DON’T FORGET
-anonymous

Part 1

The plastic squares beneath her fingers feel slippery. Looking down, Taeyeon realizes belatedly that her fingertips are clammy with perspiration. A sharp, new twist of annoyance buoys past the overwhelming feeling of suspicion and she has to close her eyes.

Even with her eyes shut, the lights from the screen penetrate the thin lids to create a fuzzy haze of imagery beyond the shade of her skin.

Taeyeon opens her eyes again, ignoring the stinging brightness as she glances at the picture with a newfound resolve.

Tiffany looks gorgeous.

The mushroom's cheeks have an extra hue of rosiness to them that they get when she had a little too much to drink.

Some impossibly handsome guy is standing beside Tiffany, his eyes a little to intent on the taut, soft flesh of Tiffany's thighs. The skirt of Tiffany's sequined dress is riding up and it's the kind of thing Taeyeon notices and Tiffany never does. Taeyeon would pull it down for her if she was there.

The model on Tiffany's left, all hard black eyes and pointed chin, looks like she wants to devour the mushroom alive. Sheâ??s the kind of girl Taeyeon giddily fends off when they're out together. Tiffany doesn't try to attract these people. She doesn't have to try. Taeyeon likes to be there to send them on their way with a curt word or a disdainful roll of her brown eyes.

Tiffany shifts in the chair and reads the salacious headline once more, trying to ignore the boldface typing of a new Tiffany Hwang scandal.

Tiffany comes home to her, Taeyeon reminds herself forcefully.

Brown eyes alight with equal parts sadness and anger flick to the right side of the computer screen. 1:55 AM.

It's been two hours since Taeyeon left Tiffany at the party; all smiles and sleepy patience even as she implored Tiffany to come home with her. The nonchalance was an act because all she wanted was to go home and go to sleep. She sleeps better with Tiffany beside her and she likes to think it's not simply the fact that she knows where Tiffany is.

Taeyeon eventually leaves the desk and climbs into the bed, pulling high thread count sheets up to her neck and burying her face in the pillow on Tiffany's side of the bed.

The whole bed is Taeyeon's really. Tiffany has her own apartment though she hasn't slept there in months.

Taeyeon wants a more permanent resolution but something keeps her from asking Tiffany to move in with her. It might be a formality. Tiffany's clothes are in the closet and her things are in the bathroom and their pajamas are in the same drawer but Taeyeon never asks Tiffany to stay indefinitely.

It might be fear. Tiffany doesn't like to be pinned down and Taeyeon suspects that asking her to move in might suddenly alert the mushroom to the fact that she's been domesticated. Only Tiffany could live with someone for months and never realize it.

Taeyeon's marginally sure that the voice of reason is her own. The fights have increased. Taeyeon doesn't know how to hold on to Tiffany without making it seem like a form of possession.

Taeyeon doesn't know how to make Tiffany believe that she loves her.

Taeyeon hears the distant rattle of her front door and the rap of booted heels on the marble. She sighs in relief even as the picture on the computer lights up ceiling with distorted shapes that make her breathing come in rough jolts.

The footsteps come closer and Taeyeon squints in the darkness as Tiffany enters the room, throwing her purse onto the chair and her coat toward the closet.

She bends over, one hand grasping the back of the seat as she s the long line of her boot.

Tiffany turns and whispers gently, "Taeyeon ah, are you awake?"

Taeyeon doesn't reply and when Tiffany kicks off her boots she moves a little to the left, her body blocking the screen from Taeyeon's view as she pulls off her jacket and drapes it over the desk.

Taeyeon hears her exhale slowly and she knows she's seen the picture. Tiffany's long extensions is so thick that it obscures her back.

"Taeyeon ah, are you awake?"

Taeyeon doesn't like the long-suffering sound of Tiffany's voice and her brisk reply is coated with annoyance.

"I am now," she says ruthlessly, regretting the words even as she rolls onto her side to face the wall.

Tiffany's weight makes the bed dip and Taeyeon shudders when she feels Tiffany's cold foot against her calf.

"If we're going to have this conversation again, I'd love it if you'd look at me."

Tiffany's voice is weary and it makes Taeyeon's teeth clench together. It's not Taeyeon who is making a spectacle of herself. Of them both.

"I've been looking at you for an hour," Taeyeon says acidly, referring to the internet pictures. " You and your friends."

She feels the mattress shift and knows that Tiffany is lying on her back now. She's lost interest before the fight has really begun and Taeyeon feels an edge of desperation.

Tiffany rubs a hand over her eyes and mentions darkly, "They're not my friends. And I asked you to stay."

Taeyeon closes her eyes feeling a thin sliver of hope at her words. Tiffany did ask her to stay. She knows that. Still, she counters plaintively, "I asked you to leave. You know I have an early meeting tomorrow and I wanted you to come home."

Tiffany rolls over, her face drawn in exhaustion as she stares at the line of Taeyeon's back. She doesn't know what Taeyeon wants to hear from her these days. She gambles on honesty.

"I don't think you care, Taeyeon."

Taeyeon seethes. Turning onto her side, she props her head in her hand and as she