Somehow, Tiffany found herself outside Taeyeon’s house with a bucket of vanilla ice-cream on a particular Sunday morning.

The gate suddenly opens and a car begins backing out.

“Oh Tiffany, what are you doing out here dear?” Mrs Kim rolls down the car window.

“Fany unnie!” Miyeon frantically waves at Tiffany from the backseat.

“Good morning Mrs Kim.” Tiffany bows. “Hi Miyeon.” Tiffany waves. “I um…bought ice-cream?” Tiffany mentally face-palmed herself for sounding like an idiot.

“Ice-cream this early?” Mrs Kim chuckles. “I’ve made some breakfast on the table, make sure you and Taeyeon eat some before ice-cream okay? She’s probably still sleeping. I’m off to do some grocery shopping with Miyeon, you girls have fun.” Mrs Kim opens the door for Tiffany before leaving.

Tiffany bows to Mrs Kim and then closes the door behind her.

“Hello?” Tiffany calls out but was met with a silence.

She makes her way into the kitchen and puts the ice cream in the freezer. She quietly tiptoes upstairs stopping in front of Taeyeon’s room.

She carefully turns the doorknob and makes her way over to the sleeping figure.

The adorable sight before her brought a smile to Tiffany’s face, and she almost squealed when she saw the Minnie Mouse pyjamas. They were pink! It was really taking all of her self-control not to jump on the bed and squish the life out of the sleeping girl. 

Tiffany picked up the blanket that had half fallen off the bed and covered Taeyeon with it. She didn’t have the heart to wake Taeyeon so she pulled a chair over and sat down by the edge of the bed.

She glanced around the room and noticed a large bookshelf in the corner. Tiffany was curious about Taeyeon’s taste in reading material so she stood up and made her way over. Taeyeon was definitely not joking when she said she wanted to be a doctor. The bookshelf was lined with medical, pharmacology, pathology and physiology books just to name a few. Tiffany could already feel her head spin as she read the titles, definitely not something that catches her attention, even though her father had often encouraged her interest in the field. And of course there was a whole shelf dedicated to books filled with musical compositions.

You’d get along with Sooyoung just fine.

Tiffany thought of the shikshin who was a seemingly brainless prankster but in fact an unexpected genius.

A familiar title on the top shelf caught Tiffany’s attention and she reached up for it.

The Hungry Caterpillar.

It had to be one of her most favourite books when she was small. She leafed through the pages and reminisced the fond memories of when her dad would read books to her. Tiffany finished the story and placed the book back to find that the whole top two shelves were filled with children’s books. Quite a contrast to those complicated thick textbooks on the lower shelves. Tiffany grabbed a few that caught her attention and walked back to sit down on the chair. She began reading to pass time as she waited for Taeyeon to wake up.

Taeyeon was dreaming. A dream that she wished was reality. A dream where she was allowed to love Tiffany and Tiffany was allowed to love her back. She liked it when Tiffany hugged her like that and she wanted to hug Tiffany too. So she did.

Tiffany glanced up from her book when she heard a shuffle from the bed. Taeyeon had to her side, there was a slight smile on her face and she and was hugging her peas-in-a-pod plushie tightly. Tiffany closed her book and placed it on the bedside table, watching Taeyeon sleeping was much more interesting.

“Wanna have some fun?” came a voice that always invaded her dreams.

Taeyeon’s grip around Tiffany loosened and she pushed the girl away.

“What’s wrong Taeyeon-ah?” Tiffany was worried.

Taeyeon frantically searched around the room, she could hear his voice but she couldn’t see him, all she saw were four white walls…and they were closing in on her.

“Oppa will show you a good time.”

“No. no. no.” Taeyeon shook her head and crouched down, covering her ears to block out his voice.

“Taeyeon! Taeyeon-ah.” She could still hear Tiffany’s voice but it was quickly fading.

“You can’t love her.” The man’s voice became louder…he was coming closer. She could see his shadow looming from behind her, she could feel his heavy breath on her neck. “You think you’re worthy? You think you deserve her love?”

Taeyeon shook her head. She felt a weight on her shoulder and turned her head to see his hand, soon both his hands were wrapping around her neck and she was gasping for breath.

“Then are you still going to love her?”

“…” His question was met with silence.

“Are you?” He growled and tightened his hands around Taeyeon’s neck.

Tiffany frowned as she could she Taeyeon growing distressed by the way her fingers were digging into the green plushie.

“No.” Taeyeon said with her eyes still closed. “No.”

Taeyeon shook her head. Tiffany reached over and placed her hand on top of Taeyeon’s, trying to calm her down.

“No. Fany, you can’t.” Taeyeon mumbled.

“I can’t what?” Tiffany couldn’t help but ask.

“You can’t…you can’t…love me.” Taeyeon was beginning to calm down. The man in her dreams had faded away when she said she would no longer Tiffany.

“…I can Taeyeon-ah, I can love you, and I will.” Tiffany reached her free hand over and cupped Taeyeon’s cheek, thumbing away the tears. “I would love you no matter what.” Tiffany whispered.