“Please don’t leave me,” Tiffany whispered as her eyes welled up. She lifted her chin, forbidding the tears from falling with sheer willpower even as her lips trembled from the effort.

She could see T.O.P. struggling to compose himself before he finally spoke, voice rougher and deeper than normal with emotion.

“I have to go now.”

“Don’t.” She grasped the sleeve of his coat, hair tumbling down like a curtain the colour of night to hide her face.

“I’m scared,” Tiffany confessed almost inaudibly, her voice thick, the words rushing out as she grasped at straws to keep him, to make him stay.

“I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw, what you did, of who you are, but most of all I’m scared of you walking out of this room to finish that job and me never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I do with you.”

T.O.P. only unlatched her fingers from his sleeve, his touch gentle. Tiffany swallowed a sob, biting down on her lower lip. He looked at her intently, seeming torn before he raised his hand hesitantly to brush her cheek with the back of his knuckles, slowly making his way along her jaw, skimming the top of her cheekbones and then across her lips which parted involuntarily.

He pressed down gently on her lips with his fingertips, tracing the outline of before he replaced his fingers with his own mouth, breathing tender words that fanned out along the seam of her lips. Then the pressure on was lifted, and she opened her eyes and he was gone, the familiar dark coat disappearing out of the door without a sound.

The echo of his words lingered even without his presence: I love you.

Tiffany stood there, suddenly looking very young and feeling very lost as she called his name over and over again, her words and its echoes taunting her in the empty room but he never turned back.

Then–

“Cut!”

Tiffany blinked, as applause started to fill the set slowly with a few whoops and cheers as she glances over at the director who is beaming so widely she’s surprised his cheeks aren’t splitting already.

“Well done, Tiffany sshi. Very well done,” he said enthusiastically as Tiffany rubbed her damp eyes, feeling rather disorientated. “Excellent – your eyes were beautiful in that last scene. Very expressive, just perfect. Alright, people, that’s it! We are officially done!”

More cheers went up from the production crew, and there were people patting her on the back, telling her what a good job she did and how amazing the last scene was–

She spotted T.O.P. as he wound his way through the mass of people, and she wondered if she should wave to him. He looked up then, meeting her eyes, and smiled, more with his eyes than with his mouth. Tiffany’s heart skipped a beat even as she smiled back shyly and bowed. He raised a hand just as a staff member tapped Tiffany’s arm, pulling her attention away. She took one last glance at him, but he had already turned away with only his striking profile thrown into relief by the bright lights visible.

Tiffany smiled before getting to work. She easily slipped back into her idol persona as SNSD’s Tiffany, thanking the staff graciously for having worked on their movie for the past few months as she personally searched for every member of the crew to thank them and bid goodbye. The director announced a party to celebrate wrapping up filming and everyone cheered one last time, hurrying to clear away all the equipment and clean up before going off to a restaurant to celebrate.

Tiffany half-sighed to herself, thankful the grueling production was over while feeling wistful about officially finishing her first ever movie as she sat, letting herself truly rest for the first time in months.

“You look tired.”

T.O.P. was making his way towards her, a flask in his hand. Tiffany looked up, her face splitting into a smile.

“Well done,” he grinned, so different from his world weary, emotionally troubled character as he offered the flask. “Tea? It’s good.”

Tiffany laughed, losing her train of thought at the sight of T.O.P.’s smile – a rare sight coming from the stoic rapper who so often gazed at her with no hint of his thoughts behind those dark eyes that were like pools of shadows. Tiffany prided herself on being excellent at reading people, but after spending months with T.O.P., she never really figured out what he was thinking when he looked at her that way. His eyes were always shuttered off, and no matter how hard she tried she could never find a chink of light.

“Thank you. Do you have any for Joon though? He’ll probably whine about favouritism when he sees this,” she remarked and they both shared a grin at the inside joke just as Lee Joon appeared.

“I worked hard too, don’t I get any tea?” He demanded, plopping himself down next to Tiffany. She only rolled her eyes in response, shoving the flask at her friend who grinned widely, ruffling her hair. 

“Thanks, Fany. You’re the best!” Lee Joon chirped happily, unscrewing the cap.

T.O.P. cleared his throat pointedly.

“Thanks, hyung,” Lee Joon added as an afterthought, pulling out that wide-eyed, innocent look he always had.

The other two only laughed in exasperation before Tiffany stifled a yawn, blinking back the automatic tears.

“You should go home and get some rest, Miyoung sshi. You look like you really need it.” T.O.P. said quietly and her heart – ridiculous, stupid thing and its uncontrollable reactions – did a somersault at the concern in his voice.

“Do I really look that bad?” Tiffany laughed, the sound rough from exhaustion as she did her best to remain calm.

T.O.P. grinned sheepishly, dimpling adorably.

“No, no. You always look good,” he told her, the sincerity in his voice making Tiffany flush just a little, touched at his earnestness.

“Thank you.”

“She just asked that to hear your response,” Lee Joon remarked, taking a long pull from the flask as Tiffany threw him her best glare. From his cheeky grin, it obviously wasn’t very effective.

“Well, I meant my answer.” T.O.P. said, smiling down at Tiffany. There – her heart was doing its acrobatics again, and she tried to compose her expression.

Lee Joon glanced between the two, squinting at Tiffany before she glanced back, frowning bemusedly at her friend’s expression.

“What is it, Joon?”

A sly grin spread across Lee Joon’s face as he looked back and forth between T.O.P. and Tiffany, his head turning so fast it gave her whiplash just watching him.

“Nothing….but I think my manager needs me now.” He hopped off his perch. “I’ll see you all at the party. See you guys later!”

He shot Tiffany another meaningful smirk before disappearing. Tiffany glanced back at T.O.P. confusedly as the tall man only met her eyes with a slight smile of his own. She struggled to keep the flush on her cheeks at bay, as she thought to herself for the umpteenth time that whoever had T.O.P.’s heart was a very lucky woman indeed – and she let herself imagine for a thrilling moment she was that very girl.

Then Tiffany immediately shook her head, dismissing all thoughts of forming a romantic attachment to her now ex co-star. She wasn’t ready for a new love so soon after Nichkhun.

Nichkhun.

Tiffany felt that ache that had grown to be a familiar companion the past few months; only a ghost, gentle and intimate, but an ache nevertheless.

She blurted out a random question to distract herself from her dangerous thoughts.

“What was that all about?”

 “Beats me.” T.O.P. shrugged casually even though his dancing eyes hinted otherwise.

“You know, don’t you?” Tiffany narrowed her eyes at him.

T.O.P. only shrugged, a hint of a smile playing around his lips.

“Tell me, please.” Tiffany pouted imploringly, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. T.O.P. let out a low bass laugh that filled the air around them with warmth, the soft look in his eyes making Tiffany feel a little lightheaded. He was really good-looking, and she had always found him particularly attractive….but when he smiled at her and laughed like that, it felt like she could drown in him forever.

Tiffany stared at him. Her heart was going frantic now, and she was sure her cheeks were already bright red.

She could feel words lying on the tip of her tongue like dandelion seeds waiting for the wind, waiting for just one look from him to be set free.

“Your eyes are beautiful.” T.O.P. breathed, so quietly Tiffany almost didn’t hear the words, and she wondered if she only imagined it.

Tiffany gaped mutely and he stared back, unspeaking. The shutters in his eyes were suddenly drawn up, light and life bleeding into the dark pools of onyx and she froze, almost gasping at what she could finally see.

Everyone knew her eyes were pretty; she had heard the remark countless times and stopped counting after even her ego couldn’t keep up with the flood of compliments. Other people looked at her admiringly, asked her to show her famed eye smiles, petted her and cooed over how pretty she was.

But in an industry where so many things were pretty, from the clothes she wore to the other idols she met, few things were beautiful, and T.O.P. had called her just that.

All those other people had never looked at her the way he did either. 

He looked at her....like she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Tiffany wasn't quite sure her heart could take it any longer.

A/N: I just want to dedicate this chapter to all the amazing people who have been reading this story and supporting me. Those new readers, those readers that have been here from the start...you're all so precious to me. I love reading your comments and seeing what you all think about the story and my characters, like, honestly, reading comments has to be the highlight of my day when I check up on the response. I'm really, really pleased to see so many people who seem to love TOP and Fany as much as I do and so many others who give so much love to my story. As a new author, I might not be very good, but all of you have been so kind and supportive. Ah, I just wanted to write a short thank you note but this happened....Anyway, once again, thank you and please look after me! Much love!