It has been more than a week that Tiffany felt the change in her sister and she had endured Seri’s unreasonable remarks. Thankful enough, she was freed from her cast three days after Taec’s visit, or else, she would be having a more difficult time responding to Seri’s requests. Seri would ‘unintentionally’ bump her and make Tiffany lose balance, or would ask her to get something, and when Fany has it in her hands, her sister would just reply “oh sorry, it’s not that I need…”

“Tiffany?” Seri called from her room as she comfortably laid on her bed. Hearing her sister, Tiffany sighed before heading to the older woman’s room.

“Neh, unnie?” she asked.

“Can you get me a glass of milk…?” Seri spoke and without even answering, Tiffany headed to the kitchen. She came back and handed her the glass. “Is this whole milk?” she asked and Tiffany nodded. “But I want skimmed milk…”

“We don’t have any…”

“Is that so? Then can I have orange juice instead?” Seri showed a wicked smile and Tiffany just rolled her eyes as she exited her room.

After a few minutes, she handed her a glass of orange juice. “From the bottle?” Tiffany could just bite her lip in annoyance as her sister raised an eyebrow at her like a school diva would. “I like it freshly squeezed… I’m all about organic now…”

“Unnie, did I do something bad to you? Why are you being like this, acting all y like an evil stepmother?!” Tiffany finally showed her frustration.

“Really?”

“You have been cold to me ever since I got my leg on a cast and I can’t even remember anything I could have done to make you hate me this much…” Tiffany was close to tears as she confronted her.

“Geurae… I started hating you around that time… because I didn’t expect that my own sister would stab me in the back… steal the attention of the man I like and ruin my chances of getting a happy future, a complete family…”

“What on earth are you saying?”

“I like Taec… and he liked me back… I was his first love, but I turned him down then… because he was too young… but now that he’s a well grown man, I find him attractive… and I know that I could get him to love me again…” Seri started, and Tiffany was dumbfounded. She didn’t know this and also did not expect that Seri would like a younger man.

“However, little sister, you’re making it difficult for me… you’re the only reason he doesn’t see me as a woman… he keeps on looking at you and I hate it… I hate how he shows concern to you… I hate how he left his precious work just to take care of you… I hate how people call the two of you the perfect couple, when you are not… I should be the one chatting with him every night, and not you… I hate you…” Tears started falling as Tiffany looked at Seri’s eyes which were filled with hatred. She could not believe that this could be the end of their sisterhood.

“Ani… you don’t love him… you just want to use him… you know that he’s capable of being a good dad to Jaerim and that’s why you want him… you don’t love him… you just need him to fulfil your wants, and to satisfy your pride… so mom and dad would be proud that you caught a good man despite your flaws…” Tiffany retorted.

“That’s right… I want someone to be Jaerim’s father… and he’s the best candidate there is in this entire world…”

“I’m not like you, because I want him, I need him and I love him… and most importantly, he loves me… a million times more than he could have ever loved you…” she added and in return he receives a slap from her bitter sister. “You have to wake up from your fantasy unnie… not everything from your imagination would come true…” Tiffany spoke before she turned around.

She headed to her room and grabbed a few of her things, placed them inside a tote bag and left the house. She could only think of one place to go and she immediately rode the bus, after a few minutes of staring out the rainy night sky, she finally reached her stop. She alighted the bus and did not care how rain poured down her body. She crossed the street, walked a few meters, and turned a few corners before she was able to stand in front of his apartment building.

“I’m here to see Ok TaecYeon… please tell him that it’s his friend, Tiffany…” she softly spoke as she was cautiously asked upon approaching the front desk. In an instant, the staff pages his unit and she was immediately ushered towards the elevator.

She had her head down as she sniffed, waiting for the elevator to reach his floor. As soon as the doors opened, she lifted her head and saw the man waiting for her along the corridor. He was about to throw in a cheesy welcoming statement, but stopped after he saw her face. Filled with worry, he rushed to her as she stepped out of the elevator, wrapped her in his coat, rubbed her arms warm and attempted to dry her hair with his sweater sleeve.

“This won’t do…” he carried her bridal style and headed to his unit, keyed in his house code and went straight to the living room to keep the woman warm with the centralized heater. “What happened to you?” he asked worriedly as he took a towel to help dry her hair. “Ani, you should change out of those wet clothes first…” he went in his room and took the clothes from his wardrobe which he thinks could fit the lady.

“Here… they are big for your but those are the smallest I can find…” he hands her his black shirt, grey cropped sweatpants, a boxer shorts, and body bandage. “I obviously don’t have ladies’ undergarments here so I thought the bandage could work as a cover to your chest… and the shorts, could pass as an underpants right?” he spoke shyly and she could not help but giggle at him. He was indeed cute.

“Thank you… I’ll go ahead and change first…” she stood and headed to the bathroom Taec had pointed.

As she changed, he went to the kitchen and prepared a hot drink to keep her body warm. After a few minutes, she stepped out of the bathroom, in a now oversized shirt and baggy pants. He poured some hot tea into two cups and placed them on the coffee table, before he joined Fany on the sofa. He stared at her for a few good seconds before she sneezed and interrupted his moment.

“Have a sip first…” Taec gave her the cup.

“Thank you…” she took the cup and sipped. “This is good…” she spoke and there was just silence after that. “You had good ideas… I never knew that body bandages can substitute bras…”

“Just thought about it after seeing a lot of them on TV… don’t worry, those bandages are clean… I just used them once when my back was hurt…” he spoke to lighten the atmosphere. “So mind telling me why you are here in the night, more so soaked by the rain?” he asked and she tried being silent about it. “You can’t keep it a secret from me for that long… you know I can find sources…”

“I had a fight with unnie…” she started and continued narrating how Seri had suddenly turned into an evil sister but keeps the fact how he was the reason for her change. He gave her a hug when she started tearing up and he kept her warm in his embrace as she continued on. “Do you mind telling me the story behind you and unnie? I didn’t know you had a past with her…” she asked which he thought was too sudden.

“How did you know about that?”

“I heard it from the guys…” she told a white lie.

“That’s something that happened way before… but if it would ease your mind, then I would tell you everything…” he spoke and she nodded for him to continue. He told her everything starting from the day he had seen Seri to the day he left Korea without a closure from Seri. Tiffany admits that she was affected by his past with Seri, but she believed his words that Seri is his past.

“And I think I’m not being too fast when I say that you are my present, and hopefully, also my future…” he adds before grabbing her hand and kissing it lightly. “Are you hungry? Do you want some dinn