—–

 

Taeyeon drummed her fingers on her expensive mahogany desk, staring at her phone while chewing on her bottom lip. She inched her hand towards the device but retracted as soon as her fingertip touched the edge, leaning back on her seat as she let out a huge sigh.

Being back in the big city brought an unexplainable uneasiness to her. She felt fidgety and restless with no apparent reason, and everything started when she left the Hwang Estate.

“Just call her,” she told herself, finally snatching the phone from her desk.

Scrolling down her contacts, she paused on Tiffany’s name before hitting the call button with her eyes closed.

Before they parted, she asked for Tiffany’s number, deeming that it was only fair since the latter already had her business card, but this was the first time she was going to contact her since they last talked and seen each other two days ago.

With a shaky breath, she pressed the earpiece on her ear and waited for the ring, only to be met by a recorded voice.

‘Sorry, the number you have dialled is currently unavailable.’

She frowned. “Right. Unavailable.”

 

Taeyeon’s laugh reverberated in the empty veranda, her weird chortles sailing through the air, making the other girl beside her chuckle as well.

“Why are you laughing?”

She still couldn’t believe it. Even though Tiffany was already standing beside her, mirroring her position, she still thought everything was a joke.

It was too good to be true. The coincidence was so farfetched and crazy and just downright creepy that Taeyeon couldn’t help but laugh raucously.

“Don’t you find this funny?” She tried to say in between her laughter. “Cause I do. I really do.”

Taeyeon felt like she just saw a galaxy exploding into a million stars, because that’s how Tiffany looked like when she snapped from her stupor at the sight of her, almost seeing the gears in her head spinning in catastrophic speeds.

The frown flipped and the furrowed eyebrows rose as the other girl finally connected the dots, and even Madam Hwang couldn’t handle the building tension, silently leaving the two of them alone in the living room along with the bodyguards.

Still, that happened hours ago, but Taeyeon was still feeling a little surreal until now.

“I’d like to think it’s fate.”

That stopped her from laughing.

Tiffany’s voice sounded shy but when she turned to her, she had the biggest grin on her face.

“I don’t really believe in fate,” Taeyeon said and the frown that instantly appeared on Tiffany’s face almost made her burst out into another fit of laughter, “But that’s a lovely way to put it.”

It didn’t take long for the silence to dawn upon them, especially when no one wanted to speak up after that. Taeyeon found it funny, though, because after sleeping together for a night, she didn’t think they’d still be shy towards each other.

“So… What now?” She asked, trying to ease out of the awkward air.

“I honestly don’t know…”

“Don’t you think we’re moving too fast, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is already our second night together.”

“Hey, watch it.” Taeyeon snorted when Tiffany hit her on her arm. “You’re not sleeping in my room.”

“I’m kidding. But it’s not a bad thing. I like your company.”

“I like your company too.”

Taeyeon nodded absentmindedly, looking over to where Tiffany was.

“You know…”

The other girl threw her a questioning gaze, beckoning her to continue.

“If you’re afraid that I’m going to take your freedom away from you, I’m not,” she said, smiling. “So you don’t need to run away anymore.”

“Why? Not your type?”

“What? No, no! It’s not that, you—You’re absolutely pretty! But… I just have so many things I wanted to do first.”

She rolled her eyes playfully when Tiffany snickered at her.

“That’s nice to know. You don’t know how hard it was to run away on a chopper.”

Taeyeon laughed again after hearing that, and the rest of the night was filled with their comfortable chatter.

 

A knock on the door brought her back.

“Miss Kim, you have a parcel from Chairman Kim.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said, dismissing her secretary with a grateful smile.

Taeyeon tore through the envelop and gasped when she saw the contents.

She held in a squeal as she dialled for her dad’s number, never expecting the old man to act that fast.

‘Taengoooooooo!’

“Dad, I saw the letter. How—Okay, that was really fast,” she said as she gawked at the acceptance letter from that culinary school in Paris.

‘Oh, Taetae, it’s all about connections! Have you seen your plane ticket? It should be there along with all the documents.’

She sorted through the multiple papers and smiled when she saw the first class ticket.

“Yeah, it’s here.”

‘You’re leaving in two weeks. I figured you needed time to fix some stuff first or hang out with your friends before you disappear for years.’

“Don’t exaggerate, Dad. I’ll be back before you know it. But thank you. For everything.”

Taeyeon heard her father sigh through the line.

‘I’m sorry, Taetae. I know you’ve been wanting this ever since… I should’ve done this for you a long time ago.’

“I understand, dad. You needed my help in the company. At least I’m going now.”

‘Yes, and I’m expecting you to excel, okay? Let’s talk about your restaurant business when you get back!’

Taeyeon laughed. Her dad’s enthusiasm was really something.

“Don’t jinx me! I haven’t even started yet!”

‘Nonsense! I know you’ll be able to do it! I can’t see anything wrong with planning ahead.’

She shook her head as she stood up, finally starting on clearing out her office.

“Sometimes I feel like you overestimate me too much.”

‘I don’t. You’re my daughter. You have mine and your mom’s greatness in you.’

Smiling, she took the framed family picture on her desk and stared at her mom’s huge grin.

“Mostly mom’s.”

‘Ah, that I agree.’

She laughed as she continued clearing her desk, dumping everything unceremoniously in the box she brought.

‘I’m sorry I wouldn’t be able to see you off, Taetae. But I’ll visit you there before I go back to work.’

“It’s okay, dad.”

Placing the phone on her desk, she hit the speaker phone button before continuing her packing.

‘So…’

“Hmm?”

‘How’s my best friend’s daughter?’

The question made her stop mid packing. She looked at her phone and she was sure that her father would , but she couldn’t escape the query either.

Sighing, she let a small smile tug at her lips before she continued to fix her things.

“Well, you’re right. She’s really beautiful.”

“Aaaww, thank you!”

Her ears perked at the familiar voice and her head snapped towards her door, only to find it open with Tiffany leaning on it with a huge smile.

“Wha—Tiffany?! What are you doing here?!”

‘Ooooohhh. I guess I’ll call you back later, Taetae. Enjoy!’

Taeyeon’s father had ended the call before she could even scramble back to her desk to retrieve it. She cursed to herself, feeling her cheeks getting warm and her palms starting to sweat.

“Please ignore my dad, he’s crazy. And please ignore the mess too, I’m in the middle of packing.”

“I can see that,” Tiffany said, amused. “And I know how you feel about the crazy parents.”

She watched Tiffany enter her office, going around the piles of boxes until she was close to her desk.

“Hi!”

Taeyeon couldn’t help but smile at Tiffany’s huge grin and enthusiastic greeting, and she thought, as she looked at her decked in a crisp skirt and suit, that she looked so very different from the biker chick she met just a few days ago. Not that it’s a bad thing, because seeing Tiffany could never be bad.

Nope. Never.

“So, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I was in the area. I tried calling you but your phone was unavailable so I just decided to drop by and get you myself.”

She raised her eyebrows at that. “Get me yourself?”

“Would you like to get an early dinner with me?”

Tiffany’s smile had become softer, almost shy, and there was no way Taeyeon could ever say no to that face.

“I’d love to.”

 

—–

 

Taeyeon thoroughly enjoyed that meal; it was probably the best she had since a very long time, and to think that it was just a simple sandwich at a humble diner, the thought of that alone baffled her to no end.

‘I need to know what’s in this sandwich,’ she even said, earning her an amused chuckle from her new friend.

But now they were on their way back to her office, opting to just walk since it wasn’t that far.

They talked while they ate, about her agreement with her dad and her plans. Tiffany had listened patiently, gave her own opinions and shared a lot of things about her too. It was rather funny, because they knew about each other’s companies, but it never came across their minds that their parents were actually friends.

“So… Paris, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Why Paris?”

Taeyeon looked at the girl beside her and paused, grimacing a bit when she saw the encouraging look. “You’d laugh at me if I tell you.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

She narrowed her eyes at her.

“What? I promise, okay!”

“Fine,” Taeyeon sighed. “Have you seen… Ratatouille?”

“What?”

“Ratatouille, the animated film? With the cooking rat?”

She watched Tiffany’s lips twitch.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Taeyeon shook her head and Tiffany finally guffawed.

“Hey! You promised you won’t laugh!”

“But it’s really silly!”

“This is why I don’t like telling people about it!”

She wanted to storm off but the other girl already had her hand on her arm, pulling her back beside her. Taeyeon huffed when Tiffany looped her arm around hers.

“Aaaww, I’m sorry.”

“I know it’s silly but… It’s what I like to do so… Yeah.”

Her quiet voice must have alerted the other because the next thing she knew, she was already engulfed in a warm hug.

“Sorry, Taeyeon, I didn’t mean to laugh…”

“It’s okay,” she patted Tiffany’s back, “You’re not the only one who laughed at it, to be honest.”

One last squeeze and Tiffany pulled back from her, trapping her cheeks in between her hands instead.

“If it would make you feel any better, you’re cuter than Remy the rat.”

Tiffany pinched her cheeks before bolting off, laughing.

“Hey!”

 

———

———

 

“I never asked, but…”

It was already late when they got back to Taeyeon’s office, and since she didn’t have anything important to do in the office the next day, Tiffany decided to stay and keep the girl company as she packed.

“Hmm?” She hummed lazily, scrolling down on her smart phone as she browsed for random things on the internet.

“Don’t you have anything you wanted to do? Like, a career you wished you had instead?”

“Not really,” Tiffany answered, eyes still on her phone. “I haven’t really thought about that.”

Come to think of it, she hadn’t really thought much about her future. She went to business school as soon as she graduated from high school, then to graduate school right after college. Her parents didn’t stop her from doing anything she wanted, too, so now she wondered why the hell was she working under her father’s company when she could’ve been doing something else.

“Working in my dad’s company is enough for me, I guess,” she said, more to herself than to Taeyeon.

The shorter girl was still packing her stuff, going to and fro the huge box in the middle of the office, chucking in anything she could get a hold of. Tiffany watched her move about efficiently, and she thought right then, that Taeyeon would probably be a natural in a busy kitchen.

She giggled at the thought, imagining the petite girl in her chef’s outfit with matching toque, moving about while she ordered the sous-chefs.

“You should come to Paris with me, you know,” Taeyeon suddenly said. “Explore, go around the city, see the sights?  You might find something you’d like to do there. Upgrade your chopper to a plane; you’d reach more places with that.”

Tiffany knew it was an offhanded remark judging by the way the other girl continued what she was doing without thought, but she felt something stir inside of her—Surprise? Maybe. Excitement? Probably. But whatever it was, it felt really nice.

Her heart suddenly felt really warm.

“Maybe I should,” she said, smiling.

 

—–

 

“Sunny, what do you think of Paris?”

“Two words: Louis Vuitton.”

Tiffany wanted to throw her planner at her best friend, but she was right about the luxury brand, and she would love to shop at other boutiques in that city, too.

But that wasn’t what she meant.

Ever since Taeyeon had somewhat invited her to join her in her trip, Tiffany had been having second thoughts about everything in her life. Just an hour ago, she almost dozed off at a board meeting, because she was, well, bored.

And that never happened before.

She loved working for her dad, and she loved what she does. Yet now, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Tiffany got off from her chair and joined her best friend on the plush sofa, hugging a small pink throw pillow.

“I mean,” she started again, leaning back comfortably, “What do you think of Paris. Like, in general?”

“Well, it’s a beautiful city—the city of lights, the city of love. But why the sudden curiosity?”

Sunny looked at her with her head tilted to the side, the magazine she was leafing through temporarily forgotten.

“Nothing, I was just—” Tiffany paused.

Why was she even curious? It’s not life she hadn’t been there before.

“You were just…?”

“I was just thinking of travelling. You know, vacation.”

“Oh, you’re thinking of going to Paris?”

“Yes, something like that.”

Her petite best friend hummed and nodded, picking up the discarded magazine before continuing to leaf through.

“Paris is good,” the smaller girl commented in agreement. “You might even find a nice French girl while you’re there.”

That made Tiffany smile.

 

—–

 

She watched as the small circular icon stopped turning on the middle of her laptop screen and a wide smile immediately plastered itself on her face as soon as she saw her father waving back at her.

‘Hi, honey! How’s my baby?’

“Dad, I’m already an adult!” Tiffany whined as her dad laughed heartily, suddenly missing the old man for being gone for so long.

‘Eh, you’ll always be my baby no matter how old you are. So, what does my baby want?’

“Dad,” she started, “Can I ask for a favour?”

‘Sure, sweetie. Anything.’

“I’d like to go on a long sabbatical.”

Her father’s eyes instantly widen before switching into a more interested gaze, suddenly moving closer to the screen as if scrutinizing her.

‘May I ask why?’

“I want to travel.”

‘Ooooh, interesting… Okay!’

Tiffany had her eyes almost falling from their sockets at the nonchalant answer, silently cursing at the fact that she had to go through an anxiety attack before she made the call.

“What? That’s it?!”

The old man looked at her confusedly. ‘Why? You don’t want me to allow you?’

“No! It’s just—That was easier than I thought.”

‘Well, you’re more than old enough to do what you want, Fany. And what kind of father am I if I stopped you from doing that?’

“Wow,” she whispered. “Thanks, daddy!”

‘Uh-uh, wait! Let’s just make this clear… I am not going to pay for any of your trips, okay?’

Tiffany had to resist rolling her eyes at that. “Of course, my dear father. I have my own money to spend.”

‘Aha, good girl! Don’t forget to tell your mom, okay? Call us every once in a while, you hear me?’

“Yes, daddy, of course. Love you!”

‘Love you too, sweetie. Have fun!’

Oh, she definitely will.

 

—–

 

“Good day, Ma’am. What can I do for you?”

“Hi. Can you book me a first class ticket on whatever flight’s leaving the closest at this time.”

Tiffany handed her passport and credit card to the airport agent, who was looking at her like she grew another head.

“If there are no more first class seats available, business class would do.”

“Please hold on for a moment, Ma’am.”

She looked over at the agent who was typing away, feeling a little excited yet nervous at the same time.

Tiffany was a pretty adventurous person, but never in her life would she imagine that she’d do something as crazy and impulsive as this.

After saying goodbye to her mother and father on the phone and getting a tight hug from Sunny, she ventured out to the airport with nothing but a small duffel bag, just enough to hold in her essentials. Since she didn’t know where she would go first, carrying a light load would be more than sufficient.

Being at the airport again reminded her of Taeyeon, whom she had never heard from again after she had seen her off three days ago. The latter was more than ecstatic, though, especially when she had told her that she was going to see the world.

Tiffany opened a saved note on her phone and smiled at the apartment address that Taeyeon left her, telling her that she could visit any time she wants if ever she stopped by at Paris.

‘I definitely would,’ she had told her, earning her a smile and a thumbs up.

“Ma’am.”

“Yes?”

Tiffany turned back to the agent who handed her passport and credit card back, along with a ticket.

“I’ve managed to get you a first class seat on a last minute flight but I suggest you start running to the check in counter now. Your plane to Paris is leaving in twenty seven minutes.”

Clutching all her belongings, she ran towards the check in counter after thanking the agent, continuing on to Immigration and finally to the gate, barely missing the flight.

Tiffany plopped on her comfortable seat, panting, finally realizing where she was headed.

Somehow she felt like the universe was trying to tell her something.

 

End of Part 3