All About You (Part 2)
Hello again! This is the second and last part of All About You! Are you curious about the nature of the notes? Read on and find out!
"I wonder what's inside this time?" Tiffany wondered, carefully prying the folded note open.
Coffee, check. Food, check. Today’s breakfast is set! As for me, well… Tiffany, check! My life is set. :)
“Detergent… 1kg of meat… some edamame… and soap. There! My grocery shopping list for the day is done,” Tiffany finished writing her list on a piece of paper, folded it, and stuffed it inside her handbag. She looked at Taeyeon, who was busy watching Running Man on TV. Between the loud laughs and the wild cheering movements, Tiffany had to convince herself once again that she was dating a woman, not an elementary schoolgirl. “TaeTae, is there anything else you need? I’m gonna go to the supermarket in a minute,” she said.
“Hm? Me? Nah, I don’t need anything,” the girl replied nonchalantly.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. Besides…” Taeyeon turned away from her funny variety show to look at Tiffany straight in the eyes. “I already have you. I don’t need anything else.”
“Awwww… that’s sweet of you, TaeTae~” for a moment they gave each other affectionate stares that seemed to last forever. Then Tiffany brought out her list and a ballpen and started crossing out some items. “Then I guess you don’t need the three ice cream sticks I was gonna buy at the market.”
Taeyeon’s smile immediately faltered. “W-Wait… did you just say i-i-ice cream?”
“And you also don’t need this edamame of yours,” Tiffany said, crossing out another item with mischievous eyes.
“N-No… My green peas…”
“And you probably don’t need this brand new Dookong plushie as well. Too bad, I was gonna buy it for you as a surprise present,” Tiffany finished adjusting her list, flashing an eye-smile at Taeyeon. The latter was trying, and failing, to keep a straight face. “Well, see you later, TaeTae! Off to the market I go~”
“U-Um… Fany-ah? I, uh… well, about those stuff-WAIT, DON’T GO OUT THE DOOR YET! WAAAAIIITT!!! My green peas! My Dookong! My ice creeeeaaaammmm…. Fany-aaaaahhhh, waaaaaaaiiiiit!!!”
“Uh-huh, that’s what you always say, before I bring out the Magnum. After that it’s Magnum, Magnum, gimme my Magnum or I’ll throw your Totoro out the window,” Tiffany said, before dropping the note on the table. By now she was suspecting that Taeyeon had not merely spread notes randomly around the place. She could see a pattern, but she wasn’t entirely sure what it was.
“Meh, thinking too much about it won’t help. Might as well enjoy the Easter egg hunt,” she said while carrying her dishes to the sink. One by one she carefully placed the ceramic pieces on the stainless surface… then just left it there. The way she did it was as natural as taking a bath in the morning. Actually, it was part of an unspoken agreement between her and Taeyeon: never mess with anything in the kitchen, including the sink. The only thing she was allowed to handle was the microwave oven and nothing else. If she didn’t smash all of those expensive antique dishes when she tried to do the dishes once then she might’ve been given some leeway on the sink.
“If I’m this unlucky in the kitchen, then how will I ever get married? I can’t even cook a simple meal or wash dishes without breaking something,” this thought troubled her while she walked towards the bathroom for a nice, warm shower. Suddenly, the thought was replaced by an image of Taeyeon widely grinning at her, wearing a chef’s apron and holding delectable dishes on both hands, followed by an image of Taeyeon diligently ridding the kitchen and the rest of the apartment of any dirty spots, then ending in relaxing visage of Taeyeon massaging her shoulders with soft yet firm hands. The thought had such clarity that Tiffany actually felt warm relief spreading through her back.
“So brain and heart, are you guys trying to tell me that if we somehow end up together, she’ll end up doing all the work? Not that I mind, but that’s just too much for her,” she entered the bathroom, unaware that she had this goofy smile plastered on her face. “I really need to enrol in a cooking class one of these days. Scratch that, I need to take a course in home economics.”
She mentally went through her itinerary for the morning; wake up, wash face, brush teeth, prepare breakfast without unnecessary explosions… next on the list was take a good bath. “I’d rather sleep the entire day with the same clothes I woke up in, but I feel like going out to the nearby park so might as well freshen up a bit.”
The bathroom was split into two areas, the little ladies room and the shower room, separated by a translucent sliding glass door patterned with roses. When they first saw it, Taeyeon would keep citing the scenes in dramas where the main heroine would be showering, with only a blurred silhouette of her body visible through the glass. Then she’d tease Tiffany about it, going inside the shower itself and pretending that droplets of warm water were trickling down all over her body, her hands moving suggestively over her clothes. Tiffany would only massage her temples and pretend that she didn’t know the girl inside the shower stall, seeing that the landlord of the apartment was still with them, looking on with an expression stuck between awkwardness and interest.
“Hehe. I still remember Taeyeon’s horrified face the moment she realized we weren’t alone in here,” she took of her pink pajamas one by one, and then placed them in the clothes basket just near the sink. For a moment she took a good look at her naked body, subconsciously thinking about her figure, her weight, the food she ate recently, and how she could improve herself. “Can’t help feeling so conscious of myself. I mean most of the time I’m in a chair so I’m bound to get fat sooner or later… Ah, who cares? I’ll just take a bath and deal with it later~”
The first thing that greeted her when she slid open the stall was a folded yellow square stuck on the pink tiled wall. So far it was the most eye-catching of the notes, since it had the words ‘Drama Shower Scene’ written on it. “Why do I get the feeling that I already know what’s inside?” Tiffany said that, but she took the note and opened it anyway. From the raised eyebrows and the smile, it seemed that her suspicions were confirmed.
Foamy bubbles that wrap around that healthy body of yours, the scent of fresh strawberries lingering in your hair… You always want to be neat and squeaky clean. I seem to want the exact opposite. ;)
“Fany-ah? Can I come in?” Taeyeon asked, knocking lightly on the glass doors of the shower stall.
“I’m taking a bath right now, TaeTae. I’m sorry but you have to wait your turn,” Tiffany said with the firmness of a mother.
“B-But… I’m sticky and smelly. I feel gross all over,” Taeyeon whined. “I spilled… orange juice all over my clothes.”
There were many odd things about what Taeyeon just said, Tiffany thought. She couldn’t smell fresh concentrated oranges anywhere, and that slight pause in her words was enough cause for suspicion. But then she was in the middle of shampooing her hair with strong-smelling strawberries so she wasn’t really sure. “It’s your fault in the end, so you have to wait for a bit. I’ll be done in a while,” she assured.
“Nooooo, I wanna take a bath right nao!” the little girl insisted. At first Tiffany tried to ignore Taeyeon’s pleas for help by upping the volume of her shower and deliberately covered her ears with soap suds. It went on like that for twenty seconds, until Taeyeon decided to use the puppy dog whine. The sound itself had a certain power, ringing clear in Tiffany’s ears despite the measures she took to drown it out. Her heart quivered, and her resolved crumbled after only two seconds of the whining. “Okay fine, you can take a shower with me. But no funny business, okay?” she finally relented.
“Yaaaayyy!!!” as soon as she heard the approval, Taeyeon slid the door right open and stepped inside the stall, already naked. Tiffany’s eyes couldn’t help but lock onto that bare body with healthy curves and good proportions, for someone as small as Taeyeon. It made her feel a bit insecure, but at the same time lucky since she was the only woman in the world who had front row seats to this kind of view.
“Hmmm? What’cha lookin’ at, Fany-ah? You like this?” Taeyeon made a little body wave. As much as Tiffany tried to deny it, her face became a traitor, but only just a bit with that tiny pink blush.
“S-Shut up. Like I said, no funny business. We’re here to clean ourselves, not the opposite,” Tiffany said, before going back to her hair.
“Neeeee~” Taeyeon said, but she had other plans. Silently, she placed her arms around Tiffany’s waist without her knowing. Then, like a kitten taking hold of a very attractive ball of yarn, she gently clamped her arms to her waist, her supple body pressing against Tiffany’s back. The feeling of Taeyeon on her skin along with the moisture from the shower made Tiffany subconsciously moan lightly.
“Yah, I thought I said no funny business?” Tiffany figured she had to stop whatever Taeyeon was planning before her reasoning falters in the face of desire.
In response, Taeyeon simply hugged Tiffany tighter. “Yep, you did say that. But what are you gonna do now that you can’t escape from me?” she whispered, brushing her lips against Tiffany’s ear. This time she couldn’t stop the moan that escaped her lips. “See? Even your body’s on my side. It’s telling you to say yes,” Taeyeon’s fingers tapped Tiffany’s milky white skin, each touch sending electric shocks coursing through her body.
“Just say yes, Fany-ah.”
Tiffany knew that at that point, every attempt to abate the hot desire bubbling up her chest was in vain. “You really are a byuntae. You already have your arms around me, so what else can I do?”
“This.”
Taeyeon inched her head forward as she used her hand to bring Tiffany’s face closer to hers, and gently pushed her lips against Tiffany’s in a soft, warm kiss. But with the fire of passion already burning in her heart, Tiffany couldn’t simply settle for a kiss like that. So she pulled away, turned around to face Taeyeon and quickly captured her lips once again, this time fervently passionate in her movements. Taeyeon, feeling excited as well, eagerly reciprocated the kiss, letting her hands roam all over Tiffany’s moist body. As Taeyeon slowly reached for the lower regions, the last thing Tiffany remembered was this thought.
“…It’s a good thing we’re in the shower right now.”
Without even knowing it, a deep blush spread over Tiffany’s face as she recalled that particular memory. It didn’t help that she was standing in the exact same spot where she was showering back then, before Taeyeon came in and… “What the heck are you thinking, Tiffany? Just put that note outside and take a shower, and try not to think about it too much.”
It was a futile thought. All throughout her bath time, from soaping her body, to shampooing her hair, she couldn’t stop thinking about Taeyeon, Taeyeon and Taeyeon. Instead of her, it would be Taeyeon brushing the soap on her skin, gently massaging her scalp with a handful of strawberry shampoo, and washing her down cleanly, with a bit of ‘service’ along the way. It was a cold shower since in the middle of spring, but Tiffany came out of the stall with a face as red as a cherry. “If only that byuntae knows just how much she can do to me even when she’s not here…” she sighed, drying herself with a towel and wrapping another one around her hair.
Since she was going out to the park, she thought that comfortable clothes and slippers would be okay. With that in mind, she walked back to their room, leaving a small trail of water droplets on the floor, and stopped in front of their wooden closet. Taeyeon once said that the closet was large enough to stand in, just like Lucy in Narnia. The fact that a majority of the space was taken up by Tiffany’s clothing items, tops, bottoms, accessories and shoes, said a lot about the girl. Only a little space on the far left was reserved for Taeyeon.
But in spite of all that, there was a single feature about the closet that stood out from the rest. It was actually a gift from Taecyeon, one of Tiffany’s close confidants. He knew what was going on between her and Taeyeon, and when he heard they were going to move to a new apartment, he made that wooden closet by hand and gave it to them.
The closet had two doors; the left one had a full-body mirror, and the other one had mini drawers and cabinets for all their accessories and miscellaneous objects. One particular drawer was different, with the first characters for both their names engraved on it, enclosed in a heart. What drew Tiffany’s attention to it first when she opened the closet wasn’t the design or its significance, but rather the yellow note that was attached to it, a drawing of a necklace on it. Out of the notes she’d seen so far, this one felt different. It was as if a lot of effort and emotions were jam-packed into such a tiny piece of paper, and Tiffany could actually feel it resonate within her.
Tiffany had no words for it; she simply reached out and gently took the note from the drawer and with such delicate hands as if it was a precious yet fragile crystal that would break from too much pressure. She opened it carefully, and with sincere eyes read the message inside of it.
Lots of clothes to choose from, lots of clothes to change into. Like our lives, a myriad of ever-shifting variables. I want to be your unchanging constant, like that silver lock necklace you wear everyday…
It was the night of the festival, just a few days after classes officially ended, and just a few days before the graduation ceremonies. It was a time for the students to let go of themselves, to celebrate the four years they spent knee deep in papers, presentations, exams, and horrible professors.
The entire university was feeling the festive mood, and members of various departments even put together a huge venue for the festival, complete with booths for various parlor games, stalls for the delectable dishes and street foods, (courtesy of the Culinary Arts department) and even a huge stage for concerts, complete with a dance floor in front of it for those club-goers who liked to dance.
That night was really the perfect time to go out, lose yourself, and just have fun. The festival began at around six in the evening, but there were already a multitude of people waiting outside the venue at least two hours before the opening. Majority of them were students of the university itself, but a huge chunk of them came from outside; families with their children, friends and acquaintances from other universities, complete strangers who were in it for the fun and even some prominent figures like the Dean himself.
Of course, one of the reasons why there was such a gathering was because a few students who were idol trainees in an agency named SM Entertainment managed to convince their boss to let Girls’ Generation perform at the festival. Mr. Lee agreed, and the news spread like wild fire across the net.
When the doors opened, a stampede almost happened. The various booths and stalls were worked to the bone on the first hour of the festival just to satisfy the demand of more than six hundred individuals, and more were coming as the hours passed. And then the highlight came: the concert. Various bands and groups performed on stage, wowing the audiences with their idol-like charms and talents.
The atmosphere was completely energized, and it came to the point of total meltdown when Girls’ Generation came to the stage. Several girls and boys were reported to have fainted, and the shouting and cheering was so deafening that they made the news. It was like any other concert the world-famous girl group went to, performing their hit songs while riding on the fanchants and giving back much love. It was truly a night to be remembered, and it was said that only someone bed-ridden in a hospital would miss it.
But for Tiffany Hwang, a Singing major, she preferred the silence of solitude to the chaos of the festival. She did try out some of the booths, but she left the venue as soon as the concert started. She didn’t like the idea of bumping shoulders and mingled sweat and smells with various people and strangers. She’d rather do it with a certain someone, who was actually sitting right beside her on the grass underneath an oak tree. They were on the hill right next to the Department of Theatre Arts building, near enough that they could still see the festivities going on, but secluded so that no one would actually see them there unless they know where to look. Tiffany liked it this way, the sounds far away, and only her breathing mixed with Taeyeon’s and the soft choral of nature lingering in the cool night air.
“So, we finally did. We survived four years of hell together,” Taeyeon, a fellow Singing major, said with a wide grin. “I know I’ve said this one a lot of times, but I couldn’t have done it without you Fany-ah.”
“You keep on saying that, but everybody else including me knows that you have great talent, even more than the professors that instructed us,” Tiffany said, hugging her knees closer to her.
“Talent? Yes I can sing very well, but what would’ve happened to me if you didn’t stop me from running away?” Taeyeon sincerely said, turning her eyes to Tiffany.
The other girl met her gaze and she realized Taeyeon was being serious. She instinctively pulled away, and she thanked the wind that blew through her hair for covering up her blush. “What was I supposed to do? You were my roommate, and you were my responsibility. Besides, college life would be very boring without you around.”
“I know, I’m that awesome,” Taeyeon’s confidence was showing itself again, something that Tiffany was still trying to get used to. After all, it was this same girl who stuttered with every syllable when they first met.
“Yeah yeah, keep talking,” Tiffany merely brushed off Taeyeon’s last comment, but she was suddenly surprised when she felt another arm against hers and a head resting upon her shoulders. She looked down and saw Taeyeon leaning on Tiffany, her arms wrapping around her knees.
“Seriously… if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never gotten where I am today. There were many instances where I would’ve regretted it for the years to come had it not been for your intervention. I was a bad student, and you know that. I found the curriculum too hard at the beginning, so I tried to rebel, tried to become a real thorn at their side. You are the only reason why I’m here with great honors and many gold medals from competitions,” Taeyeon spoke with a soft voice.
Tiffany didn’t know what to say next, or rather she wanted to say something back but her words were stuck in her throat. She was overwhelmed by this sudden declaration; sure she acted like a mother and reigned in Taeyeon’s rough behaviour, but there was nothing beyond that. Actually there was, but she was still busy trying to sort out her feelings for the little girl to actually give it a label.
Taking the silence as a cue to continue, Taeyeon spoke once more. “It didn’t end with you stopping me from doing something regrettably stupid. There were also the little things, like giving me instant coffee at night, tucking me into bed when I’m too tired to move, relieving my stress with a small massage, taking care of me whenever I get sick, and risking an absence just to make sure I take my meds. You did so much for me, Fany-ah… So much that I don’t really know how to pay you back for all of them.”
This time Tiffany found the motivation to speak up. “Hey, isn’t that kinda unfair on your end? You did lots for me, too. You helped me with the difficult notes in songs, you encouraged me whenever we had an impromptu presentation, you protected me from those who’d make fun of me just because I’m a foreigner, and you taught me how to be confident…”
“Oh yeah?” as if she was being challenged, Taeyeon lifted her head from Taeyeon’s shoulder and looked at her straight in the eye. “You helped me speak English better. Not only that, you taught me a lot in various other subjects, such as math and biology. Remember that one time when we were both late for a major subject? You covered up for me by saying that we were both held up because you had to do something.”
“Well, being a naturally-gifted singer you helped me sing better and express my emotions more clearly. You also made sure that I eat enough since I was the physically weaker one between the two of us. Sometimes you’d even give me some from your secret stash of snacks just to make sure that I stay full whenever we did an all-nighter.”
“That’s nothing. When we had to MC for a major event, you led me through the steps, showed me how to keep the audience going and the atmosphere constantly heated up.”
“You think that’s huge? What about the time when we had to go home for the summer? My parents are in the States, and I didn’t have enough money to go to them. Instead, you convinced your parents to let me stay at your house in Jeollado for the entire summer vacation. It went on like that for the rest of our university life.”
“You helped me make more friends. You broke me out of my introverted shell. I would never have seen Sooyoung’s amazing eating habits, Sunny’s aegyo, Jessica’s cold-hearted façade and more without your help.”
“You were the only person willing to bunk in with a foreigner like me who doesn’t even have a single relative in this country.”
“You’re the first person I’ve met whose voice perfectly matched mine.”
“You-What…?”
Taeyeon stood up from the ground, dusting off some blades of grass from her clothes. “I had this fantasy ever since I was young, that I would spend all day, everyday, singing with the person I love. Even back then, I was a good singer, and the people around me acknowledged that. Lots of boys would come up to me and ask me to go out with them. You know what I asked them to do in exchange?”
“W-What?”
“I asked them to sing a song with me. See, I liked singing so much back then, even up to now. I liked it so much that I decided that anyone who could perfectly synchronize their voice with mine would be my boyfriend. None of those boys met the criteria… until now.”
Then Taeyeon walked behind Tiffany and knelt down, rummaging her pockets for something. The latter had her head down, thinking about what Taeyeon just said. Someone had met the criteria, so he would undoubtedly be her boyfriend. That thought affected her in ways she never imagined; she never felt anger, jealousy, possessiveness and defeat like that before, all directed at the lucky person who managed to sync with Taeyeon.
But then she remembered something Taeyeon said just before that, and her mind went back to those times when she truly enjoyed singing, revelled in hearing her own voice. But it wasn’t just her voice, and she wasn’t singing alone. In every fond memory of the songs she sang, there was always someone with her; a small girl, whose voice would surprise those who listened. It was a strong, full-bodied voice. A voice so strong and controlled that it could reach notes both deep and high; it was the voice of a true singer. Tiffany’s voice was lower, huskier, and fundamentally different from Taeyeon’s. When they sang together though, their voices managed to harmonize so perfectly with each other that many said that they couldn’t distinguish between their voices. It was a time where their hearts would beat as one. It was a time when they would sing as one.
She was so busy reminiscing those memories that she didn’t notice the hands that went around her neck with something silver in them.
“TaeTae…? What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m putting a necklace around you.”
And she was right. Tiffany felt a cold yet soothing metallic sensation on her neck, and she saw that it was indeed a necklace; a silver heart with a keyhole in the middle attached to a silver chain. It looked simple, plain even, but to Tiffany… it was absolutely beautiful.
“Oh my gosh. Taeyeon-ah… Thank you so much. It’s… beautiful,” Tiffany couldn’t find any other words to express what she was feeling at the moment.
“It actually comes as a set,” Taeyeon said, taking her seat once again beside Tiffany and showing a similar-looking necklace around her neck, this time with a key instead of a heart.
“See? I have the key to your lock.” Taeyeon’s cheeks were tinted rosy red, but she tried her best to maintain eye contact and to keep her voice steady. “I don’t think I need to explain what it means, hm?”
Tiffany knew exactly what the lock and key necklaces implied, but she was too busy trying to keep her heart from going haywire to respond. There was a storm of emotions raging inside of her that she didn’t know how to make sense of it all. The fact that Taeyeon was a girl like her only troubled her further, since she wasn’t certain on what to feel for her. Everything they did together for the past four years came back rushing to her like a tidal wave, all her doubts and fears slowly being eroded away.
Her face was in shock, her eyes widened, and her cheeks madly scarlet with so many emotions, but Tiffany figured that she had to say something, blurt out random stuff if she had to, even if it didn’t make much sense. “B-B-But this doesn’t make any sense! We’re both girls, and if we started going out then wouldn’t it look weird to others? A-A-And our parents! What would they think? Would they approve of our relationship? Would they support us? Would they still love us if they found out about this? Ahhhh, I’m so confused… I don’t know what to think, what to say. OMG (Tiffany said this in English). I... I… I--!”
“Fany-ah? You talk too much.”
“What do you-mmph!”
Taeyeon silenced her with a kiss. It was a strange, surreal feeling, but also the best thing Tiffany felt ever. Her eyes slowly drooped to a close, and her arms subconsciously wrapped around Taeyeon’s neck, pulling her deeper into the kiss. The soft feeling of Taeyeon’s lips, the warmth that spread like wildfire all over her body, and the tingling sensation that ran down her spine… she finally understood the meaning behind Katy Perry’s song.
That was their first kiss, on the night when they stopped being just friends.
“Taeyeon-ah… what are you trying to say to me?” Tiffany pondered as she held the note, the memories wrapping gently around her heart and mind. “There’s obviously something… but what is it?”
Then as if making up her mind, she said, “That’s it. I’m gonna go out to the park and ask her to meet me there. Then we’ll have a nice, long chat about these notes she left behind.”
She rummaged through the closet to find appropriate clothes to wear for that day; the pink pleated skirt they bought at a bazaar, a pair of cream slippers that Taeyeon bought for Tiffany as a peace offering, a white shirt with SoShi prints that Taeyeon found in a KPOP store, a denim jacket that was the product of Tiffany’s constant pleas for it, and a pair of silver rose earrings that Taeyeon gifted her on their first anniversary. After putting those on, she went to the special drawer to take out the final piece of her outfit for the day: the silver heart-lock necklace Taeyeon gave to her when she confessed. She wore it around her neck, glinting a bit in the sunlight that flowed from the windows. Looking herself over the mirror, Tiffany was satisfied with her choice of clothes.
“Okay, time to go out! I should remember to lock everything and make sure that everything in the kitchen is in place…” but just as she closed the door to their closet, the doorbell rang throughout the apartment three times. “Coming!!! Wait a bit, geez. No need to press the doorbell that quick.”
With brisk steps, Tiffany walked towards the door, wondering who could be in front of their apartment this early in the morning. She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door inwards, only to be met with the sight of a rather small delivery man wearing the trademark blue-and-yellow motorcycle jacket and pants, and a large cap covered most of his face. “Package for Miss Tiffany Hwang,” he said in a rough voice that suspiciously sounded like a woman.
“Why, thank you!” Tiffany reached out to take the package from the man’s hands, when she saw that instead of a bulky package stuck inside a brown envelop, there was a yellow note. Shock clearly evident in her face, she tried to ask the man who asked him to pass on this item to her. But Tiffany decided to take the note first and look at its contents. With bated breath and rising heartbeats, she opened the folded note which strangely had no doodles nor designs on it.
I know what you do every morning, Tiffany. I'd like to know what you do for the rest of your life too. :3
P.S, stop talking to yourself, sweetie. It's kinda creepy.
It took her a few more seconds of staring at the note, a few more seconds of contemplation before Tiffany realized the true meaning behind all the notes she saw before. From the moment she woke up from bed up to now, she had been following a certain pattern, a routine that had developed in the days she lived in this apartment. And the notes? The notes were lying exactly along the path of that routine; messages that said a lot about the girl reading them and the girl that wrote them. She already knew who was responsible for all those notes, and she was slowly seeing Taeyeon’s message to her, but there was still one mystery remaining: the delivery man.
“Um, I hope you don’t mind me asking…” Tiffany started with uncertainty. “…but do you know who sent me this note?”
“I’m sorry, young lady. I was asked not to tell you anything about her identity,” the man said, which brought a frown to Tiffany’s face. “However, I’ve been in the business long enough to know what their intentions are. I think what she’s trying to say… is that she wants to be with you as more than just a girlfriend.”
Tiffany’s heart skipped a beat at that one. “Wait… what did you just say?”
The man merely gave a light chuckle and continued. “She actually told me about her plans with the notes. It amazed me, how much she knew about you. When you would wake up, where you would go afterwards, how long it would take you to finish the morning routine… she even told me to wait a certain time before I deliver this last note to you, and with the utmost confidence I might add.”
“She… she planned all of this?” Tiffany could barely speak. The man said nothing about the identity of the sender, but after all that he said it was more than obvious to her. She was keeping her tear ducts in check; she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of a complete stranger. Though, she was starting to doubt that the delivery man was in any way a stranger to her.
“You got that right. And that’s not all, actually. There’s still one more package left. She asked me to let you read the note first before I give this to you,” the delivery man then rummaged through his jacket pockets. Just then the wind picked up, strong enough that a flutter of cherry blossoms swept through the air and it caused the man’s cap to be knocked off his head…
…revealing long, wavy dirty blonde hair, soft yet sharp eyes that twinkled on their own, a sharp nose, round cheeks brushed with rosy pink, and lips that were curled up into a smile. At the same time she took out the last package from her pockets and showed it to Tiffany: a small, velvet box with two gold quarter notes embossed on the top. She opened it, revealing what appeared to be a bright, sparkling star inside.
Tiffany put her hands to her mouth, overwhelmed by everything that was happening around her. The tears were freely flowing from eyes down to her cheeks, but it didn’t matter to her. They weren’t even tears of sadness, but of every beautiful emotion she could think of; happiness, surprise, relief, satisfaction, and love.
“I don’t think I need to explain what it means, hm?” Taeyeon merely said, that confident grin of hers contrasting the crimson that colored her cheeks.
No matter how hard she tried to reply, Tiffany couldn’t. She was rendered mute by the things that were rising up inside of her, making her choke on her own words. In this kind of situation, Tiffany figured that she didn’t need any words to express what she was truly feeling. So she simply nodded as an answer to Taeyeon’s question.
-----------------------------
Thanks for reading All About You! Hope you enjoyed reading how romantic Taeyeon got Tiffany to say yes. :D
Look forward to more of my works. XD
"I wonder what's inside this time?" Tiffany wondered, carefully prying the folded note open.
Coffee, check. Food, check. Today’s breakfast is set! As for me, well… Tiffany, check! My life is set. :)
“Detergent… 1kg of meat… some edamame… and soap. There! My grocery shopping list for the day is done,” Tiffany finished writing her list on a piece of paper, folded it, and stuffed it inside her handbag. She looked at Taeyeon, who was busy watching Running Man on TV. Between the loud laughs and the wild cheering movements, Tiffany had to convince herself once again that she was dating a woman, not an elementary schoolgirl. “TaeTae, is there anything else you need? I’m gonna go to the supermarket in a minute,” she said.
“Hm? Me? Nah, I don’t need anything,” the girl replied nonchalantly.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. Besides…” Taeyeon turned away from her funny variety show to look at Tiffany straight in the eyes. “I already have you. I don’t need anything else.”
“Awwww… that’s sweet of you, TaeTae~” for a moment they gave each other affectionate stares that seemed to last forever. Then Tiffany brought out her list and a ballpen and started crossing out some items. “Then I guess you don’t need the three ice cream sticks I was gonna buy at the market.”
Taeyeon’s smile immediately faltered. “W-Wait… did you just say i-i-ice cream?”
“And you also don’t need this edamame of yours,” Tiffany said, crossing out another item with mischievous eyes.
“N-No… My green peas…”
“And you probably don’t need this brand new Dookong plushie as well. Too bad, I was gonna buy it for you as a surprise present,” Tiffany finished adjusting her list, flashing an eye-smile at Taeyeon. The latter was trying, and failing, to keep a straight face. “Well, see you later, TaeTae! Off to the market I go~”
“U-Um… Fany-ah? I, uh… well, about those stuff-WAIT, DON’T GO OUT THE DOOR YET! WAAAAIIITT!!! My green peas! My Dookong! My ice creeeeaaaammmm…. Fany-aaaaahhhh, waaaaaaaiiiiit!!!”
“Uh-huh, that’s what you always say, before I bring out the Magnum. After that it’s Magnum, Magnum, gimme my Magnum or I’ll throw your Totoro out the window,” Tiffany said, before dropping the note on the table. By now she was suspecting that Taeyeon had not merely spread notes randomly around the place. She could see a pattern, but she wasn’t entirely sure what it was.
“Meh, thinking too much about it won’t help. Might as well enjoy the Easter egg hunt,” she said while carrying her dishes to the sink. One by one she carefully placed the ceramic pieces on the stainless surface… then just left it there. The way she did it was as natural as taking a bath in the morning. Actually, it was part of an unspoken agreement between her and Taeyeon: never mess with anything in the kitchen, including the sink. The only thing she was allowed to handle was the microwave oven and nothing else. If she didn’t smash all of those expensive antique dishes when she tried to do the dishes once then she might’ve been given some leeway on the sink.
“If I’m this unlucky in the kitchen, then how will I ever get married? I can’t even cook a simple meal or wash dishes without breaking something,” this thought troubled her while she walked towards the bathroom for a nice, warm shower. Suddenly, the thought was replaced by an image of Taeyeon widely grinning at her, wearing a chef’s apron and holding delectable dishes on both hands, followed by an image of Taeyeon diligently ridding the kitchen and the rest of the apartment of any dirty spots, then ending in relaxing visage of Taeyeon massaging her shoulders with soft yet firm hands. The thought had such clarity that Tiffany actually felt warm relief spreading through her back.
“So brain and heart, are you guys trying to tell me that if we somehow end up together, she’ll end up doing all the work? Not that I mind, but that’s just too much for her,” she entered the bathroom, unaware that she had this goofy smile plastered on her face. “I really need to enrol in a cooking class one of these days. Scratch that, I need to take a course in home economics.”
She mentally went through her itinerary for the morning; wake up, wash face, brush teeth, prepare breakfast without unnecessary explosions… next on the list was take a good bath. “I’d rather sleep the entire day with the same clothes I woke up in, but I feel like going out to the nearby park so might as well freshen up a bit.”
The bathroom was split into two areas, the little ladies room and the shower room, separated by a translucent sliding glass door patterned with roses. When they first saw it, Taeyeon would keep citing the scenes in dramas where the main heroine would be showering, with only a blurred silhouette of her body visible through the glass. Then she’d tease Tiffany about it, going inside the shower itself and pretending that droplets of warm water were trickling down all over her body, her hands moving suggestively over her clothes. Tiffany would only massage her temples and pretend that she didn’t know the girl inside the shower stall, seeing that the landlord of the apartment was still with them, looking on with an expression stuck between awkwardness and interest.
“Hehe. I still remember Taeyeon’s horrified face the moment she realized we weren’t alone in here,” she took of her pink pajamas one by one, and then placed them in the clothes basket just near the sink. For a moment she took a good look at her naked body, subconsciously thinking about her figure, her weight, the food she ate recently, and how she could improve herself. “Can’t help feeling so conscious of myself. I mean most of the time I’m in a chair so I’m bound to get fat sooner or later… Ah, who cares? I’ll just take a bath and deal with it later~”
The first thing that greeted her when she slid open the stall was a folded yellow square stuck on the pink tiled wall. So far it was the most eye-catching of the notes, since it had the words ‘Drama Shower Scene’ written on it. “Why do I get the feeling that I already know what’s inside?” Tiffany said that, but she took the note and opened it anyway. From the raised eyebrows and the smile, it seemed that her suspicions were confirmed.
Foamy bubbles that wrap around that healthy body of yours, the scent of fresh strawberries lingering in your hair… You always want to be neat and squeaky clean. I seem to want the exact opposite. ;)
“Fany-ah? Can I come in?” Taeyeon asked, knocking lightly on the glass doors of the shower stall.
“I’m taking a bath right now, TaeTae. I’m sorry but you have to wait your turn,” Tiffany said with the firmness of a mother.
“B-But… I’m sticky and smelly. I feel gross all over,” Taeyeon whined. “I spilled… orange juice all over my clothes.”
There were many odd things about what Taeyeon just said, Tiffany thought. She couldn’t smell fresh concentrated oranges anywhere, and that slight pause in her words was enough cause for suspicion. But then she was in the middle of shampooing her hair with strong-smelling strawberries so she wasn’t really sure. “It’s your fault in the end, so you have to wait for a bit. I’ll be done in a while,” she assured.
“Nooooo, I wanna take a bath right nao!” the little girl insisted. At first Tiffany tried to ignore Taeyeon’s pleas for help by upping the volume of her shower and deliberately covered her ears with soap suds. It went on like that for twenty seconds, until Taeyeon decided to use the puppy dog whine. The sound itself had a certain power, ringing clear in Tiffany’s ears despite the measures she took to drown it out. Her heart quivered, and her resolved crumbled after only two seconds of the whining. “Okay fine, you can take a shower with me. But no funny business, okay?” she finally relented.
“Yaaaayyy!!!” as soon as she heard the approval, Taeyeon slid the door right open and stepped inside the stall, already naked. Tiffany’s eyes couldn’t help but lock onto that bare body with healthy curves and good proportions, for someone as small as Taeyeon. It made her feel a bit insecure, but at the same time lucky since she was the only woman in the world who had front row seats to this kind of view.
“Hmmm? What’cha lookin’ at, Fany-ah? You like this?” Taeyeon made a little body wave. As much as Tiffany tried to deny it, her face became a traitor, but only just a bit with that tiny pink blush.
“S-Shut up. Like I said, no funny business. We’re here to clean ourselves, not the opposite,” Tiffany said, before going back to her hair.
“Neeeee~” Taeyeon said, but she had other plans. Silently, she placed her arms around Tiffany’s waist without her knowing. Then, like a kitten taking hold of a very attractive ball of yarn, she gently clamped her arms to her waist, her supple body pressing against Tiffany’s back. The feeling of Taeyeon on her skin along with the moisture from the shower made Tiffany subconsciously moan lightly.
“Yah, I thought I said no funny business?” Tiffany figured she had to stop whatever Taeyeon was planning before her reasoning falters in the face of desire.
In response, Taeyeon simply hugged Tiffany tighter. “Yep, you did say that. But what are you gonna do now that you can’t escape from me?” she whispered, brushing her lips against Tiffany’s ear. This time she couldn’t stop the moan that escaped her lips. “See? Even your body’s on my side. It’s telling you to say yes,” Taeyeon’s fingers tapped Tiffany’s milky white skin, each touch sending electric shocks coursing through her body.
“Just say yes, Fany-ah.”
Tiffany knew that at that point, every attempt to abate the hot desire bubbling up her chest was in vain. “You really are a byuntae. You already have your arms around me, so what else can I do?”
“This.”
Taeyeon inched her head forward as she used her hand to bring Tiffany’s face closer to hers, and gently pushed her lips against Tiffany’s in a soft, warm kiss. But with the fire of passion already burning in her heart, Tiffany couldn’t simply settle for a kiss like that. So she pulled away, turned around to face Taeyeon and quickly captured her lips once again, this time fervently passionate in her movements. Taeyeon, feeling excited as well, eagerly reciprocated the kiss, letting her hands roam all over Tiffany’s moist body. As Taeyeon slowly reached for the lower regions, the last thing Tiffany remembered was this thought.
“…It’s a good thing we’re in the shower right now.”
Without even knowing it, a deep blush spread over Tiffany’s face as she recalled that particular memory. It didn’t help that she was standing in the exact same spot where she was showering back then, before Taeyeon came in and… “What the heck are you thinking, Tiffany? Just put that note outside and take a shower, and try not to think about it too much.”
It was a futile thought. All throughout her bath time, from soaping her body, to shampooing her hair, she couldn’t stop thinking about Taeyeon, Taeyeon and Taeyeon. Instead of her, it would be Taeyeon brushing the soap on her skin, gently massaging her scalp with a handful of strawberry shampoo, and washing her down cleanly, with a bit of ‘service’ along the way. It was a cold shower since in the middle of spring, but Tiffany came out of the stall with a face as red as a cherry. “If only that byuntae knows just how much she can do to me even when she’s not here…” she sighed, drying herself with a towel and wrapping another one around her hair.
Since she was going out to the park, she thought that comfortable clothes and slippers would be okay. With that in mind, she walked back to their room, leaving a small trail of water droplets on the floor, and stopped in front of their wooden closet. Taeyeon once said that the closet was large enough to stand in, just like Lucy in Narnia. The fact that a majority of the space was taken up by Tiffany’s clothing items, tops, bottoms, accessories and shoes, said a lot about the girl. Only a little space on the far left was reserved for Taeyeon.
But in spite of all that, there was a single feature about the closet that stood out from the rest. It was actually a gift from Taecyeon, one of Tiffany’s close confidants. He knew what was going on between her and Taeyeon, and when he heard they were going to move to a new apartment, he made that wooden closet by hand and gave it to them.
The closet had two doors; the left one had a full-body mirror, and the other one had mini drawers and cabinets for all their accessories and miscellaneous objects. One particular drawer was different, with the first characters for both their names engraved on it, enclosed in a heart. What drew Tiffany’s attention to it first when she opened the closet wasn’t the design or its significance, but rather the yellow note that was attached to it, a drawing of a necklace on it. Out of the notes she’d seen so far, this one felt different. It was as if a lot of effort and emotions were jam-packed into such a tiny piece of paper, and Tiffany could actually feel it resonate within her.
Tiffany had no words for it; she simply reached out and gently took the note from the drawer and with such delicate hands as if it was a precious yet fragile crystal that would break from too much pressure. She opened it carefully, and with sincere eyes read the message inside of it.
Lots of clothes to choose from, lots of clothes to change into. Like our lives, a myriad of ever-shifting variables. I want to be your unchanging constant, like that silver lock necklace you wear everyday…
It was the night of the festival, just a few days after classes officially ended, and just a few days before the graduation ceremonies. It was a time for the students to let go of themselves, to celebrate the four years they spent knee deep in papers, presentations, exams, and horrible professors.
The entire university was feeling the festive mood, and members of various departments even put together a huge venue for the festival, complete with booths for various parlor games, stalls for the delectable dishes and street foods, (courtesy of the Culinary Arts department) and even a huge stage for concerts, complete with a dance floor in front of it for those club-goers who liked to dance.
That night was really the perfect time to go out, lose yourself, and just have fun. The festival began at around six in the evening, but there were already a multitude of people waiting outside the venue at least two hours before the opening. Majority of them were students of the university itself, but a huge chunk of them came from outside; families with their children, friends and acquaintances from other universities, complete strangers who were in it for the fun and even some prominent figures like the Dean himself.
Of course, one of the reasons why there was such a gathering was because a few students who were idol trainees in an agency named SM Entertainment managed to convince their boss to let Girls’ Generation perform at the festival. Mr. Lee agreed, and the news spread like wild fire across the net.
When the doors opened, a stampede almost happened. The various booths and stalls were worked to the bone on the first hour of the festival just to satisfy the demand of more than six hundred individuals, and more were coming as the hours passed. And then the highlight came: the concert. Various bands and groups performed on stage, wowing the audiences with their idol-like charms and talents.
The atmosphere was completely energized, and it came to the point of total meltdown when Girls’ Generation came to the stage. Several girls and boys were reported to have fainted, and the shouting and cheering was so deafening that they made the news. It was like any other concert the world-famous girl group went to, performing their hit songs while riding on the fanchants and giving back much love. It was truly a night to be remembered, and it was said that only someone bed-ridden in a hospital would miss it.
But for Tiffany Hwang, a Singing major, she preferred the silence of solitude to the chaos of the festival. She did try out some of the booths, but she left the venue as soon as the concert started. She didn’t like the idea of bumping shoulders and mingled sweat and smells with various people and strangers. She’d rather do it with a certain someone, who was actually sitting right beside her on the grass underneath an oak tree. They were on the hill right next to the Department of Theatre Arts building, near enough that they could still see the festivities going on, but secluded so that no one would actually see them there unless they know where to look. Tiffany liked it this way, the sounds far away, and only her breathing mixed with Taeyeon’s and the soft choral of nature lingering in the cool night air.
“So, we finally did. We survived four years of hell together,” Taeyeon, a fellow Singing major, said with a wide grin. “I know I’ve said this one a lot of times, but I couldn’t have done it without you Fany-ah.”
“You keep on saying that, but everybody else including me knows that you have great talent, even more than the professors that instructed us,” Tiffany said, hugging her knees closer to her.
“Talent? Yes I can sing very well, but what would’ve happened to me if you didn’t stop me from running away?” Taeyeon sincerely said, turning her eyes to Tiffany.
The other girl met her gaze and she realized Taeyeon was being serious. She instinctively pulled away, and she thanked the wind that blew through her hair for covering up her blush. “What was I supposed to do? You were my roommate, and you were my responsibility. Besides, college life would be very boring without you around.”
“I know, I’m that awesome,” Taeyeon’s confidence was showing itself again, something that Tiffany was still trying to get used to. After all, it was this same girl who stuttered with every syllable when they first met.
“Yeah yeah, keep talking,” Tiffany merely brushed off Taeyeon’s last comment, but she was suddenly surprised when she felt another arm against hers and a head resting upon her shoulders. She looked down and saw Taeyeon leaning on Tiffany, her arms wrapping around her knees.
“Seriously… if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never gotten where I am today. There were many instances where I would’ve regretted it for the years to come had it not been for your intervention. I was a bad student, and you know that. I found the curriculum too hard at the beginning, so I tried to rebel, tried to become a real thorn at their side. You are the only reason why I’m here with great honors and many gold medals from competitions,” Taeyeon spoke with a soft voice.
Tiffany didn’t know what to say next, or rather she wanted to say something back but her words were stuck in her throat. She was overwhelmed by this sudden declaration; sure she acted like a mother and reigned in Taeyeon’s rough behaviour, but there was nothing beyond that. Actually there was, but she was still busy trying to sort out her feelings for the little girl to actually give it a label.
Taking the silence as a cue to continue, Taeyeon spoke once more. “It didn’t end with you stopping me from doing something regrettably stupid. There were also the little things, like giving me instant coffee at night, tucking me into bed when I’m too tired to move, relieving my stress with a small massage, taking care of me whenever I get sick, and risking an absence just to make sure I take my meds. You did so much for me, Fany-ah… So much that I don’t really know how to pay you back for all of them.”
This time Tiffany found the motivation to speak up. “Hey, isn’t that kinda unfair on your end? You did lots for me, too. You helped me with the difficult notes in songs, you encouraged me whenever we had an impromptu presentation, you protected me from those who’d make fun of me just because I’m a foreigner, and you taught me how to be confident…”
“Oh yeah?” as if she was being challenged, Taeyeon lifted her head from Taeyeon’s shoulder and looked at her straight in the eye. “You helped me speak English better. Not only that, you taught me a lot in various other subjects, such as math and biology. Remember that one time when we were both late for a major subject? You covered up for me by saying that we were both held up because you had to do something.”
“Well, being a naturally-gifted singer you helped me sing better and express my emotions more clearly. You also made sure that I eat enough since I was the physically weaker one between the two of us. Sometimes you’d even give me some from your secret stash of snacks just to make sure that I stay full whenever we did an all-nighter.”
“That’s nothing. When we had to MC for a major event, you led me through the steps, showed me how to keep the audience going and the atmosphere constantly heated up.”
“You think that’s huge? What about the time when we had to go home for the summer? My parents are in the States, and I didn’t have enough money to go to them. Instead, you convinced your parents to let me stay at your house in Jeollado for the entire summer vacation. It went on like that for the rest of our university life.”
“You helped me make more friends. You broke me out of my introverted shell. I would never have seen Sooyoung’s amazing eating habits, Sunny’s aegyo, Jessica’s cold-hearted façade and more without your help.”
“You were the only person willing to bunk in with a foreigner like me who doesn’t even have a single relative in this country.”
“You’re the first person I’ve met whose voice perfectly matched mine.”
“You-What…?”
Taeyeon stood up from the ground, dusting off some blades of grass from her clothes. “I had this fantasy ever since I was young, that I would spend all day, everyday, singing with the person I love. Even back then, I was a good singer, and the people around me acknowledged that. Lots of boys would come up to me and ask me to go out with them. You know what I asked them to do in exchange?”
“W-What?”
“I asked them to sing a song with me. See, I liked singing so much back then, even up to now. I liked it so much that I decided that anyone who could perfectly synchronize their voice with mine would be my boyfriend. None of those boys met the criteria… until now.”
Then Taeyeon walked behind Tiffany and knelt down, rummaging her pockets for something. The latter had her head down, thinking about what Taeyeon just said. Someone had met the criteria, so he would undoubtedly be her boyfriend. That thought affected her in ways she never imagined; she never felt anger, jealousy, possessiveness and defeat like that before, all directed at the lucky person who managed to sync with Taeyeon.
But then she remembered something Taeyeon said just before that, and her mind went back to those times when she truly enjoyed singing, revelled in hearing her own voice. But it wasn’t just her voice, and she wasn’t singing alone. In every fond memory of the songs she sang, there was always someone with her; a small girl, whose voice would surprise those who listened. It was a strong, full-bodied voice. A voice so strong and controlled that it could reach notes both deep and high; it was the voice of a true singer. Tiffany’s voice was lower, huskier, and fundamentally different from Taeyeon’s. When they sang together though, their voices managed to harmonize so perfectly with each other that many said that they couldn’t distinguish between their voices. It was a time where their hearts would beat as one. It was a time when they would sing as one.
She was so busy reminiscing those memories that she didn’t notice the hands that went around her neck with something silver in them.
“TaeTae…? What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m putting a necklace around you.”
And she was right. Tiffany felt a cold yet soothing metallic sensation on her neck, and she saw that it was indeed a necklace; a silver heart with a keyhole in the middle attached to a silver chain. It looked simple, plain even, but to Tiffany… it was absolutely beautiful.
“Oh my gosh. Taeyeon-ah… Thank you so much. It’s… beautiful,” Tiffany couldn’t find any other words to express what she was feeling at the moment.
“It actually comes as a set,” Taeyeon said, taking her seat once again beside Tiffany and showing a similar-looking necklace around her neck, this time with a key instead of a heart.
“See? I have the key to your lock.” Taeyeon’s cheeks were tinted rosy red, but she tried her best to maintain eye contact and to keep her voice steady. “I don’t think I need to explain what it means, hm?”
Tiffany knew exactly what the lock and key necklaces implied, but she was too busy trying to keep her heart from going haywire to respond. There was a storm of emotions raging inside of her that she didn’t know how to make sense of it all. The fact that Taeyeon was a girl like her only troubled her further, since she wasn’t certain on what to feel for her. Everything they did together for the past four years came back rushing to her like a tidal wave, all her doubts and fears slowly being eroded away.
Her face was in shock, her eyes widened, and her cheeks madly scarlet with so many emotions, but Tiffany figured that she had to say something, blurt out random stuff if she had to, even if it didn’t make much sense. “B-B-But this doesn’t make any sense! We’re both girls, and if we started going out then wouldn’t it look weird to others? A-A-And our parents! What would they think? Would they approve of our relationship? Would they support us? Would they still love us if they found out about this? Ahhhh, I’m so confused… I don’t know what to think, what to say. OMG (Tiffany said this in English). I... I… I--!”
“Fany-ah? You talk too much.”
“What do you-mmph!”
Taeyeon silenced her with a kiss. It was a strange, surreal feeling, but also the best thing Tiffany felt ever. Her eyes slowly drooped to a close, and her arms subconsciously wrapped around Taeyeon’s neck, pulling her deeper into the kiss. The soft feeling of Taeyeon’s lips, the warmth that spread like wildfire all over her body, and the tingling sensation that ran down her spine… she finally understood the meaning behind Katy Perry’s song.
That was their first kiss, on the night when they stopped being just friends.
“Taeyeon-ah… what are you trying to say to me?” Tiffany pondered as she held the note, the memories wrapping gently around her heart and mind. “There’s obviously something… but what is it?”
Then as if making up her mind, she said, “That’s it. I’m gonna go out to the park and ask her to meet me there. Then we’ll have a nice, long chat about these notes she left behind.”
She rummaged through the closet to find appropriate clothes to wear for that day; the pink pleated skirt they bought at a bazaar, a pair of cream slippers that Taeyeon bought for Tiffany as a peace offering, a white shirt with SoShi prints that Taeyeon found in a KPOP store, a denim jacket that was the product of Tiffany’s constant pleas for it, and a pair of silver rose earrings that Taeyeon gifted her on their first anniversary. After putting those on, she went to the special drawer to take out the final piece of her outfit for the day: the silver heart-lock necklace Taeyeon gave to her when she confessed. She wore it around her neck, glinting a bit in the sunlight that flowed from the windows. Looking herself over the mirror, Tiffany was satisfied with her choice of clothes.
“Okay, time to go out! I should remember to lock everything and make sure that everything in the kitchen is in place…” but just as she closed the door to their closet, the doorbell rang throughout the apartment three times. “Coming!!! Wait a bit, geez. No need to press the doorbell that quick.”
With brisk steps, Tiffany walked towards the door, wondering who could be in front of their apartment this early in the morning. She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door inwards, only to be met with the sight of a rather small delivery man wearing the trademark blue-and-yellow motorcycle jacket and pants, and a large cap covered most of his face. “Package for Miss Tiffany Hwang,” he said in a rough voice that suspiciously sounded like a woman.
“Why, thank you!” Tiffany reached out to take the package from the man’s hands, when she saw that instead of a bulky package stuck inside a brown envelop, there was a yellow note. Shock clearly evident in her face, she tried to ask the man who asked him to pass on this item to her. But Tiffany decided to take the note first and look at its contents. With bated breath and rising heartbeats, she opened the folded note which strangely had no doodles nor designs on it.
I know what you do every morning, Tiffany. I'd like to know what you do for the rest of your life too. :3
P.S, stop talking to yourself, sweetie. It's kinda creepy.
It took her a few more seconds of staring at the note, a few more seconds of contemplation before Tiffany realized the true meaning behind all the notes she saw before. From the moment she woke up from bed up to now, she had been following a certain pattern, a routine that had developed in the days she lived in this apartment. And the notes? The notes were lying exactly along the path of that routine; messages that said a lot about the girl reading them and the girl that wrote them. She already knew who was responsible for all those notes, and she was slowly seeing Taeyeon’s message to her, but there was still one mystery remaining: the delivery man.
“Um, I hope you don’t mind me asking…” Tiffany started with uncertainty. “…but do you know who sent me this note?”
“I’m sorry, young lady. I was asked not to tell you anything about her identity,” the man said, which brought a frown to Tiffany’s face. “However, I’ve been in the business long enough to know what their intentions are. I think what she’s trying to say… is that she wants to be with you as more than just a girlfriend.”
Tiffany’s heart skipped a beat at that one. “Wait… what did you just say?”
The man merely gave a light chuckle and continued. “She actually told me about her plans with the notes. It amazed me, how much she knew about you. When you would wake up, where you would go afterwards, how long it would take you to finish the morning routine… she even told me to wait a certain time before I deliver this last note to you, and with the utmost confidence I might add.”
“She… she planned all of this?” Tiffany could barely speak. The man said nothing about the identity of the sender, but after all that he said it was more than obvious to her. She was keeping her tear ducts in check; she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of a complete stranger. Though, she was starting to doubt that the delivery man was in any way a stranger to her.
“You got that right. And that’s not all, actually. There’s still one more package left. She asked me to let you read the note first before I give this to you,” the delivery man then rummaged through his jacket pockets. Just then the wind picked up, strong enough that a flutter of cherry blossoms swept through the air and it caused the man’s cap to be knocked off his head…
…revealing long, wavy dirty blonde hair, soft yet sharp eyes that twinkled on their own, a sharp nose, round cheeks brushed with rosy pink, and lips that were curled up into a smile. At the same time she took out the last package from her pockets and showed it to Tiffany: a small, velvet box with two gold quarter notes embossed on the top. She opened it, revealing what appeared to be a bright, sparkling star inside.
Tiffany put her hands to her mouth, overwhelmed by everything that was happening around her. The tears were freely flowing from eyes down to her cheeks, but it didn’t matter to her. They weren’t even tears of sadness, but of every beautiful emotion she could think of; happiness, surprise, relief, satisfaction, and love.
“I don’t think I need to explain what it means, hm?” Taeyeon merely said, that confident grin of hers contrasting the crimson that colored her cheeks.
No matter how hard she tried to reply, Tiffany couldn’t. She was rendered mute by the things that were rising up inside of her, making her choke on her own words. In this kind of situation, Tiffany figured that she didn’t need any words to express what she was truly feeling. So she simply nodded as an answer to Taeyeon’s question.
-----------------------------
Thanks for reading All About You! Hope you enjoyed reading how romantic Taeyeon got Tiffany to say yes. :D
Look forward to more of my works. XD