“No.”

Tiffany stared into the defiant eyes of the singer. “I’m pretty sur—”

“I said.” Taeyeon’s tone was strained, as though she were irritated. “It’s—not—you.”

“Alright, if you insist.” Tiffany folded her arms. “Let’s talk about you then. Is sketching a hobby of yours?”

The sullen singer shrugged.

“What do you usually sketch?”

The still sullen singer shrugged again.

Tiffany put her hands beside her legs on the seat and leaned forward. “Are you gonna shrug off every question I ask?”

“Dafuq are your questions for? They’re unrelated to anything.”

“Look. I’m not singling you out. I asked for the leader of the band. I had no idea it was you. I would have asked the same questions to whoever the leader is. And I’m gonna ask all of them the same questions. I want to know all of you better.”

Taeyeon shifted from a left shoulder slump to a right shoulder slump against the seat. “What for? Just do your job.”

“This is part of my job. Do you really think I would waste my time talking to someone like you if it weren’t my job?”

“Someone like me?” Taeyeon’s eyes met hers for the first time since they sat down. “What the do you mean someone like me?”

“Someone like you. Rude. Arrogant. Uncooperative.”

Taeyeon stood up and dusted her black ripped jeans. “If that’s the conclusion you’ve drawn then there’s nothing else to talk about.”

Tiffany was left to eat Taeyeon’s dust as the singer strode out of the booth and she huffed in frustration. How did the singer manage to ruffle her feathers within a mere minute? She had prided herself on having great control over her emotions, great EQ . . . apparently all that came crashing down when it came to Taeyeon the .

o|v

The other members were just fine. Tiffany had a good time talking to them and they were open about themselves, their lives and the band. Sooyoung, in particular, had a number of interests common to hers such as shopping and fashion trends. They hit it off quickly and even agreed to check out some shops together in the near future. This was when Tiffany decided she was the right member to ask.

“Actually, can I be honest with you?”

“Haven’t you been honest this entire time?” Sooyoung quips with a laugh.

Tiffany giggles. “I’ve been honest, I swear. What I mean is . . . well, I kinda wanna ask you about your leader.”

Sooyoung raised her brows. “What about her?”

“Is she usually bad tempered?”

Sooyoung laughed. “Temperamental, yes. She’s not so good with new people. She’s a little awkward around people she doesn’t know well.”

“Okay, but she was totally uncooperative when I asked about her sketching hobby.”

“Uncooperative?”

“Yeah, she was shrugging off every question I asked.”

Sooyoung made a face of surprise. “She isn’t usually that rude . . .”

“Which means she’s rude sometimes?”

“Well . . . not exactly rude. Just . . .”

“Just?”

“If she’s unhappy about something, like if she feels our show could’ve been better, she’ll show it. She’s not too great at hiding her feelings when it comes to something she cares about a lot. But she’s not the kind who would yell in your face. She just shows it . . . in her own way.”

“I see. So you don’t know why she was ignoring all my questions on purpose?”

Sooyoung shook her head. “That doesn’t really sound like her.”

Tiffany bit her lip. Should I tell her about the sketch of me I saw in Taeyeon’s book? “I see . . .”

“Don’t worry. She’ll warm up to you eventually. She has her moments too.”

“We’ll see.”

o|v

“ you, baby!”

The crowd went wild and raised their middle fingers in the air along with Taeyeon. She grinned at the crowd and belted the next line with pure gruff. There was nothing like singing from the depths of her heart. Especially on nights like this one, where everything in her life was intent on pissing her off.

First thing she received in the late morning was a picture from Linji featuring the woman with another woman along with a very loving message.

She’s got the ur never gonna get er

              off

“I never wanted your ing , !” Taeyeon had yelled at her phone before deleting the offending picture and message. “Crazy .”

The next ty thing was her withdrawal. Coffee. She had run out of coffee. Damn it. There was only one place with coffee she really, really liked. , , .

And on top of that, the of a new PR manager was definitely out to make her life difficult.

“That’s a new sketchbook,” the PR mana had commented while passing by earlier. “What happened to your old one?”

“Had to burn it ‘cos you touched it.”

“Really? Are you gonna burn everything I touch?”

“ off.”

“Can’t wait to.”

Taeyeon had stewed and seethed after that. Why was this mana so insistent? Why couldn’t she just back the off?

“Yeah, you, baby!”

Taeyeon glanced downwards at the lady who had screamed the lyrics of her song and grinned. Bending over, she brought her face closer to the woman’s and sang the next line before straightening up again. The woman cheered and reached for her with both hands but she simply smiled and stepped back. Sorry, lady.

She finished the song and sang another two. It was right in the middle of the fourth song of the band’s set when a tall, muscular man pushed his way to the front of the stage.

“Who’s Taeyeon?” he hollered. A few fingers pointed her out.

Taeyeon was startled when he climbed up on stage and stomped towards her, anger oozing from every pore.

“You can’t come up here,” she said into the mic while backing away.

The band stopped playing. Taeyeon felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Seo to her rescue.

“Mr, please get off the stage.”

“Taeyeon, huh. So you’re the who stole Linji’s boyfriend. Listen up, . I don’t hit girls. But I’m gonna make sure everybody knows what you really are.” With a quick swipe, the man snatched Taeyeon’s microphone and turned to the crowd. “Y’all take a good look at her. Don’t be fooled by her baby face. She straight up stole my sister’s boyfriend. This right here. And now my sis is crying day and night. Don’t be fooled by her y’all. She gonna sleep with all your boyfriends if you’re not careful.”

Stunned beyond words, Taeyeon stood frozen on stage as the man threw the microphone on the stage floor. By now, the bar’s bouncers had swarmed up the stage.

“I can walk myself out,” said the man as he got off the stage. “I’ve said all I wanted to say.”

“Tae, talk to me. Are you feeling okay?” Seo was asking her.

Taeyeon blinked. Sooyoung and Hyo were around her too and it was suddenly suffocating. “Let me out.”

o|v