"You can't be serious." Sunny deadpanned.

Tiffany sipped her coffee, hiding her smile.

"You’re dating the Kim Taeyeon?!" Yuri exlaimed.

"Hey, tone down your voice." Tiffany looked around the cafe and gave the onlookers an apologetic smile.

"I saw the two of you together just now, yet both of you don't act like a couple," Hyoyeon, who sat next to Tiffany, commented, referring to their class reunion party.

As they had lost contact for a few years, there was much to catch up on. Hence, the four of them decided to leave the restaurant they were at for the reunion and head to the nearby coffee shop, which was quieter and more peaceful.

"If you guys don’t believe me, you can ask Sooyoung," Tiffany said.

"Give me her phone number," Hyoyeon demanded, obviously dubious. She handed Tiffany her phone, and the woman keyed in the number of one of her friends who couldn't make it to the reunion because she was out of town.

"Why?" Yuri asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are you dating her? I know she’s pretty and rich—I don’t mean to say that you’re dating her for her look and wealth, but—"

Tiffany stopped Yuri. "But that’s exactly what you’re thinking." She had been used to getting such criticism.

"Then, tell me why you'd date her otherwise."

Tiffany just shrugged and smiled.

"Quit playing this joke," Yuri stated firmly.

"I’m not fond of Taeyeon, but don’t use her to play a trick on us," Sunny added, expressing her concern.

"I’m not doing that," Tiffany said calmly.

"Sooyoung said that it’s the truth." Hyoyeon read the message and went back to focusing on replying to Sooyoung’s text.

"How long have you been dating then?" Sunny interrogated.

"Almost five years."

There was a stunned silence followed by a collective gasp from the three women.

"So, you've been seeing her during the last year of college? How come we didn't know?" the woman beside her asked.

"Not in our last year, but during the internship."

"Wait... didn't she get an offer from the same company as you?" Sunny asked to be certain.

Tiffany nodded.

"And that was why you said it would be boring and made Sooyoung turn down the offer from the company of her dreams." Sunny recalled how Sooyoung was having a hard time choosing between her best friend and the company that she had always wanted to work for.

"Please don't bring that up again. I still feel sorry for doing that to her and for being a spoiled brat," Tiffany grumbled.

"No, my point was that you didn’t like Taeyeon too back then, right?"

"I wouldn't say that I didn't like her. It's just that she's not the attention-seeker type, so I didn't know much about her existence, though I wished I had known her sooner."

"How could you not notice her? Everyone knew her; about how soulless and cold she was. The whole class tried to avoid partnering up with her, except for this woman," Yuri stated, pointing at Hyoyeon.

Hyoyeon laughed evilly. "That’s how I aced all the subjects. I only talked to her once, and that was because she needed my name to put it in our assignment." She looked around, and everyone at the table was giving her the same judgmental look they had given her a few years ago when she revealed that she didn’t have to raise a finger while her friends were struggling to complete the assignments. "Hey, I worked hard with the individual assignments and all the tests. Do you think I could get all A’s just from the group assignments?" She defended herself.

"Anyway, I'm aware that it’s not her fault that she's an introvert, but to date her? That doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it?" Yuri continued, ignoring Hyoyeon’s remark.

"I don't like how you're talking about her like that, but I get your point." Tiffany frowned.

"So why?!" Sunny frustratedly asked.

"Why not?" Tiffany giggled at the way the groans of her friends were perfectly in sync with one another.

"Give us the full rundown, I'm begging you. How did you two start dating?" Yuri asked.

"Okay. Fine. So, it started because I lost a bet to Sooyoung." She paused and drank her coffee. "Well, the deal was just to ask Taeyeon out on a date. It doesn't matter if she rejected it, but—"

"She accepted it?!" Yuri shrieked.

"Yep."

Another gasp.

"Then, how did you two end up together?" Sunny asked.

"After that date, Taeyeon asked me to be her girlfriend."

"And you accepted it?!"

"Yuri, please, could you lower down your voice?" Tiffany said in annoyance.

"Did you pity her?" Hyoyeon asked.

Tiffany shook her head and grinned. "She was very adorable at that time. So, I couldn't help myself."

"She’s adorable?" Hyoyeon shuddered as she tried to picture Taeyeon's expressionless face to a cute one.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I can't stop thinking about how dull your dating life is. I don’t think she has changed. Although I was shocked that she had come and joined the reunion, but still, she left the party so early," Sunny stated.

"Well, I had to force her to come. And she left because she's having an important meeting," Tiffany explained.

"I agree with Sunny. I was surprised that you were talking to her, although it makes so much sense now. But think about it again—Taeyeon didn’t even glance at you when you were talking. Yet, she paid attention to me when I was asking her about her company." Yuri furrowed her brows. 

"She did that? Thank God." Tiffany exhaled in relief.

"What?"

"I was quite worried. Just look at what you’re wearing. I wished I could cover you up when all the boys were eyeing you up."

"You sound like my mom."

"She just wanted to protect you," Sunny said. "Now, continue. Why are you so relieved?"

"Taeyeon doesn't have any interest in her," Tiffany gestured towards the woman in front of her with her chin.

"Huh?"

"She can’t hold eye contact for more than 10 seconds if she's liked or intimidated by someone. That will make her nervous. She learned to avoid looking at me—at least in public, so she wouldn't embarrass herself."

"What happens if she does?" Hyoyeon questioned, looking lost.

"It depends on what I was saying at the time. I guess that was the time when I was complimenting her look. So, she avoided looking at me or else her entire face would flush. But things were far worse back then. During that first date, I was this close to asking the waiter for a bucket of ice to keep her cool." Tiffany laughed.

"Blink twice if you need help," Hyoyeon stated, laughing when Tiffany slapped her arm.

"It’s not boring?" Yuri asked.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't boring. Even if I dated someone else, it prone to get boring after a while. But with Taeyeon, there are so many new and interesting things to learn about her. She wasn't the type to quickly open up, but she’s trying. Plus, wouldn't it be more boring if your partner revealed their true self early in the relationship?"

The women nodded simultaneously.

"If she hardly opens up, then it must be hard to handle the fights," Sunny said.

"Oh, you tell me. Our first fight wasn't even that serious—all I wanted was an apology. But you know what? She went on and bought me 100 roses and sent them to my house. I was furious. But I realized that she wasn't used to saying sorry."

"Does that make sense?" Yuri asked.

"She’s rich. Rich people don’t do this kind of stuff," Sunny answered.

"Still, it doesn't make sense." Yuri frowned.

"My suspicion is that she doesn't interact with other people, so she doesn't argue much," Hyoyeon said.

Yuri snapped her fingers. "That makes more sense."

"Hey!" Tiffany let out a sigh. "Anyway, I told her to own up to her mistakes and apologize. Then, after much training, it's safe to say that it's working, not just in our relationship but also in her daily life."

"I can’t believe I’m seeing the 'I can fix him' meme come to life," Hyoyeon said, evoking laughter from her friends except for Tiffany.

"But it wasn't easy. Something happened during our biggest fight ever. I accidentally blurted out that I wanted to break up. I didn’t mean it at first, but seeing how she didn’t even try to stop me from leaving, I thought that it was for the best."

"What happened then?" Yuri eagerly asked.

"What do you think? Of course, I was the first to reach out. Plus, it’s not like I meant what I said. After that, we talked things through, she apologized, and I apologized for the slip of the tongue, and that’s basically it."

"You're a masochist," Hyoyeon argued.

"I'm not. I just believed that she needed a little push, and I was right."

"How? It doesn't sound like she cares enough if you leave," Yuri stated.

"It may look like that. But then I realized, me leaving her, was what terrified her the most."

"I don’t get it," Sunny said, scratching her head.

"After that fight, whenever we had a big argument, she would plead with me not to leave her. She did, however, quit doing so after a while. It's good to see her becoming more at ease and confident in our relationship compared to back then." Tiffany smiled.

"That doesn’t sound like the Kim Taeyeon." Yuri was confused.

Tiffany shrugged. "Now, can we talk about something else?"

"No, tell us more," Hyoyeon demanded.