Taeyeon rubbed the sleep from her eyes and blinked. Once. Twice. And a few more times because she was so sure she was seeing things. When the cigarette drags scorched her skin, Taeyeon realized that she really- really, really did just received a message from the fashion editor.
Taeyeon zoomed in and squinted at the photo, satisfied to see that Tiffany’s inked skin seemed to be recovering well. A warmth creeped to her cheeks when her eyes averted to the exposed collarbone. Clearing her throat, she straightened up and closed the message. Taeyeon lifted the cigarette back to her lips, hoping to ease the sudden flutter in her stomach.
In all honesty, Taeyeon could not deny that Tiffany was attractive. Taeyeon liked girls more than boys- a discovery in high school when she caught her crush of six months making out with her boyfriend and her poor little heart shattered. Somewhere, sitting on her ankle was a little broken heart from her heartbreak.
Tiffany irked Taeyeon but throwing two people in a small room for an hour did wonders. Taeyeon found out that Tiffany had interest in fashion since a young age. With years of persuasion, Tiffany fled America to find independance in her motherland. She carried herself with confidence that masked a bright innocence and Taeyeon found that charming.
Taeyeon flipped the light switch and made a mental note to question Jiwoong in the morning- she was almost 100% sure that he betrayed her again.
(At the other edge of Seoul, Jiwoong belted a loud sneeze in his apartment and shivered. That felt ominous.)
//////////
Taeyeon did not reply to her message and needless to say, this was another gigantic chunk taken from Tiffany’s ego. Huffing, Tiffany dismissed her assistant who bowed and hurriedly scrambled out of the door from the gloomy aura that shroud the room.
The tension standstill as she spent the morning drafting columns for the month’s issue- with grudge and mumbling “stupid, stupid, stupid” under her breath.
Her phone vibrated again and Tiffany grabbed the device with menace- scrolling through unnecessary messages for a drink from her friends, messages from her parents (typical parents who subtly hinted at Tiffany to get a love life in texts like ‘Steph, dad and I will be visiting San Frans. today. Will snap photos of hot guys for your inspiration. Love you!’) and work.
Tiffany stared at the unknown number and tapped on the message. It was a simple “Welcome” but Tiffany finally smiled for the first time that day knowing that Taeyeon had received her thanks.
//////////
“I’m saying this won’t work,” Tiffany calmly pointed to show her point. “They have columns on this and here, look.”
Tiffany twirled her laptop around to show her partners. “They had exclusive interviews with Gucci. There will be a loss of readers if we do similar topic again.”
“That was last year, Tiffany-ssi. It’s worth a try. Gucci’s-”
“Excuse me, but I believe it’s best that we heed Tiffany-ssi’s advice-”
“-But Jiwoong-ssi, this is-”
Tiffany and the team spent another hour exploring latest trends that they could do a special column on. Tiffany smiled stiffly as pulled herself out of the heated discussion. Her fingers unconsciously stroked the healing skin, feeling the slightly coarser texture under her finger tips.
“Ah!” Tiffany jolted up from her chair, causing the grown men from the room to clenched their chest at the sudden outburst.
“Tattoo!” Tiffany proudly announced. Jiwoong stared at her, face paled and the alarms went off in his head.
//////////
Tiffany found herself standing outside the little rundown bookstore because Jiwoong refused- dramatically, with tears in his eyes, trembling lips and begged Tiffany not to drag him this. Tiffany did not have the heart to see the poor man quavering in fear so with a new found determination, she took her wallet and flagged a taxi to Taeyeon’s shop.
There was so many ideas running in Tiffany’s head as she frantically swiped on her tablet with a grin on a face. There were brands and lines of clothes that Tiffany knew would compliment Taeyeon- Taeyeon in ripped jeans and a muscle tank, Taeyeon in a navy top and the rotatory machine in her hand, Taeyeon with her hair- Tiffany was so exhilarated with the ideas that she stood dumbfounded in front of the rustic wooden door.
“Welcome,” Tiffany heard the voice before the smell of tobacco choked her as the faint jingle echoed. Taeyeon was leaning against the shelf and staring at her with a little smile on her face, seemingly amused.
“Oh.” Tiffany lamely replied, “how did you know I was here?”
“I was heading out,” Taeyeon lifted a bag of empty takeouts boxes. “But you were standing outside and blocking my way for almost ten minutes.”
“Oh.”
“What are you here for? Did it fade?” Taeyeon wriggled her own finger and gestured at her.
“Oh, this? Yeah, it’s fine, it’s just-” Tiffany lifted her hand to examine it and was cut off when Taeyeon leaned towards her.
“It’s recovering pretty well. You have been listening to my advice.” Tiffany did not miss the pride in Taeyeon’s tone.
“Taeyeon,” she whispered. “I need you to be my model.”
Taeyeon’s smile dropped abruptly and took a step back with an unsettling expression on her face.
“No.”
“Do you say anything else besides no?”
“No,” Taeyeon repeated and rounded the shelves back to the counter. She picked up her book and immersed herself in it, ignoring Tiffany’s presence. Tiffany plopped down at the nearest chair and exhaled .
“Alright, let’s just talk.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Is that Harry Potter?” Taeyeon’s eyes flickered from her book to Tiffany.
“You are only reading Goblet of Fire?”
“I’m reading the whole series again.”
“My favorite book is The Half Blood Prince. Harry Potter is super cool.” Tiffany sighed dreamily. “And Malfoy is a douche.”
“He is not.”
“Are you serious, Taeyeon? Malfoy is the biggest jerk in the whole series.”
“Draco is pretty cool.”
“So you are a Slytherin, huh?” Tiffany teased and Taeyeon averted her eyes back to her book again.
There was silence and Taeyeon was reaching for her box of cigarette when a warm hand covered hers. She gasped and retracted immediately but Tiffany gripped on tightly.
“Please,” Tiffany pleaded with sincerity. “Help me.”
Taeyeon forcefully pulled her hand free. She saw the defeated expression on Tiffany’s face and her jaw twitched.
“Fine.”
Taeyeon whispered and Tiffany beamed at her. Her face was stoic but Tiffany did not miss the little hue on her cheeks.
kaleidoscopic minds 