CHAPTER NINE: Getting back

"Your money?" Jessica shifted to stay slightly ahead of Taeyeon.

"One million won, Miss Jung, or else."

"I have," Jessica said, holding up the thick white envelope of her match's winnings. "Three hundred K in this envelope. What I earned this month. That's all I'm going to give you. Take it and leave."

The taller gangster took a hand out of his pocket, and with a click, a switch blade flicked open. He pointed it straight at Jessica. "Then you owe us seven hundred, and with interest it's eight hundred. You have another ten days, Miss Jung. Now let's go up to your apartment and write an IOU so that you'll be better prepared next time."

"And your friend comes along," the short one piped up. "So we won't have to share."

"She's not going," Jessica said. "She's leaving right now."

"You don't have a say in this, love."

Jessica shoved the white envelope into her backpocket. "Okay, fine. I'll pay you the one million right now. Let me get the money."

"It's one point one million, Miss Jung," the taller one said. "Go up then."

Jessica grabbed Taeyeon's wrist, but the tall gangster waved his blade. "Uh-uh. Your friend stays as collateral."

Jessica let go of Taeyeon. "Ok, she goes up to get the money and I stay." 

She whispered into Taeyeon's ear. "My money's in the closet. Second drawer from the bottom, under the socks."

Taeyeon nodded stiffly. Her knees felt weak. She went to the lobby and took the elevator up. Her hands were shaking so badly the keys missed the front door lock a few times before she got into the apartment. The money was where Jessica said it would be, and she counted eleven hundred thousand won. The shorter gangster touched her hand longer than he needed to as he took the money. After ensuring that it was the correct amount, he nodded to the taller one, who had kept his switchblade by now.

"It was nice doing business with you, Miss Jung," he said, holding out a hand. 

Jessica ignored it.

"In Korea, we shake to finish deals, Miss Jung. Don't they do the same in America? Unless you want to continue, then please don't shake my hand."

Jessica took it, and they shook hands.

Up in the apartment, Jessica went straight to her bedroom and kicked the door shut. Taeyeon heard her taking out her anger on the punching bag in her room. Taeyeon went to the balcony and closed the sliding door behind her. She blasted music on her phone and glared at the city lights ahead. Vulgarities flew through her mind. Those gangsters were despicable. They had no remorse for the car burglaries or for the murder. They took hard won money and made Jessica play their stupid game. They stole things and it was the dumbest reason to end someone's life.  She wished that they were all dead and that Tiffany was still here.

She sat against the sliding door until it was too chilly, and then she went back in. She knocked on Jessica's door.

"Come in."

Jessica had showered. She had her laptop out and was watching music videos. "You can take whatever you need if you're going to wash up."

"Thanks," Taeyeon said. She picked a shirt and loose pants from the closet, and went to the bathroom. The water was still hot. She felt all the tension drain out as the scalding water cascaded down her head and shoulders. When it turned cold, she stepped out of the shower. She hung her clothes and underwear on the back of the door. The toothbrush she had used when she was dating Jessica and spent weekend nights in the apartment was in the holder. Jessica had never thrown it out for some reason all this time, and it had confronted Taeyeon whenever she came in to use the toilet. Now she picked it up and brushed her teeth.

They were still buzzing from what happened downstairs, and had a lot of energy to kill. In Jessica's, on her bed, they watched an American movie of two cops who inflitrate a high school to do a drug bust. For some reason, Taeyeon found everything hilarious and she laughed too hard. They immediately continued with the sequel, which was now about a drug bust in college, and one of the cops was falling in love with one of the university students.

"That's you," Jessica said. "You're the try-hard puppy, and I'm the y art major."

"Oh yeah?" Taeyeon said. 

"Yep."

She could see what Jessica meant, but it was not exactly the same. In the movie, the two characters were currently making out in the art major's dorm room. She would have to rectify that.

Taeyeon moved Jessica's Macbook off her lap and sidled onto her. Taeyeon moved in, pressing her lips against Jessica's. Jessica responded instinctively. She on Taeyeon's lower lip, turning them over so that she was on top. It had been a rough night and they were making up for lost time. There were questions but they ignored them all. Taeyeon faltered. They might regret this. But then Jessica slipped a hand under her shirt and caressed her soft, flat stomach and Taeyeon was pulling Jessica's muscled back closer to her. 

"Give me another chance, Taeyeon," Jessica whispered. "I promise this time it'll be different."

"I think we're already past that," Taeyeon said. She moved her hand over Jessica's and down to the thighs, but then Jessica hissed when she touched a bruise from the day's match, and Taeyeon moved her hand back up and let Jessica take control.

Jessica kissed her again, softly, on the lips, and then continued downwards, kissing her on the neck, and then the collarbone. Jessica moved her hand down Taeyeon's abdomen.

Jessica stuck her hand down the front of Taeyeon's pants. Taeyeon shivered at the touch and their mouths came together vigorously, until she broke away for air.

"Damn, Sica," she breathed.

Jessica chuckled and slipped her hand out. They shared another small kiss. The movie had progressed to a car chase scene. They watched the movie and by the end of it, their hormones had leveled out again. Jessica switched off the lights and they lay side by side.

"Do you sleep better nowadays?" Jessica asked.

Taeyeon paused. She never talked about this. Jessica laid a hand over hers, and her brain started working again.

"On and off. After Shikshin started I've been sleeping well most nights," Taeyeon said. "I don't feel so tired now, so maybe it'll come tonight."

"Don't worry about it, I'm going to be here."

Taeyeon gave a small smile and Jessica could see it from the dim moonlight leaking through the curtains. "Good night, Taengoo."

"Good night."

When she closed her eyes and let sleep take her, Taeyeon's last thought was that it would be romantic if sleeping right next to Jessica would take her nightmares away. But she woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up and trembling in Jessica's arms. In the haze of sleep, she leaned against Jessica as they rocked gently back and forth until she fell asleep again.

On Tuesday, Sooyoung and Taeyeon were driving from back to the goshiwon when Taeyeon remembered that they were running out of pads. Usually she would get them at the supermarket for a cheaper price, but they were tired. 

She stopped the truck beside the 7-eleven, and Sooyoung continued sleeping while she got out. She got a pack each of overnights and maxis and went to the counter. 

The salesperson was just as surprised as she was.

"What are you doing here?" Taeyeon asked.

Hayeon's wide eyes looked to the side for a reason, but Taeyeon cut her off. "Just tell me what's going on. Why are you working, and at this time of the night?"

"I've just been, um... getting extra allowance."

 "Why didn't you ask me for money if you needed it?" Taeyeon asked. Taeyeon had to keep calm because Hayeon had a hard time enough.

Her brain was working hard trying to explain why Hayeon would need extra money. If it was school or rent, Hayeon would ask her for help. She was already giving tuition on weekend afternoons to high school students, and had told Taeyeon that she was studying overnight at the library for the past few weeks. This was something bad. "What have you gotten yourself into, Hayeon?"

"I took a loan to get my abortion, unnie," Hayeon said. She looked miserable. "I borrowed it legally, but it's one of those places."

"Dammit," Taeyeon said. "How much is it? What's the interest? When is it due?"

Hayeon stayed quiet. "I borrowed one hundred and forty thousand won from them, unnie. They gave me ten weeks to give them two hundred and fifty thousand. It's due in two days."

"Oh my god, when were you going to tell me about this, Hayeon?" 

"I've earned enough, unnie. This is just my last week at work."

"How have you been keeping up with school? You need that scholarship," Taeyeon said. She rubbed her face furiously. "We get through these things together, Hayeon. I could have given you the money."

"The shop's not breaking even yet, how can you be making money?" Hayeon asked. Her tone was even.

"I'd get another job as we've always been doing, Hayeon! Come on! What else must happen before you realize that you can come to me anytime for anything?"

Hayeon stared glumly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, unnie. Just everything's been happening, and I don't know... Every time, it just happens and I think I can handle it. It just turns out that I can't."

Taeyeon relented. "How much do you have now?"

"Two hundred and seventy thousand," Hayeon said.

"Can you resign tomorrow?"

"I could, but the manager would not be happy."

"Well someone's always unhappy. Quit tomorrow. Just don't do this after you graduate," Taeyeon said. "I'll send Sooyoung back home. When does your shift end?"

"Another hour."

"Kim Hayeon, you should not be walking alone at night so late!" Taeyeon said. "I'll come pick you up. And tomorrow night too. And when you go return the money, I'm coming with you, okay?"

Hayeon was listless. "Okay."

"Good." Taeyeon took the shopping bag off the counter. "What's done is done. You've done well for yourself, okay? Just... school is your priority so just let me take care of this stuff. You can help me take care of problems like this in the future. Okay?"

"Okay."

"See you later."

In the truck, Taeyeon shook Sooyoung awake. She told Sooyoung about Hayeon's predicament. "Did you know about this?"

"No I didn't," Sooyoung said. "I had no idea. Dammit this girl is in so much trouble. Her common sense ."

Taeyeon had to agree. Hayeon had spent too long in her books to know what was good for her. Taeyeon would only rest easy after Hayeon went out into the working world. "Will you be able to handle the shop?"

"For a couple hours, probably. Just come back fast."

"Thanks."

"I'm going to give your sister a big scolding after this."

"You do that."

The moneylenders office was just a legal front for loansharks. The man at the desk was dressed in a button-up and business slacks.

"What is your name?"

"Kim," Hayeon said. "Kim Hayeon."

"Well, Miss Kim," the moneylender looked through his logbook. "Ah. Due today, two hundred and fifty."

Hayeon took the cash out of her bag and gave it to him. "The full amount. Good girl. It was nice doing business with you, Miss Kim. We'd be happy to see you again next time."

Hayeon did not smile. Taeyeon followed her out.

"Are you hungry?" Taeyeon asked her.

Hayeon let out a breath and nodded. A small smile relaxed her face, and Taeyeon liked that.

"Take a break today. Let's go to Shikshin and you can eat something hot," Taeyeon said. They drove to Hongdae and shared a patbingsoo on the way. Sooyoung was too busy in the kitchen to notice that Hayeon had come, so the big scolding would have to wait.

Now that they determined that Hayeon was unlikely to earn a full scholarship this year, and would only qualify for the B-level or C-level's respective 50%- or 30%-waived tuition fees, Taeyeon had to find a night job. Becoming a waitress at another pojangmacha was out of the question because it would pay too little. It was only Sooyoung's kindness previously that let her get half of the earnings. 

Now at Shikshin, Taeyeon insisted splitting forty-sixty of the profit with Sooyoung. Even so, she would probably earn a few million more than at the pojangmacha if they continued doing decently.

She went to bath houses and night markets, but they were all minimum-wage jobs. The clubs offered high paying jobs, but she was rejected because they wanted experienced bartenders and DJs. There were no delivery services that wanted females at nights, because these were all heavy weight packages.

So, finally, she got a job as a daeri, a substitute driver, for the people too drunk to drive at night. Sometimes the customers were touchy, disgusting and heavy, especially if they were men. It was not that often, but such people used intoxication as an excuse to molest her, call her a '' and slap her about. Whenever that happened, she would slip a few extra thousand won out of their wallets. 

Baseline, she earned three, five or eight thousand won a drive, and made on average ten trips a night. She started work as soon as Shikshin closed until five in the morning, and then she would sleep in a bath house nearby until nine before going to the restaurant. After a month every night, she had collected a cool one and a half million won. At this rate, she could make a B-level scholarship work for Hayeon next year.

Again, time was slipping by Taeyeon so quickly that she existed only in the present moment; time was no longer a factor. She only knew that weeks were going by because on Mondays, Shikshin was closed. Once a month, she saw Hayeon briefly to hand her money and eat dinner together. They tried to exchange text messages to keep in touch, but that died down fast. The other Mondays, she had lunch and dinner with Jessica.

The silver lining about doing manual labor at a breakneck pace was that Taeyeon had again become too exhausted to have bad dreams. 

The things she hated most were the return of her chronic headache, sharp pains that shot through her stomach and back for no reason, and the fact that she was sick a lot, down with a sore throat or a cough or a fever. They were irritating and it was hard to maintain the service standards at the restaurant, but luckily she could take it out on drunk erts at night. 

They went to a cafe in Itaewon. Only in liberal Itaewon could they openly sit side by side like a couple on a coffee date. Then they went to the theatre to watch a movie, so that Jessica could pretend she was dating a real person, and Taeyeon could sleep without feeling guilty about it.

This was another recovery day for Jessica. She was going to New York City again, but this time to challenge World Number Two. To fund the trip, she had fought three amateur matches, and one professional match against a challenger, and won all of them. It was time to rise in ranks again.

Taeyeon vaguely registered Jessica slipping her hand under her shirt during the movie. They had a couple seat and she shifted to lean against Jessica. She smiled a bit when Jessica put a hand into her hair and started playing with it. But mostly, she was just sleeping.

"Was I disturbing you during the movie?"

"No, I liked it..."

"Well you were snoring and talking to some random drunk customer so whenever you did that I woke you up," Jessica said.

"Oops."

"It was funny."

Taeyeon huffed. Jessica parked outside Han River and they watched the night lights for awhile, or at least Jessica did. When she woke up again it was on Jessica' bed. She was in her bra and and it was time to go to the restaurant.

"Did you uh me, Sica Jung?"

"What? No I didn't. You wanted to have, I quote, 'cosy time to make up for being a zombie the one time we have a whole day to ourselves'. So I gave you a good time. You said you had a good time."

Taeyeon stared. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

They looked at each other. Neither seemed to be joking. Then it clicked.

"Oh damn it. You were sleeping, weren't you?" Jessica jumped off the bed, and the blanket dropped to the ground. She was more than Taeyeon, so they might actually have done some hot, steamy activity yesterday night. 

The realization hit Taeyeon like a ton of bricks. "You me!"

"No, you did!" Jessica said. "In your sleep you took advantage of my pre-match and made me make out with you."

"You... did we have... uhh.... s-s-?"

"No, you damn . And thank god we didn't," Jessica said. "The embarassment if I had with my girlfriend and she slept through the ."

"Eww... no more y talk for my innocent ears." Taeyeon just wanted to look and touch Jessica's hot body without doing any of that invasive . If Jessica wanted it, she would have to come get it herself.

A/N: Thanks for all the comments/subscriptions last two chapters:) Just to say, IRL I like Tiffany just as much as all the other members... That said, I probably won't and shouldn't be able to update in the coming week, so hopefully these past three updates will be enough.

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!