“You needed to leave, with time I understood that.” Tiffany then looked up towards the sky. "I've missed you so much." It was a soft whisper that held the most beautiful and deep love. The woman in front of her just lowered her head.

Tiffany took a deep breath before lowering her gaze towards the beautiful brunette who was gazing at her with those shallow eyes. “It must’ve been quite a shock for you.” The woman had a ghost of a confused expression on her face making Fany let out a snicker. “You know, that day when I saw you sitting on the bed.” The brunette gave her a knowingly look before nodding her head. “I was too relieved when I saw you, I seriously wanted to smack you, I felt so many mixed emotions that I just wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. I was certain that I wanted to die, to stop breathing if (sigh). I couldn’t believe what was said in that video, gone? Dead? Those words didn’t match together with Jessica Jung, my Jessi.” There was a lone tear escaping her eyes. “I ran and I saw you there, sitting, spacing out. The miracle I needed to know that everything was a lie was just sitting right in front of me with those eyes that I knew too well.” The woman in front bit her lip and frowned a little. “I felt like my heart was pieced up back together the moment I saw you and I forgot everything; the pain, the sadness, the impotence, the longingness. And I remember that I hugged you, I hugged you so tightly that I heard you grunt from the pain but I just couldn’t let go of my hold, I was so glad that you were alright, that you were still there. I remember hiding my face in the crook of your neck like I always did when we were together but something wasn’t right.” Tiffany swallowed the lump in . “Something was wrong with you, maybe it was because I didn’t feel those butterflies flying throughout my body when I embraced you, maybe because you didn’t smell like vanilla or strawberry like you always used to, or maybe because our bodies didn’t fit like a puzzle.” Tiffany then moved her eyes towards the grass under her feet. “To me, somehow you didn’t feel like Jessi at all.” She laughed weakly. “It was because you weren’t.”

The said girl stared at her in pain, she remembered the sadness, the pain on that girl’s face when she noticed that she wasn’t her girlfriend. The tears that came cascading out of her eyes that portrayed disappointment and regret, the once crushing hug vanished into thin air and was replaced by a terrified look. She couldn’t say anything to her, her heart was already too shattered to even say something, she could only stare at her while the poor girl began to pass out from the shock, slowly falling to the floor.

Tiffany cried incessantly until she finally calmed, she didn’t want to cry anymore but the memories hurt too much. “When I woke up, I thought that everything was a nightmare, I thought that may be it had been just a cruel dream until I saw everyone’s faces. The suffering in each and one of them when they tried to explain me that Jessi was gone, when they told me that she fought until her very last breath just to be able to stay one more second with us.” Tiffany took the tissue that was handed by the other woman, her lips were fiery pink due to the cold morning weather. “Then I saw you, peeking through the open door like a fearful child. You had that doubtful face on you, as to wondering whether or not to enter the room, I guess you were scared that I would act like I did before. I probably would’ve but this time you didn’t have that white mask on, so I could finally see your full face and not only your eyes. I guess that the others saw you too, as their reactions weren’t like mine, I was surprised to see that Taeyeon’s soul almost left her but she still  controlled it well. That’s when I finally knew who you were thanks to Taec, it was such a pleasure to meet you back then Eun Bi, although it wasn’t the right timing. I guess I never got the chance to tell you that.” Tiffany shared a slight smile.

“Never, but it’s never too late for that.” The latter answered immediately, holding Tiffany’s shoulder carefully with one hand. She smiled and gave her a slight squish. “The first time Taeyeon saw me, she was with all of your friends. They came running towards the room and saw you lying on the floor, when Yoona and Sunny saw me they almost fell back as if they just had seen a ghost. Of course, I understood. Seohyun also had that face when she saw me.” With her thumb she rubbed Fany’s shoulder to calm her down. “Taeyeon tackled me onto the ground and punched me in the face for pulling that horrible joke on all of you, I just let her until she was exhausted, until she couldn’t call out her name anymore. That’s when she hugged me and cried so hard that my shirt got wet, she had this hopeful look in her eyes that was lost the moment I took off my mask. All her hopes were lost, her face showed so much distress that she had to touch my face just to see that I was real. Seohyun had to tell them that I was Eun Bi, the girl Sooyeon talked about in the video. The light that at some point shone on their eyes was drowned with their tears. That’s when they had to face the sad true.” Eun Bi pulled back her hand, she damped her lips that had dried up with her words.

“We gave you such a hard time.” The once pink obsessed woman caressed the latter’s cheek.

“You were her whole life Tiffany, she loved you with every inch of her being. She always talked about you and how happy she was whenever you were around, you gave her everything she needed and more; you offered her something as amazing as the word love. She was always worried about you, she wanted you to be okay even when she wasn’t around. You were the most precious one for her.” Tiffany looked up to stop the tears from falling. “You never gave me a hard time, I knew that you clung onto me because of my resemblance to Sooyeon, it was your way of mourning. I guess Taeyeon had it the same way as you. I’m sorry because I left but I couldn’t stay any longer, I was suffering, I felt like I was being suffocated. But I never forgave myself from leaving you behind after promising Sooyeon that I would take care of you, I guess that knowing that Yuri was staying by your side was enough for me to feel relieved. Still, I should’ve stayed.”

Tiffany shook her head. “No, you did what was right for you. It was such a nightmare having us two glued to you while sometimes calling you by her name. After you left, we both understood what we were making you go through. I guess that at some point we thanked that you made that choice, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to stand on our own now.”  Tiffany closed her eyes and saw for a split second Jessica’s face. “We little by little began to rise up again. Jessi, she was always surprising us, even after she was gone.” She laughed with tears on her eyes. “There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. God, how I miss her.”

Eun Bi gazed warmly at her. “We all do, there isn’t a day we don’t.” She held Fany’s hand and pulled her to stand by her side in front of a tree. “This tree symbolizes my parents; it hasn’t been here for that long but is growing fast for sure.” Tiffany shared a beautiful eye smile to her. She then proceeded to pull her a little bit further, there was a huge tree in front of her; it was beautiful with some purplish flowers blooming, such a cute contrast with the intense green of its leafs

Eun Bi let go of her hand and took some steps until she was 10 cms away from its wide trunk, her fingers caressed softly the rough wood and gave it a bright smile. Se placed her forehead on it before closing her eyes and whispering something. “Hey, you must be jumping from excitement already.” She giggled when a strong wind made its leafs dance happily. “She’s finally here, you’ve been waiting for her for so long. I’ll leave you two alone, see you tomorrow Sooyeon.” She gave the trunk a gentle kiss and turned towards Tiffany who was gazing lovingly at the tree.

“Even after she was gone she’s still giving life.” The eye smiling woman couldn’t contain her happiness and stretched her arm towards that beautiful tree, so immerse in its beauty. “Gosh, you’re so beautiful.”

“You look beautiful as well, years only made you look better.” Tiffany’s attention returned to her companion. “You age like wine Tiffany Hwang.” The beautiful woman laughed. “She would be drooling as we speak.” Tiffany hit her softly while snickering. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone. You have a lot to talk about.” Eun Bi gave Fany an innocent kiss on her cheek and walked away. “See you back home.” That’s the last thing she said before leaving them alone. 

Tiffany let out a deep breath before approaching closely, she stared at the huge tree whose branches were happily dancing with the wind as if it knew that she was finally here. The sun shone brightly through the little gaps. “Hi.” She spoke with her voice trembling a little bit. “You look as beautiful as ever Jessi.” Her finger caressed the rough trunk as if it was her, with the same care and love. “I’m sorry for not coming sooner, Seohyun told me about them coming here and making a party.” She laughed. “Those brats, they never changed. I-I wanted to come with them but I wasn’t ready, there were still a lot of things that I needed to do before facing you.” A tear fell from her eye. “Don’t think it was because I was mad, I wasn’t. It was hard for me to understand that you weren’t here anymore, one day you vanished through my fingers only for me to know that you’ll never come back. It was such a hard hit for me but I was never mad at you. I understood that you didn’t want me to be hurting, you wanted me to be happy with you until you had to depart.” dried up. “I just wished that I had cherished those moments more if I had known that they were the last but you made me so happy Jessi, you still do. The mere thought of you keeps me going every single day.” Fany then hugged the tree with her arms and enjoyed the coldness that she had been missing. “It was hard Jessi but the things you left behind, all the surprises that you gifted me after your departure helped me get through all of this. Every time I feel like falling down I always take refuge in them. You know, every night I always fall asleep hearing your song and during the day I hear the playlist that you left me. It's my all time favorite."

 Flashback

Tiffany laid motionless on Jessi’s bed, her pillow was soaked with tears that had been coming out without control. She had refused to leave the room since the day she got to know the truth, it had been 10 days to be exact. She was afraid that if she left the scent that still lingered in those four walls would vanish and she didn’t want that.

Tiffany was letting those bed covers hug her small frame as if those were her beautiful lover, the girl she craved to see and hear one more time. It was past 6 pm when a knock was heard, she thought that it was probably Seohyun or Irene who were trying to make her eat something but she wasn’t hungry that day either. She heard clearly the door open and an unknown person walking up to her. He had such a kind expression and was smiling at her as if he had known her since long ago. He walked towards the bed and kneeled just right beside it. Tiffany was looking at him with a weird stare as she didn’t know that charming stranger. He gave her a wide smile and she felt comfortable.

“Hi.” He greeted her with such courtesy that she was surprised. “I’m Jonghyun, Sooyeon’s friend.” That really shook her off, maybe it was because of all the recent events but she didn’t remember him. “I’ve been wanting to meet you since she told me about you.” He stretched his hand and gave Fany’s a little push. “You’re someone especial for her, everyone of us is, but you were something else. You gave Sooyeon so much happiness that I really wanted to meet you as soon as possible. I have to admit that this isn’t the first time I see you.” Tiffany frowned a little and he laughed. “The day of the singing competition, I was there recording their song. I was the one who helped Sunny create her song and helped her with obtaining the scholarship, although it was all thanks to Sooyeon.” Tiffany stared at him for a little before holding tight the bed cover. “I wanted to thank you personally because you gave her the happiness that she deserved, you gave her the peace, the calm, the love that she was secretly craving. She loves you so much Ms. Hwang. If you knew all the things she did for you then you’ll realize that words are needed to express how big it was.” Tiffany closed her eyes and the tears flowed once again.

“Don’t cry, she wants you to be happy. She wants you to keep going, to keep smiling, to keep living, even if she isn’t there. Love is like that, and for her you were the purest one there was.” He took out a box from his back, he gave it to her and she weakly held it in her hands. “She left this for you, she wanted me to give you this but with everything that happened I couldn't find the right timing.

She asked me to help her and so I did. I hope you’ll see how much she loves you when you open it alone.” He stood up and gave her one last smile. “I hope next time we meet you’ll portray the smile that she used to show off to me every time we talked.” He walked backwards to the door in a childish way. “We worry about you, I know is hard but she wants you to come back up stronger and happier. Let’s see each other in a heartbeat.” He blinked and disappeared closing the door after him.

Tiffany found everything quite peculiar, his presence was like an older brother’s, so caring and warm. Her ey