Chapter 3
Appearances of Angels and Dolls

Three young ladies, all dressed in formal wear, stepped out of their cab in their high heels as they observed their surroundings carefully. Arriving in front of a luxurious, well-guarded apartment, the three individuals (whose average height did not even pass a hundred and sixty centimeters but were all definitely in their twenties) stared back and forth at the texted address on one of the girls’ cell phone and at the building in front of them. After confirming both the street name and the house number, to what seemed like the seventh time, they decided to walk to their desired destination, heading toward an elevator.

“Do you really think this is the right place?” The shortest girl with dark brown hair styled in wavy curls spoke up, still wondering if they were really at where they should be.

“Yeah, Taeyeon, are you sure Yuri sent you the right address?” The not-so-much-taller girl directed another question at the leading girl in front, who was looking over the directions on a piece of paper she printed out.

“I’m pretty sure. But I still can’t believe her parents could afford this apartment rental fees-… Wait…it is possible… I’m talking about the Kwons here.” The third girl chuckled at herself, remembering how rich her friend’s family is. The other two nodded in agreement once they came to understood the reasoning as they followed the older girl out the portable and down the hallway toward the right apartment door.

“I’m going ahead first!” Excited to see her friend, the shortest girl started skipping, now appearing in front of the other two who were trying to catch up. Not being all that cautious while turning at the corner, she collided with something bigger than herself and suddenly fell flat on her bottom. Her other two friends rushed in panic to help their friend.

“Oh, sorry there, are you alright?” Putting the giant cardboard boxes that were blocking her view down on the floor, the tall girl helped the fallen one to her feet, supporting her by the arm.

“It’s okay. Thanks, I’m alright.” Only paying attention to her dust-stained dress, she did not take a look at who the other person was, but was more worried about wiping her clothes clean.

“Sunny, are you okay!?” The oldest girl asked in worry, checking to see if her friend had any bruises from the fall. She let out a sigh of relief once the other girl nodded in reply, ridding her friends of her over-concerns.

“Aish it’s just that you’re a bit too short.” The taller girl blurted out, catching the shorter one’s attention.

‘S-short…!? I admit that’s true but did she have to say that to my face!?’ Sunny clenched her fists and decided to say something back. “Hey you-!” Lifting her head up to see who had ‘insulted’ her about her little complex, she was speechless for a few seconds without really knowing why and was unable to finish her get-back.

“What?” She snapped out of her little daydream when the other girl spoke up with a sigh. Just as Sunny was about to attempt to yell back at the one in front of her, she heard a rather familiar voice from the room with the opened door just a few steps away called out.

“Is something wrong, Sooyoung? Come back here, I need your help!”

“Aish,” Ruffling her head in frustration and a bit of tiredness, the short hair girl shouted back quite loudly, “Because I have to carry your boxes out, I just bumped into somebody!”

“Don’t blame the boxes; you just didn’t watch where you were going!” Even though she knew it was also partially her fault, Sunny felt like scolding back at the other girl. ‘Wait… what am I doing? It’s not even her fault!’

“What did you say!? It’s just because you’re way too short for me to even see you!” Not having any self-restraint, Sooyoung fought back for her side of the conflict.

The two bystanders, knowing that their friend was a bit short in temper, did little to stop the argument with just one or two words of attempt.

“Stop talking about my height! You’re like a human Godzilla!” Sunny jumped up, trying to have some eye contact with the other girl.

“What is going on here?” Finally stepping outside from the room, Yuri appeared in her casual clothing with her sleeves rolled up and hands carrying some more cardboard boxes.

“Yuri!” Sunny cried out to the messy looking girl, almost forgetting about her current issue.

Trying to have a better view, she moved the cardboard boxes to the side so she could see the person who called out to her. Her eyes then widened in surprise, along with the appearance of a welcoming bright smile as she spotted her other two friends behind the shortest one. “Sunny? TaeYeon? Hyoyeon?”

“It’s you, right, Kwon Yuri!?” The tallest out of the three exclaimed already charging toward her long-time-no-see friend.

Sunny, who totally ignored Sooyoung’s current existence, immediately rushed to Yuri’s side and wrapped her arms around her. Hyoyeon soon followed the same action and threw herself at Yuri. Taeyeon couldn’t hold back her wide smile and began walking toward her precious friend. Before they knew it, all four were tearing up upon their reunion.

“I miss you girls!” Yuri said as she tried to hurdle all three of the shorter girls into her arm.

“We miss you a lot, too, Yuri.” Taeyeon patted Yuri’s back then slowly backed away for some air that was being restricted from the tight hug.

Even though Sooyoung was feeling happy for her friend, seeing one of her genuine smiles once in a while, she felt the need to interrupt their happiness taking their lack of time into consideration. “Hey, Miss Kwon Yuri, it’s 5:07 already.”

Releasing her three friends from the little hurdle, she checked her watch to see that she had little time to spare until the preparations for the party. “Oh, sorry. We should all get ready. But before that…” Yuri skipped over to her tallest friend and hanged her arm around the younger girl. “This is Sooyoung. Sooyoung, this is Hyoyeon, TaeYeon, and Sunny.”

Sooyoung bowed to the other three as a greeting, receiving the same respectful act in return. However, she noticed a few seconds of hesitation from a certain girl.

“I’m going to go in and get ready. You girls should come inside as well.” Yuri invited as she was followed by three of her other friends.

“Hey wait,” Sooyoung suddenly stopped Sunny from her tracks by grabbing on the girl’s wrist to hold her back, and decided to improve her first impression. “Sorry for what I called you earlier. I wasn’t really looking so that was my fault.” Sooyoung apologized.

Hearing the sincere tone of the other girl’s voice, Sunny smiled and blamed it on herself, “No, it’s also my fault. I’m sorry for comparing you to Godzilla.”

Sooyoung returned a smile with an even brighter one, causing the other girl to slightly blink several times. It was the first time Sunny saw Sooyoung smile since they first met with the sudden dispute just a few minutes ago.

Sooyoung held out her hand politely in front of Sunny and properly gave her name, “Choi Sooyoung.”

Sunny was surprised with the sudden manner compared to the taller girl’s earlier actions. She took Sooyoung’s hand and shook it lightly, while replying with her own name, “Lee-”

“Soonkyu.”

Sooyoung turned around to witness three heads poking out of the door while holding in their giggles. She was wondering what was going on and turned back to Sunny for an answer, who had a pout and frustrated look on her face, also not to mention clenched fists.

“Yah!” Sunny screamed at the three ‘kids’ at the door, who immediately ran in sense of danger. “Don’t mind them. It’s Sunny, Lee Sunny.”

“Sunny? Your name fits you. Bright and energetic.” Sooyoung commented with a small grin, making the other girl unconsciously stumble on her feet. It was at that point that they both realize their hands are still intact, neither letting go for some odd reasons.

“Oh, sorry.” Sunny apologized, quickly withdrawing her hand.

“Should we go inside now?” Sooyoung suggested, already heading toward the open door, and was soon followed by Sunny.

Both of them, although not fully realizing it, had a strange expression of happiness on their faces…one where they couldn’t seem to make it go away.

 

“Jessie, you have exactly twenty-seven minutes and twenty-two seconds until Yoona comes here to pick us up.” Sitting on the comfy sofa, a young lady randomly clicked through various channels on the television while reminding her best friend of the remaining time with a rather impatient tone. However, she had a good reason to feel a little annoyed.

Jessica dug her head (and later her whole petite body) in her giant closet, shuffling out various styles of clothing, from dresses to formal skirts of different designs and colors, that she thought would best fit the occasion… But she had been doing so for the past hour. Her room was a whole mess as she couldn’t seem to decide on what to wear. On the other hand, Tiffany was already fully-dressed in her attire: a simple light pink, short dress accompanied by a pair of stylish high heels. Her dress was short enough to show her well-toned legs, but also clued in to the girl’s personality based on its color. She had also already fully finished with her make-up, while her best friend was still busy with choosing her own outfit for the Kwons’ welcome-home party later that night.

“Hey Fany!” Jessica ran out of the room to ask for opinions from her friend, wearing her chosen outfit that had finally sparked her attention as being ‘the one’. “Do you think this dress is fine?”

Tiffany half-ignored Jessica and did not turned away from the glowing device in front of her. “Yeah, yeah. It’s fine. Uh…beautiful! Simply gorgeous! Yup, definitely just fine.” She threw random comments in reply to get things over with since it wasn’t the first time that Jessica had asked her the same question that day in the past sixty minutes.

“Yah! Hwang Miyoung! Are you even looking!?” Jessica yelled out of frustration while re-examining her outfit in the human-sized mirror outside her room.

“I told you not to call me tha-….” Tiffany swung her head around upon hearing her unwanted name, but was instantly distracted by the sight in front of her. She could feel her cheeks began to heat up and slightly gaped open.

Jessica was wearing a strapless golden dress (layered with frills and lining designs on the upper portion and completed with a thin belt of a similar color across her waist) which revealed her honey-like bare skin. Her hair was not of its usual color, since it was dyed back to a darker shade of gold, while being styled into precise, defined curls that simply made her appearance comparable to that of a beautiful doll.

“Uh…Jessie…is that you?” Tiffany gulped, scanning observantly at the figure in front of her.

“Uh…yes…?” Jessica confirmed, arching an eyebrow.

Tiffany got off from her seat and quickly approached Jessica to take a closer look if she was really staring at a human. As soon as she received a familiar icy glare from the later for her odd actions, she was convinced that it was indeed Jessica. “You look absolutely gorjess! Just… I really don’t know what to say, but you seriously look beautiful.” Tiffany exclaimed in English, as she could not expressed her true thoughts in any other way, making a pun out of Jessica’s name while she was at it.

Jessica’s lips formed a small smile, as she was satisfied with the answer she received. “Thank you, Fany.”

Tiffany reached for her phone and unlocked it, checking the time on the bright screen. It was ten minutes till they had to leave the house through the carpooling Yoona’s ride. A curious thought then hit Tiffany, as she carried a familiar mischievous look on her face. “Hey, Jessie. Why is your cousin with Yoona when she lives here and her clothes are in this house…?”

“Yoona invited Seohyun to go to pick out dresses together.” Jessica answered, observing herself once again in the mirror, checking if everything looked ready-to-go. Knowing her best friend’s personalities well, a suspicious thought crept into Jessica’s mind. She turned away from the mirror and eyed Tiffany with an icy glare. “Fany, you are not thinking of what I think you’re thinking…again.”

Just then, a sound emitted from the door’s bell system, indicating that they have visitors outside. ‘Why do they always come at the time we’re talking about them? Seriously speaking of the devils.’ The blonde hair girl thought to herself, being overly glad that there could be no way for them to overhear the gossiper Tiffany. Jessica fast-walked to the door and unlocked all locks before turning the knob, swinging the door open and greeting the two girls on the other side. “Hey, you’re here.”

“Hi Sica-unni- Wow, you look really pretty!” Seohyun immediately commented on her cousin’s new look, making the later slightly blush at the flattery.

“Thank you, Seohyun. You two look really nice, too! Our little Seobaby is an adult now.” Jessica appreciated her cousin’s words, and expressed her own opinion on the other girls’ appearances, teasing Seohyun along the lines. Seohyun’s cheeks changed its color as she dropped her head lightly, remembering that she was not wearing her usual clothes.

Seohyun was in a white dress with a one shoulder strap, designed to look like trailing roses, which gave off an angelic aura around the quiet girl. Her hair was, surprisingly, styled into wavy curls that created a sense of a new unseen maturity toward the innocent Seohyun.

Standing next to the angel was a pretty white deer: Yoona. She was dressed in the same color as Seohyun, but carried a simpler style outfit, followed by a belt with gold linings and silver colored heels.

However, there was an awkward aura around the two best friends. Tiffany took careful notice at how Yoona did not say a single word, contradicting with her bright personality, and even tried to look anywhere else but at the person next to her. The brunette took the sly chance and quickly grabbed Yoona’s arm out of the blue.

“Since I’m all done, I’m going to head outside and wait for you two with Yoona here. Let’s go, Yoona!” Without letting the other girl have a say in whether or not she wanted to follow, Tiffany dragged Yoona outside the house leaving the other two dumbfounded.

Seeing that Tiffany and Yoona were out of sight, Jessica took the chance to confirm her own curiosity. “Hey, Seohyun… what is your relationship with Yoona?”

“We’re friends of course.” Seohyun straightforwardly replied without a change in expression.

“Uh…anything more than that?”

“We’re…Best friends…?” Seohyun eye brow tilted up in confusion, however she still answered without any hesitations in her words, making it hard for Jessica to bear any doubt.

“Seohyun... no matter whatever happens, come and tell me okay? I’ll help you.” Jessica said warmly with assurance.
Even though the questions and the sudden request was totally out of nowhere, Seohyun nodded in agreement and did not even tried to understand her cousin’s mind.

‘See, Fany? They’re just friends.’

Being way to concentrated with her own thoughts, Jessica did not notice the deep sigh from Seohyun.

 

The sun was setting and the cold had already started to slip in the weather’s temperature. Shivering in the cold, Tiffany scanned around the area, searching for a certain something. The brunette then noticed a black SUV parked in front of Jessica’s house, and assumed that it belonged to Yoona’s family. Still tugging Yoona along, she approached the vehicle and politely knocked on the passenger seat’s window, startling the driver inside who quickly rolled down the glass to see who it was.

“Ahjusshi, sorry but can I talk alone with your mistress Yoona for a bit?” Tiffany requested, confusing both the man and Yoona, who had no idea what was going on.

After receiving the nod from Yoona as a granted permission, he bowed respectfully and got off the car, allowing the two ladies to talk in quiet.

“What is it, unnie?” Yoona asked after they finally settled in the warm seats, feeling the heater’s air brushing against their bare skins with all doors closed.

“I’m going to go straight to the point.” Tiffany took a deep breath then stared straight into Yoona’s eyes with a serious look, piling even more confusion on the other girl’s mind. “Do you like Seohyun?”

Yoona’s eyes widened at the unexpected question, and tried her best to give a valid reply. “O-of course I do… Seohyun is my best friend. I wouldn’t hang out with her if I don’t l-like her.” Yoona stuttered, unable to avoid the piercing detective eyes of Hwang Tiffany.

‘This is interesting…’ Tiffany enjoyed the little conversation so far, planning out her steps on revealing Yoona’s true feelings. “I’m not talking about that kind of like. I’m asking you if you love her… more than a friend I mean.”

As soon as the word ‘love’ sneaked in the conversation, Yoona’s face changed its color as she almost froze from the incoming shock. “I-I…” Stuttering even more this time, Yoona was unable to give Tiffany a complete reply.

Tiffany could feel her consciousness giggling in her mind. She was enjoying things way too much. “You can tell me. I promise I won’t tell Seohyun, and that I’ll support you. So… do you love her?”

Yoona gulped and dropped her head shyly, confessing what she really felt to the curious older girl, “Y-yes… I love Seohyun.” Tiffany could hear her conscious yelling “Yes!” with a voice of overachievement. She was unable to hide her eye-smile from self-satisfaction, upon receiving proof to her endless suspicion. Yoona then heaved a heavy sigh, “If I’m that obvious enough for Tiffany-unnie to notice… I just can’t seem to understand why she never does.”

“But Seoh-”Before Tiffany could tell Yoona that the two friends’ feelings were probably mutual, they were interrupted by a loud noise and the sudden shaking motion from the car. Tiffany could sense a familiar cold air coming from the opened door and she knew well the source of it; it was not the winter wind. The brunette turned around to face the ice princess, laughing nervously while pretending that she did not understand what Jessica’s glare was implying.

Tiffany quickly moved to the backseat, leaving an empty spot next to Yoona, while signaling Jessica to sit next to her so that they can leave the other two together. Twirling her eyes, Jessica thought that it would do no harm to let the two best friends sit next to each other, so she situated herself next to Tiffany.

Yoona called back her driver, and a few minutes later, they were on the road heading toward the Kwon’s home and party.
There was an awkward silence between Yoona and Seohyun, as none of them said anything. Seohyun was listening to her music player that was running through Keroro soundtrack, while Yoona was reminiscing the little moment they shared back at the shopping mall when they were picking out dresses.

 

Yoona was resting on a customer’s chair, flipping through her company’s model magazine reviewing past photos of herself as the main star. She was waiting for Seohyun to come out of the fitting room with the final outfit that they took forever to find. Hearing sounds of the curtain rings’ sliding on the metal bar, she dropped the booklet on her hands back onto its place and anticipated excitedly for what would come.

“Unnie, do you think this is okay?” Seohyun appeared from behind the curtains wearing the white dress Yoona picked out for her.

Yoona was beyond speechless. She couldn’t even bring herself to reply to Seohyun’s insecure question. Yoona couldn’t help but just stare admiringly at the angel in front of her.

“Unnie?” Seohyun approached Yoona and brought her face real close to the other girl’s. “Are you okay? Your face is really red.” Seohyun was about to place her palm on Yoona’s forehead to check the girl’s temperature, but Yoona quickly snapped awake, backing away in reflex.

“I-I’m okay.” Yoona assured, receiving a worried look from Seohyun who didn’t really trust her friend’s reply. ‘She almost gave me a heart attack…’

Carefully observing Seohyun’s appearance this time, she finally gave her best friend an answer, “You look really beautiful. As I thought, white really suits Hyunnie.” Yoona smiled brightly, meaning every word she had said.

Feeling happy inside, Seohyun blushed in embarrassment while expressing her appreciation, “Thank you, unnie.”

Without Seohyun realizing it, Yoona’s smile slowly faded as she tried her best to avert her gaze elsewhere to hold back her lurking temptation of kissing the person in front of her. ‘I really wish… you’re my angel.’

 

On the back seat, there was a mix of a happy-go-lucky and an icy grumpiness aura. Tiffany felt that her mood was slightly being ruined by the person next to her, who had not been looking too well. Deciding to ask out of concern, Tiffany nudged her friend to get her attention. “Hey is something wrong? You can’t carry that face to the party, and you know that right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… I’m a bit frustrated with Yuri.” Jessica quickly admitted. Tiffany had already guessed beforehand that it had something to do with Kwon Yuri. It was the only possible person that could change Jessica’s mood that quickly. Jessica then continued to voice out her inner stress in a foreign language that they could both understand so that the other two wouldn’t be able to hear. “She left without saying anything and now that she came back, she didn’t even tell me about it. It’s like we’ve never been friends. She didn’t even give me a call…”

“Well…technically you two aren’t really ‘normal’ friends since there was more than that involved.” Tiffany commented in same language, stating the truth. She quickly stole a glance at the pair in the front seat. Honestly, Tiffany was afraid that those two would ended up like how her friends were now and felt the need to interfere to avoid the past from repeating itself. Suddenly remembering something, Tiffany shook her head and let out a small sigh directing it at Jessica. “By the way, how do you expect her to contact you when you changed your phone number because you thought Donghae was ‘bothering’ you…”

“…Oh…right…” Realization suddenly hit Jessica, as she silently acknowledged the fact. “I already changed my number… I completely forgot about that.”

Tiffany slapped her forehead with her palm at Jessica’s slightly-airheaded personality, knocking her head backward in distress. “Just admit you’re happy you’re going to see her again.” The brunette teased, constantly nudging the blonde beside her.

“Am not!” Despite her denial, Jessica couldn’t help but smiled at the thought of seeing the person she loves after their one year separation.

“Your face just told me otherwise Jung Sooyeon.” Tiffany flashed her eye-smile, and prayed to God that everything would go smoothly that day.