Chapter 31

Yuri quickly grabs a towel and wraps it around Tiffany’s body before picking her up and running out of the bathroom.

*What have I done…?*

“Yoona! Seohyun! Come out! Hurry!”

Hearing Yuri’s shouts, both Yoona and Seohyun came rushing out into the living room.

“Unnie! What happened?” Yoona exclaims.

“I don’t have time to explain. We have to get to the hospital now. Seohyun-ah, please call Taeyeon for me and then meet Yoona and I at the hospital later.” Yuri instructs the younger girl who was still in the midst of confusion.

******

Jessica found herself waking up in her own bed with her hand holding onto someone else’s. She rubs her eyes with her free hand feeling its puffiness, and then realizes that it was Nicole’s hand that she was holding onto after her visions became clearer. Jessica withdrew her hand in a swift motion causing Nicole to stir in her slumber.

“Oh… Jessica… You’re awake…” Nicole says.

“Mm…” Jessica hums in acknowledgement.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Mm…”

“Are you hungry?”

Now that she thought about it, Jessica realizes that she hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday. She nods in reply to Nicole’s question.

“Wait here; I’ll go buy something for you to eat.” Nicole says and happily walks towards the front door.

“Nicole. Wait.” Jessica calls after her making the girl stop dead in her tracks. “Why are you always treating me so nicely…?”

“Because I care for you.”

“Please stop. If you continue this… it’ll only bring me burden…”

“Jessica. I don’t care if you never return my love, because I’ve already decided to stay by your side and take care of you. I can’t stop my heart from feeling what it feels. I don’t care if this is a loveless relationship that we have. I already know that your heart belongs to someone else. But Jessica, why love a person when all they ever do is cause you to shed tears?”

“Nicole…”

“I know about Kwon Yuri. She doesn’t deserve you. I’ll make sure that she won’t be able to hurt you again.”

Nicole says her final words and left the suite before Jessica could even say another word to her.

******

“Unnie… tell me what happened.” Yoona demanded when everything with Tiffany was situated.

“Yoong-ah… your unnie… has done something horrible. Something that I can never take back.”

“Unnie…”

“I forcefully took something that is very precious to Tiffany…” Yuri began to explain, not noticing the two girls that stood at a close distance to them hearing every word that she was saying.

“Unnie… what do you mean…”

“We… Tiffany and I… no… I…” Yuri stutters, trying to find the right words to explain to her younger sister the events that occurred last night.

******

Taeyeon couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Again, rage fired up inside of her. How was it possible that this could be happening?

“Kwon Yuri! You… how could you?!?” rushing up to Yuri and having a hold on her collar, shoving Yuri and pinning her against the wall.

Their faces were inches away from each other that they were able to feel each other’s breath on their faces. Yuri could see the intense anger in Taeyeon’s eyes.

“Taeng… I’m sorry…”

“How could you…”

“I was drunk… I couldn’t control my own emotions or actions before it was too late. I’m sorry, Taeyeon-ah…”

“That’s inexcusable! So just because you were under the influence of alcohol you can just go running around doing whatever you please? So does that mean I can go kill someone while I was intoxicated and then blame it on the alcohol?!?”

Taeyeon raises her fist; Yuri shuts her eyes and waited for it to strike her. Taeyeon wanted to punch the girl in front of her. No… she wanted to kill her. Tears streams down her cheeks due to her anger. She couldn’t believe what her friend was capable of. But Yoona’s shout stopped her.

“Unnie! Taeyeon unnie!” Yoona exclaims once she realizes what had happened last night when Seohyun had told she heard noises coming from the other room.

Seohyun lets out a small gasp as she began to grasp hold of the situation as well.

“Yoona, Seohyun… go home. This isn’t something you two should be involved in.” Taeyeon says.

“But…”

“Just go!” Taeyeon shouts.

Yoona didn’t want to debate with Taeyeon. She quickly held onto Seohyun’s hand and leads her out of the hospital.

Taeyeon turns her attention back to Yuri when the two younger girls left the scene and lowers her fist.

“No. I won’t even bother to hit you. I want you to live your whole life with the guilt burned into you.” Taeyeon scoffs and releases her hold on Yuri.

“Oh excuse me, who is…?” ask the doctor that came out of the room that Tiffany was resting in.

“Is she ok?” Yuri asks abruptly.

“Yes. Her conditions are stable now. She has a slight case of pneumonia due the fact that she was drenched in cold water for so long. But she should be fine after taking some antibiotics and get some rest.”

“Thank you doctor.” Says both Yuri and Taeyeon.

Yuri was about to open the door to Tiffany’s room but Taeyeon stopped her from doing so.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you even think that you have the right to see her right now?”

“Taeng… I have to… no, I need to. Just let me have a moment with her. I promise you, I won’t do anything.”

Taeyeon reluctantly lets go of the grip she had on Yuri’s shoulder, allowing the latter to go into the room.

******

She heard the door open and close. Tiffany turns to see who it was that entered, and immediately fear was instilled in her again. Instinctively she backed up against the bed frame as much as she could and pulls up the blanket to cover her body.

Seeing the fear in Tiffany’s eyes, Yuri stopped walking towards the cowering girl.

“Tiffany… I’m sorry. I know that my apologies will never give back what I took from you.” Yuri begins to say and lowers herself to kneel down before the girl. “I don’t expect you to ever forgive me. I will live my whole life, bearing this guilt. I’ve already scarred you enough... I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Let’s end it here…I know that our relationship will never be the same again. But I want you to know that in my heart you are always one of my special friend. I’m sorry things turned out this way for us. Goodbye Tiffany. Maybe next time, when we meet again we will be able to greet each other with smiles on our faces.” Yuri says, bowing to the girl before getting up to exit the room.

******

Hearing Yuri’s words, her heart no longer felt any pain. The feeling of pain was overwhelmed by fear. Tiffany slowly understood that the feeling she got when she was with Yuri wasn’t love. Or what she thought was love. There was no longer a warm feeling when she looks at Yuri. Only fear. Fear of what could happen to her.

Tiffany was lost in thought that she didn’t notice the petite girl that entered the room.

“Fany-ah…” Taeyeon says softly.

Her soft and comforting voice brought Tiffany back to reality.

“I’m sorry, Fany-ah…”

“Taeyeon-ah…” Tiffany says, hugging on to the girl’s petite body when she was close enough for her to reach. “Please… take me away from here…” she begged and begins to cry as Taeyeon her held into her arms.

There it was… the warmth that she was searching for in Yuri. It was here all along. She was just too blind and foolish to see it. The feeling of warmth and comfort that Taeyeon always gave her, it was here all along. And yet it took something so drastic to happen for her to realize it. Tiffany always thought that she loves Yuri, but yet she never felt the same type of feeling she feels when she’s with Taeyeon.

“Taeyeon-ah… I’m so stupid… how could I not notice it before…?”

“Fany-ah… what are you talking about?”

“Love… Taeng… love…”

Taeyeon was confused. She wasn’t sure what Tiffany meant by saying love. Taeyeon releases Tiffany from her hold wanting to know more about what the latter has just said.

*Could it be that Tiffany has learned of my feelings for her?*

“What do you mean?”

“Taeyeon-ah… I heard you yesterday. I heard everything you said…” Tiffany confessed.

“Y-You heard… everything?”

Tiffany nodded.

“All of it?”

She nodded again, confirming that she heard all of Taeyeon’s confession causing Taeyeon to do a face palm to cover her own embarrassment. Tiffany reaches up and takes Taeyeon’s hand into hers.

“I’m sorry, Taeyeon-ah…”

“Tiffany…”

Tiffany heard Taeyeon let out a sigh after saying her name.

“Since you already heard every word I’ve said, I don’t think I need to repeat them.” Taeyeon says. “I meant every word I said, Tiffany. My heart… it only has you and it is willing to wait for you.”

“Taeyeon-ah… I don’t know what to say…”

“It’s ok… I know you’re still shaken up by what happened. But trust me, Tiffany. I’ll take you away from Yuri now. I’ll protect you with all I have. I’ll take you back to my place after your release if you agree to it.”

Tiffany nods confirming her agreement to Taeyeon’s words.

“I’ll go get your belongings from Yuri’s if you don’t want to go back there.”

“No… it’s fine. I think I need to face her again.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Hm… ok. Get some rest now. I have to go do some work.” Taeyeon says and lightly kissed Tiffany on her forehead.

Feeling Taeyeon’s soft lips brushing against her skin, sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach. This was certainly something different. Sure Tiffany has shared kisses with Yuri, but they’ve never made her feel this way before. For Tiffany who has always thought that she was in love with Yuri, she now felt a new sensation.

Taeyeon smiles sweetly at the girl and bids her farewell. As she was turning around to leave, Tiffany grabbed onto her wrist.

“Taeyeon-ah… don’t leave me…” she pleaded.

“Don’t worry, Fany-ah. I’ll come back right away as soon as I finish my work.” Taeyeon assured.

“You promise?”

Taeyeon nods and Tiffany was able to let the petite girl go on her way.

*Was this what love was supposed to feel like? Have I been too blind to see this?*