“You sneaky girl! Congratulations, Yuri-yah!”

Slowly and gradually people around the office started to get up from their seats and surround Yuri. With a shy smile on her face, Yuri thanked her colleagues one-by-one with a shy nod. Excitement was in the air as everyone started to chat and bombard Yuri with questions about the upcoming wedding.

Standing a few feet away from the crowd was a girl with a soft smile on her face as she watches on the crowd around Yuri. Tiffany held up the folder of sketches close to her chest, hugging it while she softly shakes her head with a soft chuckle as one of her colleagues ran towards Yuri and gave her a bear hug.

“Why are you here and not there?”

Tiffany turned to the source of the voice and angled her line of sight upwards as she looks at Soo Young. Soo Young stood right next to Tiffany started to sip the hot coffee from her mug.

“Was I supposed to be there amongst that crazy crowd?” Tiffany questioned with her eyebrow raised.

“Well – it’s just that amongst all of us here, usually you are the one who gets the most hyped up about things.” Soo Young replied, then calmly taking another sip from her mug.

“We had our ‘attack-Yuri-with-happy-congratulatory-messages’ phase, so I’m leaving it up to the other guys to finish up the job.” Tiffany went back to watching one of her colleagues messing up Yuri’s hair and getting an angry shout and slap for it.

“Welp. I better get going before the tiger boss gets in. Ciao!” Soo Young immediately started to shuffle away back to her office.

Tiffany heaved a soft sigh and went on her way back to her office.

--

Walking around Seoul during one of the hottest days during summer is not one of Tiffany’s favourite. Clad in a satin white blouse, a patterned skirt and high heels, Tiffany scrunched her eyebrows slightly as drops of sweat started to appear on her forehead as she crosses the busy streets of Seoul.

She eventually reaches a quaint café after going into one of the quiet streets, and sees SooYoung and Yuri chatting animatedly at the corner of the cosy café.

“Hey, sorry I’m late. Meeting went on longer than expected.” Tiffany said as she sat herself down, putting her handbag on the empty seat beside her.

“Did Si Won give you a hard time again?” Yuri asked as she sliced up the croissant in front of her.

“No, we just spend 2 hours painting each other’s nails and gossiping,” Tiffany replied rolling her eyes. Soo Young burst into laughter next to her, covering with one of her hands and the other slapping the table.

“Yah! Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you!?” Yuri yelled at SooYoung. Being used to their silly banters, Tiffany went up to the counter to order her usual.

After picking up her coffee and a slice of red velvet cake, she sat herself down at the table and started digging in. By now, Soo Young and Yuri has calmed themselves down and changed into a completely different tone as they discussed about Yuri’s fiancée, Jessica.

“Really - I am extremely happy for you. Finally one of us is getting the ring! It’s not easy finding the one and even more so getting married, especially you know, in Korea.” Soo Young said and silent ensued as everyone at the table was deep in thoughts. She then cleared , and lifted up her coffee cup.

“To Yuri – our black pearl whom we have known since high school is now officially a ‘grown woman’. May happiness be with you and Jessica always!” Soo Young ended her toast, and the girls went back into chatting up about the wedding.

“So Tiffany,” Tiffany lifted her head and looked at Soo Young, putting a pause in slicing the cake.

“When is your turn?” Soo Young questioned Tiffany wiggling her eyebrows.

--

Close friends of Tiffany would know very well that she is obsessed with romance novels and films ever since she was little. She would blame Disney for that. It is undeniable that she always dreamt of the ideal meeting of her ‘knight in shining armour’.

May it be in a supermarket where she drops a canned food and she meets ‘The One’ when they tried to pick up the dropped canned food together; or when she is in the aquarium where they fall in love at first sight looking into each other’s eyes from opposite sides of the fish tank – these were few of the cheesy scenarios that fitted into Tiffany’s ideal first meeting.

As Tiffany stands at the tiny balcony of her small apartment, where it is good enough to fit a tiny plant and herself, she wonders where is ‘The One’ for her. She looks into the city view of Seoul, wondering if all hope was lost.

At the age of 29, having a stable job a fashion editor and a line of suitors who would do anything for her attention, she felt lonely amongst the countless city lights of Seoul. Finding love is not easy, even for the perfectly eligible Tiffany.

Her preference is the first challenge.  Sometimes she does wonder if she should just go back to California, where her family is, and things would have been easier.

But things worthwhile were never easy, weren’t it?

--

“Neh? Really? So you can’t come?” Tiffany said while paying the cashier at the café, with her handphone wedged between her ear and shoulder.

“Yeah! That prick Si Won has just canned my shoot! All of those pictures were wasted! So now we had to come up with Plan B and get everything together in 3 days. 3 days, Tiffany!” Soo Young ranted on furiously on the call. Tiffany sat herself down at the usual corner of the café, setting her coffee, sandwich and handbag down.

After ending her call with Soo Young, Tiffany started to enjoy her quiet lunch at the café. This was one of the rare occasions of not having lunch together with Soo Young and Yuri.

Tiffany started playing catch up with the latest as she browse through her phone. After having enough of the news, she idly scrolled through the apps on her screen. The long forgotten dating app she installed suddenly caught her attention.

She opened the app and waited as the app scans nearby for available love interests. Sipping on the straw of her iced coffee, she clicks on the cross as she went through the list of women available and nothing has caught her eye so far.

All of a sudden, a picture stopped her in her tracks. It was a collage of a girl holding a black haired dog, possibly a poodle. A strange feeling occurred within Tiffany as she stares at the picture, hovering over the cross button. The straw she was sipping the iced coffee from sprang out from her teeth as she stares on.

The sudden realization that the app only displays the matches within proximity, she lifted up her head and tried to find the person in the café. In what Tiffany thought was a strange coincidence, or luck, she found the same girl from the picture in the café sitting far away from her next to the window as the afternoon sunlight stream through.

The girl looked slightly different from the profile picture, yet still had the captivating aura around her. Instead of the dark ebony hair, she now has it in the golden brown and tied up. Dressed in a dark blue and red plaid shirt with black jeans, she seemed to be immersed in reading on her iPad mini.

Usually Tiffany would spend more time analyzing a person before officially engaging them as her ‘love interest’. Usually she would think twice before doing something. Usually Tiffany loves having a plan and knowing what might be the consequences.

This time it wasn’t the usual – she clicked on the button with the green heart shape, and saw the girl by the window picked up her handphone. The girl had an eyebrow raised and started looking around her.

Their eyes met for the first time.