Chapter 20

Tiffany shivered & rubbed her bare arms as she & Jejung walked down the hill from his mansion to the park. Siwon & Sunny was walking behind them, talking to each other, trying to get to know the other better without breaking out into an argument. Jejung noticed Tiffany’s lack of clothing & took off his light gray heather cotton cashmere cardigan to drape it over her shoulders. Tiffany smiled a thank you at him as she felt the warmth from his body seep through into her skin, “But aren’t you going to be cold?” Jejung put his arm around her shoulders, “The heat from your body close to mine will warm me up.” Tiffany blushed but nonetheless cuddled closer.

Siwon noticed the exchange between the two before him. He stole a glance at Sunny & found that she was wearing bronze yellow premium supima/modal open cardigan. He thought he saw a slight movement with her as she patted her arm. He took it as a sign of her being cold & quickly took off his black trail model fleece jacket to put over her shoulders. Sunny gave a start of surprises & his jacket fell to the ground, “Oh my gosh, that was uncalled for. Why did you do that to scare me?” Siwon looked at her with cynicism, “Well sorry, I thought that you were cold.” Tiffany & Jejung had stopped walking & looked behind them at their two friends.

“I’m wearing a sweater, for goodness sake. I’m warm enough already.”

“But you brushed your arm as if you were shivering.” Sunny let out an exasperated sigh.

“I was brushing a bug away from my arm. I just absolutely hate bugs. Ew.” Siwon blushed as he stooped down to pick up his jacket. He didn’t say anything else until they reached the park. The beauty of it never seemed to amaze him, “This place is just gorgeous & breath-taking. I wonder why I have never seen it before.” Jejung walked over to him & put his hand on his shoulder, “That’s because you have never gone down this side of the road before, down to the less wealthy area.” Jejung glanced reluctantly at Tiffany when he said this. Tiffany smiled & reassured him that it was okay.

“Me & Tiffany first met along this road. She was six & I was eight. Her mother had instructed her to go to the market & get some eggs but she ended up dropping all of them when she bumped into me.” He smiled as he remembered their first meeting. It was still fresh within his mind. Everything about Tiffany was stored & locked permanently somewhere in his brain.

*Flashback*

A little girl ran crying towards him & before he knew it, she had bumped right into him, making them both fall at impact. Jaejoong wrinkled his nose as he felt the slimy substance of broken eggs on his red short sleeve solid performance interlock polo shirt from the dirty grey uniform polo dress of the little girl. His mother had just gone into the market & he had wanted to spend his money in the drugstore next door to buy toys. The little girl got up quickly & bowed a few times to say sorry to the boy. Jaejoong saw her tear-stained eyes & couldn’t help but feel something tug at his young heart.

“Don’t cry. I’m okay & you are okay.” The little girl shook her head & sobbed louder. Her pigtails flew back & forth from the movement of her head. Jaejoong moved to touch her shoulder, “What’s wrong then? Do you want to tell me?” The little girl stopped wailing but big fat tears still welled from her eyes. She pointed at her dress at the egg residue & Jaejoong stared in confusion. Then it dawned on him, “Did you break the eggs?” She nodded, “Do you have enough money to buy more?” She shook her head & started hiccupping from all the emotional distress.

Jaejoong felt very bad for this little girl. His mother came out of the market at that moment & she went up to her son smiling, “Come on, dear, let’s get going. Did you get the trading cards you wanted? Remember not to eat the bubble gum.” An idea suddenly popped into his mind. He pulled out some crumpled dollar bills from his black shorts pocket & pressed them into the little girl’s hand. She stared up at him in surprises, ‘You can buy your eggs with this money.” The mother smiled at the generosity of her son & she finally noticed the girl that was beside him. She took out a pack of tissues from her desigual amazone white handbag & bent down to the little girl’s level to wipe away her tears.

“You poor thing. Use this money to buy the eggs. It will all be okay.” The girl stared at them, not daring to believe what had just happened. The mother took her son’s hand & then bid the girl farewell to go to their car. When they reached the door, he turned back to look at the girl, “By the way, what’s your name?! My name is Kim Jaejoong!” The girl smiled & shouted back at him, “Thanks, Jaejoong Oppa! My name is Tiffany Hwang Miyoung!” She had just learned to say her full name & was quite proud of it, “Well, I will see you again, soon.” Miyoung waved enthusiastically at her new friend & mom & sure enough, a day later, Jaejoong & Miyoung found themselves in each other’s presence. They were inseparable from that day forward until he moved away.

*End of Flashback*

Tiffany waved her hand in front of Jejung’s face & he finally broke free of his dream state, “Sorry, I was just reminiscing. He looked up in surprises as he found himself under the tree that he had planted there himself when he was younger. He & Tiffany searched around the bark & saw the engraving where the initials KJ+TH FOREVER were carved around a heart below the node of the first branch. They both traced the carving with their fingers & looked up at each other when they met at the base of the heart.

Sunny & Siwon stared at the carving & then at their friends as it finally came to them, “You mean, those are your initials?!” Siwon exclaimed. Jejung nodded, “This park was made by me & my family for Tiffany. I planted this tree myself many years ago for Tiffany & when we first came here, I engraved this into the trunk.” Sunny sighed dreamily as she imagined a young boy & girl, sitting down on this very bench & the boy carving this into the tree for the girl, “That is just so sweet & the roses are for the rose pouches, right?” Jejung nodded again, & Siwon asked, “What are the rose pouches?” Tiffany & Jejung, both took out their rose pouches & told Siwon their story. There wasn’t a dry eye there underneath that tree when they finished their heartfelt story. Even Siwon had a few tears in his eyes as he heard how much they had gone through.

♡ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY HWANG MIYOUNG ♡