Length of Happiness

Chapter 19 - Deja Vu

Looking at how angry Taeyeon was, Tiffany knew that she might have gone too far. This is the first time she has seen Taeyeon angry. Before, the latter got frustrated when she was tired or when Tiffany asked one too many questions. But not genuinely angry. "I'm sorry, Tae...what I meant was since Sunny has been a good company, can't we try...." She said it in a softer tone.

Before Tiffany could finish her sentence, Taeyeon walked out of the classroom without another reply.

After taking a few deep breathes to refresh herself, she walked towards the exit, and a piece of paper on the blackboard caught her eye.

It's only one weekend away from the midterm, which is three days from now. The teacher has posted their assignment and test scores for the semester thus far.

Tiffany traced her fingers from Taeyeon's student number to her list of assignments over and over again. Indeed, she did not imagine things; Taeyeon's grades were much lower than before. Not just that, the girl who used to score perfectly on everything has precisely 86% on every assignment, quiz and test. This was much lower than she'd expected of her, let alone this is nowhere near Jessica's ranking.

"I will help her get what she wants."

Tiffany remembered what the shorty told her during the break. Damn it! Don't tell me that, shorty! Jessica, just what did you do??

------

Early next morning, every student in the class huddled around the blackboard to see their standings.

"92, yes!" Yuri chirped happily and got even happier to see Taeyeon's row of 86's. More good news to tell her princess.

"Save it," Taeyeon said when she noticed the tall girl looking in her direction.

Yuri snorted and left her be.

After the class has started, Taeyeon looked at the seat next to her. This time it's empty.

Damn, She thought. It's one of those times when seemingly forgotten memories pop back due to familiar surroundings.

One semester ago, she started class and was also unprepared for the exam; the only difference was this time, it's already the midterms. If this were still the last semester, she would have loved to have two seats alone to herself.

Unfortunately, it is also around the same time of the semester when she met Tiffany...and Sunny.

She remembered when Sunny would listen to her talking non-stop about whatever interested her. Sunny never fell asleep, got bored or told her she had enough. Many memories came back where she talked nonsense, complained about class not teaching fast enough and other things. The other shorty was there to listen. Although she didn't feel the same warmth with Sunny as Tiffany, Taeyeon admits she enjoyed having Sunny there, and she did kind of took her for granted.

She adjusted her seat to a more comfortable position.

Tiffany. The amicable and sometimes even affectionate girl that somehow adores her so much. Always so enthusiastic and outgoing, people liked having her around, and no wonder no one slacked off when she was at practice with her dance club.

It was Tiffany who first brought her to the mall, and she had fun. At first, she didn't know the point of buying stuff that you will only like for a few moments, then it just sits on a shelf somewhere if it's lucky, but tossed in a box somewhere if it's not? Wouldn't it be more fun being happy later and work harder right now when you have the brains to do so? Hanging and wasting time right now just make the future less bright. Her goal had always been to work hard, settle down early, so she can focus on maintaining the most prolonged happiness she can imagine.

But hanging with Tiffany did bring her feelings of other types of accomplishments. She felt comfortable and at ease, and somehow after a day with her, she felt happier than before. In some cases, it also made her hobbies more enjoyable. But why?

Ack! It's that same sudden, painful headache again. I must be overthinking. She rubbed the back of her head again.

"Miss. Taeyoon!" A loud voice interrupted her thoughts finally.

"If you are not going to listen, please go stand outside of the classroom." The teacher scolded her, sounding rather impatient this time.

Without a sound, she obliged and stood just outside of the classroom.

------

Midterm day arrived sooner than she thought. She is not worried at all, just like the last time.

Long answer? No problem. Just fill in the correct answer, but half-assed explanations.

Short answer? I need to get these perfect.

Multiple choice? Easy.

Math and sciences? Correct answers, but only show half the steps.

She looked over her exam sheet, scanned it three times to be exact.

This should be enough for an 86%. Wait, I need 0.5 marks. Hmmm, there are three points where it satisfies this condition. Instead of just answering one of them correctly, I will answer two instead.

Perfectly 86! 64.5/75. She clapped her hands together gleefully, causing some eyes to turn towards her.

"What's with the noise!? Are you already finished? Please hand over the paper and quietly leave the classroom." the proctor instructed.

She wandered around the hallways waiting for lunch because she finished the exam super early, just like last time. Curious about how Sunny is doing, she walked towards Sunny's classroom and peeked inside the glass panel on the door.

She let out a small gasp when she saw Jessica in there too, so Sunny is in the same class. But where is Sunny?

Maybe she finished early too?

Then she decided to go out and get some fresh air, thinking of going to her usual spot at the staircase beside the playing field.

As she walked past a storage room supposedly used for storing tools that electricians and maintenance workers use, she heard an audible muffle and a tiny squeal.

She turned the doorknob and abruptly opened the door.

"Sunny?"

The said girl's eyes were red, and she had a piece of handkerchief stuffed in her mouth.

"You know they didn't lock the door, right? You could have just stood up and opened it."

Sunny was unable to talk but squirmed uncomfortably on the ground, trying to get free.

Taeyeon bent down to help. "Even if they tied you up with a zip tie, you can still get up and turn the doorknob."

She didn't have scissors, so she looked around the storage room and luckily, she found a paper clip holding some forms together on a shelf. With some force, she pushed the stretched-out paper clip through the hole of the zip tie and eventually, the zip tie became undone.

After undoing one more zip tie around her former classmate's ankles and patting her down on her skirt, she frowned at the look on her face but smiled again. "Have you written the exam yet?"

"...No...uh...th...ank you. I...got to write...it now. Thank. You." said Sunny in a shakier voice than usual.

It still felt the same as before, being addressed as a mere acquaintance. Still, she decided to give some encouraging words to her regardless. "I hope you do well, Sunny."