Taeyeon’s eyes shot open. “!” She looked at her watch and breathed a sigh of relief. “Five forty five,” she said to herself, throwing her blanket aside. “Tiffany can’t already be awake, can she? I still have time to microwave a new girlfriend, right?"

 

Once she had washed up, Taeyeon made a beeline for the kitchen. She scanned the titles on the remaining boxes and tapped her chin. “The safest choice…” She picked a case out. “Athletic girlfriend? This should be pretty safe.” 

 

With a hopeful heart, she put the case into the microwave and set the timer. Taeyeon reached into the fridge for the box of cookies she had gotten from Sooyoung and munched happily while the timer ticked down. “There’s no way this can go badly,” she said around a mouthful of crumbs. “She’s going to be hot as hell and definitely not psycho. Definitely not psycho."

 

The timer went off at the same time as the doorbell; Taeyeon hastily stuffed the rest of her cookie into and ran for the door. “Hell—” 

 

“Ready?"

 

“T-Tiffany?!”

 

Tiffany smiled, a little confused. “Yes? Is there something on my face?"

 

“I…” Taeyeon took in the tight-fitting sportswear and backed away. “I didn’t think you’d be here this early. Uh…"

 

She gulped as Tiffany stepped casually into her apartment, adjusting her neat ponytail. “Didn’t we say to meet at six? I’m just two minutes early. Did you eat breakfast?"

 

“I ate a cookie?” With a jolt, Taeyeon remembered the 3 Minute Girlfriend 2.0 set on her kitchen table. She scrambled to put everything back into the box and kicked it under her fridge just before Tiffany followed her in. Taeyeon turned to see a frowning Tiffany.

 

“A cookie? That’s not healthy, Taeyeon. And that’s definitely not going to give you enough energy for our training."

 

“T-training?"

 

“Yeah. You’re not backing out, are you? You know biking is good for you."

 

Taeyeon felt the first drop of sweat make its way slowly down her forehead. “What exactly am I backing — or, I mean, what am I not backing out of?"

 

“Our bike trip around Taiwan!” Tiffany put her hands on her hip. “We’ve been talking about this for months!"

 

“Right, yes, that bike trip! I’m looking forward to it! When is this happening again?"

 

“Next weekend, silly. So we don’t have much time. Let’s go!"

 

Taeyeon smiled nervously. “Go…where? To Taiwan?"

 

“No time for jokes, Taeyeon. Go get changed, or the bike trails will be full of people because it’s a weekend.” Tiffany pushed her into the bedroom. “Hurry!"

 

Fifteen minutes later, Taeyeon found herself in her almost-brand-new, never worn yoga pants and a tank top, holding onto the handlebars of a bike right in front of her building. Tiffany checked both their bikes over expertly and stepped forward to help Taeyeon put on her helmet. Taeyeon gulped at the non-existent distance between their faces and was reminded of the night before.

 

“Tiffany?” She asked hesitantly.

 

“Hmm? Is it too tight?"

 

“No, it’s fine. I just…have two questions."

 

Tiffany tugged on the straps, nodded approvingly, and raised her eyebrows. “Yes?"

 

“One,” said Taeyeon slowly, “can you…can you do me a favor and promise not to hit people at all today? Please?"

 

“Why would I hit people?"

 

Taeyeon winced at the expression on Tiffany’s face but forged ahead bravely. “Because they’d be looking at me? Please don’t hit them?"

 

“I wouldn’t hit people for looking at you. That’s normal, Taeyeon. What are you talking about?"

 

“But…” Taeyeon stared. Tiffany seemed to be genuinely confused, so she hazarded another question. “D-do you not remember what happened last night? When we came back from dinner?"

 

“Taeyeon, what’s going on? We were at the gym last night - we didn’t eat dinner together. Are you okay?"

 

“We weren’t?"

 

“No. Are you okay?"

 

“I see.” Taeyeon considered this briefly. “So it reset?” She mumbled under her breath. “This is not possessive Tiffany anymore?"

 

“What did you say?"

 

“Nothing! And my second question was: why are the handlebars like that?” Taeyeon pointed at her bike. “They’re all curved and bendy? Aren’t they supposed to be like a T?"

 

“It’s a drop bar. You picked it out yourself. Said you wanted it to be a real road bike, right?"

 

“Road bike?"

 

Tiffany gave Taeyeon a funny look. “Lightweight, made for flat roads and racing? You almost went for the clipless pedals too but you couldn’t balance, remember?"

 

“Clipless?"

 

“The kind where your shoes lock into the pedals,” explained Tiffany patiently, rolling her shoulders. Taeyeon bit her tongue and tried to focus on Tiffany’s words and not on the really toned abs peeking out from under Tiffany’s shirt. “To maximize the full rotation of your leg. You forgot how you fell off the bike?"

 

“Why are they called clipless if they lock into the pedals?"

 

“I don’t really know. Why are you asking all these questions? Don’t you already know all of this?"

 

“Oh, absolutely,” said Taeyeon weakly. “I know all of this. I am a master at biking. I can absolutely bike."

 

It started out kind of okay. When they biked down Taeyeon’s quiet street, Taeyeon found herself slowly getting used to the feeling of being on a bike. It was almost fun, following behind Tiffany. She had a full, unrestricted view of Tiffany’s back, and, most importantly, given the low angle of the handlebars, Taeyeon was basically staring at Tiffany’s . Tiffany was hella fit and Taeyeon was in heaven - until they suddenly to a main road. All of a sudden, Taeyeon found herself biking desperately next to huge cars, right in the middle of honking horns and rumbling engines and so, so many traffic lights.

 

Were there always this many cars on the street at 6:30AM on a weekend?!

 

All Taeyeon could do was stick really close to Tiffany’s bike. Her hands hurt from gripping the handles so tightly (and so did her back, because these drop bars were really damn low, were they supposed to be this low?) but there was nothing else she could do. She hung on with all her soul, and when Tiffany finally slowed to a stop, Taeyeon fell from her bike and almost kissed the ground.

 

“Here,” said Tiffany, handing Taeyeon a water bottle. Taeyeon took it gratefully and took a long drink to soothe her racing heart. “You okay?"

 

“I…I think so.” 

 

Tiffany left her bike and walked over to touch Taeyeon’s face gently. “You look a little green. You sure you're okay?"

 

“Maybe?"

 

“Good. Ready to start?"

 

“Start?” Taeyeon’s eyes bugged out. “Didn’t we just finish?"

 

Tiffany laughed, throwing her head back. For a moment Taeyeon felt her breath catch at the sight of that beautiful, glorious moment. Then Tiffany grinned and said, “You’re funny. That was a warm-up. We have 60km to go, so if you want to have time for the gym tonight, we should get a move on."

 

“Aw, hell,” whispered Taeyeon to herself.