Taeyeon’s mother had always told her it was rude to stare at people. She thought so too. After all, she absolutely abhorred the feeling of unease whenever she was into the spotlight and has people staring at her for longer than what was necessary. She wasn’t like her confident girlfriend who was exceptional at socialising and keeping conversations going like it was a walk in the park. She couldn’t easily brush it off as well as Jessica could with her cool front she liked to put on for the rest of the student body. She most definitely did not have Yuri and Hyoyeon’s devil-may-care attitude or Sooyoung and Yoona’s knack for putting on an act anytime they felt like it. Her body would more likely seize up, like a deer on headlights, and all thought process would come to a grinding halt making her incapable of even speaking the language she was so accustomed to. It was embarrassing and she hated that it made her look stupid.

It was rude to stare.

But right then and there, she couldn’t help but look between the three people seated at the booth opposite her. Fortunately, none of the three people of interest had even picked up on her blatant staring. Unfortunately, someone else did.

A pinching pain at the back of her hand had her gasp, pulling her hand towards her from where it was resting on the booth. She protectively held onto her hand, sending a pout at the offender who rolled her eyes and kept the disproving frown.

She couldn’t help it. It was like she was deep in a trance, watching the past and present merge into a trippy kind of dream. She didn’t exactly grow up with her cousins, but she saw them enough times to remember what a young Yuri looked like. Watching the younger Jung going through the menu had Taeyeon feeling like she was reliving the years when they were still younger, when life wasn’t too complicated. It was eerie how similar they looked, and if she didn’t know them she would have thought Krystal was Yuri’s younger sister and not Jessica’s.

It was by pure coincidence they bumped into the trio. After the fiasco of a double date, or so Tiffany had claimed it to be, blew up right in their face the couple was left with a wide open afternoon. After bidding goodbye to the muttering jock Tiffany had dragged her to watch the movie anyway. It wasn’t like they knew where the two had gone off to, and even if they did what use would they have been? They did shoot a message to the duo, individually, to which neither even bothered to reply to.

After the movie, they had gone window shopping for what felt like hours to Taeyeon before their stomach started to protest in hunger. Being the good girlfriend that she was, Taeyeon shot down the idea of fast food and insisted for good old Korean food, for two. Somewhere that wasn’t too expensive, but not cheap and greasy and homey enough for the both of them to enjoy fully.

It was then that they bumped into Yuri, Jessica, and the little copy.

“Quit staring.” Taeyeon flinched at the hiss, breaking her staring for the time being. She moved her sights down, but then quickly redirected them upwards as soon as she realised how erted she must’ve looked like staring right around Tiffany’s clothed chest. She blinked a couple of times, caught by surprise at how close Tiffany’s face actually was. If she tried she could actually begin counting the pretty curved eyelashes.

“Are you going to kiss?” The question had Taeyeon jerk her head back, sort of throwing her top half to the other side with the sudden burst of adrenaline pumping through her veins. Tiffany was a lot less drastic, merely returning to her spot and pretending to go through the menu as if the comment hadn’t affected her even though her cheeks were a little rosier than before.

“Krystal!”

“Ow!” Krystal jerked sideways, avoiding her sister’s pinching fingers. She ended up pushing against Yuri’s side, though the latter doesn’t seem to register much of what was happening and kept her eyes on the menu. “What? They were practically right at each other’s face.”

“Oh my God. You don’t just say that like it’s nothing.” Jessica hisses lowly, switching back to her mother tongue, even going as far as flicking a finger against Krystal’s forehead. The younger Jung flinched at the contact, her hand slapping right over the spot. Her face takes on a bewildered look as if she couldn’t comprehend her sister had just done that to her.

“It is nothing!” Krystal retaliated in a whispered shout. She quickly bats away Jessica’s hand as she goes in for another pinch. “I was joking. Sheesh.”

“Well, don’t joke like that here.” Jessica warns, her eyes darting around their surroundings. Taeyeon nearly flinches back, suddenly feeling paranoid that people were looking at them, pointing and sneering under their breaths. She takes in deep breaths, hoping to shake away the unnecessary anxiety creeping under her skin. The moment she looks over to Tiffany though all her negative thought disappears to make room for worry and.. guilt, that she couldn’t do what she really wanted to do at that moment. The girl had subconsciously shrunk a little into herself, lifting the menu higher up to hide her face. All Taeyeon wanted to do then was to pull Tiffany into her arms and pepper her face with kisses until she could see that dazzling smile that could beat even the sun.

“Ah- sh..” Krystal cuts herself before the cuss word could spill out of . She gives a quick wary glance at her sister, breathing out when it looked like she would let it slide, or hadn’t notice at all. She then looked over to Tiffany and Taeyeon, a small pout on her face, one that Taeyeon was all too familiar with, having a younger sister that often did the same to get out of trouble. “I’m sorry. I was just joking.”

“Ah, it’s fine. It was just a joke.” Taeyeon smiles, waving her hands in front of her, hoping to quell the heavy air around them. “No harm done.”

“Yeah.” Tiffany chimes up, a little less enthusiastic than her usual. Taeyeon sneaks a glance at the side, her hands just itching to throw themselves around Tiffany and pull her into a hug. The woman did not know how much it affected Taeyeon whenever she chewed on her lower lip, a bad habit she had formed whenever she was thinking of something. in a breath, Taeyeon forced herself to look up, putting on a grin that she hoped didn’t look as forced as it felt.

“So… er.. Kuristal, right?”

The younger Jung raised a brow at her and Taeyeon nearly laughed. She may look like a copy of Yuri, but she definitely took after her older sibling.

“Eh, close enough.” She shrugged.

“Krystal!”

“They are so alike.” Yuri finally quips, staring between the two sisters.

“Yuri!”

“Ow! That was my foot!”

“Whoa! Jesus, Tiff. I’m sorry, no need to hit me.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Er.. so, everyone know what they’re ordering?” Taeyeon asked, carefully retracting her leg and hoping not to bump into anyone else’s knees on the way. She was trying, obviously failing, to use her own leg to cover her girlfriend from any other under the table shenanigans. Her short legs weren’t helping her case at all and she mentally cursed all those cartons of milk that didn’t give her squat in height.

Fortunately, her diversion tactic worked.

“Unnie, can I have this and this?” Krystal pointed out in the menu, leaning more toward her sister now. “Ooh! I want to have this one too.”

“You gonna grow fat eating that much, Soojung.”

“Am not. I’ve got good genes. A fast metabolism being one of them.” She teases, sticking her tongue out at the deadpan look Jessica put on.

“Is that why you aren’t growing in the upper chest department?”

“Oh, you’re just jealous I can eat more than you!”

Taeyeon pulled her gaze away from the banter between the sisters at the brush over her hand. She turned to Tiffany, quickly turning her hand over so they could hold each other more comfortably, a shy smile spreading across her face. The taller brunette shuffled a little closer, pulling up the menu over the both of them for a little privacy.

“Do you want to pick two different things and share?”

Taeyeon grinned at the expectant bright-eyed look Tiffany was giving her. Her free hand itched to pinch the rosy cheeks, but their privacy was a lot more important for her. “That sounds good. What do you think we should get?”

“I want to get one with the grilled eel, if you don’t mind.”

Taeyeon shook her head. She had expected Tiffany to pick the eel the moment she spotted it on the menu. She couldn’t blame her, eels were really delicious if just somewhat a bit more expensive. But if it made Tiffany happy. “See anything else you like?”

Tiffany’s eyes flicked up to her, her brows collectively rising up as she cutely cocked her head to the side. “Not really. I just really want the eel.”

“Oh, should I get the eel too?”

“What? No…” Her brows met down the middle as she pursed her lips. “Are you getting that just because I like it?”

Taeyeon lifted her shoulders. “I like eel too.”

“Not as much.” Tiffany argued, though her lips curved up into a wide smile. Taeyeon mirrors the smile, gently brushing her thumb over the smooth back of Tiffany’s hand. She never could get enough of how smooth her skin was or how warm her hands were regardless of the season.  Or how warm Tiffany made her feel just by being somewhere she could see her. “Pick whatever you want. Not eels.”

“Aey~ We’re sharing anyway.”

“No. Pick something you like. Oh!” She feels Tiffany’s hand withdrawing to point at something that caught her attention, and she nearly reaches back for it, stopping herself only at the thought of how desperate it seemed. “What about the chicken teriyaki you like?” she asks, her finger pointing at the words on the menu before trailing down. “Oh, they even have seafood pancakes, we should definitely get one.”

Taeyeon hummed noncommittally, eyes focused on every minute changes in Tiffany’s face.

She still couldn’t believe that she was so lucky to have her best friend return her feelings. It still felt more like a dream than reality with every gentle caress, every hug, every squeeze, and every chaste kisses just pulling her deeper and deeper into the blissful feeling. Everything just felt so perfect that, at the very back of her mind, she was just waiting for the needle of reality to come burst her happy little bubble.

And it seemed as if reality was catching up with her as Tiffany’s face suddenly loses her smile and she freezes at something the younger Jung had just commented. Her side of the menu falls away and an uneasy smile pulls up the corner of Tiffany’s lips as she leans back to her space. Taeyeon looks quizzically at the audience in front of them. Yuri looks as confused as she felt, whereas the other two were staring curiously at Tiffany.

“Krystal…” she forces out a laugh. Everything after that Taeyeon couldn’t really comprehend as she’s gone on a tangent in English. She internally groans, mentally making a note to practice English more. It was always awkward sitting at the side of a hurricane of English vomit, most specially when there were gestures thrown in the mix that clued her in that she was part of the discussion.

Taeyeon passes her cousin another glance, lowering one of her brows in question. Yuri responds with a slight shrug of her shoulder then shoots a glance beside her. Taeyeon sighed. She wasn’t going to be of any help.

“Are you guys talking about me?” she finally interrupts, making her voice a little louder than Jessica’s seemingly angry rant. She didn’t like the way Tiffany was turning a little red. She was uncomfortable, Taeyeon could tell from the forced smile she was putting up to the fisted hands she was hiding underneath the table. Aside from that, she was most curious about the joy Krystal seemed to be in as she intently listened to the two older American’s arguing, if they were even arguing.

“It’s nothing, Taengoo. Just-”

“It’s not nothing.” Jessica interjects, grinning. The sight had Taeyeon relax. If one of them was grinning then whatever it was they were exchanging shouldn’t be so bad. “Taeyeon, you sly fox.”

It was Taeyeon’s turn to feel uncomfortable and she instantly stiffens the second Jessica leans forward, continuing in a smaller voice. “I knew something was wrong. You tried to play me a fool. You both did.” Her eyes flicker to Tiffany who was now frowning and glaring at her half-heartedly.

“Well, you started it.” Tiffany harrumphs, crossing her arms and turning her head away.

Jessica grunted an affirmative, leaning back to her seat and drumming a nonsensical tune on the table. “I did. And I’m proud of the results. Congratulations~”

What? Taeyeon looked between the three Americans, feeling even more confused the more the seconds passed. The only consolation she had was that Yuri looked just as left out as she was. “What just happened?”

“Apparently, you guys did.”

Taeyeon squinted at Jessica. What was she getting at? She was about to ask Tiffany what Jessica meant when said girl jumped to retaliate.

“So, we are. You jealous?” Taeyeon eyes widens as it finally hits her. Oh, she meant that!

The heat quickly crawls up her face and she stares hard at the menu before her, wishing that the ground could open up underneath her and swallow her whole. This was not how she envisioned telling their friends the news about them, far from it. A lot more private if she could have had a hand in it, but now it seemed that the cat was out of the bag, and it wasn’t going to stay quiet. She just hoped no one around them caught on to what they were implying. Gay couples were not really the most acceptable thought for the conservative country.

“G-girls, could you p-please…” she stammered, shifting nervously in her seat as she stole quick glances to the tables closest to them.

“Oh, ignore them. No one would want to listen to girl talk. Throw in a few ‘oppa’ here and there and we’ll be none the more interesting than the next group of girls.” Jessica dismisses. Easy for her to say, Taeyeon scoffed, she wasn’t the one under heat at the moment.

“Oh yeah, since we’re on that topic, what about you, huh? Want to tell us something?” Tiffany challenges, glaring all the more darkly at the unperturbed Jessica who was now checking her nails.

“Nothing as interesting as yours.” She replies monotonously, smirking at sound of her name being growled out.

Taeyeon quickly dives for Tiffany’s wrist, shifting closer to the fuming girl in hopes of placating her before she opens and let’s slip something she might regret. She never was particularly good at keeping negative emotions in check. “Ppany-ah, come down.” She lets her hand rub up and down her slim arm a few times before giving it a firm squeeze.

Her intervention was a success. Tiffany breathes hotly through her nose as she rips her eyes from her roommate and fall to the concerned-puppy look Taeyeon was giving her. A small smile lifts her mood as she grasps Taeyeon’s arm, rubbing her thumb over the back of her wrist as a way to convey her gratitude for grounding her. If only they were alone, Taeyeon thought, she would have pulled Tiffany into her arms and pressed a long kiss to the top of her forehead.

“That was intense.” Krystal tactlessly commented, breaking the little moment between them. Taeyeon reluctantly pulls back, awkwardly coughing into her hand. Tiffany huffs, petulantly crossing her arms and focusing her sights at the table. “So, now that we got that out of the way, can we order? I’m starving.” She continues.

It was silent for a whole second before Yuri snorts, staring a round of her trademark evil mastermind-like laughter. “They are so much alike!” she gleefully announces amidst her chortles.

Taeyeon palms her face, rubbing it from one side to the other before inhaling deeply, passing her cousin a glance, then to the two sisters watching with varying reactions. “I apologise for my cousin. She was dropped on the head as a baby.”

“Yah!”

A/N: Just a lil' something-something from Taeyeon's perspective and Jung sisterly love. Yuri seems a little out of it, huh?

Till next time