“Green. Corner pocket.” Taeyeon indicates that it is to be the right corner with the tip of her cue stick and lowers into position. Her feet form a casual T, left wrist flexed to support, right arm relaxed and in line with her body. She sings her forearm, cue stick gliding between her thumb and index. Aiming the cue ball so that it would strike the green slightly off centre, she swings and releases, transferring energy from her cue stick to the cue ball. It rolls and strikes the green, setting it into motion in the opposite direction. The green rolls and rolls, then slows down. .

A round of laughs spill out from her friends. Hyoyeon, Sunny, Yoona and their boyfriends. Six s. She does not hear her boyfriend laughing—smart guy. He’d just saved himself from being relegated to the couch for a week by refraining.

“Get ready to be crushed,” says Sunny as she leaves the arms of her boyfriend and struts around the pool table. She bends over, lines up her shot and pots striped yellow. Her cue ball is well placed for the next shot and she pots the striped blue with ease. The striped purple is next. Followed by the striped green. “Black. Corner, left.” Sunny calls the pocket and bends to take aim. She barely even aims before she swings and launches the cue ball onto the black. With bated breath, all eyes follow the black as it rolls towards left corner pocket and drops in. “I win, babe. You owe a forfeit.”

“All I have to do is get contact.” Taeyeon eases into a grin as she tosses her lengthy jet black curls over her shoulder. “Take your pick. As long as my guy over here doesn’t mind, I’m up for it.”

All eyes shift to the man standing behind her. A head taller than Taeyeon, he stands tall and nonchalant. “It’s just for fun. I’m cool with it.”

Taeyeon smiles and tiptoes to give him a kiss. “My man’s cool like that. So—” she nods at the crowd milling around them, “who’s it to be?”

“Don’t make it easy for her,” says her boyfriend with a wicked smile.

She slaps his arm. “.”

“Save your for the bedroom guys,” Hyoyeon chirps in. “I’ve spotted a target for Taengmeo to work her charms on.”

“Who is it?”

“Over there by the bar. Eight o’clock.”

Three couples are crowded at the bar. “Which one?”

“Red dress.”

“Red dress?” they chorus.

Hyoyeon simply grins. “The BF said to make things difficult for Taengmeo. So red dress it is.”

“But she’s with her boyfriend,” Taeyeon splutters, looking at the couple in question, standing so snugly together with his arm hanging over her shoulder and her hand in his backpocket.

“Nothing’s too difficult for Taengmeo, is there?” Yoona taunts.

“Don’t worry. If you can’t get anything from her, your boyfriend will rescue you and drink the King’s cup for you.”

“Hey, hey, hey . . . it’s not gonna get to that. My girl will get it done.”

Taeyeon grins. “There’s nothing like trust in a relationship. Take a page from us.”

The rest of her friends mimic puking sounds as she leans in for one more peck with her boyfriend. Then, she sets off across the bar towards the counter where the red dress is still standing.

“Excuse me,” she says, tapping on red dress’ shoulder. The heavy curls jiggle as the woman turns and big brown eyes defined by eyeliner and mascara meet hers. “Hi, I’m Taeyeon. Do you mind doing me a favour?”

“It depends. What’s the favour?” the red lips speak.

“I know it sounds strange, but could I get a hug from you?”

The brown eyes widen. “What gives?”

“I can’t say why but I’ll be really thankful if I could get a hug.”

Understanding flickers in the brown eyes. “I see. This is a dare?”

“I can’t say.”

Red dress-black curls-brown eyes-and-red lips giggles. “I’ll one up on the dare since you’re such a cute girl.”

Taeyeon is taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“How about a hug and a kiss.”

“Wha—” Taeyeon is not given time to react. Arms go around her and pull her in with a surprising amount of force. Then, the body pulls away and lips press on hers, replacing the loss of body warmth with another kind of warmth altogether. Holy . Holy . What the .

“I wouldn’t call that a kiss but I guess you’re not used to kissing ladies, huh.”

Whatever the lady in red was drinking is burning on her lips and Taeyeon feels drunk somehow. “I-I’m not.”

“Hmm,” the woman’s eyes give her the once over, “it’s a waste. But hey, whatever makes you happy, ya?”

“Erm, yeah. Er, thanks for the favour . . .”

The red lips part to reveal clean white teeth. “The name’s Tiffany. I’ll see ya around,” she says, finishing with a wink before turning back to the man she is with.

Taeyeon is in a daze as she returns to her friends. They whoop and cheer and clap her on the back and proceed to forget all about it as Sunny sets the table for another game.

“Baby, you alright?”

Taeyeon smiles at her boyfriend even though her heart is thumping like it has just received a burst of energy. “Sure, why wouldn’t I be alright.”

“Just asking. But between you and me, I wouldn’t mind seeing you kiss that woman again.”

“What? Why?” Taeyeon blinks in confusion.

“Why?” Her boyfriend slips his arms around her waist. “It’s ing hot, that’s why. That and the fact that it’s fun to see someone knock the cockiness out of you for a sec.”

Taeyeon narrows her eyes at him. “Say that again . . .”

“It’s—ing—hot.”

“Wise guy.” Taeyeon pushes him away and turns to watch the game which Sunny is totally winning. Poor Hyoyeon. She’s most probably going to have to drink up the King’s cup. Well, her boyfriend, more likely. She taps her fingers on her lips, her mind scurrying back to the surprising kiss ever so often for the rest of the night. The red dress that barely covers any leg is prominent. But even more so after the blazing kiss. Taeyeon doesn’t know why but she wants to try it again. She wants to pinpoint what that feeling is. Only, she’s not likely to get another kiss from those red lips. Neither should she be thinking about it since she has a boyfriend. So, she should just thank the stars for giving her such a sporting target and get over it.

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