The next few days have gotten a lot better.

Tiffany now talked to me openly, and smiles to others from time to time. Though, she’d only let me see her eye-smile when we were alone. She started telling me a little more about herself each day. She starts telling me stuffs like personal interests---let’s take the fact of her being a Taylor Lautner and Ian Somerhalder fanatic for example.

“You’ve never watched ‘The Vampire Diaries’?” She asks me in straight English. And did I forgot to mention that she had been conversing with me in English ever so often now? Sometimes I find myself flipping through the thick dictionary she gave me hurriedly just so I can catch up with her rapid English. Lately, I’m starting to believe what Sooyoung told me once: ‘You can compare Tiffany with a lost kitten when she speaks Korean, but try messing with her in English and she’ll eat you wholly. She’s like a tiger when she speaks English’

I shook my head as a response to her question earlier and she frowns a little. I never was a fan of fantasy and romance films.

Tiffany places her burger down on the table and asks me again. “What about ‘Twilight’?”

My ears perked up at the familiar title and my mind immediately pictured Yoona squealing on the living room sofa whenever Edward and Bella kissed. I think she nearly threw the whole carton of popcorn when we watched ‘Eclipse’ in the movie theater and Jacob was kissing Bella on top of the mountains.

I hear Tiffany’s soft laughter after I reveal that I absolutely had no choice since we have a Twi-hard in the family and Yoona would kill me for Edward Cullen. Seriously, that choding.

“Wow.” Tiffany says. “Never knew Yoona was a fan of ‘Twilight’.” I chuckled in my seat; my pencil rolling around my fingers. “She’s an -kicker. What people didn’t know was a squealing fangirl was hidden behind those smirking lips and toned biceps.” I say, and Tiffany nods in agreement. Sometimes it was almost unbelievable that Yoona was an avid fan of the saga despite being a badass troublemaker. But I guess every person has their own alternate universe.

Just like Tiffany---how despite her icy aura ringing around her, she’s actually so feminine and likes loves the colour pink so much.

From the corner of my eyes, I see Tiffany turn to me. “What about you?” I look up from my sketchpad and faced her. “Anything that interests you besides a Staedtler pencil and a 12x18 sketchpad?” I laughed at her statement. So, she actually notices huh? “Oh so you were actually watching me?” I challenged. And it’s at times like this that I feel so confident when Tiffany looks away and blushes. She takes a bite from her burger and fiddles at the wrapper.

“I wasn’t watching you, okay? I just... I noticed.” She swallowed her food, and I raised an eyebrow at her. She giggled softly and playfully shoved me onto the side. What I said next wasn’t really what I intended.

“So that kiss meant nothing?”

Tiffany convulsed on her seat and looked back at me. She chuckled, and I did the same. “I normally kiss people on the cheeks.” She explains. And it’s not like I don’t believe her but these past few days, it always amuses me when I about something and she tries to cover it up.

I grinned at the thoughts running through my head.

“What about you kiss me again?” Okay. God, I swear I’m blushing right now.

Tiffany shyly looked away and drank from her water bottle as if suddenly went dry. I was still grinning away at her. She turned to me with a sigh. “Are you seriously asking me that? Or are you just messing with me? But either way, I’d still spank you.” I stared at her for a moment and felt a tingly sensation cursing through my body; all the way from my spine to my toes.

I squeaked a laugh. “I’m serious.” And Tiffany looked a little bit suspicious at me. “Yah---“ “You said you normally kiss people on the cheeks. One kiss won’t hurt.” I turned her statement earlier against her. She heaved an exasperated sigh and scratched her forehead---to which was a little similar to Jessica’s but Jessica’s still wider so...

“It’s YOUR second time.” She continues to protest and I can’t help but laugh at just how cute and flustered she got.

“Come on.” The grin painted on my face got wider even when I looked away and pointed my index finger on my cheek. “My chubby cheek is waiting.” I don’t know what’s really gotten into me but ever since that ‘incident’ at the parking lot, I got a little more courageous and confident.

I heard another sigh from Tiffany. “Alright! But don’t you dare tell anyone about this! Not even Sooyoung or Hyoyeon or---“

“Okay. I get it.”

My heart pounded hard on my chest when I felt Tiffany getting closer and closer and closer until I can finally feel her breathing against the skin of my cheek. She blew air on my cheek, and I just realized that she sighed again for the umpteenth time. “I can’t do this.” I immediately turned my head. “Why not?” We both jumped at the sudden close proximity of our faces; the tip of our noses were almost touching. Tiffany pulled back and looked away once again.

She nervously fiddled her fingers; head hung low. I took this as an opportunity to get back at her for kissing me on the cheek a few days back.

Her body tensed in surprise (and I think nervousness) when I suddenly leaned in and placed a quick peck on her left cheek, leaving a loud smack as I pull away. My lips quirked up on the sides in victory. “Now we’re even.” I say to her, and she hasn’t looked at me yet.

I looked down on my sketchpad with the same grin mixed with a smirk. I think it should’ve been obvious by now that I like her more than just a friend and I don’t think she has a problem with that. Which means there’s a possibility that she likes me too. Like what Yuri concluded.

When I didn’t feel her moving, I decided to go see what’s wrong. But right when I turned my head towards her direction, the space between our faces completely vanished. My head was spinning around in a twirl and I couldn’t hear anything but our breaths and my thumping heart about to rip out of my chest any moment. We both had our eyes as wide as a deer, and none of us were actually pulling away.

But just when I came to a realisation that Tiffany’s lips were so soft like cotton and that she tastes like strawberry and winter melon and how our lips fit perfectly against each other, Tiffany pulls away---so far back she almost fell from her chair. I caught her by the elbow to prevent her fall. I pull her close to me again.

A slap landed across my arm and the next thing I know she was blushing again. Only this time, she almost looked like a red apple. “Why’d you turned your head?!” She exclaimed. And I know I should be laughing but my cheeks feel warm and the butterflies inside my stomach were wrestling each other again.

“I... didn’t know you were going to... kiss me...” I said slowly, and that only received another slap in the arm. “I HATE YOU!” And yeah... I was laughing at her now. “If I knew you were going to kiss me on the cheek, I should’ve stayed still. But you were so quiet and I thought I should go see what you were doing and... that happened.”

She slapped my arm again before pulling away from my hold. She then buries her face in her hands. “Ugh! This is so embarrassing!” I raised my hands levelled with my head as I turn away. “Your fault, not mine.” This time, she pinched my elbow. “Ow~ Stop it! Or I’m gonna kiss you!” I warned. And I think deep inside me, I meant it.

She was about to slap me again but I fortunately caught her hands. I pulled her closer to me; not too hard. Her breath hitched as I started to inch closer. She wasn’t fighting back, she just let me get closer and closer, and that was the only confirmation I needed to go on.

Tiffany slowly closes her eyes. I stifled a laugh. I closed the gap between us and planted a lingering kiss on the corner of her lips. I laughed so hard when I pulled away from her. Her eyes shot open upon hearing my signature laugh and she started chasing me around inside the empty classroom. Our laughter soon filled the air.

For once, I was contented.

After our tutoring sessions (which eventually turned into a playful one) I immediately went down to the cafeteria and met with Yoona and Yuri inside Sbarro. I was walking down the hallway with a huge smile on my face as I rewind my mind back on what happened between me and Tiffany earlier. It wasn’t like she was my girlfriend now, no. Our relationship still needed that push, and that kiss was a starting point.

It took me a few seconds before I got to process that Yuri was waving towards me from their table. I eventually waved back and started to jog towards them. “Hey.” I said as soon as I reached the table. Yuri acknowledged my presence with a playful pat on the back (to which came out a little harder than usual LOL) whilst Yoona just nodded her head once.

“Something wrong?” I ask. Yoona doesn’t answer, but Yuri does. “I don’t know. She’d been like that ever since earlier.” I waved a hand in front of Yoona’s face but to no avail, she just glanced at my direction. “Yah Yoona---“

“Unnie, can we go home?” Oh.

I’ve been with Yoona ever since forever and I know very well when she’s okay and when she’s not. And now, she’s definitely not. And I also know that she didn’t really wanna talk about it right now. Well, since Yuri told me Yoona had been ignoring her ever since earlier until now. So I didn’t give further protests and nodded. “Let’s go” is what I tell my friends last before the three of us stood and started walking at the back of the campus.

On the next day, Thursday, something incredibly better than what happened yesterday, occur. I wasn’t expecting it either. Tiffany looked like the type of ‘only-my-best-friends-come-to-my-house’ person, and her asking me today if I wanted to come totally blew me away. Of course it took me several moments before I said ‘yes’, and I think I must’ve looked like an idiot because Tiffany just laughed at me.

“Okay then, see you after school.” Is what she tells me before she heads to the library to meet with her sisters.

I don’t exactly know why she’d invite me over to her house all of a sudden, but at the same time, I don’t see any valuable reason for her not to. I mean, we are friends. And crashing a friend’s place is a part of the phase. Okay. Maybe I just got too excited.

Since Tiffany’s a rich kid (I presume) and is definitely wealthier than me and Yuri, I’m picturing a house that’s carved out of maybe a Victorian concept or Contemporary Federal kind of home. I don’t know. It suits her style. She looks like an American girl. And wait, didn’t she say they lived in California for five years? Yeah. It’s a perfect fit.

After classes end, I drove both Yuri and Yoona home first and changed into more comfortable clothes in exchange of the skirt, the white blouse, the blazer, and the necktie. I’m more fond of shirts, pants, and a pair of sneakers. Sometimes shorts. So for the sake of going to school, I had to endure. But aside from that, there’s still one thing I had to endure before I exit the house.

“Where are you going?” Yuri asks me as soon as my right foot landed at the bottom of the stairs. I look at her weirdly with one eyebrow raised. I set my other foot down on the cold granite floor and grabbed my shoes from the shoe rack under the staircase. “I told you Tiffany invited me to dinner, right?” I say as I emerge from the mini-storage room under the stairs. I closed up on the couch and sat down to put on my shoes. “So it’s true?!” Yuri’s voice went up a pitch higher than normal. She was holding a bag of Cheetos and was munching it noisily. “Yeah. Who told you I was joking?” I snorted a laugh and stood.

At times like this, I should me making fun of Yuri’s contorted face, but I was running a little late so, I’ll save that for later. I dug my hand inside the bag of junkfood and fished out some. “I’ll see you later.” I patted her on the shoulder (not forgetting to wipe the cheese bits on her arm in the process) And grabbed my jacket from the costumer.

From my house, I drove for approximately twenty minutes to Skyridge Village, and additional five minutes before I managed to find Tiffany’s house. Scratch it. It was technically a mansion.

“Woah.”

I opened my window to just crane my head up and stare at the gigantic wrought iron gates standing in front of me. I was right. Their house is a lot bigger than mine and Yuri's combined.

I got so immersed about the gates that I didn’t notice someone approaching my side. “Excuse me? Are you looking for someone, miss?” I backed away immediately upon the man’s (who I assume is a security guard) muse. He examined me up and down like a robot. “Uhh... is this 857A Block 10?” Instead of nodding his head or saying a simple ‘yes’, he asks for my name. “Kim Taeyeon.” Is what I tell him, and he immediately flicks his flashlight and scans the interior of my car. He turns off the flashlight and heads back to the guard house without a word. That made me confused for a moment, until suddenly, the gates were starting to open.

This. Is. So. Cool.

“Wow.” I chuckled to myself. I steered the wheel and drove off into their lengthy driveway. They have a deep affection to pine trees I must say. It took almost forty seconds until I got to the main doors of the mansion. I found myself lost in a trance once again. There were four steps on the stereobate that led up onto the main double doors of the house. I’ve never seen an architecture as amazing as this.

A lone knock on the driver’s side window cut off my thoughts midway. I unlatched my seatbelt and lowered the window. I was kind of surprised to see Sooyoung on the other side, grinning away as if she was too amused to see me. “Welcome to the mansion, Tae~” She greeted; all too cheerfully. Wait. Why is she here anyways? Oh right, they’re friends. Sooyoung unlocked my door from the inside with her long arms and opened the door.

As soon as I stood down of the vehicle, a guy with average height and wore a white buttoned shirt and matching black pants, soon slipped into the Explorer and drove the car away from where Sooyoung and I stood. “I’m guessing you have your own parking lot?” I averted my gaze up to the shikshin beside me. Her grin went wider. “We own more cars than you think we do.” She patted me on the shoulder and led the way.

“Come on, Tiffany’s waiting for you.”

I followed suit.

And the surprises that kept me staring in awe didn’t stopped where I think it did.

“Prepare to be amazed.”

And I was---amazed that is, by the massive interior details of the mansion that I unconsciously blurted the word ‘awesome’ right away. “Tiffany told me you have a distinct taste in art. I knew you’d say that.”

My brain barely registered what Sooyoung had said, and was still saying as I let my eyes trail up the grand staircase that stood in front of me. The mansion has three floors (minus the rooftop) And on the second floor lied another set of stairs. “What’s on the second floor?” I finally asked Sooyoung. “The kitchen, the dining hall, the living area and some other bunch of recreation rooms.” Sooyoung started climbing up the stairs and I almost immediately caught up. She answers my unvoiced question. “The bedrooms are located at the third floor.” Okay. I think I just said the word ‘wow’ for hundreds of times already. When Sooyoung turns to the right to enter the dining hall, that’s when I remembered my question.

“What’s the use of the first floor?”

Sooyoung chuckled before she turned to me. “It serves as the ballroom.”

Oh.

“Tiff! Your boyfriend’s here!”

I swear in that exact same moment, I impulsively slapped Sooyoung in the arm so hard it almost echoed inside the room. Tiffany emerged from the kitchen with an apple in hand. She threw it towards Sooyoung without caution, but to my surprise, Sooyoung caught it with one hand.

“Shut up, Sooyoung.” Tiffany glares at her, to which I find really attractive.

Sooyoung takes a bite from the apple and raised her hands in front of her. “Chill, Miyoung, chill.” Tiffany slowly dropped the icy daggers and looked at Sooyoung straight in the eye. Sooyoung stopped laughing and looked at her the same. They were like talking to each other in telepathy.

Wait. Miyoung?

Tiffany grabs Sooyoung by the collar before I even got to speak. “Seohyun’s waiting for you upstairs. Go!” Sooyoung didn’t protest even when Tiffany pushed her towards the staircase.

We both turn to each other as soon as Sooyoung disappears into a hallway on the third floor. Tiffany lets out her winning eye-smile and grabs my hand. We walk into the dining hall.

I gathered my voice to speak. “Miyoung? Is that your real name?”

We both sat at their long dining table that’s made of oak and has eight total Chippendale chairs. We sat at the ends, and were across of each other.

Tiffany sets down her silverware and looked at me. “Yeah... I... I guess I forgot to tell you that.” She ended the sentence with a low chuckle. I smiled. “No. It’s okay. You didn’t have to tell me everything.” Bitter. Taeyeon. You’re being bitter again. “No. I really wanted to tell you that but it’s just... I don’t like my Korean name as much.” Did I ever tell you how cute she is whenever she’s embarrassed about something? Aigoo...

“Why didn’t you like it? It’s cute.” My smile grew wider. Okay. I’m back to being confident. “I mean, Miyoung is a beautiful name.” I witness Tiffany smile and I thank God for my talking prowess.

“Are you sweet talking me?” Tiffany then asks me after a while. I let out a sly smirk. “Why? Is it working?” She didn’t answer though. She just grinned and resumed eating. I’ll take that as a yes?

After finishing dinner, Tiffany took me around the mansion, like a mini fieldtrip. From there I discovered a lot of things inside this enormous place. They have like almost all of the gaming and sporting rooms of every kind. They have a four-lane bowling alley, an arcade room where you can play billiards and video games. They have a movie theatre. They have a swimming gym. They have a basketball court. They have a recording studio. And I can go on and on and won’t be able to finish until noon tomorrow. Like wow, their mansion can be featured in the MTV Cribs to be honest.

“Don’t you ever get bored?”

I ask her the moment we settled down on the bench swing by the backyard. I swear their backyard looks like a mini golf course. It’s refreshing.

From my peripheral view, I see Tiffany turn to look at my side profile while I stare at the night sky. “No. Not really.” She takes an amount of fresh air into her lungs. “I have everything I need; I have everyone I need here.” She tells me, and I know exactly what she meant. Earlier, she told me some other things I didn’t knew about. Things like professor Seo Inguk was actually their adopted brother, and how Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, and Sunny lives here with them too.

At first I didn’t get it. But soon, I realized that they were just like how Yuri, Yoona, and I live together in one roof. I guess that’s just how true friends are.

I got so lost in a trance---staring up at the dark sky painted with stars and a little bit of clouds, and a moon. A full moon. I smiled upon reminiscing the times when my cousins and I used to watch the full moon back in Jeonju along with our other relatives, and my mom and dad. Just sitting there, letting the moon’s light shine on us. It’s weird, I know. But I guess that’s just how some things are.

“Do you want to stay in?” Tiffany’s voice woke me up. “Huh?” Wait. Stay in? What?

Tiffany lifts her head from my shoulder (which I barely registered she did) and looks up at me. “Do you want to spend the night here?” She rephrases. And I think my whole brain just melted and dissipated. Tiffany literally wipes the baffled expression off my face. “We’re not going to do anything, okay? I just wanted to know if you want to stay here since it’s late and I don’t want you to drive in the middle of the night.”

“Did I say we were going to do anything? Tsk tsk tsk. ert.” And Tiffany slaps my arm right there. “Shut up.”

“So you’re actually concerned about my safety, huh?”

Tiffany pinches the skin underneath my arm and looks away; biting her lower lip.

“Of course I am. You’re my friend.”

Before I met Tiffany, I used to like the word ‘friend’ so much. Because at times when I feel alone, it was the one thing that holds me together and keeps me up on my feet. Yuri and Yoona were always there for me all throughout like I always am for them. But now, hearing Tiffany say it to me, I just feel like... I wanted that to change... change into something more. Something beyond that perimeter. I wanted her to see me more than just someone who will be there whenever Sunny wasn’t.

But I can’t push that now. Because I don’t even know if she likes me to that extent. I’ll just be glad that we’re even friends for now.

“I’ll stay in.”

Tiffany scoots closer to me and leans her head onto my shoulder again.

“Can I hold your hand?” Where the bravery came from, I’m not sure. But eitherway, Tiffany doesn’t decline. She lays out her hand between us for me to grab hold of. I carefully slid my left hand over her right, and I felt electricity run through my veins as soon as I did. And it’s not because Tiffany’s hand was ice-cold again.

“Why is your hand always cold?”

I feel her shrug her shoulders. “I’m not cold. You’re just too warm.”

This girl do know how to make me smile.

[Oh so you’re going to sleep with Tiffany?]

“What?! No! I mean I’m going to spend the night in the mansion in a different room! You idiot!” I laughed so loud at Yuri on the other line. She was laughing too. In our friendship, teasing each other is the norm.

[Okay, okay. So you’re spending the night there while you left me here with a bummed out deer. I’m totally okay with that!]

“Yah! It’s not my fault Jessica didn’t ask you out.” I heard Yuri let out a groan. [Okay! I get it! Tiffany likes you! And Jessica doesn’t like me! OKAY!]

I raised my right hand levelled with my head as if being caught by a cop. “I didn’t say anything.” We went silent after that, and I was close to thinking she hung up. But the sound of her breath indicated she was still there. I cleared my throat. “So I guess I’ll just tell you everything tomorrow. We still have mathematics class first thing in the morning.”

[Ugh. Tell me about it.]

“Alright. Good night, Yul.”

[Yeah yeah. Just don’t be too noisy there. And don’t let her dominate you!]

“What?? Yah---“

[Bye~]

Tot... tot... tot...

Good riddance. Aish! That erted black kid.

I was about to go to sleep, when my phone beeped on the bedside table. Thinking it was Yuri, I swiped the screen immediately and read the message. My smile grew wider than it had to when I found out it was Tiffany. “Sleep well, Taeng~” Is what it says. On a regular basis, she calls me ‘Tae’ since that was my nickname she’d grew fond of. But in other occasions, she also call me ‘Taeng’ or ‘Taengoo’. I don’t know. Maybe she just really finds my nicknames... cute.

To: Tippani~ <3

Sleep well too, Miyoung-ssi ^^

I snorted. I know she didn’t like to be called by her real name (like what I’ve witnessed with Sooyoung calling her that) and I guess I just wanted to see how she’ll react to my teasing.

My phone beeped again on my hand.

From: Tippani~ <3

Haha. Very funny. Just sleep, you dork :P

I giggled at her response. I can’t believe we’re even texting each other when we’re just a few rooms apart. It’s funny. But maybe I could get used to it.

To: Tippani~ <3

Good night :)

I don’t doubt I’ll be sleeping with a smile on my face.

From: Tippani~ <3

Good night, Taetae <3

---

NOTE: Skyridge Village isn't really a village in Korea. I just made that up hahahaha xD

So, how was it? I hope it's alright. I might be finishing this up sooner than I thought. There's only about a chapter or two left til this ends. Until then, stay tuned~

Thanks for the subs and the upvotes, gheis! I'll see ya'll soon <3