Tiffany wasn’t sure what she was doing here.

 

She stared forlornly at the mass of emerald green hedges separated by thin coils of barbed wire off to her left and the clusters of mountains that seemed to touch the sky.

 

It was exquisite in an alien way and it unnerved her a great deal.

 

She didn’t belong here.

 

A light tug on her hand brought her back to her senses and she gazed at her boyfriend of 5 months with a sheepish smile.

 

“Hey, where did you go just now?” Nichkhun asked, a playful grin coursing his handsome face.

 

Tiffany sighed blissfully on the inside looking at him.

 

He had this magical way of keeping her calm when her innate anxiety over new and scary situations got the best of her.

 

But then she remembered with a jolt that he was the one introducing her to a new and scary situation and she felt anxious all over again.

 

“Babe, you’re worrying about nothing. My family’s going to love you.” Nichkhun continued, hoping his voice sounded a lot more reassuring than he felt.

 

He loved his family immensely.  But there was a reason why he waited so long to introduce any serious girlfriends to his puritanically Christian bloodline.

 

But it was different this time.

 

He was crazy about Tiffany.

 

And she was sweet and charming – how could his family not fall in love with her too?

 

Somehow, he doubted that was what was worrying his adorable girlfriend at this precise moment as she stared with suspicion at the broad and tall trees.

 

Tiffany was a city girl to her core.

 

Before moving to Seoul during her college years, she had grown up in San Francisco.  

 

And before he had moved to Seoul, Nichkhun had grown up in the country.

 

In Jangpyung of all places.

 

Tiffany wasn’t sure she’d even heard of the place until Nichkhun had told her he wanted her to meet his family.

 

Country folk were so different from people in the city – what if Khun’s parents thought she was a ‘city hussy’ trying to corrupt their innocent son?

 

Tiffany scrunched her nose in bewilderment, wondering when was the last time anyone had actually had used the term ‘hussy’ in civilised conversation.

 

Nichkhun locked the car with the remote control and took Tiffany’s hand once more.

 

“We’re here,” he murmured more to himself.

 

He breathed in the scents of fresh grass and the downy earth with its rich undertone of fertiliser and inhaled deeply.

 

It had been far too long since he’d been home.

 

It was good to be back.

 

“Let’s go,” he whispered to Tiffany, shooting her an encouraging smile.

 

And then they began walking along the dirt road littered with beige rocks and pebbles, which was a good 500m from the small hill on which Nichkhun’s family home stood.

 

Tiffany’s nerves were already oversensitive and now scores of flies and mosquitoes kept flying and landing intrusively on her face as she walked hand in hand with Khun.

 

Why did bugs always insist on going for the face or the jugular?
 

“There he is!” a female voice boomed with happiness.

 

Nichkhun’s face crinkled with a similar feeling of joy as he laid eyes on a middle-aged woman with tanned skin and greying hair whose eyes were just like his.

 

“Umma!”

 

Tiffany watched in a mesh of amusement and disappointment as Nichkhun disentangled himself from her and sprinted to his mother.

 

She stared at mother and son interlocked in a warm and intimate embrace that went on for longer than five seconds.

 

Till now, Tiffany hadn’t thought of Nichkhun as a ‘Mama’s Boy’.

 

Maybe she didn’t really know her boyfriend as well as she thought and hoped.

 

“Well, well. If it isn’t the runt of the family,” a tall and handsome man with jet black hair announced, narrowing his eyes at Nichkhun.

 

Nichkhun in turn eyed the figure with a stony glare of his own.

 

Tiffany was even more confused when both men suddenly started laughing raucously and fist-pounding each other.

 

“Hey, big bro,” Nichkhun greeted with a crooked smile.

 

“Come say that to my face,” the older man growled with affection as he pulled his younger brother into a bear hug.

 

Then Nichkhun moved towards a beautiful younger woman with long orange hair who had the same adorable cheek dimples as he did.

 

“Nick!” the girl greeted with obvious affection.

 

“Sis!” Nichkhun boomed, sweeping the younger woman up into his arms and spinning her around in a circle.

 

Tiffany quirked an eyebrow at this display of affection.

 

Nichkhun had waited till their fifth date to hold her hand and kiss her at the end of the night.

 

And here he was, giving away love and affection like it was going out of style.

 

The next of member of his family was a tiny wrinkly woman with big brown eyes that didn’t seem to stare at anything.

 

“Hello, halmunee,” Nichkhun greeted with just a touch of awkwardness.

 

He’d always been that way around his grandmother. Mainly because she’d started slowly going senile when he was still in high school.

 

She didn’t seem to want to mix with anyone in the family, choosing instead to spend her time de-weeding the vegetable patch or sweeping the wooden floors of the house, mumbling to herself in Korean about things only she alone knew.

 

And finally, Nichkhun came to stand in front of a tall middle-aged man with broad shoulders and dark eyes like flint that almost matched his greying hair.

 

“Appa...” Nichkhun said, his nervousness far more apparent this time around.

 

The older man studied his youngest son for the longest time in silence that was impregnable in its abstraction.

 

Then as if coming to a sudden decision, he relented and clapped the younger man on the shoulder, a small smile creasing his face.

 

“Good to see you, son,” he murmured, letting his hand remain on his son’s skinny shoulder.

 

Then Nichkhun seemed to remember that Tiffany was still standing there, waiting for an introduction.

 

“Tiffany, these are my parents, my brother Taecyeon, my baby sister Uee and my grandmother. Everyone...this is my girlfriend, Tiffany.”

 

Tiffany in a breath and lifted a pale hand to wave self-consciously at Nichkhun’s family.

 

“Hi,” she began in a breathless voice. “It’s...very nice to meet you all.”

 

Khun’s mom was about to say something when her youngest son interrupted with ‘Wait a sec, somebody’s missing. Where the heck is Yuri?”

 

“She took Pearl out for a stroll,” Taecyeon offered with a knowing look at his baby brother.

 

Tiffany was about to ask if ‘Pearl’ was the family dog when Khun’s dad interrupted this time around.

 

“Here they come now,” Khun’s dad muttered, wiping dust that had gathered on the sleeves of his checkered shirt from the wind as he spoke.

 

Tiffany heard the sound of galloping hooves and turned around abruptly.

 

Because the sun was directly in her eyes, she could just make out the charcoal silhouette of a figure riding a horse on the dirt road on which they stood.

 

She heard a flurry of murmured words from the rider, which made the horse whimper with keenness and come to a halting stop in front of her.

 

The rider hopped off from the saddle with a kind of effortless grace and approached a bewildered Tiffany.

 

Her face was hidden by a big brown summer hat.

 

But everything about her, from the subtle curves of her slim hips that poked out from her faded jeans, her skinny arms to her flowing curly hair that escaped the hat perched on top, Tiffany could tell that it was most certainly a woman.

 

This fact was made more apparent when the stranger took the hat off and wiped a band of sweat that had collected on her small forehead, shaking her hair out in the process.

 

“There you are,” Khun’s mom greeted with a warm smile.

 

“Yes, I am,” the strange woman answered in a gruff voice.

 

Then her eyes landed on Tiffany.

 

“What’s this?” she demanded in an abrupt tone.

 

Tiffany didn’t understand it. But she felt a flicker of annoyance at the fact that the woman had said ‘what’s this?’ instead of saying ‘who’s this?’

 

“Yuri, this is Tiffany, Nick’s girlfriend.” Uee explained, raising her eyebrow meaningfully at the brunette.

 

“Sheesh, where are my manners?” Nichkhun cut in. “Tiffany, this is my cousin Yuri. Although she’s lived with our family for years, so she’s more like a sister to me.”

 

“I don’t recall you ever pushing Uee out of a tree and breaking her arm in the process, and she’s definitely your sister.” Yuri declared in a huff.

 

But Tiffany saw that her eyes twinkled with mischief while looking at Nichkhun and something akin to butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

 

“I hope you won’t tell my girlfriend all of my deep dark secrets. I want her to still love me after this family visit.” Nichkhun murmured with a light chuckle.

 

But inwardly, he was being more than frank with his cousin.

 

He loved Yuri like a sister, but her enigmatic personality made for a lot of unwanted surprises that seemed to backfire on him at the worst possible moments.

 

She’d already scared off more than a few of his previous girlfriends just because of her overprotective nature.

 

It was awfully sweet that she cared so much about his wellbeing. But her constantly grilling his lady loves about their intentions for him made for an uncomfortable drive back to the city afterwards with said girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend if Yuri had her way).

 

He honestly didn’t know whether his old girlfriends had disliked his cousin because of her extraordinary beauty or her uncomfortably frank disposition.

 

Maybe it was both.

 

“I guess we’ll just have to see if she really loved you to begin with,” Yuri answered, a bright smile adorning her high cheekbones.

 

The look on Khun’s cousin’s face unnerved Tiffany a great deal.

 

What did she mean by it?

 

“Let’s get inside and unload your bags,” Taecyeon suggested, taking charge of the semi-awkward pause the greetings and Yuri’s sudden appearance.

 

“Yes,” Khun’s dad agreed. “You can tell us more about your latest project at work.”

 

With that, he wrapped a strong arm around Nichkhun’s shoulder and started leading him away.

 

Taecyeon stooped in front of Tiffany and picked up both hers and Khun’s bags, lifting them up easily with one hand.

 

Tiffany knew for a fact that she hadn’t packed light for this trip, despite Nichkhun’s incessant complaining.

 

She surmised that Taecyeon must bench press a lot of weights.

 

“If you need anything during this trip, don’t hesitate to ask, Tiffany.” Taecyeon offered with a charming smile, winking salaciously at his brother’s girlfriend.

 

“Cool your jets, Don Juan. Don’t forget what Khun did to you the last time you hit on one of his girlfriends.” Uee quipped, throwing Tiffany a sympathetic smile.

 

“What? I can’t be nice?” Taecyeon protested as his baby sister punched him in the arm.

 

“Come on, Yuri!” Uee called out over her shoulders.

 

“Just a sec. I’ve gotta put Pearl in the barn!” Yuri shouted back.

 

That left her and Tiffany standing together as the rest of Khun’s family walked up the hill.

 

To cover up the tense-filled moment, Yuri put one foot on the stirrups and hoisted herself back onto the chocolate brown horse in a single leap.

 

“So um...it’s nice to meet you.” Tiffany blurted out.

 

Yuri gazed down at her for the longest time without saying anything.

 

Then she chuckled darkly and stared straight ahead of her.

 

“We’ll see,” she mumbled in turn.

 

She clicked her tongue three times through her parted lips and Pearl broke into a canter.

 

And Tiffany was left there standing like an idiot watching the tall raven-haired beauty ride off in the direction of a maroon-coloured outhouse a few paces away without a backwards glance.

 

Shaking her head at the strange encounter, Tiffany dug her hands deep into the pockets of her threadbare hot pants as she went after her boyfriend.

---

Nichkhun’s family home was a two-storey cedar oak affair with a traditional hanok-styled rooftop painted black and red.

 

A small wooden stairwell lead up to the front yard, a small strip of freshly mown grass surrounded by tall stringy trees and a small area for barbecuing off to the right.

 

From here, Tiffany walked through a screen door and parted reluctantly with her Louis Vuitton wedges by a space allocated for house shoes.

 

Then with her heart in , she padded barefoot onto a soft downy carpet inscribed with scores of hangul characters. The living room was sparsely furnished with a few wicker chairs and two small leather sofas. A small bookshelf stood in the corner along with a gigantic plasma TV.

 

Nichkhun had always told her that his family wasn’t very well off.

 

But the price of high-quality television sets had gone down in recent years, making it possible for every household in South Korea (rural or urban) to own an impressive model or two.

 

Tiffany couldn’t resist smiling at the few family pictures that hung on the wooden walls. It was easy to pick out Nichkhun in each one, a cheeky grin dotting his handsome face at every turn of the camera lens.

 

“You and Nichkhun will be sleeping in his old bedroom across there,” Khun’s mom said, throwing Tiffany a warm smile.

 

Tiffany walked behind Mrs. Horvejkul through yet another screen door, which opened out onto a small balcony where two patio chairs and a low table sat with a book perched on top. Then they opened screen door, which led to separate quarters apart from the rest of the house.

 

The first room looked like a storage unit of sorts where scores of gym and sports equipment was kept.

 

And on the right was Nichkhun’s old bedroom. Tiffany couldn’t help smirking at the faded posters of JYP and Brown Eyed Girls that decorated every inch of the small beige walls.

 

And off to the left was -

 

“Yuri’s room,” Mrs. Horvejkul said, reading Tiffany’s thoughts accurately. “She’s a lovely girl once you get to know her. But she likes her privacy, sometimes a little too much. So it would be better if you don’t go in there for any reason other than a supremely good one.” She advised with a tight smile.

 

Tiffany nodded in affirmation, silently wondering what the deal was with Nichkhun’s surly cousin.

 

Just then, Mr. Horvejkul poked his head in through the open screen door, startling Tiffany immensely in the process.

 

“Food’s ready,” he declared in a gruff tone.

 

Then he turned away and left again.

 

Mrs. Horvejkul smiled she patted Tiffany’s arm in an awkward, yet decidedly affectionate way as they walked back into the main section of the house.

 

Since it was such a lovely day, they’d decided to have an impromptu barbecue outside, the eight of them crammed together in two long green wooden tables pressed together.

 

Even though it was a beautiful, it was too swelteringly hot for Tiffany to endure.

 

Sure, it was scorching in Seoul too, especially during the month of August.

 

But unlike in the countryside, there were so many cool buildings with top-of-the-line air conditioning systems to escape into on hot days like this.

 

And it didn’t help that as many as five big mosquitoes caught sight of Tiffany’s arms and proceeded to nip at them at every turn.

 

There were far too many open spaces here in Jangpyung for Tiffany to get used to.

 

How was she going to survive the next two weeks under the strict scrutiny of Nichkhun’s family? 

 

To calm her nerves, Tiffany took a deep breath, inhaling the delicious smells of grilling sausages and pork chops along with the cool earthy smells of radish kimchi and egg salad that had been placed in plastic containers in front of her.

 

Nichkhun had already cracked open a cold can of Cass Fresh and he and Taecyeon started talking animatedly with one another in-between sips.

 

At least he was enjoying himself.

 

“So, Tiffany,” Uee began a little uncertainly. “Nich says you were a fashion major at Seoul National University.”

 

“Yes!” Tiffany proclaimed with over exuberance, thankful for something (anything) to talk about. “I’m working for one of Spao’s manufacturing companies in Yongsan at the moment. I’m learning the ropes so I can start designing and making my own line of clothes one day.”

 

“That’s wonderful,” Khun’s mom said with a small smile dotting her lined face.

 

“So you make jeans for a living?” Khun’s dad questioned, wrinkling his nose in bewilderment.   

 

“Yes, but only temporarily,” Nichkhun put in with a hasty smile. “Tiffany has high aspirations for her career path.”

 

Again, Tiffany felt distinctly annoyed.

 

Why did Khun feel the need to defend her at every turn?

 

She wasn’t ashamed of what she did for a living.

 

She’d come from a middle class background, but she was more than willing to start at the bottom if it meant she could pursue her lifelong dream of designing her own line of fashionable uni clothing.

 

“I for one think it’s cool,” Uee put in, reaching across the table to lightly palm Tiffany’s outstretched hand. “I can get discounts on skinny jeans from the only girlfriend of Khun’s that I’ve liked so far.” She added with a twinkle in her eye.

 

“Wow, way to stake your claim on Tiffany right from the start, sis,” Taecyeon quipped, shovelling a warm hotdog into his mouth.

 

“Don’t hate on me just because you didn’t think of it first,” Uee retorted, sticking her tongue out at her older brother.

 

“Don’t hate on me - yeng yeng yeah!”

 

“Yeng yeng yeng yeng yeah!”

 

“Don’t mind them, they’re socially challenged,” Nichkhun apologised with a sheepish grin thrown at his girlfriend while Taecyeon and Uee continued mocking one another openly.

 

“Just keep smiling while they carry on like idiots,” Khun’s mom advised with sardonic laughter, making Tiffany chuckle.

 

“Hana, dul, set!” Halmunee Horvejkul piped up unexpectedly, startling everyone.

 

“She, uh...thought we were taking a picture. Isn’t that right, umma?” Khun’s dad asked of Halmunee Horvejkul in a falsely chipper tone.

 

“Ne!” Halmunee Horvejkul cried out happily.

 

Tiffany bit down on her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing out loud, busying herself with dishing up some fresh kimchi instead.

 

She felt a heavy lump occupy the space next to her and she jumped a little when she came into contact with Yuri’s dark brown eyes in close proximity.

 

“Why are we eating outside? It’s so damn hot today,” she remarked in a dull tone.

 

“Language, Kwon Yuri.” Khun’s mom rattled off like she did this a lot where Nichkhun’s wily cousin was concerned.

 

“What did I say?” Yuri asked with genuine innocence.

 

“You said the ‘D’ word,” Uee put in helpfully in a staged whisper.

 

“Oh my! Thou shall be ‘D-ed’ to the fieriest pit of hell,” Taecyeon added, laughing appreciatively at his own stupid joke.

 

“You’re both dorks,” Yuri and Nichkhun said at the same time. “Jinx!”  They exclaimed a moment later.

 

“Uh, what’s going on now?” Tiffany asked with a small chuckle.

 

“Oh, it’s just some dorky tradition Yul and Khun have been doing since they were kids.” Taecyeon supplied through a mouthful of creamy egg salad with slices of apple mixed into it.

 

“And whoever says ‘jinx!’ last has to clean out Pearl’s quarters for that day,” Uee went on with a knowing smile.

 

“I said it first!”

 

“Did not!”

 

“Did too!”

 

“Why do we have this stupid ritual anyway? He’s your damn horse,” Nichkhun grumbled.

 

“Language!” both Mr and Mrs. Horvejkul snapped at the same time.

 

“Sorry,” Nichkhun said with a deep blush.

 

“So...what did I miss?” Yuri asked of the group at large.

 

“Tiffany was just telling us about her job. She makes jeans for a living,” Uee relayed, throwing Tiffany a smile to show her that she didn’t mean any harm.

 

“Is that so?” Yuri questioned.

 

She turned a full 180 degrees to look Tiffany dead in the eye.

 

Tiffany was beginning to feel overexposed just from that look alone.

 

“You don’t strike me as the type to make clothes for a living.” Yuri remarked with an unfathomable look on her face.

 

“What do I strike you as?” Tiffany asked, her tone openly frank and friendly all at once.

 

If Yuri wanted to grill her, then two could play that game.

 

“I don’t know, someone who doesn’t do manual labour in any form.” Yuri finally offered with a dismissive countenance.

 

“And what exactly do you do, Yuri? Lots of manual labour then?”

 

Tiffany didn’t know where she got up the sudden courage to challenge someone as intimidating as Nichkhun’s beautiful cousin.

 

But there she was in the middle of a family gathering doing just that with eight other pairs of eyes fastened on her every move, Yuri’s included.

 

“Wow. Kitty’s got claws,” Taecyeon muttered under his breath, followed by a loud drunken burp soon after.

 

“I get by,” Yuri answered, finally looking away from Tiffany.

 

“Yuri helps dad on the farm.” Nichkhun explained, his eyes flitting nervously between his girlfriend and his cousin.

 

“I have chronic pain because of my back. Yuri does more than help me – she runs the whole damn show. And I couldn’t be prouder of my niece.” Khun’s dad declared with sudden gravity.

 

That was the first rush of true emotion that Tiffany had seen displayed by Khun’s father.

 

“Ahjussi, you flatter me too much,” Yuri murmured.

 

Tiffany was struck anew by the way that Yuri’s left dimple appeared every time she smiled with sincerity.

 

It made her look younger and more carefree.

 

And breathtaking.

 

Tiffany cleared and downed the rest of her cool glass of water, trying her best to forget all about Nichkhun’s obnoxious cousin sitting beside her.

 

“Shoot, we’re all out of beer.” Taecyeon blurted out, slamming his hands down hard on the table.

 

“I’ll go get some more,” Khun’s mom announced.

 

“I can go get it, if you want.” Tiffany interjected.

 

She was barely aware of when she’d risen from her seat in front of Khun’s family.

 

Only that she needed some breathing room for several blissful minutes.

 

“Thank you, Tiffany. That’s very kind of you.” Khun’s mom remarked with a smile of gratitude.

 

“Bottom drawer of the refrigerator. Give it a good tug – it sticks.” Uee offered.

 

“Thanks. Be right back.”

 

With that, Tiffany was forced to wedge herself between the table and Yuri just to get away from it all.

 

They were so close to one another that her back was pressed right up against the surly brunette’s face.

 

How embarrassing.

 

She scurried away, swatting a few random flies out of her face as she walked back towards the main screen door.

 

She made a quick detour into the nearest bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.

 

“Everything’s fine, you’re doing great. Kind of,” Tiffany mumbled to herself after studying her pale face in the murky crystal of the modern looking glass.

 

She clenched her hands at her sides as she moved towards the open-air kitchen alongside the living room.

 

The refrigerator, a small model painted a placid white, was easy enough to find; it was located right next to the old fashioned gas plate and oven.

 

A dull light flashed directly in Tiffany’s eyes as her bony fingers latched onto the drawer in question.

 

But as it turned out, Uee’s pronouncement about the drawer being a little stuck was inaccurate.

 

It was completely welded shut.  

 

Tiffany grunted and panted like she was running a marathon, trying with all her might to shimmy a little leverage between the tiny pocket of air she’d already created.

 

“Come on, you rusty piece of sh-WHOA!!!”

 

As basic Physics dictated, too much force applied to a stationary object caused the object in question to shoot forward at Tiffany’s stunned features.

 

Before she could block either the impact of the drawer colliding sharply with her face or even falling backwards, a sturdy pair of arms gripped her from behind and held her in place.

 

The drawer did end up smacking her on the nose and part of her exposed lip, which was now stinging painfully.

 

But the hands that had grabbed her had shielded her from falling onto the hard tiled floor.

 

So now Tiffany was pressed up against a warm body, two pairs of thrumming heartbeats pulsing through her overly sensitive eardrums in the dimly lit kitchen.

 

“Are you ok?” Yuri asked absurdly close to her.

 

Yuri???

 

Tiffany, who’d managed to keep the loose drawer close to her chest scrambled haphazardly onto her feet and out of the clutches of Yuri’s achingly sweet embrace. 

 

“I’m fine!” she answered, perhaps a little too loudly. “I think I drawer the broke – I mean, I think I broke the drawer.” She added, feelings her cheeks heat up to room temperature.

 

Yuri quirked a smile which didn’t make her feel any better about the awkward situation.

 

“Don’t sweat it. You can always just repay us by making a new refrigerator drawer at that cute little manufacturing plant of yours.” She returned with a voice as sweet as silky drops of honey.

 

With that, Yuri grabbed the cold beers that Tiffany had meant to grab herself and sauntered out of the kitchen, whistling a merry tune that annoyed the tar out of the latter.

---

“Seriously, what is your cousin’s deal?” Tiffany fumed for the umpteenth time.

 

The second she and Khun were finally alone, she blurted out what had happened with Yuri in the kitchen earlier that day.

 

Minus the part about how strangely nice and perfect Yuri’s arms around her felt for all of those miserable five seconds.

 

The sun had set hours ago and the night sky was now teeming with glowing fireflies and a ripe dank humidity that wrapped around your skin like a thick winter coat.

 

Despite her growing annoyance with Nichkhun’s headstrong cousin, Tiffany had to admit that it was beautiful here in the countryside.

 

She never got to experience anything like this listening to endless cars honking, crowds of people pushing and shoving you everywhere you went and the putrid smells of sweat and claustrophobic indifference that marked the thriving metropolis.

 

If it weren’t for the fact that they were visiting Khun’s family, Tiffany would’ve been perfectly content vacationing here, just the two of them.

 

Nichkhun sighed and gave up lounging on top of the cool duvet his mother had dressed the bed with earlier that morning and sat up straight looking at his overly anxious girlfriend.

 

Because it was such a hot night, he was only wearing his boxers, his lean and muscular body on display against the backdrop of the lone glow of the lamp dancing against the tiny walls.

 

He had really thought it would be a lot easier for her to meet his family and feel at ease around them.

 

Then again, she hadn’t let him kiss her properly until their fourth date...

 

“Babe, I already told you. Yuri’s not as mean as she seems. She’s just...guarded around new people. She’s always been that way ever since I can remember.” Khun explained with a weary countenance.

 

“I can understand that. But she’s really been grilling me like crazy today. Like...I killed her parents or something,” Tiffany huffed with a touch of melodrama.

 

The teasing smirk fell from Nichkhun’s face when he heard that.

 

“It definitely wasn’t you who killed them.” He mumbled finally.

 

Tiffany stopped short mid-rant and stared in bewilderment at her boyfriend. “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that they died a long time ago,” Nichkhun elaborated. “They were farmers like my parents, in this area too actually. There was a really bad flood here in Jangpyung when I was 8 years old. My uncle and aunt were outside when it happened, trying to herd all the scared animals to a safe place. They didn’t make it. That’s why my family took Yuri in. She was an only child.”

 

“God,” Tiffany whispered, feeling sick to her stomach. “That’s awful.”

 

“Yeah,” Khun agreed.

 

He got off the bed slowly and encircled Tiffany in his arms, nuzzling her exposed shoulder blade with his small chin as they stood together in his childhood bedroom. 

 

“Yuri has the tendency to be a stuck-up at the best of times. But she’s family and I’d really like it if you two could try to get along. For me.”

 

Despite her feelings of empathy towards Yuri in the moment, Tiffany still couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at Nichkhun using ‘aegyo’ on her to get her to bond with his unreadable cousin.

 

Men can be such children when they want things to go their way.

 

“Fine, I’ll try. But only because you look pathetic when you beg,” Tiffany griped, but with a smile on her face as she turned in her boyfriend’s arms.

 

“That’s the spirit! You and Yuri can even bond by mocking me if you like,” Khun teased right back, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously at his girlfriend.

 

Tiffany sighed again, but only this time in a more breathy way that conveyed her specific needs and wants in that moment as she stood on tiptoes and kissed Nichkhun.

 

They started to really get into it when Khun stopped caressing the small of her back with his big hands and cursed inaudibly.

 

“What now? Did I only score a ‘3’ on my kissing skills?” Tiffany mocked, moving Nichkhun’s untidy blonde bangs out of his eyes.

 

“Like that would ever happen,” Nichkhun countered in earnest. “No, I just left my PS Vita in the storage room.”

 

“What’s it doing there? You keep that thing attached to you like a newborn.”

 

“Ha ha, very funny. I escaped my dad’s super boring conversation about tractors after dinner and went there to play a few levels of Final Fantasy X. But just as I was about to clock the Zanarkand level, that douchebag Taecyeon came in and gave me an atomic wedgie. I totally forgot I left it there.” Khun complained in an irresistibly cute way.

 

“Wow, that was a super long and boring way of telling me you’d rather play video games than make out with me after hours.” Tiffany declared with a facetious grin.

 

“I’m only gonna play for like...12 minutes, tops.” Nichkhun said in a persuasive tone, wrapping his hands lightly around Tiffany’s lithe waist.

 

Tiffany responded by moving out of his grasp and patting his bare chest with her hands.

 

“Ok, Tidus+. I’ll be the best girlfriend ever and go get it for you.”

 

“On top of the electronic keyboard!” Nichkhun called out happily.

 

Tiffany giggled to herself when her boyfriend made a big show of whooping with delight and jumping onto his bed with a bouncy spring.

 

She shook her head and left his bedroom in search of the elusive game console.

 

Sure enough, it was resting precariously on the edge of a black key on the keyboard.

 

As she moved to pick it up, she caught sight of a tiny sliver of light mingling with a series of black shadows peeking through the door left ajar that led to Yuri’s room.

 

Tiffany craned her neck ever so slightly and caught sight of a tall figure moving past the partially open door.

 

It was Yuri and unlike the entire day when she’d kept her hair up in a loose bun, it now fell down in damp streams of golden pearls.

 

She had her back to Tiffany and hadn’t yet noticed that she was being watched.

 

And all the brunette could see through that tiny sliver of door was that Yuri was dressed in nothing but a pair of faded grey shorts, her enticing back curving downwards into the shape of a ‘V’ and on display for Nichkhun’s latest girlfriend.

 

Tiffany watched with depraved curiosity at the way that the tiniest muscles rippled through Yuri’s shoulders as she leant over her bedroom mirror and began combing through her wet tendrils of hair with an ancient-looking wooden brush.

 

Then as if she had sensed her presence, Yuri turned around suddenly and stood staring through the doorway.

 

Tiffany was too stunned to offer an explanation or an apology for her major faux pas. So instead, she spun around and all but ran into hers and Khun’s bedroom, slamming the door in the process.

 

Which left Yuri in an unusual predicament:

 

Questioning why her stomach had clenched with an achingly sweet pain when she realised that it was Tiffany who’d been watching her.

---

Even with this secret knowledge that Tiffany now possessed about the tragic losses that Yuri had previously suffered, she still couldn’t help but feel flustered and annoyed by the fact that everyone in Nichkhun’s family seemed to be ganging up on her for the next few days.

 

And this was because everyone had seemed to get it into their heads that the worldly brunette needed assistance with getting to know and tolerate Yuri better.

 

This view was not shared by either Tiffany or Yuri and both of them tried to resist with all their might.

 

Even Khun’s dad was in on it too.

 

After that initial impression she’d had of him, Tiffany was surprised when the gruff-looking man thawed immensely and even seemed to smile a lot more in her company.

 

But with that acceptance came the insufferable hints he kept throwing at Yuri to ‘help Tiffany’ with something or the clichéd ‘Why don’t you tell Tiffany about the time that you...?’ anecdotes to get Nichkhun’s cousin thawing on her own.

 

It was driving Tiffany crazy.

 

It had begun with little things that began early every single morning; the whole family insisted on waking up early every day and waking Tiffany (who loved sleeping in) up in the process with their bustling around the big farmstead.

 

“Oh shoot, I forgot to put a fresh bar of soap in the shower.” Mrs. Horvejkul muttered in dismay as Tiffany prepared for her ritualised morning wash. “Taec, where’s the box of soap?”

 

“You have a box filled with soap?” Tiffany asked in a comical manner.

 

“Of course we do, dear. It’s very convenient to buy household products in bulk here in the countryside. Don’t you buy your necessities in bulk too?” Khun’s mom inquired innocently.

 

In all honesty, the thought to do so had never even occurred to Tiffany.

 

“I don’t know, Mom!” Taec bellowed back from the second bathroom a good two minutes later after the question had been asked.

 

“Yuri!” Mrs. Horvejkul screaming, startling Tiffany in the process. “Where’s the soap box?!”

 

“In the barn!” Yuri yelled back from her bedroom.

 

“Perfect! Won’t you be a dear and go fetch it for me? And put a fresh bar straight into Tiffany’s hands when you come back upstairs!”

 

“Mrs. Horvejkul, that really isn’t necessary-”

 

“Of course it is, you’re a guest in my home.” Khun’s mom interjected with a kind smile. “And Yuri’s happy to do it. Aren’t you?”

 

She aimed her question just as Yuri opened her bedroom door and gave Tiffany an unpleasant scowl.

 

“I’m positively enthralled by the idea.” Yuri finally offered, forcing a tight smile onto her face.

 

There seemed to be a lot of things that the rest of the family needed Yuri to ‘get out of the barn’ just for Tiffany as her stay continued.

 

An extra toothbrush when Tiffany’s own one accidentally fell into the toilet bowl after Nichkhun forgot to put the lid back down.

 

Extra stores of butter freshly churned up during the week for Tiffany’s toast in the morning.

 

Insect repellent for the scores of mosquitoes that attacked Tiffany’s porcelain skin at every turn.

 

And then of course, there was the ‘Flaky Incident’.

 

“She got out.” Uee informed the family over breakfast one morning, a grim look painted on her face.

 

Everyone save for Tiffany groaned in unison at this.

 

“Again???”

 

“That moron!”

 

“Uh, who are we talking about?” Tiffany finally asked.

 

“Flaky.” Yuri answered, immediately averting her eyes and returning to the newspaper in front of her.

 

“And Flaky is...?”

 

“Only the dumbest and most aggravating chicken we’ve ever owned.” Nichkhun supplied with an eye-roll. “I’ll go get her.”

 

“Pfft, like she’ll go to you.” Taecyeon snorted through a mouthful of bacon.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Flaky hates you. You do remember that she once took a dump on your arm when you tried to pick her up, don’t you?”

 

“I think I’ll skip the cream,” Tiffany muttered squeamishly, re-considering dolloping the thick (but slightly runny) white matter onto the freshly baked scone in front of her.

 

“You just have to bring that up every chance you get?” Khun fired back at his older brother.

 

“Can’t help it. It was just that funny.” Taecyeon said, a sly smirk on his face.

 

“Well, someone has to go put Flaky back into the birdhouse.” Khun’s dad declared in a firm voice. “So who’s going to do it?”

 

Everyone save for Tiffany and Mr. Horvejkul immediately started whistling loudly in turn.

 

“I can’t do it. My back isn’t what it used to be...” Khun’s mom stammered, busying herself with her plate of salty gim mixed with rice and fried egg.

 

“I did a French manicure,” Uee added, holding up her hands as further proof.

 

“She’s too fast for me.” Taecyeon supplied.

 

Then everyone’s attention turned to Yuri, who stared wearily back.

 

“Yuri-”

 

“Aww, man  - why me???”

 

“Flaky will go to you.” Khun’s mom said in a mild tone.

 

“Yes, with lots of biting before and after I pick her up. That bird is possessed!”

 

“Listen to your aunt,” Khun’s dad implored with firmness.

 

Yuri grunted something inaudible as she got up from her seat.

 

“Tiffany can help you.” Uee said out of nowhere.

 

“Tiffany will do what now?” the woman of the hour asked in bewilderment.

 

“Help Yuri get Flaky back into the birdhouse with the other chickens.” Nichkhun explained, a mischievous smile playing on his face.

 

“But I don’t know anything about chickens!” Tiffany protested loudly.

 

“All the more reason to learn, Big City Life,” Taecyeon put in, chuckling to himself.

 

Tiffany and Yuri locked eyes on one another, both inwardly thinking the same thing.

 

This was going to be a long and unforgettable family visit...

---

After the infamous encounter with Flaky, Tiffany was on high alert for any crafty tricks Khun’s family had up their sleeves for bringing her and Yuri together.

 

Today was no different when Khun’s mom wanted to bake little crispy pastries filled with red bean paste and –

 

“Blueberries,” she announced in a cheerful tone while everyone was reclining outside close to the barbecue outhouse.

 

“Are we all out?” her husband asked in a gruff tone.

 

“Yes, we are. Yuri, won’t you be a dear and-”

 

“No! Absolutely not!” Yuri fired back heatedly.

 

She was sick to death of her family getting it into their heads that she somehow needed to bond with Khun’s latest tryst.

 

She wasn’t even sure she liked Tiffany.

 

Then again, liking her might’ve been the whole problem...

 

“Sheesh, Yuri!” Uee proclaimed, laughing at her cousin’s angry words. “Over-reaction, much?”

 

“I’m not going to pick fresh blueberries with Tiffany.” Yuri snapped.

 

“No one said you had to,” Khun’s mom said with an air of dignity.

 

“But since you were kind enough to mention it...” Khun’s dad trailed off.

 

Tiffany could now see just where Khun got his playful side from while studying his father’s tanned face.

 

“I don’t know how to pick blueberries.” Tiffany stammered in a hopeful tone.

 

She was just as exhausted from all the close contact with Yuri lately.

 

Especially after what she’d seen of the raven-haired beauty when she’d been combing her wet hair the first night she arrived...

 

“It’s really easy,” Khun put in, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend’s waist from behind.

 

Tiffany quirked an eyebrow when she noticed the way that Yuri’s throat tensed up and contracted while she watched the two of them closely.

 

“Our neighbours on the adjacent farm let us pick blueberries from their bushes and our family in turn lets them have a healthy supply of eggs.” Taecyeon answered for Tiffany’s benefit.

 

“The two of you should get going before it gets dark,” Khun’s dad informed Tiffany and Yuri.

 

“You could take Pearl and Lydia. They need the exercise.” Khun’s mom added with a smile.

 

It seemed like the women clearly didn’t have a choice in the matter.

 

They stared at each other in dismay, silently wondering what they’d done to deserve these random acts of ‘kindness’.

---

20 minutes later, both Yuri and Tiffany had climbed onto the family’s two horses and set off at a steady trot en route to their neighbour’s plantation.

 

It had been years since Tiffany had ridden a horse, but she managed to keep herself upright in the saddle, her fingers latching onto the reins as Lydia neighed loudly beneath her.

 

She couldn’t understand what had possessed someone to name a horse ‘Lydia’.

 

She gazed enviously off to her left at Pearl, who wasn’t making Yuri rock to and fro like she was readying to throw her off at any second.

 

Both the rider and the horse trotted along with happy camaraderie while Tiffany had to keep adjusting the reins and urging Lydia to go slower over the rocky pathway that sloped downwards into a picturesque valley.

 

Despite present company, Tiffany couldn’t help admitting that the scenery of their neighbour’s farm was gorgeous with its rows of tiny green plants sticking up from the brown earth and the clusters of cooling trees framing the plantation in an emerald arc, providing soothing shade from the scorching heat of the sun overhead.

 

“Lydia’s not deaf, you know. She just doesn’t like you,” Yuri finally said, a nasty smile playing on her face at Tiffany’s innate misery.

 

Tiffany stopped whispering obscenities at Lydia and fixed her eyes on Khun’s rude cousin instead.

 

“How would you know? Are you the horse whisperer or something?” she deadpanned.

 

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Yuri announced with pride. “I’ve always been good with horses. Ever since I was little.”

 

“It’s too bad you spent more time whispering to horses instead of people. It might’ve made you a little less y over time.”

 

Tiffany instantly regretted her words when Yuri’s face fell and they lapsed into a moody and tense silence.

 

“We’re here,” Yuri said after a long while.

 

The rows of plants had finally ended and they now faced a clump of unruly bushes lined with small circles of dark objects.

 

Yuri dismounted easily from Pearl and led her to a nearby tree, taking a short but strong-looking coil of rope from her saddle bag.

 

“Find another tree and tie up Lydia,” Yuri instructed without turning around. “We wouldn’t want her running off like Flaky,” she couldn’t resist adding, chuckling to herself.

 

She was enjoying teasing the born city girl.

 

Maybe even a little too much, which served only to annoy her when she had a private moment to herself each night.

 

Tiffany scowled at Yuri’s back as she brought Lydia to a halt.

 

Then with shaky hands, she climbed off of the white horse’s massive body, crawling unceremoniously down the animal’s back as her feet mercifully touched the ground again.

 

“I’m not an idiot, you know. I may live in the city, but I know how to handle a goddamn horse,” she snapped finally after days of pent-up frustration.

 

She retrieved her own coil of rope which she attached to Lydia’s reins as she led the horse forward with an impatient countenance.

 

Instead of offering a nasty retort, Yuri smiled instead at the city girl’s feisty attitude, grabbing the wicker basket her aunt had given her for the blueberries.

 

After ensuring that Lydia was secure, Tiffany grabbed her own wicker basket and stomped off to the nearest blueberry bush.

 

“And where did you learn your horse whispering skills? A horse breeding manufacturer?” Yuri asked, her nimble fingers making contact with the dark berries.

 

Tiffany shook her head, mirthless laughter bubbling on her lips as she snapped a branch off in her hands.

 

“Is that supposed to be clever? I tell you I make jeans for a living and that instantly gives you the right to judge me or pretend you know anything about me? I think I finally figured out how you scared off all of Khun’s old girlfriends.” She spat with utter contempt.

 

“I didn’t scare them off. They fled of their own accord. That’s what happens when my cousin falls in love with the wrong girl.” Yuri countered.

 

“How the hell would you know? I’ve bet you’ve never loved anyone in your whole life. Except for a horse maybe. But I’m pretty sure that’s called ‘’ everywhere in the world.”

 

Yuri knew she should be deeply offended.

 

But instead, Tiffany’s emotional jabs only seemed to endear her more to her.

 

And that was definitely a problem.

 

“You’re doing it wrong,” she murmured more gently.

 

“What? Breathing?”

 

Yuri shook her head and moved closer to Tiffany till she was leaning over her small shoulders.

 

“Keeping the berry between your thumb and index fingers will make the juice come out and your hands sticky.” She elaborated.

 

She took the ruined berry out of Tiffany’s hand and threw it into the dirt. Then she took the latter’s hand, holding it by the wrist with the lightest of feathery touches.

 

“You want to hold the branch with a berry on it between your index and middle fingers. Then pull it quickly towards you.”

 

Tiffany watched with morbid curiosity as Yuri propelled her hand forward, her fingers moving automatically to obey her instructions.

 

“Now pull,” Yuri whispered delicately in her ear.

 

Tiffany acquiesced and the branch came away from the bush with a loud snap, freeing a good 10 blueberries in its wake.

 

But she was pulsing over with rage and it showed when she released her hand from Yuri’s soft grip and threw the berries into the wicker basket hanging loosely from her other arm.

 

“You don’t know me,” she said with forced calm, even though her whole body was quaking. “It’s not me who Nichkhun needs to be protected from. Maybe it’s you.”

 

“Tiffany-”

 

“I’m going back to the house. That way you can get all the credit for a job well done. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”

 

Tiffany turned away from the hateful woman and stopped short in erse astonishment.

 

In all that time she and Yuri had been bickering, she hadn’t heard the tell-tale hissing, a leathery body crawling through the dusty dirt with generations of predators to back up its presence till it had situated itself right behind her.

 

She staggered back just a little, her eyes wide with terror as she kept them fixed on the black and white pit viper now raised to its full height in front of her.

 

Yuri put down her basket of berries slowly and started calculating in her mind what the best approach was.

 

She wasn’t afraid of snakes; she’d spent her entire life growing accustomed to their sporadic appearances in this lonely part of the countryside.

 

But judging from Tiffany’s rigid posture, the city girl was scared out of her mind.   

 

“Tiffany, listen to me very carefully...” she began with halting breaths.

 

“It’s a snake, Yuri. It’s a freaking snake!” Tiffany hissed through gritted teeth.

 

Sweat poured down her temples like a torrid waterfall and her heart was jumping in .

 

“It won’t hurt you as long as you don’t move a single muscle. I need you to be calm and stay exactly where you are-”

 

But Yuri’s words were drowned out by the high-pitched shriek that left Tiffany’s mouth as she turned around and tried to run away.

 

She fell to the ground in an instant as the snake slithered away, hitting her head in the process.

 

“Tiffany!”

 

Yuri was by her side in an instant, kneeling down and picking her head up from the ground.

 

Tiffany looked up at her with wonder, a strange buzzing filling her ears, feeling something wet and sticky coursing down the side of her face.

 

“You’re right, that wasn’t so scary after all,” she remarked with a pleased smile, a dreamy countenance dancing over her face.

 

That’s when Yuri looked over the rest of the body and saw the fresh puncture wounds on the back of Tiffany’s calf.

 

“No...” she whispered in horror.

 

“I feel funny, Yuri...”

 

The country girl knew that Korean pit viper venom wasn’t deadly.

 

But if it were left in Tiffany’s bloodstream for too long, it would make her badly sick for at least a good week.

 

“Hey, look at me. Focus on me, Tiffany.” Yuri pleaded while caressing her cheek, feeling utterly panic-stricken in the moment.

 

“It hurts, Yuri. It really hurts,” Tiffany gasped out, finally realising the danger of her current situation.

 

She’d been bitten by a snake.

 

She was going to die for sure.

 

“It’s gonna be ok,” Yuri mumbled for her own benefit too, her hands shaking violently. “Think, Yuri!”

 

It took a good 5 seconds of leafing through the information she’d stored away in her brain on snake attacks before she decided to do something incredibly risky.

 

“Tiffany, I need you to stay calm. I...I’m going to try to get the venom out of you.”

 

Tiffany was feeling decidedly groggy at this point, but even she knew exactly what that meant.

 

“Yuri, wait. Don’t-”

 

Her words were drowned out the moment Yuri leant over her rapidly swelling leg and pressed her lips to the blood and pus-ridden wound.

 

Then she started to with all her might.

 

Her senses immediately told her to get rid of the acidic flavoured poison that she’d taken into her own mouth. But she ignored her natural impulses to stop, hard against Tiffany’s flesh and spitting out the venom at particular junctures onto the ground beside her.

 

She stopped counting after a while, wholly focused on the task of ridding the girl’s body of the vile snake venom.

 

Tiffany was breathing hard, her eyes fixed on Yuri’s hands encased around her leg, her head bobbing up and down like an apple in water over her body.

 

She was so hard that it started to hurt more than quite a bit.

 

But her lips were so soft; it almost made the pain a little worth it somehow.

 

Yuri finally stopped when finally came away only with the coppery taste of Tiffany’s untainted blood.

 

It was at that point when Tiffany finally had enough and fainted.

 

Before her head could drop to the ground, Yuri gathered it and the rest of the girl’s limp body into her arms as she lifted her from the ground.

 

Then she all but jogged with Tiffany in her arms back to where they’d left the horses.

 

She placed the unconscious woman under the cool shade of the tree as she untied both horses with trembling fingers.

 

Yuri was about to pick Tiffany up again when she realised yet another irritating problem.

 

She could put the girl easily back onto Lydia, but how was Tiffany going to control the horse and not fall off while she was unconscious?

 

Yuri cursed aloud and hit the side of her head with her balled fist in a mesh of frustration and anxiety over her cousin’s girlfriend.

 

“Eottoke?!” she screamed at the sky.  “Not now, Pearl!” she snapped a moment later when the horse nudged her back.

 

She ignored at least four of the horse’s nudges before she was forced to turn around.

 

She did a double take when she saw her favourite horse prostrated on one knee in front of her.

 

And she finally understood.

 

“Pearl, you beautiful, clever creature!” she cried out in joy.

 

She leant over the horse and placed a loving kiss on its forehead before going back to Tiffany.

 

For the first time since the city girl had arrived, Yuri was careful with her as she took her in her arms and placed her gingerly onto Pearl’s back.

 

Then she climbed on too and took hold of the reins with one hand, keeping a firm grip on the back of Tiffany’s shirt to hold her up, clicking her tongue towards her right cheek.

 

Pearl obeyed and got back up onto her two legs as slowly as if she were giving birth to a foal.

 

Yuri let go of Tiffany’s shirt and let her fall back against her chest as she took hold of both reins and whistled at Lydia to follow them.

 

She was barely aware that the sun was close to setting as the four of them trotted painfully slowly back to the house.

 

By the time they got to the foot of the hill, Tiffany was stirring in her arms and the rest of the family was running towards them.

 

“Hold these,” she whispered into Tiffany’s befuddled ears as she got off of Pearl, referring to the loose reins.

 

Tiffany was only dimly aware of screams of panic and confusion as she felt herself being pulled down and carried in a pair of small arms that felt warm and comforting to her delirious senses.

 

Then everything went black for a long while.

---

“Doctor, is she going to be ok?”

 

“She was very lucky. The poison was barely in her system before you got it out. That was quick thinking, Yuri.”

 

“No, just dumb luck...”

 

Even though it was difficult to tell where she was or what was happening, Tiffany held onto the tangible feeling of gentle fingers moving over her face, caressing every inch of her clammy skin as she slept on.

 

“How long before she wakes up?”

 

“A few more hours, I think. The drugs I gave her are already repairing the damage. Her vitals look good; she’s going to be just fine...”

 

Flashes of blinding light passed through Tiffany’s closed eyelids as she struggled to hold onto those fingers, that voice keeping her from passing into an unknown sense of limbo.

 

It seemed like an incredibly long time passed before Tiffany felt those tender fingers touching her again.

 

“Everything’s alright, Tiffany. Just wake up when you’re ready, ok? I’ll be here, I promise. I’m so sorry about everything...”

 

Tiffany wanted to scream with all her might for that soothing voice to stay with her.

 

But she was going back into limbo, the only familiar thing being the delirious waves of continuity that passed through her senses.

---

After what felt like years of being held captive by sleep, Tiffany finally woke up.

 

She glanced in confusion at the familiar cedar walls, but squinted dumbly at the strange bed she was lying on.

 

She was back in the Horvejkul family home, that much she knew.

 

But this wasn’t Nichkhun’s bed...

 

Someone stirred in close proximity to her and she craned her head to look.

 

It was Yuri, who looked like she was engaged in a fitful sleep of her own, her head resting in her hands while she sat in a cramped wooden chair close to the window.

 

In the past week since they’d met and bickered constantly with each other, not once had Tiffany seen Yuri look like this.

 

So fragile and lost.

 

It only made her more confused.

 

“Yuri?”

 

When her tired eyes flickered open and met the sick girl’s with a mesh of weariness and inexplicable joy, Tiffany was struck anew by how vulnerable Yuri looked in that precise moment.

 

Vulnerable and unswervingly beautiful.

 

The thought only seemed to make Tiffany’s throat rougher and parched, like coarse sandpaper rubbing against every sinewy ounce of fibre inside .

 

“Tiffany!”

 

Yuri abandoned her wooden vigil and was sitting on the edge of the bed in no time.

 

Tiffany was more than alarmed when Nichkhun’s enigmatic cousin immediately grasped her hand tightly in hers and caressed it with crude tenderness that made her heart gallop in her chest.

 

“How are you feeling?” Yuri asked immediately, not taking her eyes off of her cousin’s girlfriend.

 

The same girlfriend that she’d allowed to get bitten by a snake.

 

The guilt had been eating away at her for a good day without respite.  

 

“Thirsty,” Tiffany croaked out.

 

Her skin felt like worn leather straining against her bones; that’s how much of an effort it took just to breathe in the moment.

 

“Ok ok, here you go.”

 

Yuri fumbled ever so slightly as she reached over and grabbed the plastic jug resting on the pedestal beside the bed, filling it to the brim with water.

 

Tiffany took it from her with equally shaking hands, her incredible thirst overwhelming her senses as she greedily drank down a day’s worth of neglected sustenance.

 

The born and bred country girl watched with morbid fascination as Tiffany’s throat throbbed in ribbed lines as she drank every last drop of water from the cup.

 

“Take it easy, you’ll give yourself a pain in your stomach drinking like that,” Yuri remarked in a hasty voice, her apprehension growing with every second.

 

But her breath caught in when Nichkhun’s girlfriend shot her a grateful smile that was as warm as an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

 

“Do you want some more water?” Yuri asked, her stomach feeling strangely tingly.

 

Tiffany shook her head and stretched out her tired limbs.

 

“No, I’m ok.”

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

“Tired and achy all over. But I’m alive,” Tiffany said with effortless grace.

 

Yuri watched in confusion as the girl’s eyes widened as large as saucers.

 

“What is it? Are you in pain?”

 

“No! The-the-the snake!”

 

The raven-haired beauty became even more bewildered by this cryptic statement.

 

“What about it?”

 

“Did you kill it?” Tiffany demanded in a shaky voice.

 

Something about the way she said it made Yuri burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

 

Tiffany started to wonder if Nichkhun’s strange cousin was just a little unhinged after all.

 

“What’s so funny?” she asked in a slightly affronted tone.

 

“You,” Yuri mumbled, clutching her hand to her belly. “You get bitten by a snake and you immediately want to be avenged for it.”

 

“Well it did bite me. Tit for tat I say,” Tiffany couldn’t resist teasing, even though her voice still felt like it had been sanded down with a kitchen knife.  

 

“I would’ve loved to kill it for you. But I was a little too preoccupied with not bringing Nichkhun back a dead girlfriend.” Yuri concluded with a wry smile on her face.

 

Tiffany sensed it more than she actually saw the cost of what it must’ve taken for Yuri to be able to smile at her right now.

 

“Yuri, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t run away from you...”

 

Tiffany stopped short when the pressure of Yuri’s hand on her arm grew and grew like metal being melted in a fire.

 

“You’re sorry? Tiffany, you have nothing to be sorry about. It was my fault you got bitten by that snake. If I hadn’t said those awful things to you; if I’d only noticed our surroundings a bit more-”

 

“Stop,” Tiffany begged in a hoarse voice.

 

Then it was her turn to lay a pale hand over Yuri’s tanned one.

 

“We’ve both said and done things we’re not proud of. But you did save my life after all. Yuri, you the poison out-”

 

“I know, it was incredibly stupid,” Yuri interjected, feeling thoroughly self-conscious in the moment.

 

Or was she just unnerved by the fact that her cousin’s girlfriend was still technically holding her hand?

 

“Incredibly stupid, but very sweet and brave. Thank you,” Tiffany whispered in earnest.

 

For the first time since she had arrived and turned her world completely upside down, Yuri finally dared to smile at the beautiful girl lying in her bed.

 

“You’re welcome.” She mumbled, finally looking away and fixing her eyes on a flaking piece of plaster on the wall behind her bed.

 

Then she remembered something.

 

“Damn! Everyone’s downstairs! They’ll wanna know you’re awake!”

 

Before Tiffany could say anything, Yuri leapt off the edge of the bed and flew out the door.

 

In a matter of seconds, she was being bombarded by bodies at every turn and loud shouts of jubilation along with mounds of questions being shot at her like stray bullets.

 

“Tiffany, how are you feeling?”

 

“Are you cold? We should get you two more blankets.”

 

“Why weren’t you wearing rubber boots and carrying a stick?!”

 

“Are you hungry? Do you want to eat???”

 

“We need to tell the neighbours about these damn snakes invading the rice paddies during the summer months.”

 

“Those damn reptiles should’ve been made into tar billions of years ago!”

 

Ironically, that last statement was made by none other than Nichkhun’s grandmother.

 

But Tiffany only had eyes for her boyfriend, whose eyes looked suspiciously puffy and red.

 

The only time she’d ever seen Khun cry was when Korea got knocked out of the soccer world cup, and that had been just a few short week ago.

 

She was a little embarrassed, but mostly touched by just how much he really cared for her.

 

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I should’ve gone with you...” Khun mumbled, coming to sit on the edge of the bed beside Tiffany.

 

Her eyes crinkled with sympathy as she clasped Khun’s face in her hands and kissed his forehead lightly.

 

And as she drew her boyfriend’s head lower, she caught sight of Yuri looking slightly abashed and crestfallen.

 

But just like many times before, a mask as hard as flint appeared on her face and she disappeared out the partially open door amidst the animated talking of her family members as they hovered protectively around Tiffany.

 

---

 

It remained like that for many days with everyone fussing endlessly over Tiffany, long after she’d moved back into Khun’s bedroom again.

 

Everyone save for Yuri.

 

She always seemed to be gone from the house whenever Tiffany woke up in the mornings and went to bed long after the sun had set.

 

After that surreal moment where they hadn’t been fighting right after she’d been bitten by a snake, Tiffany found that she almost missed the snarky comments Nichkhun’s cousin sent her way just for coming from the city.

 

As it turned out, Yuri wasn’t avoiding her like she initially thought.

 

There had been a series of bad thunder storms that had occurred in recent days, damaging several farms in the near vicinity.

 

Yuri had been assisting some of the neighbours with fixing electrical outlets in their homes or repairing damage done to their barns or rooftops because of the severe lightning strikes.

 

Still, even if she’d never admit it to anyone, Tiffany did miss seeing the raven-haired beauty clomping around the family home at regular intervals.

 

That was until the rest of the family were called in to help with the neighbouring farms too.

 

“Why do you have to go again?” Tiffany couldn’t resist asking her boyfriend for the umpteenth time.

 

The house was bustling with activity as everyone (save for Uee plopped down beside her on the living room sofa reading an issue of Cosmopolitan cover to cover) ran around collecting tools and other necessities for the trip.

 

“Because apparently I’m good at lifting things,” Khun teased comically with an impish smile on his face.

 

“Actually, I just said that to be polite. Patrick Starr benches more than you,” Taecyeon butted in, clapping his younger brother hard on the shoulder.

 

Khun rolled his eyes at his muscular brother’s back while Tiffany giggled at his expense.

 

“How long are you gonna be gone for?” she asked of him, feeling decidedly vulnerable in the moment.

 

“Dunno. Might be a night – might be a few nights depending on the extent of the damage of the neighbouring farms.” Khun rattled off while gathering a backpack in his arms.

 

Tiffany thought it was a miracle that a similar fate hadn’t befallen Khun’s family home and the farm itself.

 

But before his untimely death at the age of 72 a few years prior, Khun’s grandfather had the foresight of reinforcing the current structure and architecture of the family home to withstand strong winds and other extreme elements of Mother Nature.

 

“Come on, everyone!” Khun’s dad bellowed from outside.

 

“That man’s going to give himself a heart attack from all that yelling,” Khun’s mom grumbled more to herself as she slipped into a neon orange vest over her golf shirt.

 

“I’ll call and text every day, promise. Besides, Uee will be here. And so will Yuri.”

 

A swooping sensation fluttered through Tiffany’s chest at the mention of her boyfriend’s cousin.

 

Apart from Khun’s baby sister, they would be alone in the house together.

 

Tiffany honestly couldn’t think of any situation she’d endured so far in Yuri’s presence that was worse than this.

 

“Right, of course. Yuri will be here...” Tiffany murmured more to herself.

 

But Nichkhun still heard and pressed a loving kiss on his girlfriend’s temple, staring deep into her warm brown eyes.

 

“Play nice, ok?” he urged with a small smile on his face.

 

Tiffany pulled his head back down with her two hands and kissed him in earnest, if only just to reassure herself of everything they’d built up together as a couple in the past few months.

 

“I will,” she promised.

 

“See you soon, I love you.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

After blowing her a kiss, Nichkhun turned away and walked behind his grandmother, wondering silently why he felt a sudden trepidation about leaving.

 

Uee waited for all of 5 minutes for her family to leave before she sprang up from the sofa with a cry of delight.

 

“What’s with you?” Tiffany inquired with idle curiosity, looking up from the book she’d been reading.

 

“My boyfriend just texted me. He doesn’t have to work tonight! So I’m going to catch the bus to Seoul to meet him!” Uee proclaimed in ecstasy as she raced off to the bedroom down the hall.

 

She nearly bowled Yuri over, who’d just exited the bathroom.

 

“What’s with her?” she asked of Tiffany with her usual surly look in place.

 

“Her boyfriend texted. So she’s going to meet him in Seoul.” Tiffany explained with a giggle.

 

“What? You’re blowing us off to spend time with your bouncer from the night club???” Yuri fumed as her cousin exited her bedroom.

 

Uee was now dressed in a skimpy mini skirt, staggeringly high heels, a tight tanktop and a short-sleeved denim jacket.

 

And she was applying a light layer of make-up as she gathered up her purse.

 

“You see me all the time, Yuri,” Uee countered in a dismissive tone. “And I’ll spend time with Tiffany when I get back tomorrow. Or the next day...”

 

“Or the next day,” Yuri quipped, but with a mischievous smile on her face.

 

Uee pressed an affectionate kiss on Yuri’s cheek in answer to this.

 

“You two be good while I’m gone!” she greeted as she sped through the screen door.

 

Yuri shook her head and chuckled at her cousin’s silly antics.

 

Whoever heard of someone dropping everything at the last second just to spend time with the person they were dating?

 

But her amusement was short-lived when she glanced at Tiffany and realised that there was another problem to resolve.

 

How was she going to survive spending the next few days alone with her cousin’s girlfriend?

 

Her cousin’s beautiful and unattainable girlfriend...

 

“So! We’re alone...” Tiffany said in an unnaturally high-pitched tone.

 

“Yes!” Yuri agreed, feeling beads of sweat forming in all the wrong places on her body. “Yes, we are...”

 

“What should we do?”

 

Yuri racked her brain for a few seconds before coming up with a solution that would suit them both.

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

It took every vestige of Yuri’s inner strength not to react positively when Tiffany shot her a radiant eye-smile.

 

“Actually, that sounds really good.” Tiffany admitted.

 

“Great. Let’s have a picnic outside. But...only if you’re up for it,” Yuri added in a hasty tone.

 

Even though it had been days since Tiffany had been bitten by that snake, she still felt the need to be extra careful with her in case she shattered into a million pieces.

 

“I’m up for anything,” the city girl said without any hesitation.

---

A little while later, Tiffany was sent outside and instructed by Yuri to set down the blanket she’d given her on the neatly trimmed lawn.

 

The city girl did as she was told and lay down comfortably on the blanket with her sunglasses on, watching the subtle way that the breeze made the branches on the trees shiver and quake.

 

She couldn’t remember ever doing anything as frivolous as this back in the city.

 

Just sitting outside and purposely whiling the time away because it was fun and relaxing.

 

It felt oddly unsettling and nice all at once.

 

After running back several times to get cutlery and a host of other things from the kitchen, Yuri finally came to join her on the blanket.

 

At first, they just sat quietly, eating the simple array of radish kimchi, spam and sticky rice and tiny cold boiled eggs without talking.

 

But Tiffany finally had enough and decided it was time she made good on her promise to her boyfriend to get to know his unreadable cousin.

 

“Tell me about yourself,” she prompted without any preamble.

 

Yuri nearly choked on a boiled egg when she heard this.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“What do you like? What do you dislike? What do you do for fun?”

 

“And why do you care?” Yuri couldn’t resist asking, wiping the side of with a napkin.

 

“Because I’m curious about you,” Tiffany said.

 

She re-arranged her position and now lay on her stomach, keeping her face propped up with her hands while looking at Yuri.

 

The surly country girl could honestly say that no one had ever said anything like that to her before.

 

She was just ‘Yuri’ to everyone.

 

Always there to lend a helping hand when anyone needed it.

 

She was steady and consistent.

 

But was that all there was to her personality?

 

Shouldn’t there be...more?

 

“I don’t know...” Yuri trailed off in a hapless tone.

 

She stopped short when she realised just how intently Nichkhun’s girlfriend was watching her.

 

Like she really wanted to know if there was more to Kwon Yuri than met the eye.

 

It was both unnerving and oddly flattering for the raven-haired beauty.

 

“I’ve only ever grown up in the countryside. I know everything there is to know about working on a farm, taking care of plants and animals. Is there anything else?” Yuri finally said, silently cursing how depressing her statement sounded.

 

“Of course there is. There’s a whole world out there,” Tiffany declared, sitting up again.

 

“For you, maybe,” Yuri retorted.

 

Tiffany shook her head and the country girl immediately thought that she’d yet again said something completely offensive to the other girl.

 

Instead, she was surprised when Khun’s girlfriend put her pale hand over hers resting on the blanket beneath them.

 

“Not just me,” Tiffany elaborated, keeping her eyes fixed on Yuri. “The world is for anyone who wants to live and be happy in it. Especially you.”

 

“What about you then?” Yuri questioned, deciding to change the subject. “Are you happy in Seoul?”

 

“For the most part. But I have to say...Jangpyung has its perks too.” Tiffany admitted, a smile of contentment forming on her face.

 

Yuri inwardly thought that smiling suited Tiffany Hwang’s beautiful face the best out of all the other looks in the world.

 

“I like taking pictures!” she blurted out without thinking.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Pictures. I like taking pictures. You asked me what I do for fun – that’s it.”

 

Before Tiffany could inquire further, Yuri got up suddenly and went inside.

 

She returned a minute later holding a silver and chique looking digital camera which she handed somewhat shyly to the city girl.

 

Tiffany took it from her, smiling quizzically as she switched it on.  

 

There were many pictures of the picturesque landscape itself and numerous ones of Pearl.

 

Most of them were in colour. But Yuri had tweaked a few of the pictures, setting them to greyscale and sepia tones instead.

 

“Yuri, these are beautiful...” Tiffany mumbled in awe, scrolling through more and more as she talked.

 

She smiled in particular at a self-portrait one Yuri had taken of herself. The wind was catching in her hair, a frown painted on her lovely face.  

 

If only she smiled more...

 

“It’s just a hobby,” Yuri mumbled self-consciously.

 

“A beautiful hobby then,” Tiffany amended with another smile that made Yuri’s stomach clench in a swirling mesh of pleasure-pain. “You must really love Pearl a lot to take so many pictures of her.” She added a moment later.

 

“I do,” Yuri conceded with a small smile. “It seems silly, but that horse is like my best friend in the whole wide world. My parents gave her to me before they died. She’s the only thing that’s...still around to remind me of them.”

 

Tiffany’s heart twisted in agony at those words.

 

“The day they died, I was angry at them. They promised we were going to have a picnic together because my birthday was coming soon, but instead they sent me to my friend Jin Geul’s house for the day. I know now why they did; they were trying to protect me because the flood coming was going to be a bad one. When they tried to hug me goodbye outside of Jin Geul’s house, I pushed them both away and said I hated them. That was the last thing I ever said to them before it happened. And after the funeral, a delivery van came here to my aunt and uncle’s house with Pearl in it. It was supposed to be a surprise from my parents for my birthday since I’d always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. They spent half their meagre savings on getting Pearl for me. That’s why I’m so attached to Pearl. It’s the only way I can think my mom and dad for loving me that much.”

 

Yuri was stunned when Tiffany seemed to move even closer, pressing her head against her arm as they sat together.  

 

“Your parents sound like they were pretty amazing.” She whispered in a hazy voice against Yuri’s skin.

 

“They were,” Yuri agreed, an earnest smile appearing on her face. “I wish you could’ve met them. You would’ve-”

 

She stopped short when she realised that Tiffany had fallen asleep against her shoulder.

 

Yuri chuckled to herself and moved Tiffany’s head so that it was resting more comfortably on her thigh.

 

And she sat like that for a while, watching her cousin’s girlfriend sleep peacefully.  

---

Tiffany came to several hours later as the sun made its final descent behind the dark mountains with their swirls of trees dotting the highlands at every turn.

 

“Yuri?” she cried out with uncertainty.

 

Luckily, Nichkhun’s cousin wasn’t too far away and heard her voice.

 

“Hey! You’re awake,” Yuri noted.

 

Tiffany was surprised by the sudden earnestness of the smile thrown her way. It made her bones tingle with pleasure.

 

“Where did you go?” the city girl couldn’t resist asking with a touch of vulnerability.

 

“I just went to close the curtains in the house for a few minutes. But I promise I was here with you for the whole time before that when you were asleep.” Yuri answered.

 

“Thank you. Your lap is a really good pillow.” Tiffany mumbled self-consciously.

 

“You’re welcome. Are you still tired?”

 

Tiffany thought it over for a few seconds, stretching out her stiff muscles as she did so.

 

“Actually, no. I feel really well rested.”

 

“Do you want to come take a walk with me? There’s something I want to show you.” Yuri declared, her cheeks feeling distinctly hot and ultra sensitive.

 

“Is it far?” Tiffany questioned, rising to her feet and dusting off her shorts.

 

Yuri shook her head and instinctively held out her hand for Tiffany to hold onto.

 

And she wasn’t disappointed when Tiffany obliged her, entwining their fingers together.

 

The pressure of that close contact was both terrifying and soothing all at once for the born and bred country girl.

 

Yuri tentatively led the way down the wooden staircase which opened out onto the gravel road Tiffany had found herself on when she and Khun had first come here.

 

Then they walked slowly through a grove of small ferns, the loud chirps of crickets and frogs being the only sounds they could hear in the inviting darkness.  

 

“We’re not going to pick blueberries again, are we?” Tiffany couldn’t help teasing in a sardonic tone.

 

Yuri chuckled loudly at this as she kept her eyes rooted in front of her in case of stray twigs and boulders lying in their path.

 

“It’s too dark to pick blueberries,” she quipped, but without malice this time around. “No, this is something...very different.”

 

Tiffany was puzzled when Yuri stopped abruptly and grabbed her hand suddenly. Then a soft yellow light darted past her line of sight, joined moments later by similar flitting beams of light that gathered over a dark shape in front of them.

 

And she finally understood.

 

“Fireflies,” she whispered in awe.

 

They were everywhere, bumping repeatedly against her skinny arm as they flew with eagerness to a series of bushes that stood in front of them.

 

Tiffany let go of Yuri’s hand and darted forward, spinning in a circle of pure elation as she gazed in wonder at the glowing creatures flying past her.

 

Yuri stood watching her cousin’s girlfriend, marvelling at the way that the fireflies swarmed around her like twinkling lights of newness and ageless beauty.

 

When Tiffany finally stopped clapping and watching the fireflies, she turned back to face Yuri with a radiant smile on her face.

 

“How do you know about this place?”

 

“My dad used to bring me here when I was a child,” Yuri explained, walking slowly towards Tiffany with the blanket still clasped in her left hand.

 

Before elaborating further, she first came to stand beside Tiffany, wrapping the blanket around both their shoulders as the wind blowing through the trees turned as swift as ice.

 

“He and my mom used to come here a lot when they first started dating. It was their ‘special place’, somewhere just for the two of them to be alone and get lost in each other.” She concluded with wistful solemnity.

 

“It’s beautiful,” Tiffany said, her eyes fastened on the fireflies.

 

“You were right before.”

 

Tiffany turned to face Yuri again with a questioning look.

 

“I don’t know anything about being in love. Coming here is the closest I ever get to it. And even then, I’m just living vicariously through what my parents had with each other.” Yuri said, feeling strangely choked up in the moment.

 

No one in the whole wide world knew this about her.

 

No one except a stranger who’d come into her life unexpectedly and turned everything upside down.   

 

Tiffany didn’t know what made her do it.

 

One minute, she was standing beside Yuri with her fists clenched at her side as they gazed at the silvery moon and the fireflies dancing in an opulent stream together with the thin blanket still draped around their shoulders.

 

The next minute, she turned to her left and knocked the blanket loose, locking her small hands around Yuri’s angular cheeks as she fused their lips together.

 

Electricity sparked and flickered to life with every touch of their city girl’s mouth pushing and pulling against that of the rigid country girl’s. 

 

Every pulsing and frenzied movement of the shorter woman’s had enough potency to power a flour mill. 

 

Tiffany got lost in the feel of Yuri wrapping all around her like a heated cloak, even though the latter hadn’t actually touched her or kissed her back since it first began.

 

And when breathing become a necessity, she reluctantly dragged her lips back from the brink of ecstasy, leaving only the whispered imprints of their existence on the cusp of Yuri’s startled mouth.

 

The truth of that was written all over the taller woman’s face when Tiffany finally met her gaze.

 

That’s when she knew she’d done something irrevocably stupid in the heat of the moment.

 

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry, I don’t know what-”

 

Her legs moved of their accord as she stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the blanket strewn across the path of long grass.

 

And then Tiffany started running as fast as her legs could take, far away from Nichkhun’s intoxicating cousin.

 

But her efforts were in vain when a hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back.

 

Even more astonishing was the look of scorching anger painted on Yuri’s face while she held Tiffany in place.

 

“Why...are you always trying to get away from me?” the enigmatic country girl muttered half to herself.

 

“I...I don’t know,” Tiffany mumbled self-consciously, wishing she could melt into the ground.

 

She’d just kissed Nichkhun’s cousin.

 

Her boyfriend’s cousin, who was another woman.

 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” Tiffany whispered in a bleak tone, feeling hot tears forming in her eyes.

 

“No...you shouldn’t have,” Yuri said in a quiet voice.

 

Tiffany didn’t know whether she wanted to cry from humiliation or because she wanted to kiss Yuri again.

 

But the feeling forming in the pit of her stomach was growing stronger and more feral like an unbound tiger let loose from its cage.

 

What was happening to her?

 

“I shouldn’t have,” Tiffany agreed in a hollow voice. “You shouldn’t have been so nice to me. Especially when you don’t even like me,” She couldn’t resist adding.

 

“Hang on,” Yuri quipped with impatience. “Who said I didn’t like you?”

 

Tiffany cocked her head towards her boyfriend’s cousin, at a loss of how to answer.

 

Surely it had been apparent to her and everyone else with the way Yuri spoke to her or refused to make eye contact whenever she was near?

 

“You made fun of my job,” was all that Tiffany could think to respond with.

 

“Yes, I did,” Yuri agreed in that same flat inscrutable tone. “But you did accurately point out that I’m kind of a .”

 

“I didn’t mean that, I was just upset.” Tiffany was quick to say.

 

“You were right though,” Yuri conceded with a strange half smile that stunned the older city girl.

 

“You always seem so angry whenever you’re forced to be around me...” Tiffany stammered, feeling her cheeks grow white hot with sheer embarrassment as Yuri inched closer to her.

 

So close that she bumped unexpectedly against the rough bark of a tree just behind her.

 

“Oh, Tiffany...”

 

The shorter woman was struck by the tone of sadness in the dark-haired woman’s voice as she said her name.

 

Then she gasped in awe when Yuri moved well into her personal space and cupped her cheeks with trembling hands.

 

“What I feel for you is just the opposite of what you thought,” she whispered into the night. “If I seemed or felt angry whenever you were close to me, it was because I was angry that I had no claim to you. No reason or right to feel the bubble of happiness deep inside me whenever you were around.”

 

Tiffany had no idea how to respond to that, her eyes fixed on Yuri’s dragging slowly over her lips in that strange half light of the moon and the fireflies buzzing sweetly all around them.

 

Yuri cleared , feeling hot and tingly all over her trembling body.

 

Everything but Tiffany felt wrong and disorderly.

 

But she wanted all of it for herself, something she could honestly say she’d never craved before with anything or anyone.

 

And before she knew that she was being incredibly selfish and reckless with every inch of her body, that same body was moving forward and wrapping around Tiffany’s lithe frame as Yuri finally gave vent to weeks of torment and kissed her cousin’s breathtaking girlfriend.

 

It was the kind of kiss that started off as intense and achingly sweet as a raging waterfall that rushed over the edge and swept like silk over the rocks below.

 

They closed their eyes and gave in, Tiffany’s hands coming to rest on Yuri’s arms as the latter held her close and with certainty as their heads dipped and lips met in a tangled stream of wanting.

 

Yuri wrapped Tiffany’s sensuous legs tightly around her lithe hips as she walked both of them through that patch of grass and back up the hill towards her family home, the moon being their only guiding light.

 

Tiffany in turn clasped her hands tightly around Yuri’s neck as she stared deep into her eyes, her soul swirling into chaotic desire as Yuri walked them through the screen door left ajar and over the threshold of the living room.

 

They made it up the stairs in no time and into Yuri’s small bedroom.

 

Tiffany was amazed by how neat and organised everything was, from the few books that were piled onto the shelf in the corner to the tiny picture frames that decorated the desk off to the right.

 

But there was nothing neat or organised about the way that Yuri put her back down on her feet and brought their bodies excruciatingly close together, her keen eyes raking over the shorter woman’s lips with insatiable curiosity.

 

And just like before, it was Tiffany making the first move, palming the ridges of Yuri’s shoulders and fusing their lips together.

 

This was very different from the first time she kissed Yuri.

 

This was far more gentle and cautious, yet so torridly assuring.

 

Tiffany had definitely never felt anything like this when she kissed Nichkhun.

 

She sat down on the edge of the bed and hastily lifted up part of Yuri’s shirt. Yuri flung her head back and groaned sharply when she felt the older girl’s lips tracing their own scrawled design of ardour over her quivering stomach.

 

Every touch of Tiffany’s lips was like fire on her molten skin.

 

And when they were finally laid bare before each other, Yuri wept silently, gripping Tiffany’s hand in hers and running it over the cleft of her cheek through parted eyelids.

 

“I was never angry with you. Only angry with myself...” Yuri whispered with painstaking misery that made Tiffany want to cry too.

 

“Ssh,” Tiffany chided in a bid to cheer the younger woman up.

 

She scooted closer to her and pressed a loving kiss on Yuri’s forehead.

 

“It’s ok,” Tiffany whispered, even though she knew full well that wasn’t the case. “Come here.”

 

She put her free hand over Yuri’s hand clasping her other hand and brought it to her own lips. Then she disentangled their entwined fingers and wrapped them instead around Yuri’s throat, pulling her back down till she was on top of her, their eyes just a whisper apart.

 

“Don’t think anymore,” Tiffany urged with sudden clarity. “Make me yours.”

 

And that’s exactly what Yuri did as her lips travelled at a snail’s pace over the shorter woman’s smooth skin, her hands darting forward and latching onto the soft mounds on Tiffany’s chest.

 

Even though the house was devoid of life save for the two hearts joining and pulsing in harmonious desire, Tiffany still tried her best to muffle her cries of pending release as Yuri’s sensual mouth travelled over her aching mounds and lower still to where she craved her most.

 

The city girl’s bony fingers tangled helplessly in the raven-haired woman’s lovely locks as the very hairs on her skin started to sing with pleasure, her back arching towards the headboard as the bed creaked and moaned like a ghostly echo of what transpired above its metallic springs.

 

Yuri’s eyes rolled deep into their sockets with insurmountable ecstasy as she let the heady scent of Tiffany fill her nostrils, spilling from the young woman’s silvery beaded pores into the sinewy threads of her own pounding heart as carved a frenetic sculpture over the city girl’s sensuous love handles.

 

It wasn’t long before that visitor to the family estate was pulling her newfound lover back up to eye level so that they could keep kissing, fingers curving and entwining on either side of their writhing bodies as they made love again and again with brazen wonder.

---

After the swelling heat of the night and its sinful frivolities, Tiffany felt a strange chill when she woke up in Yuri’s bed the next morning.

 

That was because the usual occupant of the bed wasn’t currently lying beside her, beneath her, wrapped up in her, like before.

 

Tiffany tried to suppress the thawing sensation of disappointment floating through her stomach as she pushed her mussed up bangs out of her tired face.

 

Mussed up bangs that Yuri had run her impatient hands through at every turn of the pale moonlight flitting over their trembling bodies.

 

She was barely aware of the smile that had crept onto her dry lips as she thought about what had transpired between her and Khun’s cousin the night before.

 

On one level, Tiffany felt overwhelmingly guilty and heart sore for betraying her boyfriend who loved her a lot.

 

But on another level, she wanted to live in this achingly sweet and uninhibited moment for a little while longer, at least till the world came crashing down all around her.

 

Tiffany sighed and got out of the warm bed, looking around the sparsely decorated room for something to wear, completely ignoring her discarded clothes lying strewn on the wooden floor.

 

She smiled when she opened the first drawer she saw and found a thin and faded baggy grey T-shirt and a pair of filmy black hot pants shoved into the corner.

 

They smelled clean and woodsy, much like the scent she’d grown accustomed to smelling on Yuri.

 

Tiffany flirted with calling out to Yuri, but she stopped herself.

 

Even though the house was empty save for the two of them, it still felt wrong to make her presence and what they did last night known to the wooden architecture alone.

 

So she settled for walking quietly out of Yuri’s bedroom, her bare feet making no sound on the wooden tiles.

 

Her search ended quickly when she spotted a mane of raven hair perched on a statuesque body standing on the wooden staircase outside in the garden.

 

It was Yuri and she was sipping dolefully on a mug of steaming black coffee.

 

She’d woken up hours ago and taken to staring at Tiffany’s peaceful features as the girl slept on after the torrid events of the night before.

 

It had been exquisite, every single part of it.

 

Yuri had often thought about what it would feel like to be with another woman in an intimate setting.

 

But the opportunity to make that thought a reality hadn’t even crossed her mind till she met Tiffany Hwang.

 

And it had surpassed her expectations for better or worse.

 

Tiffany was delicate and passionate.

 

Elegant and wild.

 

But she was still Nichkhun’s girlfriend.

 

And they’d slept together, more than once.  

 

Yuri was starting to think she felt guiltier about watching Tiffany sleep and the soft contours of her porcelain skin afterwards than actually having with her to begin with.

 

She sighed and sipped quietly on her mug of bitter coffee.

 

“Morning.”

 

She spun around in fright and caught sight of Tiffany standing a little behind her, just out of reach.

 

And wearing her wardrobe.

 

Despite the crumby circumstances, Yuri couldn’t resist smiling about this.

 

“Morning,” she murmured back, her heart fluttering in her chest like winged moths. “How did you sleep?”

 

“Well,” Tiffany said, coming just a little closer as she spoke.

 

She was being extra careful, not wanting to scare Yuri off, not when things needed to be said and done.

 

“I slept very well,” Tiffany went on as she came to stand beside Yuri. “You?”

 

Yuri took an insanely long time to answer.

 

“I slept well too,” she finally mumbled out, gulping more burning coffee down .

 

If she thought that looking at Tiffany was hard before any of this happened, it was even harder now knowing exactly what Tiffany’s body looked like beneath flimsy thread and cotton.

 

They both took to staring at the mountains in the distance that were painted in vivid hues of purple and brown, the sounds of birds filling up the awkward gaps of silence.

 

“I was...disappointed when I woke up and...you weren’t there,” Tiffany found herself saying after a long while.

 

Only then did Yuri finally dare to look at her.

 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep, and I needed to think.” Yuri explained, a gnawing feeling of dread creeping through her bones.

 

“Do you regret what happened last night?” Tiffany asked point-blank.

 

Even though her whole body was screaming at her to stop, Yuri finally closed the gap between them, resting her tanned hands on the city girl’s shoulders.

 

“The only thing I regret is not regretting any of it. I don’t regret you at all,” Yuri said with unswerving earnestness.

 

And that was all it took for Tiffany to pull her closer and leave a chaste kiss on her lips. Then she just hugged the country girl, letting one hand circle the back of Yuri’s neck while the other swept over the raven-haired beauty’s lower back.

 

Yuri let her lips rest against the side of Tiffany’s head, inhaling that rich smell of flowery shampoo that had left its benign residue in the shorter woman’s hair.

 

When they finally parted, Tiffany whimpered with pleasure at the way that Yuri the curve of her jaw line with her calloused fingertips.

 

“What do you want to do today?” Yuri asked with quiet resignation as she stared deep into Tiffany’s eyes.

 

The city girl only had to think about it for a few seconds before she made up her mind.

 

“Take me for a ride on Pearl.”

 

And just like that, she tugged on Yuri’s hand with insistent possessiveness till they were walking back inside the house.

---

They spent two more days like this together with only one interruption when Uee called Yuri to say she’d be staying in Seoul a little longer.

 

But neither her cousin nor Tiffany seemed to mind.

 

They spent all of their time together taking long walks or long rides on the horses throughout the tiny farming region surrounding Nichkhun’s family home.

 

And when the night drew near, Tiffany gave up on sleeping alone in Khun’s bedroom and ended up lying in Yuri’s arms instead in her bed till the rooster crowed early during those summery mornings.

 

They were lost in their own world of tranquillity for those precious few days.

 

Until the rest of Nichkhun’s family returned and startled them in the middle of a tickling fight.

 

Tiffany and Yuri were sprawled out on soft rug on the living room floor playfully wrestling with each other when Khun’s parents walked through the screen door, followed by Khun’s grandmother, Taecyeon, Khun himself and finally Uee, which was a surprise in itself.

 

“What’s this?” Khun’s mom asked laughingly of the pair on the floor as they hurriedly got to their feet with mutual looks of chagrin on their feet.

 

“I guess Flaky brought them together after all,” Taecyeon remarked with a loud guffaw, giving Yuri an affectionate pat on the back.

 

Then Khun dropped his backpack on the floor and encircled Tiffany in a tight and loving embrace.

 

“I missed you so much,” he breathed against her neck while he held her close.

 

“Yeah, me too...” Tiffany trailed off with uncertainty, finding it difficult to recognise anything remotely familiar or tangible about the way that her own boyfriend was holding her in his arms, like he’d done a million times over before.

 

“I’m glad to see the two of you finally getting along.” Nichkhun remarked, an innocent smile playing on his handsome face, referring to his girlfriend and cousin’s silly antics just moments before.

 

“I guess you were right,” Tiffany said, drawing him into a sweet embrace as she spoke. “I just needed to be alone with Yuri to see how great she really is.”

 

Her eyes locked on Yuri, who was standing stiffly in the doorway as if she’d been turned to stone, watching her cousin and his girlfriend’s open displays of affection with twisting revulsion.  

 

Then she turned away and walked off, leaving Tiffany spilling over with a mixture of regret and desire.

---

It was three days later and Tiffany was sobbing uncontrollably as she wheeled her suitcase haphazardly towards the front door of the house.

 

Under any other circumstances, it would’ve been funny watching Nichkhun trail closely behind her in nothing but his boxer shorts, his hair completely dishevelled and only wearing one sock on his foot.

 

But not tonight.

 

Nothing was remotely alright tonight.

 

“Tiffany, would you just stop for a second so we can talk about this?!” Nichkhun pleaded in an irate voice.

 

In truth, he wasn’t nearly as angry as he sounded.

 

He was deeply confused about what had happened.

 

Tiffany had been acting strangely ever since he had returned with the rest of his family a few days ago after helping the neighbouring farms repair the damage done by the storms of late.

 

She’d been distant and not nearly as affectionate as her usual self.

 

And just when they’d finally made some progress on an intimate level, Tiffany had freaked out and started packing her suitcase in a flash.

 

Nichkhun finally had enough and grabbed Tiffany’s wrist, forcing her to stop and look at him.

 

“What the hell is going on with you?! One minute, everything is fine and we were kissing. And now you’re saying you want to leave. I don’t understand!” he declared in a ringing voice.

 

Quite frankly, neither did Tiffany.

 

She wasn’t supposed to feel like being with Nichkhun was tantamount to betraying Yuri on some level.

 

But that was exactly how she felt and it was time to stop pretending.

 

She’d put up a good front (or so she’d thought) for days with Nichkhun and the rest of the family. She had avoided Yuri completely. Or had Yuri been avoiding her?

 

Tiffany honestly wasn’t sure anymore.

 

She’d thought she could quash the burning feelings of passion that Yuri had wrought in her earlier when she’d settled on top of Nichkhun’s wiry frame and kissed him with aggressive intensity.

 

But as soon as Khun had actually started getting into it, Tiffany was struck by how different his kisses were from Yuri’s.

 

That’s when she had stopped and all she wanted was to get away from all of it.

 

From both Khun and Yuri.

 

“I don’t understand either,” Tiffany admitted, wiping away at her tears with the back of her hand. “I should never have come here.”

 

“Why? What happened to make you so upset? Everything was fine before. We were fine before.” Nichkhun remonstrated, looking strangely close to tears too.

 

By this point, everyone in the house had emerged from their rooms, looking disgruntled and confused by the sudden commotion ading the cedar walls.

 

“What’s going on?” Mr. Horvejkul demanded in that gruff voice of his.

 

“Can’t you tell, Dad? They’re having a ‘domestic’,” Taecyeon supplied through tufts of mussed up hair and red-rimmed eyes.

 

“We’re not having a ‘domestic’,” Khun snapped with impatience. “Can everyone please go back to their rooms? Tiffany and I are fine.”

 

“No we aren’t, Khun,” Tiffany said with sudden melancholy. “I thought we were for the longest time. But we just aren’t anymore.”

 

Yuri came into the living room at that precise moment and locked eyes with Tiffany, her whole body bubbling with curiosity and dread.

 

“Look, can we just go back into our room and talk about this?” Khun pleaded, laying a calm hand on Tiffany’s arm.

 

But she shook him off, the force of her betrayal rank and putrid to her senses as she shrank away from her boyfriend.

 

“I can’t. I’m sorry I’m doing this to you now, and in front of your family. But I can’t be with you anymore. Even if you don’t understand, please just let me go. It’s what’s best for both of us.”

 

Tiffany had nearly said ‘for the three of us’, but that would’ve been far too dangerous.

 

The only thing worse than betraying Nichkhun was confessing who she’d betrayed him with.

 

“Tiffany-”

 

“I’ll find my own way to the bus stop from here. Thank you for your hospitality. I’m...so sorry,” Tiffany told the rest of Khun’s family, who stood staring back at her in utter bewilderment.

 

Everyone save for Yuri, whose eyes had formed with silent tears.

 

Tears for her cousin’s broken heart, and for her own too.

 

And then she was pushing her suitcase ahead of her through the screen door, wearing only a pair of shorts, a tanktop and flip-flops.

---

Two months after Tiffany left Jangpyung and went back to Seoul, it was Nichkhun’s turn to leave the family home in a swirling mass of anger and confusion, followed closely by his cousin Yuri.

 

“Khun, will you please stop and talk to me?!” Yuri begged through hysterical tears.

 

She never liked showing her emotions in front of anyone, least of all her family.

 

But it was spilling out of her like a rampant volcano, impossible to quell.

 

It had begun over dinner when Khun had told the rest of the family that he was determined to get Tiffany back no matter what it took.

 

Then out of nowhere, he had blatantly accused Yuri of doing or saying something to Tiffany to make her break up with him suddenly, just like she’d done with all of his previous girlfriends.

 

When the verbal sparring had become extremely volatile and Yuri’s innocents protests weren’t enough, she finally threw caution to the wind and told her cousin the truth about what had happened between her and Tiffany.

 

It had been ill-timed and cruel, she knew that much.

 

But Yuri had been agonising over it for two months without any respite and she was worn out from living a lie.

 

And now Nichkhun was storming out of the house in a mad fury.

 

Yuri made the mistake of grabbing his hand in a bid to make him stay.

 

However, that only made him angrier and this was made plain when he shoved his cousin as far away from him as possible.

 

“Khun?!” Uee gasped in horror.

 

She came to stand next to Yuri, who was trembling from head to toe.

 

“What is wrong with you?!” Nichkhun roared at the top of his lungs.

 

“Khun, please calm down,” his mother remonstrated, her eyes filled with unshed tears at the chaos currently tearing down their family home.

 

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Umma!” Khun fumed right back, turning red in the face. “She seduced my girlfriend! You’re sick,” he spat with utter contempt in Yuri’s direction.

 

He didn’t think it was possible to hate someone as much as he hated his own flesh and blood in that moment.

 

Nichkhun had always been a ‘live and let live’ kind of guy.

 

But as it turned out, even he had his limits with how much he was willing to live with.

 

“I didn’t mean for any of it to happen, Khun. Please believe me when I say that,” Yuri remonstrated, crying even more as she spoke.

 

Her lower back stung where it had hit the edge of the sofa after her cousin had pushed her.

 

This was the absolute worst she’d ever felt, even more than when her own parents had died.

 

“Why the hell should I believe anything you’ve ever said to me?!” Nichkhun fumed with mocking laughter that sounded alien in his ears. “How do I know you didn’t secretly seduce any of my other girlfriends before Tiffany?”

 

“Khun!” Taecyeon interjected with a note of warning.

 

“I’m so sorry, you have no idea. Please, you have to forgive me, Khun.” Yuri pleaded while Uee laid a comforting hand on her arm.

 

“I don’t have to do a damn thing. As far as I’m concerned, you’re nothing to me.”

 

Nichkhun stalked past his cousin, past everyone in the house, slamming the screen door like roaring thunder behind him. 

 

And just like that, Yuri’s whole world came crashing down around her.

---

A month after that, Yuri was finally the one to jog into her bedroom and begin packing up her things.

 

Nichkhun wasn’t speaking to her all these days and the rest of her family was constantly bombarding her with stern condemnation over what she’d done.

 

Yuri understood their position; she’d done a terrible thing.

 

But that didn’t make it any easier to stomach their constant reproach over a choice she made.

 

As much as she loved her family and her home, Yuri just couldn’t stomach staying there anymore.

 

She needed to get away and think about what she was going to do.

 

She’d tried her hardest to forget about Tiffany Hwang. Not just for Khun’s sake, but also for the preservation of her own sanity.

 

But it was no use; that elusive city girl had left a scorching imprint on her heart from the day they’d first met. 

 

There was just no going back after any of it.

 

“Yuri, what are you doing?” Uee cried out, close to tears herself.

 

She was worn out from everyone in her family constantly at each other’s throats these days.

 

Everything was a complete mess.

 

“I’m doing what all of you wanted me to do in the first place,” Yuri snapped unkindly in her cousin’s direction. “I’ve disgraced my family. So you don’t have to put up with my presence any longer.”

 

She zipped up her suitcase with a heavy heart and made to leave her bedroom behind forever.

 

“Mom, this is crazy. Yuri’s family – she can’t go!” Taecyeon begged of his parents.

 

He didn’t understand anything that had happened between Yuri, Tiffany and Nichkhun, nor did he condone it for one second.

 

But Yuri was his cousin; they’d grown up together as close as siblings.

 

How could this be happening where his entire family was falling apart in the blink of an eye over one mistake that was made in the heat of the moment?

 

“It’s her decision,” Khun’s mom said in a woeful tone.

 

“No it isn’t,” Khun’s dad piped up unexpectedly.

 

Then he gazed at his niece with unrepressed reproach.

 

“You’re not going anywhere until you help all of us understand how you could do something like this to Nichkhun. He’s been like a brother to you ever since you were little and you caused his girlfriend to break up with him. Tiffany was someone he cared about, maybe even loved.  How could you do that to someone you love? For a...for a cheap fling?” he demanded, feeling genuinely sorry for all of this madness that had happened under his roof.

 

“Yes, it happened in the heat of the moment. But it wasn’t a cheap fling, Ahjussi. The truth is that I fell in love with Tiffany. I didn’t mean to, it just happened. If I could go back in time and undo what I did to Khun a hundred times over, you know I would. But I can’t. This is who I am for better or for worse. I’m not asking you to understand it or accept it. Please just let me try to figure this out for myself and make things right between me and Nichkhun. He is like my brother and I love him with all my heart. And I’m deeply sorry that I hurt him and disappointed all of my family.”

 

“You’re right, we are disappointed,” Uee conceded after a long and awkward bout of silence. “Because Khun’s hurting over you and Tiffany. And because you hid this part of yourself from us for so long. Did you really think we wouldn’t understand?”

 

“Do you though? Do you really understand?”

 

For once, Uee was at a loss of how to respond.

 

She loved Yuri with all her heart, but even she was having trouble understanding exactly how her cousin had fallen in love with her brother’s girlfriend.

 

She genuinely thought her cousin hadn’t liked Tiffany at all.

 

“We don’t live in a very understanding world...” Halmunee Horvejkul piped up unexpectedly. “We only live in one that’s trying to be more tolerant. Sometimes...understanding and tolerance don’t always mean the same thing. But you can still tolerate something or someone without needing to understand their motivations.”

 

Everyone in the room was thrown by this sudden spurt of wisdom from the eldest of the Horvejkuls.

 

The oldest family member barely took time to speak period, much less formulating sentences about anything that actually mattered.

 

And here she was, making more sense than anyone else in the room had bothered to string together on their own.

 

“That may be true, but I don’t want to tolerate anything. I want to understand.” Khun’s mom said in a low voice, gazing forlornly at her niece.

 

She remembered when she had to sit up with Yuri when she was younger and afraid of thunderstorms. Her young niece had depended on her so much back then for comfort.

 

Had she really grown up into a woman who no longer needed to be comforted or protected by her own family?

 

Before Yuri knew what she was doing, she threw her suitcase down savagely onto the wooden floor, clanging like an angry horde of tigers as it rattled loudly on the ground.

 

“I don’t even know what’s going on with myself and here you are, spelling it out as clear as day, like you do this kind of thing all the time!” she fumed in an irate voice at her grandmother.

 

Instead of being mortally offended that her grandchild had dared to speak to her in such a disrespectful way, Halmunee Horvejkul looked completely nonplussed by Yuri’s sudden outburst.

 

She bent down and righted the suitcase that had stopped rattling on the ground.

 

Then she moved towards her granddaughter and grasped her in a tight embrace against her wrinkly and bony frame.

 

The sudden tenderness and warmth of the act made Yuri’s defences crumble completely as she sank into her elderly grandmother’s embrace and began sobbing quietly against her shoulder.

 

“I’m sorry, Halmunee. I messed up everything, please forgive me,” the younger country woman repeated over and over again as she cried her heart out.

 

“It’s alright, my child,” Yuri’s grandmother said, keeping a firm grip on the younger woman.

 

And they stayed like that for a long time while the rest of the family looked on in a muted daze.

---

Close to a year later, Tiffany was getting ready to go on her lunch break.

 

She and the rest of the women who worked at the denim manufacturer had pulled a gruelling 12-hour shift after completing an important order made by Spao for their newest range of denim clothing that took the form of jackets and multi-coloured skinny jeans.

 

Tiffany was exhausted.

 

After breaking up with Nichkhun and destroying his family in her own mind, she had thrown herself into work in an unhealthy ritual of only breakfasting on black coffee, spending hours in front of a computer perfecting her administrative and then still spending late nights after everyone else had gone home on the sewing machine assigned to her just so she could perfect the meagre designs she’d come up with in recent months.

 

The desire to become a fashion designer was the only thing sustaining her these days, now that she had lost everything she cared about.

 

Especially Yuri.

Even though it had been close to 12 months since she’d walked out of Nichkhun’s family home, Tiffany still hadn’t gotten over falling in love with the enigmatic beauty.

 

But as much as she wanted to see her, even just to hear her voice, Tiffany knew she couldn’t be with Yuri without hurting Nichkhun and the rest of his family even more.

 

So while she sketched new clothing designs onto mounds of paper, her mind constantly replayed those sweet stolen moments she’d shared with Yuri on a gangrenous loop.

 

And just when she’d gradually begun to get her sanity back on that fateful day, a ghost from the past was waiting for her in the tiny lobby of the factory where she worked.

 

It was Nichkhun.

 

Tiffany’s clutch purse slipped off of her bony shoulder as she stared in awe at her ex-boyfriend who gazed at her with sullen amusement.

 

What was he doing here?

 

With a pang of guilt and resentment, the city girl couldn’t help noticing that her ex-boyfriend had gotten better good looking since she’d last seen him.

 

And he seemed to know it too as he regarded her with a look of pure disdain.

 

“K-k-khun? What are you doing here?” Tiffany stammered.

 

She got onto her haunches to pick up her bag, her hands trembling with sudden emotion.

 

“I just want to know why,” Nichkhun began without preamble.

 

He got down on his haunches too and ended up helping Tiffany pick up the miscellaneous items that fallen out of her bag and put them back in their rightful place.

 

“Why?”

 

“Why Yuri? Why her? Of all the people you could’ve screwed behind my back, why did it have to be my cousin who’s also a woman?”

 

Tiffany didn’t have an answer for that.

 

She’d been asking herself that exact same question ever since it had happened.

 

And she still wasn’t any closer to figuring it out.

 

Tiffany gulped and looked about her.

 

That’s when she realised that everyone else had already gone to lunch.

 

It was just her and Nichkhun and nowhere to run.

 

She sighed and pulled on her ex-boyfriend’s arm. Even though Nichkhun was sure he didn’t want someone he was convinced he hated touching him, he made no effort to stop Tiffany from dragging him forward and leading into a quiet room filled with dozens of sewing machines.

 

The room was like a museum to him with its antiquated equipment and dust collecting in the corners of the ceiling.

 

“I know you won’t believe me when I say this. But...I really didn’t mean for any of it to happen with Yuri. I thought she hated me and I did everything I could just to stay away from her. But then I got bitten by that snake and she took care of me. And it was after that point that I realised how sweet and kind she was, just like you told me. We developed a friendship and it turned into something more in the heat of the moment, something neither one of us planned. We both cared about you and we hated betraying you the way we did. I don’t expect you to understand or forgive me. But I do regret betraying you, Khun. You didn’t deserve, I’m so sorry.”

 

Even after all this time, Nichkhun still didn’t like seeing Tiffany cry.

 

It made him feel like a big jerk and that nothing would ever be right again in the world when his ex-girlfriend cried like this.

 

But he hadn’t come here for her tears.

 

He came to finally get some answers from the only person who could possibly give it to him.

 

“Are you in love with my cousin?”

 

That effectively stopped Tiffany’s tears as she gazed in wonder at her boyfriend’s calm demeanour.

 

She could see the stark pain in his eyes from having to ask her that question and it broke her heart even more.

 

“I...it doesn’t matter,” Tiffany declared in a stubborn voice. “We hurt you and the rest of your family; we can’t go back after that. I’m never going to see her again, I promise you that.”

 

Nichkhun expected to feel relieved, ecstatic even, by that sweeping declaration made by his ex-girlfriend.

 

But in all honesty, it just made him feel worse about everything.

 

“You always were a terrible liar, Tiffany. You should work on that, for everyone’s sake.”

 

And before Tiffany could ask what he meant or to make him stay, Nichkhun had already shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked out of the tiny sewing room, leaving her feeling more confused than ever.

 

---

Another year slid by painfully for Tiffany before she finally reached a state of equilibrium.

 

She took time to eat breakfast in the mornings and she even cut back on her hours at the factory to relax and have fun.

 

The confrontation with Nichkhun been painful and debilitating. But it had been cathartic in its own way with helping Tiffany move on from her past mistakes.

 

She was far from happy and satisfied with how her life had turned out. But it was getting better slowly for her.

 

On that particular day, Tiffany left work at 5pm and walked around the cosmopolitan neighbourhood of Hongdae with its array of flashy sports cars parked haphazardly outside the numerous European-styled cafes that littered every sidewalk in the area.

 

After stopping at a grocery store to pick up some freshly made kimchi, sliced duck and a sponge cake topped with cream, Tiffany made her way back to her new apartment of a few months in Anseong, which was a stone’s throw from the Hun River.

 

She busied herself with frying up the slices of greasy duck on the grill on the stovetop, pouring herself a glass of red wine while listening to some low-key love songs on the stereo in the living room.

 

Just then, a soft knock came on her front door.

 

Tiffany frowned quizzically while checking her watch, wondering who it could be.

 

Not that many people within her circle of friends and family even knew that she’d switched apartments; it was too late for the postman to be bringing her any letters.

 

She opened the front door without checking the peephole first.

 

And in doing so, she dropped the glass of red wine in her hand, the contents falling over the floor and landing on the edges of her pants and shirt.

 

It was Kwon Yuri.

 

She was standing there at her front door.

 

Tiffany wondered if she was dreaming.

 

Before she could say anything, Yuri’s eyes widened with amazement at the dropped wine glass.

 

She stooped down to pick it up, being careful to avoid the sharp edges that had formed around the rim where it had broken.  

 

“I’m so sorry...” she mumbled self-consciously, trying to rub the maroon stains now forming on Tiffany’s clothes because of her foolishness.

 

Tiffany remained where she was, not daring to believe that Yuri was really in front of her trying to clean her off with her hands.

 

“Yuri,” she breathed out, almost as if saying her name caused her real pain. “What are you doing here?”

 

Yuri stopped fussing with Tiffany’s pants and got to her feet, looking just as shell-shocked as the former.

 

“I came to see you.”

 

“How did you find me?”

 

“It wasn’t easy,” Yuri said, placing the shards of broken glass delicately onto a nearby table. “I finally got Khun to tell me, but it turned out to be your old address. So I harassed your old landlord and some of your old neighbours for good effect till one of them actually made themselves useful and remembered your new address.”

 

“Why are you here?” Tiffany questioned, her heart hammering wildly in her chest.

 

She honestly thought this feeling would dissipate with time, especially when it came to trying to figure out what went on in Kwon Yuri’s head.

 

But it was two years later and she still had no clue.

 

“I...I came...to see you,” Yuri said with difficulty.

 

She’d rehearsed over what she was going to say at least a million times.

 

But now that the moment of truth had arrived, she was at a complete loss and it frustrated her.

 

“Why?” Tiffany asked with genuine confusion.

 

Yuri minimised the gap between them and pulled Tiffany into a tight embrace that was sure to crush her bones into dust.

 

The city girl marvelled at the rapid thumping of the country girl’s heart as it slammed between their two bodies while she held her close.

 

“Because I missed you,” Yuri said with a greater effort at bravery, cupping the back of Tiffany’s head as she spoke.

 

But Tiffany was too quick this time and disentangled herself from Yuri’s grasp, leaving the latter looking and feeling stunned and hurt.

 

“You can’t be here right now,” she protested, feeling hot tears swimming in her eyes.

 

Her happiness to see Yuri surpassed meagre words. But the guilt was eating away at her and she couldn’t handle it.

 

“I know,” Yuri agreed with reluctance. “But I couldn’t live another moment without seeing you. I tried to forget about you after you left, but I failed miserably. I should never have let you leave. I should’ve chased you and made you stay with me for a really long time. I’m so crazy about you that I can’t think straight about anything or anyone anymore. And I can’t run from it. I just needed to come here and see you so that I’d know it wasn’t all just a dream, that it really happened. That you happened to me.”

 

“It did happen,” Tiffany offered with shaky breaths. “You happened to me too and I haven’t been able to forget about you, even though it broke everything into little pieces.”

 

She found herself moving closer to Yuri, even if it was just to make sure the other woman was really standing in front of her after all this time.

 

“Everything fell apart after that, including me. And I wanted you to be there to fix everything. Because I fell so hard for you-”

 

Yuri didn’t let her finish, silencing her explanation with a hard kiss that rippled over both of them like a wave crashing down.

 

For the first time in a long time, Tiffany let herself go completely, ignoring the fact that her front door was still wide open and any of her super conservative neighbours could walk past at any minute and see her kissing a woman.

 

But she didn’t care, her hands landing on Yuri’s shoulders as she returned the pressure of each hungry kiss the taller woman planted on her lips till the only thing that existed was the heat and love growing and gathering around them like tiny sparks of possibility.

 

Tiffany whimpered with need and loss when Yuri abandoned her lips and took to staring at her with unrepressed wonder.

 

“Two years...” Tiffany sobbed out, her fingertips tracing circles over Yuri’s face. “Two long and lonely years you made me wait for you.” She half-scolded, laughing just a little at the same time.

 

Yuri laughed too and held on tightly to Tiffany’s hands caressing her cheeks. “I’m so sorry; I came as fast as I could. As fast as...my family was able to accept that I’m insanely in love with you, Tiffany Hwang.”

 

Tiffany’s heart leapt in her chest as she gazed at the love of her life with unrepressed awe.

 

“They’re really ok with you coming for me?” she whispered into the night.

 

Yuri sighed and rested her forehead against Tiffany’s.

 

“It took a lot of arguments about who I’m supposed to love, which led to some actual discussions about who I chose to love. Because my heart did choose you. It’s always been you, Tiffany. I think they only held out for as long as they did for Khun’s sake, and I could never fault them for that. He’s like a brother to me and I betrayed him in the worst possible way.”

 

“You weren’t the only one who betrayed him. It’s more my fault than it was ever yours. I kissed you first, remember?”

 

“You may have kissed me, but I’m the one who made love to you repeatedly in the bedroom across from my cousin’s,” Yuri countered, drawing out every single syllable with luxurious seduction.

 

The country girl couldn’t help smirking at the fact that Tiffany was now blushing a deep red at her words.
 

She’d missed every inch of her face for two long years.

 

“You shouldn’t have run away. You shouldn’t have left me, left...us like that.” Yuri stammered with unrepressed sorrow after what felt like hours of silence.

 

Tiffany closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Yuri’s, tears spilling down her cheeks.

 

“I know, I’m so sorry. I thought it would be easier if I left without telling anyone why, especially Khun. You’re like a sister to him and I already broke his heart. I didn’t want him to lose you too because of me. Because I was being selfish.”

 

“It didn’t matter though, Tiffany; your sacrifice was in vain. I couldn’t live with the fact that I fell in love with my cousin’s girlfriend and broke the two of you apart with my own reckless actions. When he told everyone he still wanted you back, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. You weren’t the only one who was selfish.”

 

By this time, Tiffany finally went to close her front door, locking it a moment later before she led Yuri by the hand to sit down on the threadbare sofa in the small living room.

 

“How is he? I only saw him once after we broke up and he still seemed pretty angry with me.”

 

Yuri sighed and held onto Tiffany’s hand currently her thigh with soothing caresses.

 

“He’s getting better slowly. He was angry at me for a long time; God knows he probably still is most days. But...we finally had a good heart to heart a few weeks ago, about everything. Even about why I chased all of his previous girlfriends away.”

 

“Is it because you fell in love with them too?” Tiffany couldn’t help teasing, even though it was wildly inappropriate.  

 

Luckily for her, Yuri burst out laughing at her audacious remark.

 

“Very funny. None of Khun’s other girlfriends could ever hold a candle to you, Tiffany Hwang. You’re timeless.” She praised unabashedly.

 

Tiffany was too overcome to say anything. So she settled for leaning and placing a tender kiss on Yuri’s cheek, which made the other blush just as much.

 

“Why did you chase his other girlfriends away?” she finally asked.

 

“Some of them were pretty shallow and stupid, and I just thought they didn’t suit Nichkhun well at all. But for the most part, maybe seeing him so happy with anyone made me realise just how lonely I felt. Khun and I used to be super competitive growing up; in some ways, getting underneath his girlfriends’ skins was a game to me. But then you came along and it irked me that you were so perfect for him. I couldn’t find anything wrong with you, except that you were with my cousin instead of me.”

 

“Oh, Yuri...”

 

“I know, it was a terrible thing to think, especially about my own cousin.” Yuri conceded, hanging her head in shame.

 

But she’d misunderstood Tiffany’s tone completely.

 

The city girl wasn’t reproaching her; in fact, she was deeply touched by the country girl’s words.

 

She decided to make her feelings plain when she cupped Yuri’s cheeks in her hands once more.

 

“How did I never know until now just how incredibly sweet you are, Kwon Yuri?” she whispered to the room at large.

 

Yuri didn’t know what to say, so she kept her eyes focused on the woman she’d fallen madly in love with, getting lost in her soft brown eyes flecked with gold.

 

“Your hostile demeanour threw me. So I started playing some games of my own.” Tiffany admitted with a rueful smile. “You really told your family everything?”

 

“I did. They’re still trying to wrap their heads around me being in love with a woman and I know it’s hard for them. But they haven’t turned away from me and it’s more than I could’ve hoped for.”

 

“Do they hate me now?”

 

Yuri chuckled and planted a loving kiss on Tiffany’s forehead. “No, they never hated you. They were hurt, but they projected most of it onto me.”

 

“I’m sorry, Yuri. I should’ve been there to help you through it.”

 

“Stop, it’s ok. I needed to be away from you to realise that I can’t live without you.”

 

“I don’t want to be without you either.” Tiffany whispered in a shy voice. “I love you, Yuri.”

 

It felt so good for the country woman to finally hear those words after two long years.

 

And the only way she could express herself was to lean in and kiss Tiffany again without intending to stop any time soon.

 

This led to an intense cluster of heat swirling all around them as Tiffany grabbed at the edges of Yuri’s shirt and dragged her up from the sofa to her bedroom.

 

Then it was finally her turn to take the lead with caressing every inch of her love’s heavenly body, undressing both Yuri and herself achingly slow as they kept kissing and exploring each other.

 

And they did this till their soft breathing became laboured like walking on stilts.

 

Only this time, Yuri didn’t go anywhere.

 

She stayed wrapped up in Tiffany for the rest of the night and into the dregs of the morning, holding her close like she was her lifeline, revelling in the fact that they were finally together.

---

“Yuri, I really don’t know about this...” Tiffany trailed off with real anxiety.

 

Despite her better intentions, Yuri couldn’t resist sighing as she wrapped her hands around Tiffany’s small waist.

 

“Sweetheart, we’ve been over this. Everything’s going to be ok, I promise.”

 

“It’s still terrifying.”

 

“But you’ve done this before!”

 

It was Tiffany’s turn to be annoyed with her girlfriend. “Yes, when I was dating your cousin. But now I’m dating you and meeting your family...again.” she ended off in a thoroughly miserable voice.

 

Yuri chuckled softly and kissed the side of Tiffany’s face with a loving air.
 

“This isn’t like last time. My family just wants to do this right. Even Nichkhun thought it was a good idea.”

 

That last statement did absolutely nothing to make Tiffany feel better about the ridiculousness of this situation.

 

“Now I feel even worse,” Tiffany murmured with a heavy heart, leaning her head against Yuri’s arm.

 

“If it gets too much for you, I’ll whisk you away on Pearl.” Yuri promised with a sly smile.

 

“You promise?” Tiffany asked with a cute pout on her lips.

 

“I promise,” Yuri said against before claiming it in a sweet kiss.

 

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by Halmunee Horvejkul opening the screen door with a loud bang.

 

“Are the two of you going to stand out there all day or are you going to come inside? More flies are coming in because of you!”

 

“Sorry, halmunee.” Both Tiffany and Yuri apologised with blushes on their cheeks.

 

“Why were the two of you standing outside like lepers this whole time? You’re not running back to Seoul already are you?” Khun’s dad demanded in a huff.

 

He was sitting on a newly purchased recliner in the living room, smoking jauntily on a cigar as he spoke.

 

“How many times have I told you not to smoke in the house?” Khun’s mom fumed, grabbing the cigar dangling from her husband’s parted lips and dousing it in the ashtray resting beneath his hand.

 

“Why do you insist on taking away everything I actually enjoy about living in the countryside, woman?” Mr. Horvejkul scolded his wife.

 

“Because the thing you enjoy is going to kill you, old man!”

 

Uee shot her parents a look of pure exasperation before moving towards Tiffany and Yuri and giving them a welcoming hug and a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Don’t mind them. They haven’t had in a while; that’s why they’re so grumpy,” Khun’s younger sister teased.

 

“Uee!”

 

“Are those damn Cosmopolitan magazines teaching you that vulgar nonsense?!”

 

“Uee’s always been vulgar and full of nonsense long before Cosmopolitan, dear parents,” Taecyeon supplied, carrying several hefty looking tupperware containers of kimchi in his muscular arms.  

 

Tiffany giggled when Uee scowled and flicked her older brother on the forehead.

 

But she couldn’t resist feeling when they finally sat down to a family lunch and Nichkhun arrived.

 

He was quiet for most of the meal.

 

But in truth, he was only waiting for the right moment to say –

 

“I sincerely hope this will be the last time Tiffany gets introduced to her family. I don’t think I’ll be able to take it if she ends up sweeping Uee off her feet too.”

 

Things went deathly quiet till Khun’s mom of all people began laughing her head off.

 

“Nich, that’s a terrible joke!”

 

“You got that right! Implying Tiffany would actually pass on trying to get with me over my baby sister,” Taecyeon fumed.

 

“Most people do. Get over it, Don Juan.” Uee teased, which earned her a napkin thrown at her face by her older brother.

 

Nichkhun took that moment to gaze at Tiffany and Yuri across the table, throwing them a half smile that was finally beginning to reach his eyes after years of remaining dormant.  

 

Tiffany listened to everyone bickering and making jokes and smiled.

 

This was exactly how she’d wanted her first meeting of Nichkhun’s family to go.

 

Only this was a million times better than her wildest expectations.

 

It took her an insanely long time to get to this point.

 

But she couldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for Nichkhun’s big heart and for Yuri staying by her side and loving her just as she was.

 

Tiffany had been so afraid to come to this place because she was worried the wild terrain of the countryside would swallow her whole with its untamed vivacity.

 

Instead, it soothed her and made her wish she could spend the rest of her days in a place just like this.

 

With the person she loved most in the world and the beautiful family that came attached with it.