CHAPTER Two

“Here let me get that” Yoona said to one of the maids cleaning her and her husband’s room.

“No Miss, you cleaned it last time, we can’t let you keep doing this. We might get in trouble” The fairly old maid replied with a hint of fear in her tone.

Yoona looked at her, seeing the fear, nodded her head in defeat now, “Fine, but I’m washing the dishes” She walked out her bedroom before any of the maids could reply. She descended down the stairs, watching each step she took. She made her way to the den, placing herself in the middle of the couch and watched the fire burning in the fireplace. To the world, she looked like a doll; unmoving with remarkable beauty. It was only her eyes that gave her away; she did have to blink once in awhile.

Yoona was bored, like any other day since her wedding. She counted the days; it has been exactly 5 months now. Five boring months; her life seemed to have slowed down. After her marriage, she moved into her new family home. When she came it felt cold and unwelcoming, similar to her heart. She was forced to take private tutoring and even change majors – all because of this marriage. Since she didn’t want the public to know who she was, she had to take every step to stay under the lime light and of course Taecyeon agreed. He didn’t want people knowing he was married to... her. So every morning from Monday to Friday she had a private tutor teaching her about the world of business. That was right, business. This had been Mrs. Ok’s idea now; since Yoona is the wife of the heir to the biggest company in Korean, she didn’t want her daughter-in-law simply a housewife, she wanted her to be part of the business like she was. Yoona’s dream to become a doctor was out the window, but she handled it like a lady, she agreed and continued with her studies. Her life had become simpler; she didn’t have to work 3 jobs, she actually got some sleep now. All she had to worry about was her school work and the food she had to make for her husband. Ever since the wedding night, they hadn’t made any contact with each other. He would come home late at night, and Yoona would be out of bed before he woke for tutoring. She didn’t know where he would go during the days, though part of her was always curious. The in-laws were always out of the country because of their business; the last time she saw them was on her wedding day. She was being to feel more and lonelier as the days pasted her by.

DING DONG, Yoona heard the doorbell, right?  For the months she had been living her, she never heard anyone doorbell. All the service had come through a door in the kitchen. She got up, gracefully walking to the front door.

“No, it’s okay” She said to the maid, who was about to open the door, “I want to get it”, the maid merely nodding and hurried away.

The help had become use to her emotionless appearance, even now her face was blank and her tone of voice seemed emotionless. In the beginning, everyone seemed afraid of her. She seems like one of those glass dolls that would come alive and kill you in your sleep. Yoona would spend hours sitting still, not moving. Now they had came use to it and even with her cold appearance because every time she had offered to help clean up, they could see her some hidden warmth in her eyes. It was hidden and it had taken them months to notice a shimmer in her eyes.

“YOONA! Oh you answered the door, why didn’t you let the maid get it?” Said the young women in front of the door, carrying a hang bag with two large suitcases on the ground, “My sister-in-law, don’t act shocked! You should have known that I was coming today, didn’t Taec tell you?” Tiffany made her way through the door, when Yoona stepped aside to make room for her cheerful sister-in-law. She looked outside the dark lawn, making sure no one was around before the maids grabbed the bags and she closed the door.

“Actually he didn’t” Yoona said, with once again no emotion in her voice.

Tiffany turned around, and looked her. She stared at the doll-like beauty and Yoona stared at the model-like beauty. She was wearing simply skinny jeans and a white v-neck with a pair of pumps. Her hair had grown longer since she last saw her, but she was still beautiful.

“Huh, I should have guessed” She said as she turned around again, making her way to the den, “That stupid jerk” She mumbled to herself.

“Eat up Yoona, you look like a stick” Tiffany commented before she began eating. She had decided that it would be fun to eat at the den.

Yoona simply nodded and began to eat... and the silence began. Tiffany fought the temptation to ask a million and one questions but like the gift of her mother, she had an ability to read others like an open book and Yoona was not yet ready to be an open book. So they had reminded silent throughout their dinner and even hours after. After dinner Yoona began on her essay while Tiffany spent her time drawing new designs. The only time they had spoken, was then tiffany mentioned her occupation,

“Yeah, I’m a designer now” She laughed, “Like I’d go into the world of business!”

Yoona nodded again, ending their short conversation.

After sometime of being together at the den, Tiffany grew bored of the silences and noticed the time, and at the same time a maid had come into the room, bowing before speaking,

“Mrs. Yoona, your husband has called saying he was coming home and he’d like supper, would you like to make it?”

Yoona looked up from her work, looking at the time, 9:30, "Yes, I’ll do it. Thank you” She said getting up before disappearing into the kitchen.

Before the maid could leave, Tiffany had stopped her, confused of the conversation that had just happened.

“Oh, she just liked to cook for him”

“All the time?”

“Yes, always in the mornings before she has tutoring and before he disappears for the day. He usually doesn’t come home till midnight or even later, but those rare occasions when he comes home early, she cooks for him”

Tiffany watched the time when her brother came home, 11pm. When he came in, he didn’t seem to notice her appearance, and went straight into the dining room and began to eat. The annoyed sister made her way through the halls into the dining room; watching as her brother ate. She noticed that Yoona was nowhere to be founded.

“Now my stupid jerk of a brother is now also blind?” She said half annoyed, half sarcastically.

Taecyeon looked up, surprised, “Tiff... Shoot! I forgot that you were coming today!”

Tiffany shook off her annoyance and sat beside her brother catching with her brother about their lives before Yoona’s name came up,

“I’d rather not talk about her” Taecyeon said with a stern voice.

“She’s your wife, Taec! You don’t even want the world to know!”

“Of course not! HAVE YOU SEEN HER?”

“Yes, actually I have! I find her beautiful. Are you really blind? Look at her, seriously... She’s even prettier than –“She was cut off.

“Don’t you dare say that.”

She looked at her brothers firing eyes, reading them as if it was a book, “It’s not that you don’t want to the world to know... you just don’t want ‘her’ to know, right?”

No response.

“HA! I’m right! You are seriously an idiot to let a girl like Yoona pass you by”

“I’m already an idiot to let Yuri pass me by” With that he life the house.

Tiffany sat alone in the dining room, frustrated ... If only he knew the truth about the love of his life.

When Tiffany made her way back to the den, she found Yoona sitting on the couch cross-legged, reading. She looked up giving her a faint smile that clearly didn’t reach her eyes before she turned back to her book. It was clear that Yoona had heard the fight. They had stayed in the den till 2’o clock. Tiffany was waiting for Yoona to go to bed, feeling a sense to look after her new sister-in-law; but she stayed reading for hours without moving. It wasn’t until Taecyeon’s heavy footsteps made his way to the front door all the way upstairs that Yoona stopped reading, and began listening to his footsteps. She waited until the noise from upstairs stopped, and Yoona bid her goodnight and left.

The next morning, Tiffany had woken up to the smell of food. She hadn`t realized that she had fallen asleep in the den. She made her way to the kitchen to find Yoona in front of the stove, cooking. She turned around when she heard the stool moved, and gave her a slight smile, “I’m almost done cooking, and I made enough for two”

Tiffany smiled, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I already ate, actually. I have class in half an hour, so I just need to get ready. I’ll see in the afternoon” With that Yoona left the kitchen for Tiffany to eat. Soon after, Taecyeon came down the stairs to the kitchen and sat beside his sister, silently eating.

Aish, what’s with this couple and the need to eat silently? She thought, before she spoke up, “Are you done with your little dramatic acts?”

Taecyeon tried to stay mad but their relationship was too strong for a smile fight like this, “Yah! Shut up and let me eat!” He said while taking some of her food; meaning that he was over the fight.

The next few weeks were like this; Yoona would cook in the mornings, then Taecyeon would disappear for the whole day. Yoona would come out of the study in the afternoons to spend time with Tiffany for some awkward silence (but now they had some conversations here and there. Tiffany got a laugh out of Yoona once) then Yoona would wait around till midnight or later till Taecyeon would come home and sleep.

“Why do you do this?” Tiffany asked as she sat on the stool, watching Yoona cooking.

“Hmm.. do what?”

“Do this! Cook for my stupid brother when he doesn’t even know it’s you. Then you wait around for my brother to sleep!”

Yoona looked her Tiffany, giving her a full view of her eyes. Now Tiffany could see a hint of sadness in them. She didn’t know if it was because they had spent weeks together, or it’s because of her ability to read others.

“My mom use to do this when my dad was alive” was all Yoona had to say to silence Tiffany. After a couple of minutes, Yoona looked at the clocked and left the kitchen to get ready.

When Taecyeon came in the kitchen, the mood was like always; cheerful and happy. They had simple talk about the previous day. It was when Yoona came into the room, bowing in apologises that the mood had changed. Taecyeon body had become rigid and the atmosphere had become cold. Tiffany fought thought to slap Taecyeon for being such a jerk.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Taecyeon yelled to Yoona when she dropped a bowl of rice onto his clothes when she tried to reach for her pen. Yoona was in too much of a shock to reply, and Taecyeon found himself moving from his sit to Yoona’s face, grabbing her collar and pulling her body up a bit. She remained still and silent; like a man proving his pride.

“You idiot, what’s wrong with you?!” He yelled then began to raise his hand getting ready to slap her. He watched as Yoona’s eyes became blank as if she was looking something where else.

“Drop the girl or I kill you” Tiffany yelled then she throw one of her black flats at him, making him drop Yoona.

He turned to face his angry sister, “What the heck was that?” He rubbed the back of his head.

“You little brat, how gave you the right to touch a women? Huh? You ungrateful jerk! If mother saw this, she would be beating you!” Tiffany warned, “Say sorry! NOW!!”

When they both turned around to face where Yoona was, but she was already gone.

Tiffany sighed, “Look what you’ve done now”

“Why do you even care?”

“Because I liked her, okay? She is mature unlike some brother I know”

“And a self-fish one too. She could have stopped the wedding”

“Self-fish? Her? Are you kidding me? She is the one making you food in the morning and when you come home at night. She waits for you till midnight for you to come home. And I know she has never told me, but I swear she hides when you come out of the room because she knows you don’t like her! Is that self-fish? Huh? No, I don’t think so. It looks to me that you are the one that is self-fish!”

After a moment of silence between the two, Tiffany spoke up again, “Just go... seriously go”

And with that Taecyeon left the house.

It took 10 minutes for Tiffany to find Yoona; she had been sitting at the patio  in the back yard. Her back straight, head forward to the yard with her hands on her lap. Tiffany couldn’t help but watch her for a moment. The weather was changing from spring to summer, the sun was shining down on Yoona like in the movies; she truly looked beautiful. She remained still and unmoving even to the sound of Tiffany’s footsteps. The whole encounter  with Taecyeon had been all too familiar to Yoona.  

“Hey are you okay?” Worried Tiffany, as she looked closely at Yoona’s eyes. It was distant, and it was in pain. Yoona blink and when she opened it again, it had become clear, like glass, showing no emotion again.

“I’m fine”

“Stop lying to me”

Silence.

Tiffany stood awkwardly beside Yoona, before she came up with an idea to make this day fun for the girls and also have some revenge on Taecyeon.

“Come on, let’s go” Tiffany grabbed Yoona’s hand and left the mansion. 

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