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Taeyeon's heart thumped wildly as her hands got nearer to the phone.

"Ta-da!" Just before she got her hands on it, she heard Claire's voice and she retracted her hand almost immediately. Hold it in Taeyeon, hold it in, she told herself as she forced a smile.

Throughout the rest of the date, Taeyeon constantly reminded herself not to let her emotions take over her, especially after what had happened the other time. Maybe it was just a coincidence, she tried to convince herself. Time seemed to be moving painfully slow as she somehow hoped for the date to end quickly. When evening arrived, Claire's chauffeur came to fetch her, and Taeyeon put on her best smile as she bid her goodbye. When she was sure that Claire was gone, she called Butler Jo.

"Butler Jo?"

"Yes Miss?"

"Are you busy? Can you please fetch me somewhere?"

"What are you talking about Miss? Of course I will fetch you wherever you want to go. Where are you now?"

"I'm at Sunny's amusement park. The smaller one."

"The one near Miss Sooyoung's building?"

"Yes that one."

"I'll be there in a while. Go and take a seat somewhere or something alright? I'll be there quickly."

"Ah no no it's okay. Take your time Butler Jo. Thank you so much."

"It's my job Miss. I'll see you in a while."

"Okay."

Taeyeon slid the phone back inside her pocket as she let out a sigh. She just sat at one of the benches outside and swung her legs up and down while waiting. Butler Jo didn't take too long to arive.

"So where do you wanna go Miss?"

"Butler Jo I told you to call me Taeyeon. How many years has it been and you're still calling me "Miss" here and "Miss" there."

"Just let me be, Miss. It's not appropriate to address you by your name. Tell me, where do you want to go?"

"Ah I surrender. Hmm... Can you take me to Tiffany's bar?"

"Miss Tiffany's bar? You're going to drink?"

"Kinda..."

"Alone?"

"I guess so. Do you want to drink with me?"

"What nonsense is this Miss! I can accompany you there, but I can't drink with you, you know it."

"It's okay. I know you have work to do. I can handle it."

"It's okay Miss. Part of my work is to take care of you. The thing is, are you okay?"

"I just...need a drink to clear my mind."

"I actually don't have pressing matters on hand. Do you want me to accompany you? I can fetch you home safely after that, the point is."

"It's okay Butler Jo. Don't worry about me. If anything happens I'll just call Tiffany or something. I always do. I'm safe with her so don't worry okay?"

Taeyeon's words were spot on. She downed the shots one by one, wanting to not think about all the Jessica-Claire issues that were haunting her yet again. When she was feeling really dizzy and sick, she called Tiffany, who immediately rushed down. Tiffany was more anxious than ever to get to her friend, because the last time Taeyeon got this drunk and called her, almost half of her shirt was already ed by some unknown guy when she finally got to her. The poor guy was badly beaten up by the security after that though, because Tiffany had ordered them to, since she was so furious that he messed with her best friend.

When Tiffany reached the bar, she frowned as she saw a group of guys surrounding a girl whom she immediately recognised as Taeyeon. She rushed towards them and tried to push her way through them but they were too strong. She was roughly pushed and was about to hit the floor when someone held her strongly, holding her back to her feet. "Miss, are you okay?" "Butler Park can you please...?" "Yes." Butler Park grabbed one of the guys tightly on his shoulder and the guy turned, threatening to throw a punch at him, only to have him twist his arm and lock it behind his back. "While I'm still being nice, get away from this lady." "What the..." Another one of the guys moved towards him and wanted to punch him but with in a split second, Butler Park had him subdued too. He glared at the last two guys near Taeyeon. "You don't mess with people who own this place." The shorter one of the guys suddenly noticed Tiffany behind Butler Park and he whispered to his friends. " I think that's Young Miss Hwang. Let's not mess with them. Let's go." Butler Park let go of the two guys and the four of them made their way out quickly in fear.

"Taeyeon ah? Taeyeon?" Tiffany shook a semi-conscious Taeyeon who fell right into her arms like a jelly. "Ya Kim Taeyeon! Aish seriously... Butler Park can you help me with this fella?" Butler Park chuckled at the sight but he immediately lifted Taeyeon bridal-style and they made their way to their car. Tiffany rolled her eyes at her now unconscious best friend and she made a call to Hayeon.

"Yes Fany unnie?"

"Hayeon ah. Well, Taeyeonie is staying over at my place. We have something to discuss. Tell mommy okay?"

"Okay I'll let her know!"

"Okay! Sleep early. Goodnight!"

"Yes goodnight unnie!"

Sighing, she called her dad next.

"Hey daddy?"

"Yes."

"Daddy, Taeyeon is a little...drunk. I'm getting her to our place. Just letting you know!"

"Okay. Is she fine?"

"I don't know. I don't think she is..."

"Alright you take good care of her okay? I'll get Housekeeper Noh to make some tea for her? Are you hungry? Should I also ask her to make food for you two?"

"Okay for the tea but nope for the food! I'm still full and I don't think Taeyeon is even conscious enough to eat. Just get her to make the tea and then you guys should sleep earlier!"

"Okay I'll do that. Where are you now?"

"I'm on the car with Butler Park. This Taeyeon is so dead daddy oh my gosh. Please scold her for me in the morning."

"I think that was what she said to me a few months ago when you were dead drunk my dear."

"Okay point taken. You're always taking her side. Not talking to you any more daddy. Bye."

"Hahaha alright alright. I'll be sleeping first then. Don't sleep too late."

"Okay! Goodnight daddy!"

"Goodnight honey."

Tiffany managed to get Taeyeon safely to her house and she rested her on the couch before going to grab the tea that Housekeeper Noh had kept for Taeyeon. When she was back, she was shocked that Taeyeon wasn't on the couch any more. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that her bedroom door was open. She slowly made her way to the room and she didn't know whether to laugh or to cry when she saw Taeyeon hogging her bed. Sighing, she put the cup down and then started to shake Taeyeon. "Kim Taeyeon go to the guest room. This is my bed. Ya Kim Taeyeon!" "Mmm sjiwiaslviwdfn..." Tiffany frowned as she couldn't make out what Taeyeon was saying. "Argh what did I do to deserve this." She continued whining under her breath before she decided to let her be. "Move away. Tsk." She roughly pushed Taeyeon to the side to make some space for herself. "Msdfiwnoviowe..." Taeyeon muttered something again and before Tiffany could even respond, she felt Taeyeon throw an arm around her body, hugging her. "Yes yes. Take my bed. And then hug me like I'm your bolster. Really Taeyeon, really. You're so going to get it from me when you wake up in the morning. I swear."

Light knocks on the door woke Tiffany up first in the morning. "Y-yeah...?" She rubbed her eyes groggily as she looked at the door. The door slowly opened and Housekeeper Noh's face came into view. "Miss I wanted to ask you where is Miss Taey- Oh. She slept here?" Housekeeper Noh's view dropped onto Taeyeon.

"This fella hogged my bed... What time is it?"

"It's already ten. Do you want to have breakfast? I made your favourite food."

"Really?! Okay I'll go!" Tiffany eyes shone at the mention of her favourite food.

"Then Miss Taeyeon...?" Housekeeper Noh asked.

"Ah just let her be. She will wake up when she wants to." Tiffany rolled her eyes yet again at her best friend. The two friends were real like that. They never did hide what they felt. Housekeeper Noh chuckled and waited for Tiffany to get out of the room before she gently closed the door.

Taeyeon didn't wake up until it was 1pm, and that was only because Tiffany went to wake her up. "IT'S AFTERNOON ALREADY PIG. GET UP." Taeyeon flinched when the loud voice suddenly got to her ears. She forced one eye open and looked at Tiffany before holding her head. "Ouch it hurts..."

"Of course it hurts. Why did you drink so much yesterday?" Taeyeon let go of her head and her eyes turned serious as she sat up, but she didn't look at Tiffany as she just stared at the bed. "Are you...okay?" Tiffany asked again when she saw Taeyeon's expression.

"I think...Claire is Jessica." Taeyeon finally said, still not looking at Tiffany, but Tiffany eyes widened.

"What...? Again? I thought you said that you don't want to find out any more?"

"Yes I didn't want to find out. But I accidentally saw something yesterday."

"Huh...? What did you see...?" This time, Taeyeon looked into Tiffany's eyes.

"Someone called Krys sent her a text." Tiffany's eye flickered when she heard the name.

"Krys as in...Krystal Krys you mean...?"

"Yeah. Isn't it too much of a coincidence? And there was a heart at the back of her name. Someone who is dear to her, and whose name is Krys."

"What did the message say?"

"She asked her if they were gonna have dinner together."

"Are you sure it's not just one of her friends...?"

"I had a really hard time trying to pretend like nothing happened, let alone finding out who this Krys was."

"So...you didn't ask?"

"I didn't have the courage to. I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"Why...are you scared?"

"I don't know..."

"Okay Taeyeon look. What if, I'm saying what if, she really is Jessica? What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know... You know, I really wanted to find out initially. But when I realised that more and more things are showing that she may really just be Jessica, I suddenly...got fearful. I don't know why but I just... I don't know..."

"Taeyeon... There's actually one more thing..."

"What...?"

"If she really is Jessica...then...then..."

"What? Then what?"

"Then that means that...Mr and Mrs Jung...and Krys...they...you know..."

Taeyeon swallowed her saliva when Tiffany reminded her. Yes. If that girl really was Jessica, that meant that the Jung family had intentionally hidden the fact from her that Jessica was alive. But even so, Jessica who always fought for their love wouldn't just sit by and do nothing, isn't it?

"But... Jessica wouldn't...do nothing right...? Or is it that she...hates me? For...bringing her harm?"

"You said that her head was bleeding a lot, right? It sounds dramatic but...maybe she had some sort of a...concussion or something? And maybe she...forgot you? And then her family probably decided to not let her know about your relationship or something..."

"But..."

"Okay wait Taeyeon ah, that was just a really...random thing that I was thinking about. For all you know she may just be Claire. Why not, you ask her about this Krys person?"

"I...don't dare to..."

"What...? Why...?"

"I don't think I'm prepared to face this actually... I think... I'll ask her another time..." Tiffany could only sigh as she looked at her troubled best friend yet again.

***

Taking a deep breath, the girl approached her target.

"Babe! Can I borrow your phone? I forgot to bring my portable charger and my battery's dead."

"Sure! There you go. Ah anyway hold on to it then. I'mma head to the washroom for a while."

"Okay!"

The girl smiled, but the smile faded as she watched her friend leave for the restroom. Biting on her teeth, she tapped on the phone and did as according to plan.

The day with her friend finally ended, and the girl sat in the car, looking at her phone. She hesitated for a long while before she tapped on the call button. Her heart raced as she waited for the other end to pick it up.

"Hi." Her face fell when a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Hey. Is this...Krystal?"

"Yes this is Krystal speaking!"

"Krystal Jung? Soojung?"

"Uh...yeah."

"..." The girl swallowed her saliva as she tried to contain her shock.

"Uh...hello? May I know who is this?"

"..."

"Hi...? You sound kind of famili-"

"I'm Tiffany. Tiffany Hwang."

"..."

Silence fell on both ends.

© Sky Blue Tales ✍