“Yuri, can you give me a copy of the March edition?” Tiffany said as Yuri handed her her copy of the magazine. She might’ve checked everything before having to assemble it, but she really hasn’t seen the finished project itself. She flipped through the pages and felt satisfied with the whole thing.

“Miss Hwang, CEO of NYLON NY is on line in the meeting room.” Yuri said, trying to hide that little frown in her face. Nobody knows why the CEO of NYLON NY is suddenly calling. Of course this wasn’t the first time a surprise call occurred to everyone, but it’s unpredictable whether the man on the other side of the world would be giving you a good or bad news. This completely sent Tiffany to a nervous breakdown deep inside. Without hesitation or hint of anxiousness, Tiffany closed the magazine and proceeded to the meeting room

Both CEOs could clearly see each other now. Although there were technical difficulties earlier with regards to the audio, Tiffany could hear everything clearly on the other side. Tiffany sat on the executive chair and looked at the man on the screen.

“Good Morning Miss Hwang.” The man greeted as he bowed a little, respecting the habit of the Koreans. Although Tiffany is half American too, she still follows the habits in Korea.

“Good Evening Sir.” She greeted back, flashing that eyesmile. The man smiled in delight before opening the file before him.

“So, I have been sent here the copy of the March edition that is to be released…” he tapped his pen at a certain point of the file, “Today in Korea?”

“Yes.” Tiffany nodded, “I have already sent some copies to the NY office, it should be there by…” Tiffany stopped as the man grabbed a magazine on his side and waved it to Tiffany’s view. He already got it.

“I have seen it. Honestly speaking, I feel like a certain thread here is a little rushed. Mind filling me in with what had happened?” Tiffany bowed her head, internally apologizing as she started to tell him how late she got in touch with Kim Taeyeon because of the carriers and how there wasn’t that much for her staffs to ask during the Q and A corner.

“That’s disappointing. I expect you’ve done something about carriers and your staff.” She technically did something about the carriers, as for the staffs who hasn’t prepared properly for Kim Taeyeon’s Q & A…she hasn’t really done anything. It wasn’t the first time Tiffany was told off about the disappointing points of their magazine. The thing is, she hasn’t really done anything with the staffs. The man saw her reaction and guessed about it. Tiffany opened to speak but was refrained when the man raised his hand.

“Miss Hwang, I understand that you have a great relationship with all your co-workers but we can no longer tolerate the same mistakes we see every edition. They’ve been given enough time to show better performance every month when a new issue comes out. There are many more who are capable of the position they hold and can do the job better…If we let this go on, the workers would feel it would be okay to commit the same mistakes without working harder on it, and we can not let this happen.” Tiffany’s eyes showed pure sadness to the man on the other line. But he is right and she knew she couldn’t do anything about it, “This is your first time to fire someone?” three whole years, Tiffany kept every worker under her, excluding those who left for some reason. Tiffany wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but there’s nothing she could do. She doesn’t know why she’s so frustrated about having to fire someone when she could just ask Yuri to do it for her.

“Miss Hwang, three years has been long enough. I think it’s time you harden more. This may come often because the rival companies are also getting tighter and better. We cannot just stay laid back. We need more capable, better, passionate workers. Sticking with people who only do their jobs with mediocre standards is a no.” the man said lastly.

Tiffany nodded and managed to say, “I understand, sir. I will do something about it and won’t let this happen again.” Before facing a black screen now- a sign that the man has disconnected.

Tiffany sat there for a few more minutes before regaining her normal composure; not letting anyone find out that something was wrong. Yuri thankfully was too busy to notice anything. Everyone just went on with their own work until their shifts end. Tiffany was still shaken with what had happened- not because of the fact that she has to fire some of her co-workers, but also because of the last statement that the man had said earlier.

We need more capable, better, passionate workers. Sticking with people who only do their jobs with mediocre standards is a no.

Tiffany drove to her house with the frustrated feeling she thought she’d left in the office. The ‘cutest dog in the world’ ran to her as soon as he heard his owner close the door.

“Hey Prince.” She picked him up and walked to her room to change to a white striped long sleeves and shorts, to pair with rubber shoes.

“Let’s go out tonight.” Tiffany still wished to leave the negative thoughts, thus bringing Prince Fluffy for a walk tonight came to her mind. They killed a little more time, letting the rush hour/office hours finish.

They walked going to nowhere. The streets are quieter now and nobody was in sight. Tiffany remembered the time when she had to look for Prince Fluffy, how scared she was that her dog was in the hands of a potential ruthless dog murderer. She remembered caring for the dog more than herself that night. She didn’t care whether she’d be in trouble, as long as she gets her dog home, safely.

****

Taeyeon happily jumped off her tall seat and dreamingly looked at her finished portrait. It was a portrait of the view she’d like to see in real life. It was the view that always shows up in her dreams so vividly. She couldn’t forget, she won’t let herself forget.

“Done done done done done, I deserve a treat for this, right, Sica?” Taeyeon spoke to herself. She wasn’t waiting for a reply or anything. But she still spoke as if she was around.

She took a bath and wore her favorite black pants, random white shirt, black jacket,. She used her snapback the other way around- the snaps on her forehead. She slightly angled it so it would only crash on the top of her bangs, not on the bangs. She just had her headphones resting around her neck, making the most out of the silent night.

She wore her headphone on one ear and the other behind her ear. She silently hummed to the song and sang some parts not too loudly as she walked. She walked in a faster pace when she saw her ahjumma friend closing the bakery’s metal grills.

“You’re kinda late closing now, Ahjumma. What happened?” She said as she ran to the side of the Ahjumma and told her that she’ll close it herself. Even though she’s a bit short, she was still able to pull the end of it and successfully closed it.

“Are you going there again?” The Ahjumma asked as Taeyeon shook her head and told her that she’s going to look for some rewarding food at the night market. The ahjumma then told her to wait as she went in and went out again, but now had a box of pastries with her.

“Will your business be okay even if I keep accepting your pastries every time?” Taeyeon joked as the Ahjumma insisted. Taeyeon thanked the woman and bid her goodbye, not wanting to keep the woman up so late when she looked very tired.

“Let’s see if the best seller is really the best.” Taeyeon said as she fished her hand in the box, grabbing one of the delicious looking pastries. She her lips before sinking her teeth on the pastry.

Taeyeon didn’t want to eat all the pastries at once, so she held back a lot of times. She smiled as she saw the night market on view. She was only really craving for ice cream. She was as happy as a nine year old when she looked at the choices of ice cream she has. Being stuck with three flavors of ice creams, she decided to get all instead.

Taeyeon walked out with a vanilla ice cream on her hand, ready to be devoured. She pushed the box lightly on her abdomen to hold, while the plastic bag with the two other ice creams are hooked on one of her fingers that now curled. She comfortably walked around the streets with no destination in mind.

****

She clutched onto her purse’s strap when she felt a cold wind gush. She cursed herself internally for wearing shorts at night, completely forgetting about the breeze. She was looking down at her legs as she walked, hoping it would not look like she’s shaking terribly. Just as when she was to turn to an intersection, a man sped to her direction and hastily grabbed her bag. He pulled in great strength, making Tiffany drop Prince Fluffy’s leash. Tiffany held her bag’s strap tightly and yelling at the man to let go of her bag. The man was wearing a mask like from the Phantom of the Opera while he dressed in a black sweater, black pants and comfortable-looking pair of adidas. Tiffany should be in panic for her state at the moment, but instead she was worried to where Prince Fluffy could’ve ran to.

“Let go of my bag, creep!” Tiffany yelled as she kicked the guy. Though it did not look like it inflicted any damage to the guy. The guy was shoving her then, but she was still keeping her ground and pulling her bag, randomly punching the guy’s head.

From a distance, Taeyeon saw the white furball running. Taeyeon stopped and sat as she offered an arm open to catch the dog going her direction. She quickly recognized him and saw that he was in panic.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Where’s your owner?” Taeyeon said, slightly alarmed when she noticed that he had a leash now but was alone and running in panic. Taeyeon did not waste more time. She hooked Prince Fluffy’s leash on one of her fingers available before running to the direction where he came from. It did not take long for Taeyeon to see a man strangling a woman. Taeyeon ran as fast as she could, also careful of not hurting anything that she is holding in hand.

“HEY STOP RIGHT THERE!” she warned as the man shifted his attention to her before letting go of Tiffany and grabbing the bag on the ground. Taeyeon tripped him as the guy shoved her hand, sending the vanilla ice cream flying somewhere on the street.

“YAH!” Taeyeon yelled, getting mad at what the guy did to her ice cream. Tiffany held her neck and was coughing a lot but took Prince Fluffy in her arms. Taeyeon got mad and kicked the guy, causing him to fall on the ground again. She picked up Tiffany’s bag that was no longer in the guy’s possession and carefully set it beside Tiffany. Taeyeon was about to set her things down to give the guy some beating before sending him to the station so he won’t refuse. Tiffany figured out what she was planning so she held her wrist and looked at her eyes. It was the message was written on their eyes, quickly understanding what it read.

Taeyeon borrowed Tiffany’s bag and dismembered the strap before going to the man, still limping on the ground. Taeyeon stepped hard at guy’s back before sitting down.

“Don’t you dare move.” Taeyeon said coldly, grabbing the hands of the guy and tying it tightly to each other. Taeyeon leaned in closer, grabbing a handful of the guy’s hair and pulling the mask out. She was surprised when she saw a guy looking like in teens. He was tall enough to be mistaken as man, but he had a babyface.

“You’re just a kid. Don’t live like this.” She whispered before getting off of him. They all went to the nearest station and left the kid until his parents arrived. All of them were disappointed of him. Tiffany did not press charges and just left with Prince Fluffy and Taeyeon.

“How you holding up?” Taeyeon asked as she peeked at the girl’s neck, examining for any bruise or scratch.

“He strangled me the second before you arrived, so it wasn’t really that harsh.” Tiffany said, tracing her neck with her other hand. Taeyeon slightly frowned for being a second late “Thanks for saving me…”

“Your welcome?” Taeyeon was unsure of what to reply. She felt as if she barely did anything for the woman. But she didn’t want to come out as cocky or rude to Tiffany. They both were walking to wherever their feet take them, absent-mindedly; they were already in that usual place with the bench. They both sat at the bench and something just occurred to Taeyeon.

“Please don’t be melted, please don’t be melted, please don’t be melted.” Taeyeon fished her hand on the plastic bag to get the ice cream, while Tiffany looked at her puzzled. Taeyeon opened the mint chocolate ice cream and felt relieved when she found the ice cream still safe and not melted.

“Here.” She fished for the other ice cream in the plastic bag and gave it to Tiffany, “it’ll make you feel better.” Tiffany, though hesitant at first, accepted. They both silently ate their ice creams. Okay, too silent.

“What’s bothering you?” Taeyeon asked as she looked at Tiffany who seemed to be spacing out earlier before she spoke.

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘Huh’ me. You’re not thinking about what just happened. Something else happened before the incident. What is it?” Taeyeon asked, tilting her head to the side, emphasizing to her that she’s curious.

“Since you won’t tell me, I’ll try to make up what I could from my observations.” Taeyeon said before inhaling and exhaling, “You don’t normally walk Prince Fluffy, it seems like you only do when you want to pre-occupy unwanted thoughts.” Tiffany looked at her, amused at what is happening, “After the incident, you kept looking at your phone, instead of focusing on what just happened to you- being strangled. Either you’re waiting for a call or you’re having a debate with yourself whether to call someone or not.” Taeyeon continued, “before you unwrapped the pack of the ice cream, you were looking at the girl on the plastic with sad eyes- thus, you feel sad for someone or because of someone.” Taeyeon shrugged, “well, that’s all I could make up. It’s a work related problem. There’s someone from work you’re having problems with.”

“An artist, a fighter, and now a psychic?” Tiffany joked, planning to change the subject. She knew she failed the minute Taeyeon sighed.

“I won’t pry but I’ll have to take you somewhere. Would you mind dropping off Prince Fluffy at your place first?” Tiffany had no idea what just happened- they were just talking about what’s on her mind, now they’re walking somewhere after tucking Prince Fluffy in bed at home.

“Ease up a little.” Taeyeon smiled as Tiffany looked up at her. Taeyeon sighed again when Tiffany did not return a smile. She grabbed her wrist and said, “let’s raise the tension here.” then she ran. Tiffany was forced to run because Taeyeon held her wrist. Taeyeon then started yelling ‘AAAA’ then some sentences like ‘I hate that guy threw my ice cream’ and some serious ones like ‘why is it normal for life to be unfair’. They still ran and ran to somewhere Taeyeon wanted.

“WHY IS TIFFANY SO QUIET?” Taeyeon yelled, still running and not looking back. They stopped at the middle of the bridge. Taeyeon let go of Tiffany’s wrist and faced the river, leaning on the bars.

“I AM FRUSTRATED WITH MY ART SOMETIMES!” Taeyeon yelled as Tiffany shot a look at her, Taeyeon was still yelling other things but Tiffany finally had the courage to let it out.

“WHY DO I HAVE TO FIRE SOMEONE AT WORK?!” she yelled as Taeyeon looked at her with a smile on her face. Taeyeon knew it’d be awkward if she looks at her longer so she went back to yelling some things in her mind.

“AM I JUST MEDIOCRE AT EVERYTHING?!” Tiffany yelled some more, becoming more emotional, feeling tears to come. They were soon rolling but she still let out, “WHY AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH?!”

“TIFFANY HWANG IS ENOUGH. TIFFANY HWANG IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!” Taeyeon said, consoling the feelings of Tiffany. Although she didn’t understand why Tiffany is very frustrated at herself, when everybody sees her as very successful and a role model. Tiffany was surprised with what Taeyeon had yelled. She turned to Taeyeon even though she might be as red as a tomato from crying while yelling seconds ago. Taeyeon opened her arms, to offer her friend a hug but she didn’t budge. Taeyeon curved her lips to a small smile when she saw Tiffany crying some more. She knew she wouldn’t move either, so she stepped forward and just wrapped her arms around her.

“Firing someone can be hard. But you can do it. I believe a Hwang can do anything.” Taeyeon whispered to her as Tiffany silently listened and still sniffing from crying, “If you find yourself in a slump, think of the things that motivates you. There’s a lot of people who admire you and I’ve seen them…you are not ‘just good enough’. You’re more than that.” Taeyeon pulled away to smile again. Luckily, she had a handkerchief with her. She first wiped her tears for her, but Tiffany took it from her and wiped it herself.

“Thank you…I feel sorta better. I was pre occupied earlier thinking about ‘what will this person think of me when I fire her, she’ll hate me, she’ll not want to come back. What if she gets discourage because of me?’ kind-of-stuff.” They walked back to their places, but Taeyeon had to walk Tiffany to her place because that’s where she left the pastries she got earlier.

“I’m pretty sure that person will just take this as a lesson and strengthen her for the future events. Don’t look at it as a setback, look at it as something to make you stronger. You know how that song goes…?” Taeyeon looked at Tiffany as she sang the chorus.

“I was expecting you’d sing with me.” Tiffany pouted as Taeyeon laughed and apologized.

“I was, but I was ashamed of my voice when I heard yours. You must be a singer.” Taeyeon nudged her elbow.

“If I was?” They arrived at her place, but Taeyeon refused to go in.

“I’d want to get an autograph, but if I’m going to see you more often then it’s not necessary.” Taeyeon said as she leaned at the wall on her side while Tiffany leaned her head on the door’s frame.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go in? Not any drink after yelling and eating? All that adrenaline rush?” Tiffany said, still convincing Taeyeon.

“No, I’ll take my leave now.” Taeyeon said as she turned her back and slowly walked away.

“Goodnight!” Tiffany yelled, not moving from where she stood.

“By the way, the pastries I left are the best. Savor every bit!” Taeyeon lazily waved her hand, her back still facing Tiffany. Taeyeon decided to leave the pastries instead so it'll cheer up Tiffany if it does not go well for her tomorrow.

****

Taeyeon was curious whether Tiffany had already fired the person she needed to. It was already afternoon, so she might’ve been able to do it in the morning or lunchtime. Taeyeon picked up her phone and dialed the company, specifically, Yuri’s line.

“Hey, just wanted to ask how is Tiffany doing…with the firing stuff…” Taeyeon said, hesitating at first because Yuri might not know about it.

“Oh. She just finished actually…” Yuri laughed at the coincidence.

“Did the person cry? Or did you hear any yelling or crashing in her office?” Taeyeon hugged her knees and played with her feet.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you heard this all from Miss Hwang? I mean, you’ll meet her again sometime, right?” Yuri wanted to tell Taeyeon what happened but she also wanted the two to communicate more by themselves, “tell you what, I’ll give you her number.”

“no thanks. I don’t really want it till she asks for it or gives it herself.” Taeyeon admitted. Tiffany might feel like Taeyeon is already feeling close with her because of small instances they’d meet. Yuri respected her decision but still refused to tell her what had happened.