"Daddy!!!"

Mr Hwang, who was reading the newspaper at his own small yard, was shocked when he saw his younger daughter waving and smiling at him. "Tiffany?"

The girl skipped merrily to her father's side while their caretaker took her luggage and put it in her room.

"How are you, Daddy? Is everything good?" Tiffany asked as she sat on the reclining chair beside her father after flashing him a smile.

Mr Hwang looked at her daughter with skeptical eyes behind his glasses before smirking. "Don't tell me you've managed to meet Taeyeon when you were in Seoul and she had explained everything to you?"

"How... did you... know ?" Tiffany looked at her father with total shock. "I haven't even.... Wait. Did Taeyeon inform you about it? I know both of you had been keeping in touch with each other behind my back."

Tiffany pointed at her father and pretended to be unhappy about it but Mr Hwang just laughed while shaking his head.

"The last email I received from her was last month. I was just guessing earlier." Mr Hwang laughed again when he saw her daughter pouting while folding her arms. "Im not sure if you're aware but there's a difference in the way your eye-smile will be everytime Taeyeon is involved."

"A difference? But I always smile the same way." Tiffany replied and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's not the same. Trust me. I'm your father. I've seen all your facial expressions. Even if you tried to hide your feelings from me, good or bad, I can see through you." Mr Hwang answered confidently. "When you talked about Taeyeon or even just thinking of her, there's a certain glow in your eyes when you smile."

Tiffany blushed a little since it's the truth. She was dying to share with her father about her experience of meeting Taeyeon the last few days. Seeing how, Tiffany suddenly became quiet, Mr Hwang nudged her shoulders and folded his newspapers.

"Seems like there's a lot of things that you want to share with me. Why don't you go and freshen yourself up and then we can have breakfast together?" Mr Hwang suggested as Tiffany agreed.

Kissing her dad on the cheeks, Tiffany made her way to her room on the 2nd floor. The room was always tidy thanks to the caretaker which she had employed to look after her father and the house after she started working in Japan. Once in a while, her elder sister would bring her family to drop by and visit their father.

30mins later, while rubbing her hair with the towel, Tiffany's eyes wandered off to the red luggage at the corner of her room. It was one of the luggage that she had used to pack her stuff from the school dorm when she departed from Seoul. She had not repacked the things inside that red luggage since most of the items inside were her school books, some souvenirs and gifts from her friends.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot about the gift that Taeyeon had given me." Tiffany said to herself as she pulled the luggage onto her bed. Rummaging through the items inside, she finally smiled when she saw the paperbag. "Ouuhhh... you poor blanket. If Taeyeon didn't tell me about you, you'll be staying in this luggage forever."

Tiffany chuckled since she found it funny that she was talking to a blanket. Pulling the pink Hello Kitty blanket out from the paperbag, a pink envelope fall out along with it. It was beautifully decorated with drawings which Tiffany recognised as being being hand-drawn by Taeyeon. Opening the envelope, she took out a card that had 'Happy Birthday' written on it with a little mushroom sticker at the right hand corner.

To Tiffany:

Annyeonghaseyo, I'm not sure if you'll be happy with the appearance of my gift on your table, first thing in the morning. I apologise for that. I've noticed that you've been avoiding me and even the other girls for the past few months. I understand your reason for doing so. You might be hating me for my decision but believe me when I say that I didn't want to lose you. Things are really complicated right now but I don't seem to be able to find the right words to explain it all. Please don't stay away from the girls. Sunny and Jessica are your bestfriends. They've been missing you. (Even though the one missing you the most is me.) Don't worry though. I believe you'll be able to re-unite with the other girls soon. Please take care of yourself. Stay healthy and be happy. Happy Birthday, my love.

From the person who will always love you, Kim Taeyeon.

Tiffany didn't realised when her tears had started to flow until a tear drop on the card and smudged the word love. Tiffany quickly put the card away from her as she wiped her tears with the towel. She was about to grab the blanket again when a knock was heard on her door. The caretaker had came to inform her that breakfast was ready and that her dad was already waiting for her in the dining room.

************************

"Kim Taeyeon!!!"

The office door slammed hard as Taeyeon almost fall from her chair. Grabbing the edge of her desk, she found her balance and turned towards the sound of the shout. Two tall dorky girls were smirking at her as Yuri closed the door behind her while Sooyoung walked towards the couch.

"Yah! What the hell. I almost fall off my chair because of the shock." Taeyeon nagged as Yuri took a seat beside Sooyoung.

"You..." Sooyoung pointed at Taeyeon and paused before breaking into another smirk. "Owe us something."

Taeyeon had a blank face at first before her eyes widened when she remembered. She was about to say something when Yuri raised up her hand.

"No more excuses." Yuri folded her arms. "We're here to inform you about the punishment."

"Punishment? But.. but... it's not totally my fault. I really didn't know that Ppany will agree to my suggestion to stay at my place for the night. Both of you saw that even Ppany agreed to my explanation when we send her off yesterday, right?" Taeyeon looked at both of the girls.

"We're more concern about the fact that you didn't actually inform us about your meet-up with her. Didn't we agree not to have any more secrets between us?" Sooyoung asked as Taeyeon pouted.

"You could have just dropped us a message in our groupchat to inform us about it. Is that so difficult to do?" It was Yuri's turn to question her. "Do you know how shocked and hurt both of us were during the dinner? Here we are trying to help you out with Tiffany but instead, you've already met her and even spent two days with her in secret."

Taeyeon sighed and looked down. She knew it was a mistake on her part. She also knew that her bestfriends had done quite a lot to help her out. As Taeyeon stood up and walked over to the couch, she looked at Yuri and Sooyoung.

"I'm sorry." It was a sincere plea from the small girl. "I admit that it was my fault for not informing all of you. I was just totally shocked when I saw her at the airport that day. My mind went totally blank. Imagine for all these years, I thought that she would hate me or bear a grudge towards me but all I saw was her eye-smile. Just like an angel. Like the first time I saw her. Even though she only gave me a small smile, do you know how much that means to me? Her presence brought me to our own world. All I could think about was how much I wanted her back in my life. That Friday night, it was the first time I slept so peacefully until I overslept, all thanks to Hyo. Then on Saturday, I screwed up. Like how I told you that day, I made her cry. I was so stressed up the whole night, thinking of ways to ask for forgiveness. My mind was just full of her. All I could think of was how I could get her back into my life but at the same time, not forcing her to accept me back."

Taeyeon dropped herself on the couch, after she ended her long speech. Taeyeon expected Yuri and Sooyoung to continue nagging at her but she was surprised when she heard them clapping their hands.

"This is what I've always wanted to see." Sooyoung exclaimed as she gave Yuri a high-five. "Kim Taeyeon expressing herself honestly."

"You used to be very carefree during high-school even after you started dating Tiffany but gradually, you started to be withdrawn. We've noticed the change since our first year in University but we thought that you were just going through a phase. You kept to yourself, you became less cheerful and always in your own thoughts." Yuri explained further. "But then, I guessed all of us started to be busy with our own lives that we started to drift slightly apart without realising."

The 3 girls sighed and silence took over for the next minute.

"Okay, let's stop thinking of the past. It's time to move forward. So Taengoo, what have you confessed to Tiffany so far?" Sooyoung asked.

"Everything. She already knew about what Nicky had done to me and also about the real reason as to why I asked for a break-up." Taeyeon answered as she started to narrate what happened on the night that Tiffany had slept over at her place.

"Wow... That was a smart move when you told her about your 'supposedly' cheating behind her back. At least she can realised how she would have reacted if you had told her about it back then." Yuri praised Taeyeon and patted her back. "But aren't you both going to get back together?"

Taeyeon shook her head as Sooyoung and Yuri looked at her. "Like I said, I don't want her to feel like I'm forcing her to accept me back. I've already expressed how I feel for her so it's up to her to decide. It's not easy to accept someone back into your life especially since we've been apart for almost 4yrs. There's still some awkwardness between us."

"I can see that when we sent her off yesterday. When she was hugging everyone during the goodbye, both of you were just shaking hands. Me and Yul almost laughed when we saw it." Sooyoung confessed as Yuri giggled. "What you said is true. You can't rush into things like this. At least, she knew how you feel about her. But are you really going to just continue waiting for her reply?"

"Nope. I plan to start all over again." Taeyeon replied confidently, causing Sooyoung and Yuri to frown. "I've got her contacts and I plan to ask her to come to the reunion this year."

The 3 girls continued chatting until Sooyoung and Yuri had to leave for their lunch appointments with their respective partners.

"Oh, by the way, you still owe us a punishment." Yuri said as she and Sooyoung stood up, making their way to the door.

"Which means, this whole week of lunch will be 'sponsored' by you. We'll send you the bill. Thanks, Taengoo." Sooyoung added on as she opened the door.

"MWO??!! Whole week??!!" Taeyeon said as she watched the door closed with her two bestfriends laughter ringing through the corridor. "I'm going to be broke soon."

************************

"So, basically Taeyeon decided to break-up with me because she felt guilty, thinking that she had cheated on me." Tiffany ended her story.

The father and daughter had just finished their breakfast when Tiffany started telling her father about what had happened between her and Taeyeon for the past few days while she was in Seoul.

"I still remember the day she called me up to explain everything. By then, she had already found out the truth about how Nicky had misled her all this while. She was crying hard on the phone. Apologising non-stop for not keeping her promise and for hurting you. She had wanted to talk to you but I told her that you had went off for a trip and I wasn't sure when you'll be back. I asked if she wanted me to pass you a message but Taeyeon told me not to tell you anything. She said that she will explain everything to you directly." Mr Hwang explained. "I asked her, what took her so long to actually call me up to explain all these since she called two weeks after you had returned from Seoul but she said that she couldn't call any sooner because of some unforeseen circumstances."

"She said that?" Tiffany, who had been listening attentively, was surprised. "She didn't tell you about the accident?"

"Accident? What accident?' Looking at her father's surprised and clueless expression. Tiffany knew that her father was really unaware about it.

"Taeyeon was involved in an accident on the day she was supposed to fly back to Seoul. Two days before my graduation. She had wanted to explain everything to me before I flew back. The injury caused her to be hospitalised for a month which explains the delay." Tiffany explained as her father shook his head.

"I guess no one knew about that accident until she returned, am I right?" Mr Hwang asked.

"Hyoyeon, her younger sister, knew about it because she was the only one who knew that Taeyeon was planning to fly home earlier. But Taeyeon asked her not to inform anyone since she didn't want others to be worried. So, she was at the hospital alone throughout the whole process." Tiffany sighed when she imagined the scenario in her head, all over again.

"Knowing how she is, I would have expected that too. She likes to overthink things and hated the feeling of being a burden to others. In some way, it's good that she has the strength to be tough but in the long run, she's going to feel tired carrying all that burden by herself." Mr Hwang said as Tiffany nodded her head. "So, how about you?"

"Me? What's with me? I don't get your question, Daddy." Tiffany blinked her eyes at her father who started to laugh.

"I mean, what is your next step? What do you plan to do after finding out the truth from Taeyeon? She has even confessed her feelings to you." Mr Hwang reconstructed his sentence so that his daughter could understand it better.

"I... I... I'm not sure actually. Even Taeyeon said that she's not going to rush me for decisions. She said that she understood my position." Tiffany replied. "But I have to admit that when I saw her at the airport that day, my feelings for her naturally came back to me. It was still awkward though. I was fine with the rest of the girls but when it comes to her, I couldn't even give her a hug when I was about to fly off."

"Because she's not like the others. She's much more precious to you compared to the rest which was why both of you are taking a lot of care in trying not to hurt each other again. But don't be too cautious to one another. Sometimes you just need to throw caution to the wind." Mr Hwang gave her daughter some advice as Tiffany nodded her head.

"By the way, why didn't you tell me that Taeyeon had been giving me presents for my birthday every year? I kept thinking as to why I've been receiving two presents from you." Tiffany glared at her father who was making his way to the living room.

"You've never asked so I didn't see the need to tell you." Mr Hwang replied as he sat on the couch while laughing his head's off.

"Daddy!! You're not suppose to keep secrets from me, you know." Tiffany pouted as she made her way to join her dad at the couch. "What else have you been keeping from me? I want to see the emails that you and Taeyeon had been exchanging to each other."

"That's my secret between me and Taeyeon. Unless you got the permission from my future daughter-in-law to see the emails, I don't think I can show it to you." Mr Hwang laughed again when he saw Tiffany pouting while glaring at him.

"Future daughter-in-law? What makes you so confident that I'll end up with her?" Tiffany asked as her father turned serious.

"I've never stopped you from making your own decisions, Tiffany. Even in marriage, I will still leave it to you. I'm not forcing you to marry Taeyeon by calling her that. To me, Taeyeon is a great person. Someone that I would love to have as a daughter-in-law. I know she's made mistakes here and there but she does it because she cares. Maybe you don't agree to the way she deals with some things but you have to admit that throughout your relationship with her, she has always been there for you. Am I right?" Mr Hwang turned to look at Tiffany who nodded her head slowly. "Even with all the difficulties that she had kept to herself, she has always proven her love for you. Just for your info, Taeyeon has been there for me too."

"What do you mean?" Tiffany asked.

"I'm almost like Taeyeon when there's matter concerning you. Sometimes, I don't express my true feelings. When you're far away from me and I don't receive any news from you, I'll miss you like crazy. I wonder how well you're coping, whether you're eating properly or getting enough rest. But I didn't want to trouble you by expressing my concerns. I didn't want you to worry so much about me. But Taeyeon... She seems to understand how I feel. Usually when she's not busy with projects, she would sent email to me once a month, asking me about my health and listening to my complaints about you. She will entertain me by sending old photos of you and her, telling me stories about what you and her used to do. She's been apologising to me lately though, since she's been having a lot of things to do at work and could only email me like once a few months. Even so, I'm really thankful for her kind gestures. She has sent me gifts on my birthdays and sometimes, even herbs and tonics for my health." Mr Hwang smiled after ending his long speech.

Tiffany's eyes were already red since she had been controlling her tears. Never would she ever imagined that her father had been keeping a lot of his concerns to himself. She had always thought that her father was fine being alone and since he was the man of the family, she has always thought that her father was a tough man. That was why, she rarely calls or fly home and sometime the time apart could be more than three months. Even when Tiffany called home to check on him, he would always say that he's fine. Now that she thought about it, she realised that Taeyeon does have similarities with her father.

"I've always wished that I'll marry someone who can take care of me as well as you did, Daddy. Maybe that's the reason as to why I fall in love with Taeyeon in the first place. Both you and her are so similar." Tiffany said as she gave her father a tight hug. "Don't hide things from me anymore, Daddy. I want you to be truthful to me and I will be as truthful to you too. For a start, I'm going to be truthful to you about how I feel towards Taeyeon right now. I'm still in love with her. Still deeply in love with that midget, Kim Taeyeon."