Tiffany looked out of the circular windows listlessly with her breakfast left untouched on the airplane desk. Her expressionless face could not convey the emotional turmoil she was actually going through right at that moment.

That morning, she had made one of the most difficult decision in what she considers as the most emotionally complex situation in her entire twenty-seven years of living. She had actually abandoned Taeyeon in the hotel room, like a coward. Even she finds coward too mild a word, jerk is a more accurate term.

That brief moment of bliss when she had found Taeyeon lying by her side when she had woke had been interrupted by a series of four text messages. Three of which was from her workplace and the final one, which had transformed her bliss into consternation, was from her father. Tiffany looked at the sleeping presence beside herself and felt feelings of uncertainty seeping into her once again. What would be their future? Would they even have a future together? Tiffany thought and the more she did, the more panic she felt. Disappointing her father was the last thing she ever wanted. Mr Hwang was a traditional man and Tiffany knew he would not be open to a relationship that deviates from the norm. Thus fleeing from Taeyeon and putting this incident behind her was the first thing on Tiffany Hwang’s mind. She got up hastily to leave the room. Yet, when she hesitated and took one last, lingering look at that sweet expression on Taeyeon’s sleeping face, she felt a strong tug at her heartstrings.    

Now, she was on the airplane. A deep crease appeared between Tiffany’s brows as memories of the time she spent with Taeyeon came flooding back to her like an unstoppable tide and that final glance she stole at Tiffany had imprinted itself so deeply in Tiffany’s mind. Her jaw tightened for she realised that it was truly folly on her part. She should not have left Taeyeon, not that irresponsibly at the very least. Tiffany almost had the urge to want to correct her mistake and go back to the girl’s side right at that moment, but that would mean that she would have to turn the plane around. It was impossible, a mistake had been committed, and she would have to atone for her it later.  Later, she promised.

Taeyeon, I am sorry, I should not have left.

**

"Ah Tiffany, you're back. I am already eager to hear your ideas." The bald headed Supervisor clasped his hands together, his excitement was palpable.

Tiffany had reported back to work the next day. Even though it was only for a fleeting moment, the Creative Director caught the crestfallen faces from her employees and was almost tempted to give a derisive snort which usually came as a pure reflex. However, all that came from her was a weak smile and she knew who inspired that change in her. Kim Taeyeon, you are haunting me even in South Korea.

Once, the Creative Director was summoned by the Supervisor and turned her back, murmurings broke out amongst her employees which Tiffany managed to catch with her sharp sense of hearing. Amongst which was acknowledgement of sudden change in their superior. The Creative Director knew she would have to return to her former self to avoid suspicion at work and so she started with recovering herself at her Supervisor’s office.

"I regret to disappoint you but sir, I've got no ideas worthy to be made into an ad," Tiffany spoke, no hint of regret in her voice.

A frown found its way into the bald's face. "Oh, is it? I did not send you there for such delayed insights my dear. The best advertisement concepts come to you at the most appropriate place. Besides, tardiness is never a policy of Amoeba’s," he snapped.

Apparently that was not a most appropriate place for me you old bald. Besides you did not pay out of your own pocket nor from the company's budget to send me over, it had been a most 'generous' offer made by the client. Those words screamed in Tiffany Hwang’s mind then she heard Taeyeon’s voice nagging at her and so she squeezed her eyes and calmed herself.

The Supervisor seemed mildly surprise that her usual feisty subordinate had not retorted.

"And I had presumed you returned prematurely because an idea had already been hatched in your mind. Why... How disappointing..." He sneered, wondering how long it would take for Tiffany to snap.

Finally, it did. "I am deeply regretful my sir. I might like to atone for my sins by leaving my post to someone who is more 'punctual' than I am,” Tiffany’s words were dripping with sarcasm and was beginning to recover her old-self.

I've had enough of you milking from my talent anyway as well.

"No, wait. Tiffany, you should know I meant it as a joke." Knowing that he had taken too far, the bald stood up, one arm stretched out in front of him, like a gentleman.

"Oh no sir, you have many other talented people who have been hankering after my post for a long time. It may do your reputation some good if you break out such joyful news to them." Tiffany knew that it would now be her own fault for making such childish remarks especially since after her superior had given in. However, she was truly enticed by the thought of quitting her job to put her currently disarrayed mind to order and get to make up to Taeyeon. Tiffany had already attempted to find out Taeyeon’s contacts and hope to speak to her as soon as she could. The Creative Director snapped out of her distracted thoughts when her superior spoke again.

“You wouldn’t want to worry your dad by leaving your post do you?” Her manager reminded with a hint of threat in his voice.

Tiffany narrowed her eyes malevolently at the old bald. She hated being threatened and was not one to take them lightly, especially not at this time. The Creative Director huffed in contempt, forced an apology out of herself and strode out from her superior’s office with as much dignity as she could muster.  

**

“I’m back…” Taeyeon said as she flung herself tiredly onto the couch with her travel shoes still on.

“About time you came back,” her roommate, Yoona, remarked with an ice-cream spoon in . “Move over, I need to catch this episode.” Her glutton of a roommate shoved Taeyeon aside unceremoniously and plopped down beside her.

“Yoona, I cannot believe how you can watch television, eat all day and not gain any weight!” The girl complained.

Her roommate by the name of Yoona gave her killer doe-eyed smile before replying, “and I cannot believe how someone can stop growing taller from the age of fourteen.”

Taeyeon smacked a pillow into Yoona’s face to shut her roommate up.  

“Ouch… That hurts you know?” Her roommate complained with the spoon still in .

“Good. Cause you hurt my feelings too.” Taeyeon retorted wittily.

“I never knew your feelings could be hurt so easily,” Yoona teased but had unknowingly struck a sensitive chord in Taeyeon’s heart as her mind reeled back to the girl whom she met during her trip.

Yes, I never knew my feelings could be hurt that easily until Tiffany came into my life.

“Hey, so what inspirations did you get from your trip?” Yoona interrupted Taeyeon’s thoughts abruptly which made her feel slightly grateful that Yoona had done so. After all she could not afford to keep her mind on replay about thoughts on Tiffany especially when it had been done so throughout her entire flight. Taeyeon badly wished there was something she could do to dilute her feelings for the girl.

Taeyeon then remembered to reply Yoona after a while and gave a shrug of her shoulders. “Nothing much, really. I was there to survey settings, it’s all up to Amoeba’s Creative Director to come up with the advertisement”

Yoona’s eyes widened at the name of the famed advertising agency. “Amoeba?! Goodness gracious, that’s a famous company, isn’t it?!” Yoona tutted in admiration then added, “But, oh come on, I’m pretty sure you will have some say in the advertisement concept. After all our famed Film Director Kim Taeyeon is amongst the best of the best in the filming industry.” Yoona pinched the side of the girl’s cheeks as the Film Director stared daggers at her.

“Yes, Amoeba,” she first replied to Yoona’s dramatic reaction then shrugged. “I could throw in a few of my opinions and modify the idea a bit but they haven’t told me which creative director I would be working with. Stop it!” Taeyeon slapped her roommate’s hands away, “you know I am not that famous yet.”

“Not yet,” Yoona emphasised. “You will be, I’ve seen my friends’ reactions to your screenplays. Besides, not all Film Director gets a scholarship to the most prestigious arts school in Europe,” Yoona grinned proudly.

“Yes right, my scholarship was in Korea and I was only there at the ‘prestigious arts school’ on a one year exchange,” Taeyeon mumbled. “My duties wouldn’t have gotten suspended if I really were the best of the best,” the girl added bitterly.

Yoona let out a theatrical sigh as she slung an arm over the short girl. “Accidents do happen and it was no fault of yours anyway…”

“It was…” Taeyeon interrupted.

Her friend put a finger to her lips and shook her head, disagreeing. “It was not,” Yoona spoke firmly. “It was an unfortunate accident in which you had no control of. Who could have expected those cables which have passed the quality checks to snap?”

“I should have taken more precautions… I…” Taeyeon began again, guiltily. All thoughts about her relationship with Tiffany was momentarily shoved to the back of her mind as she recalled about that fateful mishap at work which had almost costed a person’s life. Ever since that mishap, Taeyeon’s nights had been plagued with vivid nightmares that soon became too much for her to bear. The Film Director eventually took a hiatus from her work.  

“Yes you could have taken more precautions only if you knew that that accident was going to happen,” Yoona spoke logically. “Well, anyway you should put this incident behind and focus on filming your first advertisement since your return. They must be so glad to have you back, you are the best of the best,” her friend emphasised on that phrase again.

Taeyeon gave her a small genial smile. “I will try to put it behind me,” the girl promised and later changed the subject. “Are you looking forward to your gift?”

Yoona squealed in delight, waving her ice cream spoon in the air and threw her arms around the shorter girl. The pair then headed to where the shorty’s luggage was at the corner of the apartment and began to rummage through the articles within. Yoona occasionally grimaced at Taeyeon’s dirty laundry and quickly flung them aside when bags of it were thrown at her.

Finally, there came the long-awaited presents. “These are Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s presents,” Taeyeon spoke as she tossed out some foreign snacks and proceeded on to pull out other gifts.

“Yuri’s,” she threw the gift into Yoona’s already-filled arms and dug into her luggage again.

Yoona whined when Taeyeon took a longer time than usual to produce her gift. “Where is mine?” Her eyes then caught onto something that was interesting enough to her. Yoona snatched it up and asked, “I like this keychain! It’s so cute! Can I have this?”

Taeyeon was still too engrossed in excavating for the gifts and had forgotten about the existence of the keychain. When Taeyeon looked up briefly to see the item, which was a lion cub keychain carved from a block of wood, now being held in Yoona’s hand she felt her heart jump. The lion cub keychain was a gift from a boy named Mason whom was connected to both her and Tiffany in a similar way. Tiffany had the same lion cub but hers was carved from ebony wood, of a darker colour. Her mind once again fleeted to Tiffany and began to wander over to their moments in Zimbabwe once again.

Yoona then dangled the keychain before the dazed girl to get her attention back. “So I can claim this as mine, right?”

“What?” The girl who had just snapped out of reverie asked confusedly.

Yoona pouted. “I said, this is mine already.”

“No!” Taeyeon angrily snatched the keychain back from the girl’s hand.

Yoona yelped as she did so, surprised at the girl’s reaction. “Okay, chill. People would think that it was from your late parents or boyfriend judging from your reaction earlier.”

Taeyeon glared grudgingly at her roommate.

**

The Creative Director finish her fourth can of red bull that day. She had tied her hair up in a bun and had an oversized spectacles resting on her nose bridge.

She was back to story boarding. Messy was an understatement to describe the state of Tiffany’s room. Her previous storyboards were sprawled in front of her and yet no idea would come into her mind. Her thoughts kept reeling back to the events that took place in Zimbabwe. Her memory was especially vivid where it concerned a certain girl named Taeyeon. It was all Taeyeon, Taeyeon and more Taeyeon. Her guilt gnawed at her and would not go away yet. A flimsy post-it note with numbers scrawled on it was pasted at the corner of her pin-up board, those were Taeyeon’s numbers. It has been a week since she last promised herself to contact the other girl and yet she still could not.

Stop thinking about her. Her mind shouted as she swivelled at top speed in her chair.

Just then an idea hit her and the creative director glided across the room on her wheeled chair. She began drawing furiously.

Yet, hours later, she let out a frustrated sigh for the umpteenth time. No matter how much she tried to alter her storyboards, it still depicted a budding love relationship, not just any budding love relationships, it was her budding love relationship. The misadventure she had with Taeyeon at the Zambezi River, of them spending their time together during sunset in the wildings, even the dive at the Devil’s pool. All of which clung to her mind but were unfortunately were utterly unsuitable to be use to advertise for her client in her opinion.

“What is wrong with me?” Tiffany knocked her palms on the side of her head, frustratingly. She then tore down the storyboard from her whiteboard and pinned up fresh pieces of drawing block.

**

“That’s great! I knew I should not have expected anything less from Tiffany Hwang, our Amoeba’s gem indeed!” The Supervisor exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm.

Tiffany gave a wry smile, silently glad that his supervisor had not noticed that she had recycled the idea from one of her previous ads. The Creative Director just could not get rid of the creative-block even after being given a week to come up with the ad.

“By the way, Tiffany, our partner filming company told me that you will be working with a young Film Director this time round,” the supervisor informed mindlessly.

The creative director was not interested in how young the director was but rather the skill of the director. “Who is it? Is it any name that I know?” The girl questioned suspiciously.

“I only remember it is a Kim something. No, I reckon you would not know that person,” the Supervisor said regretfully.

Tiffany frowned, there were so many Kims in the industry and it was apparent that her supervisor had not done his homework. “A greenhorn I presume?”

The supervisor wriggled his brow as he thought hard. “I haven’t heard this person’s name either so I guess so. They promised me that this director is no less capable than the previous ones that we have worked with.”

Still a greenhorn. Tiffany thought to herself sulkily.
 

**

A/N: 

I am on an updating spree. hahaha I kid. I am just so happy that I have finally completed my other TaeNy, SunByung fic. Woohoo...

I had wanted to leave this chapter for next week but since I was done early I thought I should not hold it back for too long. xD

The girls are finally back in Korea... this is the girls' first separation from each other but even when they are not with each other, they are constantly on each other's mind xD

Well. guess a jerk leaves a deeper impression. I kid xD Tiffany isn't that much of a jerk after all. Just uncertain and bad at handling such relationships. orz

In case it did not seem that clear in this chapter... Taeyeon and Tiffany are going to meet as Film Director and Creative Director in the next chapter. Their encounters at the Victoria Falls wasn't such a mere coincidence after all. It was in fact an arranged one for the same ad they are working for but it just so happens that the companies had not informed them about each other's presence for some unstated reasons xD

Also... a bit about the two girls' background in this chapter. Tiffany has some issues with her daddy while Taeyeon is actually recovering from a workplace mishap. xD. These two issues will be brought up in the later chapters as well so fret not... i will ensure consistency as much as possible :) 

Finally. Thank you for the comments,  subscribes and upvotes <3 Have an awesome Sunday ahead!