- 03 -

Yuri followed Jessica out of the workshop, her anticipation manifesting as thrills zipping up and down her spine, and adrenalin that pumped up her state of excitement oozed through her pores, radiating sheer hyperactivity. At first, she was puzzled. There was nothing. Just regular, nondescript cars parked along the roadside. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

She turned to Jessica. “Are you trolling me?” she asked, knowing how much her dear lover loved to tease and remembering how dangerous her wit could be at times.

But Jessica simply smiled, saying nothing with words and everything with her eyes. Her eyes moved to the left, directing her line of vision to a gigantic truck that was two sizes larger than the average that one usually saw on the roads. It was the sort of truck that could house cars...

Yuri gasped. “No way...no way! You bought me a car?”

Jessica's smile became a grin as she shook her head. “It gets even better than that, baby.”

“What is it? Show me, show me.” Yuri began to bounce as curiosity ate her up from the inside. She watched as Jessica pulled what looked like a transponder from her back pocket. “What, what is it?”

“Press the green button.” Jessica handed her the transponder-like object and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Go ahead. It's all yours.”

Yuri a lungful of air and held it as she pressed the green button as instructed. A loud beeping sound was heard from the truck and she grew even more excited.

“Now, press the up button.” Yuri pressed and the truck made a curious clanking noise as it cranked open from the back. Jessica's arm slipped around hers, linking them, and tugged. “Come.”

They crossed the road to the truck and Yuri looked in. It was dark inside—it went so deep—and all she could make out were metallic objects encased in plastic sheets, resting on ledges and some boxes at the back. Jessica leaned even closer to her and whispered right in her ear, “Do you like my present?”

Yuri blinked as her eyes tried to adapt to the darkness and blinked again as lights suddenly went on within the truck. Wow. She could see more clearly now. And what had begun as a sneaking suspicion became one of truth and fact. She couldn't believe her eyes. They weren't playing tricks on her, were they?

She turned to Jessica, her eyes flashing in exhilaration. “You didn't.” She threw her arms around Jessica and hugged her tight, her eyes now beginning to brim with tears. “Oh my God, you didn't. Tell me this isn't a dream.”

Jessica extracted herself from Yuri's hug and kissed her solidly on the lips. “Does this feel like a dream to you?”

With even more tears blurring her vision, Yuri sniffed and nodded. “It's a dream come true,” she whispered, “Sica, I don't—know—how—to—” Each word came out after a sniff and Jessica laughed and kissed her again.

“Oh, you know how to build a car...Yuri...you definitely know how to. Or did you mean to say you don't know how to thank me?”

“Sica...” The pats on her back soothed her as she sought to allow the truth to sink in. The awesome truth. And after a few moments, she stopped sniffing and started grinning. “I want to take a closer look.”

Jessica laughed some more and waved her hand, inviting her in for a look. “Be my guest.”

Yuri shrieked in delight and hopped onto the truck. She stopped at the very first part and touched the plastic almost reverently. It was beautiful. Pure art. She smiled and leaned into Jessica as slender arms wrapped around her waist from behind.

“This turbocharger...it's beautiful...” Yuri could barely speak, the near-trance she was in responsible for reducing her voice to a soft whisper. “Oh my gosh, the catback...it's...” She walked further into the truck and admired the gleaming metal. “This.” She stopped short of yet another part and gasped. “No way...you got me a Ferrari V12?”

“You like?”

Yuri couldn't resist answering Jessica with a kiss. Then her eyes caught sight of something else and she shrieked, “The chassis!” She almost moaned as she ran her fingers along the cool dark material. “It's carbon fibre...”

“I'm glad you're loving it.”

“Sica, I don't just love it. I love you. It's even better because it’s all from you, baby.” As soon as she said that, a streak of lightning zapped from her over-excited mind to her inner core and she grabbed Jessica, pushing her up against the wall of the truck. “I love you,” she whispered, “...so, so much.”

“Show me, Yuri, just how much you love me.”

Yuri needed no other encouragement. She pressed her lips onto Jessica's and gave her everything she had as she reached for the transponder in her pocket. She broke the kiss for the shortest of moments to press the down button and turned back to Jessica, flashing a charming grin for her benefit.

“I'll show you what real horsepower is, Sica,” she breathed, curling an arm around Jessica's waist to pull her even closer. “Right now.”

-

The Bugatti Veyron was sold and her commission grew in size for the month but she was anything but happy. It hadn't been a pleasant sale for her, trying to hold back her desire to question Tiffany while dealing with the necessary paperwork. The vehicle would've set Paul back by a staggering 2.5 billion won but he barely batted an eyelid at the price. Evidently, he hadn't been kidding when he said the price wasn't a concern.

Paperwork had never taken longer and she was more than relieved when it was finally done and they were gone. But Tiffany would be back today to bring the car home. . Why did she have to be the one to deal with Tiffany's purchase. She could do without the bad taste in left behind by Tiffany's presence. And as though fate were out to make things difficult for her, the sound of heels reverberated through the showroom, signalling her resumption of duty.

She stepped out to greet the customer. It was none other than Tiffany. Or rather, Stephanie. Fully decked out in a flowing designer dress, black heels, complete with a designer black leather clutch. Taeyeon had to admit she looked absolutely stunning but she preferred Tiffany in the outfit she'd worn the night they raced.

“Welcome back, Stephanie. The car is ready for you.”

“It's nice to see you again, Taeyeon.”

There were a great many things Taeyeon wished to say to the woman but she held her tongue and simply smiled. “You're here by yourself today. Will you be driving the car home then?”

“Yes.”

“Take a seat while I get the key fob for you.” Taeyeon showed Tiffany to a glass table and chair before heading to the office. She returned with the package containing the key fob and found Tiffany walking around instead.

“I didn't expect you to be doing car sales for a living.”

Taeyeon stilled. Her feet halted instead of taking a step towards Tiffany and she stared as Tiffany turned around to face her. “Miss Stephanie, you speak as if you know me but with all respect, you don't.”

“I don't?” Tiffany moved closer to her, intensity building up in her eyes as she approached. “But I think I do.”

Taeyeon snorted as she handed Tiffany the box in her hands. “I think you've got the wrong person, Miss Stephanie. I don't know anyone called Stephanie. Never seen one. Never met one and most certainly never ed one.”

“You're angry.”

“I'm not.”

“I know you're angry. That's why I'm here alone today.” Tiffany opened the box and took the key fob out before looking her in the eye. “Do a test drive with me.”

Taeyeon grunted. “Customers don't do test drives after buying a car, Miss Stephanie. They do it before buying one. I'm surprised you don't know any better.”

“Your service standards seem to have dropped after the purchase is made. Should I submit feedback regarding this?”

“Why am I not surprised you'd resort to blackmail? I suppose nothing is beneath you as long as it serves your purpose.”

“A test drive is not an unreasonable request for a customer who bought the most expensive car in this showroom. I know most sales personnel would be more than willing to do so after clinching a deal that pays so much commission. And honest feedback isn't blackmail.”

Taeyeon was growing tired of the verbal joust. Fine. She'd do the test drive and be done with Tiffany. For good. With that thought, she headed towards the car. “You want a test drive? I'll give you a test drive.”

-

“Is this your first time in this Bugatti?”

Taeyeon snorted. “I've driven every car in our showroom.”

“This is a very smooth car.”

“For two and a half billion won, it'd better be.”

The car surged forward and Taeyeon knew that Tiffany was pushing the car hard—something that this car was built to do—but she wondered where Tiffany was going with this. After displaying no sign of recognition during their first meeting, Tiffany had no reason to try this hard to get through to her this time, did she? She obviously wanted nothing to do with her, right?

They turned, zoomed down the main street, turned a few more times and there it was, before them. The very place they'd stopped for a night. A hot, passionate night.

“Why are we here.”

“To talk.”

“What is there to talk about.”

“I had to leave in the morning. I had to get back.”

“So Paul wouldn't realize you'd been missing the whole night?”

“Sarcastic much, Taeyeon. Paul and I are purely business partners.”

“So this is what they call mistresses these days, huh. What a nice term—business partners. True, true... for money is a kind of business too.”

“You're crossing the line, Taeyeon. My tolerance is running low.”

Taeyeon gave her a full glare, fierce and unforgiving. “There aren't any lines to cross with people like you. I know people like you. I've seen many of them coming with their men to buy cars. I've seen enough to know what the deal is.”

The flame in Tiffany's eyes seemed to die for a second but as Taeyeon continued to stare, the flames reignited in the next moment, the intensity more than doubled. The tension between them crackled and hissed and she kept on staring, refusing to back down from the confrontation. Then, Tiffany kissed her.

Lips crashed, coming close to being cut by their teeth but neither girl heeded the pain as their mouths parted and pressed even harder into each other. Their heads tilted, as though meticulously choreographed, to allow them to fit even more snugly as their tongues snuck out to seek the other. And upon finding their target, both women moaned.

But the sound of Tiffany's moan brought her back to that night, and the morning after. The reminder of how lousy she'd felt in the days after that snapped her out of the moment and she pushed Tiffany away.

“I'm not like Paul or the people you seduce to get your way with.”

“I don't think that counted as seduction, Taeyeon. You were all over me too. I could just as well as say you were the one who seduced me.”

“Seduction, manipulation, blackmail...what else are you good at?”

“Why are you so angry with me, Taeyeon? I owe you nothing. We had one night. No promises. Nothing. I didn't cheat on you. I didn't do you any wrong. So why, why are you so angry with me?”

It was a good question, to be honest. One that wasn't easy to answer simply because she didn't know why.

Tiffany must have taken her silence as consent to listen for she began to explain, “I had to leave in the morning for a meeting. I have work, Taeyeon. A real job. Like you. I'm not a mistress. Paul is not my sugar daddy. My relationship with him is complicated but I'm not obligated to explain it to you. So take it or leave it.”

“Take what.”

“Me.”

Taeyeon snorted. “You? What makes you think I want to take you.”

“Your anger. You're angry because I left without saying anything. You're angry because you're hurt.”

“And now you're a psychologist. Reading minds.”

“And you really don't like to lose. You lost the race to me. You lost when I left before you did, the next morning. So now, you're angry.”

It was surprising, just how spot on Tiffany was in her guesses. Taeyeon did not like to lose. But it wasn't because of competition. She had extremely high expectations on herself and nothing but the best would satisfy her. She hated it when she underperformed. She hated it when she didn't do as well as she could and despite the distraction that was Tiffany and their loving making that night, she was still pissed off about her mistake with the tyres for that race. But she wasn't ready to admit all that. Not to Tiffany. Not now.

“This test drive has taken too long. I need to get back.”

Tiffany gave her a long look before pressing her lips into a thin line. Then, the car began to move out of the place and they headed back to the showroom in silence. The Bugatti ate up the distance efficiently and soon, they were back. She opened the door once the car was stationary and stuck a leg out of the car.

“I hope you're satisfied with our service standards, Miss Stephanie. And I'm sure you'll be very happy with this car. Goodbye.”

-