(Tiffany’s POV)

“Sorry, I’m a little late everyone…” I announced the moment I got to the Jungs’.

“Ah, unni… I’m glad you’re here… I’m starving… let’s go!” Krystal greeted in a hurry.

“Sorry, sorry… I got caught up… Yes, Krystal, we can go now…” I apologized for my tardiness.

“Fany-ah, where on earth have you been?” Taeyeonie asked.

“Hmmm… Nothing important…”

(Flashback to just a few hours before…)

“Did we really have to meet so early in the morning?” Sooyoung asked, first thing when she arrived to meet me.

“I’m meeting my girls for lunch…” I explained.

“Oh, so your girls are more important than family, huh?” she mocked.

“Oh, don’t say that… I already feel stressed enough about Taeyeonie and my family…” I sighed.

“What? What happened? Did you finally introduce her to your family?”

“Actually, Taeyeonie’s met Michelle and Leo once, a long time ago. I wonder if they would remember her…”

“It’s so strange… You’ve known each other since you were 13 but she’s only met your siblings once? Didn’t you two ever hang out at your home?”

“If you were me, would you bring your friends home? No, we always hung out at her home instead. Her family is so warm and friendly… Her mom always treated me like a daughter and she always pampered me while I was over. There was really no reason for me to have her over at my depressing home… And dad’s never taken any interest in knowing what I did in my personal life as long as I was doing well in school…”

Sooyoung nodded in acknowledgement. Because she wasn’t really part of my family since we weren’t blood related, she was sometimes shunned by my other family members. She didn’t think I knew that it hurt her feelings everytime she was rejected by my family, but I knew…

Even when I was just a toddler, I knew that I was the black sheep of the family. Just like my mother, we were both warm and cheerful, very much unlike my father and my siblings. My siblings were warm towards me but they were rather indifferent towards outsiders. Despite my father’s constant straightface and seriousness, he treated me like a little princess. But after my mother passed, things changed drastically. He hardly bothered to look at me anymore and I couldn’t even remember the last time he smiled at me let alone showed me any sign of affection. As I grew older, I was convinced that, perhaps, he couldn’t stand the sight of me because I reminded him too much of my mother. He never remarried so I assume that she was the love of his life. And maybe, just maybe, it hurt him too much to see me. So I never resented him for it, he was afterall my father and I loved him no matter.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t understand how your parents got together…” Sooyoung said in wonderment.

I wasn’t offended, I could understand why she asked that. “I’ve wondered that so many times before. But you know what, yes, if you see them individually, my parents seem to be a very incompatible couple. There’s nothing really that they have in common and it they seem to make no sense what so ever. But that’s the way love is, isn’t it? It defies rhyme or reason. Most of the time, it doesn’t make any sense yet to the two people involved, it makes perfect sense. I never got a chance to ask how they met but I do have some vague memories of when my parents were together and when they thought they were alone, my father was a completely different person. He was so happy and affectionate with my mother...”

“What happened to samchon…?”

“If you ask me… I think he’s a man with a broken heart that was never mended… I didn’t understand when I was younger but I think I understand now…”

“Oh, my Miyoung… you’ve grown so much…” Sooyoung chuckled as she gave me a hug. “You really love Taeyeon don’t you…?”

I blushed and grinned like an idiot at the thought of Taeyeonie. “I do. She’s the love of my life.”

“Woah! Miyoung! This is serious! You going to ask this girl to marry you?” Sooyoung teased.

“Pssshhh!” I gave her a little shove. Honestly, Taeyeonie and I have only been dating for a few months, was it even realistic for us to get married if it was actually possible to? “But I’m think about taking her home… I think it’s time to officially come out to my family and introduce Taeyeonie to them…”

Sooyoung’s expression suddenly turned serious but then she smiled. “Oh, so it IS serious… Ohmigosh, Miyoung… this is HUGE! Is she the first girl you’re taking home?”

“Uhm… the first person EVER. I’ve never even let my friends come over…”

“Ohmigosh, ohmigosh! I’m so excited for you and Taeyeon unni! Wait! Ahhh… I get it… And you’re afraid that your family won’t accept her like what I talked to you about before, aren’t you?”

I nodded.

“Don’t be afraid, Miyoung. You’ve never let your family define you before, don’t let them define you now. All that matters is that you’re happy,” Sooyoung said as she patted my hand in encouragement.

“So do you think I should go home alone first then bring Taeyeonie along or should we just go together and get it over with?” I asked for her opinion.

“Why are you asking me…? You should ask her if she wants to go with you… I’m pretty sure she’ll want to come along with me but I wanted your opinion on what would be better for her…”

“If you ask me… I think you should stick together. You’re better together, right? And you give each other strength… You’ll need her by your side.”

I thought so too but I didn’t want to be selfish. I probably needed her more than she needed me.

“Are you worried that if you take her along, you’re being selfish because it’s for your benefit?” Sooyoung asked when I took too long to reply.

“How did you know?” I nodded timidly.

“Come on Miyoung… give me a little credit. We used to be close once and even though we’ve both gorwn and changed but I still know how you are…”

“And you’re still as intelligent and observant as ever… That was always the thing about you that I liked the most…” I said reluctantly; I hated to admit it but she always had the nerves that I never had.

“Oh, so you admit you liked me…”

“Pssshhh… That’s not even what I said. I was paying you a compliment but now I take it back…”

Sooyoung laughed cheekily. “Just lightening the mood before you get all sappy on me.”

She was right, she did still know me well.

As we sat and talked, she suddenly received a text message. She looked at it and then looked up at me.

“What is it?” I asked since she was giving me a perplexed look.

“Uhm… that’s weird…” she muttered under her breath but I could still make out what she was saying.

“What’s weird? Stop mumbling to yourself…”

“Uhm… I don’t know if I should tell you this…” she said hesitantly.

“You’re freaking me out! What is it?!”

She thought about whether or not she should tell me for a moment. “Uhm… well… Taeyeon unni just texted me asking to meet up. She said she needed some advice…”

“What? Taeyeonie? Let me see…” I took the phone out of her hand.

“Hey, Sooyoung. It’s Taeyeon. I heard you’re in town at the moment. Any chance we can meet up? I would like some advice.”

“That’s odd… advice about what?” I wondered out loud after reading the text.

“Aish! You’re so slow sometimes… She obviously wants to ask abut your family, why else would she come to me…?”

“Huh? But why? I already talked to her about them…”

“She obviously has some unanswered questions.”

“Why doesn’t she just ask me then…?”

“Hmmm… I don’t know… What do you want me to tell her then?”

“Tell her yes, of course! You have to be my spy…”

“Way to be snooping around your girlfriend’s business…”

“She’ll understand… I don’t want her to do anything crazy like going to meet my family without me.”

“Yeah… that’s not a good idea… Fine, I’ll do that but if I think it’s nothing to worry about, I’m not telling you.”

“Okay, fine…” I lied of course. I’d dig the truth out of her no matter what…

She texted Taeyeonie back and then received a reply.

“She wants to meet tomorrow night. That’s fine with me,” Sooyoung informed me. “Hah! She told me not to tell you… Now I feel bad,” she added after a few more texts.

“Don’t. If it has nothing to do with my family, then you really don’t have to tell me anything,” I told her.

“I’ll hold you to that!”

“Anyway, I have to go. I’ll be late otherwise. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” I hugged her goodbye and left in a hurry.

(End of flashback…)

“Was just running errands and lost track of time… Why were you here so early anyway?” I sidetracked the question by asking my own question that I knew she would try avoiding.

“Huh? Uhm… I wanted a little more time with my girls of course… I hadn’t seen them in awhile,” Taeyeonie answered, attempting to make me jealous and distract me, but I knew better.

“Oh, yes… That’s right… You should definitely spend more time with your girls… but they’re my girls too so you better not hog them for yourself,” I replied cheekily.

“Woah! Tiff I wasn’t expecting you to say that at all…” Jess said. Honestly I knew no one would’ve expected me to say that.

“Pfffttt… I’m totally confident and secure about my relationship, and I trust Taeyeonie completely. And besides, it’s you… and Krystal…” I replied.

“What do you mean by that?” Jess asked, slightly offended that I wasn’t feeling threatened.

“Uhm, hello?! As if there’s anyone who could get in between you two...”

“Hmmm… we could be a …”

“Krystal, do you not have any opinion on this?” I asked jokingly.

She turned her heard to look at Taeyeonie and then turned to look at Jess. “I’m fine with that…” she smirked.

“Woah! Now I’m the one who can’t believe what I just heard. Krystal, I didn’t think you had this in you…” I said.

“Jessie corrupted me…” she replied, giving Jess a playful dirty expression.

“Me?” Jess’s eyes grew wider. “But I’m totally innocent…”

“No one’s buying what you’re selling, Sica,” Taeyeonie said with a devilish grin.

“So true, unnie,” Krystal laughed.

“Yah, yah! You two ganging up on me…?!” Jess folded her arms angrily, although not really seriously. It was probably her way of being cute with Krystal.

And I was right because Krystal immediately went up to her and wrapped her arms around Jess in a big bear hug and pecked her on the cheek. “Only because I think you’re so adorable when you’re jealous or annoyed.”

Jess’s expression melted instantly. It was really a sight to see. She was so different around Krystal. It was obvious that she craved Krystal’s attention and affection even though they were together 24/7. I thought it was too adorable. I looked over at Taeyeonie and she was looking back at me with a dorky smile. Even though we weren’t as expressive with our affection in public, I knew Taeyeonie felt about me how I felt about her; she was the most precious and important thing and person in my life. I would definitely do anything for her, anything to make her happy.

“Alright, alright… I think everyone’s hungry, right? Let’s go… Shall I drive? Then you two can sit at the back and… be as vomit-inducingly cute as you want…” I said, referring to Jess and Krystal. “By the way… are you guys doing anything tomorrow night? Let’s have dinner together…” I suggested to see what they would say.

“Oh, sorry…  We already have dinner plans…” Jess answered casually.

“Taeyeonie? Shall we go on a dinner date then?”

“Sorry, Fany-ah, I can’t either…” she told me.

“Ah, wae?” I whined, pretending not to know why.

“Uhm… I have to work a little later… Any other perhaps…” she answered but avoided looking at me.

Kim Taeyeon, you terrible liar… but that’s not a bad thing…

“Oh, alright… But you owe me one, Kim Taeyeon!”

“Anything you want, babe…” she winked.

Rascal…

“I’m holding you to that!”