Taeyeon put the paper bag on the table then took out the content. When she woke up this morning, her usual breakfast had not set on the table. She wanted to ask Tiffany to get breakfast together but she thought that Tiffany probably was still asleep and too tired to go out. So Taeyeon walked through the chilly wind to the nearest coffee shop to buy some food and coffee. Macchiato with extra caramel for Tiffany.

 

She chuckled inwardly, remembering that one morning when the both of them were late and decided to take brunch at that coffee shop. Tiffany had to walk back and forth several times to the counter asking for more caramel. “I’m a er for caramel.” She said that morning.

 

Taeyeon set everything she bought on a plate. The presentation was not pretty but at least it was neat. It was actually nice to prepare something for Tiffany. It was the first time, but Taeyeon wouldn’t mind to do this again in the future.

 

“Okay, all set. Now let’s practice our apology speech,” she mumbled to herself. “Fany-ah, I’m sorry for last night. That was rude and unnecessary and I’m really sorry. I won’t do that again and I’ll make it up to you. Look! Breakfast!” She acted like Tiffany was there. “Okay, that is so lame.” She scratched her head. “Let’s try again.” She cleared . “Wait, you know what. I’m not going to do it again.” She still spoke to herself.

 

When she was about to drag Tiffany out of bed, she heard the sound of an opening door. Taeyeon smiled, hoping Tiffany would like her effort.

 

“Hey! Look I – are you going somewhere?” Her wide smile changed into a confused one when she saw Tiffany was fully dressed in early Sunday morning.

 

“I don’t deserve this.” Tiffany spoke in high tone.

 

“What’s with the yell? Of course you deserve this. I mean for everything that you have done to me.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right. After everything that I've done to you. I’ve done nothing but being nice to you. For God sake! Hell, Taeyeon, I don’t deserve your behavior towards me!”

 

“Tiffany, it’s just breakfast.”

 

“What?”

 

“I bought us breakfast. I bought Macchiato with extra caramel for you. See? Your favorite? It is just breakfast, of course you deserve it.” She said softly.

 

“I’m not talking about breakfast! God damn it, Taeyeon!” She yelled in high-pitched making Taeyeon flinched. “I’m done with you being bipolar! I don’t deserve your behavior last night! I don’t deserve to be your object to yell at or to get cold treatment anytime you pleased. All this time I’ve held it inside but it will not happen any longer. You say sorry then you do it again. I’m done with whatever this is!” Tiffany panted heavily. She could feel the palpitation in her chest. Anger was rapidly increasing.

 

Taeyeon stood there with mouth agape, speechless. She wanted to say sorry. But she heard it herself, she said sorry then she did it again. She realized that it was right, what Tiffany said was right.

 

Taeyeon admitted that she had rejected Tiffany so many times. She wanted to push Tiffany away and convinced herself that she was better off alone. Taeyeon had been with herself for years. She never let anyone in  as deep as Tiffany did. But that didn’t mean she didn’t try. She tried really hard to be better. She thought she was getting better. Well, the fact was; she was not. It wasn’t enough. Her effort wasn’t enough. And now, sorry won’t make the situation different.

 

“I take it you won’t eat with me, then?” She maintained her voice strong and nonchalant.

 

“I can’t believe you.” Tiffany hissed bitterly. “You are unbelievable, Kim Taeyeon!” She screamed and stomped out of the room, slamming the front door with a bang.

 

Taeyeon leaned by the kitchen counter. She bit her lower lips hard to stop herself from doing something stupid. She stood up straight taking the plate and the coffee with her. She threw it all to the trash bin roughly.

 

-----

 

“You’re awesome, Yul. Did you see her face?” Sunny spoke excitingly. “We’re so on!”

 

“I’d rather not.” Yuri mumbled. “What if it goes wrong, Sunny-ah?”

 

“Count me out. Taeyeon is scary you guys. She’s going to kill you if she finds out.” HyoYeon slurped her hot coffee carefully.

 

“She won’t. Besides, if she doesn’t like Tiffany, not even a tiny bit, she won’t be bothered by it.” The plastic surgeon reasoned.

 

“It doesn’t make it any less scary.”

 

“You saw her face that night, Soonkyu. I’m sure she wanted to punch Yuri right that second. We’re playing with fire here. Why won’t you just leave her alone and let her decide what’s best for her.”

 

“We've let her decide for herself too long, HyoYeon-ah. Look where it leads her? It is time for us to help her. She needs help. We can’t use physical violence to knock some sense into her because obviously she will win and we’ll be beaten up.”

 

“Your plan will get us beat up, too.” Yuri sighed.

 

“Our,” she stated sternly. “Our plan will work, I promise. Besides, I don’t ask you to like Tiffany for real. Just show your affection towards her, flirt a little, make Taeyeon jealous of you. And if our hypothesis is right, you won’t have so much work to do. Taeyeon is the type of person who is easily provoked if it's involved something that she cares about.”

 

“Then why don’t you do it?” Yuri was irritated by Sunny.

 

“Hyomin will kill me faster than Taeyeon.”

 

“What? Are you dating her now?” Hyoyeon choked on her sandwich.

 

“Exclusively.” Sunny grinned proudly.

 

“That’s fast,” Yuri commented. “You just know about that a few days ago.”

 

“I’m not young anymore, Yul. Hyoyeon is going to get married next year. I want to settle down, too. She’s been there for as long as I care to remember. So I thought, why should I wait much longer?”

 

“So I’m the only one left single, then?”

 

“YoonA doesn’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend too.” Hyoyeon patted her shoulder.

 

“Are you suggesting me to date my own sister? Ew, that is so wrong!” Yuri pretended to gag.

 

“No, you idiot! I’m saying you’re not alone.” She smacked the back of the tan doctor’s head. “By the way, when will YoonA come back?”

 

“Her fellowship is already over. She’s taking care of paperwork right now then she’ll come back here. Probably in a month or less.”

 

“Yeah well, YoonA doesn’t have a partner in Florida. Once she’s back, she’s going to have one.” Sunny laughed.

 

“What are you talking about?” The anesthesiologist asked.

 

“I suggest you to quit that boring crossword of yours and listen to gossip when you’re in surgery,” Sunny tidied up her scrubs. “She’ll make a move on SeoHyun. Wait, actually, she has been trying for a while now.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Ah!” Yuri slapped her forehead. ”My problem with Taeyeon will only get longer.” She grimaced at the thought.

 

“Let her go, Yul. There are three of you in General Department. Taeyeon will be all alone once Doctor Park retires. WonBin is great, you can take him.”

 

“Fine! The things I have to sacrifice for my so-called best friend. If she kills me, I’ll kill her back.”

 

The three doctors walked out from the attending lounge.

 

-----

 

“Mr. Song, 56 y.o., diagnosed with giant coronary artery aneurysms. We’re going to perform ligation and coronary artery bypass  grafting.” The nurse read the patient’s chart. “Attending surgeon?”

 

“Kim Taeyeon,” she answered.

 

“Resident surgeon?”

 

“Seo JuHyun.”

 

“Im Suhoo.”

 

“Jung SeoYoon.”

 

“Anesthesiologist?”

 

“Park Junhyoon.”

 

“Is there any special preparation for this patient?”

 

“Patient with ASA II due to controlled hypertension.”

 

“Okay, you can start the surgery, doctor.”

 

“Thank you. Scalpel, please.” Taeyeon asked the nurse. He gave her the blade. She was ready to cut when she remembered Tiffany’s word.

 

Give her a chance to be brave.

 

“Dr. Seo,” she offered the scalpel to the resident.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I plan not to touch a single drop of blood today, can you do the favor for me?”

 

“What are you saying?” She asked confusedly. “Dr. Kim, it’s really last minute,” SeoHyun said unsurely.

 

“Are you not prepared?”

 

“No, I’m just saying – I mean, really?”

 

“What if there’s bleeding?”

 

“I’ll find the bleeding sources and ligated it.”

 

“Do it.”

 

“Dr. Kim, I–”

 

“It’s now or never, your choice.”

 

SeoHyun sighed inwardly. “I’ll do it.”

 

-----

 

Tiffany took one of her earphone off when she heard the door closed faintly.  She glanced at the clock then focused back to her book. Taeyeon was home early tonight. She had made dinner and snack just in case Taeyeon got hungry at night. Although she was still mad at Taeyeon, Tiffany just couldn’t bring herself to not give a damn about her.

 

Honestly, Tiffany was confused with herself. Her initial intention to be in this fake relationship was only to keep people away. She merely wanted to use Taeyeon for her advantage. Then what was this feeling? Why did she care? Why did her heart protest when her brain warned her? And for the love of god, why did she let her heart win? She didn’t know. Thinking about it made her head ached.

 

Tiffany turned the music off, getting ready for sleep. She walked to the light switch when Taeyeon’s indistinct voice passed by her earshot. She stuck her ear to the door to hear more clearly.

 

“What? I thought my on call schedule is tomorrow?”

 

“…”

 

“I just got home.” Taeyeon was irritated, Tiffany could tell.

 

“…”

 

“Fine. I’ll come.”

 

Taeyeon turned the TV off. She cursed out loud then threw the remote carelessly. It probably hit the table since the clank was quite loud. Not long after, the front door slammed with a bang.

 

Tiffany sighed. If only her pride wasn’t that high, she’d run in a heartbeat to console Taeyeon. Despite her empathy for the doctor, Taeyeon had to learn to appreciate her. Taeyeon had to learn that she couldn’t have everything in her way.

 

Tiffany pulled the blanket to her chest then closed her eyes. She had no idea what the future would bring. Maybe Taeyeon was different, maybe this time her guts would lead her to something good. In the mean time, she’d deal with hot and cold treatment Taeyeon gave her in her own way.  

 

-----

 

Waiting in uncertainty , that much Tiffany realized now. Taeyeon had not said a single word since she walked out on her days ago. No text, no call, no post-it note, nothing. It was natural for Tiffany to be pissed. For all she knew, mistake wasn’t hers. It was definitely Taeyeon’s. So Taeyeon will apologize to her, not the other way around.

 

Tiffany cleaned her neat document case to distract her brain. She divided the most important and the less important into different boxes. Those that had no business with her anymore went straight to the trashcan. She actually didn’t have to do that but she needed to keep her mind busy. She didn’t want unnecessary thing crossed her brain.

 

Like Taeyeon, for example.

 

A knocked on her door caused her to looked up. “Come in!” She shouted.

 

The door cracked open revealing SooYoung as she walked in with a donut in her hand. “Hey, Tiff. What are you doing?” Sooyoung eyed at the boxes curiously. “You’re not quit, aren’t you?”

 

“Where do you even get that idea, SooYoung-ah? I just... you know, spruced up a bit. It’s been a while since the last time I did it.”

 

“Oh, okay. I come here to talk to you.” She said solemnly. The tall woman sat at the couch. “How have you been?”

 

“I’m good, why?”

 

“You look… I don’t know… distracted recently. So, a penny for your thought?”

 

“My thought is worth millions of dollar, Sooyoung-ah.” She laughed but completely avoided eye contact with Sooyoung.

 

“I’m serious.”

 

Tiffany stared at her hands contemplating how to talk to her best friend about it. But then she thought, what was there to talk about?

 

“Tiff, Jess is not here. It’s okay to talk.” Knowing her best friend very well, Sooyoung could see the hesitation. Jessica was her best friend too, but she often relayed her opinion over this case with too much fiery. She made Tiffany uneasy.

 

“What do you–”

 

“Now… now, how long I’ve known the both of you?”

 

“It feels like I–”

 

“You don’t. Sometimes your best friends seem like they don’t get you when all they’re trying to do is protect you. Jessica loves you, Tiff. She doesn’t get it because she believes you deserve better, I do too. The difference is I’m willing to hear you without