June 2010, Friday afternoon

“I'm going to miss you so much.”

“I'll miss you too.”

Tiffany pouts. “No, you won't. You're gonna celebrate right after I leave, I know.”

“I'm not gonna celebrate, I swear.”

“You're actually happy to see me leave. Nobody's gonna use your toothpaste anymore. Or your shampoo. Or your pens.”

“That's not true.”

“You're just saying it because I'm leaving.”

“I'm really gonna miss you. I really, really like you, Tiffany.”

Tiffany throws her arms around Taeyeon. “I like you too. I like you a lot.”

Taeyeon smiles and wraps her arms around Tiffany too. “We'll Skype like you said.”

“We must.”

“We will.”

“Okay.”

Taeyeon pulls away from Tiffany and smiles into her eyes. “Don't cry.”

“When will we get to see each other again?”

“I don't know. But we will.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Tiffany sniffs and takes a step back towards her luggage. “Bye, Taeyeong.”

Taeyeon smiles. She remembers when Tiffany got her name wrong at the beginning. “Bye bye, Miyoung.”

“Remember to read my letter, okay.”

Taeyeon nods and holds up the letter Tiffany gave her earlier. “I'll read it.”

Tiffany picks up her bag and waves. “Bye bye.”

Taeyeon waves back, letter in hand. “Have a safe flight.”

Tiffany smiles, turns around and reaches into her pocket for her passport. She hands it to the officer and turns while he's checking her boarding pass. Taeyeon smiles and waves again. She watches as Tiffany turns back around, takes her passport and boarding pass, and walks through the doorway. A final smile and wave and Tiffany is gone. Gone home to America, the country where she comes from. Back home to her university.

Taeyeon tries to smile one more time but she feels too sad to do it by herself. Instead, she looks at the letter in her hand and decides to read it right there in the airport. She walks to the rows of seats near to the check-in counters and sits down. Opening the envelope and unfolding the letter, she reads:

A distant memory flashes in Taeyeon's mind as she stares at the pink lipstick stain. Pink. Where did she see those lips before? Pink lips. Hmm.

-oo-