building exercises.

What the girls lacked in teamwork, they made up tenfold in enthusiasm and just plain silliness. It was all their manager could do to just get them to stay calm enough to even listen to instructions. Nevertheless, the girls found themselves bonding and finding out little quirks and oddities about each other that would soon be the foundation of a good solid friendship.

After that, it was free time for pretty much the rest of the day. It really was more of a company all-expense paid vacation than anything else. The girls spent most of their time just fooling around on the beach.

Yuri was swimming and geez…the girl looked like a freaking goddess in the water. Black shiny sheen to her hair, pristine droplets of water rolling in beaded pearls off her tanned, toned body. She was a looker…and Tiffany had to look out for her. More than once Tiffany spotted boys trying to swim towards the girl, and every time, Tiffany acted as a giant er, swimming up to Yuri and herding the girl away with some pretense of playful splashing and frolicking. Yuri never seemed to catch on and Tiffany never cared to enlighten her. It would be like corrupting her own baby sister with the erted wants of dirty pubescent boys.

Taeyeon had taken Sunny and Seohyun for a walk along the beach, wanted to know her members more. Tiffany could spot them off in the distance, and it seemed like Sunny had Taeyeon on her back, running around and tumbling in the sand. The maknae was running after them, outreached arms seeming to appeal for her unnies to stop acting like children. But the wild cackles of laughter that occasionally drifted in with the breeze told Tiffany that Seohyun wasn’t having much luck trying to control her two shortie unnies.

Jessica, Hyoyeon, Yoona and Sooyoung were lazing around under the beach umbrellas and Tiffany was quite sure Jessica had fallen asleep. Sooyoung and Yoona had ordered a whole ton of food and were enjoying it rather voraciously like starved velociraptors. Hyoyeon was just sitting there bobbing her head to the music blasting from her mp3.

Tiffany?

Well Tiffany wasn’t doing much. She was basically lazily ambling everywhere, just keeping an eye on all eight girls. She then somehow managed to find a volleyball laying around on the beach. No one seemed to claim ownership, so Tiffany began to volley it around, still keeping a sharp eye on her other members.

Tiffany spotted another boy try to approach the water-frolicking Yuri and immediately threw the volleyball high in the air before spiking it down, aiming perfectly for the head of the erted boy. The volleyball bounced soundly off his head and landed with a splash in the water. Tiffany could hear guffaws of laughter from the girls behind her as she swam out to retrieve the ball. Yuri spotted Tiffany and shot her a smile before diving down into the water again. Tiffany turned and shot the now sputtering boy a death glare, which sent him splashing away in terror.

Tiffany went back on shore and resumed volleying, until an orange flip-flop came flying through the air to smack the ball into the sand. Tiffany whipped around to see the source of the attack and found Hyoyeon ginning cheekily at her.

“Can I join?”

Soon the other girls, minus the still dozing Jessica, gathered around and they started a game of beach volleyball.

All the girls were in bikinis, apart from Seohyun, who had a full one-piece. Tiffany had worn the black bikini Mrs. Lee had bought her but she kept one of her loose t-shirts over top. Her t-shirt was damp and clinging to her, slowing down and inhibiting her movements. However, she didn’t want to take it off, a little worried that the sight of her scarred body would bring down the frivolous atmosphere.

But, like always, Seohyun seemed to have a keen eye for these things, and when Tiffany spiked the ball out of bounds for a third time, the maknae called for a time-out.

Seohyun strode over to the other team, where Tiffany was. The maknae gingerly reached out and tugged gently at the edge of Tiffany’s shirt.

“You have a beautiful body unnie, it would be a shame to hide it. Your scars don’t do anything to change that, and I promise we won’t ask questions until you are ready to answer them,” the maknae said sincerely.

Tiffany took a good long look at the young girl in front of her, and to her credit, Seohyun didn’t look away under Tiffany’s searching gaze. Tiffany comfortingly patted Seohyun’s hand, which was still clinging to her shirt. Then Tiffany removed her t-shirt and tossed it into the sand.

And for the first time ever, the girls finally got a good full glimpse of Tiffany’s body. In the showers, most of them had avoided looking directly at the girl, afraid it would cause offense. But now in the blazing sunlight and with the premise of their relationship changed from one of simply colleagues to one of friends, the girls found themselves a little more at ease to check Tiffany out. They could see that the bruises that often decorated Tiffany’s body were now totally gone without a trace, leaving behind milk-white delectable skin. The subtle muscular build of the girl was more than apparent, especially the rippling abs. But the slim, lithe lines of her body made sure to remind you she was of the fairer . A very exquisite one too.