Tia lies facedown on her bed, tossing and turning every few seconds. The small piece of paper in her palm is so crumpled to the point that it’s almost decomposed. She’d ripped it in half earlier, splitting the sentence into two:

• One says:

“Maybe, in another parallel universe,

• And another:

we are together”

Right now the piece that says ‘we are together”’ lies limp in Tia’s hand, while the other piece, the one that caused all of this, had been thrown away somewhere in her room.

                Torn to pieces.

Squashed.

                Shredded.

But the sentence it carries keep flashing in front of Tia’s eyes. Just like Sehun’s face.

This isn’t right. He was the one who chased her first.

He was the one who knocked on that door, daring to peek into Tia’s seemingly cold heart when no one else even tried to get to know the real her.

And so what?

Now he thinks he can just back away?

Is my personality really that scary?

                Feeling suffocated in her own room, Tia grabs a jacket and heads outside. It’s kinda balmy today, since it’s rained everyday this week. Tia doesn’t really mind the rain or the cloudiness outside. It feels soothing, serene to have the skies the same colour as how you’re feeling.

                Walking up to the subway, Tia realizes that she still has the paper clutched in her hand.

‘we are together.”’

                Tia takes a deep breath as she sits on the subway, thinking about the other piece of paper and how it got to be in Tia’s possession.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                That day had gone by like a regular school day. Tia had practiced the piano diligently, playing U-Kiss’s ‘0330’ for the 242476544^th time since she first learnt it. She loves that song, and how it reminds her of her late mother.

                And just like how it’d been for the past couple of weeks, Sehun had been watching her in the piano room. At first he’d sat quietly in a corner, pretending to read a book as Tia tries to ignore him.

                She’d heard the rumours. That he has a crush on her. What is she supposed to do? Throw herself at him? Why? She hardly knows him, apart from the fact that he’s in the idol group EXO-K.

                Her friends had scoffed at her, telling her that she’s lucky to have such a great guy pining over her, and that she’d better accept his love because he’s got so many fans waiting to take her spot.

‘Great guy’. Whaaat? When did my friends even know this guy?

‘Accept his love’. He didn’t even offer it to me, hello?

‘Her spot’. SPOT IN WHERE? AS FIRST LADY IN THE OH SEHUN PRESIDENCY? AS THE QUEEN OF HIS HEART? I’ll think about it once I’m done with being the Ice Princess of this high school, thank you.

And the thing that got Tia really ticked off whenever her friends start to talk about that Oh Sehun boy was when they said that she’s lucky.

‘Lucky’. Yeah, I’m sure that he just happened to pick my name out of a box labeled, ‘Girls to crush on’. Sheesh, my OWN friends don’t even give me credit for being myself. Is being myself not good enough to catch a guy’s attention? Am I really an Ice Princess to the point where I can only depend on LUCK to get guys to like me?

                Apparently my friends think so. Lucky. Pfft.

                Tia had no interest in dating just yet. She’d set her heart on being the next HJ Lim to come out of Korea, and she doesn’t need a boy with hairstyles that change every two days to come dancing his way into her life to ruin it for her.

                Nothing against that Oh Sehun, of course. Tia’s sure that he’s a great person. It’s just that she has no interest in dating yet. Period.

                So Tia decided to ignore those rumours, which transformed almost overnight from ‘Oh Sehun likes Tia Mishra’ to ‘Sehun and Tia are planning to elope after graduation’. And Tia tries to ignore the boy who sits in the dark corner during her practice time too. Read: TRIES.

                It’s pretty hard to ignore a person when they’re in the same room as you are, watching your every move. Especially when you’re the only two people in the room (all the other students try to keep out of the practice room during Tia’s practice time, convinced that it’s ‘TiHun’s make-out time, and thrilled to be in what was now known as the school’s celebrity couple secret).

                The lack of other people is a blessing, of course, as it keeps Tia more focused. And having the rumour established as the school secret made it, well, a secret to the outside world, making Tia safe from fans’ jealousy (the fans at her school are pretty tame and nice to her.  Tia’s sure that her dad’s status as a high-ranking foreign officer has something to do with this).

                But Sehun soon grew braver with time, clapping his hands whenever she’d done playing, even praising her quietly from his corner. Soon, he’d moved his chair every day, getting closer and closer to her bench. Since they’re talking by then and she kinda likes his company and his little jokes, Tia tried not to mind it much.

                And by that day, that fateful day when that piece of paper had been given to her by the EXO maknae, Sehun was sitting with her on that bench. And her hand was still warm from his touch.

                “Tia, I’ve got something to give to you, but read it at home, okay?” He had said, pressing that piece of paper into her palm. Tia nodded, returning his smile. “And you know that I’ve got that show to record this weekend, right? So I can’t be online or whatever.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll see you in school the next week.” Then he smiled again, and Tia felt like having a boyfriend while in high school wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

                They’d walked back to their classes together, Tia with butterflies in her stomach. What did he give her? She’s so curious that she can’t even concentrate in her favourite Music History class. The teacher was telling the class Brahm’s life story, and even though he was Tia’s favourite pianist, she couldn’t care less.

                All that she could think about was that scrummy piece of paper.

It was the first time feeling like this
My entire heart has been taken from me
What do I do? What should I do?
In front of you, I become ice
I ruin it all with good-for-nothing words
You might have thought
that I was stupid
Why did you make me like this

                Once she’d arrived home, the first thing she did was to lock her doors, pull down her shades and check to see that her cat Claude wasn’t hiding underneath her bed.

As if cats can read love notes.

As if Claude the Cat will report to her dad about the love note.

As if it was a love note at all.

It was a break-up note.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

                Tia stomps her way out of the subway, still thinking about the paper that now looks like papier-mâché.

In another parallel universe?

Which one?

One where skin colour doesn’t matter and a person can just love another person even if she is green?

That sounds familiar, it sounded a lot like OUR OWN UNIVERSE.

                Tia hates to admit it, but she’s disappointed in Oh Sehun. Just because she’s like five shades darker than his milky skin, does that mean that they’re not right for each other? That they can’t be together?

                Funny how he forgot to consider their skin colour compatibility when he first decided that he’d liked her. Did the EXO-K dorm lack a mirror? And funny how he’d decided that he suddenly doesn’t want her anymore once she’d decided that yes, she is a lucky girl to be pined over by a great guy and that yes, she’d like that spot in his heart after all.

                Tia hates to admit this fact even more: She’d fallen for that Oh Sehun boy.

Give it back to me,
my heart that you took without knowing
Why did you come inside without permission,
without warning and shake me up?
You burn me up and make me cry
I pray every day for the day you will look back to me
Can’t you see me as a woman? Is it already too late?
It was the first time I got to know love

“Tia, hi.”

                Tia took a deep breath and her light brown-green eyes met Bibi’s dark brown ones.

“What, Bibi?” Tia asked through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know if I should tell you this, but...” Bibi said, her voice trailing off like dust in the wind.

“But you’ve been sitting here since lunch started and you’ve been saying “Hi, Tia” twelve times and “Tia, hi”, twice. What is it?” Tia tried to inject some patience into her sentence but failed.

Bibi chewed her lips. Tia has a very... delicate personality. She may act like she’s tough as nails but Bibi knows that not-so-deep down, Tia’s actually softer than cotton candy. And that Ice Princess facade?

More like Ice Cream Princess.

But she’s one of Bibi’s best friend. And what are best friends for if not to tell you that something's not right? Right?

“Tia... It’s about Sehun.”

Tia tried to play cool but Bibi heard that sharp breath of intake anyway. ‘It’s worse than I thought it was,’ Bibi reflected. ‘She likes him more than I can imagine’.

“Tia, I saw Sehun with a girl yesterday.” Bibi tried to do it fast, like taking off a Band-aid.

“Oh. Where?” Tia asked, her voice shaking a bit, but her gaze remained steady.

“At Black Pearl cafe. You know the place, right? We walked past it once and I pointed it to you. And here’s the thing. He was hugging her. And he’d shooed this employee away when he’d tried to make that girl get back to work.”

“She... she works there?” Tia’s mouth suddenly went dry. “Do you think... he comes there often?”

“I’ve heard that he likes to go there with Luhan. But he was alone yesterday.”

                Tia stares at the cafe in front of her. Black Pearl. So this is the place.

                Tentatively, Tia goes up the small steps leading up to the double doors. She looks into the cafe from behind the glass walls. There’s a girl talking to a guy at the counter.

                That’s her.

                Tia knows this for a fact, as Bibi had told her that there’s only ONE female employee who works here.

                So that’s definitely her.

                Tia lets her eyes examine every angle of that girl. She is on the short side, compared to Tia’s 167cm. She looks about the same age as Tia and Sehun are. Her black hair is tied up in a high ponytail underneath her dark teal cap. Her ponytail ends in curls, reminding Tia of grape vines. She has on this childish pout that makes Tia wonder how Sehun had fallen for her.

Tia thought that Sehun likes more mature-looking girls, such as herself.

Fueled by jealousy, Tia draws some more comparisons. Tia is sinewy from being on the basketball team while Counter Girl is healthily curvy in all the right places. Tia gulps as she looks at her own slim reflection in the mirror. Okay, so this girl looks more mature than her in the female endowment department. Her eyes are black and almond-shaped, though rounder and bigger than Tia’s own almond eyes. Tia’s heard that her eyes show her wisdom and elegance, while Counter Girl’s watery eyes, paired with that pout, just scream “Hug me, I’m a baby!” (Tia thinks this in the meanest way possible).

Yet, as Counter Girl smiles and lowers her head a bit, that pitiful look that Tia so badly wants to slap out of her disappears and a resilient light takes its place. Tia, whose favourite hobby is people-watching-and-then-judge-their-personality admits defeat.

Counter Girl is not just a Counter Girl. She has this girl-next-door look, and like a sincere smile, no matter how many girl-next-doors there are in this world, they will always be loved and cherished. Pair that G-N-D charm with that fiery will in her eyes and you’ve got a lethal combination, Tia thinks.

Counter Girl looks like the type of girl who will gladly bake you a cake to congratulate you on your special day, but will bite your head off and eat it as dessert if you do something bad to her and her loved ones. Soft but strong. Tia can’t help comparing Counter Girl to her own moody, mauve, piano-playing, cloudy, cat-loving, basketball, finger-biting self.

No wonder Sehun likes her. She’s like sunshine and I’m like the cloud that will always try to get in the sunshine’s ray. Look at that smile. Heck, I think that I’VE fallen in love with her quite a bit.

As Counter Girl smiles up at the guy in front of her, the guy turns in Tia’s direction. The smile on the guy’s face reminded Tia of the day when she’d watched the boys’ basketball team practice.

---------------------------------------------------

The boys were warming up, and they ran on the field. What was at first an orderly, systematic run turned to a complete mess when this guy with a bowl cut ran across the team in zig-zag. The boy had shouted, “Turn back!” while running to the end of the field, being chased by the basketball team.

Tia had frowned in disapproval when she first saw that boy messing up practice. But then she saw his face.

It was so happy and carefree, so confident of what he was doing.

So unafraid of the angry mob chasing him and throwing their orange basketballs at him.

And then the sunlight streamed through the stupid bowl cut and Tia, despite her bowl-cut hating ways, thought that it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

The boy reached Tia’s spot at the edge of the field and their eyes met. Tia stared at him, still awed by his childish charisma, while he smiled at her, just like he’s doing right now as Tia stares at him through the glass doors.

Sehun.

Oh, shoot, it’s Sehun, why didn’t I realize it bef-

“Tia?” Sehun opened the door calmly with a wide smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to catch you in your infidel moment, you heart-stealing life-wrecker!” Tia screamed at him. She slapped him hard on his cheek and ran.

Or so she wished. Instead, she threw him the mushed paper, which, being the weak being that papers are, falls lamely on the brick steps without even a thud. And then Tia tried to run.

Only instead of the cool, long, swan-like strides towards the sunset like she imagined, Tia missed a step on the stairs, tumbling forward and falling on her face very ungracefully.

My god. How very NOT elegant.

“Tia!” Sehun screamed as he helps Tia up. “Are you okay? Come on in and let’s get you calmed down. What is this, anyway?” Sehun says, the scraps of paper at his feet.

Tia looks up at Sehun’s face, then into the store, where Counter Girl’s coming her way.

Oh, no. I’ve just humiliated myself in front of my competitor.

I should run.

Only more successfully this time.

No more rolling like a buffalo on the steps.

And that’s what she did. Tia runs away, in the direction of the subway station. In a matter of seconds, Sehun catches up with her, though.

“Tia, stop running from me!” Sehun says, grabbing her wrist.

Ah, the wrist-grab... The number-one cliché in k-drama land.

Sehun doesn’t hold on to Tia’s wrist, though. Instead, his hand travel down her hand, gently threading her fingers through his.

“I miss you”, he says, with a shy smile.

Tia wanted to believe it. By now she’d fallen for him so hard that it doesn’t matter if Sehun lisps. Tia might have found it annoying, before, being the pronunciation snob that she is, but then again the Tia before is not in love with Sehun. It doesn’t matter if his cologne smells too strongly of her arch-enemy the grapefruit, because she’d learnt to love the smell. And it doesn’t matter if she has a throng of angry, jealous fangirls chasing after her, trying to keep her away from their Sehun. She was prepared to fight through them, armed only with Sehun’s adoration.

But of course, by now, Sehun’s adoration had moved on to someone else. Someone who’s standing very close to the glass doors, ready to take Sehun away from Tia anytime soon.

BTW, this is a 'let's clear up our misunderstanding after six days of not seeing each other and then tell each other we love each other' date. Wow, that's a lot of each other(s). My favourite part in the story is when Tia uses nouns to describe herself. To the person who this fic was intended to be about(you know who you are, you Sehun lover whose name sounds like Tia *winkwinknudgenudge*), sorry Tia doesn't sound like you. I tried.

 TnT