The bell on top of the door clinked as the waitresses welcomed the customer simultaneously. Taeyeon removed her jacket and gave it to one of the employee. He accepted it and bowed a bit before disappeared to the small room where all the coats and jackets were stored.

“Reservation under Hwang,” she informed the neat waiter as he guided her to their table.

Her mom waved at her excitedly. She told the waiter that it was okay for him to leave, she already found her family.

Taeyeon greeted her family, giving them hug one by one. Tiffany was absolutely gorgeous as always. Taeyeon softly touched a little of Tiffany’s back and kissed her temple, giving her a loving smile. She didn’t even aware of the surprise look on their parents’ faces.

Taeyeon sat beside Tiffany and took her hand in hers under the table. “What did you order?” Taeyeon asked as she put her phone on the table.

“Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells for you and Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad for me, Raspberry Sunrise Smoothie for me and mineral water for you,” she answered. 

“Is your food even suitable for dinner?” Taeyeon scrunched her face.

“Yeah it is, I’m on diet, remember? I’ve gained weight.”

“And I don’t remember of agreeing that thing with you. Your body shape is just fine. Even if you do gain weight it doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to starve, you’ll get sick.”

“We can always share your food.” Tiffany soothed Taeyeon’s thigh, she didn’t want to argue in front of their parents.

Thankfully, Taeyeon got the gesture. “Okay,” she nodded.

“Taeyeon-ah, from what I heard, you really like smoothies.” Tiffany’s dad said.

“She does, daddy. But she doesn’t like it when she’s having heavy meal.” The lawyer answered.

“Yeah,” Taeyeon chuckled. “Anyway, thank you for picking Tiffany up dad,” she smiled to the older guy version of her. “I was going to go but you know… emergency stuff and all.”  

“Ah don’t mention it, it’s my pleasure, darling.” He squeezed her arm.

“We wanted to come to Seoul at your birthday, Taeyeon-ah, but your dad said that you didn’t celebrate your birthday so we cancelled the plan,” Tiffany’s mom cautiously spoke.

“It’s fine, mommy. It’s not a big deal, thank you though for the consideration,” she grinned.

“Tiffany said you’re working on a heart project?” Tiffany’s dad asked in curiosity. “Something with growing it?”

“Uh that, yeah, I’m working on the proposal right now but with work and all it’s kind of out of my hand so I’m taking it slowly.”

“How does it work?”

“Well… we try to strip out the cell from a donor organ leaving the connective tissue that used to hold the cell in place. It’s called decellularization then we reseed it with the recipient’s own cell hoping that it would regenerating without tissue rejection.” Taeyeon described her project in a way that she thought the easiest for common people to understand. Tiffany was playing with her hand under the table feeling proud of the way Taeyeon explained it. 

Not long after, their food arrived. The waiter who wore a suit came and presented the meal on the table. They thanked him and started to dig in.

Taeyeon cut her shell smaller and offered the first spoon to Tiffany. Tiffany threw her a questioning look but ate it anyway.

“Aw, you guys are so sweet!” Taeyeon’s mom clapped happily.

“Oh no mom, I just want her to taste it first so if there’s poison in it, she’ll be the first to pass out,” Taeyeon shrugged earning a shove from her partner. “I’m just joking,” she unconsciously kissed the side of Tiffany’s head.

The four of older people on the table exchanged a meaningful smile that went unnoticed by the two lovebirds.

Taeyeon wiped as she turned to her back and nodding to the waiter who had been waiting for the cue. Three waiters walked to their table and cleaned it up. One of them brought a large piece of cake and set it after Tiffany.

“Happy birthday, Ms. Hwang,” Taeyeon pulled her closer.

They sang the happy birthday theme song and requested the birthday girl to blow up the candle and feed them cake. They took a lot of photos together.

Taeyeon excused herself to the toilet. She gave the waitress her credit card to pay the dinner on her way. When she was back to her seat, two sides of parents were bickering on who was going to pay.

“This is my daughter’s celebration dinner, of course I’ll pay,” Mr. Hwang said.

“Daddy, mom, I should pay for the meals.” Tiffany raised her hand.

“Excuse us, Tiffany is our daughter too now.” Mrs. Kim shot him a glare completely ignoring Tiffany.

“Thank you, Ms. Kim. I hope you all have a pleasure dinner. Please do come again,” a young girl suddenly appeared beside Taeyeon, bowed politely. She handed Taeyeon her credit card and bill. Taeyeon smiled and nodded a little.

“I’m sorry folks, but I’m the one who’s going to marry her, so…” She set the card in her wallet and sat comfortably. Tiffany blushed at the remark.  

The parents couldn’t argue with that. Each put their wallet back into their purse. They hugged each other before separating on their own way.

“Do you want to go home?” Taeyeon turned to Tiffany as they waved to their parents. “The night is still early. We can have a date for ourselves if you want,” she smiled.

“Hmm,” Tiffany liked the idea. “What do you have in mind, Tae?”

“There’s a small but very yummy ice cream shop near here, want to go there?”

Tiffany gasped. “You already ate three-quarter of your meal and half of my salad, not to mention how big your cake was! Are you sure you still have a room for ice cream?”

“Is there even time when my stomach doesn’t have a place for it?” Taeyeon laughed. “The place is nice, we can just buy one small cup and talk all night,” she said that with the big puppy eyes of her. “My car is also parked not far from that shop.”

Tiffany giggled, “Okay then, let’s go.”

They walked slowly, hands entangled. They talked, they teased, they laughed together. What a nice night.

At the same day as today, twenty-nine years ago, Tiffany was born and Taeyeon couldn’t be anymore grateful for that. To be the partner of this extraordinary woman, to be given the opportunity to hold her hand, to feel the warm embrace from her anytime she wanted were something she had never imagined before.

People said times could heal every wound. Time couldn’t do that favor for Taeyeon though. Year by year she survived, but she barely breathing, she merely through the day without thinking. Work was the only thing in her mind. It occupied all the room in her brain. It eased the pain somehow.  

So time didn’t heal. It only made her used to the loneliness and sorrow.

Tiffany in this matter indeed helped her. She taught Taeyeon how to recover from the horrible experience in the past. She led Taeyeon to the way of forgiveness, to the acceptance of reality and herself. She assisted Taeyeon to move on. Tiffany showed her the ocular proof that it was okay not to be strong all the time. Because Tiffany would be the strength when she was down.

Taeyeon opened the entrance and let Tiffany in first. There was an old man with his grandchild who stood before them waiting patiently since they wanted to get out.

Taeyeon smiled politely to the man and was about to walk pass him when a grip of a hand stopped her. It was the old man.

“Dr. Kim Taeyeon, right?” He asked and smiled kindly.

Taeyeon nodded. Tiffany threw her a question look. Taeyeon swore she had seen this man somewhere but she couldn’t put her finger where.