People say that a star is a reflection of a past lover's life. Their laughter, their smiles, their hopes, dreams, goals, collapsed in a radiant ball of light, made seen in the night sky to tell everyone who looks upon it that they're here. The glow tells a story, a novel of a few words: I'm here and also, that I love you.

Tiffany slowly pulled away from the kiss. Her eyes fluttered open in sync with her quavering heart as she gingerly inhaled the evening air. The girl watched her best friend for what seemed like an eternity, and as she looked at her, her life, no matter how short it would be, was made full.

Tiffany waited to know if Taeyeon loved her too, and maybe, that was all she ever wanted to know from her; the knowledge that throughout the years of fighting a losing battle filled with pain, hopelessness, fragility, disappointment, and fear, that love was there, despite it all, love was there – in the air they breathed, on the roads they stepped, and around the places they touched, love was there.

She waited.

When she didn't get an answer, Tiffany looked into her best friend's eyes, gathered the world in one breath, broke it into a million parts and pieced it back together as a question: “Do you love me too?”

Never in her whole life had she felt more vulnerable than this. Now she knew, that you couldn't love someone without being both vulnerable and invulnerable at the same time. Clothed yet exposed. Sheltered but laid open.

Taeyeon flashed her a simple smile before intertwining her left hand with hers. Only wonderful things come by without notice, and that was what had happened; an unexpected kiss.

Taeyeon kissed her. The captured pictures of her infinite past and finite future washed over her as the feeling of her best friend's lips repeated itself in the forefronts of her mind. She was on a standstill in the present.

After her best friend pulled away, the older girl followed it with a warm laugh. That was how she said 'yes'.

“Come on Fany, I've got a surprise for you” Taeyeon said before dragging her down the hill and back to the festival.


 

♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦

Their hands never parted, and perhaps that was their way of telling the world that here, in their hands, was a small piece of proof that it could be this way despite everything showing that it couldn't be.

Tiffany looked at the monstrous thing with a perplexed expression. She turned her head back to Taeyeon who stood there grinning widely at her. 

“It looks like you've never seen one before” the shorter girl started with a chuckle.

“No, it's just- I'm confused...”

“Well, best not make you confused any longer. You're face is all scrunched up, so it might become permanent if we continue to wait” Taeyeon voiced playfully before they both made their way to a large man behind a wooden stall. “Mr.Park?”

“Oh kid, you're har. Me was beginnin' t' think you wouldn't show up” he said in a surprised manner. What wasn't surprising at all, considering the way he dressed, was his thick pirate accent that made Tiffany want to burst out in laughter. With a hoarse chuckle he motioned for Taeyeon and Tiffany to follow him out to the open field where Tiffany first saw the thing.

“Now, me don't usually do this for regular customers considerin' tis' late in the evenin , but since you kept pesterin' t' me about it with those damn puppy eyes o' yours ” Mr.Park carefully explained, “I can't say no t' that ”

Tiffany looked at him questioningly, “What'd you mean by that?”

“Aye, kid kept 'er bugging me earlier to let you guys on. Kept going on about how ye was sharing beautiful memories with a certain someone. I'm a er when it comes t' young love” With that said, he gave a pat to the basket while displaying a toothy smile. “This beauty har lights up so we wouldn't be breakin' regulations by ridin' it at eve. Anyways, we be tied down for safety while my mates looks out for us. Now hop aboard. Aye?” 

Mr.Park made his way inside the basket of the hot air balloon, put his gloves and started the burner.

“Come on Fany, I worked hard to get us this ride. Let's not waste any more time.” Taeyeon goaded while she bounced up and down excitedly. Taeyeon had no knowledge of Tiffany's confession when reserving the night ride on the hot air balloon, but somehow, the two complimented each other, like fate, in all its mysterious glory, designed the confession and the hot air balloon ride to work hand in hand to deliver the most perfect night. 

“No wonder it took you so long to get the ice-cream,” Tiffany responded as she teasingly punched her on the shoulder. “You're such a liar TaeTae, you know that?”

Chuckling silently at Taeyeon's childlike behaviour, Tiffany simply complied as she got on the basket with her best friend's help.

After the both stood comfortably inside the woven wicker, Mr.Park gave a thumbs up to his ground crew that everything was a-go while Taeyeon and Tiffany waited for the hot air balloon to rise above ground.


 

♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦

The stars they shined brightly, little holes in the charcoal blanket so that light from heaven could shine through it and illuminate the darkened world. Higher and higher they rose, trying to reach for the unreachable; to collect the twinkling diamonds in the palm of their hands. The stars, which greeted everyone with a smile, dazzled the eyes of the young lovers that were wrapped in each others arms. 

Tiffany smiled as she leaned her head on Taeyeon's shoulder, looking out at the universe's own grains of sand that had been washed over by heaven's tide.

Taeyeon broke the silence, “I told myself that I couldn't believe in a God who so heartlessly challenges faith like this.”

The younger girl was confused by her statement. She turned around and gave her a perplexed expression.

“Everyone kept on telling me to have 'faith' because God works in mysterious ways to give people a fruitful life as long as their faith is strong. If this, you being sick, is His mysterious way of testing my faith, than I had rather let my life be barren.”

Tiffany's