"It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dyin' breath of
This love we've been workin' on."

- John Mayer -

“Sorry, Taetae. I have to do a lot of homework. How about tomorrow night?”

“I can’t talk to you right now. Eating lunch with some friends. Let’s chat later, ‘kay?”

“Hm, right now? Oh God, Tae, I’m so sorry but I can’t... Does Thursday sound good to you?”

“I’m sleepy, Tae... let’s talk tomorrow, alright?”

“Sorry, Tae, I have to go now. Don’t forget to do your homework!”

...

Taeyeon already knew the signs. They were bluntly obvious.

It didn’t come as a surprise for Taeyeon to know that the current relationship she’s handling right now is taking its steps towards the final chapter of the book. A great story will always have an intriguing introduction, relatable characters, real-world conflicts, a tense rising action, a nail-biting , a ‘calm after the storm’ falling action, and of course, a good or bad conclusive ending to finish the book.

Taeyeon has read many novels in her life, though she previously had no interest on getting herself into the world of literature. Until one day, a relatively neutral classmate persuaded her to read the Percy Jackson book which was the girl’s favorite series. Being the most nicest and openhearted person she was, Taeyeon decided to sit down and read all the five books. Surprisingly, she loved it and finished the series in the course of three days. The classmate was also caught off guard when she gets a Skype call from Taeyeon and spent two hours fangirling over the world of the Olympians.

After a few weeks, the two bonded over music, films and books. Taeyeon got to know her classmate’s name during the first week of their blooming friendship: Tiffany Hwang. For Taeyeon, she was the newest book on the shelf that she immediately took a liking upon. It didn’t take long for her to start having feelings for the Korean-American girl.

And it also didn’t take long for Tiffany to catch up with Taeyeon. Needlessly to say, they became a couple after a year’s worth of failed confessions and second thoughts.

The best thing about being in a relationship with Tiffany was there wasn’t any awkward moments or conversations after they became an item. Everything stayed the same, though the skinship and late night Skype sessions increased simply because they ‘couldn’t stop thinking about each other’. Was it cringeworthy? Why, yes. Taeyeon probably might think it was too cheesy for her liking, but for now, she’s just enjoying the moment.

Every moment will have its time. And Taeyeon is almost running out of it.

“Hello?”

“Tiffany? Hey, it’s me.”

“Oh, Taetae, hi!”

It was a Thursday night. The calm silence surrounding Taeyeon’s little house created a sense of melancholy the girl was familiar of. She smiled bitterly, knowing the words she had plan to say to her current significant other. “Hey. You busy or something?”

“No, not really,” Tiffany coughed nervous, which Taeyeon winced painfully. Ouch. That’s got to hurt. Tiffany was one of the people Taeyeon had silently studied, whether if it’s her personality, habits and appearance. And whenever the American coughs in an unsual matter, then something is up. Meaning, Tiffany had silently lied. “I was just finishing my Physics homework. Why, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just...” now it was Taeyeon’s turn to lie. Nothing’s wrong? Hell to the no. “Can we meet up at our usual spot tomorrow? Say, 12 o’clock?”

“Oh, tomorrow? Crap, Tae, I’m sorry but I think I-“

“I think we really need to talk tomorrow, Miyoung,” Taeyeon finally put her foot down this time, giving out a much stern tone to her voice. Tiffany must’ve caught the way the other girl called her by her Korean name.

“Taeyeon... seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Fany. I just need to talk to you about something, don’t worry,” Taeyeon quickly tried to hide the bitter sadness surfacing through her speech. “It’s getting late. I’ll see you tomorrow, ‘kay? Goodnight.”

Then, she ended the call. Taeyeon threw the phone at her bed, collapsing into the cold sheets and sighing almost contently.

The routine was, right before she or Tiffany would go to sleep every night, they would say ‘I love you’ to each other a couple of times until one of them actually ends the phone call.

This time, neither of them did it.

-

“Well, look who’s late.”

Taeyeon teased at the slightly out-of-breath figure jogging towards the table she was sitting, a sly grin plastered on her lips. It was 12:30 in the afternoon, meaning that Tiffany was thirthy minutes late from the scheduled time of meeting. Even though it wasn’t much of a big deal for Taeyeon, she simply enjoyed watching the other girl suffer in the most adorable manner.

“Oh my God, I’m so, so, so sorry that I’m late! Traffic was being annoying, I ran out of gasoline along the way so I had to drive to the nearest gas station and then the line there was ridiculously long, you don’t even want to know how LONG it took me to-“

“Fany-ah!” Taeyeon exclaimed, shutting Tiffany’s blubber mouth in an instant. The girl giggled at the sight of her girlfriend’s pouting face and said, “You don’t have to apologize. You’re such a bad liar, you know that? Come on, sit down.”

Tiffany was confused at the girl’s reaction sounding so calm and collected, but nevertheless sat down on the empty chair. Then, she surprisingly noticed the plate of mediem rare tenderloin steak and a five-dollar strawberry milkshake on top of the table and beamed brightly at Taeyeon. “Aww, you ordered my favorite?”

Taeyeon shrugged, drinking her thai tea before responding. “Of course. I mean, you only order this whenever we come here so why not?”

Tiffany’s smile never left her eyes and sighed lovingly. “You’re such a sweetheart, you know that?”

Taeyeon scoffed. “I know that I am, Fany-ah, no need to remind me.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “And now look who’s being cocky.”

“At least I wasn’t the one who’s late,” Taeyeon grinned winningly. Before Tiffany could point out her reasoning, she was quickly interrupted. “Anyways, you know why we’re here?”

Tiffany thought for a moment before saying, “Um, I remembered you saying we needed to talk about something.”

Taeyeon nodded. “Now, can you guess what are we going to talk about?”

When Tiffany shook her head, Taeyeon let out a small smile. “It’s alright. We’ll talk after lunch. Because come on, Mama TaeTae is paying it this time.”

Tiffany laughed at the level of dorkiness Taeyeon was at now. “Alright, Ms. Dorky Pants, let’s eat before the food’s going to cry because we’re too busy chatting and not munching.”

The two began to eat their respectful meals, conversing in random conversations every once in a while. Taeyeon silently noted at how unbearable it would be to not able to have these moments again after ‘the talk’.

...

“Ah, that was soooo good...” Tiffany sighed in content, slightly patting her full tummy.

Taeyeon smiled at the sight as she felt a slight twinge of pain in her chest. She loved seeing Tiffany doing little things such as this, for it shows a side not everyone gets to see from the American girl. Taeyeon knew what she was getting into right now and also knows that after lunch, everything will never be the same. At least, not entirely, Taeyeon hoped.

“You okay there, little piggy?” Taeyeon teased at Tiffany which the latter responded with pointing a playful middle finger at the girl.

“Don’t call me ‘piggy’, I hate that...” Tiffany whined

Taeyeon chuckled, feeling her heartbeat going faster. And faster. And faster by the second. Here it goes.

“Fany-ah. Let’s break up.”

It didn’t take long for the atmosphere between the two to drastically change in an instant.

Tiffany stopped her playful act, sitting up right on her seat after hearing the sentence coming out of Taeyeon’s mouth. “What?”

Taeyeon smiled bitterly. “You heard me. Let’s break up.”

Tiffany was lost for words. Tears were slowly b her eyes as it fogged up her vision a bit. Having both of her hands covering , she choked out a surprised sob for a second. Taeyeon frowned at the sight and, if possible, heard her heart shattering into millions of pieces. Trying to keep a strong composure in front of Tiffany, she started speaking.

“Look, I know this is sudden but it’s for the sake of us. We can’t continue what we have now any longer, we just can’t. Because I know you’re hurting, and you know that I’m hurting as well.”

“What makes you say that? Huh?” Tiffany cried out in a soft voice, the tears in her eyes finally streaming down her face.

Taeyeon felt hesitation for a few seconds. “Because I know you’re not supposed to be with me. To be honest with you, I’ve actually known about your little swing with Nickhun after a few weeks in our relationship.”

It was the second time Tiffany felt so shocked in her life. “W-What are you-“

“Action speaks louder than words, Miyoung and yours is pretty obvious in my eyes,” Taeyeon stated calmly, quickly recovering from her dry throat by taking long sips of her drink. “I know what you felt for me was true, I really do believe you loved me. But it was for a short amount of time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I never thought you actually have feelings for me. I know you did. But what I’m trying to say is that, maybe, just maybe, you were just lost in translation. And for that, I decided to let you go.”

“Taeyeon...” Tiffany croaked out but Taeyeon interjected.

“I love you, Hwang Miyoung. Don’t you ever doubt that. And I know for one that you love me, too. But I think it’s time for us to clear our heads and think about what’s real and what’s not. What you have for Nickhun now is real, don’t deny that. Because I know, Tiffany, I’ve talked to him about this a couple of days ago,” Taeyeon explained quite assurely, keeping a small smile visible on her face. “And you know what? He said he feels the same about you. Surprised? Not really, though. Rest assured, I’ve known this from miles and miles away.”

Taeyeon took Tiffany’s trembeling hands into hers. Her thumb gently caressed them as she smiled genuinely at the crying girl.

“Fany-ah,” Taeyeon said, kissing Tiffany’s hand softly. “I think, you should start loving the one you really want to love in the first place.”

OH. MY. GOD.

That was seriously angsty, dear Lord.

Hope that none of the readers bawled their eyes out in this story. Geez, am I that emo or what?

Was it good? Was it bad? Tell me down in the comments, peeps!