LMAO thanks superRICElol for reminding me about this. :3

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The hours in the day seemed to fly by with Tiffany by her side, and Taeyeon did not particularly care, for the Princess was of great comfort and made for good company. Slowly, Taeyeon had gathered the courage to talk more and more before breaking out of her shy little bubble altogether, treating the Princess with affection as she would with Amber. The only thing she could curse herself for was the fact that she had not been friendlier with the Princess sooner; it limited the happy time she had with Tiffany.

As she glanced up towards the sky, she was surprised to find that it was already nearing the afternoon, though the sun was still high up in the sky, shining brightly upon them as the clouds were scarce in number. She seriously enjoyed her time with the Princess, who was gorgeous, cute, alluring and had both a beautiful voice and an extremely pretty smile. They conversed greatly about many things, some deep, some random. Taeyeon’s attention was mostly centred on Tiffany, and she could only dimly remember Amber and Krystal’s presence in the background; those two had auras not unlike bodyguards.

“Omo! Are those people over there?” Tiffany suddenly exclaimed, her voice alight with curiosity. Taeyeon, whose gaze seemed to be reserved only for Tiffany, finally snapped out of her dazed state and spared a look in the direction Tiffany was eyeing. She could see two females playing in the distance, though not far away from their current position, and a girl standing slightly to the side, though she seemed to be laughing with them.

“Come on TaeTae, let’s go say hi!” Tiffany smiled cheerily, and Taeyeon had no choice but to obey that precious eye-smile. The little group made its way over to the three females and Taeyeon observed them as she got closer. She saw one blonde girl dancing her heart out, her moves very clean and strong; one brown haired girl laughing widely and clapping along to the dance; and one other girl clutching what seemed like a cute little frog toy.

“Hello!” Tiffany called out warmly as she stretched her arm out to wave at the trio. They stopped their activities and smiled back at her, their curiosity mirroring her own. “I’m Tiffany and this is Taeyeon, Krystal and Amber.”

The frog-clutching girl bowed. “Hello unnie, I’m Seohyun.”

“I’m Yoona,” the second girl said.

“And I’m Hyoyeon,” the blonde dancer finished. “Was there anything you particularly needed?”

“No, not really, we just wanted to say hi!”

“Well, actually, we need to know if this is the right way to the kingdom?” Taeyeon asked quickly. She supposed she felt a little weird to interrupt someone’s activities for no good reason other than a quick greeting.

“Yes it is,” Hyoyeon nodded. “Just keep going the way you are and you should be there by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Tiffany suddenly repeated in a slightly panicked sounding outburst. Only Krystal seemed to understand her anguish as the others merely looked on confusedly. “Thank you so much! We should get going now. Come, quickly, TaeTae!”

And with that, she strode off with a purposely quick pace leaving Taeyeon to stare after her, completely bewildered. She muttered a quick “thank you” to Hyoyeon, Yoona and Seohyun before jogging to catch up to Tiffany, who had already covered a surprising distance for someone who had only been walking.

“What was that all about, Fany?” Taeyeon asked, mystified. “Why did you just leave like that?”

“I just have to get back to the castle quickly, TaeTae. The sooner, the better.”

Taeyeon could not comprehend the feeling of her heart suddenly dropping down to her stomach. Did Tiffany not want to spend time with her? Was she that detestable? But she swore that the red-head had been enjoying the time with her, because she knew she sure as hell felt that way.

The journey from there was silent, at least between Taeyeon and Tiffany. Taeyeon was left feeling slightly hurt and confused at why she felt that way, so she was unsure as to whether or not she should speak. Since no word was spoken from the other girl, she retained the silence. The quiet atmosphere seemed almost awkward, uncomfortable, but still Taeyeon did not know if she should break it. Since Amber and Krystal stayed mute, she decided to stay that way too.

The little group finally ceased their relentless walking when they reached the top of a large hill a while later which gave them a magnificent view over the many acres of grassy ground that reached directly into the distant grey kingdom. The group seemed to hesitate as they realised that their journey would be ending soon. Taeyeon looked over at Tiffany and the realisation hit her like a two-tonne bag of bricks: Tiffany would be leaving her soon. Despair clawed desperately at her insides as she struggled to come to terms with her thoughts; she definitely did not want to part with the beauty and on such a bad note as well. Tiffany was expressionless and it made her wonder what that girl had going through her mind. Was she happy to know that she would be meeting her anticipated prince? Was she happy to know that she was leaving Taeyeon in a few hours? Was she happy to know that she was about to start her destined royal life? Before she could wallow further in her depressing thoughts, Amber’s voice sliced through her dark musings like a lifesaver to a drowning person.

“So do we continue, or…?”

Both Amber and Krystal looked over at Taeyeon for an answer, who stayed silent, hoping to hear an decision from Tiffany.

“… We’ll camp here today,” came the husky voice. Taeyeon glanced at her only to see that neutral expression on her face.

“Great! I’ll go get the wood and stuff,” Amber replied, clearly relieved. She added in a slightly smaller breath, “The tension was killing me.”

“I agree,” Krystal mumbled before making as though she was going to follow Amber through the forest in search of dry branches and twigs.

As the two girls left together into the clump of green, leafy trees, Taeyeon took a deep breath and decided to speak up.

“So um, Fany-ah…”

“Yes?” the other girl replied. At least she’s willing to talk to me, Taeyeon thought.

“Why the sudden change? I thought you wanted to get back to the castle as soon as possible, yet now you want to camp here?”

“Taeyeon-ah, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight. I just… panicked when they told us that we would reach the castle tomorrow because I really did want to reach it as soon as possible, but now that we’re here, now that we know it’s right in front of us, I’ve realised that what I really want to do is just… spend one last day with you, TaeTae,” Tiffany said hesitatingly before her voice broke a little on the last word. On her name. “One last day before I begin my new life.”

Taeyeon could suddenly feel a huge lump in as she struggled to smile. “I-I really wanted to spend more time with you too, Fany-ah.”

It seemed as though it were painful for the other girl to manage a smile as well; Taeyeon could not look her full in the face just in case she started blubbering like a little baby. Instead she bravely took Tiffany’s hand in her own and led her over to the little shack she saw a distance away.

“I figured by now that you must not like sleeping outside underneath the sky, so we’ll go talk to the owner of that house and ask if you can stay there, okay?” Taeyeon said, swallowing the pain away from . If she was to only spend this last day with Tiffany, then she might as well make the best of it. No time for sadness.

A small smile seemed to tug at the corner of Tiffany’s lips as she accepted Taeyeon’s proposition and they both walked calmly towards the hut, hand-in-hand, and a sort of understanding settling between them. It was as those Tiffany heard Taeyeon’s thoughts and was willing to help her accomplish them.

“Hello?” Taeyeon called out loudly as she knocked on the wooden door; the sound of her knuckles bouncing off the hard brown timber seemed to echo deep inside the house. She repeated her actions again, louder. She glanced at Tiffany. “Um, I guess no one’s at home…?”

“Let’s go inside,” Tiffany decided, and before Taeyeon could protest, she had already applied the necessary force to get the door opening. “At least it’s not locked.”

They stepped over the threshold carefully and observed their new surroundings. It was very dark, as the only window of light came from a single sizeable square in the stone wall. The single-story house was actually quite large on the inside; that was probably because there were very few things that took up space inside it, one of the furnishings being a rather decent looking bed in the corner of the wide room. Taeyeon wondered if anyone actually lived here at all.

“I think I’ll be fine here for today,” Tiffany murmured. “If the owner happens to come back, I’ll… I’ll tell them.”

Taeyeon merely nodded a silent approval for Tiffany’s words. She suddenly remembered the warm weight in her hand and looked down to see Tiffany’s hand still grasping her own one gently. She stared at her other hand as it seemed to move of its own accord towards Tiffany’s remaining one, and she exhaled softly as she saw that Tiffany did not move away, but instead took her hand in her own.

She felt Tiffany moving closer and slowly looked up only to widen her eyes considerably as she saw the Princess leaning her face nearer and nearer. Her heart suddenly decided to speed up to an impossible pace and she closed her eyes, anticipating what could only have been a kiss. She could now feel Tiffany’s warm breath on her lips and she inhaled slowly and deeply, before suddenly, Nichkhun’s face popped up in her mind. Startled by his handsome face and the sudden realisation and understanding of what she had been about to do, she shoved Tiffany away roughly by the shoulders, though she kept her hold on them. She quickly turned her head away, taking in large breaths as calmly as possible before she mustered the courage to look the Princess in the eyes. She kicked herself internally when she noticed the tears slowly welling up in Tiffany’s round eyes. Her eyebrows curved down at the outer ends and Taeyeon could see her clenching her jaw tightly; it was a heartbreaking sight.

“Fany-ah, I’m sorry…” she whispered. Tiffany’s eyes were closed and a single tear trickled slowly out of the corner of her eyes before it gained enough momentum to continue its steady way down her cheeks. Automatically, Taeyeon reached out and wiped the tear track away gently with the sleeve of her shirt, cupping her palm against Tiffany’s cheek after she finished. “I’m sorry, I can’t… I promised that I would bring you to him safely…”

Tiffany tilted her head onto Taeyeon’s warm palm, savouring the gentle touch that she knew she couldn’t have. “It’s… It’s okay, Taeyeon, I understand…”

Unable to look at Tiffany’s vulnerable expression any more, Taeyeon pulled the taller girl into a tight hug, her hands wrapping around Tiffany’s lower back, head buried in the crook of her neck. Tiffany responded by placing one hand consolingly on the older girl’s head and the other around her shoulders. They stayed in that position for a few moments, each relishing in the perfect body heat the other exuded. It was perfect, and Taeyeon wished she could just hold Tiffany in her arms like that forever, but she knew there was no chance against Nichkhun, who had an entire kingdom at his disposal. Faintly, dimly, she could hear Amber’s worried voice yelling for the presence of her and Tiffany, and she tightened her arms quickly once again before letting go and stepping back.

“Come on, Fany-ah. Let’s enjoy our last day together.”

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A/N: Lalala :)

Nichkhun you bloody er, you disrupted their kissy kissy ): <

Thanks a lot to anyone who actually read this and remembered it hahaha.. ha... ;___;"

TaeNyshidae09, you're a great dongsaeng and I'm sorry for being such a fail if you do read this.