“Hey,” Jessica greeted as she sat beside her sister on the couch. “I see you’re so busy stuffing yourself and actually burying your face in a bowl of cereal. Stop eating like that. It’s gross.”

Tiffany looked at her sister for a brief moment and continued eating.

“Fine then, continue eating like a pig.” Jessica stared at her and asked, “So? Have you decided?”

Tiffany raised her eyebrow and continued eating her cereal.

“Yah! Stop eating right now and answer me.”

“What? What do you want from, Jess?” asked Tiffany, her tone of voice covered in frustration.

“Have you thought about it? The thing that we talked about a couple of months ago?”

Tiffany dropped her spoon and gulped. “It’s already been a couple of months. Time flies, huh?” She then grinned awkwardly which was immediately countered by a glare from her fuming sister.

Jessica hit her sister’s arm and said, “You’re an idiot. You still haven’t decided yet? What the heck were you doing all this time? What’s so hard about making a damn decision?”

“Okay. One, that hurts and at this rate I could sue you for domestic violence. Two, I’m not an idiot. Three, it’s not that easy making a decision when it involves people’s feelings. Yes, I know that now. I’ve known it all along actually. I just…I didn’t care that much about what other people feel until those two came and made my life so complicated.”

Jessica felt sorry about what she said so she sat closer to her sister and her back. “I’m sorry if I was being too harsh but you can’t prolong this type of thing.”

“I know.” She sighed and added, “Sometimes I wish you or Yoona would just slip and tell Soo about what I told you guys and maybe she’d be the one to decide for me. Maybe she’d be the one to break up with me, who knows.”

She doesn’t remember the last time her eye twitched so badly that she wanted to just punch the living daylights out of the person next to her, which in this case, happens to be the person who’s ticking her off, her sister.

“You really are an idiot.” She was supposed to hit her sister’s arm again but instead, she just sighed, knowing that hitting her will only leave a bruise and it wouldn’t really help her in getting her point across. “Tiff, you’ve already decided. You just don’t know how to break it to Soo.”

“Really? Wait, how come you know and I don’t?”

“Because you’re an idiot.”

“Oh, come on, Jess. I’m serious.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and said, “You need to listen to yourself sometimes. This is what you said three seconds ago. You said that you wished me or Yoona would just slip and tell Soo that you’re confused because you think you’re falling for Yuri.”

Tiffany tilted her head to the right. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t say it like that.”

“It’s pretty much what you said. I just put it into a more detailed…forget it. My point is, you already made your decision and you want to break up with her already, you just don’t know how. You even said maybe she’d be the one to break up with you.”


“I do?” It was answered by a nod. “But I still love Soo. I know I do.”

“I didn’t say you don’t love her anymore. You just somehow managed to fall in love with another person. I don’t know how you do that but you do.”

“I’m still not sure about that though. Why would I want to break up with Soo just to go through something that I’m not even sure about?”

“Because if what you’re saying is true and you still love Soo, you’re going to stop hurting her and break up with her right now. Sure, you’ll break her heart by doing that but if you think about it, you’re already doing that so you really need to stop it before it gets worse.”

Jessica saw Sooyoung and Hyoyeon walking towards them. “You two look happy.”

“We’re going to Yuri’s house this weekend!” both of them exclaimed.

Sooyoung was clapping her hands and looking like a seal while her best friend explained how they forced Yuri to invite them all to their house for her birthday.

“She said she didn’t want to have a huge celebration but we convinced her to do otherwise because we’re awesome like that.”

Sooyoung grinned even more. “The thought of being in Yuri’s house is making me excited. Imagine all the food!”

Soon enough, Tiffany was already grinning like an idiot and has already forgotten the topic that her sister brought up. “We should shop for gifts. That idiot didn’t get me any gift for my birthday. I shall make her feel more guilt for forgetting to give me one.”

Jessica shakes her head as she looked at her phone. “Great. I’m surrounded by a bunch of goldfish.” She was supposed to call Taeyeon but stopped midway. “If I call her, I’d add another goldfish in the tank. Why can’t I have normal housemates?”


---


The girls decided to leave after their afternoon class to go to Yuri’s house and arrived there just before dinner started.

During dinner, Tiffany was sending awkward grins to Yuri while the latter tried to ignore her antics. The other girls were busy eating their food and doing small talk with Yuri’s family.

After dinner, Tiffany excused herself and told them she forgot something inside Sooyoung’s car. She hastily got the small crate out of the car and ran back to the house, stealthily climbing up the stairs and entering Yuri’s room.

She took her phone out of her pocket and called Yuri to come up to her room. A few minutes passed and she heard footsteps just outside of Yuri’s room.

She looked up while petting the little creature on her lap. When she saw Yuri coming in, she grinned and said, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”

Yuri was dumbfounded and all she could do was to point her finger at the creature on her roommate’s lap. “What is that?”

“I should’ve gotten you a pair of glasses instead or better yet a new brain so you could process things faster,” Tiffany said while still grinning widely. “This is a cat, silly. A munchkin. Isn’t she cute?”

“A midget?” Yuri questioned as she sat down next to Tiffany.

“MUNCHKIN. Don’t call her a midget, that term’s for Taeyeon.”

“Why are its legs so short? Is there something wrong with it? Is it like a Dachshund? Wait a second, don’t tell me they let those wiener dogs breed with a cat.”

Tiffany flicked Yuri’s forehead and explained. “It’s a kind of mutation. Mutation took us from single-celled organisms to being the dominant form of reproductive life on this planet. Infinite forms of variation with each generation, all through mutation.” She grinned proudly after quoting a fictional character.

“Geek. Why’d you get me a cat? How am I supposed to take care of it when we’re not even allowed to bring pets at school?”

“I’ve taken care of that. I’ve talked to Taeyeon’s cousin and she’s allowed me to bring her there. She said I shouldn’t let other people see her though because some students might complain. It took me about an hour to convince her. You should be thankful, Yuri-ah.” She smiled sweetly and continued petting the sleeping kitten.

“You’ve given me a responsibility. Why should I be thankful for that?” Tiffany huffed and she laughed a little at how childish her roommate acts at times. She stared at the kitten and started petting it as well. The little kitty shifted a little and it startled Yuri a bit so she removed her hand but Tiffany quickly held it and placed it gently on its upper back.

“Gently it, stupid. Would you like it if I roughly put my hand on top of your head and scratch it?”

Yuri scowled but did what she was told.

The kitten’s tummy is white but the rest of its body is ash gray. It reminded her of one of the kittens in the Puss in Boots short comedy The Three Diablos, Sir Timoteo Montenegro the Third. She giggled at the thought of naming the kitten that way. Too bad it was a girl.

“You should give her a name,” Tiffany said all of a sudden, as if reading her mind. She was going to say something but Tiffany immediately cut her off, “Let’s name her Squishie. Wait, no that sounds bad.” Images of the kitten being squished by a careless driver on the street occupied her mind.

“I should be the one naming her. She’s mine.”

Tiffany raised her eyebrow and said, “Earlier you said you didn’t want her because she’s a responsibility.”

“Well…I want her now and I want to name her—“

“THOR!” Tiffany shouted which didn’t seem to bother the sleeping kitten.

“What? Fany the kitten’s a girl. If I’m going to give her a dude’s name it’d be Sir Timoteo Monte—“

“Let’s call her Ms. Thor then. See, it’s feminine now.”

Yuri stood up in frustration which woke up the kitty.

“Aish, Yuri-ah,” Tiffany whined. “Her name’s Ms. Thor and that’s final.”

Yuri pulled on her hair in frustration “She’s a girl, Fany-ah. How could you name her that way?”

Tiffany sighed and put Ms. Thor down. The little kitty started walking and looking for a spot to take her nap. The girls stared at it, grinned and went, “Aww, cute kitty.”

It took them a while to recover from all that cuteness.

“I’m so not naming her Ms. Thor. Why do you have to do that to a kitty? Naming her that way, really?”

“Yuri-ah, what’s your gender?”

“Female, duh.”

“Exactly and yet your parents named you Yuri. A name that, in other countries, is given to guys. Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut, yeah, a dude. There are a lot of names out there that can be used for both male and female. Besides, I already put the honorific ‘Miss’ to indicate that she’s a girl.”

“Still…I should be the one naming her.”

Tiffany pouted. “I only wanted to name her Thor because that was the movie that we saw together and I thought it’d be best to give her a name that’s memorable for both of us.”

Yuri sighed in defeat and mumbled, “Goddammit.” Every time she momentarily forgets about the fact that’s she’s fallen for the girl in front of her, that same girl would be the one unintentionally reminding her of it. “Fine, we’ll call her Ms. Thor but you have to tell people that that was your idea.”

Tiffany’s expression did a hundred and eighty degree turn. She nodded and grinned proudly. “Of course, I wouldn’t want you to take the credit for my brilliant idea.”


---


The two went downstairs to introduce Ms. Thor to their friends and Yuri’s family. To Yuri’s dismay, everyone seemed to be fond of the name. She was silently hoping that everyone else would find it ridiculous, too but only Jessica seemed to be thinking that way.

Yuri’s family left them all in the living room so they decided to just play with the kitten and play other random games that they could think of.

Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun were the first ones to retire to the guest rooms provided by the Kwon family. After a few minutes, Hyoyeon also decided to go to bed but not before exiting the room dramatically.

“I’d love to spend more time with the four of you but I just…feel so empty without Sunny,” she momentarily looked away and continued, “I have no one to carry me upstairs and—“

“She carries you upstairs? Seriously?” questioned Taeyeon.

“Yeah, when she’s in the mood to do it. She’s not that hard to persuade but anyways, I’ll be going to bed now. I’ll be sleeping all alone in that huge room without anyone with me.”

“Hyo, we’re going to be sleeping in the same room. The three of us, me, you and Taeyeon. All in the same bed. You don’t have to miss Sunny so much.”

“No,” Hyoyeon shook her head, “You two are going to sleep on the floor tonight. I’m not going to share that bed. I saw a futon somewhere. I’ll make sure to set it up for you two.”

“You…then what the heck was all that dramatic thingy for?”

“For fun,” she grinned. “Adios, amigos.”

The four of them just looked at each other and silently agreed that Hyoyeon is the most random person they’ve ever met.

“Let’s play a game,” Tiffany suggested but a glare was all she received from the other three.

Yuri suggested watching a movie and Tiffany, no shocker there, was the first one to suggest a movie. As usual, the other three didn’t like it. Yuri and Tiffany continued bickering on what movie to watch while Jessica was busy texting and Taeyeon was busy staring at her.

“Who’s that?”

“Jay,” answered Jessica, attention still on her phone.

“Jaebeom?” Jessica nodded. “Girly voice?” Another nod. “Why are you texting him?”

“Groupmates. We have a project,” she answered.

Taeyeon shifted a little and had a brilliant idea of resting her head on her girlfriend’s lap. “Taeng, what do are you doing? Are you sleepy?” Jessica asked as she awkwardly patted the other girl’s head.

“I’m not going to carry you when you fall asleep. I’ll leave you here.”

“I know,” she took Jessica’s hand and placed it on her cheek. “Is it really necessary to text Girly voice all the time? I’m assuming you’ve been texting him for a week now. You haven’t let go of your phone since last week.” She receives a nod and receives an explanation as to why she needed to talk to Jaebeom on a daily basis. It was a school project that needs to get worked on right away and if Taeyeon was lucky, Jessica and Jaebeom won’t have to work together next semester if one of them fails. Too bad though, according to Jessica, the guy was like Siwon, bad at other subjects but great on the subjects that are focused on the course that he’s taking up. Jaebeom failing at that Accounting subject is next to impossible.

Jessica also explained that the only time that they could actually talk about the project is when they’re out of class.

By that time, the other two has agreed on which movie to watch and has already gotten the gist of what Jessica and Taeyeon were talking about.

“Taengoo, are you jealous of Girly voice?” asked Tiffany.

Yuri snorted. “Taeyeon would get jealous at just about anything. She’d get jealous of me if I hug Jessica longer than the time she said I could hug her, even for a millisecond.”

“Taeyeon the green-eyed monster,” taunted Tiffany.

Everyone stared at her knowingly and just shook their heads.

“So what mushy movie are we going to watch?”

“Funny story, Yu—“

“Just answer it and pop the DVD into the player so we could watch it.”

Yuri answered it and explained how they agreed on it but left out some part like the part where she insisted watching every mushy movie that Rachel McAdams has been in.

The four of them watched “Mean Girls” but halfway through the movie, Taeyeon and Jessica fell asleep.

“So what’s so special about her that you keep on spazzing about her?”

Yuri was staring at the screen, focused on the character with the back brace that just got hit by a bus earlier. “She’s pretty, has a sweet voice, her huge forehead, oddly enough, is adorable.”

Tiffany pushed her hair back and tried to see if her own forehead could compete with the actress’.

“And her smile. She smiles so brightly that you just can’t help but adore her.”

Tiffany broke out into an awkward grin but quickly put on a poker face when Yuri looked at her. “If I were given the chance to date any actress, I’d choose her or Leighton Meester. Well, actually, it’s their characters that I’d want to date.”

“You’d want to date fictional characters?”

“Yeah, you know, the snobby girl at first, mean and tactless but then turns out to be someone really sweet and nice to be with.” She didn’t know what came over her and it was too late to take back what she said next. “Like you.”

“Like me?”

Yuri tried to calm herself down and tried to salvage the situation. “Yeah, someone like you. Not you because…you’re taken. I wouldn’t want to come between your relationship with Soo, any relationship for that matter.” She nods repeatedly and added, “Like Krystal, too. She seems cold and mean at first but—“

“She’s always mean.” Tiffany scowled.

Yuri giggled. “I don’t get why you don’t like each other. Maybe you’re just butting heads because you guys are pretty much alike. Oh by the way, she gave me this for my birthday.” She reached into her pocket to get the gift and showed it to Tiffany.

“She gave you…a KitKat wrapper?”

“She gave me KitKat and wrote a note on the wrapper so I thought it’d be a waste to throw it away after I ate it so I kept inside my pocket.”

Tiffany can’t help but be jealous. “Do you like it more than Ms. Thor?”

Yuri just shrugged and said. “There’s no point of comparison, Fany-ah. I was able to eat her gift, it’d be gross to eat yours and I’d be gutted if I do that. I wouldn’t want to hurt that cute little thing.”

Tiffany felt a bit better but still couldn’t shake off the things that Yuri has said the past five minutes.


---


This is it. I’ve mustered all the courage that I have these past two months and I think I’m ready. I’m sure of what to do now and how to do it…I think.

It was Soo’s birthday the other day. 10^th of February. I just couldn’t bring myself up to break up with her before her birthday so now I’m here, two days after her birthday, wanting to call it quits.

Two days before Valentine’s day. People would think I’m such a jerk for doing this, I’d think so, too but I just don’t have the heart to hurt her more than I already am. I know that she’s planning on doing something for that day. I don’t want her to put all that effort for me anymore. It makes me even guiltier and to be honest, I don’t like feeling that way. Nobody does.

I know that I won’t be able to reciprocate Soo’s love for me. I love her but not as much as she loves me and that’s unfair. Soo’s the nicest person I’ve ever met. Nice doesn’t even cut it.

I looked back to all the nice things she and her family has done to me but I immediately tried to block those memories. I can’t afford to back out now but I’ll surely miss those times. Her family’s nice, too. No wonder she’s that kind.

I looked at all the random things inside Sooyoung’s shared room with Seohyun. Soo’s side seem to be messy compared to Seohyun’s. I reached under her pillow and found her stash of candies and other snacks that she munches on when she’s staying up late for a school work. This is better than finding a box of cigarette there. I’m worrying whether she’d get back to her old habit once we break up. I might give her a lecture about that later, just in case.

I hear footsteps just outside the room and I’m getting even more nervous so I tried to calm myself down.

She entered the room with a grin on her face but it quickly disappeared when she saw my expression. “I wanted to talk to you.”

She sat beside me and held my hands, even checked if have a fever and asked, “What’s wrong? Fany-ah?”

I just have to make this quick.

“Soo, let’s break up.” I wasn’t expecting I could just blurt it out like that. I tried not to look at her but I’ve already caught a glimpse of her face when I said that. Confused, hurt, mostly confused.

Before she could ask anything, I spoke, “You did nothing wrong. I love you, Soo—“

“So what’s wrong?”

“I…” Everything I planned on saying just disappeared…all of it.

“Fany.”

“I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

“You’re not.”

“I am and I will if I don’t stop this right now.” I didn’t want her to know that I’m feeling confused about my feelings for Yuri. I don’t know if it’s the right decision but right now, I just don’t want to drag another person into this mess.

“I know that this would come one day, that we’d be breaking up and it’s not because of you. It will never be because of you. It’s me.”

She held my hands tighter. “So…you don’t love me anymore?”

I shook my head furiously. “I do. I still love you. It never changed…that’s the problem. It never changed and it’s unfair for you. I love you but I can never love you as much as you love me.”

She looked down and let go of my hand. I gave her time to let it all sink in. She sighed once and scratched the back of her head before looking up at me. I kind of expected to see her being sad about this but I still never thought that I’d see her still trying to smile even though it shows how much she’s hurting. The saddest smile I’ve ever seen came from the most laid back person I’ve ever met and it’s all because of me. Damn, I hate myself right now.

“Maybe I could tone it down a bit so you don’t have to worry about being unfair.” I know it was a joke but her pleading eyes made me feel otherwise.

This time I held her hands. “Maybe it’s better this way, you know. We won’t have bad blood between us and it wouldn’t be that awkward. I don’t want those happy memories that we have with each other be ruined by my stupidity. I don’t want you to remember me as a jerk.”

She hugged me tight and I can’t help but to hug her back. “I will never think of you as a jerk.”

She was the first one to pull away from the hug and I was devastated to see that the sad smile was still there.

I took off the ring she gave me and gave it back to her, trying to somehow lighten the mood. “Return it to where you bought it and then, use the money to buy more snacks. Don’t even think of going back to that habit of yours that could give us all lung cancer. I don’t want Seobaby to suffer from all the nicotine.”

She nodded and I her cheek before going out. Somehow it feels like tons of loads have been removed off my shoulder.

I take back what I said. I didn’t really know what I was doing and I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do but I know this was better than staying in a relationship which would inevitably end anyways.


---


I hopped off my car and made my way to my best friend’s room as fast as I could only to find her sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the guitar that she bought just so she could serenade Fany. I was so excited to tell her the news that the project that I’ve worked on will be used to represent our university at a competition but now, I’m guessing I have to tell her that some other time.

“Soo? How’s it going Shikshin?” I sat beside her and nudged her a bit. No reaction. I nudged her again and again.

She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Did you eat too much again?” Even though I’ve already guessed what was happening, I still hoped and prayed that it’s nothing serious. It’s always so awkward for me to talk to my best friend seriously. Actually, it’s not just Soo. I find it hard to talk about serious things in general. I tend to take cover when I know a sad discussion is coming.

“She broke up with me.”

I knew it.

We sat there in silence and I rested my head to hers. I didn’t dare saying a word because I didn’t really know what to say and then I felt something wet on my forearm. Dammit. She’s crying. I hate it because I don’t know how to make her stop crying. When we were kids and she’d cry, I’d usually run to the nearest fridge and get any edible food that’s there and offer it to her. I don’t think I can do that now.

I also hate waterworks because I’m a big crybaby. I see someone crying and I cry with them. I’m incapable of stopping my tears my flowing.

So here I am, crying with my best friend. Am I angry at Tiffany for breaking up with her two days before Valentine’s Day? A little. I knew that Soo already had plans for that day but I can’t really blame Tiffany. Things like this happen all the time. Feelings change. You just have to deal with it.

Soo sniffed and pointed at the guitar. “What am I supposed to do with that now?”

I wiped my tears and tried talking. “I don’t know…learn sad songs and wallow in despair. Taylor Swift has sad songs, too.”

She removed her head from my shoulder and stared at me. “I hate you.”

I huffed and said, “You can’t hate me. I’m your best friend. Now, take that back before I call your mother and tell her that you told me you hate me.”

My best friend’s fear of her mother is her kryptonite that I never fail to use.

“Fine. I take it back. What am I supposed to do with this ring?”

“Return it and use the money to buy food and then, wallow in despair while trying to learn sad Taylor Swift songs.”

She frowned and looked like she was going to cry again. “That’s what Fany said save for the Taylor Swift part.” She wiped her face and her expression drastically changed from sadness to anger. “Yah! Why do all of you think food is always my priority? I can buy other things using the money I’d get when I take this back to where I bought it.”

“Will you? Do you have the guts to buy other things than food with that money? Think of all the chocolate bars, ice creams and candies you could buy from it.” She didn’t answer. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

She stood up and I sighed in relief. Offering food still works.

I stood up and tried to catch up on her. She’s still sad which is only natural so I attempted to try and cheer up again. “Hey, Soo, don’t be too sad. I’m here for you, buddy. If you become a spinster, I’ll ask my future spouse to let you live with us so you won’t feel too lonely.”

“That’s really nice of you, Hyo.”

“I know, right? Am I the best best friend or what?”

“What. Definitely ‘what’.”