“Hap—“

Before Sooyoung could finish what she was saying, Tiffany hushed her by putting her index finger on Sooyoung’s lips. “That’s your hundredth time saying ‘Happy Brithday’. It’s not even my birthday anymore. It’s already,” she paused and looked at her watch, “One o’clock.”

She looked at Sooyoung whose head was hung low. “I wasn’t able to greet you first.”

She chuckled at how silly Sooyoung was. “It doesn’t really matter, you know.”

Yuri who just got out of the bathroom heard what they were talking about. I really have impeccable timing. She sluggishly walked towards her bed and sat there while drying her hair.

She faced the wall and tried hard not to listen to their conversation. Earplugs. I need to buy a pair of those custom molded earplugs.

She saw some Q-tips lying around and she grinned at her own idiotic thinking. What if I just stick a cotton swab on each ear? That could work.

“Good night, Soo. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night. Night, Yul.”

Yuri turned around and waved at Sooyoung. “Night.”

Sooyoung left and Tiffany locked the door. She plopped herself on the bed and said, “Best day ever! Well, not really because my parents weren’t here but still…IT’S THE BEST DAY EVER! It’s fun being eighteen. I can’t wait to be twenty-one.”

Yuri didn’t say anything for she really didn’t know how to respond to what her roommate said.

“Hey, you didn’t get me anything,” Tiffany said with a cute pout but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a grin, “It’s fine though.”

“Oh, right. I’m sorry I forgot,” Yuri said, trying not to sound bitter and sarcastic.

Tiffany looked at her and arched an eyebrow. “You forgot that it’s my birthday?”

Yuri didn’t respond.

“That’s funny because,” she paused and grabbed her mobile phone, “I think I received a text message from a Kwon Yuri at exactly twelve o’clock. You know what’s funnier? She’s the first one to greet me.” She ended her sentence with a sickening (or not) smile that’ll make you want to surrender your life to her.

“I forgot to get you a birthday present dim-witted, eye-smiling girl who’s totally stoked on being eighteen.”

“I’ll try to ignore that first adjective you used.”

Yuri just chuckled and tossed her towel on some chair nearby.

Tiffany narrowed her eyes and stared at Yuri for five seconds. “You really didn’t get me a present?”

“I told you I forgot,” Yuri said, trying to sound convincing.

“Oh well. I’ll still get you a gift for your birthday and I’ll make sure that it’s the most awesome thing that you’ll ever get so that you’ll feel guilty for not getting me one.” She smirked and pointed at Yuri’s towel. “Get that towel off of that chair and put it in the laundry basket. NOW! N.O.W.”

Yuri tilted her head to the side and said, “Hey, that’s Sica’s catch-phrase.”

“I don’t care. Do as I say because I’m older than you. I’m an adult and you’re just a kid.” She crossed her arms as soon as she finished her sentence.

“We were born in the same year.”

“Yes but I’m older than yo—“

“Yes but you’re not really a year older than me so unless you could go back in time and force my mom to not give birth to me at the same year your mom gave birth to you, you cannot order me around.” She stood up and grabbed the towel. She walked towards the bathroom and tossed it to the laundry basket.

“I did not do that because you told me to. I did it because I wanted to.”

“Sure you did, dongsaeng.”

“YAH!”


---


“Sica, my stomach hurts,” said Taeyeon, curled up in a ball and clutching her tummy.

“What do you want me to do? Tell your stomach to stop hurting? It works on people but I don’t think it’ll work on parts of the body. I’m not a doctor, Taengoo.”

Taeyeon groaned. “Sica, it really hurts.”

“Come here then, you big baby.”

Taeyeon smiled and got up but immediately cringed when she felt the pain again.

“Aish! You shouldn’t have eaten the whole thing so quickly. Geez!” Jessica stood up and went to Taeyeon’s bed. They still haven’t moved their beds together since Taeyeon was too tired to do that last night and now she’s too sick. Jessica, being the ‘princess’ that she is, will never do such thing.

She sat down and placed Taeyeon’s head on her lap. She caressed Taeyeon’s cheek and it made the shorter girl smile. That is until Jessica started to pinch it.

She quickly moved away from her girlfriend and rubbed the now reddening spot. “Sica, that stings!” she hissed.

“Sorry,” Jessica smiled innocently, “I couldn’t resist. Your cheek’s just too cute.” She tried to pinch Taeyeon’s cheek again but the latter swatted her hand.

“Stop it!”

“You’re no fun. Fine. Come here.” Taeyeon returned to her previous position and stared at Jessica who seemed to enjoy doing crazy stuff on her hair.

It didn’t really cure her aching tummy but it distracted her from thinking about it. “Sica?”

“Yes, Taengoo?”

“Dang it! We still don’t have pet names for each other.” She sighed. “Anyways, what I was trying to say was that I’ve only heard your singing voice once.”

“And?”

“Can you sing for me? Please.”

Jessica smiled and cleared . “Gom se mari ga, hanjibe isseo, appa-go—“

“Sica,” she whined, “a kid’s song? Really?”

“What? You are a kid.”

“Sing me another song.”

“Fine but if that stomach of yours still won’t stop hurting… I don’t know what to do anymore and I’m just gonna sleep. I’ll just let you whine all you want.”

She giggled at how absurd Jessica’s statement was but it wouldn’t hurt if she would just agree.

“I will never find another lover sweeter than you, sweeter than you,” she smiled sweetly at Taeyeon and continued singing.

That night, Taeyeon’s stomach ache didn’t disappear but she was still able to fall asleep. All thanks to Jessica and her soothing voice. Taeyeon would put all her family’s fortune at stake and bet that even if Jessica sings Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, it would still sound like a lullaby.

Jessica stopped singing when she noticed that Taeyeon has fallen asleep on her lap. Her girlfriend fell asleep after her fifth song. While singing her third song, she just wanted to punch Taeyeon so she’d fall asleep but she had second thoughts about it, fortunately for Taeyeon.

She carefully moved Taeyeon’s head from her lap to a pillow. She stood up and turned off the lights. Then, she lay beside Taeyeon and hugged the older girl from behind before whispering, “I love you, Taengoo. Good night.”


---


Tiffany got out of the bathroom after a long bath. The heat in Korea during summer is no joke so she decided to just walk around their room in her underwear and a towel wrapped around her body.

She looked at Yuri to see if she was still sleeping.

Tongue out? Check.

She paused and chuckled.

That’s pretty much all I need to check to see if she’s still sleeping.

She walked closer to Yuri and said to herself, “Wow, she must be really tired to be sleeping like that. Her whole tongue is almost out. How is that even possible? How can you be so exhausted? What the heck did you do yesterday that you even forgot to get me a gift? Or maybe, just maybe…you didn’t really forget and you actually bought me one.” She grinned.

She tiptoed her way to Yuri’s closet and started snooping, looking for a thing that would most likely resemble a birthday present. When she couldn’t find anything there, she started looking at her roommate’s bag. Yuri uses that bag everyday so she thought that if Yuri did go to the mall yesterday to buy her a gift, she’d be using that bag and the gift would still be there.

“Why is your bag so messy? Geez! I swear if there’s some sort of bug in here, Kwon Yul, I will kill you after I annihilate all the bugs in the world.” She continued rummaging through Yuri’s bag in search of the ‘present’ that Yuri supposedly got her. “Damn it, Yul. Is this like, Hermione’s bag or did you ask her to place an Undetectable Extension Charm on this bag? Gosh!” She couldn’t help but be a geek. She does that when she’s frustrated and not finding the ‘gift’ made her frustrated.

“I give up.”

She put the bag down but picked it up again when she saw a crumpled paper. That must’ve been my fault. Yuri will not be happy to see a scrunched up paper.

She straightened it out and saw that it was Yuri’s registration form. She decided to read it even though she already knows what’s written in it. Well, that’s what she thought.

“What the hell?” she said in a not so hushed tone.

Yuri woke up because of her roommate’s sudden outburst. She covered her face with her huge pillow. “Fany-ah, please shut up,” she said, her words muffled.

“Kwon, what the hell is this?” she waved the paper in Yuri’s pillow-covered face.

“I have no idea, Hwang. I don’t have X-ray vision that would enable me to see through my eyelids and this huge and fluffy pillow.”

“Why is your schedule messed up? You’re not supposed to have PE2 with Jessie and Taengoo. We’re supposed to be in the same class. I gave Taeyeon my schedule so she could fix your schedule based on my schedule. I used ‘schedule’ four times in one sentence!”

Yuri sat up straight and rubbed her eyes. “Exactly. Blame Taeyeon not me!” When she finally removed all her eye gunk and laid eyes upon the goddess before her, she quickly covered both her eyes with her hands and shouted, “SHEESH FANY-AH! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON! DAMN!”

Tiffany pouted. “Yah! Just because you have toned abs doesn’t mean you could make fun of my body. I’m capable of achieving that, too, you know.”

“What?” asked Yuri, completely clueless of what Tiffany was trying to say. All she wanted was for Tiffany to be clothed appropriately. It’s either that or she gets a nosebleed. “At least put on some underwear. Geez!”

“I am wearing one. I’m wearing a str—“

“Hwang, there is no need to tell me the details. I know what undergarments look like thank you very much.”

“But I’m wearing cute ones right now. A strapless br—“

“You have got to be kidding me. Could you stop?”

“I’m not kidding. Do you want to see it?”

“NO! Geez! We were talking about the freakin’ schedule!”

“Oh right. I have got to talk Taeyeon right now.” She walked out of the room leaving a flushed Yuri.

“Damn!”


---


“Kim Taeyeon! Wake up!”

Taeyeon ignored Tiffany and hugged Jessica tighter. The two of them have somehow switched positions and Taeyeon is now the one giving her girlfriend a backhug.

“Yah! Taeyeon!”

She got up and said, “Do you want to get killed?” She glared at Tiffany but that glare soon turned into a erted stare when she saw Tiffany.

“Tiff, what the heck are you doing here?”

They both looked at Jessica who was clearly not amused.

“This midget he—“

“Don’t call her that. I’m the only one who could call her that.”

“Fine. I gave this DWARF one task. ONE! She couldn’t even do it properly. I gave you my schedule to—“

“Are you insane? Did you suddenly forget that Krystal fixed her schedule?” asked Taeyeon, knowing very well that Tiffany was talking about Yuri’s schedule.

Jessica sat up and looked at her stepsister. She saw how Tiffany’s face changed from slightly annoyed to a full-blown ‘I-am-pissed-off’ expression. What does Tiff have against Krystal? The girl seems nice.

“Why didn’t you give her my schedule then?” Tiffany was speaking using her scary tone which Jessica rarely hears. If she’s angry, she’ll shout but if she’s really angry, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ angry, she lowers her voice and tries to control her temper ‘til she couldn’t take it anymore and just explodes.

Taeyeon thought about it and after a full minute of thinking, she finally answered, “Oh, right. I forgot. My bad.”

The dorky smile on Taeyeon’s face just pushed Tiffany off the edge. Jessica decided to in to save Taeyeon from getting hit.

“Why does Yuri’s schedule have to be in synced with your schedule?”

“Because… Just because, Jessie. Do I need to give you a reason?”

“Yes,” answered Jessica, unfazed by her sister’s tone.

“It’s easier to make projects if we’re partners since we’re roommates!” she exclaimed, trying to convince her sister and herself that that was the only reason. “You know what? I’ll just revise my schedule and follow Yul’s sched for the second term. It’s not really that hard. It’s not like she has this annoying extra subject like Soo. Thanks to that subject we couldn’t be together in a class except for two major subjects. I mean, why does Soo have to take double major?”

“Tiff, get out of our room and please put some clothes on.”

Tiffant scoffed and left, slamming the door as she got out.

“Were you gawking at—“

“Of course, not! Why would I do that?” said Taeyeon. She was telling the truth. She wasn’t ‘gawking’ at her future sister-in-law’s body. She may have looked at it but she will never ‘gawk’.


---


They were all eating breakfast together. Sooyoung and Tiffany were in a hurry for they still have to go to the airport to pick up Sooyoung’s parents and her sister.

The other three, who were still in their pajamas, ate sluggishly and watched as the two finished their meal and said their goodbyes.

When they were sure that the couple was already gone, Taeyeon spoke, “Are you planning to pull a ‘Taeyang-Wedding-Dress-music-video’ on those two?”

Yuri looked at Taeyeon for a moment then moved her gaze to Jessica. “Sica, please tell your midget of a girlfriend to stop talking nonsense.”

Jessica squinted her eyes and tilted her head to the side. She then looked at Taeyeon and said, “Please continue.” She looked at Yuri. “I think my midget is actually trying to say something with…sense.”

Yuri threw both her hands in the air in disbelief. “Fine. Go ahead. Say it.”

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the song and its music video. You’re not planning to just sit there and watch them be happy, right? You do realize that we’re not high school kids anymore. We’re college kids.”

Jessica and Yuri creased their eyebrows.

“The point is that you shouldn’t be like Taeyang. Don’t just wait for Soo to propose to Tiffany. Do something!” she paused and stared at Yuri, “But if you are going to pull a Taeyang, you’d pull it perfectly well. You can play the piano, right? I assume you know how to sing, too. All you need is a Mohawk.”

Yuri glared at her but it only motivated the short girl to continue egging her on. “Oh you need a ring, too. I personally think that your abs is better than Taeyang’s.”

Jessica giggled. “I have to agree with Taeyeon…on everything that she just said. You need to memorize the dance, too. You know, where you’re like weeping or something.”

Yuri sighed and stood up. “Why am I friends with you guys? You two are worse than Khun-oppa and Victoria.”

“You know we’re only saying this because we want you to realize that Tiffany won’t be able to know what you feel for her if you don’t tell her.”

“You want me to tell her that I love her and then what? I’d rather get hurt than hurt a friend. To be honest, I’d rather hurt you than Soo. Soo’s actually a great friend. I don’t want to stab her in the back.”

Taeyeon pouted. “I still think that you should tell her. Don’t be like Taeyang. Mohawk will not look good on you.”

“Stop with the ‘Wedding Dress’ video already.”

Yuri went upstairs and took a nice long bath before going out. She decided to visit her mom to get her mind out of the whole Tiffany-Sooyoung thing.

Once she got inside the car, she the radio but quickly turned it off when she heard the familiar tune.

“Damn it! Stupid Taeyeon!”

She remembered listening to that song on her way to IU and not getting affected at all but it’s a different story now.

There are times when she’d wish that Sooyoung wasn’t the perfect girlfriend. Sometimes she’d wish that she could go back in time and make Yuri from the past realize that she was in love with Tiffany before Sooyoung made her move.

Who am I kidding? Fany loves Soo. Even if I had the guts to tell her what I feel, what good would that bring me?

“I love you, Fany-ah,” she said while driving.

“Sorry, Yul. I love Soo. I love her very much.” She tried to copy Tiffany’s voice.

She chuckled bitterly at how she’s slowly going insane.

“She loves Soo.”


---


Okay. So here I am, sitting at our doorstep. I don’t know what is up with this doorstep but I feel comfortable here.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and when I sit here, it’s like I could think straight. This is where I spend my ‘alone time’.

The only downside of sitting here is that people who pass by could see me and I bet that most of the time they think I’m going nuts. I try to smile at them to shoo them away. It usually works.

Anyways… Sheesh! Even when I’m talking to myself, I would ramble on and on about stuff that aren’t important. I have such short attention sp—

Oh~ someone tripped. Got.to.stop.myself.from.laughing.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Good thing that dude already left.

So I laughed until all the laughter I tried to hold in earlier was gone. I looked like a fool but it was damn funny. How can I not laugh?

Oh damn! You see what I’m talking about? Short attention span.

Where was I again?

Oh, right.

I think I’m in love with someone…

…else.

But I’m not sure.