It started when Tiffany decided to babysit him and his little sister, when she was 16 and he was only 11. It’s not that his parents neglected him, they love him, of course they do. They just love their job more.

Jongin was a rebellious kid, everybody was aware of that. But that didn’t stop Tiffany from babysitting him and his sister. She needed to save up money for that gorgeous Tory Burch flat her friends always bragged about. And also, what’s so bad with babysitting? You can just sit there, watch the tv, clean up when the kid’s done messing around, act angel in front of the parents, then you get the money.

Jongin, on the other hand, hated the idea of having a babysitter. It’s sickening for him to see the previous babysitters acting all nice in front of his parents, when they didn’t do much chores. Some of them even scolded him for not helping them cleaning up the mess.


//


“Why can’t you be like this at school?” Tiffany asked when she accidentally saw Jongin gave her sister a goodnight kiss.

Jongin was taken aback, no one ever saw him being this nice. “Like this what?”

“You know, Jongin, maybe you’re not that bad. It was all an act, wasn’t it? The things you do at—”

“You’re here to save up, don’t bother to care about what I do.”

She flinched. Wow, so cold. But then the image of Jongin giving her sister a goodnight kiss kept on replaying inside her head. That stopped Tiffany from judging about who Jongin is.


//

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” she asked. They grew closer now, he even showed her his hideaway; which is the roof.

He shrugged. “Hmm, nothing like my parents, that’s for sure. You?”

“Psychologist? Work in UNICEF? I don’t know,”

He was actually surprised by her answer. He was expecting actress, singer, you know, the kinds that involve fame. “Really? Why?”

“I just… I want to help people, basically,”

“But you don’t have to work in an organization to help people?”
“Yeah. Well, you know, actually I don’t want to be those people who thinks money can solve everything. I want to help people in a way I listen to their problems and then I took their hand, look at them in the eye, and say ‘Everything’s gonna be okay, you’re not alone in this world.’ Pretty much like that,” she explained, with the most beautiful and sincere smile Jongin ever saw.

Since then, he promised to appreciate her more, more, and more in any ways.


//


He’s in high school and she’s in university. He’s eighteen and she’s twenty three.

Jongin goes to an art school, taking a dance major. He’s never been good with words and turns out that dancing is the only he could express himself.

Tiffany, no longer his babysitter after she graduated from high school, goes to a well-known university and is taking psychology. She doesn’t live in the neighbourhood anymore, she rents an apartment near her campus. So, no, she doesn’t know how Jonginnie looks like now. 


//


His suffer for being a high school student is finally over.

Jongin and his friends have been planning to get away from town to celebrate their graduation. No parents, no teachers, no homeworks, just them; having fun, living their teenage days.

The idea of getting into a club interests them, so there they go. Jonghin has never been a fan of loud music and alcohol, but he likes dancing. So he goes straight forward to the dance floor and show them who he is.


He doesn’t realize that he has a pair of eyes looking at him the whole time, smiling.


He was dancing, with a girl—no, he’s not a Casanova. but, you know, he doesn’t reject girls—when his friend made a scene (plus, they don't bring their IDs) and is now calling his name.

“JUNMYEON-AH! JONGIN-AH! W-wait, sir, please,”

“I swear to God, that giraffe needs to learn how to not make things so obvious,” Jongin mumbles as he approaches his friend.

The next thing he knew, the securities throw them out of the club. After a moment of silence, they laugh. This is probably the last time they do stupid things together. Time passes so fast.

“Jongin?”

He pauses for a second before turning his head around. This can’t be…

“Tiff—“ before he could finish what he was trying to say, Tiffany was already hugging him tightly.

“Oh My God! You’re so tall, oh God, Jongin, I can’t believe this. Jonginnie is all grown up!” she squeals, pinching his cheeks.

Jongin smiles. She doesn’t change a bit, does she?

“Tiff, stop it. Stop calling me Jonginnie, you're embarrassing me—“   

“By the way, I saw you dancing a while ago. How come I didn’t know that you dance?”

He smirks. “Well… You’ve missed a lot of things while I grow up,”

“Well, Jonginnie, I’ve got to go back inside. But, the next time you try to impress me, make sure you bring your ID, okay?” she says as she let out giggles, kiss his cheek, and leaves.

Jongin could feel his cheek burning. He doesn’t care that his friends are teasing him, laughing at him right now.
 

Because they don’t know that everything about Tiffany is the best thing ever happened to Jongin.