DESTINY CHAPTER 21 [28th March 2010]

“Who’s this Kang-In guy?” Sunny asked immediately.

“Some crew who’s on the team,” Taeyeon replied.

“Wow, our Taeyeon sure is attractive,” Sunny laughed.

“Not funny, I’m not attracting the one I want to attract,” said Taeyeon with a dejected frown on her face, she rethought her sentence and later added on, “ok i’m not sure if I want to attract her but she’s the one i’m attracted to.”

Taeyeon was still consumed with the thought of ‘not being good enough’ for Soo-yeon.

“Why don’t you tell Soo-yeon that you’re not interested in Kang-In and that you know, you actually have a girl that you like?” Sunny suggested.

“And?? What if it scares her off?” Taeyeon exclaimed, “like WOAH I better steer clear she likes girls!”

“Gee, I didn’t ask you to say that you like her,” Sunny said as she rolled her eyes, “just start from there and find out what she thinks or how she feels?”

Taeyeon thought about it for a while.

It really did not seem like a bad plan.

“I know you’re buying the idea, I can totally tell,” Sunny remarked, “Good luck and have fun with your Kang-In and Soo-yeon.”

Taeyeon frowned at Sunny, “You’re as irritating as hell.”

Sunny laughed real hard as she replied, “Yes, and you’re as funny as hell!”

“Aish! I’m hanging up now,” Taeyeon said in irritation.

Sunny laughed even harder as she said good bye.

Taeyeon said bye and hung up.

When Taeyeon stepped through the sliding doors and into the room, she noticed that Soo-yeon was looking at her.

“Is everything ok?” Soo-yeon asked.

Taeyeon was surprised at her question, “Yes I’m ok why do you ask?”

“That’s because you’re frowning?” Soo-yeon pointed out.

“Oh, haha, Sunny was just being irritating,” Taeyeon said as if it was nothing much to worry about, “now now where’s my dinner.”

Soo-yeon pointed at the corner of the TV ledge.

Taeyeon looked over and finally saw her food with great difficulty. The ledge was filled with too many items.

“Now that I have my food,” said Taeyeon as she picked the white paper bag off the ledge, “I should find somewhere that I can eat.”

Taeyeon scanned the room for some decent space,but the only space they had were the two beds.

Taeyeon laughed, “It seems like there’s really no space and I’m not going to eat on the bed, I’ll be heading off to the lobby,” Taeyeon told Soo-yeon.

Taeyeon headed for the door when she heard Soo-yeon call out, “Wait for me! I’ll come along.”

Taeyeon held the door open and Soo-yeon scrambled over shortly.

As the pair were walking towards the lift Soo-yeon asked in her most casual voice, “So, do you like Kang-In too?”

“Too?,” Taeyeon questioned, “you sound like you’re almost certain he likes me,” Taeyeon deflected the question.

She hurried for the closing lift doors and jammed down on the lift buttons. Soo-yeon ran after her.

Taeyeon stepped into the lift quickly and apologized to the rest of the passengers in the lift. In actual fact, she was just trying to buy herself some time before she actually put her ‘plan’ into action. Technically, it was Sunny’s plan and not hers.

Soo-yeon remained silent until they arrived on the ground floor.

After they got out of the lift, Taeyeon walked quickly towards the side door. There were some tables and chairs in the outdoor area on the lawn. It was fairly empty since the weather was chilly.

Soo-yeon caught up shortly and the both of them settled down at one of the round tables.

Taeyeon opened the paper bag and rubbed her hands together in glee, “Finally, I get to eat.”

“Well you should have followed us instead of stay back in the hotel if you were actually hungry,” said Soo-yeon. Her lips were turned up in a smile when she saw Taeyeon’s eyes light up at the sight of food.

“Firstly, I didn’t want to be around Kang-In any longer,” said Taeyeon sensing her opportunity to execute her plan, “Secondly, I was really feeling quite worn out.”

“Hmm..don’t want to be around Kang-In,” said Soo-yeon as she watched Taeyeon munch on her food hungrily, “so you don’t like him?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Taeyeon said as she swallowed, “I like him as a friend but I don’t like him romantically.”

Soo-yeon was about to say something but Taeyeon quickly added on, “remember, on our journey here we were talking about our destiny?”

“Yes, I’ve already met her, so I doubt I will ever fall for anyone else,” Taeyeon said quietly. She waited for Soo-yeon to respond.

“Oh...” was all that came out of Soo-yeon’s mouth.

Taeyeon waited for a while before she continued with her food. She was not sure how Soo-yeon was taking it.

There was no apparent reaction from Soo-yeon. She was just sitting there in silence.

Did she not hear me say her?Thought Taeyeon.

“I know it may be awkward, but yes I’m in love with a girl, as much as it may be wrong, I think that’s my destiny,” Taeyeon said convincingly. It was as if she was resigned to her fate of having to love Soo-yeon silently, without ever reaping any form of love in return.

“I understand how that feels,” Soo-yeon finally responded, but that was all she said.

“Yes I know, I heard about him,” Taeyeon confessed.

Before Soo-yeon could say anything Taeyeon continued, “I heard from Kang-In about your ex-boyfriend.”

“I see,” Soo-yeon said softly. It was as if she felt slightly ashamed of her past.

“It’s ok,” Taeyeon said as she reached out to grab Soo-yeon’s hand, “love transcends all boundary, it’s ok to love someone everyone thinks we’re not supposed to love,” she said reassuringly.

All Taeyeon wanted to do was to make Soo-yeon feel better.

Soo-yeon managed to force a smile and said a feeble thank you.

It was then that Taeyeon realised what she said. It was quite contrary to what she has been thinking to herself lately.

The both of them sat there, deep in thought.

Nobody bothered to say much after that.

Taeyeon was bothered and confused, and Soo-yeon on the other hand was in her own world of silence.

Taeyeon could sense the sadness in Soo-yeon’s heart.

She could almost see the sorrow in Soo-yeon’s eyes.

She wanted to hug her, but she decided against it and continued with her food.

That night, after the both of them returned and went to bed, Taeyeon could feel the distance between the both of them.

Despite the small bed, and their bodies touching, Taeyeon knew that Soo-yeon was never hers and never will be.

DESTINY CHAPTER 22 [29th March 2010]

When Taeyeon awoke, it was as if the conversation the night before did not occur.

Soo-yeon seemed like she was in a better mood and things were back to normal once again.

“Good Morning,” Soo-yeon said chirpily to a dazed Taeyeon.

“Good Morning,” Taeyeon returned the greeting.

Perhaps she’s as good as masking her pain as I am.

Taeyeon washed up and prepared for the day. The other two colleagues were already out for breakfast.

When Taeyeon and Soo-yeon finally joined the rest of them for breakfast, Kang-In was the first to greet them.

“Taeyeon come sit beside me, there’s an empty seat,” said Kang-In.

Taeyeon noticed the unusual sitting pattern at the table. There were two seats left directly opposite one another. It felt like the people at the table knew that she didn’t want to be too close to Soo-yeon, but that was of course quite impossible.

Before Taeyeon figured the situation, Soo-yeon whispers in her ears, “I bet you there’s some kind of bet going on.”

“Good Morning,” Taeyeon greeted everyone before she sat in the seat across from Kang-In.

Everyone tried hard to stifle their laugh as she sat down.

Taeyeon and Soo-yeon quickly finished breakfast so that everyone could start the day.

Today, they were supposed to go to Lake Rotorua for a shoot on a Catamaran.

It took them quite a long drive before they arrived at the dock. It was small as compared to the one in Auckland, but that did not make the Catamaran any less impressive.

The shoot started out with the Catamaran being stationary and by mid-day, the entire crew was all on board and ready to set sail into the lake.

It was quiet and peaceful on board. There weren’t too many activities going on in the lake as well. In fact, there was almost no activity around them.

The scenery was beautiful and Taeyeon took a great number of shots with and without Soo-yeon.

After a while, the captain killed the engine in the middle of the lake.

It was time to release the sail.

The captain taught Soo-yeon how to haul the sails and she practiced for a bit before Taeyeon started snapping pictures of her doing it.

It was a fun photo shoot and everyone had their turn at the wheel.

After they were done, the captain turned around and made his way back to the dock.

Some of the crew were taking naps in the rooms and some were with the Captain.

Taeyeon was just sitting on a huge beanbag at the front of the catamaran, enjoying the peace and quiet. She had her eyes closed and her arms crossed.

Quite a while later, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She opened her eyes and turned her head. She saw that Kang-In was walking towards her from the left side of the Catamaran and Soo-yeon was walking towards her from the right.

“Hi Taeyeon,” Kang-In said as he arrived by Taeyeon first.

“Hi,” Taeyeon replied.

“Scoot over and share the seat,” Kang-In requested with his usual smile.

The beanbag was huge enough for two so Taeyeon made space. In the midst of moving, someone plonked down beside her.

It wasn’t Kang-In, it was Soo-yeon.

“I want a seat too,” Soo-yeon said grinning at Kang-In.

Taeyeon laughed knowing that Soo-yeon was there to ‘save’ her.

“I’m sorry Kang-In,” Taeyeon said acting like she was helpless about the situation.

Kang-In ended up sitting beside them on the floor. It was evident that Kang-In was shooting dagger stares at Soo-yeon and Taeyeon couldn’t help but find his reaction amusing. She never knew she was this attractive.

“Anyway it’s cold out, Kang-In can you get us some tea?” Soo-yeon asked sweetly.

“That would be great, Thanks Kang-In,” Taeyeon added with a smile.

“Sure,” Kang-In said as he disappeared from view shortly.

“Thanks,” Taeyeon said to Soo-yeon.

“Don’t worry about it, I know how hard it is to shake people off, plus you have someone you love,” Soo-yeon said showing that she has experienced it herself.

Taeyeon hesitated for two seconds before deciding to ask, “Aren’t you afraid of being too close to me? You realise i’m in love with a girl right?”

“Yes but since you’re in love with her it doesn’t matter how close we are since we are good friends aren’t we?” Soo-yeon said looking straight at Taeyeon, “Unless of course you mind?”

“Oh no no of course not, I don’t mind, and yes of course we’re good friends,” Taeyeon replied instantly with a smile.

“Yes and good friends are supposed to share aren’t they?” Soo-yeon said as she pointed at the fleece blanket covering Taeyeon’s legs.

“Maybe not?” Taeyeon replied with a cheeky grin.

“Maybe I’ll get up and make space for Kang-In?” Soo-yeon returned a threat alongside a cheeky smile.

Taeyeon grabbed Soo-yeon’s hands immediately, “No, no, stay, I’ll share everything I have with you.”

Taeyeon liked the feeling of Soo-yeon’s hands in hers, she liked it too much.

She released Soo-yeon’s hands quickly and spread the fleece blanket over Soo-yeon.

“So who’s the girl that has captivated you so?” Soo-yeon asked casually.

Taeyeon’s heart pounded hard when Soo-yeon asked her that.

“Oh...” Taeyeon said trying hard not to give away her current state of anxiety, “She’s just like any normal girl...”

“Mmmhmm,” Soo-yeon nodded anticipating more from Taeyeon.

“...and to be honest, I think I fell for her the moment I met her, I just didn’t know until recently,” said Taeyeon without pulling her eyes away from Soo-yeon.

“I see, how did you realise?” Soo-yeon asked.

“I just did,” Taeyeon replied.

“So —” before Soo-yeon could continue with her sentence, Kang-In’s voice boomed, “Ladies your tea is served.”

Taeyeon smiled and thanked him sincerely. He most definitely saved her from Soo-yeon’s undying hunger for information about her love interest.

After that, Taeyeon refused to let Kang-In leave their side. She did not want to be left alone with Soo-yeon until she thought something up.

***

All of them were having dinner at a restaurant in the hotel when one of the girls sharing the room with Soo-yeon and Taeyeon skipped in cheerfully.

“Good News people! We’re getting our rooms tonight!” she exclaimed in joy.

She handed out a keycard to both Taeyeon and Soo-yeon, “Here’s your room keycard, you girls don’t mind moving right? Since we have more equipment.”

“Oh no sure I’m fine,” said Taeyeon graciously.

Soo-yeon did the same.

Crap,thought Taeyeon.

As much as she was relieved that she did not have to squeeze with Soo-yeon on the bed any longer, she knew that she would have to be alone in the room with Soo-yeon tonight.

Which was worse? She had no idea.

DESTINY CHAPTER 23 [29th March 2010]

Soo-yeon was walking ahead towards their new room. She opened the door and held it open.

Kang-In came stumbling in with Taeyeon in his arms. He helped her to bed and placed Taeyeon’s duffle bag on the couch.

“Thanks Kang-In,” Soo-yeon said as she waved him towards the door.

“Are you sure you’re ok to take care of her? I can stay you know,” Kang-In said.

“Yes, I’m sure as hell,” said Soo-yeon exasperatedly, “Good night and see you tomorrow.”

Kang-In lifted Taeyeon up in his arms, “help me with the covers, I’ll leave after this.”

Soo-yeon walked over and pulled the covers aside. Kang-In placed Taeyeon back in bed and Soo-yeon tucked Taeyeon in bed.

“Ok Thanks and Good night,” Soo-yeon said to Kang-In who was still standing by the bed.

Kang-In nodded, “Call me if you need help.”

“I will,” Soo-yeon said as she stood up and nudged him towards the door, “now good night for real.”

Kang-In stepped out and then wished Soo-yeon good night.

Soo-yeon shut the door and then exhaled loudly. She was glad that she had finally managed to get him out of there.

She was happy that he was there to help drag Taeyeon back to the room but she was not enjoying the fact that he was hanging around like a housefly most of the time.

Soo-yeon was irritated that Kang-In kept intruding on any time they had and wherever Taeyeon went, Kang-In would be.

She knew that there was something up with Taeyeon and she just wanted some time to talk to her.

Soo-yeon sighed. It was impossible for them to have some time with each other tonight since Taeyeon was drunk.

Why did she even drink so much over dinner, is she upset about something?Soo-yeon pondered.

Did she have an argument with....was it my fault?

Soo-yeon shook her head and attempted to shake her thoughts out of her head. She knew that it was a ridiculous action since there is no way you can shake a thought out of your head, but she did so anyway.

The first thing Soo-yeon proceeded to do was to head to the bathroom. She wet a face towel and then headed out to Taeyeon.

Soo-yeon gently wiped Taeyeon’s face.

It reminded her of the first time she wiped Taeyeon’s face. That was when she got to know Taeyeon.

The ringing phone interrupted her thoughts.

Now what?

Soo-yeon picked up the phone that was sitting on the table in between the two beds.

“Hello,” Soo-yeon answered.

Kang-In’s voice filled her ear

“She’s fine and stop calling otherwise you’ll wake her, BYE,” Soo-yeon ended the call.

Soo-yeon continued to wipe Taeyeon done before she headed into the shower herself.

After Soo-yeon came out, she took a bottle of water and placed it on the bedside table.

She knew that Taeyeon would be thirsty if she woke up.

Just as she was about to get into bed and rest for the night, she heard Taeyeon’s phone ringing.

It was a muffled ring coming from under the covers.

Soo-yeon pulled the covers aside and saw a light in Taeyeon’s pocket. She reached into the pocket and took the phone out swiftly.

She looked at the screen and she saw that it was Sunny.

Soo-yeon picked up quickly, “Hello Sunny,” Soo-yeon waved to the screen.

“Oh hi Soo-yeon,” Sunny said slightly surprised to see her.

Soo-yeon pointed the camera on the phone towards Taeyeon, “She is officially drunk and knocked out in bed.”

“Oh ok,” Sunny replied, “in that case I better hang up now.”

“No, wait,” Soo-yeon said just in time.

“Yes?” Sunny waited.

Soo-yeon chided herself for being so rash. Now, she was tongue tied.

“Umm...” Soo-yeon bit her lip thinking how to phrase whatever she was going to say next.

“Taeyeon is very faithful to the one she loves,” Soo-yeon said, “just so you know.”

“Ok...?” was all that Sunny said.

“Ok I’ll let Taeyeon know you called, Bye now,” said Soo-yeon feeling embarrassed at her random attempt to patch things up between Sunny and Taeyeon.Ifher speculation was right in the first place.

“Hang on,” it was now Sunny’s turn to stop Soo-yeon from hanging up, “what exactly is going on?”

“Err...Nothing?” said Soo-yeon. She was mentally scolding herself for interfering.

“Why did you say that then? That Taeyeon is faithful to the one she loves?” Sunny questioned.

Soo-yeon knew that she was not very good at wiggling her way out of such a situation and she knew that she had landed herself in hot soup this time.

“I...I just didn’t want you to misunderstand anything,” Soo-yeon admitted.

“Misunderstand what?” Sunny continued probing.

“There’s nothing going on between Kang-In and her...” Soo-yeon said, “more so me and her. She only loves you.”

Soo-yeon was puzzled by whatever happened next. All she saw was Sunny laughing her head off.

“Why are you laughing?” Soo-yeon asked with a puzzled frown on her face.

Sunny tried to explain herself, but she was still trying to stop laughing.

Soo-yeon waited patiently.

“Anyway if you think Taeyeon and I are together, we’re not,” Sunny said finally, “She’s in love with someone and it’s definitely not me.”

“Oh...” Soo-yeon blushed in embarrassment, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok, I’m sure you were just being helpful, it seems like you care for Taeyeon a lot,” Sunny added.

“Of course,” Soo-yeon replied instantaneously, “she’s...an important friend,”

“Anyway just so you know, the girl that Taeyeon is in love with, she doesn’t know, Taeyeon hasn’t confessed and I think she never will,” Sunny continued, “perhaps you can try persuading her? I really hope that they can be together.”

“Oh, I guess it is hard, since you’ll never know how the person might take it,” Soo-yeon said.

“Both of you are more alike than you know it,” Sunny said with a laugh.

“We are?” Soo-yeon was slightly taken aback by Sunny’s comment.

“Yes you are, anyway just try to help her out since Taeyeon’s a nice girl isn’t she? She’s suffering right now,” Sunny said and then sighed.

“Well I’m saying too much, i’m sorry I interrupted your sleep,” Sunny apologised.

“It’s ok, I’ll let Taeyeon know you called,” said Soo-yeon.

“No it’s ok, don’t tell her, oh and don’t tell her what I said tonight, she’ll slaughter me for sharing what she told me.”

Soo-yeon smiled and replied, “don’t worry I won’t get you killed.”

With that, the two of them ended the call.

DESTINY CHAPTER 24 [30th March 2010]

Taeyeon woke up and the first thing she saw were a pair of eyes staring straight into hers from across the bedside table.

“Oh, good morning,” was the first thing Taeyeon said.

“Good morning,” Soo-yeon replied, “how are you feeling this morning? Do you have a hangover?”

It was then that Taeyeon realised her head was feeling very heavy. She was definitely feeling dehydrated.

“I swear I’ll stay off alcohol from now on,” said Taeyeon as she held a hand to her head.

Soo-yeon got out of bed and opened the bottle of water for Taeyeon, “here have some water.”

Soo-yeon sat on Taeyeon’s bed and handed her the water.

Taeyeon sat up and leaned against the headboard. She took the bottle of water from Soo-yeon and drank half the bottle at once.

“You sure are thirsty,” Soo-yeon commented, “so...why were you drinking so much last night?”

Taeyeon took another swig of water to buy herself some time to think of what to say.

“Well...there’s nothing in particular, I just drank too much” Taeyeon replied.

She knew that Soo-yeon would continue with her questions so Taeyeon quickly made her escape, “I feel so yucky I should really shower now.”

Soo-yeon laughed, “Yes dirty girl! Shoo!”

While Taeyeon was showering she thought about how she should handle the questions Soo-yeon was throwing her.

She toyed with the idea of using Sunny as an excuse.

Taeyeon knew the implications of telling a lie. It was never easy and one lie led to another.

She thought everything through within that short time she spent in the shower and finally decided on the best way to handle Soo-yeon’s questions.

When Taeyeon went out, she chased Soo-yeon into the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day.

In a way, she wanted to give Soo-yeon as little time as possible to bombard her with questions.

While Soo-yeon was in the shower, Taeyeon was looking for her phone and then she realised it wasn’t in the pair of jeans she wore the night before.

She was certain it was in her right pocket during the dinner.

Perhaps it fell out of my pocket while I was sleeping.

Taeyeon walked over to her bed and started searching. It was only after half a minute of searching that she saw her phone sitting on the bedside table.

That’s weird. How did my phone end up there? My wallet is still in my jeans...

Taeyeon picked her phone off the table and started looking through it.

The moment she unlocked the display, she was in the application that she used to make video calls with.

She looked through the call history and she saw that she had a call last night from Sunny.

We talked for four minutes? How is that possible?

Taeyeon speculated that Soo-yeon actually answered the call on her behalf. It was too early to ask Sunny about it since it was only 5 am in Korea.

Taeyeon thought of all the possible scenarios and it all led to one. Soo-yeon and Sunny probably talked to each other for four minutes.

It was unlikely that Taeyeon had answered the call by accident and then place the phone on the table. Even if she did answer the call accidentally she knew that Sunny would never stay on the line for such a long time.

It bugged Taeyeon that the both of them were talking for so long. Four minutes was not a very long time to be talking, but for two people who barely knew each other, that was quite a fair bit of time.

In that short four minutes, a lot of information could have been exchanged.

Taeyeon had no choice but attempt to coax the information out of Soo-yeon.

Taeyeon had her hand on her chin as she thought.

“Why are you frowning again?” Taeyeon heard Soo-yeon say.

“Oh, again?” Taeyeon questioned.

“Yes, again,. You’ve been frowning quite a bit these few days,” Soo-yeon said as she sat beside Taeyeon on the bed.

“Anyway did Sunny call me last night?” Taeyeon quickly steered the conversation in another direction.

“Oh..Umm..” Soo-yeon said as she dried her hair.

Taeyeon saw that Soo-yeon’s eye darted to the empty spot that once held her phone.

“Why do you ask? But anyway she did call and I told her you were drunk,” said Soo-yeon.

“I see, so did the both of you talk for long?” Taeyeon asked with the intention of finding out if Soo-yeon would lie to her about it.

Something did not feel quite right and she could sense it.

"Just enough time to laugh over all your silly antics," Soo-yeon answered vaguely.

"Which isn't very long I suppose since there really isn't anything silly about me," Taeyeon said making her comeback.

"Oh yes there is," Soo-yeon said as she threw her towel over the back of the chair, "especially when you allow Kang-In to hover around like an undying housefly even though you don't like him."

If only you knew why.

"Do you even do the same to the girl you're in love with?" Soo-yeon suddenly added.

"I'm definitely not a housefly," Taeyeon said with a grin. Her sentence was very vague and yet she answered the question.

"Does she even know that you're in love with her?" Soo-yeon continued as always.

Taeyeon gave yet another grin, "Why does it matter to you?"

Soo-yeon seemed to be slightly upset at the statement and she stood there in silence.

"Because I care about you?" Soo-yeon said, the hurt evident in her voice. It made Taeyeon feel bad about being so careless with her words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," Taeyeon apologised.

"It's ok, it doesn't matter. It's none of my business anyway," Soo-yeon said before walking away.

"No, no, no," Taeyeon moved forward and held Soo-yeon back, "I'm sorry I was just fooling around, don't take it so seriously."

"And yes she knows I'm so desperately in love with someone, but she doesn't know it's her," Taeyeon blurted out on impulse, "she doesn't know how much she means to me and she'll probably never know."

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me," Soo-yeon said apologetically.

"It's ok, I'm happy that you're concerned about me," Taeyeon said genuinely, "I really am."

"It's just that it's difficult to talk about her because it just brings up all the pain," Taeyeon explained, "I just get reminded that I'm in love with someone I can not have. The pain is worse than having had someone and then losing them because you know you're not right for each other."

"I understand," Soo-yeon said as she turned and gave Taeyeon a hug, "I'm sorry."

At that moment, all Taeyeon could do was to keep her tears from falling. The very person she was hurting over was consoling her.

Could there be any greater irony than this?

DESTINY CHAPTER 25 [30th March 2010]

Taeyeon sucked in a deep breath of air and held her tears back with extreme difficulty.

She hated to let her weakness show and there was no way she was going to tear in front of Soo-yeon.

"Why don't you tell her how you feel?" Soo-yeon asked as the both of them were still locked in a hug.

"Because I can't afford to lose her," said Taeyeon honestly. It was much easier to talk when she did not have to look Soo-yeon in the face.

"What makes you think that you'll lose her?" Soo-yeon asked.

"Because she may only see me as a very close friend," Taeyeon answered truthfully once again. She did not know where the entire conversation would lead but it felt good to be speaking the truth.

"Maybe she does..." Soo-yeon murmured.

"Maybe you should try to forget her, maybe you should try to love someone else..." Soo-yeon suggested.

Does she know I'm talking about her? Is she trying to drop me a hint...

"I would if I could...let's stop," Taeyeon said as she pulled apart from Soo-yeon.

"Let's not start the day with such a gloomy topic," Taeyeon said as she switched to a smile immediately.

"Anyway it's breakfast time!" Taeyeon exclaimed.

Taeyeon smiled widely but she was hurting badly inside.

***

They were sitting at the breakfast table with some others who were already down.

Taeyeon sent Sunny a message telling her whatever happened earlier this morning. Taeyeon needed someone to talk to and the only person she had was Sunny.

She knew that whatever the case she was not going to get to talk to Sunny until later in the evening so she decided to pour everything out in a message.

"How are you feeling?" Taeyeon suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She recognised the voice and she knew it was Kang-In.

"I'm ok," Taeyeon replied. She was already done with breakfast and she was contemplating on whether to leave since Kang-In would probably want every bit of her attention. She was in no mood for that.

"Are you sure? You don't look that well," Kang-In said with a look of concern on his face.

"Yes I'm sure," Taeyeon insisted even though in truth she was not. Her head hurt and so did her heart.

Kang-In started attempting to engage Taeyeon in a conversation but all he got were one or two word answers.

“You sure you ok?” Kang-In asked once more.

“Ok maybe I’m not, I’m having a terrible headache,” said Taeyeon.

Soo-yeon then added on, “Yeah Kang-In perhaps you can stop talking and let her rest her head.”

“Anyway I think I should get some painkillers before we leave,” Taeyeon said as she stood up to leave for the supermarket nearby.

“I’ll go with you,” Kang-In volunteered.

“No, no it’s ok I’ll go alone,” Taeyeon said firmly.

***

Taeyeon was at the supermarket alone and walking through shelves and shelves of products. She was having difficulty finding the section with off the shelve medicine.

She was walking along an aisle when suddenly she felt someone tap her shoulder.

Taeyeon knew instantly who it was. Her scent was something Taeyeon would never forget.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked without turning her head.

“Let’s go I got your medicine,” Soo-yeon said as she rattled the box in her hand.

“Thanks,” Taeyeon said appreciatively, “what are you doing here anyway?”

“Well I just wanted to make sure that you’re ok,” Soo-yeon admitted sheepishly, “...especially after this morning.”

“I’m ok silly. Quit worrying about me,” Taeyeon replied.

Even though Taeyeon was not ok, she did not want Soo-yeon to be showering her with so much care and concern.

It made it difficult for her to keep her emotions in check, if that was what Soo-yeon wanted.

She made it seem quite clear earlier in the day.

“...maybe you should try to love someone else...”

***

Evening came too quickly. Somehow, Taeyeon managed to pull off the entire day’s shoot even with her splitting headache.

It was the last day of the shoot in Rotorua and they were supposed to head back to Auckland tomorrow and in time for their flight back to Korea on Friday.

They were in the vehicle and making their way back to the hotel. Midway, Taeyeon’s phone beeped.

She took her phone out and saw that it was from Sunny.

‘We really need to talk. Call me when you’re alone.’ was all the message said.

The thought of the four minute call last night on top of the message that Sunny just sent made Taeyeon worry.

All she wanted to do was get back quickly and get down to calling Sunny.

It was the longest twenty minute drive Taeyeon has every experienced.

The moment they arrived at the hotel, Taeyeon hopped off and excused herself from dinner.

It did not take her long to find herself a quiet place to make the call to Sunny.

Taeyeon waited impatiently for Sunny to pick up, but she didn’t.

Taeyeon finally gave up and decided to get out of the hotel and buy herself some food.

There was a korean restaurant nearby but she decided against going there since she knew the rest of them would probably be there.

Instead she headed towards the nearest restaurant from the hotel.

It took her about ten minutes before she got there.

When she stepped in she was surprised to see Soo-yeon there.

Soo-yeon saw her too and was equally surprised.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked Soo-yeon, “shouldn’t you be with the rest of them?”

“Oh I err..I’m feeling tired so I decided to buy myself some food and return to the hotel early,” said Soo-yeon as she stood around waiting for her food.

Taeyeon was about to make her own purchase when Soo-yeon stopped her, “I ordered some for you too.”

“Oh you shouldn’t have but thanks anyway,” said Taeyeon as she stood beside Soo-yeon.

“So what are you intending to do for our free day in Auckland?” Taeyeon decided to start a conversation instead of waiting for Soo-yeon to start one she did not want to talk about.

“I’m not sure, shop around maybe?” Soo-yeon replied, “What about you?”

“I don’t know,” Taeyeon said as she shrugged her shoulders, “Sleep?”

Soo-yeon laughed at her comment, “Maybe I should do that too, it sounds so appealing.”

The food happened to come at the same time the conversation ended. They took the food and left.

Taeyeon was holding on to the bag of food and swinging it slightly as Soo-yeon and her took a slow walk back to the hotel.

They were cutting through the park when suddenly, a gruff looking man jumped out in front of them.

Taeyeon caught sight of a knife in the man’s hands and she quickly pulled Soo-yeon behind her.

“Give me your money and you better not scream if you want your life,” the man ordered.