Tiffany Hwang’s Home
Gangnam-Gu, Seoul
7.30 a.m.

 

Two lines.

 

Two pink lines.

Tiffany saw it clearly. Next few seconds, those two pink lines began to fade because hot, fresh tears filled her beautiful and expressive eyes. Those eyes couldn’t express anything now except fear, disappointment and confusion.

 

This can’t be happening; no way.

What in the world did she just found out?

What will she do next?

 

Questions.
Too big.
And she doesn’t have answers.

She looked around her but found nothing as an answer. The four corners of her elegant and spotless bathroom offered nothing as an immediate answer nor did it offer anything as a consolation. The quietness was even deafening.

 

The pink lines in the pregnancy test kit she just bought hurriedly from a secluded drugstore somewhere in the outskirts of Seoul meant a lot of things.  

 

It just sealed her fate and someone else.

It just intertwined her destiny and that someone else.

It had drawn a history between her and that someone else.

 

Tiffany could not afford to even sigh; her tears were stopping her from doing so.

 

But after three hours of locking herself in the bathroom, she decided to get out.

 

One.
Two.
Three.

 

After three hours of tears, questions and struggle, there was a little clarity in her mind that it’s going to be a different life once she steps out.

 

A different life with a life inside her.
And different life with that someone else.

 

 

That Someone Else’s Car
Some Parking Lot
11 p.m.

 

It took her more than three months to gather up the courage to tell him. And another three months to get over what he told her.

 

“I have something to tell you.” Tiffany’s hand was shaking. She kept it under her bag which is on her lap; she knew she must not show him that she was that scared, that fearful.

 

It’s been awhile since they last saw each other. And now she’s going to tell him the big news. He was working overseas for the past few months and the last communication they had was him telling her, he couldn’t see her for awhile.

 

It was even after her few tries that he agreed to see her again. Tiffany wasn’t even hopeful that their meeting this time would be the same as their three previous ones.

 

“Me too.” That someone else’s hand shook too.

 

Tiffany noticed that. She saw the way he struggled keeping his hand still while he talked.  He didn’t know whether he’ll hold the steering wheel or not. Funny when the car’s not even moving; the engine’s not even started.

 

The awkwardness won over the confidence on this guy; Tiffany noted on that too.

 

“I’m d-d-dating someone…e-e-else n-n-n-ow…” That someone else stammered.

 

Nervous.
Then a lot more nervous.

That someone else did it nervously.

 

It escalates.
The nervousness.

 

Tiffany just nodded.
She did it subtly.
 

“I see…” She smiled faintly. “I see.”

 

No one spoke for minutes. They eyed each other but were unable to read each other’s thoughts.

 

Another someone else.
He was just working overseas.
That wasn’t included in his messages to her; about him dating another girl.

 

“I just… wanted to have… a closure with… you…” Tiffany lied. “I kind of felt bad… it kind of… felt bad to be hanging all this time…”

 

It = them.

Them = Tiffany and That someone else.

 

“… just a closure, and nothing else.”  Tiffany had to fight back her tears.

 

“I’m sorry.” That someone else spoke softly with his eyes straight on the dashboard. “I should’ve told you…”

 

“It’s alright.” She lied again. It’s not alright; never going to be alright.

 

“We started going out when we were…” That someone else tried to tell her.

 

“You don’t have to explain…” Tiffany smiled. “I repeat, just wanted to have a closure that’s why I wanted to meet up… And we didn’t have a relationship to begin with… But I guess, this is goodbye, isn’t it?”

 

That someone else nodded.

 

“Can you do me a favor?” Tiffany asked, “If ever we meet in the future, pretend that you don’t know me. If ever I call you, don’t ever answer. If ever you answer, pretend I’m a stranger and that you don’t know me. Even if I beg and shout, pretend I don’t exist… treat me like you don’t know me. That’s all I ask… ”

 

That someone else was dumbfounded looking at Tiffany talking so serious like that. She was cool in his eyes. At some point, she comes off as someone like a happy-go-lucky person and yet she speaks now as if they shared years of intimate relationship. That someone else had no idea why she acts so strange so suddenly and so out-of-the-blue. In the end, he had no choice but to agree and just nod.

 

“Thank you.” She replied with sad eyes. “And don’t worry, I won’t ask anything from you ever. Won’t expect anything either. That you have my word. I promise you.”

 

She left crying.
The moment she went out of his car, she knew she just completely went out of his life too.  

 

She decided on that.
Faster than counting from one to three.

 

One.
Two.

 

It didn’t reach three this time.

 

 

Cedars-Sinai Hospital
Los Angeles, California
10.00 a.m.

 

Three hours.

 

It took her three hours to give birth. Tiffany welcomed into this world a beautiful baby after three hours of painful labor.

 

She welcomed her alone.

 

“Hey Mommy, here’s your beautiful, beautiful baby.” The doctor smiled and gave the crying baby to the crying Tiffany too.

 

Speechless.
Crying.
Thankful.
Blessed.
Overwhelmed.

 

She may have endured so much during her entire pregnancy but she forgot all about it the moment she saw her baby and the instant she was in her arms. Never mind that this baby’s father doesn’t know of her existence. Tiffany decided that she’s going to raise her baby alone and she’s going to love her as much as she could, shower her all the love and affection, she’s never going to feel lacking.

 

“Hi sweetheart…” Tiffany softly spoke. “Hi baby.”

 

Tiffany didn’t have to count the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days before she can forget the bad memories and bad choices she made.

It’s gone right that moment she saw that bundle of joy, crying in her arms, her most precious one.

 

Her baby,
Hers alone.

 

 

“Ma’am, we need to fill up this part too…” The nurse told her later when she was recuperating at her own room.

 

The father’s name.

 

Tiffany then looked at her baby whom she was feeding at the moment. She kissed her head softly and smiled.

 

“Can you write it down for me?” Tiffany smiled and told the nurse. “It’s Choi Seunghyun. C-H-O-I. S-E-U-N-G-H-Y-U-N.”

 

She was asked.
She just answered.

 

Tiffany Hwang finally told another person That someone else’s name.

 

Everyone close to her is going to be mad.
Her family will be mad.
SM will be mad.
Some of her fans will be mad.
Best friend Kim Taeyeon will be mad.

 

Boy friend Nichkhun will not just be mad, he will be furious.

 

Boy friend.
There is a space between the boy and the friend.
But still, he will be furious.
Even with that 'space'.

 

 

MBC Gayo Daejun
December 31, 2010

 

It was awkward and by all means shy.

 

Three seconds.  
That glance.

 

But he knew he’s got to get her number.
His mind told him that.
His heart agreed.

 

Seunghyun was struggling to get to Daesung but to no avail. His maknae wasn’t even paying attention to him. He kept telling him that Tiffany doesn’t fall in his category of women; neither does he belong to the men that Tiffany would spare a glance to.

 

“Kang Daesung.”

 

“Andwe.” Daesung smiled evilly.

 

So, that’s a no from his BIGBANG member.
The first person refused to give it to him.

 

But Seunghyun was desperate that night. He doesn’t know if he’s going to call that love at first sight or what, but he was that drawn.

 

Drawn to her.
Hooked.
Insanely hooked.
And probably mesmerized.

 

And it’s the first time he ever felt that way, believe it or not. It happens in movies, in dramas, in books, in fan fictions, but Choi Seunghyun never thought it’s going to happen to him in real life but it did. So next thing he knew, his feet was moving on its own, as if working with his whole body to look for a single soul who could possibly help him.

 

He doesn’t know anyone from SM so it’s impossible. His mind was racing.

 

Think, Seunghyun, think.

You might know someone who knows someone from SM Entertainment.

 

He rushed into the girls’ dressing room. In a jam-packed room, full of people, artists, staff and crew alike, the bold and brave Seunghyun, with a loud voice, asked.

 

“Does someone know Tiffany from SNSD?”

 

No one spoke.
In fact, the entire room fell silent.

 

“Does anyone know her number?” He followed up hurriedly waiting for an answer.

 

Again, no one spoke.
The great Tee-Oh-Pee asking for a girl’s number, the earth is shaking.

 

Minzy, 2NE1’s youngest one, dared, “Tiffany-Unni?”

 

Seunghyun’s face lit up, “You do? You know her number?”

 

Minzy, who happens to be the second person, shook her head. She knows people from SM but not Tiffany-Unni.

 

“We’re from Earth, Tabi, they’re from Mars.” Bom told him, jokingly.

 

“It’s the other way around, Unni.” CL joined her.

 

Seunghyun’s face flushed.
From one hundred to one.
His hope gone in an instant.

He did not wait for an answer anymore; he did not see various reactions and comments on why he was asking for Tiffany’s number. He dashed out of the room and looked for another person who can give her Tiffany’s mobile number.

 

Then he came across that guy from 2PM in the hall. That guy from Thailand. Seunghyun doesn’t know him; but he had become so desperate so he asked him just the same.

 

The third person.

 

Nichkhun of 2PM.

 

Oh, put your hands up, people.

 

“Excuse me.” Seunghyun stopped him. “Ah… would you happen to know Tiffany’s number? I need to talk to her…”

 

Nichkhun had to put down his phone and excuse himself from the one he’s talking with and speak with Seunghyun.

 

“Tiffany?”

 

Seunghyun nodded. “SNSD.”

 

“Hold on.” Nichkhun whispered something over the phone again before getting back to the anxious BIGBANG rapper.

 

Nichkhun, with a doubting and surprised face, finally dictated Tiffany’s number to Seunghyun.

 

The handsome 2PM boy’s got the number memorized apparently and Seunghyun didn’t even noticed. He was too eager to get it; he was punching the numbers on his phone quickly as Nichkhun was giving it to him, while the latter studied his excited and happy face.

 

“Thanks.” Seunghyun smiled and left the now shocked Nichkhun.

 

Finally.

He asked three people for her number.
The third and the most unexpected one gave it to him.

 

Seunghyun then rushed to go back to BIGBANG’s room with a smile on his face while Nichkhun went back to his phone conversation…

 

“I wondered why he asked for your number…” He told Tiffany on the phone.

 

“You really gave it?” She almost shouted. Tiffany was not sure if Nichkhun could hear her smile.

 

 

Three days.

 

It took him three days to call her.

 

“Hello?”

 

His voice sent shivers to her bones. Tiffany cleared . But did not reply at all.

 

“Hello?” Seunghyun repeated.

 

“Hello?” Tiffany then answered.

 

She remembered that glance. Now, she wanted Seunghyun to hear her smile.  

Because she can hear his.

His handsome smile.

 

The exchange of Hello’s was awkward and sweet. He said he was Choi Seunghyun, that guy from BIGBANG. As if she didn’t know; as if he didn’t know that she knows. He said he got her number from someone he met at the music show and wondered if she wants to have dinner with him.

 

Name.
Where he got her number.
What he wants exactly.

 

Direct to the point, that Choi Seunghyun.
Daebak.

 

She didn’t say yes.
So he called every day for three long weeks before she said YES.

 

YES.

Three weeks.

She made him wait for three weeks before finally agreeing to see him.

 

 

Three dates.

 

Dinner at a hotel restaurant a.k.a. getting-to-know-each-other dinner.

 

It was stiff the first hour, relaxed the next. Basically, they talked about each others’ personalities, likes, dislikes; moved on to stories about families and friends; went on to childhood narratives, then work-related stuff.

 

Then they shared a long hug and a sweet kiss when Seunghyun dropped Tiffany home. It was a nice date; they had a good time. Seunghyun called again, asking  for another dinner with her.

 

Dinner at his villa a.k.a. getting-to-know-each-other in bed + dinner.

 

What are your plans in the future? Not together though, not that fast. Everything they talked about in the first date, they talked about again, only on a more serious note except that they were inside Seunghyun’s villa.

 

And some of the things they talked about were discussed in bed…

 

Without clothes on, of course.

 

Dinner at her house a.k.a. getting-to-know-each-other in bed again + dinner, more comfortable version.

 

It started in bed and ended in bed. Period.

 

Again.
Without clothes on. Period.

 

Seunghyun and Tiffany shared very intimate moments, both the conversation and the physical aspect. And they were both comfortable and serious on it, the conversation and the .

 

Just three dates and just three times...

 

 

They had three times.

 

Once during the second date, then twice on the third and last. Then she missed it.

She needed to miss three cycles of her period, and then she cried.

 

Tiffany never slept with anyone except those she was in a relationship with. In fact, it would take long before she can do it with that special someone.

 

But this man is always an exception. And now, he will prove to be an exception for her, all her life.

 

 

Her family never really liked him, that Choi Seunghyun.

 

When your family is too affluent, too powerful, too influential, basically you would want the same people within. No rotten eggs inside the basket of golden eggs.

 

Kim Ha Ra, the eighteen-year-old chaebol just happened to be a G-Dragon fan and sneaked out one day and watched a BIGBANG concert. Her sister, Kim Ha Yul, a chaebol-slash-runway-model had no choice but to be on disguise and look for her sister in that concert or else, their parents will extremely get mad.

 

Security and household staff will lose their jobs.
Kim Ha Ra might be sent to a boarding school somewhere.

 

Kim Ha Yul, with not much of a choice, went to that BIGBANG concert herself and that’s where destiny started.

 

Destiny.

 

You don’t question it.
You don’t fight it.

 

Years later, she’s fighting to fight for that ‘destiny’. Because her family didn’t like him, that Choi Seunghyun. He was a good boy, but the Kim family thinks their eldest princess deserves someone better.

 

He tried so hard.
He quit being cute.
He became serious.

 

But they didn’t like him still.

 

That destiny became too serious it reached to point Seunghyun wanted to settle down. He knew she is the one. Never had doubts about the authenticity of their love.

 

But there was this someone else before who had swept Seunghyun off his feet but it didn’t push through. She shook Seunghyun the moment they shared something special. He always liked to take things slow, with everything in order, everything in the right perspective but she came rushing into his life and Seunghyun was surprised he loved the way she ruined everything.

 

Choi Seunghyun had let his guards down with this someone else. She was a beautiful distraction, nerve-wracking temptation and an extraordinary confusion. This someone else got into the core of Choi Seunghyun that no ever woman had ever done in the past. Seunghyun was willing to take a risk with this woman but it didn’t work out.

 

Three dates.
He only shared three memorable dates with dates with this someone else.

 

Funny how it took him time to forget this someone else when what they shared was so brief and quick. As quick as one, two, three. It took him a while to get her out of his head maybe because Seunghyun wondered what could’ve been if it went further.

 

It = them.

Them = Seunghyun and This someone else.

 

He still smiles when he remembers her. But those sweet smiles were immediately replaced by a serious face afterwards; because what comes to mind right after, were the choices they made. But Seunghyun had no regrets; he has Kim Ha Yul now whom he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

 

He wants no more of that beautiful distraction…

 

 

He attempted to propose three times.

 

The first attempt, it was Ha Yul’s parents who rejected it, as if they were the one who Seunghyun wants to propose to. Second, it was her best friend who said no. She said, it was impossible for Kim Ha Yul to get married to someone like Seunghyun who is an actor and singer. Her family’s going to freak out if she says YES. Seunghyun hasn’t even set foot on Kim Ha Yul’s house even after years of dating.

 

And third rejection came from the ex-boyfriend.
The most painful NO came from the former lover.

 

How can the rejection of Seunghyun’s proposal attempts always come from a third person and not from his girlfriend?

 

It’s sad because Seunghyun even had to ask if he can propose or not.
It’s always been like that because he cannot decide.
Because family always comes first for Ha Yul.
 

Until Seunghyun had a chance to talk to Grandpa Kim one time, and old man fell in love with him. Eventually, he was allowed to enter the grand mansion and was invited in family gatherings and parties. He was called in normal days to have meals or even just to have coffee. It started with Grandpa, then with Ha Yul’s parents.

 

Then Ha Yul’s family became close to Seunghyun.
He’s no longer that rotten egg.

 

One.
Two.
Three.

 

Three failed attempts to propose.
The failed attempts stopped at three.

 

So he thought.

 

 

After those three unsuccessful attempts to propose to his girlfriend to be his wife, finally, he was given another shot at it… a beautiful and promising chance.

 

Seunghyun was humming as he fixed his tie before he started his car. He even bought a suit for this occasion. He was too early, but doesn’t care if he’s two hours too early. He’s going to make sure everything’s prepared and all-set. He is on his way to the Top Cloud Restaurant in Jongno-gu, their favorite dining place and will wait for Ha Yul there.

 

He personally booked the whole restaurant-bar which is on the top of the Jongno Tower, for the day and invited all of his family and friends, and Ha Yul’s too. They are going to witness how he will ask his girlfriend’s hand for marriage.

 

Choi Seunghyun is excited beyond words.

He put his hand inside his pocket to make sure he brought the ring.

 

Finally.
He got the blessings to propose to Ha Yul.

 

From his family.
From his company.

 

From her family.

 

All he needs now is her YES which he is sure he will get.

 

Then he started to receive those calls… calls that he chose to ignore.

 

He never bothered answering the third time his phone rang. He didn