Talk- Khalid (No one sings it, but I was hearing it)

Everyone but Taeyeon was gathered around the table, mindlessly waiting for the arranger of the get together to show up. Irene had Wendy beside her, whose leg was bouncing  nervously, but grasping Irene’s hand tightly. Tiffany and Yeri weren’t fairing all that better, both seemed to be anxiously tapping and bouncing. It seemed to all come to a halt when Wendy broke the silence.

“Why are we here?” Wendy leaned in with worried eyes. 

“Well, Yeri and I live here love,” Irene said with a small smile. “Tiffany is…” Irene, Yeri,  and Wendy both turned to Tiffany with questioning eyes.

“I am not sure either,” Tiffany said with wide eyes. “Your sister is many things Irene, but forthcoming with information she is not.” Irene nodded glumly before leaning over to look down the hall at Taeyeon’s pacing. 

“Anytime Tae,” Irene yelled out. Taeyeon jumped at her voice and took a deep breath before walking into the kitchen. 

“I think I have to clear up some things!” Taeyeon yelled out. 

Irene plugged her ears and glared. “HEY! Noise level Tae, we are literally all sitting here together.” 

“Right sorry,” Taeyeon muttered out before taking another deep breath. “Irene I am sorry I kept so many things from you.” Irene looked at her sister intrigued. “I didn’t know that they would all come tumbling out like this…” 

“I mean obviously,” Irene muttered. 

“But, now that they have we can be honest. Yes, I was in a relationship for a long time, longer than Momma Bae and Papa when they first got together, they both knew about her, but please understand… you were so small when Tiffany left, and when you got older you didn’t ever mention her and I really didn’t want to!” 

“I figured,” Irene said with a tilt of her head. “Just quit keeping things from me okay?”

Taeyeon smiled and nodded. She looked at Tiffany with a nervous smile. “You,” Irene noticed Tiffany sit a little straighter. “I loved you since we were thirteen.” Tiffany looked at her with a stoic face. “And to lose you? I fell apart that year you left Tiffany. And I know we talked about it that night you came to dinner but I think we need to give some answers to Irene.” 

“Okay,” Tiffany whispered. “Irene, my father isn’t a very good man. And when he left my mother, he did it with the sole purpose of extorting her family for appearance’s sake. My grandfather was a man of tradition, very patriarchal. Suffice to say that my relationship was not something that he wanted out in the open. It was fine for the most part, I didn’t live near him, I wasn’t ever going to see him with Taeyeon. I figured, the man will pass on and that will be that.” Irene held Wendy’s hand under the table as Taeyeon sat down beside Tiffany handing her some water. “I knew he was sick right around the end of our third year, about two months after my father left us when he finally succumbed to his illness, my mother thought it would be wise for me to go and process his claims. She was his only daughter, and Sin B and I were his only grandchildren, and we figured my father didn’t know he passed. Well, when I got there, my father was already there, suit and tie freshly pressed, playing sorrowful son-in-law. He said I could give my mother and sister their allowances if I was able to parade around his business friends and help him. I said no but-” 

“He forced you anyway?” Wendy asked, completely engrossed in the story.

“Kind of,” Tiffany said, shifting her eyes to Taeyeon. “My father had kept tabs on me for a while, he liked Taeyeon enough, but when he threatened her and my chances of seeing her alive… well I wasn’t left with many options. So I kept quiet and played the role of a doting daughter, hoping to inherit the business. It didn’t take long for Momma Bae and Papa to find me, they wanted to help so they added my father into their circle of wealth, making him think he was trusted. When he had racked up enough legal offenses, I took all the documents and sent him to prison.”

“And I thought my original set were difficult…” Yeri muttered. 

“You’re so cool,” Wendy said with a squeal. 

“Ha, thanks,” Tiffany said with a smile. “Well in between that I ran into Taeyeon when the girls all heard I was in town with him. Thanks to Sunny’s parents, I was being entertained by someone of affluent standing so my father didn’t mind me being gone for so long. Then they bring Tae and some drinking and I wake up the next morning with a call from my uncle claiming to be outside Sunny’s house and reminding me how I am still in my father’s ‘care’ and how easily he could storm in and take me and leave no witnesses. So I grabbed my stuff and raced out of there. And well as soon as I could…” 

“Your life is like a drama,” Wendy commented with wide eyes. Irene could see Yeri nodding along. “I’m glad you were able to surpass it all Tiffany.” 

“The idea of Tae helped a lot. I still keep this to remind me.” Tiffany tugged out a necklace from her turtleneck. It was a lock necklace, slightly smoothed from continuous touch it seemed. “I think Tae got this for me on one of our anniversaries?” Irene shifted her eyes quickly and saw Taeyeon staring in disbelief. “She said that she had to make sure to lock me down so I wouldn’t ever think of getting away. When I got really scared or sad I would hold onto it and remember that Taeyeon was out there at least and I could hold on to the thought of seeing her.”

Irene could feel her eyes mist at Tiffany’s words. She felt a palm reach for her face as Wendy swept away a lone tear that had fallen. She smiled in thanks before hearing sniffles in front of her. Wendy too had unshed tears in her eyes as she turned back to the couple in front of them. Yeri fared better than everyone as she watched them all with a sad smile. 

“I-I-I’m so sorry for hating you for this,” Taeyeon said with a sniffle. “I-I-didn’t know.” Tiffany grabbed Taeyeon’s hand before giving her a sad smile. 

“I mean I didn’t really leave you a note Tae, so it is understandable.” 

Suddenly Taeyeon grabbed the manila folder that sat at the head of the table. Everyone looked to it with curiosity as she handed it to Tiffany. “Tiffany, despite all of that happened I want to give you a choice. It isn’t fair that I knew about our marriage and you didn’t, or that we lost out on so much time together, so I want you to be the one to make this next choice…” 

“But Tae,” Tiffany began before snapping to Yeri briefly. “Yeri-”

“Sooyoung says that she will be fine and safe regardless of how you choose to continue.”

“She isn’t going to hand her divorce papers is she,” Wendy whispered into Irene’s ear. Irene and Yeri’s eyes widened along with Tiffany’s when she pulled out the paper. 

“Oh,” Tiffany said with tears in her eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked Taeyeon with a serious face. Taeyeon nodded and pointed to the paper. “Okay… Does anyone have a pen?” 

“Tae! You did not invite Tiffany here just to serve her divorce papers!” Irene said with a shout. “That is cruel! And beyond the worst thing, I have heard you do in this whole drama you have going on!”

“Irene-” Tiffany tried to say. 

“No! Tiffany is great and sweet and she knows she made a mistake, but she also couldn’t help it!”

“Irene-” Taeyeon tried this time but also failed. 

“And she loves you and you love her! And you can’t even deny that Taeyeon you moped around for like years, not dating, staying alone, making depressing songs! You only became happy after she came back! It was like a puppy who finally got home-”

“No really Irene-” Taeyeon tried again. 

“And Yeri! After all this! To have her here and, and, you can’t just toss that aside!”

“Baby!” Wendy yelled out. Irene turned to look at Wendy, flustered and out of breath from her rant