Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but what if it’s not a question of distance rather of time? They say time will heal all wounds but what if it’s the one responsible for not closing the wounds and letting them heal?

Leaves rustle. The wind blows. Footsteps echo. People talk and whisper.

Seconds tick by. Traffic lights change colors. People walk and run – busy times.

The clouds in the sky turn dark gray with amethyst shades as nimbostratus clouds float up above, a little bit lower and closer to the earthen ground below.

A normal day has come to New York. Busy schedules everywhere and people trying to make money with their every living second – the regular day-to-day activity in the city.

It’s December and some freckles of snow has befallen the city. People wear jackets and multi-layered clothing to protect themselves from the biting cold. Scarves of assorted colors also flood the city, wrapping necks of different people.

Amongst the sea of people, a certain girl with hair as dark as a raven’s walked along the wave of civilians flocking the streets of the Big Apple wearing a sand-colored fur coat with a red sweater underneath, black tights hugging her legs, and ugg boots to match, a holdall bag hanging on her left shoulder. With an iced Americano in hand, she treads the streets with her fashionista look paired with her classy black sunglasses, a perfect camouflage and façade for her work’s nature.

Alongside her is another girl with auburn hair, dressed in almost the same set of clothing with minor detail changes – she wears a white faux fur coat over a red sweater, skinny denim jeans hugging her legs, and converse sneakers to complete her look, her own holdall bag hanging by her right elbow where her right hand holds an iced Americano. Savvy white sunglasses also hang by her eyes, conveying a powerful aura.

The two look like models straight out of a fashion magazine strolling the streets of New York. They look chic and stylish, paired with their angelic looks; but make no mistake, both hold high-end positions – the latter is a CEO and the former an assistant CEO.

 “Jess,” says the raven-haired girl.

“Hmm?” answers the auburn-haired.

“What would be the next style of our company? Of Blanc & Eclare? Have you looked at samples or drafted some?” she asks innocently.

The other one snickers. Confusion crosses the face of the raven-haired girl, her eyes showing her being oblivious to her companion’s humor. The auburn-haired dismisses the other’s look with a limp wave of her left hand, a goofy smile on her lips.

 “What is it, really?” her eyes narrowing down to a glare, left hand holding the other’s right arm, halting their advance.

The smile spreads wider across the auburn-haired girl’s face.

“Chill, Miss Tiffany Hwang,” the other girl’s name heavily enunciated. “I mean, why are you so serious, really? Are you on your period or something? I mean, come on, we’re on a break for crying out loud and here you are still talking about work.”

“What?” an incredulous look shadows the face of the raven-haired named Tiffany.

The auburn-haired just shakes her head at her friend’s train of thought.

Man, Tiff. You really are something. Still oblivious at everything, eh?

The auburn-haired mentally notes, and Tiffany just shrugs.

I’m doing everything here so please cooperate.

“Relax, Tiff. Let’s just enjoy this little break, alright? It’s Christmas! Now, come on. We’ve got a movie to catch.”

“Knock, knock Miss Jessica Jung,” saying her name in the same manner as did with hers earlier, “You’re the CEO and I’m your assistant. You should be taking this seriously.”

Jessica just shrugs off her friend’s words and with that, she walks off from her, chuckling.

“Whatever, Jess,” Tiffany smiles to herself. “Whatever.”

“You coming up or what?” Jessica looks back at Tiffany, partly annoyed, her brows creased into a frown.

“Alright, alright, coming.”

Tiffany hurries to catch up with her friend who has now resumed on walking.

Who knew Jess could move fast?

The raven-haired mentally laughs, a smile slipping up on her face, which didn’t go quite unnoticed by Jessica.

“What are you smiling about, mushroom?” says the auburn-haired who’s now halted, attention firmly turned towards to her friend.

Tiffany chuckles nervously.

“Nothing,” Tiffany says in a shaky sing-song manner.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now hurry up!” Jessica orders but Tiffany just stayed still, hesitant on approaching her.

“Fine. You stay there, I’m going on ahead.”

True to her word, Jessica resumed in trekking the asphalt, never once looking back at her friend but sure that she would follow suit. Seconds later and Tiffany snapped out of her state, realizing then Jessica has already gone on ahead, without glancing back at her.

“Hey, Jessie! Wait up, you shortie!”

Bingo.

Jessica mentally says and flashes a cheeky smile on her face.

“Says the one who’s tall! Catch me if you can, mushroom!” Jessica says, now some distance away from Tiffany, and then she begins on running.

The two chase each other playfully as snowflakes fall gently on the streets of the Big Apple.

“Gotcha!” Tiffany says while breathing in air into her exhausted lungs.

Her hands round up Jessica’s shoulders meeting on the nook of her neck, catching her on a one-handed embrace in their little chase. They laugh at their silliness, stopping in front of a coffee shop.

“Hey, why don’t we have coffee for a while, Jess? Movie doesn’t start until five and it’s still around half past three right now,” Tiffany looks at her watch then turns to look at her friend, flashing her puppy eyes.

“Coffee again? But we still have our Americanos in hand in case you forgot.”

“Please...?” Tiffany pleads, intensifying her puppy eyes.

Jessica, in turn, pouts and looks at her watch then at the grey clouds above, contemplating on whether or not to give in to her friend’s request. Seconds tick by and Tiffany’s eyes are swallowed by nothing but impatience, her right foot beginning to tap slowly then growing faster and faster by the minute, her patience fading away with each tap.

Anytime now.

Still, Jessica’s response’s nowhere to be heard.

Any second now.

“Ehh-hem... Jess,” Tiffany starts, her brows twitching with her every word, her voice having a dangerous pitch to it, “what do you think?”

Jessica looks amusedly at her friend and grins widely, contented with her friend’s response. Unbeknownst to her, however, Tiffany saw her ear-to-ear grin.

“What are you grinning about there, Jessica Jung?!” her friend storms.

Nothing but laughter emanated from Jessica as soon as Tiffany reached her limit and growled at her. Unafraid the former and puzzled the latter, the two seem like two crazy little kids who have gone to the outside world for the first time in their lives, bringing their melancholy along with them.

“S-sorry,” Jessica apologizes trying to hold her laughter, tears from laughs starting to drop down from their sockets.

“Hmmph!” huffs the black-haired girl. Tiffany’s brows scrunched up into a frown and she looks away from her friend in frustration.

Seeing this, Jessica quickly loops her arm around the other girl and places her chin on the other’s shoulder. “Well, come on then, best friend. Shall we have coffee. Again?”

Tiffany opens one of her eyes to look at her friend smiling. Seeing the grin plastered on Jessica’s face, she can’t help but smile too. Cheesy as it may sound, Tiffany has a grin on her face as well.

The black-haired girl scoffs at her friend’s actions and her extreme playfulness, while the other just grins brightly at her.

“You’re lucky I love you Jess, else I would have already killed you by now,” she says with a deadly wink and her signature eye smile, only in a dangerous way.

Jessica seems unfazed.

“I know you love me too much to kill me Fany-ah. Lucky me, you’re my best friend.”

“Indeed, lucky you,” Tiffany responds. “Now, come on and let’s go inside before you go have your playful attack again and I get really pissed. I’ve got something to tell.”

Tiffany walks inside the coffee shop’s threshold first smiling, yet troubled, with Jessica trailing behind. This doesn’t go unnoticed, however, no matter how the black-haired eye smiling girl tries to hide it.

“But, actually, we’re going to have smores.” Tiffany tries to divert the subject before going into a more serious note.

Both fell in line and ordered on the counter, right after, finding themselves a good spot amongst the sea of heads, tables and chairs. One spot just got vacant as its previous occupants decided to finally take leave from the coffee shop and go forth with their commitments for the day. The two immediately went for it without another thought, afraid for others to take the table for themselves.

“So... what have you got to tell?” Jessica inquires as they take their seats.

The two have placed themselves by the window, overlooking the busy streets of the big apple – the infamous New York Times Square.

Outside, the people are as busy as always, just as how the two girls seemed like moments ago – monotonous expressions, serious and deep gazes, straight and fast paces. Inside, it’s cozy, seemingly like a different planet from the busy and hectic atmosphere of the outside world, the normal and regular day-to-day living of the people in New York.

“I had a weird dream,” Tiffany starts, as she picks her iced Americano up from the table and takes a sip from it, and takes a slice off of her smores.

“Hmm...?” her companion responds, while taking a bite of smores of her own. “Of what sort and how weird is it? On a scale of one to ten.”

She momentarily stops, thinking deeply but not of the question her companion posted. Unknowingly, she went deep into her thoughts and left the other hanging.

“Uhmm... Tiff?” Jessica inquires. No response.

“Tiffany? Hello anybody there? Still with me?” she tries again. Still, nothing but a blank gaze she’s met with.

“Earth to Tiffany?”

For the nth time, the girl shows no response save for a blank expression, her eyes wandering off to a distant place, her mind elsewhere with it, and her senses partially undone with her mind unfocused and herself lost.

Just when Jessica almost loses herself in trying to snap Tiffany out of her reverie, the latter snaps out of it willingly and she see’s Jessica flustered – her face have scrunched up to a scowl, her aura deadly menacing, and her patience inches away from complete oblivion, which would have really ended badly for the girl, the raven-haired one.

“Sorry,” Tiffany says sheepishly, flashing an apologetic smile to her friend.

The other has an extremely dangerous and deadly aura around her, threatening to engulf their spot and her eyes are shut tight in anger and frustration for having been left there in the air, having a companion who’s there physically but not there mentally.

Tiffany laughs nervously, seeing her friend’s reaction.

“Hey, Jess...” she purrs like a cat, trying to get on the good side of her extremely pissed friend. “I’m sorry already.”

“The dream?!” Jessica says with an edge, her eyes quickly opening with a menacing glare, startling Tiffany for a second but she quickly recovers herself.

She laughs nervously again. “Oh yeah, right.”

After she utters these words, her nervousness and all other emotions save for confusion and question vanished from her face. Her then eccentric behaviour has disappeared and was replaced by a morose display. She looks down at the table yet at the same time, doesn’t look at it. Her gaze traverses deep, seeing yet not seeing whatever’s in front of her.

Seeing this, Jessica’s anger and frustration at her friend dissipated. What she hates most is getting left in the air alone even when she’s with someone, especially if she’s with someone, yet seeing this side of her dearest friend, her then negative aura was replaced by a concerned and equally troubled look.

“Are you okay, Tiff?” her voice is colored with genuine concern.

Tiffany’s eyes continue to brew questions and her voice comes out small.

“Yeah... It’s just, I don’t understand why I see those things, why I see that person,” she shakes her head vigorously, as if something is in her head and she’s trying to shake it away.

“What sort of things and who do you see?”

By this time, Jessica has leaned forward unto the table, her brows scrunched up to an inquiring frown, growing curious and more concerned for her friend, somehow having a sort of suspicion as to her disturbing, as her friend implies it, visions.

Tiffany turns to look at Jessica, her eyes pleading for some answers.

“I see a girl, Jess. A girl who’s familiar yet a stranger to me at the same time,” Tiffany’s voice hitched, having a little color of panic in it. “I know her Jess, I know her.”

Jessica gulps down a lump in yet she doesn’t let it show that much, which, thankfully, is not noticed by the other girl.

“I know her, I know it to myself. It’s just – ”

At this, she exhales heavily in frustration and hangs her head in her hands.

“Hey...” Jessica says in a soothing voice. “Tiff, Tiff,”

Tiffany still won’t budge. She heaves a sigh at the sight of her mushroom friend. She tries again, this time grabbing her hands gently in hers.

“Tiff, Tiffany Hwang, look at me,” the auburn-haired girl says again. “Hey, don’t strain yourself alright? I know you know but you’ll figure this all out in time. In time.”

She emphasizes the last two words in her sentence, somehow implying something other than the obvious and the necessary words. Successfully, Tiffany listens and she relaxes even a little bit, the tense aura she has around her previously now long gone, at least at the very least.

Her dark orbs stare gently at her friend, thankful for her effort.

“Thanks, Jess,” she beams at her, only a small smile, a small light in the dark void but at least alight.

Her friend, in turn, smiles at her warmly, empathizing with her.

“Don’t worry, Tiff. It’s nothing,” she beams. However, a second later, a tinge of seriousness colors her eyes once more.

“But, what happened? What did you actually see, aside from this girl? Mind me asking?” Jessica asks, her brows furrowed together in concern and deep regard yet has the same level of curiousness with a tad higher of intensity.

Tiffany’s glimmer slightly falters yet with the assuring presence of her friend, she bravely responds, though her troubled look hasn’t changed as the subject is brought back again.

“It was dark. We were in a room and there was a thunderstorm,” she furrows her brows, trying hard to remember the other details.

Jessica patiently waits for Tiffany’s next words, knowing there is more to the story. Her patience pays off.

“I can’t remember much since everything’s foggy and a whole lot of black and white’s,” she momentarily shakes her head, her eyes narrowing in question, “but, I do recall some words, a conversation I had with that girl. It went like this: ‘I’m sorry. Will you stay by me? Always.’”

Tiffany looks down at the table but at the same time looking past it. And this is a sort of lucky break for the other. Jessica flashes a look far more deep to be just concern for her friend and far too heavy and intense to pass off as worry just for her friend’s sake.

Unbeknownst to her, Tiffany chanced a glance at her.

“Are you alright, Jess?”

Jessica was caught off guard by her friend’s question. She quickly puts a smile to her face after a moment of shock. She relaxes her face muscles and gives Tiffany an assuring smile.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. I’m just concerned about you. How about you? Are you alright now?”

“Yeah, I guess. Thanks,” she flashes Jessica a grateful smile, but leaving a small room of doubt at her friend’s answer to her previous inquiry.

“Oh!” Jessica turns to her watch, drifting the subject of the talk. “It’s almost 4:30 now?!” she exclaimed.

Tiffany’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets in shock at her friend’s exclamation. She quickly turns to her own watch in haste, afraid they’d be late for the screening. After a moment’s beat, her expression turned from shock to a pissed off look.

Jessica, on the other hand, is snickering off holding in her laughter till she can’t take it no more, watching Tiffany’s change in expressions. Her high-pitched laugh filled her companion’s ears pissing her off more while she remains unfazed and unconcerned, growing more and more amused by the second.

“Ohh, you should look at yourself Fany-ah. If only you could’ve seen your expression. It was so epic!” another roar of laughter emanated from her again and people are starting to look in their direction, amused instead of being annoyed. Others paid no attention whatsoever.

“Ughhh, why do I always fall for your childish pranks and extremely annoying playfulness, Jessica?” Tiffany addresses in a somewhat rhetoric, though obviously pertaining to her friend.

“I don’t know myself, Tiff,” Jessica wipes of tears from her eyes while smiling playfully. “I don’t know myself.”

Phew. Lucky break.

Her friend just groans in response.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop, for real,” she says sincerely.

Tiffany flashes a dubious gaze at her but letting her actions slide, giving her another chance; still, she gives her an arched brow. Jessica raises her hand up in surrender, smiling sheepishly and Tiffany smiles triumphantly.

“For now.” Jessica adds, another playful smile gracing her lips.

Tiffany groans again.

“We should really go, else your playful joke would come true and we’d be late for the screening.”

Jessica nods in agreement and picks their coffee up after they finish their smores then urges Tiffany to go, and the two went out of the coffee shop smiling, a turbulent mix of emotions within them yet hindered away from one another despite their closeness.

But before their leave, they snap a photo together, a sort of memento of the places they went to and the memories enclosed with each snap of the camera.

The clock ticks a minute past four as the two friends walk out and away from the cafe, a secret looming before them waiting to be spilled in the world’s perfect timing. The two stay oblivious of the impact of their meeting and the photo they have captured, which would take a huge part later as the secret lays wait to be revealed, slowly unravelling and unclasping itself.

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Hello everyone! Sorry for the very long hiatus. It's been what, now? 1 year? It's been 10 months to be exact.

Actually, I wrote this chapter last year but was unsure of publishing it. I just didn't know what to do since I was on hiatus and on a break from my sone life as well. I also got very busy with school since I'm now in my senior year in college (YAY!) so, yeah.

Anyway, here's the update you've been waiting for. Please bear with me for a while and pardon me in advance for the long interval between updates because I just broke my hand. 

Have a good read guys! Thank you for keeping up with me and reading my stories despite how crappy they might seem. I'm currently working on the next few chapters right now. So see you soon!