People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The warm zephyrs brushed past the two girls, blowing Taeyeon's silken locks away from her face and causing it to swirl in small spirals alongside the September breeze. They were on a rounded hill that oversaw the Han river. The sun was high up in the sky, reflecting across the water's surface so that in the heat of the day it shimmered like stars. The smell of moss and dirt clung in the air, while the sound of the ruffling wind and occasional squawks of birds broke the fragile silence around them. Taeyeon stared blissfully at the kite that hovered above her - a red blob that stained the clear baby-blue sky. Holding the rope that was attached to it with one hand, the girl used her free one to grab the zip-lock bag filled with Jellies. 

“Save some for me, you jelly-monster” whined Tiffany who laid beside the shorter girl. Her arms were crossed underneath her head so that it provided for a decent pillow, while her body went limp against the soft patch of grass. Lethargically staring at the red kite above her, Tiffany let out a humble yawn. 

“Well if you want some, get some. I'm not stopping you, and I'm for sure not hogging all of it,” Taeyeon simply replied before following it with a light chuckle. Tearing a Jelly in half with her teeth, she chewed and swallowed before continuing, “Fany, I forgot my cellphone and I promised I'd call my mom to let her know where I'm at.”

Tiffany sat straight up, smiling serenely as she stared at the red object battling against the violent winds before grabbing her mobile device and giving it to Taeyeon. 

Eyes fixated on the kite, she rubbed her head and as she did so, a wave of self-pity rolled by on the shores of Tiffany's heart. Normal eighteen year old girls would be lavishing their hair, worrying about trivial matters as to how to style it for the prom next week, whereas Tiffany didn't have the fortune to feel what every girl would feel at her age. She wouldn't get to go to a hairstylist to have her hair primped, she wouldn't be able to fuss over a bad hair-day, wouldn't be able to feel her hair blow in the wind. Some would say that she was lucky to not be able to worry about trivial matters like hair, and she believed that she was... for the most part, but some days, like this one, she felt out of place and the monster of self-pity would claw its way into her heart. 

Tiffany waited until her best friend was done talking before asking, “Am I pretty?”

Taeyeon gave her an incredulous look, her lips lightly curving upward to form an unsure smile. “No,” she simply answered.

If Tiffany wasn't so consumed by self sympathy, she would have known that it was a joke, but instead the girl just nodded solemnly.

“No, you're not pretty, you're better than just pretty. Beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, and all the other synonyms that follow after that. Inside and out, you're beautiful. Not all pretty people are beautiful, but all beautiful people are pretty. Being pretty is something that's skin deep, but beauty is much more than that. It's not in the face, it's in the heart. And because of this, it radiates out filling every part of the person with brilliance that makes people stare in awe. 'Pretty' is hollow while 'Beauty' consumes and fills. And Tiffany, you've got beautiful written all over you.”

The girl smiled. Her best friend always had a way of making her feel better.

“Why do you ask?” Taeyeon inquired, but seeing Tiffany's glossy eyes and the way she was her head already answered her question. With a light chuckle, she patted her best friend's head and said, “Now, now, who did the monster of self-pity gobble up this time? - Come on, I'll even show you that mere appearance doesn't define beauty.”

Taeyeon stood up from her spot and was already pulling the kite back to her. 

With a confused expression, Tiffany asked with her head tilted to the side, “What do you mean?”

The shorter girl ignored the question and lightly joked, “If I tape two Styrofoam cups, each one on the ends of the kite rope, and let the kite fly, do you think I'll be able to converse with angels?” She saw it in a movie once during history class; about a time when phones didn't exist and that they had to use two cups taped to the ends of a string to talk to one another.

Tiffany laughed at that, “Come on TaeTae, stop ignoring my question” 

Taeyeon glanced at her for a brief second, and it was all the time she needed, to know what her best friend had in mind. It was kind of freaky how she could tell, like they had telekinesis which only worked between the two of them. If people's brain each transmitted a different wave of radio frequency, then Taeyeon's and hers would be tuned to the same one. 

With a loud gasp, she spat, “You wouldn't!”

“Oh, yes I would”

Tiffany didn't need to know the details, because it didn't matter, all she knew and cared for was that there were going to be two bald people coming to the prom next week.



Taeyeon watched with glazed eyes at the red kite that was hovering in the sky. From across the road, down to where a public park was, a little boy stood staring at the flying object with wide-eyed wonder. Feeling a light tap on her shoulder, the girl was instantly brought back to reality and instantly jerked her head to her left. Sooyoung was grinning brightly at her, her hair tousled while her white shirt was humbly inked in several places with oil stains. After sleeping for the night and having breakfast at Sunny and Sooyoung's place, they immediately headed off to her brother's garage for the vehicle. It didn't take a while for Taeyeon to feel quite homey with the couple, safe to say, in such a short time, Taeyeon classified them now as friends.

“Good news or bad news” Sooyoung started.

The shorter girl leaned over to the side and spotted Tiffany talking with Sunny – they seemed to be enjoying their conversation. Seeing her best friend talk heartily and knowing that she hadn't been able to converse with anyone except her for awhile since being caged in a hospital for so long, a smile crept up her lips. Returning to look at Sooyoung, she answered, “Good news”

“I convinced Siwon, my brother, that he shouldn't charge for fixing up your car. Bad news though, is that you'd have to wait until late tomorrow morning since we don't have a spare part here in the garage for the one that's been damaged. Siwon called up the nearest place that has it, and they said they could send it over early tomorrow morning. I guess you'll be having to stay at our place for another night. Sorry.”

“Sooyoung, that's too much to ask. You've already taken us for the night and fed us breakfast. At least let me make it up to you and pay for the spare part. And I'm sure me and Tiffany can find a hotel to stay for tonight.”

The taller girl scoffed and waved off her reply like she had just said something preposterous. “The mechanic over there owes Siwon a lot, so my brother asked if he could have it for free – of course, the man agreed. And like I said, even if I let you stay at a hotel, Sunny would have my neck... if not for yourself, do it for me and my innocent, skinny, perfect, neck”

With a guilty sigh, Taeyeon conceded, “How could I repay you and Sunny back then?”

“Easy, we're having a family gathering later today at a lakeside and we'd love to have you and Tiffany join.”

“Sooyoung, that's not-”

“I'm sorry, but that's the only way you can pay us back” the taller girl interjected with a sly smirk before turning around and heading to where Tiffany and Sunny were.

-- -- -- -- --

The sky was stained with mesmerizing cumulus that drifted slowly across the blue expanse of space. Rays of golden sunlight penetrated through the white clouds and the heat that it emitted complimented the warm winds that came from the west. Taeyeon sat on one of the benches on the lakeside, the sound of the lapping waves comforted her and she wished that she could stay here forever; to become part of the rocks on her feat, or the mellifluous spring breeze, or the breaking of the waves.

“Mind if I sit here?” a low, drawling voice asked.

Taeyeon got out of her trance, and soon noticed that she was staring at Tiffany the whole time she was sitting down. Her best friend was helping Sunny fend off Sooyoung from eating all the barbecue that was cooking on an open grill. Turning her head to the direction of the inquirer, she smiled and nodded. 

“Sure, Grandpa Lee”

He struggled to take a seat beside her, and Taeyeon had to help him by holding his hand for support. When Sunny's grandpa finally sat down, his cloudy eyes took a quick glance at her before shifting it to Tiffany who was now playing Frisbee with Sooyoung's eight year old niece. 

Taeyeon didn't realize she was staring at her again.

“If we loved each other sweetest,
Skies would be forever blue. 
Time would flutter by on fleetest, 
Wings of glittering golden hue” 

He softly voiced with a light smile before directing his warm eyes again at her.

Taeyeon gave him a questioning look, and he let out a throaty chuckle in response to her confused face. “It's a poem I've heard somewhere,” Grandpa Lee explained, “and I think it suits you and Tiffany's relationship very well.”
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