Chapter 21

Tiffany tilted her head up, dropped a tear of eye protection into each of her eyes & then swallowed the claritin capsule, “Let’s hope that you last.” She whispered, looking down at the Spearmint gum with the marking. her pink lips, she crossed one leg over the other, entering the nightclub. Her black harley-davidson karlia boots rubbed against her soft skin. The black scooped neck, criss-cross back, matte dual strap dress lifted up higher & higher as her legs took larger stepped. Her eyes peered up at the guard. One corner of her lips tilted up. Before passing him, she slid her palm against his huge chest. Then she met the darkness along with colorful lights flashing. A small grimace crossed her lips.

“God, I hate this smell.” She whispered, pressing the ear piece & walking through the crowd.

Yuri chuckled, “I know. I should be in there instead of you. The exception.” She paused, reaching over & grabbed her chinese herbal tonic drink, “The exception that I can’t. Kyu Oppa & his guards would recognize me & Ti, can you fix your necklace? The camera is tilted a bit.”

Tiffany flipped her hair back & settled herself on the stool. She smiled at the bartender, circling the annello 14k gold 1/3ct TDW bezel diamond solitaire necklace around her finger. Her smile widened as Yuri growled at her playfulness, “I don’t get why I need to wear this camera around my neck, Yul. You don’t need to see everything, you know.”

“I know but the necklace really looks good on you & damn, that bartender is off the hook! Make a move, Ti.” “Get real.” She chuckled, tapping the little diamond where the hidden camera was. The bartender turned around. Tiffany raised her eyes, “Just a glass of water please. No ice.” He nodded his head, ‘Not so interest your in job, huh?’ Tiffany thought. She her lips & looked over her shoulder. Everyone was having his or her fun but she will have her fun soon enough. Her eyes slowly raised up to the next level of the club. It came to one particular door. Kyuhyun, “My dad went back home today.” She mumbled.

“What did he say about you staying?”

“The job is more important, of course. I hate lying to him but I can’t help it. I needed to. He.” Her words came to an end. Her pulse quickened. The sound of the music seemed to disappear from her ear & the smoke coming from cigarettes seemed to revolve around her; yet it didn’t disturb her sense of allergies.

“Hey, are you still there?”

“I...yeah. She’s here, Yul.”

“Who?”

Tiffany squinted her eyes, the smoke deepening into them, “I’m not so sure if it’s her. I...my eyes are getting teary from the smoke.”

“Didn’t you use the eye protection?”

“I did.” Tiffany closed her eyes tightly & then opened them back up. Her eyes met her again, “She’s in red. All red. On the left, going up the stairs.” As her eyes became worse, she dug into her pocketbook, looking for her capsule.

“Hold on. I have to zoom in a bit. The lights are getting in the way & you’re not wrong, Ti. That’s Yoona. What is she doing there? The woman surely doesn’t look like a housewife, though she never had looked like one.” She paused, “Ti, where are you going?”

“I’m going after her.” Tiffany pushed through the crowd of dancers after gulping down the capsule with the glass of water. What is she doing here? The question kept running through her head. She tilted her head up, taking a quick glance at Yoona & fastened her pace.

“Hell, no, you’re not!”

“I am, Yul. You told me that Kyu Oppa’s up in that room & Yoona’s going straight for it. What do you expect me to do? Just sit like a bored duck? Not in my lifetime.”

“God dammit, Ti! If he knows what you’re searching for, he’ll kill you.”

Tiffany gave a glare at a man as he edged closer to her. It wasn’t long until she reach the stairs. Her hands reached out, pushing again, “He won’t know. I’m here to party remember?” One last hard push, Tiffany’s foot landed on the first flight of stepped. She pushed her hair back & just as her foot landed on the eighth flight, a hand snatched her wrist. She quickly looked back behind her shoulder.

“You’re not going up there.”

Her pulse quickened as his eyes narrowed, “What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you the same question.” He smiled then, “What are you doing here?”

Tiffany shook her head, “I’m a person who can’t stand being lock inside a house & being commanded around at the same time.” She started to walked up again, but was jerked back hard by his hold on her wrist. Heels not hitting the first flight of stairs properly, she tumbled backward with a gasps. Her freed hand reached out to take hold of the rails but only the tip of her fingernails slid along it. She was twisted around by the hold of her wrist & then fell into his chest; a small grunt escaped though her lips at the same time. Her eyes widened as she threw her head back, glaring into his eyes.

“Be careful.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, pushing against his chest & straightening herself up. Ignoring the looked around them, she remarked, “You’re the one who should be careful.”

“Come on.” Yunho said, gently taking a hold of her elbow, “I’ll buy you a drink & then you’ll tell me what you’re doing here. It’s not a really nice place to party around. Did you come here with a friend?”

Tiffany jerked her chin up, “You wouldn’t want to know the answer.”

Jaejoong raised a brow, “Meaning you’re here with some other guy?” He grunt, “Fat chance for him then. You’re coming with me.” He tugged on her elbow. She resisted. Frustrated, Jaejoong peered up at her stubborn pose, “I’m not asking for another night or a dance with you. I’m just buying you a drink.”

Her face flushed. Fortunately for her, it was too dark for him to see her rosy cheeks. She removed his hand away from her elbow gently like a real lady, “Just one drink & then you’ll leave me alone. Deal?”

He smiled, “Deal.”

As he turned around, Tiffany grimaced. The damn man! If it weren’t for her impatience to get up into that room without his annoyance presence, she would have never agreed to have a drink with him & yet, she wanted to know why he was here! Did the man even know that his wife was here? Following him, she stepped down from the stairs, staying more than a foot away from him.

When they got to the bar, she settled herself on the stool beside him. He turned to look at her. His gaze ran down her body as if he had just realized what she was wearing. She raised a cute brow, “Do you have a problem?”

“No, not at all.”

‘Yes.’ He rejected the answer in his thoughts, ‘I have a problem.’

“I’ll just have a cup of water please.”

“That’s too plain. How about some liquor?” Jaejoong offered.

Her eyes narrowed at him again. What was the man trying to do? She knew he had a drinking problem but she wasn’t ready to compete against him yet. Her taste on any alcohol wasn’t the best, “Fine, a cup of light beer.” A smile she detested appeared slyly on his face, “A great choice. A absinthe for me then.”

Tiffany grunted lowly underneath her breath. She turned around on her stool, staring up at the second level again. A tap on the earpiece got her attention. She groaned & whispered under her breath, “What?”

“Don’t be so rude to him. Make a move.” Yuri said, smile hidden, “I know what you’re feeling.”

“You don’t know what I’m feeling at all.”

“Come on, Ti. I’ll help you out. How about.”

Tiffany slid her right hand down her ear, taking off the ear piece carefully. She felt for the lock of the necklace at the back of her neck & took it off. Dropping both pieces of electronic into her pocketbook, she averted in her seat. Her hand reached out for the light beer. She sipped a bit, winced & then sipped some more. Even though her eyes were closed from the bitter taste, she felt his gaze on her. Letting out a heavy gasps, she slammed the heavy, emptied cup back down onto the bar.

Her head averted slightly to glance at his empty cup. Tiffany closed her eyes as a queasy feeling entered her whole body & mind, “Now.” Her palm slammed flat onto the bar, “Leave me alone.” One tighter shut of her eyes, Tiffany stood up, almost stumbling over.

“Are you…”

“I said, leave me alone.” Tiffany removed his hands from her waist without much strength. Her head spun. She swallowed, eyes half-closed as she made her way towards the restroom deadly. The noise around her disappeared away slowly. Her eyesight started to become blurry. Tiffany reached out, feeling the wall. She swallowed hard. Her knees weakened, causing her to half bent down. Suddenly, two arms slipped around her waist. She knew who it was & she knew he was the one who had drugged her.

Tiffany glanced up at him before her eyes closed upon her.

Jaejoong sipped on his coffee, cursing himself at the same time. Smart move to drug her but stupid too, at the same time! He winced at his action & kept staring at her lying on her bed. She was tucked in tightly, though her arms were spread out along the pillow like a child. One of her knee was bent, sticking up into the air. The other was lying straight, feet sticking out from the blanket. He shook her head & took out a cigarette. Something to calm him down for a while. She had been sleeping since last night through three in the afternoon the next day. For all he had learned, she should be waking up soon enough.

He didn’t mean to drug her at all but how could he not when her eyes were following Yoona up into that room? His hands had so wanted to strangle her neck when he saw her walking up those stairs. If he didn’t pushed through that crowd of dancers fast enough, god knows what would have happened to her & hopefully, just hopefully, the memory of her seeing Yoona there that night would be erase from her mind. He couldn’t risk the chance of her knowing that Yoona was involved in her sister’s death be known. It wouldn’t ruin his plan. In fact, he had no planned. The fact of her knowing that his own wife was involved in Hannie’s death was just too risky. He couldn’t let anything happen to his late wife’s sister, especially when he had ruined her.

The vows he had made to himself, after admitting that he had been using her as Stephanie’s model was one he should never had promised. To protect her from any harm & what had he done? He had drugged her. Bloody hell! It was only for her good. He had interfered into her path, blocking her from exceeding any further up that stair. Wasn’t that something good, keeping her away from harm? Of course it was. Nothing could go beyond that & if she figures out what he had been hiding from her...no, she’ll never find out. He’ll just stay calm & what if she remembered last night? Well, he’ll be dead for sure & he’ll be damn if he has to make her spit out what she was doing in that nightclub more than once! He had followed Yoona & had never expected to see her there dressed like a...he won’t even go there.

Jaejoong changed his position on the stool, eyes not moving away from her at all. He raised the cigarette to his lips & then froze. God dammit! How could he have forgotten that she was allergic to cigarette smoke? Snarling in his own frustration, Jaejoong turned his gaze away from her for the first time ever since he had woke up & dipped the tip of the of the cigarette onto the top of the drawer. Never had he smoked inside until this lack of fulfillment that had came along had urged him, too.

He brushed his hair back, reached out for a bottle of perfume & sprayed it into midair. He sniffed the scent. Vanilla. Never had such a scent awakened him up like so before but it was never the scent that had so much attracted him to her. It was plainly just Tiffany.

To say the words he had said to her nights before was to give him up foolishly. He had never used her as Stephanie’s model. It was only that first time when he kissed her did he think that she was Hannie but now, the person he had kissed so fiercely nights ago was his own Fany. How could he possibly just kiss her in his anger without a reason to lie with? How could he possibly just kiss her without an excuse when she was his late wife’s twin?

Tiffany stirred, causing him to jerk his mind back to her. Her left hand flew over & slapped herself on the cheek. She groaned, wiping . He reached his hand backward & placed the perfume back onto the drawer. Then she slowly opened her eyes. Those pair of immense eyes blinked, looking lost.

He smiled but how could he possibly not kiss her desperately when he had fallen in love completely?