A/N:  Missed me?

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She stopped talking to her friend when she saw someone familiar on the other side of the street. Remembering the state her best friend was in when she saw her this morning, she bid goodbye to her friends and crossed the street.

“Hey!” She walked closer. “Hey,” she repeated then tapped the shoulder. “Aren’t you Taeyeon’s friend?”

The girl looked back at her curiously before answering. “Er, yes?”

“Oh, good. Thought I made a mistake there for a second. Anyway, I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Tiffany’s friend.”

The girl took a moment to think before snapping her fingers. “Ah! Tiffany! Taeyeon’s friend. And you’re the friend she was with the other day at the café.” She then paused. “Jenny!”

Jessica glared at her. “It’s Jessica.”

“Right. Sorry.” She scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I’m Yejin, by the way.”

Jessica nodded. “Youngmi.”

Yejin gasped. “That’s not even remotely close to Yejin!”

Jessica ignored her. “Where is Taeyeon staying, Youngmi?”

“I’m not telling you until you call me by my real name,” Yejin crossed her arms.

“Youngmi,” Jessica said firmly. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”

Yejin froze. “Uh… I’ll take you there!”

---

She groaned and got out of bed to answer the door. The loud knocking woke her up early morning the next day when she wanted nothing more than to sleep in.

She opened the door and was instantly met by an icy glare.

“Kim Taeyeon.”

She shivered. Oh no. “J-jenny?”

“It’s Jessica!” Her guest screamed in frustration. What’s wrong with these people?!

She cowered. “Right. Sorry.”

Jessica pushed past her and made her way to the living room. She sat on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, still with that glare.

Taeyeon scratched the back of her neck. “Uh… water?”

“No. Sit here.” Jessica nodded towards the space beside her. “We need to talk.”

“O-okay.” She did as she was told and sat a good distance away from Jessica. “Um… if I may ask, how did you know where I was staying?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Jessica scoffed. “You, on the other hand, have a lot of explaining to do.”

“A-about what?” She squeaked under the glaring eyes of Jessica.

“Why has Tiffany been crying since yesterday?”

“Wh-what?! Why is she crying?!”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking you!” Jessica rolled her eyes. “All I understood above her sobbing was ‘T-t-taeyeon,’ and I know you two went on a date yesterday, so you tell me.”

“I-I…” she stopped then hastily left for her room to look for her phone. There were a number of texts and calls from Tiffany. Some were from early this morning, but most were from last night. “Oh no.” She looked up to see Jessica by her door.

“Well…?”

“I’m not sure but…” she showed Jessica her phone.

“You ignored her?! How could you!” Jessica walked closer to her and jabbed a finger on her shoulder. She had to take a step backwards in reflex.

“I didn’t notice my phone! Honest!” She added quickly when Jessica took another step closer. “I forgot to take it out of my bag yesterday so I didn’t hear it ringing.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes. “You better be telling me the truth, Kim Taeyeon.”

“I am!”

“Then tell me what happened on your date. Everything. Every detail.”

Taeyeon gulped and hastily went on to tell Jessica what happened yesterday – not leaving a single detail out. “…and she kept quiet and just looked back at me with that unreadable expression. I knew then what the answer was and she was just probably trying to think of a way to break it to me gently, so I excused myself and left.”

“Idiot!” Jessica exclaimed after Taeyeon finished. “You should’ve waited for her to say something!”

“But I did!” Taeyeon defended. “Even if I did wait longer, she would’ve just told me that she doesn’t feel the same!”

“Ugh! What makes you so sure? Huh?” Jessica threw her another glare.

“Well, what could her silence mean other than that?”

“Uh… maybe she was surprised? I mean, you did kind of did a surprise confession.”

“Well, I didn’t want her to think that me and Yejin were a thing so I had to say something.”

“And I commend you for that, but leaving right after was…”

“I know, I know.”

“You’re stupid for thinking that her silence meant she wasn’t interested,” Jessica said. “With that kind of surprised confession, anyone would be speechless for minutes! You should’ve given her time to digest everything and give you an answer before walking away.”

“But… I…”

“What?”

Taeyeon sighed. “I’m stupid, aren’t I?”

“Very,” Jessica answered without hesitation.

“What should I do now?”

“Get your answer.”

---

She sighed when she heard the door getting locked from the outside. She tried twisting the doorknob but it proved useless when nothing happened.

She sighed again. She walked towards the study table and took a seat on the chair.  She looked around the room. What was there to do while waiting? Watching television was not an option since the only TV was in the living room and Jessica locked her – and the sleeping Tiffany – inside the latter’s room until they cleared everything out.

With nothing to do, she swiveled the chair around and looked for something to play with on Tiffany’s desk. She found a notebook and started scribbling on the last page. Tiffany would probably kill her for this but she was bored with nothing better to do.

She doodled her name, then Tiffany’s. She put them together. TaeNy. She giggled to herself. Oh gawd. Their names fit each other perfectly. She giggled some more until she heard rustling from the bed.

She swiveled the chair back around and froze. Sitting up on the bed was Tiffany, with eyes as wide as hers.

“Uh…”

“T-taeyeon? What…”

Taeyeon stood up and walked closer to the bed without saying anything. She didn’t know what to say.

“H-how did you go in? How did you even know where I lived?” Tiffany continued.

“I… Um… Jessica,” was all she could say. Tiffany looked incredible in her eyes even with the bed hair, crumpled shirt and swollen eyes. The swollen eyes reminded her of why she was there. Focus, Taeyeon. “Look, I need to talk to you.”

“A-about?” Tiffany stuttered when Taeyeon moved to sit on her bed.

“A lot.” Taeyeon took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I walked out on you yesterday. I… I just thought that you didn’t feel the same way when you kept quiet after I confessed.”

Tiffany stayed quiet and let Taeyeon continue.

“And about the text messages… I didn’t mean to ignore them. I just forgot about my phone last night and this morning so… I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Tiffany said quietly.  “Is that the only reason you’re here?” She asked after a minute of silence.

“Um…” Taeyeon shifted. “Actually, there’s something else.” She took another deep breath. “I need my answer.”

“Y-your what?”

“My answer.”

“What answer? Answer to what?”

“To my question yesterday. I want to know what you would’ve said if I didn’t leave.”

“Oh,” Tiffany said but said nothing after.

“I mean… I know I don’t probably deserve it after what I did, and I know it’s probably the answer I don’t want to hear… ever, but I want to know.” She paused. “That is if you want to tell me. I won’t force you if you don’t want–”

“I like you too.”

“…to and… wait, what?”

Tiffany looked at Taeyeon. “It’s my turn to be completely honest so please listen until I finish?”

Taeyeon just nodded.

“I was jealous of Yejin.” She looked away to hide her red cheeks. “It was the reason why I avoided you for days.”

Taeyeon knew that. Yejin told her. But to hear it from Tiffany herself. Wow.

“Sorry for that, but I didn’t know what else to do. I thought she was more than a friend so I backed away.”

“But she’s just a friend.”

“I know. You told me yesterday, and I admit, I couldn’t be happier. When you told me how you felt yesterday, my brain shut down. I was confused, surprised, happy and everything all at the same time, so I didn’t know what to say.”

Taeyeon let her continue.

“The point is… Taeyeon, I feel the same way.” Tiffany didn’t know what happened, but next thing she knew, they were on the floor with Taeyeon on top of her and the latter’s arms around her. She looked up to see Taeyeon’s sheepish grin.

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself,” Taeyeon said.

“It’s fine,” Tiffany replied and put her arms around Taeyeon’s neck, reciprocating the hug.

They stayed that way; just hugging each other with silly smiles on their faces, until Taeyeon started moving her face closer to Tiffany's. "Um..."

She held her breath. Taeyeon's breath fanning her lips was making her brain go haywire.

"Can I kiss you?"

She was about to give a nod when the door suddenly opened and in came Jessica with a teasing smile on her face. “So… I take it the talk went well?”

Taeyeon groaned.