Taeyeon could not stop crying. People stared at her as she walked through the park to retrieve her bicycle. She shook the uncontrollable sobs and the tears poured down her face. This had never happened to her before and she could not understand it. She was always so calm and dignified but that moment she was helpless with grief.

That morning she dropped by the Hwang Hall to tell Mr. Hwang that she could no longer be with Tiffany, she forced herself to come up with different lies just so the man would let him go and he did. She was no longer required to visit her nor go to the Hall to accompany her. 

She did the right thing, she should be proud of herself. But why does she feel so heartbroken?

She sat down on the dry grass beside the bicycle. She loves me, she thought. But she was not weeping for what she had found, she was weeping for what she had lost. Taeyeon always wondered if she was meant to be alone. For eighteen years all she thought of was how she was going to pay for her bills and how she was going to feed herself and her mother. She had always used her head, never her heart, for that was the most practical thing to do. She never thought about anything else, she never believed in love until Tiffany came along, a beautiful, brave, admirable young woman.

She had been preparing to say goodbye to her forever. I’m becoming weak, she thought. I must pull myself together.

She stood up and picked up the bicycle. She mopped her face with the handkerchief; she mounted the bicycle and headed for home. It was supper but she knew she would not be able to eat. That was just as well, for her money was running low. She looked forward now to the darkness of her room, where she could spend the night alone with her thoughts. She would go over every minute of their time together, from the moment Tiffany s