Everybody is watching, everybody can see it, and what do they do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Tiffany was having a huge inner conflict with herself. She was determined to never forgive Taeyeon for what she did, but seeing Sunmi ordering her around and openly bullying her while nobody did anything about it… Tiffany got it, Sunmi was the principal’s daughter, going against her would mean going against him, so it’s somehow safer to stay quiet, but seriously? Not even the teachers notice?

Tiffany shook her head. It was already Wednesday and she was having her last lesson that day. Jessica was sleeping on the desk next to her, completely oblivious to Tiffany’s thoughts. Taeyeon had a different class, but Sunmi was present. She was being her usual arrogant self. And Tiffany was having hard time. She blamed her high sense of justice.

Yes. That’s it. I feel the need to save Taeyeon from Sunmi’s bullying, because that’s just me. Against bullying. I would be having the same thoughts if it was anybody else as well. My feelings towards bullying have nothing to do with my feelings towards Tae- oh god, what the hell am I thinking? There are no feelings I’m having for her. Or well...We were friends. I thought of her as my friend, so I guess I do have some feelings and it could be affecting me, but… still… bullying is bad and shouldn’t be happening to anybody. Yes. That’s it.

Tiffany smiled, happy with her conclusion. But she really needs to stop that damn bullying somehow. She wondered where Yuri had been for the past three days. She knew Yuri was the type of person who skipped school a lot, but she was never interested in her enough to actually notice it. But now she noticed. And she disliked it. She thought Yuri’s presence could maybe save Taeyeon from her misery at least for a moment. Tiffany made a mental note to contact Yuri on Facebook once she’s home.

She sighed. Seriously… If only I knew what would happen… huh? What would I do if I knew about this? Would I give in and let her seduce me? Of course I wouldn’t. I might be… g-gay, but… yeah. I wouldn’t do that, that would be a social suicide. But I guess I would figure something out… I shouldn’t be thinking like this. I can’t change the past. But really, what would I do if I could? Would I change it? Would I not? Argh!!! Kim Taeyeon! Why are you making me so confused??

The lesson ended and Tiffany took her time with packing her stuff. She and Sunmi were the last ones to leave the classroom. Tiffany wasn’t surprised to see Taeyeon outside holding a cup of something hot, probably coffee.

“Hey there,” Sunmi smiled and took the coffee. She took a sip and frowned. “It’s ing cold already,” she complained. “I don’t want that, get me another one. NOW.”

Taeyeon immediately ran off, not saying anything.

Tiffany was frowning. She pretended to look for something in her bag, but secretly watching from afar. Only when Taeyeon arrived with another cup of coffee, she pretended to slowly walk away.

Sunmi took the coffee and drank a bit. Tiffany noticed Taeyeon was rubbing her hand, it was a bit red, obviously she spilled a little of the hot liquid on her way as she was rushing from the coffee vending machine. Sunmi didn’t look very pleased. “It’s too sweet!” she barked at Taeyeon. “You must be kidding me!”

Taeyeon took a step backwards, startled. Tiffany kept watching them from behind the corner. She felt really awful when Sunmi slapped Taeyeon’s cheek, threw her her bag and then ordered her to buy her another coffee on their way. Taeyeon immediately bowed her head and followed Sunmi outside.

Tiffany was watching the entire situation in disbelieve. She decided to follow them, she had nothing better to do anyways. And she better get some clearer idea of the entire situation. Taeyeon told her Sunmi had forced her to do it, but Tiffany never bothered enough to think about what it could actually mean. Now she saw what it had meant. And she kind of felt like she couldn’t blame Taeyeon that much anymore.

No. Tiffany, stop with these thoughts. What she did was terrible… Understandable but still very terrible. Taeyeon doesn’t deserve your mercy. B-but… does she deserve getting bullied like this? Was she bullied even before?

Tiffany realized she hadn’t really noticed. She was too concerned with herself to care about others’ well-being, especially of some Taeyeon. Who was gay. And everybody knew. And being seen with a gay person was the last thing Tiffany would like. So she never really cared. Until… all that mess happened.

They walked around the vending machine, so Taeyeon finally bought the coffee Sunmi was satisfied with. Tiffany also noticed Sunmi gave Taeyeon no money. Did Taeyeon bought all three coffees using her own money?

Luckily for Tiffany the two walked towards Sunmi’s house. That was quite a surprising thing, because Sunmi had a personal driver. But Tiffany didn’t complain, that was she could actually follow them all the way. Unfortunately she had a hard time eavesdropping. She had to keep her distance to remain unnoticed.

Suddenly the two girls stopped. They were talking and the discussion was pretty heated up. Tiffany decided to risk it and went a bit closer to them. Then she hid behind a tree and listened to their conversation.

“I can’t. I just can’t,” Taeyeon just said.

“Well you will. How important your ing work is? You have a part-time job as a postwoman. That’s so lame, just quit,” Sunmi ordered.

“I need that money. And I can’t skip on Saturday, so I won’t be your personal slave on Saturday, get it?”

Tiffany took a quick peek from behind the tree only to see Sunmi’s face change colors.

“Do I really need to remind you who I am and who you are?” she asked in disbelieve and obviously boiling with anger. Tiffany quickly hit again. “ Don’t forget you broke into daddy’s office and stole a bunch of tests!”

“You forced me!” Taeyeon argued. “I would never do it, but you threatened me with a knife for crying out loud!”

“Well, no one knows that,” Sunmi smirked. “But everybody will know you stole the tests once I tell daddy to check the security tapes,” she smiled.

Tiffany couldn’t believe her ears. Threatening with a knife? Stealing tests? What???!

She was not ready to say it aloud or even to admit it to herself, but deep inside, she had already forgiven Taeyeon. She would do the same thing in the poor girl’s position. She was still kind of hurt. But seeing Taeyeon suffer made it almost disappear.

Since she hadn’t heard anything for a while, she dared to take a look. The two girls were staring at each other for a few more seconds. Then Taeyeon sighed and bowed her head. Tiffany’s eyes widened. She was ing mad. She wanted to go there and slap the hell out of Sunmi. But no, she can’t do that, that would be too careless and it would lead to not only her, but also Taeyeon getting kicked out of the school.

Then they started to walk again. Tiffany waited till they were a bit further before following them again.

The two girls remained quiet for the rest of the walk. Then in front of Sunmi’s little mansion, Taeyeon bowed once again and gave Sunmi her bag.

“Good kid,” Sunmi said. “You are dismissed.”                

Taeyeon mumbled something Tiffany didn’t catch and then started to walk away. She really looked devastated. Tiffany sighed. She watched Taeyeon bend down and rub her foot through the shoe. Suddenly she felt a bit guilty. It’s been like two weeks since she stamped on Taeyeon’s feet, yet it still seemed not to be fully healed.

Poor Taeyeon, her foot must really suffer, especially since Sunmi forces her to walk around carrying heavy stuff…

Tiffany slightly shook her head and slowly walked behind the girl towards her house.

Tiffany followed Taeyeon all the way to her house. She noticed a suspicious blonde girl standing in front of it. Of course so did Taeyeon. Tiffany watched Taeyeon freeze on the spot, so she herself quickly hid behind a corner. She couldn’t see the girl’s expression. Was she scared? Surprised? Shocked?

The blondie took off her stylish hat and smiled at Taeyeon. Tiffany could clearly see the girl’s face. It was a bit unusual but damn, she was pretty. “Hi there, cutie,” the blondie greeted. Tiffany heard it pretty clearly. The girl had quite a y voice.

“Hi there, hottie,” Taeyeon said and Tiffany’s face immediately darkened.

What??!! But this is not the girl from the New Year’s Eve! Kim Taeyeon you are unbelievable!

Tiffany gasped as she realized she was upset. She is not supposed to be upset. She gulped as she watched Taeyeon slowly walk towards the girl. Then faster. Taeyeon was almost running when she hugged the girl tightly.

Tiffany’s chest clenched. I am not jealous. I am not jealous for crying out loud! I am not… why would I be? I have no reason. In fact, I am still angry with her… aren’t I? Oh damn, Taeyeon, why are you driving me so crazy?

Tiffany pouted, watching the scene. The blondie just kissed Taeyeon’s cheek.

“Hi there, Kim Hyoyeon,” Taeyeon said as she let go of the girl.

Tiffany felt a huuuge relief. Kim Hyoyeon. Same surname, same generation name. They must be sisters. Thank god.

Wait! Why am I upset? Even if they weren’t sisters, what would it mean to me? Nothing. Taeyeon is free to do whatever she wants, it’s none of my business, it should not and it will not bother me.

Tiffany subconsciously nodded, hidden behind the corner. When she peaked again, the girls were already inside the house. Tiffany sighed. Time to go home…

“Oh my god, I haven’t heard of you in ages!” Taeyeon exclaimed as she and Hyoyeon sat on her bed in her room.

Hyoyeon just flashed one of her beautiful smiles. “Glad you are happy to see me.”

“Of course I am! I thought you got deported back to North Korea, hehe,” Taeyeon joked.

Hyoyeon smiled, but the smiled seemed a bit sad.         

Taeyeon frowned. “Wait, I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? We-we used to joke like this all the time back then.”

Hyoyeon indeed was a North Korean, but her parents managed to escape the country and settle down in Thailand and eventually in South Korea when Hyoyeon was just around three years old.

“Yeah, it’s just… my parents managed to contact the rest of our family who still live in the North and we tried to help them escape, but they got caught on the Laotian-Chinese border. They were immediately sent back to North Korea and we lost contact once again. That’s why I didn’t contact you in any way for the past few months. It was too much of a distraction for me to know that maybe my entire family apart from my parents ended up in a prison camp or even executed.”

“Oh god, I am very sorry to hear that,” Taeyeon breathed out, obviously shocked.

“Yeah, but we still have hope,” Hyoyeon smiled. “Nothing is confirmed, these are just speculation, but seems that when they were taking my family back to North Korea, they got into some kind of revolt in a little village they were going through and the soldiers got into troubles, it was in the news, maybe you’ve heard of it. I kind of hope my family managed to escape, but we lost all tracks of them there.” The blonde girl sighed, shaking her head a bit.

“Don’t lose your hope, I guess it’s very possible they escaped,” Taeyeon smiled supportively.

Hyoyeon just nodded. “I don’t really remember them, but it’s making my parents really sad, so yeah, I’m upset. Other than that, I’ve been doing well. I got a scholarship at a university here in Seoul, so I’m moving,” she smiled.

“You did? What kind of scholarship?” Taeyeon raised her eyebrows, happy with the news.

“I have to thank my dancing skills for that,” Hyoyeon smirked.

“That’s so awesome!” Taeyeon cheered. “I will be very happy to have you back in Seoul.”

Hyoyeon’s family lived in the capital for a few months. Then her father unfortunately lost his job and they were forced to move back to the countryside. Taeyeon and Hyoyeon met back then when the other Kim family was still living there and had a little relationship going on for a few weeks. It was just a fling though, they were never in love with each other. They were just a bit cuddlier for just friends.

“I will be staying at the dorm,” Hyoyeon smiled. “My parents still can’t afford living in Seoul.”

“Ah, that’s okay, I’ll take care of you, hottie,” Taeyeon said cheekily and Hyoyeon laughed.

They used to call each other ‘cutie’ and ‘hottie’. Just because they thought it was funny. They were two dorks. And Taeyeon had no intention to cross the friendship line with Hyoyeon ever again. And she was pretty sure Hyoyeon felt the same.

“So how have you been?” Hyoyeon asked. “I see you got a dog,” she added as Ginger appeared out of nowhere and started to Hyoyeon’s hand.

“Ah, yeah,” Taeyeon laughed. “I don’t know… my life is pretty y,” she admitted.

“How come? Is Yenny still giving you hard time?” Hyoyeon asked concernedly.

Taeyeon let out a slightly bitter chuckle. “She got allies. Or more like… she became a slave of the almighty Sunmi. Pretty sure I told you about her before.”

Hyoyeon nodded. “Yes, you did. You said she was a mean .”

“She still is and it only got worse. But I can manage. I have only a few weeks left,” Taeyeon smiled.

“Well, if you need somebody to beat her up, just make sure to tell me,” Hyoyeon said, half joking half serious.

“Of course I will,” Taeyeon smiled. “Anyways, how long are you going to stay?” she asked then.

“Two weeks, the school provided me a room for the time of being. Then I need to return back to Naegwang-ri for some time before settling down here permanently.”

“Cool,” Taeyeon smiled. “It feels good to have another friend here.”

Hyoyeon grinned. “Yeah, I am lucky to know you, cutie.”

Taeyeon laughed. “We’re gonna have so much fun.”

“Yes we will. You are still friends with Yuri, right? I want to meet her, from what you said she seems like a funny person.”

“She is, you two are going to be unstoppable together.”

“Can’t wait. By the way, do you have a girlfriend? Or some love interest?”

Taeyeon just sighed once again, shaking her head. “Don’t even let me start on that…”

It was Friday. Physics. All the students were studying as they were taking a test that day. And they are probably going to get a new assignment.

To Taeyeon’s surprise, both Jessica and Yuri, were present. It’s been a while since Yuri had been to school. Almost a week actually. And now she seemed a bit weird.

“Hey, Yuri… are you there?” Taeyeon asked, poking her friend’s shoulder.

Yuri just shrugged. “Yeah, I am just sleepy,” she said, but Taeyeon was pretty sure that’s not the only thing.

“Oh come on, tell me. If you tell me, I’ll tell you something as well.”

Yuri suddenly became a bit more interested. “Is it about Tiffany?” she asked.

Taeyeon shrugged, not answering, making Yuri frown.

“Fine…” she sighed. “It’s Jessica Jung.”

“Huh?” Taeyeon raised her eyebrows.

“Well… I feel somehow attracted to her, it’s really weird, I used to hate her,” Yuri mumbled, looking embarrassed.

Taeyeon suppressed a laugh. “They say there is a thin line between hate and love, don’t they,” she stated, amused.

Yuri just sighed. “I can’t stop thinking about it,” she mumbled.

“That’s fine, girl. That’s completely normal…” Taeyeon said, trying to console her a bit.

“Okay, your turn,” Yuri said.

“My North Korean ex-girlfriend is in the town,” Taeyeon said.

“Really?! I thought she was departed back to North Korea or something since you kept saying she’s somehow missing,” Yuri said.

“Yeah, turned out she had some personal problems, so she didn’t contact me at all. But seriously, on Wednesday she just showed up in front of my door, I sure did not expect that. She is moving to Seoul,” Taeyeon smiled.

“I can’t wait to meet her!” Yuri exclaimed a bit too loudly.

“Shhh!” Taeyeon shushed her, but it already caught attention of some people, especially of the girl sitting two desks behind them.

Taeyeon’s and Tiffany’s eyes met and Taeyeon just grinned innocently, while Tiffany looked not very pleased, she was obviously thinking about something. Then she broke the eye contact without showing Taeyeon any positive reaction to the grin. Or any reaction actually.

Taeyeon just sighed and wanted to complain to Yuri, but then the teacher entered the classroom. He was smiling from ear to ear, carrying the tests.

“Good morning,” he greeted and immediately started to give each student the test. “As you know there is a test today. You have thirty minutes to solve five problems. They are very similar to those you had as your homework, so if you did your homework, you should have no problem getting an A from this test,” he said. “You may start writing… now.”

Taeyeon took her pen and looked at the test. She sighed as she started to write.

She was pretty happy about her skills, she was done ten minutes earlier and she was pretty sure she solved it all correctly. The test was pretty easy, even Yuri seemed to count at least something, though she kept rewriting the solution all the time. But still better than the usual empty paper with a signature.

Taeyeon smiled at the teacher, he smiled back, took her test and looked at it. He gave her a thumb up. Taeyeon was pretty content with herself. She looked around the class. Tiffany also seemed to be done with the test, and so did Jessica.

Soon everybody stopped writing, except for the poor Yuri.

“The end, I’ll collect the tests now,” he said as he started to do so. It took him a while as from time to time, he stopped to look at the test.

“Very well, Tiffany,” he smiled as he looked at the girl’s test. He seemed very happy even with Jessica’s test and a few others.

Then he took Yuri’s test. He smiled at her, more like out of pity than satisfaction. “You did well, Yuri. At least you wrote something”

Yuri just flashed an apologetic smiled.            

“As I can see, cooperation with Jessica has been helping you. So this will be your final assignment and you two will be working together again. Which means Taeyeon will work with Tiffany again and the rest will remain the same as well.”

Taeyeon looked at the teacher with sparks in her eyes. Maybe this will help you figure things out with Tiffany. Maybe they can still be friends. Taeyeon still felt very guilty about the thing she had done and she felt the need to receive Tiffany’s forgiveness. She carefully peeked at the other girl. Tiffany was talking to Jessica and neither seemed happy about the decision. Then Taeyeon looked at Yuri who seemed indifferent.

Tiffany raised her hand. “I wanna do the assignment with Jessica,” she said. Taeyeon just sighed. She totally expected this.

“I’m sorry, I already made my decision,” the teacher said, bringing Tiffany’s hope down and Taeyeon’s up.

Taeyeon didn’t dare to take a look at the latter, but she was glad Tiffany didn’t protest anymore.

“So if there are no other things anybody would like to say, I would like you present you your new assignment. Since this will be the last project ever before you leave this school, it will be the most difficult one.”

A few groans echoed.

“Ahh, don’t worry, it’s gonna be fun!” the teacher said, all excited. “Your task will be… to invent something!” he flashed a bright smile.

All of the students seemed confused.

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to actually create the thing. I want just a drawn picture of it and a detailed description of the way you invented it.”

More groans.

“Come on! It’s fun!” the teacher cheered. He was the only one excited about this. “Trust me, it’s gonna be easy for you once you get some good idea what invention you should invent.”

Taeyeon let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehead. Then she looked around. Yuri seemed a bit confused, just like a few others. Jessica seemed like she doesn’t care at all and Tiffany seemed a bit upset or somehow disturbed.

The teacher explained a few more details before he started to actually teach. Taeyeon’s thoughts very wandering around, she was pretty much spacing out the entire time. It was the school bell which brought her back to reality.

She quickly thought whether she was supposed to bring Sunmi a cup of coffee or a snack or something and after coming to conclusion she wasn’t, she slowly stood up and went to Tiffany’s desk. Tiffany seemed like she wanted to avoid Taeyeon, but seeing she couldn’t escape, she just stopped packing her stuff and look at the shorter girl.

“So we ended up being partners together,” Taeyeon started casually, but seeing Tiffany’s cold expression made her hesitate. “T-trust me, I would do it on my own, I-I would, but I don’t have enough time as I have to do Sunmi’s homework as well a-and-“

“I’m fine with being your partner,” Tiffany interrupted as she started to pack her stuff again. All of their classmates already lest the room, heading to another lesson. “But I have one condition.”

“Yes. Anything,” Taeyeon immediately nodded.

“We won’t talk about anything but physics. And also… once we finish this project, we are done.”

A/N: Hey guys, I am very sorry for the delay, but I promise to make it up to you. I'll update VERY soon. This weekend maybe? :) 

I need to celebrate, because I passed my finals with As and one C (stupid History -_-) & because I got accepted to a university... to the university which happens to be the best in the country, which is pretty awesome !

Also I would like to ask everybody who lives in Europe and has a right to vote already... please don't forget to go and vote for the European Parliament! Every vote counts!
Thanks for reading & subscribing & commenting & upvoting & everything! See you soon! :)

Teaser:

“I’m not angry.”
"You’re… not?”
“You should have told me.”
“Would you be willing to shoot a tape with me?”