Tiffany's POV

"Siwon?" I said in complete and utter shock. I was taken aback by his presence. Siwon glared at me with a caustic tinge in his eyes. The emotions of repressed hatred and animosity between us were bubbling up to the surface. The air felt tense between all of us.

"Don't wear out my name Tiffany. It loses its touch when you flap my name around like that." He sneered.

I huffed at his arrogance. "What are you doing here?" I calmly asked, trying not to start a fight.

"I can be here if I want to be. Is there a rule here that I'm not allowed to be here?" He challenged.

"I think she means, what are you doing around her?" Taeyeon ferociously jeered at him. I looked at her in surprise.

"Taeyeon, you don't hav-"

"Didn't she tell you to leave her alone?" She interjected, disregarding my comment.

"It's not my fault that we just magically see other out of nowhere." Siwon rudely stated. "And by the way, who the are you getting into our business?

The petite girl smirked. "She has no business with you anymore since you guys aren't dating you stupid prick."

Sunny rushed up to the brunette-blonde haired girl and pulled her back. "Taeyeon," she whispered softly, audible enough for all of us to hear. "Calm down, this isn't your fight."

I watched her struggle in the short girl's grasp as she shouted, "Calm down? Sunny, did you know that this right here used to be Tiffany's boyfriend? The one that broke her heart? The one that almost assaul-"

"Taeyeon!" I hollered. "Please, don't." I dreaded at the reaction of the others if she completed her thought. She gave me a disapproving look, but her eyes filled with understanding after realizing my desperate request.

Sunny stared at Siwon in shock, still gripping tightly onto Taeyeon's shoulders. "You're the boyfriend that Tiffany mentioned?" The teddy bear kid questioned.

"Ex-boyfriend Sunny." The petite girl added. "They aren't dating anymore, thank god."

Sunny surveyed the glances and glimpses of Wooyoung, Siwon, Taeyeon, and me. "There's something I'm not getting at here..." She pondered at the unusual situation.

"Just forget about it Sunny. It's not important right now." Taeyeon angrily sighed, calming herself down in the short girl's clutch. "What's important right now is to get this douchebag out of our sight."

"What the hell?" He sneered. "You dumb . What right to do have to talk to me like that?"

Taeyeon huffed, disgusted at Siwon. "After what you did to Tiffany I think I have every right to address you the way I want."

"Taeyeon!" I yelled at her again, my tone filled with urgency. I walked to her and reached for her hand in attempt to alleviate her fiery rage against my ex-boyfriend. Shocked at my sudden contact, she looked over to me with sunken and sullen eyes. "Please, don't." I muttered as I felt my heart drop at the sight of her somber state. "Sunny is right. This isn't your battle. It's Siwon's and mine. Please don't get involved with it any longer. This has nothing to do with you, Sunny, Wooyoung, or anyone else. I don't want you to get hurt anymore because of me."

"You think that you're hurting me Tiffany?" The caramel haired girl bantered as she abruptly flung her hand out my own, causing me to step back. Taeyeon violently shook herself out of Sunny's grip, forcing the short girl to release her.

"If you keep involving yourself into problems that you don't need to be involved in, then it's possible I can afflict some damage on to you." I sadly said as I looked over to Taeyeon, stunned by her behavior. "Please Taeng, just leave my problems to me."

"Why do you have to always solve problems on your own? Why can't I help? We're friends aren't we?" She stuttered, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. It hurt me to see her fighting through her tears.

"There are just problems that you can't solve okay? I can't rely on my friends all the time. There are some issues that I need to face on my own or else I won't grow as a person!" I retorted, my tone starting to shake.

"That still doesn't change the fact that I feel this way!" Taeyeon cried out, tears trailing down her face.

Why was she crying for me? For me of all people! She didn't need to, but why is she? I started to feel the agony from the petite girl transferring into my own upset feelings. 

"It pains me to see you like this," she stated, "especially when the source of your troubles is standing there right in front of you!"

"Like I said before Taeyeon, this isn't your fight. I thank you for sticking up for me, but I need to do this on my own." I declared.

The brunette-blonde haired girl ceased her tears and gazed into my eyes. I flinched at her malicious stare. "Forget it." She wistfully chuckled. "You don't need my help right? You're all good? You don't need me."

I walked closer to Taeyeon, my arms open to pull her into an embrace. "You know that's not what I mean."

She forcefully pushed my hands away and started to walk out of the bowling area. "Whatever." She said bitterly. I felt extremely hurt from her sudden cold-like behavior.

"Where are you going?" I asked, worried for her.

"Doesn't matter where I go. You don't need me. You have yourself." Taeyeon sarcastically stated. "That's all you need to get you through life right? Who needs friends that will always be here for you, when you have yourself who can't even stand up and face her own problems?"

"Taeyeon..." I said weakly.

"You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk Tiffany? Taeyeon challenged. I tried to counteract her attack, but I was left speechless.

"Taeyeon," Sunny said intently. "Stop this. You're speaking non-sense. This is your friend you're talking about here. Do you don't even know what you're saying right now? You’re not thinking straight right now. You're caught up in your own anger and that's clouding up your judgment."

"I agree with Sunny," Wooyoung nodded. "Taeyeon, Tiffany needs you as much as much as you need her. What she needs is for you to be here for her and support her, not fight her battles. Yes, you are her friend, but you can only do so much. It's not like you're her girlfriend."

The word 'girlfriend' sent chills down my spine. Taeyeon? My girlfriend? Wait? Why am I thinking about her like that at a time like this? Stop this Tiffany! She's just your friend. But still, that doesn't change that I feel for more than just a... I didn't dare to finish that thought, because if I did then I wouldn't know how to handle my feelings.

"Whatever." She sighed, which broke me out of my trance. She clenched her fists tightly and looked over to me with resentful eyes. "Looks like you don't need me, so I guess I'll be on my way then."

"Taeyeon!" I shouted while my body froze where I stood as I watched her leave. I stood in shock as pool of tears collected in the curves of my eyelids. Somewhere in my heart, I felt the need to chase after Taeyeon. I couldn't face her like this though. Not here, not now.

"Who was that Tiffany? She sure had an awful lot to say about you." Siwon cunningly sneered.

"Not now Siwon. I'm not in the mood." I sternly said.

He laughed. "Is she your girlfriend? Is that why you broke up with me?"

"Siwon," Wooyoung placed his hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down. "Just stop. You look like a huge douchebag right now talking to these girls like that. Don't you have any respect for them?

Siwon laughed in disbelief. "What respect? They don't treat me with respect, so what makes you think that I'll do that to them?"

"Well," the raven-haired kid commenced. "It seems like you guys have some unresolved issues between you both. However, I feel like she's willing to put the past behind her for now since she's trying to talk to you and work things out."

Siwon looked at his friend in confusion. "Work what things out? Who's side are you on?"

"There are no sides Siwon." Wooyoung declared. "Just make up with your ex, accept the fact that she dumped you, and move on with your life. I'm tired of you always talking about her and her friends."

"I'm tired of listening to Wooyoung telling me things about what you have said about them too."  Sunny added. "Geez, Siwon, you have a lot of unresolved issues. I didn't know that you and Tiffany used to date, but I do know a bunch of bullcrap that you spout from that mouth of yours."

"I..." My ex-boyfriend muttered.

"What you need is a bar of soap to wipe that dirty mouth clean." The teddy bear kid shivered at the thought. I lightly chuckled at Sunny's comment. "You also might want to take discipline for dummies because you have 'douchebag' written all over you, and we all know that like you don't have any self-control whatsoever."

I looked at Sunny and Wooyoung in complete amusement. They were standing up for Taeyeon and me. I couldn't believe their actions. My heart warmed up at their consideration towards us.

Siwon scoffed as he proceeded to leave I immediately grabbed his wrist, forcing him to stay where he was. He turned his head and shouted, "Tiffany! What the are you doing?"

"We need to talk." I looked at Siwon with a serious expression. "I want to solve whatever is going on between us, now. I'm tired with this bull."

"You're not the boss of me Tiffany." Siwon rebelled.

"Siwon, please stop this. We need to get our together. I don't want to do this as much as you do, but we need to talk. Just do this for us, for one last time that we'll be together. Please." I begged.

After a few minutes of deliberating, he looked over to me and complied, "You're right. Let's talk."

I nodded in determination. "Yeah, let's go." Before I left, my turned to look at Wooyoung and Sunny and asked "Can you go check up on Taeyeon for me please?"

"Yeah, we'll do that." Sunny warmly smiled.

"Yeah, we'll see you guys later. Good luck." Wooyoung happily grinned as he parted away from us with the teddy bear kid to find Taeyeon.

"I hope she'll be okay." I said with worry in my voice.

"She'll be fine Tiffany. She strong, just like you." Siwon responded sincerely as we sat down on the seats near the bowling balls.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. "You think so?"

He chuckled. "I know so. She was the only person besides you to have had the balls to stand up to me like that. Hmm, she's a good friend I can tell you that."

"Why couldn't you have been this nice before? Why were you so mean to her?" I punched him on the arm.

"Ow," he tensed up. "Geez, I'm sorry. I was being a and I lost my cool. I still think that she shouldn't have butted in into our business."

"That's my fault." I apologized. "I told her about it because I trust her.”

"It's okay. Wooyoung's my go-to-guy too."

I looked over to him with sympathetic eyes. "Well now we lost both of them and we don't anyone to trust but each other and ourselves." I sadly laughed.

"Yeah." He glumly replied.

"Well," I started. "Let's talk?"

Siwon nodded in response, reciprocating my gaze. "Yeah. Let's solve this, finally put the past behind us, and go our separate ways."

"Yeah." My smile was bittersweet. "I'd like that very much."

Taeyeon's POV

It didn't matter where I was going as long as it was far away from where I was previously. I wasn't needed to help anyone, especially my best friend Tiffany.

Was I not good enough? Were my efforts wasted? I was just trying to be a friend. I tore my self-esteem down. More negative thoughts rushed through my head as I made my way home. I had no idea where I was, but eventually I would find my place.

As I walked home, I heard voices in the distance. I disregarded them and continued my path. The noises got unexpectedly louder, which caused me to turn around to see who was testing my patience. I was surprised to see that the voices belonged to a teddy-bear danshin sitting in the passenger seat and my detention partner driving in a black vehicle.

"Get in Taeyeon." Sunny gently ordered. "It's not safe for you to be walking home."

"I'm fine." I countered.

"Taeyeon," Wooyoung shouted. "Stop being stubborn and get in the god damn car."

The short girl got out vehicle and opened the other passenger door for me. I rolled my eyes at her kindness. "Please, Taeyeon." She begged. "Just get in. I don't want you to get hurt even more and besides, walking home is a pain." Reluctantly, I stepped into the car. After hearing the door slam, I put on my seat belt and watched Sunny situate herself into her seat.

"You're all good?" The raven-haired kid asked me.

I nodded my head and proceeded to look out the window, trying not to engage in conversation between the duo. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy.

"You know how long it took to find you?" Wooyoung stated. "We thought you were long gone, but thank god you weren't."

"Why does it matter?" I annoyingly huffed. "No one worries about me anyway. No one even gives a damn about me. They don't care. Not even Tiffany."

Sunny mockingly laughed. "You have got to be kidding me. No one worries about you Taeyeon? You think nobody cares about you? Well what does that make us huh? We searched everywhere for you! If that's not friendship then I don't what is."

"Even Tiffany, even though you blew up on her, is worried about you." Wooyoung added. "When you left, I could see heartache emitting from her eyes."

"She really does care for you Taeyeon. Trust me I know that she does." Sunny looked over to the raven-haired kid crestfallen.

"Then why didn't she come look for me?" I said, my voice faltering. "Why did she leave me to you two?"

"Because that's what friends do. They look out for each other." Wooyoung said.

"Tiffany told us to find you, and on our own volition we did as we were told." The teddy bear-like girl included. "If you're wondering why well let me answer that for you."

"What is it then?" I stuttered, my tone desperate. "Tell me, why did you do it?"

"Because we're friends Taeyeon." The duo happily declared.

"Friends will do anything to help their buddies out in times of need." The raven-haired kid smiled.

"Then why couldn't I help Tiffany? Why does she have to this on her own?" I questioned.

Sunny sighed. "I think it's wonderful that you want to be there for Tiffany, but you have to understand that there are some issues that you can't deal with."

"Sunny's right Taeyeon." Wooyoung nodded. "As friends, we have every right to listen to each other and to provide comfort, guidance, and advice to solve our own personal problems."

"However, after listening to what your friends have to say, in the end you alone make the decision to solve them." Sunny added.

I exhaled disappointment, but as I calmed down my brain started to comprehend the situation. "Then what should I do guys?" My words stumbled through my tears.

"If I were you, I'd talk to Tiffany and get things clarified between you two." Sunny suggested. "Communication is important in any relationship. It'll make the bond stronger."

"If you talk to her, things won't go back to normal. But, things will get better with Tiffany and you both will understand each other more." Wooyoung smiled.

Tears started to accumulate in my eyes in realization of my past words and actions. I sat in the seat reflecting on the damage I caused to my friendship with the brunette girl. "I'm so sorry Sunny and Wooyoung." I slowly cried out.

"It's okay Taeyeon." The duo said. "We forgive you, but who need to say you’re sorry to is Tiffany."

I nodded my head in agreement. "I know. God, I'm so stupid. I can't believe that said those things to her. I was just caught up in the moment and I wasn't thinking straight..."

"It's understandable. Trust us; we've been in your position." Sunny bitterly smirked.

“I just want to fix things with her. I can’t continue feeling so horrible. I can’t. How am I going to face her tomorrow or this week? I can’t…”

“Taeyeon!” The puppy-eyed boy shouted. “Calm down.  Look, both of you just need some space right now. You both need to time to reflect on your actions before you start talking to each other.”

“You’re right.” I agreed. “It’s going to be so awkward between us though.”

“Either way you approach it, it’s going to uncomfortable for both of you. But, if you really love each other and want to keep your friendship alive then you can get through it.” The short girl warmly smiled at me.

I smiled at her back. “Thank you guys. Without you both, I don’t know what I would do.”

Wooyoung and Sunny lightly chuckled at me. “You’re welcome Taeyeon.”

“It’s crazy that you both say things simultaneously…” I said astonished.

“It’s a habit.” They said together. We all shared a relaxing laugh that eased the tension in the air. As the laughter dissipated, the car was filled with a comfortable silence. The calming atmosphere helped me think about my actions and what I was going to say to Tiffany.

“Hey Taeyeon?” Wooyoung asked, breaking the silence and snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Where do you live?” Sunny finished.

“Oh! Over here.” I pointed. “Just take this turn and there will be my house.”

As we arrived at my house, Wooyoung pulled into the driveway and parked his car. “Well,” he said turning around to face me. “We’re here. Home sweet home.”

“Thank you for driving me home.” I said as I got of the car.

“No problem Taeng.” Sunny happily grinned.

The raven-haired kid laughed at the shorty as he playfully pushed her on the shoulder. “I’m the one driving you little dingbat. She should be thanking me.”

“Aww! Hoot Hoot!” The teddy bear kid lightly punched him back. “Come on. You don’t have to be like that. Without me, you wouldn’t have found her.”

“I would have found her easily without you.” He ruffled her hair.

“Really now?” She challenged.

“Yeah, I really think I could’ve.”

“You could have probably recognized her by her huh? You guys are working together in detention and all in the softball fields. There must be a lot of squatting if you know what I’m saying…” The teasing twerp laughed.

“Sunny!” Wooyoung yelled, his tone flustered at the teddy bear kid's comment. 

“You must get that rear view at the wide receiver eh?” She teased.

I looked over to Wooyoung; his face a bright crimson red. “First of all that’s a football term. Second of all, Sunny, stop that!” He looked over to me and shouted, “That’s not true Taeyeon. So not true. This little choding is being a jerk that’s all. I would have totally recognized you because it’s you… Not your rear end… Uh… Damn it.”

Sunny chuckled as she slapped the raven-haired kid on the back. “Oh man! This is too funny!”

The teasing danshin was right. I couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

“Guys! Sunny! Taeyeon! It’s not funny.” Wooyoung pouted. "You guys are jerks."

“You know I’m just teasing bro.” The teddy bear kid ceased her laughter. She wiped a tear from her eye. I proceeded to do the same for my own eye.

“Whatever.” He sulked as he looked at his watch. “We need to go Sunny. Your mom is going to get mad if you’re late.”

“Okay.” The shorty said. “Taeng, take care okay? Get everything cleared up with Tiffany too. We’re here for you if you need us.”  She looked over to me and flashed me a reassuring smile.

"Fighting!" The duo cheered.

“Fighting!” I thankfully smiled back. “See you Monday!”

“Bye!” They both waved as they pulled out of my driveway, heading back to their homes.

I walked into my house, greeted my parents, and walked into my room. I flopped onto my bed and stared at the patterns on my ceiling. Somehow forming little figures on my wall was calming, therapeutic even, and it helped me to prioritize my thoughts and think clearly. As my mind cleared up, a particular brunette girl clouded and preoccupied my thoughts.

I suddenly remembered Tiffany. I needed to talk with her and figure things out. A long, exaggerated grown escaped my lips as I tossed and turned in my bed, ruffling up the sheets. I closed my eyes and felt my heart starting to dance against my chest at the thought of the athletic girl.  “Why does my body act this way every time I’m with her? When I think of her? When I flirted, I guess it was flirting. I was just being playful though. That was a bit more than childish playing though... Ah! Why? Why am I feeling this way? What is this between us?” I questioned. I attempted to shrug the foreign feeling off as I let my mattress mold to the shape of my body.

“I need to talk with her soon… ” I muttered as my body drifted into a relaxing slumber. As I slept, the inner workings of my subconscious mind was mentally preparing me for the pivotal event that will test my sanity and most importantly...

My friendship and my feelings for Tiffany.