Chapter 8

Darkness welcomed Tiffany when she opened the door to her apartment. Exhaustion was evident on her face as she switched on the light and took off her shoes. She immediately sat on the couch and closed her eyes. It has been a long day and all she wanted to do right now was to fill her empty stomach and to lie on the comfort of her bed.

After a few minutes of sitting still and enjoying the comfort of her couch, Tiffany heard her stomach growled finally forcing her to move and prepare something to eat but she suddenly stopped on her tracks upon realizing that she haven't got the the time to do her grocery shopping thus making her fridge almost empty. She also had forgotten to stop by a restaurant on her way home as she was in hurry to leave the office earlier.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to settle for ramen tonight, she sighed as she went to her kitchen.

Tiffany sat down on the kitchen stool and waited for the water to boil. While waiting, she checked her phone and replied to some messages and emails. After that, she browsed through her sns as she haven't seen it the whole day. She was casually scrolling her timeline when an article caught her attention that stopped her from further browsing.

It was an article about how her boss closed another multimillion dollar deal with a foreign company wanting to enter the Korean market. Tiffany remembered how stressful the negotiation was to her boss that she always had to stay late and remind her boss to eat. She knew how happy Taeyeon was when the contract signing finally happened that she treated the whole team to an unlimited food and booze for dinner although her boss was not a drinker herself.

Exhaling loudly, Tiffany scolded herself upon realizing that she was thinking of work and Taeyeon again. How am I supposed to face her tomorrow? I shouldn't have checked on her, the brunette groaned and lay her head on the table as what happened resurface in her thoughts.

A few hours earlier...

Tiffany closed her eyes and braced for the impact of her fall but was surprised when she felt someone grabbed her. It effectively stopped her from falling to the hard floor but due to the force of the pull, she slammed against her boss who immediately caught her.

Taeyeon was holding her waist with one arm while the other was holding the back of her head protectively. Her arms were trapped between them so Tiffany could not move freely. She lifted her head from her boss' shoulder to thanked her for catching her. She turned a little but froze when she realized how close they were, that if she moved her head a little bit more her lips could probably land on Taeyeon's cheek.

Embarrased at their position, Tiffany could feel her face burning along with the fast beating of her heart. What's making it worsed is that she can feel the blonde's breath fanning her neck. It made her feel emotions she could not named as it was the first time she felt such emotions.

"Are you okay Miss Hwang?"  Taeyeon asked the brunette, loosening her hold on her.

"Miss Hwang?" She heard Taeyeon called her but she was too busy calming her raging heart to respond as she was afraid that her boss would hear it. 

Inhale... Exhale... Inhale... Exhale... Tiffany chanted in her head as she tried to calmed herself. Taeyeon turned to face her startling the hell out of her.  She instinctively stepped backwards but her heels caught on her bag which she had dropped earlier causing her lose her balance once again.

Seeing her secretary stumbling, Taeyeon tried to grab Tiffany. A gushed of adrenaline helped Taeyeon catch Tiffany just before her face lands on the floor. As Taeyeon was steadying herself while holding Tiffany, she accidentally hit the back of her knee on the chair at her back causing her to stumbled backwards and fell on it with Tiffany on top of her.

Breathing heavily, Tiffany opened her eyes and it immediately widened upon seeing an equally wide eyed Taeyeon looking back at her. She was lying on top of her boss but what embarassed her the most was that her lips was planted on the side of Taeyeon's lips making her eyes, if possible, even bigger than it's current state.

Both women were just staring at each other, hearts beating rapidly but harmoniously, still frozen on their spot not even realizing that a minute had passed since they were in that awkward position.

" Chairman?" A voice called followed by several knocks on the door caused Tiffany to immediately moved away from Taeyeon. She glanced at the blonde who was not bothered by the knocks and who looked like in deep thoughts.

" Ah...hmm..." Face still flushed from what happened, Tiffany cleared . "I think that's your driver Chairman."

Not hearing a response, Tiffany turned to looked at Taeyeon and called her louder this time, "Chairman Kim?"

Holding her lips while still in dazed Taeyeon answered not sparing a glance at Tiffany,"Oh, what is it?"

"Ehem...Your driver is here. I'll head out first Chairman." She bowed not having the courage to look at Taeyeon in the eye.

"But-"

Tiffany grabbed her bag and quickly made her way towards the door not waiting for whatever her boss was about to say. The driver greeted her when she opened the door but she was such in a hurry that she was not able to greet him back leaving the driver confused as she was always been friendly with him. She went straight to the elevator that will take her away from the sight of her boss.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell. Not expecting anyone at this hour, Tiffany ignored the sound thinking that her neighbor was drunk and got the wrong door again, it's not first time that this has happened so she just let it be.

The ringing continued for about a minute then followed by several knocks that finally irritated the brunette. She turned off the stove before walking to the front door. Who could that be? She thought as she looked at the peephole,

Tiffany was surprised to see that something was blocking her sight. Cautiously, she slightly opened the door, poked her head and was greeted by the sight of a smiling Sooyoung holding a paper bag of her favorite restaurant.

"Hey Soo! What are you doing here?" She smiled while opening the door widely but then she was shocked when the door finally opened to see her brother Leo, smiling just a few feet away from her.

"Hi Steph! Wouldn't you give your brother a hug?"

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