"Please Fany!"

 

Tiffany carefully kept her face blank.

 

"PRETTY PUH-LEAZZZEEE FANY!"

 

Tiffany clapped her hands over her ears.

 

"PUH-WEAZZZEEE FANY! PWETTY PWETTY PUH-WEAZZZEEE WITH CHERRIES ON TOP!"

 

"OK! ALRIGHT! YES! YES, I'LL DO IT! JUST STOP DOING AEGYO!" Tiffany screamed and shook her head violently to rid herself of the images of her blue-haired dandyu roommate hopping cutely while spewing rainbow colored aegyo in a syrupy voice that was enough to give her tonsilitis.

 

"YAY, YOU'RE THE BEST PANY-PANY-TIPPANY!" Squealed the triumphant midget who was hopping up and down in the middle of the small living room in their apartment.

 

Tiffany buried her head in her arms in defeat as she once again gave in to her friend.

 

"This is absolutely the last time Sunny!"

 

The little bunny stopped celebrating and nodded earnestly. 

 

"I mean it! This is ABSOLUTELY the LAST TIME I agree to cover for you! " Tiffany wagged a threatening finger at her grinning roommate. They both knew how much of a softie Tiffany is, which means she was basically making an empty threat. The words "absolutely" and "last time" have been bandied around before with the same result: none.

 

Tiffany sighed and wondered why she even bothered to waste her breath making statements she wouldn't keep. She dragged herself to her bedroom to get dressed.

 

She and her short roommate, Sunny, worked part time in a bar in Seoul. One of a dozen odd jobs that they did to tide over the lean months when Tiffany didn't have a singing gig and Sunny was in between bookings to DJ parties.

 

Sunny's uncle owned the upscale bar "SM Town" in Gangnam and offered a steady income to the two aspiring artists. At first, Tiffany was hesitant to work at the oddly named business, whispering "Does 'SM' mean what I think it means?" from the side of , leaning close to Sunny's ear, as they were about to walk into the establishment.

 

The neon sign looked innocent enough and the storefront was pretty slick and classy. Still, Tiffany frowned at the blinking letters trying to decipher what they meant.

 

"It stands for 'Soo Man', you silly mushroom! Now get your mind out of the gutter and let's go in!" said Sunny. Grabbing Tiffany's arm, she dragged the taller girl through the door.

 

Tiffany was relieved to see a jukebox, a pool table, and a shiny bar fully stocked for an expert mixologist occupying the interior, instead of the whips, chains and torture chamber she dreaded to see.

 

That day, Sunny's kindly uncle asked the pair to help oversee the business while he was abroad on a business trip. They started working in the bar that night, filling in where they were needed.

 

Tonight was Sunny's turn to tend the bar, while Tiffany had a day off. Except the whimsical bunny had carelessly made a date at the same night that she was supposed to be working. Apparently, it was the only night that the girl Sunny had just met was free, and the bunny absolutely refused to pass up the chance to date her, as she was "hotter than the noon sun in the middle of summer", to quote Sunny.

 

She opened her closet and blinked slowly unable to comprehend the sight before her.

 

"LEE SOONKYU!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

 

Sunny nonchalantly walked in while chewing on a Gummi Bear from the fat jar she was hugging to her chest, as if she hadn't just asked Tiffany a huge favor a few seconds ago.

 

"Where are all my clothes?" Tiffany waved a hand towards the gaping door of her mysteriously empty closet. Only this morning she fought her way through the mountain of pink garments that threatened to unhinge her overstuffed closet. Everytime she opened the closet door she feared a pink avalanche.

 

Sunny calmly chewed her Gummi Bear, swallowed, and gestured at the lone garment that was hanging in Tiffany's closet.

 

"You got a dress right there."

 

Tiffany swivelled her head from Sunny to the little black dress that the little bunny was pointing at.

 

"B-but that's too short!"

 

"It makes your legs look like they are miles long."

 

"It stops mid thigh with a slit that's practically up to my waist!"

 

"You've got great toning. You can pull it off."

 

"It's strapless and my s are hardly covered."

 

"Then your customers can drown in your cleavage so they will drink more."

 

"It's not pink!"

 

"Black shows off your porcelain skin and it matches with the hairstyle you have now."

 

For a moment, Tiffany was stumped. Sunny dipped her hand into the jar of Gummi Bears her tiny fingers groping for a treat.

 

"Aha! I don't have shoes to go with it!"

 

"Which reminds me, you can have the Jimmy Choos that my sister sent from the States. They're too big for me and are perfectly your shoe size. What's more, the color and style fits the dress."

 

Sunny captured an orange jelly bear. She brought it to her curvy lips and ruthlessly bit off its head.

 

Tiffany stared at Sunny, knowing that, once again, the dandyu had outmaneuvered her.

 

"Where are my clothes anyway?"

 

"The laundry."

 

"All of them?!"

 

Here, Sunny had the decency to look embarassed, "Sorry Tiffany, but the closet was open while I was opening a can of Coke this afternoon. I guess the can was shaken up, so when I opened it, it sprayed all over your clothes."

 

"ALL OVER MY CLOTHES!" cried the black haired girl in alarm, horrified at the dark stains on her pink garments.

 

"That's why I'm doing a batch now, and when I get back from my date I'll finish the rest, I promise!"

 

Tiffany looked up as if imploring the heavens to tell her 'Why? Why meeeee???' .

 

Sunny merely snorted. "Stop being so melodramatic! Get a move on or you'll be late."

 

Tiffany glared at the shortie. "Hey! I'm doing you a favor here! A favor!"

 

"Right-right, don't get your in a twist, geez! Lemme go get your shoes." Sunny-bunny scampered away before Dragon-Fany appeared.

 

Tiffany groaned inwardly as she eyed the skimpy dress. It was gonna be a long night.

 

*** 

 

Rich, creamy liquid slid over the heel of the spoon to its tip that Tiffany carefully touched to the wall of the glass. The light brown liquid covered the clear burnt brown of the butterscotch schnapps that she had poured first into the shot glass. She finished off by adding a rosy drop of grenadine at the middle.

 

The Buttery , including a few other colorful cocktails with fancy names, were whisked away by the waiter to a table of young women who seemed to be having a girl's night out. So far this was the most customers that they've had tonight. It was the middle of the work week, and aside from the regulars who drop in for a nightcap and then leave, the party of women seems to be the only customers who were out to have fun.

 

"Ah a woman really blooms in her twenties." Sighed the waiter while he ogled the pretty young things that were sitting down sipping cocktails while dressed to kill.

 

"Ugh, oppa can we reign in the cheesiness tonight."

 

"Hey! I'm a hot-blooded Korean male in my prime! This is the time to sow my wild oats!"

 

Grimacing, Tiffany turned away in disgust to polish the wineglasses at the bar.

 

"Whooo! Fresh meat! Hot damn that's a 10 out of 10!"

 

Tiffany glanced up with disinterest at the new customers, and felt like she had just been punched in the gut.

 

A gorgeous woman had just entered and strode across the room like she owned the place. She was petite but had an intimidating aura that stirred Tiffany's interest. She was in a short cocktail dress that showed a lot of thigh. Fany's eyes trailed down beautifully toned legs that ended in killer heels. She felt go dry. Her eyes were burning from not blinking, as she drank in the sight of soft hair that cascaded in lush waves over bare shoulders, framing a perfect oval face. Her eyes wide, the wineglass forgotten, Fany stared at the woman's sleepy eyes, flawless skin, and stubborn chin that held a haughty expression...and felt her heart flip when it flashed into a warm smile that made the woman's eyes glitter in genuine happiness.

 

Tiffany blinked when her line of sight was blocked by someone who suddenly stood up, and she realized that the customer had walked over to the table filled with women. She was receiving welcoming hugs from them. Tiffany realized that the woman had not entered alone, when she was suddenly flanked by two other beautiful women, who must have trailed her in.

 

Tiffany shook her head to clear the cobwebs as she reeled from the woman's effect on her. She, herself, was an attractive young woman who didn't lack for attention and she wasn't shy to indulge in fleeting companionships, which, in her case, wasn't in short supply. So Tiffany was stunned that someone, at first sight, could still affect her so strongly.

 

***

 

TBC

 

NOTE:

 

Hi, HyperA ! Sorry that I had to delete the duplicate chapter that you subscribed to, but it was an editing bug while I was still uploading the first chapter. Please subscribe to this one instead. Thank you for being the first one to subscribe...or at least, try to.