It was already dark, but the night is still young when Taeyeon left the hospital. She’s driving for a few minutes until she finds herself leading her to a familiar place, inside the subdivision where Tiffany lives.

Taeyeon can already see from her peripheral visionTiffany’s black Ferrari California parked just outside the porch. She thinks that Nichkhun’s still inside the house and he and Tiffany is probably talking about their unexpected encounter earlier.

Taeyeon then decided to park her her car on the available space three blocks from Tiffany’s house and moved out from her car and walked her way there. She knows the house very well as she’d been here with Tiffany before.

She’s aware that she’s technically trespassing the estate like a burglar right now. Taeyeon even finds it funny if she’ll get arrested because of this, that the cops will find out later on that a highly regarded cardiothoracic surgeon’s lurking around the family home of an infamous tycoon who used to be her lover. It’ll be funnier if people will know that Taeyeon Kim and Tiffany Hwang are gay.

Taeyeon shakes her head and pulled out those thoughts in her mind. Her eyes wandered around to check if someone’s nearby, and when she made sure that there’s no one around, she carefully snuck her way in through the lawnyard and takes cover under the sliding window from the dining area.

She settled herself there and let her ears listen. Taeyeon’s heart clenched when she hears Tiffany sobbing. She takes a peek to see what’s happening inside and it broke her heart when she saw the person she loves the most crying because of her.

“…and when I and Taeyeon were talking about him when we were still best friends, s-she told me that he would c-consider him as someone she could d-date. S-she t-told me that…T-Taeyeon loved me, didn’t she?T-taeyeon…”

Taeyeon lowered down again and leaned her back against the wall. She didn’t hear everything but she was sure about it that Tiffany’s referring to Dean. She wanted to tell Tiffany everything that very moment but she knows that the latter still hates her for leaving her.

Taeyeon stayed there for a few minutes until Tiffany stopped whimpering. She thought that she could have fallen asleep due to excessive crying. Taeyeon wiped her own tears and decided to leave.

The moment she’s about to snuck her way out to the estate was also the exact moment when Nichkhun stepped out of the door. Taeyeon tried to hide herself but Nichkhun’s perception was faster.

“Noona.” Nichkhun said in surprise.

The weary expression on Nichkhun’s face started to make Taeyeon feel anxious. She thinks that if Tiffany does hate her, then maybe Nichkhun’s the same too. She knows that even though Nichkhun and Tiffany just remained as friends, the guy still cares for her as much as she does.

“Buck. I didn’t mean to… I’m just on my way and---”

Nichkhun cut her off and said, “It’s okay, noona. You don’t have to explain.”

“I have no choice, Buck. I had to leave her. It was for her. I didn’t mean to... Oh, God.” Tears started to threaten her eyes again as wave of guilt and self-resentment kicks in.

Nichkhun gives her a brief friendly hug and assured her, “I know, noona. I know.”

“Y-you know?” Taeyeon confusingly asked as soon as she met his gaze.

Nichkhun nodded and explained, “I know that Uncle Hwang forced you to leave her. Well, that’s what I believe. I know that you can’t just leave Miyoung like that without any important reason. He told you that it’s for her sake, didn’t he?”

“He told me that it’s for everyone’s sake. No one will get hurt if I go away from her.”

Nichkhun made a sarcastic snort and shook his head. “I find it ironic. You left her and it’s been four years already yet the both of you are still hurting.” He paused for a moment and then asked, “Who’s Kwon Hyuk, noona? And is that kid yours?”

“Hyuk is a very close friend of mine. And the answer to your second question, it’s a yes and no.” Taeyeon vaguely disclosed. She knows that if she tells Nichkhun about everything, he might tell Tiffany.

Taeyeon checks the time from her wristwatch and gives him an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, but I need to go.”

“Where are you going?” He asked with furrowed eyebrows.

She pursed her lips and exhaled. She looked at him and replied, “It’s already late. Hyuk must be waiting for me at home. I’ll explain it later when we got enough time, Buck. Please take care of Miyoung for me.”

Taeyeon was drifted back from her reverie when she sees Tiffany and Nichkhun inside the restaurant where Dean is going to meet his impending business partners. She gave Dean a questioning look as if asking him if the people that she just saw are the ones that they are meeting with.

When Dean didn’t bother to speak, Taeyeon finally asked, “Who are you meeting with, Hyuk?”

Dean heaved a sigh and diffidently said, “I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you earlier, noona. I know that you wanted to talk to her and I think that this could be the right time.”

Taeyeon placed her hand on Dean’s hand and said, “Thank you, Hyuk. But you shouldn’t be doing this for me.”

Dean shakes his head and rubbed Taeyeon’s hand using his thumb. He gives her a concerned look and said, “It’s the least I can do for you, for being with me and Hyeonhyuk all this time.”

Taeyeon knows in herself that she’s not ready to face Tiffany yet. She’ll never be ready to face Tiffany. But running away again would make her feel guiltier in Tiffany’s point of view and she doesn’t want that, so she’s considering this favor that Dean is doing for her.

She sighed and asked, “Do you think she’ll let me talk to her and explain?”

A smile appeared from Dean’s face and positively said, “Why don’t we go inside and try so we’ll know the answer to that?”

Taeyeon shifted her gaze to Hyeonhyuk who’s busy playing with some application on his iPad. She looked at him in concern and shifted her gaze back to Dean, “But how about Hyeonnie?”

“What about our son? You’re still her Taeng eomma. That will never change. Tiffany-ssi has been kind to him and I’m sure that she won’t be mad, not at him at least. And I won’t let that happen.”

Taeyeon frowned at his statement about Tiffany and said, “That’s not what I meant, Hyuk. Tiffany’s been fond of kids. What I mean is that, if we bring Hyeonhyuk inside with us, Tiffany might mistake us again as a couple.”

Dean was about to make his reply when Hyeonhyuk suddenly butts in to their conversation. “Taeng eomma, Hyuk appa. Hyeonhyuk is hungry.”

Taeyeon and Dean exchanged glances and sighed. Dean shifted his glance to his son and ruffled his hair. He plugged out his earphones and said, “Oh, really? I’m sorry if your Taeng eomma and I are taking too long. We’re here already, champ. Let’s go.”

-

Tiffany doesn’t know if she made the right decision of going with Nichkhun in the restaurant for the client meeting today. Her too much skepticism and curiosity about their impending media partner has lead her into doing some research. Her time was too short, but with the help of her connections, she was able to trace the mysterious person behind Treble Music Industries. She found out that the person who are they meeting with is none other than Kwon Hyuk, or more known in this field as Dean.

Nichkhun noticed that Tiffany’s out of it again so he placed his hand on her shoulder and asked, “Is everything alright, Miyoung-ah?”

Tiffany knows that she shouldn’t doubt Nichkhun, that her friend doesn’t know anything about what’s happening right now to her. But she can’t still help to ask, “Are you really sure that you don’t have any idea about the founder of Treble?”

“All I know that his name’s Dean. Why?” Nichkhun told her innocently. Tiffany sighed and shakes her head.

“Miyoung noona!” A familiar voice called her. She looked from her peripheral vision and sees Hyeonhyuk approaching them. She stands up from her seat and gives her best to smile at the boy.

“Hyeonhyuk-ah, you’re here. Who’s with you? Are you lost again?” Tiffany asked naively even though she already knew who the kid is with. She even anticipated that Taeyeon will be with them.

No matter how Tiffany wanted to walk out and leave everything to Nichkhun, she doesn’t want to damage her professionalism just because of her damn feelings and ego for Taeyeon. She told herself to just stay there and show Taeyeon that she’s doing well, that she’s already having a good life even without her.

“Aniyo. I’m with my Taeng eomma and appa.” The boy said cheerfully.

Tiffany and Nichkhun see that Hyeonhyuk runs back to the entrance of the restaurant and hear him say, “Eomma, appa. Miyoung noona is here! She’s with her namchin!”(A/N: namchin, short for namja chingu = boyfriend)

“Aniyo. I’m not her---” Before Nichkhun can deny to the kid that he’s not Tiffany’s boyfriend, the boy already came back with Taeyeon holding his hand. He kept silent and just looked at Taeyeon dejectedly.

“H-hi.” Taeyeon greeted the both of them, but her eyes were only fixated to Tiffany.

“Hi.” Tiffany snappily responded, her eyes never leaving Taeyeon’s gaze.

“T-thank you for taking Hyeonhyuk back to us.” Taeyeon said, hoping that the person in front of her will somehow finally engage into a conversation with her.

After what happened last night, Nichkhun sensed that it’s not going to be good if he’d just let Tiffany stay there. He looked down and sees that she’s already clenching her fist.

Tiffany’s just holding it in, but she’s exploding anytime soon. Before hell gets loose, Nichkhun stands from his seat and holds her hand, calming her down.

“Miyoung-ah. I think we got the wrong place. I’m sorry. Should we go now?” Nichkhun apologetically said, but Tiffany won’t budge a bit.