[A/N]

From this chapter, I'll try to put recommended playlists for every chapter, so that you can immerse more into the story with the music.

I also get inspirations for my stories a lot from songs haha 

Playlist for Chapter 10:

It's Me - Sunny & Luna (Taeyeon's POV)

Tiffany Young - Fool (Tiffany's POV)

Ok, here we go.

“Kim Taeyeon!”

As soon as she stepped into the familiar apartment, the short teenager almost stumbled from the weight of an eager hug falling on her body.

“Thought a tsunami tide just crashed on me. Did you miss me that much?” she joked after breaking the hug to face her friend who was sulking in a dramatic way.

“Of course. I even thought you won't come anymore,” Yeri replied, jutting out her bottom lip in a pout.

“Aww…my friend’s been missing me a lot, I see. No way I can miss the fun of studying and chilling with you here, Yeri-ah. Just had to wait until I completely recover from the cold,” Taeyeon cooed and then side-eyed at her friend's mother who was sitting on the couch, and asked with a subtle grin, “Ms. Tiffany, did you miss me too?”

The mentioned woman almost coughed in surprise at the sudden question of the girl who was looking at her with such glint in her eyes, “Uh- yeah...sure.”

“Of course we both missed you,” her oblivious friend said with a bright smile, pulling the short girl to link their arms together, “Actually, studying alone made me lose concentration to the extent my ranks dropped a bit in last tutorial exam.”

“Hwang Yeri, you know that's a pathetic excuse. I told you to drop your games and manhwas (Korean comic books) and if your ranks don't improve in upcoming exam, you can say goodbye to your precious latest model Iphone I planned to buy for you,” her mother warned in a strict tone.

“Alright, umma, I said I got it,” Yeri whined and turned to look at her friend cheerfully, “now that you're back, you can help scold me together with mom so that I can focus better, right, Taengoo?”

“Absolutely.”

“What are you doing?”

Tiffany felt all the hairs at the back of her neck stand at the presence and the soft voice of Taeyeon closely at her back.

“Oh,” she mumbled when she turned around to find the girl indeed at a close proximity, observing her with a gentle smile, “just some fruits and drinks for you and Yeri. Do you need something?”

“Not really,” the senior highschooler peeked over her shoulders, “Want me to help with the fruits?” she asked at the sight of the woman in the middle of peeling a pear.

“No, thanks. As if I don't remember how you cut your finger the last time you helped.”

“That- that was a different story! I just got...a bit distracted that time,” Taeyeon claimed in defence, seating herself on a chair around the dining table.

Got distracted looking at you actually.

As Tiffany organized slices of fruits neatly on a plate, she felt eyes on her and glanced up at the girl to find her indeed staring at her quietly with her big round eyes.

“What’s...wrong? Is there something on my face?” self-conscious at the constant stare, she asked, touching her own face briefly.

The girl shook her head, “Just...because you look beautiful.”

Heat instantly rushed to Tiffany's face at the unexpected shy comment, before she cleared to ease it away.

“Don't say this kind of thing. Yeri is here. And you promised to behave normally until the next two years.”

Gosh, I thought it was Erika for a second.

“Yeri is taking a nap. And I don’t understand. Is giving a compliment to your friend's mother considered not normal?” Taeyeon replied, putting up an innocent face expression, although she was biting back her amusement. It was evident that the woman just blushed even though she tried to hide it, and she enjoyed causing this effect on her as well as feeling the fun of teasing her.

“Forget it,” Tiffany sighed in surrender, knowing that the girl was acting clueless on purpose, “and did you just say Yeri is sleeping? Exams are just around the corner and look at her. I'll go wake her up, this little-“

She was about to walk past the girl to head to her daughter's bedroom, when she felt Taeyeon's hands grabbing her own, stopping her.

“Let her sleep a bit. We’ve been studying for like three hours straight anyway. She must be tired.”

“Well...if you say so,” Tiffany complied, gently pulling away from the hold on her hands that left a warm sensation afterwards, “by the way, your birthday is next Sunday, right? Anything you want for the present?”

“You remembered,” Taeyeon flashed a sheepish grin, “And no, I think I'll like just anything as long as it's from you.”

The American-Korean woman scoffed, giving the girl an amused look, “Then I'll bring a pack of instant noodles for your gift, is that okay?”

Taeyeon laughed at the sharp comment. If she remembered correctly, it was the first time the woman made a joke to her.

“Fine with me, I love instant noodles actually,” she retorted with a playful side grin, “But really, I think I'll still like it even if it was a banana peel wrapped with a torn newspaper.”

Tiffany burst out laughing along with Taeyeon, finding the banana peel part too funny.

The teenager watched the woman laughing heartily, mesmerized at the sight of her eyes disappearing into crescent moon shapes.

“You should smile like this more often, Ms. Tiffany. You look even more beautiful this way.”

Tiffany blinked a few times and looked away, trying to ignore the blush creeping up her cheeks once again.

“Stop it, Taeyeon. You shouldn't keep saying things like this.”

“Okay okay, I won't.”

“Thank you!” Yeri said to the waitress who escorted her and her mother to the private room they were appointed at. She broke the linked arms with her mother to open the doorknob.

“Oh, you two are here!” exclamation from a nasal voice was heard as they both walked into the room, before occupying across the family of three at the table.

“Thanks for joining us today, Yeri and Tiffany-ssi,” Changmin said with a broad smile, welcoming the mother and daughter.

His wife added, “As you might know, Taeyeon said she wanted to celebrate her birthday privately with you two this year. And I hope you like this place too. Actually Taetae loves European food and this is her favourite European restaurant.”

“It's a pleasure for us, auntie!” Yeri chimed in, “Umma also loves European food as she was used to eating it since she lived in the States. And for me, you know I love all kinds of food as long as they're yummy.”

Meanwhile, the birthday girl and her friend's mother exchanged looks between each other, softly smiling thereafter.

It took Taeyeon every ounce of her energy to keep her eyes off the woman across her who looked stunning in her silk long royal blue dress and her thick wavy locks of black hair being swept and dropped onto one shoulder, but she still sneaked glances every now and then. She just couldn't help it.

“Thanks a lot for inviting us, Taeyeon's mom and dad,” Tiffany added.

“We should thank you both for coming, and I told you, Tiffany-ssi, please just call us unnie and oppa,” Boa remarked.

“Ah, right. I will....unnie,” the American-Korean woman said, flashing a shy smile.

“Now that sounds much better,” Boa chirped, dimples appearing in her smile, “alright everyone, shall we now start the celebration with cutting the cake?”

“Happy birthday to you~ happy birthday to you~ happy birthday, beloved Taeyeonnie~”

Everyone started singing together for the birthday girl, and Taeyeon gazed at Tiffany when she reached the part “beloved Taeyeonnie”. The woman also noticed it at the same time as their eyes met each other which she then looked away quickly.

“Happy birthday to you~~!”

Taeyeon grinned and blew the candles as everyone clapped, and then she clasped her palms together and closed her eyes to make a wish.

“What did you wish for?” Yeri asked when her friend opened her eyes.

“It's not supposed to let anyone know. It won't come true if not a secret,” Taeyeon replied.

“That's right, Yeri-ah,” Boa agreed with a smile, “you're supposed to keep your wishes private.”

Taeyeon then cut the cake and started giving everyone a spoonful each.

When it was turn to feed Tiffany, Taeyeon hesitated for a second, feeling bashful, but still inched the spoon close toward her, with her fingers slightly shaking, “May I?”

Tiffany gave a nod and inched her face forward as well, opening a little to receive the piece of cake.

Taeyeon was then left with a hammering heart and sweaty palms, feeling nostalgia at the fact that she just fed the woman for the first time, despite being in the most normal event and manner.

Unknown to her, Tiffany was also feeling her heart beating faster from that little act, and to make it worse, she then noticed the girl sneakily put the same spoon in quickly, off the remaining cream clean or whatever her intention was, when everyone else was looking away.

She can't- she can't be trying to have indirect kiss?

Her face became hotter as if it was about to burn. She decided to forget it before anyone started to notice her awkwardness.

“Oh, here, Taeyeon-ah, my present!” Yeri handed a rectangular gift box to the birthday girl.

Taeyeon shook the box a bit upon receipt, “What is this?”

“Just open it and see!”

The short girl lifted the lid of the box, revealing a mini Marvel figurine set.

“Hey, it's Marvel!” she squealed in excitement, making her friend giggle, “You like it?”

“Of course! Thank you, Yeri-ah! I'll treasure it well,” she hugged the box close to her chest.

Tiffany watched the happy girl in adoration before she took a small box from her handbag and gave it to the girl, “and this is from me.”

Taeyeon accepted it with a puzzled look, “you're both giving me one each?”

“Yeah,” Yeri answered, “me and umma wanted to get different things so we decided to gift you separately.”

In anticipation of the first ever birthday present from the woman, she slowly opened the box to find an amethyst bracelet with elegant silver linings.

“I’ve heard that you often have nightmares,” Tiffany explained to the girl staring at the jewellery in awe, “This is made with Amethyst gem which supports blood circulation, can calm your nerves, and strengthen your mentality. Thought it might help you somehow.”

Really, she sympathized with Taeyeon a lot when she learned that a nice pure girl as her had to deal with horrible nightmares since childhood which lasted for so many years and even chasing her up to present, even more when she got to see it once in person when Taeyeon stayed for a few days at her house. She hoped the girl could stop suffering from those.

“It's so beautiful!” Boa chimed in, “Taetae, you can give it to me if you don't want to wear it,” she joked.

“Nope, it's mine,” Taeyeon took the bracelet out of the box and wore it on her wrist, “and it's even the perfect size. Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift, Ms. Tiffany.”

I love that it shows just how much you care about me.

Tiffany was casually browsing through her phone on her bed before going to sleep when a notification from Instagram came up on the screen. She almost overlooked it before a particular username caught her eyes.

“kty903 requested to follow you.”

The initials and the numbers which reminded her of a particular birthdate looked familiar to her.

Taeyeon?

She quickly opened it, and the profile picture was indeed Taeyeon's selfie so she pressed the “Accept” button.

I never knew she had an Instagram account.

She entered the girl's profile but could not see any post as her account was also private like hers. She thought for a moment, pondering what she should do.

Well, why not? It's nothing big or serious.

She requested to follow her as well, and was about to lock her phone to go to sleep, expecting the girl's response after some time, when the notification of Taeyeon accepting her follow request popped up just a few seconds later.

With her account also following Taeyeon's, her account data became visible and she found that the girl had only 1 post, 12 following and 5 followers, which made her speculate that Taeyeon just made her account.

The only post was also uploaded an hour ago which was the photos of her birthday party, with the caption “My special people”.

She scrolled through the post, a smile forming on her lips at the photos which captured them as a group, and the time when Taeyeon was feeding the cake to everyone including herself as one of the photos.

She found Yeri left a comment that said “Happy birthday once again, my dear little Taengoo! Thanks for always enduring my teasing which I will continue to 🤭 Love you, bestie!”

With a smile, she gave a heart on the post.

At the same time, a DM came in, from the very girl whose profile she was checking currently.