tip: If you are having a bad day, just open images.google.com on your browser and search for "SNSD tiffany eye smile". Yes, it will surely lift up your mood.

Tiffany POV

*May-25-2015*

"Is it done?"

"Just a few more minutes, sweetie."

He groaned loudly, "But, I'm already hungry!"

"Wait, okay? It's almost done."

Sunkyu hugged me tightly from behind and started to chant my name directly on my ear, "Umma--umma--umma--umma--"

I chuckled, "Yah, stop bothering me. Go back to the dining and wait there."

He hugged me tighter, "No, I want to wait here."

"Alright. Alright. Just stop annoying me."

"Now, you find me annoying?" he asked. I gazed at him and found him pouting cutely.

I pinched his cheek. "You are annoyingly cute."

"Cute?" Dad suddenly butted in as he went inside the kitchen. Mom was behind him. "Sunkyu, aren't you already too old for doing aegyo? Or even clinging on your mother just like that?" he asked.

"Shut up, halapoji. I love my umma. There's nothing wrong if I want to hug her like this. You're just jealous cus you don't have a pretty mom."

"What the--? Where do you think your mother's beauty came from, huh?"

Mom suddenly butted in, "From my genes, Jae. Isn't it obvious?"

"Fine. Her intelligence came from my genes, though."

I snapped, "Dad, I'm not that intelligent."

"You are intelligent. You just don't know you are. Right. You're that stupid and I think you got that from your mother."

Mom glared at her. Then, hastily, dad ran out of the kitchen and she chased after him.

"Tsk. Tsk. What are they? Kids? They're too childish." Sunkyu snapped then snuggled tighter on me.

"Oh yeah? Aren't you acting like a kid now too? You're already too old for aegyo, Kyu-Kyu."

"But I'm your baby!"

"And you're already a man now."

"I am not. I'm still fifteen."

"Teen." I stressed.

"Aissh--- when I'm trying to be cold, you're complaining. Now when I'm being sweet and clingy, you're also complaining. I don't get you, really."

"Alright. Alright. You win."

He giggled. "I love you, umma."

I looked at him and smiled in return, "I love you too sweetie."

---

After I was done preparing for our afternoon snacks, our whole family headed for the dining to eat. Apparently, Sunkyu requested on me to prepare lasagna, churros with chocolate dip, fries, homemade potato chips, and fruit shakes for this afternoon. Well, their last football practice ended just an hour ago and now he wanted to celebrate it at home. He'll be joining their school's varsity for an interschool championship this week. Yoong's not at home, though. He said he has errands and must meet up with Taeyeon for today. Tao, on the other hand, went out to hang out with Yuri.

"Mmm... I really do love your lasagna, umma." he said while savoring the food he stuffed on his plate.

"Oh, really? Didn't you prefer your second-umma's cooking more than mine?"

"Yah, umma! Until when are you gonna stress that out? I was just trying to answer second-umma's question that time. If I told her I favored your cooking more than hers, she wouldn't stop on bugging me."

Mom butted in, "Stephanie, you better stop comparing yourself with your best friend. That's not a healthy thing to do."

"I'm not comparing myself to her, mom. I was just pointing out what my dear loving son said months ago. Don't tell me you never compared yourself with Aunt Boa before?"

"Well, in my state, I had no choice. Boa loved comparing herself to me all the time. That's maybe why I've done the same thing before too."

"Then, we're just on the same page. Jessica's quite competitive against me too."

Sunkyu butted in, "Umma, you don't have to worry. I love you so much, okay. I'll choose you more than anyone else. And, no, don't ever bring up what happened before, I was brainwashed by Sehun-hyung that's why I said those things to you so those aren't true at all."

I sighed loudly. "Stop blaming everything over Sehun, Kyu." I redirected to dad, "Anyway, speaking, have you heard from him, dad?"

He answered, "I'm still trying my best to contact him. Yoong already dispatched our personnel to look after him too."

"Oh. I see."

Mom asked, "Why are you still seeking for Sehun, Steph? Aren't you supposed to avoid him for as much as possible?"

"Mom. He's still my brother. Though, not by blood, he's already been like my brother for five years. Besides, I know, it's not his intention to do those things to me. Like Tao said, he might have been hired by someone else."

Dad sighed loudly, "And that's why you got manipulated by that psychopath."

"Stephanie." Mom snapped in. "You have to be honest with us."

"..."

"Does the voice inside your head already stopped?"

"..."

"Your doctor said this is a good exercise for you. To be open to talking about these things…"

"Well..." I sighed deeply. "The voice didn't exactly vanish. Sometimes he's there, sometimes he's not. Also, nightmares remained as is." I smiled at them. "Still, why bother? I don't really pay attention to them anymore."

"Have you tried what the doctor suggested?"

"Huh?"

"Maybe, that's the only answer for this. For you to finally get freed from these horrible instances, you better follow your doctor's suggestion."

"Mom. I don't want to, okay. Didn't we already talk about this?"

"But, what if---?"

"Trust me. This will all be over soon. Stop worrying about me. I'm completely okay now. Don't worry. If something goes wrong, I promise I won't ever hide it from all of you."

Sunkyu butted in, "Umma, why hesitate, anyway? It's been so many years passed already."

"It's better this way, Kyu."

"I think it will be fine if you just do it, Steph." Dad snapped. "There's no harm in doing it."

"Oh yeah? What if it was not the answer at all?"

"You won't know unless you try."

"I don't want to take a risk. It's better to be this way, okay."

Dad sighed loudly, "I really don't get what's wrong with you, Stephanie. You are already aware of the identity of your perpetrator. Why are you still suffering from those horrific things, then?"

"Like I always say, this condition of mine isn't entirely because of Sehun. He just aggravated it but he wasn't really the root cause. So, please. Let's just stop discussing this." I raised my right hand. "I promise, I will never break down again."

"It's not like you can control such thing." mom responded.

"Yes, I can. The best way to do it is to ignore those horrors completely and focus my mind elsewhere. The thing is, right now, my main priority is my one and only baby Sunkyu." I pinched my son's cheek. He grinned widely in return. I asked him, "Now, what do you want for dinner?"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Aren't you gonna go out for tonight?"

"Err-- really?"

"Yeah. Yoong-appa just told you this morning that Sooyoung-hyung and Hyoyeon-noona will arrive here in Seoul this afternoon and they invited you and your friends for dinner."

"Oh. Right. I forgot. It might have slipped my mind since you asked me to cook a lot for you."

He chuckled, "Sorry about that, umma. I just missed your cooking so much, okay."

"Yeah. Whatever. Anyway, do you wanna come along?"

"Err-- uhhmm-- I'm okay with it but, is it gonna be okay with your friends? I mean, you're gonna bring along your son in your friendly friend gathering. That's kind of awkward."

"It's awkward in a normal environment, Kyu. You've always been part of the group."

"Hmm. Okay. Zombie-appa wants a game match with me, anyway. He also bought his own Nintendo Switch, by the way. Maybe we can have a match later."

"So, you're hanging out with your real father now, kid?" Dad asked.

Kyu lowered his head and answered shyly, "Y-yeah, s-sort of. It's part of my vengeance, though."

I butted, "Vengeance again? Really?"

"Yeah. The key for successful vengeance is to observe your target closely. So, I must hang out with him often. Then, I'll unleash my plan once I gathered enough information."

"Hmm. If you say so."

Dad butted in, "There's no harm in admitting you just missed hanging out with your father so much."

He blushed madly. He avoided my father's gaze. "I do not."

I gazed over mom. She seemed to look bothered by something as she stared at me. Probably, it's because of my cheating with Yuri before.

*Sigh*. I better clear this out on her once and for all.

---

Before Sunkyu and I will be heading for the dinner gathering with our friends, I asked my mom to have a little private talk. We settled on the Manor's second-floor living room.

"What do you want to talk about, Stephanie?"

"Mom. I know you're worried about Sunkyu getting closer with his father again."

"I'm not exactly worried on that."

"Alright. I'll get straight to the point then. I know, you're worried of uhhmm-- you know, my affair with Yuri."

"..."

I sighed, "We already stopped, okay. We no longer see each other."

"And how are you going to convince me?"

"I will..." I looked away. "I will tell Yoong of what I've done. Also, Jessica..."

"And you are assured that I'll be convinced with that plan of yours?"

"..."

"If you will tell those two, you'll just be jeopardizing your marriage. Your resolve isn't exactly what I want, Stephanie. What I want is for you and Sunkyu to stop still trying to fix your relationship with Yuri. Completely. Avoid him for as much as possible."

"But-- didn't you just tell me to follow my doctor's advice?"

"Yes. I want you to settle your conflicts as in everything then cut out your connection with him completely."

"..."

"I am serious, Stephanie. Stop it. Your affair will bring nothing good to you."

"Mom, we already stopped. Okay. And I promise it won't ever happen again. Don't you trust me at all?"

"I don't trust him." She then closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She sighed loudly. "That guy... I've been telling him to stop yet, he never listened to me."

"..."

She looked back to me. She breathed deeply first then went closer. She held both of my hands. "Look, Stephanie. As much as possible, I don't want to meddle with your decisions in life. But, at least, try to listen to me."

"..."

"I did the very same thing too. And, it brought nothing but p