“That’s a wrap! Thank you, Fany!”

Tiffany sighed in relieve as she took off her headphone. Her ears were pinkish, was kind of sore, she needed a break. The recording took longer than she had predicted. While rubbing her left ear, Tiffany thanked all the staffs and soon made her way out of the recording room. She felt heavily tired.

Recording was never fun. Especially when you were a solo singer. All you did was basically repeating the same song, the same lyrics, over and over until it became perfect. Tiffany didn’t hate that, but she didn’t like it either.

She slumped onto the fluffy couch inside her room after she drank a glass of water greedily. It was actually a piano room but it was prepared for her because she had recordings that day. Burying her face into the soft mattress, Tiffany almost fell asleep if only Sunny didn’t suddenly barge into the room.

“Fany!”

A groan, “What?”

“Hey, Fany!” Sunny shook the singer’s shoulder.

“Huh, what?!” Tiffany’s voice was muffled, because she still had her face into the couch.

“Why didn’t you tell me you went to Mall of Seoul?!”

Hearing the three words made Tiffany’s eyes widened. She sat up straight immediately. How could Sunny know? It was long time ago, probably almost three weeks. Tiffany couldn’t describe how relieved she was when she thought none of her managers found out. It would be a huge trouble. They would even ban her from going anywhere for some time. But now suddenly, after a quite long three weeks, Sunny asked her that.

Great, how should Tiffany explain?

“Uh… well… I was…” Tiffany stuttered, scratching her head.

“You were what?”

“I was just… curious and I went there, that’s it! Nothing happened! I just… went in and looked around and… yeah.”

Sunny raised her eyebrows, “Just that?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?” The manager didn’t look convinced.

“Of course I am!” Tiffany slightly budged, she wouldn’t tell the small incidents with those insane people, for sure.

“Then, is meeting the CEO, Krystal Jung, considered as nothing happened to you?”

Tiffany’s mouth widely opened, “How did you--”

Sunny then shoved Tiffany a map file, she didn’t realize her manager had been holding that. Hesitantly, Tiffany took it and opened it. It didn’t need long for the singer to realize what it was. She was shocked even more.

“You should’ve told me!” Sunny protested, “I didn’t even know that the Mall of Seoul actually belongs to Krystal Jung, which technically, is a part of LC Group, and also belongs to Jessica Jung! What a small world indeed!”

Tiffany ignored her, “They want me… to be their brand ambassador?”

“Yes, they do! You can read it clearly! This offer came just now and you should see how happy people are Fany, including me.”

“But… why? I mean suddenly why…”

“You really didn’t bring her here for that?”

Tiffany left her sentence hanging. She suddenly remembered something. That. That that she caught in between both Jungs’ telepathy convo back then. Was it about this? Did they want her to be the brand ambassador for the mall? Did they already plan this?

“If you read it,” Sunny continued, “it says, the CEO, Krystal Jung, is impressed with Miss Tiffany Hwang’s interest in their new shopping avenue by visiting it and had a small encounter with the CEO herself.” She said, quoting the letter.

Smart, that was totally smart. Tiffany shook her head in amusement and chuckled at herself. The Jungs again, huh? There were too many accidental coincidences until Tiffany felt nothing strange anymore regarding those sisters. They did plan this before. Tiffany didn’t know how to feel toward it.

“And Fany, one more,”

The singer lifted her head to her manager who was standing in front of her, “Yeah?”

“Krystal Jung said she would come after you finished recording.”

“What?! Like, right now?! In here?!”

“Yeah. The woman on the phone earlier said that Krystal Jung wanted to make things clear by herself. She said Krystal Jung really wanted you to be the brand ambassador, and would like to talk face to face with you.”

Tiffany paused. Wow, this younger Jung really wasn’t kidding, then.

“Oh my God Fany, how could you didn’t tell me anything?! It’s the Jungs we’re talking about! This is going to be huge!”

The singer made a face seeing her manager freaking out.

Tiffany was about to say sorry and explain a bit, before they heard a knock on the door, and an unknown figure came in. He bowed at both Sunny and Tiffany then shifted himself to reveal the woman behind him.

The singer could hear Sunny’s gasp.

Krystal Jung.

“Hi, gorgeous.”

-

Tiffany observed the blonde woman who was currently, sitting across her in the small balcony near the meeting room.

At the same time, it looked like Krystal was busy eyeing Sunny, who was putting two cups of tea on the table. Tiffany could guess what the blonde would do after this. And Sunny was an easy target, since she was totally mesmerized by the younger Jung, and shyly avoided those curious eyes of Krystal.

Then Krystal smiled, and Sunny walked away with a hint of pink on both cheeks.

“Your manager is really cute.” Krystal commented, after a moment of silence.

The singer scoffed, “You literally hit on everybody you meet?”

“No.” Krystal shook her head, she took a sip of the tea before she continued, “I’m just saying the truth.”

Another scoff came from Tiffany.

“Why did you refuse the meeting room, by the way?”

Earlier the people in Tiffany’s company were preparing the meeting room in a rush, because Krystal came also in a sudden. But strangely, Krystal politely refused to talk inside that room. She preferred the balcony instead. And that made Tiffany, and the others, frown in curiosity. Don’t usually bosses prefer those rooms?

“Just because.” The blonde shrugged, “It’s really windy here. And you look damn gorgeous with your hair swaying like that, gorgeous.”

Tiffany gave her a lopsided smile. Didn’t this Jung realize how Tiffany was aweing at her hair instead all this time? That glorious blonde hair. Tiffany wondered how soft it was.

“When will you call me by my name, actually?”

“Huh? I thought ‘gorgeous’ was your middle name.”

Again, Tiffany could only chortle. This Jung was completely something else. She couldn’t find people like her everywhere, indeed.

“Okay, enough with this. Let’s get into the point.” Krystal put both arms on the table, “You’ve read my letter, right?”

“Yeah.” Slightly, “And you’ve planned all of this, right?”

“You made it sound like it’s a bad thing.”

Tiffany smiled, “So you really have, huh?”

“Well,” Krystal leaned her back and tapped her fingers onto the table, so boss-like, “I’ve always wanted you to be my brand ambassador, the face of my shopping avenue. I didn’t just suddenly choose you after your visit that last time. I’ve wanted this since a long, long time ago. So if you’re wondering, no, this isn’t a sudden decision.”

“Hmm…” Tiffany hummed, impressed, “Why me, though?”

“Why you?”

“Yeah, why did you choose me?”

“Because I like you?” Krystal said, boldly, “Because you’re suitable? Because you’re capable? Because I’m sure you can boost our stocks?”

“How can you be so sure? Aren’t there better choices?”

“Oh, really? Like who?”

“Like uh…” Tiffany looked up, thinking whose name she should say, “Lim Yoona?”

“Lim Yoona?”

“Uh-huh.” Tiffany nodded, she didn’t know why she said that name.

“Ay, I don’t like her.”

The singer was dumbfounded, “Huh?”

“Yeah, I don’t like her.” The blonde shrugged, “Besides, she already has a huge poster of herself sticking on Grand Seoul Palace since forever. Of course I don’t want to use the same face for mine. It’s my rival, remember?”

“O-oh, yeah. You’re right.”

They went silent. Lim Yoona was indeed an endorser for a product, and there was a huge poster of her in Grand Seoul Palace, another shopping avenue. And here Tiffany thought that everyone loved that goddess. But apparently not. Krystal easily said she didn’t like Lim Yoona. Tiffany wasn’t used to hear things like that.

“You got that, right?” Krystal suddenly asked.

“Got what?”

“I guess I gave too many hints when I talked to my sister back then, when you were around. You’re a really good listener.”

Tiffany only smiled.

“Actually if she agreed earlier, I wouldn’t have to wait this long.”

The smile faded, “What do you mean?”

“My sister didn’t agree at first with me choosing you. Well, Mall of Seoul does belong to me but it also belongs to LC Group and LC Group belongs to my sister, so indirectly, she owns everything. She decides everything. And it was… kind of hard for me to convince her. You should give me some credits.”

Tiffany kept silent. Jessica didn’t agree? Why? Did she hate her or what?

“Don’t misunderstand.” Krystal quickly said, “She didn’t agree not because she didn’t like you or something. I also don’t understand, but she said she kind of… felt uneasy with you. She said that… she was afraid if you might feel uncomfortable being involved in a part of LC Group. I don’t know, she just said that.”

Still, Tiffany kept mum. Uneasy? For what?

For that one unpleasant time they had?

“So that makes me wonder. Did something happen between you two? I know she can be such a jerk sometimes so I guess--”

The sound of phone ringing stopped Krystal from talking. She excused herself and answered it, leaving her sentence hanging. Tiffany eyed her curiously. The phone call didn’t even last for a minute as Krystal ended it with a sigh.

“I really hate meetings.” She mumbled.

“You got to go, huh?”

“Yeah.” Krystal nodded, “Sorry I can’t stay for long. I’ll just give you my card, then.”

The blonde handed Tiffany a card. It had CEO of Mall of Seoul, KRYSTAL JUNG, and her number written on it.

“I don’t want to make it difficult for you, so if you agree with my offer, just call me, alright? It’s my very personal number,” She raised her phone, “and I guarantee I’ll answer straight away if you’re the one who calls.”

“That sounds promising.”

“I know, right?”

After some unimportant, flirtatious rants the blonde gave her, they stood up and walked away from the balcony. Krystal’s assistant was waiting for her. They headed to the elevator, with Tiffany and Krystal kept talking nonstop, unrelated to the offer they had discussed earlier. Tiffany learned that until that time, Krystal hadn’t got her own working room yet.

When Krystal’s assistant, or whom the blonde called, Assistant Kim, hurriedly walked past by them, Tiffany thought he would press the elevator button, because that’s what assistants do. But turned out, he opened the door for the emergency stairs instead. Tiffany got startled.

Stairs?

“I guess I need to go now. Your recording isn’t completely finished yet, right?”

“Yeah…” Tiffany hesitantly nodded, “you’re taking stairs?”

“Oh?” Krystal jerked her head to Assistant Kim before returned her gaze to Tiffany with a nod, “Yeah.”

“But why--”

“Just because.” She quickly cut her, “Okay, see you when I see you, gorgeous.”

Without giving Tiffany a chance to answer, Krystal turned around and she really took the stairs. Assistant Kim bowed at Tiffany before he closed the door of the emergency stairs, and disappeared with his boss. Tiffany stood there in silence. It was the 4^th floor of her company’s building, and Krystal Jung, a CEO, took the stairs instead of the elevator. Did she go up here also through stairs?

Shrugging, Tiffany made her way back to the piano room. She lifted her hand and read the card Krystal gave her again. She smiled. From the moment she saw Krystal that day, she actually had already decided.

-

Everything went surprisingly well.

Tiffany agreed, they did the deal, and the stocks went up. It wasn’t just a simple ‘up’ but really, up. Krystal’s choice wasn’t bad at all. In a matter of less than two months, not long after Mall of Seoul placed posters, standees, everything related to Tiffany Hwang in every corner of the shopping avenue, the stocks went much, much higher than before.

It actually wasn’t surprising since Tiffany was the singer, but Tiffany herself would still find it hard to believe. Just because of her, it all happened? Not just the stocks, but also the number of customers raised up high thanks to her. It was her first time being a face of a shopping avenue, a whole mall, not just a product, so she kind of doubted it at first. But turned out, Krystal was right.

So that Friday night, to celebrate all the success, Krystal invited Tiffany for a barbeque party. It was a casual outdoor dinner and the blonde promised her not to talk anything about business there, because Tiffany knew she wouldn’t be able to catch up. She was free that time, well, Krystal practically knew the very detail of her schedules anyway, so she said yes.

Some people from LC Group were already familiar with her. Starting from Assistant Kim, Secretary Lee, until Krystal’s butlers, Tiffany recognized them all. What she didn’t realize that, Jessica Jung was also there.

Tiffany took a seat beside Krystal, right across the older Jung. She silently eyed her from behind her bangs. How long had it been since she last saw this woman? It was funny seeing how comfortable she was around Krystal, how they had grown closer, but it was the opposite when it came to Jessica. She hadn’t said a single word to Tiffany since the party started. They only bowed and exchanged smiles, nothing more.

“Cheers!”

All of them raised their glasses and took a shot of it carefully. Tiffany chatted with Krystal and the others, she forgot for a moment about Jessica because Krystal could always make her laugh or cringe with her lame jokes and cheesy lines. But when the blonde joined her secretary in cooking the meat, leaving her seat, Tiffany’s eyes landed straight on Jessica.

As expected, she didn’t talk. She just listened, sometimes laughed along, not really laughed, probably only chuckled. Did she still feel uneasy with Tiffany around? Was it her fault that Jessica became that stiff? Then in a brief moment their eyes met, and suddenly Tiffany was the one who turned as stiff as a stick.

Those eyes were really something, Tiffany realized.

The party ended in half past midnight. Tiffany was still with Krystal, only the two of them sitting side by side in the huge dining table. The maids were cleaning the table as they talked. Krystal as expected, was a quite strong drinker. Tiffany had lost count of how many times the blonde had poured wine into her glass over and over.

“As I remember, your hair wasn’t blonde back then.”

“Ah, this?” Krystal touched her hair, “Yeah, it was kind of brownish before I dyed it to blonde. I don’t know, I just like dying my hair into different colours, knowing which suits me best. I even once had red hair.”

“Red hair?” Tiffany raised her eyebrows, “I once had that too. Two or three years ago during my Twinkle era.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that. You were really stunning, you know.”

“I know.” Tiffany nodded, she had used to hear such compliments from Krystal, “So when did you dye your hair to blonde?”

“Hmm… right before I moved here, to Korea. Probably about--”

“Hey, Soojung.”

A voice surprised Tiffany. She jerked her head and saw Jessica was walking toward them, eyes looking tired and cold, as usual. Krystal hummed, tilting her chin. Jessica pointed to behind her, and Assistant Kim was there.

“Jun’s on the phone. He wants to talk to you about the resort.”

“What? Like, right now?”

“Yeah. You know him. Hurry, answer it.”

“Alright.”

Half-heartedly, Krystal stood up and joined Assistant Kim, before she was brought to somewhere else. Tiffany frowned. What was that? Resort?

“Resort?” Tiffany asked, more to no one but because Jessica was there, the latter heard it.

Jessica turned around, her eyes meeting Tiffany’s. She gave the singer a slight, slight smile and said,

“Yes.”

Tiffany didn’t expect Jessica to answer. She also didn’t expect the older Jung to slump herself into her seat, across Tiffany. The maids earlier were already gone. Tiffany looked around, and there were only the two of them since the others went inside the restaurant. She watched Jessica as the woman drank another shot of wine.

“You have a resort?” She asked, bravely.

Jessica lifted her head, and Tiffany felt like she was being hypnotized with those eyes, again.

“Soon.”

“Ah…” Tiffany nodded awkwardly.

In the silence of the night among them, Tiffany noticed how different Jessica’s voice compared to Krystal’s. It was smoother, lower, and pleasantly soft. How come someone with such a nice voice doesn’t talk much?

“So… what else beside a mall and a resort?”

Jessica let out a hum, running her hand through her thick tresses that did in making Tiffany curled her fingers on her lap, and answered,

“Only two department stores.”

Only. Tiffany emphasized the word only.

“A mall and a resort are a turning point. I mean, it’s huge and risky, yet exciting at the same time. You know, most businessmen or women wouldn’t put that much investment and let themselves out of their safe zone.”

The business talk. Of course, what else did Tiffany expect for Jessica to say?

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d put Krystal to work inside a cube.”

There was a low, so very low chuckle that could barely enter Tiffany’s ears, but that was good enough, she thought.

“Everyone needs some struggle to be on top. Yeah, she’s my sister but that doesn’t make her an exception. Besides, it’s not like I did it because I didn’t trust her. I just wanted her to adapt more into the situation. She handles a mall, not just a minimarket. It needs some… training, some kind of like that, I think.”

Tiffany nodded her head in agreement.

“So, does she still work in a cube now?”

“No.” Jessica shook her head, “She did a great job. I gave her the room already.”

“Wow. That’s… good to know.”

Another silence happened. Jessica played with the glass in her hand, mindlessly spinning it slowly, her expression was still unreadable. Tiffany pursed her lips. The woman across her was the same one who offered her some money because she had accidentally found her missing daughter. The woman whom she, used to though, called ‘’.

And she didn’t look so y at the moment, Tiffany admitted.

“How’s…”

Tiffany’s question halted when those pair of eyes met hers again. Seriously, it was a huge distraction and Tiffany found it hard to avoid it.

“Yes?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.

“H-how’s… Jamie?”

“Ah,”

Jessica smiled, wider than before, not much, but it looked genuine enough. The older Jung paused for a second, still smiling, she put her glass down and crossed her arms on the table, taking a deep breath.

“She’s fine.”

For a moment, Tiffany forgot that a mother was still a mother. Jessica might look cold, but her expression right after Tiffany mentioned Jamie, changed to a happier one. It was a teeny weeny bit, but Tiffany could sense it. She needed to engraft it in her mind from now on. That Jessica Jung in front of her was a mother.

“Is she still grounded?”

Again, a wider smile, “No, of course not. She’s forgiven.”

Tiffany faked a cringe, “Did it take this long for you to forgive her?”

Hearing that, Jessica only smiled. She leaned her back and looked down to her feet, making Tiffany felt she had just asked a wrong question or something.

“I am…” Jessica started again, eyes still looking down, “I’m truly sorry I couldn’t say thank you to you back then, Miss Hwang.”

Tiffany blinked. What did she say?

“I was-- no, I am really grateful for what you did.” She continued, emphasizing the word ‘really’, “Back then I was completely confused, distracted, annoyed, and so on. I had offended you too. I feel really bad. I’m really sorry.”

The singer kept mum. Was that why she always looked so uncomfortable around Tiffany? Suddenly Tiffany felt that the word ‘’ was meaningless in being used to call someone like Jessica Jung.

“Jamie is my daughter and--”

“No, it’s okay, Miss Jung.” Tiffany said, “I understand. You must’ve been really frustrated.”

Jessica lifted her head and those dark brown eyes of hers found each pairs on Tiffany’s. It looked tired, but was far from unattractive, somehow.

“Thank you, Miss Hwang.” She said again, “And I’m sorry.”

Tiffany only smiled.

They spent another minutes in silence, but strangely, it didn’t feel as awkward as before. Jessica wasn’t a talkative person, Tiffany assumed. The businesswoman stared at the night sky above them for quite long, Tiffany silently watched as the collar of her shirt loosened, revealing a bit of Jessica’s collarbones.

“She keeps saying she wants to meet you.” Jessica suddenly said again, making Tiffany forced herself to stare at somewhere else but the former, “Jamie, I mean.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.” Jessica hung her head, her fingers tapping the table, “But I don’t know how to--”

“I want to meet her too.”

Jessica stilled, blinking, and the corner of her lips curved into a smirk-ish smile, “You do?”

“I do.” Tiffany nodded.

“Well…” Jessica crossed her arms again, folding it tight, probably to warm herself because of the wind, “it’s her fifth birthday soon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I planned a small party so if you have time I hope you’ll--”

“Of course!” Tiffany grinned, excited, “You should just tell me when, and I’ll come. But you shouldn’t tell her, because I think it’s best if I surprise her.”

“Hmm… that’s a good idea.” Jessica agreed, “Okay then, Miss Hwang. I hope you can make it. I’ll do as you say.”

For once, Tiffany found herself comfortable talking with the older Jung, just the two of them, even though all they talked were merely about Jamie and Krystal. Probably, involving herself into the whole different life of the Jungs wasn’t a bad idea at all. And it was fascinating, knowing a person whom you thought was a cocky that you could never grow interest of, turned out quite the opposite.

Because when Jessica Jung smiled and bore her dark brown eyes straight to hers, Tiffany found herself incapable to comprehend anything else.

****

This story still has a long long way to go... I guess. And I've been listening to Jay Park's The Promise. It's so good <3

And oh, guess what, I have another idea...

Who's up for YoonKrys/YoonStal please raise your hand!!