Tiffany’s POV

I drove along the road with Taeyeon sitting in the passenger seat. I couldn’t believe that I made her ditch school with me. I’m not the type of person to dismiss my education, in fact, I advocate it. However, that tiny incident I had with Siwon today in the English room affected me tremendously that I had to leave.

I knew that I wasn’t entirely over that distasteful event between him and me. I thought I prepared myself enough for any moment that I had to deal with his , but when I was given the chance to stand up for myself I broke down. The thought of him violently pinning me to the ground, inappropriately touching me, almost to the point of ual assault flashed before my eyes. I was afraid of what Siwon is capable of. I don’t want any other girl to suffer what I had to endure.

Since I couldn’t handle my emotions, I knew had to withdraw myself from the school for a while for the sake of my sanity, and void my mind of any negative thoughts.

The car was unusually quiet. It was a silence that I was uncomfortable with. I knew that Taeyeon would be talking right now to fill up the awkwardness, but she stayed silent. "Why is she so quiet? She would start running at times like these…"

I glanced over to look at the petite girl to see if she was okay. Her body molded into the seat while she crossed her arms around her waist. The brunette-blonde girl was resting her head against the car window and was breathing heavily to herself. “Taeyeon." I whispered quietly, using one arm to gently shake her. “Are you sleeping?"

She tussled and turned in the seat, messing up her hair. “Yep, she’s sleeping." I chuckled at her and set my eyes back to the road. During the car ride I would sneak glimpses at the sleeping girl; my eyes exploring her cute, kid-like facial features. As my eyes wandered, I noticed a displaced strand of her caramel-colored hair dangling in front of her face. I raised my hand to gently capture her lock of hair between my fingertips and tucked it lightly behind her dainty ear. "She has ear piercings." I silently chuckled. "That's quite a lot Taeyeon. You never told me about the rebellious side of you."

I watched her move around in the passenger seat more, trying to settle into a comfortable position. After she settled in to her spot she let out a tiny snore. I let out a laugh. "She’s very beautiful when she’s so relaxed." I smiled as slowly pulled my hand away, letting the feeling linger. As I placed my hand back on the steering wheel I heard my heart roaring through my chest. I noticed that my heart was racing, but I didn’t know what for. I brushed the feeling off and looked back to the road, driving to our destination.

---

"Taeyeon, we’re here." I gently muttered to her as I shook her lightly to wake her up.

She slowly opened her eyes and moved her head around to take in her new surroundings. “Where are we?" she yawned while she outstretched her limbs and smacked around.

I smiled at her and presented the location we arrived in. “The park."

She brought her hands to her face to rub the morning dirt out of her sockets. After she finished cleaning up her face, her eyes widened at the sight of the park. almost dropped from her face as she continued to scan the view. "Wow…" she said in amazement. “This place is beautiful Tiffany."

I nodded at her and carefully maneuvered her out of my truck. As we got out of the car, I locked the doors and took her hand in mine. “Come on." I said. “Let’s go."

Taeyeon flashed a smile at me and willingly followed me into the park. I could feel my cheeks start to warm up at her smile and the contact we were sharing. As we ventured farther into the park I started to feel faint. I don’t know if it was from continuous running or if it was from slight physical contact with the petite girl. I’m just holding hands with her, why do I feel so light headed? Don’t friends hold hands with each other? That’s normal right?

As I immersed myself in thoughts, I felt Taeyeon let go of my hand. I turned around dismayed at her actions, but calmed down as she set her hand on her chest to regain her breathing. “Are you okay Taeyeon?" I respired with her to help steady her breaths.

"I’m good." she panted. “Can we sit down? I need to catch my breath."

"Yeah, sure." I chuckled as we walked towards the lake. We took a seat near the edge of the pristine pool of water. I started to feel the beads of sweat slowly travel down my body to cool me off. The crisp, cool wind attached the drops on my skin, leaving goosebumps. The sun’s rays helped the cooling process go by faster by evaporating them, leaving a glow around my body. I looked over to the caramel-haired girl and noticed she was in the same state that I was in, now relaxed. “You must feel a lot better now huh?" I sighed, turning my attention towards Taeyeon.

"Yeah, I do." she warmly smiled back. “Thank you Tiffany."

She turned her head to face me and sprawled her body on the soft grass. I laughed at her child-like actions and followed suit. We stared into each other’s eyes as a familiar atmosphere embraced us. I have to admit that these moments we shared released a plethora of stress out of me. I only hoped that Taeyeon felt the same way.

"So, do you have a boyfriend Taeyeon?" I felt inquisitive today. I wanted to get to know her more.

"Not anymore." she nonchalantly responded.

"What happened?" I turned my head to face her.

She scrunched her face up in disappointment. “He’s going into the army and we had to break it off because of it."

I frowned at her. “Aw, that’s a shame, but that’s life I guess."

"Yeah." she agreed. “Well I’m single now and I don’t even know if any guy wants to date me."

I raised my eyebrow at her. “I think anybody would be lucky to have you." I huffed, blushing at my comment.

She smiled at me. “Thanks Tiffany. You think so?"

My cheeks started to feel hot and my chest felt heavy. Why did she have to look at me that way? I wanted to tell her, 'Don’t look at me like that with your cute face', but that would have added to the awkwardness I felt. I looked away trying to hide my blushing cheeks. “Yeah, I do." I replied to her.

Taeyeon chuckled. “Then Tiffany, would you be lucky to have me?"

My ears couldn’t believe what I just heard. My face became entirely red and I’m pretty sure I could see my heart pulsating out of my chest. “E-excuse me?" I stuttered.

The brunette-blonde haired girl covered her hand with to conceal her intense laughter. I felt flustered. “Why are you laughing?" I shouted.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" she continued laughing. “Oh, that was priceless." Taeyeon wiped a tear from her eyes.

"Hey! You shouldn’t joke around with things like that. You can hurt someone’s feelings." I pestered her. "How dare you do that me, you little twerp?" She stuck her tongue out at me. "You're lucky that you're cute."

She gave me her trademark smirk and stuck her tongue out at me. “You’re so cute Tiffany." she said as she pinched my cheek.

"Ow! Taeyeon." I placed my hand on my cheek trying to soothe the pain out. I was flustered in frustration. Why did my heart beat like that when she asked me that question? Why did my face turn so red? Why did like holding hands with her? Why did… Ah! Ah, this girl…

The petite girl turned away from our gaze and looked up into the cloudless sky. Intrigued by her actions I copied her stance and asked, “What are you thinking about?"

"Stuff and such." she responded.

I laughed. “You got nothing up in that brain of yours?"

"Well," she said timidly, “there is something I want to ask you."

I sat up, crossed my legs together, and looked at her. “What do you want to ask me?"

"Who was that guy in the English room?" she questioned.

I mentally cringed at the memory. “What guy?" I played it off.

"Don’t act like nothing happened Tiffany." she stated bluntly. “I don’t know who that guy was, but he had no right to call you a ."

I was surprised at her statement. I could feel the air starting to become dense. “When it comes out from your mouth it doesn’t sound as bad." I lamely chuckled, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Tiffany, I’m serious." she gave me a stern look. I bit my tongue and looked back at her, letting her continue her speech.

"I don’t know why, but I got so angry when that was being rude to you. He had no right to toss your things everywhere and insult you while he was at it."  I could hear her breathing start to pick up and I could taste the rage leaving . "I wanted to punch him in the face. He just made me so god damn mad!" Taeyeon fiercely screamed as she ed her fist into the lake, creating enormous, violent splashes.

"Calm down Taeyeon. It’s over now. It won’t happen again. It’s okay now." I pleaded.

"It’s not okay!" she yelled back, now standing over me. “He made you cry. I hate it when my friends cry. Especially you. It doesn’t suit you."

"Taeyeon…" I weakly breathed as I slowly got up.

"Just who is he?" she snapped at me. “That douchebag better apologize to you or I’ll make him."

"His name is Siwon." I lowered my head down in shame. “He was my boyfriend." I looked over to Taeyeon. I could feel the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. She had a disgusted expression on her face. I couldn’t blame her for that.

"Even though you guys ended your relationship, shouldn’t he treat you with respect?" Taeyeon asked, her tone annoyed.

"I wish it were that easy." I quietly muttered, hoping that she wouldn’t hear.

"Why is that?" she questioned. “I heard that by the way Tiffany. Don’t hide things from me. I’m your friend, I’m here for you."

Tears escaped my eyes as I raised my voice at her. “We barely know each other Taeyeon! Do you expect me to open up to you and just trust you right away?"

I knew my words hurt her, but I spoke the truth. I could see the tears start to form in her eyes. Why was she crying? Siwon didn't do anything to her. I just spoke what was on my mind. I massaged my temples in attempt to relieve some stress. This was so frustrating.

"Tiffany!" she bellowed. I brought my eyes to stare into her dark brown ones. There was a different look in her eyes. It was loving and comforting, but filled with strong intent and purpose. I felt sympathy emitting from her. It sent chills down my spine and I could feel my heart starting to rapidly beat through my chest. “I don’t care if we don’t know each other very well. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was there for you when no one else was!" she proudly exclaimed.

I recalled the moments where I was at my lowest point. Where were my friends when I needed them? I was always there for them at their darkest moments. Why weren’t they there for me?

After the incident between Siwon and me I told my “closest friends" about what had happened. They laughed at me, I felt ridiculed. They didn’t believe me. They thought I was lying about it just to get attention. God, those es. It hurt me, and to add more fuel to the fire they spreaded rumors about how I was a “" and a “good-for-nothing " that seduced Siwon.

Everyone me, and just as I was about to hit the end of my rope, a saving grace shined upon me and saved me from despair.

The person that reached into my life to save me, comfort me, befriend me was none other than…

Taeyeon.

I looked over to Taeyeon and embraced her into my arms. She wrapped her arms around me and used her hands to rub my back in circular motion to comfort me, just like she did the first time we met. I expelled all of my tears unto her body as she released some sobs of her own.

After we ceased our crying, Taeyeon started to speak. “Do you feel better?"

"Yeah." I muttered, not pulling out of our embrace. “Thank you Taeyeon, for being by my side. Thank you for being here for me. Thank for being a great friend. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Please don’t leave me."

She pulled me in tighter. She didn’t need to say anything. Her actions spoke for her and I gladly accepted her response.

In this moment I knew that I could trust her.

I knew that if Taeyeon was by my side, I felt safe.

---

"We’re here." I sighed. “Home sweet home."

Taeyeon got out of the car and looked at me sadly with her sweet, milk chocolate eyes. “God, don’t look at me like that, you know that you have to go home." I turned away to hide my blush.

"I know Tiffany." she pouted. “I’m just going to miss you that’s all."

My heart pounded at her comment. “Well, uh… We’ll still see each other at school and other things I guess." I aloofly said.

"I know, but I’ll miss you for the time being." she smiled.

"Stop being cheesy and give me a hug." I rolled my eyes while I got out the car to welcome her embrace.

The petite girl crashed into my body and surrounded me with her arms. The hug lasted a bit longer than it should have. I started to feel a bit uncomfortable, but I liked it strangely enough. After a while, I started to suffocate in her grasp. I tapped her back to inform her that I couldn’t breathe, but she wouldn’t let go.

She finally let go of me and I took in a huge breath of air. After I exhaled I asked her, “Are you finally done?"

She nodded her head, followed by a large grin on her face. I closed my eyes and started to rub my temples. Then out of nowhere I felt a kiss on my check. I immediately opened my eyes only to see Taeyeon’s lips departing from my face. My heart started to beat fast against my chest and I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. “Hey!" I yelled at her, flustered and all. “What was that for?"

"You should be lucky." she smirked. “When I was dating my boyfriend, I didn’t even do that him."  I brought my hand up to my cheek and pretended to wipe off her kiss. “Hey! Stop that!" she shouted.

"Why?" I challenged. “So you can kiss me again? What did I say about things like that? You can hurt someone’s feelings!"

Taeyeon raised her hands up in mock defeat. “Fine. You win Tiffany. I won’t do it again."

I rubbed my temples in frustration. “I’m not saying that you should stop that, I’m saying that you should be careful to whom you do that stuff with. That kind of stuff is special you know?”

She nodded in agreement. “I know Tiffany, but I can't help it. You're are special to me."

Heat rushed to my cheeks. "You're an idiot you know that?" I said as I turned my head.

Taeyeon chuckled, "Consider it as a gift of officially becoming best friends." She gave me one more hug as she said, “Thank you for a great day." As I watched her safely walk into her house she turned around and yelled, “Oh! And if I get in trouble it’s your fault okay? You’re the one who wanted to ditch! I was forced to come along!"

"Just shut up and go to bed!" I yelled back, trying to sound angry. She left me with her trademark smirk and disappeared into her house. “You can’t get mad at this girl." I happily sighed.

I got into my car and drove home, reflecting on this eventful day. Although it was a bit stressful, one good thing came out of it. Even though I was selfish and stupid enough to make her ditch with me, it gave me the opportunity to finally solidify my friendship with Taeyeon and build a stronger bond with her.

However, I felt something deep in my gut. Somehow, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the status of our relationship. As much as I enjoyed her kindness, her friendship, and her caring nature, something in my heart wanted more than just that.

I touched my face and used my fingertips to caress the place that she kissed me. I couldn’t control my oncoming smile, my beating heart, and my shaky breaths. “She kissed me." I whispered. “And I liked it…"

A sudden realization came over me. All these emotions I felt became clear. All these questions I previously asked myself were all answered in a blink of an eye.

I finally understood why, but I couldn’t believe it.

I didn’t want to believe it.

"Oh god." I froze in the disbelief of my feelings. "I think I like Taeyeon."