“Long black again? Seriously, Tae?” Tiffany shook her head after Chris put down Taeyeon’s order on the table. The blonde only smiled sheepishly to Tiffany’s complaint.

It had been two weeks since Tiffany joined the company and having breakfast with Taeyeon had been her new early morning routine after she found out that both of them were always the first people in the office. Taeyeon always arrived at seven o’clock. Tiffany arrived fifteen minutes after. Both girls always had their breakfast at the coffee shop where they first met. Tiffany no longer needed to ask Taeyeon’s permission to join her table, which of course was not declined by the petite boss. Taeyeon was definitely okay with that, even she was beyond happy to start her day with Tiffany’s company.

“I believe Chris has more to offer beside a cup of long black. Yet, you always order the same every morning. Ah, and with that cheese bagel too. Every. Single. Morning,” Tiffany continued.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with that though,” Taeyeon answered as she took her first bite.

“Have yoy noticed that you always have the same routine and choices through out the day? I believe that I can list everything that you have in a day perfectly,” Tiffany said.

“Really? Go on,” Taeyeon dared Tiffany.

“Okay. Arrive at the office at seven. Have your breakfast in this coffee shop, at this exact table, must be your favourite of yours, and the menu is always cheese bagel and a cup of long black. Go upstairs to your office at 8:15AM. Start whatever it is you need to work on. Mostly it’s meetings with board of directors, sales department, top management, checking your team’s report, supervise your team’s works, working on new marketing strategies or tactics, etcetera. Have your lunch at twelve which always consists of spicy cheesy chicken unless if I drag you to lunch with me, Yuri and Jess. Back to the office at one, continuing your work. You will stay in the office until ten unless, again, I insist you to have dinner with Yuri, Jess, and me. Then, you will go back to your apartment or drive me to my place first if I successfully persuade you to join dinner with me. I don’t exactly know what you do after that but my guess will be: you continue working from home until sometime into the night. Maybe you don’t even sleep at all, that’s why you always need your cup of long black every single morning, and then repeat the same exact routine all over again,” Tiffany stared at Taeyeon’s eyes, full of confidence as she mentioned Taeyeon’s routine breathlessly. Taeyeon stopped chewing her bagel. She stared back at the girl in front of her who just happened to perfectly mention her daily routine. She was surprised by how Tiffany could spill it out easily as if she has known Taeyeon for a very long time.

“Well…” Taeyeon continued chewing her bagel, finally managing to say a word.

“I thought I hired you to be Marketing Junior Manger. But now I think you fit better as my personal assistant. Should I tell HR about this?” She said after swallowing the bagel, grinning playfully at the girl only to earn an annoyed groan from the latter.

The atmosphere between the two girls had changed a lot. To Tiffany’s surprise, Taeyeon was actually a dorky friend despite her professional attitude. While on the other side, it was Taeyeon’s first time not being insecure about people knowing her real self. She felt so comfortable with the girl’s presence that she didn't even try to hide her dorky side. Her heartbeat still went crazy every time she saw the Tiffany’s eye smile, heard the sound of her husky voice, smelt her intoxicating soft strawberry fragrance, and especially when they had the simplest skin ship like slapping each other’s shoulder as they joked around. But, the comfort she got from being around the girl made her feel so intact.

“Tae? Why can’t I see this dorky side of you in the office?” Tiffany asked out of the blue.

“Huh? Why are you asking such a hard question early in the morning, Fany?” Taeyeon pouted cutely, trying to avoid the question.

“My dork boss. How could that kind of question be categorized as a ‘hard question’? Remember when you asked my opinion about the unstable currency rate yesterday morning? That was a hard question, Taetae,” Tiffany laughed, showing Taeyeon’s favorite eye smile.

“That currency rate topic was a trending topic recently. So it was easy to point out your opinion, Fany. The last time I checked google, dorky Taetae was not even recognized by the search engine,” Taeyeon gave a fake serious face resulting in another laugh from the eye smiling girl. Taeyeon was secretly relieved that her attempt to divert the topic was successful. In addition, she even made the eye smile girl laugh. Tiffany’s laugh was one of the best melodies she ever heard in her life. Just by listening to her laugh, the blonde could feel the rush of happiness in her heart. They continued their morning chat while eating their breakfast.

Finally when the clock showed it was 8:15AM, Taeyeon asked for the bill. They no longer had to argue about who would pay, as long as it wasn't business matters, the girls would pay for their own meals instead of treating each other. Both girls went upstairs to their offices on the ninth floor. Taeyeon made her way to her office while Tiffany made her way to Jessica’s room since she mostly worked with Jessica even though her line manager was Taeyeon.

“I will see you at lunch time, Taetae!” Tiffany gave her a bright smile before they walked into their offices.

“You wish, Fany,” Taeyeon smirked playfully before walking into her office room, leaving Tiffany shaking her head in amusement at her boss’ childish attitude. She then opened the door to Jessica’s office and sat at her own desk.

“Done having breakfast with your Taetae, Tiff?” Jessica teased as soon as she walked into the room.

“Yes, and since when is Taeyeon my Taetae, Jess?” Tiffany chuckled as she  her laptop.

“Since both of you have cute puppy names for each other,” Jessica answered nonchalantly.

“Then Yuri must be your Yul, and you must be Yuri’s Sica then,” Tiffany teased Jessica back, resulting in her senior giving her a death stare. Tiffany shivered at Jessica’s stare. Two weeks working with Jessica had made Tiffany understood that Jessica sure had a reason why she was called ‘Ice Princess’ in the office. She always had this cold appearance and attitude towards everyone, especially when she glared at people with her fierce eyes, it would definitely make them shiver in horror. If a stare could kill, then Jessica might have killed all of GG Corporation’s employees by now.

“Whatever, Tiff. Now let’s start working,” Jessica ended their silly argument in English, shifting her gaze from Tiffany to her laptop, and busied herself with today’s workload.

Both of them focused on their work. Tiffany sometimes approached Jessica’s desk to ask about something she was confused with or ask for the latter’s approvals for some decisions. Jessica, despite her cold appearance was actually a very nice girl who happened to be very bright and helpful. That answered Tiffany’s question on why Taeyeon chose Jessica to lead that meeting they were in on the first day instead of other seniors in the room. Tiffany was adapting pretty quick to her new job. Jessica didn't find it hard to mentor the adorable girl. She even appointed Tiffany to be a project leader in one of marketing’s biggest projects this semester.

“Tiff, I’m going to have my leave next week for three days, starting from Wednesday to Friday. I will leave these important documents and decisions in your care. If there are any questions regarding to them, please ask Taeyeon. I don’t want anyone to interrupt my mini getaway,” Jessica approached Tiffany’s table, bringing a small stack of documents.

“Really? I need to ask Taeyeon?” Tiffany felt a little nervous. She was really good at adapting at her new office and with her new colleagues. But she had not yet succeeded in adapting to Taeyeon’s professional side. It still made her nervous. Jessica gave her another fierce look, noticing her junior being really nervous to ask help from Taeyeon.

“Come on, Tiff. You seem to be really close to her. You girls always have breakfast together. Why are you so nervous?” Jessica asked.

“I always have breakfast with Taetae. Not with that intimidating Miss Kim Taeyeon. You know they are kind of different…” Tiffany explained.

“The only difference I see is that she seems to be really comfortable around you and looks a bit more humane than a working machine. Come on, I won't take ‘no’ as an answer. In addition, you’re still in the probation period. If you don’t want me to give you a bad review, you should just say yes,” Jessica threatened.

“Okay! Okay! Okay Jess…” Tiffany sighed in defeat. Jessica’s threat was scaring her. She had dreamt of working in this company and nothing would stop her from giving her best to finally become a permanent employee even if it meant facing Taeyeon’s intimidating side.

“Thank you, Tiff! I know I can rely on you.” Jessica smirked and made her way back to her table as both girls began working again.

****

It was lunchtime already. Taeyeon sat alone at her favorite spot as usual with a plate of spicy cheesy chicken and a glass of iced long black, seriously replying to some work emails from her phone when suddenly a husky deep voice interrupted her.

“I told you that I will see you at lunch and you literally ran away so I couldn’t drag you to lunch with me.” Tiffany already stood in front of her, crossing her arms over her chest, giving Taeyeon an annoyed look. Taeyeon grinned nervously as she locked her phone and placed it on the table. She indeed tried to run away from Tiffany since she noticed earlier this morning that she couldn't concentrate on her work because she couldn’t stop thinking about Tiffany. Taeyeon thought about where Tiffany would take her out to lunch, would Tiffany ask her to have dinner after working hours? Would Tiffany be able to do well at her new job? Did Tiffany have a boyfriend already? Was there any possibility of them being more than friends? These thoughts repeatedly drifted her focus away from her work. So, she finally decided toavoid Tiffany for the day, to let her mind go back to the way it use to instead of giving into this infatuation for Tiffany. But as soon as the girl appeared in front of her, she coudn't resist the urge to ask the girl to stay with her, accompany her through one hour of lunchtime that they had.

“Are you angry?” Taeyeon asked with pleading puppy eyes. Tiffany sighed and took a seat in front of Taeyeon, leaning forward while propping her elbow on the table to support her upper body, minimizing the gap between them. Taeyeon felt nervous at the gestures Tiffany made.

“What's wrong, Tae?” Tiffany asked with a look of concern. Taeyeon was taken aback for a moment, noticing the sincere attention from Tiffany. She really wanted to answered yes, she had a problem and the problem was that she has a crush on the girl sitting right in front of her. But instead of blurting it out, she decided to brush it off and changed the subject.

“Are you hungry, Fany? I'll order lunch for you if you want,” Taeyeon offered as she plastered a fake smile. Tiffany let out another sigh "It's okay I can order for myself," she made her way to the counter, telling her order to the waiter, then sat back in her seat.

“You were in the middle of replying to your emails before I came. You can continue that. Don’t mind my presence here. I just want to have lunch,” Tiffany sulked. Taeyeon was confused. She had no idea why her crush was suddenly in a bad mood. She assumed that Tiffany was angry because she ran away.

“Are you angry because I ran away?” Taeyeon asked carefully.

“No, Tae. Never mind. You can continue with whatever you were doing. I will just quietly have my lunch here, if you don’t mind. Or maybe you want to be alone? I can move to another table of you want me to,” Tiffany replied without even looking at Taeyeon.

“No, no. It’s okay. You can sit here,” Taeyeon quickly responded. She didn't want Tiffany to move especially when she knew that she had put the girl in a bad mood.

“Okay, thank you,” Tiffany replied shortly and started to play with her phone.

Taeyeon hesitantly unlocked her phone to continue replying to the emails, while eating her meals. The awkward silence surrounded them as if they were strangers. Tiffany’s meal finally came and both girls hadn't said a word yet. Tiffany started to eat in silence, she was actually feeling uneasy with the silence but she chose not to say anything to her boss because she felt disappointed. First of all, she happily came to Taeyeon’s office to ask the girl to have lunch with her, Jessica and Yuri only to find the room empty, indicating that the owner had left for lunch. Tiffany obviously told her that she would see her at lunch time but to her disappointment, Taeyeon already had left to have lunch on her own without her. Second reason was, she already considered Taeyeon as her friend. Of course, Taeyeon was her boss after all. But, these recent days they had been very friendly out of working hours. But here she was, trying to be a caring friend while Taeyeon didn't even want to share her problems when obviously the supposedly dorky girl had a troubled face.

On the other side, Taeyeon just finished replying to her emails. She still had dozens of emails left but she decided to reply to them later because the girl in front of her needed more attention. She had no idea what she had to do. She wanted to be a good friend, a reason for Tiffany to smile and laugh, a person who can be Tiffany’s shoulder to rely on, and above all, good girlfriend material if she ever had the chance to be one. Taeyeon tried to arrange her logic in attempt to find out what to do but she couldn't find anything. She finally gave up and did what she felt right at the moment.

“Fany, I’m sorry,” She said softly without her eyes leaving the sulking girl in front of her. Tiffany looked up to find a sincere Taeyeon but, Tiffany was unsure that her boss knew why she was disappointed.

“What are you sorry for?” She asked.

“For making you angry,” Taeyeon answered with a frown, which made her look like an elementary school kid. Tiffany sighed knowing that the blonde really had no idea behind her sulking, but she appreciated her willingness to apologize even without knowing her fault.

“I’m not angry, Tae…” She finally gave up. Sulking all day long would not help her Taeyeon know why she is disappointment. Communication is key to any sort of friendship.

“I’m just disappointed…” Tiffany continued.

“Ah, whyyyy?” Taeyeon panicked as she furrowed her eyebrows, staring with a pair of sad eyes. Disappointed Tiffany was the least thing she wanted. In Taeyeon’s opinion, anger could be cured by kindness, but nothing could ever cure disappointment. Taeyeon sometimes got angry in the meeting. Once time she got really angry after finding out that her team didn't get the best performance in the company but her anger soon subsided when she realised that her team had put their best efforts in. But, when sometimes she knew that her team slacked on the job which resulted in awful performance, she ended up feeling disappointed and in that case, it was hard for her to see them. Anger could fade, but disappointment coudn't. It's like when you do something wrong and your mum tells you "I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." There is no real way of fixing the problem but instead you have to let it sink in. It had been nice between them. It was nice to finally have someone whom she could show her true self to. It was nice to finally feel the adrenaline rush every time her heart beat from the contact. It was great to know she had a true friend instead of a colleague or business partner. It was great to know that someone was actually caring for her. And it was great to finally fall in love.

“Because I thought we were friends,” Tiffany answered.

“We are, aren’t we?” Taeyeon was so confused. She didn't understand what Tiffany was saying. Even though it was mostly Tiffany who made the effort at the beginning of their friendship, and kept saying that they were friends, Taeyeon never actually said it back. Tiffany was actually the only person she considered as a friend. That was why she didn't mind showing her dorky side to her. She was really surprised when Tiffany said that she thought they were friends. Taeyeon’s feelings were mixed up with panic, confusion, and sadness.

“Friends share their feelings, Tae. That was why I asked whether something was wrong. I could see it all over your face. But you didn't even give me a clue,” Tiffany frowned. Friendship was one of the most important aspects in Tiffany’s life beside her family and her boyfriend. She cherished friendship a lot and would do anything for her friends.She had this friendly personality, it was easy for her to consider people as friends. And in Taeyeon’s case, Tiffany had this huge admiration for the girl and really wanted to be friends with her because she secrely was intrigued by how unique Taeyeon was. She was the total opposite of her. She would love to be true friends with Taeyeon and she was happy that recently they had made some progress in their friendship or she thought they had. She loved to see how Taeyeon slowly showed her true self. But to her surprise, this friendship was only one sided. This girl in front of her still found it hard to open up and noticing the way Taeyeon always diverts the serious topics made Tiffany disappointed. Taeyeon doesn't see her as a close friend. Despite all the efforts she made to be friends with Taeyeon, the latter seemed to not care.

“I… I am not used to it,” Taeyeon sighed. She was indeed not used to sharing her feelings. She had lived an independent life for as long as she could remember and she was used to keeping everything to herself. And the word ‘feeling’ itself meant a lot when Tiffany was the one who said it. Taeyeon knew that friends shared everything including their feelings. But, in her case, the feeling she needed to share with Tiffany was something bigger than the one that could be shared with just friends.

Somehow Tiffany was not surprised with Taeyeon’s answer. She had learnt a lot about Taeyeon's personality during these past two weeks. She learnt that Taeyeon always had the same routine every single day. She always ordered the same thing off the menu. She only drank long black and mineral water. She could be the brightest person at work but was clueless at personal relationships. She mostly talked about business and work rather than her personal life. She was the best when it came to following her brain yet the worst at following her heart. Tiffany also knew that Taeyeon didn't really have any close friends, most of her friends were colleagues or business partner. That was why Taeyeon avoided serious topics, she was anti-social. It was not easy for Tiffany to finally crack a little big of Taeyeons walls and show her dorky side. Tiffnay understood that two weeks was not long enough for Taeyeon to totally opened up to her.

“I know, Tae. I’m supposed to understand. I should’ve known that not everyone is like me. You know, being all friendly, touchy, and clingy all the time. I’m sorry for coming into your space. But you should at least communicate and tell me that you need your own space,” Tiffany explained as she stared at Taeyeon’s eyes intensely. Her eyes reflected how sad and disappointed she was at that time.

Taeyeon stared back at Tiffany’s eyes, and for the first time since they met, her heart didn't beat uncontrollably. Instead, she felt an immense pain in her chest and for a split second, she thought her heart stopped beating as she saw her favorite pair of eyes in front of her not showing her usual favourite spark.

“Fany… I… I am confused,” Taeyeon finally spoke. She shifted her gaze from Tiffany to her cup of long black coffee. She didn't have any courage to face Tiffany. She had two choices. The first one was to continue to keep her feelings hidden from Tiffany and end up losing the friendship she has with Tiffany. The second option was to tell Tiffany honestly about what is troubling her mind with the consequence of making Tiffany disgusted with her ual preference and have Tiffany ignore her and hate her. Both choices resulted in her being alone all over again. Taeyeon cursed her brain for automatically calculating any logical consequences that would happen, while the only thing she needed right now was to follow her heart. But, how could she follow her heart if every time she started listening to what her heart said, her smart brain kept interrupting her with logical calculations.

“It’s okay Tae. I’m just being silly. Never mind. We’re not even best friends,” Tiffany immediately replied. She didn't want to be more disappointed by knowing that Taeyeon may not even consider her as a friend.

“No! That’s not it. I do consider you as my friend. A good friend of mine,” Taeyeon returned her stare to Tiffany, showing that she was being serious. The word ‘best friend’ was something foreign for her. But regardless of what term she used, Tiffany was indeed important in her life now.

“In fact, you are the first person I consider as a friend ever since I started working at this company,” She continued.

Tiffany didn't say a word. She just looked back at her blonde friend intensely, trying to understand what the girl was trying to say. She actually felt bad as she saw Taeyeon feeling uneasy right in front of her. She cursed herself for pushing the girl. Tiffany was no longer disappointed instead she started to understood that Taeyeon just needs time to get used to this thing called friendships.

“But I just… I’m confused…” Taeyeon gazed back again at the glass on the table.

“Tae, you don’t need to-” Tiffany was cut off by Taeyeon's words.

“I think I’m in love, Fany…”

A/N: First of all, I'd like to apologize for the short and late update for this story. I tried to keep it on going in the middle of my recently packed schedule. I have been having business trip to four cities since the last updates so I did not have too much time for updating the chapter. But don't worry, christmas is nearing and holiday is coming! I promise you to give a christmas and new year presents with my updates wrapped with TaeNy.

Second of all, please, please, please comment so I can improve the story better and meeting your expectations. I still need to learn and get so much inputs from you guys (indeed, we're learners for life, aren't we?). You know how grateful I am every time I read your comments and your wall post about my stories. I really apreciate it and I hope you will keep on supporting me and this story. Thanks in advance for every comment and support for this chapter.

Aaaaannndd finally, I would specially thank williammozart, Rocksmith27, and lockandkey2410 for the upvotes! Thank you very much!

PS. I have this one shot fanfic I posted yesterday. It is titled "Midnight Farewell". If you haven't read it, and you are having a lot of free time, please don't hesitant to take a look at it and give comment as well. I hope you will also like it and give it much support.

Once again, thank you so much readers. I'm waiting forward for you comments :)

TY so much,

Kim SaRa

E/N: Hi guys! I'm the editor of this story and I know it took awhile but I really hope you enjoy it! Kim SaRa and I, have put a lot of hard work into this fanfic.

Thanks alot!

Coolzab123