Tiffany slumps back onto her chair the moment she reaches her bedroom.

Yet another day, yet another failed try.

This is the fifth time Taeyeon has rejected her offer to become friends, and it is starting to irritate Tiffany. No one has ever rejected to be her friend in her entire life and to get rejected five times from the same person is starting to shock her.

How dislikeable am I in her eyes that she is rejecting me five times straight?

She lets out a loud sigh and kicks the air in frustration.

What do I have to do for you to become friends with me, Kim Taeyeon?!

She hears a knock on her door before seeing her friend’s head popping into her room.

“Yes?”

“You asked me to come over and here you are hiding in your room and sighing your night away?” Her friend sits on her bed. “What’s frustrating you so much?”

“It’s nothing much.”

“For you to let out that sigh? Definitely a big issue. A mind-boggling and hard to handle issue.”

“I hate how you know me so well, Yoong.”

“Tell me about it. Let me help.”

Tiffany sighs and tells her friend, Yoona, about Taeyeon. She makes sure to not go too deep in details to protect Taeyeon’s privacy.

“Of course she wouldn’t want to befriend you, Unnie.”

“What?” Tiffany looks at Yoona in surprise. “Why?”

“Have you ever considered this from her stand?”

Tiffany pauses. Have I? But I’m just trying to be a friend. What’s so hard in making a new friend?

“I guess you haven’t,” Yoona says. “Try seeing this from her point of view.”

“I’m not quite understanding it.”

“A social worker walks up to her and says that she wants to be her friend. It’s no wonder she’s skeptical about it, no?”

“But I genuinely want to become her friend!”

“I know, but you can’t blame her for having her doubts.”

Tiffany stays silent. Yoona’s right.

“She knows you’re only there because you need to. She knows it’s your job to approach her and of course she will not want to make friends with someone who is doing it out of duty. Even I wouldn’t if I was her.”

“What should I do then?”

“That’s a tough question, Unnie. Since she knows you’re a social worker already, it will be hard to approach her since she will have her guard up around you.”

Tiffany sighs. “Am I really going to fail my first case like what she said?”

“Not necessarily. You did say she cared, didn’t you? Maybe she will see your sincerity and be moved one day.”

“And when is that going to be? Months later?”

“Will you persevere till then?”

“Of course I will. I don’t give up. The Hwangs never give up.”

“Good. Give her some time, Unnie. Hope she gets convinced soon.”

“Thanks, Yoong. I hope so too.” I really hope so.

===

It has been three weeks since Tiffany showed up for the first time and Taeyeon has been starting to get used to the girl tagging her around. She has grown to the point where she is too lazy to even ask the girl to leave. She has also run out of words to use to chase the girl away.

And as much as she hates to admit, she is intrigued by Tiffany.

She has found Tiffany to be a very pretty social worker since the first day the latter chased after her down the street. At first, she wanted to use her coldness to force Tiffany away from her, but she knew she has failed when she saw Tiffany approaching her for the fourth time.

There were a few instances when Taeyeon’s thoughts were wavered by Tiffany’s determination. Maybe she really wants to befriend me. The thoughts will then be quickly countered by herself, deeming that a social worker will never do that if it is not out of obligation. She is, however, quite amazed at the determined Tiffany, considering how mean she has been to the latter.

Another thing she hates to admit is that she is starting to enjoy Tiffany’s presence sometimes. Like that one time she was having lunch, Tiffany came to join her. She shouted at the girl, wanting her to leave, but Tiffany didn’t care and sat across her at the table. That was the most awkward lunch she has ever had in a long time, but it was also interesting to her to be eating with someone who is not Soonkyu, Sooyoung or Yuri.

It is another night where she is out to get some free chocolate bars or candies. She looks around the quiet store, noticing how the owner is reading his newspapers behind the counter. She grabs some of the candies and chocolates, putting them into her pocket before pretending to be walking out of the store after browsing.

A beeping alarm goes off the moment she reaches the door. She turns to the owner in panic, and sees the owner throwing his newspapers aside. She runs out of the door immediately.

“Yah, come back here!”

She hears the shouting coming from behind her and breaks into a smile, feeling the adrenaline pumping through her body. She manages to escape quickly from him. She pops one of the candies into , humming to a happy tune as she makes her way back home, satisfied with tonight.

Her happiness did not sustain for long though, as it vanished into thin air when she sees Tiffany sitting on the steps near her apartment.

“Taeyeon! You’re finally back. Where have you been?”

“None of your business.”

Taeyeon digs into her pocket, looking for her bunch of keys. She takes out the sweet treats she stole that were in her way, placing them in another hand before digging deeper into her pocket.

Tiffany sees the candies and chocolates and knows what Taeyeon did tonight right away.

“You went to steal again, did you?”

“None of your business.”

“You can’t keep doing this, Taeyeon.”

“I said it’s none of your business.”

“I’m just concerned and you know it.”

“Stop speaking as though we’re friends because we’re not. I don’t need your concern, thanks but no thanks.”

Tiffany stands up and tries to approach Taeyeon as the latter opens the door with the keys she finally found in her pocket.

“You stand right there. Don’t come near my door.”

Tiffany lets out a sigh. “What do I have to do for you to believe that I’m here not because of obligation?”

“Nothing, because I will never believe what you say, Miss Social Worker.”

“Can you just forget about my part-time job for once and see how genuine I am about this?”

“No.”

“Taeyeon…”

“Haven’t your mother taught you to not poke your nose into other people’s businesses?”

“No, she hasn’t actually. She passed away when I w