Tiffany’s

            The amusement park was packed with people. It’s a mistake going here on a Saturday. Nevertheless, when I saw her laughing while riding one of the rides made everything worth it.

            I haven’t had this much fun in the last few months as I recalled. What was I thinking putting my girlfriend second like that? Stupid me.

            “Fany-ah, you want some cotton candy?” she asked when we pass one of the snack stalls.

            “It’s too big. How about we share?” I said while looking at the humongous cotton candy on display.

            “Sure!” she dragged me like an excited schoolgirl to the stall.

            I smiled widely, happy to see this side of my girlfriend. I promised myself never to neglect her again.

            She was talking to the seller what she wanted to buy and she let go of my hand in search of her wallet. I looked around and indeed, the amusement park was full with people. Family, lovers, friends.

            Suddenly my eyes caught a young man looking at our direction with an amused smile on his face. He didn’t seem to stare at me though. I followed his line of sight.

            Was he looking at my girlfriend?

            She was oblivious of it. She grabbed the cotton candy and faced me.

            “Tae, I think someone is looking at you.”

            I said to her while she tried the cotton candy.

            “Hhm? Who’s looking at me?”

            I directed my gaze to the young man subtly and she caught on.

            “Oh. That’s the kid I told you about.”

            Their eyes met and the young man smiled ever so widely while making his way to us.

            “What kid?” I said in a low voice since he’s coming closer.

            “The one Kibum said has a crush on me.” She answered in the same low voice because he’s only inches from us now.

            What?!

            My eyes widen but too late to do anything since the guy had already stood in front of us.

            “Hi, Noona!” he greeted very cheerfully.

            “Hi there.” She greeted back with a smile.

            Oh really, he called her ‘noona’ and what’s with the exchange of happy smiles?!

            I inched closer to Taeyeon and tried to send him daggers with my eyes to no avail. He didn’t seem to feel my presence. 

            “Never thought I’d meet you here.” He asked still with excited voice.

            Taeyeon giggled. Wait, no. That couldn’t be a giggle. It’s just a polite response. Yes, that was.

            “It’s one of my happy places.” She said, ignoring the irritation look I tried to give her.

            “Mine too!” he said waaaay too excitedly.

            Pssh! He didn’t know where the other happy place Taeyeon loved. 

            “Who are you with?” Taeyeon asked him.

            “With my friends.” He pointed to a flock of people where he came from and some of them were looking at our way, “Who are you with, Noona?”  

            “I’m wi-”

            I slipped my hand AND intertwine our fingers before cutting her off, “Her girlfriend.” I spoke with the sweetest smile I could muster.

            His eyes were as big as tennis balls.

            HA!

            He looked at Taeyeon as if trying to confirm it. What the? I wanted to yank Taeyeon away from him but I could see from the corner of my eyes that Taeyeon was trying to suppress her laugh.

            “Yes, I’m with my girlfriend.” She said with a smile and squeezed my hand.

            I smiled triumphantly.

            “O-oh...” His smile was gone and he looked like he’s going to cry.

            “Umm, I think your friends are waiting for you there.” I said and pointed to his friends with my other hand.

            “Ri-right. I’ll see you at work then, Noona.”

            The tone was so much different than the first time he greeted her.

            “Bye~” Taeyeon waved with her cotton-candy hand.

            The young man nodded a little bit to me while avoiding my eyes and went away.

            We walked to the other direction and she started to laugh.

            “Why are you laughing?”

            “It’s been some time I seen you this possessive.”

            “What? I’m not being possessive.”

            “Oh you are, Hwang Miyoung.” Suddenly she kissed my cheek, “And I love it. But that was totally unnecessary.”

            I tried not to blush with the sudden gesture and asked her again, “What do you mean?”

            “He’s harmless.” She took the cotton candy and fed me.

            I swallowed the sweet treat before spoke again, “Didn’t you see how excited he greeted you? And when you told him amusement park was one of your happy places? It’s like he struck gold knowing he has the same thing with you.” I scoffed. 

            She laughed again while eating the cotton candy, “And you crushed him right there and then.”

            I shrugged, “I just need to claim my stake.”

            “So”, she kissed my cheek again, “damn” and again, “adorable.”

            I blushed furiously and just realized that my cheek became sticky.

            “Yah! You’re sticky!” I wiped my cheek.

            She laughed and pulled my hand, “Come on, let’s ride that!” she pointed to a scary roller coaster ride eagerly.        

            I shook my head with a smile plastered on my face and followed her pull.

            Kim Taeyeon. There’s no way in hell I would ever let you go.

Taeyeon’s

            I had the best weekend ever. She purposely turned off her cellphone when we went to amusement park and when we got home that night, she turned her cellphone on to find messages from work. But she didn’t even go near her laptop.

            On Sunday, I caught her asking, no, telling whoever it was on her cellphone that she would do it tomorrow. Before, she would instantly turned into work mode and sat in front of her laptop to do her work. But now, she tossed the cellphone aside and asked me what I wanted to do that day.

            The next morning, I decided to get a day off. It’s a long shot to hope I could spend another day with her, since it’s Monday and everything. But truth to be told, I was kind of tired myself. We didn’t go anywhere yesterday, but we didn’t really spend our Sunday by staying put either. If you know what I meant....

            Her alarm rang and I turned around to face her when her hand shot up to put off the alarm.

            “Morning, love.” She her side and I dropped a kiss on her closed eye.

            She opened her eyes slowly, “Morning.” A smile.

            I gave her a peck on the lips, “I had an amazing weekend.”

            “Me too.”

            I scooted closer and kissed her again. She slowly reciprocated. My hands started to roam and she broke the kiss.

            “Tae, we need to go to work.”

            “I don’t.” I started to push her gently so she would lie on her back and kissed her neck but she grabbed my face and pulled me up.

            “You don’t?”

            “I take a day off today. Had an amazing and tiring weekend, so...” I didn’t finish my sentence and started kissing her again.  

            She kissed me back for a while before pushing me away again.

            “I wish I could take a day off too, but I have things to do today.” She pouted.

            “It’s okay.” I smiled.

            She leaned up to give me a peck, “How about lunch with me?”

            “I’d love to. Near your office?”

            “Yep.” She started to sit up, “There’s this very nice Japanese restaurant Hyomin took me once.”

            “Okay.”

            I lied back down on my side of the bed and watched her going to the bathroom.

            Nearing lunchtime, I already got ready and about to step out from the apartment when she called.

            “Hey, you. I’m just about to leave the apartment.”

            “Hey...... Umm, Tae....”

            “What is it?”

            “I’m sooo sorry.”  

            I stopped walking towards the front door, “You still got things to do?”

            She let out a sigh, “Yeah... I don’t think I could go out for lunch.”

            “Oh.”

            “But... we can have lunch here.” She suggested.

            “At your office?”

            “Yes.”

            I remembered she didn’t want her colleagues to know that she had a relationship with a girl, “Are you sure?”

            She giggled, “I’m the one who suggested it, aren’t I?”

            “Okay then. I’ll buy something on the way there.”

            “Great! I’ll be waiting.”

            “I’ll see you later. Bye.”

            “Bye~”

            I hung up the phone and put it on my bag. Well best friends ate lunch together and she told me Juhyun frequently ate with her inside her office room. Nonetheless, Juhyun was a staff there. She had lunch with Hyomin too, but I didn’t think Hyomin had ever gone inside her office.

            But then again, she was the one who suggested it. So I exited my apartment and pushed the thought aside. I better think on what to buy her for lunch instead.

               Her assistant pointed to a glass door and surprisingly also glass walls of my girlfriend’s room office. She once told me the new open policy and thus maybe this glass walls.               

            I thanked her assistant politely and made my way to her room. It’s true what she said about old colleagues here. I only saw one or two young people at least the same age as mine.

            I could see her on her desk with laptop in front of her looking all serious.

            I knocked on the glass door and opened it, “Hi there~”

            She looked up and smiled instantly, “You’re here!”

            I stepped inside and closed the door behind me before approaching her. She stood up and met me halfway.

            Without giving me an advance warning, she pulled me in for a kiss. I stumbled a little bit due to surprise and she had her arms around my neck in a second.

            “F-Fany-ah....”

            She didn’t stop.

            “Your.... colleagues.”

            She still kissed me without reservation and I couldn’t help to kiss back. I bet people outside could see what we’re doing but she didn’t seem to care.

            I finally broke the kiss because I was still holding the plastic food with our meals inside on my hand.

            “The food.” I pulled away breathlessly.

            “Oh right.” She grinned and pried her arms off me.

            She took the plastic bag from my hand and put it on her desk, “What did you get me?”

            “Eel.” I answered, still confused with her action.

            “Nice!”

            I looked through the glass wall and caught a couple of people looking at us. They pretended to do their job once I met their gazes.

            I looked at my girlfriend again and she happily took out the food from the containers.

            “Fany-ah, what was that?” I asked and took a seat in front of her desk.

            “What was what?” She sat on her previous seat, facing me.

            “You do notice that you have an aquarium-like office here, right?”

            She laughed, “I do notice that. And your point is?”

            “They saw us kissing!”

            She smiled and picked up her chopstick with her food ready in front of her, “I don’t care.”

            “You what?”

            “I don’t care. It was stupid of me trying to hide our relationship, Tae. They’re my subordinates. They can’t do anything about it.” She said nonchalantly.

            “True. But what about your bo-”

            There’s a knock cutting me off my sentence and when I turned around to look, it was the person I was referring to.

            “Miss Hwang, do you have a minute?” he saw me and apologized, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you have company.” He said politely and stepped inside the office.

            She stood up, “It’s okay, Sir. You’ve met my-”

            “Your roommate. I remember. Taeyeon, isn’t it?” He held out his hand to me.

            I was surprised he still remembers my name and stood up, shaking his hand. I was about to say that my name was indeed Taeyeon but Tiffany spoke again.

            “She’s actually my girlfriend, Sir.”

            I widen my eyes at that.

            “Oh?” he said with raised eyebrows, haven’t let go of my hand.

            He looked at Tiffany then at me and at Tiffany again. The room went awkwardly quiet.

            “Err... you don’t mind, right Sir?”

            He finally let go of my hand, “Of course not!”

            Both Tiffany and I let out a silent sigh.

            “Why do you think I mind? You thought I’m a homophobic or something?”

            I thought you flirted with my girlfriend!

            “Well not really.” Tiffany answered unsurely.

            “Wow I’m disappointed in you, Fany-ah. I thought we already step out from mere colleagues and into the friendship zone?”  

            He didn’t call her ‘Miss Hwang’ without a reason, did he? Honestly, was he trying to flirt with her in front of me?

            “I’m sorry, Oppa.”

            Seriously?!

            “It’s okay. Anyway,” now he didn’t even care that I was here, did he? “I need a favor.”

            “What is it, Sir?”

            “Well you should stick to Oppa since it’s a personal favor, Fany-ah. Will you accompany me to the mall on Saturday?”

            SAY WHAT?!

            Tiffany was surprised also.

            “So?” he asked, oblivious to the two shocked women on the room.

            “I.... I’m..” she looked at me and I tried to send ‘What the hell?!’ look to her.

            He looked at me also and caught on, “Oh no! No, no, I’m not asking her out or anything.” He said nervously, “I just need her help to pick a present for my girlfriend!”

            His girlfriend?

            “My girlfriend’s birthday is near and I see that Miss Hwang here has a nice fashion sense. So I want her advice on what to buy for my girlfriend. You can come too, Taeyeon-ssi.”

            He explained and the elephant on the room was gone.

            “Oh.. okay, sure.” I said.

            “Great!” his face lit up again, “I’ll see you on Saturday then, Taeyeon-ssi.” He walked towards the door.

            “Oh, and Miss Hwang, I’ll see you in 2 hours for that meeting, okay?”

            “Yes, Sir.” She gave him an eyesmile and he went out from the room, closing the door.

             We looked at each other and laughed. We sat down and she picked up her chopsticks again. I did the same and brought my meal closer to me.

            “You said he’s flirting with me.” She teased.

            “He kinda was.” I said, not admitting I was wrong.

            She dead-panned, “He has a girlfriend and he’s asking me to help him choose a present for his girlfriend. I don’t think that’s a flirting move.”

            “It could be.” I started to eat my lunch.

            She sighed and shook her head, “Just admit it, Kim Taeyeon.”

            “Admit what?” Still feigning ignorance.

            “That you’re jealous.” she pointed her chopsticks at me and smiled mischievously. 

            I shrugged, “I am jealous.”

            She looked surprised, “You’re admitting that you’re jealous?”

            “Yes. So?”

            “You never admit that this calmly before.” She said in amazement.

            I sipped on my drink before I spoke again, “I have the right to be jealous.” 

            She raised her eyebrows, “Who gave you that right?”

            “I did. Because you have the right to be possessive.” I said and broke into a smug grin.

            She chuckled, “Let me get this straight, you can be jealous all you want and I can be as possessive as ever? But I can’t get jealous and you can’t be possessive?”

            I chewed my food and nodded, “Exactly.”

            She chuckled, “You’re weird, Miss Kim.”

            “You’re in love with this weirdo, Miss Hwang.”

            She looked at me with those gentle eyes, “Oh well, the cuteness overweighs the weirdness anyway.” She said and started to eat her lunch.  

            I smiled at that and continued to eat my lunch too.

            Tiffany Hwang. I hold on to you forever.