Chapter 33

“Tiffany!”

Yuri was a fast runner but she couldn’t seem to catch up with her. 

“Stop running! Tippani!” 

Only when Tiffany’s foot trip over something she did stop running. Fortunately, she managed to avoid a worse fall by supporting herself with her palms as soon as she lost her footing. 

Thinking that the fallen girl suffered a serious injury because she wasn’t moving, Yuri rushed to her side. “Let me see your knee.” Yuri helped the other girl stand up and led her somewhere where she could inspect the said body part. 

Tiffany’s knee was bruised and bleeding slightly, but it was nowhere near painful as her heart right now. “Shall we go to the hospital?”

Tiffany just shook her head and began walking off, not seeming to be hurt by the injury. “I want to go home.” 

Without a word, Yuri nodded and followed her.

Yuri wanted to blame Tiffany for what happened but she knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do at the moment. She then imagined herself in Tiffany’s shoes. It must be so hard for her to take this all by herself. Taeyeon at least had her as a shoulder to lean on. 

“Taeyeon didn’t mean to do that. Believe me.” Yuri hoped to soothe Tiffany’s wounds with her words. 

“I don’t want to talk about it now.” Tiffany replied weakly, her eyes still red from tears. 

“Sorry. I understand. Let me take you home then.” Yuri offered and Tiffany was too tired to decline.

After watching Tiffany disappear into their house, Yuri immediately gave Taeyeon a call. 

“Tiffany’s home safely. How are things going there? How’s Jessica?”

“Thanks Yul. Jessica’s already left.” For good. Taeyeon tried to not sound broken but it didn’t go unnoticed by Yuri.

Yuri hummed. “I see. You want me to stay the night?”

Taeyeon smiled, appreciating her best friend’s concern. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Alright. Ring me when you need anything. Be strong, Taeyeon. Everything will be okay.”

“Thanks. Take care, Yul.”

Wanting to check on the other girl, Yuri called Jessica but her phone appeared to be unattended after a few attempts. Yuri thought that she must be already asleep so she let her be. 

“Yah, you coming to school today?” Sunny texted as the older girl had already missed their first period. 

“No, I’m not feeling well.” Taeyeon replied. 

“What happened?”

“I guess we had too much fun yesterday. My whole body aches.” Taeyeon lied. 

“Aww. Take some meds. I’ll lend you my notes when you get back. Get well soon, okay? I’ll see if I can drop by after classes.”

“Thanks, Sunny. And no, you don’t need to do that. I’m okay. I just need rest.”

“Okay. I was thinking of bringing your favorite ice cream. Too bad. Lol.”

“Save it for next time! ^^”

The door to her bedroom opened. “You didn’t go to school?”

Taeyeon shook her head.

“You know you can’t avoid Tiffany forever.” Yuri sighed as she watched her friend bury herself into her blankets. 

“I know.”

Yuri joined Taeyeon and hugged her. “What do you want to do? Do you still want to be with Tiffany?”

Usually, she would say yes in a heartbeat. But now, she was uncertain. The feelings were still there. How come she was feeling like this? “I don’t know what to do, Yuri.” 

“Ssh.” Yuri comforted her friend by rubbing her shoulder gently. “I don’t know if I can do much to help you about this. But it seems that you need to choose. I know Tiffany’s being unreasonable but it looks like she’s feeling threatened by Jessica.” 

“I can’t. I can’t.” Taeyeon finally broke into tears and Yuri tightened her hug as she thought Taeyeon would shatter into pieces anytime. It was the first time Yuri saw Taeyeon cry like this. 

“Taeng…” Yuri was careful when she spoke. She didn’t want to cause further trouble. “Tell me the truth. Do you like her too? Jessica?” 

Did she? As a friend, yes. But she knew Yuri wasn’t referring to that. Her heart almost stopped when Jessica gave her a kiss, an almost kiss. Perhaps she was just stunned because it was the first time someone did that to her or because she was puzzled on why Jessica did that. 

Now that the scene replayed in her head for umpteenth time, she remembered Jessica expressing her gratitude before feeling the blonde’s thin lips land on the side of . 

“Thank you for everything, Taeyeon.”

What did she do that Jessica should be thankful for? It was her who should be grateful for the things she did for her. All she did was bring Jessica trouble since the first time they met – the bill, the drunken night, and more of those little things she couldn’t remember clearly. 

And now, Tiffany. Maybe she had had enough so she decided to stay away. Taeyeon wished she could do something to repay her for everything but Jessica didn’t let her and left her indebted to her. 

Was that the only reason why she felt so saddened by Jessica’s goodbye? 

“Yul…”

“Yeah?”

“Promise me.”

“Huh?” Yuri tilted her head to the side. 

“Promise me that you’ll take care of her. Promise me you’ll love her with your everything. Promise me you’ll never hurt her.” 

With a few blinks, Yuri realized that the older girl was talking about Jessica. Taeyeon was finally giving her her trust to be with Jessica. 

“I promise.” 

With that, Yuri concluded that Taeyeon only saw Jessica as a friend and nothing more.

It had been almost two weeks since that incident happened. Taeyeon still didn’t attend her classes, reason