"Fany, please let me explain? I'm sorry. Can we talk?"

Taeyeon looked at her text over and over again. Why did it sound like she had cheated on her girlfriend and now the latter was avoiding her? It felt like she was begging for forgiveness. Man, I'm so whipped.

This was her tenth text to Tiffany. And as expected, it got ignored too. Tiffany had read the texts, she knew, since the app indicated it. It seemed like she was not going to get any replies anytime soon. Perhaps she's busy with work, she comforted herself.

"Taeyeon?"

She looked up from her phone and found Suzy looking at her.

"Hm?"

"You've spaced out for close to 10 minutes, you okay?" Suzy frowned as she looked at the dejected Taeyeon infront of her.

Ever since that night Taeyeon had been spacing out more often and would stare at her phone for a long period of time, as if waiting for a very important call or text message. Of course, Suzy knew who she was waiting for but it was still kind of awkward for them to talk about Tiffany so they would usually talk about anything but the model. But perhaps it was time to talk about it since things can’t go on like that.

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

"Still nothing from Tiffany?"

Taeyeon shook her head and sighed. "She's not replying."

"I'm sorry for causing this. If I weren't there that night-"

"Hey, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. We were there for work, remember?"

Taeyeon cut her off since it was ridiculous that she thought that way. It was nobody's fault that things turned out this way. If any, she should be the one to blame.

"But if I were to leave straight after, this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't say that..." Taeyeon bit her lip. She felt apologetic that Suzy was blaming herself for this. Nobody knew Tiffany would turn up that day so it couldn't be helped. And how did she manage to hurt two girls at one go?

"I can help explain to her if needed," suggested Suzy.

She knew Tiffany might not believe Taeyeon, but she would believe her, right? Afterall she's her 'rival'. When your rival denied dating your love interest, for sure it would be the truth? If Tiffany was still doubtful, Suzy was going to give her a piece of her mind.

Taeyeon's a gem, and if she's not aware how precious the blonde was, she would definitely snatch her away. She could care for Taeyeon better than Tiffany did. What is she, three? Running away and avoiding someone just like that without giving the person a chance to explain.

"There's no need to. I've caused you enough trouble."

"Anytime you need me, Taeyeon, I'll be here. As a friend of course," she quickly added the last sentence. "I'm a good listener."

"I know. Thank you. Don't take this the wrong way but it's something we have to solve ourselves, Suzy." Taeyeon patted her shoulder as she stood up. "Let's go to that meeting you came to get me for."

 

---

 

"Are you sure about this?" Siwon asked as he helped Tiffany with her luggage.

"Yeah, don't worry. I've already informed my agency," replied Tiffany as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"You don't have to leave."

"It might be better this way."

Siwon looked at Tiffany who seemed to have matured a lot over the years. They had dated for 7 years and it was like they grew up together. It was a pity that they couldn’t walk down the aisle and promise each other forever. But at least things weren't awkward between them. Although his parents were shocked at their decision to split up but accepted it nevertheless.

"I'll miss you," Siwon whispered as he pulled Tiffany into a hug.

"I'll miss you too. Take care alright? Remember to not skip meals no matter how busy you are."

"I almost forgot how naggy you could get," he joked, which earned a light slap on his shoulder.

They continued walking towards the departure hall with Siwon pulling Tiffany's luggage. It was a light one since she had everything back in LA. There were still stuff left in Siwon's apartment which she promised she would get rid of them once she found a suitable apartment that she could afford.

"You sure you don't want to tell them the truth?" Siwon asked as they stopped in front of the check-in counter.

Tiffany told her friends she was going for an overseas shoot for a week or two. But none of them knew she had planned to go back to LA to see if she could settle there again. And of course, the purpose of the trip was to break the news of her split with Siwon to her family.

"Hm," she acknowledged with a hum, "they don't need to know the details."

"Not even Taeyeon?"

Tiffany subconsciously held her breath at the mention of that name. She wanted to scold Siwon for always bringing her up. He told her to talk to Taeyeon, find out what was going on instead of jumping into conclusions. She had been avoiding her since that night, which meant she stopped going to gatherings and hanging out at Sunny Day. Her friends did call to ask what happened and she told them she was busy with work- which was partly true.

She had no idea why she did this, avoiding Taeyeon when she did nothing wrong. Well, not like Tiffany did anything wrong previously for Taeyeon to avoid her. Thinking of payback now, Tiffany? Real smart.

"No, not even her."

Siwon checked his watch and realized it's almost time for Tiffany to check-in. He brought her into his arms again and hugged her tighter this time. He wasn't confident that she would come back. He knew her old agency would welcome her back with open arms, since they were quite reluctant to let her go the previous time.

"Be happy, alright? I didn't let you go for nothing. Talk to her, Tiff. She deserves a chance to clear all the misunderstanding, or whatever that's going on."

She tightened her hold on his waist and nodded her head against his shoulder.

I'll try, although I might have missed my chance.

 

---

 

"Still no news of her?"

Taeyeon looked up from her phone to see Sunny sitting across her. She shook her head and went back to typing on her phone.

She was constantly looking for Tiffany after that night but it was obvious the girl didn't wish to talk to her. Her calls and texts got ignored, she was barred from her apartment. She got help from her friends but they came back with the same results.

Yuri threatened her to make things right because she liked Tiffany as a friend. If she were to lose this friend she was going to give Taeyeon hell. She thought it was childish but understood where they were coming from. It all started with her.

She was the cause of all these. If she could control her emotions better, perhaps Tiffany would have been married to Siwon, and she would be dating Suzy now. But no, she had to mess things up and luck was always not on her side. When she wanted to make things right, Tiffany left. Her 2-weeks overseas shoot was a hoax.

After two weeks of being ignored, there was still no sight of Tiffany so Taeyeon camped outside the agency one day and saw the stylist who had worked with the model before. The stylist told her Tiffany took an infinite break and had left since a week ago.

Taeyeon went to look for Siwon straight after and he acknowledged that Tiffany left, but he didn't know where she went. Bull, Taeyeon thought. She knew it was a lie but kept quiet. She felt stupid and played, but of course she deserved it. 

"She will be fine, Taeyeon-ah. Maybe she just needs a breather. I'm sure she will come back."

"She left without telling us the truth. If that doesn't spell disaster I don't know what will." Taeyeon sighed dejectedly as she pocketed her phone. She had just sent another text to Tiffany, asking her to at least reply with a period or a blank text to let her know she's doing fine.

Taeyeon was worried sick. The only person who was still in contact with Tiffany was Siwon but his lips are sealed. There was no way Taeyeon could get anything out of him. She understood, because no matter how nice he was to let Tiffany go, deep down he still felt that he was the one for her. And well, Taeyeon was probably his least favourite person in the universe.

"Don't be so pessimistic. Have you thought of how you want to approach this? Her running away from your apartment that night meant something, although I don't know what."

"I...," Taeyeon paused, "you think it's okay if I were to... try?"

"Try what? Confessing again?"

Taeyeon nodded her head and fiddled with her fingers. Since both of them were single, she thought she might give it a try. Like Sunny said, Tiffany running away meant something. And she was hoping that 'something' would be what she had secretly wanted.

"Honestly? I would say go for it. You'll never know, Taeng, she might feel the same way." Sunny shrugged as she thought back on how Tiffany cried in her arms that confession night. That might mean something too, right?

"But first, we have to find her."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Taeyeon rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the smile escaping her lips.

She felt better now that she had Sunny's support. It meant that this time round, she's doing the right thing. Fany-ah, I'm coming for you.

 

---

 

"You WHAT?!"

She winced at her father's volume. She now knew where her loudness came from. Definitely genes.

"We split up, dad." She repeated herself.

"Is this some sort of a joke?"

"Do you think I'll fly all the way back to LA just to play a prank? I could've just done it over the phone."

Mr Hwang looked at his daughter with furrowed brows. What she said made sense, which meant this wasn’t a joke. But just a few months ago this girl excitedly called him to announce her engagement to Siwon, and now she's here to announce their break? What was going on?

Tiffany took a deep breath and held her dad's hand. "Dad, it was a mutual decision alright? We just felt that we're not for each other. So we broke up. There's no point holding on."

"Then you shouldn't have gotten engaged in the first place! I was so happy that I went around telling people! How am I supposed to explain the lack of wedding now?"

Tiffany kept quiet and continued holding her dad's hand, lightly caressing his knuckles as if it would soothe him. She knew how much he liked Siwon. He was like the son he never had. Her dad was probably just as upset as she was. And the fact that he had announced it to others made it worse.

Mr Hwang yanked his hand away from Tiffany, stood up and walked away, muttering under his breath how weird youngsters were these days. And something along the line of 'wasting time and youth'.

She watched as her dad went back to his room and slammed the door shut. She jerked at the impact but sighed in relief thereafter. At least his reaction was better than what she had anticipated. She could get used to the cold war and door slamming for now. At least she could check one more thing off her list.

Her phone vibrated for the umpteenth time. She had been getting messages from Taeyeon almost every hour, asking if she could explain and if they could meet.

She ignored all the texts but kept them in her phone. She had wanted to delete them but she couldn't. She wanted to have a part of Taeyeon with her, although it was just words pleading her to reply with something.

She wasn't even sure why she didn't have the courage to face Taeyeon. Was she afraid of putting her heart out in the open? Agreeing to meet Taeyeon just meant that she had to be honest with why she ran away that night, and she wasn't sure if she could confess.

Afterall, she just ended a 7-years long relationship. Wouldn't it be too fast to get into another one? People might think that she cheated on Siwon. Or that Taeyeon snatched her away from him. And in her opinion, the latter was worse. She didn’t mind people calling her names, but she wouldn't allow others to call Taeyeon names.

Taeyeon was the last thing on her list, no doubt. But that would have to wait. They were miles and miles apart, and she didn't like to resolve anything over the phone. She wanted to see Taeyeon in person.

 

---

 

"Hello?"

The other line was silent for about a minute, so she greeted again. "Hello? Who is this?"

"You really went back."

"T-Taeyeon?" She almost dropped the phone when the reply came. It was really unexpected. Her brain stopped functioning for a moment when she heard the familiar voice. Was she hallucinating now? How did she get her LA residential number?! She didn't remember giving it to any of them.

"You left."

Tiffany's heart broke into pieces at the tone Taeyeon was using. It was a mix of frustration, disappointment, and relief. She could imagine her biting a finger while holding her phone on the other hand.

"Taeyeon-ah..."

"Why didn't you reply?"

"I-"

"You read all the texts... why didn't you reply?"

"Tae-"

"Was it so difficult to reply with a period? I was worried sick!" Her volume rose towards the end of the sentence.

Taeyeon must have been really frustrated. She had hardly raised her voice. Tiffany kept quiet to let Taeyeon continue. Clearly she's not letting her talk.

"I was worried sick," repeated Taeyeon again, this time round softer than before.

"I'm sorry."

"When are you coming back?"

"I-I I don't know..." She answered honestly.

She had yet to approach the agency to see if they could offer her a job. So anything was still possible at this point of time. She heard a heavy sigh on the other line and gulped. Right now all she wanted to do was to pounce on Taeyeon and hug her tight.

 

---

 

"Please come back? Fany-ah, I swear nothing's going on between Suzy and I. We were working at my place and I thought you were the delivery guy. I'm sorry."

Taeyeon wasn't sure what she was apologizing for but she did anyway. She heard from someone that no matter what happened, apologize first and the chances of reconciliation was higher?

"Fany?" She called out again after getting no reply. The other line went silent and she lifted her phone off her ear to check if the call was still engaged. It was, so she placed it back and waited. At least she didn't hang up on me.

"Why are you always so nice to me? Even when I couldn't give you anything in return?"

"You gave me a lot… more than you know, Fany. Thanks to you I'm happier, thanks to you I'm a lot more engaging, thanks to you... I found out what I really want in life." And that's you.

"Taeyeon-ah, I'm not sure if I can-"

"Please come back? Come back, and we’ll talk about it."

"I can't. At least not now, Tae."

Taeyeon heard the way Tiffany called her and relaxed her shoulder. This meant Tiffany was no longer mad at her and was willing to hear her out. She had to thank Siwon for this as he was the one who provided her with Tiffany’s residential number.

It took a lot of begging and assurance that she would make sure to explain everything and make things right. Alas after two days, Siwon finally gave in and provided her with the number.

She took a day to think of what to say, should the call get through and Tiffany was the one on the other line. There were a lot of options, which include apologizing, scolding and whining. But when she heard the husky voice of Tiffany's over the phone, her brain went into overdrive and she had forgotten everything she wanted to say. She was relieved, and all she could come up with was to show Tiffany how worried she was.

“Then at least reply my messages? Talk to me, Fany-ah.”

Taeyeon heard a loud gasp so she sat up straighter and held the phone closer to her ear. "Fany? Tiffany, what's wrong? What happened?!"

"It's 3am in Seoul, Taeyeon! Why are you still awake?!"

She leaned back into the couch and chuckled. Tiffany sure knew how to make her worried.

"I wanted to call when you're awake and when no one else is at home. So I figured I should just wait."

"Go to bed, Taeyeon-ah! You still have work tomorrow. I’m hanging up."

"WAIT!" She shouted almost immediately, fearing that Tiffany had ended the call.

"What?"

"Reply my messages?" Taeyeon asked, in hopes of Tiffany saying yes.

"Alright, alright. Are you happy? Can you go to bed now?"

"Yes, mother."

And the line went dead.

Taeyeon had a goofy grin on her face. She wouldn't mind staying up to talk to Tiffany but she knew the brunette wouldn't let that happen. Without a doubt, she went to bed with a small smile on her face.

'Sweet dreams, Tae.'

 

---

 

My sincere apologies for the lack of updates! Soshi's comeback is overwhelming. Plus I've been getting loads of bull at work. XD

Can you feel it? TaeNy is coming.

Sorry if I made any mistakes here. Super sleepy and I can't think straight. And as usual, thanks for the subs and comments! ^^

-E