(Flashbacks)

* It's been two weeks since Taeyeon came back from Japan but all this while, she has been spending most of her time in her own room or just lazing around in the house without going out at all.

"Unnie, dinner is ready."

Hyoyeon poke her head into Taeyeon's bedroom as she saw her sister lying on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. In her arms, a totoro doll was hugged tightly as if Taeyeon doesn't want to let it go. Hyoyeon continued watching as her sister sat up straight and nodded her head while giving her a small smile.

"So Taeyeon, are you ready to start work with your Appa tomorrow?"

Mrs Kim asked and started distributing the bowls of rice to everyone as Taeyeon looked up and nodded her head while Mr Kim smiled proudly at her daughter.

"But Appa, don't you think it's kind of a waste for Unnie to work with you since she graduated with a master's degree in music studies while Appa's business has nothing to do with music?" Hyoyeon asked as she started to chew on her food.

"Your Unnie has a degree in financial management too even though it's just a bachelor degree. She can be my financial advisor." Mr Kim said as he lifted up his hand to which Taeyeon gave him a high-five. "You will be working with me too once you graduate next year."

Hyoyeon pouted when her dad pointed at her. Dinner was filled with small talks and laughters which ended about an hour later.

"Hey, Unnie. Are you okay?"

Hyoyeon had followed Taeyeon to her room as she saw her sister climbing up her bed and hugging the totoro doll again.

"I'm fine, Hyo. Don't worry about me. How's school by the way? This will be your final year. How are you coping?" Taeyeon diverted the attention back to Hyoyeon as she changed the topic quickly.

"I'm coping well, Unnie. But I know you're not. You've been hugging that totoro doll to sleep since you came back from Japan. Do you miss her a lot?" Hyoyeon said as she sat down at the edge of Taeyeon's bed. Hyoyeon knew that the totoro doll was a gift from Tiffany to her sister. "If only you had allowed me to tell Fany-unnie about that accident, she might have stayed and waited for you."

Taeyeon sighed and shook her head. "I didn't want her to worry about me. Furthermore, she's no longer my girlfriend. I don't have the right to stop her from leaving."

"Unnie, actually...." Hyoyeon wanted to inform Taeyeon that Tiffany had actually extended her stay but Taeyeon stopped her from talking.

"Let's go to sleep, Hyo. I need to rest for my first day at work tomorrow." Taeyeon gave Hyoyeon a smile as she pulled the totoro doll and turned her body sideways.

"Good night, Unnie. Sweet dreams." Hyoyeon said as she walked out from the room and switched off the lights.

** 2 months later, the girls had planned a gathering to catch up with each other.

"So Taeng, how's work so far?" Sooyoung asked as she scoop a spoonful of her fried rice.

"It's been good so far. Everyone seems friendly. Maybe because they knew I was the president's daughter." Taeyeon chuckled to herself. "Where's Sunny and Jessica?"

"Sica's not feeling well. I think she ate something wrong yesterday." Yuri replied while frowning.

"That's funny. Sunny told me the same thing too. Did they went out together yesterday?" Sooyoung asked Yuri who shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe both of them just didn't want to see me." Taeyeon said with a sad tone while Sooyoung and Yuri had a confused look.

"And why is that so?" Sooyoung asked.

"Because of me, Fany went back to the States." Taeyeon replied.

"Speaking of that, I thought you told us that you would fly back before our graduation. So what happened? We were all expecting you to return soon. We even told Fany about it." Yuri explained as Taeyeon sighed.

"Something came up and I couldn't leave as soon as I wanted." Taeyeon replied while looking at the ground. "I assumed that both Jessica and Sunny were unhappy about this too."

"Not only them. Me and Yul were quite disappointed too but we believed that you would have come back sooner if you could, knowing how much you love Fany. Even if Sica and Sunny are angry at you now, I believe they'll get over it soon. But then, we still don't understand why you had to break up with her in the first place." Sooyoung looked at Taeyeon with an intense stare as Taeyeon just shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it." Taeyeon returned the stare which caused Sooyoung and Yuri to just nod their heads.

Their gathering at a cafe in the shopping mall ended about an hour later with no one bringing up the topic about Tiffany again.

*** The Kim family was gathered at the living room, spending some time together as they chatted and watched the TV when they heard the door opened as Taeyeon walked in with a briefcase in her hand.

"Unnie, how come you're working overtime when the President is relaxing at home?" Hyoyeon giggled as she father who showed a fist at her.

Taeyeon just smiled, placed her briefcase on the dining table and joined her family at the living room. It's been 6 months since she started working and coming back late due to overtime was already a normal thing for her.

"I heard Sunny offered you a job in her company. Executive Vice President. Not bad." Taeyeon looked at her mother and nodded her head as a response.

"Aren't you going to consider it?" Mr Kim's question stunned Taeyeon for a while. The truth was, she did felt tempted to accept the job but she shook her head as an answer. "Why not? Are you afraid that I might not agree to it?"

"Appa, if Unnie accept the job, then who is going to help you?" Hyoyeon asked as Mr Kim just smiled.

"I can handle it. Furthermore, I can always rely on you." Mr Kim pointed to Hyoyeon who pouted. "Sunny's company deals with the music industry and I know your sister is very talented in that. Sunny told me that she needed your sister's help in the financial and music aspect."

Seeing how Taeyeon was just staring into space without giving him any reply, Mr Kim shook his head. He knew about Taeyeon's breakup with Tiffany after Hyoyeon informed them when her eldest daughter was in Japan. Frankly, he and his wife were totally shocked over the news but knowing Taeyeon's character, he didn't want to probe and could only wait until her daughter was ready to open up with him.

"Why don't you think about it first, Taeyeon? Maybe a new working environment will be good for you." Mr Kim said as Taeyeon just nodded her head with a blank expression.

************************

"After accepting the job that I offered her, Taeyeon moved out from her parent's house a month later. Since then she has been living by herself, all alone in that apartment." Sunny explained as Tiffany continued to nod her head.

The girls had decided to continue their conversation at a nearby park where they were seated on a bench.

"Why did she moved out? Is your company that far away from her parent's place?" Tiffany asked as Sunny shook her head.

"It's about an hour of driving from her house to work." Jessica answered as Tiffany frowned.

"That's not that far. If she works from 9am to 5pm or the most 6pm, she shouldn't have to move house and be alone." Tiffany replied.

"The problem is, she doesn't work within that hours." Sunny replied. "She will come in to her office at around 7am and will only leave at around 10pm or the latest will be 11pm. The only times she will leave the office earlier is when we have our gatherings. But even then, she will be the last one to join us. Other than that, she will usually be cooped up either in her office or apartment."

Tiffany was surprised with all the information that she had been receiving. The Taeyeon that she remembered was someone who love to hang out with her friends and even though she knew that Taeyeon is someone who is passionate about what she does, Tiffany can never see Taeyeon as someone who is workaholic.

"Is there a lot of work at your company, Sunny? Don't you have anyone else beside her to assist you?" Tiffany asked, sounding a little worried.

"Actually Soo is working with me too as the Vice President. I didn't give Taeyeon a lot of work but she keeps volunteering to do most of the available projects on hand. Besides handling the financial state of my company, she is also one of my company's lyricist. Her songs usually garners a lot of positive response." Sunny explained further.

"You sound worried, Tiff." Jessica asked as she and Sunny looked at Tiffany who seems flabbergasted.

"I... I.. I was just curious as to why she needed to move out and be all alone by herself. Doesn't she has.. anyone special to accompany her?" Tiffany's staggering voice made her sound as if she was actually reluctant to ask that question.

"Do you want her to have someone special?" Jessica turned around the question back to Tiffany causing her to blink her eyes repeatedly.

"I... I... just thought that she should look for someone who can take care of her." Tiffany replied as she pretended to look away.

"Then how about you? You're all alone too in Japan. Do you have anyone special to look after you?" Sunny asked as she gave a slight smirk to Jessica.

"I can take care of myself well. I don't need anyone else. Furthermore, I still have colleagues and friends that I hung out with but Taetae... I mean Taeyeon. She's... just shutting herself out." Tiffany answered as she sighed and leaned back. "What actually happened to her? Where did it all go wrong?"

For the first time that day, Jessica and Sunny saw the sadness in Tiffany's eyes. The past few days, all she had shown to them was her smiles and small laughters but the two girls knew that Tiffany was just hiding in all her true emotions. They knew that if they played their cards well, eventually Tiffany would opened up to them.

"What do you mean, Tiff?" Jessica asked with her poker face.

"The break-up, the leaving without telling me and the broken promise to return to Korea before our graduation." Tiffany said as she shook her head and hugged herself. "I don't get it. It's just not her. I feel like I don't know her anymore."

"On the day that you left for the States, you told us to take care and you apologised for everything. You said that it was your fault but when we probed you further, you just shook your head and only smiled before walking away." Sunny asked while holding on to Tiffany's right hand. "What were you apologising for? What was your fault, Fany?"

Tiffany looked at Sunny before turning to face Jessica. In a split second, tears rolled down her cheeks as Tiffany bite her lips. Seeing those tears, Sunny quickly wrapped her hands around Tiffany's shoulders while Jessica started to pat her back.

"Why are you crying, Tiff? Are you okay?" Jessica asked with a panic tone.

"I was very sad when she didn't return even after I had extended my stay for two more weeks. I knew she didn't really want a break-up. I knew she left because she didn't want me to distance myself from all of you because of her. I wanted us to talk things out and apologised to her for my mistakes." Tiffany sniffed as she tried to control her tears. "My mistake of neglecting her."

"If you knew that she didn't actually wanted a break-up and knew that you've been neglecting her, then why didn't you do something about it?" Sunny was confused with Tiffany's words.

"Because I've always thought that she would come back to me. Or at least, properly explain to me her decisions." Tiffany looked up to both her friends. "I didn't realise my mistakes until she left for Japan. Initially, I was very angry with her for the break-up but after she left without telling me, I started to think from her point of view. It made me realise that it could have been me who prompted the change in her or there might be something that she was hiding from me. Knowing Taeyeon, she is someone who always have my best interest at heart."

"Do you still love her, Tiff?" Jessica asked.

"Love? I'm not sure, Jessi. The fact that it's been almost 4yrs, makes me feel comfortable being alone though. I admit that I'll think of her at times but... I'm not sure. I really am not sure." Tiffany replied as she sighed again.

"Do you hate her then?" Sunny took the opportunity to find out more.

"Hate? Can you even hate someone like Taeyeon? She's just so.... precious. No matter what happened to us, I can never hate her. I just wish that she won't shut herself up and be all alone. I don't want her to continue being alone." Tiffany closed her eyes and wiped away her tears as she didn't noticed the smile on Sunny's and Jessica's faces.