Taeyeon didn’t know where to go. She drove around aimlessly, refusing to turn back to her apartment. She needed a clearer perspective of things before she saw Tiffany again but cruising the streets of Seoul didn’t seem to be helping. She drove past Carnical but decided not to stop. Yuri was probably busy working. And this was her own problem to solve. She drove out of the busier part of town and cruised down a few different streets, trying to get a foothold of her mountain of obstacles that stood between her and Tiffany, and much to her surprise, found herself in the vicinity of Ssamyoong’s headquarters.

On impulse, she stopped her car and gave Yoona a call. As it turned out, Yoona was about to head for lunch and told her to drive around to the pick up point, just outside the foyer of the building.

“How have you holding up?” Yoona asked as they pulled out from the gates of Ssamyoong.

Taeyeon shrugged. “Not too good, to be honest.”

“How’s Tiffany taking the news?”

“What news?” Yoona couldn’t possibly know about the fake engagement could she?

Yoona frowned. “Haven’t you heard? The Racing Association wants to remove Tiffany from the lineup for the next race and very possibly, the entire series.”

“What?” Taeyeon turned to Yoona in shock. Tiffany had not mentioned it at all. All she talked about was the image of Hyundae and her credibility as a champion. Where had this piece of news come from?!

“WRA’s chairwoman wants Tiffany out of the series is what I heard. Apparently, they don’t think having a racer involved in a car fraud case and illegal street racing helps the image of female racers.”

“Tiffany didn’t tell me about that.”

“Oh.” Yoona’s eyes went wide, her hand covering . “I don’t think she wanted you to know about that.”

“.” Taeyeon pulled to the side and stopped her car. “Why didn’t she tell me.”

“She probably didn’t want you to worry.”

Taeyeon slumped against her seat. “She didn’t say anything about it. All she talked about was Hyundae and Paul and the ing engagement.”

“Engagement?”

Taeyeon froze. “. I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

“Why not?”

Taeyeon buried her face in her palms. “You can’t tell anyone about this.”

“I won’t tell. I promise.”

“Tiffany.” She swallowed hard. It was still hard to swallow the thought of Tiffany faking it with Paul. “She said Paul’s plan to divert attention away from her involvement in street racing is to stage an engagement with him.”

“No way. That’s ridiculous. It won’t solve the real problem in the long run.”

“There won’t be a long run if she’s out of The Roulette because of me.”

“You’re not the reason why they want to take her out.”

“I’m part of the reason. She can’t hang around me if she wants to cut all relations with street racing.”

“You’re just the tip of the iceberg, Taeyeon. Don’t forget her past. She was a street racer in LA too. They’ll dig that up for sure.”

“They won’t find much there. Street race organizers here and in LA are pretty good at covering up their tracks so it’ll be hard to find evidence of her races from that long ago. Which makes me the biggest problem for her. I’m the only link to street racing that’s still in her life.”

“Well,” Yoona shifted, turning her body to face Taeyeon, “if you want, we could probably clean up your image too.”

“What do you mean? How am I gonna clean up my image,” Taeyeon replied, mimicking Yoona’s quotation mark gesture. “I don’t intent to quit street races any time soon.”

“But didn’t you want a job in Ssamyoong? I haven’t forgotten our wager, Taeyeon. I still owe you a race consultant job.”

“I remember that, but I wasn’t planning on collecting that wager till much later.”

“Or I could ask Daddy to announce his wedding plans a little earlier. They won’t call you a bad influence if they know that you’re gonna be Daddy’s step-daughter. In fact, it’ll be totally—”

“No. Don’t. I don’t want to drag your father into this. He has his marriage all planned out. I don’t want to make use of that to solve my problem.”

Yoona pouted. “Fine. But the job offer still stands. Daddy will be delighted to have you in the company.”

“But I’m not ready to give up street racing for that job.”

Yoona made an impatient noise. “But if you don’t, you’ll lose Tiffany. What’s street racing compared to your girlfriend?”

“Would you give up racing for Seohyun?”

“Yes, I would.” Yoona looked as serious as a judge in court. “I would give up many things for Seohyun.”

“Guess I don’t love Tiffany enough then. I can’t let go of racing. Not right now.”

“Why don’t you turn pro then? You’d still get to race.”

Taeyeon made a face. “It’s not the same. I’m a street racer. It’s who I am. I would be nothing without street racing.”

“Nothing? That’s a little extreme, isn’t it. You’re much more than that.”

Taeyeon shook her head. “Tiffany. You. My friends. Racing gave me all of that. Tiffany would never have come to Seoul to race with me if I wasn’t a racer. You wouldn’t have come to me for help either. And all the good friends I have…I wouldn’t have known them if I wasn’t a racer. Racing makes me feel good. It makes me feel free. All that power at my disposal. Nothing else gives me that.”

“Then you’re just being selfish.”

“What do you mean.”

“Tiffany is willing to fake an engagement with someone she doesn’t love just to protect you but you won’t even consider a compromise to help her out?”

“Hold on, hold on. She’s not protecting me. She’s protecting Hyundae. And her championship.”

“Is that what you really think it is? You don’t think it’s possible that she doesn’t want the media to dig into your life? You don’t think it’s possible that she’s trying to divert attention away from her relationship with you for your own good and not hers?”

Taeyeon was silenced. Yoona had a point. She hadn’t thought about it that way before but it made a lot of sense now. “You…may…be right.”

Yoona patted Taeyeon’s shoulder. “Think about it, Taeyeon. I can get Daddy to help you get into professional racing. You’ll still get to race and Tiffany won’t have to fake an engagement. A little compromise is all you need.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now, can we get some food?” Yoona rubbed her stomach and pouted. “I’m starving.”

Taeyeon laughed, feeling better at once and nodded. “Lunch,” she said, releasing the brake, “let’s go.”

–

Taeyeon returned to an empty apartment after lunch. It wouldn’t be the first time she did that, but empty had never felt more hollow than this moment. Tiffany had made her choice, clearly. And that choice meant that they couldn’t be together. Not anymore.

Without a second thought, she turned around and headed back out again. She couldn’t stand seeing the image of Tiffany hunched up on her couch crying her eyes out. There was nothing worse than the vividness of her own imagination in moments like these. Driving was the only solution right now.

–

Jessica stepped into the offices of the Racing Association. She smiled at the secretary who ushered her into the meeting room and greeted everyone before taking her seat. She wasn’t sure what this meeting was about but she had a bad feeling it was about Tiffany and the future of women’s racing.

Her recent little argument with Yuri over this issue had taken a toll on their relationship as Yuri stubbornly refused to talk to her about racing. Yuri had thawed after a day and resumed talking to her after twenty-four hours worth of the cold shoulder but was still visibly unhappy with her whenever the topic veered towards racing.

Deep down inside, she agreed with Yuri. It was certainly unfair of the committee to remove Tiffany from the competition because of the scandals that plagued her. But she could empathize with the Racing Association’s perspective as well and she didn’t like how headstrong Yuri was when it came to this issue. The Racing Association was putting in a lot of effort into improving the welfare for women’s racing and she appreciated it, Tiffany or not.

The meeting opened with a discussion about the situation they were in—Tiffany and the car fraud mess.

“This meeting was called so urgently to make a decision regarding the status of Tiffany Hwang as a competitor of The Roulette. As we all know, she is embroiled in a car fraud case at the moment and the press is picking up on the story as we speak. We can remove her from the competition on the grounds that she is unsuitable as a representative but a vote is required. So I hereby move the motion to remove Tiffany as an eligible competitor in The Roulette. Would any of you like to say anything before we take a vote?”

A man raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr Im. What do you have to say?”

“I would like to know about the nature of her involvement with the car fraud case in greater detail. Is she a prime suspect? Was she arrested?”

“She was not arrested.”

“In that case, what is the extent of her involvement in the case exactly? Is she even a suspect?”

“The police have not stated she’s a suspect. They called her in for questioning though. She is the person in-charge of the car purchase deal in which they are recipients of stolen car parts. One of the people on her team is said to have left town and is yet to be found. He is the prime suspect in the case.”

“I see. So it remains to be seen if she is guilty of car fraud or not.”

“Yes, that is right. However, her involvement in the case will mar the image of women’s racing which is what we can’t afford right now.”

“Is there anything else that may affect the campaign?”

“Tiffany is also said to be involved in street racing.”

Mr Im frowned. “Is there proof of this?”

“It is very hard to gather evidence of that. The street racers are very discreet when it comes to this.”

“Which means you have no proof of it.”

“Word on the street is that Tiffany is friends Taeyeon, a known street racer. They are said to be very close. Some say that they are more than friends.”

“And all this is hearsay.”

“There has to be some truth to it, but it is hearsay, yes.”

Some other people in the meeting brought up other points about the campaign and Tiffany’s effect on the campaign and it went back and forth for several minutes. And after all shots were fired, it was time for the vote.

“Those who are for the removal of Tiffany’s eligibility, please indicate a tick on your voting slip. If you are against her removal, put a cross.”

Jessica took the voting slip that had been placed before her and picked up a pen. She had been as quiet as a mouse during the discussion but in her heart, she knew. It was always going to be a cross.

The votes were cast and Jessica looked around the room, wondering if these people felt the same as she did. Mr Im was likely to have voted against the motion but it was hard to tell. He was known to be strongly against street racing and would probably balk if he ever knew just how many professional racers raced on the streets too.

The votes were emptied on to the table and unfolded one by one.

“For.”

“Against.”

“For.”

“For.”

It went on and on. At vote number twenty, it stood even at ten per side. Just one vote remained. Jessica held her breath as the voting slip was unfolded.

“Against.”

She heaved a sigh of relief. Tiffany was to remain in the competition and she was glad.

–

“They voted against, eleven to ten. You’re still in The Roulette!” Paul smiled and gave Tiffany a hug as soon as she stepped into his office. “Congratulations.”

Tiffany gave him a wan smile. “Thank you.”

Paul held her at arm’s length and his worried eyes scanned her face. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to be in the competition?”

Privately, Tiffany almost wished they had removed her from the competition but she nodded and tried to smile a little brighter. “Yes, I am.”

“Then why do you look like you just lost your license to drive? It’s good news!”

Tiffany sank into her chair. “Paul, do we really have to go through with the engagement?”

“You need it. I need it. The benefits far outweigh the bad, don’t you think?”

Tiffany shook her head. “Taeyeon isn’t taking to it well. She wants me to choose.”

“Between?”

“Her and everything else.”

Paul leaned against the table and folded his arms. “Is there no way to persuade her?”

“She won’t even answer my calls. I haven’t spoken or seen her since two days ago.”

“You’ve broken up?”

Tiffany nodded, misery sinking its roots deep into her heart and gripping it so hard it hurt.

“Well, why don’t you try going to her? Some people take a little more effort to be persuaded. I’m sure she’ll come around if she really loves you.”

“That’s the thing. She isn’t ‘some people’. She’s been through a lot and this is exactly what she doesn’t need right now.”

“But it’s what you know. She needs to understand this. She should support you in your ambition.”

“How about we don’t go as far as to fake an engagement? Can’t we just pretend to be dating? All we have to do is stem the talk that I’m close to her, right?”

Paul stood and walked around to his chair. “How is that any different? You would still be mine in the eyes of the public and everyone in the racing industry. She won’t enjoy hearing about it anymore than a fake engagement. Besides, it would get my family off my back for a while. And once the legal procedures push through, I will have access to my inheritance and then we can break it off.”

“But—”

“This was the deal from the start, Tiffany. You know that.”

Tiffany sighed. The deal had been for her to be his beard and she knew it. She couldn’t go back on her word now. “I know.”

“Good.”

No. This wasn’t good at all. It’s only been two days since she had ‘broken up’ with Taeyeon but it felt more like forever. These past two days had been t he hardest to get through and she had no idea how she was going to get through another day without her.

–

Tiffany couldn’t bear it anymore. Three days, seventy-two hours without talking to Taeyeon, or exchanging naughty texts with her, or having dinner with her, or cruising around secluded parts of town in her car. Seventy-two hours gone without hearing her voice or feeling her touch. Seventy-two hours of hell.

Maybe Paul was right. She had to put in more effort to persuade Taeyeon. Did Taeyeon miss her too? Was Taeyeon dying to hug her too? If Taeyeon felt the same, she had a chance to talk her around. With that thought in mind, she grabbed her keys and sent her car to the first floor with the press of a button. She wasn’t going to give up now. She was going to fight for Taeyeon. Just as it always had been.

She drove at record speed to Taeyeon’s apartment and parked in record time. Taking the stairs two at a time, she found herself trembling as she stood at the door. Was Taeyeon home? It was late. Would she be out driving? No, Taeyeon’s car was in the parking lot, parked at its usual spot. Taeyeon must be home. She still had the keys to Taeyeon’s apartment but it didn’t feel right to do that with their current state of affairs so she pressed the doorbell instead. The door opened a moment later but her heart was pierced by the sight of Yoona at the door.

“Who is it?”

Tiffany could barely breathe. Taeyeon’s voice had never sounded so good and hurt so much at the same time. She braced herself as Taeyeon appeared at the door, drying her hair with a towel. Yoona turned to Taeyeon, stepped aside, revealing her to the woman and Taeyeon’s arm froze, towel and all.

“Tiffany…”

“Taeyeon…” Tiffany breathed. It felt like shards of glass pushing into her body at the moment. Pushing in slowly from all sides, torturing her with utmost cruelty. The sight of Yoona squeezing Taeyeon’s shoulder doubled the intensity of that pain and she almost choked when Taeyeon smiled at Yoona. That smile belonged to her! She didn’t want to think that she no longer owned that smile. She didn’t want to accept it. In fact, she couldn’t accept it. There had to be an explanation for this. Taeyeon couldn’t have moved on to another woman this quickly.

Could she?

–