"So, you didn't even know your name?"
"Mhm..." Taeyeon said, hugging her pillow. What initially was supposed to be a quick Q&A turned into hours of conversations and a recitation of her life. Her eyes were almost shut, tired from hunger and too much talking. "Faa...any."
"Tae?"
"I am HUN-GA-RY." She said the last word with utmost clarity, saying the word syllable by syllable.
"Ok. Let's go eat!" Tiffany finally got up from their chair and stretched. "Ahhh, that took a while. I didn't know I had that many questions."
Just as Taeyeon was about to scoot of her bed, shuffling her knees.
"Just one more question!"
A short scream followed. "AHHH!"
PLOOF!
Taeyeon fell sideways off of her bed; luckily, her pillow prevented another knocking to her head. "Ughhh..." She groaned.
"Taeyoon! What happened?" Tiffany looked at the girl now lying on the ground, face snuggled up against her pillow.
"We...No...I have been talking for 2 hours about everything personal to me! Yoona is almost home, and we didn't even have dinner yet! Can't we eat dinner first!?"
A smile graced Tiffany's face, "You are inviting me to dinner?"
"YES! Now a cold and soggy dinner...." She frowned, oblivious to the slight grin on Tiffany's face.
Tiffany asked her from the beginning when she woke up at the hospital to unforgiving to every detail. When Taeyeon pretty much finished telling her story, most of the story was just her silly adventures with Yoona and their occasional family trips. Still, Tiffany was engrossed in the story, like having storytime with her mother when she was younger.
After finally getting up from the floor, Taeyeon slowly made her way to the bedroom door and turned the doorknob.
"AHHH!" She screamed for the second time that night, this time startling Tiffany out of her deep thoughts from Taeyeon's answers. "Jesus, Yoona, you scared the crap out of me...have you had dinner yet?"
Yoona looked at her sister, whose eyes half-closed, facial colours drained. Yoona was about to scold her older sister again until she saw another figure standing behind her. "I have...Oh my gosh! Tiffany! Why are you...Taeyoon, are you, two friends...?" Yoona's eyes darted back and forth between the two.
The said girl looked at her sister blankly for a second. "NO MORE QUESTIONS! LET ME EAT!" She said, feeling quite irritated, and walked past the door without turning back to heat her missed dinner.
She went over to their tiny kitchen and started heating the many dishes of leftovers while sitting on the counter with a slight frown, feeling half-asleep.
...
After some silence, Yoona looked at the girl standing by the door. Tiffany and Jessica were among the popular ones due to their parents working at a large company. They were always top performers and very talented. In Tiffany's case, she was talented and very studious, while Jessica, exceeding expectations, was talented and intelligent. Both were super pretty; that is a given. Tiffany was one of the last individuals on Yoona's mind that she thought Taeyeon would be able to make friends with.
"Hi." Yoona gave the girl a cute wave and a tiny bow. "S...Sorry, I just didn't realize her first friend would be you...I was just surprised."
"That's ok. I'm happy to know her and finally get to meet you. She gets grumpy, doesn't she?" Tiffany remarked.
Yoona mused at that comment. "She rarely gets that grumpy. This is one of those rare times I get to see her like that. She must be tired. What did you ask her?"
Tiffany coughed nervously and cleared her throat. "I was curious about her, so I might have asked one too many personal questions. But she doesn't get grumpy? She gets pretty frustrated when she was tutoring me." She said with a slight pout, hoping her friend's sister won't get upset at her for asking her sister something that might be private.
"She GOT frustrated!? Haha! Oh my gosh, I want to see that!" Yoona chuckled and smiled. "Maybe it's because she sees you as a friend."
"I think a friend would be more patient."
"Yup. Well, most of the time, she is, if I remember correctly. She never once yelled back nor lost her composure when our parents scolded her. Even after the fact, she remained her usual cheery self doing her things." She looked at the other girl, who looked slack-jawed. "To be honest, I don't know how she is like that. But anyway, aren't you hungry? From the sound of it, you haven't had dinner."
As the two also made their way to the kitchen, Tiffany looked guiltily at the girl dozing off on top of the kitchen counter. She checked the time, and it is already 10:36 PM, 2 hours from the time they arrived. Yoona made her way to the half-asleep girl.
"Come on, unnie, it's time to eat." She gently patted her upset sister's hand and helped her get down from the counter. "Tiffany, can you grab the food from the microwave and the counter, please?"
While they were eating, Taeyeon silently ate, and the other two started sharing their own stories that mainly happened during high school. Yoona sat across from her while Tiffany took the seat next to her.
"Aww, Tiffany, I wish I could help you again."
"Oh no, it's okay. Your sister here has been quite helpful...."
While munching on her rice, Taeyeon raised an eyebrow at that statement as it was not entirely true. It was Sunny that helped Tiffany the most, and she just ended up being an answer book.
"...indirectly." Tiffany corrected herself. "But she always gave the right answers, and did I tell you that Taeyeon got perfect on ALL her tests and assignments! Your parents must be so happy."
"Wow, really!? She must have improved since her preliminary exam; she didn't even get an 80 on that one." Yoona exclaimed, surprised at the unexpected compliment. When she heard her sister say she got 76 on her test, she thought that her sister did well for someone who studied on her own and studied 5 weeks' worth of materials overnight. At this rate, her sister is for sure entering the gifted program after this semester. But consecutive perfect scores?
"Improved? I don't think you can improve from perfect scores."
"No wonder!" Yoona exclaimed at the news and looked quite upset at her sister eating her noodles loudly. She tapped her fork on her sister's bowl to grab her attention. "Yeah, can you eat any slower? You are slurping like crazy. It's gross."
"I don't care. I am hungry!"
"What happened to you after school started? You never acted this way!" Yoona looked at her with her enlarged eyeballs, surprised at her attitude right now. Her sister is acting like a grumpy little kid. Is this what high school does to her? She remembers during her times at home, she was all cheery and had manners. "AND You LIED TO ME! You told us that you got 76!"
"Oh."
Tiffany looked at the two sisters, wondering what's going on and why would Taeyeon say she got a 76 when she got perfect?
"If you did well, why didn't you tell our parents?" Yoona asked.
"I just don't want to."
"unnie!" Yoona said frustratedly, quickly discovering how much she dislikes a childish
Taeyeon because the latter usually responds pretty well with her questions.
"I said I JUST DON'T WANT TO!"
"THEN DON'T! I am just happy that you are doing well. You don't have to SHOUT BACK AT ME!" Yoona growled at her sister; she bent her mouth upside down.
"Tae..." Tiffany finally spoke after the short argument.
"Yea?"
"She is just surprised you are doing so well; you don't have to tell your parents if you don't want to. She is your sister; I am sure she will keep a secret if you ask her."
Taeyeon looked at her for a second and then slowly smiled again. "Alright."
Yoona was surprised by the two in front of her; at first, she was stunned by Taeyeon bringing home Tiffany. Now she is flabbergasted by the effect of her old schoolmate's impact on her sister. She guessed that some parts of her sister may surprise her even after all these years.
...
"Let's have a candle-lit dinner...well candlelit dessert!" Tiffany suddenly suggested.
"We do have some leftover candles from the kitchen drawers." Yoona thought it may be a good idea to brighten the mood.
Sure enough, within a short time, the three student's mood brightens up. Having a secret candle-lit dinner with all the lights off while the parents are fast asleep. It was quiet at first, but the group started sharing stories, and the atmosphere quickly loosened again.
After another hour or so, the group finally got tired and called it a night. Since it was close to midnight, the girls decided to let Tiffany sleepover, and of course, Taeyeon did not mind sharing the bed with her. Either it was because she was too anxious to sleep next to her beautiful eye-smiling friend, or it was because she was tired or even both. Taeyeon skipped her evening shower and brushing just to sleep a few seconds more on the bed with her.
Before Taeyeon was able to completely doze off, Tiffany managed to ask the remainder of her questions.
Have you ever wondered who your real parents were?
-No.
Do you want to know why they...?
-No.
What do you want to do when you grow up?
-Live well and be happy.
How are you supposed to achieve that?
-Do one meaningful thing...
What is meaningful?
-Always be happy...
Sigh.
Taeyeon fell asleep rather quickly after that, her forearm unconsciously flinging over Tiffany. And a few moments later, her legs too. Although one couldn't exactly call this a hug, it still made her blush in the dark and felt her body tense up, worried that if she moves, Taeyeon will move away. She closed her eyes and went over the events that have happened so far.
Tiffany finally got a good view of the girl she is so curious about.
From the bickering back and forth tonight, Tiffany learned a few more things about her. Taeyeon never made any friends other than just sticking with Yoona. When they visited family friends, other children wanted to make friends with her, but she never bothered. It took one of them with enough persistence to get more than a few words out of her. When asked why she said it was a waste of time because she knew they would not see each other much anyway. But she wasn't gloomy, nor was she awkward; she said it quite optimistically.
However, she never showed any signs of loneliness at all. It's like she always knew what she was doing and knew exactly what she wanted. It was strange to Yoona, let alone Tiffany. Tiffany cannot imagine a life with no friends, studying at home for years, and the only person she has is her sibling.
Maybe she just has no emotions.
Tiffany can't quite say Taeyeon has no emotions either because the girl had demonstrated many. Taeyeon smiled and laughed to joy, frustrated she tutored her, indignation when it comes to Sunny and that fake forum post-incident, and many others. But she also learned that the girl had never shown any hints of sadness. Taeyeon had never cried. She never cared about the things that could make her cry or emotional.
At first, Tiffany did not believe Yoona when she told her some of these facts, but when she thought about it...it's perfectly possible. She had seen how many times Jessica and her group went against her, yet she never faltered. The only thing Tiffany noticed from it was a hint of confusion, and that was it.
Despite all the kid's flaws, Tiffany felt that the girl was very precious and felt lucky to have somehow caught Taeyeon's attention. She felt an urge to wanting to change the girl for the better and to protect her. Although Taeyeon was brilliant, Tiffany thinks that someone can't just be like that. How can someone expect everything will be okay with her only friend as her sister. Tiffany will be her friend and she wants everyone else to be able to see the same thing she sees – a brilliant mind with a bright personality, even if that seemingly elusive personality is just a tiny spark right now. At the same time, Taeyeon's trust seemed to be hard-earned, and she can't just expect her to change by her words.