“Mom, this is Sooyoung,” Tiffany said once everyone was seated. She didn’t get a chance to introduce her friends to her mom earlier.

“Is she your roommate?” her mom asked. 

Tiffany was sitting across Yuri, on her left was her mom and on her right was Sooyoung. Everyone else in the table was having their own conversation while the food is being served.

“No, mom. My roommate’s Yuri.”

Yuri looked at Tiffany when she heard her name being mentioned. She saw Tiffany’s mom looking at her so she smiled. Tiffany’s mom returned it with a warm smile, as well.

“So Sooyoung is?” she asked while looking at the person next to Tiffany who was staring at the various foods placed on the table. 

Jessica who was sitting next to her stepmom decided to in, “They’re dating.”

Tiffany wasn’t stupid and she is definitely not insensitive. She was sure that Sooyoung heard what Jessica said so she couldn’t really say ‘No, we’re not!’ She is fully aware that it might hurt Sooyoung. She did give her a chance and they’re becoming closer nowadays. 

“She’s dating Taeyeon,” Tiffany said which caught the attention of everyone.

“That is not true! I’m not dating Taeyeon!” Jessica exclaimed.

As expected, my sister had to deny it that quickly.

Jessica got the attention of everyone in the table. “I mean, she…we...I…you…”

“Aigoo~ she’s so cute stuttering like that,” Taeyeon’s mom said.

Taeyeon’s father laughed. “It’s alright, dear. You don’t have to enumerate all the pronouns that you know,” he joked.

“We’re not dating,” Taeyeon suddenly said. “I haven’t asked her out yet.” She looked at Jessica with such soft and sincere eyes. “But…this isn’t really the right time to talk about that.”

Sunny, Hyoyeon and Tiffany couldn’t help but to facepalm themselves when they didn’t hear what they wanted Taeyeon to say. It’s one thing for Taeyeon to confess what she feels for Jessica but for them, it’d be really sweet if Taeyeon would confess in front of their parents and their friends.

Taeyeon, on the other hand, didn’t want that. If she were to ask Jessica to be her girlfriend, she won’t do it in front of other people. She wouldn’t want Jessica to feel pressured and answer ‘yes’ just because other people would be expecting her to say that. No. When she’s ready to ask Jessica to be her girlfriend, she’s going to make sure that the only person to hear her ask that is Jessica.

“Well, we shouldn’t let the food wait, right birthday girl?” Taeyeon’s dad asked Jessica.

Jessica nodded and said, “Yes. All that sleeping actually made me hungry.”

Everyone just chuckled at her remark except for Sooyoung. “I agree with you, Sica. Sleeping, studying, even walking just to get food from the fridge is tiring.” 


---


After they ate the scrumptious dinner prepared by Taeyeon’s parents, some of the girls asked Taeyeon if they could go to her room and ‘explore’.

Sunny, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Tiffany and the maknaes went to Taeyeon’s room. Taeyeon accompanied them while Jessica stayed in the Kim’s living room with her parents and Yuri. 

“Wow,” everyone said in unison when they entered Taeyeon’s room.

“Taeyeon, how old are you again?” Sunny asked. 

Taeyeon’s room looked like a toy store. Her bed looked like a racing car little boys would sleep on except hers was a Lamborghini bed. She has life-size figures of characters from different movies. There’s the cute ‘minion’ from “Despicable Me”. Beside it was a smaller version of ‘Bumblebee’ from the movie “Transformers”. It freaked out Jessica at first but when she saw all the “Dragon Ball Z” action figures, she immediately forgot about the huge Bumblebee which was a foot taller than her. Her collection of toys ranges from expensive action figures to those toys that you get from buying Happy Meals.

“Sica agreed to sleep in this ridiculous bed?” Hyoyeon asked.

“Oh please, my sister could sleep on any type of bed. Heck, she could fall asleep anywhere.”

“I actually wanted to change the design of my room and put all of my collection in a separate room. I wanted my room to look like a big pool and in the middle of the room there would be this big bed. My parents didn’t agree though. They said I have a tendency to sleep walk.”

Tiffany clapped her hands and said, “I’ll help. Your room should be pink, right Soo?”

She looked at Sooyoung who was glued to Taeyeon’s mini fridge. “Yes, pink’s your favourite color.”

Hyoyeon put an arm around Tiffany and said, “A little heads up, Fany. Soo will never cheat on you with other girls. Your number one enemy, if you ever agree on being her girlfriend, would be food.”

“Hey, don’t break anything. I’ll go downstairs now.”

Tiffany decided to go with Taeyeon since she wanted to talk to her mom.


---


While everyone else was upstairs, Yuri was busy admiring the interior of the Kim’s house. The living room was the exact opposite of Taeyeon’s colorful room. It looked very classy with its white walls and black furniture. The one thing that popped out was the white grand piano. 

Yuri sat on the bench and started playing a random song. She’s not a piano prodigy like Seohyun but she knows how to play and she also knows how to read music but she usually plays by ear. 

”I’m not gonna write you a love song.” Yuri stopped playing and looked at the person who sat next to her. “’Coz you asked for it, ‘coz you need one.” It was Tiffany’s mom.

She couldn’t help but stare for the resemblance was uncanny. “What? You think because I’m old I wouldn’t know the song you were playing?” she said.

Yuri shook her head and said, “No, ma’am, I just thought you were Tiffany.”

“Our singing voice does sound the same. Please don’t call me ‘ma’am’. Just call me ‘mom’. I’m used to having tons of daughters, even sons. Tiffany’s friends address me that way.”

“Mom.” Yuri nodded and smiled. She wasn’t sure if it’s because she misses her mom badly but she felt happy being able to say that word again.

They talked about trivial things like school and how Tiffany treats her as her roommate. Yuri learned a lot about Tiffany through her mom. She learned that Tiffany’s fond of those people who look beautiful as a girl and who would also be good-looking as a guy.

“Do you know how to play other songs?” Yuri nodded and started playing again. She was playing a piece by Yiruma, “River Flows in You.” It was her favourite. She has also memorized the song and could probably play it in her sleep.

“Bonding with my roommate?” Tiffany asked her mom as she hugged her from behind.

“Yuri’s such a nice kid and you shouldn’t call her ‘Manyul’ and no but’s. Where’s Sooyoung?” Tiffany pouted. She liked calling Yuri ‘manyul’.

“She’s upstairs, eating everything she sees in Taeyeon’s fridge. I didn’t know you could play the piano, Yul,” she said. “Why don’t you play the piano when we’re at our house?”

“Seohyun’s is glued to that thing and it’s hers so I couldn’t push her off the bench and play to my heart’s content.”

“Yah, Yuri, play another song. Please don’t play classical music like maknae. It seriously makes me sleepy.”

Tiffany’s mom frowned. “You really are bullying, Yuri.”

Yuri was trying hard not to laugh. She told Tiffany’s mom that Tiffany was bullying her. She never thought Tiffany’s mom would believe her.

“I’m not even bullying her. Mom, it’s a request. I was just admiring how she played the piano.”

“Don’t even try to sweet talk your way out of it young lady,” her mom said.

“You’re dead,” Tiffany mouthed.


---


Jessica just finished talking to her dad in the patio when she saw Taeyeon coming out of the house.

“Taengoo-ah,” she waved at Taeyeon.

Taeyeon bowed and greeted Mr. Jung. “Good evening, sir. I’m Kim Taeyeon.”

Jessica’s dad chuckled, “Sorry about earlier. I really thought you were some sort of kidnapper.” Her dad’s statement confused Jessica. “I’ll leave you two alone.” 

Mr. Jung walked towards Taeyeon and tapped her on the shoulder. She smiled but her smile soon faded when Mr. Jung squeezed her shoulder a little too hard. “I swear, Taeyeon, if you attempt to grab, , tap or even look at my daughter’s , I will personally hunt you down,” he whispered. While talking to his daughter earlier, he found out that his daughter’s friend has a for a girl’s behind. He was only trying to scare Taeyeon away. He wouldn’t really hunt her down.

“I will never do that to your daughter, sir,” Taeyeon stated firmly. It was a lie. Sure, she has never touched Jessica’s behind but that doesn’t mean she has not stare at it.

Mr. Jung nodded. “Good.”

When her dad was finally inside, Jessica asked Taeyeon what her father meant with about him thinking Taeyeon was a kidnapper.

“You left your phone, right? I tried calling Tiffany to ask for your dad’s number but then I remembered she still doesn’t have one so I called Soo to ask Tiffany. Good thing she memorized it. When I called your dad, the first thing he said to me was ‘How much do you need? I’ll give you any amount just don’t hurt my daughter’,” Taeyeon giggled when she remembered Jessica’s dad voice. “I explained to him everything and invited them here to celebrate your birthday.”

“Thank you but you shouldn’t have bothered your parents,” Jessica said. During dinner, she found out that Taeyeon asked her parents to cook Jessica’s favourite meals. 

Taeyeon laughed heartily, “My parents are both chefs so they actually liked the fact they get to cook for a group of people with big appetite. The way you, Yoona and Sooyoung devoured their dishes and the way you praised them made them really happy.”

“Thanks,” Jessica muttered.

“Sica, I don’t have a gift for you,” Taeyeon suddenly said. “I didn’t know what to get you.”

Jessica chuckled and hit Taeyeon on the side of her head, “What the heck are you talking about. You’ve asked your parents to cook dinner for everyone and invited my parents here. That isn’t a gift?”

She looked at Taeyeon and noticed that the latter looked dazed and seemed to be staring somewhere other than her face. “Eyes up here, Taeyeon! Yes, my face is up here. This is where your line of sight should be when I’m talking,” she said while pointing her finger at her face.

“Sorry, I was looking at your necklace.”

“It’s my mom’s. I lost the pendant though,” she said as she touched the silver necklace hanging around her neck.

Taeyeon took off her hoop earring on her left ear. It was a small silver hoop earring that holds a blue topaz. “Here,” she as she handed it over to Jessica. “It’s not worth much but I promise I’ll replace it with a real pendant.”

Jessica was staring at Taeyeon’s ear for the first time and noticed the latter’s multiple ear piercings. “Did it hurt when you got those?” she asked as she gently touched Taeyeon’s ears.

“Not really,” Taeyeon answered.

Jessica refused to take the earring saying that she might lose it, as well. Taeyeon, being the persistent kid that she is, told her that it’s fine and insisted that she’s going to replace it with a real one anyways. Jessica refused again and said that what Taeyeon did for her was more than enough but Taeyeon rebutted by saying that she wanted to give her something tangible. Jessica accepted it in the end. 

“I have something to show you,” Taeyeon said and held Jessica’s hand as the made their way towards the swimming pool. It was night time so Taeyeon the lights to see it clearly. 

There was a huge letter ‘J’ engraved in the middle of the swimming pool. 

“When it was being renovated, my parents had to go to Jeju Island and visit one of our restaurants there. My dad asked me to supervise so I told the men constructing it that instead of putting a huge ‘K’, they should engrave a letter ‘J’. My dad got angry when he saw it but I defended myself by saying everything in our house had ‘K’ engraved on it. I even told him that I missed my Ji oong-oppa so much so I told them to put his initial instead,” she chuckled as she remembered the look on her dad’s face. She didn’t know what came over her. Normally, she wouldn’t be able to look at her father in the eye when she’s lying but what happened was the exact opposite.

“But that wasn’t the case at all. That time I was already…crushing on you.”

“So you decided to put my initial in your family’s swimming pool?” Jessica asked in disbelief. 

“Well, it’s not my fault,” said Taeyeon. “Why do you have to submit a photo of you looking like a goddess? This is your fault.”

Jessica pushed Taeyeon a little too hard. Luckily, she didn’t fall off into the pool. “Yah!”

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you…”

They turned around and saw the rest of the girls walking towards them. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were carrying a cake while Sunny, Seohyun and Yoona were carrying plates and forks. Tiffany and Yuri were following them.

“Happy birthday, dear Sica. Happy birthday to you.” They finished the song and brought the cake closer to Jessica so she could blow the candles out. I think I’m the only eighteen year old girl who has a “Dragon Ball Z’ cake. Great! She wasn’t being sarcastic. She was ecstatic that Taeyeon’s parents made her a kiddie cake. 

She leaned forward but backed away immediately when she remembered something. She held on to Hyoyeon and Sooyoung’s wrist to make sure they wouldn’t have a chance to cake her. She grinned when she finished blowing out the candles.

“We didn’t know you’re also a DBZ fan Sica-unnie,” Seohyun said. 

“Your birthday wouldn’t be complete if we don’t sing a song from DBZ,” Yoona said and Sooyoung nodded.

“Hikaru kumo tsukinuke Fly Away,” Sooyoung sang.

“Fly away.” Hyoyeon sang along.

Everyone knows how the song goes but the only one who knows the lyrics of the song is Sooyoung. The rest were half mumbling, half humming. The only time their voices were filled with conviction was during the chorus of the song.

“CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA,” they all sang together.

“Nani ga okite mo kibun wa heno-heno kappa” Sooyoung was the only one singing again. The others would just hum and then sing the last syllable.

“CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA” They continued singing/mumbling the whole song.


---


Tiffany looked at the bunch of kids singing. She sat at the edge of the pool and hugged her knees. She didn’t join the others in singing since she didn’t really know the song.

Yuri sat down next to her.

“You don’t know the ridiculous song, too?”

Yuri looked at her weirdly, “The song’s not ridiculous. It’s actually catchy. I know the song. I probably know it better than Sooyoung who’s singing her lungs out. I just went here so you won’t look too pathetic.”

“Wow. I appreciate being your charity case,” she said sarcastically. 

Yuri chuckled and leaned back. She hit Tiffany’s back and said, “Don’t slouch like that, you, hunchback.”

Tiffany squealed because she almost tipped over. “I swear if I fall, Yuri-ah, you’re dead.”

Yuri saw Tiffany’s mom approaching them. The lady signalled her not to tell Tiffany and the latter obeyed. The next thing she heard was a squeal and the splash of water. 

Tiffany’s mom just pushed her own daughter into the pool. 

“Fany-ah, it wasn’t me. I swear!” Yuri quickly said when she saw Tiffany’s glare.

She stood up and tried to get away but she couldn’t. Tiffany’s mom had a tight grip on her shirt. “Your daughter’s gonna kill me. Please let go of my shirt, ma’am.”

“I would’ve let go of your shirt if you called me mom,” she answered.

Tiffany got out of the pool and pulled Yuri by her shirt. She then shoved Yuri but the latter held onto her arm so both of them fell into the water. Seeing Yuri and Tiffany “having fun”, Sooyoung, Hyo and Sunny had a brilliant idea.

Sooyoung grabbed Jessica’s arms and Hyo got hold of her legs.

“Yah! Sica, don’t move too much or we’ll have no choice but to drop you on the floor! That’ll hurt!” Hyoyeon shouted.

“TAENGOO!” she called but Taeyeon couldn’t help her. Sunny was pulling her so she won’t be able to intervene.

“Yah! Put her—“

Too late. Jessica’s already in the water.

“Taeyeon, go save her,” Sunny said and let go of the struggling Taeyeon’s shirt. Taeyeon swam towards Jessica.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Those two are so dead.”

“YAH!” Tiffany and Yuri who were trying to drown each other stopped what they’re doing only to see three people getting pushed into the pool by the maknaes.

They immediately swam away from Jessica. Who knows what angry Sica could do to them? She’d probably drown the three of them if she could.

Yoona was laughing her off. Seohyun smirked and carried Yoona.

Yoona instinctively wrapped her arms around Seohyun’s neck. “Hyunnie, you know I can’t swim, right? Please tell me you’re carrying me because you’re going to bring me to one of the rooms in Taeyeon-unnie’s hou—“

Before she could finish what she was saying Seohyun already jumped into the water. She couldn’t do anything else but to cling onto Seohyun’s neck.

Yuri and Tiffany continued to try and drown each other. Tiffany would push Yuri’s head down and Yuri would pull Tiffany’s leg. Jessica was still trying to chase the three but they were using Taeyeon as their shield. That didn’t really do much since Jessica would just shove Taeyeon out of her way. The maknaes were having their own little moment at the other side of the pool. 

“Yoong, I’m sorry,” Seohyun said sweetly. 

Yoona swallowed a huge amount of water and was still coughing. “You should’ve just closed your mouth. You knew I was going to jump and what was that thing about me bringing you to one of the rooms here?”

“You know very well that I can’t swim,” Yoona complained.

“It’s not that deep. It’s probably deeper in the middle but I didn’t drag you all the way there, did I? Do you seriously think I would let anything bad happen to you?”

She hates it when Seohyun starts talking to her like that. She doesn’t like it when Seohyun puts so much logic in her argument that she wouldn’t even know what to answer. So she did what she does best. She looked at Seohyun and pouted.

Seohyun was about to lean forward and kiss Yoona but her cousin grabbed her by her shirt.

“Yah! You could do all those things when unnie is not around!” Sunny said.

“How many times do I have to tell you two not to—“

“You two are just jealous! Especially you, Sunny!” Hyoyeon exclaimed. The next minute was filled with screaming and arguing. They only stopped when Taeyeon’s dad cleared .

“Taeyeon-ah, your mom and I are going to be leaving for Jeju. You and your friends could stay here if you want. There are a bunch of leftovers in the fridge or you could just cook for them. Don’t make too much mess. We’ll be going now.” He looked at Jessica and said, “Happy birthday, shikshin.” He smiled and walked away.

Tiffany’s mom who was watching them the whole time also spoke, “Tiffany, Jessica, your dad and I will be heading home, too.”

Tiffany and Jessica got out of the pool and kissed their mom goodbye. “Taeyeon and Yu…Sooyoung, behave.”

“MOM!” the two shouted in unison.

Their mom looked at them innocently and said, “What? I’ll be going now.” She kissed her daughters on the forehead and walked towards the house.

Tiffany turned around. A huge smile was plastered on her face. “Good evening, guys. I’m Tiffany Hwang and I’ll be your bartender for the night.”