CHAPTER 1

“Tiffany?” I mumbled sleepily while tried to stretch my hand to the other side of the bed.

Cold. Her side was cold.

“Tiff, are you awake already?” still there was no answer.

“Okay, Tiff. I’ll just continue my sleep and maybe skip my morning class again.” I rose my voice so that she could hear me and ran to the room to scold me. I could imagine her annoyed face while lecturing me and I would just bury my face in the pillow trying to hold my laughter. I giggled and started to count.

1...

2...

3...

I buried my face in my pillow and covered my whole body with the blanket, preparing myself for the loud voice or a slap on my , but nothing happened.

“Tiff?” I removed the blanket from my body.

“Tiffany?” I completely woke up now and headed to the door.

“...”

“Tiffany, it’s not funny. Come out.”

I meant it. It was not funny at all. I felt scared and panic. This apartment had never been this quiet before, especially in the morning.

“Tiffany, seriously where are you?” I started running to every corner of our apartment.

I looked for her in the bathroom, living room, kitchen, her drawing room, but still, she was nowhere to be found!

“Ah! Maybe she’s in Yuri’s place now. Asking that girl next door to teach her some yoga moves. Yeah... yoga moves...,” I said trying to convince myself, though I was not sure about it. “Or... or, maybe she just went there to ask for some tea.”

I stood in front of Yuri’s apartment door, contemplating whether to knock it or not.

‘But she already gave up on learning yoga and said that she will never asked Yuri to teach her again. And also she never drank tea in the morning,’ I thought.

“Ah Jessica, what are you doing here?” suddenly Yuri came out and stopped my train of thoughts.

“Oh, Yuri. I, I was just about to ask you if Tiffany is with you now. She’s gone and I can’t find her.”

“T-tiffany?” Yuri stuttered.

“She’s with you, right? Maybe, maybe she changed her mind and asked you to teach her yoga again. Or she’s here to ask for some tea. Of course, I know it! May I come in?” I look over her shoulder trying to find Tiffany.

“Jessica...”

“Or... or maybe she’s here to...” I keep rambling, not noticing the sudden change of expression on Yuri’s face when I keep asking her about Tiffany.

“Jessica, stop!” I stopped when Yuri rose her voice and had this unreadable look on her face.

I was slightly taken aback. “Yuri, I-I’m sorry. I’m just worried that...”

“Jessica, look. I’m sorry too, but Tiffany is not here and also not in your apartment. Tiffany...she’s...” Yuri was about to say something when I hear my phone rang from my room.

“Ah that’s my phone! Maybe that’s Tiffany! Thanks Yuri and sorry for disturbing you. You’re going to work, right? So, good luck on your work!” I said happily, skipping back to my room to get my phone.

“Jessica... Jessica! ” Yuri called me.

I turned around and grinned “Oh I forgot. Good morning to you!”

***

When I reached my room, the phone had already stopped ringing. I unlocked the screen and saw three missed calls from Taeyeon.

“Aish! It’s not from Tiffany. Where would that girl could be? She never go out without giving a call or at least a note.” I glanced at the table in the corner and found her pink phone lying there. “She even forgot to bring her phone.”

My phone buzzed and it was a text from Taeyeon asking me where I was and telling we were going to start our test in five minutes.

“Test? Damn! I forgot!” I almost dropped my phone when I realized that I had a test this morning and here I’m still in my pajamas!

I ran to the bathroom to wash my face but stopped when I realized the reason why this thing happened. Tiffany.

“Yeah, what about her? I just can’t leave. I have to wait for her.”

“What if something bad happened to her. What if she dropped her key somewhere and when she came back home she couldn’t unlocked the door. What if someone called me and told me that he found lost Tiffany on the street. W-what if she never come back...” I started muttered some random ‘what ifs’ and smacked my own head for thinking about something stupid like that.

“No, no, stop it Jessica. Get yourself together!” I talked to myself and took a deep breath. “Yeah right, breath, calm down. She’s okay now. She’s a big girl.”

A vurnerable big girl...

A buzz from my phone startled me. I snatched it and frowned when a text came from Taeyeon again.

‘Yah! Jung Sooyeon! Where the hell are you! Are you going to skip this test?! Don’t freaking tell me you’re still in you deep slumber right now!’

Seriously, she was just like my mom.

‘Yah! Kim Taeyeon! Stop scolding me and just finish your stupid test! I can’t go now because something bad happened this morning. I’ll call you when you finish your class. And I will just email or meet Professor Lee later to tell him that I’m sick and can’t take the test today. Well, good luck Taengoo ^^’

Sent!

I throw myself to the bed and inhaled the scent on it. Tiffany’s scent. That sweet and soft rose musk. My favorite. It magically calmed me. The same feeling like when I slept in Tiffany’s embrace and she my hair and we just laid there in a comfortable silence.

“Tiffany, I miss you.” A lone tear escaped from my eye.

I didn’t know why I reacted this way. It was not like she’s going to leave me forever, right? Maybe she just forgot to tell me and now that redhead is strolling in a mall, drooling over those pink stuffs and forgetting the time! It was just that simple. Maybe it was just me being a worrywart.

As I laid down on my bed and kept thinking about Tiffany, I felt my eyelids getting heavy and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

***

Jessi..

Jessi, wake up...

Jessi...

“Yah! Jung Sooyeon! Wake up!” a familiar voice woke me up.

“T-Tiffany?”

I heard a sigh. It’s familiar but it’s not Tiffany.

“T-Tiffany? Er, Sica-ah... wake up,” now that voice tried to wake me up in a softer tone.

I opened my eyes and saw Taeyeon looking at me with that unreadable look like what Yuri gave me this morning. I wondered why both Yuri and Taeyeon gave me that same sad look.

“Are you okay, Sica?” she asked. “You told me that something bad happened. What’s the matter? Are you sick?”

“Taeyeon-ah, I’m fine,” I said and yawned. “Thanks, but it’s not me.”

“So? What happened?” she said, fiddling nervously with her bag strap.

“It’s-it’s Tiffany.” I remembered. “Right! Tiffany! Is she home yet?” I jolted up from my bed but Taeyeon suddenly held my wrist.

“Sica, calm down.”

“No I can’t freaking calm down, Tae. She has been missing since this morning and she’s still not giving me a call or something. And what time is it now?” I took a glance at the window and saw the sky was almost dark. “Look, it’s almost dark outside!”

“Jessica, calm down and listen to me.” Taeyeon tightened her grip on my wrist and pleaded. “Please?”

I let out a sigh and sat on the bed.

“Jessica, I’m sorry,” she said gloomily. “You can’t find Tiffany, I know.”

“And why is that?” I snapped.

“Sica-ah...” she smiled gently. “You miss her. I miss her too. We, her family, her friends, all of us miss her.”

I look at her questioningly. What did she talk about? I knew everyone love Tiffany but not that way. I meant, I’m her only girlfriend, right?

She continued, ”You have to accept this Jessica. I know it’s hard to move on, well I’m not asking you to forget her, it’s just...”

“What are you talking about, Tae?” I snapped her again. “What do you mean by moving on and forgetting her? She’s my girlfriend! I can’t just, out of the blue, ask for a break up and move on!”

Taeyeon then glanced at me, hesitating, wondering what to say.

She took a deep breath, “Sica, it’s not like that. Listen to me first, please?”

That was the second time Taeyeon pleaded to me. She was not that kind of person who will talk to me like that. Don’t get me wrong, she’s my best friend and I know she cares for me. But, our friendship is more like a frienemies type. Wewould tease each other, throw some random sarcastic comments, laugh at each other. But not this, no, Taeyeon never pleaded to me.

I shifted uncomfortably, yet again still nodded, motioning Taeyeon to continue.

“Jessica, do you know what day is it today?”

“Monday,” I hesitantly replied. “And what is that mean?”

Taeyeon tried to smile but I believed I could see some sadness in it.

Seriously, what’s with all these sad looks they gave me? I thought.

“I know, it’s Monday and we had an exam today,” she chuckled. “You didn’t forget that, did you?”

“Y-yeah... I did. And?” I replied and asked her back.

“It’s Monday, we had a test, and... well it’s 14th September. Do you remember?”

“Yeah, yeah I know. But I don’t get it Taeyeon. What’s the point?” I asked her, getting impatient.

Taeyeon rubbed my hands affectionately and started talking again, “Jessica, calm down.”

“Okay, I will calm down and listen to you, but let’s just cut this questions game Taeyeon. Just get to the point.”

“Hmm, okay”

After a tense pause, Taeyeon said quietly, “14th September, it’s Tiffany’s...”

Then suddenly someone knocked my apartment door.

“I-I’ll get that,” Taeyeon walked out of my room and headed out to the door.

“Ah Taeyeon-ah, is Jessica home?” I heard Yuri’s voice.

I just stayed in my room and decided to just listen to their conversation.

“Yes, she’s in her room now. What’s up?”

“Umm, is she okay? I-I mean, she came up this morning and asked me about Tiffany. I just didn’t know how to explain it to her.”

They talked in low voice but it was still audible for me.

 “Yeah I know, it happens again, right? The day when she suddenly asked for Tiffany for the whole day and will forget about it on the next day.”

What’s was that? What kind of is this? They both give me the same sickening sad look! And then they talked like missing Tiffany is not a big deal at all! She’s already gone for the whole day without any information for crying out loud! Obviously they hide something from me.

I tried to listen to their conversation again, but too bad Yuri already left when I was in my thoughts. I heard Taeyeon’s footsteps heading back to my room.

“Taeyeon-ah, who’s that?” I asked when she entered my room.

“Your neighbor, she-she asked if you have a ladder and I said no, you didn’t have a ladder, right?” she replied nervously while shutting the door behind her.

Lie, I thought. Why did she lie?

“No, I don’t have a ladder.” I said in a monotone voice. “And...can we continue then?”

“Ah,about that, of course. About...Tiffany...”

Sorrowfully, she gazed at the floor. I tried to read her face, her eyes mirroring what she felt.

I know it, I know what that look means!

“No, no, Taeyeon please don’t say that.....”

***

A/N: how’s that? It’s my first Jeti fic. I hope it’s not bad >.<

Thanks for all subscribers and voters! ^^