"Okay."
After she has finished showering, she
sits on her bed, watching her
roommate who's now snuggly lying
under the blanket with the TV remote
in her hand.
"She's pretty though."
Sunny looks at her. "Who?"
"The stranger who stopped me from
picking up that coin."
"Just because there's a chance that
she's Korean or American, doesn't
mean she swings your way, Taeng."
"Wha-... Don't you think I know that?
I'm just saying!"
"You're saying that you're attracted
to her."
"I am not! Can't I just make a remark
or compliment someone without you
accusing me of having hidden
agendas?"
"No," replies Sunny flatly. She
changes the channel without so much
as glancing at her roommate.
Taeyeon sticks her tongue out at her
friend and stands up to return the
wet towel to the bathroom.
She dries her hair then gets ready to
sleep only to wake up the next
morning from a dream that features
her 'rescuer'. In that dream, she
stopped her from getting on the train
and they shared the Kit Kat together.
Oh right! There's that Kit Kat...
Taeyeon leaps off the bed, switches
on the light -ignoring the groaning
lump that is Sunny- and grabs her
bag. She takes out the flattened
rectangular pink package and smiles.
I don't know why you even gave this
to me but thanks anyway, she thinks
as she carefully sets it aside and
makes her way to the bathroom while
whistling a random tune.
--
"Tiffany-san."
She looks up at the mention of her
name and sees her supervisor
approaching.
"The designer you're going to work
with is here," he says in his heavily
accented English.
"Ah, the one from the Korean office?"
"Yes. She's in the meeting room.
Let's go."
Tiffany stands up, takes her iPad with
her and follows her supervisor
towards the room at the other side of
the office area.
"Taeyeon-san, thank you for waiting,"
says the man as he opens the door.
"This is Tiffany-san, our designer."
He steps aside and Tiffany's eyes
widen in shock when she sees the
person standing by the large table.
Taeyeon is also surprised to see the
woman she recognizes as the Kit Kat
girl from last night.
"Both of you should be able to work
well together since you're both
Korean," he says.
Taeyeon is the first to bow. "Nice to
meet you, Tiffany-san," she says in
Japanese - for the supervisor's sake.
"N-nice to meet you too, Taeyeon-
san," replies Tiffany in the same
language, also with a polite bow.
"Tiffany-san will brief you on the
project before the team meeting so
you can catch up," he tells Taeyeon.
"Thank you, Yamada-san," Taeyeon
says, bowing to him once more.
Tiffany waits until her supervisor has
left before she speaks again,
carefully. "Hello," she says in Korean.
"Hi," replies Taeyeon with an amused
smile. "So your name is Tiffany?"
"Yes. I'm Hwang Tiffany. And you are
Taeyeon?"
Taeyeon nods and extends her hand.
"Kim Taeyeon. It's nice to meet you.
Again," she says with a grin.
"Nice to meet you too." Tiffany
shakes Taeyeon's hand gently, as if
afraid that she'd break her. "Are you
alright now?"
Taeyeon finally laughs, much to
Tiffany's confusion. "I've always been
alright. Last night was a complete
misunderstanding. I wasn't about to
do what you thought I was going to
do."
"Then why did you step over the
yellow line?"
"I wanted to pick up a coin that was
lying near the edge of the platform. I
thought it would be dangerous for the
train should it fall onto the rail. It's
just my weird logic, I guess."
"Oh."
Tiffany begins to blush, feeling
extremely embarrassed. She
remembers what she had done and
said; and her cheeks grow even
redder.
Taeyeon watches Tiffany avert her
eyes. Pretty and cute. I think this is
going to be a very enjoyable week.
"So... um... let's get started," Tiffany
says, pulling up a chair. She sits
down, unlocks her iPad and launches
into work mode, explaining what's
been done on the current
collaboration so far.
Taeyeon calmly takes her seat across
from Tiffany, nodding as she begins
to take notes.
Soon the supervisor returns to tell
them that the meeting is about to
start. jMore people come into the
room and Taeyeon politely bows to
each one, introducing herself.
By lunchtime, they have divided the
tasks and set up a project timeline.
The meeting ends in a high note and
all members of the team look excited
and eager to reach their goal.
However, Taeyeon finds herself
standing alone, unsure of what to do
or where to eat for lunch.
Tiffany notices the awkward girl and
approaches her. "How about lunch?
On me. I want to apologize for my
silliness last night. You must have
been shocked."
"I was," Taeyeon says, smiling, "But
touched too. It was a very kind
gesture, Tiffany."
"Thanks." Tiffany clears her throat
and looks away. Her cheeks have
begun to turn pink with
embarrassment again. "Come on,"
she says, leading the way out of the
meeting room, "I'll show you to your
desk. It's right next to mine."
Taeyeon gathers her stuff and follows
Tiffany through the work area,
passing desks and cubicles.
"Nice view," she remarks when she
sees the large window right next to
their designated desks.
"Yeah. We got good seats," jokes
Tiffany. "This is my desk and that's
yours. Your computer should be here
by the time we return from lunch."
She points at the bare desk then
takes her purse and her jacket. "Let's
go."
Taeyeon quietly walks next to Tiffany,
merging with the lunchtime crowd
inside the elevator.
"Where to?" she asks once they have
left the building.
"Do you like ramen?"
"Very much."
"Good. I know a great place nearby
but we need to get there fast or the
queue will be crazy."
Tiffany turns left and walks briskly,
glancing to see Taeyeon rushing to
catch up.
They barely exchange words during
the walk and Taeyeon is nearly out of
breath when they finally reach the
small shop.
"Whew. Made it on time," Tiffany
says. She chuckles when she sees
Taeyeon taking deep breaths, chest
slightly heaving. "Sorry I made you
rush like that."
"It's okay. But this better be worth
it."
"I assure you, it will."
After they take their seats at the
counter, Taeyeon lets Tiffany order for
the both of them while she takes off
her jacket.
"So Tiffany," she begins once the
order has been placed, "how long
have you lived here?"
"Not very long as you can hear from
my Japanese," answers Tiffany. "I
came here last winter."
"I see. Did they put you on the
project straight away?"
Tiffany nods. "This is my first project
in this company. It hasn't been
smooth sailing so far. Yesterday was
a particularly bad day."
"Why?"
