“How’s the date with the side chick?”

Taeyeon groans at Sunny’s snarky comment. She hadn’t slept for more than five hours in the past three days and can tell that her brain is starting the decomposition process for the great art of sarcasm. Adding onto the constant mental fatigue, Taeyeon knows that her episodes of cluster migraines are lurking in the back of her skull and ready to make a full on comeback. The last time these migraines struck her dysfunctional, she was rendered mindless and utterly useless for an entire month.

“On second thought, you don’t look so good shortie. Should I call your terrible ex-girlfriend, who you are obviously not over with, to pick you up?” Sunny placed a hand on Taeyeon’s shoulder and pushed the latter’s head back, examining a pale face twisted in pain. “Yea, I think I’ll do that. The fact that you can’t even protest right now means SOS. Also, you two currently dwelling under the same roof from a binding contract is a pretty big convincing factor for me to call her.”

Taeyeon leans back further into her chair, putting an arm over her eyes and hopes that the pressure will help subside the imminent threat of inexplicable pain. She’s not sure how long it’s been but she feels Sunny’s hand rummaging through her pocket, searching for something. The sound of Sunny’s foot tapping beside her finally registered, impatiently waiting for a call to connect. Taeyeon’s starts to feel the pressure build, the pulsating nerves, carrying sharp pins and needles, slowly creeps from the back of her skull to the left side of her temple. Without much delay, her left eye began to throb and the migrain swells, shutting that eye close.

“Hello? Terrible Ex-Girlfriend? Come get your undeserving, devoted ex-partner. I’m not sure what else to tell you but I think she’s breathing her last breath. Also, stop playing games and dump her forreal.”

There’s an infamous myth that when your life flashes before your eyes, a sudden and uninvited memory from the past will reveal itself. For Taeyeon, everytime her cluster migraines start, she gets a glimpse into the past. Not so much because she’s taking her last breath on God’s green Earth. But when the pain comes knocking, it brings memories that mimic the illness in her heart, a terrible storm that does not easily quell. And on today’s episode, Taeyeon sees the events that took place before everything falls apart.

“Oh . I think she’s entering her coma. You know, when she starts groaning and panting like an injured puppy.”

4 Years Ago

“What exactly am I to you?”

“Are we seriously doing this again Tae?”

Tiffany tossed a blouse into her suitcase. Her flight is in three hours and she’s nowhere near ready. She’s still packing, her hair’s still wet and her makeup isn’t done. The last thing she needed was an argument with her hot headed girlfriend.

“THIS?! What’s this?” Taeyeon’s hand gestured back and forth between her and the avoidance girlfriend, “Is me trying to understand who I am in your life that much of a nuisance?”

“Oh my GOD Taeyeon-ah! I don’t have the time to be arguing with you about this right now! Why do you always do this every time I have to leave? It’s my JOB and I can’t do anything about it!”

Taeyeon clenched her jaw, she know she’s acting like a completely jealous teenager about the whole ordeal but she’s tired of being in the dark and having to put up with watching her lover being on stage with other people, acting innocent and clueless, being flirted with and pretending to be someone Tiffany’s not.

“Why can’t we just announce that we’re together? You know how much I love you, and how extremely uncomfortable I am seeing all those people drools all over you and constantly blowing up your phone. Don’t you think it’s about time we make it public? We’ve been together since grade school!”

“Taeyeon-ah, you know why! Please, please, please don’t do this right now. I have a big show coming up and I really can’t mess this up. Can’t you be more supportive?”

Tiffany sighed loudly, she thinks it's better if she just asks Mrs.Lee to bring her clothes when she’s there. Being here, in the same room with Taeyeon, and arguing about their coming out together when she’s barely made a name for herself in the entertainment industry is making the both of them near nuclear. She wishes there was a way to help Taeyeon understand, a way to help her lover feel more secure, and that there is not a single soul on Earth’s gravitational pulls that could lure her away from Taeyeon. She knows it doesn’t help whenever she’s on shows and has to put on a persona. To be beautiful and mysterious, to be a flirt yet is reserved, to be single and ready for love. Those are the qualities her fans desire. Those are the qualities she’s contracted to enact.

“We’ve only started dating for the last two years. Can’t we take our time?”

“Huh.” Taeyeon scoffed.

Tiffany instantly regretted her last sentence. It came out wrong. Insincere wrong. Misunderstood wrong. She turned around to apologize, but she was too late, her lover was gone. A strategy Taeyeon had created to deal with her newfound, explosive anger. She’ll have to apologize later when they arrive at the airport.

XXX

“Mrs. Lee, have you seen her anywhere?” Tiffany asked her stylist, her eyes searching the crowd for Taeyeon.

“Im sorry sweetie. Maybe she already boarded?” Mrs. Lee pushed the rolling suitcase towards the gate.

The two started to board the plane, departing from LAX and will be landing at Seoul tomorrow. It's been two years since Tiffany signed the contract with the American company ever since she decided to leave her family’s multi billion business and pursue her own dream. She’s sacrificed a lot for it. Her whole family to be precise. Perhaps it was because of their fight a couple hours ago that made her reminisce about the past right now. But Tiffany can’t help but think about the choices she had made to get here. She knows Taeyeon’s the only one left in her life and she can’t bear the thought of losing her too.

“No! You will not throwing your life away, your education away, and embarrases our family to join the circus Mi Young.”

“Why do you keep calling it a circus? I want to SING professionally and have a career in something I am passionate about. Is it too much to ask for your understanding?”

“Oh I understand your selfish decision. You are willingly destroying your life and your family just so you can have a cheap moment in the spotlight! Taeyeon, don’t tell me you are approving this?”

 

“Sir--

“Of course she approves! Unlike you who only care about your business, and this family’s appearances, she actually cares about me, who I am, what I want in life, and supports me!”

“I’ve loved you, and supported you in everything up until this moment. But this, I will not allow. I can’t s