”So what? You’re saying you’d rather be alone?” Tiffany questioned leaning back on her chair disappointment tinting her voice.

 

“Well. Yes, I guess…”

 

“I don’t… well alright then. I’ll just go with Hyoyeon.”

 

Tiffany got off her chair and pushed it back under the table. She hadn’t finished her breakfast and didn’t feel like doing so either. Her wish and hope was that they could have gone together, but apparently this wasn’t an option anymore. She didn’t want to spend time with her.

 

Picking her bag up Tiffany didn’t even glance at the tiny figure still seated at the table as she strutted off out of the dining hall into the hallway of the hotel. Whipping out her phone, she was about to text Hyoyeon when she noticed the girl already standing around in the lobby.

 

“Hey, so you’re ready to go?” Tiffany asked Hyoyeon as she approached her. The blonde was wrapped in a huge green jacket and oversized scarf, prepared for the cold that waited for them outside.

 

“Huh, where’s Taeyeon?”

 

“She didn’t want to come.”

 

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Hyoyeon replied as she began to walk towards the exit of the hotel. Tiffany stopped on her tracks staring at the back of the eluding blonde girl. What was that about? Her expression turned into a frown she called Hyoyeon out with a slightly annoyed tone.

 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

 

Hyoyeon turned around to look at Tiffany surprised to see her with such a fowl expression on her face.

 

“If you would like to take a look outside you’d understand,” Hyoyeon pointed behind her and Tiffany followed the length of Hyoyeon’s arm to see the view outside.

 

It wasn’t the cold and windy weather alone but the amount of people that were waiting for them photographing and filming, ready to stalk, that proved Hyoyeon’s point. Taeyeon was always bad with pictures and disliked being incessantly photographed.

 

Tiffany felt dumb for lashing out at Hyoyeon, she never hurt her members. She was the reason they could all laugh and smile. It wasn’t like Hyoyeon knew what had happened during breakfast. And while Hyoyeon’s point was valid Tiffany knew that the crowd outside wasn’t the only reason that Taeyeon didn’t want to tag along. It still wasn’t Hyoyeon’s fault that Taeyeon…

 

“I’m sorry Hyo, it’s just…” Tiffany sighed, her head dropping down to look at the floral floor tiles of the hotel lobby. “I don’t even know anymore…”

 

Hyoyeon walked over to Tiffany and lifted her chin, smiling at the mushroom in her usual way.

 

“Smile for me Tiffany. It’s what you are best at.”

 

Tiffany looked at Hyoyeon a careful smile spreading across her lips, her eyes dipping into two crescents and she gave her friend a hug.

 

“What would we do without you Hyo?” She said as the two walked towards the front doors.

 

“You wouldn’t,” she replied eliciting a laugh from Tiffany for the first time that morning.

 

 

------------

 

 

Taeyeon let her head rest on the dining table next to her plate. The omelette she had ordered was half eaten and the baguette was in the same state. She had lost her appetite. Sometimes she wondered what was wrong with her. Somehow she managed to turn perfectly normal and happy situations into something else, make them depressing and odd.

 

The morning had started perfectly fine and Tiffany and her met up at breakfast as agreed so that they could go out to explore the city together with Hyoyeon. The blonde had already gotten up earlier and was going to meet them at the lobby when they planned to head out.

 

Tiffany and Taeyeon had started eating and somehow their conversation had delved on the topic of loneliness and how Taeyeon felt like she was alone. That had been fine, but the remark she made concerning the issue was what had ruined the moment.

 

Tiffany told her that she was not alone and that she had her sisters. She was especially surprised that Taeyeon felt alone and asked her how this was possible. Taeyeon mentioned her family and how she felt bad that she had not been able to be with them as much lately and that she missed them. It was the loneliness she felt since her family was so far away.

 

Now Taeyeon realized what she said had been very hurtful. It had hurt Tiffany deeply since her family lived so far away and she got to meet them even less than her. The eight sisters Taeyeon had were her family most of the time and she treasured it. There was no other way she would have it. But her slip of the tongue made it seem like she didn’t.

 

When Tiffany heard Taeyeon’s reasons for loneliness, Tiffany told her that she was among family all the time and continued on by saying how the other eight were her family; she had no reason to feel so lonely. It was then when Taeyeon slipped the words. ”I mean my real family, not a made-…“

 

Taeyeon sighed. She was glad she hadn’t finished the sentence but the idea was out there. She didn’t mean it the way she said it but it was too late to take it back at that point.

 

Tiffany had been rendered silent, slightly ajar from shock and Taeyeon could see the tear forming in Tiffany’s eye as moist built up at her eyelids and her eyes were dangerously close to becoming red and engulfed in tears. Tiffany couldn’t understand how Taeyeon could say such a thing. She was hurt and so asked her.

 

“So what? You’re saying you’d rather be alone?”

 

No doubt after the comment Taeyeon made Tiffany felt like she wasn’t enough for her when this was definitely not the case. Tiffany was more than enough for her. She was… well, all that she really needed in the end. But those words had been said and Taeyeon felt like a total jerk.

 

Leaning back on her chair Taeyeon let her head rest on the back and closed her eyes. She let out another long sigh and felt like punching herself.

 

“Why the pained expression?”

 

Taeyeon opened her eyes and saw Sunny standing across the table. She had her black cotton jacket on and was ready to go out.

 

“I screwed up,” Taeyeon scrunched her face up as she said it. Truly screwed up.

 

“What did you do?” Sunny asked as she pulled the seat across the table and sat down. She popped her elbows on the table and let her head rest in her little hands, looking at Taeyeon who really didn’t feel like sharing but at this moment there really was no other option. And besides, Sunny was her family and family took care of each other.

 

“I kind of let it slip that, or more like almost let slip, or halfway slipped, I mean…”

 

Sunny’s eyes kept on looking at her. She had a slight smile on her lips and was in a good mood. Taeyeon didn’t want to ruin their little bunny’s mood, her statement would hurt Sunny too if she said it. As if reading her mind Sunny’s smile spread wider, her eyes forming two perfect crescents and her lips pulled back to reveal her gums as they did when she had a full blown smile that came from the bottom of her heart.

 

“You said it was a slip up so if it was you can say it. I know you didn’t mean to,” Sunny encouraged Taeyeon whose, so far, almost constipated expression loosened and her right cheek tightened into a slight smile.

 

“I accidentally implied that us, as in us eight, and me and Tiffany that we aren’t a real family but instead a made up one…” Taeyeon started confidently but the end of her sentence was almost a whisper and her head turned down to look at the table. Just saying it again made her feel ashamed. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that at all. I don’t think like that at all.”

 

Sunny’s eyes had opened slightly wider in surprise but she quickly regained her composure and let another smile grace her lips. Taeyeon peered upwards with her head still downturned to see how Sunny had reacted and was surprised and very relieved that Sunny was smiling and seemed to take it the right way; an accidental thoughtless slip up.

 

“Now that is quite the slip up,” Sunny jeered and Taeyeon looked at her. Her eyebrows dipped down at an angle, and with her expression asked Sunny to not . Sunny let out her usual cute giggle and looked at Taeyeon.

 

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be joking. But there isn’t much we can do here by moping around can we?”

 

Sunny got up from the chair and walked next to Taeyeon who questioned her with her eyes. Sunny reached out her hand and took hold of Taeyeon’s sleeve, tugging at it. “Come on partner; let’s go out to see the world and when we get back you can apologize okay?”

 

Sunny kept on tugging at her sleeve and Taeyeon let out a sigh of defeat before standing up. Sunny’s smile spread wider because of this and she reached out enveloping Taeyeon into a hug. Taeyeon’s hands floated in the air for a moment before they rested on Sunny’s back. She felt nice and warm.

 

“It’s alright Taengoo. We’ll clear it up okay?” Sunny let go of Taeyeon and pulled back her smile still beaming as bright as the sun. Taeyeon squinted, the smile was too bright. Her eyes hurt.

 

“Thank you, Sunny.”

 

“Any time Taeyeon, we’re family after all.”

 

Sunny reached her hand out and Taeyeon took hold of it before the two marched out of the dining hall, ready to leave the hotel and see what the city was like. At least exploring would take Taeyeon’s mind off of things until she had to confront Tiffany again.

 

 

------------  

 

 

“Oh would you look at those shoes! They look so beautiful!” Tiffany exclaimed as she walked by another shop eyeing at the expensive footwear through the shops window. Hyoyeon arrived next to Tiffany and as the smiling girl turned around to face the blonde, the latter shook her head.

 

“Fany, you’ve already bought quite a lot and buying more won’t solve the issue with Taeyeon.”

 

The bright smile on Tiffany’s face faded as she looked at Hyoyeon. The blonde’s eyebrows were lowered and she had a sympathetic look on her face. A small smile adorned her lips and she put her hand on Tiffany’s shoulder. “You’ll have to face her today and no amount of buying is going to change that.”

 

Tiffany nodded her head in defeat. She walked forward and into Hyoyeon, the latter putting her arm around Tiffany’s shoulder around her back and pulled her in for a hug.

 

Tiffany was grateful for her friend, her sister. After the run in with Taeyeon that morning she felt horrible and Hyoyeon had been there to cheer her up and comfort her. She had brought her to the mall to shop and get her mind off of things. Although she was pretty sure that Taeyeon didn’t mean what she had almost accidentally said she couldn’t believe that such words could have even reached her lips. Since she almost said it Taeyeon must have been thinking about it right? That the family of eight was just made up, that the two of them were…

 

Hyoyeon could feel how Tiffany’s muscles tightened in anxiety and knew that she was once again thinking about the incident that morning. She herself had woken up before the two and since her roommate was Seohyun who was long gone earlier that morning she was going to have breakfast alone. Luckily Sunny had been up early too and she met her at the breakfast tables and the two had enjoyed it together. She had told Sunny about the trios’ plans for the day and Sunny had told her that if they felt like it maybe later on they could go catch a movie together. Hyoyeon said she would text her if they decided to do so.

 

She had met Tiffany and Taeyeon on her way back to her room as the pair had woken up and made their way to eat breakfast. They said they would be ready in half an hour so Hyoyeon had taken a quick shower before heading down to find out that she was going alone with Tiffany out to explore the city.

 

“It’ll be fine. I’ll make sure that everything will run smoothly.”

 

Hyoyeon looked at Tiffany who lifted her head up and smiled at Hyoyeon.

 

“Thank you for today, Hyoyeon. I don’t know how I would have managed it alone.”

 

“We were meant to go out anyways. It’s not like I did anything other than planned,” the blonde responded. She felt her pocket vibrate and heard her message notice go off. Letting go of Tiffany she reached in her pocket and fished out her phone. Tiffany turned back around to adore the shoes through the shop window. She wanted them so much. They were beautiful.

 

Hyoyeon swiped the phone screen to unlock it. It was a message from Sunny. Apparently she and Taeyeon were on their way to the mall to go watch the movie ‘New Year’s Eve’ and they had two tickets. The show was going to start in half an hour. Hyoyeon knew what she had to do.

 

“Fany-ah, wanna go watch a movie together?” Hyoyeon asked. Tiffany turned around breaking eye contact with the shoe. It just wasn’t their time to be together.

 

“Hmmm, yeah sure why not. Would give me something else to think about,” Tiffany gave a sad smile and eyed the marble floor tiles once again. “What movie were you thinking of?”

 

“When we came here I saw ‘New Year’s Eve’ was running. I really want to see that!” Hyoyeon smiled wide forming her trademark v-shape as her eyes disappeared into two tiny slits. She jumped a few times in place acting excited which made Tiffany smile in return.

 

“Okay sounds good to me. Where’s the theatre?” Tiffany smiled at her little excited blonde.

 

“Upstairs on the top floor, let’s get going!”

 

Hyoyeon reached out and started pulling the eye-smiling girl whose eyes had disappeared into two similar slits like Hyoyeon had. Hyoyeon was their group’s happy drug. As the two eye-smilers made their way towards the top floor, it looked like the blind leading the blind since you couldn’t see their eyes as they smiled away. At the theatre entrance Hyoyeon stopped and turned around to face Tiffany.

 

“Fany, why don’t you go get us some snacks and I’ll buy the tickets?”

 

“Why don’t we both buy them? And wouldn’t it be better for me to buy the tickets?”

 

“No time. The show starts soon so we need to split the tasks and I need to practice my English. Now go! I can handle this,” Hyoyeon smiled confidently as she shooed Tiffany off towards the movie snack shop.

 

“Alright, it’s your fault if we get tickets to the wrong show!” Tiffany poked her tongue out jokingly before walking off to the snack stand.

 

Hyoyeon walked towards the ticket stand and when she knew she was out of Tiffany’s view she whipped out her phone once again. There was another text message from Sunny. Taeyeon and Sunny had arrived at the mall, but she made Taeyeon go buy her a drink from one of the shops downstairs, while she pretended to go buy the movie tickets. She was going to meet Hyoyeon in front of the ticket lines.

 

Hyoyeon put the phone back into her pocket and eyed around nervously.

 

“Come ooon, Sunny where are you?”

 

“Boooo!”

 

“Yah!” Hyoyeon jumped forwards surprised by the shout and the two hands that landed on her shoulders.

 

“Haaaahaaha gotcha!” Sunny jeered giggling all the while.

 

“No time. Ticket please. Where is Taeyeon? I need to make sure she doesn’t see me.”

 

Sunny opened her bag and fished out a piece of card, Tiffany’s movie ticket. Sunny had requested one of their managers’ to buy the tickets for her earlier that day. She would give the second ticket to Taeyeon when it was time.

 

“Okay good, now go away, Fany is going to come soon. I’ll make her go into the movie theatre first while I pretend to go to the toilet. You bring Taeyeon in and do the same thing,” Hyoyeon explained as she began to push Sunny away.

 

“But I already went when we arrived,” Sunny pouted and whined, stomping her feet on the dark blue floor carpet that spanned the length of the movie theatre.

 

“Tell her you had too much to drink and need to go again or something. Now…” Hyoyeon looked over her shoulder and spotted Tiffany at the cashier making her payment for their movie snacks. “Leave!”

 

Hyoyeon pushed Sunny and kicked her in the to make her point. The latter rubbed her and scrunched up her nose faking a hurt expression, but soon her eyes widened open fully in surprise and she quickly turned around dashing along the hallway to the escalators that made their way down.

 

“Ready. Do you have the tickets?”

 

Hyoyeon turned around with surprised open eyes and looked at Tiffany. She tilted her head to the side questioningly before looking past Hyoyeon in the direction that Sunny had disappeared.

 

“What were you looking at?”

 

“Uhhhh… I thought I saw Brad Pitt but it wasn’t him,” Hyoyeon smiled, faking disappointment.

 

“What a pity. Would have been nice to bump into Brad Pitt,” Tiffany sighed earning a small punch from Hyoyeon.

 

“Hands off, he’s mine!”

 

Tiffany’s mouth went wide before she began laughing teasing the other girl. “You better not let Sooyoung hear that! I’ll tell her!”

 

“No you won’t!” Hyoyeon exclaimed before presenting Tiffany with her ticket. “You go ahead into the theatre; I have to go to the ladies room.”

 

“Oh, alright then.”

 

Tiffany tried to look for a spot to take the ticket in her hands which were full of her shopping bags and the snacks she had bought. Hyoyeon placed the ticket in Tiffany’s mouth instead.

 

“Go on, I’ll catch up.”

 

Tiffany nodded and began making her way into the theatre while Hyoyeon made her way towards the restrooms. When she saw Tiffany disappear into the corridor that lead into the various movie halls, she quickly fished out her phone and sent a message to Sunny.

 

Coast clear. Bring in the next victim.

 

Hyoyeon stayed by the restroom entrance eyeing towards the escalators. A few minutes later she saw two tiny women slowly drift into view. Sunny walked with Taeyeon to the front of the theatre and gave her ticket to the girl. She then said something to Taeyeon, probably giving the same excuse as Hyoyeon had used. Taeyeon nodded and made her way into the theatre as Sunny walked casually towards the restrooms while looking over her shoulder. When she knew that Taeyeon couldn’t see her, the little girl dashed towards the restrooms where Hyoyeon was waiting for her.

 

Hyoyeon came out of hiding and Sunny ran to her launching herself on the other girl. The two began jumping with excitement stopping their bouncing and looked towards the entrance of the theatre. Excited smiles of anticipation adorned their beautiful faces.

 

“Sunny, you’re such a bad girl,” Hyoyeon told the other letting out a laugh and slapping her on the shoulder.

 

Sunny eyed Hyoyeon with a wolfish grin. She bit her bottom lip and Hyoyeon’s smile faded and she looked bewildered instead.

 

“Oh, I’ll show you how bad I can be,” Sunny winked taking hold of Hyoyeon’s hand.

 

Hyoyeon’s mouth was stuck wide open and she felt her face flush red, the heat rising up through her body to her face. Sunny walked closer to Hyoyeon.

 

“Want to go back to the hotel? I don’t have a roommate you know. We can be as bad as we want…”

 

Hyoyeon had a hard time saying anything. was stuck open and she was mumbling incoherently as she felt another rush of blood reach her head.

 

“I… I… I have to pee,” she let go of Sunny’s hand and dashed into the restroom leaving Sunny standing alone with a cheeky grin on her face.

 

 

------------ 

 

 

Tiffany walked down the dark blue carpeted corridor looking at the various theatre halls that lined up along it. She realized now that she hadn’t asked Hyoyeon which hall it was she had to go to and with the ticket in it was impossible to see the numbers on the ticket. As she walked past one of the halls checking if it had the correct movie rolling one of the workers asked her if she needed help. She tried to eye at her ticket showing him to take it. The worker slowly pulled it out as Tiffany slightly parted her lips.

 

“Thank you. I don’t remember which hall my movie is rolling in and as you can see my hands are quite full,” Tiffany smiled at him, slightly embarrassed about the way she appeared at that moment.

 

“It appears it is in… theatre nine, it’s on the third floor, which would be up the stairs there and to your right.”

 

“Thank you very much.”

 

The worker wasn’t quite sure where to place the ticket and Tiffany opened so that the ticket could be put back into its place. She bowed slightly to the worker and walked off towards the stairs and made her way to theatre number nine.

 

She found the correct hall and made her way to it. The employee standing by the door of the hall found the situation slightly odd. He took the ticket out of Tiffany’s mouth to scan the ticket, clearing her in.

 

“Could you check what row and seat I’m in, I’m kind of full at the moment…” Tiffany asked the worker who looked at her ticket.

 

“Row nine and seat twenty-two.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

This time the worker slipped the ticket into one of Tiffany’s many bags and she continued off into the hall. She loved the fact that her theatre hall was number nine and that she was sitting on row nine, what a lovely coincidence. Sitting on seat nine would have given her horrible seats so she was glad it was a large number instead. Luckily there was nobody on her row and she didn’t have to try and shift past people sitting down with all her bags. It would have been a hassle and embarrassing, as she herself knew how annoying it could be.

 

She sat down on her seat placing her bags to her left so that when Hyoyeon came she could just sit down without having to move the bags to the side. Tiffany took a sip out of her drink before placing it into its rack on the armrest. As she had time to kill before the movie started, she wanted to ask Hyoyeon’s opinion on some clothes she had bought. When Tiffany had gone into the Victoria’s Secret shop Hyoyeon had disappeared somewhere else for a moment and Tiffany needed her opinion on the lingerie she had bought from there.

 

While she was rummaging through her bags to her left, she felt the whole row of seats move and vibrate and the floor of her row echoed a dull low sound as someone was walking on it. Seemed like Hyoyeon had finally arrived. Just as the person walked up next to her Tiffany found what she was looking for and turned around proudly holding it in her hands to show what she got.

 

“Hey Hyoyeon what do you-” Tiffany stopped talking; was wide with surprise as she stared at the short girl with light brown wavy shoulder length hair standing in front of her. “T-T-T-Taeyeon?!”

 

The shorter girl pursed her lips as she squeezed her black loose wool jacket tighter, squeezing it so tight that her knuckles were showing white and her head felt light. Why was Tiffany here? Of course. The two of them had been played. Very well.

 

Tiffany could see the stress that was accumulating in Taeyeon and she noticed the white knuckles. Taeyeon was still standing in front of her and had not uttered a single word. Although she was still feeling hurt about that morning something about the short girl standing in front of her made her unable stay silent. She put the lingerie she was holding back into her bag and reached out taking hold of Taeyeon’s left hand.

 

“It’s alright Taeyeon,” she said. The latter eased up and her tensed shoulders relaxed, the expression on her face looked more comfortable and it seemed like a weight was off her shoulders. For now.

 

“This was all Hyoyeon’s and Sunny’s doing wasn’t it?” Tiffany asked Taeyeon while she tugged lightly at her hand, urging her to sit down. Taeyeon did so but still held on to her jacket and tried to avoid direct eye contact with Tiffany.

 

“Yea- yeah it is. I was supposed to come here with Sunny…” Taeyeon replied, her voice almost a whisper.

 

“And I was meant to watch it with Hyoyeon.”

 

Silence fell over the two and the only sound was from the other people arriving into the theatre and getting ready to watch the movie.

 

Taeyeon realized that Tiffany was still holding her hand. As she stared at their interlocked hands Tiffany noticed it too and for some reason felt really embarrassed and let go of Taeyeon’s hand, pulling it back. Taeyeon didn’t want her to let go of her hand, but she knew that things were still awkward between them. She needed to apologize. She wanted to hold Tiffany’s hand again.

 

The two kept on staring past each other avoiding eye contact as much as possible. Tiffany wasn’t sure what to do. She was still sad and slightly pissed off about Taeyeon’s earlier comment but the awkwardness that the two were feeling also felt wrong. This was not how things were supposed to be between the two of them. They were supposed to be… close.

 

“Tiffany,” Taeyeon began. She was still looking down at the carpeted floor when Tiffany turned her head to face Taeyeon. The latter slowly lifted her head to face the eyes of Tiffany. Taeyeon had gained a little confidence and she stared directly at the other girl with a serious expression. “I’m sorry about what I said.”

 

Tiffany felt a wave of relief and affection wash over her. Those two words, I’m sorry, were something that Tiffany had needed to hear, words that need to be said so that past issues can be put behind and before you can move forwards once more.

 

“I didn’t mean to say it like that. I don’t even think that way,” Taeyeon paused taking another deep breath before continuing. “I don’t even know why I said it and I’m sorry I did because there is no way in the world, ever, never would I feel that we were a made up family.”

 

Eye’s welling up, Tiffany felt the corners of her eyes build up with tears but she couldn’t move her hands to wipe them away, they were trembling from relief and happiness. The words Taeyeon had said had hurt her deeply and hearing Taeyeon apologize and truly regret ever uttering them, even accidentally, warmed her heart to no end.

 

“Especially you, Tiffany. There is no way, absolutely no possible way that you and I, we, us, could ever be made up. If something in this world was true and real, it would be how I feel towards you. And there is nothing made up about it, nothing fake.”

 

Taeyeon stopped talking. Her face must have looked as red as tomato because she could feel the heat and blood rush up to her cheeks and face. She was trembling but was relieved that she had finally managed to apologize.

 

Finally a tear rolled down Tiffany’s cheek, and then another. Tiffany let out a small laugh though it sounded only partially like a laugh, as tears were falling freely now and she began to cry. Tears of relief and joy streamed down openly. Taeyeon reached into her pocket and pulled out her tissue paper pack and took one out. She reached over and wiped the tears from her cheek and the makeup that had slightly bled onto her cheeks.

 

Tiffany smiled back and took hold of the hand that was wiping her tears. “Thank you, Taeyeon.”

 

The movie’s beginning credits began to roll on the screen and the volume of it overwhelmed the hall. Taeyeon pulled her hand away and the two straightened themselves in their chair. Tiffany placed her right arm onto the armrest. Soon Taeyeon followed suite putting her left hand onto the armrest before moving it over Tiffany’s hand, the two locked their fingers together.

 

Tiffany smiled at the warm feeling and looked to her right, smiling at the shorter girl. Taeyeon turned around to see Tiffany’s smiling face and then leaned in towards the other girl, wanting to whisper something. Tiffany craned her neck and lent her ear, feeling a tingly sensation as Taeyeon’s breath hit her ear, and what she whispered with a cheeky grin on her face got her heart racing so much it wanted to beat out of her chest.

 

“Oh and by the way, I love you.”