PART V

"What's it like, living forever?", I had long ago acknowledged the fact that around Tiffany, my thoughts were not my own and so it was better to give voice to them, than to even try to hide them. "Is it hard?"

"Hard?" Tiffany bowed her head and blinked, her eyelashes fluttering gently. "Why would it be hard?"

"I don't know, I just think about outliving all of my," I swallowed. "Friends... and loved ones..."

The former, I had come to terms with, I had scant few, and the latter, none at all. None living anyway.

"I..." Tiffany for the first time, seemed nervous, uncertain. It was something different. Something human. "My kind... cannot love."

"What?!" What was meant to be an exclamation of shock came out as a bare croak.

"I cannot feel love, only..." She swallowed. "Only hunger."

"Hunger?"

Her eyes raised to meet mine again, dark and lustful.

"Hunger." It rolled off Tiffany's tongue somewhere between a purr and a hiss, the "r" sound rolling slightly as she said it. Then, Tiffany blinked again, and those soft chocolate eyes returned and with a sigh, I released the breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Don't think I don't understand what you're asking, my Yuri." Tiffany continued. "I read people. I read the deepest desire, the secret es and I grant them, I become them."

Swallowing, I turned my head away, only to feel Tiffany's hand gently my arm.

"But for you, Yuri, I cannot give you what you seek. You understand now right?"

I should have nodded. But I didn't. 

Tiffany sighed. "Don't think this isn't strange to me either Yuri. I have never dealt with this kind of situation before. I can change who I am to be whoever my target wants me to be. This is my first time being unable to be what you desire. That's why I stay; because I don't know what else I can do."

"Not because you want to." A statement, not a question.

"I want to."

"Why?"

"Because even though I cannot be someone you love, and give love in return, if I were capable of that emotion, I think I would love you."

- - -

It was many hours later and a nap later before we resumed our plans before Tiffany's imposter interrupted us. I still felt awkward and a little embarassed that my need for love was so clearly read. I tried to hide how it affected me as best as I could, but I still slipped from time to time and each time, Tiffany would pause and glance at me, each time as sorrowful as the last.

Finally I decided it was enough. I was not going to die living my last moments filled with miserable looks and awkward silences.

"Let's go." I said, with an energy I didn't feel.

Tiffany frowned. "Go? Go where."

"Out. Let's go on a date. You said we could do everything."

In a rare moment, Tiffany's eyes disappeared, her full lips curving upwards and her head tilting to the side, all combining in such an adorable manner that I almost felt like petting her, as I would a kitten. The next seconds, Tiffany's arms were thrown around me, holding me tight. There was a brief pang in my heart, knowing that the embrace could never be what I wanted it to be, but the loosening of Tiffany's grip was a harsh reminder that reality had to be accepted as it was, sometimes. So, I swallowed my heart that had risen to my throat and held her tighter, burying my head in the crook of her neck, where it became shoulder and inhaled the scent of her soft skin and lucious hair.

She was just so beautiful.

Soft lips pressed against my cheek, then my forehead and as I closed my eyes, they trailed down to my nose, then the corner of my life. My head instinctively jerked, not away from those lips, but rather to close the gaps between mine and hers. But Tiffany pulled away, then went lower still, her nose tracing a trail down my neck, her lips unmoving as the glided over my skin. 

Fire spread through my body from wherever soft velvet met trembling surface and I could feel my legs weakening beneath me. A choked groan left my mouth before I knew it and Tiffany froze before she leapt away from me.

"Oh my god, Yuri are you okay?" 

I was more than ok. I felt alive. Unfortunately without Tiffany to support me, my legs turned to jelly and I collapsed to the floor.

"Yuri!" Tiffany almost sounded like she was sobbing. "I'm so sorry! I got caught in the moment and I was just so hungry  and you were so close and I couldn't help myself and-"

Words flew from but the rest, I didn't hear. My ears felt like they had cotten wool stuck in them and my eyes were only staring at her red lips as they moved. It was all too much and there was only so much a girl could take before she just simply had to take action. 

There was a moments hesitation as she stared at me, now silent but her eyes so soft and vulnerable, yet filled with sorrow. It briefly occured to me that we had never actually taken that particular step before. We had gotten close, but not quite there. 

I was going to die anyway, right?

So I kissed her. I kissed Tiffany. Not the chaste pecks on the cheek or the affectionate ones on the nose. Not the teasing gliding of lips against the corner of a mouth. I kissed her full on the lips and before I even realized what was happening, my tongue was gliding into . Briefly, I noticed that Tiffany made no effort to kiss me back, rather she let me do as I wished, letting me release all the desire that had built up inside of me, since the moment we met.

Finally, I pulled back. At a glance, her lips seemed slightly fuller; swollen because of my hard kisses. 

"Well," Tiffany breathed. "That was interesting. Did you enjoy it?"

She touched her lips gently and when she raised her finger, there was a drop of blood on it.

"You bite." She observed.

I honestly didn't remember biting her at all, but then again, I didn't remember much after my lips pressed against hers. 

"I'm sorry." I said, my words dripping with shame.

"No, it's okay." She replied. "You needed it, I could tell and even for my kind, I'm a bit of a tease."

She raised a hand, stopping my reply.

"But, you shouldn't do that again." She finished.

"Oh."

"At least..." Tiffany winked, "Not until you take me on that date."

Date. Right.

"Umm..."

A finger pressed against my lips, once again silencing me.

"Don't think too hard. If you had a single thing that you loved doing and if your body could do anything you wanted, just for one day, what would you do?"

My face flushed at her choice of words and quickly tried to hide my thoughts, knowing perfectly well that it was far too late. I shyly glanced at Tiffany as a grin lit up her face.

"Besides me."

I took a moment to think, but then I just knew and I hadn't a clue why it hadn't come to me instantly.

"Dancing." 

"You can dance?"

"I could dance."

"What do you mean 'could'? Either you can or you can't."

"I... I don't know if I can anymore."

"Oh."

Tiffany looked at me thoughtfully then frowned.

"What?" I asked.

She blushed as she turned away from me, muttering something unintelligable. 

"I didn't catch that."

"I don't know how to dance." 

"Do you not dance?"

"Sooyeon always tried to get me to go out dancing with her but I... didn't want to."

"Sooyeon? You mean fake you?"

"She looks different back home."

"Is she a back home too?"

I said it with as much jest as I could, but inside I was deeply upset that she would pose as Tiffany like that. 

"That's my sister, Yuri." 

"Sooyeon is your sister?" 

"A very dear one. I owe her a lot."

"You do?"

Tiffany nodded. "She saved my life. I'd die for her."

"Do you... love her?"

"I can't."

"Why can't you love? Are you just, incapable of feeling it or something?"

"I..." Tiffany scratched her head. "Actually I don't know. I know it's forbidden and that I've never felt love before."

There was a tinge of regret in her words, or at least I thought there was. I could feel Tiffany's eyes studying me as I mulled over her words. Finally, I simply held out my arms and she flew into them, returning the embrace.

"I'll teach you how to dance, Tiffany."

And then, maybe I can teach you how to love.