“Ten minutes break!”

Tiffany exhaled a heavy breath as she let herself drop down onto the floor. She was panting badly, her breaths were uneven. Not to mention her whole body was covered in sweat. Suddenly she felt hot all over but was too lazy to stand up and lean onto the air conditioner. So she only lied there, staring at the ceiling.

Her comeback showcase was getting closer, so the practice, especially for the choreography, started to get more intense. Tiffany wasn’t the best dancer, she still found herself unable to memorize some movements. But at least she was a hard-worker. She didn’t mind practicing for hours to make everything perfect.

Wiping her sweaty forehead, she met Joon, her trainer’s eyes hovering above her. He was holding a bottle of water.

“Here.” He said.

Tiffany sat up and Joon handed her the bottle. She greedily drank it as Joon sat down across her. Joon was the company’s choreographer and he sometimes took his time to personally train the artists. Tiffany was one of his favorites so he didn’t hesitate in directly training her for every comeback. And they were quite close too.

“You need to stretch more, Fany. It looks like you’ve aged.”

Tiffany frowned, “I’m not that old, Oppa.”

“I know, but you’re way older than the first time I met you.” Joon smiled, “You’re lazy to stretch now. You might get cramps. That’s painful.”

“I just… you know, no matter how many years have passed, I’m still bad at this. I envy those group members who can easily learn their moves. Meanwhile me, the sunbae, is still struggling in learning simple moves. Even I make more mistakes than them on the stage. So I just want to get straight to the point.”

“I understand. You’re not bad, Fany. Well, yeah you’re kind of bad but not that bad. At least you’re still better than the trainees.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes.

They went silent after that. Tiffany tapped her fingers lightly on the wooden floor, calming her now even breaths. She needed to do this every single day until her comeback showcase. This was nothing new. Tiffany was excited for her new song, anyway. She was confident enough. All she needed to concern was the dance moves.

“Hey,”

Joon then started again. Tiffany lifted her head with a hum.

“I heard you’re close with Lim Yoona.”

The singer was taken aback. Did he just say Lim Yoona? Was the issue spreading in the company? Did everyone know? She tried to find an explanation, but couldn’t come up with any. Now that she thought about it, it’d be strange if nobody in her company knew. And she was stupid, because nothing in her world could be kept as a secret.

“Kind of…” She mumbled, eyes on the floor.

“How close?”

Tiffany cringed. Why was he suddenly interrogating her?

“You know,” Tiffany lifted her head, there was no use of lying, “we’re close but we aren’t.”

“Elaborate it.”

“Come on, you know.”

Joon opened his mouth but soon closed it again. He stared in silence at Tiffany, and the moment he did, Tiffany knew she was in a huge trouble. She hadn’t said anything about Lim Yoona to him, and yet he knew, it must’ve been spreading.

“You like her.”

“Well… yeah? Who doesn’t anyway…”

“In that way?”

Tiffany sighed, “Look, I know it’s bad but--”

“Do you know it’s what the hoobaes mostly talk about now?” Joon asked and Tiffany had hung open, “Not that I’m interfering or something, but you know who Lim Yoona is. She’s doing harm to you. If you keep doing this, if more people find out, it’s no good for you. Even though the public may not know, but people around you aren’t just the public.”

The singer brought her palm onto her forehead, rubbing it slowly. This world she was living was such a mess. She swore she kept everything as closed as she could. But in the end people would still find out. And even though it hadn’t spread to the public, Joon was right. The people around Tiffany weren’t just the public. And they could do anything, they could milk anything, to bring the singer down.

“You two aren’t even tied, are you?”

Tiffany shook her head with a scoff. That would be a faraway dream for her.

“So stop that, Fany. Okay, I know, she’s perfect and all but she doesn’t bring any good to you. If this spreads even more, it won’t affect her career, not at all. But yours will be at stake. And you won’t be the first one.”

As much as Tiffany wanted to argue, it was the truth.

“Believe it or not I’ve always been trying to get away… but I guess I’m not trying hard enough.” She chuckled.

Joon smiled and he ruffled her hair softly, “Try harder, then. Let’s continue!”

As her trainer stood up and the music, Tiffany brought herself up on two feet and let out all her worries and anxiety. Above all, her job was an escape. She hadn’t found anything better than her job for her to escape from anything.

-

“Miss Jung is in her room.”

“Ah, alright. Thank you.”

Tiffany bowed to the female secretary and the latter walked away. She was in the 6^th floor of Mall of Seoul, in front of Krystal’s room. She squeezed time between her rehearsals to meet the blonde. As the brand ambassador of the mall, Tiffany had a privilege to be able to meet Krystal every time she wanted even without scheduled appointments before, just like what she was doing at the moment.

So she knocked the door twice and opened it with her head peeking inside. She was about to say hi but Krystal was faster.

“What is it again?!”

Tiffany gasped at the blonde, “I-it’s me…”

“Oh? Oh, it’s you.” Krystal sighed and gestured Tiffany to come in, “Come in, come in. I’m sorry, I thought you were that annoying manager who kept knocking on my door every fifteen minutes.”

The singer closed the door behind her and frowned, “Manager? Whose manager?”

“That freaking Lim Yoona’s manager, who else?!”

Tiffany felt her whole body tense at the mention of that name. Great. A few days ago it was Joon, and now Krystal. Why was Lim Yoona everywhere, like everywhere?

“Lim Yoona?”

“Yes, Lim Yoona! She had a shooting for her movie here earlier, which created a huge chaos, ugh you can’t even imagine. And her manager, God! Her manager kept coming directly to me to ask things Lim Yoona wanted. ‘She wants this!’ ‘She wants that!’ ‘She doesn’t like this!’ ‘Can you bring her that?’ Like, ugh I wanted to rip his head off!”

No wonder it was still so crowded down there, Tiffany thought. She could see how angry Krystal was and she cringed at the sight.

“I hate her even more. Why did I have to agree at the first place anyway?! Such a whiny !”

“Hey,” Tiffany walked to Krystal who was facing the window and massaged her shoulders from behind, “relax a bit. At least she’s gone now.”

The blonde sighed and tried to calm herself. Tiffany wondered why Krystal still looked somehow attractive despite being a mess.

“Yeah, right. That’s good to know.” Krystal turned around and it made Tiffany pulled her hands back, “By the way, why are you here? Or do we actually have an appointment which I forgot?”

Tiffany smiled, “No, we don’t have any. I came here to give you this.”

The singer then took something from her handbag and handed it to the blonde.

“Tickets for my comeback showcase. It hasn’t even been sold. Congratulations! You guys are the first ones to have this.”

Krystal smiled instantly, “Whoa, this is great! I’m honored!”

“You should be. Those are for you, Jamie, and Jessica. Make sure to come, alright?”

“Ay, you even invited my sister.” Krystal’s smile turned into a smirk, “Aren’t awkward anymore, I see?”

Tiffany forced a laugh, “I’m trying, okay?”

“Nice try. I’ll help you with that.”

Krystal then walked to her working desk and put the tickets there. She went silent for a while before she turned around to Tiffany. She sat slightly on the desk and crossed her arms.

“By the way, I still have no idea,” She started, “of how you could know Jamie.”

Tiffany let her shoulders sagged. Krystal was still curious. Well, she hadn’t told this blonde anything about it actually, so no wonder.

“It was by accident. Jamie was apparently lost and I found her.”

“Lost?”

“Yeah,” Tiffany hesitated because the memory also brought her to, who else, Lim Yoona, “shortly I brought her back to her mother and turned out it was Jessica. Believe me, I was completely surprised.”

“Ah,” Krystal nodded her head, even though she still looked unconvinced, “so you had met my sister way before.”

“Yes.”

“How was it?” She smirked again, “Bad, wasn’t it?”

Tiffany nodded with a chuckle.

“Ah, I knew it. She’s never good with people, like ever. That’s why she needs me the most. I’m better with people than her.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“But forgive her, alright? I know she’s a total jerk but… forgive her.”

“I already did, don’t worry.”

They talked for a while until both Tiffany and Krystal got their cues to go. When Krystal said she’d make sure the three of them would come, Tiffany unknowingly grinned so wide until the point she didn’t really know who she was anticipating the most.

-

“Hello everyone, I’m Tiffany!”

Loud cheers followed her first greeting that night. Even though she was panting, the wide smile she had never faltered. That night was her comeback showcase. As expected, many fans came and they all gathered under the pink ocean. The moment Tiffany stepped on the stage, she realized it had been so long since she had such event.

“How are you guys tonight?!”

Even though the showcase started a bit late than scheduled, it went quite okay. Tiffany had some minor tech problems but it was common for her, so she handled it well. The venue was full and Tiffany was somehow glad because it wasn’t too big so she could make the event more intense.

She started with her old songs, mostly dance tracks first and after some short introduction, she did some ballads. She was pretty much energetic that day. She had anticipated this event to come ever since the first day she practiced her new choreography.

It continued with some talking sessions. She invited one of her hoobaes, Mino, to be the MC. She sat down and answered the questions from the fans which she had randomly chosen. The questions were luckily random, such as, ‘would you give us a hint of the new album?’, ‘what did you do in your free times?’, or ‘is pink still the most beautiful color?’.

They also had prepared a pretty huge cake for her with a candle shaped ‘T’ on the top of it. Tiffany couldn’t hide her touched smile as her fans started singing Water in the Sky for her. She felt like it was her birthday, or her debut anniversary party, when it wasn’t. Maybe because it had been a while since she got this kind of surprise, Tiffany found it hard to hold her tears as she blew the candle.

The last part was for her to sing the new title track. From backstage, she could hear her fans’ loud cheers as Mino introduced the title for the first time, Winter Wind. With blue outfits, Tiffany came out and performed it for the first time. Unlike before, she had to put both earphones because her fans were too loud.

Winter Wind was also the closing song for the comeback showcase. She bowed deeply to the fans, before repeatedly asking them to support her again in this comeback. She walked here and there, couldn’t get enough in greeting every corner of the audiences. She threw some goods she found backstage, such as snapbacks and towels.

Everything she could hear was screams and cheers until suddenly, out of other people, her eyes landed on a Jung.

She caught the three of them. Krystal, Jamie, and Jessica. The blonde was waving her pink fanlight with a wide smile. Beside her, in the middle, there was Jamie with two fanlights in each hand. And another one, Jessica, was sitting there, arms crossed, lips forming her usual smile. Her slight smile which unknowingly, had become Tiffany’s favorite.

Tiffany then bowed final goodbye and she mindlessly blew a kiss to where Jessica was sitting. She chuckled when the crowd went wild before she turned around and walked to the backstage, unfortunately missing the way Jessica’s smile faded into a flustered expression.

-

“Noona, that was great!”

Mino grinned widely as Tiffany threw her arm around his neck playfully. This young guy had always been her favorite. He was one of the most attractive in the company and Tiffany was glad when he finally debuted. She wanted people to recognize him, and his group of course. That was one of her reasons of why she chose him to be the MC.

“You’re saying that because you want me to give you more job, huh?”

“Ah, really. Noona, you’re lucky I’m free today so I can come, okay. I’ve been busy!”

They continued randomly quarreling until Mino had to go, because he apparently didn’t lie when he said he was busy. Tiffany then changed her outfits in the waiting room because she was sweaty.

She slumped herself into the couch tiredly while massaging her arm lightly. She was in the waiting room, alone. Her eyes then landed of the three album copies on the table. She smiled. She quickly got up and grabbed a marker to sign it.

Those were her new album, signed, special for her special guests tonight. Tiffany had asked Jessica to come to the backstage, without Krystal and Jamie because Krystal was busy and Jamie needed to go home before midnight. She wanted to give this to her. ‘To Jamie’, ‘To Krystal’, she wrote a quite long messages for them along with her signature. And then the last one, she wrote ‘To Jessica’.

Tiffany stopped. What should she write this time? She bit her lip and tapped the marker onto her chin. ‘Thank you for coming’? Nah, too standard. ‘I’m glad you’re here!’? That sounded too overly happy.

Something then crossed her mind.

‘Your eyes are so beautiful’?

Tiffany snapped herself and dropped the marker onto the table. What the hell was that? There was no way she would say that. Seriously. Tiffany ruffled her hair desperately. Why did it suddenly become this hard just to write a message?

In a sudden there was a knock on the door. Tiffany gasped a bit and quickly turned around. She was that excited but her smile instantly fell when it wasn’t the ones she expected.

“Hi, Tiffany.”

Tiffany frowned. Yes, she frowned.

“Unnie?”

Lim Yoona walked in and extended her arms with a lopsided smile, “Surprise, I guess?”

“Ah, right.” Tiffany half-heartedly nodded. She sneaked her hand to push the signed albums away from the older one’s view, “Hi, Unnie. I didn’t know you’re here.”

“Yeah, surprise’s a surprise.”

Tiffany tried to act as casual as she could but Lim Yoona instantly made her fail by walking toward her, then trapping her in between the actress and the table behind her. Yoona put both her arms on the table and smirked at the younger, meanwhile the latter, as always, had her eyes wide opened in shock.

Such an easy thing to have her way on the singer, Tiffany bitterly thought.

“You did great.” The actress said, no less loud than a whisper.

“T-thank you, Unnie.”

The smirk returned, “But I can’t stay for long this time.”

Tiffany almost sighed in relief but she held it.

“It’s okay, Unnie.”

Without any hesitation, Lim Yoona crashed their lips together in a rough kiss that Tiffany found it hard to resist. She nibbled the younger’s upper lip and grasped her hips at the same time, making Tiffany shudder. She gave up and threw her arms around the actress’ neck, tangling her fingers in the smooth, black hair and kissed her back as rough, if not more.

She definitely was going to regret this later.

-

“What?”

One of her staffs budged nervously as Tiffany frowned at him in displease. He said that Jessica’s car was nowhere to be seen, meant that she had gone away, before Tiffany even could meet her and give her the albums.

“I-I’ve made sure to tell her to come but I don’t know why she left…” He stuttered.

Tiffany only sighed.

“No, that’s okay.” Sunny quickly said, earning a deeper frown from the singer, “She must’ve in hurry or something. You can’t expect a businesswoman to just go here and there as we please, right?”

The staff nodded in agreement.

“It’s fine, you may leave.” Sunny smiled.

After he had left, Tiffany crossed her arms and glared at her manager.

“What?” Sunny raised her eyebrows, “It’s clearly not his fault, Fany. Did you see his face? He was scared as heck. And how could he know why Jessica Jung left anyway? Poor him, stop blaming things on him.”

“Ah, seriously.” Tiffany sighed again, loudly, “That businesswoman thinks she can come and go as she likes.”

Tiffany waited for almost thirty minutes after Lim Yoona, finally, left and only to be informed that Jessica also had left. She was upset, obviously. She didn’t know why, she didn’t want to think much, but she wanted to see Jessica. She wanted to know how the businesswoman thought of the comeback showcase.

“You’re so grumpy. Did you anticipate her that much?”

“Yes, yes, I did!” Tiffany pointed at her signed albums, “I want to give her that! You know she’s not the type of person who often goes to concert and stuff, so I want to know what her impression is to my comeback showcase.”

“Ah…” Sunny hesitantly nodded, “but why is it so important to you?”

“Because…”

Tiffany opened to speak, but none came out. She went silent. Right. Why was that so important? Jessica’s impression… why did she question it so much? Jessica wasn’t the only one who came anyway. There were also Krystal and Jamie, why did she forget them? Seeing her manager’s annoying expression, Tiffany quickly said with a shrug,

“Just because.”

Sunny faked a gasp, “You hung out with them too much until you started sounding like them! Oh my God, you’ve truly been Jung-ed.”

Tiffany only rolled her eyes.

“You did great today, Tiffany Hwang. Trust me. You can check on the internet if you don’t buy it.” Sunny assured her, “Now come on. We have to go home now, Fany. You have to go to LA tomorrow. Some sleep would be great, right?”

Tiffany lazily nodded.

“Pack your things, we’re going home. Come on.”

Again, with a lazy nod, Tiffany started gathering her belongings. When her hand was about to reach the signed albums, she suddenly got an idea.

“Hey, Kyu?”

“Hmm?”

“What time is my flight tomorrow?”

-

It was in the 11^th floor. Tiffany fidgeted slightly as the elevator went up.

Still stubborn with the signed albums, she actually wanted to give it to Krystal before her flight this afternoon. But unfortunately Krystal was gone to Jeju to take care of the resort. Instead the blonde told her to just give it directly to Jessica. She said it was okay, her privilege as the mall’s ambassador also could be used in the main office, LC Tower.

The privilege to meet Krystal, or Jessica, whenever she wanted without any appointments before, that one. Tiffany hesitated at first. She had never been to this huge office building. She knew no one there, unlike in the mall where she had become familiar with almost everyone who worked there. But it wasn’t like she was going to stay for long. She was just going to meet Jessica, or her assistant since she was probably busy, and give the signed albums.

Yeah, that’s right. Tiffany nodded her head. She just needed to get straight to Jessica’s assistant, well, whoever she met on the 11^th floor later, give the albums, and quickly excuse herself because of the flight. Right.

When the elevator finally reached the floor she was heading, she exited anxiously, and the first one she saw was the one she was looking for.

Jessica couldn’t hide her surprised expression, so did Tiffany.

“Stephanie?”

The crowded atmosphere suddenly became dead silent and Tiffany felt all the eyes were on her after Jessica said that name, her name. She grasped the strap of her handbag tightly, didn’t know how to respond.

“Miss?” Suddenly there was a man approaching her, “What are you--”

“No, let her. She’s my guest.” Jessica quickly said, making the man nodded and backed away from Tiffany.

Jessica then gestured Tiffany to follow her, and the latter did so. As Jessica did some kind of a hand gesture, all the people on that floor continued what they were doing simultaneously. Tiffany was awed at the sight. Just a simple hand gesture could make everyone focused back on their jobs. What a boss, indeed.

They came inside Jessica’s room. It was different from Krystal’s in the mall. Tiffany realized everything in Krystal’s office was hugely spacious. Like, really, uncommonly spacious for an office. The ceilings were way above the head and there were a lot of windows without curtains. Meanwhile Jessica’s looked more normal compared to Krystal’s.

There was a secretary inside the room when they came in. Jessica talked to her first and before the secretary left, she bowed at Tiffany which the latter did the same.

Tiffany couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Then again, this wasn’t Krystal’s mall where her privilege was no doubt, useful.

“I…” Tiffany started as Jessica turned around to face her, “I came in the wrong time, didn’t I?”

Jessica sat slightly on her working desk and crossed her arms. It reminded Tiffany of Krystal, somehow.

“My sister told me about your privilege.” She said, “And forced me to let you use it in every office we have, including this one.”

“About that--”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t.” Jessica shook her head with a smile, “What is it, Stephanie?”

Tiffany, who was unconsciously smiling because what Jessica had said, suddenly reminded of why she was there. The signed albums. She was supposed to give it last night. But Jessica turned out had left. Tiffany’s patience for thirty minutes was useless.

The thoughts made her smile faded.

“Where were you last night?” She asked, her hands on her hips.

“Huh? I was there, though?”

“No, I mean, after the show. I asked you to come over. My staff had told you, right? Why did you just leave like that? I was waiting for you!”

Jessica scratched the back of her neck, “Oh... I was…”

“You were what?”

“I actually came to the backstage.” Jessica hesitated, “But I…”

Tiffany frowned, “But you what? Why didn’t you come into the waiting room?”

“I was about to. But…” Jessica stared at somewhere else and mumbled, “you seemed busy.”

Even though it was low, thanks to the quiet room, Tiffany heard it. Busy? She was about to argue, but quickly stopped after a realization hit her.

Wait… what? Tiffany’s heart skipped a beat. That can’t be…

“You mean…” Tiffany gulped, “you saw?”

Jessica nodded.

Tiffany shut her eyes and dropped her head onto her palms. Great. Just great. Jessica saw. What else? Lim Yoona and her last night. Out of all people, why did she have to witness that? Tiffany felt like her dignity had crumbled and fell into pieces around her. The way Jessica looked at her would be different from now. God damn it, why was she so stupid?

“I’m sorry.”

Then she head Jessica said that. Slowly, Tiffany lifted her head from her palms and was met with the sight of smiling Jessica. The smile was somehow intimidating. Tiffany felt so embarrassed she couldn’t even smile back.

“And don’t worry. I’m not new for those things.”

Tiffany pursed her lips. Probably Jessica meant good, but it back fired her. Hard.

There was a knock on the door soon. Tiffany had her back facing the door and she didn’t even look back to see who it was. All she could hear was the same voice of the previous secretary saying,

“Miss Jung, meeting’s in ten minutes.”

She could see Jessica nodded and took some of her papers from the desk. She had a meeting. She was going to leave.

“I’m sorry,” Jessica apologized, again, “if you need anything you can meet Hayley there, right in front of the elevator. I have a meeting and--”

“Wait.” Tiffany caught Jessica’s arm and held her from going away.

The albums. Tiffany took it from inside her handbag and handed the three of them to Jessica.

“I actually want to give you this. Well, for you, Krystal, and Jamie. I was supposed to give it last night but…”

Jessica nodded with an assuring smile, “Thank you, Stephanie. I’ll listen to it well.”

The businesswoman then brought her free hand to Tiffany’s cheek, caressing it softly. Tiffany looked up and immediately regretted it because damn those eyes, how could she tear her gaze from it?

It felt too fast when there was another knock on the door. Jessica excused herself with another apologize and Tiffany stood there in blank, her eyes followed Jessica until she disappeared behind another door.

Again, she brought her face onto her palms with a loud sigh. It was just upsetting. She was too reckless. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to see Jessica again. Such a shameful way she had from now on.

How stupid of her.

****

I'm not going to lie, but I surely have had thoughts to stop writing.

Jessica is my bias. Well, so is Tiffany but it's different. I was-- still am, upset. But yeah... things happen. I've had enough of arguments here and there and I think it's the time to move on for SNSD, Jessica, and me. Us. The fans.

And still, JeTi all the way!! Are you guys still with me?