“Tiffany!” Seohyun greeted Tiffany, hugging her after opening the door. “Hi Taeyeon! It’s nice to see you again.”

              Before I could return the greeting, the dynamic duo emerged.

              “Oh, Taeyeon!” Sunny interjected, stepping forward with her hand outstretched. I raised my free hand to receive it, but she stopped when she saw Tiffany and my interlocked hands.

              “Ooh, what’s this?” Sooyoung sang in a teasing voice, grinning at Tiffany, “Tiffany holding hands with Taeyeon? Is there something between you two?”

              I found my face turning pink in response to her words. I thought I had already come to terms with this fact, but the way Sooyoung said it somehow made it even more embarrassing.

              Tiffany, on the other hand, took it in stride. “Is it so strange to hold the hand of my girlfriend?”

              Sooyoung stopped, pointedly looking at Tiffany; not long after, Seohyun pulled Sooyoung’s arm while Sunny squealed happily. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you! When did it happen?”

              “Yesterday,” Tiffany stated proudly. “It was Taeyeon who confessed, actually.”

              “Good going, Taeyeon,” Sunny playfully used her elbow to push me.

              “Ah, it’s—” I didn’t know how to respond, but luckily, Seohyun came to my rescue.

              “Stop teasing them so much unnie, let them come in first at least. I’ll get some tea,” she said, offering a pair of slippers to each of us. Sooyoung was standing behind Seohyun, looking sad—apologetic?—for some reason.

              “Thank you, Seohyun,” I said, accepting the slippers and stepping into the apartment. Seohyun shuffled into the kitchen area, Sunny leading the way into the living room.

              “So … how far have you two gone?”

              “Sooyoung!” Tiffany whined whiled I looked away in embarrassment. Whatever it was that I appeared to have seen was replaced with that I was more used to,

              “Surely you two have kissed, right?”

              This time, Tiffany didn’t respond, her face turning pink this time.

              “Ooh!”

              “How was it?”

              “Tiffany’s a good kisser, isn’t she?”

              “Sooyoung!” Sunny hissed at her, hitting her leg. Shortly after, Seohyun entered the room with a tray with 5 cups of tea.

              Not wanting to jump to conclusions while also wanting to trust Tiffany’s earlier claim of having been single since her arrival in Korea, I turned to look at Tiffany, who was just smiling in a manner I haven’t really seen before: it almost looked like she was holding herself in, like she going to snap at any moment. While she didn’t look angry, necessarily, she appeared more … impatient?

              “Ah, well, I personally wouldn’t know by the way, Taeyeon. Tiffany’s been single ever since she came to Korea. I was just joking, it was a bad joke though, sorry,” she said, seemingly panicked. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the extremely bizarre situation: it didn’t really seem like something she had to apologize for. While it was true that Tiffany’s friends and I weren’t necessarily that close, especially me with Sooyoung, that kind of statement was obviously just a joke. Then again, with how Tiffany reacted … no, I shouldn’t overthink this. Tiffany has secrets of her own, and if she wasn’t comfortable sharing them with me, then that was her prerogative.

              I briefly considered the irony regarding the implications of Tiffany keeping secrets and her hate of liars, but I disregarded it. Tiffany was already so perfect, who was I to judge her for having one flaw, if that could even be called one? I would be a hypocrite if I did so.

              “Just don’t mind the two of them,” Seohyun said, handing me a cup of tea, which I graciously accepted, “They always worry about Tiffany’s romantic life because she was never interested in that kind of stuff, and now that you’re here as her girlfriend, they’re too excited to think sanely.”

              “Yah, who are you calling insane?” Sooyoung complained.

              “Don’t lump me with her,” Sunny whined, scooting away from her.

              “Don’t pretend you don’t love me,” Sooyoung said, extending her arms in an attempt to hug Sunny but was stopped short by Sunny’s extended arm.

              “Get away from me, you crazy person. I can’t afford to have your craziness rub off on me after I graduate and find a job.”

              “Everyone likes a teacher that’s a little crazy, right?”

              “Yah, that’s only you! Don’t associate my precious future students with yourself!”

              “As I said,” Seohyun said, sitting on the other side of me, “Just don’t mind them. Did you guys get any couple items already? Is that what’s in those bags?” she inquired, nodding at the bags Tiffany was holding.

              “Yeah!” I said excitedly, accepting the bags Tiffany wordlessly handed over with one hand while retrieving my phone with the other. “We chose each other’s phone cases and accessories,” I said, holding up my phone to her as well as the shopping bag.

              “Oh, that’s cute!” she said, leaning forward to more closely observe it, briefly glancing inside the bag. “Right, Tiffany did like Totoro; actually, I have a story about that, do you—”

              Tiffany hastily waved her hands, cutting Seohyun off. “Seohyun! You’re doing this too?” I quickly peered at Tiffany’s face to see hints of pink on her cheeks. A smile sprouted on my face in reaction to it.

              “Fany, let me hear it~” I pouted, grabbing her arm.

              Tiffany’s panic vanished when I made eye contact with her. “I mean—fine, just … it’s embarrassing,” she murmured, sitting back down on the couch.

              “Oh, this is a funny story,” Sooyoung commented, evidently having finished her argument with Sunny, if it could even be called that.

              “So you know how ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ is more aimed at children, right?” I nodded in response. “Tiffany apparently has never seen it before, so after we befriended her, she invited us to her apartment and—”

              Tiffany got up at that moment. “Actually, I’m not going to stay and listen to this. I’ll use the bathroom,” she announced; however, I grabbed her hand before she moved much more.

              “Staay~” I requested, attempting to use aegyo. Fortunately, it worked, as I easily managed to pull Tiffany back onto the couch.

              “It’s not fair, you can’t just use your aegyo like that,” she said, plopping back down next to me.

              “Wow, you’re so whipped, Tiffany,” Sooyoung noted, to which Sunny and Seohyun laughed. I smiled in embarrassment, grabbing Tiffany’s hand.

              Just as Seohyun was about to start again, Tiffany made a proposal. “How about we play a game instead? The winner gets to request whatever story they want from whomever they choose.”

              The mischievous glint in the eyes of the dynamic duo didn’t go unnoticed.

              “Sure! How’s this: the winner of each game gets to decide the next game. It’ll be best-of-three, us deciding the game first,” Sunny said. Tiffany nodded readily, even before I had the chance to rebuke their offer. Surely Tiffany could see their ulterior motives in their eyes as well: just how far was Tiffany willing to go to avoid that story? It just made my curiosity swell even more. Maybe it wasn’t that: maybe it was that Tiffany was confident in winning, for some reason.

              “Sooyoung, Sunny, go easy on them, if not for Tiffany’s sake, for Taeyeon’s sake,” Seohyun said. I thanked her with my eyes, but unfortunately, her words seemed to fall flat on the two.

              “Ok, let’s start simply with the ‘of course’ game,” Sooyoung started.

              “What are the pairs? Sooyoung and Tiffany, me and Taeyeon?” Sunny offered. Tiffany accepted, albeit with some initial hesitation: it seemed like she was suspicious of Sunny, but didn’t say anything of it. Instead, Tiffany and Sooyoung situated themselves on the smaller couch and faced each other.

              “You’ve fantasized about Taeyeon before, haven’t you?”

              “Of course.” I felt my face explode in heat at Tiffany’s almost instant response. “And you’ve fantasized about Sunny before, haven’t you?”

              “Of course,” Sooyoung replied, not missing a beat. Sunny burst out into laughter, although I noticed that she wasn’t getting flustered. How could she not? Even though it was a game, it was really embarrassing…

              “How about me? You’ve fantasized about me before, right?”

              Tiffany eyed her, clearly exasperated, before coming to me. She tenderly placed her hands over my ears before giving her muted answer, “Of course.”

              I found myself laughing. It was an extremely sweet thing for Tiffany to do, and even though I was conscious that the point of the game was to get your opponent to say something else, it reassured me that much more.

              “You watched Keroro recently and found yourself addicted to it, right?”

              “Unnie!” Seohyun whined, hitting Tiffany’s shoulder.

              “Of course,” Sooyoung replied confidently.

              “Sorry Seohyunnie,” Tiffany replied, patting her shoulder.

              “When you were picking out couple outfits, you considered getting lingerie, didn’t you?”

              I turned around to face the wall, covering my face with my hands, the tips of my ears burning hot once again. The image of Tiffany in y undergarments was plastered in my head, and no amount of shaking my head freed me of the issue. I could hear everyone else’s combined laughter in the background, even Seohyun.

              “Y-You’re just going to betray me like that, Seohyun?” I pleaded, my voice muffled by my hands, still unwilling to turn around.

              “Sorry unnie,” she said, laughter still in her voice, “It’s just that your reaction is so cute.”

              “Of course I did, but not just for me,” Tiffany replied.

              “Wha—” I replied, finally able to regain my composure somewhat, turning around, “Me?”

              “Yeah!” Tiffany replied much too excitedly for her own good. “Who else could I be talking about?”

              I shook my head. “I-I wouldn’t look too good in that kind of stuff,” I said, inadvertently mumbling.

              “Have more confidence in yourself!” Sunny said, patting my back.

              I eyed her. “That’s easy for you to say,” I told her.

              “Taeyeon, are you checking Sunny out?”

              My body seized in panic when Tiffany said that. It was only after her chuckle shortly after her accusation that I realized she was kidding. After a quick review, I realized that my actions could have been interpreted as such, to which I made a mental note to be more careful of such situations.

              “You’d look amazing, but it’s probably for the better that you don’t wear that kind of stuff; it’s hard enough to hold back as it is, I don’t need any more encouragement,” she winked at be before turning to face Sooyoung.

              I began to feel my face flush again. No, calm yourself, Taeyeon. Take deep breaths, you can’t always be like this.

              After silently taking a few deep breaths, I felt my face return to normal.

              However, when I started paying attention again, Tiffany joined me back on the sofa. “Were you thinking about me?”

              “Oh, are you done? Did you win?”

              Tiffany frowned, hugging my arm. “I’m sorry Taeyeonnie, Sooyoung cheated though,” she whined.

              “How so?” I replied, looking over at the triumphant Sooyoung.

              “She tried to get me to admit my love for someone other than you.”

              Oh, that just wasn’t fair. How else was someone who’s been single basically her entire life supposed to react other than feeling a sudden increase in heart palpitations? Was this the feeling people described as having ‘butterflies in your stomach’?

              “It’s your turn now,” Tiffany informed me, casually, as if she didn’t say anything special just now. “Good luck!”

              I nodded and joined Sunny on the couch Sooyoung and Tiffany were previously situated on. “You can start, Taeyeon,” Sunny motioned to me with her hand.

              “Um,” I mused, wondering if our game was going to go in the same direction as Sooyoung and Tiffany’s. I certainly hoped not because I would probably lose instantly, but Sunny seemed to like me too much to subject me to that. Just to be safe, I started off light, saying, “You are really grateful for Seohyun for helping you deal with Sooyoung, aren’t you?”

              “Hey! I’m not even playing the game anymore, why am I being the one insulted?”

              All of us burst into laughter, Sooyoung exaggerating a childish pout.

              “Maybe that wouldn’t happen if you weren’t such an easy target,” Sunny replied, “Of course I am, thank you Seohyun,” she said, turning to Seohyun briefly.

              “Your welcome unnie,” she replied, still smiling.

              “Ok, my turn; you really, sincerely love Tiffany with all your heart, right?”

              The suddenness of the question elicited an unintentional scoff from me. “Of course. Tiffany is—” I stopped before I had the chance to embarrass myself.

              “What?” Sunny egged me on, grinning mischievously.

              “Yeah, I’m what TaeTae?” Tiffany joined me on the couch, grabbing my arm.

              “Noth—” I stopped short when she hugged me from behind, placing her chin on my shoulder.

              “Don’t mind them two, pretend they’re not there. What was it you wanted to say I was?” she quietly asked again.

              “You’re—you’re—” my home. I sincerely tried to finish the statement, to force those two words out, but my tongue remained tied. It was just too embarrassing to say out loud—way too embarrassing. “—I don’t know, I forg—I mean, I wasn’t planning on saying anything really,” I said, making up an excuse, albeit a terrible one.

              She stalled for a second longer, perhaps hoping to get more out of me, before releasing me. “Aw, ok,” she said, dejected, “Go on and return to your game.”

              I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Tiffany didn’t seem to anger at what was obviously a lie. “My turn?” I said to resume the game. When Sunny nodded, I continued, “So … truthfully, you love Sooyoung, right?” I said, then quickly adding, “As a friend?”

              Sunny visibly cringed at that, peering at Sooyoung who was looking at her with a smug look on her face. I could see the turmoil boiling inside Sunny’s head, but in the end, she caved. “I can’t do it. I’ll never live it down. You win,” she announced.

              “What? I wasn’t even playing this round, why was I insulted the most?”

              Another round of laughter ensued while I got off the couch. “Wah Taeyeon, you’re too good at this game. I’d say that they won because of how hard Taeyeon beat me,” she said.

              “Ok, I get to decide the next game, right?” Tiffany said excitedly, me seating myself next to her.

              “Taeyeon was the reason you two won, so she should get to decide,” Sunny reasoned with her. Tiffany nodded sadly, turning to me, awaiting my decision.

              I couldn’t resist her sad expression though; she probably wasn’t even trying, but just looking at her expression made me want to give her everything I owned. “Tiffany can choose,” I said, regretting it as soon as Tiffany’s eyes lit up again.

              “Ok, how about this: a game of truth or dare, but the punishment for failing to do the request is to take off a piece of clothing. Socks—”

              “No,” Seohyun and I simultaneously rejected her idea before she had the chance to elaborate further.

              “I’m only wearing a dress and no socks, so I don’t have any flexibility,” Seohyun explained.

              Tiffany pouted but nodded, turning to me. “Taeyeon? What about you?”

              “Because I don’t want others seeing you with little amounts of clothing,” I murmured, too embarrassed to speak at an audible volume.

              “Hm?” Tiffany urged me to repeat it. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she wasn’t teasing me, and that she actually didn’t hear me.

              “Because…” I cleared my voice, stalling for a brief second to prepare myself while clearing my voice. “Because I don’t want the others looking at you without your clothes on!”

              A second elapsed before Tiffany broke out into a hearty laugh, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Oh my gosh Taeyeon, you’re just too adorable,” she just about squealed, “Ok, then how about this: let’s play the Pocky game,” she suggested while still hugging me.

              I honestly didn’t expect them to accept, seeing as how Tiffany and I were a couple while the three of them were just friends, but they accepted the challenge almost immediately.

              Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from them but was promptly filled with a sense of dread when Sunny and Sooyoung left barely a centimeter left. I looked at Tiffany with a what-will-we-do look on my face; she seemed completely unfazed by it though, which honestly just made me even more scared.

              “That’s nothing, Taeyeon and I can easily beat that,” Tiffany gloated, receiving the stick of Pocky from Seohyun.

              “W-We can?” I said, Tiffany placing one end of the snack in between her lips. She nodded encouragingly, me hesitating to take the other end of the stick.

              “I’ll come to you,” she said. I nodded, naturally figuring that to be the case.

              “Ready?” Seohyun said after I took my position. After we both nodded, she started the game with a, “Go!”

              My heart just about stopped as soon as she said that. Tiffany placed her hands on my shoulders, closing most of the distance in less than a second. I jumped inside my skin in sheer panic, the sudden memory of our kiss flashing in my mind.

              In the next instance, her warm lips met my own. I felt the breath leave my body once again, barely able to register the feeling of her teeth meeting my own to finish off the slim snack, her lips pressing even harder against mine. When we released our lip-lock, I took a sharp intake of breath, feeling a faint dizziness in my temple.

              “Yah, get a room you two!” Sooyoung shouted, to which Tiffany just laughed triumphantly.

              “We win, right?”

              “Well, obviously,” Sunny said in a defeated manner. Her tone, her body expression, everything about her said that she was sincerely sad about the loss; was she a super competitive person? Wasn’t she planning on being an elementary school teacher?

              I found myself suddenly snickering, imagining Sunny competing super seriously against her elementary school-aged students and basking in her victory.

              “What?” Tiffany said, scooting next to me.

              “Nothing,” I said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

              Her eyes lingered on me for a brief second, a smile playing at her eyes; my breath was once again taken away as I was again reminded of how beautiful Tiffany—my girlfriend—was. After a few seconds, she turned to the other three. “Ok, I get to request a story from someone, right?”

              “Yep,” Sunny replied, seeming to have already gotten over the loss. Maybe I was just imaging things … it was some time after taking that class on body language, after all.

              “Ok, then I choose Taeyeon,” Tiffany declared, turning to me.

              “What? Me?” I replied, feeling betrayed.

              Tiffany nodded, excitement shining in her eyes. “Yeah! I want you to share a story about your most recent relationship.”

To those who are reading this chapter as it comes out, classes just resumed for me. I’ll try my best to update at least once every other week, but I really need to do well this semester, so it’ll probably turn out to be closer to once every three weeks. Sorry! :c

Anyway, how about that? Taeyeon’s most recent relationship? Didn’t she mention something about that previously? Hm…

As always, hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading! :D

P.S. check out my facebook page https://fb.me/affkesujo; if you want notifications as soon as something new gets uploaded, then go ahead and give it a like! :D