Taeyeon had been awake since 4am but her eyes remained closed only opening occasionally to glance at the ticking clock on the wall. It was now 6:30am. She should be leaving for school right now. Taeyeon rolled on to her stomach.

School, no school, school, no school…Tiffany, Hayeon, Tiffany, Hayeon…

These thoughts kept circling in her mind. She had been thinking about this all night and all morning but her answer wasn’t any clearer. Should she just go and then make something up to tell Hayeon?...Taeyeon sighed, it would never work because Haeyeon would find out, Hayeon always knows.

But I told Tiffany that I would go…

Taeyeon sat up, she had made a decision. She would go. But first she would tell Hayeon about her decision. It was better that she told Hayeon herself rather than hiding it, it would only make Hayeon angrier. Hayeon would still be sleeping at this time so Taeyeon decided to write a letter for her other half.

After getting dressed and finishing up with her letter the time was now 8:30. For the first time ever, she was going to be late for school. Taeyeon quickly walked past Hayeon’s room, slipping the letter underneath the door before heading off to school.

***

With each passing second the sinking feeling in Tiffany’s stomach grew. The time was now 8:00, it wasn’t like Taeyeon to be this late.

The first few students shuffled in and Tiffany greeted them with a forced smile.

“Hey Tiff.” Jessica waved and skipped over to her desk in front of Tiffany’s.

“Hi Jessie.” Tiffany said flatly.

“She’s not here again?” Jessica asked and Tiffany nodded meekly. “Guess it must be a bad cold huh?”

“She didn’t seem sick.” Tiffany mumbled.

Yuri entered the classroom and walked over. She saw the empty desk next to Tiffany and eyed Tiffany giving her a weak smile.

“At least you tried.” Yuri said and sat down just as the bell rang.

“Okay girl’s take your physics text books out please,” Mr Park started.

Tiffany watched as all the other girl’s in the class took out their books. For the past few days she had been borrowing Jessica’s book with the excuse that she had had an accident and her books were all soaking wet. Tiffany was yet to buy new textbooks after Hayeon had destroyed them all. Since everyone was opening their drawers Tiffany did the same so as not to look out of place. Tiffany gasped when she saw a brand new set of books in her drawer. When did these get here? In the middle of the pile of books was a note. Tiffany unfolded the note and read the word.

Sorry.

Written in perfect print. Tiffany could pick out that handwriting anywhere.

Sorry? Because Hayeon burnt my books or because you’re not at school today?

“Tae!” Yuri called out and Tiffany’s head snapped up.

“Kwon Yuri, how dare you shout in the middle of my class?” Mr Park reprimanded.

Yuri ignored the teacher’s outburst and got up from her seat.

“I’m just opening the door for Taeyeon Sir.” Yuri replied politely.

“Oh okay.” Mr Park wasn’t used to such a well-mannered Yuri.

Yuri led Taeyeon into the room glaring at the students in the way so they shifted in their seats as furthest away as possible for Taeyeon to walk through. Once Taeyeon was in her seat Yuri mouthed the word “Thanks” to Tiffany and grinned at her.

Tiffany’s stomach was doing flip-flops as Taeyeon sat down, she didn’t know why she was this happy. Tiffany shifted her weight all the way to the edge of her seat so that Taeyeon could be as comfortable as possible.

Throughout the whole lesson Tiffany could not help her eyes straying over to glance at Taeyeon. This action did not go unnoticed by Taeyeon who always surveyed every minor detail of the environment surrounding her. Being constantly looked at should have fired up her nerves but Taeyeon’s body was all smooth sailing thanks to the big dose of benzos she had taken this morning. It may have been working too well because Taeyeon was a little sleepy.

“So, who can run me through Newton’s laws of motion?” Mr Park, the Physics teacher asked.

A few students raised their hands including Tiffany. Taeyeon recited the answer in her head like she would to all the questions the teacher posed. She knew all the answers but had no courage to say it out. Taeyeon saw Tiffany’s actions through her periphery, she thought about it long and hard before copying Tiffany’s actions. Taeyeon pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and raised her hand timidly. Tiffany seeing this lost all the strength in her arm and it fell on the desk with a loud thud. Other students turned their heads to see what was the source of the noise. A series of gasps and “Oh my goshes” were heard as everyone focused on the girl in the corner, arm half raised. Yuri turned around and her jaw fell to the ground. Even Mr Park was surprised as he dropped his textbook.

“Ahem, Ahem.” Mr Park straightened himself back up. “Miss Kim, would you care to elaborate?”

The class was dead silent, every single student strained their ears so they could hear the voice of The Kim Taeyeon. A voice that no one had heard before, well with the exception of Tiffany and Yuri but these two were no less surprised.

“Umm…” Taeyeon started in a soft whisper. “N-newton’s laws of motion. There are three in total. The first one states that every object in a state of uniform motion…” Taeyeon recited the laws that she had memorised.

“Perfect Miss Kim, thank you for your contribution today. I hope you participate more in the future.” Mr Park praised.

Taeyeon took a deep breath as Mr Park continued on with the lesson. She could feel Tiffany’s stare on her and it wasn’t the only stare she could feel but there was no doubt Tiffany’s stare affected her most.

It was almost lunchtime and the anxiolytic effects of the medication began to wear off. Taeyeon could feel herself starting to get all jittery with the all attention she was getting, all those eyes focused on her. She packed her books, grabbed her bag and dashed out the door just as the bell rang. Taeyeon did not stop until she reached the cherry blossom tree and even then she didn’t stop as she began to climb the tree. Wanted to hide herself within its branches.

Sure enough she could hear footsteps approaching and she looked down to see Yuri and Tiffany with their hands on their knees, catching their breaths.

“She’s not here.” Tiffany said.

“Yes she is.” Yuri knew better.

“Where?” Tiffany looked around.

Yuri sighed. She wanted Tiffany to go away, she wanted to take care of Taeyeon herself. But Yuri knew that it was also important that she herself learn to stop mothering Taeyeon all the time or else Taeyeon would just get more and more dependent on her.

“Tiffany.” Yuri said in a soft voice. “You’ve probably guessed by now that Taeyeon has…um…anxiety issues.”

Tiffany nodded her head slowly.

“And she’s not good with people…but she seems to be okay with you. It’s very complicated but I just want to let you know that if you get involved with her then it’s a very serious matter.”

Tiffany nodded again.

“No, you don’t understand the severity. How should I put this…um…like it’s very dangerous…risking your life dangerous.”

Tiffany’s eyes widened at the significance of Yuri’s words and Yuri’s heart dropped, they would all be scared off eventually and Tiffany was probably the same.

“So it’s best that you back out now.” Yuri said dejectedly, she had her hopes set on Tiffany becoming Taeyeon’s friend.

Tiffany imagined the cute and helpless Taeyeon in her mind, how dangerous could things be? It didn’t seem dangerous.

“No. I want to be her friend. We are already friends.” Tiffany said with determination.

Yuri’s body felt lighter at Tiffany’s words.

“Thank you Tiffany. You don’t know what this means to me…to her…to all of us.” Yuri smiled. “It may seem as though she prefers