Taeyeon fearlessly took the step inside the bar. No. Scratch that. Her knees were shaking like crazy. But she tried to look as confident as possible. She looked around the place, standing on just one leg as the injured one couldn’t take too much. Taeyeon thought she shouldn’t even be there in the first place. Why am I trying to make peace with a person who almost punctured my foot?

She spotted Tiffany sitting on the bar. Taeyeon chuckled. Tiffany was obviously drinking some alcohol. Taeyeon slowly reached her.

When Tiffany didn’t seem to noticed her, she sat on the bar chair next to her and hesitatingly put hand on the latter’s shoulder.

“Tiffany,” she whispered at the same time.

Tiffany quickly looked up and pulled away. Then she quickly brushed Taeyeon’s hand of her shoulder. “You,” she frowned. Her eyeliner was all smudged, Taeyeon was positive Tiffany had been crying, though no more tears were left in her eyes. Taeyeon herself just realized she must look pretty much the same since Tiffany had thrown a drink in her face.

“C-can we talk?” Taeyeon stuttered.

“No,” Tiffany answered angrily and took some money out of her pocket to pay for her drink.

“Wait! Wait!” Taeyeon waved her hands quickly.

“I’m leaving,” Tiffany mumbled.

“Please, don’t! I won’t let this go, I’m telling you! Give me ten minutes, that’s all I’m asking for! Let’s talk, please?” Taeyeon begged.

Tiffany didn’t seem to listen and she took her jacket.

“Fine, just go if you want to, but I will not leave you alone. It’s either ten minutes now or ten minutes some other day. Come on! My foot is hurting as hell, you owe me!” Taeyeon kind of lost the track of what she was saying but it seemed to work. The last sentence made Tiffany stop putting on her jacket. She looked at Taeyeon with a firm expression and then took it off again.

“Ten minutes,” she said uncompromisingly.

Taeyeon sighed in relief.                                  

“I want to apologize. I am very sorry for what I did, I shouldn’t have done that, I had no idea it would freak you out like this, I mean, it was just a kiss, people kiss all the time, please don’t be offended or anything, can we be friends again?” she said in one breath, realizing how contradicting herself  she was.

 She kind of cared about Tiffany, all the effort she put into becoming her friend kind of changed the acting into reality. She indeed felt like Tiffany’s friend. On the other hand she was about to betray her, she was so selfish she would sacrifice a probably innocent person for her own happiness. Or at least… she used to be that selfish. Is she still that selfish now? She wasn’t sure. But she suddenly felt like she could never do such a thing to Tiffany. Who by the way, didn’t say a word, she just ordered another drink. Tiffany was about to get drunk and Taeyeon was kind of worried because of it.

“It was… just a kiss?” she repeated hesitatingly.

Then finally Tiffany looked at her, tears burning in her eyes once again. “You just don’t get it, Taeyeon!” she exploded. “It wasn’t just a kiss! It was my ing first kiss!”

Taeyeon was confused for a few seconds. She was lost. “What do you mean? I mean, yeah, obviously it was your first kiss with a girl, but all the boys you reportedly slept with-“

“Do you wanna know the truth, Taeyeon? Do you wanna know the ing truth?!” Tiffany asked directly, raising her voice, looking at Taeyeon.

“Don’t be so loud, Tiffany,” Taeyeon whispered. “And yes, I would appreciate the truth.”

Tiffany remained silent. Then she broke the eye contact and sighed as she looked at the drink the barman just gave her a moment ago.

“Fine,” she whispered. “Okay, fine, if you need to know, I can see you obviously do, I know you wouldn’t stop until you learned the truth, so here it is. I’m gay.”

Taeyeon thought her ears were deceiving her. “What? What did you just say?”

“I’m gay, Kim Taeyeon, are you ing deaf?!” Tiffany raised her voice again as she looked into Taeyeon’s eyes. “I’m gay, I’m ing gayer than that stupid girl group you love so much, what’s their name, Girls’ something.”

“Oh, you mean SNSD,” Taeyeon said.                                                                                       

“Oh god, another group?!” Tiffany exclaimed helplessly.

“Well, no, SNSD stands for So Nyeo Shi Dae, which, as you for sure know, translates as-“

“Are you being serious right now?” Tiffany asked, annoyed. “I just told you my darkest secret and the only thing you can think of is your stupid favorite gay group?”

“Oh, sorry…” Taeyeon apologized. She frowned as she finally started to process the information Tiffany just told her. She had a really hard time believing it. “But what about all those boys?”

“What boys? There were none. I just told you, it was my first kiss,” Tiffany explained and a tear ran down her cheek. She immediately wiped it off.

“B-but everybody says-“

“Everybody is stupid,” Tiffany interrupted and laughed bitterly. “It was surprisingly easy to spread rumors about myself all over the school, it actually spread on its own, because somebody saw me with my brother one day and my cousin the day after. Everybody immediately started to think I was dating both of them at the same time. And I’ve decided to simply keep the rumor alive.”

“But… why?” Taeyeon asked. She didn’t understand it.

“Long story…” Tiffany mumbled.                                   

“You can tell me… since you already started…” Taeyeon encouraged.

Tiffany, maybe due to the excessive alcohol consumption, didn’t protest and indeed continued. “I guess I was scared. What would people think of me? Would they judge me? Would they treat me the same way they treat you?”

This time it was Taeyeon’s turn to let out a bitter laugh. “Good point. But look, being out doesn’t necessarily mean getting bullied. I was just unlucky, they chose me, because I am not very strong. You are. You would be like Yuri. Yuri’s out as well and nobody bullies her.”

Tiffany just shook her head. “Yuri is hard to bully as she is hardly ever at school. But that’s not just the reason. I guess I was also kind of hoping it’s just a phase and that it will go… away. I can’t be gay.”

“Why?”                      

“Why? Because I am a freaking Christian, Taeyeon!” Tiffany exclaimed. Taeyeon could smell alcohol from her breath.

“Okay. So? Who says Christians can’t be gay?”

“Uh, I don’t know, the Bible?!”

“Uhhh…. I’m not a Christian, but I’m pretty sure it does not. You must be misinterpreting it,” Taeyeon argued.

“Thank for trying, really… But I know what I am talking about,” Tiffany’s voice cracked and she started to cry again. She seemed really lost and desperate, Taeyeon felt really sorry for her.

“Tiffany, trust me, it is okay to be gay,” she said, trying to calm the girl down.

“Do you really believe this yourself?” Tiffany asked.

It was kind of a tricky question, but Taeyeon indeed did believe it. “Yes, I do. It doesn’t make you a different person, you are still the same Tiffany as before. It doesn’t change you. In fact, I think it makes you a better person, because you are honest to yourself and once you come out… You need quite a lot of self-respect and self-love to come out.”

Tiffany wiped her tears. She looked a bit confused. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well… there is this moment when you have to decide whether you wanna be your true self or you wanna be what people around you expect you to be. I believe you need some self-love to do that.”

Tiffany sighed. “I guess you are right. Whatever. This never happened, okay? Mention this once and you are dead,” she said then scarily as she took out her money once again. “Sir! I’m paying!” she called the barman and suddenly she sounded really drunk. Taeyeon wasn’t realizing it during the entire talk, Tiffany seemed quite sober to her, well, except for the horrible alcohol smell from her breath. Taeyeon immediately thought it is very disgusting, not only that eighteen year old girls get this drunk, but also the fact that the barmen sell them alcohol like it was no big deal. Well, guess what, it’s illegal, ing jerks!

Tiffany jumped off the chair and Taeyeon immediately did the same. She kind of forgot her foot was injured and her knees immediately bent. She had a hard time not to fall down. She hissed in pain. Tiffany noticed.

“I apologize,” she mumbled. “I think I kind of overreacted.”

“You think?!”

Tiffany frowned, a bit offended. “I am trying, okay? What more do you want from me?” Taeyeon wasn’t sure if she was like that because of the alcohol or not.

“Okay, I get, it’s hard for you, I get it,” she said.

Tiffany nodded. “Thank you. I really am sorry about your leg. But you have to understand.”

Taeyeon sighed. It was obviously worth nothing, trying to talk to drunk Tiffany. “Okay… I need to call a cab,” she mumbled and took out some money out of her pocket

Tiffany meanwhile paid for her drink and then she looked at Taeyeon’s money. “Is this all you have?” she asked.

“It’s enough for a cab, it should be,” Taeyeon answered.

“Okay…” Tiffany said. “I’m going to walk, I am a bit drunk, I need to walk to get a bit sober.”

Tiffany started to walk towards the exit, but tripped over her own leg and she would have fallen if Taeyeon hadn’t caught her. She held Tiffany’s forearm as the drunk girl tried to put herself together.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

“I am not letting you walk home, I’ll call you a cab,” Taeyeon decided.

“But I have no money,” Tiffany laughed.

“What? How come? You were just wondering how come I have so little and yet I still have enough money to afford a cab!” Taeyeon exclaimed.

“I spent it all,” Tiffany explained sadly.

“Oh god, fine…” Taeyeon resigned. “I’ll pay for your cab.” Still holding Tiffany’s forearm she slowly dragged her outside. It was quite a challenge, especially since she herself wasn’t still really able to walk.

She was happy to see a few cabs standing near the bar. That was nice.

She led Tiffany towards one of them.

“Hi,” she greeted the driver through the opened window. “Can you take this girl home?”

“Drunk?” the driver asked, sounding annoyed.

“Well….” Taeyeon hesitated. Tiffany seemed too sleepy to even lift her head.

“Only if you come along. What would I do with her if she passed out in my car? And she better not throw up.”

“Tiffany?” Taeyeon touched Tiffany’s shoulder and lifted her head. “Are you feeling nauseous?”

Tiffany shook her head. “I just want to sleep. I feel tired,” she said.

Taeyeon sighed. “Fine, I’ll come along.”

She helped Tiffany get into the car before she herself entered. Tiffany half sat half lied down on the seat, closing her eyes.

“So where should I take you?” the driver asked.

Taeyeon told him. She didn’t know the exact address, but she knew where Tiffany lived, so it wasn’t that hard for her to describe the area. The driver seemed to get it, so he started the car.

Taeyeon just sighed, looking at Tiffany who seemed to had fallen asleep. Tiffany looked really sad and Taeyeon felt very sorry for her.

“I can’t do it,” she mumbled. “I can’t do it to you.”

“What can’t you do to her?” the driver asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing… you would think I’m a horrible person. And I won’t do it anyways, so it doesn’t matter. I just can’t. It would be too much, now that I know the truth about her.”

“Okay, as you think,” the driver shrugged and started to focus on the road again.

Taeyeon just let herself sank into the seat, watching Tiffany, who seemed to be a bit frowning in her uneasy sleep.

Then finally they arrived. Taeyeon thought the drive would never end at one point of it.

“5800 won,” the driver said as he looked at the taximeter.

Taeyeon breathed out some air out of her lungs as she counted her money. She will have literally nothing left once she pays for this though it wasn’t a lot. Nevertheless, she paid the price, thanked the driver and got off the car. Then she walked (or more like limped since her foot was still hurting with every step) around it and opened the door on Tiffany’s side, gently shaking her.

“Tiffany, we’re in front of the house you live in and I really need your help.”

Since Tiffany wouldn’t wake up, Taeyeon started to shake a bit harder, until she finally brought the girl back to the consciousness.

Tiffany had a blank expression and she seemed confused. “Where am I?” she asked. Her voice sounded quite normal, Taeyeon thought that maybe she actually did sober up a bit during the short nap she had taken.

“Almost home, come on,” Taeyeon said, grabbing Tiffany’s wrist and pulling her out of the vehicle. Tiffany obeyed. She looked around and ended up staring at one of the tall buildings.

“I live here.”

“Yes, you do.”                      

“How do you know? Oh, I don’t feel very good…” she mumbled to herself as she rubbed her forehead. She was tottering a bit, so Taeyeon thought she maybe had made a premature conclusion about the soberness.

“That’s not cute at all,” she mumbled to herself as she watched Tiffany zigzag walking in front of her. “Why do people drink, just why? Making my life more difficult,” she sighed as she quickly caught up with her, clenching her teeth every time she had to make a step with her right foot. She was kind of worried Tiffany would twist her ankle or something, her walking seemed quite dangerous in those stiletto shoes. Very dangerous actually.

Taeyeon watched Tiffany fight with her purse, looking for the keys. It was a balanced battle, but after a lamentably long moment, she won and wanted to open the door, but Taeyeon couldn’t watch it anymore, took the keys away from the poor girl, opened the door and shoved her inside the building before entering herself.

“Will you be able to go upstairs on your own?” Taeyeon asked, worriedly.

Tiffany nodded as she pressed the button of the elevator. “How do you know I live on the very top?”

Taeyeon let out a quite laugh. “Everybody knows that.”

“It’s funny how people know me well and yet they don’t know me at all, don’t you think?” Tiffany mumbled. The elevator door opened, but she wasn’t getting in.

“What are you waiting for?” Taeyeon asked.

Tiffany was frowning, breathing heavily. She was obviously thinking very hard. She was quiet for quite a long time, before finally speaking up. “How are you going to get home? It’s late.”

“I think I will just walk, it’s not that far after all,” Taeyeon said, kind of surprised because of Tiffany’s concern.

“Alone? With your foot? No. No no no no. No,” Tiffany repeated a few times, shaking her head. “Come with me, I have money at home, or at least my sister has, you just paid for the cab, I will… I will… give it back to you.”

Taeyeon hesitated.

“Come on, I owe you this,” Tiffany extended her hand to grab Taeyeon’s forearm and then she dragged her into the elevator. Taeyeon let her.

It took forever for the elevator to reach the top floor. But they were finally there.

Taeyeon followed Tiffany to her apartment. “Where are my keys?” Tiffany suddenly asked, terrified.

“Oh, sorry! Here!” Taeyeon quickly said as she realized she had taken them from the latter just a few minutes ago. For a second she thought she would return the keys, but seeing Tiffany was tottering again, she changed her mind and decided to open the door herself.

She unlocked the door and opened it before leading Tiffany inside.

“Wow,” she breathed out as she spotted the luxurious equipment. “Just wow.”

Tiffany walked right after Taeyeon. She took off her shoes, almost losing her balance while doing so, and entered the living room. “Michelle?!” she called. There was no reply. “Micheeeelleee!!” she tried again, louder this time.

*Pat pat pat pat pat pat*

“Heyy, Prince.” Taeyeon bent down to pet the little white dog which came out of nowhere, yawning. Then she looked around once again, still overwhelmed with the luxury surrounding her, when she noticed a note on a table. She frowned as she took it. She tilted her head to the side, trying to read it, but it was in English and she had troubles with that, plus the handwriting wasn’t so neat, seemed like somebody had written it in a hurry.

“Uh, Tiffany?” Taeyeon called the poor girl, who kept looking for her sister. “I found a note, I think nobody’s in here.”

Tiffany immediately returned back to the living room, obviously being upset. She took the note out of Taeyeon’s hand and look at it.

“Dear T., I wanted to call you, but I couldn’t reach you, so I’m at least leaving a note… My boss called me, he needs me back in US asap. He already booked me a flight so I can’t unfortunately refuse. By the time you will read this, I will have boarded on the plane. I will call you once we land in Cali. I am very sorry for leaving like this. I hope you won’t be too sad. I will call you. Bye. Love. M.”

Tiffany scoffed and wiped her glistening eyes. “She’s gone,” she said.

Taeyeon wasn’t sure if the words were meant to her or just generally said aloud, but she still asked. “What do you mean by that?”

“My sister. She left. To the US. She had to, her boss called,” Tiffany said, blinking madly to prevent tears from running down her cheeks.

Taeyeon wasn’t dumb, she noticed Tiffany was crying again, but she felt too awkward to do something about it. She had no idea what to do.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Taeyeon whispered.

“That’s fine. I’m used to being alone. It , but I’m used to it.”

“You-you live here on your own?” Taeyeon asked, surprised. She had no idea Tiffany actually lived alone.

Tiffany just sadly nodded. “My siblings live both abroad, my father lives abroad and my mommy… is with God.”

“Oh dear, I had no idea,” Taeyeon whispered.

“It doesn’t matter… I’ll give you the money, wait…” Tiffany suddenly seemed sober once again. It was weird, she had these moments when she seemed sober, but second later she was like completely drunk again. She took her wallet from the table and was looking for the sufficient amount.

Taeyeon could only see Tiffany’s back. Tiffany took out a few bills and then, without looking at Taeyeon or even simply turning around, she gave Taeyeon the money over her shoulder.

“Now go… go…” Tiffany’s voice cracked.

Taeyeon wasn’t exactly sure what to do, but she assumed going away would be probably the safest option, so she slowly turned towards the door and started to walk. Her foot was getting better, it didn’t hurt as much as before anymore. Taeyeon already had her hand on the doorknob, when she suddenly heard a sob, a really loud one. Tiffany was crying. A lot. Taeyeon stopped. She looked at the poor semi-drunk girl, who was now sitting on the couch, her face buried in her palms.

“Tiffany?” she asked quietly.

Tiffany looked up, wiping her tears. “I’m scared,” she said.

“Can I… Can I help you somehow?”

After a few seconds of quiet staring, Tiffany nodded. “Please stay…”

Taeyeon was sitting in the armchair, her foot wrapped in a cold towel. She just finished texting her mom telling her she would be a bit late.

Tiffany was lying on the couch right next to the armchair. When Taeyeon told her to go sleep to her room, Tiffany refused, saying she wants both of them to stay in the living room. Taeyeon thought that Tiffany would fall asleep immediately, knowing she had a lot to drink, but Tiffany seemed to be really uneasy. She kept shifting and moving and making weird noises. Taeyeon started to think the girl would never fall asleep.

She just kept watching the clock, it was 3AM. Taeyeon sighed. She felt tired and sleepy herself, but she was determined not to fall asleep. Her foot got much better meanwhile and even thought Tiffany wanted her to stay, she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She didn’t feel very comfortable about this whole situation.

Around 4AM Tiffany finally seemed to had fallen asleep. Taeyeon decided it was time to leave. It was dark in the room, since they switched off the lights, but Taeyeon’s eyes were used to the darkness by now, so she didn’t have problem to find the note from Tiffany’s sister and a pen. Then she wrote a note herself on the other side of the piece of paper. Her handwriting wasn’t very neat because of the darkness, but she assumed it was legible.

She left the note on the table, carefully stood up and slowly left the apartment. She took a cab home. When she arrived, her mom was already sleeping. Taeyeon ended up staring at the ceiling that night…

Tiffany woke up around noon the following day. She had a little headache and the previous night was a bit blurred. But she remembered. She remembered everything that happened with Taeyeon. More or less. Taeyeon… Is she still here?

Tiffany sat up and looked around. She noticed a note on the table. She took it.

‘Tiffany,

I’m sorry I left, but my mom would be worried. I hope you are okay.

Don’t worry, all your secrets are safe with me.

See you at school in two days.

TY.’

Tiffany threw the note back on the table and lied back down on the couch. She sighed as she closed her eyes. Suddenly she had a random flashback from the previous night. Taeyeon thought she was asleep, but in fact, she wasn’t. “I can’t do it to you.” “What can’t you do to her?” “It’s nothing… you would think I’m a horrible person”

Tiffany frowned. She had this memory in her mind, but she wasn’t sure if it was real or not, really, everything seemed a bit like in haze.

It wasn’t just a dream, right? You really said that. But what did you mean, Kim Taeyeon? What did you mean by saying you can’t do it to me? That it would make you a horrible person? What is it? What did you not tell me?

Tiffany rubbed her forehead. “Is this some kind of revenge for me having secrets or what?” she mumbled but shortly after admitting that’s a nonsense. “What is it, Kim Taeyeon, just… what is it?

A/N: Let's just pretend they use keys in Korea, okay? I kind of didn't realize they don't when I was writing this chapter :D

Interesting fact about this chapter - This was originally a one shot I wrote for my friend. The bar part. But one day I thought that maybe I could make an entire story out of this... And that's how this fanfic was born :)

Hopefully it answered some of your questions.

Thanks for reading & thanks for commenting & thanks for subscribing! Love you all~~

A little teaser?

“Tiffany’s gay, Yoona’s gay, Seohyun’s possibly gay, Jessica’s bicurious possibly gay, what’s next? Sunmi being gay?! What is this, a freaking gayland?”
 “That would be so awesome!”

And, no, that's indeed not TaeNy, but I yeah, I guess the next chapter will be a bit more of a fun. :))