“What do you mean, Taeyeon?” mom inquired innocently.

              “You heard me,” I repeated, feeling Tiffany squeeze my hand. I glanced over at her, who was also looking at me in concern.

              “Taeyeon…”

              Tiffany gave me a smile, patted the back of my hand reassuringly, and stood up. “I’m sorry if my father has caused you any trouble,” she said, facing my parents and bowing deeply, “I know how selfish and unempathetic he is and would never apologize for doing—”

              “Tiffany, please stand up,” mom urged, grabbing Tiffany’s arm.

              “Thank you, Tiffany, but you need not apologize for him,” dad announced, turning to me afterwards. “It’s true, our work has to do with him. It’s also true that we were once friends, but it’s because of that fact that your mom and I are doing what we’re doing now. I hope you can understand when we say that we can’t tell you more, especially with him being in the country now.”

              “Dad, what are you saying?” mom said in panic, tugging on dad’s arm.

              “It’s ok honey, she deserves to know what kind of a situation she’s in right now,” dad explained, turning to me. Mom thought about it for a while and nodded, conceding the point to dad.

              There were two things I gleaned from that exchange. The first was that, obviously, my parents were aware of Tiffany’s father’s whereabouts. It seemed more likely than not that my parents were actively tracking his whereabouts, but I couldn’t be sure on this; where they tracking his every move? A CEO such as himself travels frequently, doesn’t he? I would imagine that tracking such a man would get exhausting after some time. Maybe the extent to their tracking Tiffany’s father extended only to whether or not he came to Korea, in which case they would take necessary measures? I wasn’t sure.

              The second thing was that they were extremely weary of him. They even seemed to be cautious of him on my behalf; while I didn’t believe I was in immediate danger as they would act more radically if that were the case, there was definitely some kind of interaction between him and me that they were careful of. Since mom and dad’s work was sensitive on top of the fact that I was their daughter, maybe they were scared that he could get me to leak some information on the progress of their work? But how would I do that? Surely Tiffany’s dad wouldn’t imagine that I was working with my parents … or maybe he did suspect that? Either way, I made a mental note to be more cautious around answering Tiffany’s father’s questions as well as the manner in which I presented myself in front of him from now on.

              “Our Taeyeon is smart, saying any more would be saying too much. In fact, we might have said too much already,” mom warned dad.

              “It’s ok, we’re—” dad was interrupted as mom glared at him, which abruptly stopped him in his tracks.

              Tiffany, who had shrunk to my side while I was thinking, grabbed my hand. “I need to head to work now, I’ll see you later?”

              “Yeah.”

              Tiffany let go of my hand, this time addressing my parents. “Mr. Kim, Mrs. Kim, I have to go to work now. It was very nice seeing both of you again and thank you for your hospitality!”

              “Of course, come again any time! Sorry about all of that—what just happened and everything,” mom said as we escorted her to the foyer.

              “It’s ok, you also shouldn’t be apologizing on behalf of that man—of my father, I mean,” Tiffany said, quickly locating her shoes.

              “It’s unbelievable, he doesn’t even support his own child who’s out living in Korea by herself,” dad scoffed. It didn’t take a psychology minor to surmise bad blood between the two.

              “It’s ok, I’m used to it,” Tiffany replied, smiling graciously.

              “Still—”

              “Take care honey! Feel free to stop by any time!” mom interrupted dad as Tiffany secured her shoes.

              “Oh, Fany,” I called out, remembering that we hadn’t determined when to meet up with her father again. “When should—” I should be as vague as possible, probably, given what we had just learned, “—we go to that restaurant again that we went to this morning?”

              Luckily, Tiffany instantly caught on, not showing a hint of catching onto something, replying, “Hm … do we have to so soon?”

              “You’re free tomorrow right? We can talk about it then?” I was very aware of my parents listening to our conversation by proxy and was hoping that they wouldn’t catch on: the last thing Tiffany and her father needed was for their family time to be interrupted by politics.

              “Ooh, so it’s a date?”

              I chuckled, replying, “Yeah.”

              “Ok!” Tiffany turned around from outside the door, “I’ll be looking forward to it!”

              We exchanged our last few farewells before she departed, me being pleased with myself for not blushing at all in that exchange.

              “I didn’t know our Taeyeon was this assertive,” dad teased me, patting my shoulders.

              “Dad, don’t embarrass her,” mom said, laughing regardless.

              Ordinarily I would’ve entertained them with a laugh were it not for a nagging thought in the back of my mind. “Dad, mom,” I said, turning around. They must’ve sensed how serious I was as they stopped laughing right away.

              “What’s wrong, princess?”

              “Tiffany spent the last few years in serious hardship and right now is experiencing more hardship; I don’t know what’s happening between Tiffany’s father and you two, but I would like it if you could delay it until after we solve everything.”

              Dad sighed. “I wish it was that simple, princess. Your mom will yell at me if I say any more, but I’m afraid we can’t change our plan, even for you. We’ll try our best to avoid conflict, but there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen anyway,” he explained.

              I nodded. Before, I might have just kept the thought to myself, figuring that there wasn’t much my parents could do anyway, but after meeting Tiffany and learning the value of being open with your thoughts—from little things like her daily compliments to me to her opening up about her past—I decided to voice my concern and was rewarded with a sense of relief.

              One thing I noticed was an urgent edge to dad’s voice; I wasn’t sure exactly why, although I could surmise, but I just hoped that it didn’t clash with Tiffany’s chance of getting back on good terms with her father. It was them who taught me the value of family, and it would be nothing but ironic if it were they who interrupted Tiffany’s family time with her father.

              There was also the bitter way dad addressed Tiffany’s father: it seemed like his faults didn’t just stop at being a bad father, since Tiffany’s father started turning his back towards his children after we had already moved to Korea. Did it have to do with how he acted as a businessman? If I recalled correctly, Tiffany did mention something about the nature of businessmen, and how she had a negative perspective of them.

              I swung myself around in the swivel chair inside my room. It felt like it was all connected, but for it to be all connected seemed a bit ludicrous, realistically. I seriously should get into creative writing…

              “Taeyeon? We’re going grocery shopping, do you want to come?”

              “No thank you,” I replied, moving from my chair to my bed. Was it ludicrous for everything to be connected? How about Jessica; did she play a role in all this?

              “Are you ok?” mom’s cautious voice came from the other side of the door, “I’m sorry to have suddenly revealed all of this to you, and I’m also sorry that we can’t tell you more, but it’s important to us,” she said, inserting a short pause before adding as an afterthought, in a whisper, “especially to your father.”

              “It’s ok, I understand.”

              Why especially dad though? Was the dynamic between my parents and Tiffany’s that the two mothers were close and the two fathers were close? If that were the case, unless Tiffany’s mom also played a role in whatever disagreement or point of contention my dad and Tiffany’s dad seemed to have, it seemed likely that my parents would’ve known of Tiffany’s mother’s passing. But that were the case, wouldn’t they be able to figure out, generally, why Tiffany was in Korea, especially if they knew Tiffany’s parents very well? Actually, maybe that explained my parent’s initial reactions at seeing Tiffany? “Well, I’m glad. We’ll tell you everything once this is all over, ok?”

              “Ok, have fun~”

              Mom laughed. “We will,” she responded.

              I tried not to think about it for the rest of the day, which only became more and more easy when Tiffany suggested we have a picnic on the riverbank near her apartment.

              Perhaps it was childish of me, but simple things like these were always events I’ve dreamed of ever since my childhood. I was so excited, my heart refused to offer me a single break even throughout the night, tossing and turning in my bed until late.

              I awoke at 6am and started making the kimbap I promised Tiffany I would make right away, putting the finishing touches at 8, bidding my parents farewell as they went to work, taking another hour to stress over the presentation of the kimbap in the box I prepared, then going back and forth the remaining time, worrying about my outfit, double, triple checking that the kimbap didn’t magically move inside the container, looking up for the tenth time the location Tiffany gave me to make 100%—110%—sure that I knew exactly where to meet her, checking the contents of my boxes again, realizing I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and deciding that it wasn’t worth worrying about, then deciding to eat something quickly so I wouldn’t appear a pig in front of Tiffany during the picnic, doing one last test to make sure the kimbap was truly secure inside the box even while walking around before finally departing.

              Despite arriving at our meeting location a good twenty minutes early, as usual, Tiffany beat me there, standing there waiting for me with a basket in one hand and a plastic bag holding a pair of wine bottles in another.

              “Aw, I thought I would be able to beat you this time,” I greeted her as I walked within speaking range.

              “Hehe, that’s almost as cute as you that you think that,” she greeted in return, setting her things down to envelop me in a hug. “I missed you~”

              “What do you mean?” I laughed, “We saw each other not even 24 hours ago.”

              “That’s 24 hours too long~” she replied, again in a sing-song voice. “Thank you for yesterday, you really are an angel.”

              “Me? What do you mean? Why?” Although I managed not to blush, my flustered state was revealed in my hasty tone that was dangerously on the verge of stuttering.

              “You’re beautiful, you’re kind, you’re generous; what other qualities describe angels? The only thing you’re missing is your wings,” she responded, waving her hands behind my back.

              “What are you doing?” I laughed.

              “Making sure you don’t have wings.”

              “Why would you need to do that? I’m obviously not an angel,” I insisted.

              “Well you’re my angel.”

              I turned away, fearing that my face was turning pink. It was such a cheesy, cringey thing to say, but actually hearing it was a completely other issue. “Let’s go find a spot,” I told her, briskly walking towards the river front.

              “You’re so adorable,” she commented, promptly picking up her stuff and following me. We ended up settling on a spot just a few minutes’ walk from our meeting location and helped Tiffany set the picnic blanket down, securing it with the four paperweights inside her basket.

              “Did you apply sunscreen?”

              I gaped at my own forgetfulness. I spent how long preparing for this? How could I forget such an obvious thing? “Ah, I knew I forgot something,” I muttered, sitting down, dejected.

              “It’s ok, I have some sunscreen, and I’ll only let you use it if I’m allowed to apply it on you.”

              That sounded like a dangerous proposition, but I didn’t really have any choice; not only did the sun require very little time to leave a sunburn, it also left painful red rashes on my skin. Then again, we were outdoors in a public space that wasn’t the beach, so I shouldn’t have much to worry about, right?

              “Ok, thank you,” I complied with her condition nervously, Tiffany triumphantly smiling in response and taking out a bottle of sunscreen from the basket. “Wow, how much do you have in that basket?” I asked nervously, merely delaying the inevitable.

              “This is the last of it,” she said, setting the basket down on the blanket, “Go ahead, lay down.”

              “Wha—What? Why?”

              This time, I couldn’t stop myself from flushing deeply, my mind immediately going to the gutter in wondering what Tiffany’s plan was.

              “It’s easier to put the sunscreen on you when you’re laying down.”

              “I can just sit down, can’t I?”

              “Nope,” she insisted, patting the blanket next to her, smiling in a way that made me nervous. Being out in public should curb any risqué behavior, right? “Go on, lay down~”

              I silently took a deep breath; Tiffany’s expression when saying that only made me much more self-conscious. However, it seemed like Tiffany wouldn’t budge, and having Tiffany put the sunscreen on me was a more welcome alternative to going all the way back home or buying one from somewhere. “We’re out in public,” I reminded her, cautiously laying down on my back across the blanket.

              Tiffany grinned, scooting closer to me and squirting some sunscreen on her hand. “Hold up your arm,” she instructed, of which I obeyed.

              She smothered it along my arm first, then going back and using her addictingly smooth hands along my arms, spreading the sunscreen thoroughly about my skin. It was an innocent action in theory, but the way Tiffany locked her eyes on my arm and the way her palms rubbed against my arm, her fingers slightly curled, lightly tracing my skin with her slim digits that made it somehow seem more sensual than it should’ve been.

              I tried my best to hide my embarrassment as Tiffany moved onto my other arm, not even having the option of covering my face from embarrassment.

              It was even worse when she moved onto my legs. Because there was more surface area, her baby-soft hands were in contact longer with me longer than with my arms. On one hand, the option to cover my face in embarrassment was now available, but on the other hand, Tiffany’s hands felt so criminally amazing that I had to bite my lip, not wanting to gift Tiffany any more ammo than she undoubtedly already had.

              Fortunately, Tiffany stopped at the hem of my shorts, but at the same time, her hands still came further up than I was really prepared for. After what felt like a couple of torturous minutes of Tiffany applying sunscreen to my arms and legs, she finally instructed me to sit up, next working on my face.

              Tiffany initially suggested using her own face to apply sunscreen to my face, but I instantly rejected it for the sake of my sanity. Luckily, Tiffany didn’t press the idea any further and was content with just using her hands. This time around, it was much easier on my heart, although it took a long time because of the amount of times I spontaneously burst into laughter.

              After Tiffany finished applying sunscreen on me, I thanked her, only to be stopped when she squirted a bit more sunscreen on her hands.

              “Wait, what else is there?”

              “Your neck and sternum,” she replied causally, once again leaning towards me.

              “Oh no, I don’t think—I don’t need it,” I stammered, hastily scooting away from the giddy girl.

              “What, do you want your neck to get sunburned? Come here, it’ll only take a second,” she insisted.

              “N-No! What are you doing to do to me? We’re in public!” I exclaimed.

              “I know that. What of it?” she responded innocently.

              I huffed. Was it only me that was thinking about all these … things, or was Tiffany just teasing me? “F-Fine,” I replied half-heartedly, my heart pounding out of my chest as I reached back and lifted my hair away from my neck.

              Tiffany stopped for a second, her eyes widening just barely, after which she said, “Wait, can you hold that for a second? I need to take a picture,” she said, quickly leaning to the side and retrieving her phone from her pocket.

              “What? Why?”

              “If you knew how beautiful you looked in that pose, you would understand,” she replied matter-of-factly, using her free hand to hold her phone to eye level.

              “What? What do you mean?” I said, holding the pose nevertheless.

              “Just a second,” she said, struggling a bit to take the picture. I smiled as naturally as I could, and after Tiffany smiled with satisfaction and put her phone down, she resumed scooting towards me.

              “You’re so weird, Fany,” I laughed, Tiffany using two fingers to wipe a bit of the smooth, white substance from her palm and running it around my neck.

              “And whose fault is that?” she replied, leaning over to cover the other side of my neck with the sunscreen.

              I found myself unable to answer her question, which probably was rhetorical in its nature in the first place. After she finished my neck, I told her, “Ok, I’ll do this part myself.”

              “Noo~” she pouted, pouring aegyo into her voice, “Let mee~”

              I shook my head furiously, my embarrassment clouding the overwhelming urge to give into Tiffany’s aegyo.

              “It’s ok, there’s not much to do anyway,” I told her, thankful that I just so happened to choose a medium-cut shirt.

              “Exactly, there isn’t much to do, so just let me,” she insisted, smearing her two fingers with sunscreen and approaching me.

              “Ah, it’s—oh, Sica!” I shouted, just happening to notice her slowly walking along the riverfront path out of the corner of my eye.

              She turned around and, upon making eye contact with me, waving and walking over. Never before have I been more thankful for a distraction, standing up and walking over to her.

              “Oh, Jessi! You’re early,” Tiffany noted, having set the bottle of sunscreen down. “Thanks for coming! What’s that?” she nodded towards the thin, cloth bag she was holding.

              “Oh this? I brought some watermelon, cut up,” she explained, setting the bag onto the picnic basket and taking the containers out.

              “Ooh, wow,” I marveled at the neatly cut up watermelon cubes, “Eating watermelon during the summer is a must after all.”

              “Never mind that for now, I need to finish applying sunscreen to you,” Tiffany said, suddenly turning around.

              “Wha—” Tiffany had already placed her hand behind my back before I had the chance to respond. “Wait—” but again, Tiffany paid me no heed and smeared the sunscreen about my sternum.

              “Oh,” Jessica let out a sharp interjection as Tiffany proceeded to rub the area above my chest, “Um, should I just get going, or…?”

              “Wait one second Jessi, I’m almost done,” Tiffany replied, staring at me in an intense concentration. I could do nothing, could move no muscle, and simply just Tiffany apply the sunscreen, trying my best to keep the red out of my face while shoving the uncomfortable tension stuck in my chest.

              “Oh my gosh, Taeyeon you’re so cute,” Jessica laughed.

              “Stop that,” I managed to breathe out in protest.

              “Ok, done,” Tiffany announced, stepping back and setting the bottle back into her basket. “Sit, let’s start,” she said, motioning for us to sit down.

              “I didn’t realize Taeyeon would be here,” Jessica admitted as she sat down, me following suit, “Are we still planning on continuing our conversation from yesterday at the bar?”

              “Yeah,” Tiffany replied, “But we can eat at the same time. Plus, I can’t wait to try Taeyeon’s homemade kimbap.”

              “Ooh, Taeyeon, you made them?”

              I nodded. “Yeah, it took—” I stopped myself right there. I definitely did not want to reveal my morning routine to Jessica—or Tiffany, for that matter. “I actually made too much, but it’s a good thing I did.” What they didn’t know was that I was so anxious about today that I wasn’t paying attention at all while making the kimbap, resulting in an additional few rolls I did not plan on making. I figured I would bring it all anyway as backup, in case any of the rolls weren’t packed well in the containers and were summarily ruined, or else saving the extras for a snack later on.

              “I only brought two chopsticks though,” I admitted.

              “Yeah, I only brought two forks,” Jessica said, following suit.

              “It’s ok, Taeyeon and I can share.”

              It was a really simple proposal—it was exceedingly common for couples to share utensils, but there was still that overblown, overly-romanticized little girl in me that dreamed of doing this.

              “Wow, you’re just going to make me feel guilty for third wheeling like that?” Jessica laughed, laying out her containers of watermelon, me opening my homemade lunch.

              “Well, I think this is important,” Tiffany said. Although she still maintained that bright, exuberant atmosphere about her, I could tell that she was serious. What happened yesterday probably did a part in helping me distinguish this. I suddenly realized why Tiffany chose this specific riverbank; it wasn’t particularly scenic, it was sort of out of the way, and it wasn’t maintained in the best state. However, the key feature was that it was rather secluded; why Tiffany elected to choose an outdoors environment to talk, I wasn’t sure.

              Jessica nodded, quickly glancing over at me, as if to verify that this was indeed a serious topic, then just as quickly looking away and tucking her hair behind her ears, returning her attention to Tiffany.

              “I’m proud of you,” I told Tiffany, rubbing her shoulder. She shot me a graceful smile, Jessica averting her gaze to the containers for a split second. “Oh wait, were we going to eat first?”

              “You two can eat, I’ll be talking,” she said.

              “Are you sure? Let’s all eat a bit first, and then you can say whatever you were planning to,” I suggested, Jessica shifting a bit in her spot.

              “I’ll be fine. Jessi, you join Taeyeon and go ahead and start eating.”

              Realizing again that Tiffany wouldn’t back down, I handed Jessica her chopsticks and started eating, Jessica following suit shortly after.

              “So the thing I wanted to talk about was the circumstances of my exile.”

              I could hear Jessica sharply intake a breath of air. I turned to her, and sure enough, a panicked expression overtook her face. That triggered my interest; did Jessica know about it? No, the way Tiffany worded things made it sound like that wasn’t the case. Did she have an idea of what it was? Why would it cause such a reaction?

              “Jessi, you can probably more or less figure it out, but there’s a bit more context that you should have. Taeyeon—” this time, Tiffany paused briefly just to look at me, hesitating. “—honestly, I really wished I would never have to tell you this, but it feels wrong to keep something like this away from you, my girlfriend.” Jessica shifted uncomfortably in her seat again, but Tiffany continued regardless.

              “Taeyeon, I’m not blaming you at all for this, but when you suddenly moved to Korea before I could even tell you my feelings, I felt a sort of need to be more forthcoming with my feelings. When I realized that I liked Jessica, I almost immediately asked her out. We were already friends at that point, and I’m thankful for her for taking a leap of faith and accepting because she was really hesitant at first.” Jessica simply smiled, not wanting to interrupt the narrative. Tiffany smiled back, and somewhere inside me rung a pang of jealousy. It was ridiculous; what, was my girlfriend not allowed to smile at anyone else, even if this someone else was her ex? I quickly turned away and reverted my attention back onto Tiffany while she continued, “My mother passed away while Jessi and I were dating, and the only way that I felt I could make the pain go away was to be with her.”

              Tiffany stopped. I could tell that she was getting a bit uncomfortable talking about her past relationship with Jessica, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit jealous, but I didn’t let that overtake my understanding of the gravity of this situation.

              “It’s ok,” I told her, placing my hand over hers. She nodded and took another breath. In that instance, I happened to glance over at Jessica on instinct—possibly because I wanted to know how she was taking this—and was met with a hasty head swivel, presumably because she was looking at me. Why was that?

              “It helped, but only temporarily. The pain still existed: it felt unfair of God to take away my mom, someone who worshipped Him with so much of her being, someone who was such a good mother, a good person. The realization that I would never get to hug her again, or even see her again in real life really hit me hard. I had this sort of irrational fear of forgetting what my mother looked like, sounded like, felt like—it horrified me, and sometimes, when I found myself in the solace of my own company, I would break out into tears just thinking about it.

              “Because of that, I tried more and more to find something to swallow the pain. Jessi, fortunately, was really understanding and never questioned me, even when I asked her to be more and more intimate with me. Eventually we ended up—” Tiffany paused again but resumed before I had the chance to respond. I could feel Jessica grow increasingly nervous as Tiffany began again. “—we ended up, well, having , but we somehow were caught by a journalist.”

              I was struck with conflicting emotions. Honestly, I didn’t know what to feel: sad for Tiffany to have gone through all of what she did even before moving to Korea, jealous of Jessica for having had the opportunity to—…frustrated for the same reason, or betrayed from the knowledge that this was my best friend. I hated myself for being so irrational, since this was before I knew either of them, so I tried my best to not show it. After all, Jessica, whose face had gotten pretty red at this point, probably had it worse.

              “The journalist blackmailed my father, and he gave some bull excuse like ‘someone like him couldn’t give in to such demands if he didn’t want to be pushed around’ and thought it was a better idea to just ship me off to Korea instead of deal with the issue. Of course, being young back then and not really knowing much better, I felt really guilty and I couldn’t bring myself to contact Jessi; back then, I saw it as my punishment for sinning and just accepted it. I don’t think an incriminating news article ever came out, but I doubt my father dealt with it in the best way possible. If I were to give him the benefit of the doubt, I would say he was still being emotional about my mother’s passing, but I don’t know.”

              I fed Tiffany a piece of kimbap after she finished. “I think you’re really amazing, Fany,” I noted, “First meeting you was like an injection of endorphins. Even now, it’s like that, but to know how much you endured makes me realize how amazing my girlfriend is.”

              “Are you sure I’m not just third-wheeling here?”

              Jessica’s inquiry caught me off guard; luckily, Tiffany answered for the both of us. “No you’re not, it’s fine! Aren’t you glad that you know that now?”

              Jessica sighed. “If we’re all being honest here, learning all of this makes me feel incredibly guilty for having been mad at you,” she admitted. “Although if I were to blame something other than my own naivete, it would be your father selling a negatively spun narrative of you.”

              “Oh, speaking of, what happened to your job? Are you still getting paid, or do you have to find another one?” I asked her.

              “I don’t know, honestly,” she answered, “I’m supposed to be getting paid in a few days, but I haven’t been kicked out of my apartment yet, so there’s that.”

              “You can come live with me if you want to,” Tiffany offered.

              I strongly opposed this decision, the deeply insecure part of me referencing what Tiffany just revealed to us as a source for a fear that they might get back together.

              “Nah, I’ll just go back home in that case. I’ll come up with something to tell my parents,” she said. Although I understood that Jessica going back home meant I couldn’t hang out with her anymore, I silently breathed a sigh of relief, much preferring that option to the alternative. Was I a bad person for thinking this? Undoubtedly, I was. This was my best friend and my girlfriend I was talking about here; I should put more trust into them.

              “I saw you while I was talking; are you jealous, TaeTae?”

              I flinched, my face morphing into an appalled expression. No way was I speaking out loud again, right? No, I fixed that long ago; was she just reading my mind again? Was I that easy to read?

              “Do you want it, too?” Tiffany was almost right on top of my lap, her milky-smooth legs brushing against mine. Her eyes bore into my soul with so much power that I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze. My face was definitely a bright red at this point, but that wasn’t even the least of my concerns: if this kept up, wouldn’t I get a heart attack? I seriously felt like my heart was trying to leap out of my chest.

              “I-I-I don’t know—I don’t think—we’re in public, um, and Sica is right there,” I stammered so crazily that I found myself barely able to speak.

              “What does being in public, or Sica, have to do with anything?” Tiffany continued. My mind spun at the implications of what Tiffany was saying. In public? In front of Jessica—in front of my best friend, and her ex? There was no way—“What’s wrong with hugging out in public?” I could do nothing but just stare at her in silence, unmoving. “What did you think I meant by ‘it’? I was referring to what I would often do to feel better.”

              For the next few seconds, the only sound was the peaceful sound of the running water next to us. “What?”

              Tiffany giggled and distanced herself again. “You’re the cutest TaeTae.”

              “Don’t tease me like that,” I pouted, placing a hand on my chest as my heartrate settled down.

              Tiffany continued smiling, but again, I could feel the atmosphere becoming more somber. “Taeyeon, I’m going to be honest: if you ever want that from me, you should find someone else. I—”

              “I don’t care about that,” I hastily replied, cutting her off, “I don’t mind remaining a the rest of my life for you.”

              Tiffany cracked a smile that eventually erupted into laughter. “I never thought someone would be so proud to in stating a resolution to being a for the rest of her life,” she said, taking the chopsticks I had settled on the kimbap box and picking it up.

              “Ah, you two are so cute I want to throw up,” Jessica commented, “I want a partner too.”

              “That’s your fault though! Haven’t you been on a lot of dates? I thought that most of the guys were nice, but you always ended up cutting things off,” I said.

              “Your standards are too high, Jessi,” Tiffany added.

              “What, so you two are just going to team up on me like that? That’s no fair, I thought you were my friend Taeyeon…”

              I simply smiled, Tiffany replying by saying, “I think I should be able to help set up a date with someone I know really well.”

              I cocked my head, looking at Tiffany. According to Sooyoung, if I remembered properly, Tiffany didn’t have many friends; if I assumed those three were her only friends, then would she be talking about one of them? Or maybe a frequent customer who came to her workplace a lot?

              “I don’t think—”

              “Trust me on this one, ok? I used to be your girlfriend after all, I know exactly what your type is,” Tiffany said, turning to look at me. I smiled, unsure of how else to respond: was she doing this for me, knowing that I would be put more at ease knowing Jessica had a boyfriend—or girlfriend—to take care of her?

              Jessica started to protest, but abruptly stopped, seeming to have picked up on something. “Are you sure?”

              “Yeah, I think she’ll appreciate it.”

              I stared at the two of them. “Are you two telepaths or something? Why am I being left out?”

              Tiffany chuckled and patted my knee. “It’s ok, you’ll know soon enough.”

              I turned to Jessica, but she only offered me an empathetic smile. What was up with these two?

-insert stereotypical ‘omg schoolwork REEE excuse here-

But yeah. Finals are coming up relatively soon, so the next chapter might take some time as well. Also, this story is (sort of) coming to an end; my first plans for this story was to be done with 30ish chapters, but now it’s looking like it’ll be a bit more. I think it’d be nice to end on chapter 39, but I won’t be rushing the story just for that ^_^ (although I might drag it out a little if I must)

There’s a few details that I won’t be explicitly revealing, but will be deducible from previous chapters. Those details aren’t significant to the plot, but they’re like little Easter Eggs, I guess. Specifics about Tiffany’s mother’s death is one thing I plan on more explicitly revealing, I think, as there hasn’t been enough on what exactly happened.

Anyway, there’s chapter 30. What do you think? What was with that exchange between Tiffany and Jessica?

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 or updates on my process on the newest chapter, then go ahead and give it a like/follow! :D