The doors of the library slammed open and Jessica threw Yuri to the side as she was still yelling in protest. She looked around to see if anybody was near and closed the library entrance. She leaned on the door while Yuri was staring at her as she struggled to get up.

 

“What the hell Jessica? I thought you were supposed to help Taeyeon?” Yuri pointed to the library door, feeling baffled and a little betrayed.

 

“I am, Ms. Yuri. You’re just gonna have to trust me.” Jessica pulled out her phone again and started checking her email as if nothing was wrong.

 

“Trust you?” Yuri cringed from the lingering pain in her shoulder. “You just threw Taeyeon into the lion’s den, and with the lion right there! Do you have any idea what Tiffany is going to do to her?!”

 

Yuri considered shoving Jessica to the side in order to make a quick getaway, but with one glance at Jessica’s cold glare Yuri felt her whole body go numb and thought it’d be best to step away. She began to survey the area, keeping an eye out for other entrances into the library.

 

“Again, you need to trust me,” Jessica didn’t break eye contact from her phone. “I know Tiffany better than anybody else and I know what your friend is capable of. She’ll be fine.”

 

Yuri wasn’t buying Jessica’s speech. Maybe if she could find a teacher, she could get Taeyeon out of there scratch free.

 

“And don’t even think about getting a teacher Ms. Yuri. I wouldn’t want to injure another one of your joints,” Jessica threatened in a sweet voice. Yuri’s mouth fell open as she stepped back in bewilderment.

 

How the heck did she know I was going to get a teacher? Is she a mind reader?!

 

“No, I’m not a mind reader Ms. Yuri. Let’s just say I understand you better than yourself,” Jessica grinned.

 

***

 

She knew she needed to stand her ground, but this time she needed to keep her cool. If she was going to take Jessica’s advice, she needed to roll with the punches - so to speak - and find a way to get into Tiffany’s head. As for the sweet talk thing, Taeyeon had no idea what Jessica meant by that. For the most part, it was best to stick with her plan to psych out the mushroom.

 

“Nice to see me?” Tiffany raised her eyebrow. “What’s this? Are you letting your inner come out now?”

 

“It means what it means. It’s nice to see you,” Taeyeon lied between her teeth. She didn’t move an inch in case she spooked the mushroom, and used her peripheral vision to check for any emergency escape routes.

 

“Cheh, don’t try to act tough Kim,” Tiffany said humorously. She took two steps forward hoping to get a reaction from Taeyeon, but all Taeyeon did was focus all of her attention on the mushroom while keeping her feet firmly planted to the ground. Tiffany was curious as to how her prey was able to remain so calm and collected. Inside Taeyeon’s head, it was everything but calm.

 

Holy ! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!

 

“So you mind telling me what you and that cave woman were doing with Jessica just now?” Tiffany sneered as she stuck her thumb behind her.

 

A moment of silence fell through the room. Tiffany was waiting for a response. After a few seconds, Taeyeon controlled her shaking nerves and replied in a flat tone.

 

“Nothing.”

 

The brunette was taken aback for a bit, but kept her menacing smile. Inside, she was quickly getting infuriated with Kim’s calm demeanour. “Let’s get one thing clear Kim, when I ask you for something you give it to me.” Tiffany marched right up to Taeyeon and her face was only inches away from Taeyeon’s. “Do you understand me you carpet munching dyke?!” Tiffany’s husky voice rang throughout the library, but even her lion’s roar couldn’t provoke a reaction from Taeyeon.

 

Taeyeon’s heart was beating at an extremely fast pace again and she knew at any second Tiffany might sense it. In order to keep her cool, Taeyeon had to make Tiffany know she wasn’t the dominant one here.

 

“I’ll say it again. We weren’t doing anything,” Taeyeon did her best not to show her fear. She could tell from Tiffany’s eyes that she was surprised.

 

“Hmph, whatever,” Tiffany stepped back, keeping her eyes on Taeyeon. “I’ll let you pretend to be a big boy for now.” Taeyeon was internally praising herself.

 

Tiffany took the wooden chair next to her and sat down with her feet propped up on the table. She looked to Taeyeon with a smirk still on her face. “Did you enjoy the little video I posted up? I bet in an hour, almost every kid and teacher in school will see it at least once.”

 

Taeyeon’s left hand began to twitch. With her newly acquired courage, she was really tempted to deliver a swift punch to mushroom’s pretty jaw. The girl right in front of her was the same girl who took it upon herself to ruin what little chance she had to a normal school life and ostracized her from every student in school. She was the same girl who belittled her for being gay and she was the same girl who had promised to make her life a living hell for no reason whatsoever. What she would give to knock her stupid face out.

 

“You know exactly how I’m feeling right now Hwang,” Taeyeon muttered. She didn’t want to give Tiffany the satisfaction of seeing her break down. “I just want to know why you deliberately chose to ruin my life. I did nothing to you except accidentally knock you over that day.” Taeyeon just stared at her while stuffing her shaking hands into her pockets.

 

Tiffany sighed while rolling her eyes. “Are you ting me Kim? You want to repeat our last little chit chat?” Tiffany smirked as she looked directly into Taeyeon’s gaze. “I hate fags. You’re a sniveling gay and I don’t like your ugly face. What more reason do I need?”

 

“That can’t be the reason!” Taeyeon tried to persuade her. “Yuri told me you only bully people you believe…”

 

“I couldn’t give two s what anybody says about me!” Tiffany declared in a loud voice. Taeyeon was taken aback, but she continued.

 

“Well, the last time we met you kept spouting some bull about me being chosen and you went all psycho. Don’t tell me you’re just crazy.”

 

Tiffany raised her eyebrow in curiosity. “And what if I am crazy, Kim? The are you going to do about it?” Tiffany said in a low tone. Taeyeon gulped as she felt goose bumps ride up her arm. She tried to shake it off and decided to take a more direct approach.

 

“What am I going to do about it?” Taeyeon pointed to herself. “Anything the I want because my life is over thanks to you.” Taeyeon felt her eyes beginning to moisten, but fought back the tears as she explained in a loud tone. “I was just getting used to this city and for the first time in a long time I was actually happy. But you just had to waltz on in and make my past come back to bite me in the didn’t you.”

 

“Don’t get smart with me, ,” Tiffany waggled her finger annoyingly. “If you think whining about your petty problems is going to solve everything, then you’re even more of a dumb than I thought.” Tiffany placed a finger on her temple as she continued. “Everything you do pisses me off Kim. Your dyke kiss was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I don’t know how you got away, but you were so lucky.”

 

Taeyeon felt like Tiffany was becoming more emotional and took a few steps forward in order to confront the brunette.

 

“I told you it was a mistake, but-”

 

“But nothing!” Tiffany slammed her fists on the table, causing Taeyeon to retreat back to her original position.

 

She was beginning to feel like she had Tiffany under control, but when she saw the mushroom’s eyes darken in anger, she knew a storm was coming.

 

“You know we can’t have everything in life Kim,” Tiffany continued in a low tone as if she spoke from experience. She looked away from Taeyeon and stared at the table. “I wanted to live a life free from cowards, Kim. I wanted to live a life where I could make my own decisions. A life where you don’t exist. A life in which you don’t take anything away from me!” Tiffany yelled as her fist made a large dent in the wooden table. Taeyeon’s confidence snapped as she just remembered Tiffany could do the same thing to her face.

 

“That was my first kiss Kim. You had NO RIGHT in taking that from me!” Tiffany pointed threateningly.

 

“Y-your first kiss?” Taeyeon stuttered as she remembered that day she tasted strawberries on her lips.

 

“You have ruined my entire life Kim! My mom just had to choose you and then you pulled off some like this!”

 

Taeyeon gritted her teeth. She still had no idea what the whole mom choosing thing was and that helped to escalate her anger. Without thinking she threw her hands in the air and yelled, “Well if you hated me so much, then why the hell did you save me that day?!”

 

Tiffany was taken aback as she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quickly. Taeyeon was studying her face and just noticed that there looked to be something on Tiffany’s forehead, but her bangs were hiding it.

 

“You have a bandage on your forehead,” Taeyeon pointed out.

 

“So the what? I tripped onto a table. It’s none of your in’ business.”

 

Feeling rather bold again, Taeyeon began approaching the table. “You might not have

known it , but I still had some consciousness when you carried me back home.”

 

From Taeyeon’s perspective, Tiffany was looking a bit nervous. “If this is your way of trying to look crazy, it’s not going to work.”

 

“I felt you push me out of the way Hwang. I remember that day perfectly. It was just after school and it was raining.”

 

“I don’t know what the you’re talking about retard,” Tiffany tried to disrupt Taeyeon’s thinking, but the shorter girl continued on with her thought process.

 

“I remember I crossed the street while I had a lot on my mind. I was the only one crossing and the last thing I remembered was somebody pushing me out of the way and my forehead smashing onto the road a few feet away.” Taeyeon rubbed her forehead, the cut on her head almost completely healed.

 

Tiffany’s face was turning red from anger. “I told you before and I’ll say it again, I couldn’t care less if you ever got ran over and I meant it!”

 

“Why are you so agitated? I’m positive you were the one who saved me!”

 

Tiffany abruptly stood up from her chair. Her hands were beginning to shake from sheer rage and Taeyeon could see she really pushed Tiffany’s buttons.

 

“Oh my god it really was you who saved me, wasn’t it?” Taeyeon pointed in disbelief. She really wanted to believe that her so called bully actually saved her but as she thought about it, the idea of a crazy girl hell bent on ruining her life suddenly saving her did sound very stupid. She saw Tiffany looked like she was ready to tear out her flesh and needed to think quickly in order to see if Tiffany really was her savior.

 

“So why the hell did you carry me back to Yuri’s room?” Taeyeon tried to tick her, but Tiffany wouldn’t have any of that.

 

Tiffany shook her head as she was really tempted to hit her target right now.

 

“Don’t try any of that you little . I didn’t save you from anything!” Tiffany took a few steps closer, really wanting to bludgeon the shorter girl with her fist.

 

“Why the hell did you strip my clothes off and molest me? I was ing unconscious!” Taeyeon yelled at Tiffany’s face.

 

“I SAID I DIDN’T SAVE YOU YOU DEAF ! AND EVEN IF I DID CARRY YOU TO YOUR HOUSE, I WOULDN'T TOUCH YOUR TWELVE YEAR OLD BOY BODY ANYWAY! ” Tiffany roared without holding back.

 

Tiffany was boiling with anger and it was to the point where Taeyeon was starting to think that maybe trying to get Tiffany to confess was probably not the smartest thing she could have done. Her idea about Tiffany saving her might be utter nonsense that her stupid brain came up with. Being that she dug her own grave, Taeyeon was felt really regretful in that moment.

 

“YOU !”

 

Taeyeon couldn’t process what was happening. Tiffany’s loud voice shocked her and all of a sudden, she felt her body being tackled to a wood paneled wall hard. Tiffany gripped Taeyeon’s throat with her left hand - not to choke her but tight enough so she wouldn’t move.

 

Taeyeon was frantically horrified when she was the familiar right fist aiming to break her face. She tried using both hands to push Tiffany’s left hand off of , but Tiffany’s grip was tight; it was like trying to uproot a tree root. Tiffany was utterly pissed off with the shorter girl and it was clear to Taeyeon. Before Tiffany was about to pummel her, a familiar voice spoke in her head.

 

Try to sweet talk her. Trust me.

 

Taeyeon had no experience when it came to flirting, yet she was running out of options and Jessica's advice was better than nothing. Taeyeon tried to think of something flattering, but Tiffany’s fist was cocked back and there was only a split second to think before Taeyeon blurted out something from the top of her head.

 

“Can I have your picture?”

 

Tiffany’s fist stopped midway, only inches from Taeyeon’s temple.

 

“What did you say." Tiffany was caught off guard.

 

“Can I have your picture so I can show Santa what I want for christmas?"

 

After the words left her lips, Taeyeon wished she could hide her face in shame. That was the worst pickup line ever! Taeyeon could feel her face redden in shame. Tiffany probably thought her prey was finally losing her mind. Suddenly the grip on Taeyeon’s neck began to loosen and Taeyeon thought she saved herself with her stupid flirting, but then felt tight again and knew it was the opposite. She could barely breathe and was gasping for air when Tiffany cocked her fist back in rage.

 

“AHHHH!”

 

Taeyeon clenched her eyes, but the pain never came. She slowly opened her left eye and to see what happened. Clearly Tiffany did throw a punch, but instead of Taeyeon’s head her hand connected to the wall; a large dent could be seen under her fist. Taeyeon was wide eyed since she never thought Tiffany was strong enough to create a dent that big in a wall.

 

Tiffany was shuddering as her right hand squeezed Taeyeon’s left shoulder. Taeyeon felt the death grip leave , but then felt both of her shoulders getting pinned to the wall and she could see Tiffany weeping. Before she could say anything, Tiffany rammed her entire body up to Taeyeon and their lips were only inches away.

 

“I ing hate you,” Tiffany whispered before forcing her lips onto her prey, ally moving her lips while her hands s their way around the now frozen girl.

 

Taeyeon’s mind was completely blank as Tiffany’s hands were exploring her good stuff.

 

She couldn’t comprehend her current situation and wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She wasn’t sure if she should call out or push Tiffany off of her, but the feeling of Tiffany on while both of her hands were squeezing her chest and her was too much for Taeyeon to handle. She tried her best to fight the urges, but as if she was doing it subconsciously her hands embraced the molester.

 

It was hard to describe, but Taeyeon was feeling like she was in bliss. She couldn’t remember where she was or why this strange girl was kissing her. Her numb mind was feeling like mush and Taeyeon slowly closed her eyes in pleasure as she felt a sweet tasting tongue enter . Before she could open wider, a shrill voice almost broke her ear drums.

 

“TIFFANY! WHAT THE ?!”

 

Jessica was staring at the two with her hands on her hips while Yuri was behind her, wide eyed from disbelief. Tiffany turned her head to see her best friend and hastily threw Taeyeon’s lifeless body carelessly onto the hard wooden floor. Taeyeon was feeling the familiar pain in her forehead again, but was in too much in a state of nirvana that she wanted to stay in that position for a little longer.

 

“I left you in here to vent your feelings out, not to force that idiot into second base with you!” Jessica was steamed at the sight she just witnessed. The usual bored and lethargic princess was replaced by a fiery blonde with a temper that came straight out of hell. In the background, Yuri could’ve sworn she saw a fiery aura surrounding Jessica.

 

“Jessi it’s not what you-”

 

“, does it look like I give a ?!” Jessica spat before Tiffany could finish her sentence. “Since you’ve chosen that midget, why don’t you two go to a magical castle and out rainbows?”

 

Tiffany was shaking erratically as she tried to find the right words to say. She kept stealing glances at the girl on the floor and back to the angry American before yelling at the top of her lungs, “I’m telling you I hate that dyke! I wish she was dead!”

 

With that final remark, Tiffany ran past Jessica and Yuri as the sound of muffled sniffling could be heard.

 

“I’m going to take care of my idiotic friend. I suggest you do the same for yours,” Jessica motioned towards. She appeared to have reverted back to her calm self before taking a few deep breaths. Without saying goodbye, Jessica disappeared into the hallway.  Yuri slowly approached Taeyeon who was still face down on the floor grinning and didn’t show any sign of getting up.

 

“Taeyeon you okay?” Yuri violently shook the smaller girl’s shoulders to see if she was still conscious.

 

Taeyeon managed to slowly sit up with the help from Yuri supporting her and as the feeling of reality started to come back to her, the grin on her face was replaced with a look of despair as she tilted her head to the ceiling. She remained sitting on the floor with her friend as she took a few deep breaths.

 

“Are you okay Taeng? Jessica finally allowed me to check if you were okay and I saw the mushroom your face! Was she forcing herself on you? Don’t worry Taeyeon, we can report Tiffany  and if we’re lucky we can get her arrested for ual harassment and-” Taeyeon silenced her by placing her index finger on Yuri’s lips.

 

She looked at Yuri with a look of seriousness and remained silent. Yuri was fighting the urge to say something, but then she saw Taeyeon’s serious demeanor begin to crumble as tears started to fall from her face and her shoulders were shaking again.

 

“Yuri…” Taeyeon whispered as she was really trying to fight back her tears.

 

Yuri immediately held Taeyeon in her arms and without thinking, rubbed small circles on Taeyeon’s back and gently her hair while whispering soft words of reassurance.

 

“It’s okay Taeng. The scary girl is gone now. You don’t have to think about her anymore. Just focus on my voice.”

 

Taeyeon shook her head quickly and lightly pushed Yuri away.

 

“I’m not crying because she made out with me Yuri, it’s just…”

 

“Just what? Why are you crying?” Yuri put her hand on her shoulder.

 

Taeyeon put her head down in order to hide her face and she clenched her fists in her lap in order to control herself.

 

“I’m crying because… I really liked it when she kissed me.”