The Second Confession: Chapter 18

“Tell me that is not what you two are up to! Tell me you are not stupid.”

The vast outlines of the four walled traditional restaurant vibrated at the sound of the tall and obviously hungry Choi Sooyoung. Currently waiting for the food to come out of the staff’s section, it is a matter of time to define the current plans of the newly engaged couple who apparently did not spend more time in the land of bikinis as what Taeyeon Jung had described the moment she landed.

“You are stupid. We aren’t.” Taeyeon feasted on the complimentary kimchi in front of her. Heeding no concern of her fiancée’s cousin’s burning emotion. Tiffany cradled her nose bridge with a slight pinch. This is a normal occurrence in the whole revolution of every interaction Taeyeon and Sooyoung has but it is indeed tiring when the two of them are fans of repetitive motion. 

“Stop it. Please.”

“Yes, I will stop when the food is in my eyesight! Why is this stupid restaurant taking so long in making my orders, it is not that much for god’s sake!” Sooyoung pounded on the wooden table, causing Yoona’s soju bottle to rattle emitting a loud grunt from the younger Kwon who is surprisingly quiet from this whole ordeal. Most surprisingly, it very much involves her sister.

“This is a traditional restaurant. You know with wooden furnaces and a bunch of wood to conjure fire, you know to conjure food. Might as well eat raw meat then if you are so keen in eating the whole menu that you’ve ordered.” Yoona blasted towards Sooyoung, followed by a glass of soju trailing down her esophagus like water, Little Kwon did not even flinch at the bitter taste. Whereas the three older ones looked straight at her with widened eyes, it is midday and Yoona is drunk, the only reason is why?

“The sun is high up in the sky and you are drunk?” Taeyeon asked, pouring herself a cup of soju. She proposed a toast along with her widest stint of a grin, Yoona obliged.

“You and me. Cheers!” the clank of the shot glasses started the annual feast with the arrival of the whole menu.

“So why is she drunk?” Tiffany took the liberty of asking Choi Sooyoung amidst the devouring session of her cousin who only gave her a look of disturbance.

“So why are you moving to Paris after getting wed in private?” Soooyoung countered the question causing Tiffany to once again gain a momentary consolation by pinching her nose bridge. This whole argument has been on fire ever since they entered the place to eat, before Yoona got drunk out of unknown reasons, before Taeyeon went on a drinking spree with her twin’s girlfriend’s sister, and before everything around the cousins is sane.

“I told you Taeyeon wants to move there. Jessica is there, you know how the two of them sticks to each other like magnets? Besides it might be only temporary, maybe not until Jessica graduates. I will set up a small clinic there just to make a productive stint out of my time there.” Tiffany said.

“And you actually agreed to that? I mean yes, I am very much elated to know that I can eat everything inside our malls without you snooping around to blast me with your mega phone voice and I can actually live in peace without the presence of your fiancée barging inside my house just to drag me to Japan to play golf, it is just, surreal.” Sooyoung grabbed the napkin from her lap, cleaning the specs of the roasted meat from the ends of her lip. Her eyes boring holes into Tiffany’s brown ones.

“Surreal?” Tiffany raised[j1]  her eyebrows. Checking her drunk fiancée and Yoona from time to time.

“Yes. I don’t want to be cheesy with you. But you have your life here, you are the best on your field, the best doctor we can ever have. And it’s weird not having all of you here. Maybe that’s why Yoona indulged herself in alcohol, little big sissy left her again. It’s the reality all of us are facing.” Sooyoung’s round cheeks flushed with an obvious shade of blush. She lowered her head to divert her attention to the alcohol in front of her, whereas Tiffany remained silent.

“Yuri is with Jessica in Paris, you are also leaving with Taeyeon after marriage, Hyoyeon and Sunny are going back to Yuchiri after they graduate, Seohyun is now a Doctor which means she will have more responsibilities, which leaves me and Yoona. To think, if you sum it all up, we are the loose ends. We party, we spend our money, our time, travel the world, make fun of each other, but what difference does it make in our lives? Our lives have no directions. We are just a living epitome of YOLO.” Sooyoung laughed. Encircling the dead drunk Yoona with her arms, patting it lightly with a smile on her face.

“Why are you looking down on yourself? As far as I know, you two have done so much that you are the catalysts of this story. For some reasons, it is the both of you who are responsible in taking a subtle revenge from all of our enemies. It is also the both of you who managed to crack Yuri’s skull with piercing words, it is you who hit the dog that requires Jessica and Yuri to have a connection, and I am only saying this once, because the atmosphere is great and homey..” Tiffany breathed before grasping her cousin’s hands in her own. Sooyoung’s eyes bulged in surprise but it went back into the compassionate ones. She does not like cheesy moments but just like what Tiffany said, the atmosphere is great and maybe there is no better time to reveal everything that is hidden inside. To let someone know the reason how everything works the way it wants to be.

Someone has to see the complicated things behind the curtains of the perfect and flawless exterior.

“Soo, thank you. To you and Yoona. If it is not for you, maybe Taeyeon and I are not sitting here with you all happy and drunk if Yoona did not notice her burning engine and ran for her life trying to contact Yuri and you. And Taeyeon will not be with me today if Yoona’s calls did not reach your ears. You are late but you are the hands that held Taeyeon’s fragile state first. So, dearest cousin, Thank you. And don’t sulk, it is not you.” Tiffany’s eyes disappeared. Flashing Sooyoung her eyesmile.

That certain cliché word of gratefulness is the only thing Sooyoung needed to feel different. It is indeed cliché but the effect if it is delivered by heart and if it is from a loved one is not to be measured by a million thank you from the ones who did not give those words a meaning, only saying it out of the goodness of each other’s image.

It is the thought that matters, not the amount of words and flaring colors.

“Stop with all of this bull Stephanie! Go and enjoy worshipping each other’s bodies in the city of love. I will visit you there anyway, not to mention I will string along Hyoyeon and Sunny and I will take my time on using my aegyo just so Doctor Uncle Head Doctor Hwang will let me borrow Seohyun’s smart away from the stethoscope. So you better prepare a feast every day, who knows we might crash.” Wiping a lone tear coming from her eye, Choi Sooyoung is back to her normal self.

~~

“Baby, is it wise for us not to tell Jessica that we are getting married? Like she has a right to know, right? I already got your Dad’s blessing and not to mention Yunho is the happiest of all, so why not tell your twin?” Tiffany asked out of the blue. Facing the back of Taeyeon who is packing the luggage for the first time in her life.

A private wedding in Yuchiri, it is all they need. It is perfect. It is where everything started, and it is where the beginning of forever should start.

“Oh come on, you know I like grand entrances. I have to tell her in person, this news is supposed to be spoken by my voice coming from my mouth not by the phone’s speakers” Taeyeon asserted, zipping the luggage. It marked the end of her agony of packing.

“Right. Makes sense. So maybe that’s why you are packing? Are you sure you are going to make an appearance on her first day of school? Let Jessica and Yuri have a moment.” Tiffany rested her arms around Taeyeon’s neck.

“I am pretty sure they already have that moment countless of times considering the fact that they are alone in that huge mansion. And did I tell you that twins have this innate telepathy jju jju thing? Like we can actually feel each other’s feeling even from afar? And, for the trivia section, Jessica’s side of the emotional hemisphere has been soaring higher than an eagle, which means, she is getting it. So yeah, I am going to ruin it for once, And you will be there too, I need to go there first with all this doctor transfer whatnot that I don’t understand, you deal with it first.” Taeyeon nuzzled Tiffany’s nose affectionately.

Her hand swooped right into Tiffany’s arms, feeling the fingers. She lifted it high up, examining the big bulky diamond ring in Tiffany’s hands.

“I can’t wait to marry you, Doctor Stephanie Young Hwang. You will be a Jung, you like it?”

“Cheesy. I prefer Mrs. Taeyeon Jung.” Tiffany mirrored Taeyeon’s smile as she pecked her lips to tease the ert a little.

“Don’t tease me.”

“Let your emotional hemisphere soar high like an eagle too. Let Jessica feel it, so that she will know that it is not only her who is getting it.” Tiffany smiled before locking the door.

~~

The start of Hyoyeon’s day is bad. Her head is spinning with all the beer Sunny made her chug in their dorm room last night. Of course, passing the exams is an acceptable reason. But hangover is not a good reward, not when you have early morning classes. Moreover, this is her last year and in a couple of months the both of them will graduate. And if the possibility of dropping out due to lates and absences will cause her diploma to fly out of her hands, she has Sunny Lee to kill. Millions of okays and this is the last one phrases that have escaped Sunny’s lips whenever they engage in a water drinking session, and water is beer to Sunny. Also to get even with the positive millions of great coaxing, there has to be a balanced negative millions of self-esteem destruction with the I will not do it again, and give me one last chance to cope up with my lates alibis.