“Tiffany,” she said reaching out to hug me.

 

I put my hands up to stop her and she did. She looked at me then down to the floor.

 

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

 

“To see you of course.”

 

“Mom.”

 

“The truth is that… you’re father and I… we’re taking a break from each other.”

 

“A divorce,” I said, this time looking down.

 

“We’re working things out.”

 

“Yeah, being apart is working things out… Is Yuri here?” I asked starting to worry after noticing no other lights were on.

 

“I didn’t see her.”

 

“How did you get in?”

 

“Key copy, under the vase, right? I remember teaching you that.”

 

“Yeah, that was a long time ago. I guess I still have that bad habit.”

 

“Ok. You what Tiffany that’s not fair! I’m trying,” she raised her voice.

 

“Not hard enough,” I replied.

 

“Tiffany, what can I say or do to make things better?”

 

“You can leave,” I said, opening the door.

 

“So just like that? You leave home and disappear and you’re the one upset?”

 

“I almost died and neither you nor dad saw fit to at least let me know that you were leaving. God, I needed my mother more than ever after that night, but no, you were too worried about you reputation to even care about your own daughter. You hated the way I did things and the people I hung out with after Nick died. You hated me and you and dad made it perfectly clear when you abandoned me. So, I left and I have a great life now. I don’t need you anymore,” I shouted, trying to hold in my tears.

 

“Fany, that is not true. After Nick died you changed. You started hanging out more with that boy, Wooyoung. I knew he was trouble. I tried to warn you, but it was too late, but don’t ever think that I hated you because I never did. I love you,” she said reaching for a hug.

 

I gave in with tears in my eyes. “I guess I should be going,” my mom said, wiping her tears.

 

“I thought you didn’t have a place?”

 

“I don’t, but I don’t want to stay her. I’ll just rent a room in a motel.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah, I just don’t want to ruin any of this.”

 

“Ok, bye.”

 

“Call me tomorrow,” she said leaving.

 

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The next morning I was relieved to see Yuri asleep in her bed. I quietly sneaked out, leaving her a note explaining where I would be and I headed onto the motel my mom was staying at. After spending a few hours catching up with her and reminiscing of old times I knew what I had to do. After saying goodbye to my mom, I got out my phone and dialled.

 

“Hello, Wooyoung. It’s me. We need to talk. Can you meet me at Molina Bridge right now?”

 

“I’ll see you there.”

 

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At Molina Bridge, I waited for Wooyoung. As I continued to wait my cell phone rang. I looked to see who was calling, Jessica. I was about to answer when Wooyoung pulled up.

 

“Are you gonna answer that?”

 

“No, it’s nothing that can’t wait... so what information do you have?”

 

“The same as yours, however, there’s something in the police report that just doesn’t match up. He died at 12:23 AM and witnesses say they heard a gunshot at 12:23. On the coronary report it says official cause of death was drowning so...”

 

“How could he have been shot and drowned in less than a minute.”

 

“Exactly my point, I don’t know if this is great evidence, but it’s possible. It also says in here that he had a few bruises and cuts.”

 

 “Where did you find this at?” I asked.

 

“I know people.”

 

“Well, thank you for the information,” I said.

 

“No problem. Besides, that’s what friends are for, right?”

 

It took me awhile to reply.

 

“Why her, Wooyoung?”

 

“Who?”

 

“Taeyeon.”

 

“Are you jealous?”

 

“Of course not, I just... never mind. We shouldn’t even be having this conversation,” I said.

 

“Tiff, I think I know what this is about and I just want to let you know that I can never replace you. I still do love you and I will always, that’s a fact. But you’ve said you’ve moved on and now I have to, if you’ll let me.”

 

“I should go,” I said leaving.

 

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him and kissed me, I pulled away quickly.

 

“Wooyoung, I can’t. This has to stop.”

 

“Tiff, you know you feel it. Don’t tell me that you don’t,” he said, and then whispered. “You still love me. You still want me.”

 

I gave in, but then stopped myself before I was able to kiss him, again.

 

“You’re wrong, I don’t. I love Jessica, not you. I can never love someone who could hurt me so much,” I said, pulling away from him and running to my car.

 

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As I pulled to the driveway, I could see Jessica’s car. He was standing outside, waiting for me as I walked towards him and getting out my keys.

 

“Hey, Baby,” I said with a smile.

 

“We need to talk,” he said with a serious expression on his face.