Taeyeon’s POV

After making the stupidest mistake in my life, I stared at Tiffany and Jessica walking away toward the direction of the dorms. I stood in front of the fountain for who knows how long, all I knew was that I looked completely stupid. I was just standing there, mentally hitting myself. What the hell was wrong with me? Did I think this was going to end up like a drama? Who the confesses after a day of meeting someone? Me, of course. In five minutes, I had completely ruined any chance of getting any closer to Tiffany. Taeyeon, why are you so ing stupid?

I started to walk to the dorms after resisting my urges to bash my head on the concrete floor. Random thoughts continued to pour into my head that mostly contained stupid, stupid, stupid, Tiffany, and stupid.

I dragged myself into the dorm where everyone was waiting for me. I was looking pretty dejected, which was probably why everyone was looking at me, worried. Either that or it was because I completely brushed off the fact that I sat down on Yuri’s well-placed whoopee cushion.

“Um…Taeyeon? Is there something wrong?” asked Yuri. I guess she thought it was weird that I didn’t react like I usually did to her pranks. But seriously, she needs to find some new ones. A whoopee cushion can last only so long.

“Just the usual. Me being stupid,” I replied. I threw the whoopee cushion over my head.

“Uh-huh. Spill it. What did you do now?” asked Sooyoung. She was lying on her bed with Hyoyeon, both of them playing with the whoopee cushion I threw.

“Well…I guess.. I kinda... erm... confessed?”

“Really?! To who? I can’t believe you confessed to somebody after five minutes of disappearing from us,” said Hyoyeon. Figured this would happen. Hyoyeon have always loved any juicy, meaty gossip.

Crap. I was getting embarrassed just trying to remember what I said to Tiffany. “You know…those four girls.”

“Jessica?” asked Sooyoung.

“What?” said Yuri. I swear if stares could kill…I would have died ten times over.

“No! Not Jessica! The other girl.”

“Hey, Taeyeon. They’re all girls,” said Sooyoung.

“T-Tiffany,” I said.

“Her?” asked Sooyoung. She looked surprised for some reason.

“Yeah, her. You got a problem about it?”

“Nothing. She looks like one of those people who break everyone’s hearts. Speaking about that she rejected you, didn’t she?”

“Well…I didn’t technically confess to her. I just said I liked her. But I think she got the wrong idea which isn’t really wrong, since I meant it in that way but not really. Anyway, I think I managed to fix it by saying I wanted to be good friends with her.” That was a mouthful.

“I can only imagine how awkward that conversation was,” said Yuri.

“And it’s going to be awkward around her for the rest of my life,” I said.

“Unnie…You shouldn’t stress about things like this. It’ll only shorten your lifespan.” said Seohyun. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I can already see the headlines, ‘Twenty-two year old woman dies due to stress over awkward conversations’. Awesome.

“If it’s that much of a problem to you, we can totally help you out,” said Hyoyeon.

“So many ideas are already popping up in my head,” said Sooyoung.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t really need your help,” I said. More like, I didn’t want their help. Anything involving those two can only lead to disaster.

“Too late. You’re never this sensitive about anything, so as your best friends, we’re here to help you,” said Sooyoung.

“No seriously, I don’t want your help.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. “It’s too late, Taeyeon. Just face whatever mess they create,” said Yuri.

Aw, .

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Seriously? Considering the amount of chatting they did last night, I would have expected a more epic plan. But no. Instead I’m standing here with a dodgeball in my hands. This was a good idea? I don’t even know how I got here. One second I was walking to the ice cream store with Yuri and the next I’m at the dodgeball court at school. How dodgeball can cure awkwardness, I will never know. Speaking of that, I’m pretty sure Tiffany is avoiding me or not making eye contact with me. Or maybe I’m just freaking paranoid right now since she does that to everybody.

Anyways, back to Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s brilliant plan. Honestly, was this even a plan? Maybe they really felt like playing dodgeball…yea, not really. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon kept giving me those glances that totally said, “We’re ing geniuses”.

We were already split into two teams. Yuri, the team leader, picked Tiffany, Jessica, Seohyun, and I on one team, which automatically told me that Yuri was in on this genius plan. Sooyoung, the other leader, chose Hyoyeon, Sunny, and Yoona were on the other team. So here I am, standing next to Tiffany with this really strange atmosphere hovering around us.

“So…do you know how to play?” I asked, trying to break the silence.

“Yeah, if you mean the basics,” replied Tiffany. “I don’t really play sports that much, anyway.” She was completely focused on bouncing the ball, like really focused. I think she could have burned a hole through the thing staring at it like that.

“Oh. How about the others?”

“Eh. None of us play actively. But we’re unlucky to have Jessica on our team.”

“I heard that,” yelled Jessica, who was talking with Yuri and Seohyun a few meters behind us.

Tiffany giggled. Oh man. I wouldn’t mind if I suddenly dropped and died. Her giggle was ridiculously cute and her husky voice didn’t help either.

“What’s wrong with Jessica?” I asked.

“She’s a lazy girl. So don’t expect her to do anything but stand there and scream,” she giggled. Can you die due to overload of cuteness?

“Yeah? Are you going to do the same?”

“Maybe. I don’t want to get hurt,” she mumbled. Umm…was it just me or did the atmosphere get a bit gloomy? “I don’t want to get hurt…” she repeated. She stopped bouncing the ball and began to squeeze it.

Seeing her look so depressed made my heart tear into a billion pieces. “I’ll protect you,” I blurted out.

“What?”

“I’ll protect you.”

“Yah! Quit saying that kind of stuff. You’ll actually make me believe them.”

“But I mean it.”

She stared at me but said nothing. Instead she walked over to Jessica, once again, to cling onto her.

I think I just scared her off with my corniness. Cool.

I heard Sooyoung yell at me. “Hey, Taeyeon! Prepare to get beaten, rolled, and cooked.” And once again, she gave me the “I’m a ing genius” look. I don’t even want to know how she thought this could help in any shape or form.

“The rules are basically throw balls and don’t get hit by balls or you’re out. Also, you can come back into the game if one of your teammates catches a thrown ball. And obviously, you win once you eliminate all the members of the enemy. The losing team’s leader pays for our next trip to eat ice cream,” proposed Hyoyeon. She was currently lining up the balls in the middle of the court.

“Taeyeon, be the new leader,” said Yuri.

“You kidding me? I’m as broke as you. Most of my money went to Sooyoung’s food.”

“How about you, Seohyun?” asked Yuri.

“Oh. I spent most of it on self-improvement books…and sweet potatoes.” Seohyun blushed.

“Hey! Let’s start already!” yelled Sooyoung. Awesome. Win or lose and become broke forever. Maybe this was their plan all along.

We lined ourselves in the correct position to play. Sooyoung started to count down. “3…2…1 Go! Go! Go!”

I sprinted toward the line of balls. I was able to secure myself one and ran back to the farther end of my side. Before I knew it, the other team was already throwing several balls in our direction. Too bad they all had pretty poor aim. This is exactly why Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were only allowed shotguns. If they got their hands on some sniper rifles, they would probably end up shooting the ground rather than the guy’s head.

Jessica, like Tiffany described, was just standing there screaming her lungs out. Man, that was one loud dolphin scream. Suddenly, she got barraged by several projectiles. “Yah! Stop it!” she screamed.

“You’re out! Get out of the court,” yelled Sooyoung.

“Yuri! Get me back in the game so I can murder her,” Jessica ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Yuri.

I ran over to where Tiffany and Seohyun were. “You guys okay?”

“We’re good, unnie,” responded Seohyun. She was giving Sooyoung and the rest a hard time thanks to her near-perfect aim.

“Watch out!” I yelled to Tiffany. She quickly closed her eyes and ducked. A ball was heading straight toward her. I managed to catch it in time before it made contact with her face.

“Th-Thanks,” said Tiffany.

I motioned for Jessica to come back into the game. I was getting into a really playful mood. “I said I’d protect you, didn’t I?” I slightly stuck out my tongue at her as a way to .

I ran over to Jessica, leaving Tiffany dumfounded. I handed the ball to Jessica who looked like she really needed to kill someone. In one swift motion, Jessica violently threw the ball at Sooyoung. Maybe I’m exaggerating but I swear that Sooyoung flew off the ground for a few milliseconds. “Sooyoung is now DEAD,” yelled Jessica.

Suddenly, I felt a ball hit me and then ricochet off me, hitting Jessica. “Alright! Double kill!” screamed Hyoyeon. “Hell yeah!” She then proceeded to do a victory moonwalk.

“At least I got her,” mumbled Jessica. We joined Yuri on the outside of the court.

The only people left on the court were Tiffany, Seohyun, Yoona, and Hyoyeon. “Watch out, you guys!” I warned.

Tiffany turned her face around. “Shut up! You‘re distracting me!” she whined. Well, I did distract her. After she said that, she got hit on the leg by Hyoyeon’s ball. Thankfully, Seohyun was able to hit Hyoyeon before the game could get any worse. Now, there was only Yoona and Seohyun left. We had this game in the bag.

“Seohyun, WIN! Do it for the sweet potatoes!” I yelled.

“Do it for your self-improvement books!” chanted Yuri.

“Yoona, do it for the free food!” yelled Sunny.

“Free food!” repeated Sooyoung.

Amidst the yells, I noticed that Tiffany was trying to say something to me. “I just wanted to say thanks again,” she said.

“Oh, that? No problem,” I said.

“So…about that offer,”

“Offer?”

“You offered to protect me, remember?”

“That wasn’t really an off-”

Tiffany suddenly stuck her pinky finger in front of me. “Promise me. Promise me that you’ll protect me.”

I smirked. “Isn’t this a bit childish?”

“D-Does it really matter?” stuttered Tiffany.

I giggled. “Okay then. Pinky promise.”

I intertwined my finger with hers. While we were initiating the pinky promise, I heard several screams. Apparently, Seohyun was able to secure our win and our money. It was like Seohyun won the Olympics considering all of the cheers and screams.  

Lalalalala Lalalalala 1 2 3 4 5 6~

I rummaged my pockets for my phone. It was a text from Narsha.

Hey, Taeyeon. ^o^

Just in case you forgot, I’m here to remind you that you guys have work today. ♥♥

Ga-in wants to talk you guys about that thing Seohyun gave us.

Come to work and don’t be late or else… ♥♥

Oh, crap. I completely forgot about the bar and work. I yelled out to the others, “Hey, guys! We have work today!”

“Work?! Aww, man…” groaned Sooyoung.

“You guys work? You mind telling me where? I’ve been in the need to make some money,” said Sunny.

“Oh. We work at a bar. We can introduce you guys to the manager someday,” said Yuri.

“Bar? I love bars!” exclaimed Sunny.

“That’s great. We’ll see if we can send a good word for you guys,” I said. “But we have to get ready for work.”

“Alright. Bye,” sad Yoona.

We waved goodbye to each other. As we were walking a few meters away from the Tiifany’s groups, I turned around and waved bye again. Tiffany noticed me and giggled. She waved shyly back at me and smiled this really gorgeous eye smile. When I mean gorgeous, I mean it is so ing gorgeous and radiant enough to possible blind me.

“Woah. Did that girl just smile?” asked Sooyoung.

“What? You never heard of someone smiling before?” I scoffed.

“She hasn’t smiled until now. It was kind of surprising,” said Sooyoung. “But anyways, looks like our plan worked perfectly. Right, Hyoyeon?”

“I told you it was great plan,” said Hyoyeon.

“Are you crazy? You guys probably pulled that plan out of your .” I said.

“At least it worked. You look happier,” said Yuri.

“Oh. I guess that’s true. But they didn’t even do anything.”

“That’s how awesome we are,” said Sooyoung.

“Shut up before I decide to eat the whole ice cream store and make you pay for it,” I said.

“That’s really unhealthy…” mumbled Seohyun.

“Aish, Seohyun. It was a joke.”

 

________________________________________________________________________

Tiffany’s POV

I laid down on the comfy sofa, stretching my tired legs. It was several hours after the dodgeball game with Taeyeon and the others. As I was relaxing, I heard Yoona and Sunny talking. “Sunny, can you get me an apple? I want it skinned,” said Yoona.

“Get it yourself,” said Sunny.

“I’ll get it for you, Yoona,” I offered. I was in a pretty good mood today. My conversation with Taeyeon somehow gave me a stronger sense of safety. I have no idea why but it did. I grabbed an apple from the refrigerator and the knife from one of the many drawers.

“It’s alright, Tiffany. I can take care of it myself,” said Yoona.

“Are you saying that because you think I can’t use a knife?” I asked.

“Yes,” Jessica bluntly said. “You’re as bad as me when it comes to cooking.”

Alright. So I burned toast a few too many times. And maybe I did actually turn a perfectly round apple into some bumpy object after I skinned it. But that was not the case today. My guts were telling me that I could totally succeed this time.

“Ow.”

“Tiffany! How did you cut yourself with that? It’s a dull knife!” asked Sunny.

“I don’t know. I was distracted for a second,” I said.

Sunny quickly covered my bleeding finger with several tissues. Yoona hurriedly tried to find the first aid kit. “I know I put it around here,” she mumbled as she looked through several boxes with Jessica.

After a few minutes of standing behind the sink, Yoona was finally able to find a band-aid. “Finally,” I said.

I took the tissues off my finger and grabbed the band-aid. But something was wrong. Really, really wrong. There was nothing on my finger. No cut, nothing but dried blood. I washed my hands to get rid of the red to get a better look. All of the blood was just covering the gash. Yeah, that’s right. But there was no cut anywhere.

“Do cuts heal that fast?” I asked.

“No…” said Jessica.

“But I swear I saw a gash on your finger,” said Sunny.

I grabbed the knife and tried to slice my finger one more time. Jessica grabbed my arm before I could inflict any more harm on myself.

“Yah! What are you doing?” she yelled.

“I just want to make sure,” I said. I shook my arm out of Jessica’s grasp and quickly sliced my finger.

“Tiffany! Are you crazy?” said Yoona.

I ignored everyone and stared. Blood was dripping down my finger at a rapid pace. As time passed, the pace began to slow down. And in just a few minutes, the gash was completely healed and closed. What. The. . What the . I already had to cope with my damn eyes changing color but now this? My injuries can recover in just a matter of minutes rather than days like normal people. Normal...Normal is something I can never be ever again.

Everyone was speechless. I didn’t blame them. If I saw my friend’s injury heal in three minutes, I’d be as surprised as them. Unluckily, I was that friend. And I was scared. I can’t live like this. I can’t live trying to hide these secrets. I started shaking uncontrollably, “Sica, Sunny, Yoona…I’m scared. Save me.” My legs gave out and my consciousness turned its back on me.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Dad,

It’s me again. Is it strange that I’m talking to you like it’s a diary? Probably because I’m acting like it is. One day I’ll make sure these are sent to you. But, a lot happened to me today. I don’t know if I can handle it. What am I supposed to think? My eyes change color and my injuries heal way too fast. I feel terrible. Really terrible. I just got up after fainting. Everyone is sleeping since it’s around midnight. But I’m writing this to you because this is the only way I can vent out my feelings:

I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I’m human. I AM A PERFECTLY NORMAL HUMAN BEING.

Daddy I’m scared, and those guys might still be searching for me. How can anyone live under the constant fear of being kidnapped and the fear that you’ll scare everyone with your ‘superhuman’ powers? I don’t want tomorrow to happen, but I don’t want today to stay. I want to go back. I want to go back to the normal days where I can see you whenever I feel like it. I want to go back where I can smile like there was no tomorrow.

Sorry, Daddy. I left you on a pretty depressing note, didn’t I? You should get used to it. I don’t expect anything to get better. I’m living in hell now and no one can get me out.

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                                                                                Tiffany

 

I folded the letter in half. I quietly opened the desk drawer and placed the letter inside alongside the several letters I had also written. Before I went back to my bed, I grabbed Taeyeon’s pink cap and placed it on my head. I didn’t care how uncomfortable it was to sleep with it on, it made me feel safer. I don’t know why and I don’t care, it just did.