Woah. It’s her.

Oh my God.

Taeyeon can almost hear the inner thoughts of her fellow architects when the doors of the elevator open, revealing the woman who had been the star of their conversation just moments ago. Inside it, staring back at them, she keeps her finger on the button as Taeyeon and her office mates enter the elevator. As usual, Taeyeon is squashed at the back but being the shortest person in there, she can still see the woman through the gaps between bodies. A faded dirty pink jacket that looks like it’s been through an equally hard day at work hangs from the woman’s shoulders. Taeyeon lingers her eyes over them to admire their broadness. Then, she proceeds to draw her attention down the woman’s back to her bum. Cladded in boyfriend jeans, they prove to be wholly sufficient to fill out the space as their maker had intended. Mmm, mmm. And honey-coloured ankle-high shoes with mud caked around the leather sides. Vixen is the brand, familiar to Taeyeon. They all wear shoes made by that company.

The silence in the elevator is amusing to Taeyeon. To think that no more than a few minutes ago, Matt had been going on about how he was going to ask the woman out on a date and the other men had scoffed at his empty claims. Taeyeon had folded her arms and sat back to enjoy the playful banter, even throwing in some teasing of her own: “Matt, do you even know her name?”

As Matt blushed, another woman in the group, Ellie, said to Taeyeon, “You saw her brushing her teeth once, didn’t you?” Taeyeon nodded in affirmation. “And I told you I’d seen her in a jacket that says ‘civil engineering’ on its back.”

“Yeah, our sworn enemy, the civil engineer,” Taeyeon added with a laugh.

“She must be from one of the other offices upstairs if she’s a civil engineer,” said another guy and that set the group off into a recount of all the times they’d seen her around the area.

Not that she can blame the men for working themselves up over the woman. She is pretty. More than pretty. This woman has the kind of smile that can melt winter into summer and even though her face looks rather pale and worn out at the end of the day, her gentle beauty still shines. The fact that the percentage of women in this line of work is way down on the low side, means these men practically drool over any female that walks in, let alone one as pretty as this woman is.

The elevator dings at the ground floor and everyone filters out, red-faced Matt included. Taeyeon bids goodbye to her fellow architects with a knowing grin and heads for her car. She loves her car. A reward bought for herself, by herself. A dream come true. The Mercedes SLK. Sleek lines, silver exterior and red leather seats with black ts because a certain someone had insisted on red. She gets in, starts up the engine, warms it up and drives off.

Traffic is kind to her so Taeyeon gets home a few minutes earlier than usual. She shrugs off her black jacket, tosses herself onto the couch, and props her legs up on the coffee table, tossing her car key on it at the same time. Two presses of the remote control has a gentle, soft ballad billowing from the surround sound system she had installed just months ago. It is the best decision she has ever made. No, wait. Scratch that. Second best, she thinks to herself, smiling as her eyes close to enjoy the music.

–

The door opens and Taeyeon opens her eyes to take in the jet black waves of hair cascading past broad feminine shoulders. The faded dirty pink jacket hanging over the black shirt inside. The boyfriend jeans. The Vixen ankle-high shoes. Back up to the tired but smiling eyes.

“Hello to you too, ogling .”

Taeyeon grins. “It’s my eyes. They refuse to listen to my good morals.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“Welcome home, Tiffany.” Taeyeon sits up as Tiffany leans down and their lips meet briefly. Her eyes follow Tiffany as the woman pulls off her dirty pink jacket and closes again when she disappears into the bedroom. Moments later, Taeyeon hears Tiffany’s voice over the soft music.

“Shower?”

Taeyeon opens her eyes and gets up. Tiffany re-emerges from the room in nothing more than a camisole, and spectacles, a sight that still makes Taeyeon’s blood race. “Make it hot.”

Tiffany laughs, a tinkling sound that Taeyeon loves to hear. “You’re in such a mood today.”

“It’s the people in my office.”

“What about them?”

Taeyeon takes off her red and black chequered shirt and jeans, leaving them strewn over the edge of her bed. “This guy, Matt. He wants to ask you out on a date.”

“Who’s Matt?”

Taeyeon extracts her phone from the pocket of her jacket and browses for a picture of her office mates. “Matt,” she says, pointing at the man standing at the back, tall and fit. “The other guys . We know he’s all talk and no action. And the next thing we know, you’re in the elevator, holding the door open for us.” A short laugh bubbles from Taeyeon. “I could hardly keep it in at that moment.”

Tiffany pulls off her camisole and sheds her , tossing them into the laundry basket in the bathroom. “Should I accept if he asks?”

Taeyeon’s laughter dies an instant death. “Of course not.” Bra and gone, Taeyeon steps under the shower and turns it on. Cold water hits her skin and she shivers but the water soon becomes warm. Warm hands push her from behind, but she leans back instead.

“Taeyeon.”

“Say you won’t accept.”

“Of course I wouldn’t, .”

Taeyeon inches forward and Tiffany slides in behind her, hands pushing gently on her back. A hand reaches to the side and pumps a blob of bath gel onto another palm. Taeyeon brings her long blond hair over her shoulder on the right and lowers her head, eyes closed. She stops the flow of water and takes deep, relaxing breaths as Tiffany rubs the bath gel all over her back, over her bum, right down to her feet. When Tiffany is done, they switch places, rotating within the limited space and Taeyeon does Tiffany’s back in return.

In a moment of sheer mischief, Taeyeon decides to pinch Tiffany’s bum but it backfires when Tiffany pushes back, leaving Taeyeon with a face full of suds. Tiffany turns around and bursts into laughter to which Taeyeon repays with a smarting smack on Tiffany’s right cheek. She finishes the rest of Tiffany’s legs after rinsing the suds off her face and Tiffany turns around so that they are standing face-to-face.

“I remember when we first met in the toilet,” says Tiffany.

“You were brushing your teeth. Totally glamourous.”

Tiffany slaps Taeyeon’s arm. “,” she says with a smile.

“I’m serious. I thought you looked really cute.”

“But you didn’t say anything to me.”

“I did smile at you.”

“It was a courtesy smile, Taeyeon.”

“No, it was a ‘Please go out with me, I want to kiss the cute out of you’ kind of smile.”

“That’s a lot of things to say with a smile that lasted only for one second.”

Taeyeon shrugs. “Too bad you didn’t read my smile right. So I had to visit the toilet every now and then, in hopes of seeing you again. My colleagues thought I had developed some kind of urinary disease because of that.”

Tiffany throws her head back and laughs. “Really? I thought it was fate that youwere brushing your teeth when I saw you again in there.”

“F-A-T-E,” Taeyeon states with a grin, “forging a ‘timely’ encounter. It might have been fate the first time. But the second time sure isn’t the same kind of fateas the first.”

Arms slip around Taeyeon’s waist and pull. Taeyeon ends up squashed against Tiffany, skin on skin. “So how many trips to the toilet did it take for ‘fate’ to happen?”

Taeyeon presses her palms on the wall behind Tiffany and flashes her pearly whites. “About twenty-seven.”

Tiffany’s eyes grow wide in surprise. “Twenty-seven? No wonder your colleagues got suspicious.”

“But I’d say it’s all worth it.”

Soft lips press on Taeyeon’s and part, an invitation that she accepts without hesitation. This would turn out to be one of the longest baths, Taeyeon has taken with Tiffany thus far in the two months they’ve been together.

–

Matt never did find the guts to approach Tiffany and the teasing is soon forgotten as projects rear their ugly heads. But what Taeyeon could never have predicted is this: working with Tiffany Hwang. So it is a stunned Taeyeon who joins her fellow architects in dropping their jaws when Tiffany appears at their office one afternoon. Hair tied to the back in a ponytail, oversized denim blue shirt and boyfriend jeans. For some reason, Tiffany is wearing heels today and it accentuates her calves. Hell, it accentuates every inch of Tiffany’s body.

“Taeyeon, Matt and Ellie,” says the head architect, giving the first round of introductions. “Tiffany and Damon.”

Taeyeon can only keep shut as she shakes Tiffany’s hand. She hopes she doesn’t look too stunned.

“Terry got into an accident so Tiffany is filling in for him. She’ll stay with this project till the end so there won’t be anymore changes.”

Tiffany’s gonna stay till the end? Taeyeon doesn’t know if she’s should rejoice or sit with her face buried in her hands. Matt clearly feels excited about this unexpected chain of events. So are the rest of her office mates. But not her. Will they survive this stint together without anyone finding out about their relationship? Taeyeon doesn’t know. She follows her head architect into the meeting room and shuts the door behind them. The head architect is saying something but nothing registers. Suddenly, she doesn’t feel so good.

–

a/n: this is a tribute to my architect friends and the idea that kick-started this story also comes from my friend. a number of the incidents in this story are as related by my friend to me but i have woven them together to be a work of fiction–a twist of reality, perhaps. there are a few parts to it and i hope you will enjoy this multishot story to the max :)

Happy Valentine's Day! 💗 itsakyo