“You can let go now.”

Tiffany brought me up to her room waddling in the same embrace.

“You seem comfortable," she said.

I scoffed. “And how would you know that?” She pointed to my hands that had been grabbing on to hers. I let go.

“This is assault. You could go to jail for assault, you know.”

“You seem welcomed,” once again her slender finger pointed to me as I plopped on the edge of her bed, my spot for the second time. I stood and she laughed.

“Relax, neighbor. I’m just bored, I ain’t gonna chop you up for dinner, dessert sounds more plausible. You are certainly enjoying the attention too,” she said adding a wink.

The room was silent for a minute.

“Would you like to tell me what this is? We’re not exactly friends. Coming into your house and watching you…your—you suddenly took interest in a girl you know nothing of, that’s pretty strange. For all I know you could be some fugitive freak,” my voice cracked.

The girl looked entertained and I was totally missing the joke.

“And you’d be the masochist I’m kidnapping? That’s y,” Tiffany said and sat on the floor in front of me, tangling one leg over the other. “I’m Tiffany Hwang, I’m 18 and I’ve just moved in from sunny California. I have a father who is asleep below us, a sister who shows up on weekends and a brother who never shows up. Go on, enlighten me.”

Her hands were neatly folded over her legs and I almost laughed seeing how contradicting to her bluntness that was.

“I’m Taeyeon Kim; I told you I’m 19—”

She hummed in approval.

“My parents own an optical shop. I have a brother living somewhere else with his girlfriend and a little sister.”

She hummed again. “No girlfriend?”

“No. Would I be paying you visits at this ungodly hour?”

“?”

“…I’m sorry, what?”

“Are you a ? You’re cute and have no girlfriend, and your blush screams it’s not just now you don’t have one. Chill, I’m in your team,” she stared at me with no hint of awkwardness and not a sign of throwing the question to dissipate in the air. I only nodded.

“That’s a surprise. I mean, I thought—because you…you know. You just give off that impression,” I mumbled.

Tiffany threw her head back and turned into a laughing mess, soundlessly shaking in place, hands dangerously flailing and clapping included. “Should I be insulted? Oh, Taeyeon—

—I’m no Mary, no no,” her finger wiggled for emphasis. “I’m not as savage as you think, mind you, but a little fun doesn’t kill anyone. For instance, you’re here because—like I’ve told you—I was intrigued and I’m new. Wouldn’t you like to be my friend, Taeyeon?” Her eyelashes batted.

“So you make friends via shower shows and innuendos?” I straightened my back and rolled my tongue over my chapped lips. Tiffany also sat up and smiled. Not the rascal grin that coated me with uneasiness, but a simple curve and her hand was aimed towards me.

“Hey, it worked. You’re here and I’d say we’re making progress”, she giggled. “New home, new girl, new chapters in my book; I’m interested, Taeyeon. Let’s be friends, yes?”

Perhaps it was the difference in her smile that made me pause for a moment. New chapters in her book, she said. If I had such a book, it had been abandoned long ago, left to collect dust in a corner. I could be appointed as the epitome of “average”. No new friends, no love affairs because truthfully it seemed like a waste. The bigger waste, however, was that; I had no new chapters. Tiffany was something else. With just a few words I knew she was anything but average. Her hand gradually softened from the firm gesture she had when she offered it to me and I reckoned if I would not write for myself, I could write for this girl and this girl could—and most likely would—write for me. Maybe I was indeed enjoying the sinful attention, and I could allow myself to live with that in mind. I took her hand and smiled.

"Friends," I said.