I Got You

Taeyeon lifted her head. She has never been so unfit to go to school before. She lacked sleep and by the time she hit 2nd period, there was already a fever building. She can see her professor talking but all she could hear was the echoed murmurs of her classmates.

Someone tapped her shoulder but she ignored it. She felt someone tap her again. Taeyeon’s head slowly bobbed to the side.

“Taeyeonssi?”

“Whut?” She muttered.

“Class is over.”

She slowly sat up and saw that most of her classmates had left the room. She was really out of it today. She didn’t even realize they were already dismissed. First she had College Algebra (something she had never had an interest on); then she had English (something she was never good on); and before lunch, they had Drama… But Taeyeon just snoozed the lecture away.

“Do you want to have lunch with us?” She asked.

Taeyeon looked at her seatmate. It was that Jessica-faced girl from before. How can she not notice that? She had even made a mental note to watch out for her and she was sitting right beside her the whole time. Behind her was the oddly dressed companion she always hung around with, pop dancing on the side with her earphones on. Although she would've just liked to just sleep at her desk all day, she had to get some food in her.

That, and because she knew the importance of associating yourself with the right crowd. “Sure.”

“Is it the radio show? You look pretty beat.” Fashion terrorist said as she tugged one of the earpieces off.

Taeyeon shook her head. “Aniyo, gwenchanayo.”

She took a closer look at the two girls. Jessica-faced was dressed very casually. Her hair was up in a bun and she only had a white top and jeans on. Her bag and jacket was something else though. Taeyeon has never seen such designs before. It was like all the extra weight she had was made out of candy. It was very cute.

Fashion terrorist, on the other hand, had her hair cut just above her shoulders. She wore green sweatpants on top of a loose, ash grey jacket. It was so unbalanced that Taeyeon's eyes watered a bit. Her kicks were really something though! She can smell the fresh scent of a new Pony a mile away. She must've poured all of her savings in it, the type that was only produced in the US as part of a limited edition set. The type you can only see and drool on the internet.

These two didn't seem much at first but she saw potential in them. This was something people in the industry can innately sense. Their aura would tell which ones were tight competition and dead weight. They had a certain light in them but Taeyeon couldn't say what it was just yet. She probably had to dig a little deeper, especially since looks aren't everything in business.

"This kid looks like she's gonna faint." The short haired girl commented as she examined Taeyeon's eyebags. She offered her Sigg waterbottle. "Do you need water?"

Taeyeon waved her hand. "Chincha, gwenchana." She stood up. She had a woobly start but was still in a good enough shape to walk and act normally. Tiffany, this is all your fault.

When Yonghwa and Seohyun left, the two girls waited for Sunny to return. They talked to kill time. It was confusing for Taeyeon. At the station, it seemed like Tiffany was ready to accept their next step; but when she when on to her last night. She completely ignored her ‘come-ons’. It was frustrating.

However, it turned to midnight and Sunny still wasn’t back. Though worried, they decided to hit the hay.

She would hug her and Tiffany would comment on how hot it was under the sheets. So Taeyeon displaced the covers but then her partner would say she was uncomfortable with not having a blanket around her. So she would turn off the lights and reassure her that she’d be sleeping by her side the whole night.

When Taeyeon felt Tiffany had an excuse for everything, she just went ahead and placed herself on top of her.

“Taeyeon, stop it. I’m not in the mood.” Tiffany pushed her away.

They grabbed on to each other’s wrists and wrestled on their bed, careful not to make any suggestive sounds because they thought Sunny might just come home to a house filled with awkward noises.

But for some weird reason, Tiffany took her hands off the girl and just laid on the bed.

“Fine. You know what, do whatever you want.”

You bet I will, you little tease. Taeyeon smirked. immediately captured every inch of Tiffany’s skin. They went on to their business the whole night, muffling the sounds they made to make sure nobody else heard.

It was already morning by the time they finished.

And her body’s usual reaction to a night like that? High grade fever.

"Ice cream." Taeyeon cooed.

The two girls looked at each other. 

"Ah, I mean..." Taeyeon stood up. "Nan jeongmal baegopa! Gaja, let’s go eat. Who are you again?"

"… That moment when you've already introduced yourself three times on three different classes but your seatmate still doesn't know who you are?" Jessica-faced laughed. "Give me more credit!"

Taeyeon scratched her head. "My mind was off the whole time. Mianhamnida." She offered her a handshake. "Naneun Taeyeonimnida."

"We know! We were surprised we're classmates with such a well-known celebrity." Jessica-faced shook her hand. "Hyominimnida. Eunjungieyo."

"Bangawoyo." She smiled as she shook their hands. You know what they say, keep your friends close and your rivals... Closer.

She had no idea those two were thinking the exact same thing.

•••••••

Sunny lay on the cold and hard concrete floor. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the rays of the sun peek through small holes on the roof.

Where am I?

She tried to focus on the floor. She saw cracked pieces of tiles alternating on the rough cemented floor. There were half broken chairs and tables scattered around and covered with dust. All of them were half burnt in what seems to be an aftermath of a raged fire.

She wiped her face but yelped when she accidentally got dirt in her eyes. That was a stupid thing to do, rubbing her eyeballs when obviously everything was clearly wrapped in a thick layer of grime.

Sunny gasped when she caught sight of her palm. It was burning red! She stood up to see what was happening around her and saw that she was in a middle of some sort of diagram, drawn in red chalk.

What’s happening to me? Sunny looked around and suddenly found out where she was.

It was that chapel in her dreams.

She saw her bag on the side and quickly opened it. She spun her Starbucks tumbler open and drank about half of it. The other half she poured on her hands as she scrubbed it vigorously.

She dried it off with a towel she had handy. She peered in the contents of her bag:  bunch of used paper, her wallet, a dead phone and her Canon. Nothing was missing and her clothes were intact. So it doesn’t seem like she was chased or anything.

How the heck did she even get here? Sunny took her camera and snapped at least a hundred pictures of the place. Not out of the sheer amount of emotion she was feeling, but because she wanted to remember everything about it.

When she was finished, she placed her things in her bag and tried to find an exit. She got herself out and saw a familiar sight of warehouse buildings. She didn’t know where she’d seen it before but she knew where to turn to get her out of there.

Sunny finally got to the pier’s parking lot and that was when she realized how she knew of this place because a few days ago, this place was filled with ramps and jumping points.

She drew a mental map in her head before she picked herself up and went home.

•••••••

Tiffany had just finished taking a shower when she heard Sunny come in. She was only wearing a towel around her body when she went out of the bath.

“Sunny, you didn’t come home last night.” She said, as she dried her hair.

“Mianhamnida.” Sunny bowed in apology.

“Well, the water is still hot. If you want to take a bath…”

“Ye, jamkkanman!” Sunny dashed to her room and dropped her things. She immediately entered the bath after that.

Tiffany smiled. She was just glad to have Sunny home safe and sound. She took a random shirt and put it on. Since she was staying in, she dressed casually. She didn’t have Monday classes, but was pretty much booked on all other days except during the weekends.

She headed straight to the kitchen. She figured Sunny might be a little hungry. So she should fix something up. Taeyeon would be home by three as well so she needed to cook three servings of something.

Tiffany peeked inside the freezer and saw some beef patties. She figured it would do. She took them out and put them inside a bowl before warming them up with the tap from the sink.

She briefly went inside her room to fetch her iTouch and set it on the dock. She began playing random Taylor Swift songs before returning to attend their meal.

She took out a block of cheese as well as some onions, tomatoes and cucumbers from the fridge. She also took one of the pans and washed it briefly before she instilled flame under the cookware.

Tiffany was carefully plying the plastic away from patties when Sunny went out of the room. She briefly looked at her before resuming her food preparation. “That was fast.”

“I’ll help you in a bit.” Sunny said as she went to her room to change.

“Take your time.” Tiffany playfully answered as she placed the beef on the heated skillet. She took some spice from the cupboard and mashed them together before adding them on to the fry.

By the time Tiffany flipped the meat; Sunny was dressed and was washing the ingredients that she has set aside. They smiled at each other. Sunny examined the cucumber. "This is a pretty good buy, but Jessica would throw this out of the window in a jiffy."

"Why's that?" Tiffany asked.

"She's allergic to this." Sunny said as she tossed the cylindrical fruit up and down. "I can never make anything with cucumbers as a result. It’s a shame because they taste so good on Kimbap!"

Tiffany nodded and there was silence between them. She quickly broke it to ask: “So where were you yesterday?”

“I’m sorry if I worried you.” The smaller girl said as she sliced the tomatoes in perfect proportions. “I was just finding myself, at a café at Hongdae.”

“Oh, I was in Hongdae yesterday!” Tiffany said as she crushed more herbs and fed it to the pan. “We went to this place called Addis Ababa. I think the name came from this place in the US but I’m not sure.”

“There are a lot of good Coffee shops in Hongdae.” Sunny nodded as she moved to cutting the onions. She raised it up at Tiffany. “You know, if we have more of these, I can probably make onion rings.”

“There’s some in the fridge.” Tiffany pointed as she flipped the burgers one last time. She went to the pantry and got three buns from the bread holder. Sunny went ahead to get some onions and milk from the fridge. “So you cook a lot?”

“Well, if you’re always alone at home. You kind of learn.” The other girl giggled as she emptied another bowl for the batter. “How about you?”

“I just like to watch other people.” She said as she turned the heat down and took the flour and salt from the cupboard for Sunny. She cut the buns up and spread mayonnaise and ketchup on opposing sides. “So you live alone?”

“I’m with my sister but she’s not always home.” Sunny shrugged as she mixed the onion ring’s batter. They were consciously looking out for each other’s actions. They moved in the precision that they have made food together since birth.

It took about twenty more minutes for them to get everything done. They laid everything on the table: three really big burgers and a bowl of hot steaming onion rings. Tiffany even opened some sour cream for the deep fried goods.

“I can’t wait to taste these.” Tiffany smirked as she rubbed her hands.

Sunny sat across the table and giggled. “You should taste them when I have more time to marinate them. That way, the flavor really sticks.”

Tiffany took one of the onion rings and blew on it to cool it down. Afterwards, she dipped it in sauce with the intention of eating it; but then she caught a glimpse of her friend admiring her face. She knew the other girl was stealing glances because Sunny quickly averted her gaze somewhere else while she scratching her head.

It took only a split second, but Tiffany knew what kind of look Sunny wore the moment she saw it.

It was a look of yearning.

The same look Taeyeon and Siwon shot her before they kissed. Tiffany was surprised, but flattered that Sunny thought of her that way. She gave the girl her biggest smile and reached her hand out, offering the food on her hand.

“What are you doing, Panyang? That’s yours!” Sunny laughed.

“Don’t be silly, eat it.” Tiffany said as she hand fed Sunny the golden brown snack. “You should at least get first bite.”

Sunny did what she was told; and boy, did that onion ring taste a lot better coming from Tiffany’s hand! She felt as if the corners of reached her ears because she smiled too widely.

The two girls laughed and shared stories with each other, not knowing the dangers that lied in their growing friendship.