“I’m surprised you haven’t turn into E. Honda yet, Soo,” Tiffany said while Sooyoung’s tummy up and down. “I bet you’d win against a sumo wrestler when it comes to eating,” she added. It was almost noon and Tiffany and Sooyoung has spent the whole morning in bed. Talking.

“Turning into E. Honda? Do you want me to be like that fat dude?” said Sooyoung. She was leaning on Tiffany and holding her free hand. Kinda like a couple in a birthing class except the person who’s supposed to be carrying a baby inside her is not really pregnant.

“If you turn into a fat dude then I sure won’t miss the opportunity to send you to one of those Cosplay thingy dressed like E. Honda,” she chuckled.

Sooyoung fought the urge to laugh, “You do realize how embarrassing that would be, right? Since I’m not really a guy? How would I cover—“

Knowing what Sooyoung would say, she cut her off saying, “There’s not much to cover though.”

“Nuh uh. If I get fat, it’ll also get bigger,” she defended. She stared at Tiffany for a while and leaned on her again. “It’s not like yours are that big. Sunny’s are way bigger than yours.”

Tiffany hit her arm pretty hard. “I cannot believe you’d say something like that.”

“I’m kidding… Not really, but it doesn’t matter because I love you,” she tried hard to smile sweetly even though her stupid stomach is killing her.

She turned around to see Tiffany’s reaction. “ert,” she said with a straight face. “How did you even know Sunny’s—“

“It’s obvious!”

“Whatever.”

Sooyoung turned her head and stared at Tiffany, “Hey.”

Tiffany crossed her arms. “What?”

“I’m sorry. Please don’t be upset.” She sat up and faced Tiffany. She was creeping towards Tiffany and was planning to kiss the other girl’s pout away but then they heard someone knocking on the door.

“Can I come in?”

“Yes,” Tiffany answered.

Sooyoung looked at the girl who just entered the room. “Aish! Yul, you have such a bad timing.”


---


“Sorry,” I said but it was more like a question than a real apology. I saw Fany and Soo sitting on the latter’s bed and wondered what they were doing all this morning. I’m not jealous, I’m just curious and what does this shikshin mean?

I saw Soo eyeing the food I brought. “Oohh~ Food!”

Before she could stand up…scratch that, she couldn’t even stand up. Before she could give me her ‘i-need-food’ expression, I handed it to Tiffany. She thanked me for buying her lunch. Yes, she asked me if I could buy her lunch and I said ‘yes’. Why? I have no idea. I doubt that it’s because I’m in love with her though because I’m not. Puh-lease! Kwon Yuri falling in love with Tiffany Hwang, the geek who likes pink and who doesn’t know how to compromise? That’s just preposterous.

Sooyoung was acting all cute so Tiffany would give her food. She’s sick because she ate too much and now she’s asking for food again? I mean—

I could barely think straight when I heard them talking again. Yes, I’m eavesdropping so sue me!

“You seriously need to control your food intake, honey.”

Honey? Since when did they start calling each other that?

“But it’s either I eat or I smoke and—“

“I thought you only smoke when you’re stressed.”

“I’m stressed most of the time so I need to either eat a lot or smoke a lot. I have to keep my mouth busy. Of course, I can’t talk all the time. What if I’m alone? I can’t talk while—“

She didn’t get to finish her ramblings since Tiffany has already captured her lips. I couldn’t help but to think that I do have bad timing. Do I always have to see them kissing each other like that? Did they not know that I was still here? In the same room with them? Or maybe they just didn’t care. I turned around and walked towards the door but I still couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying.

“Interesting way to keep my mouth busy but I don’t think I could do that when I’m alone, too just like talking. So…I don’t think that would be helpful.”

“So you’re saying you don’t like it?” she said using her husky tone which I…other people find y. Even Siwon, whom I thought only cares about himself and who only have praises for himself, finds that voice y. That self-centered dude nudged me the other day just to tell me that Tiffany’s voice is y.

Seriously, did she really have to use that voice? I got out of the room and hurriedly left the house. I need to talk to Victoria and Khun-oppa right away.


---


On her way out, she saw Taeyeon carrying a duffel bag. “Hi, Taeng.”

“Hi, Yul. Can’t talk. I’m in a hurry.”

She power walked her way out of the house and ran towards her car. “Hey, sorry about that. I forgot to pack some stuff,” she said to Jessica who’s eyeing her bag.

“What’s in there?”

“Clothes. Where are your things? I told you to bring extra clothes, right?” she asked and started the car.

“I refuse to participate in whatever plans you have today since I already know how that brain of yours work. You cannot make me do things that could traumatize me or worse… kill me. I’m too young to die.” She crossed her arms and focused her attention outside.

Their car stopped at an intersection and beside a Cadillac XLR Roadster with the top down driven by a d*uchebag. A grade A d-bag.

He looked at Jessica and his lips suggestively. The blonde girl couldn’t help but to shake her head and look down. The guy continued to get her attention, waving at her and saying stuff although he was well aware that the girl inside the car wouldn’t hear her, and Taeyeon saw this when she momentarily glanced at Jessica.

She gave him the evil eye and mouthed ‘You’re dead’ before speeding off when the light turned green. This surprised the other girl who could only stare at the profile of the girl in the driver’s seat.

When Jessica couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore, she spoke up, “Where are you taking me this time?”

“I’m taking you to Seoul Grand Park,” she answered reluctantly.

Jessica immediately thought of things to do in the zoo that would need spare clothes after doing it. Oddly enough, she thought of the worst thing. “We are not cleaning cages of any scary animal, are we?”

Taeyeon was, of course, taken aback by the question. “What? Of course not. Why do you—“

“Because of you have some serious thrill issues,” Jessica cut her off.

“But cleaning cages of animals? Scary animals? Like tigers or…bears? Why would I ask you to do that?”

Jessica just shrugged.


---


“Tell me, Taengoo, where exactly are we going?”

Taeyeon sighed. “You hate surprises, huh? We’re going to see a dolphin show.”

“But I’ve seen a dolphin show before.”

“Well, it’s going to be extra special this time.”

The two were walking towards the area where the dolphin and sea lion show was held. Jessica was walking towards the entrance but was gently pulled back by Taeyeon. “Not there. It’s closed. This is actually closed right now so we’re going to have to enter through the back door.”

Jessica looked at her doubtfully, for the fourth time this day, “We’re not breaking and entering, are we?”

Taeyeon chuckled, “Could you please trust me on this. We’re not going to do anything that could kill you or put you behind bars, okay?”

When they got inside, Jessica was surprised to be stepping foot on the platform where the trainers would usually stand.

“Why are we here? Aren’t we supposed to be up there if we’re going to watch the show?”

Taeyeon who was rummaging through her duffel bag answered, “I told you that it was going to be an extra special show, right?”

She brought out a wetsuit, similar to what she wore when she swam with the shark.

“Taengoo, are you going to wear that? I mean, we’re just watching a show, right?”

“You’re going to watch and I’m going to be part of the show.” She showed her dorky smile and went at the back, leaving a stunned Jessica.

“You’re going to be what?!”


---


“What exactly are you going to do with the dolphins and sea lions?” Taeyeon just finished putting her wetsuit on.

“I have this friend here who’s a trainer. She’s a bit older than me but we’ve became really good friends and I go here all the time so one day she asked me if I wanted to learn how to train animals. Of course, I said ‘yes’. Every day after school, I would go here, watch them and learn from them. Since I’m such a fast learner,” she grinned, “she said I could go visit anytime I want and play with the dolphins and sea lions.”

Jessica looked at her incredulously, “For real?”

Taeyeon nodded. “But you don’t have to worry about one of us getting killed, I doubt that that’s gonna happen. There are cameras and there are licensed trainers at the back so if a dolphin decides to bite my head or if a sea lion decides to suddenly slap me with its flippers, they’d come to the rescue.”

“You surprise me every day, Kim Taeyeon. So I suppose I have to go there now since I’m only an audience to Kim Taeyeon’s dolphin show.”

“Dolphin and sea lion and no, you stay here. This is why I told you to bring extra clothes.”

“Wait, you mean, I could interact with the dolphins and sea lions?” she asked trying hard to mask her excitement, but failed on doing so.

Taeyeon nodded. She motioned the guys at the back to bring the sea lions out. Once there, they immediately went to Taeyeon. One of the sea lions made her way to Taeyeon and the usual routine for the show started. It was all too familiar for Jessica except her friend, Taeyeon, was the one doing it with those adorable creatures and she’s watching it up close.

Jessica watched as Taeyeon danced with the sea lions. She was already turning red and can’t breathe properly because of the silly things Taeyeon has been doing. Right now, a sea lion is standing up by its rear flipper and using the shorter girl’s waist for support. 

Jessica gasped as she heard the familiar song. “You’re not going to kiss it, right?”

Taeyeon just smiled. She looked at the sea lion in front of her, it was taller than her since she had to look up a bit. Then it happened. Kim Taeyeon kissed a sea lion. Jessica was stunned for a couple of seconds. Not knowing what to say or do, she just broke out into fits of laughter.

“What are you laughing at? It’s really not that bad. You should try it,” she said which made Jessica laugh harder.

“Not gonna happen, Taengoo,” she said in between her laughs. She did it after a couple more minutes of convincing. Her kiss was only on the cheeks though. Taeyeon didn’t want a sea lion to steal Jessica’s first kiss. Jessica had too much fun, actually. She did it a couple more times and asked Taeyeon to take a picture of her getting kissed by a sea lion.


---


After their fun interaction with the sea lions, the dolphins got out and did a spin in mid-air. Taeyeon glanced at Jessica and saw the girl clapping her hands, looking like a little kid. She then jumped into the water to swim with two of them.

She held onto the dorsal fin of one of the dolphins with one hand and when it started to swim, she waved at Jessica. “Sica, you should’ve brought a wetsuit, too so you could swim with them. This is so fun.”

“You didn’t tell me to bring one,” complained the blonde.

That’s right, she didn’t tell her to bring one since she was planning to do other stuff.

“Sica, there’s a bucket behind that wall filled with fishes, could you get it so we could feed the dolphins?” asked Taeyeon who was still in the water.

Taeyeon got out of the water and stood next to Jessica. They fed the dolphins together while Taeyeon showed ways to Jessica on how to make the dolphins do tricks. It didn’t take too long ‘til she learned it and copied Taeyeon’s gestures to make the dolphin spin.

She knelt down to touch the dolphin’s skin and feel it. “Did you know that a dolphin sheds it skin constantly and it helps them to swim faster since it reduces the drag?”

“You like dolphins, huh? A person wouldn’t know something like that unless they really like dolphins and take time to research about them.”

Jessica looked up at Taeyeon and back to the dolphin she was petting. “I wanted to be a dolphin.”

Taeyeon sat beside her. “Why?”

“I’ve read somewhere that dolphins sleep with half of their brain active, the other half is shut down.”

Taeyeon stifled her laugh. She thought it was going to be something deep. It turns out the girl beside her just wanted to sleep like one.

“You don’t need to be a dolphin to do that. Three fourths of your brain is asleep most of the time. That’s why you zone out a lot especially in class.”

“Yah!” Jessica hit her arm and defended herself by saying, “It’s not that I zone out a lot in class. Some of the professors are just too uninteresting to listen to so I refuse to listen—“

“So you just zone out and let parts of your brain be shut down?”

Jessica glared at her. Before she gets another hit, she dove into the water and swam with the dolphins. This is one of the two reasons why she never told Jessica to bring a wetsuit. The other girl wouldn’t be able to hit her once she’s in the water.

What’s the other reason?

“Sica,” shouted Taeyeon. She was on the other side of the pool which was not too far from the platform.

“Yeah?”

Taeyeon hesitated a bit and turned to face the wall. She breathed in and out to prevent herself from hyperventilating. “Hwaiting,” she whispered to motivate herself.

She swam a bit and was now closer to where Jessica was although she’s still about 4 metres away from the latter.

“I’m sorry if I stalked you before. I know it’s not nice. I’m sorry if I annoyed the living daylights out of you, too.” She scratched the back of her head as she remembered the silly things she asked her cousin to do just so she could be closer to Jessica.

“I’ve been trying real hard for you to change your mind about me. I don’t want you to think that I’m just an annoying dork who looks like one of those cookie-selling girl scouts. Yes, I heard you saying that before you opened the door during orientation.” She was hyperventilating again so she turned around and did what she did earlier.

She turned to face Jessica again. “What I feel for you started as an infatuation but it has already developed into something…deeper. I wasn’t so sure before but spending time with you, like your birthday, our weekend in Busan…every day, actually, it made me realize that I’ve already fallen for you.”

Taeyeon felt light headed and truth be told her feet and arms are getting tired already. “I love you, Jessica Jung. I want you to be my girlfriend.”

As soon as she realized what she just told her, her right eye twitched. “I mean, I’m not forcing you or anything like that. Although, it did sound like I was sort of commanding you to be my girlfriend. What I meant was, will you be my girlfriend? I know it’s too sudden since we…uh…you know,” Taeyeon continued her ramblings while Jessica stared at her, letting her finish.

“Well, it’s just that ever since Hyo told me that other people might ask you out… I just, I don’t want you to date other guys,” Taeyeon sighed. She’s not making sense anymore and Jessica’s probably thinking she’s a weirdo.

“You’re kidding, right?” asked Jessica.

“Kidding about what? Asking you to be my girlfriend?”

“Asking me to be your girlfriend while you’re there and I’m here. Get out of the water now,” she said in a monotone voice.

Taeyeon got out of the water and stood in front of the blonde who looked like she was going to bore holes in her head. “I just didn’t want the atmosphere to be awkward so I decided to ask you while I’m in the water and you’re here. There’s also this possibility that you’re going to hit me when I ask you out.”

I don’t think I could pretend to be fine right away if your answer would be ‘no’. If I’m far away from you, I could at least compose myself before getting out of the water.

“Yes.”

“Yes? You’re going to hit me?”

Jessica looked down, frustrated that Taeyeon didn’t get what she meant. It was, after all, awkward for her, as well. “Yes, Kim Taeyeon. I also want you to be my girlfriend.” She didn’t really know how to answer it so she just said whatever popped in her head.

Taeyeon had this stunned look and she seemed fossilized for a couple of seconds. “That means you love me, too…right?”

“Not really. Not yet. I’ll get there but I like you,” Jessica was trying her best to explain what she feels, “I like you, Kim Taeyeon and I don’t want to date other people, as well.” What the hell am I saying? Why am I so bad at this?

“I don’t want you to do that, too,” said Taeyeon.

“Yeah, you’ve already said that.”

“Oh yeah.” The atmosphere was getting more and more awkward. To make matters worse, Taeyeon had to open . “I love you, Sica.”

“Uh, I…like you, Taengoo.” Oh crap! I at this!

“So~ we’re a couple now, right?” she asked as she looked at her feet, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the face of the planet.

Jessica nodded.

Taeyeon looked at her and asked, “Can I hug you?”

“Are you also going to ask me if you could save me from hoodlums when they try to do something bad to me? Are you going to ask for my permission to save me if I suddenly fall off a cliff or get stuck in quick sand?”

Taeyeon smiled and hugged Jessica even though she’s still wearing her wetsuit. “I take that as a yes,” she whispered in her ears. Jessica hugged her back.

Taeyeon’s confession wasn’t exactly sweet like she initially planned it to be, it was actually strange and awkward but she couldn’t care less since Jessica already said ‘yes’. 

Jessica pulled away from the hug and smiled at Taeyeon.

Taeyeon smiled back but her warm smile turned into a dorky grin when she remembered something. She looked at Jessica’s lips. 

Jessica noticed this and quickly covered resulting to Taeyeon’s lips having contact with the back of her hand.

“You think you’re so clever, huh?” she smirked.

“But what about the thing you said about me not asking for permission anymore?”

“I didn’t mean you could kiss me, dork. Besides, you kissed a sea lion earlier and you expect me to kiss you now? No way.” Jessica giggled at the sight of the distressed looking Taeyeon.

“This is so unfair.”

She leaned forward and kissed Taeyeon on the cheek. It wasn’t a quick peck and the blonde girl’s lips lingered there which made Taeyeon blush. Her kiss on my cheeks makes me feel this way? I’d probably explode like one of those cherry bombs in ‘Plants vs. Zombies’ if she kissed me on the lips.

“Taengoo, I’m hungry,” said Jessica.

Taeyeon was still dazed.

Jessica snapped her fingers. “Snap out of it, Taeyeon.”

“Yeah, let’s go. I have to change first. I brought a pair of pants for you, by the way.”

The two proceeded to the changing room. After changing their clothes, they went out to look for a good place to eat at. Taeyeon wasn’t able to eat much since she was still high from the events back at the zoo.

They went back to the campus after eating and decided not to tell anyone that they are a couple unless someone asks. Jessica didn’t want her sister to spaz about it and Taeyeon didn’t want Hyoyeon and Sunny to smother her with questions.