Chapter 14

“Earth to Taeyeon” Tiffany said as she waved her hand across the latter’s face which quickly snapped Taeyeon from her daze.

“Hey! Have you been here long?”

“I just got here. What’s wrong honey? You have been out of it since we were to Disney. Is something bothering you?” Tiffany asked concered.

They were still in Tiffany’s hometown and Tiffany begged Taeyeon to follow her to get some yogurt to cheer Miyeon up since it was their last day there.

“Nothing. My mind is just a bit occupied due to work.” Taeyeo told a white lie to avoid talking further about the issue that was truly bothering her mind, the engagement.

“If you say so honey. But do know, I’m here if you ever need to talk.” Tiffany assured Taeyeon becaue she knew Taeyeon too well that her mind is not occupied due to work but she still couldn’t pin point what the real issue was.

“Goodbye Taetae.” Miyeon said on the verge of crying as Mr Hwang carried her in his arms.

“Come give mummy a kiss.” Tiffany said as she took Miyeon from Mr Hwang’s arms for a short kiss.

“ We will be back soon Mr Hwang!” Taeyeon said before entering the departure gate along with his daughter.

“I miss Miyeon already.” Tiffany complained like a love sick mom.

“I know. We will be back soon don’t worry.” Taeyeon assured her as they got comfortable in their seat.

“I think she likes you more than me now.”

“Aww someone’s jealous.”

“I think she does too.” Taeyeon teased which earned a slap on her arm.

“Of course not. You are an amazing mom. I’m sure she loves you more.” Taeyeon finally clarified.

“Well, since we are getting married soon. I will allow you to share Miyeon’s love.” Tiffany said as she admired the Kim’s heirloom, the big diamond ring on her finger.

Taeyeon’s mood shifted right away which Tiffany noticed right away.

“What’s wrong?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing. Would you like to watch House of Gucci with me? It has Lady Gaga in it.” Taeyeon tried to change the subject.

“Sure but do know I am not falling for it. We are going to talk about it later.”

The rest of the flight went by smoothly as they both went to sleep the moment the movie ended. Taeyeon wasn’t sleepy but she would do anything to avoid talking about the engagement with Tiffany at the moment. Not until she confides in her bestfriend/cousin and not until she screams at her father for doing what he did.

“Hey baby, dad needs me at the office asap. Do you mind if I go to his office after I send you home?” Taeyeon asked.

“You are not doing this to avoid taking about our engagement right?” Tiffany squinted her eyes in distrust.

“Of course not!” Taeyeon said rather defensively beause Tiffany was truly spot on.

“Sure. I don’t feel like going to my house tho. Do you mind if I stay at yours? I want to spend the night with my fiance.” Tiffany said as she gave Taeyeon a peck on the cheek.

“DAD!” Mr Kim almost had a heart attack the moment Taeyeon came in the house screaming.

“What’s wrong Tae? Why are you shouting?” He said equally as loud.

“I SAID GIRLFRIEND PROPOSAL NOT MARRIAGE PROPOSAL!!!!”

“WILL YOU STOP SHOUTING, I AM NOT DEAF!”

“Fine!” Taeyeon said in defeat.

“ Isn’t it better if it was a marriage proposal? You guys are getting married anyway. I don’t see a problem with it. It’s not like you have set a date.” Mr Kim tried to reason with his daugther.

‘That does make sense’ Taeyeon thought silently agreeing with her dad.

“But what if we don’t want to marry each other?” Taeyeon asked.

“Did she say yes?”

“She did.”

“Then just marry her .” Her father scolded her.

“But what if the engagement doesn’t work out?”

“Then call off the wedding. No one is forcing you to get married.”

“Sureeee dad.” Taeyeon said as she rolled her eyes as her dad was practically forcing her to get married.

“Look, I’m not getting any younger Taeyeon. I need you to settle down and take reign of the company.”

“Why can’t I just take over without being married?” Taeyeon asked frustrated.

“You know why Taeyeon. This position takes too much from us. You need a good support system and a wife is the perfect role for that. Don’t you think it would feel nice to come home after a day full of meetings to your wife preparing dinner for you.”

“What if I am not ready ?” Taeyeon argued.

“All I’m asking is that you try. I’m not pushing you to set a date soon but do know that it woud make me really happy if you get married early next year.”

“Great dad! Thanks for the Zero pressure.” Taeyeon said as her father laughed.

“I’ll get going now! Love you dad. Thanks for helping me out with the proposal.” Taeyeon said as she kissed her father on the cheeks and left.

“Love you too Tae.”

“Were you in it?” Taeyeon asked as she entered Yuri’s studio.

“In what?” Yuri asked confused.

“The wicked scheme of marrying me off.”

“I just took part in the video. The rest was just your dad.”

“Great so now I can rant to you about it.” Taeyeon said as she sighed on the couch.

“Why are you so upset about it? Tiffany is such a great woman. I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to marry her.” Yuri argued.

“It’s not about whom I am marrying, it is about when. I don’t think I am ready for marriage.”

“Then don’t set the date. Why are you being dumb?”

“What if I take 5 years to be ready? Who wants to be engaged for 5 years?”

“Talk about it with her. I’m sure Tiffany understands how you feel.”

“And tell her what? That my dad was scheming to marry me off and the proposal was a shock to me too?”

“Yeah you are right. The truth sounds bad.” Yuri said as she refined her on he painting.

“What should I do then?” Taeyeon says in defeat.

“Like I said either talk to her about it or just talk to her about it”

“That’s literally one option there.”

“Exactly, you have no choice but to talk to her about it.”

“You are really of not much help.” Taeyeon complained.

“You too. Look your bad vibes are rubbing off on my paintings.”

“The painting is literally a woman. How am I ruining it with my vibe. You just a creep.”

“Shh…no more bad vibes for my lady painting. Go get your own lady.”

“I’ll just leave. Tiffany is waiting for me at home.”

“Yes leave. Go to your Fany.”

“Great! You are home. Let me just heat up the dish I made for you.” Tiffany said as soon as she notice Taeyeon arriving at the front door.

“You cooked? I don’t think I have any groceries left tho.”

“I went out to get some. I had to use your car tho. I used your Lamborgini since it was the only one available at your garage. Where are the rest of your cars?”

Tiffany asked knowing that Taeyeon was such a car collector. At this point she was pretty sure that all the cars at the condo parking lot were hers.

“It’s at the shop and some are at a new garage I rent out since it is much safer there.”

“Would you to to eat first or take a bath first?” Tiffany asked.

“I’ll take a quick shower and come back.”

“I’ll prepare the food first.” Tiffany said which earned her a smile.

“This looks delicious. Thank you for the meal.” Taeyeon said before they both start digging in.

“Hmm.. this is yummy. When did you learn to cook? This can’t be the same Tiffany that almost burn the kitchen when she wanted to cook eggs.”

“Ya why bring that up ? I took up lessons a while ago. I do hope it pays off tho.”

“It did. This is amazing. It really reminds me of ajumma’s cooking.” Taeyeon said as she remember back her teenage days where the chef would cook her and Tiffany lunch to bring to class.

“Guess what? I actually tracked her down and got her to teach me. Although she died shortly after, I still managed to get a recipie or two.”

“Were you trying to woo me back then because it’s totally working in your favour now?”

“Who knows? Maybe I did, maybe I did not.” Tiffany said with a cheeky smile.

“How was dad? Why did he want to see you?” Tiffany asked.

“ He is fine. Well just a thing or two about our engagement.” Taeyeon answered vaguely.

“ Was he thrilled over the engagement?” Tiffany asked curiously.

‘If only you knew he was so thrilled that he made the engagement thing up.’

“He was.”

“That’s great. When are we announcing the engagement to the public?”

“About that, there is something I need to talk to you about.” Taeyeon said seriously.

“What’s with the serious tone? Is something wrong?” Tiffany asked concerned.

“Before I say anything, I would like you to know that, this is not about you at all. It’s just me. I don’t think I am ready for marriage at the moment.”

“Well, we don’t need to rush on setting the date. I’m fine with waiting a year or two.”

“What if I take five years or more?” Tiffany face fell.

“ Taeyeon why do I feel like you don’t want to get married? I keep on feeling like I am the only one excited about the engagement. If you don’t want to get married, why propose ? It’s not like I am forcing you.” Tiffany said frustrated.

‘If only you knew.’

“I know and I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

“If it makes you happy, I will pretend Disney never happened.” Tiffany said as she put the ring on her finger on the table before leaving to Taeyeon bedroom and giving it a good slam letting the latter know about her anger.

*Ting Ting*

Taeyeon looked at the notification newly received on her phone. It was a link to a news article titled “Korea’s most prominent business woman to engaged with international artist Tiffany Young.”. Alongside was a picture of Tiffany’s diamond ring and the proposal at disney.

“!” Taeyeon said under her breath.

‘Now has hit the fan’