The whole time that they are together outside, questions began flooding Tiffany’s mind in regards with Taeyeon’s true identity. She knows that behind his bright smile, happy family that he is portraying is only a façade of the real him.

 

Tiffany knows that no matter what that is, his real story, she will still love him the same.

 

Right after doing some groceries together, like what they agreed to do, both of them went straight to Taeyeon’s apartment to get some overnight clothes.

 

Upon arriving to his apartment, they saw a woman sitting outside. Taeyeon knew who that was. “What the is she doing here?!”, he said before angrily going out of his car not minding that Tiffany is with him.

 

“What- Taeyeon!”,

 

Taeyeon approaches the woman and he doesn’t expect her to show up in front of his apartment. “Get up! What do you want?! How many times do I have to tell you to never show face in front of me!”,

 

 

“Taeyeon, let me explain. I’m sorry for everything”, Jessica jumps in and hug him tight. “I was so stupid back then for letting you go before. I’m so sorry for hurting you so badly that I know it will take years before you will be able to forgive me. But I hope that will come sooner. Now that I know what I really want and what I really feel for you, please Taeyeon, take me back. Let’s start anew again. I love you. I really mean it this time. Please, give me another chance”,

 

 

Taeyeon scoffs and pushes her hard that Jessica almost fell to the ground. She is teary-eyed while looking at him. Not far from them is where Tiffany is standing and watching them. And despite of her issue with Jessica, she still didn’t like the way he pushes her. “Taeyeon!”,

 

 

“After years of tormenting me, you still have the guts to suddenly came here in my apartment and what? To tell me that you love me now? Are you ing kidding me? If you really love me, you will not be here right now after what you did to me. I did everything for you to love me enough but you never did. I gave you my all for years but it’s too late now!”, Taeyeon says

 

 

Jessica still not wanting to give up. She forcefully grabs his hand and beg him. “I was so stupid back then. Please, baby. Give me one more chance. Give us another chance. Let me prove to you how much you really means to me”,

 

 

“Stop it, Jess! I will never go back to you ever again! There is no us anymore. I don’t want to go back to that dark time of my life again because of you. Let go of me and stop being so manipulative. I have nothing left for me because of all of you! Just go. I finally found my happiness now. Please, don’t ruin it. I want to have a quiet and happy life right now”, Taeyeon pleaded for her to be released by her.

 

 

Tiffany decided that it was her time to interfere because she can see Taeyeon’s hand starting to shake like he is having panic attack. When Jessica saw her suddenly her demeanour changes like she suddenly became a different person.

 

 

“So, she’s here that’s why you don’t want to go back to me. I see. You really like having a rich girl, huh. Why? To free yourself from all of you debt? You are still the same Taeyeon. You never learned your lesson. If this is just because of money, I do have that. Come on, baby. Come with me and we’ll start a new life, away from everybody”, Jessica is trying to manipulate him again just like what she always does before.

 

 

“I think that’s enough, Jessica”, Tiffany demanded her before intertwining her hand with Taeyeon. “Taeyeon already tells you that he will not go back to you. He doesn’t want to do anything with you and he’s been telling you that loud and clear already. Taeyeon is a wonderful man that sadly you failed to realise it when he is still yours. Now, whatever you have for him, let it go. Let him go already”,

 

 

Jessica smirks. “You sounded so in love with him. Let me ask you, do you know him? Do you really know him that well? I bet you don’t because if you already know it you will not be saying all that to me”, she tells Tiffany before looking back to Taeyeon. “Baby, you know where to find me. I’ll be waiting for you at home and by the way I already got the deposit of your apartment. Remember this is still under my name. you only have a week to vacate. I’ll see you at home”,

 

 

“Leave! Get out of here!”, Taeyeon looks at her with a very dark eye. “Get lost! I don’t want to see you ever again. I ing hate you! you for ruining my life! Just go back to New York or somewhere else and keep ing that partner of yours, I don’t care!”,

 

 

Tiffany got startled with his sudden outburst, it was her first time seeing him that angry and cursing but Jessica is laughing at him. “Oh, this is my Taeyeon. You see Tiffany, this is who he really was. I’m going now. Just bring your old rusty car in my drive way after you finish packing your things”,

 

 

Jessica left. Taeyeon is in distress. He can’t even look at Tiffany after what Jessica said. There is no way that he could be ever be free from the dark place that she had put him in for years.

 

Taeyeon turns around anad started walking towards his car but before he can even open it, a hand stops him. “Where are you going?”,

 

“I’m driving you home. Get inside”,

 

“There is no way that I am letting you drive with your current state. Let’s go inside your apartment. You need to calm down and relax, love”, Tiffany tells him calmly

 

She is feeling bad for him because after all those years, Jessica still has a great impact on him. It’s affecting him big time. “Okay. I will- I’ll let Yuri to come and pick you then”,

 

Taeyeon is shaking and couldn’t even hold his phone properly. He is scared of losing everything that he worked so hard to rebuild. He’s scared of losing the only woman who loves him back.

 

Tiffany grab his phone and car key and hold his face up. “Hey, look at me. Relax and take a deep breath. Okay- You will open your apartment and both of us will sit down and we’re going to have a talk. It’s okay, love. I’m here to stay and I will not go anywhere without you because I love you”,

 

 

Inside Taeyeon’s apartment, Tiffany got herself another surprise. The inside so clean and organized. She also notices that he doesn’t have anything in terms of furnitures.

 

The living room is so small not what she expected. He only has a small old couch that is probably owned by his landlord and a small TV. His computer is also there at the corner aside from that nothing else.

 

The kitchen is small too with the stove, sink and washing machine altogether. His cabinet are all empty except for one that has a pack of ramen left. While looking for a water she opens the fridge and it too is empty with only a couple of bottled water left.

 

Tiffany sigh as she grab a bottle before joining him on the couch. “Taeyeon, can you be honest with me? Can you explain to me what Jessica meant by what she just said a while ago?”,

 

“What’s the point on telling you? You’re going to leave me soon”, he snaps at her

 

“The heck is wrong with you. I am asking you not because I am planning to leave you too. I am asking you because I want to understand you, I want to get to know the real you. We all have those dark moments in our lives, I do too but unlike you, I found my way out”,

 

Taeyeon sigh and he finally softened up. He lean back to the couch and look up to the ceiling. “Growing up I thought everything was real. A complete happy family, a big house. My parents have their own business, they gave me what I want but one day I just woke up and realized that it’s just a dream”,

 

Tears begins to fall from his eyes as he recalls those days that forever change his life. “Before I graduated from high school, I remember that they are all panicking at home. Mom is crying. Dad is comforting her. Then with some men wearing black suit a boy of the same age like me walks inside our house. That day my perfect life crashed like an airplane up in the sky slowly falling down",,

 

Tiffany already have an idea where his story is going but she’s not really sure with the way Taeyeon is crying beside her. “What happened then? Who is that boy?”, she asks

 

“It turns out that he is their biological son. The one that was taken from them by their nanny. Which means, I am their adopted son. They adopted me when I was the same age when they lost their son, 3 years old. They didn’t tell me about that so I was like, okay cool, I have a brother no big deal. But that was a wishful thinking only”, Taeyeon’s voice cracks

 

 

Tiffany look at him as he continues staring at the ceiling. She wipes his tears and caress his face to some what comforts him. And he takes her hand and kiss it. “My brother and I didn’t really get along. I mean he. He wanted all the attention. He wanted everything that is supposed to be mine. But, at first it’s fine with me. Everything turns sour for us when he started lying to our parents to make me look bad”,

 

“What did he do to you, love?”,

 

“He-um. He told mom and dad that I’ve been stealing money from them to buy some cigarettes. I never even attempted to try smoking because I hate the smell of it. All the money that I have that time is from my side job. I’ve been teaching after school! I do tutoring after school! I never steal. No never!”, he suddenly gets upset.

 

 

Tiffany rub his arm to silently tell him to calm down and continue talking. “You know what makes me so sad with what he did to me? He spreads rumors around the school that I’ve been collected adult magazines and that I am addicted to videos. That caused me a huge demerits. I got robbed of my valedictorian award because of him. And aside from that no one wants me to teach them”,

 

“When mom and dad learned about it, despite me telling them that it’s all a lie, a hard slap on the face is all that I got from dad. Of course, they do believe everything that their son is telling them about me”,

 

 

“I remember it was only a couple of months left before graduation when that happens. They cut my allowance. I am forced to bring snacks at school because they thought that I am only wasting their money from buying those magazines that I don’t even know”,

 

 

Listening to his story, Tiffany can now slowly understand him. She felt bad for him. His childhood is not what she thought it was. He is surrounded by bad people that obviously scarred him for life.

 

“I endured all of it. That’s why before graduation, I started selling some of my collections without them knowing it. I actually earned a lot from those. I thought the worst is over by then but I was wrong. Just months before college, they told me that I should find a job because they are not going to waste money on me anymore”,

 

 

“What?! But why? You got good grades!”, Tiffany herself can’t help but to be furious

 

 

Taeyeon laugh bitterly with her reaction. “That good son for nothing told them not to and because he is their beloved son, they listened to him. In the end, I decided it’s not a home for me anymore. They don’t need me there anymore. So, I moved out. I brought a little stuffs with me and only with a little savings plus the sales of my toys is all that I have that I had that time”,

 

“I applied for a scholarship to every University. I didn’t even care which school because I only wanted to finish my studies and get my degree. The first one to email me is where I met Yuri”,

 

 

“I worked two jobs to support my studies because I don’t want to take a student loan. I worked at a coffee shop and also a dishwasher at a very busy restaurant. And when I have no classes or work I will do some tutoring”,

 

 

Tiffany kiss him on the cheeks. “I am so proud of you, Taeyeon. Listening to your story and looking at you right now, I can say that all your hardworks and sacrifices paid off”,

 

“You can say that but do you think that’s the end of my story? I think we need a beer for that part”, Taeyeon says with a big smile

 

“Like you have anything else aside from bottled water”,

 

“Follow me”, Taeyeon gets up and went to his bedroom. Tiffany didn’t know why but she just follow him inside. It turns out he has a small fridge where all of his beers are being kept. “Now we’ve got something to drink”,

 

She chuckles before getting one for herself. The room is also not that big but it is very clean and organized. Taeyeon changed into a more comfortable clothing before sitting on the bed.

 

“So, what happens next?”,

 

“What happened next is that out of nowhere I received a notice after my graduation regarding my unpaid student loan”, he replies before finishing a whole can of beer in one go

 

“Wait! You said you worked two jobs because you don’t want to take a loan?”,

 

“Exactly!”, his voices raises. “I supported myself the entire time working 7 days a week and that good son took a student loan under my name! I don’t know how he did that but he got 50 million won under my name. A ing 50 million won!”,

 

Tiffany can feel the anger in his voice. “Did you tell you parents about that?”,

 

Taeyeon took a deep breath. “I did. I went back home to confront him but guess what? They still believe in him, they believe all his lies. Later I found out that he is living a life of a prince which he is portraying to all of his friends while I am left with a huge debt because of him”,

 

 

“So, that explains why you don’t have a credit card and you don’t but expensive things even on foods. Now I get it what Jessica meant about money issue but why did she said that it’s the real you when you yell at her?”, she asks while resting her head on Taeyeon’s shoulder

 

“With my previous company that I worked with before, a video of me yelling at one of my co-worker, my senior went viral. I admit that it was me yelling and cursing on that video but if I have to, I will do the same. I don’t regretted what I did”,

 

 

He still can’t get over about that incident and it still makes him mad. “Imagine seeing a 30 something grown up man taking advantage of a 20 something trainee! I don’t know how others could turn a blind eye on something like that!”,

 

 

“What did he do to her?!”,

 

“He was making inappropriate jokes towards her that makes her really uncomfortable. Then during our company party, he made some advances to her. He drags her to a secluded area and tried ually assaulting her good thing I was actually there hiding from the party”,

 

 

Until after many years he can still hear how the poor girl scream begging him to stop. It was one of his nightmares. “Her scream is so loud that the people outside can hear it. They didn’t know that I was there. I saw how he tore her top exposing her upper body. I run to that poor girl and pushes my senior away from her”,

 

“The video only captured me yelling and cursing at him but no one saw what he did to her because she quickly run away and never return to the office again. He is my senior, he got some connections inside the company so, I got fired”,

 

“At that time, Mr.Jung is doing some business with our company. He was impressed with some of my works. He was trying to pirate me but I am loyal to my company. As soon as he heard the news about me getting fired, without negotiations he offered me a position in his company with double of my salary. Because I am in huge debt I immediately said yes to him”,

 

“That’s how I met Jessica. We started as friends. We always hang out, going to some bars and eventually I fell for her. I thought she is what she is showing me but everything is a big fat lie. When we became official she didn’t even treated me like her boyfriend but rather than her own personal assistant. She used me as her driver, chaperone, a boy, cook and everything. She knows about that viral video. She knows about my huge debt. That’s why she rejected me when I proposed to her”,

 

Taeyeon stops for a while and Tiffany can see pure sadness in his eyes. “Yuri later found out that Jessica and her business partner is having an affair. That’s all we know. We don’t know his name or what he looks like. I am so mad, humiliated and broken because I was so blind not to see all those red flags. Jessica is my biggest mistake”,

 

 

“Hold on, love. Correct me if I’m wrong. You and her dated for not that long and you decided to propose to her even though you knew that she doesn’t love you enough the way you love her. Right?”, Tiffany asks while looking at him confusedly

 

“Uh-yes”,

 

“Then the fact that she knows about the video and your huge debt made you let her manipulate you and be her puppet because you’re scared that she will brought it up and tell everyone. God, Taeyeon you’re smart but your such a stupid ”, Tiffany flicks him on the forehead

 

 

“Ouch”, Taeyeon rub his forehead and look away. He knows that was the best way to describe him. It hurts to hear that from the one that he loves the most. Tiffany lift his head up.

 

“You’re a , a stupid one but there is nothing wrong with that. We all experience being like that once in our life but that doesn’t mean we should live like that. We cannot always let other people to take advantage of us and tell is what we should do”,

 

 

Tiffany hold his hand. “Love, from what I can see you are not yet over from all that. The issue between you and your brother is still there with you. You haven’t forgotten everything from your childhood then here comes Jessica”,

 

 

Taeyeon suddenly remove his hand from her and he is totally not agreeing with her. “Are you telling me that I haven’t move on from them? is that! I am totally over them. You don’t say that to me”,

 

 

“See, look at you being so defensive and mad just like that. You loses your temper easily because of them which means they are still living inside you and it will ignites the moment they are being brought up again because you haven’t really moved on”,

 

 

She then made Taeyeon to look at her straight in the eyes. “It is so easy to tell everybody that we already moved on by hiding the memories. Yes, you don’t care about them anymore but in order for us to be freely free from our nightmare we have to forgive ourselves first”,

 

“Forgive ourselves that’s the first step in moving on because if we can forgive ourselves then it is going to be easy for us to forgive those who hurt us. If we can manage to forgive them then that’s the only time that we can move forward. If you clear out the hatred in your heart then there is nothing that will agitate and makes you anxious”,

 

“Forgive, forget and move on. Can you do that for me, love?”,

 

It silence Taeyeon. He stare at his girlfriend while absorbing everything that she told him. He knows that she is only stating the obvious that he failed to notice.

 

Tiffany is telling her what he should have done years ago but can’t the courage to do so because of all the manipulations. He look away and look down with both of his hand on his head.

 

Looking back makes him so tired and he only wants to be free from all of them. “Will you help me do that? I mean, I need you. I don’t have anyone to help me”,

 

“Of course I will. No need to ask. I know how it feels like to be in your position. I’ve been there before but I found my way back to the light again because of you. No matter what happens I will walk with you through it all until you can be on your own again”, Tiffany says with a sweet smile on her face.

 

He nodded and tears begins to flood his face again. He just hugs Tiffany and let all of his emotions out.

 

Few minutes later, Taeyeon finally stops and wipe his face. He is feeling a lot better after that. He slowly move his body away from her. “Thank you, Fany-ah. I don’t know what I will do without you. I love you. I really do love you so much. And, I am not after your money. I swear. I didn’t choose you because of your wealth. I don’t even know that you’re rich. My debt is my debt. I will not-“,

 

Tiffany shuts him up by kissing him on the lips. That is the only way to stop him from talking too much. She kisses him hard on the lips and let him feel how much she loves him. They only stop when Taeyeon lay her down in bed

 

“Not now, love. We should get going remember all those ice creams that you bought they are probably melted by now”,

 

“Oh, no. Not my ice cream. I’m going to pack my things real quick. Stay right there”, Taeyeon get up and grab his bags from under the bed before he is reminded by what Jessica told him. “Boss Hwang, you have extra rooms in your house would you mind taking me in as your housemate?”,

 

Tiffany kneels on the bed and grab him by his collar. “2 more rooms because the other one is for Sooyoung. Why would you ask for a room if you can take my bed too? I am a very generous person so, I will give you what you want. You can take one room”, she said before pushing him away

 

“I am just kidding”, he grabs her closer to his body with their faces are only am inch apart. “That sounds great. I will take your first offer. Hmmm… How can I reject that beautiful offer to sleep beside you every night”, Taeyeon begins to kiss her from her ears down to her neck

 

“H-How. Ohh~ How about your ice cream?”,

 

“Forget about my ice cream because I want to make you scream”, he replies in between his kisses

 

Tiffany is so with the way he is kissing her. “Let’s get your things out here now. We’ll do it in our bed! Come on, faster!”,