..kkumkkyeol gatteon bam geumse tteo-olla..

..kkeunimeopshi nal heundeureo..

Tiffany sighed as she clicked a button on her pink iPod and heard silence. Ever since her drunken night, Taeyeon had been avoiding her. The short leader always suddenly seemed to have somewhere to run off to whenever she sensed Tiffany breathing in the same room. Her text replies had gotten shorter as the days went by and Tiffany spent the past week alone at their favourite spot, always hoping for Taeyeon to show up, but she never did. 

Checking the time on her watch, she decided to get her answers by cornering Taeyeon in their shared subject in five minutes. She stood up from the soft patch of grass, brushing some stray leaves off as she picked up her things and headed to the classroom. Tiffany stepped into the classroom to see Taeyeon was already seated at her usual place and Tiffany saw the evident fear on the danshin’s face when their eyes met. 

“Hi Taengoo!” Tiffany said cheerfully, successfully keeping the frustration hidden out  her tone. 

“H-hey,” came the nervous response.

“Why didn’t you reply my text earlier when I asked you out for lunch, Tae-tae?” Tiffany pouted cutely at Taeyeon, hoping to melt some of the girl’s coldness.

“Err.. I w-was busy. Umm. Playi-, erkk! P-practicing my.. song.”

What a weak explanation, thought Tiffany who was about to continue her interrogation when she heard a bell ring from the front and saw that their lecturer was already calling for his students’ attention so that the class could begin. Saved by the bell, grumbled Tiffany to herself as the two of them fell into silence for the next hour. 

When the class had ended, Taeyeon had begun packing her things at light speed hoping to get away from Tiffany as fast as she could. She would have almost gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for her damned lecturer. “Taeyeon-ssi, stay for a moment. You too, Miss Hwang.” Taeyeon gulped and slowly turned around. Moving to stand in front of their lecturer’s desk, the air of awkwardness remained unnoticed by their lecturer as he reminded them to constantly practice their songs since the school president announced he would attend their next rehearsal for the competition and requested a duet performance from them. Leaving the two girls after asking them to discuss their choice, Taeyeon could only curse under hear breath as both of them were taken aback with the additional task. 

Pin-drop silence was all that Taeyeon could hear as their lecturer had closed the door. She did not dare turn to look at Tiffany, knowing the consequences if she did.

“Yah, Kim Taeyeon. You’ve been acting weird lately.”

Taeyeon put on her best confused face and swung her face up to meet her friend’s frown. “I-I have?” said Taeyeon in a small voice knowing full well she had been avoiding her one of her best friends out of utter embarrassment. Tiffany placed her hands on her hips and the crease on her forehead grew deeper.

“Was it because I woke up to find you staring at my s?” 

“W-what I-I was n-not..!”

The last thing Taeyeon was expecting to see was Tiffany bursting out in laughter. Dumbstruck, Taeyeon’s mouth hung open while Tiffany’s melodious laugh rang throughout the classroom. Clutching her tummy which was now sore, Tiffany took the danshin’s breath away when she turned her smiling face to her. 

“Taengoo, even if you were staring, there is no need avoid me because of that. I mean, we are both girls, right? So it’s normal to check out each other’s bodies. And I’ll take it as a compliment if you’re jealous of the assets God graced me with.” Tiffany winked at her blushing friend.

“Y-YAH! No one is being j-jealous here,” scoffed Taeyeon, masking her relief that Tiffany did not think of her as a ert after she had felt her groping hands. Tiffany lifted her hands to place them on Taeyeon’s shoulders. “Taeng, you are my best friend and it hurts not being able to talk to you. Promise me you won’t make me feel that way again?” she said sadly and pulled her friend into a tight hug. Sighing, Taeyeon returned the hug.

“I promise.”

“And if you want to stare at my chest again, you can just ask me.”

“HWANG MIYOUNG!”

Laughter once again filled the empty classroom, a soft orange glow filling the room from the setting sun in the distance. 

—————

“Hey shorty, is Hyomin coming over for dinner tonight?”

“Watch who you’re calling short, shrimp. And yes, she’s coming with Jiyeon tonight.”

“You invited Stick Legs?! She will eat this house dry.”

“Like a pot calling a kettle black, Soo.”

“Taeng, stay out of this.”

“Can both of you stop bickering like children and come help me set the table?”

Sooyoung sighed and stood up to help her two friends set the dining table in anticipation for their dinner guest. The dwellers of the dorm had already grown accustomed to Hyomin’s presence since they had accepted her as the bunny’s girlfriend with open arms. Initially gagging from watching their open displays of affections, Hyomin had become a part of their family. For the first time in many years, the girls had never been happier seeing a big smile plastered on Sunny’s face all the time. So much so that she was now dubbed their ‘Energizer Bunny’, having taken Hyomin’s pet name for Sunny to a different level. Hyomin on the other hand, had received the nickname of ‘byunpoong’ which translated to folding screen since she shadowed Sunny when they were not at school. Whenever together, the girls from both sides had dubbed them the ‘Sunbyung’ couple, which Hyomin thought sounded pretty cute. Seohyun mentioned that Hyomin was a miracle medicine for the scars that Sunny’s past had left on her and her unnies could not have agreed more.

—————

Flashback

—————

The two had already been dating for only two months but could not seem to get enough of each other as they met daily when their classes had ended. Sunny had become the envy of her university when they saw what was waiting for the short girl outside the school gates. The first time the brunette had shown up in front of her university, Sunny thought she had died and gone to heaven. 

Leaning against her y sports car, Hyomin had looked nothing short of drop dead gorgeous and once Sunny had gotten over her initial shock, she had walked up to her girlfriend and kissed her fully on the lips, garnering mixed reactions from the crowd. Sunny caught snippets of dark whispers but had not given a damn as she saw b happiness in the eyes of the only person who mattered at the moment.

—————

The three girls jumped as they heard the doorbell. Sunny quickly dropped the spoon she was holding and ran towards door, way ahead of Yoona who was yelling from the living room for the bunny to get the door. Flinging the door open, Sunny jumped into her girlfriend’s open arms and nuzzled her face into the mane of dark hair to take in Hyomin’s scent. Jiyeon who had been standing behind her unnie let out a whine to remind the couple of her existence and a laughing Sunny broke out of the hug to pat the pouting maknae. Jiyeon bounded into the living room happily and started giving out hugs to Tiffany and Hyoyeon, who were bumming on the couch. “How’s things Dino? Is Hyoyeon treating you well in her classes?” Tiffany asked as Jiyeon clung onto her unnie like a baby koala and nodded. As they chatted excitedly, they did not notice two figures slip quietly into one of the bedrooms. 

“Where’s the couple?” The girls had sat down at the dining table and noticed they were a little short of people. Everyone hushed down and being seated closest to the hallway, Yuri’s eyes went wide as she heard some muffled sounds coming from the bedrooms. Glancing quickly at Tiffany who was sitting next to her wearing the same expression, she made a move to get up. 

“I’ll go get them!” Jiyeon exclaimed and before anyone could stop her, the maknae bounded off to find the couple so they could quickly start on dinner. 

“Jiyeon, nooooo! You-“

Their faces paled knowing it was too late as they heard a high pitched scream echoing through the hallway.

—————

“I honestly thought you two were up to no good.”

Sunny scoffed at Yuri as she helped Jiyeon bandage her foot. She had stopped the bleeding earlier with a bit of pressure after she had pulled a long shard of glass from the bottom of it. When Jiyeon had left the dining table earlier, she had heard some scuffling as she ran past Sunny’s room and doubled back. Jiyeon pressed her ear to the door and heard a whimper of pain that sounded like Hyomin. Innocently, she had wanted to surprise them and burst into the room only to be met with Hyomin sitting on Sunny’s bed holding a bandaged finger. Jiyeon saw her friends’ expressions slowly turned to horror and she suddenly felt a sharp pain below her foot. A coppery smell hit her nose and she looked down to see dark red liquid oozing from below her feet, slowly colouring the shards of shattered glass while a wooden photo frame lay face down a few steps away. 

“Your scream hurt my ears more than the pain my finger,” said Hyomin, handing Jiyeon a hot cup of chocolate. “But it hurts so bad unnie. How will I be able to attend my dance classes like this?” Jiyeon whimpered sadly into her chocolate. Sunny finished up the last touches to the bandage and looked at Taeyeon who had sat next to her. “You gave us quite the scare Jiyeon,” said Taeyeon before turning to Sunny. “How did the glass get on the floor anyways?” 

“Mianhe. It was my fault Taeyeon. I was holding onto the frame when I tripped and dropped it. Sunny told me not to touch the broken pieces but I felt bad and got cut when I tried pick it up. She was fixing me up halfway and Dino walked in before we could get it cleaned up. So please don’t be mad at her,” explained Hyomin and bowed slightly. Taeyeon shook her head, “I’m not mad at anyone. You girls have to be a little more careful.” She turned to look at Sunny and asked if the dangerous mess had already been removed. Before she should answer, Seohyun walked in with a dustpan and emptied its contents that glittered with red smears into a dustbin.

“Here unnie, the glass is gone but I think the frame is still alright.” Sunny reached out to take the frame from Seohyun, thanking her for helping out. Hyomin peered over her girlfriend’s shoulder to look at the photo. “This was when you were in high school?” Sunny smiled. “Yeap! Sooyoung looks a little different here because puberty was taking it’s time with her,” chuckled Taeyeon who received an annoyed smack on the arm from the tall girl. “Baby, who’s that? She looks a little like me,” Hyomin asked Sunny as she pointed at a blonde haired girl in the photo. 

“Jessica.”

“Where is she now?” Jiyeon asked sincerely.

“She’s gone.”

Yuri had a pained expression as she said that and the sadness in her eyes were evident. Hyomin sensed that there was more to the story but did not press on and shushed Jiyeon as she opened again. Hyomin patted the pouting dinosaur wondering what Jessica had meant to Yuri to cause her pain like this. She decided she would ask Sunny when they were alone. 

Wanting to lighten up the mood, Sooyoung suggested to head out for dinner since most of the food had gone cold after the dorm’s mini drama. The rest sensed the progressively gloomy situation and bought into the suggestion quickly. They left the dorms to walk to a nearby restaurant. Hyoyeon was helping Jiyeon who was hopping around awkwardly on her uninjured foot. Hyomin had observed Yuri being silent throughout dinner and noted the time it took for her mood to lift as the group watched the three shikshins argue over the last piece of grilled beef.

—————

“This show is boring Taeng. Is thing the only program that’s on?”

“Nope. But it’s the only time where the girls are too fast asleep to whine like you.”

“You’re such a bully.”

“You’re such a baby.”

Sunny flung the small cushion at her best friend and narrowly missed Taeyeon’s shoulder. Taeyeon smirked and proceeded to sit on the remote she was holding so Sunny could not change the channel from the documentary that was on. She watched her friend sigh and sink back into the opposite sofa, grumbling about wishing she could stay in Hyomin’s place instead of being stuck watching a documentary about caterpillars.

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because I can’t.” 

Turning to look at her best friend when the was no response, Sunny saw that Taeyeon looked puzzled at her short answer.

“I don’t trust myself.” 

Silence ensued and the short blonde knew Taeyeon was still waiting for an explanation. “I’m letting her have the reins Taeng.” Taeyeon raised her eyebrows at this. “That’s new. Didn’t you once say that you would never allow someone else to lead you in any way, especially in a relationship?” Taeyeon asked. Sunny shrugged, “It feels different this time. We discussed this.. subject last week and I could see she was scared when we nearly..” Sunny trailed off blushing hard.

“Last week?! But you told me that you’ve never been to her place. Don’t tell me you-”

“Aniyo! I’m not so unromantic to let her remember her first time being in this dorm.”

“So if it wasn’t at her place, and definitely not here, then-“

“it was in her car.“ 

“Lee Soonkyu, are you out of your mind? Anyone could have seen you two!”

“Actually, the stadium parking lot at night is pretty deserted. Plus, you just need to get the right angle to-“

“YAH! Enough! My ears are going to bleed if don’t stop.” Taeyeon had her hands clasped over her ears as she waited to see if Sunny was planning to drop the bomb on her. When she saw Sunny had a serious look on her face, she slowly lowered her palms.

“I felt her holding back from me and I got a little pissed at first. B-but she told she had never done it before and she started crying. When I asked her why, she told me she was scared that I would leave her if she didn’t give in to me. So I promised her that I would wait for her.” Sunny eyes were wet as she finished her sentence. Taeyeon observed her for a moment before moving to the other couch to slip her hand around her best friend’s shoulders. “You’ve grown up Sunny. And for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing.” She patted Sunny’s back reassuringly. 

“You think so?”

“I know so. Look, I know you’re scared of trusting someone enough to let them have control over you but Hyomin seems to have some magic over the pain you’ve bottling up all these years. Your sisters and I have not seen you this way in a long time, and frankly speaking, we like it.” The two shared a long silence as Sunny digested her friend’s words. 

“Thank you Taeng.” Taeyeon smiled, patting her friend’s head as she stood up. “Anytime,” she said before leaving Sunny in the living room with her thoughts.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author’s Note:

Hello everyone! 

There’s quite a bit of Taeny goodness in this chapter and there is definitely more to come. 

Sorry about the late update, I was supposed to post this yesterday but I forgot. ><"

And please forgive me Yulsic shippers. Hee.