Tiffany is a nervous wreck. Hyoyeon had gotten her some glammed up stylist, a driver with a huge black Mercedes that all celebs travelled in and a bodyguard. A bodyguard. She got her own personal bodyguard. She wasn't sure if she should be alarmed or flattered. Either way, she's all sorts of anxious.

 The black velvet dress is reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn's iconic look and Tiffany from another time, young Stephanie, would've declared it a whole moment. But now she can't help but hope the shiny fabric won't highlight the curves of her body much, which have grown past the Korean beauty standard. The stylist is the picture of professionalism so Tiffany trusts they'll tell her if she looks bad. She hopes they will...

 The dress really is quite beautiful. It hugs her body, doesn't cinch or flare particularly, but it drapes prettily. It's strapless and the neckline is sweetheart, emphasizing her cleavage. Her do look fabulous, Tiffany has to admit. She's got long black gloves that make her look like an old Hollywood star. Her hair is gathered in a bun at her neck, revealing the low dip of the back. The stylist comments on how she has a great back and she takes great pleasure in it. Ha, take that, scoliosis!

 "Uhm, how much is this dress? And, uh, will I be held responsible if I get it dirty?" The stylist glances at her, their sharp eyes capturing her like a rabbit in a snare. It's terrifying.

 "Sure, sweetie, it's yours." She says nonchalantly.

 "What?" Tiffany cannot process this. What. What???

 "It's yours."

 "I have not paid for this, though? I couldn't have." Literally, she couldn't have. The gloves alone were worth her rent.

 "Hyoyeon gave it to me, so I don't know. She told me it's yours." Tiffany is thoroughly confused. Did Hyoyeon give her a luxury dress? For what? How did Hyoyeon even know she needed a dress? This whole thing felt shady. But time was running out and she had to turn up at the venue. To get sold, auctioned off like a slave, whatever. This whole thing felt a bit misogynistic. Selling women for a date, pricepoint based on their looks for the night. Good christ, what is this? Nineteen-fifty?

 The majority of the night is... Hectic but boring at the same time? Lots of people but nothing is actually happening. There's a pack of photographers and reporters, obviously because of the multitude of celebrities present. Tiffany is disgruntled she'll probably have to interact with at least one celeb in the duration of this whole thing. Though, being with Taeyeon has kind of shifted her view. Sure, there were ty, pretentious and fame-drunk people in the industry, but that didn't reflect it as a whole. People had multiple facets, negative and positive, and being a celebrity didn't cancel that out. Still, Byun Baekhyun could her . That much hadn't changed of her attitude.

 (He was also present at the fundraiser. He'd been eyeing her all night and Tiffany was this close to kissing his nose with her fist. Hard.)

 "Hey! Fany-ah!" A familiar voice calls for her. She breaks away from Mrs Lee's clutches, Hyoyeon's mother-in-law, to answer Taeyeon's call. She's never been so relieved to hear someone's voice. A heated debate of which vacuum cleaner is better, Dyson or Bosch, can do that to a person.

 "Taetae!" She plays her delight up a notch since they are the country's most beloved couple at the moment. The cameras eat it up, the shutters going off sounding like a helicopter taking flight as she surges into Taeyeon's arms. They embrace briefly or, well, Tiffany tries to keep it brief. Taeyeon clutches onto her waist tightly, squeezing like a vice. Tiffany waves at the singer's group members over her shoulder. They wave back hesitantly.

 "Keep your grubby paws away from the goods, Kim Taeyeon." She speaks without her smile budging as she feels Taeyeon's hands trail towards her . As per usual. Taeyeon whimpers dejectedly and pulls away. Tiffany hooks their arms together as they stand side by side. Their outfits match pretty nicely, she notes. Taeyeon's all dressed up in a pinstripe suit, old Hollywood like her dress is. It's complete with a grey vest, bowtie and a golden pocketwatch. Tiffany has a hunch this isn't a coincidence.

 "Guys, meet my girlfriend, Tiffany Hwang!" Taeyeon enthusiastically introduces her to the gaggle of girls they're with. Tiffany recognizes a few of them, mainly Taeyeon's group members, but most of them she's never seen before.

 "Tiffany, these are my fellow members of Girls' Era, Seo Juhyun, Kwon Yuri, Jung Jessica — you'll get along, you're both from the states! — and Lee Sunmi." Tiffany politely bows for them. Jessica's looking at her like a hawk, Yuri looks like there's elevator music playing in her head and Juhyun is gaping at her like she's the second coming of Christ. Sunmi is happily bouncing in place.

 "Hi, unnie! Can I call you that? You're Taeyeon-unnie's girlfriend! You're so pretty!" The onslaught of energy coming from the woman nearly gives Tiffany whiplash. She only smiles back. She hopes the girls know Taeny is only for show. Though, with Sunmi's enthusiasm and Jessica's protective stance, it's doubtful.

 "And then there are a few of our friends-" Taeyeon tries to continue introductions, but Juhyun interrupts her.

 "Stephanie? You're actually- back then? You're... Her?" Really, how's she supposed to answer that? Yeah, I was that weird American girl that got scammed with you, surprise!

 "Uhm, yeah... How's it- Woah!" She yelps when Juhyun hops into her arms. She's a lot taller than Tiffany, even when she has heels on, so she is thoroughly squished. "Nice to see you too, kiddo." Juhyun sniffles and Tiffany grows alarmed. Is she actually crying? Oh no, I don't know what to do when people cry...

 "Thank you so much. You always took care of me and- and I appreciate it so much. I wouldn't- I wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't been there." She cries and Tiffany feels a weight lift off of her shoulders. Maybe it was vain, to feel better about yourself when you got to know you'd helped someone. But that's how it felt. Knowing that all her suffering, even if it had left her ruined, hadn't been for nothing felt good, relieving.

 "No problem, kiddo. I'm glad we're... Here." And she smiles as she had back then. Eyes curling into crescents and nearly all her teeth visible. Juhyun looks back at her and Tiffany can see how she's grown. She can see the scars healing, the pain behind her eyes and the hope that shines above it all. They'll be alright. They're here.

 "Sorry to cut this... moment... you're having here short, but Tiffany, you're needed backstage." A person in a black shirt that says STAFF in bold white letters comes up to them. The next happenings happen in such quick succession that it leaves Tiffany dizzy.

 As soon as she's hauled backstage, she's bombarded by goons in black shirts with white text, pushed about and all over the place. She's given all kinds of instructions and tips and it feels like she's a puppet on strings. But eventually, she finds herself in a line of pretty girls, all in equally pretty dresses and then the stereos thrum her name.

 "Our next missus is Tiffany Hwang!" Tiffany takes the cue and walks up the stairs to the stage. She tries to look dignified despite how ing steep these stupid stairs are and how stupidly high her heels are. "She's a long-time employee of Lee Cleaning & Catering, though recently she's been mainly known for dating Kim Taeyeon!" She waves politely at the gently clapping crowd. Taeyeon's table is situated to the left of the stage and she tries to focus on the singer's proud smile.

 "What does your girlfriend have to say about you putting yourself up here, Tiffany?" She really wants to point out that she didn't put herself in anything and that this was all very much against her will. But she doesn't wanna kill the mood. She has media training, she knows these things.

 "If she doesn't buy my date that'll be on her." She smiles pleasantly and laughs along as the host guffaws at her answer. The crowd ripples with laughter. Tiffany preens, proud of herself.

 "I love that you know your worth, Tiffany. Now, I have some questions for you, for potential buyers to get to know you. That alright with you?"

 "Hit me." Tiffany takes a seat on the high chair placed at the very centre of the stage and grips her microphone in a steady grip. Thank god she's wearing gloves or it would be slick with sweat.

 "We've been told that you're originally from the states, is that true?"

 "Yes, I moved to South Korea when I was sixteen." Panic swells as she's sure the next question will be why she'd come to Korea at only sixteen.

 "And how many languages do you speak?" She's relieved they didn't probe further. Deep breaths, Tiffany. You're fine. You're fine.

 "Well, fluently I only speak Korean and English, but I do know some Spanish from my time in the states." The host glows at the revelation.

 "Can you demonstrate?"

 "Well, uh, here I go... Hola a todos, estoy muy feliz de estar aquí con todos ustedes!" The crowd cheers as if she just walked on water. Tiffany feels as if the pope is gonna pop out of nowhere and actually declare her the messiah.

 "Amazing! A linguistically gifted beauty, she is!" Taeyeon whoops particularly loud and Tiffany can't help the laugh that bubbles out of her.

 "Next question! What is your most charming point?" The smile on her lips wavers and almost withers away. Oh, ing , she wasn't prepared for that. But, as she fumbles with her answer, an idea rises from the fog. That'd be interesting... And catastrophic... But interesting...

 "In my own opinion?" The host nods like a bobblehead. "I'll just be honest with you all... I think my most charming point is my honesty and authenticity. Like, for example," she takes a deep breath, wondering if she's actually doing this. it.  "Taeyeon and I really aren't dating."

 Silent. The whole hall becomes silent like all noise was out with a Dyson vacuum. But then, it begins in unsure murmurs, mounting into steady chaos. Everyone is looking between her and Taeyeon, who by the way is frozen in her seat. In just a few seconds, the hall explodes in a rainbow of sound — all sorts of noises escaping people's mouths, of shock, of disbelief, of sheer audacity​​​​​​.

 Tiffany fights the grin on her face and the urge to gloat. This is the perfect chance to make some serious dough. She'd been informed backstage that a portion of the auctioned money would be going to her own pocket. A very small portion though, meaning: the bigger the overall sum, the larger that small portion. Now, everyone's going to want to go on a date with her, regardless of whether they actually want to spend time with her. They want the hottest scoop of the year. (The plan was a huge risk, but she's immensely relieved her gamble paid off. If it hadn't, that would've been massively embarrassing. Thank god rich people are so gullible.)

  The host springs into action, shouting off numbers: "Let the bidding begin! Starting at two million won, going once-"

 "Two million, here!" Shouts a man with a bulky camera hanging from his neck.

 "Two million and fifty!" An older woman Tiffany's pretty sure is related to Taeyeon in some sort of way.

 "Two million and seventy!" Another camera-person.

 "Three million!" A handsome young man shouts. Tiffany wouldn't mind going out with him.

 "SIX MILLION WON!" Another man screeches over the chaos and Tiffany immediately recognizes who he is. Byun ing Baekhyun. That sleazy motherer. Tiffany doesn't bother hiding her distaste. All the tabloids will know just how much she hates Byun Baekhyun, good publicity be damned.

 "Six million won going once, going twice-" The host is about to slam the mallet down when another screech halts him.

 "TEN MILLION WON!" Taeyeon is there, standing with her numbered paddle in the air. Her chest is heaving and her eyes are wild. Someone didn't seem happy she'd denounced their relationship. For profit, on top of that. Oops...

 "Ten million won for Kim Taeyeon, 189, going once, going twice — sold!" The host is jittering with excitement. "What a twist of events! Tiffany, what do you have to say!?"

 "Thank you for donating so much, babe!" She grins as she watches Taeyeon clambering up the front of the stage, disregarding the stairs right next to her. It's funny to look at, considering the stage is up to Taeyeon's shoulders and her upper body strength isn't that impressive. It seems as though the singer is running on pure adrenaline.

 "You best believe you're gonna pay for this, Hwang Tiffany!" She yells and Tiffany laughs.

 "I wouldn't have it any other way." She gets up from the stool and takes Taeyeon's arm between hers when she's finally made it up the stage. "Lee's restaurant isn't gonna fine and dine itself, so let's go, Ms Popstar."

 "You just told the entirety of Korea we aren't dating, Tiffany. Tiffany what the -"

 "Oh, calm down. We talked about this." Taeyeon looks confused and Tiffany finds it adorable, so she boops the singer on the nose. "Take me to dinner and I'll be your real girlfriend, remember? Ring a bell?"

 "Oh. Oh!" Taeyeon's face lights up like a Christmas tree. "Let's go, girlfriend!"

 "Don't you mean ex-fake-girlfriend?"

 "I mean future wife!"