“I said something wrong once. My Korean wasn’t very good. It was a mistake. I didn’t mean it that way, but it offended a girl from another class.”

“So the girl got her revenge?” Taeyeon asked. This sort of clash was common in school, especially when a girl was pretty. She had been involved in a few herself back then.

“So I was locked in the storeroom and beaten up,” Tiffany confessed with her eyes glued to the table between them. “In high school.”

Taeyeon lowered her arms and shifted her feet. Sunny had been right about it. Mana had been bullied in school and was probably traumatized by it. “By a group?”

“There were a few of them.”

“Didn’t you have friends to back you up?”

“I was new.” Tiffany’s fingers fiddled. “The girls didn’t like me.”

New and from a foreign country? “You aren’t Korean.”

“Is it still that obvious?”

Taeyeon nodded. “Your Korean.”

“I’m American. But I’ve been here for almost ten years.”

“So you’re my age.”

Tiffany nodded. “We’re the same age. I’m about five months younger than you.”

“You know my birthday?” Taeyeon asked, eyes widened in surprise.

“I have your employment details.”

Taeyeon folded her arms again. “Why are you working so hard?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

Unwilling to commit to an answer, a shrug was all Taeyeon could respond with. She wasn’t ready to be friends with Tiffany or anything like that but perhaps she had been wrong about mana. Maybe she wasn’t such a .

“Anyway, I’m telling you this because I owe you the explanation. Thank you for staying till I was okay again.”

Taeyeon shrugged. She was shrugging too much but she couldn’t help it. What else could she say to mana-who-might-not-be-a-?

“Can we at least be civil to each other from now on?” Tiffany asked with sincerity b in her eyes. “It’s hard for everyone if we keep fighting.”

“Civil, huh.”

Tiffany stood and extended her hand. “Truce?”

Taeyeon didn’t see why not. Taking Tiffany’s hand, she gave it a firm squeeze. “Truce.”

o|v

“You’ve managed to get Taeyeon to warm up to you.”

Tiffany smiled at Yuri. The past couple of weeks had gone by smoothly. There were few problems with the patrons and things with Taeyeon were civil. On top of that, she had managed to engage a singer-guitarist duo for the dinner time slot and the patrons seemed to like the pair. Things were definitely looking up.

Yuri smiled too. “You know, this is one of the reasons why I got you for the job.”

“What?”

“I knew you’d be able to break through to Taeyeon.”

“Was she like this with the other managers too?”

“Not as bad as it was between the two of you. The two of you were really going at it. With the others, she was just difficult.”

“Why?”

Yuri rubbed her chin and pressed her lips together. “I don’t really know. They may have come across as bossy to her. Or she may just be the type that hates being managed. But it wasn’t that serious. She would give them the time of the day. She just didn’t necessarily follow their instructions.”

“But with me . . .”

“It was fireballs and lava spitting volcanoes,” Yuri finished for Tiffany.

Probably because I saw her sketch of me on the very first night.

“Anyway, I’m glad you got through to her. And the work you’re doing is great. I’m so glad we met again.”

Tiffany smiled. “I’m glad too.”

o|v

“You were really good tonight,” Tiffany said to Taeyeon as they passed each other on their way in and out of the toilet.

Taeyeon’s footsteps halted and their eyes met. She almost smiled. Almost. “Which song did you like the most?”

“ you, baby.”

The charming smirk appeared. “Don’t act hard core when you aren’t.”

“I’m not acting. I like the way you sing the song.”

“How do I sing the song?”

“Like you just don’t care.”

The charming smirk appeared again. “Not ‘like’. I actually don’t care.”

“By the way, why don’t you go to the café anymore?”

Taeyeon shrugged. “Can’t sketch a subject who knows she’s being sketched.”

“Oh.”

“Are you disappointed?” Taeyeon teased with a sleazy smirk. “Got an exhibitionist streak somewhere under that ‘good girl’ cover eh?”

Tiffany opened to refute that but someone spoke before she could.

“Look at the two of you,” Sooyoung remarked as she came around the corner. “Some might even think you’re friends now.”

Taeyeon rolled her eyes at the lanky woman. “Get your flat into the toilet where it belongs.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” Sooyoung replied with a laugh. “By the way, there’s a girl out there looking for you.”

“What’s her name?”

“Jieun.”

“Oh.” And off Taeyeon went.

Tiffany noted the way Taeyeon’s eyes lit up at the mention of the girl’s name. Out of curiosity, she asked Sooyoung who the girl was when they were in the toilet together. But the guitarist shrugged. She had no idea.

What if Jieun is the other woman Taeyeon sketched?

Probably not . . . she doesn’t sketch people who know her.

Unless they are ex-lovers?

But that’s unlikely . . .

Suddenly eager to find out who Jieun was, Tiffany dried her hands and went back out into the bar. Right there in the band’s booth were two women in a hug. One was Taeyeon and the other must be Jieun, she supposed. When they parted, Tiffany was drawn in by how pretty Jieun was. She was petite like Taeyeon and slender. She had clear skin, pretty short hair that hung just above her shoulders, bright eyes, a cute little nose and pretty lips. Was she friends with Taeyeon? Or family?

But a bigger question struck her right in the chest. Why was she burning to know who Jieun was to Taeyeon?

o|v