Taeyeon had never been happier. She made tremendous progress on her personal projects and hobby, which she would not tell anyone but Tiffany. Getting praised and seeing Tiffany's reactions became one of her favourite things to look forward to. Tiffany is now almost always with her, and it made her feel that unknown type of happiness again, and somehow, it made her serene and calm at heart. She could say that her heart was finally able to keep up with her mind.
An evident sign of her being happy is her reckless tendencies, and that's something her sister Yoona knows too well.
"Oh, there she goes again," Yoona looked up with her hands shading her eyes from the glare of the sun.
Tiffany looked more nervous and uneasy than the shorty, who is three-quarters of the way up the side of a small commercial building that is now closed. Yoona wrapped her hand around the worried friend's arm, giving it a gentle squeeze to reassure her.
"Oh my god, she is going to fall off and break her legs, or even lose her life! Does she always do this?" Tiffany said without taking an eye off Taeyeon.
Taeyeon was climbing on top of buildings again.
After finally reaching the top of the roof, Taeyeon looked down at the two idiots standing at the bottom of the building. "Are you sure you guys don't want to come up here!? It's pretty, pretty!" Her eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Are you CRAZY!??" Tiffany shouted back, "I am not climbing up there. Why don't you come down!?"
Taeyeon stuck out her tongue and disappeared from the ledge.
"Yoona!" The loud girl turned to the reckless girl's sister, her voice filled with panic and worry. "Can you please ask her to come down? What's a girl even doing climbing up on rooftops!??"
Yoona had a sympathetic look, but at the same time, helpless. "Believe me, I have tried." Tiffany's concern did bring back memories of when she just met her sister. She remembers when Taeyeon did this when she was just 8 years old and how Yoona, herself, was the one who got in trouble for it. Not only that, Taeyeon even had the audacity to scold her afterwards.
"You know, she used to do this a lot when she was just 8." Yoona reminisced her first time hanging out with her adopted sister.
"...8 years old?" Tiffany was even more speechless than before.
"Yeah, I know. I swear I didn't even realize the shorty was gone. When I turned around at that time, she was already on the window sill of the second floor."
"WHAT!?" Tiffany exclaimed. She could not believe her eyes now, let alone an 8-year-old Taeyeon doing the same action. "And people just watch a kid doing that?"
"Oh, of course, they didn't." Yoona grimaced at the memory of the adults blaming her for her sister's actions, "I got lectured by like 15 adults who saw the event happen...."
Tiffany raised an eyebrow and could not hide her amusement. "Really? Why did they yell at you? Isn't Taeyoon supposed to be the one to get scolded?"
"Those crazy ahjummas thought I looked older, so the first thing they did was grab me. That stupid shorty had a stupid grin on her face the entire time. I guess being short does have its advantages." Yoona scoffed.
"Did Tae ever explain herself?"
Yoona tried to recall and attempted to imitate her sister's exasperated expression at the time, "'It was just an exercise, what's the big fuss?'"
"Oh, lord. An exercise? You must deal with a lot of that when you guys were younger, huh?"
"AAHHHHH!!!"
They heard a scream and their eyes instantly glanced at the top of the building to see Taeyoon looking over the ledge with a sheepish grin. "Just kidding! The view is very nice! Are you guys really not coming up?"
"YAH! IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN RIGHT NOW, I AM NEVER HANGING OUT WITH YOU AGAIN!" yelled Tiffany, who was just about to have enough with this kid.
"Ok, ok. I have seen enough. Coming down right now."
They looked at the kid climbing down the building rather skillfully. Her steps were steady, and her grips were secure. She made it seem easy. There were obstacles and gaps that the two at the bottom with a full range view could not anticipate where her next steps will be. However, Taeyeon made it past them like she was climbing down the stairs. Just when will this kid stop surprising Tiffany?
They spent the rest of their day hanging out at parks, shopping malls and singing at a karaoke bar.
———
Today, Tiffany found out new things about Taeyeon that still managed to surprise her and Yoona. Taeyeon was a lot different than the average child of her age, as if she hadn't come to that conclusion multiple times already. It was quite the dilemma.
Taeyeon did not review whatever the school taught. She often seemed uninterested in whatever the teacher was trying to teach. Not taking notes and definitely not listening, as demonstrated by the numerous callouts by their teacher.
Yet, she scored the highest without even trying. Things like that just do not happen. When asked how she does it, she simply says she just knows. To this date, that part about Taeyeon is still an enigma for Tiffany. However, she does admit that she admires her single-mindedness when it comes to learning new materials. Although she cannot say the same thing about the shorty's social skills, Taeyeon acts like everyone somehow magically understood each other.
Everyone studies hard at school, no matter what background you are from, poor or wealthy. Sunny was poor and struggled to keep her top grades. She always went home first when they hung together because she had to do chores, take care of her mother and study. On the other hand, Jessica has to study because of responsibilities, peer pressure, and her father. To Jessica, it's all just to save her father's face and be a good little daughter until she grows up so she can take over her father's business.
She asked Taeyeon what is she studying for? That girl had an extensive blank look on her face, and all she could manage to say was – "enough to be self-sufficient" or "just enough to be happy." When asked further, her responses become "I don't know" or another one-word reply.
However, when she was studying whatever she was interested in, she was really passionate. Tiffany could tell by the glimmer in the shorty's eyes and how excited the girl was when she walked Tiffany through the website she had created and designed herself.
Despite her carefree and reckless behaviour at school, she was polite, well-behaved and organized at home. She also had etiquette comparable to Jessica's, who spent her entire childhood developing the proper behaviour.
And today, she discovered what Taeyeon did for fun all those years spent studying at home. To her, this girl must have been lonely as heck. No wonder the shorty filled her mind with knowledge and did dangerous stunts like climbing on rooftops. She is like a locked-up bird who got to see sunlight and fly for the first time. Were her previous parents that strict?
At school, most people would feel helplessly intimidated by Jessica. Although she was unbelievably beautiful and bright, barely anyone dared to approach her due to her icy aura and her parent's significant influence over this school. Students either daydreamed at the side and are too scared to do anything else. Only the more popular or the most confident students came to her with somewhat success. One being Hyoyeon, who loved having fun and doesn't worry others about her own problems. Plus, Jessica admired her love for music and dancing. On the other hand, Yuri instantly clicked with her, and they had many goofy but fun times together.
Then there is Taeyeon. Jessica can glare at her, throw threats or even get physical; Taeyeon never froze nor changed her true colours. She always did whatever she wanted, and Taeyeon even tried helping Jess out of all expectations.
These qualities made Tiffany more mesmerized with the girl than the idols she sees on TV. Even more than the many hot guys she drooled over on reality shows.
This is their fifth time sleeping over, and Tiffany stayed awake long after the kid had fallen asleep each time. Just who were you? She often wondered.
Taeyeon has the qualities of a girl from a wealthy family. Disciplined, knowledgeable, proper and prideful, but determined to be not on the Jessica level.
Then some things confuse her. Sometimes the girl was reckless, witty, arrogant, impulsive, shameless and just about every feature of a crazy child who gets regularly grounded by her parents.
Whoever this kid is, Tiffany feels like she is drawn closer to her every day. Although it feels selfish, she always reminisced when Taeyeon told her she wanted her for herself. It made her heart unusually warm and giddy with delight. She felt special that the shorty trusted her. According to Yoona, that didn't come easy, not even family members. It even took Yoona months before Taeyeon shared anything remotely personal with her. Yet, it took Tiffany less time for the introvert to share her entire story.
------
"Fany?" Taeyeon said softly and looked at the girl that still wasn't asleep. Her doe-eyes indicate that she had no idea that her friend was just thinking about her.
Tiffany cleared her throat and blinked. "Sorry, I was lost in thought. What's up? Can't sleep?"
Taeyeon lifted her head and looked down at her own body being covered snuggly by the blanket. "I am comfortable."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I can sleep. Do you want me to?"
"ok. Are you asking me for permission to sleep?"
"I don't want to sleep until you fall asleep," said Taeyeon in a soft whisper.
"I don't think I will fall asleep for a while."
"It's not like I have a regular sleeping schedule anyway." Taeyeon retorted, but not without fighting back a yawn, making Tiffany smile.
"You are so weird. If you are tired, you should sleep," said Tiffany.
"Can I touch you?"
She just proved her point in one sentence.
The odd question made Tiffany let out a small gasp. "What did you say?" she said in a small, shaky voice.
Taeyeon sucked her lips, thinking if she said something off and decided to rephrase. "Uhmm...I sleep better when I rest my arms and legs on something soft, but I can't. I barely have any blanket left...."
If this was someone else, Tiffany would have thought it was a pretty damn smooth way to ask for a cuddle. But by the shorty's wording, it feels like she is really just asking for permission to get into a more comfortable sleeping position. No hidden meanings or intentions.
"Ok."
Taeyeon smiled, a bit wider than she intended. Her forearm and hands rested on her pretty friend's triceps, and her legs resting just above Tiffany's knees. However, there was still some distance between the two. Tiffany expected her to move closer, but she stayed like that.
"That's it?" Asked Tiffany when she didn't move.
"Mmm...this is good."
Tiffany heaved a sigh and shuffled herself closer to the girl instead. Now Taeyeon's arm is fully wrapped around her back and legs around her hips.
"Better?"
Taeyeon's face was now in the crook of Tiffany's neck, and her face was frozen. While trying her best to not overthink, she closed her eyes. "You smell nice." Unconsciously, she nuzzled a bit closer.
"Sometimes, you are so adorable, you know that?" Tiffany said in her soft and raspy voice.
"Mmm...." She replied with a soft hum.
Already asleep. Well, that was fast. Tiffany felt her heart skip a beat. If not, it definitely moved. Oh, how much she cherished this tiny friend of hers.