Taeyeon and Sunny were sitting at opposite ends of the bed, deeply immersed in their staring contest. Sunny was making a variety of funny facial expressions in an attempt to make Taeyeon laugh. Taeyeon, on the other hand, was trying her best to keep a poker face.

Sunny smiled, knowing her friend was on the brink of laughter so she crawled towards her, a seductive look on her face. Taeyeon began to tremble, unable to contain her laughter for long. Sunny cutely pawed Taeyeon and said “Meow~”

Taeyeon burst into a fit of laughter. Several minutes passed and Taeyeon’s laughter had not died down. Sunny pouted and said, “Yah~ Why are you still laughing?”

Taeyeon attempted to compose herself and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Sorry Sunny-ah, but you acting all seductive like that was just priceless!”

Sunny frowned. “What? You don’t think I can be y?”

Taeyeon smiled. “Oh, I know you can be y. There’s no doubt about that in my mind, but you just can’t pull it off. It ends up being cute instead of seductive.” Taeyeon began to laugh again.

Sunny slapped Taeyeon’s arm. “You’re such a jerk, Taengoo!”

Several minutes later, the two girls calmed themselves and sat side by side on Sunny’s purple canopy bed.

“Tae, just out of curiosity, but what do you think of Tiffany?”

Taeyeon looked at her in surprise. “Fany-ah? I’m not really sure. I have mixed feelings about her right now.”

“How come?” Sunny asked.

“She’s my friend, you know that right?” Sunny nodded. “I love her dearly even though we’ve only just met, but there’s a part of me that also resents her.”

“Why?” Sunny asked, surprised by what she just heard.

There was a long period of silence. “She’s the reason why I went to that party in the first place. In a way, Fany’s the reason why my whole world was flipped upside down.”

“Tae, you don’t really blame her though, do you?”

“No,” she replied. “When it first happened, I did blame her, but that was just my cowardly self trying to place the blame on somebody else. I wanted someone to take responsibility for my actions, and Fany so happened to be the person I could blame while I ran away from it all.”

“So do you still resent her?”

“Sometimes,” Taeyeon replied. “There are times when I think about that day and how my life would have been if Fany never asked me to go to that party.” Taeyeon smiled. “But now I’m grateful that she acknowledged me. She’s a dear friend like you are, Sunny-ah, and I can’t imagine my life without that eye smiling princess.”

Later that night, Taeyeon sat on Sunny’s window sill, staring at the full moon from the bedroom window.

“Unnie,” Taeyeon heard someone say. “Unnie, come on! Let’s go outside and play.” A girl of about eight began to pull Taeyeon’s sleeve.

“Hayeon-ah,” Taeyeon said sternly. “Not now. Unnie has other things to do.”

“But Unnie~,” she began.

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hand on top of the girl’s head. “Some other time okay?” She smiled and gently ruffled the girl’s hair. “Sunny-ah’s waiting for me.”

“Taengoo~,” someone whispered in her ear, snapping Taeyeon out of her thoughts. Taeyeon blushed, seeing Sunny’s dark brown orbs staring intently at her. “Yah~ What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you in bed?”

“N—nothing! I’m fine, Sunny-ah,” she replied. “I just couldn’t sleep.”

Sunny narrowed her eyes at Taeyeon. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Taeyeon smiled. “I’m fine, really I am.” She looked down at her feet. “I—I just thought about her, that’s all.”

Sunny furrowed her eyebrows. “You miss her, don’t you?”

Tears began to build up in Taeyeon’s eyes. “More than you could ever imagine.”

Sunny wrapped her friend in a tight embrace. “Taengoo, I’m sorry.” She tightened her grip on the taller girl. “I should have been there for you, but I was selfish. I’m so sorry,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

Taeyeon pulled away from her embrace and cupped Sunny’s cheeks, a small smile on her face. “You have nothing to be sorry about. To be honest, I always wondered why you were even friends with me. So, it was about time you left me anyway.”

Sunny shook her head furiously. “Taeng, no! It wasn’t you! I—I just had to get my priorities straight, that’s all.”

Taeyeon laughed bitterly. “And I wasn’t at the top of that list, right?” Taeyeon stared at her friend. “Tell me, Sunny-ah. When did you start having feelings for Jiwoong Oppa?”

Sunny stared at her in surprise. “I—I don’t know,” she replied, looking away, unable to hold the danshin’s intense stare. “I—I suppose I’ve always liked him. I just never noticed it.” There was a short pause. “It’s just this feeling I get whenever I’m near him. When he’s near, my heart starts beating faster and when he’s not around I long to see his face. Do you know what I mean?”

Taeyeon smiled. “I don’t think I do, Sunny-ah. I’ve never been in love before, remember?” Silence passed between them. “Do you love him?” Taeyeon already knew the answer to that question, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop herself from asking. She needed to know. She needed to make sure in order to forget about her feelings towards her friend.

“Yes,” Sunny replied in a small voice.

Taaeyeon’s heart sank. She knew, so why was her heart hurting like this?

Sunny reached for Taeyeon’s face and gently caressed her cheek. “I love him,” she said, looking deeply into Taeyeon’s eyes. “I love him so much, it hurts.” Tears began to stream down Sunny’s face as she whispered something inaudible.

Taeyeon furrowed her eyebrows. She could’ve sworn she heard Sunny say something afterwards. “Sunny-ah?” she asked, confusion in her voice. “What did you just say?”