(Before Chapter 15)

Taeyeon opened her desk drawer taking out a picture. She carefully brushed her fingers over the facial features of the person until she heard her door open causing her to throw the picture back in the drawer. “Taeyeon?”

Taeyeon closed the drawer while standing up, “Here.”

The door opened to reveal a taller girl, “Were you studying? I couldn’t contact you so I just brought dinner home.”

Taeyeon walked over to her lover and kissed her on the lips, “Thanks Soo…”

“Come on let’s eat before our food gets cold,” Taeyeon’s girlfriend took her hand as they went to the dining room.

With their plates full of food, the couple started eating, “So what did you do all day other than lock yourself in your room?”

Taeyeon stopped eating and looked up at her girlfriend, “That was about it. I studied mostly and took a nap. What about you?”

“I went to work on my project for the end of the year grades. I wish I could just paint in my room all day like you but I work on a bigger scale.”

Taeyeon chuckled, “Don’t you dare try bringing one of your sculptures home. We don’t have space for that.”

“You mean we don’t have space because of all those paintings.” The girl pointed to the random canvases around the room.

“Yea well I moved here first so I get dibs on how to use the space!” Taeyeon stuck out her tongue before both started laughing.

Sooyoung ignored her girlfriend’s foolish actions and dug into her food, “Maybe one day we should organize this place a bit better. I don’t like how it looks so cluttered.”

Taeyeon looked up at Sooyoung, “I am a bit busy the next few days but if it is bothering you, I don’t mind if do it. Just don’t throw my stuff away.”

Sooyoung chuckled, “With the long hours and hard work we put into these, I would never dream of doing that babe.”

Taeyeon gave a sheepish grin, “You are so good to me.”
“Of course. It is because I love you.”

Taeyeon felt a twist in her stomach so she shoved some food into before getting up and putting her plate in the sink, “I will do the dishes. Why don’t you go get ready for bed first?”

Sooyoung went up to Taeyeon at the sink and gave her a kiss on the cheek, “Okay. Don’t take too long. The bed is cold without you.”

Taeyeon watched as the taller girl walked away into the bedroom before leaning on the counter and letting out a heavy sigh. Somehow the word ‘love’ made her feel suffocated. Sure she cared about Sooyoung a lot and the girl has been great to her, but was it really love?

Taeyeon rolled her eyes back and closed them for a while before going back to cleaning the dishes for the night.

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Taeyeon went on a weekend trip to Jeju Island with her class to look at an exhibit that would be displayed on the island that weekend so Sooyoung thought she would surprise the other girl by having the whole apartment cleaned by the time she came back. She started to work diligently by moving the bigger canvases to one side of Taeyeon’s studio before searching for several paintings she and Taeyeon agreed on hanging up. The apartment grew loud with the sound of the hammer banging holes into the wall, but when Sooyoung finished, the apartment looked alive with artwork adoring their walls, “Ah it is starting to look like a home.”

Seeing as there was much more space around the apartment, Sooyoung decided to focus on cleaning up Taeyeon’s studio. There were random bottles of paint and pencils scattered around, “How does she do this and find everything?” She decided first on organizing all the paint by type and color before finding the pencils scattered around the room. It was almost like Sooyoung was doing a scavenger hunt in the tiny room but she managed to find all the random drawing equipment. Next was Taeyeon’s messy “idea” desk where she would organize thoughts for some of her class projects. However, it was just a stack of random papers with scribbles and notes.

It took some time to figure out if any of these were garbage or not, but Sooyoung was clever and got the papers into the correct folders. She was going to put the folders in a drawer so she opened the only one that looked big enough to hold that item. However, she froze when her eyes landed on a picture inside the drawer. She saw Taeyeon dressed very elegantly next to a girl who was extremely beautiful in the floral spring dress as her blond curls fell over her shoulders. “Taeyeon looks very young here...I wonder who the girl is.” Out of curiosity, Sooyoung went into the drawer further and found a collection of play bills. Looking at the date, they must have been when Taeyeon was in college, “I didn’t know Taeyeon liked going to the theater...she never asked to go once with me.” Seeing as those were the only items left in the drawer, Sooyoung carefully put the folders in before shutting the cabinet.

Sooyoung went on cleaning the place up but her thoughts always went back to the picture and collection of play bills. She always wanted to know more about Taeyeon but the girl was so hard to read most times.

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Taeyeon returned from Jeju very tired as they had an early flight back. She would have called Sooyoung to pick her up from the airport, but one of her classmates ended up taking her home instead. She opened the door with agape, “Do I really live here?”

Taeyeon stepped in with disbelief as her apartment was clean and livable. She went around examining where Sooyoung placed all her things before laying on the couch. With the flight depriving her of sleep, she decided to take a quick nap before Sooyoung came home.

“Taey...” The girl nudged Taeyeon

Taeyeon opened her eyes to the beautiful girl above her, “Sica...” However her eyes cleared and saw it was Sooyoung.

“Sica?”

“Humm? Soo, when did you get home?” Taeyeon wanted to avoid the conversation that could be initiated by her confusion.

“Just now. How was your flight?”

Taeyeon sat up while Sooyoung took a seat next to her, “A bit tiring but I feel better now.”

“You should go wash up then. We are going out once you are ready to leave.”

Taeyeon looked at her girlfriend curiously, “We are going somewhere?”

Sooyoung smiled before kissing Taeyeon on the lips, “Yes. So hurry up.”

It didn’t take long before the couple left to go out. Taeyeon was keeping watch outside to see if she could figure out where Sooyoung was taking her while they both had to dress up. With the cab coming to a halt Taeyeon knew where they were, “Theater?”

Sooyoung finished paying the cab driver before lacing her hands with Taeyeon, “Yes. I didn’t know you were so fascinated with plays until I found all these old play bills in your desk drawer.” Taeyeon gulped when she heard Sooyoung went through her desk, “Who was in that picture?”

Taeyeon thought of how she could handle this situation, “Umm the main actress in all those plays.”

“Oh that is cool! You two must have been really close.”

Taeyeon’s heart ached, “We were inseparable...”

“I don’t remember meeting her.”

“That might be a bit hard. She is doing theater in America at the moment.”

Sooyoung and Taeyeon found their seats quickly as they had close seats above the orchestra, “She must be very good then! I wish I could have met her before she left.”

Taeyeon left out a nervous chuckle, “Maybe best for you and me if we don’t meet her.”

Sooyoung looked at her girlfriend curiously, “Did you two have a fight?”

“Something like that. Just forget about it. So what production did you pick?”

“Well I read about this one. It is a story about two lovers who were torn apart by the harshness of society. One lover was to live a successful life while the other was trapped in a loveless marriage. I ah don’t know the ending so we should watch.” Sooyoung started browsing the play bill while Taeyeon sat in her seat nervously.

“What an interesting play you decided to take me to.”

Sooyoung beamed a smile, “I thought you might like it.”

Taeyeon chuckled shyly, “I am really curious to see how this story ends.”

Author Note

I started writing this a month ago but then just put it off till now. No taengsic...but I think you know how that "play" ends.