The door is flung open and shut just as quickly. The bang jolts Tiffany from her place at her desk.

There is a girl at her door. Wide-eyed, panting. Pretty cute too.

“Sorry for barging in. There’s…” she huffs and pants, “it’s just that there’s this bunch of Mormons out there at the amphitheatre. I,” she gestures at herself, “happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Really, really not interested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Tiffany’s impressed that she gets the entire name out in one breath. 

The girl then looks up, her eyes widening even more, if that’s even possible. It’s funny and Tiffany wants to laugh, but she’s got a face mask on and cracking even the slightest expression will ruin the Jeju Volcanic Clay.

“You’re not one of them, are you?”

She really, really wants to laugh.

She shakes her head instead.

The girl exhales. “Thank God.” She then snorts, as if something funny’s occurred to her. “Me, thanking God. The Mormons must have infected me somehow.”

Tiffany wants to interject – God isn’t exactly a joke in her book – but the girl doesn’t seem to be the type that cares about her protestations, and re: her mask.

They sink into silence for the next couple of minutes. Tiffany continues doing her homework, sneaking little glances at the girl who’s resorted to fiddling with her phone.

Texting someone, probably.

The girl grins on occasion as she types furiously on her phone, and Tiffany wonders if the girl has a boyfriend and thinks that whoever the boy is, he must be very lucky because this girl is very pretty.

Her own heart squeezes just a little bit at the thought of "boyfriend" and it's terribly unfair that he finds a way to worm himself into her thoughts, unbidden as they are. God, she’s over him. She’s over him.

Tiffany, get over the guy already.

They’re still sorta friends as it is, but she’s not texting him every morning when she wakes up and every night when she goes to bed and she’s not telling him about every little thing about her day and not going to him when she’s upset about something or when she’s just fought with Sooyoung or when she found this line she really liked from a David Sedaris book that she’s finally found time to read.

It’s been weeks since that summer’s night but sometimes it’s honestly just a little strange and altogether weird to have the patterns of your life altered so greatly by a simple, “it’s not you, it’s me.” Couldn’t he have come up with something just a little more original?

Finally, the girl opens Tiffany’s door cautiously and sticks her head out and Tiffany is jerked out of her thoughts by the sound of her voice.

“Looks like the coast is clear. Thanks for letting me hide for a bit. Be seeing you around.”

With that, she leaves.

Tiffany still doesn’t really know what’s happened.

*****

“So, we meet again!” Tiffany greets in a cheery voice as she chucks her laundry into the washing machine.

It’s the same girl from before, and in the interim of the three weeks since Tiffany’s last seen her, the girl’s managed to dye her hair blonde, and Tiffany’s lips pull into a smile: she looks somewhat like Tinkerbell – she’s got that impish look and tiny frame down pat!

The girl looks up from a book she’s trying to read. It’s thick and dense and a glance at it yields a page full of mathematical diagrams, so hashtag trigger warnings much? Ew. Math.

“I didn’t get your name last time. I’m Tiffany. You are?” She holds out her hand, smiling widely.

“Taeyeon,” Taeyeon says, somewhat curtly, then she flushes a little, sliding a bookmark between the pages of her book before slamming it shut. Tiffany blinks at her, about to comment on her attitude before Taeyeon beats her to it.

“Sorry, I must’ve sounded a bit rude. You probably think I was raised in a barn by now. Barging into a stranger’s room like that without even the slightest introduction. And now that I’m doing it I’m just so bad at it. That I was even looking at this stupid architecture book while I was doing it. Wait… I’m rambling. Sorry about that.” Taeyeon puts her book down on her dryer. “I’m just a little tired.” A glance at her watch. “Why the hell are you doing your laundry at 3am?”

Tiffany just looks at her for a long moment, unsure of what to say to this strange girl. Then she starts to laugh.

“I don’t mind. Wait, I just mean that I’m pardoning your atrocious manners, but for the record, it’s not okay to barge into my room unannounced at any time of the day.” Even if the person in question isn’t too hard on the eyes. “And doing the laundry at 3am? I could ask you the same thing. I don’t even think I’ve seen you around all semester, and I always do my laundry late at night. No one around, you see.”

“Ahh,” Taeyeon shrugs and scratches her head. “Well. I ran out of the dollar coins that my dorm’s laundromat uses. So here I am. Sica said I could use the ones here.”

“Sica? As in Jessica, Jessica Jung?”

“Yeah. You know her?”

Tiffany rolls her eyes.

“We’re on her floor, Taeyeon. Of course I know her. Our RA would be pretty if I didn’t know her. Besides, I’m running for president in the Korean Student Association. Seems kind of remiss of me to not know all the members around.”

“Ah. Right.” Taeyeon scratches the back of her head. “KSA huh.”

“Yup. And I take it that you’re Korean too, Taeyeon?”

That’s, somewhat rhetorical, Tiffany figures, given the other girl’s name.

Taeyeon hums. “Yeah. No time to go to anything to do with KSA even though Sica’s been nagging me to go. Between architecture and uh, everything else, going to KSA seems a bit like a… I hope you don’t mind me saying this, a waste of time.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Tiffany replies, her smile unfaltering. “It’s not as if you’re obligated to go for KSA because of who your parents are, or where you were from. Anyway, tell me more about your book.”

Taeyeon offers a wry smile. “I saw the look on your face when you spied what I was reading. Don’t worry. I won’t bore you to death trying to explain all these diagrams. But I take that you’re not a math major?”

“God, no.”

*****

Taeyeon’s dryer beeps. She pulls her clothes out and stuffs them into her hamper.

“Sorry to cut this convo short but I’ve got to go. Early morning tutorials tomorrow.” Tiffany nods sympathetically at that. Those are always the worst. “It’s been nice meeting you.”

“You too. Rest well!”

Taeyeon chuckles as she walks away.

Tiffany sighs. She heads back into her room, collapses on her bed, and sets an alarm on her phone so she’d wake up to collect her laundry.

*****

“I’ve run out of coins again,” is all Taeyeon says when she arrives at the laundromat in the middle of the night for the second week in a row. And the week after that. And the week after that.

Tiffany doesn’t question this. It’s an interesting change of pace after all, having someone to chat with her as she waits for her laundry cycle to finish. Taeyeon’s an interesting kid.

There’s probably no one she can name in their age group who’d openly admit to watching cartoons and animations, but there’s Taeyeon, who doesn’t bother hiding the fact that she thinks Kaonashi somewhat of a spirit animal and she even burned her 3G to show Tiffany a trailer of Spirited Away in both the Japanese language and the English dubbed versions.

Then there’s the girl’s aversion of pink and penchant of blue, and after she’s managed to take a snap of Taeyeon wrapped in a pink scarf, she spends days afterwards laughing at the disgruntlement on the older girl’s face (She’s cute!).

Dear God, the girl fesses to never having worn an article of pink before all this, and Tiffany is probably too gleeful when Taeyeon actually runs from her when she waves said pink clothing at her.

Tiffany claim the dubious letsTiffany’s probably an absolute menace to her, but somehow, miraculously and wondrously, Taeyeon just honour of being the first to dress her in pink. She’s pretty in pink, Tiffany tries to argue. Taeyeon’s probably not convinced, but she just obliges anyway.

She leaves her textbooks behind in her room and doesn’t bother to bring them when she heads out to do her laundry. She smooths her hair and combs it and prays that her lips aren’t too dry before she leaves her room. She stops just shy of putting on some makeup to make herself look more presentable, groaning at her ever visible 3am eye bags.

Oh stop it, Tiffany! You’re acting like some silly schoolgirl!

*****

Taeyeon accepts Tiffany’s friend request on Facebook and they start following each other on Instagram. Taeyeon doesn’t really want to glare at pictures of Tiffany’s ex, where they’re just smiling and hugging each other in some photos, and she doesn’t know why Tiffany hasn’t purged the photos from her social media feed even though it’s something everyone does.

Does she still like him? Will they get back together? Why did they break up in the first place?

These are the kinds of questions that she asks herself in the middle of the night when she can’t sleep. Oh, okay, these are the very questions that keeps her up at night when she can’t sleep.

She admits that he’s good-looking and okay, that’s sort of undeniable given that 341 of his Facebook friends have liked his most recent profile picture, but okay she really, really doesn’t want to acknowledge that they kinda looked good together.

This guy’s blessed with a pretty set of puppy-like eyes, and Taeyeon might or might not have spied him on the campus once or twice this semester as yearning to attract his attention swarm the poor guy. Unfortunately, he has few real flaws that Taeyeon can pick on; he seems like the kind of guy who’s popular because they’re genuinely nice, warm, and friendly, not because of their money or some alpha male plus queen bee .

She contemplates requesting to follow The Ex but thinks better of it. It’s plain obsessive and downright ridiculous. People would think that she had a crush on him. Besides, it’s just plain weird to follow a complete stranger simply by the virtue of him being The Ex of her laundry buddy

Laundry buddy.

When Taeyeon takes the lonely walk to her own dorm from Tiffany’s, her 3am thoughts, fuelled by exhaustion and the magical kind of ruination that cold and still air incites, drift to slow aching little lines of words that dance around in her head, words that tell her that maybe, maybe, she did not want Tiffany to be just that, just a “laundry buddy”.

At night, she thinks these things: perhaps these fluttery little things she gets in her stomach when Tiffany grants a smile for her are here to stay. She thinks about how the girl intrudes upon her waking world and how her focus in every lecture ceases to be on Professor Keating or Professor Lee or Professor Valdez and has instead shifted to that one girl that owns The Best Eye Smile. And that as Taeyeon tumbles in and out of dreams, Tiffany makes little guest appearances in a decidedly more-than-platonic fashion.

But these thoughts are dispelled by 9am sanity and the morning bids her to remember that no way in hell does she consider Tiffany more than a friendly acquaintance, a budding friend.

Oh, who’s she kidding. She likes Tiffany’s company a little too much.

*****

Jessica just smacks Taeyeon’s hand whenever the girl uses her dollar coins to pay for everything. She doesn’t complain that Taeyeon’s been borrowing her laundry services for weeks on end now. It’s what friends do, after all.

Indeed, Jessica indulges in cheap amusement when she gets to observe Taeyeon and Tiffany attempt to forge some form of friendship I-want-to-date- relationship.

Both of them are too engrossed in whatever lame thing each other are saying to each other to notice that a third bleary eyed college student sniggered at their interactions.

*****

It’s really not her kind of scene.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Hyoyeon had promised as she dragged Yuri to it, which meant that Yuri dragged Yoona to it, and Yoona being Yoona did not want Taeyeon to stay in alone on f and so it is Yoona who pulled a party dress over the paper human – black, fitted, halter-neck, no frills and fancies, Yoona knew not to push it – before dragging her into a car that Hyoyeon drove to a friend of a friend’s house.

And thus here she is, alone. Some great floor mates she had.

Taeyeon’s the kind of girl who clutches her Red Solo Cup and phone to her like a lifeline at this sort of thing. A dark corner that’s the furthest away from the music system, preferably one void of another human being – that’s her kind of thing. It’s relatively quieter here, even though her ears are still throbbing from the few minutes that Yoona manages to wrangle her to the centre of the dance floor, and she only manages to excuse herself because everyone’s too engrossed in watching Hyoyeon compete against Yuri on said dance floor.

She wonders how and why no one has called the police yet.

Aren’t the neighbours of whoever-owns-this-house responsible for busting a hormone-crazed alcohol-filled youth nightmare?

What happened to cranky neighbours and Joneses perfectly willing to lower the images of their neighbours by another notch?

What’s happened to the stupid picket-fence suburban ideal?

Right now, she’s bored out of her mind.

There’s no one to text, ugh, why was everyone at some kind of party or another? Instagram Stories is kind enough to inform her that yes, everyone is having a good time, and even the most bookish and nerdiest of students are having some sort of fun.

The supposed meth head from the faculty of science has shared a video of champagne showers. The frat boys and sorority girls are up to their usual alpha guy/girl thing. Even that bespectacled buck-toothed caricature from the all-guys floor in her dorm has managed to organise a D&D role-play session with people and has invited an immensely pretty girl with cheekbones and eyebrows like Cara Delevingne, and here Taeyeon had thought that the poor creature had no friends.

In her self-pity, she finds herself on her third BuzzFeed article of the night. To be fair, she probably would read “9 Nail Art Trends That NEED To Be On Your To-Do List” on a usual basis, but doing it at a party just seems rather pathetic.

She lets out a little sigh as she refills her cup with more of the vodka-spiked-fruit-punch – which tastes foul, by the way – and her expression just sours further. BuzzFeed pushes a quiz onto her, and why does she need help from a trashy website to decide which shoes she needs for a “killer 2017”? Okay, the shoes that BuzzFeed is trying to sell are absolutely hideous. If she’s honest with herself, which for the record, she obviously isn’t, it’s honestly a little depressing that she’s willing to read an article about what the twenty-five gifts that a cereal lover would appreciate, because who in the flying needs a Fruit Loops air freshener?

She doesn’t exactly expect it when a pair of warm hands close around the bony ridges of her wrist and tugs her closer, and her terrible drink threatens to slosh its way out of its cup.

“Tiffany?” She barely has time to say her name before Tiffany makes a shushing noise.

“Please. Kiss me.”

Taeyeon’s simply floored. “What?”

“Shut up.” Tiffany pulls the straps of Taeyeon’s dress and presses her lips on Taeyeon’s.

(Warm. Soft.)

warm right now, and even her ability to lie to herself does not inspire an alcohol-induced-flush excuse (wherein really Taeyeon’s cheeks are probably post-rationalisation is failing her).

What the hell is going on?

Because if her brain is processing it right which, oh my god what is happening? – she is kissing Tiffany Hwang. A gorgeous, gorgeous girl.

What the hell?

She wants to reel back as Tiffany's lips find more purchase on hers, kissing her more firmly, with a greater intensity, but she tries her very, very best to reorient herself and just stay upright and god what was happening? Is this the world trying to surprise her with a Tiffany Hwang because she surprised the other girl just a couple of weeks ago, even though granted, that surprise was probably far, far more minor than this?

The only thing that's not surprising right now is the fact that Tiffany's dressed head to toe in a lovely shade of pink, and Taeyeon can even bet that whatever's underneath is pink too, given the colour scheme of the other girl’s laundry.

She lets herself get distracted by the thought of laundry again, where Tiffany's clothes are basically Nippon Paint’s pink swatch dream, but the very thought of clothes and laundry and yes, underwear, has her chest clench and unclench in a curious way that makes her press further into the kiss too.

Oh god. She’s a great kisser. There’s not much room here to deny this.

Tiffany is kissing her in a way that sets each and every one of Taeyeon’s nerve on fire, and she’s somehow simultaneously hyperaware and unaware of absolutely everything in those beatific seconds.

Her blood is racing and she’s not sure whether she blames the throbbing bass of the music or the pulsing beat of her heart or just the all-encapsulating heat of one Tiffany Hwang.

When Taeyeon dares to open her eyes just a tiny little bit to make sure that no, she isn’t dreaming, Taeyeon counts her blessings that she gets to witness Tiffany’s mole from this close, gets to let her right hand slowly snake around a well-formed waist, that her left hand gets to reach up and brush against Tiffany’s hair and to graze against the smooth planes of her neck. Tiffany’s own hand has run its way up against Taeyeon’s back, and Taeyeon really hopes that her own erratic heartbeat does not betray exactly how much she’s into this.

Tiffany’s the one who first bites her and the sudden shock of it has Taeyeon practically jumping away from Tiffany, and she really, really hopes that she isn’t breathing too hard.

What is this for?

“Sorry,” Tiffany finally whispers as she rubs her smudged lipstick off her lips. “It’s just…” It’s obvious that Tiffany doesn’t want to explain this. “My ex. He’s here. Okay, more like, he was here, in this room, and you were here, and just…”

Taeyeon doesn’t really know what to say.

So all that comes out is a very coherent, “What the actual .”

Tiffany raises her hands in surrender. “I know. I know. It’s…”

“A ty thing to do?”

“Oh, yeah. It is. But mistletoe and everything but people kiss, you know, Tae—”

“But to use me just to piss off an ex? And here I thought the night couldn’t get any worse.”

Tiffany frowns, and it mars her pretty face.

Taeyeon’s annoyed with herself, annoyed that she’s so upset about such a small thing. It’s so uncool, isn’t it? It’s no big deal here, kissing an acquaintance to accomplish something. As Tiffany said, mistletoes. No big difference from kissing at a mistletoe. Just a kiss. Yes, a good kiss, but good kisses don’t warrant this burning anger. Self-righteous indignation isn’t becoming, especially given that Taeyeon kissed Tiffany back. She can’t sue the girl for ual harassment or some . There’s technically nothing wrong. So why does is she so disquieted?  

“Look, I don’t get your problem—”

“ you,” Taeyeon snaps. Oh, she’s definitely very eloquent. Maybe she’s drunk too much. “I don’t exist for you popular kids to play your little games. Whatever the this is. I really, really don’t like to be used, okay?”

Taeyeon doesn’t know why is constricting, that she dreadfully feels like finding a quiet corner and bursting into tears. 

“Okay, I admit that I probably shouldn’t have kissed you without warning—”

“Of all people, why did you kiss—“

“—But it’s not a huge deal—“

“—Me?” Lump in . Huge, huge lump.

“—And we seem to be becoming pretty okay friends and I thought you were chill and—”

“Oh my god you don’t get the point—” Taeyeon really, really finds it harder to breathe.

“—So like you were just there, and you aren’t exactly hideous you know—”

Taeyeon throws her hand up in the air. “Please. Do shut up.”

With that, she storms out of the room, taking care to slam the door behind her.

Not that Tiffany could hear, probably. The terribly loud terrible music has probably drowned out everything.

She’s just glad Tiffany couldn’t catch her strangled sob.

*****

If only a heart frosts over. Maybe then everything will hurt a little bit less.

Taeyeon doesn’t really know where she’s run off to. All she cares about right now is that she’s managed to put some distance between the two of them, as far as she possibly can without collapsing onto the ground or puking her guts out.

Alcohol’s really never a good idea with Kim Taeyeon.

She slumps onto the pavement and just lies there, staring up at the stars. Or at least, where the stars should be if the light pollution of the town/city did not ruin everything. Or maybe if the sky isn’t covered by a thick blanket of clouds that’s threatening to let loose a torrent of snow.

It’s really cold outside.

She can’t stop thinking about what’s just happened.

Taeyeon, what the hell? ‘Popular kids’? Tiffany’s probably going to think you’re fourteen or some ! With the way you acted and said some things it’s kind of like high school all over again! Gosh darn, you’re a total embarrassment, Kim Taeyeon. 

And okay, honestly, was letting Tiffany Hwang kiss you just to avoid an ex or piss him off or whatever so bad? People don’t think too much of these things.

But oh, you do, Taeyeon.

Why?

Her head hurts.

She wishes for more alcohol. There’s too much distance between her and the party for her to throw her thoughts to the bottom of another glass.

Her head really hurts.

She doesn’t want to think about all this.

Her fingers and toes are starting to numb.

Everything hurts.

*****

Jessica notices that Taeyeon’s returned to saving up her dollar coins. In fact, Taeyeon takes extra care to change her smaller notes into dollar coins, and Jessica’s brows just rise higher and higher.

Jessica asks Taeyeon about it once, because well, good friends are always concerned if their friends are upset about something, but Taeyeon doesn’t say anything, so she doesn’t pry any further.

If Taeyeon needs her, she’d say something.

For now, Jessica just watches her two friends.

*****

There’s a strange ache in her thoracic cavity that just won’t go away.

Tiffany kinda hates that she misses Taeyeon’s company at the laundromat.

It’s hugely disappointing when Taeyeon stops showing up at the laundromat at 3am, and she’s reduced to taking naps or reading her textbooks again during her laundry runs; it’s a reduction to the dreary mundanity of her life’s clockwork once more. Taeyeon was pretty much the best thing at 3am. There’s only so much of her textbook she’d like to glance at or so much of her alarm could withstand before throwing her poor phone across the room.

Damn you, Kim Taeyeon, making me grow so reliant on your company!

Scratch all of that. She just misses Taeyeon’s company, period.

Could she really blame Taeyeon for ghosting her though?

When she spoke to Sooyoung about this matter last week, the taller girl simply shrugged and pointed out that yeah, Taeyeon was probably overreacting just a little bit, but she had also scolded Tiffany for well, doing what she did.

Sooyoung’s pretty good at making Tiffany feel properly chastised, and so Tiffany spends tonight brooding. Brooding. Tiffany never broods. 

Sooyoung’s also laid out various opinions – Sooyoung called them facts, but Tiffany doesn’t accept her best friend’s bull – that’re currently running through Tiffany’s mind.

, and friends don’t kiss each other and call it a favour like that, if you aren’t close. a friendSo firstly, Taeyeon could be

“If you me, I’d probably be okay, but hey, I can’t judge your Taeyeon because I don’t know her at all, and some people really don’t appreciate locking lips with straight friends. What if she’s never kissed anyone?” kissed

There’s so many things wrong with Sooyoung’s first scenario.

, and if Tiffany finds some alcohol she may even admit that she’s a little hersFirstly, Taeyeon’s definitely not pleased at the idea of well, possessing ownership over Taeyeon. She’s sober now, so… Anyway, Taeyeon’s definitely kissed someone before. Taeyeon’s an amazing kisser. Not that Tiffany’s gay or anything, but speaking from a purely objective standpoint, that girl has definitely done more than a Spin the Bottle kiss.

“So okay, maybe she’ll talk to you sooner or later. People need time to process stuff, and you don’t just dump a kiss on somebody.”

Statement number 2 is altogether too optimistic.

If only Tiffany’s half as lucky. If she doesn’t know better, she’d say that Taeyeon’s actively avoiding her. As it is, the campus is huge, and she’s not familiar enough with the other girl’s non-3am-habits to comment on this.

“Or… Fany-ah, have you considered that maybe she likes you? And maybe she’s a little in denial, or maybe she’s not, but whatever you said, telling her that the kiss was just well… Don’t get me wrong, Tiff, you’re normally a great, really warm, and the bestest best friend that anyone can ever ask for, but from what you’ve told me so far, you sounded horrendously utilitarian. Hello, hello, Houston, do you copy? Yah, Tiffany, back to earth here?”  

Tiffany’s brain had short-circuited a little on that one.

That’s… just too ridiculous a notion to consider, right?

She thinks of a pretty set of hands, with well-manicured fingernails, fingers that proudly displayed her nail art of the week. She thinks of the girl’s dainty features, that fairy-like human with thin, delicate bones, a girl blessed with such a dainty waist that Tiffany’s almost jealous that Taeyeon looks so good in practically everything she wears. She thinks of her milky skin, so white that their seeming pearly translucence glow transfixes her whenever she catches sight of Taeyeon.

She thinks of a pretty set of lips that’s so often found pouting, one that’s pink and soft and wow, I got to touch them.

Her heart thumps loudly against her chest.

Hmm, or maybe it’s not that far-fetched a notion.

This still does not mean that she’s gay, right?

*****

“Miyoung,” Taeyeon pulls the pink thumb drive out and reads the name written in large print on it. “Who’s Miyoung?” She stops short of saying ‘who the hell’, knowing that Juhyun, her freshman mentee, doesn’t really condone a sailor’s vocabulary.

“Ah, Miyoung. You know, the new president of KSA?”

“Miyoung?” Taeyeon echoes. She shivers a little. The MacBook lab is freezing. Her fingers are going to be ice by the time she’s done editing this video for her presentation.

“Yeah! Taeyeon-unnie, don’t you know who Tiffany-unnie is?” Juhyun looks puzzled for a moment before understanding dawns on her. “Right, you don’t attend the KSA meetings. Do you want me to pass it to her?” 

“Ah…” Taeyeon hesitates for a second. And oh. So that’s her Korean name. It’s not that bad. Her heart skips a little bit as she thinks of Tiffany’s megawatt smile, one where her bright eyes vanish when her pearly whites appear. “It’s okay. I know her. She lives on the same floor as Sica.”

“Right.” Juhyun eyes her for a moment, and Taeyeon knows that her mentee didn’t miss her hesitation from earlier, that she can tell that she’s holding something back.

In times like this, she laments that Juhyun is too smart for her own good. She remembers that she didn’t expect that Juhyun to turn out so perceptive when they first met – Juhyun was, okay, she still is, the epitome of strait-laced. A complete bookworm who doesn’t look too far away from a book. She was really, really scared that she wouldn’t like Juhyun, and that Juhyun wouldn’t like her. Worse still, she worried that Juhyun would think Taeyeon unworthy to be her mentor, given that the younger girl’s so terrifyingly smart. Who in the world assigned Juhyun as her mentee? Juhyun doesn’t even want to do architecture!     

Taeyeon knows that nothing sates Juhyun’s curiosity and for a moment Taeyeon briefly contemplates concocting a hare-brained scheme to invite the former United Nations Secretary-General to their school so as to get Juhyun’s off her back. That would’ve taken a stupidly stupendous amount of effort.

But it turns out that that’s unnecessary so she’s really, really grateful that Juhyun is a fantastic person and Taeyeon hugs the girl’s shoulders when she promises to drop the topic.

*****

– and just thinking that in her head has Rihanna’s song stuck in her head, but that’s kind of beside the point. She’s just… invading Tiffany’s privacy by looking into some thumb drive’s contents. work work work work work work and more workTaeyeon is curious, sure, but she, honest to God, did not mean to open Tiffany’s thumb drive. She doesn’t know if she somehow feels worse because the entire stick is filled with Drat this insatiable curiosity about one Tiffany Hwang.

You’re a terrible person for not returning it immediately, Kim Taeyeon. She needs this thumb drive! She has a group work project thing to complete! There’s a video that she has to submit!

But she dithers.

If her friends even catch the faintest wind about how silly she’s being, Hyoyeon would whack her, Yuri’s eyes will widen into round balls, and Yoona’s mouth will hang open. Jessica would glare and shake her head while Juhyun will just let out a huge sigh and level judgment at her silently. Juhyun is really, really good at the Silent Judgement^TMthing.

There are moments where she considers passing it to Tiffany in person.

Ha.

“Juhyun, when are the KSA meetings?”

“Thursday nights. Why? You don’t ever go for KSA meetings, unnie.” 

Thursday night: Taeyeon, coward that she is, slips the thumb drive under Tiffany’s door with a short note explaining where she found it, sorry for not returning it immediately, and hey, good luck with midterms!

Jesus Christ, Taeyeon. Work up some nerve someday, will you?

Wait, hey, she did! She actually signed her name off on the little note!

She texts Yoona about this. Yoona responds: Idiot.

She knows that the very thought of Tiffany with another guy burns .

Whatever else she feels about the girl makes her tremble a little bit and sometimes she just can’t sleep and Yoona has noticed that Taeyeon has begun to eat like a bird but Yoona being Yoona doesn’t outwardly pursue this matter and just steals Taeyeon’s food from her plate – “no food should go wasted!”.

Frankly, it’s a little bit humiliating that she’s not managed to expel Tiffany from making incursions into her thoughts 24/7.

Here’s an honest statement: she’s too avoidant to ever do anything about whatever she feels and she hates herself for this.

*****

Time passes.

Taeyeon is pathetic. (Still pathetic.)

She entertains the thought of unfollowing Tiffany but not seeing her face ever again even if yes, it’s on social media, is terribly painful and altogether unbearable and megawatt eye smiles are totally her thing nowadays. It’s not as if she’s not already torturing herself by being immensely creepy and stalker-ish by ploughing through Tiffany’s old pictures, and just… well. It’s embarrassing.

She concludes that she’s 100% masochistic because it makes Taeyeon’s heart ache and it really hurts to be apart from her.

She attempts to throw herself into studying for her midterms as best as she can. One may determine that she’s not entirely failing at the task, but there’s no way Taeyeon’s going to come out of midterms with flying colours.

Weeks pass. Midterms are over.

Taeyeon does okay for her midterms.

Taeyeon does not feel okay.

They party.

Taeyeon drinks four shots of tequila.

Taeyeon gets drunk.

*****

Juhyun flounders with Yoona as they both wonder what they should do about this whole mess as Yoona holds Taeyeon’s hair back when she pukes from another case of Too Much Alcohol.

 “Juhyun-ah…” Yoona starts worriedly, “what’s happened to Taeyeon-unnie?”

Juhyun raises one of her perfectly arched eyebrows.

It’s a dingy bathroom and both of them really would rather be anywhere else because a bathroom that smells like every single patron who’s walked in has puked in it is not their ideal choice of hangout at all. The walls are grimy and the sink is questionable and while neither girl have been to too many parties or clubs or whatever that necessitates copious amounts of that drink with metric tonnes of that pesky hydroxyl group, they know that people throw up in sinks.

Have they mentioned that they would rather be elsewhere?

“Later.” Juhyun exhales through her nose, making them flare up slightly and Yoona giggles.

Taeyeon pulls herself up from the toilet bowl with a groan.

“I’m still here, you know.”

“I know, unnie.” Juhyun pats Taeyeon’s back lightly. “Wash up. We’re going back.”

“Already?”

“Don’t whine,” Yoona grumbles.

“You stink right now,” Juhyun points out.

Taeyeon gives them a long stare.                                   

“Yah.”

“You don’t look as pretty as you usually do in this lighting, unnie,” Yoona points out with an angelic smile. “Too bad. Can’t charm your way anywhere now.”

Taeyeon sighs.

Juhyun tugs on Taeyeon’s arm. “Let’s just go back.”

Taeyeon doesn’t protest anymore. The two girls drag the older girl back to the dorms. She’s just about as pliable as a piece of paper. A paper human indeed.  

*****

The alarm bells start blaring in her head the second Jessica shows up at her door at 8am in the morning and she is familiar enough with her floor mate’s waking and sleeping habits and so she knows that whatever the hell manages to get Jessica Jung Sooyeon out of bed before breakfast is over has got to be something big.

“Has hell frozen over, have pigs learned to fly?” 

Jessica refuses to dignify that question with a proper answer.

“Hi Tiff!” Jessica is all wide grins and bright eyes.

Frankly, it’s terrifying.

She’s never seen Jessica this awake (or alive, for that matter).

Tiffany blinks at the girl.

“Um, good morning?”

“Good morning! Come on, let’s get breakfast.”

Jessica grabs Tiffany’s arm.

By now, Tiffany’s perfectly stunned so she gives in to Jessica without so much as a fight.

Her head’s spinning a little from the way Jessica jerks her body forward in a determined march towards their dorm’s pantry so maybe breakfast is a good idea, given that she hasn’t been eating much lately and hmm, did she forget to eat dinner last night?

When they get to the pantry, they chatter.

They talk about really mundane stuff like oh, how has your semester been? How were your midterms? Hey, the colour on the wall is actually pretty nice! And thank god the weather has been getting warmer recently because gah, running from the toilet to her bedroom when she left her trusty warm sweatpants on her table was an experience Jessica would not like to repeat!

Jessica pops four slices of bread into the toaster.

Oh, have you heard that Sunny’s fabled uncle is coming down to campus? Heard he’s scouting for new talent for his company.

Are you going home this week? Nah, Tiffany and Jessica say, they aren’t; a week’s break is hardly enough time to fly back to their homes and will only intensify the homesickness that they feel, not that the homesick thing is that bad nowadays.

It’s really cold on campus, isn’t it? Far, far colder than it is back home. But at least we had snow this year! Who did you share your first snow with? Jessica shared it with Yuri, which Tiffany teases her about because Yuri’s harboured a massive crush for their friend for the longest time. Jessica just shrugs and makes an excellent poker face, so Tiffany’s still not sure what Jessica feels about the whole Yulsic thing. Tiffany doesn’t mention that she spent in alone (moping).

Or have you heard? Sooyoung’s got a boyfriend! It’s a guy who’s like, way older than they are – he majored in theatre studies – so like, how did they meet? Friend of a friend. Ah.

Tiffany spreads strawberry jam on her toast.

“Are we really having breakfast together, Jessi?”

“Yes, breakfast.”

“But you never eat breakfast.”

“Shut up. You didn’t eat dinner. So…”

Tiffany blinks. Jessica’s noticed?

Jessica is probably telepathic. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. It’s kind of obvious you’ve not been functioning in whatever optimal state that the profs like to term it. Not eating, not sleeping properly… hell, Tiff, your eye bags are worse than the time you broke up with him.”

She rubs her eye bags, suddenly self-conscious. She doesn’t dare to look up at Jessica, and instead, the pink gooey jam is now ten times more interesting than it usually is.

The door is then flung open with a loud bang and Tiffany is assaulted with a sense of déjà vu, and she doesn’t know if she’s relieved or disappointed to see that it’s not Taeyeon who has arrived, and instead, she’s greeted by two immensely loud voices.

“Hi!” Sooyoung and Yuri gush. 

“You two are so loud,” Jessica complains as a greeting. “Tiffany here isn’t even as loud as the both of you this morning.” She doesn’t have to add that Tiffany’s usually the biggest contributor to their collective deafness in their eventual old age.

Sooyoung and Yuri simply smirk in response as they pull up a chair, taking a place at the table.

“Sorry we’re late. Sooyoung here overslept.” At this, Yuri glances pointedly at Sooyoung.

“What? You overslept?” Jessica looks ready to commit murder.

“Sorry,” Sooyoung apologises with a smile. Her smile only grows wider as she turns to look at Jessica. “You’re even up earlier than we are!”

“Biggest surprise ever,” Yuri laughs. “Even I can’t wake you up.”

Tiffany looks at the both of them, wondering if she’s missed something in the weeks that she spent locking herself up in her room on the pretext of studying for her midterms.

“I should go…” Tiffany moves to get up, leaving her toast half eaten on the plate.

She gasps as Yuri drags her back onto her chair.

“No, you don’t get to go anywhere.”

Tiffany bites her lip, frowning. “Okay guys, what’s up?”

“Nothing,” Jessica’s smile is serene. “We’ve just not seen you for a long, long time.”

“And we would really like to spend some time with you,” Sooyoung finishes.

“Can it wait?” Tiffany lets out a sigh. “It’s kind of early for me to deal with all three of you at the same time. Sunny isn’t even here to help me manage you kids.”

“Kid, me?” Yuri clutches her hands to her heart. “You wound me.”

“Oh, I’m dying! This cruel, cruel stab to my poor feelings!”

“You’re not in a 50s melodrama, Sooyoung-ie. Stop putting your hand to your forehead like that.”

Tiffany eyes them again, this time more sharply. “There is something up, isn’t there?”

“Again with her accusations. Oh, why are we even friends, Tiffany?” Yuri’s smile doesn’t leave her face, however. In fact, it only grows wider.

Tiffany crosses her arms.

“Come on guys, I know you have something to say to me. Jessica being awake this early was enough of a surprise, but because you,” she points at Sooyoung, “stay halfway across campus…”

Sooyoung’s eyes grow sad; she’s going to make a fantastic actress.

“Tiff, we really just wanted to spend our morning with you.”

“And maybe ask you why you’ve been moping around for months, actually,” Jessica interrupts. “Well? You want to know why we’re here. Spit it out, we’re waiting.”

“That’s not how I’d have put it,” Sooyoung mumbles.

Yuri just shrugs. “Cutting to the chase. Typical, Sica.”

Tiffany sighs again.

She doesn’t know where to begin.

Where does she start? What does she say?

It’s all such a mess in her head. A mess she hasn’t, or cannot, or will not, begin to unscramble.

Sensing her ambivalence, Sooyoung pipes, “The three of us think it might have something to do with um, a certain person.” 

“It’s not your ex,” Jessica states, a matter-of-factly. “So don’t try to say that you’re hung up on him.”

“Speaking of which, do you miss him?” Yuri cuts in.

. No, not anymore.” It startles her too, to Him“Him? Who? Oh. realise that he’s not really crossed her mind for quite some time now. Her thoughts have long been occupied by another person.

“That’s good then, because Taeyeon’s my friend too and I don’t want her hurt.”

“Wha…what?”

Jessica her head slightly to the side, and the expression on her face is so serious that Tiffany shudders a little bit. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me about what happened between you two?”

An exhale. It’s starting to seem like an endless loop of ‘where do I begin?’

“So… I assume you already know about well…”

“The time you kissed her on Christmas Eve? Yeah.” Jessica’s eyebrow is raised. Pointedly. 

“Wait what?” Yuri exclaims. She looks at the three of them and groan. “And none of you told me?”

“While it was on a need to know basis, I had assumed that Sooyoung would have briefed you…”

“Wait, ‘briefed’?” she makes an air quote. “Guys, guys, really?”

“We’ve established that this is an intervention already, Tiffany. Sit down.”

“But Jessi…” Tiffany sighs. “Okay, okay, let’s just start with what I did that night. Throwback to Christmas Eve. I saw him, and I kissed Taeyeon to I don’t know, show him I was taken and was over him? Reckless and stupid, I know, I know.”

“And then?”

“I explained myself. Taeyeon has refused to talk to me since.”

“Okay, yeah, that we can tell,” Jessica sounds almost bored by now. “But what do you feel about the whole thing?”

She bites her lips more and fiddles with her hands.

“Remember the last time we spoke about this, Sooyoung-ie?”

“Yeah. I gave you three scenarios, or something.”

“The third one. Do you think it’s plausible?”

Sooyoung’s smile is simultaneously a commiseration and a warning. “Yeah, definitely. But back to the matter at hand: what do you feel?”

“What do I feel?” Her fingertips press into the flesh of her palms. “Firstly, I’ve spent weeks trying not to think about this, so don’t think for a second that I’ve tried keeping secrets from you guys.”

“Yeah, we know,” Yuri sighs. “But you’re usually more of a ‘heart on my sleeve’ person, so we’ve been kind of worried.”

“I’m touched.” She really is. She’s not just saying this for the sake of saying it. “So… I’ve been thinking about the night whenever I… I just do, and just… it’s Taeyeon. I’ve somehow come to care for her and not having her in my life is simply too weird! Like we had been talking for weeks but it seemed like we’ve been friends forever! It’s just… we get along so, so well. Then I pull a stupid stunt like that. I ed up. Our friendship.”

Jessica scoffs. “You won’t be obsessing over this if it was just that. Friendship.”

Tiffany mutters a “maybe”.

“I don’t have problems with gays,” Tiffany then blurts. “It’s just…”

“We know. We’ve been there, done that, Tiffany,” Yuri offers, tactfully.

“It’s just never taken anyone this long to get around the ‘, I’m gay’ thing,” Jessica finishes. “Seriously. Get over yourself, Tiffany.”

“No but… you don’t get it!” Tiffany’s eyes are wide and pleading. “I can’t like her that way, I just can’t!”

“What even…” Sooyoung sighs. “Look, Tiffany, we both go to the same church, and I have no issues with people liking girls. Much less you, one of my best friends.”

“But I’ve dated guys…”

Yuri snorts. “Is that your problem now? Biuality and panuality and rainbow unicorns are a thing, Tiffany.”

“No, but…”                

“We’re friends here, right?” Sooyoung plays the same card again. “I love you Tiffany, and you being straight or biual or anything isn’t going to change this. Okay? If you’re worried about your dad finding out, which is perhaps an eventuality if you do choose to go out with girls, then I’ll be there to help you through those times. Darn it, I’ll even talk to him for you. But like, hey that’s so far off that we won’t even begin to address that yet, okay?”

“No. Wait no, or yes, whatever, I am concerned about that but… I’ve dated guys,” she repeats this, almost pleadingly.

“Sometimes, you’re denser than iridium and platinum combined, Tiffany. Strangling you is becoming more appealing by the sec,” Jessica intones. “Taeyeon’s a good person. She’s…”

“Okay, fine, I do like her, okay? Is that what you want to hear?” Tiffany finally says, quietly.

“That’s the spirit!” Yuri claps her hands. “Don’t look so sad, Fany-ah.”

“’You don’t understand’ is also very trite, Tiff. It’s so Holden Caulfield, and you’re better than a fictional boy.”

She looks at Jessica and sighs again. “When I said ‘I ed up’, I meant it. I really ed up. She avoids me like the plague now.”

“And it’s been months and now I have no chance!” Sooyoung laughs. “Is that it?”

“It’s been months and she’s the first person I think of in the morning and the last person I think of when I go to bed. I don’t know how Petrarchan I sound in my head when I think about her, but I confess that she’s been placed on so high a pedestal that I don’t know how to reach it. How could I? She’s… really pretty. And really nice too. Her smiles are just… but I’ve not been talking to her much nowadays so…” She just lets the sentence trail off as her brows knit together in a furrow and the corners of lower.

None of them say anything for a bit.

Tiffany then mumbles, “But she’s really pretty.”

Yuri laughs. “Speak up, Fany-ah.”

She lets out a sound that is part groan, part sigh. “She’s just about too gorgeous for me.” 

“You’re kind of beginning to sound like a broken record babe,” Jessica intones. Then she perks up, “So there really shouldn’t be any problem now, should there? You like her, and well…”

“Well what?” Tiffany doesn’t wholly dare to hope that Jessica’s hinting at that, because that’s a huge can of worms in itself.

“Let’s just say that she’s partial to you.” Jessica lets out a cackle before her lips settle in her usual cat-like smirk.

*****

Jessica claps her hands. Gleefully.                                                                                

“Finally.”

The girl heads back to her bedroom, slipping out of her slippers and just flopping down onto her bed ofr a nap. She didn’t exactly mean to go this far when Yoona came to her about this matter three days ago, but a little overkill won’t hurt anyone. Tiffany needed that push, didn’t she? Relationship advice and – what are friends for?

She’ll probably text Taeyeon after she naps.

*****

Taeyeon knows with 100000% certainty that this is Jessica’s fault.

And maybe Yoona’s.

And could it even be Juhyun’s doing…?

Yoona’s such a terrible influence on Juhyun.

She blames her friends for her current predicament.

She, Kim Taeyeon, has somehow drawn a lot to deliver a 6 pack of Dr Pepper to none other than one Tiffany Hwang Miyoung. Heavens above, is she that unlucky?

When Jessica popped the last can of Dr Pepper on the table open, she apologised, “Sorry, I forgot to tell you that these aren’t actually mine. Someone’s got to buy some to return these.”

Naturally, no one volunteered for the task. Jessica suggested that they draw lots. So they did. Jessica was in charge of writing everyone’s name on the little slips of paper. Jessica was the one who shook the papers in her hands and drew one (at random?).

So again, for what seems like the thousandth time this year, Taeyeon dithers.

She kicks her legs and fiddles with her fingers and bites her lips and scratches the back of her ears and chews on her lips even more as she stands on a pink doormat.

Gah. Why does she even bother keeping friends?

She hears Jessica’s voice in her head. (You’ll thank me later!)

She doesn’t have time to come up with anything or well, move to flee when the door’s flung open to reveal Tiffany Hwang.

For a moment, staring is all Taeyeon can do.

How can anyone look so good holding a pink tumbler?

Tiffany is beautiful. This is something Taeyeon cannot – will not – deny. There’s something about the way in Tiffany’s long limbs that spoke of grace. Taeyeon wants to reach out to touch her soft brown hair, hair that tumbled down a lovely set of shoulders in the loveliest manner, or to let her fingers sweep the tendrils of Tiffany’s bangs away from her forehead. Even the way her eye circles have darkened doesn’t diminish her utterly breath-stealing qualities, and there’s a stupid lump in that has started to form and no way in hell is she going to be able to get rid of it.

There she is before her, a person that’s stops just short of making Taeyeon thank God for His perfect creation. (Tiffany comes close to inspiring religiousness.)

Then it pretty much takes all her willpower to not stare.

At least, Tiffany seems just as gobsmacked as she does. Gobsmacked, really? Her face is just about paler than the damned washing machines and she smacks herself inside for making such an absurd comparison but that was the first thing that she could think of. Well, Taeyeon’s definitely not on her way to become an English major at the very least!

Tiffany’s fluster does make Taeyeon feel a little better though. In the sense of “oh, we both stepped on a bed of roses and everything beneath my feet are those damned thorns and it ing hurts and ha, you empathise, yes?”

It also makes her feel worse in the sense of “, I don’t know about you, but I wish we still talked because I kind of miss your company and you invaded my life and I want it back but I can’t, and I can’t even say that because officially, you’re not meant to mean anything to me.”

She applauds herself for speaking first. “Uh, I suppose some congratulations are in order. Juhyun told me you’re now KSA’s president. Congrats.”

Tiffany’s head snaps up from the ground. Taeyeon winches – that whiplash!

“Oh. Um, thanks.”

“I also have like… stuff. From my friends.” Taeyeon rubs the back of her head. “Jessica said she borrowed your Dr Pepper?”

“Argh that girl…” Tiffany mutters. Then she flashes a smile and says “thank you!” and Taeyeon has to refrain from squeaking at the sight.

She accepts the plastic bag of Dr Pepper cans and Taeyeon makes to leave, make her getaway, but Tiffany grabs her arm and it’s all she can do to not flinch at the jolt that runs through her from their point of contact and Tiffany’s eyes betray some measure of surprise, so maybe she felt it too? (Wishful thinking!)

“Taeyeon, we need to talk.”

She’s sure that her eyes are about as wide as those ing deer in headlights. There’s a lorry doing a 140mph hurtling towards her and all she can do is gape.

Eloquence truly becomes her.

Taeyeon enters Tiffany’s room for the second time in her life.

The door shuts behind them.

Okay, why did she let herself follow her in?

Everything is pink. How anyone can decorate a dorm room so ruthlessly with pink is anyone’s guess. There are pink photo frames, pink washi tape holding polaroids to the wall, pink bedsheets and pillows and bolsters, a pink rug, and even the ing teddy bear happens to be pink. She’s 100% sure that if she opened the closet it’ll be flooded with pink, pink, and more pink. And hey, Taeyeon, you seem really certain of yourself today, so why exactly does everything feel so uncertain?

It’s overwhelming and everything in here screams Tiffany and it’s terrifying to think that she’s currently trapped in foreign territory. Tiffany’s territory.

She’s at her mercy.

“So, I’ve not been seeing you around lately.” Her voice is as cool as the winter chill, but to her it’s as mellifluous as the summer breeze.

Truly, Tiffany is merciless. Or filled with great audacity, for that matter.

“By ‘lately’, you mean… nearly a few months…? Because yeah, I’ve acquired a new stash of dollar coins. H…Hardly would want to waste my effort climbing to your dorm.”

She congratulates herself on being able to finish her sentence without stuttering. Excessively.

Her heart jumps a little when Tiffany surprises her with her smile.

“Taeyeon. I’m sorry for what happened last December. But I want to move past that.” Her smile just grows wider, and is that a hint of shyness? “Could you grant me that, at least?”

Taeyeon doesn’t hold onto that incident anymore – she’s not even sure if she even considered it a grudge in the first place – because she’s simply not that petty, and so she nods, offering a watery smile of her own.

But what does Tiffany mean when she said “at least”? What would that entail? What does Tiffany want from her?

So she blurts out a question of her own.

“What do you want from me, Tiffany?”                            

She hopes that it doesn’t come out sounding too confused. Or too harsh. Or too desperate.

“Me?” Tiffany laughs. It sounds forced and her voice comes out a little higher than it usually is. Or maybe it’s something like wishful thinking.

Then Tiffany grins and offers simply that perhaps, she just invited her in to make some small talk! Ha. Well, they could talk about the weather and how the little raindrops outside the window has formed imperfect striations that run down the glass panels but Taeyeon isn’t buying that that’s what Tiffany wanted to talk to her about.

Taeyeon tells her to stop bullting.

Tiffany’s lip biting mirrors her own.

“I…” Tiffany seems at a sudden loss for words. “Okay, look, I ed up, and I really hope you get that because I am so, so, sorry about that and—“

Taeyeon doesn’t really know what she’s doing but she hopes she doesn’t read the entire thing wrongly and there’s always that one way to shut someone up. 

Okay, there’s just this moment of breath-hitching trepidation as their lips make contact for the first time in months and it’s just as lovely, soft, and warm – and oh my god what if she pushes me away – but Tiffany leans in and ing reciprocates and so Taeyeon is kissing Tiffany Hwang (again!) and oh my god, nothing really can compare to kissing Tiffany Hwang (again!!).

She almost doesn’t know what to do and possibly wants to reassess her entire life and possibly lapse into existentialism and nihilism and stoicism and whatever all the -isms in one second but no, she pushes past that shock and just lets herself sink into the moment, the feeling of having Tiffany Hwang’s beautifully soft lips and she pretty much rejoices at being able to let her fingers wrap around the back of Tiffany’s head and lets her fingers curl amongst the strands of her hair.

All hesitation gone, she basks in a flood of intensity that washes through her, a long-wrought want that is not at all soothed at all by the present situation, a long-aching sea of eagerness that makes her press forward, forces unwonted courage into her, and when she slips her tongue between Tiffany’s teeth and flicks her tongue against the other girl’s own, everything is simultaneously too little and too much all at the same time. She revels in the way Tiffany’s breath ghosts against her lips as they come up for air. She revels in how her dark eyes, framed by a set of long eyelashes, do not leave hers, and it inspires a toe curling jolt to the very base of her spine and a certain warmth in the lower half of her body.“You’ve got a tattoo here?” Tiffany marvels as her fingers trail down Taeyeon’s neck.Taeyeon lets out a strangled laugh. “Pieces. Also,

“You’ve got a tattoo here?” Tiffany marvels as her fingers trail down Taeyeon’s neck.

Taeyeon lets out a strangled laugh. “Pieces. Also, please, don’t stop.”

Tiffany’s lips slowly curl into a smirk as she pulls back just a little ways from Taeyeon, and Tiffany’s smirk just widens as Taeyeon makes an annoyed, keening sound. Taeyeon sighs and leans forward to grab Tiffany’s chin. Screw the mild embarrassment at being so forward.

“You’re not getting away from me, this time,” Tiffany promises. And: “did you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?”

Taeyeon gets a little idea of just how long and how much as Tiffany kisses her again.

She’s certainly not going to leave this room for quite some time now. 

*****

Bonus:

The door is flung open and shut just as quickly. Tiffany jumps from her place at her desk.

“I don’t know why we keep coming back to this,” Taeyeon pants from the door. “But you’ve got to let me stay in here.”

Tiffany laughs. “Why would I ever refuse you, Taeyeon-ah?”

Taeyeon shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve been marked by the Mormon dude for life? He’s been trying to convert me since forever.”

“I know. Maybe you’re cursed.”

“Perhaps,” Taeyeon allows. “But you don’t seem to mind.”

“No, I don’t,” Tiffany agrees with a small smile. “Now come here, you silly girl. That Mormon guy’s going to be out there for a long, long time.”

“Yeah, he better,” Taeyeon smiles too as she goes up to Tiffany and her smile only grows wider as their lips touch.