Chapter 10

Sunny had a different class schedule than hers today so she was all on her own for the day. Tiffany was heading towards nutrition when she saw Jejung walking towards her with his arms around two girls who glared at Tiffany. Tiffany put her hands to the pocket of her white boyfriend cardigan, feeling the rose pouch, “Hey.” She said hesitantly, “Jejung Oppa, just looked at her up & down coolly & say nothing.” One of the girls smirked & wrinkled her nose, “So, did you find yourself a sugar daddy? You are such a hypocrite & a fake.” Tiffany tried not to laugh at her wrong way of saying the word. Jejung looked at the girl beside him, amused “Yeah.” The other girl hanging onto him said, “Look at you dressed all flashy. That beauty was bought wasn’t it. Stop trying to be like us loser because that is what you are. A big fat loser.” She rubbed Jejung’s chest with a long manicured nail, “Don’t think that you can get Oppa. He isn’t into losers like you.” Jejung looked down at the girl on his arm & tweaked her nose, “How right you are.” He said, smiling down at her. It took a lot of willpower for Tiffany to not run away crying like she wanted but tears did escape her eyes & she looked down, feeling ashamed to look up at Jejung again, “Jaejoong Oppa.” She whispered. It was said really softly but Jejung looked at her in surprises when she said that but still, he walked away, not wanting to give into her any longer.

Tiffany made sure that his entourage had all left before she went into the bathroom to wash off the makeup & tears. She took out her inhaler & breathed into it before walking out again, to get to class. For the rest of the day, she couldn’t make herself pay attention in class. All she could think about was Jejung & it didn’t help that he had creative writing with her. During the whole hour of class, all Tiffany could do was sneak glances at him with hurt in her eyes. She couldn’t think of any story to write so she did what she always did at times like these. She wrote her feelings out in a letter to her Jaejoong Oppa. Tears stained the letter as Tiffany tried hard to keep it only to herself before leaving class.

Jejung’s eyes bore into Tiffany’s back as he left class behind her with two different girls hanging onto him. He didn’t know what to make of her anymore. Part of him wanted to just ignore her forever & pretended that she didn’t exist anymore or never did exists for that matter but the other part of him wanted to just run up to her & engulf her in a warm hug that told her that he still cared & wanted things to work out despite why she wanted him. He wanted to make her care for him & not for his money but at the same time, he also knew that that wasn’t the right way.

His mind wandered back to that time when he had started getting famous & how his two friends had betrayed their friendship. Chika & Jiro had started the opening act to his concert on his first tour. Near the end of the tour, they had told him that they had only been friends with him because he was rich & famous. If he hadn’t been, they wouldn’t have given him the time of day. They bribed him & stole some of his money. Jejung shook his head at that painful memory. He didn’t want anything like that to happen again. He promised himself & his family that he would never let fame & fortune get to him again.

Jejung remarked loudly over her back, “Hope you don’t trip over those lovely flats, honey! It would be a shame if you turn out looking like that for your supposedly rich boyfriend!” He laughed along with the girls around him. Tiffany stopped walking at that remark. That had stung a lot. She decided that she had had enough. Her Jaejoong Oppa had once told her to stay strong. She turned around to face Jejung again, hurt & anger in her eyes. She walked up to him & punched him right in the face. Jejung spit out some of the blood that came from the fresh new cut on his mouth.

Tiffany took a step back & gasped. She placed her hand over as she saw Jejung’s blank look that turned into hatred. The look froze her heart. She tried stifling her tears & shock at what she just did. She reached a hand out to touch him but one of the girls rudely smacked her away. She fell to the floor & scrape her knee but she quickly got up to limp away, letting the tears fall. Jejung looked at her back once again, shocked & hurt by what she had done but when she had wanted to touch him, he had wanted to reach out & take her hand. When the girl pushed her to the floor, he had wanted to help her up but something had stopped him. He pushed the two girls off of him & walked away.

Tiffany tried to run as fast as she could with her scraped knees. His words had hurtled. She ran until she bumped into someone. The guy steadied her & she gasped as she saw the worried look of Siwon, “Hey girl, what’s the rush?” He looked down at her knee, “What happened? Did that guy do something to you? Tell me who it was & I will pound him to a pulp.” Tiffany just stared at him & launched herself into his arms, holding on tightly.

Sunny had been on her way over to Tiffany when she had seen her condition but when her friend had ran into Siwon’s arm, she gasped & just stood still. She stared at them with pain in her eyes & left. She wasn’t going to interfere. So what if it was Siwon? She didn’t like him anyway. Let Tiffany have him. It doesn’t matter. She just kept on telling herself that over & over again, & for the first time in her life, she walked the thirteen minute walk home from the university. As she walked up the hill to her mansion, the weeks event with Siwon just came pouring back into her head. She needed the walk to clear her head.

Meanwhile, Siwon tried unsuccessfully to soothe her so he took her to his workplace. He led her inside the reception’s office & sat her down on a stool. He told his boss that he needed to help his friend & got a first aid kit. His boss gave her a cup of coffee to help Tiffany calm down. Tiffany took it & drank it all in just five gulps, not minding the hot liquid. Siwon opened the first aid kit & took a cleaning solution to wipe her two skinned knees. Tiffany had finally stopped crying & winced a little at the touch to her knee. Siwon applied the ointment next & then bandaged them with some gauze. He smiled at Tiffany & told her not to worry, “Everything will be alright.” Siwon reassured her, as he took out his cell phone & dialed a familiar number, “Hey sis. Yeah, Tiffany is with me right now.” He smiled at Tiffany, “Um...no, she can’t make it to work today. No, no, no, I didn’t do anything to her. Yeah, she is hurt.” He sighed exasperatedly over the phone.

“No sis, I didn’t harm her or anything. That guy did. Yeah, he hurtled her pretty badly. She hurtled her knee.” He looked at Tiffany with compassion while she tried hard not to laugh at the conversation he was having with Sooyoung. Sooyoung was no doubt giving him an earful. Oh, how she wished that she had a sibling to talk to & bicker with, “Yeah, that would be great sis, but don’t make her go to work today. Okay, okay, I love you, too. See you soon noona.” Siwon turned off his phone & looked at Tiffany again, “Soo is coming over with some new clothes & shoes for you.”

Tiffany gasped, “No, I can’t possibly accept anything more from you two. You have done enough for me already.” She pouted, “You guys are just like Sunny, picking on the poor kid.” Siwon guffawed at that, “This is picking on you? For your information missy, we aren’t pitying you. We just can’t stand to see people wearing the same clothes over & over again.” Tiffany gasped & got up, wincing slightly. Siwon rushed over to help her, “Don’t get up.” Tiffany stared at him, “I need to get up & hit you for that remark.” Siwon laughed & held his arms open, “Hit away.” Tiffany grinned & punched him in the stomach. His boss & Tiffany laughed at his pained & shocked expression, “You deserve that.” They both said.

A few minutes later, Sooyoung arrived & brought burgundy utility blouse & white riviera shorts. She also brought out a blue patch pocket linen cardigan, “Just in case you get cold.” She told Tiffany, “But don’t wear it unless it is cold. Show off your arm for a change.” Tiffany tried unsuccessfully to give the clothes back so she just accepted them & changed in one of the checkup rooms. When she came out again, Sooyoung gave Tiffany a big hug & promised to help Siwon, Keunsuk & Sunny beat up whoever dared to hurt her. They all asked for the name of the person who hurtled her but she kept shut. Even though Jejung had hurtled her badly, she didn’t want him to be beaten. She loved him too much for that.

Tiffany decided to go to work anyway to observe Sooyoung at her kitchen & the other workers despite hers & Siwon’s protesting. She had another great dinner made by Sooyoung that night with her, Siwon & Keunsuk. They had tried to get a hold of Sunny but she wasn’t answering her phone. Keunsuk offered to drive Tiffany home afterwards & she accepted. However, she requested him to drop her off at someplace close to her home. They arrived at a secluded park that not many people knew about. Keunsuk looked around the surroundings, “Hey, this is close to my home, too. Who would have known.” He looked at Sooyoung & read her troubled expression. He then turned back to Tiffany, “Are you really sure that you want to be left out here all alone at this time of the night? It is nearly ten already.” Tiffany nodded reassuringly to her new friends, “Yeah, I come here all the time so don’t worry about me. I will be safe.” With that said, she got out of the car & bid her friends goodbye.

She waved at them as they left the park. She smiled sadly & walked into the darkness of the park. She walked for about eight minutes before she came across a very tall hedge that was covered completely by plants. The hedge covered four corners & no one except her & one other person knew what was within that space. She reached behind the stem of where a flower was growing out of the hedge for a key that was hidden. She retrieved it & then slipped the key between three flowers that were grown really closely together. It fit perfectly within a keyhole. Tiffany made sure that no one was behind her & opened the door as quietly as possible. Once inside, she shut the door & locked it.