Tiffany liked Taeyeon. That was for sure. She likes hanging out with the shorter girl. She liked painting Taeyeon’s nails and then have the girl return the favour and paint hers. She liked teasing the girl and watching her facial reactions transitioning from bug-eyed shock to realization then to mild annoyance then finally to ascension that once again Hwang Tiffany had gotten the better of her.

 

But what she liked the best about Kim Taeyeon was that she was always there by her side.

 

The first time she had received a failing mark Tiffany had done her best to prolong going back to show the grade to her father, afraid to face the disappointment. She and Taeyeon hadn’t known each other long at that point but the latter had stuck by her side, purposely, and in what Tiffany thinks is a cute way, trying to catch her eye and sending her small, somehow encouraging smiles. At the end of the day, she still received a lecture from her father, though it was a lot more placid but still stern. The next day Taeyeon had offered to teach her whatever she didn’t know, even after admitting she wasn’t that good. Tiffany had laughed and gladly accepted. Tiffany smiled to herself, recalling the flustered Taeyeon scratching her head after her confession. The smile, however, wavered as she thought of a more important question at hand.

 

Exactly to what extent did she like Taeyeon? Because it doesn’t feel like it was the right kind of amount, not recently anyways.

 

It was confusing.

 

But more than that it was worrying. The last thing she wanted was to lose Taeyeon’s friendship.

 

She had absently walked into the dorm’s common room, too deep in her thoughts to notice the person on the couch studying her every movement.

 

“What did my stupid cousin do now?” The voice startled her from her thoughts. Instinctively her eyes shot to the couch where Yuri was- sitting was not a very good word to describe how Tiffany found Yuri. Instead of sitting or lounging on the couch like a normal person Yuri had decided to throw her legs over the backrest and dangled her head over the couch while she attempted to feed herself choco pops directly from the box. A mug of milk rested beside the cereal box, a bendy straw dangling at its side. Yuri took a sip.

 

“Yuri?”

 

“That’s my name hot stuff, don’t wear it out.” Yuri winked at her. It was a rather miserable attempt at being suave taking into account her hair having bits of choco pops and the fact that she was upside down and drinking milk from a straw.

 

“What are you doing?” Tiffany smiled in mild amusement as she took to a crouch beside Yuri.

 

It was funny, Tiffany mused, that the two cousins were so different. Physically speaking Yuri was tall, dark-skinned and- Tiffany surmised from the times she observed the girl- was well-built despite not looking like it with her usual choice of wardrobe opting for comfort over style. Taeyeon was the complete opposite, short, fair-skinned and squishy- well her cheeks are.

 

Personality wise, Yuri was as… adventurous and mischievous as Taeyeon was a little bit childish and yet calm. Case in point, Yuri sitting on the couch upside down while eating cereal at night.

 

“What does it look like? I’m having an after-dinner snack. Wanna join? I’d have asked that dumb cousin of mine, but she looked right about to explode into multiple mini-Taeyeons… imagine that?” Yuri shivered exaggeratedly.

 

Tiffany wanted to defend her best friend, but the image of Taeyeon bursting into multiple mini-Taeyeon’s had her laughing instead.

 

Yuri grinned. “That’s the smile I was looking for. I thought you’ve been Sica-fied a minute there. It doesn’t suit you.”

 

“Sica-fied?” Tiffany asked, brushing a stray tear from her eye. “She’d kill you if she hears that.”

 

“No, she won’t. Sica likes me too much to get rid of me.” Yuri said nonchalantly, reaching into the box for a handful and creating a cylinder with her hand and carefully shifting the cereal into .

 

“Someone's full of herself. Yuri-yah, you do realize that you put milk on the cereal, right?”

 

Yuri chews the cereal in a deliberately slow manner, the crunching sounding louder in the silence of the common room. Looking up to Tiffany’s eyes one side of her cheeks puffed up as she squeezed the mashed cereal into the pocket of her cheek before mumbling “I know.” then popping in the remaining cereal into .

 

Tiffany couldn’t resist asking. “Then why is your milk in a mug instead of a bowl?”

 

Yuri takes a sip from the straw, rinsing whatever was left in before swallowing the liquid. “I don’t like soggy cereals.”

 

“Yuri-yah, that defeats the point of-“

 

“So, what did my stupid cousin do to you? You guys didn’t get into an argument, did you?” she cuts her off, waving her hand dismissively. A couple of stray choco pops ends up falling onto her hair spread out on the floor.

 

Tiffany scrunched her nose. She was itching to reprimand the girl for the mess she was creating but figured the girl would just wave her off. She crossed her arms over her knees, her plopping on the carpeted floor and made herself comfortable. “Taeyeon didn’t do anything to me.”

 

Yuri hummed. She slid her legs down the backrest, pulling her upper body while simultaneously pivoting her body to switch to a more comfortable position of lying sideways on the couch. She carelessly scratched at the back of her head, bits of choco pops falling off her hair and landing somewhere around the couch and floor.

 

The side of Tiffany’s lips twitched. She opened , about to scold the girl when the expression on Yuri’s face killed the words in . Maybe it was the position, with Yuri looking down at Tiffany from the couch, but somehow it looked a little menacing to Tiffany.

 

“Did you do anything to her?” Yuri asked, her voice dropping almost to a whisper. Her usual bright brown eyes seemed darker as she stared straight into Tiffany’s eyes.

 

Tiffany brought to a close, swallowing hard to force the sudden constriction around to loosen up. “No.” She managed to croak out, forcing her eyes to break away from Yuri’s stare. She pressed her chin against her arms, nervously chewing her bottom lip.

 

There were a few seconds of deafening silence before Yuri chirped, “No problem then! Great!” while slapping the side of her knees as she stood up. Tiffany could feel the heat still rising up her neck from the nervousness along with the loud beating in her ears and somehow let out a short chuckle at her behaviour.

 

Her suddenly being all nervous in front of happy-go-lucky Yuri, what was she thinking?

 

She took a peak under her bangs, watching Yuri shaking her head while simultaneously jumping up and down to shake off the cereal from her hair. She sighed. What was she thinking indeed?

 

“Were you looking for my dumb cousin? If so she went that way.” Yuri said, pointing to the direction of the stairs.

 

Tiffany shook her head. “I’m not looking for Taeyeon.”

 

“She probably went to buy ice cream.” Yuri continued as if she didn’t hear what Tiffany had just said. “Did you know that ice cream maniac used to finish a tub of ice cream during winter saying something like “fight fire with fire” then regret her decision when her basal temperature drops and she starts shivering? But then she does it all over again. I’m pretty sure she still does it.” Yuri raised her brows questioningly to which Tiffany replied with a quirk of a brow and a grin. “Knew it. At this point, I think she surpassed being stupid. She’s an idiot.”

 

Yuri brushed off the last of the pops from her shirt and turned to face Tiffany. With a soft smile, she held out her hand, waiting for Tiffany to take it. So she did, letting Yuri’s pull help her right herself back up. “What’s the difference?”

 

Yuri grinned. She reached up, plucking a stray piece of pop from Tiffany’s hair.  “All hope is lost when teaching an idiot.” She said, flicking the pop away. “Anyhow, you might want to catch up with that idiot. It’s not safe for a little girl to go around willy-nilly at dusk. Who knows, she might get lost on her way back.”

 

“Why do I have to catch up to her? I’m a girl too you know.” Tiffany argued, puffing out air from her lips to push away the stray strands of hair falling over her face from Yuri’s helpful picking. It was also a great way to show her disgruntlement at Yuri’s choice of words.

 

“Yeah, but you’re smarter.” Yuri shrugged. Stepping around Tiffany she gave her a lazy wave. “You do what you have to to get that idiotic cousin of mine. She should be at that shop where she buys her gummies.”

 

“Of course.” Tiffany rolled her eyes. Taeyeon only goes to that shop. According to her everything else was too far away and travelling costs money, that kid-face ahjumma. “Fine. Come with me.”

 

“Do I look like lassie to you?”

 

“Aw come on!”

 

“Good bye Ppany Ppany, Tippany.” Yuri held her hands up to , lightly tapping them against her lips before extending them towards Tiffany. She laughed as she swivelled around, not forgetting to wave goodbye to the pouting Tiffany glaring daggers after her.

 

 

 

 

 

Tiffany sighed as she curled her fingers in her pocket. It was unexpectedly breezy and despite the 24-degree temperature reading that Tiffany managed to catch a glance from the thermostat outside the dorm’s office, the cold was still felt biting to her skin. The regret of not running back to her room to grab at least a jacket began to nip at her conscience but she pushed it down. Jessica would no doubt start ranting at her again after her sudden departure and the question she just had to pull up again. Her roommate always hated it when her questions were left hanging. “It keeps me awake wondering the whole night.” Earlier was the first time Tiffany had seen the girl loose her cool, it was likely she wouldn’t have a fitful sleep. Anyway, it was too late. She was close to the store. She just hoped Yuri was right and the dork had suddenly had another craving for ice cream.

 

Seeing the familiar store at the distance Tiffany took a deep breath, willing her slightly numbing feet to get there faster. Pushing past the doors she immediately pushed it back to a close, sighing in relief for the warmer temperature in the establishment.

 

Over at the counter at the far end of the door was the owner, an old smiling man that came to know Tiffany from escorting Taeyeon’s frequent cravings of jellies or ice cream. He gave a nod to Tiffany, smile still in place, before averting his eyes to the side, where the freezer was at. Tiffany gave a little wave before following the man’s gaze.

 

A few aisles over, bent in half with her upper half practically pressing onto the glass division for the ice cream freezer was Taeyeon. From the way,her face was pinched as she chewed on her bottom lip Tiffany knew it wasn’t because she was having trouble picking a flavour.

 

Tiffany laughed silently, the repressed air passing loudly through her nose instead in short bursts, not loud enough to catch the other girl’s attention.

 

How long has it been, she thinks, that she’s got to know Taeyeon. The memory of their first meeting is nothing but a blur to Tiffany, fazed out of her mind from the years. It doesn’t matter, there were plenty more memories she could pull out of the both of them- most of them warming her up like a thick, fuzzy blanket on a cold night.

 

She’s pondered over this thought multiple times now, always ending up with a single answer. It’s been too long.

 

She likes Taeyeon.

 

But to what extent?

 

“Hey, you.” Taeyeon’s head snapped over to Tiffany’s direction. The next instant pulled into a grimace as one of her hands went up to clamp over the back of her neck while the other curled into a fist against the freezer.

 

“Aaaaah! Whiplash.” Taeyeon whimpered softly as she tried her best to contort her grimace into a smile. Not working very well, her cover-up smile looking awkward and painful. Tiffany shook her head, fighting back the amused smile pulling at her lips. “Ppany-ah, what are you doing here?” She finally asked, tilting her head to ease the stinging pain away.

 

Looking for you. “Suddenly had a craving for ice cream.” Tiffany closed the distance between them. She reached up, hand snaking behind Taeyeon’s neck and gently pressed down onto the taunt muscle a few times. Taeyeon backs up a little, smiling gratefully at Tiffany as she gives her neck one full roll and taunting her back muscles to relieve the remaining sting. Tiffany chuckles and takes Taeyeon’s cheek in between her thumb and index and lightly pinched the soft skin, knowing fully well Taeyeon hated it, before directing her attention to the freezer.

 

Taeyeon pouts at the treatment, her cheeks puffing out of habit, but turns her attention instead on the freezer, looking a little better than before. The girl took the space beside Tiffany, shoulders bumping, and they fell into a comfortable silence browsing over the collection of frozen treats.

 

Tiffany takes the chance to sneak glances at her best friend. Brows scrunched in concentration this time as her dark brown eyes darting from side to side, her bottom lip jutting out in a small pout. Cute. Taeyeon hated it if she was called cute, her face scrunching into an awkward grimace. Even then it would still look cute. Tiffany’s eyes fell to Taeyeon’s small hands pressed against the glass division, brow quirking at the smudged coloured designs she had done earlier. The feeling of Taeyeon’s arms around her stomach and the warmth against her back brought a warm feeling shooting up from her neck to her face. She gripped the side of her joggers to keep them from fanning her face and breathed out instead.

 

“Ka-ra-mel.” Taeyeon pronounced carefully. Fingers curling against the edge of the glass divider she pulled the glass open, reaching down to her selected treat. She wiggled the cone in her hand before grabbing Tiffany’s with the other and placing the treat in her hand. “This is your favourite right? Conetto karamel.”

 

Tiffany giggled. “Cornetto.” She pronounced in her fluent English. “Thank you, Taeyeon-ah.”

 

“And I’m pretty sure..” her hand dipped inside the freezer. She winced a little at the biting cold against her fingers as she pulled out a packet. She sighed, reorienting her grip so now she’s pinching the edge of the wrapper as it dangled in the air. “… you know, sometimes I think you purposely buy this ice cream just to get on my nerves.”

 

“Of course not! I would never.. everybody loves samanco! It’s like bungeobbang, but with ice cream.” Tiffany’s face scrunched in disgust as she handed the packet to Taeyeon’s awaiting hands. “Well, almost everyone.”

 

“Why’d they have to make the fish’s eyes that big?” A shiver ran up Tiffany’s spine at the image of those dark, dead, pools of black staring blankly up at her, causing her skin to break out in goose bumps. She wraps her arms around herself, rubbing away the bumps.

 

“Come on. Let’s pay for these and get back to the dorm.” As Tiffany turned around a warm hand wrapped around her wrist promptly halting her movement. She looked back at Taeyeon, who had tossed the ice cream packet back into the freezer and was digging around for another one.

 

“Taeyeon?”

 

“Found it!” Taeyeon held up the green packet, grinning broadly at Tiffany as she waved it in front of her face. It was a melona ice cream.

 

“Umma said I should stop eating too much ice cream.. but you and I both know that’s never gonna happen.” Taeyeon chuckled, sending Tiffany a wink. “This one’s a healthier choice. Umma should be proud of me, I’m the best daughter she has!”

 

Tiffany watched on silently as Taeyeon laughed at her self-praising. Soon enough her lips pulled apart in a toothy grin and she shook her head. Such a dork. “You’re the only daughter she has. Whatever you do Umma will always be proud of you… unless you land yourself in jail.”

 

Taeyeon feigned shocked. “Me? Jail? You must confuse me with my troublesome cousin.”

 

Tiffany laughed. “I’m telling her you said she’d go to jail.”

 

Taeyeon shrugged nonchalantly. A split second later she grabbed the cone from Tiffany’s hand, catching the girl off guard and ran straight for the cashier yelling “Come on slowpoke!” behind her as she hurriedly pulled out a couple of bills to pay the chuckling ahjusshi.

 

“Wha- No! Taeyeon!”

 

“Come on!” Taeyeon called again, running straight for the exit, already prying open her ice cream. Tiffany followed suit, not forgetting to bow to the old man before walking out to the cold street, yelling after a laughing Taeyeon. Despite the cool air, Tiffany felt warm.

 

Tiffany realized that she didn’t like Taeyeon. What she felt for the shorter girl had gone way past that. She still couldn’t be sure, but she knows she wouldn’t be able to take it if the girl would suddenly disappear from her life.

 

They still had their future in front of them, packed with vast probabilities. Tiffany figured that for now knowing that the girl was there, always ready to give her a hand, an arm, a cone of her favourite ice cream.. that was enough. For now, Tiffany was just happy to have Taeyeon in her life. Figuring out how she loved the girl… she still has days ahead of them to know for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica huffed. She was sitting crossed legged on her bed, the back of her head repeatedly hitting the wall as she tried to recall exactly what brought about her irritation. Her assignment was left forgotten on the cluttered table. Her eyes would briefly glance over the mess and her irritation would start bubbling again inside her. She would then close her eyes and take a few calming breaths, muttering things she liked under her breath to bring her temper down a notch. For a while, it had worked, but no matter what thought she would try to distract her mind with, it would always come back to the feeling she’s been having since the afternoon.

 

She growled, flinging her body sideways. Her arms reached out for her pillow, pulling the soft object to her chest in a firm hug as she shut her eyes. A couple of minutes later she huffed irritably, turning on her back and squashing the pillow against her face. Sleep would not come to her until she figures out what’s been bothering her. This was exactly why her assignments were always dealt with the day they were given. Despite her lazy nature, her mind wouldn’t let her rest until all her problems were solved.

 

It was driving her crazy.

 

She sat up abruptly, flinging her pillow back to the headboard where it bounced off and landed back on the bed.

 

“It has something to do with that Kwon. I just know it.” Jessica grumbled as she crawled off her bed. Grabbing her sweater off of the small pile on the chair she slipped on her shoes, the nearest footwear she could find, and stormed off her dorm room.

 

“Past the common room fourth to the right.” She muttered, remembering the time she had to help cover for the idiot when she decided it was time to return the portable stove back to her room. Unfortunately, Jessica was the only one present during the return mission, and not wanting to potentially get caught with the stove in her room unwillingly agreed to help out by being the scout. Said idiot could not find a bag big enough to fit the stove that wouldn’t raise questions and decided to hide it behind her back, covered only by her own jacket, as if a square bulk on her back wouldn’t raise suspicion. Jessica was embarrassed for her whenever a few of the girls passed by and stared at Yuri’s poor act of being casual, whistling poorly as she leaned uncomfortable against the wall. She made her promise never to bring the stove out again, even at the prospect of never having to eat pancakes for the rest of the term.

 

She stopped at the fourth door, glare at the ready. Her hand rose up, curled into a fist and pulled back as she prepared to knock when suddenly the door pulled open.

 

“Whoa! Don’t punch me!” Yuri yelped, raising her hand up to her face. Jessica sighed. Idiot.

 

“Kwon Yuri, I’ve been- where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Her anger transitioned to shock when she saw the girl’s outfit and the gym bag slung over her shoulder. It was way past time to be working out. It was past 9 in the evening.

 

“Uh…” Yuri glanced down to her gym bag. “Going to the gym? I think I need to work out a little, been packing on the pounds.” She grinned, patting the bag at her side.

 

“At 9 in the evening?” Jessica regained her glare, hands going to her hips in an authoritative manner. “Don’t you lie to me, Kwon. Whatever kooky scheme you’ve got up in your head, forget it.”

 

“I-I’m.. not up to any mischief. I’m just going to head out for a bit.”

 

“Head out where?”

 

“You know just- out. Somewhere.”

 

“Where?” Jessica persisted, shifting her arms to cross over her chest.

 

“Isn’t it about time you go to bed Sica? I’m sure it’s a lot warmer there than out here. I’ll walk you to your room.” Yuri tried, grinning as she reached for Jessica’s hand. Jessica beat her to it, unfolding her arms and catching Yuri’s hand mid-motion.

 

“You’re not fooling me, Yuri. Now I don’t want you getting into trouble, so..” with that she stepped around Yuri, pulling her back into her room. “I’m sleeping over.”

 

“Aw Sica, you do care for me.” Yuri cooed, wearing a -eating grin as she let the older girl pull her back towards her bed.

 

Jessica rolled her eyes. “No. I’m looking out for my own . If you” she poked Yuri’s chest hard, the latter stepping back, leg hitting her bed making her loose balance. She fell back on the bed with a slight bounce. “get into trouble Tiff, Taengoo and I are the first people the dorm managers are going to hound after if they don’t find your sorry first.”

 

Yuri chuckled nervously, waving her hand in front of her face. “I swear it’s not what you’re thinking Sica. I’m not planning on pranking anyone. I just..” Her face brightened up. She held up her right hand while the left went to her heart as if she was going to recite a pledge. “I solemnly swear on mickey mouse, that I am NOT up to no good. There’s just something I’ve got to do.”

 

Jessica crossed her arms again, glaring down at Yuri. “I’m not convinced.”

 

For a moment Yuri sighed, body deflating as she let her head fall in defeat. She took a breath in, raising her head to look Jessica square in the eyes. “Well… since it’s you… how about you come with me?”

 

“… What?”

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica yawned, hiding behind her hand. Lunch time had just finished and with Tiffany dragging Taeyeon away to accompany her to her next class Jessica was left to wander until it was time for her own. She still had roughly fifteen minutes to spare before classes and as tempting as catching a few z’s in the classroom was taking a short power nap would only make her lethargic for the rest of the day. Unlike popular belief that power naps could recharge a person’s mind it does the opposite for her, and her teacher for the afternoon wasn’t one that was lenient on sleeping students, or her in particular.

 

She was walking through the now-familiar corridor, nodding her head to a few familiar faces as they passed her by. A memory replayed in her mind and she had to hold back a grimace at the phantom ache on her feet and the words “Kwon Amazing Tours” popping out from the back of her mind.

 

She stopped walking, her eyes honing onto the familiar numbers tacked onto the door frame. It had been a while since she last visited that room. Trying the door it clicked open, giving way to the small force she put onto it.

 

A girl with long black hair was the first sight that greeted her. She felt a sense of Deja Vu and immediately her face scrunched in a frown. Yuri, sitting on the window seal, one foot dangling out of the window. The last time she caught the younger girl she remembered going into complete panic, urging the girl to carefully get all of her limbs back inside the classroom. She remembered the surprised look she gave her, followed by an uncontrollable laugh that nearly tilted her out the window and plummet onto the pavement bellow. After calming down and getting all her limbs back into the safety of the classroom she had claimed that ‘If I wanted to jump off I’d jump from the namsan tower. I’d rather be dead that walk around with broken bones.’. Jessica berated her for it none the less.

 

And now there she was again. She was seriously asking to be pushed out.

 

Just as Jessica was going to let her presence be known through another round of angry lectures she had noted the less than cheery outlook as she stared out to the field. The girl sough in deeply, hand hastily going up to her face to brush off something; Jessica couldn’t tell from the angle as Yuri’s back was to her.

 

There was something different.

 

Deciding the atmosphere wasn’t one to be easily brushed off she back up, closing the door just as silently as she had entered.

 

 

~~~

A/N: Got three papers due within the next three weeks. One down two to go, I haven't even started on the other two yet. And with my recent streak of bad luck... I'm being punished for something, I just know it. I just don't know/can't remember what I did wrong. :/