Tiffany was staring blankly across the room, waiting for Sooyoung to come back from the ladies' room. Right after class and Sooyoung's short chat with the dean ended, the latter had brought her to a nice place where you'd get your tongue twisted in all unimaginable forms before being able to say what you want to eat. Ninth Gate Grille.

"I feel like crap and cotton candy combined," she mumbled.

She felt all fluffy inside thinking about what Sooyoung did earlier but at the same time, she felt bad that all she could think about right now is her roommate.

“Karma, you really are a bitc—“

“Why are you cursing karma?” Sooyoung asked as she sat down and put the napkin on her lap. She stared at Tiffany, waiting for an answer and smiled. “So…?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about something.” She looked down but immediately felt Sooyoung’s warm fingers cupping her cheek.

“Tell me. Is there something wrong?”

Tiffany grinned and said, “Nothing’s wrong. Let’s order our food. I’m famished.”

Sooyoung squinted her eyes upon hearing the term, “I like that term. I’ll use that when I’m with Hyo since she always complains when I say ‘I’m starving’. Famished is a word she probably doesn’t know since her vocabulary is limited.”

“You’re too harsh,” she answered as she giggles, temporarily forgetting about her dilemma. She browsed the menu and saw something familiar. “I’ll have Moules à la crème Normande.”

“Wow. How do you even know how to read it? Wait, you’re not making that up, right?”

“Yah, of course, not. I heard Yuri saying it so I asked her what it is and how to say it. I’m not sure if how she pronounces it is correct but what the heck, she knows more about these things than I do.”

“Seobaby mostly mumbles about music and stuff. It must be nice having a roommate who studies about the art of preparing and cooking foods,” she said absent-mindedly, imagining how awesome it would be having a roommate that would talk about food related things 24/7.

Tiffany snapped her fingers and said, “Snap out of it, Soo or else I’ll have to use the plate to catch your drool.”

“Fine. What’s mooooole slkdslih hkgshdgsdjhmand?” she asked, only remembering the sound of the first and last syllable.

“Moules à la crème Normande.”

“Honey, that’s what I said,” she chuckled as Tiffany gave her a glare. “So what is it?”

“Mussels cooked with white wine and cream and other stuff.”

Sooyoung nodded and said, “I’m not a big fan of mussels.” She started looking for food that she’s also familiar with but she only found one. “I think I’ll have…Ratatouille,” she says confidently. If not for the movie, I wouldn’t even have the slightest idea what this is and how to pronounce it.

“So you’re only going to eat a dish that contains eggplant, zucchini, tomato and onion?”

Sooyoung pouted. “I have no idea what these dishes are, they don’t even have pictures and…” she stopped rambling when she saw something that seemed familiar, “This one that has orange in it. I like orange so I think I’ll have this.”

“Canard a l’orange? Luck is on your side, dear shikshin. You like orange, you say? Good news, the dish is actually a roasted duck with orange sauce,” she teased.

Sooyoung grinned, having no idea at all that Tiffany was making fun of her, “I like roasted ducks, too! That’d be heaven for me. Garçon!” she exclaimed using a weird French accent that sounded more like a Russian accent.

Tiffany covered her face, “Yah, you’re embarrassing yourself, Soo.”

Sooyoung looked around and pouted once again, “I don’t see waitresses here so I think it’s fine. It’s only wrong if you call a waitress by that term.”

She grinned proudly and it made Tiffany burst out in laughter.

Their dinner was filled with giggles and weird looks from other people especially when Tiffany started clapping her hands while laughing. Sooyoung made her laugh by saying and doing all sorts of weird stuff while they’re eating. She made her forget about everything else and just focus on whatever is happening when they’re together.

Sooyoung’s presence made her forget about Yuri.


---


Yuri opened the door and plopped herself on Yoona’s bed, putting an arm over her eyes. Taeyeon and Jessica, not bothering to take their eyes off their computers, ignored her presence and continued to play Tetris Battle.

“Yah, Taengoo, I think you’re cheating. How can you be so good at this?” she asked as she hit the buttons and aimed to send more lines to defeat her girlfriend.

Taeyeon just smirked and thought, I actually at this game. I guess playing with the Master of Tetris, Sunny Lee, does good things to people.

“Ugh! You won again. I don’t want to play anymore,” she shoved her laptop away from her and said. “Hi, Yuri.”

Yuri waved her other arm weakly as a response.

“How are you?” Jessica asked.

Taeyeon stared at Yuri and said, “Yeah, how are you? We both saw how stunned you were when Soo came in today during class and swept Fany off her feet. Stunned in a not so good way.”

“I’m considering getting a Mohawk now.”

The couple chuckled; amazed at how Yuri could still make jokes and make fun of the situation she’s in.

“So you’re just going to stay friends with her? You’re going to accept defeat just like that?”

Yuri scoffed, “At least I’m her friend. When you weren’t together with Jessica yet, you were on the ‘Person who’s fishy’ list or whatever Sica calls it.”

“I simply refer to it as ‘The List’ and it’s not limited to suspicious people,” Jessica corrected.

Taeyeon sighed, “The point that I was trying to make is that aren’t you even going to try and tell her about what you feel for her? You’re just going to settle on being her friend, her roommate?”

“What the heck do I have against Soo, huh? She’s the perfect girlfriend except she’s a human vacuum when it comes to food and she smoked before but Fany helped her gradually stop the stupid habit. Heck, they even speak the same language.”

“English?”

“Korean?”

“No. I meant programming languages like C++ and Java.”

“Kwon Yuri, you are crazy. Of course they’d know those things, they’re both geeks,” Jessica said. “So they haven’t arrived yet?”

Yuri shook her head. She sighed and sat up, looking distraught and rubbing both temples.

Taeyeon pulled out something from the front pocket of her hoodie and handed it over to Yuri. “Have a break, have a Kit Kat,” she said while grinning widely.

Taeyeon and Jessica both giggled.

“Where did this even come from?” Yuri asked while peeling off the chocolate-covered wafer’s wrapper.

“From my pocket, of course. I’m Doraemon, dummy,” she said as she showed her hoodie that has the character Doraemon printed on it. Jessica bought it for her when they once passed by a shop that sells anime-related merchandise.

Yuri nodded. “Four feet, 2 inches tall, give or take a few centimeters. You totally could pass as Doraemon. We Just have to turn you into a semi-smurf and draw whiskers on you and you’re good to go.”

“Yah! Stop making fun of my height. I am still taller than Sunny.”

“I like Doraemon. It’s fine with me if you magically turn into Doraemon. I really wouldn’t mind,” Jessica teased further.

Taeyeon pouted and turned to Yuri, “Give me back my Kit Kat.”

Yuri put all four bars in and grinned.

“Eew. Pig.”

“Hyo told me that we’re going to go bowling tomorrow for her birthday,” said Jessica to interrupt the two kids bickering.

“Oh, well, I suppose Doraeyeon can’t go then because bowling without fingers would be a difficult task. Her round, fingerless paws are going to be her demise,” stated Yuri with a feigned concerned expression. She giggled right after seeing Taeyeon’s expression. The short girl was ready to strangle her to death.

Luckily for Kwon Yuri, Jessica was there to save her from the shorty’s fury. “Stop it. Don’t you guys hear that? It sounds like a dude’s laugh.”

The three of them went downstairs to check out if there’s really a man inside their house. They followed the source of the sound and it led them to the kitchen.

They saw Shinyoung giggling while merrily feeding the man seated on a chair with a strawberry.

“Shinyoung-unnie?” the three exclaimed in unison.

Shinyoung looked up and saw them standing a few meters away from her and the man she’s with. The man turned around and greeted the girls, “Hello.”

“Professor Kim?”

“Unnie, you and our art professor…you guys are dating?” asked Yuri.

“Yes, we were already dating even before he became your professor though. When your art professor quit weeks ago, I told Ji-eun about Jooyoung and she said he’s qualified so she hired him and he became part of the Art Department,” explained Shinyoung.

Jooyoung smiled and said, “She was actually there during our field trip. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

“You didn’t even tell me, Shinyoung-unnie? I’m your niece!”

“Well…”

“What’s going on here? Why do we have a professor inside our house? Is anyone in trouble?” Tiffany asked. She and Sooyoung just got back from their dinner date and the first thing they heard was Taeyeon’s loud voice booming out from the kitchen.

“Shinyoung-unnie and our art professor are dating,” Jessica said casually.

“Oh. That’s not a big deal. Why was Taeyeon being hysterical then?”

“I was not!”

“Yes, you were. See? You’re still yelling,” stated Sooyoung.

Yuri cleared . “Shinyoung-unnie, by any chance, does he have anything to do with you being fired?”

The couple looked at each other and nodded. Shinyoung was the first one to speak. “I didn’t really want to speak about this anymore because looking back, I think it what I did that day was very childish and unprofessional but that Jung Juri kept on ogling. She was so mean so I didn’t have a choice but be just as mean and since she’s the boss, I got fired. That b!tch.”

Everyone in the room gasped.

“Wow.”

“Way to go Shinyoung-unnie,” Sooyoung said with a big grin plastered on her face. When she saw everyone staring at her, she shrugged and said, “What? I would’ve done the same thing.”

“Good to know, Soo,” said Tiffany, patting her back. “So is this going to be a frequent thing? Just to let you know, it’s kind of awkward having a professor inside our house.”

“Who cares? We probably won’t be his students after this term,” Jessica commented. “So, Sir Jooyoung, do you want to have dinner here tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Yuri and I won’t have to cook.”

Tiffany raised a brow. “Well, it seems like I’m the only who’s uncomfortable having a professor here so I’ll just go outside and drink a bottle of beer. I know that doesn’t have to do with anything and yes, I just said I was going to drink beer in front of a faculty member.” She walked towards the fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer, and waved it for Professor Kim to see. “Just one bottle. I’m not planning on getting drunk, Sir.”

Jooyoung waved his hands and said, “That’s fine. I’m not your professor right now. I’m Shinyoung’s boyfriend.”

Tiffany nodded and went to her favourite part of the house to drink her beer. She’s already drank half of it when Yoona arrived with Seohyun.

“Hyunnie, I’ll stay here with Fany-unnie. I’ll see you in a bit,” she said before kissing Seohyun’s cheek.

“Good night, Fany-unnie,” Seohyun said.

“So…unnie, how’s your date with Sooyoung-unnie and how’s her guitar playing skills?”

Tiffany put the bottle down and smiled, “It was fun and the food we ate was great. Seobaby did a very good job at teaching her.”

Yoona grinned proudly. “I helped, too. I nagged her to be better because she seriously at it at first.”

Tiffany just chuckled and went back to chugging down her precious beer.

Yoona leaned back and stared at Tiffany, mustering every ounce of confidence that she has to ask Tiffany about the thing that they’ve talked about before. “Fany-unnie?”

“Hmm?”

She panicked so instead of asking talking to her about it, she offered her a bar of Kit Kat Chunky. “Kit Kat?”

“No, thanks.”

She retracted her hands and put it back inside her pocket.

“Fany-unnie, are you still confused about…your feelings for Sooyoung-unnie and Yuri-unnie?”

Tiffany looked at her and said, “I’ve realized something while Soo and I were having dinner earlier and I think I know what to do so I won’t be confused anymore.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I just have to be with Soo all the time so I wouldn’t have to think about Yuri and maybe I should ignore Yuri, too. That’ll take my mind off of her for sure.”

“What?” Yoona shouted. “No.”

When she saw the Tiffany’s shocked expression, she sighed and said, “It won’t work…I think. I mean, that won’t work. Remember that time when Yuri-unnie ignored you for some unknown reason—“

Wait a second, so that was why Yuri-unnie ignored Fany-unnie. It was because she realized she’s falling for her and now Tiffany-unnie is planning to do the same thing. NO!

“Earth to Yoong.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t think anything good would come out of ignoring her. You’re just going to ruin your friendship with Yuri-unnie.”

“I know but what else am I supposed to do?”

“I honestly don’t know Fany-unnie. Maybe you should talk to Sica-unnie and ask for her advice because I’m sure as hell that you won’t get a decent advice from a choding like me. What I do know is that shrugging whatever it is you’re feeling for Yuri-unnie won’t be effective.” Yoona held Tiffany’s hand and continued, “Remember when I said that you shouldn’t ruin your relationship with Sooyoung-unnie? Forget about that.”

Tiffant giggled, “You mean I should ruin our relationship and break up with her?”

“What? No. Fany-unnie,” Yoona whined, “That’s not what I meant. Just do whatever you know is best and what’ll make you happy.”

“It’s not really that easy especially when I don’t really know what I want but you know what, I will talk to Jessie about it.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I just hope she won’t react violently when I tell her.”

Yoona chuckled and said, “I don’t think Sica-unnie would react violentlywhen you talk to her about that. I think Sica-unnie’s pretty nice.”


---


“Ouch! Geez, Jess, that hurt!” Tiffany said while rubbing her arm that Jessica slapped. “It stings, too! Damn!”

Jessica rolled her eyes.

“You know, I’m only talking to you about this because some choding told me to. That choding also told me that you’re nice and that you won’t react violently when I tell you about it. I cannot wait to tell her how wrong she was.”

All of them were at the bowling alley that day for Hyoyeon’s birthday celebration. Tiffany grabbed the opportunity to talk to her sister when the other girls complained about being hungry. She volunteered to get their foods and dragged Jessica with her. While waiting for their orders at a table, she told Jessica about her problem and Jessica attentively listened. A few minutes after finishing her little speech, she got her arm slapped. As if that wasn’t enough, Jessica hit the back of her head.

“How the heck do you expect me to react calmly about this? You’re being too much, Tiff. I didn’t care that much before when you tell me stuff like this but it’s different now. You’re talking about our friends. OUR FRIENDS. Not just yours. They’re both nice friends and we freaking live in the same house. Don’t tell me you’re planning to do what you used to do before because I won’t let you.”

She paused and tried to calm down but it wasn’t working. “I tolerated it before because I don’t think those people that you’ve been with are taking you seriously either but this time I’m not going to do the same thing. Sooyoung loves you. Yuri…” she stopped herself just in time so as to not blurt out Yuri’s secret, “she’s a good friend. She’s your roommate. How could you be so heartless, Tiff?”

Tiffany, mouth agape, tried to understand what her sister just ranted about. “Wait, what? I didn’t say anything about two-timing them, Jess. I was just telling you that I’m confused and I don’t know if I’m really falling for Yuri and if I really am, what should I do?

Jessica squinted her eyes. “But I know you’ve actually thought about doing it, I know you, Tiff.”

“What? No. Do you seriously think I’m that much of a douche?” Jessica nodded. “It’s a rhetorical question, Jessie. I repeat, I don’t have any plans on two-timing them so stop shouting and ranting about it. I know I’ve made mistakes and I’m not willing to repeat them for the hundredth time especially when it involves our friends.”

Jessica stared at her and clicked her tongue. “Try to know what you really want first or in this case, who you really want and then think of what to do. You have to stop being so fickle-minded. There’s no win-win situation here though. You will end up hurting someone. When you already know what you want and it’s not Soo, just tell her as soon as you can.”

She paused again, trying to think of ways to say what she wanted to say next. “If it’s not Soo and you’ve figured out that you are indeed falling for Yuri, make sure…make sure it’s the real deal and you’re not going to change your mind anymore. Don’t go for a double whammy that’ll result to hurting them both, you hear me?”

Tiffany nodded. “Why are you stating it like it’s a known fact that Yuri likes me that way, too?”

“I’m not. I’m just saying that there is a possibility that that could happen,” she retorted. Sometimes she wishes that she could just tell her sister that Yuri likes her, too. Forget it. It’ll probably confuse her more and I don’t really want that to affect her decision.

“I honestly love Sooyoung…”

“But?”

Tiffany looked up and sighed, “There’s no ‘but’. I just think I’m feeling the same way for Yuri.”

“Idiot. That is a ‘but’. ‘I honestly love Sooyoung but I think I’m feeling the same way for Yuri.’ See? And you’re supposed to be good in English?”

“”And you’re supposed to be good in Math?”

Jessica’s confused expression made Tiffany chuckle. “I know it doesn’t make sense, I just wanted to have a witty come back but I can’t think of any.”

“You’re insane. Grab our food.”

“You’re not even gonna help me?”

Jessica shook her head and skipped her way back to where the other girls are.

“Yoona is just so wrong in so many levels. Nice? Suuuure.”