Chapter Twenty-Three

[Tiffany]

I felt something move that is disrupting my sleep. Though, this place I am sleeping at now seems to be more comfortable than the one I have been sleeping on for who knows how long now. It is so soft and cuddly. I love it. There’s even that sweet, soft lullaby to go with it. It feels so good.

I rubbed my cheek against this soft cushion, so warm.

“Pani.”

“Hmmm.”

I heard someone laughing and I tried to open my eyes. Where am I anyway? I squinted as I looked around, trying to clear my head and my blurry vision and trying to process everything. That is until I felt something hugging me closer. A pair of arms wrapped around me, that I am quite sure.

“Good morning, my Pani.” I felt something soft on my forehead. “Such a sleepyhead you are.” I heard her say.

“TaeTae?” I croaked and cleared my throat. Ah. Now I know where I am at.

I snuggled closer and called out her name again. “TaeTae…”

“Yes? Did you sleep well?”

“Mhm.” I moved my head closer to where her heart is. That was what the lullaby was. Her heart.

“Good morning TaeTae.” I looked up a bit and gave her chin a quick, light kiss. I blushed. I know.

“I could get use to this.” I heard her say as she turn sideways so we’re facing each other but still wrapped in each other’s arms.

“Get used to what?” I asked her.

“Get used to sleeping and waking up next to you.”

I know in an instant, I turned red. She never fails to make my heart flutter. "Me too." I squeaked as I hid my face from her sight.

She chuckled. "Why are you being so cute and shy this early?" I just shook my head, not wanting to answer. "Anyway, it seems like this would hold up better for us though there are still some work I need to get done just to make sure."

I raised my head and looked at her. She was looking at the roofing of the little shack. It's small and definitely not fancy. We can only do so much too with the limited space but I don't really mind. I actually love it because I get to stay close to her always whenever we would be here.

Okay, that sounded kind of weird. But, oh well. We stayed like that -- hugging each other in silence, looking at each other and... Well, few little kisses here and there.

After sometime, we decided to get up and get started with our day. Everything that we do now seems to be more fun. There are no more awkward and shy moments. We laugh together even at the littlest things. More so, she's smiling more now.

I can't help but feel and think a little over confident -- okay more of wishful thinking actually --that I am the reason why. I wanted to be the reason she smiles and laughs. Her eyes twinkle and her face glows whenever she smiles and laughs. I wanted to keep it that way for as long as I could.

One thing that surprised me is how much Taeyeon loves skinship. I never thought that she’s one to be clingy and all. Well, I admit that I am like that… Sort of. I think? I thought she’s one who would feel uncomfortable and doesn’t like people to cling on her but I guess I was wrong. There’s still a lot that I don’t know about her and her about me.

Here I am trying to finish my breakfast and here she is holding on to my arm and asking me to feed her with that puppy eyes of her. Aigoo. What is she? A 5 year old?

Nonetheless, she looks so cute. I giggled. “Here comes the airplane. Open big.” I said as I fed her with the fruit.

“More please.” She said, and she was batting her eyelashes on me.

Oh dear lord. Help me please. She’s way too cute for my liking.

We cleaned up after our little mess and she got started in improving this little shack. I insisted on helping her out and she just pushed me away and told me to just go do something else.

Oh, she’s really distracting and very amusing too. How could she be like a kid one moment and be all matured and attractive the next? I can see her working on with the vines and wood and all those other stuff I really don’t have any idea of, and she looks so ‘manly’. Her hands worked effortlessly and I just noticed how her arms were showing her biceps. I wanted to go walk over to where she is standing at and touch it.

Oh gosh. Tiffany, you better get your head straight and stop. You ert. No. Wait. I’m no ert. I just wanted to feel her arms though, it’s not like that.

I shook my head to get those thoughts off of my mind and just started to clean up and sort out our things. We have a lot of things that needed to be thrown away but we both didn’t want to just leave it here and mess up the place.

I noticed how our supplies are almost gone. I wonder if we would last still with just all these. I looked towards Taeyeon’s direction and I could see her focusing on her task on hand. Then she looked at me and our eyes met.

She was smiling widely and waved at me. “Hi beautiful!” She yelled as she continued waving dorkily.

I know I blushed again. I can’t believe that I’m always a blushing mess when it comes to her. “Hello!” I waved back at her.

She gave me a thumbs up before she returned back to what she was doing.

I noticed that the sky hasn’t really gone that bright. Looks like Taeyeon was right. It’s going to rain soon.

I busied myself and finally I was able to at least tidy up our things. It looks better now and the unnecessary things were all separated from the ones we really need and use a lot.

Wow. Taeyeon has done a lot too. The little shack looks better and sturdier than before. Hope this will shelter us good though.

I saw her wiping her forehead. My poor TaeTae. I got up and brought her some water and wiped her sweaty forehead and…gulp… Her neck.

“Are you okay? You should rest for a while. You’ve been working all day now.” I said.

She shook her head. “Nah. I’m okay, don’t worry. I’m almost done anyway. Just a few more. I’m a little hungry though.”

“Oh okay. I’ll go get you something to eat. Rest for a bit though, please TaeTae?”

She chuckled. “Okay. Okay, I’ll rest while I wait for you.” She kissed my cheek.

-----

It has gotten really dark already though I know it wasn’t even that late yet. We were seated side by side, leaning on a big tree just a few feet from our little “home”.

“It looks like it’s going to rain hard.” Taeyeon said.

I looked at her, wor