Problems and worries plagued Taeyeon all night. When morning came, she was anything but rested. She had lost sleep and the resulting headache compounded her problems, making her feel worse than ever.

Coffee. It helped some. But her problems remained. The fine that would land her close to bankruptcy. The girlfriend who brought colour and drama into her life. Taeyeon groaned and planted her face on the egg cushion next to her. Coincidentally, the cushion was a gift from her last girlfriend who said she was ‘too boring’.

“You’re too calm,” her last girlfriend had said after Taeyeon called for a break up. “Sometimes I don’t even know if you really feel anything for me.”

Those were the reasons tossed around by her ex-girlfriend but Taeyeon had known better. She was fully aware that her ex-girlfriend had begun to develop interest in another woman some time ago. And sure enough, Yuri spotted her ex-girlfriend out with a new girlfriend, no less than a week after the break up.

So all this time, Taeyeon had been confident that her ex-girlfriend’s impending infidelity was the sole reason for the break up. But as her face left the cushion, questions began to trickle in. Was she really blameless in that relationship? She had assumed that her ex-girlfriend was simply heaping excuses and blame on her but was there any truth in the things she said at the end?

Taeyeon sat up and chewed on the toast she made for breakfast. The fine and the girlfriend. Which was the more pressing problem?

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Good morning BUT.

BUT?

Read B-U-T as letters.

Not funny

I’m sorry

Tiffany didn’t reply after that and Taeyeon wondered if she had messed it up again. She was about to send another text when her phone rang. Tiffany was calling.

“Hey, beauty.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Are you still pissed?”

Tiffany was silent on her end.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all those things last night. Will you forgive me?”

“Have you thought about it?”

“About us?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought about what I’ve said and done so far.”

“And?”

“Someone once told me I’m too calm. That she couldn’t tell if I was feeling anything or not. I thought about that and I thought about you. I think I need to tell you very clearly that you make me happy. You make my life better. No matter what I said last night, I hope you understand that I didn’t mean them. I was totally off the edge. The fact is, I need you in my life. Losing you would be like losing my happiness.”

Tiffany’s voice quivered as she said, “Do you mean every single word you’re saying now?”

“I mean every word.”

“You need me?”

“I need you.”

“Tae, I’m sorry I blew up when I should have be your support.”

“You helped me a lot. You turned up at the station so quickly and you even brought along a lawyer to help me.”

“Yeah, but I ended up yelling at you and saying all kinds of stupid things and—”

“So did I.” Taeyeon chuckled. “It’s called a fight, Tiff. But we can always make it up, right?”

“I was so sure I had screwed up again and you were calling to call it off.”

“What? Do you think I’m the kind of person who just walks out on a relationship at the first sign of trouble?”

“No, it’s not that. Last night, you said I’m not what you need. I thought you regretted dating me.”

“I meant the blowing up. Not you.”

“Well, I’m the one who does the blowing up.”

Taeyeon inhaled deeply. “Babe, you gotta stop putting so much blame on yourself and linking everything up like that. Yes, I hated the blowing up part but it doesn’t mean I hate you too.”

“But if you hate that and I keep on doing that, you’ll eventually hate me too.”

“I can handle it if it doesn’t happen every day.”

Tiffany sighed. “Once a week?”

Taeyeon laughed. “Babe, why are we negotiating this? There are better things to negotiate.”

“Like?”

“Like how often we should spend the night together.”

There was a pause, then Tiffany broke into laughter. “Tae!”

“Good. You’re finally laughing.”

“Do you seriously want to negotiate that?”

Taeyeon chuckled. “Do we even need to negotiate it? I’m assuming that at this point of our relationship, we should be really eager beavers.”

“Tae!”

“Why are you pretending to be shy with me? We both know you’re not the shy type.”

“Tae, I’m being serious right now. I don’t want us to walk down this path only to break up three months later.”

Taeyeon frowned. “Is that how your breakups happened?”

“A couple of times, yeah. They said I’m too intense for them.”

Taeyeon almost laughed at the irony but instead, calmly said, “And I’ve been told I’m too calm, too boring. And it wasn’t even that long ago. Just a few months back.”

Tiffany laughed. “We are such total opposites.”

“But we can make it work. You can try not to over-react and blow up too much and I will try to express my feelings more, if that’s what you want.”

“So you really wanna be with me.”

“Yes, of course.”

“I really wanna be with you too.”

“Dinner, movie and tonight. My place,” said Taeyeon with a smile. “I only have one vacancy for a girlfriend to join me. Are you on?”

Tiffany’s laugh was short and happy. “That vacancy is mine.”

“Then I’ll see you at my place after work.”

“What about your customers?”

“I’m keeping their appointments.”

“Will the police come again?”

“They won’t come if there aren’t any reports.”

“I’m worried for you. Please be careful.”

Taeyeon smiled, as her heart warmed. “I will. See you soon, babe.”

Tiffany blew a kiss through the phone and Taeyeon returned it before ending the call. The next call Taeyeon made was to Yuri. Unlike her, Yuri knew a great number of tattooists, especially the female ones. She had her suspicions about who the whistle-blower was, but Yuri probably knew better.

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