Author's note: Very LONG chapter. Make sure you have some time before you attempt to read this lol. 

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“Thank you!”

My sister and I waived goodbye to the store owner and the employees as we walked out. They were all very friendly, and it even turned out that the store owner had a daughter Haeyeon’s age. I figured it was a good idea for her to make some friends in Gachul seeing as how she had to leave all of her old friends on a moment’s notice.

The store owner told us her daughter was spunky, like Haeyeon, so they would get along just fine. I planned for them to hang out tomorrow, so she wasn’t at the house when Mr. Hwang I discussed what happened: I didn’t want her to get more wrapped up in this than she was already.

Upon leaving the ice cream store, the three of us decided to go get some real food before we went home. The same store owner had referenced us to one of her friends who owned a restaurant just a few meters down the street.

Haeyeon, having fulfilled her plan of waiting to eat ice cream with me, would now be open to eating other foods: She and I had a craving for noodles while Tiffany refused to give an opinion.

We arrived at the restaurant within a few minutes and ordered cold noodles with sesame oil. The sun was going down as we ate a small serving of noodles. Mr. Hwang loved to cook, like my father, so my sister and I assumed that he was making food for when we got home.

Haeyeon and I speedily ate the noodles: we were both extremely hungry. She had only eaten ice cream the past two days, and my body was still recovering from all the strain I had put on it. Tiffany insisted that she wasn’t hungry, but I caught her eyeing our noodles.

I tried offering her some, not realizing I had sesame oil on my face. Tiffany stared at me, wordlessly, and swiveled in her chair. As she swiveled, I caught a glimpse of a small smile on her face.

Any time now…

My sister and I made quick work of the noodles, and we all got up to leave. The owner of the restaurant was equally as nice as the ice cream store owner, and more playful to boot. The restaurant was closing, so she and my sister made random shapes with the food instead of just throwing it away.

We eventually left the restaurant because it was getting late: Mr. Hwang told us to be back before the sun went down.

“Everybody’s so nice here.” Haeyeon said as we made our way down the street.

“Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace.” I thoroughly enjoyed being in this town, although it wasn’t home, it was a good replacement.

“We should take mom and dad to that ice cream place whenever they get back… I think they’d really like it.”

“We should.” I patted Haeyeon on the head with mixed emotions: I welcomed her optimism about the situation, because it gave me greater hope; but I didn’t like the fact the she was so loose with her words. I didn’t want Tiffany to know about my parents yet, but I couldn’t be upset with my sister because I hadn’t told her about that.

I could feel Tiffany looking at us from behind, and sensed her curiosity. Whatever question she wanted to ask remained in her, as she continued to be silent…

We had been walking for a few minutes and were about to turn a corner until I heard some noise from across the street.  I stopped and focused on the noise: It sounded as if a woman was yelling.

“Do you two hear that?”

Tiffany and Haeyeon both looked at me, confused.

“Hear what, Unnie?”

I placed my finger over my mouth, so as to warn them to keep quiet. “Follow me.”

We crossed the street and headed down a few meters. The noises were more audible once we reached another corner: to the point where my sister and Tiffany could hear them.

“How could you hear that from so far away?” Tiffany asked.

I peered around the corner, deciding not to answer Tiffany’s question as it would lead to a drawn out explanation. On the far side of the street I was able to spot the woman that I heard yelling. From what I could gather: she was attempting to unload a shipment from her car into a store behind her, but there were a group of boys harassing her.

The boys were around my age, and they were relatively tall. There seemed to be about twelve of them and, because of their large number, nobody around tried to stop them from bothering the lady…

I later found out that the boys were somewhat of a “gang” and were known to bother the local vendors, but never got in trouble strictly due to how many of them there were: they always found a way out.

From where I was on the street, I could make out what one of the boys was saying:

“Just let us take a few drinks, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

The woman refused and continued to yell for help.

Around that time, Tiffany and Haeyeon looked around the corner with me.

One of the boys walked over to lady and covered with his hand. As he did that, the other boys started digging in the car and began pulling out crates; in search of some liquor.

Seeing this sparked a fire throughout my body.

I’ll handle those bastards!

Tiffany grabbed my wrist as I started to turn the corner. I snapped my head back, in frustration, to see Tiffany looking at me with determined and sad eyes.

“What are you going to do?” she said pointing out their large number. “Let’s just leave this to the police.”

“Who are you?” I responded sharply while breaking free of her grasp

“What?”

“…The Tiffany I knew would never play blind and turn away while someone was helpless.” Each word was heavy and cold as if I was striking the air with a hammer.

My words hit Tiffany with the desired effect: She stood there; quiet in thought, as if thinking over what I had just said.

Meanwhile, Haeyeon was stretching; getting herself ready for a fight.

“I’m coming with you, Unnie.”

“No! I’m going to try and settle this without fighting… but if I can’t, I don’t want you anywhere near this place. Plus you’re in no condition to fight.” I knew that I had to give her a good reason or else she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Haeyeon pouted for a bit, but then reluctantly accepted. I looked at Tiffany as she snapped out of her thought and spoke to her again as I put my hand on her shoulder.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t want you to get involved in this anyway. I need you to take care of my sister while I try to handle this… I know that you hate me for some reason, but can you do that for me?” There was intense passion evident in my eyes as I handed her the bags I was carrying.

Tiffany stared back with multiple expressions on her face. Her eyes showed the same sadness, but now her face showed an unknown anger. It appeared as if she wanted to say so many things all at once, but couldn’t get any of her thoughts out.

“Whatever” She eventually decided on; grabbing Haeyeon on the shoulder as she turned to the way we came from.

Her favorite word

Haeyeon stopped for a moment and tugged on my pants as I readied myself to approach the boys.

“Be safe, Unnie.”

“It’s my job to tell you that.” I responded with a thumbs up.

Haeyeon nodded with a smile on her face as Tiffany shot me another look before they turned back to the street we had come from.

…

Guess I’ve got to approach them straight up.

My instincts were telling me to be stealthy, but I knew there wasn’t time to deduce a plan like that; and I still wanted to solve this situation without a fight.

The boys had found the liquor and were now drinking it while rummaging through the crates they had dropped.

They have no respect for property.

Once I got close enough to them, one of the boys alerted the others of my presence.

“Hey fellassh, looksss like we haff a ffan” The boy let liquor spill out of his mouth as he spoke.

They turned to look at me simultaneously, and a few immediately began making erted gestures.

Gross…

The woman still had covered, but managed to communicate with me through facial expressions. She was trying to warn me to get away, but I wasn’t going to just leave her there.

One tall boy made his way through the group, and approached me. This guy appeared to be their leader, but was different than I expected: He was well groomed and postured; showing that he actually cared about how he looked.

“This isn’t a good place for a pretty girl like you. Leave before these guys start getting rowdy.” He pointed behind him, towards the boys who were making the gestures.

“You should leave that woman alone, and pay her back for the stuff you’ve ruined.” I made direct eye contact with him while I was speaking.

My father had once told me that the eyes hold more weight in the result of a conversation than the actual words.

He looked back at me with the same intensity. His eye did not waiver, which made realize that he was no random street thug.

“Go home.” The boy waved me away as he walked back towards the group.

“Hey! Don’t just walk away!”

None of the boys responded or even looked in my direction. A few of them had began playing a dice game where they wagered the bottles of liquor.

I yelled again, but still didn’t even receive so much of a glance. I forced air through my nose as I began to pace around, angry that they wouldn’t allow me to solve this without getting violent. While pacing around I stepped on a semi-large rock.

This should get their attention.

I picked up the rock and dusted it off. I put my feet together and turned to one side as if I were a pitcher in baseball. I turned my hips and slung my arm forwards; letting the rock leave my hand when it was directly in front of my body. My target was their leader.

My intention was for the rock to lightly hit the leader in the back to grab his attention: He was playing the game of dice with his back facing me.

I must have forgotten my strength because what I threw looked more a bullet than a rock.

It whizzed through the air, approaching the group unbelievably fast.

As it neared the leader, he leaned down in order to roll the die. The rock flew over him, rustling his hair due to the speed…

A short distance from the leader was a rather large member of their gang. He was sitting around a box, stuffing his face with a large bag of potato chips.

The rock hit him directly in the back of his head, rendering him unconscious immediately. His head fell into the bag of chips as his legs spread away from his body, causing him to lean forward.

Whoops. (Pitcher Rating: Taeyeon >>>>>>>> Jessica)

Although I didn’t get the intended result, my throwing skills ended up working in my favor.

A few of the boys began to laugh as the rest got up to see what happened. One of the boys was digging around the woman’s car and came out once he heard the laughter. He caught my eye for some reason, but after short observation, I realized that it was because: he was Tiffany’s ex-boyfriend, Siwon.

The gang of boys surrounded their fallen friend; some chuckling and other nudging him to see if he was awake. Their leader was still sitting down while all of this was going on; rubbing the back of his head.

He in his teeth as he stood up; drawing his gangs attention. The group assembled behind him as he turned to face me.

There was a sense of frustration across his face as he desperately tried to fix his hair.

“I thought I told you to go home!”

He ran his fingers through his hair once more: He seemed more concerned about what the rock did to his style rather than his friend. Finally able to re-position his hair, he calmed down. “I’m really against violence towards women, but you’ve pissed me off.”

As their leader spoke, the group of boys stared at me with a glaring intensity. Siwon was one of the boys who scanned me over, and he eventually realized who I was. As he came to the conclusion, \Siwon’s face became grim and he took a step back. Nearing the end of the leader’s speech, Siwon slipped out from behind the rest of his group and vanished behind a wall.

He can’t be scare, can he?

I had roughed him up seven years ago, after he cheated on Tiffany, but I would have assumed that he would be more inclined to fight me.

“Hey! Are you paying attention?!” Their leader snapped at me.

I had to shake myself free of my current thought, and focus back on my situation.

The tall boy had a calm look on his face. It almost looked like he was being entertained. He slowly raised his right hand in the air and pointed at me.

“Fellas, show her a good time.”

That instant, all of the boys who had gathered behind their leader rushed my position while he stood there with a slight grin on his face…

After the fight I had with those girls over my sister, I promised my father that I wouldn’t fight in public: especially against normal people. I had no problem roughing someone up when they deserved it, but I didn’t like the idea of a serious fight. Regardless of what I or my father wanted, this was happening and I needed to face it head on.

Sorry dad, but I have to do this.

I turned to one side and plantedd my right leg back as the boys approached me.

The sight could have easily been funny from a spectator’s point of view: Some of the boys were tipsy, while others were full out drunk. They progressed forward like a pack of zombies, but they were somewhat fast.

Two of the boys reached me around the same time as they were running parallel with each other. There was another boy a short distance behind them, running through the space that separated the first two: They were practically running in a V-formation.

As the first two boys got close, they tried to pounce on me. I jumped through the space that separated them with deceiving quickness and aimed for the boy behind them. I used my left leg as a spring and bounced towards the boy, aiming at him with my right foot. He was taken back by my speed and quickness so he didn’t have any time to react: My kick landed directly in his lower chest area.

I had forgotten my strength once again as I could feel a few of the boys ribs crack under my foot.

I pulled my leg back and stood there as the boy fell over, holding his stomach from the pain.

I don’t like thi-

My thought was cut off as the two boys I had jumped past had doubled back towards me. One of them grabbed my shoulder and tried to me back with all of his force.

The instant he started pulling me, I reacted by grabbing his arm and effortlessly tossing him over my shoulder. His body flew through the air and collided with two of his tipsy teammates.

While I threw his friend, the second one of the two was going for a flank on my blind side. I could hear the boys footsteps while in mid-throw, and took note of where he was coming from.

Once my throw was finished, I used my left leg as a pivot and swept my right leg under the approaching boy’s feet. The swiftness of the sweeping kick caused the boy to get airborne enough that his back was parallel with the ground.

Simply off of natural reaction, I reached out with my arm and forced the boy’s body down causing him to hit the ground with a lot more force than he should have….

It was my first real fight since I had started my lessons, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d changed:  All of my movements were extremely fluid and loaded with power, while everyone else appeared slow and sloppy. The toughest thing for me in this fight was to gauge my strength, so I wouldn’t seriously injure anyone…

This is why my father didn’t want me to fight in public.

A few of the boys I had knocked to the ground were now getting up and rejoining their friends.  I counted seven of them as they each got into position to surround me. Doing the math in my head, I confirmed the number so I wouldn’t be surprised by anybody.

There were twelve to begin with: Siwon left, while their leader stayed back. I nearly broke one of the boy’s ribs, and I can still hear him groaning in pain. The other one I just slammed to the ground hasn’t gotten up yet; probably due to him being drunk… But that’s only four… Oh yeah!

I looked across the street, to see the boy I had hit with the rock, still face down in the bag of chips.

They could have at least helped hi-

I ducked and swiveled to my right as a fist went flying through the air. I had to hop back immediately afterward when two of the boys rushed me simultaneously.

I landed on a small slick of liquor, from a bottle that fell over, causing me to lose my balance. I slipped on the liquor and was grabbed by a boy directly in front of me. He was breathing heavily and had drool coming out of his mouth.

Ewww

“Hey guys! I’ve got he-”

I cut his sentence short by landing a head to the bridge of his nose.

He quickly let me go and began holding his nose, which was now broken.  As I left his grasp and dropped to the floor, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. The second my feet hit the floor, I my elbow back, hitting that person in the gut.

He hunched over and coughed up blood as the air escaped from his lungs.

I’m still not holding back enough…

Within a few more seconds, I had managed to down the rest of the seven boys that surrounded me.

Due to my conditioning, I wasn’t the least bit tired, but I still felt some sort of strain on my body. It wasn’t a physical strain; it felt as if the reality of being in a crucial fight took a toll on me.

I shook off the feeling and looked around to notice various people watching what was going on, but keeping their distance.

Hearing clapping behind me, I turned to view the gang’s leader applauding me.

“That was pretty impressive… even though they were drunk, you were still outmatched and you came out of that without a scratch.”

I stepped back as he made his way towards me.

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles before taking off the jacket he was wearing, tossing it to the floor before talking again.

“It doesn’t seem like you would be willing to join my gang, so I guess I’ll just have to… break you.”

…

I can’t take him lightly

I stood my ground as the leader of the gang got in close and squared up with me. It was obvious that this guy had some sort of martial arts training: His muscles were well defined and his stance gave no openings for an attack. I attempted to get into my stance, but he jumped at me the moment I tried to move.

“The first encounter usually tells you everything about a fighter.”

I took my mother’s words of advice and studied the boy as he attacked me. His movements were extremely precise: he was able to attack without giving me an opening. The other thing I noted was that: He attacked with an open palm rather than a closed fist.

He’s trying to do internal damage!

I jumped out of the way as his hand was about to reach me.

We were almost on equal ground when it came to technique, but I was physically superior by far. After I dodged his attack, I planted my feet and sprang towards him. He crossed his arms and put them in front of his face as I threw my punch. It took all of my concentration to hold back as much as possible while still putting in force into it.

He was easily able to block my punch as our bodies made contact.

“Is that all you’ve got?” The leader said as a smile crept onto his face.

All that I’ve got?!

I decided to add a little more force behind my punch: That instant, the leader smile vanished and a look of struggle took it’s place. His arms suddenly gave way and he lost his footing. As his arms left the front of his face, my punch connected.

The leader’s body flew backwards and landed into the woman’s car that his gang had been pillaging, putting a dent in it.

I might have added a little too much force.

I slowly walked over to the car where the boy’s body was sitting limp. I knew he wasn’t dead, but unconscious? Probably.

I picked up the boy by the collar to find out that he was still conscious. He was smiling, which was weird because he had a giant welt on his face from where my fist landed. He spit out a wad of blood before speaking through blood-stained teeth.

“What a shame… You were really pretty too…”

What?

*Fwink*

I heard the sound of a pocket knife unlatching behind me.

I turned around to see Siwon running towards me; his outstretched arm held a knife that was pointed at my face.

I tried move, but the gang leader had weakly grabbed my arms: That coupled with my shock at the oncoming situation forced my body to remain still.

I had no other option, but to close my eyes and wait for it to be over.

“Gahh!!!”

…

Am I dead?

I opened my eyes to see darkness. I blinked a few times to get my eyes to adjust to the lighting around me.

I found myself sitting against that same car, directly next to the now unconscious gang leader. Siwon was knocked out on the floor directly in front of me; the blade of his knife was still clean. Behind him was the silhouette of a girl.

A short amount of time passed before my eyes fully adjusted and I saw Tiffany standing behind Siwon’s unconscious body: her purse rotating around her wrist as if it were a flail.

“Tiffany?”

She gave me an upset look before making her way to help me up. While she was walking towards me, I could see something moving from behind her legs.

“Tiffany, look out, behind you!”

Tiffany swiftly turned around while swinging her purse at an upward arc, like she would if she were playing golf.

The purse collided with her attacker’s chin with a clanking sound, as if two pieces of metal clashed together.

What does she keep in that thing?

As Tiffany’s attacker fell to the ground, I noticed another person rushing her from the side.

With Tiffany’s shoulder dropping, I bounced off the floor and rolled over her back. I twisted my waist and stretched my leg out; dropping the back of my foot on the boy’s head…

I made sure both boys were knocked out before turning to look at Tiffany.

“We make a good team, don’t w-.”

I was cut off by a stern hand colliding with my cheek.

“If you do anything that stupid again, I’ll kill you myself!” Tiffany’s wasn’t crying, but her eyes were red and I could hear the trembling in her voice.

The part of me that was upset with Tiffany wanted to rebel, but I knew that her intentions were good.

This means she still cares.

“I’m sorry” I spoke slowly and gently in hopes that she would understand I was being genuine.

She scoffed, turning her head and raising her nose in response.

 

I spent some time looking over mine and Tiffany’s handiwork. We had downed twelve guys, all of them larger than us. It was an amazing feat; drawing an applause from onlookers.

Hearing the applause, I spotted Haeyeon peaking from around the corner I had come from. She noticed that the coast was clear and jogged over to where Tiffany and I were standing.

“So cool!!!” She waived her hands around in the air.

“I agree; that was cool!”  The second voice came from behind and was one none of us had ever heard.

 

The three of us turned around to see the woman who had been attacked by the gang of boys. She was punching the air in excitement. Haeyeon quickly stood next to her and followed suit. This continued until something popped in the woman’s arm; causing her to attempt some strange stretches in order to loosen up.

“I could’ve handled them myself.” She said while rotating her arm around her shoulder. “But I wouldn’t have felt right beating up some kids.”  A sour look flashed on her face as her arm popped back into place.

 “Anyways, thank you girls for helping me out of that pickle. Those boys have been harassing this town’s store owners for a while now.” Her face lit up as she spoke. “You two are like superheroes or something!”

I giggled at the comparison.

She reminds me of Haeyeon.

As the woman was talking, Tiffany had walked over to where the gang leader was laying. She dug through his pockets and found a large wad of money, along with what appeared to be drugs. She stuck the drugs back in the boy’s pockets and, with the money in hand, walked back over to where we were standing.

“Hopefully this covers the items they destroyed. I feel bad that we weren’t able to stop them sooner.” Tiffany spoke warmly towards the woman.

Where did this Tiffany come from?

“You two did more than what was asked of you. For that, you have my thanks.”

 

We helped the woman unload the rest of the items from her car and into the store as the police showed up. They thanked Tiffany and me for our service, but we could tell they were sort of ashamed that two girls could do what they couldn’t. The officers escorted the now conscious boys to several polices cars; most of them were uncooperative the entire time.

A half-sober Siwon walked over to us and sorrowfully apologized. I could tell that he meant the apology, but it still didn’t change what he did.

“He was actually a really nice guy too… well until he met that virus over there.” Tiffany pointed towards the gang leader who was being shoved into a police car.

Tiffany continued. “That guy corrupts everything he touches…”

“Hey! Let’s go out to lunch sometime!” The gang leader suddenly shouted in my direction.

The sudden, friendly outburst caught me off guard.

“I’ll see you soon!” He said finally getting into the police car.

This guy might be crazy…

…

With everything cleaned up, we finally decided to part ways the sporadic store owner.

“Goodbye” my sister, Tiffany, and I said in unison while waiving.

“Wait, before you go…” The woman bounced over to where we were standing. “I want to repay you for your kindness…” She rubbed her chin “I know! You girls can have some free items from my store.”

“No, thank you, but we couldn-”

“Do you have ice cream?!” Haeyeon jumped in front of me, cutting me off.

…

“I can’t believe that lady gave us twenty cartons of ice cream.” I said

Tiffany sulked as she struggled to carry the bags of frozen goodness. “My dad sure loves to take his time…”

Mr. Hwang had called us half an hour earlier, because it was getting dark, and insisted on picking us up. We had been standing on the sidewalk for ten minutes, and were growing restless: Haeyeon’s ice cream was beginning to melt; Tiffany was irritated by the load we had to carry; and I was just flat out drained.

“I just hope he gets here before my ice cream melts.” Haeyeon stated.

 

Mr. Hwang arrived a few minutes later with an apology ready.

“Dinner took a little longer than I expected. It should be ready to eat by the time we get home.”

The three of us grumpily got into the car with all of the items we acquired during the day.

“Looks like you girls had an eventful day.” Mr. Hwang said looking at the bags.

I allowed a chuckle to myself as I discerned that most of our bags were filled with ice cream rather than the items we purchased.

“You don’t know the half of it…” Tiffany replied under her breath at her father’s statement.

The car ride was relatively quiet, minus Haeyeon and Mr. Hwang conversing about what stuff we had gotten in our trip to the town center,

“Omo! She just gave you all that ice cream?!” Mr. Hwang said, shocked.

“Yeah, she was really nice.” Haeyeon responded, averting her attention from her new handheld game.

None of us had mentioned that it was because we potentially saved the woman’s life, but we just didn’t want to bore him with the details.

We had arrived to the house within a few minutes, enough time to save the ice cream from melting completely.

 

Dinner was waiting on the table when we arrived, and everything looked professional. Mr. Hwang enjoyed cooking, like my father, but it looked as if he prepared this meal for a banquet.

We all ate hardily that night: Everybody ate a lot, especially me. It was an enjoyable meal that was lined with good conversation. Tiffany even joined in our talks, albeit she never said much.

After dinner I said goodnight to Haeyeon and Mr. Hwang, took a shower, and got ready to go to sleep…

 

I sat on the bed sheets with my back against the wall, enjoying my book; a small lamp the only thing lighting the room. I still felt drained from the day, but I was refreshed and relaxed at the same time.

Tiffany suddenly walked into the room, having just taken a shower, and wordlessly turned off the lamp. She didn’t even so much as look at me as she walked to her bed and lay down.

Back to square one…

I didn’t have the energy to go through with my plan at that moment in time, so I decided to push it back a day.

Hopefully I don’t have to fight another group of thugs tomorrow.

When I decided to finally go to sleep, I noticed that Tiffany was just staring at the ceiling: She was laying face-up and appeared to be lost in thought.

“Tiffany.”

No response

I waited a minute for any sort of reply, but Tiffany continued to stare at the ceiling. Without an answer, I shook my head and lay down.

I closed my eyes to go to sleep.

…

“Tae…”

I rolled over to see Tiffany still staring at the roof.

Did I just imagine that?

Moments later, Tiffany spoke again.

“Tae what…” she paused. “What happened to your parents?”

The randomness of the question surprised me, but I didn’t shy away from it.

 “They were…”

A lump formed in my throat as I tried to speak.

Tiffany could hear the strain in my voice and sat up. She looked at me for some time before patting the open space on her bed; that was next to her.

“Sit up here.”

The entirety of everything that was happening threw me off: My best option was to go with the flow.

I stood up and walked over to Tiffany’s bed, sitting on the open spot next to her…

It felt strange; sitting next to Tiffany as I was about reveal my parents kidnapping to her. Part of me was relieved: Tiffany was the one person in the world who I wanted to open up to about this situation. On the other hand, I was nervous because I didn’t know how this Tiffany would respond.

“My parents were kidnapped…”

 

The air around Tiffany felt a lot more welcoming than it had earlier, so I pushed my worries aside. Through the darkness, I could see her warm, unwavering eyes focusing on every word that I said.

There was a certain comfort I felt while explaining everything to her. I had told the same exact story to two people before her, yet this felt like the first time I truly knew what I was saying: These words help much more depth.

I finished off, my retelling of the events, with what happened at the convenience store.

“… And we got here half-an-hour before you arrived… That’s it…”

 

I could feel Tiffany’s arms wrap around me the moment I stopped talking. As we made contact, it was as if the floodgates of my emotions had been open. I did not cry, as I thought I would, but just sat there in silence.  An actual response or collected thought seemed impossible at the moment: The effects of Tiffany’s embrace.

Suddenly, Tiffany lightly pushed me away; stopping the moment.

This girl is seriously bi-polar.

I turned to see Tiffany with her head down, and her hair covering her face. I could see a little bit through the hair, and noticed a torn look on her face. She seemed to have sunken within herself; nothing I could do would change that. I sat there, waiting patiently for the moment Tiffany would return to this world.

 

Some more time passed until Tiffany’s face finally reverted to normal, but she still did not move.

Lowly under her breath, Tiffany spoke:

“You weren’t there, Tae…” she began to sob as the words left her lips.

“What do you mean?”

“You said you would always be there, but you weren’t there…” Her words came loud through a distorted voice.

“There for what?”

“You weren’t there for me… when my mom died…”

What! No!

 

Tiffany burst into tears; her hands covering her face.

I myself towards her, and held her the same way she held me just minutes ago.

So many questions ran through my head, but it wasn’t the time for any of them: The sorrow that Tiffany held in her heart was finally being released, and it was my job to console her.

I can’t believe that Mrs. Hwang is gone… How could I not have noticed…?

Something had seemed off from the moment I got to the house, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I just assumed that it was because I hadn’t been there in a while…

As Tiffany’s tears soaked my shirt, tears began to form around my eyes as well.

It was impossible to imagine Mrs. Hwang not being alive: She was the main reason Tiffany was so strong and caring. The fact that I hadn’t been there for Tiffany during that time also pressed on me. I had made a promise to her on the last day we saw each other…

*

“Thanks Tae.” A young Tiffany said through a bright smile.

“Thanks? For what…?” I my ice cream cone as the two of us walked back to the Hwang house.

“For everything: You’re there for me every time a problem shows up.”

I had to stop and hit my chest in an attempt to swallow the large chunk of ice cream I had just bitten off.

“Blehhh…”

Tiffany laughed as the ice cream I just swallowed caused me to hold my forehead and make random noises. When I was able to once again function properly, I looked at Tiffany with a raised thumb.

“I’ll always be there for you, silly. You should know that by now.”

“Yeah, but it still feels right for me to thank you.”

“That’s nice of you Tiff, but you don’t need to. I promise; if anything ever happens to you, I’ll be the first one running to your aid. Why? Because I want to.”

Tiffany stopped, turned, and abruptly hugged me. It was strange because I wasn’t used to such physical contact, but I enjoyed her embrace.

The hug was tight and squeezed my arms to my sides, which forced me to drop my ice cream.

Tiffany suddenly let go and began walking again.

“Hey, get back here!”

She turned around; noticing the melted green liquid on the floor, she decided to run.

“Tiffany Hwang, you WILL buy me another ice cream cone…”

*

I realized that I had broken my promise as I wiped the tears forming around my eyes. It was a conclusion I sadly came to. I hadn’t done it on purpose, but the outcome was the same as if I did.

“I’m so sorry, Fany. I’m going to be there from now on, I swear.” The determination in my voice was muffled by my sadness, and Tiffany’s sobs.

I lied down next to her as our sorrows were let out until the comfort of sleep grabbed us…

 

End of Arc I: Into a New World

 

Arc II: Blindfold's Off

Starts in chapter ten.

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Hope you all liked that chapter. I put a lot of effort into it lol.

Osu!