Unfortunately Tiffany seems to like bad ideas just as much as Chaelin and even though Jessica likes to say that she is not like them, it is a little difficult to make a convincing argument for it when she is on the way to meet the stranger who agreed to spend a week with her and her family.

In her defense, Chaelin was very insistent and assured that Tiffany is an incredible woman with many things in common with her and that there is nothing strange about her accepting this offer. It just happened that she won’t be able to travel to visit her family, and with work giving her a week off she ended up with nothing to do for the holidays.

"Okay, there's still time to give up." Jessica tells herself when she sees the place where they agreed to meet, a cozy coffee shop a little away from the city centre. She keeps repeating all the reasons why this is a bad idea, but as much as she is aware of them, it isn’t enough to prevent her from continuing with the plan.

Jessica parks the car and decides to text Tiffany saying that she has arrived, before entering the place. The shop is small, no more than ten tables with just enough space between them to give the customers some privacy. The counter to her left displays a wide variety of sweets and pastries that look absolutely delicious. She is greeted by a woman in her fifties with a kind smile on her face and heads for a table in the back, the most isolated one, it seems a good idea to have some privacy in the conversation they are about to have.

She decides to order water to help with her anxiety induced dry mouth and wait for Tiffany to arrive to choose something from the menu, it would not be polite to do that before. Just as she takes the first sip of water, Jessica gets a notification on her phone, it's a text from Tiffany saying that she is almost there.

At that moment it occurs to Jessica that they could have texted for a while before agreeing to meet. The entire process from the proposal to scheduling this meeting was done through Chaelin, she only got Tiffany’s number after that and they haven’t texted until now. She cannot avoid comparing this situation to the blind dates that her parents used to force her to go to.

The place she chose to sit in allows her to have a clear view of the entrance, meaning she gets to witness the moment when Tiffany enters. Jessica obviously checked out her social media and was fully aware that she is a very beautiful woman before seeing her in person, but no photo did her justice.

When Tiffany makes eye contact with Jessica her smile widens until her eyes form an adorable eye smile. Being the target of that smile was like seeing the first rays of sunshine on a spring day after a long winter. Jessica is mesmerized. They don’t break eye contact until Tiffany arrives at the table, it is a level of intensity that she is not used to. Strangely it is not uncomfortable, she even finds herself smiling back, her stoic expression set aside with unprecedented ease.

"Sorry I'm late." she says holding out her hand when she reaches the table, “Tiffany Young. Pleasure to meet you."

Jessica jumps up and shakes her hand, still under the influence of the beauty of the woman in front of her. They seem to be the same height, but Tiffany’s hands are bigger and incredibly soft, she needs to remember to ask what moisturizer she uses.

"The pleasure is mine." she continues the handshake for a few seconds longer than she should before introducing herself, "Jessica Jung."

The two sit down and Tiffany takes the menu while she runs her fingers through her black hair, Jessica feels like she is watching the commercial for some expensive hair product.

"Have you ordered anything yet?"

"No, I decided to wait for you."

“How cute,” Tiffany looks away from the menu to look at Jessica, “You didn't have to. You're going to be a great fake girlfriend.”

“I just thought it was better…” she interrupts what she was saying when she realizes what Tiffany said, “Fake girlfriend?”

"Yes?" Tiffany replies with a confused expression that mirrors Jessica’s own, “This is what you want someone for, isn't it? To pretend to be your girlfriend in front of the family.”

"What?" Jessica speaks a little too loudly due to the shock, making people in a nearby table stare at her, "Where did you get that idea?"

“When Chae called me she said you wanted someone to go to your family's house during the holidays,” Jessica nods her head in agreement, “because they always talk about you being the only one who is still single, so this year you decided to surprise them showing up with a girlfriend.”

Jessica never thought that these things would happen in real life, her jaw dropped in surprise after hearing this version of the story. She always thought that this was something reserved to dramas and could never happen in real life. All her friend told her was that Tiffany had agreed to keep her company, until then it had never been mentioned the idea of a fake relationship with a complete stranger.

"And from the look in your face I assume you had no idea that she told me that." Tiffany directs another one of her smiles at Jessica, "What do you think about ordering something to eat before we discuss this? I’m starving."

She's not sure if she chose something to order or if Tiffany did it for her, Jessica spent the last few minutes on autopilot in absolute shock. Chaelin did something worse than arranging a blind date, she setup a fake blind date to agree on a plan to deceive her family. Everything about it seems like the worst possible idea, even worse than pretending to be sick to avoid being there and yet she is unable to say that they should stop this plan before it starts.

Tiffany takes a sip of the hot chocolate she ordered, her eyes close for a moment as if to fully appreciate the taste of the drink.

“Okay,” she rests her elbows on the table and puts her hands together, “let's clear up a few things. What did you think Chaelin had told me? ”

"Well ... the part about my family being a little insistent on interfering with my life" Jessica bites her bottom lip, "with my love life to be precise, is true."

"But you didn't know that she asked me to be your fake girlfriend?" Tiffany tries to encourage her to continue.

"I had no idea." she pauses to take a sip of her americano, feeling incredibly dry, “She said she was going to talk to you to ask if you would like to keep me company, but I thought it was just because I complained that there would be nothing but couples around me for a week."

“Oh, I see.” Tiffany looks at her with curious eyes, "When was your last relationship?"

"Huh? Well, I was still in university when I met Tyler, so ...," she frowns trying to remember exactly, "almost 9 years."

"Nine years?" Tiffany can't hide the surprise.

"I've been busy with work, I don't have time to date." Jessica responds more defensively than necessary, "I went on a few dates, thanks to my parents, but I did."

"Always with men?"

"Yes."

Tiffany watches her for a few seconds before continuing. "Is that why you didn't like the idea?"

"What?" Jessica asks in surprise, “No, that's not it. I doubt anyone in my family would care about the gender of the person I date.”

"That is not what I asked." Tiffany runs a hand through her hair with a slightly frustrated expression, "I asked if that's why you didn't like the idea, I didn't ask if your family would have a problem with you having a girlfriend."

Jessica feels her cheeks burning and is sure that she is visibly blushing after that response. “I… I don't…” she takes a deep breath and tries to form a coherent sentence, “I just think it's wrong to lie to them. Even though I don't like the comments, that doesn't seem right.”

"Chae did mention you are very close to your family." Tiffany says with a more relaxed expression.

"I am, but sometimes it feels like I'm a disappointment."

Tiffany puts a hand over Jessica’s and squeezes it lightly, a softer smile on her lips. "I know I don't know you well enough to say that, but from what Chae told me you seem to be anything but a disappointment." she lets go of Jessica's hand, "What if you didn't need to lie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know this is going to sound like a ridiculous idea, but try to keep an open mind." she drinks the last sip of her drink and since Jessica doesn't protest she continues, "If the problem is deceiving your family, we can resolve this by having a real relationship."

Jessica is so shocked that when she tries to say something her voice refuses to come out, even if she managed to speak she would have nothing eloquent to say because she feels like her brain just blue screened with this offer.

"Wait, let me explain it better." Tiffany blushes slightly, “I mean we can have a fake relationship, but not exactly a fake one. We can consider today as a first date and tell your family that we recently started going out, but since I had no one to spend Christmas with, you asked me to go with you. It’s more like an arranged relationship than a fake one.”

She hates that the idea doesn't seem as terrible as she thought it would, they wouldn't be lying because the plan is basically the same as she had agreed before, the only difference being that Tiffany would go as a girlfriend and not as a friend. This would mean that she would not only have someone to keep her company, she would also get rid of unpleasant comments. After all that is the only real problem she has with her family.

"There must be something very wrong with me, but that idea doesn't seem too bad."

"Right? Chaelin did sort of set us up for a blind date anyway, we can just go with it.” Tiffany says smiling playfully at Jessica, “Am I going to have the honor of being your first girlfriend?"

"Do you really need to talk like that?" Jessica hides her face with her hands and sighs after seeing Tiffany's irritating smile, there is no way that this is a good idea, but still she can't stop the words from coming out of , “Yes, you will, but don’t get any weird ideas. This is purely platonic.”

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of anything else."

A.N. Thanks for the subs! I'm glad you guys seem so interested in this fic.