Chapter 9

Taeyeon would occasionally look on the passenger seat to see if Taeji is still asleep in Tiffany’s arm and her eyes would automatically wander to the latter’s face.

“Don’t you feel stiff? Taeji is a bit heavy?” She tried to make a little conversation when they stopped at a red light.

“I’m fine and Jiji is not that heavy.” Tiffany smiled back at Taeyeon who also returned a simple tight lip smile to her. But for Tiffany it is still one of the cutest smiles she had ever seen.

“Don’t worry were near! Just hang in there!”

When they reached the apartment, Taeyeon hurriedly run on the other side of her car to open Tiffany’s door and help her to get out.

“I’ll take Taeji from here!” Taeyeon extended her arms to get the sleeping kid, but when Tiffany suddenly move to position Taeji right into the waiting arms of Taeyeon, Taeyeon’s arm partially brushed right above Tiffany’s chest.

“Sorry!” Taeyeon abruptly retracted her arm back to her side and blush so hard.

“I-it’s okay!” Tiffany replied but her face is also tinted with bright shade of red.

‘What the?! Stop blushing Kim Taeyeon! And stop shaking! It was just an accident you didn’t intend to touch her!’ Taeyeon lectured herself profusely.

‘But why does my heart is beating crazily like this? And why does I can’t stop shaking? Get a hold of yourself please!’ She took a deep breath before trying to extend her arms again to get Taeji. She thanked all the god in heaven above when she finally took the little girl without having any accidental touch again.

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“Make yourself at home! Dr. Hwang and Juhyun-ssi! Dinner won’t take long to prepare so just sit back and relax for a while! Yoong will entertain for now while Taetae place Jiji to bed!” Mrs. Kim guided her guest into the living room and gave Yoona the signal before she disappears into the kitchen.

“Unnie, wanna watch a movie while we wait? Or any TV shows?” Yoona get up to open the DVD rack of Taeyeon’s collections but stopped when she saw a pile of glossy album lying underneath the cabinet.

“Or maybe not! This is better than watching movies anyway!” Yoona evilly grinned to herself as she took the stack of photo album back to couch were Tiffany and Juhyun are sitting at.

“This is certainly much entertaining than anything in this world Unnie!” She hand out to Tiffany one of photo album of Taeyeon.

“What is this Yoona?” Tiffany asked the grinning girl in front of her.

“Taeyeon unnie’s childhood photos! Come on take a look!” The smile on Yoona just gets wider when she saw that excited twinkle into the older girls’ eyes.

Tiffany flipped the cover of the album and instantly saw the first picture of Taeyeon being carried by her smiling mother just right out of the delivery room. She flipped the pages one by one and saw how playful and dorky Taeyeon is as she grows up.

“They really look a lot like each other! It’s like they’re…” Tiffany was about to speak when she was cut off by another voice.

“Like the toilet bowl and the lid?!” Mrs. Kim emerged from the kitchen carrying three glasses of juice.

“Nice one Aunty!” Yoona chortles a loud laughter even Juhyun laugh along.

“Yeah Mrs. Kim something like that but a bit nicer!” Tiffany smiled brightly at the elderly woman.

“Actually, when Jiji was born she looks a lot like her Appa but look at her now isn’t she look a lot like Taetae! They’re like peas in a pod, so similar and yet still different at the same time.” Mrs. Kim took a different album and showed Tiffany what Taeji looked like when she was just a new born baby.

“Wow yeah they are.” Tiffany browses the picture with amusement again. Taeji might not resemble Taeyeon when she was younger but both have that playful and dorky smile in every picture they have.

Tiffany got a little curious why there’s only a lot of Taeji’s baby picture being carried by her grandparents and none with Taeyeon and her Appa or much only the little girl playing or sleeping. And why does there even no picture of Taeyeon with her husband. She looked around hoping to see a wedding portrait or a family portrait hanging but found none.

‘Weird to think that she’s a photographer but doesn’t have any portrait hanging in the wall of her home?’ She couldn’t voice out her thoughts or asked Yoona about her curiosity. She doesn’t want to sound imposing or anything. So she just kept her thoughts to herself.

“When Taeyeon was still a kid, maybe around Jiji’s age. She was really quiet and shy, you can easily tell that on all her childhood pictures” Tiffany looks in the pictures that Mrs. Kim is showing her and smiled when she saw a quiet and timid looking Taeyeon hiding behind her mother’s skirt.

“Jiji, she’s one hyper active bomb of a kid! She’s nothing like any of my children!” Tiffany smiled when she saw that loving and proud smile on Mrs. Kim’s lips as they look into Taeji’s pictures next.

“To us, Taeji is like a rainbow. She appeared brightly after that cruel storm that almost breaks our family apart. She brightened our lives again and tied us all back together. And most importantly she gave us hope, she made us want to be a better person, especially Taeyeon. Taeji means everything to my daughter.” Tiffany met Mrs. Kim’s eyes and thought that the older woman was trying to tell her something with those eyes that she can’t figure out. So she just shrugs of the feeling and tried to focus her mind again back into the smiling pictures of the mother and daughter.

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“Thank you for the delicious dinner Aunty!” Tiffany and Juhyun bowed at the same time to thank the elderly woman for the meal.

“Oh! It was nothing! We should be the ones that are thankful for your help Tiffany!” After the dinner, Tiffany felt more at ease with the company of Taeyeon’s mother.

“Your cooking is so delicious Aunty! I suddenly missed my Umma’s cooking!” Juhyun also said her thanks to Taeyeon’s mother.

“The two of you are always welcome here to have dinner with us. Oh wait! I guess only when I’m here! Although Taetae can cook well too but I’m still better than her! Hahaha!”

“Umma it doesn’t mean that they praise your cooking means that your that great! And please stop calling me Taetae in front of Dr. Hwang and Juhyun! It’s embarrassing!” Taeyeon stopped her mother from boasting a lot, although deep inside, she felt proud of her especially because Tiffany liked the dinner so much.

“You’re just insecure!” Mrs. Kim retorted back.

“Thank you for the dinner again Aunty!” Tiffany gave the woman a hug and a kiss on the cheeks before finally saying goodbye. Juhyun also did the same which made Mrs. Kim so happy.

“Go take them safely back into their home Taetae!”

“Okay Umma! Yoong will accompany you first while I’m away she’ll just get home later.” Taeyeon also hug her mother before walking with Tiffany and Juhyun into her car.

Taeyeon found out that Tiffany, Juhyun and Jessica along with another friend named Sooyoung all live together in a shared apartment since college, Juhyun get to join them a year later when the maknae was looking for a dorm near their campus and luckily found the three girls notice in the campus bulletin board.

Along the short drive Taeyeon got her first impression on Tiffany now full proof when the girl told her how much she loves the color pink and that you could always see her having anything pink with her everyday no matter how little that pink object maybe.

‘Don’t forget that fact Kim Taeyeon! She loves PINK! Anything PINK she loves! You might get to use that info later on!’ She made sure to keep the new found information safely stored in her brain.

“Thanks for the ride and the delicious dinner Taeyeon unnie! Please thank Aunty for me too!”

“You’re welcome Juhyun-ah! Don’t worry I’ll pass your thanks to her!”

“Good night Unnie!”

“Goodnight Juhyun-ah!” Taeyeon watched the younger girl went in to their apartment, leaving her and Tiffany alone just right outside the gate.

“So… Thank you for helping us earlier with Jiji, I owe you a lot for that!”

“It’s nothing you don’t have to feel indebted to me or anything. Really.” Both immediately look away when their eyes accidentally met.

“Thanks for driving us back home and for treating us to dinner!” Tiffany recovered first and finally manages to utter her thanks and smiled at Taeyeon.

“The dinner was nothing more than a treat it’s just a simple one and the drive it’s the lease I could do.” Taeyeon being her stubborn self, still insist of her stubbornness.

“Wow. Your Umma is right you’re so stubborn!” Tiffany suddenly exclaimed , trying to suppress a laugh. “I’m sorry, What I mean is, you’re pretty insisting. And that’s not really a bad thing.”

“Nor a good thing?” Taeyeon said back.

“Wow!” Tiffany finally let out the laugh she been trying to hold out. She can’t believe how really stubborn the other girl is.

“Just say, you’re welcome Tiffany and I’ll be happy knowing that somehow you and your family had a great time having dinner with me and Juhyun.”

“But how could it be ‘somehow’ when I really had a great time with you?” Tiffany suddenly stopped laughing when she heard what Taeyeon said.

‘Did she just say that SHE had a great time with me? Stop thinking for anything else Tiffany Hwang! It’s nothing! Nothing! Nothing!’

“Ms. Kim Taeyeon, Please just say ‘you’re welcome’!”

“Please drop the Ms. Kim and just call me Taeyeon.”

“Okay but only if you’ll also drop the Dr. Hwang and just call me by my first name. Tiffany.”

After a short moment of silence where only shy smiles are being exchange, Taeyeon dared to be the first one to break it.

“But honestly I did. It’s been a while since I almost lost track of time and you made me lose track of it. Tiffany.” Taeyeon gathered all her courage as she said the doctor’s name at the end and dared to look straight into Tiffany’s eyes.

Tiffany’s heart rapidly beats the moment she heard her name escaped Taeyeon’s lips the sound of her name coming from Taeyeon made her brain went haywire and when their eyes met, she suddenly felt like drowning with the sincerity that is pooling in inside Taeyeon’s eyes. She felt lost right there and then and somehow she doesn’t feel weird for not having any fear or worry at all.

“Thank you Taeyeon.”

“You’re welcome Tiffany.”

Taeyeon didn’t press in further but suddenly, she remembers the talk she had with Yuri and decided to try her luck. Just when Tiffany was about to enter their gate Taeyeon finally voice out her thoughts and stopped Tiffany from entering first.

“Tiffany wait! Next time we meet, I hope we’re not under some kind of emergency or anything work related. Because I really would like to get to know you better. So, maybe would you like to have some dinner or lunch with me whenever you’re free?” Taeyeon bravely spoke when she sensed Tiffany is not answering back she tried to redo her little speech.

“Lunch is fine if you’re uncomfortable in having dinner with me alone. I mean, lunch is fine with me if only if you want to.”

‘! ! ! Damn! Am I too fast? Did I sound so creepy? What? What’s wrong with me?!’ Taeyeon was mentally killing herself for her recklessness when after all her stupid blabbering, Tiffany is still not uttering a single word back to her.

On the other hand, Tiffany became a statue, she just stood there frozen, unable to think any coherent words to reply to Taeyeon which the latter took as negative feedback unfortunately.

“Well, I guess that’s it. Good night and Thank you Dr. Hwang.” Taeyeon went back on being formal to Tiffany since she’s afraid that she somehow made the doctor felt offended or whatever. She carefully turned around while trying to keep her cool.  But her hurried footsteps immediately gave away to her frantic state, she hurriedly turns on her car engine and drive away.