When they got to Jessica’s grandparents it was overwhelming. Apparently after Jessica told her mother, everyone else was informed. Tiffany got buried in hugs and questions as soon as they got out of the car, her family wanted to know everything about the woman that got Jessica to date after so many years. They made it sound like a real miracle. Luckily Tiffany is an absolute angel and kept satisfying their curiosity as much as possible. 

 

The only reason why it wasn’t worse was because not everyone had arrived yet. Only Jessica’s parents, her aunts and uncles, and Kyungho and Sooyoung.

 

Jessica walks to the side of the room and observes Tiffany with her mother, grandparents, and aunts. Her dad is helping Soojung and Victoria with the luggage, and both her uncles are working on the barbecue. Sooyoung approaches her, Kyungho coming right after checking something on his phone.

 

“So, it finally happened, huh?”

 

“You mean me and Fany dating?”

 

“Yeah, we were quite… surprised to see you dating someone.” She looks at the man on her left, “Right, honey?”

 

“Right, if I expected this I would’ve bet on it instead of single for life.” Sooyoung hits his arm, “What?”

 

“Bet?”

 

“It’s nothing, Jess. Don’t pay attention to him, you know how your cousin is.” She takes him by the hand, “We should check if your dad needs help, honey.” 

 

This comment alone could be something Jessica would just brush off, but something clicked in her mind. When she called her mother to tell about Tiffany, she seemed very excited that Jessica had a girlfriend. Especifically a girlfriend. And now with Kyungho’s slip up about a bet it could mean something she doesn’t want to believe.

 

“Okay, everyone. You had enough time with her, let the woman breathe.” Jessica approaches the couch where Tiffany’s sitting surrounded by relatives, “It’s my turn to get Fany’s attention.”

 

    “Sorry, dear. We just couldn’t help,” Jessica’s mother smiles at her, “After so many years some of us thought you would never get with someone.”

 

    “You’ve always been such a wonderful girl,” One of her aunts says, “but after you started working we were afraid you would scare off any ma… anyone who got interested.”

   

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

    “We were just worried, sweetie.” Her grandfather tries to do damage control, this has always been his job in the family interactions. “But now you found such a nice girl, no one needs to worry anymore.”

   

    “Your grandpa is right. I was afraid I would die without seeing all my grandchildren finding their way in life.”

 

    “Jessica was doing perfectly fine before dating me.”

 

    Everyone goes silent at this, even Jessica freezes looking at the woman in front of her. She never expected that Tiffany would defend her so bluntly. Actually, she never thought Tiffany would stand up for her at all.

 

    “Yes, of course.” Her other aunt, Eunbi’s mother, says after recovering from the shock, “You girls should go freshen up before Eunbi and Yerin get here, I’m sure they’ll want to talk.”

 

    “Yeah, I could bet on it.” Jessica says accentuating the word bet. She offers her hand to Tiffany, “Come, I’ll show you our room.”

 

    When they get upstairs Jessica closes the door and rests her back on it, letting out a sigh. This time it was supposed to be easier, she is no longer single, they have no reason to make comments. 

 

    Tiffany who was looking at the backyard through the window notices how Jessica didn’t join her and has not even moved away from the door. She decides to approach her, “Are you mad at me?”

 

    With furrowed eyebrows, Jessica looks at her, “Why would I be?”

 

    “I was a little rude to your family.” She looks down, playing with a ring on her left hand, “I think I might have overstepped.”

 

    Jessica holds both her hands, “I’m really glad you said that, they had no right to say those things. I thought…” She feels tears forming, tightens up and it’s hard to continue speaking, “I thought… it would be different.”

 

    “I know, baby. Come here.” Tiffany pulls her in a hug, “I knew they were nosy, but I got so mad seeing they talk about you that way.”

 

    “That one wasn’t on the list.”

 

    “What?”

 

   

    “Baby. You called me baby, that wasn’t on the list we came up with.” 

 

    Tiffany takes a step back, breaking the hug, “Sorry, I must have got them confused.”

 

    “Or maybe you like me.” 

 

    She laughs awkwardly, “You wish.” Saying that, she winks and turns her back at Jessica, walking back to the window.

 

    “Thanks for standing up for me,” She joins Tiffany, “it means a lot. I-I never had anyone do that for me. I mean, my cousins and Soojung tried sometimes, but…”

 

    “They weren’t so quick to cut off your grandma’s opinions about your love life?” Tiffany has her eyes fixed on the outside, unfocused.

 

    “They were not you,” This gets the other woman to turn towards her, “they are family, we grew up together, it was expected they’d get what I was going through and would feel inclined to interfere.”

 

    “And you thought I wouldn’t?”

 

    “You had no reason to.”

   

    Tiffany cups Jessica’s face, “You have no idea, do you?” She observes the utter confusion in her expression, “I won’t ever allow anyone to undermine the life choices of people who are important to me. You are very important to me.”

 

    “Why?” She whispers, feeling like any sound would break the atmosphere surrounding them.

 

    “I d-” 

 

    A knock on the door followed by someone opening it interrupts whatever she was going to say. 

 

    “Jessie?” A girl with bright red hair enters the room, “Oh-sorry… I-”

 

    “B?” Another woman walks in, her eyes double in size, “Who’s the blonde?”

 

    “Sorry, Jessie,” The woman turns, pushing the other outside and closing the door behind them.

 

    “I assume that was Eunbi?”

 

    “Yeah, the awkward one with red hair was Eunbi, pink hair with wide eyes is Eunbi’s fiancée, Yerin.”

 

    “I guess not everyone got the memo about our relationship.”

 

    “Poor children. They must have been so surprised and thought they were interrupting something.”

 

    “Good to know you aren’t the only person in your family that is absolutely clueless.”

 

    “I’m not clueless. Why do you keep acting like I am missing something obvious?”

 

    Tiffany chuckles and pulls Jessica into a hug, “Because you are, but you’re so cute when you’re confused that I’ll have to let you figure it out on your own.”

 

    Jessica melts into the hug, “Can’t you give me a tip?”

 

    “No.” Tiffany kisses her temple, “You should go find your cousin, she seemed excited to talk to you.”

   

    She knows that Tiffany is right, she should go talk to Eunbi and Yerin. They haven’t seen each other in a long time, and the girl did look happy when she entered the room, but right now this hug feels more important. They are in a house full of people who will loudly judge every life decision she made, the things her relatives said today hurt her. Being in Tiffany’s arms, her face hid in the other woman’s neck, she feels safe from them.

 

    “Can we stay here a little longer?” She whispers against Tiffany’s neck.

 

    “As long as you want.”

 

    “I want you to go with me, to talk to Eunbi and Yerin I mean.”

 

    “You sure?”

 

    She nods, still keeping her face safely tucked against her neck, “She is my favourite cousin, and the person in my family I’m the closest to after Soojung. I want her to meet you.”

 

    Tiffany moves slightly away from the hug and pulls Jessica towards a chair a few steps away from the windows. As she sits down she pulls the woman to her lap sitting sideways and back into a hug, “Why is she your favourite?”

 

    Jessica is startled by her action, but she chooses to say nothing about it. There’s something comfortable about being this close to the other, so she throws her right arm around her neck before answering the question.

 

    “Eunbi is the youngest, but she always looked up to me. She used to spend a lot of time at our house, Soojung is closer to her age and they used to play a lot together while I kept an eye on the both of them.” Jessica starts to play with Tiffany’s hair, “I guess she ended up being more like a little sister to me than a cousin, I care about her as much as I care about my sister.”

 

    “That explains why she asked you to be her maid of honour.”

 

    She nods, “As adults the three of us kept close. They are the only ones who never took part in the annoying expression of opinions about my personal life. When they said something about it it felt like genuine interest, they were never judging or condescending.” 

 

    “I noticed the difference with Soojung and the others. In the car — and even back in that call — she teased you and all, but it didn’t seem anything out of ordinary for siblings. When we got here and I met everyone else I felt quite the difference, I was dodging their comments about your past for a while before I said that.”

 

    “I’m sorry you had to put up with it, I would like to say that it won’t happen anymore, but I,” She clears , “I know how they are and after… I don’t know what to think.”

 

    “After what?”

 

    “I’m-I’m not sure if I should talk about it, but earlier when I was talking to Sooyoung and Kyungho, he said something about betting on whether I would stay single.”

 

    “Betting? As in…”

 

    “As in my family actually placing a bet on it.”

 

    Tiffany’s eyes widen, “You think they would do that?”

 

    “I hope not, but… I can’t really say they wouldn’t. I think Soojung and Eunbi wouldn’t. Wheein — Kyungho’s sister — and her husband are pretty chill and don’t get involved in family drama, so I can’t see them doing something like that.”

 

    “But you’re not sure about the others?”

 

    Jessica shakes her head, “I’m the second oldest of the ‘children’ and I’m the oldest of the girls. My family is a little conservative about these things, they think I should take what they see as the next step in my adult life.” She moves closer to Tiffany, her side resting against the other woman’s chest, “It’s kinda funny how they are accepting of the girls having girlfriends, but God forbid that someone stays single.”

 

    “This is absurd. You can be perfectly happy as a single woman for the rest of your life and they shouldn’t try to interfere.”

 

    “If only they saw it this way. Did you know that they used to push me to accept going to blind dates?”

 

    “I think you mentioned it. How bad were the dates?”

 

    “Terrible.” She says and Tiffany chuckles at the answer, “I’m serious. They were either approaching their forties — desperate for getting married because of their own family pressure — or had the most obnoxious personalities you can think of. The kind of person who couldn’t get a girlfriend because they’re incapable of talking about anything about themselves and no woman could put up with it.”

 

    “In a way when we met it was a blind date. ”

 

    “Yeah, I guess. But with you it was different.”

 

    “I know, with me it wasn’t a real da-”

 

    “No, not that.” Jessica interrupts.

 

    “Why then?”

 

    “Because I enjoyed your company. I thought it was obvious.”

 

    “Are you saying you enjoy going on dates with me?”

 

    Jessica hides her face in the crook of Tiffany’s neck, she didn’t think before speaking and getting this question made her shy. It would be a lie to say she hasn’t enjoyed their dates, but admitting it would give the wrong impression. 

 

    “Why? Are you planning on taking me out more often?”

 

    “As often as you allow me,” She combs Jessica’s hair with her fingers, “Can I ask you something about your previous relationship?”

 

    “Sure. But I think I told you everything about it.”

 

    “Did you like going on dates with him?”

 

    Jessica ponders for longer than one would expect, “I guess so,” She sits up again, “we used to see each other as much as uni work allowed and it was nice.”

 

    “You never told me why you guys broke up.”

 

    “I don’t know… We just grew apart and eventually I knew I didn’t love him that way anymore, so I broke up with him.”

 

    “And you really didn’t have any relationships after him?”

 

    “No, I mean… I had a few casual relationships, but those were… you know.”

 

    “Just ?” Tiffany smiles seeing how the woman on her lap couldn’t say the words.

 

    Jessica nods, “Why the interest in my love life?”

 

    “Who knows? Maybe I’m trying to learn how to conquer your heart.” Tiffany answers playfully, “We should go talk to your cousin now.”

 

    Before Jessica can stop herself a thought forms itself in her brain. Born from a memory of Chaelin’s words: You might not be into women, but you’re definitely into Tiffany. What if she was right? No, that’s ridiculous. Tiffany is a good friend and she is grateful to have her here at this moment, but from that to being interested in her romantically is a big difference. 

 

    “Jess?”

 

    It seems that she got so caught up on her thoughts that Tiffany noticed, “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

 

    “About what?”

 

    “I was just-It doesn’t matter.” She stands up, “Come on, you need to meet the newly engaged.”

 

 

---

 

 

    “So, when did this start?” Eunbi asks after their introductions.

 

    “A little after we last talked. Chaelin tricked us into going to a blind date with each other, and things just happened.”

 

    “I really didn’t expect it, at all. I’m sorry for barging in your room before. My mother told us you were upstairs, but she failed to mention you had company.”

 

    “The surprise has been a theme since we got here.” Tiffany sighs, “We had to kinda run away from the living room.”

 

    “It happened to me back in the first time I met everyone, but at least they knew about me for a good few months before.”

 

    “And Eunbi was what? 19? When you started dating.” Jessica asks, getting a nod as a response, “That makes a difference.”

 

    “I always hated how much of a hard time they give you about this. When I try talking to my parents about it they treat me like an insolent child, but the things they do are wrong.”

 

    “You know anything about the bet?” Jessica decides to try her luck on the youngest to find out the truth.

 

    Eunbi and Yerin look at each other, wide eyed. Yerin swallows a couple of times before looking at Jessica, “How did you find out?”

 

    “I wasn’t sure, Kyungho said something and I needed to make sure.”

 

    Tiffany holds Jessica’s hand, trying to sooth her. 

 

    “We aren’t a part of it,” Eunbi starts, “Kyungho tried to get us to bet, but it didn’t feel right to do so. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you, we knew it would hurt to know.”

 

    “It’s good to know I was right about the both of you. Who is in the bet? And what is the bet exactly?”

 

    “Pretty much everyone. Soojung and Victoria probably don’t know about it, Kyung and Sooyoung are the ones who organised everything and they didn’t trust them to keep the secret. I’m not sure about Wheein.”

 

    “Last time I heard of it she wasn’t interested.” Yerin interjects.

 

    “Of course it was them, Sooyoung never liked me anyway.”

 

    “And as for the bet itself, they had guesses on your love life: being single forever, secretly gay, having an affair with a married man, and maybe others, but these are the ones I know of. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

 

    “Don’t worry about it.” She looks at Tiffany who stares back at her with eyes full of worry, “I need to show you guys the designs I’ve been working on, but right now I need to figure out what I’m going to do about this mess.”

 

---

A.N: Sinrin finally joined the story. I think this fic will end in chapter 10, I'll miss JeTi being the cutest ship ever.