“Vicky!!!!!!” Taeyeon excitedly exclaimed and engulfed Victoria in a strong, hearty embrace. Victoria gladly hugged him back even though she almost lost her balance with the sudden bear hug.

“Oh my, you really didn’t change, did you?” Victoria softly giggled and cupped his face while Taeyeon comfortably rested his arms around her waist. He cutely smiled at her and pulled her for another warm hug and gave her a long kiss on the cheek.

It was a gesture that Taeyeon would do to the girls that are very close to his heart, and Victoria is one of those. She is Taeyeon’s childhood friend and it has been four years since they last saw each other. The girl has surely changed a lot as she became a lot prettier and with a heavy make-up on earlier, Taeyeon didn’t recognize her at all. Besides, Victoria didn’t want to disturb him earlier with Tiffany around for she knows Taeyeon would hug and kiss her in front of his girlfriend and might cause a fuss in the photoshoot.

Unfortunately, greeting Taeyeon after the photoshoot isn’t a good idea either.

“Taeng! What the hell are you doing?!” Nicole angrily yelled.

Taeyeon and Victoria broke the hug and snapped their heads, finding Nicole glaring at them with a frozen Tiffany beside her. The two are on their way to the smaller guest house that Tiffany rented for the three of them as she decided to just spend the night, or rather the early morning, in the forest resort since she and Nicole were allowed to have a day off because of the photoshoot ended really late and the distance between the place and Seoul is quite far.

Knowing the situation, Victoria abruptly stepped away from Taeyeon. She tried to say something but the words were stuck on upon seeing a lone tear that rolled down Tiffany’s face.

Both Taeyeon and Victoria don’t want her to misunderstand what she saw but they were both frozen on their spot as all four of them stared at each other, until Tiffany turned around.

It hurts her. A lot.

Tears uncontrollably rolls down her face as she started to walk away from them, and later runs as fast as she can. She was disappointed, upset, mad, jealous, and definitely hurt to see her boyfriend smiling like that at the girl that she doesn’t even know what the relationship with her boyfriend is. And most of all, seeing him hugged and kissed her intimately just completely breaks her heart. She felt like Taeyeon cheated on her.

Although it was purely a friendly gesture for Taeyeon and Victoria, it was rather a romantic, intimate gesture from everyone else’s eyes and perspective, especially for Tiffany.

They just got into a romantic relationship for two weeks. Taeyeon has always been there for her, he was caring, sweet, and a loving boyfriend. Tiffany knows that Taeyeon wouldn’t just randomly hug and kiss another girl if the girl isn’t close to him like Jessica, Sunny, and Nicole but what she couldn’t understand is how intimate the two acted with each other.

The moment she saw him with Victoria, she started to question just how much Taeyeon loves her, or if Taeyeon really do love her in the first place. After all, the guy hasn’t told her yet that he loves her and the earlier scene just added to her insecurities.

She doesn’t know where she’s going and how far she already was from Taeyeon and the others until a strong hand gripped her wrist and forcefully stopped her in her tracks as she had been turned around and pulled into a tight embrace.

She tried hard to pull away from him but Taeyeon was too strong for her. She was dead tired from the photoshoot, sleepy like hell, and emotionally weak. After a minute or two of struggling, she gave up and just allowed her whole being be engulfed in his arms.

Taeyeon didn’t say anything yet and just warmly hugged Tiffany. He just let the girl cry her heart out, although it breaks his heart to see his girlfriend in that vulnerable state, he can’t do anything yet for he knows that Tiffany is still hurting because of him. He kissed the top of her head while the girl continued sobbing on his chest.

Suddenly, images of almost the same scenario in the past flashed in front of his eyes. It was when Jessica surprised him a visit in New York. He was with Yoona and Victoria at that time inside an exclusive restaurant. The two girls went to the restroom after finishing their food when Jessica suddenly appeared and he mindlessly hugged and lovingly kissed Jessica on the cheek as he missed the girl so much. However, their actions were misinterpreted by Yoona and it caused a big fuss in the restaurant and almost strained their seven-month relationship at that time.

“Fany-ah... I’m sorry….”

“Baby, please… stop crying….”

Taeyeon silently sighed. He gently srokes Tiffany’s hair and occasionally kisses the top of her head until the girl has finally calmed down. He pulled away a little to wipe her tears but the girl clenched onto his shirt tightly like she was afraid that Taeyeon would leave her if they break their hug.

“Fany-ah... I’m really sorry for making you cry…. for making you jealous… She’s my childhood friend and what you saw earlier is not what you think it is...” Taeyeon softly said as he continued to explain his relationship with Victoria.

He doesn’t want to repeat the history and wanted Tiffany to understand the situation. If Yoona was badly hurt to see him being intimate with Jessica and they were already in a relationship for almost a year during that time, what more for Tiffany who has just been his girlfriend for almost two weeks.

Though she’s not responding to Taeyeon at all, she was silently listening to his explanation and trying her best to understand him. Initially, she thought she would’ve slapped either Taeyeon or Victoria earlier because of anger and jealousy but instead, she ran away from them yet ended up in Taeyeon’s arms, melting with his warmth.

“I love you, Fany-ah… always remember that…” Taeyeon calmly said as he finished explaining everything to Tiffany before giving her a soft peck on her temple as he continued her hair down to her back.

Tiffany’s heart skipped a beat. She literally froze on her spot and felt like everything stopped moving around her. It took her a few seconds before coming back to her senses as her heart started to thump faster.

“W-what… what did you s-say?” Tiffany stuttered while slowly pulling away from hugging Taeyeon as she stared directly at Taeyeon’s eyes.

Taeyeon frowned upon seeing her puffy and red eyes from crying. He gently wiped the traces of tears on her face before looking straight to Tiffany’s eyes and lovingly smiled at her.

“I said…” he softly said while wrapping his arms around Tiffany’s waist and pulled her closer to him.

“I love you, Fany-ah…”

Tiffany felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest and her vision is getting blury again as tears are threatening to fall from her eyes. She just stood there, stared at Taeyeon, and to make sure she’s hearing him correctly, dumbfoundedly asked him again.

“Can you say that again, Taetae?” Her voice is so soft and if it wasn’t because of the small gap between their faces, Taeyeon wouldn’t be able to hear her at all.

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