Nodus Tollens: 

n. the realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore—that although you thought you were following the arc of the story, you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don’t understand, that don’t even seem to belong in the same genre—which requires you to go back and reread the chapters you had originally skimmed to get to the good parts, only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure.

Chapter six— Give to get

Cue Rainy mood (Keep at a Low volume) 

          As many times as she liked to think that everything would just be the same. It wasn’t. Tiffany didn’t like change, she liked her routine. It worked for her, it was something she was familiar with. Breakfast, shower, work and back home. But lately it’s been a little chaotic. At least for her.

          “Are you sure, that’s what you wanna do?”

          “I’m sure.” Tiffany was hard-headed. Meaning once she made up her mind there was no changing it. She made Taeyeon feel skeptical half the time, like she wasn’t sure Tiffany was actually real or not. Or maybe she was just a figment of her imagination.

          “Fine. Alright. Okay.” Taeyeon frowned as they walked side by side, up the steps that were each painted a different color. They stopped in front of a door step. A neon green one, with an orange door handle. Taeyeon winced as Tiffany banged on it with all her force.

          “Geez, wanna knock any harder, Tiffany?”

          “Okay.” Tiffany raised up her fist only to be yanked back by Taeyeon.

          “I was just joki—”

          “What?” Suddenly the door opened, revealing a tall, lanky looking girl with a pen in the shape of a yellow daisy in her hair.

          “I—um—she—me…” Taeyeon had a hard time talking to strangers, she always had.

          “Hi, Choi Sooyoung. We want to invite you over to our place for thanksgiving tonight.” Tiffany took a step forward. Offering the warmest of smiles. Taeyeon eyed her from the side, looking down shyly afterwards.

          “Our? You guys live together?” Sooyoung questioned, giving them a blatant look.

          “No, I mean, yes. I mean no.” Taeyeon waved her hand, she sighed. “I mean. She’s staying over for thanksgiving. She wanted to invite you over.”

          “So she wanted to invite me over, not you?” Tiffany looked at Taeyeon as Sooyoung questioned.

          “Wait, what?” Taeyeon felt a migraine start to ease into the back of her head.

          “Just tell us if you’re gonna come or not.” Tiffany said in a high pitched squeal, the patience she once had running out.

Sooyoung just stared at her menacingly. Before slowly nodding her head. “Sure I’ll come.” Then she shut her door. Leaving the two standing there with dumbfound expressions on their faces.

          “Well that was nerve wrecking.” Taeyeon let out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding in before. “So nerve wrecking.” She felt Tiffany grab ahold of her hand and whisk her away, down the steps and onto the sidewalk. The rain poured lightly around them as Taeyeon held the umbrella over their heads.

          “I’m glad we invited her over.” Tiffany skipped ahead and laughed. Taeyeon ran up to her in a panic trying to place the umbrella over her head but Tiffany kept dodging it.

          “Tiffany…” Taeyeon whined out until Tiffany settled down and stood still. “Thank you.” Taeyeon cleared while she continued walking. A thought crossed her mind as they held hands, basking in silence. Was Tiffany the person she thought she was?

          “Do you mind me asking, what exactly happened to your parents?” Taeyeon suddenly felt a rush of guilt stream out through the pores of her face when she witnessed Tiffany sigh out in total distress.

          “Why do you wanna know?” Tiffany gently asked her. Taeyeon felt odd, like Tiffany wasn’t so much the Tiffany she usually knew right now. And it was all her doing.

          “Just curious.” Taeyeon hummed out. She felt Tiffany move closer to her, linking her arm with hers and leaning her head on Taeyeon’s arm. It felt nice.

          “I came home one day from school and they were gone.”

          “Gone?”

          “Gone.”

Taeyeon cocked an eyebrow, giving Tiffany a glance from the side of her eye. “So suddenly?”

Tiffany nodded, “Very suddenly.” She said.

Taeyeon didn’t really say anything after that. She just allowed Tiffany to rest her head on her arm, and they continued to walk along the crooked path way till they arrived in front of Taeyeon’s house.

          “Do we really need that big of a turkey if it’s just three of us? Is it really necessary?” They were now standing in Taeyeon’s kitchen, Tiffany whipped out a 22 pound turkey big enough to feed a family of six. She nodded.

          “Of course it is!” She whined, “What if Choi Sooyoung actually has three internal stomachs and she eats five times as much as she normally should?”

Taeyeon just blinked at her. “What?”

          “It’s necessary!”

          “Okay then…” Taeyeon didn’t want to argue with the girl. She looked too cute in that pink apron, with her shaggy uncombed hair tied up in a ponytail. Not oddly enough she was also wearing safety googles and gloves.

          “You look ridiculous with those things on.” Taeyeon mumbled, ridiculously cute. She thought to herself.

          “Safety first.” Tiffany shrugged, slapping the raw turkey and gave Taeyeon an evil grin.

          “I’m gonna take a nap while you do all that.” Taeyeon yawned watching Tiffany nod.

          “It’ll all be ready by the time you wake up.”

          “Sure.” Taeyeon muttered, heading off to her bedroom. She let herself fall on the bed, her hair covering her face entirely. She huffed out and shut her eyes. Off in the distance she could hear Tiffany singing some song, and to that she fell asleep.

------

          Taeyeon felt a faint buzz of loneliness seep deep inside of her chest. She saw fleeting images of what she faintly remembered what her mother would look like, her father. Smiling and laughing. Angry and disappointed. All these conflicting feelings streaming across their faces within seconds of each other. The more she dreamt about it, the more intense that buzzing became. She furrowed her eyebrows in her sleep, tossed and turned. It was hard to dream about what it looked like with no rain, with some kind of ball of light at the tip of their atmosphere shining down on them and it felt so warm. But she dreamt of it anyways. And for some reason, her parents disappeared and Tiffany appeared in front of her. Her brown hair even browner from the sunlight that casted a glow around her. And her sun-kissed skin reached to the tips of her fingers.

          “Wow.” Taeyeon muttered. She suddenly didn’t feel so alone anymore.

          Sooyoung was standing over Taeyeon. From the side of her bed. She looked down at the girl as she tossed and turned in her bed. Making funny faces and muttering words like—

          “Wow.”

Sooyoung let out a breath that parted her lips before frowning deeply. She bent over and began shaking Taeyeon violently.

          “Wake-up.”

Taeyeon’s eyes fluttered open. Her body shot up in a panic and her eyes darting across the room.

          “What the hell?!” She yelled. “You scared the shi—” she remembered how Tiffany didn’t like curse words and she bit her lip, “You scared the heck out of me.” She breathed out, placing a hand on her chest. “What are you doing?”

Sooyoung just shrugged, “Tiffany told me to wake you up.” And walked out of the room.

Taeyeon just sat there feeling drained despite the long nap she just had. Kicking her legs off to the side she stood up and began to drag herself to the kitchen.

          “Tada!” Tiffany spun around in her glove and pink apron. Her hair a total mess, messier than before and her googles resting on the top of her head.

          “Wow.” Taeyeon muttered.

          “Is that the only word you know?” Taeyeon gave Sooyoung a dejected look, whom was already sitting down over at the dining table.

          “What do you mean?” Taeyeon questioned. Sitting across from her. Tiffany had made the turkey, but that was about it. No side dishes or anything. Just a twenty-six pound turkey taking up more than half the dining room table space.

          “While you were sleeping. You said, wow.” Sooyoung always had this deadpan expression on her face. And it made Taeyeon wonder whether or not she was a psycho.

          “You were watching me sleep?” Taeyeon made a weird face, pursing her lips.

          “Yes.” Sooyoung admitted. While Tiffany took out a mini-saw from the back. Taeyeon tilted her head, finding it quite frustrating that she couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming about. Or if she had even dreamt at all.

          “Be careful with that thing.” She looked over at Tiffany from the side, who didn’t care to respond before turning on the mini-saw and cutting into the turkey.

          Tiffany began to place slabs of turkey on both Taeyeon and Sooyoung’s plate. While Sooyoung just stared at Taeyeon and Taeyeon stared right back.

          “So Sooyoung. How come I’ve never really seen you around before?” Taeyeon stabbed the end of her fork into the meat.

          “I see her all the time.” Tiffany managed to say, before looking away and stuffing her face.

          “Maybe you’ve just never noticed me before.” Sooyoung shrugged, having not yet touch her plate.

          “Maybe.” Taeyeon replied back.

          “How come you live alone?” Sooyoung questioned back.

          “I just do.” Taeyeon replied frowning. She found Sooyoung to be slightly rude, or maybe just off putting. She was weird. But not the Tiffany kind of weird, just completely different. “And you?” Taeyeon asked. “Do you live alone?”

          “No.” Sooyoung shook her head and crossed her arms. “I live with my mom, dad and older sister.”

          “Great.” Taeyeon replied, “How come you’re not celebrating thanksgiving with them then?” She bit the end of her meat.

          “When I told them someone asked me over to their place. They seemed really happy about it.”

          “Oh.” Taeyeon frowned feeling a bit of pity.

          “I think, they think, I should get out more.” Sooyoung said monotony.

          “Maybe you do.” Taeyeon shrugged and continued to eat.

          “It’s quite possible.” Sooyoung agreed. “You don’t seem like the extrovert type yourself, Taeyeon.”

          “How so?” Taeyeon asked.

          “You seem lonely.”

Tiffany looked over at Sooyoung when the lanky girl uttered those words. Taeyeon just heaved a sigh, and then her previous dream came flooding in on her like a broken dam. The feeling of emptiness, and the profound feeling of loneliness. Was it written on her face?

          “You’re right.”

She was entirely right.

          “I suppose I could be.” Sooyoung finally took a bite of the turkey she had on her plate.

No one said at word after that.