The brunette stepped out of the dark closet and into the faint light of the shop. Taeyeon immediately recognised that it was Tiffany and stiffened. An all too familiar sight was facing her as her body began to react on its own.

“Miyoung?” Taeyeon called out slowly as her body unconsciously walked up to Tiffany.

“I beg your pardon?” Tiffany looked back at Taeyeon confusingly.

Taeyeon saw images of when she met Miyoung again. It was exactly the same. She had been playing the piano by herself in a shop when Miyoung came out to greet her. Tiffany then put down the box she was carrying and put her hand onto Taeyeon’s forehead.

“You okay?” Tiffany asked a little worried, feeling that Taeyeon’s temperature was rather warm. Taeyeon came back to reality and backed away from Tiffany’s hand quickly.

“Yeah. Fine” Taeyeon let out an awkward cough.

“You play the piano perfectly” Tiffany complimented with a smile.

“Thanks” Taeyeon answered back bluntly. Tiffany stared at Taeyeon who was now avoiding eye contact with her.

“You should look at the person when you’re talking to them” Tiffany said sternly with a slight pout.

“Ah sorry… just a habit” Taeyeon lied.

“So what are you doing here at this late hour?” Taeyeon asked Tiffany as she looked at the shelves behind Tiffany, making it look like she was looking at her.

“I know you're not looking at me” Tiffany interjected bluntly as she crossed her arms.

‘Was worth a try’ thought Taeyeon, getting herself ready for another lecture. Tiffany really was going to lecture Taeyeon, but stopped herself remembering what happened earlier.

“I come here often to clean the storage room or to find a new piece of music to play” Tiffany pointed to the box. Inside the box were sheets of music.

“Well actually… I don’t know how to play but I know a program in which you just enter the notes and it plays it for you.” Tiffany continued. Taeyeon just nodded slowly, not entirely listening to what Tiffany had to say.

“What about you?” Tiffany asked Taeyeon.

“…” Taeyeon remained silent.

“Well? What brings you down to this old run down place?” Tiffany urged on.

“I just… wanted to play the piano again. The piano at my place doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as this” Taeyeon traced her fingers on the white piano.

“That really is a beautiful piano” Tiffany answered awkwardly.

“Well… I should be going if I want to be home on time. Sunny is going to hang me if she finds out I’m out late” Tiffany joked to herself. She picked up the box and headed out to the streets. Taeyeon then noticed Tiffany sit on the bus stop bench. She knew the timetable of the buses well and she knew that there would be no buses around this time. Rolling her eyes at the girl’s naivety to not check the bus timetable, she walked out towards the bus stop.

“You want a lift?” she asked bluntly. Tiffany looked at Taeyeon with a rather surprised expression.

“No thanks.” Tiffany answered, not wanting to be in a car alone with her.

“When you want a ride come up the streets.” Taeyeon pointed up the street where her car was parked.

“I won't need it” Tiffany answered back bluntly. Taeyeon rolled her eyes at the answer and waved her hand carelessly.

“When its eight o’clock start heading up to my car. That’s the only hint I'm giving you” Taeyeon then left Tiffany alone at the bus stop.

“What’s her problem?” Tiffany whispered to herself when she saw Taeyeon leave. She waited then for ten minutes. Tiffany then thought it would probably be a good idea to check what time her bus would be coming, so she looked to the side of the bench and found the bus timetable.

“Should be bus number…” she mumbled to herself as her finger traces down the timetable. When she checked the schedule there were no more buses heading in her direction let alone the bus that she was going to catch

“That’s what she meant” Tiffany uttered upon realising Taeyeon’s statement before. She then looked at the time on her watch to see that it was now eight o’clock. She then looked at the box she brought out with her and sighed.

“I can't walk home now… Ugh” Tiffany whined before she grabbed onto the box and started heading into Taeyeon’s direction. As she was nearing Taeyeon’s car she heard a joyful chuckle. Tiffany narrowed her eyes to see what was creating the noise and from a distance, she could see someone in a white blazer playing with an abandoned puppy.

“Down boy. That’s enough” the voice called out. Tiffany focused her eyes even more at the person in hopes of identifying who it might be. To her surprise, she saw Taeyeon sitting in front of the puppy in her Elite uniform with a slight smile on her face. Tiffany immediately stopped in her tracks and hid behind a bush as she began to spy on Taeyeon. Taeyeon, oblivious to Tiffany’s presence, lifted up the puppy up to her face. The puppy reacted and started her face as Taeyeon gave out another low chuckle.

“Yah! You want to kiss now?” Taeyeon stared at the puppy sceptically. Tiffany’s jaw dropped wide open when she saw Taeyeon playing with the pup.

“Haha. You can't. These lips are private property. You hear?” Taeyeon pretended to frown at the puppy. The puppy’s tail stopped wagging as his ears drooped low. Taeyeon then gave out a wide smile as she rubbed behind the dog’s ear with her hand. Tiffany had never seen Taeyeon smile like that even though she had just known Taeyeon for a day or so. It didn’t look like the usual Taeyeon at all, nor did it suit the cold exterior she had during college. It was like an innocent child’s smile on Christmas morning.

“Want to come with me?” Taeyeon asked the puppy. The puppy started wagging its tail again happily. Just then Tiffany rustled the bush, causing Taeyeon to look at the bush that Tiffany was hiding behind. Taeyeon could see Tiffany’s cardigan hanging out from the bush and let out a long sigh. Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly regained her cold persona of her Elite image.

“Come out. I know your there Tiffany” Taeyeon said sarcastically. Tiffany knew that Taeyeon wasn’t happy so she slowly peered over the bush to see that Taeyeon’s face was cold as she began walking up to Tiffany.

“Please don’t hit me” Tiffany yelped as Taeyeon stood right in front of her. Taeyeon let her hand extend in front of Tiffany and waited.

“Get up. It’s dirty there” Taeyeon said as she grabbed Tiffany’s hand and pulled her up. Tiffany took a few steps back after she got on her feet and flinched from Taeyeon’s grasp. Taeyeon crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrow up at Tiffany.

“What happened to the tough Tiffany?” Taeyeon said sarcastically, finding the cowering Tiffany completely different from the girl she had encountered that day. Tiffany then regained her confidence back and straightened her back up.

“Hurry up and get in the car. We’ll talk there. You don’t want to be late for Sunny now.” Taeyeon just said coldly as she turned her back and picked up Tiffany’s box before putting it into a car nearby. Tiffany followed slowly as she did not have any other means of transport. As Taeyeon walked past the puppy her expression became soft again. Taeyeon clicked her fingers and the puppy immediately ran up to her.

“You're not allergic to dogs, right?” Taeyeon asked Tiffany without bothering to look at Tiffany.

“I'm fine” Tiffany answered slowly.

“Sit in the passenger seat.” Taeyeon opened the passenger door open. Tiffany stood there looking at Taeyeon with a slightly alarmed expression. Taeyeon then just continued to open the back door of the car and took out a spare jacket she had. She wrapped it around the puppy as Tiffany got into the car. Taeyeon then took the puppy out and closed the back door where she then headed towards Tiffany.

“Do me a favour. Hold onto him until we get back” Taeyeon passed the puppy to Tiffany. Tiffany’s eyes opened wide open at the sudden request.

“Me?!” Tiffany exclaimed loudly.

“I don’t have anything I can put him in to make sure his safe at the back. So just do me a favour and hold onto him for a while” Taeyeon then just passed the puppy to Tiffany, forcing her to grab hold. She then closed the passenger door and headed to the driver’s seat.

“Where do you live?” Taeyeon asked bluntly.

“I'll show you the directions” Tiffany answered back, not quite sure as to how well Taeyeon knew the area around here. Whilst Tiffany was busy giving directions to her home, the puppy in the jacket started struggling and popped its head out of the jacket. It froze when it saw Tiffany instead of Taeyeon as Tiffany matched the puppy’s stare. She noted that it was a small Pomeranian with white fur and pink ears. Tiffany found the puppy really adorable and started rubbing its chin in admiration. The puppy responded to the chin rub and rubbed its head onto Tiffany’s palm.

“Cute” Tiffany smiled with her eye smile. Taeyeon looked across to see Tiffany’s eye smile and couldn’t help but note that it wasn’t like the ones she had seen before. Tiffany’s was much brighter and it seemed as though Tiffany had no care in the world. It reminded Taeyeon all too much of ‘her’.

Taeyeon reacted quickly by biting onto her tongue trying to forget about the thoughts.

“Turn left here” Tiffany said as she pointed towards the road. Taeyeon followed the directions whilst Tiffany kept playing with the puppy.

“Taeyeon, can I ask you something?” Tiffany looked at Taeyeon curiously

“Let me guess. It’s to do with the way I treated the pup?” Taeyeon sighed, knowing that the question would come up soon. Tiffany just nodded once.

“Guess I can't relax around people” Taeyeon gripped onto the steering wheel even harder.

“Well I think you should show this side of yourself more.” Tiffany lifted up the pup and rubbed her nose against its cheek.

“I have my reasons” Taeyeon answered coldly. Tiffany gave Taeyeon a confused expression. To her, she found that there was absolutely no reason why someone should hide their true selves.

“Ah. It’s the third house on this street” Tiffany pointed to a turn in the street when she saw a familiar street sign. Taeyeon parked up in front of the house where Tiffany specifically asked before cutting the engine. She then reached over picked up to pup from Tiffany’s lap.

“Don’t you dare tell anyone” Taeyeon said coldly. Tiffany stopped trying to undo her seatbelt and looked at Taeyeon with a challenging stare.

“Why not? You shouldn’t be someone you're not” Tiffany frowned. Tiffany was then cut short as a thought ran through her head.

‘You hypocrite’ said the voice in her head.

“Don’t tell anyone. This was just a onetime thing” Taeyeon was now glaring at Tiffany. Tiffany felt shivers go down her spine when she met Taeyeon’s gaze before giving a defeated sigh.

“Fine. IF! You treat me better” Tiffany put out her pinkie finger. Taeyeon stared at the finger and raised her eyebrow.

“Promise” Tiffany gestured to her finger again. Taeyeon just turned her head around and ignored the pinkie. Tiffany was persistent and held her finger up in front of Taeyeon’s face. The puppy in Taeyeon’s arms reached for the hand and tapped it lightly with its paw.

“If you don’t, who knows what I will spill.” Tiffany said cunningly. Taeyeon immediately glared at Tiffany as Tiffany smiled back. Reluctantly, Taeyeon lifted her hand up to Tiffany’s and wrapped her pinkie with the other latter’s. She couldn’t risk her image to be ruined by just one new girl.

“All good then” Tiffany let out a giggle. Taeyeon just gave off a huff of disapproval whilst the puppy on Taeyeon’s lap was now her again with a whining voice. Taeyeon stared into its eyes and her cold attitude immediately melted away.

“Fine” Taeyeon answered to the pup with a roll of her eyes. Tiffany covered as she smiled at the other side of Taeyeon. She quickly grabbed her box from the back seat and waved back at Taeyeon before exiting the car.

“I won't tell anyone” Tiffany held her pinkie up from outside the car.

“Better not” Taeyeon answered coldly. Tiffany’s face immediately became a frown.

“Fine… thank you” Taeyeon bit onto her tongue, trying to treat Tiffany better. 

“Pinkie promise Tae!” a voice rang in her head. Taeyeon then began to start the car and drive off, thinking that it was Tiffany’s voice.

“Pinkie promise Tae” the voice repeated a little louder. Taeyeon now knew all too well whose voice it was. She had only ever made a childish pinkie promised with one other person. Taeyeon stepped onto the gas pedal and sped down the highway. Her knuckles began to go white from gripping onto the steering wheel to hard. The puppy gave out a loud yelp as it began to get scared. This knocked Taeyeon out of her memories again as she began to slow down. She patted the pup’s head, thanking it for stopping her.

‘Why are these memories coming back again’ Taeyeon slammed her fist against the horn letting out a loud horn to echo down the road.

As Taeyeon arrived at her home she opened her door and chucked her keys. The sound of keys echoed through the halls of her house. It was completely empty. Not a soul or being resides in her house except her. She was used to the sound of emptiness in her house already, but it still hurt her each time. The puppy then crawled underneath Taeyeon’s feet and started bounding into the house, barking happily. Taeyeon smiled slight as bent down to pick it up.

“I'll name you Chubby” Taeyeon smiled. The puppy immediately dropped its tail and whined in disagreement.

“Hmmm. Bubz it is then” Taeyeon smiled. The puppy didn’t respond at first but it barked happily afterwards.

“You have a nice personality don’t you?” Taeyeon gave the pup a serious glance. The puppy then barked happily as it reached its paw up to Taeyeon’s face. As it lifted its paw up, it caught onto Taeyeon’s necklace and pulled it from underneath her shirt.

“Bubz. No. This is important to me…” Taeyeon slowly trailed off as she kept staring at the key. The puppy immediately got off and started running around the house. Taeyeon stared after the pup and sighed. She then stood up and headed to her bedroom and changed out of her Elite uniform. After she finished readjusting her hair from the collar of her shirt, Bubz had bounded into the bedroom. Taeyeon then remembered the object that the canine had caught onto moments before and slowly pulled it out of her shirt again. She then sat down onto the side of the bed and patted the mattress.

“Jump up” Taeyeon ushered the pup up onto the bed. Bubz willingly followed Taeyeon’s orders and sat beside its new owner. Taeyeon patted its head a few times as it slowly started drifting off to sleep. Once Bubz had lulled gently to sleep, Taeyeon turned her attention to the key. She held it up to the moonlight and allowed the key glistened in the moonlight and started reflecting it around the room. She then held onto it in the palm of her hand, stopping the lights reflecting off the metal.

“How I wish I was human” Taeyeon sighed as she tucked the key back into her shirt whilst gently getting off the soft bed. She then walked to her table and her laptop to start talking to Yuri and Yoona through instant messaging. Taeyeon looked back at the puppy sleeping comfortably in the bed. She didn’t understand why she had a bed. She never slept during the nights nor did she need to.

For the rest of the night Bubz was fast asleep while Taeyeon was trying to entertain herself for another night.