Chapter 18

"Mom, I have stuff to do today, can you please go home?" Tiffany told her mother. She had no intention to keep arguing with her over Yoona's sexuality, especially when this wasn't even new to the both of them anymore.

"Honey what's wrong? I barely see you any more these days, and here you are trying to push me away from you again?" Mrs. Hwang asked, holding onto her daughter's arms but Tiffany shook her mother's grasp away from her.

"We argued many times in private about Yoona already, don't you ever get sick of it? She is who she is, you can't make her your 'perfect' little daughter who has to listen to whatever you tell her to do. I tried my best to be your perfect daughter, but guess what? You're still not satisfied; I won't let you do the same to Yoona. I had to lie to her and say you accepted her sexuality, this is really too much. She has her rights to love anybody she wants to."

Tiffany's sudden burst surprised her mother but she remains composed and began to spoke calmly,

"I just want the best for you two, is that so hard to wish for? Every mother wants their child to marry someone that will be a vital help to their upcoming future. Yoona liking a girl is NOT a vital help to her future."

"Oh, so did you marry dad because you thought he would be a vital help to your future?"

Tiffany shot back, her eyes wavering.

But her mother wasn't going to let her get away with this kind of rudeness towards her. Mrs. Hwang raised her hands up in the air and firmly slapped Tiffany across the cheek without warning, earning a yelp from her daughter and a glare that could burn through her heart.

"How dare you speak to your mother like that? I married your dad because I truly love him, not because of materialistic things."

Tiffany rubbed her cheek in pain but held it in and scoffed, "Okay, fine. What happens if grandma didn't let you love dad then? What if she was restricting you to whom you love?"

"Of course I would not be happy, but my situation and Yoona's situation are two completely different things. Yoona loving a girl is a taboo that should be left untouched."

Tiffany sighed, "Mom, your conservativeness is the only thing that should be left untouched. If you have a conscience, please talk to it. It probably knows more about things than you do yourself." she said, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack. She seriously had no mood to keep on arguing―and she was NOT going to continue with this conversation any further when her mother's conservative stubbornness was leading the conversation to nowhere.

Mrs. Hwang furrowed her brow in outrage as she tried to decipher what Tiffany was trying to say, needless to say; she was not happy with her daughter's disrespectful attitude towards her.

"Where are you going?!" She yelled when Tiffany grabbed her jacket but the girl just ignored her mother's questioning and opened the front door to head out―only to be met with her father's eyes gazing at her.

"...Dad?"

---

"Hey what are you doing right now?"

Yuri sent a text to Tiffany as she roamed the busy streets of Seoul. Now that Seohyun was off for Italy, she had no reason to stay home and be bored by herself when usually she still had Seohyun to keep her company and they would most likely have those move nights together.

A few minutes later, she received a text back from Tiffany and frowned.

"I'm busy right now."

"She's always like this," Yuri muttered to herself.

She was going to call Junsu and ask him out to go to a noraebang but then suddenly remembered he still had to watch over his bar and won't be free until late midnight.

And so here Yuri was, strolling down the streets with her cellphone in hand as she scrolled through her contacts searching for anybody else that would like to go hang out―until she felt how miserable she was doing so. Usually, she had people calling her to ask her if she would like to hang...but as for today, it was the total opposite.

"Fine, I haven't done any photography lately," Yuri muttered to herself as she unzipped the small messenger bag she was carrying and took out her DSLR. She looked through the viewfinder of the camera and the first thing she noticed was the puppies that were clawing the display window of the pet store ahead of her.

She curiously walked up to the pet store and smiled upon seeing the cute little puppies trying to escape, but at the same time she felt bad for the puppies because it was held captive like this from their mothers as soon as they were born.

Either way, she instinctively walked inside the pet store with a motive of wanting to hold the small puppies; the workers were no where to been seen and so she silently picked up the small fluffy Golden Retriever puppy and played around with it, stroking it's soft golden fur and smiled cheekily to herself until one of the workers saw her silhouette in the store's front and walked out to greet Yuri.

"Hello, welcome to Hara Hara Goo Hara's pet store, how may I hel―Yuri?"

Jessica said in surprise as she walked up to Yuri, the latter was equally surprised herself at Jessica's presence.

"Yuri, why are you here?" Jessica asked first, earning a chuckle from Yuri.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that first?" Yuri remarked, putting back the puppy in its place.

Jessica scratched the back of her head and smiled, "Oh, uh my friend Goo Hara owns this pet store, and since today she was running low on workers, I decided to come help out."

"As to why am here...well, these puppies seduced me to come inside and pick them up―" Yuri started her explanation before a girl emerged from the back room and interrupted her,

"―That's exactly why it's placed behind the display windows, to seduce and tempt incoming customers. My name is Hara, you must be Yuri?" The girl, now identified as 'Hara' asked as she extended a hand out.

Yuri nodded, confirming the girl of her name.

"Yes, how did you know?" She asked, shaking Hara's extended hand and looked at Jessica oddly for an explanation, but before the latter could say anything, Hara had already spoken up.

"Sica here had always talked to me about a tall, tan skinned handsome girl, and seeing how you match all of these criteria, it must have been you, plus," Hara paused and let out a chuckle, "I saw Sica call your name out so I kind of figured it was you."

Jessica laughed, "Yep, this is Hara, an old friend of mine."

"―A very good old friend of yours." Hara added, causing Jessica to throw a light punch to her arm.

"Ah..well, it's nice to meet you, Hara. Interesting store name too." Yuri said, earning a smile from the girl,

"Hah-rah Hah-rah Goo Hah-rah's Pet store, if you say it fast, doesn't it sound pleasing and enticing?"

"Yeah yeah, it sounds pleasing and enticing. Now cut it out." Jessica told her, giving the girl's cheek a squeeze before turning her attention back to Yuri,

"I heard Seohyun was going to Italy today, did she go yet?" Jessica changed the subject and asked as the younger girl had told her about the trip yesterday at the engagement party.

Yuri nodded, "Actually, I just sent her to the airport earlier. Now that she's gone, I'm going to be bored at home...so this is the real reason why I wandered around in the streets and saw these puppies right here.." She smiled and picked up the one she was playing with earlier, "Speaking of which, how much is this fella right here? He seems like he would keep a lonely person company."

"Very good choice, that fur-ball is one of my favorites. I even named him PeeWee, but I'm sure you can think of a better name," Hara chortled,

"He costs 500 dollars, BUT because you are Jessica's friend, AND I know that you will take care of him good, PLUS," She leaned in closer to Yuri's ear and whispered, "You're so handsome looking,"

"I'll give you 50 percent off. Total is 250 dollars, how does that sound?"

"DEAL!"

"Oh, and as part of the transaction, I'll throw Jessica in there too." Hara gave a cheeky smile, but that statement only led Yuri into confusion. She pushed Jessica towards Yuri, earning a slight blush from the girl as she bumped onto Yuri.

"Aish, you!" Jessica quickly pulled away and feigned a punch to Hara, causing the girl to guffaw.

"No no, I meant, Jessica could go home early today after this transaction, duhhh, what were you two thinking?" Hara smiled as she slightly flipped her hair, walking up to the cash register in glee.

"Don't mind her, she has eccentric personality." Jessica whispered to Yuri.

"I find her kind of amusing." Yuri admitted before laughing.

"You know I can hear you two. Sica-ah, you suck at whispering."

---

"...Dad, you're here?" Tiffany asked quietly, earning a nod from her father.

"What's going on here? Were you trying to leave?" He asked her, but she refused to answer and kept her head down low.

"It's about Yoona." Mrs. Hwang told him.

"I TOLD YOU―" He suddenly paused and walked over to the couch, patting the cushions so that both Tiffany and her mother could come and sit down.

"Come sit down." He told them and Tiffany silently obeyed while Mrs. Hwang fought back,

"Sweetheart," She said, but he stopped her from doing so with a glare.

"Come sit down." He told her once again and this time she obeyed him like Tiffany.

He cleared his throat and began to speak in a low monotone voice,

"This will be the last time we will talk about Yoona. She can like whomever she chooses to, like I said before, it's her happiness that matters the most. I don't care what you think, I don't care what others think, I care about what she thinks."

Mrs. Hwang scoffed, "Cut the bull sh-t, do you not think that Yoona loving a girl is a not a taboo?"

"You cut the bull sh-t, How is falling in love with someone called a taboo?" Mr. Hwang raised his voice, scaring Tiffany almost.

Mrs. Hwang stood up, "How will society think of us huh? You are a millionaire with a high social class up in the business area, how will people think of us if our daughter is GAY?"

"Her sexual orientation does not affect what others think of us, what others think of us is merely up to our actions."

"Dad―" Tiffany tried to speak up but her mother took the spotlight and continued with her rant.

"I do NOT accept this, I―"

"I ACCEPT this. She is MY daughter, I can let her love anyone she chooses to, and I will wish her happiness. You don't like this? Should we divorce so you can go off to marry some younger boy and you both go make a different daughter?"

Mrs. Hwang was left speechless as she sat back down and glared at him, her so-called glare however had no effect on him whatsoever. He patted the empty space beside him and told Tiffany to come over and sit. It was these times that Tiffany felt like she was still her daddy's small little girl.

"I'm sorry I didn't attend your engagement yesterday―but trust me, I didn't go to Hawaii with your mother just for leisure vacation, I had a meeting with a fellow investor there." He paused and looked at Tiffany, "You don't have to marry Siwon like what your mother wanted you to, unless however, you truly like him and would like to go on with the marriage. I found an investor in Hawaii and he is willing to invest in my company, that means no bankrupting will occur for me...the agreement is still not final yet, but this is what I have for now. So do you? Do you love him?"

"How can you tell her not to marry Siwon? He is the biggest heir to―"

"Can you please shut up? I'm talking to my daughter." Mr. Hwang yelled at his wife.

Tiffany shook her head, "I don't, dad. I wanted to help out with your company that's why I agreed in the first place."

"That's my girl." Mr. Hwang smiled and gave her a pat on her head, "I trusted you when you told me about what Siwon was going to do to you. Let's just say that it's a relief that the movie extra was there to save you from him, I know that I was selfish to tell you not to tell the police..but in that current situation―"

Tiffany smiled, "It's okay dad, nothing happened to me. I'm just happy right now that I won't have to marry him anymore."

"Yes! Should we go celebrate today?"

Tiffany took a look at her phone and suddenly remembered about Yuri's text to her.

"What's wrong? Are you busy?" Mr. Hwang asked his daughter, waving his hands in front of her face and stopped her chain of thoughts.

"No! We should go out and have some fun today, Let's go to a noraebang!"

---

"Hmm, What do you plan on naming the puppy?" Jessica asked as she reached over and petted the puppy's head. Her and Yuri were walking along the street, however it felt very strange to her with the way that they were walking alongside each other—it was like they were strangers, which felt really odd because they were not. The two years that Jessica had gone back to the States really made a difference in their past intimate relationship, and Jessica was now starting to regret such decision due to her mother's defiance.

"Should you just call it PeeWee like what Hara named it?" She chuckled but Yuri shook her head.

"This isn't for me, I'll let her name it when I give it to her." Yuri replied, making baby sounds as she played with the puppy, "But I can just call it PeeWee for now."

Jessica looked at her surprised, "Really? Who are you buying it for? Seohyun?" She asked, as there shouldn't be any other girl whom Yuri would be buying such a precious gift for. It wouldn't be well-reasoned if the girl Yuri is giving the puppy to was―

"Tiffany!" Yuri exclaimed,

"Sometimes I feel like she's really lonely, specially when her sister is always out with Seohyun. With this little fella, she won't be so lonely all the time." Yuri took a look at Jessica's indecipherable expression and smiled, "Don't you think that this puppy will keep a lonely person company?" she asked the girl as she held PeeWee's paws and lightly hit the latter's arm with it.

"Y-yes." Jessica forced herself to smile, "That's one precious gift you got her then."

"Seriously right? We're getting closer nowadays but she keeps denying that we are. Aish, let's just say this is like a really early Christmas present or something for her."

Jessica had this lingering question in her head, and she just had no more hesitation to hold it in anymore; she just had to ask it. She wants a definite answer.

"Do you..by any chance like her?"

Yuri looked dazed for a split second as she was caught off guard by the question. She guffawed.

"Me? Liking her? Impossible. Me liking her is like a tiger loving a lion."

"But a tiger and a lion could love each other, they make Ligers."

Yuri sighed, "Okay, let me rephrase that. Me liking Tiffany is like an elephant loving a mouse. Impossible right?"

Although she couldn't express it physically, Jessica was sighing in relief inside her head.

"I just take her as a friend, like a cat and a dog maybe? A love-hate friendship." Yuri chortled, "Sometimes I feel like the 'hate' empowers the 'love', but then again, sometimes I feel as if the 'love' empowers the 'hate', although rarely. Hmm, now that I think about it, I think my relationship with Tiffany is kind of—"

"Complicated?" Jessica asked.

Yuri shook her head, "More like confusing. But yeah, me and her...we're not like 'that' so don't take it the wrong way."

"I won't then," Jessica smiled, "So where do you want to go? We're not planning to wander endlessly around the streets are we?"

"Actually, let's go to a noraebang. I wanted to go today with Junsu but he's still busy at his bar."

"Oh, so am I a replacement for him?" Jessica joked, not expecting any strong reactions from Yuri; but her expectation faltered when Yuri began to speak.

"No way, you're not a replacement for him, and no one can ever replace you for me." Yuri smiled, "You're Jessica Jung, the only Jessica Jung for me."

---

"Here's your personal noraebang room, if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask us!" The worker said as she bowed before leaving.

"I can't believe they charged me an extra fee for having a puppy with me." Yuri groaned as she set PeeWee onto the couch and petted it, causing Jessica to laugh as she sat down beside Yuri.

"It's probably because PeeWee could make a bigger mess for them to clean it up."

"You stay here okay? Go sleep." Yuri told PeeWee, and obediently, PeeWee actually closed its eyes and began to snore quietly.

"Ah hah! Yeah you better listen to your owner."

"I think it's just because you kept playing with it too much so now it's sleepy."

"Hey! Let me have fun will ya?" Yuri joked, walking up to grab the mics from the TV and the remote for the karaoke machine. "What song would you like?"

"I'm too tired to sing, I'll just watch you instead."

"Okay then." Yuri grinned as she sat back down beside Jessica and began going through the selection of songs until one song caught her eye, "I love this song!" Yuri yelled as she chose Bubbly by Colbie Caillat.

Jessica immediately laughed when Yuri sang the first verse of the song, "Your Engrish is amazing." she remarked, holding in her laughter.

Yuri turned around to face Jessica and smiled, continuing to sing the verses to the song while Jessica just leaned back against the sofa and slowly closed her eyes. Yuri's soft husky voice along with the beat of the song was soothing and relaxing for her—it was making her feel sleepy. Unknowingly to herself, she instinctively leaned to her right where Yuri's shoulder was and rested her head there, causing Yuri to stop singing as she stared at Jessica in surprise because of her actions.

"Let's stay like this...just for a while, I kind of miss it." Jessica quietly whispered, snuggling against Yuri, leaving the latter speechless not knowing what to do. Unsure; Yuri placed down the mic and slowly wrapped her arm around Jessica, pulling her closer until Jessica laid her head against her chest and could faintly hear Yuri's heart beat slowly in a rhythm.

"Can you remember the last time I was held in your arms like this?" Jessica asked quietly, her eyes remain closed.

"Over two years ago?"

Jessica slowly nodded, "I forgot how it felt like until now. It feels different when Jay held me...I like this feeling more."

"Jay.."

Yuri quickly regained her senses and quickly withdrew her arms from Jessica.

"What's wrong?" Jessica shot her eyes open and quickly asked about the sudden movement.

"You're with Jay, you two are about to get married next year. I shouldn't be doing this."

"Yuri, me and Jay, I don't—" Jessica tried to continue, but she hesitated and let out a heavy sigh, "What happens if I tell you that my feelings for Jay is false?"

Yuri shook her head, "I don't understand what you're trying to say?"

Jessica grabbed Yuri's hand,

"Yuri, I don't lov—"

"DAD ARE YOU IN HERE?" A girl shouted as she busted into the room. It was no other than Tiffany Hwang who immediately figured that she barged into the wrong room.

"Tiffany?" Yuri asked, but the girl quickly turned around.

"Damn, all the rooms looked the same."

Tiffany muttered underneath her breath as she swiftly hurried away.

"Ya! Hold up!" Yuri shouted, grabbing the sleeping PeeWee with her, "I'll be back, wait for me." She told the bewildered Jessica as she quickly went after the blushing Tiffany who just saw what she didn't want to see; Jessica with Yuri; Jessica holding Yuri's hand.

"What the hell? Why am I getting...jealous?"

"Hold on!" Yuri yelled, following Tiffany outside of the place, "Ya!" Yuri yelled again, this time Tiffany finally turned around with an un-amused expression on her face.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want? You're the one that barged into my room first." Yuri corrected.

"I was looking for my dad, all the rooms at this place looked the same. Is that your puppy?" Tiffany asked, trying to change the subject.

"Whatever. Actually I was looking for you about this puppy." Yuri said as she pulled Tiffany down to sit with her on the sidewalks, in which Tiffany quickly stood up.

"I'm wearing a skirt."

Yuri sighed and quickly took off her jacket, "There." she said as she handed the latter her jacket so she can cover herself.

Tiffany smiled as she took Yuri's jacket from her hand and sat back down on the sidewalk.

"I got this puppy for you." Yuri smiled, handing PeeWee to its new owner.

"For me? Why?" Tiffany asked in bewilderment, holding PeeWee.

"Because you're always lonely at home, so this guy will keep you company." Yuri affirmed her, with a proud smile plastered on her face.

"What? I don't need your charity, I can get a pet myself."

"Oh really? Give it back then." Yuri said, reaching for PeeWee but Tiffany slapped her hands away.

"Just take it as an early Christmas present for you."

Tiffany sighed, "That means I have to get you something for Christmas too don't I?"

"Heck yeah. I'm looking forward to find a kitty under my Christmas tree, got it?"

Tiffany rolled her eyes as she petted PeeWee on its head, "I thought you liked Mickey Mouse, should I get you a mouse instead?"

"A mouse does not look like you, a kitty does."

"A kitty looks like me?"

Yuri nodded, "Just like how this puppy looks like me, doesn't the puppy look like me?" She said, curling her hands together and pouted her lips.

"No? You look like Puss-n-boots."

"No! I look like the puppy version of Puss-n-boots, can't you see the resemblance?" Yuri asked again as she reenact the expression.

"No." Tiffany said, trying to hold in her laughter.

Yuri frowned.

"Yeah it looks like you." Tiffany guffawed.

"That is why you should get me a kitty, so you would have a puppy that looks like me, and I would have a kitty that looks like you. I'm gonna name it Miyoung."

"Oh yeah? What's your real name?" Tiffany shouted.

"Uh, Yuri?" Yuri laughed.

"Dammit, the name is not embarrassing like Miyoung."

"I'm naming this puppy Yul, last name Hwang. Hwang Yul."

Yuri scoffed, "I'm gonna name the kitty Kwon Miyoung then! Doesn't sound so pleasing to your ears? KWON MIYOUNG KWON MIYOUNG KWON MIYOUNG—" Yuri repeated over and over again.

"Yah! shut up!" Tiffany yelled at her, covering her mouth with her hands to stop her from repeating the embarrassing name. As soon as she removed her hand, Yuri started to yell the name again however,

"KWON MIYOUNG KWON MIYOUNG KWON MIYOUNG,"

"Oh yeah?" Tiffany scoffed,

"HWANG YUL HWANG YUL HWANG YUL HWANG YUL HWANG YUL HWANG YUL!!"

---

Noticing how Yuri was taking an awfully long time now, Jessica walked out of the room and followed the narrow hall way into the check in counter, where she saw Yuri and Tiffany playfully playing with each other outside, shouting some weird nonsense such as 'Hwang Yul' and 'Kwon Miyoung' until a police officer walked up to them and stopped them from disturbing the neighborhood.

"Yuri, are you sure that you falling in love with her is an impossible feat to achieve?"

Jessica asked herself as she bit her lower lip.

She can't deny it to herself any longer; She is not in love with Jay.

She is in love with—