“Taeyeon, over here!”

              Seeing Sooyoung wave at with such enthusiasm, rising from the booth inside the quaint café while Sunny joined her, Seohyun pretending like she didn’t know the women sitting across from her, just naturally put a smile to my face. I was apprehensive about this meeting at first considering the only connection I had with them was Tiffany, who was working at the present, but pulled myself here because of the importance of this meeting.

              “Hi Sooyoung, Sunny, Seohyun,” I greeted them, bowing but catching myself after remembering Sunny’s berating of this action when we previously met.

              “Hi unnie,” Seohyun greeted brightly, grasping my hand as I took the spot next to her. “It’s nice to finally have a normal person here. Those two just now were trying to decide which deserts or bread best describe the people in the café.”

              “Oh, how about Taeyeon?” Sunny proposed to Sooyoung.

              Sooyoung instantly replied with a knowing grin, saying, “That’s easy. She’s strawberry-flavored ice cream: sweet, always welcome, and loved by Tiffany.”

              “Ooh, that’s surprisingly smart from you,” Sunny replied, applauding in awe.

              “Yah, stop implying I’m dumb!” Sooyoung whined, pushing a laughing Sunny.

              “Anyway, let’s talk about what we’re here for now that Taeyeon arrived,” Seohyun, ever the diligent one, suggested. “Do you know of anyone else Tiffany might want at her party?”

              I shook my head: there was Jessica, but she had gone back to America the previous day. I offered to send her off, but she denied me, reminding me that we would meet again shortly since school was about to resume. “The only person I can possibly think of is her manager,” I answered.

              “We asked her already but she declined,” Sunny informed me, “I think she said that she was going to be busy with work on that day.”

              “Oh, actually, what about her?” Sooyoung proposed.

              “What? Oh, you mean Tiffany’s manager?”

              “Stop already,” Seohyun insisted, a smile creeping onto my face. The fact that this happened, that I found myself smiling so easily in the company of people I’ve spent less than 20 hours with, made me proud of my improvement, but at the same time brought to light the secondary effect of bringing Tiffany over with me to America: this trio of friends would lose her, and her them. Did they know of Tiffany’s imminent departure? It could just be that this was one of those things that was awkward to tell her friends out of the blue, or maybe she didn’t have the time yet; after all, it wasn’t too long ago that Tiffany decided to move to America with me.

              “Well, let’s order first at least.”

              “Didn’t you eat a snack right before leaving?”

              Sooyoung looked at Sunny. “So? What’s your point?”

              Sunny sighed. “It’s so unfair. How can you eat so much and still be an actress?”

              Sooyoung smirked and flicked her hair in an overly dramatic fashion. “What can I say? My mom gave me good genes.”

              “You can order for yourself, I’m not going to have anything,” Seohyun chimed in.

              “I’m not going to have anything either,” I followed suit.

              In the face of our answers, Sooyoung’s face turned wistful as she turned to Sunny. “You’re not going to make me eat by myself, are you?”

              “You can take your good genes and order some flavored sugar for yourself,” Sunny replied, Sooyoung subsequently grabbing hold of the shorter woman’s arm.

              “Whyy?” she moaned, trying to drag Sunny out of the booth with her.

              “Yah, I’m not—” Sunny gritted her teeth as she struggled against Sooyoung, “I’m dieting right now, I don’t need any more fat.”

              “Doesn’t it all go to your chest anyway?”

              Sooyoung ran out of Sunny’s reach before she could punch the laughing girl. “What are you saying?”

              “Is that a bad thing? Maybe you could actually get a boyfriend if—”

              “Yah, Sooyoung, you really want to get hit right now, don’t you,” Sunny cut her off with a threat.

              “Ah, sorry, I’ll go now,” Sooyoung bowed in response and walked off towards the café’s counter.

              “Now that she’s gone, we can finally talk about what we’re doing for Tiffany’s birthday, huh?”

              Seohyun and I shared a brief exchange before Seohyun replied, “Unnie, Sooyoung acts like the way she does because you enable her; isn’t that the case?” I was glad that Seohyun said that because my thoughts regard their dynamic was exactly that. From what I could tell, while Sooyoung was definitely the more crazy one, it was Sunny’s reactions that drove Sooyoung to keep acting the way she does. She was an actress after all, maybe her desire to entertain extended to normal, real-life interactions as well.

              “Ah, maybe you’re right,” Sunny responded, smiling. “Anyway, I have a really good idea. Taeyeon, listen to this, ok? You—”

              “I have a bad feeling about this, unnie,” Seohyun interrupted, again voicing my thoughts.

              “No, trust me; hear me out on this, ok? We all know that Tiffany loves Taeyeon more than anything in the world—probably more than the color pink at this point—so isn’t this the perfect opportunity? To present Taeyeon as a gift for her?”

              A concerned gaze formed in Seohyun’s eyes, an unsettling feeling in my stomach settling in as a result. Still, my curiosity got the better of me. “What do you mean?”

              “Well, you know. Present yourself as a gift: wait at home for her in nothing but a ribbon and—”

              “Wait,” I interrupted her, a blush creeping up on my cheeks in the face of the unexpected attack, “What? Nothing but a ribbon? Why would she want to see something like that?”

              Sunny pursed her lips in a brief moment of thought. “Knowing her, she’d love to see something like that. Who knows, maybe it would inspire her so much that she would get over her trauma over .”

              I couldn’t do anything but gape at the calm woman sitting across from me, my face igniting in a fierce inferno as images ran rampant inside my mind. “Wha—what? Why would I—? I wouldn’t—I mean, I’m not y or anything, and I don’t have a good body so—”

              “What, are you going to tell me that she’s never fantasized about you? That she’s never mastur—”

              “Ok, moving onto the next idea,” Seohyun interrupted Sunny, something that barely registered to me as a fresh set of images whizzed through my brain. Oh god, this couldn’t be healthy for my mental health, or my heart for that matter. Has Tiffany ever done that before? I mean, it was pretty normal to do that kind of stuff, right? But would it be to me?

              “Think about it though,” Sunny added.

              “Don’t mind her, she’s just a ert. I don’t think we should do another surprise event; maybe some type of activity, like bowling or something? Or maybe we could just go to her apartment and hang out there, make some dinner or something.”

              While Seohyun continued, Sooyoung joining a bit after with an adorable bunny-shaped cake set on top of a nice little plate, my mind kept snapping back to that idea Sunny proposed. If there was finally a way I could help Tiffany, if doing that wrapping-myself-in-ribbons idea could really help Tiffany overcome a trauma as a result of her past experiences, then I really should do it, right? Especially considering all that she’s helped me? Plus, if it would make her happy, then shouldn’t that be all the reason to do it?

              It took me all the way until the morning of her birthday that I finally managed to fully mentally prepare myself: the embarrassment, how Tiffany might react, … even if it led to , I told myself that I was ready for that eventuality, should it come.

              Tiffany departed on her afternoon shift on Friday—apparently, she demanded to go to work on her birthday despite her manager’s pushback, saying that she needed to make up for two weeks ago when she cancelled her shift last-minute twice in one week. I took advantage of her not being home to browse the internet—in incognito mode—to look up ways to go about executing Sunny’s plan.

              After an hour of hyperventilating in front of the mirror, a roll of pink ribbon in hand, only clad in my underwear, and an hour further carefully wrapping the ribbon around myself, making sure to cover all my private areas adequately, I laid down on Tiffany’s bed and waited, heart pounding mercilessly against my ribcage. A million doubts entered my mind as I sat in silence, my thoughts eating away at my confidence. Just as I decided to get up and dress myself, the door creaked open.

              “Taeyeon?” Tiffany’s sweet voice came from the other side of the door as I rushed back onto the bed as silently as I could, my heart leaping out of my body at this point. Was I really doing this? Would Tiffany honestly like this kind of a ‘present’ from me? I don’t know—maybe if I had a good body like Jessica, but I didn’t have much to show.

              “Taeyeon? Are you here?” Tiffany continued, her footsteps nearing. I bit my lip, fearing my overpowering anxiety would inadvertently cause a strange noise to escape my mouth. What would I do if she didn’t like it? Should I just shift the blame to Sunny—no, it was ultimately me who decided to do this, even against the better judgement of Seohyun.

              My heart leapt out of my chest as I heard the door to Tiffany’s bedroom open. “Taeyeon?” she repeated, flicking on the light. I nervously looked at her, trying to smile as much as I was allowed to.

              “H-Happy birthday, Fany,” I managed to stutter out as her eyes widened. I could see her eyes scanning my body, her lips parting in shock, forming a nice ‘o’ shape. “I’m your p-present … do you l-like it?” my voice was so timid that I almost couldn’t believe it was my own, but luckily, Tiffany seemed to hear it anyway as her glazed-over eyes regained focus.

              “I love it,” she replied in a husky voice, walking over to me. My hands were covering my s while a couple of ribbons wrapped around my arms, stomach, legs, and most importantly hid my nether regions—I had made sure to shave as cleanly as possible just in case—but as Tiffany neared, I felt the strength in my hands weakening. Her fierce gaze that pierced my soul, the confident manner in which she walked towards me, the sly smirk playing on her lips … everything about her seemed to just drain my strength as I desperately tried to hold myself together.

              Was it going to happen? Would Tiffany get over her trauma—or in other words, were we going to…? But how was I going to do? What was I going to do? How could I, a complete who had only watched once, but only because I was tricked by Jessica, please my partner?

              Tiffany climbed onto the bed, at which I started to feel my body shaking in nervousness and embarrassment. “I didn’t know you had it in you to be this y, Taeyeon,” she said, trapping my legs in between her own.

              “I-I didn’t either,” I tried for a smile, my voice meek and barely audible.

              She smiled, a ginger finger dancing on the backside of the hands that were covering my s. “You’re so adorable TaeTae, even like this. Can I take a picture?”

              “N-No!”

              Tiffany pouted, an action that almost immediately caused me to take back my words. “Well how else am I going to enjoy my present then?”

              I froze. Now that Tiffany brought it up, she was right. There were only two ways that this kind of a ‘present’ could be enjoyed—well, three, although the third sort of lacked the impact a gift should: one, that Tiffany would be able to take a picture or record a video; two, that this would eventually lead to … well, that; three, that she just accepted this as a momentary thing and enjoy having the memory of it.

              I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for the first option, and Tiffany definitely deserved more than just a memory … so, weirdly enough, as much of a fear-ridden, anxiety-ridden I was, I chose to present the second option. “W-Well, I don’t really know… I guess I just thought that we would…” the rest of the words lodged themselves in the back of my throat. Damnit Taeyeon, how could I be mentally prepared to do the deed if I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words?

              “Mm,” Tiffany pondered, biting her lip in an excessively y manner that, were I any more aggressive, definitely would’ve caused me to pounce on her, “It’s tempting, it really is. I don’t think I can bring myself to do it though.”

              The disappointment upon hearing that must have shown on my face, because Tiffany continued with, “But maybe that would change if you moved your hands.”

              The ridiculous thing about her proposal was that I almost accepted it. If it was to help Tiffany overcome a dark point in her past, then I should be willing to help her no matter what. It was when Tiffany smiled that I realized she was joking. “Were you actually considering it? Oh my gosh, you’re just the cutest Taeyeon,” she said, embracing me in a quick hug. Perhaps it was because of the situation, but I couldn’t help but notice the back of my hand pressed against Tiffany’s matured bosom in the brief embrace. “I’m sorry Taeyeon, but it’s just too hard for me. Honestly, I don’t know when I’ll be ready, but I’ll let you know as soon as I am, ok?”

              “T-There’s no need for that,” I replied, only causing Tiffany to smile more. I was stuck: on one hand, I was secretly relieved that the situation wasn’t going to progress any further because as much as I wanted to tell myself I was ready, in my heart of hearts, I knew that I wasn’t. On the other hand, I was disappointed in myself: if I was more confident, if my body was more appealing, I could’ve helped Tiffany with her trauma even faster. Part of it was my pride being wounded, despite anticipating such a reaction, but most of it was a dissatisfaction in myself.

              Tiffany, seeming to have picked up on this, said, “It’s not that you’re not y enough, trust me. Even I didn’t know how much restraint I’m using; do you want me to show you?”

              “Wh-What?” I exclaimed, already having released my ‘prepared’ mindset.

              Tiffany placed her hands on mine, me desperately gripping onto the soft skin underneath. “This whole time, I could do nothing but think about how much I wanted to pull these hands off, how much I wanted to feel your skin underneath the palms of my hands, how much I wanted to feel the ribbons in between your legs, but in the end, I stopped myself because I was afraid you would hate me for it.”

              “Why would I hate you?” It genuinely made no sense to me, logically and emotionally. If I was the one who chose to do this, which is quite obvious considering the circumstances of the situation, then I should know what kinds of things could follow. On top of that, I’ve never shown disdain for Tiffany teasing me in such a manner before: I’ve displayed resistance against her performing such actions, but never the actions themselves. Maybe it was this distinction that planted the seed of doubt for her?

              “Well, it’s so unlike you to do this, so I thought that maybe you got pressured into doing this,” she explained, sitting upright.

              Feeling like it wasn’t my place to reveal that this was originally Sunny’s idea, I just replied with, “Well, I thought that if I did this, I could help you get over your past trauma with it and … um, yeah.”

              Tiffany just smiled in response. “You’re such an angel Taeyeon; you know, actually, I wonder what that’s like.”

              Confused, I asked, “What?”

              “Having with an angel.”

              I felt my face erupt into a deep crimson, all my efforts in strengthening my mental fortitude vanished in the face of Tiffany’s seeming de-escalation of the situation.

              “What say the angel? Is she interested?”

              “N-No!” the words came out before I really had a chance to think.

              “Aw, that’s too bad. In that case, you should get dressed before I change my mind and end up taking you anyway,” she said, getting off me and walking out the bedroom.

              The tightness in my chest, that evidently was present throughout the whole ordeal, finally released as she went through the door. Obeying Tiffany’s orders, I dressed myself and made sure to dispose of the ribbons in the trashcan in Tiffany’s room just as an extra measure of security. Just about an hour later, the trio arrived at the door with Sooyoung and Sunny holding a bag each, Sunny evidently disappointed when she saw the two of us greet them.

              However, she somehow snuck into the bedroom while I wasn’t paying attention because shortly after, she walked up to me with a triumphant smile. “So you ended up doing my idea after all?”

              Panicked, I looked over at Tiffany, who thankfully was preoccupied with Sooyoung in keeping the cake batter away from her to have noticed anything. “What do you mean?” I attempted to lie despite my initial reaction to her words.

              “Don’t lie, I saw some ribbons in the trashcan in Tiffany’s room,” Sunny claimed.

              “Wait, unnie, you really did it? You did Sunny’s idea?” Seohyun said, evidently shocked with a hint of disappointment.

              “W-Well … I thought I could help her with her past, and I thought it would make her happy, so … yeah, I decided to do it…” I admitted in a low voice.

              “How was it?” Sunny pressed on.

              “How was what?”

              “The . How was it?”

              I nearly dropped the knife I was holding. “What are you talking about?” I whispered, again peering over at Tiffany who thankfully didn’t seem to notice yet, “We didn’t do that.”

              Sunny looked genuinely shocked at that. “Really? Wow, I underestimated Tiffany…”

              “Unnie, stop talking and start helping,” Seohyun insisted, handing her a bag of sweet potatoes, “Bake these, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

              “Who are you giving the easy task to? It’s Sooyoung who can’t cook,” Sunny protested, taking the bag anyway.

              “Then you can switch places with Sooyoung,” she offered.

              “No! I refuse to give up my cake-tasting—I mean, my cake-making rights,” she said as Sunny approached her.

              “Tiffany, who do you prefer?” Sunny posed.

              “Sunny,” she instantly answered.

              “Tiffany, you’re just going to betray me like that?” Sooyoung whined.

              “Well at least Sunny won’t be trying to constantly sneak her finger into the cake batter.”

              “You think you can do anything you want just because its your birthday. Fine, I’ll do the sweet potatoes then.”

              After I helped Sunny with the ingredients for the Korean tofu stew, I went to help Tiffany finish the cake and left the decoration to Seohyun while we switched to making the Korean spicy pork, Sooyoung relegated to the rice and side dish duty. As Tiffany and I were making the Korean spicy pork, Jessica video called Tiffany and wished her a happy birthday, conveying her excitement for when we would come back to America. Apparently, Tiffany had already told the trio beforehand as they didn’t even so much as blink when Jessica mentioned the fact.

              After we finished dinner, we played a few rounds of a modified version of Jenga that had questions to be answered written on each block. Surprisingly, the game went pretty smoothly, probably because the questions were relatively tame. Sunny and Sooyoung tried to spice it up by making up their own questions, but Seohyun, Tiffany, and I shut them down, which honestly surprised me a bit since I thought Tiffany would be on Sunny and Sooyoung’s side.

              A few rounds of that followed by enjoying some of the birthday cake—in which everyone else pressured me into kissing Tiffany on the cheek, which I eventually did, Tiffany returning the favor shortly after in her excitement—the three presented their gifts to Tiffany. Sunny and Sooyoung thought it would be funny to get her a pink, double-ended and a black-leather, skintight dominatrix outfit (that was supposedly for me) while Seohyun, bless her soul, presented a cute couple-set of pillowcases as well as a picture of a custom-made blanket with our names embroidered on it, both in Korean and in English, along with cute caricatures surrounding both names that she had prepared and stored away in her room, wanting to keep her gift a surprise. Tiffany happily accepted all of them, which honestly caused for a great deal of concern for me, and we transitioned into watching movies for the rest of the night.

              A few days later, after Tiffany finished packing, her father having gone back to America around the same time as Jessica, we departed from Korea to our apartment in California.

Hey everyone, sorry this chapter is late :c summer classes started recently, and although the homework isn’t that bad, I’ve sorta been unmotivated to write in that time. I spent my first week back writing the first chapter for a short story that I’m planning on writing after this (featuring an OC and Red Velvet’s Irene), but I couldn’t really bring myself to write this for some reason.

So, after much delay, here’s chapter 37! T-minus 2 chapters until the last one :c I’ll try to update the next chapter in a more timely manner, although it’s probably gonna be two weeks until I’ll be able to get that one out.

As always, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

P.S. check out my facebook page at https://fb.me/affkesujo :D I have a fun fact about this chapter posted along with the chapter's link.