Another coincidence. Tiffany didn’t feel right.

There was a park near her apartment, a small one for kids to play because it’s near a kindergarten, and that’s where she was at the moment. Sitting alone on a bench, eyeing one particular person who was busy choosing ice cream with a little girl in her arm, Tiffany sighed. Out of so many people in Korea, or at least in Seoul, why does it have to be her?

Why always Jessica?

And who is that little girl?

Clearly not Jessica’s daughter because she calls the woman by Unnie, but Tiffany is still curious. Jessica doesn’t have siblings. Or, does she? But the girl is probably only three or four years old, which means she was born after Tiffany left.

After Jessica got her another vanilla ice cream, the girl jumped off of Jessica’s embrace and ran away to the playground with a wide grin. Jessica paid for the ice creams, and headed back to Tiffany with two ice creams in her hands. One chocolate and the other one was vanilla.

Tiffany curled her fingers. She felt too familiar with this.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you the strawberry one.” Jessica said with an awkward smile, “So, chocolate or vanilla?”

Neither.

“Vanilla is okay.”

Jessica handed Tiffany the ice cream with a relieved sigh, and sat beside her. Tiffany was expecting Jessica to say something, but Jessica was busy eyeing the little girl. Sometimes she smiled, other times she frowned, depends on what the girl did. Tiffany couldn’t take her eyes off of the woman.

Jessica’s loving stare towards the girl is what distracted her the most.

“Oh, I’m sorry about earlier.”

Suddenly Jessica said, making Tiffany jerked her head to somewhere else but the latter.

“She really likes ice cream, that’s why.” She continued, smiling.

Tiffany wiped after she ate the ice cream greedily, silently shivering because of the coldness. Silly her, couldn’t even control herself. She was kind of glad Jessica didn’t notice that. Her eyes were busy.

“It’s okay.” Tiffany managed to answer after a long silence.

Jessica only replied her with a small smile before she ignored Tiffany again, just to stare at the happy girl in the playground.

Tiffany frowned.

As what she remembers, Jessica doesn’t like kids. She doesn’t hate them, she just disturbed by their behaviour. It’s different from Tiffany who hates kids to death. But what Tiffany was seeing at the moment crushed her memories. She couldn’t be wrong, could she? Jessica, buying a little girl ice cream, carrying her in her arms, and watching over her playing? That’s quite a rare sight.

“Hey.” In another sudden Jessica called her again, and Tiffany stopped reminiscing.

“Yeah?”

“It’s melting.”

Jessica pointed at the ice cream in Tiffany’s hand, and she was right. Tiffany gasped seeing her now wet hand and it led a small chuckle from Jessica. Feeling a little bit ashamed, Tiffany quickly roamed her purse to find a tissue but Jessica was faster in handing her one.

“Here.”

Jessica grabbed the ice cream off of Tiffany’s hand to let the latter wipe the dirt off. Tiffany scoffed. Now it’s all sticky.

“You want mine?” Jessica asked after Tiffany had finished.

“What?”

“My ice cream, since yours melted already.” She then jerked her head to the ice cream stall, “Or I should get you the strawberry one if there still is--”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Tiffany quickly said, “It tastes the same anyway, yours and mine. It doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.”

After Jessica handed the ice cream back, both of them fell into another silence. But Tiffany wanted to talk. She really did. The more time she spent with this woman, the more curious she became. Jessica seemed had changed a lot. And so did Tiffany.

“H-how’s life?”

Jessica quickly jerked her head to Tiffany when the latter started. Tiffany mentally slapped herself at how awkward it sounded. But then Jessica smiled, and Tiffany was relieved, even though just a little bit.

“Not so bad. You?”

Of course, she’s happy now.

“Pretty much the same.” Tiffany said, basically lying.

“I see.” Jessica nodded, “That’s good to know.”

“Yeah.” Tiffany pressed her lips to one another, tasting the ice cream in , “And how about her?”

Jessica frowned, “Her?”

“Yes, her.” Tiffany repeated, emphasizing the last word with her best self-control not to burst the name out loud.

However, the frown didn’t fade, “Her, who?”

Oh, great. Is Jessica playing dumb on her now?

“Her, Jessica.” Tiffany started feeling annoyed, “You know who I mean.”

“I don’t--”

“Unnie!”

But both of them had to stop when the little girl came back. Jessica laughed because the girl’s mouth, chin, and cheeks were really dirty thanks to the ice cream. The girl jumped to Jessica’s lap and the latter happily hugged her.

“Wow, look at you. How dirty.”

The girl only giggled, “Let’s go home!”

“We’re going home now? Okay, then.” Jessica then looked at Tiffany, “Tiffany, let’s--”

“I’ll go by myself.” Tiffany said as she stood up from the bench.

Jessica followed her, lifting the girl in her arms, “Are you sure?”

“My apartment is close, so it’s okay. Thanks for the ice cream.”

Jessica was about to say something but Tiffany already walked away, leaving the other woman in confusion.

“Bye, Tiffany!”

Tiffany heard it, but she decided to ignore it. She was being childish in feeling annoyed, but whatever. She didn’t like it. How Jessica pretended being clueless of that her she was referring to. Jessica knows. Even Tiffany still remembers that her clearly, so how could Jessica forget?

When Tiffany turned left into an alley, she found a trash bin. And without any hesitation, she threw the remaining ice cream into it.

-

There was one condition Sooyoung gave her so she would forgive Tiffany. Because of her guilt, Tiffany said yes immediately. And little did she knows, that condition was nowhere near difficult.

She has to buy Sooyoung lots, lots of food. So she did, asked Sooyoung to come to her apartment, and ended watching the younger one mindlessly eating.

Like what Sunny said, the keyword is food.

“So…”

Sooyoung started with full of food. Tiffany stared in disbelief at the woman who was sitting across her. She was skinny, way skinnier than Jessica but she eats like she hasn’t for ages. And even though was full, she couldn’t stop munching more and more. The world is getting upside down, Tiffany thought.

“You finally want to talk to me?”

Tiffany cringed, “Eat first, talk later, Sooyoung.”

The eating woman chuckled and obeyed. In a speed of light she finished all the foods and tapped her stomach in satisfaction.

Tiffany was dumbfounded, “How could Sunny end up with you?”

A laugh, “That’s my charm, if somehow you haven’t acknowledged it. Oh, she hasn’t told you about the first time we met?”

“Nope.” Tiffany shook her head, “It was food-related?”

“You can say it like that.” Sooyoung chuckled, “Well, we first met in some kind of family dinner. She’s the heiress of her uncle’s company, and her uncle is my father’s friend, so yeah we met there. Unfortunately for her, the menu her uncle ordered was full of beans. You know she doesn’t like beans. So she was hesitating in eating it meanwhile her older sister kept bugging her in silence to just eat it.”

Tiffany cracked a smile, “And then?”

“And fortunately for her, I was sitting right beside her. We haven’t known each other, just merely names, but I noticed her disgusted look for the beans. Out of nowhere I whispered to her to switch plates. Mine was already empty. She agreed right away. So we quietly did, no one noticed, then I ate hers happily.”

Tiffany laughed, “So I guess she liked you after that?”

“I know she liked me first. But until now, duh, she won’t admit it.” Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “We met some other times after that, at first because of business, but then it grew to be something more.”

“Whoa…” Tiffany grinned, “did you confess?”

“No, I didn’t. None of us did.”

“So?”

“It was our… I don’t know, I’ve lost count at how many dates we’ve been through before because both of us didn’t have the courage to confess.” Another chuckle, “I drove her home and I walked her to the front door, then we bid each other goodbyes as usual, but she didn’t move an inch, so did I.”

Sooyoung laughed again.

“Then what?” Tiffany bit her lip, the story was getting interesting.

“She tiptoed and kissed me.”

Tiffany gasped loudly, “Whoa, really?! She made the first move?!”

“I told you she liked me first.” Sooyoung smiled proudly, “So, yeah. That happened.”

Tiffany clapped her hands. That was new.

“Hey, we’re not supposed to talk about me.” Sooyoung frowned, “You’re cheating.”

“I’m not! You started it first!”

“Okay, fine.” Sooyoung raised both her hands, “It was my fault. Now, let’s get serious. The topic isn’t about me.”

“Yeah, right…”

The light atmosphere they just had a few moments ago suddenly faded. Tiffany tapped her fingers on the dining table with tons of past memories were going back and forth in her head, questioning her which one she should tell first. But Sooyoung was a patient person, a very patient one.

For Sunny, Sooyoung’s charm might be on her appetite. But surely for Tiffany, her understanding is really charming.

“We were once like you and Sunny.” Tiffany finally started and Sooyoung tilted her head with a nod, “A happy couple. Well, not too touchy because she didn’t like PDAs and stuffs. But inside we were really close. She had those simple gestures that showed her affection toward me and I noticed it all. I appreciated it. Her way to say she loved me. It was different. She was different.”

“Oh, I know that.” Sooyoung nodded.

Tiffany bitterly smiled, “I’m not going to make it long. Your question is why do I hate her so much, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” Tiffany took a deep breath, “just like what I’ve said to you, there was another person in between us. That person, which was another she, suddenly barged into Jessica’s life and pulled her away from me.”

Sooyoung frowned, but she didn’t say anything.

“This is my point of view. This is the furthest I know.”

“Yeah, Tiffany. Go on.”

“Shortly, it was Jessica’s ex. And another shortly, Jessica preferred that ex over me.”

“What?”

Tiffany looked away from Sooyoung’s curious eyes. Another heavy breath she exhaled as another memory she shared. And again, Sooyoung waited for Tiffany to start. It somehow, relieved Tiffany because Sooyoung didn’t rush things.

After some time, Tiffany brought her gaze back to Sooyoung, “That’s why.”

“Jessica’s ex… who was it?”

Tiffany bit her lip and looked down. To be very honest, she hates this person so much until she feels like slapping her to no end. And that’s a bad thing, because that means she still has feelings for Jessica.

But Sooyoung was still patiently waiting. Should she tell or should she not?

****

Happy valentine's day everyone...