? ✜ ?

I had barely stepped out of the warmth of the library when a flutter of goosebumps formed across my arms. Only an idiot would have continued forward and marched home in these chilly conditions without remembering they had left their jacket indoor. I cut through the side of the library and approached the small wooden furnishing I was sure my jacket would be waiting on. 

It wasn't there. 

I clicked my teeth in annoyance, figuring someone had stolen it. 

Trudging slowly towards the entrance, I was somewhat hesitant to push open those doors. I had to, eventually, and the strong gust of air was like a slap to the face to remind me how stupid I was for having forgotten my jacket. 

I hope that thief is toasty right now, I thought bitterly. Toasty burning in hell.

After confirming it was twenty-three minutes until four o'clock, I put my phone away so I could occupy my hands with my freezing arms. I felt somewhat pathetic walking through campus without a jacket, as students alone or in groups passed me in their thick attires. Some girls wore shorts to reveal their legs, but still, they had a jacket or sweater.

I had crossed my first street leading home when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I turned around to ogle at the redhead who was jogging towards me without even looking both ways to check for moving vehicles beforehand. It was after she planted her feet on the sidewalk she realized the danger she had put herself in, and jerked her head to check for cars. When she faced me again, we stared at each other for a few seconds before sharing a moment of laughter.

"A bit too late for that," I chuckled with an uncontrollable smile stretching my lips.

In her fingers, she clutched a piece of heaven and gave it to me. I briefly thanked her and slipped my jacket on. It was warm from her tight embrace on it and I felt my goosebumps begin to die down. She took the courtesy of holding my backpack while I was busy pulling the sleeves over my arms. As she handed me my bag back, I noticed Tiffany held an expectant expression on her.

"Thanks, once again," I said, not knowing what else she wanted to hear. "Get home safely." 

"Are you going this way home?" she interrogated. 

I laughed through my nose. It had been a while since I've walked home with someone to keep me company. "Do you walk home, Tiffany?" 

Since she's told me she's been wanting a friend and had cleared my misunderstanding, I was entirely open to be her friend. 

"Yeah!" she answered cheerily, a smile breaking out. 

What a strange girl, getting excited over something so trivial. It was kind of lame. Maybe cute, too. 

"Ah, but, I live over there." She pointed to the opposite direction, a little dejected. 

I shrugged. I wasn't disappointed, but I did feel a little sad to see her in dismay. We stood there in silence. It was quiet mainly because she didn't want to leave me but didn't know what to say, and I was debating on whether or not I wanted to take a piece of the time out of my day to walk Tiffany home. It was like the roaring of the wind was urging me on to walk her home to return the favor of her retrieving my jacket. Well, if I walked her home, the book snuggled in between the contents of my backpack will last me longer. I didn't have anything to lose. Except precious time. I had a thing about time. I didn't enjoy wasting it on anything that wouldn't benefit me. Even on my free time, I did things that would give me more knowledge without boring me too much. 

"I'll walk you," I breathed, grabbing her wrist and heading to the direction of her home. 

I would have seemed cool if I had continued to lead the way, but when we got to the end of the street, I wasn't sure if we were to cross it or turn the corner. Tiffany seemed very amused to see me in such a state. I dropped her wrist now that I no longer had a reason to hold onto it. I saw her eyes follow my hand as I tucked it into the pocket of my jacket. Her small smile twitched into a straight line and her eyebrows trembled just the slightest. Her hand unfolded and she held her wrist awkwardly. 

On the way to her house, she jumped from topic to topic. Tiffany told me about how bad some of her teachers were at teaching and how one of them expected their students to learn from simply watching examples being solved on the board. She drawled on about her old friends and the stupid things they had done together, and then we landed upon the subject matter of her exboyfriend. I listened intently and to compensate for my lack of words, I nodded my head every time she finished a point. Within twenty-eight minutes, I had learned more about Tiffany than I ever did about the classmates I've been surrounded by for months. 

"Does Mr. Hubbs even explain the assignments he gives out?" I asked out of mere curiosity. "Physics needs a lot of explaining. It can't be self-taught."

Tiffany gives me an amazed look, as if though appalled I had remembered the name of her science teacher she mentioned twenty minutes ago. That wasn't a lengthy amount of time, but after all the other information she's uttered, I had to agree that I also would be surprised if someone managed to remember. I just hadn't had a conversation like this with someone in such a while, so I was engrossed in what she had to say. She her lips, all the while clearing to answer me.

Once we arrived to a rather lovely neighborhood, she stretched her neck to look up at the already darkening sky. 

"Do you want my brother to drop you off home?" she offered, which I declined. 

"It's okay, I already plan on calling for a ride," I assured her. "Walking home would take an hour."

We stopped at a two story home, with a pricey looking car parked in front of the garage and some lawn decor scattered across the well mowed grass. As I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my jeans, Tiffany watches me.

"Do you want to go inside my house while you wait for your parents to pick you up?" 

A kind offer I couldn't turn down. I didn't see anything wrong with waiting under a sheltered roof than to stand outside for a while. Knowing my uncle, he would take his sweet time getting his off the sofa and picking me up. I didn't bother to correct Tiffany on the fact my parents were both in Seoul and I lived in a spacious apartment with the younger brother of my father. I texted my uncle the address while I trailed behind the scent of perfume the girl left behind as she climbed up the steps of her porch. 

Upon taking off my pair of sneakers, I had grown an inch shorter than Tiffany. She eyed my height with interest. 

"It suits you," she politely commented. 

"I guess," I agreed, not knowing how to respond to such a statement.

Even though we were inside her own home, she looked a little lost shutting the front door behind her. I detected a hint of shyness in her voice when she told me to go sit on the sofa. I found my way to her living room and settled myself onto the couch. I tried not to let my gaze wander around her home, as I didn't want to be too intrusive. She had invited me inside to wait, not to get comfortable. Although, this couch was quite comfy. I sunk my body into the large pillows and kept myself entertained by going through some games on my phone. 

I was more than shocked when Tiffany came into the room with a plate of snacks and a hefty mug. She set it down on the coffee table several feet away from the couch I was basically making myself home in. I could see that the mug was b with a dark brown liquid, which I guessed to be hot chocolate.

"Do you do this to every person that enters your house?" I asked, a little dumbfounded.

I was not used to this sort of treatment. However, I wasn't going to refuse this generous act of hers because of that. Tiffany responded with a timid giggle as I didn't waste any time to dig in on the snacks. I wouldn't have been so surprised if they were packaged foods she took a few minutes to grab from her pantry, but these were actual homemade pastries. I assumed they were homemade, for the brownies were warm and the sandwich had melted cheese seeping from the bread. 

I could barely maintain my deep voice as I thanked her over and over. I was smiling so hard, even I was aware of my cheeks growing a little sore. It felt like forever since I've been this delighted because of another person. I barely had to chomp down on the airy brownie as small bits of chocolate chip oozed in my mouth. 

"My mom and I baked that on Tuesday," the chef announced and grabbed one for herself. "I threw them into the oven to heat up, so I hope it tastes alright, since it isn't fresh." 

My head shook on its own and I fit another bite of the brownie into my mouth. I hadn't even properly swallowed the first portion so my mouth was a gooey mess. Still, I parted my sticky lips to say, "This is the freshest thing I've had since I moved here." 

Her eyes were stuck to my lips like the gummy, brown cakey bits stuck to the roof of my mouth. I wasn't concerened by all her staring, but I still noticed whenever Tiffany did. I was always an intimate person who enjoyed eye contact, and she was the one of the few people that weren't self conscious enough to look away after it gets too intense for them. She didn't have anything involving her appearance to be uncertain about anyways. Tiffany's complexion was clear and her eyes bore back at you like a vulnerable puppy's. But the winged eye liner ruined her cute image and it was then that I saw a mature woman with dark lipstick blotted on her lips. Her personality didn't abide with her false appearance at all. 

"You'd do well without make up," I noted.

A scoff escaped her and I saw a trace of iness in her expression. "Rather than to kiss up to me, you can pay me back for the food by taking me out somewhere tomorrow." 

I riveted the last piece of brownie I had left and crumbled it between my fingers. Interesting. 

"You must be used to empty compliments, and stating that you would be fine without make up seems to be on the top of your list," I pondered aloud, cleaning the fudge off my fingers with my tongue.

Satisfaction filled me when I saw I had struck gold from my digging. Her tense expression softenened. 

"You're good at reading people," she confessed, proving that I was correct with my bold assumption.

I told her of a person I used to know that was popular and well known around a school I had once attended. However, popularity didn't necessarily mean that the person had real friends. I witnessed the admiration diposed to her and the overworked smile she gave in return. They steadily grew more stale and meaningless. Both her smiles and the compliments given.

"That, and," I reached over for a sandwich, "you're easy to read."

♀ ❖ ♀

His brows cocked upwards and a presumptuous smirk allowed the blush from earlier to reappear on my cheeks. People often told me I blushed easily, and after being told so many times, I learned to tell when I was. Apparently, my cheeks weren't enough to contain the rush of blood because I could literally feel the heated liquid crawl up to my ears. I dipped my head and pretended to be absorbed in the act of tearing my food apart. I heard Taeyeon chuckle. 

"But really," he began in that calm tone of his, "you're like an open book." 

"Maybe only to you because you sure enjoy reading," I retorted. 

Immediately after we nibbled the last of the snacks, he helped me wash the dishes without my consent. I found it kind of adorable the way he treated my house distinctively when he first walked in, and now he stood before my sink comfortably with the soapy plates in his care. I could tell he had done chores before, quickly sweeping the sponge across the surface of the China and wasting no time to dunk it under the water. I was impressed when I saw not only suds form in the sink, but also steam. What tolerance to hot water. 

He asked for the mug in the midst of his cleaning, so I went back to the living room to retrieve the cup. There was still some hot chocolate left over. I normally didn't care for excess food and drinks being wasted, but something else held me back from immediately grabbing it and delivering it to its rightful place as soon as possible so I wouldn't leave Taeyeon waiting. 

He drank from this. The words caressed my mind.

I could spot the brown stain of liquid left on the side of the cup, where he had touched his lips on. The idea of an indirect kiss with Taeyeon seemed foreign. 

Ultimately, I surrendered the mug to him with the contents inside undisturbed. He downed the still luke warm beverage and got to washing it. I was entranced by his smooth fingers working every corner of the mug and was broken out of it when a melody rang throughout the kitchen. Taeyeon sat the cup down, flicked the hot water handle off, and barely dried his hands on his jacket to fish his phone out of his pocket. The upbeat bass and female chorus came to an end when he answered, spoke some Korean, and shoved the device back into his jeans. Up until now, I never even noticed that he still had his bag hugging his back, so without having a reason to stay around for any longer, he thanked me for letting him into my house and uttered a goodbye as he proceeded to exit the kitchen and through the front door.

It felt abrupt as the doorknob clicked shut and the last images of him I could capture was from what I could see through the window. Taeyeon treaded on my pathway, although it would have been faster to reach the green sports car waiting for him by cutting through my lawn. Before getting into the car, he looked back at my house and met my gaze through the panel of glass. He gestured a good bye and then slammed the car door behind him. When the vehicle drove out of view, I went upstairs to my bedroom. 

That night, Taeyeon invaded my dreams. 

anyways i just wanted to say before going on with this story: thanks subswaggers. i actually didnt think i'd get back to writing ff and taking it seriously, but i got bored one day and after uploading a chapter, you guys sure inspired me to continue. lol each and every one of you guys are cool wow that sounds ing cheesy and corny and typical of a publisher to say but really idk any other way to phrase this. without yuo guysz i'd prob still be watching anime for every second of my life ok thanks im out btw hi ellie i hope ure reading this woop

oh yeah ok i dont wanna sound mindblowingly cheesy but whoa comments are gr8 subscribers i wanna see u guys' cute little responses being all hyper and like ign damn. i wanna view u guys as more of friends with things to say than silent strangers reading my work. say anything i just wanna be friends with you. it's cool to know who's reading my stuff. how was your day. what part did you like in the story? wanna criticize my writing? GO FOR IT. WHAT'D YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST THOUGH. i had oatmeal.