Sunny blinked at her and shook away her thoughts. "Isn't she very talented?"
"Mhm." Taeyeon hummed.
The two friends cheered at the eye smiling girl, who was performing a dance the group is working on for a winter break performance.
"You are smart and talented. Have you thought of applying to a club or something?" Sunny asked Taeyeon as the practice performance had just ended.
"No."
"Do you have a hobby?"
"Nah."
"What do you do after school then?"
"Nothing."
"I saw you drawing something the other day, are you making something perhaps?"
"It's none of your business!" Taeyeon said out of frustration, unintentionally raising her voice.
"Oh." Sunny did not know what else to say and followed behind Taeyeon as they headed towards the gym's exit where Tiffany will come out.
"TAEYOON!" Sunny chased after her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be annoying. Hey!"
"What?"
"My mom really likes art too, I think. Maybe she can help you with your hobby!" Sunny hoped that this may get Taeyeon's attention to be more friendly with her.
"Here is her number!" Sunny handed her a business card.
"You carry your mom's business cards with you?"
"She is a freelancer; I try to help where I can."
"I see. Thank you."
Sunny smiled at her then followed the other shorty to find Tiffany.
When Tiffany appeared out of the dance club meeting room, Sunny looked expectantly at Taeyeon. Of course, the girl grinned like an idiot and went over to Tiffany straight away. After looking at how Taeyeon behaves around Tiffany, Sunny started to question whether if Taeyeon notices how infatuated she is. Taeyeon would find excuses to get subtle bodily contact with Tiffany whenever possible. When she gets rejected, sometimes it could ruin Taeyeon's entire day.
------
At a crossroad after a few blocks from the bus stop, Sunny separated away from Tiffany and Taeyeon as their headings were in opposite directions. Not that Taeyeon doesn't like Sunny, her heart was filled with joy knowing that she is getting alone time with Tiffany. Every day she breezed through the classes and the only thing she looked forward to being was taking the bus home with her favourite person at school.
After saying goodbye to Sunny, Taeyeon grabbed Tiffany's hand almost immediately, anxiously interlocking their fingers and the two walked towards their home. She only held Tiffany's hand after they parted with Sunny, thinking that it might make Sunny feel left out, but she knows that she only wants Tiffany for herself.
Their usual routine was getting snacks and drinks at a nearby café, then spend their time together watching a movie or studying. And since they had final exams and deadlines coming up, they decided to dedicate this time to schoolwork. Most of the time they studied at the library, but after a while, Tiffany grew more curious about Taeyeon's personal life and asked to study at her house. To her disappointment, Taeyeon refused the idea every time she brought it up. In the end, she gave in and asked the girl to study at her house instead.
After her argument with Jessica, Tiffany grew closer and closer with Taeyeon. They hanged more and more, and Taeyeon came over every other night during weekdays to study or just to hang.
"Why do we always come to my house? This is the fourth time now! I want to see your house! And maybe meet Yoona too." She asked, sitting at the coffee table eyeing at her homework sheets.
"Ah. Maybe during weekends sometimes. She's always busy, she is gifted and all." Taeyeon made another excuse. The truth is she just wants Tiffany all to herself.
"You said that last time!" Tiffany whined. "Why are you so secretive about your house? Do they lock you up under a staircase like Harry Potter?"
"That's a nice analogy. Sometimes I do feel like that."
"Hm? And how's that?"
"They don't like me," Taeyeon said playing with a piece of paper in her nearly empty notebook.
"Why wouldn't they like you? They are your family...even if you are adopted."
"How did you know that I was adopted? Jessica told you?"
Tiffany panicked a little, she knew she shouldn't have asked about her behind her back, especially asking someone that the girl was not on good terms with. She quickly tried to recover herself, not wanting to get on her bad side. Getting closer to Taeyeon frustrates her sometimes and there were times when Tiffany couldn't stand the girl and the two would stop talking for days. But what makes the latter keep coming back is her own curiosities, like why this girl seems more than meets the eye. And she admits to herself that part of the reason was so she could satisfy her own pride, she hasn't met a single person she could not befriend or at least be on good terms with. She had never met anyone so secretive and introverted as the girl before her. Each and every day she finds new things about her, but that only raises more questions than answers. "Anyone could guess, you are nothing like Yoona!"
"What is Yoona like hmm? Why don't you tell me then?"
"She is a LOT nicer; she is kind..." She paused when she tried to describe someone whom she had rarely talked to before. Tiffany and Jessica were middle school acquaintances with Yoona, and both of them knew Yoona was one of the smartest and kindest kids in their school. However, they didn't hang with the girl much as she was always busy studying. She coughed, cleared her throat. "At least she isn't like you, grumpy, impatient and...despicable!"
"How am I despicable? That's Jessica." Taeyeon retorted.
"Right! After all those times you pranked Jess knowing she might get back at you one day. Not to mention your methods were very foolish."
Taeyeon was unimpressed at that topic, "didn't I say..." remembering their argument last time over the magazine incident, Tiffany is just going to call her stupid.
"And something, something with a food tra..."
"Alright! What about grumpy and impatient?"
"Why don't you go ask yourself that? Mr. I-know-everything-but-I-don't-want-to-teach-anybody-because-I-rather-just-sit-there-and-be-grumpy-that-I have-no-patience-to-teach-her-best-friend!"
"Do you want a respirator?" She suggested when she noticed Tiffany taking a deep breath after saying the entire sentence in one go. "And you are my best friend?"
"Do you want to be my best friend?"
"No."
Tiffany frowned. "Why not??"
"Because Jessica is your best friend."
"She is. So what?"
"She let me be your best friend?"
Tiffany chuckled. "Since when do I need her permission?"
"I just feel like me and she is like natural enemies, you know. What if she eats you alive knowing you made me your best friend? What if I bore you to death?" She was not sure if Tiffany really wants to be her best friend. She wasn't as pretty nor as outgoing as Jessica after all. Tiffany liked talking and hanging out so much, whereas she liked living more quietly and alone.
"You won't," Tiffany reassured her. "I like spending time with you, it feels so free it's comforting. Other than when you are yelling at me over math problems, I think you are quite nice to be around." She paused to think, tapping her index finger on her chin. "I feel like there are still some mysteries about you that I haven't discovered yet."
"Mystery?"
Here Tiffany starts listing all the things that she is curious about her. From her hobbies, favourite food, favourite past-time and why she is so smart, did she have a famous teacher at her home, and a lot of other questions about her that she, herself, didn't know the answer to yet. Although they have been hanging for months together, Taeyeon hid details about herself as if they were leaked her world would collapse.
"What? Am I that interesting of a puzzle to you?"
Tiffany nodded her head repeatedly hoping to get some answers to her curiosities.
"I will answer them when I am ready. But please don't be disappointed, I don't remember most of it." She ends up saying in reply, although she knew the answers sounded boring in her head.
"That's ok. I am willing to listen when you are ready."
The attention from Tiffany always made her body warm-up and a shuddering feeling that she still can't describe. She can't believe someone other than Yoona likes to spend time with her. She took this pleasure to heart and responded to this nice feeling in silence.
Hearing no response from her, Tiffany returned to her textbooks and sheets of homework after letting a giggle at the silly expression on her new best friend's face. She studied for a good while without realizing that Taeyeon was just sitting there, staring at her, or playing with her pen.
The only time when Taeyeon studied or pretended to, was when Tiffany's mom brought over some sliced fruits. After she left, Taeyeon busied with the plates full of fruit and continued her shameless staring. This was all Taeyeon had ever done when she studied with Tiffany.
"Aren't you ever going to study?" Tiffany asked, finally lifting her face from her homework.
"I did. And you can't really study for the writing part..." Taeyeon stopped talking when Tiffany grabbed Taeyeon's notebook from the other side of the coffee table.
Her furrowed eyebrows grew more prominent as she flipped through the almost empty notebook. With the semester almost finished, Taeyeon only had less than 10 pages of notes.
"Is this ALL your notes?"
Taeyeon nodded and kept nodding like a bobblehead expecting more yes or no questions.
"For the entire semester?"
Still nodding.
"This is your only notebook?"
...
Tiffany rolled her eyes and flicked Taeyeon's forehead with her finger.
"Ow! What was that for?" She complained, frowning. After rubbing her forehead, she started snacking on the plate full of fruits again.
"EAT! EAT! EAT! All you come here is to sit there and eat! Tae how are you going to study with no notes?"
"I already know the materials!"
"Then why did you even come to my house all the time if you aren't going to study with me and just sit there?" Tiffany teased her...again.
"You said you like spending time with me, I am spending time with you right now..." Taeyeon got quieter as the sentence came out. She realized how unproductive she sounded, how after all this time making excuses and coming to Tiffany's house, she could be learning new things and studying to get ahead. Getting caught off guard by the question, she tried to conjure up some excuse, but somehow her mind was everywhere but studying. You smell nice. You feel warm. You make me feel warm. Because I just want to sit here next to you. I want to feel...Wait, no that's not right.
Seeing how quiet Taeyeon had become. "Ok, ok, you can come even if you don't want to study," Tiffany reassured her. So cute! She thought.
As expected, the girl's expression came to life and gave her a sheepish grin. "Fine, I will study. Miss. Hwang."
It wasn't entirely a lie, but all she ended up doing was reading the same paragraph over and over.
...
After each night together, they would get closer and closer. Taeyeon would become more and more infatuated with Tiffany after learning more about her. She learned that Tiffany was raised mostly by her aunt and uncle, where her mother died when she was 11 and her father went to jail after mysteriously trying to rob a convenience store.
After watching their first movie together, she started to finally realize how nice it was to have a friend. Before long, she noticed how lucky she was to have a friend like Tiffany and enjoyed the pleasure of being liked and trusted like she never had before. She felt like Tiffany was all she needed in her life.
Tonight, she discovered that she could sit next to Tiffany, and the latter didn't mind it at all. She was pretty sure that's what all other best friends did, but to her, it felt like somewhat of an achievement – first time close with someone that's not her immediate family.
Coming to Tiffany's house and spending time with Tiffany alone became her one favourite thing to do next to hanging out with Yoona. She wondered what the winter break will be like when they finally get more time on their hands.
She was too excited that she forgot about Jessica and her group, leading to another confrontation in which she might not be so lucky.