Fic: Of Life & Love (Part II)
Jan. 26th, 2013 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boxxsaltzTitle: Of Life & Love
Author: boxxsaltz
Rating: PG-13;R
Pairing(s): Jessica/Tiffany
Summary: A tale through life of love found, tested, lost, and the mending of the heart.
AN: beta credits to the lovely Kissos & mldcmx
Part II: High Noon
“Our first pay check. We’re rich!”
Jessica rolled her eyes, watching Tiffany kiss the envelope that held the check. Technically, it was her first paycheck, but their excitement for the small amount from the temporary newspaper internship Jessica landed was enough to celebrate.
She had the sweet Seohyun at the camera store around the corner to thank for the land. Jessica had been going in there as a regular developing pictures now that she was out of school and didn’t have access to a free developing labs. Seohyun knew Jessica was scrambling for work, knew her talent, and talked to a few of her unnies.
Jessica had Tiffany make batches of sugar cookies for Seohyun in her thanks.
A hand reached out, tugging Jessica forward. Excited lips collided with hers, and Jessica lost herself a moment before she remembered where they were. Jessica pushed her away, looking around the mail slots on the end corner of the apartment complex.
“Someone might be watching,” she hissed. Tiffany rolled her eyes, fighting against Jessica pushing her away to wind her arms around her and touch lips to her neck.
“Everyone knows who we are here,”
“But it’s-” Jessica flushed as Tiffany’s lips touched that place just below her ear that made her body tense. “-private.”
Tiffany laughed, dark and alluring into her ear. “After we get that bed frame, I don’t think we’ll be very private anymore.”
“Tiffany Hwang!” Jessica punched her lightly in the shoulder.
Laughing, Tiffany took the wrist of that hand and tugged Jessica into her. “Kiss me, you,”
Jessica could never say no. Not to that smoky husk and those full lips that fit perfectly with her own and kissed her long and deep. She heard the honk of a horn as one of the neighbors pulled into the lot.
Before she could pull away, Tiffany already had, laughing to the air with envelope raised high as she bounded toward the stairs to their third level apartment. Jessica wiped the evidence of the kiss off her lips, waved to the kind Ahjussi, and hurried after Tiffany.
The little one roomer welcomed Jessica back in with the smell of fresh linen from newly cleaned laundry and pine. The spice of pine was something Jessica had picked. She kept to herself that she associated anything with such a pungent spice to Tiffany. Just like the cinnamon flavor that never left that milky skin.
“What?” Asked Tiffany, looking over at Jessica from their little, square table with folding chairs around it.
In her hand she held an envelope opener and Jessica’s check. She was long past feeling self-conscious of Tiffany going through her mail. They had gotten past the point of being uncomfortable with one another. After clothes had begun to come off and intimate times spent together, everything else seemed to reveal itself in other facets of their life.
“Nothing,” Jessica looked away, smiling to herself. “How much is it?” She padded over to Tiffany, wrapping her arm around her from behind as she leaned over her shoulder.
The check lifted out of the jaggedly cut open envelope for them both to see. A little over three hundred thousand won blared up at them. Jessica’s eyes fluttered as Tiffany twisted in the chair to look up at her with the widest grin, her eyes could hardly stay open.
“You’re rich, baby,”
Jessica laughed, biting her lip. “We’re rich,”
Tiffany’s cackle was pure bliss as she gripped Jessica’s face and pulled her into such a kiss Jessica nearly lost her balance. That or her mind. She never had much of a psyche when Tiffany put those lips on hers. But being backed with so much force and exhilaration Jessica couldn’t think of anything else or feel anything else but the overwhelming happiness shared between the two.
Because this was how it was. Through college days sneaking between each other’s dorms. Most of their nights were spent in Jessica’s, listening to Hyoyeon tease them until she was fed up with their bubbly affection and just gave them their privacy.
A high school crush. That was the only way Jessica could describe how they were. As if they forgot that they were moving up in years, in careers, and walking across stages with college diplomas that would take them into life. Somehow, they never forgot their adolescent love.
And Jessica was okay with that.
“Were you serious about the bed frame?” Asked Jessica. She combed her hands through Tiffany’s short black hair as she rested her head against Jessica’s bare stomach.
A lazy hand traced patterns along Jessica’s palm slung along Tiffany’s own naked stomach. Blissful smiles still clung to their lips, and the fragrance of sweet passion wafted through the air cradling them in a haze of beautiful warmth neither wanted to step out of just yet.
Somewhere between that kiss that rendered Jessica brainless, they had made their way into the bedroom and continued on that crash course that struck Jessica a little breathless and boneless as they toppled onto a single, full mattress dressed in far less than what they had been moments ago.
“Didn’t you say the mattress gives you back pains?”
“Yeah but…” Jessica made a face, thinking about lugging the giant box up the steps, and the injuries that would most likely come about from the two of them attempting.
Two years out of university, and this was their life. A single mattress, a closet, and a dresser with a lamp. A kitchen table and some chairs. A futon couch with a few mismatched throw pillows. A kitchen furbished with only the bare essentials.
To ask Jessica if this was what she saw of her life after graduating university, she would plainly state that no. It wasn’t, and it definitely wasn’t what her parents had wanted for her. But love did something to a person and love didn’t care if it was living out of a cardboard box if it meant being with the person who seemed to be the breath of life to your lungs.
Her parents had been kind enough to help them get the apartment, but Jessica, being stubborn, refused to allow them to pay for it entirely. Tiffany had gone back to school, getting her degree in teaching to be a teaching coach, and Jessica couldn’t seem to catch anything better than internships.
But to ask Jessica if she’d have it any other way? She’d say no. With Tiffany, in this shabby apartment, living nearly pay check to paycheck, with a mindset that their love could conquer everything and the world, she could find no other place to be.
“I like the mattress,” said Jessica, making a face up at the ceiling.
Tiffany scoffed. “You complained about not having a frame for months,”
“But…” Jessica chewed on her lip, blushing lightly. “Wouldn’t the elevation be a little more, you know…restricting?”
Because with a mattress on the floor, it didn’t matter how much any which way they rolled. The dangers of slamming into the floor while caught up in the moment was never a worry.
“The bars might come in handy,” said Tiffany, slyly. Jessica tensed, body flushing. “I’ve always wanted to try-”
“Okay,” Jessica cut her off. She felt Tiffany’s head bounce on her stomach as she laughed. “We can go look tomorrow,”
“Not tomorrow,” said Tiffany, slipping her palm against Jessica’s and curling their fingers together. “We’re going to Shiju High School to observe,”
“That’s right,” Jessica hummed, her head lolling to the side.
In the corner of the room she saw a set of crutches from when Tiffany had broken her ankle once, twisting off the blocks the wrong way during practice for the final meet.
It had broken Jessica to see the devastation on her face when realization hit Tiffany in the hospital that she wouldn’t be able to compete. It had completely shattered Jessica when the doctors said that her ankle may never be the same again.
The nights Jessica had held a crying Tiffany were too numerous for her to even count in the stars. And the times Jessica tried to tell Tiffany after her ankle was healed to get back in the water and compete were no less. She didn’t, though. She decided to go back to study how to teach.
Jessica promised to support her in whatever she decided to do.
“Hey,” Jessica looked down seeing Tiffany roll over onto her stomach. “You okay?”
“Mhm,” Jessica nodded, reaching out to comb Tiffany’s short hair back into order. She missed those long, deep brown locks, but there was something about the shorter cut that made Tiffany look almost youthful. Like she had a spring back in her step.
Jessica smiled. Those months had been so dark after her injury. To see life back in her was a relief.
Kissing the top of Jessica’s hand, Tiffany crawled up and placed her body to hover over Jessica’s. Without thinking, Jessica hugged her, arms around her neck, tugging until she could peck her lips to Tiffany’s.
“I love you,” said Jessica and like every time, she felt the flutter in her chest at saying those words.
Tiffany, who was always easy with words, bumped their noses together grinning. “I love you, Jessi. My rich, wealthy, Jessi,”
Laughing, Jessica lifted enough to kiss her again, feeling both of their smiles. She sighed as Tiffany’s mouth left her lips to trail across her neck and dip to her collarbones.
What riches she had in money could never amount to the gold that she held in her arms.
-/-/-/-
Shot glasses clinking and plates of jjajangmyeon on the table were just as much home as the citrus of Tiffany’s shampoo from the head leaning on her shoulder.
Jessica shifted on the pillow beneath her, moving her legs to get comfortable from where she sat on the floor. Across the way, her old roommate cackled at the face Seohyun made at being tricked into sipping Hyoyeon’s alcohol instead of her water.
“Yah!” Seohyun groaned, lower lip pouting out. “Unnie,” she whined.
“Lighten up, will ya?” Hyoyeon passed Seohyun back the cup she had switched out, trying to make it look like she was sorry for what she had done.
Jessica smiled at seeing Hyoyeon laugh behind the napkin she used to clean her face.
Seohyun eyed her across the table. “You knew she did it?”
“Nope,” Jessica sounded off then looked down at her still full plate of noodles.
“Nuh uh,” Tiffany yawned through her buzz, raising her head off Jessica’s shoulder a moment to pick up a bottle.
She brought it to her lips, tilting it back so brackish liquid filled her mouth. Jessica watched her cautiously, doing her best not to frown. Tiffany never drank, spiked punch at parties aside. She was good at maintaining her health. After her ankle, Jessica found more bottles in their recycling bin and plenty more shot glasses joining Hyoyeon’s on the table.
Tiffany caught her eye and lifted a brow. She offered the bottle over, and Jessica took it. She hated the taste, but it wasn’t too bad. Handing it back, she picked up her chopsticks and shoveled food into her mouth to distract from the taste.
Tiffany chuckled beside her, and Jessica peeked up at her lidded eyes. She could see the sly message in those deep, brown orbs as Tiffany drank down the last of it.
“Try all you want, you’ll be tasting it all night,”
Jessica shivered, blushing her worth in jjanjangmyeon.
“You two give me stomach ulcers,” said Hyoyeon.
Jessica turned to Tiffany the same time the other had looked to her. She didn’t think they were being too bad. A light, hurried kiss on the cheek here and there, a brush of the hand along the thigh, a couple suggestive smirks and smiles. They had learned – and after quite some time – to keep their public display of affection to a minimum. Being around Hyoyeon made that a little harder because Hyoyeon had been around to see it start.
The now personal trainer had to grow an iron stomach to handle all the fluff. Because during their college days, Jessica didn’t think she could ever stop touching Tiffany, and it felt like Tiffany could never get enough of the way Jessica’s skin felt beneath of finger tips, against her lips, against her front of back, or anything.
Hyoyeon had locked Jessica in their dorm for half an hour while Tiffany waited outside, getting a good long talk about how her curious, wandering hands needed to calm down while she was in the room.
Little did Hyoyeon know, those curious and wandering hands were also quite sneaky and skilled. Jessica had teeth marks in her hand for days at how hard she had to bite down from making any sound while Tiffany snuck her nimble fingers into fabric just to spite the roommate.
“What’re you talking about?” asked Tiffany. Beneath the table a hand searched out Jessica’s. She took it and held it in her lap.
Jessica was curious. “Did we do something?”
“No, but,” Hyoyeon narrowed her eyes at Tiffany. Always at Tiffany, never at Jessica. It was always Tiffany who was the one to blame but not always. “You’ve got that look,”
“What look?”
“That…look,” Hyoyeon emphasized with a hand clutching a shot glass. Tiffany cocked her head and Jessica squeezed her hand knowing she just wanted the personal trainer to say it out loud, knowing she would. “The, ‘I’m going to bend you over this table and fuck you’, look.” and Hyoyeon did.
“Omo,” Seohyun groaned, covering her eyes as she flushed. Sometimes Jessica wondered why they invited her along, though her reactions were always worth a good smile.
“Maybe because that’s-”
“Tiffany,” Jessica cut her off. She leaned over, resting her shoulder against Tiffany’s and tilted her chin up to speak into her ear. “Settle down,”
“-exactly what I’m going to do,” Tiffany twirled a pair of chopsticks in Jessica’s plate, picking up food she knew Jessica wouldn’t eat. “We’re getting a bed frame tomorrow,”
“A bed frame?” Hyoyeon made a face to Tiffany’s smirk that made Jessica squirm on her pillow. “Sica, I didn’t know you were into…that.”
“What?” asked Seohyun. Jessica was thankful there was one innocent soul she could look at to keep her mind from dipping further than it needed to.
With the way Tiffany’s hand, that weaseled out of her own, was running up and down her leg, she really needed someone to anchor her down. Seohyun’s clueless eyes did the trick.
“Tempurpedic, sleep numbers, that sort of stuff,” Hyoyeon patted the maknae on the back, the mocking in her voice going completely over her head. Turning back to the couple she smirked. “I'll get the wine for the christening,”
-/-/-/-
Getting the bed frame up the three flights of stairs had been one thing. Putting it together had been another.
Jessica stood with the instructions in her hand, staring at the mess of metal rods, poles, and screws while Tiffany sat on the floor in sweats and a tank top, brow tugged in and looking between two large frames.
It was endearing, really. Tiffany was like those men who burned the instructions and went on pure intelligence. Frame still in pieces, scattered on the floor, showed just how much intelligence was truly there, but Jessica had not a mind to do anything about it. She was enjoying Tiffany’s frustration as her pride began to diminish little by little.
Jessica leaned against the doorframe. “Fany-ah, come eat,”
“No,” Tiffany picked up two rods, holding them up to examine.
“Baby,” Jessica chuckled watching Tiffany attempt to shove the two pieces together. They locked together at an awkward angle that wasn’t supposed to be.
“Not yet, Jessi,” She grunted, yanking them apart.
“Okay, okay,” Jessica sighed, turning her back and laughed on her way into the kitchen.
She was mixing a bowl of tuna when there was a knock on the door.
“Door!” called Tiffany.
Jessica rolled her eyes, hurrying over, and peeked through the peephole. A man in a crisp button shirt and slacks over glossy business shoes stood on their doorstep.
“Are we expecting someone?” she asked.
“No, why?” Tiffany called.
Another knock rang through the apartment as Tiffany padded over. Jessica stepped aside to let Tiffany see through the peephole and drain of all color.
“Fany?” Jessica looked up at her girlfriend’s ashen face. “Tiffany, who is? Do we need to call the cops?” Tiffany shook her head. “Who is it?”
Tiffany turned to look at her, knocks banging again, loud and metallic right into Jessica’s ears.
“My dad,”
-/-/-/-
“Dad, this is Jessica. My…my girlfriend,”
That was all Jessica got to stand around and hear right before Mr. Hwang escorted his Miyoung out of the door and had a long conversation with her in the car.
Jessica was sure, had she just been her roommate, or best friend, or landlord, he would’ve shaken Jessica’s hand, taken her offer to stay for lunch she was making and possibly help them put the bed frame together.
But Jessica wasn’t those things. Jessica was Tiffany’s everything, which meant to her dad Jessica was nothing.
She knew, had Tiffany not panicked, not been taken by surprise, she may have lied. She may have said Jessica was something else and explained their single apartment and single bed as the only way they could service on their budget and not because they couldn’t imagine not sleeping together for even a night.
But Tiffany was blind-sided and Tiffany told the truth.
Who knew the truth could hurt so bad?
Jessica’s eyes locked on the crutches in the corner of their room, parts of the bed frame surrounding them as she sat with a crying Tiffany cradled in her arms, rocking her back and forth.
“It’ll be okay. It’s going to be okay,” she chanted over and over, pressing her lips into soft hair and running her arms along skin that had never once felt old but was now frigid in her arms.
“I’m not leaving here without you,” her dad had said.
It was the first time Jessica witnessed first-hand the power of the man who had scared Tiffany enough to almost let their love slip away years ago.
-/-/-/-
The camera felt foreign in her hands. The weight was wrong and the shape didn’t feel quite right, but it was what work gave her along with a promotion that lifted Jessica’s paycheck a couple more thousand won.
They wanted her on their staff as a permanent photographer. Jessica hesitated only out of humility at the offer, bowing deep at her managers and editors and professionals for giving her such an opportunity and blessing her with such a gift. A gift that wasn’t permanently hers, but it was her ticket. It was her way to get that money to keep Tiffany with her.
It was the night Mr. Hwang had come that Tiffany let Jessica in that her dad still supported her financially in some ways. He wired her money every other month to ensure she didn’t drown in the ever-rising price of living in the country.
He threatened to take it away. That she would be nothing without him. Jessica had to argue. Tiffany had her, and Jessica wouldn’t let her down.
Holding up the camera, she clicked the shutter of the new music entertainment building. The one she last heard that her sister was trying to become a trainee at. The place was of hot topic and it was Jessica’s job to get pictures of the facility.
She held the camera with a sense of obligation she had never held a camera with before. There were things on the line that she loved other than lens flares obstructing her view or not getting the perfect angle.
She couldn’t fail. She couldn’t be mediocre. She couldn’t settle.
“Look at my baby being all professional,” Tiffany nuzzled into Jessica’s neck as she held her newest paycheck.
Jessica dropped her hands and settled deeper into the mattress with a long breath of relief turned sigh as Tiffany kissed just below her ear.
She smiled. Even in the midst of a struggle, they never failed each other.
-/-/-/-
“Dad, listen to me,”
Jessica had excelled in English. Having Tiffany as her own private tutor over the years made her practically fluent. But Mr. Hwang didn’t need to know that. Neither did he need to know that she was sitting in their bedroom, blankets clutched tight in her fist as she listened to them talk in their living room.
She had asked if Tiffany didn’t want her there, but she had said there was no way she could face him without her. She couldn’t win unless she knew Jessica was there, just a couple strides away. Knowing Jessica was there gave Tiffany a fight she didn’t have when she was younger.
“You sent me here,”
“I found an opportunity for you to excel and pushed you into it,”
“So it had nothing to do with Nicole?”
“Why are you bringing this up, Miyoung?”
“I’m not going home with you. Not because you can’t stand that I’m with Jessica – a woman.”
“Going into teaching was not a part of the agreement,”
“Whose agreement? It wasn’t mine!” Tiffany snarled, and Jessica flinched. She had never heard Tiffany so angry, so desperate. “Admit it, dad. Admit this has everything to do with Jessica and nothing to do with me,”
“It has everything to do with you!” Mr. Hwang roared back, and Jessica cowered into the mattress. “I saw an opportunity for you to do great, Miyoung. And you just throw it all away.”
“I’ve thrown nothing away!”
“Where’s your gold medal?” The room fell silent, and Jessica felt her stomach drop. “Where is my son in law? My news of being a grandfather? Where’s that?”
“Dad,”
“I really thought I was doing right for you, but it seems like no matter where I send you, you’re going to ruin everything I’ve given and done for you.”
“Dad, please,”
“You may be an adult, but you’re still a child,” Mr. Hwang said with a dismissive tone that Jessica could feel the slap herself. “My plane leaves at the end of the week. You will be on it with me.”
Jessica heard the front door slam and was instantly on her feet, running into the living room. Tiffany stood in the middle of the room, her body facing the door. Jessica could still feel the reverberation from the slam, echoing throughout the apartment.
“Tiffany…” She whispered.
Watery eyes turned around to look at her. Jessica rushed over, catching Tiffany in her arms and held her close.
“Jessica,” she cried into her shoulder, her body shuddering as they lowered to the floor. “Jessica,”
“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” she swallowed down her own tears, tugging Tiffany closer. She wouldn’t cry. She needed to be strong. Like Tiffany had always been for her, she needed to be now. “You’re not going anywhere,”
“Jessica,” Tiffany’s voice cracked, her lips only saying one name. Repeating it like if she stopped, then that very person would fade away, and she’d never be able to just call for it and she’d be there. “Jessica,”
“I’m here,” she cooed, touching lips to her forehead. “I will always be here,”
-/-/-/-
“Do you remember what you asked me the night of our first kiss?”
Tiffany looked up from the foam at the bottom of her Frappuccino cup.
They sat in their usual booth at their favorite coffee shop, nestled between an antique store and an old record shop stocked with Tiffany’s guilty pleasure for trot music.
The place held a sense of timelessness to it. One that always made Jessica feel as if they had somehow wandered into a Neverland where nothing would or could change. It made Jessica confident. It washed away her worry along with her second cup of Caffè Americano. The espresso buzzed in her veins like a drug.
“Of course I remember,” Tiffany sat back against the booth.
“Well,” Jessica added another packet of sugar. She swore it was Tiffany’s fault she had accumulated such a sweet tooth over the years. “What was it?”
“I asked you to help me not be scared,”
“Of what?”
“Of everything,”
“And what did I say?”
Tiffany grinned. “Nothing. I had my tongue down your throat,”
“Fany,” Jessica flushed. “Afterwards,”
Tiffany’s smile slipped way, replaced with a shy bite of the lip. “You said you’d do the best you could,”
“Have I ever failed you?”
“There was that time when…” she trailed off as Jessica glared at her across the table. Tiffany bit her lip, blushing as her eyes dipped to the table. “No. You never have,”
“He can’t take you away from me,” Jessica reached her hand across the table, holding her palm up and open. “I won’t let him and I know if I were in your position, you’d say the same, right?”
“You’d never have to doubt I would,” her hand slid into Jessica’s and she curved her fingers around it.
She wished they were on the same side of the booth so she could pull Tiffany into her and let her head cradle on her shoulder, but just holding her hand, feeling their pulses move from one to the other was enough. Looking into those wondrous brown eyes was enough.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?”
Jessica’s eyes blinked up to one of the baristas. A tall, spindly thing of a woman named Sooyoung, as read on her nametag. She had replaced a grumpy old worker that never asked if they wanted room for cream and then complained when Jessica passed her drink back because she couldn’t sweeten it the way she liked.
This Sooyoung was better. She was nicer, witty, amusing. She was on first name basis with the couple and never failed to ask if they wanted refills or dessert even though it wasn’t required for the workers to wait on tables.
“Could we get a pint?” Asked Jessica. She saw Tiffany’s eyebrows raise up and Jessica rolled her eyes. “Two spoons,”
“It’s on me,” Sooyoung smiled and walked away.
Jessica had enough of the distance and got up to join Tiffany on the other side, scooting in close to share in warmth.
“Better,” she leaned up, touching her lips to the corner of Tiffany’s mouth as Sooyoung placed down the pint of chocolate chip ice cream onto the table with a set of spoons.
“Enjoy,” she smiled, looking away from the two with rosy cheeks.
“Didn’t we promise to tone it down in public?” Tiffany joked as Jessica popped off the top. She dipped in a spoon, scooped up some ice cream, and held her hands under the spoon as she guided it towards Tiffany’s mouth.
“There’s nothing wrong with me appreciating my girlfriend,” said Jessica as Tiffany took the spoon into her mouth.
Tiffany narrowed her eyes. “That’s not what you said at the mall the other day,”
“Saying you like the way my ass looks in a pair of jeans is one thing. Grabbing it is another,”
Tiffany beamed. “There’s nothing wrong with appreciating my girlfriend,”
-/-/-/-
“You are Ms. Jung, yes?”
The mellow voice of the man standing on their tattered doormat spoke and Jessica felt ice swim into her veins and into her heart sending her into panic.
Her mind thought back to her phone stashed on the dining table under a pile of photos she had been sifting through to find the best ones for work. She had been sipping coffee, distracted by images, to even think to look through the peephole at the visitor.
She had just opened the door. Tiffany wasn’t around. It was just her and Mr. Hwang.
“Ahem,” he shifted, eyebrows moving upward in a way that Jessica couldn’t mistake that his genes flowed through her beloved’s veins.
“Yes, sir- I mean- Jessica. I’m Jessica,” she bowed.
“So, you are,” the way his jaw set tight made Jessica feel weak. “Is Miyoung in?”
“She’s not,” she had gone to the store to pick up some instant ramen amongst other things. She wasn’t expected back for some time.
“Do you know when she’ll return?”
“No?”
Dark eyes narrowed slightly. Jessica gripped the door tighter, letting it hold her in place before she made a run for it, and cowered beneath her blankets like a little girl afraid of the scary monsters in her closet.
“I’ll come back then,”
“Sir,” Jessica called out.
Mr. Hwang stopped at the second step down to look back at Jessica. She almost said to forget it. She almost just bowed and let him leave, call Tiffany, and start packing so they could be out of there and moved before he’d return. He’d never be able to find them. Not if Jessica had anything to do with it.
Her breath was shaky on the intake. She licked her lips. “You can wait if you’d like. I can make some tea and call Tiffany.”
“That won’t be-“
“I insist,” she said in English, watching the faint flicker of surprise color dark eyes before it washed away. “You shouldn’t have to wait long,”
-/-/-/-
Her hands trembled as she brought him the glass. There was no coffee table to sit it down on so she placed it right into his hands where their fingers brushed for only a moment, but Jessica felt the shock. She felt it jolt through her, piercing straight through her like a lightning bolt, striking the very life out of her.
Jessica paled, stepping away from the man who offered not a thanks to her. He simply held the glass at his knee making not a move to bring the cup to his lips.
Her eyes darted around the living room. Her phone was flashing with notifications she wouldn’t answer. She sent a letting Tiffany know her dad was over but to take her time. She ignored all the text Tiffany sent back.
“Is she on her way?”
“She should be,” Jessica nodded. Mr. Hwang pursed his lips. “Mr. Hwang, can I show you something?”
“If you must,” he sighed.
Jessica forced on a smile and padded into their bedroom, throwing open the closet. At the very bottom she found the box of things never unpacked and kept away from early college days.
Her fingers touched cool plastic, and she pulled, bringing out the bulky binder she had used to store her pictures and negatives in throughout college. She kept the thing hidden, away from the eyes of others. It was a collection of her most precious memories and a straight doorway into the things of her heart. Even Tiffany had only seen into it once.
“I already know what’s in your heart,” she had said to Jessica, closing the binder after the first time Jessica allowed her eyes to peek inside.
Making her way back into the living room, she noted the cup had been placed on the floor next to the couch, still full and steaming. Jessica ignored it, peeling the binder away from where she clutched it against her chest out to him.
“What’s this?”
“Open it,” Jessica urged, stepping closer so the binder invaded his personal space, coming close enough for Jessica to brush the tip of his nose with the plastic.
Irritated, Mr. Hwang snatched the binder away with an exasperated sigh. Placing it on his knees, his fingers split open the cover.
Pictures taken of old assignments filled the first couple pages. They weren’t her best work. None of the things she took in college were really her best work, but they had been her beginnings that she’d never be able to part with.
After them came images captured on her own time. When it was just her and the clicking of a shutter and rolls of film being blotched with images. They were her private collection of things Jessica took with her eyes but saw with her heart. They were meaningless to everyone else:
Trees, flowers, road signs, birds, flowers, buildings.
They held no value to no one but Jessica. She knew the story behind them. Which one held tears and which ones held laughter. Which ones spoke of the hardships of life and the ones that whispered the tales of triumphs at the end of battles.
Mr. Hwang looked up to her, “They’re nice, but what am I supposed to be looking at?”
Jessica bit her lip, jutting her chin. “Keep going,”
Mr. Hwang’s stare stayed on her a moment longer before he blinked away and turned the page. Jessica held her breath.
It was a picture of Tiffany standing giddily by a tree wrapped in Jessica’s scarf and bundled in her hat. It was amongst the first pictures Jessica had ever taken of Tiffany when the swimmer had not just been a subject of her innermost desires, or victim to Jessica’s lens, but she was actually a willing participant, swimming into Jessica’s life in a way she hadn’t predicted.
She felt herself blush as fingers continued to turn pages. Pictures of Tiffany at swimming events, standing on the blocks, posing at the tip of a diving board, laughing and smiling and cheering with her team. Pictures of Tiffany laughing in the grass, surrounded by a plain of vibrant, green grass, while Jessica had stood above her and snapped away.
There were pictures of Tiffany coyly staring at the camera across the table in an ice cream parlor and peeking from behind a helmet she had argued with the workers against wearing, just to ride a go-kart.
There were images of Tiffany sleeping on Jessica’s dorm bed, blanket tugged up to her chin, then a hand shielding her face from the offending camera that she couldn’t hide from.
And then there were captured moments of them together. Taken by the shaky hands of others like Hyoyeon, or Jessica’s own, held out in front of them at an angle too difficult to hold the camera steady.
Lips shyly touched cheeks and hands timidly twined together. Bashful eyes looked upon the other while one laughed. Nervous teeth bit down on lips while they stared into each other's eyes. Glowing expressions of pure admiration and affection painted every page, filled with the memories of years with Tiffany.
Through the awkward months of a new relationship, to the high, loud, and fast times of discovered intimacy. Through the hard days of arguments, and the easy ones of smiles in the park. Through confessed love and reciprocated feelings that never wavered. Not even now. They had never wavered.
Jessica jumped as the binder was slammed shut. The breath she had been holding came out in a squeak at the hard eyes that found hers from a stony expression that made Jessica’s knees quake.
“I take it you think this will make me change my mind.” Said Mr. Hwang, apparent irritation in his voice. “That seeing this will make me think that I’m wrong about you. That you’re not ruining my daughter’s life.”
Jessica shifted, her eyes blinking away a moment as she spoke. “I never thought loving someone could ruin them,”
“Listen to me, Ms. Jung,” Mr. Hwang set the binder to the side, pushing it away from him as if it was tainted with disease. “I love my daughter too much to see her throw her life away,”
Her eyes came up, narrowing. “I love your daughter too much to see you break her heart again,”
“Excuse me?” A lip peeled back and Jessica looked away. Mr. Hwang made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “Learn your place,”
“I have,” Jessica pressed, tone desperate, “and I can’t let you take her away from me,”
“I’m afraid you have no say in the matter,”
Jessica cocked an eyebrow, her head tilting slightly. “Why did you send her to Korea?”
His jaw flexed. “That’s none of your concern. But if you must know something, it wasn’t for…this.” He sneered, looking Jessica up and down.
She ignored it, fist tightening at her sides and willed her strength not to leave her. “You wanted her to make something of herself, is that right? You wanted her to be great. You wanted her to come out on top but did you ever want her to be happy?”
“Of course I did,” he spat, offended of the audacity Jessica would think he’d want nothing other than happiness for his daughter.
“So why take her away from the place where she is happy?”
“And that’s with you, I’m guessing?” Mr. Hwang let out a long, mocking laugh as he crossed a foot over his knee. “You’re a smart girl, Ms. Jung, but you have no say in my daughter's life.”
“Neither does she, it seems,” Jessica let out. “She was so scared about her feelings for me she almost never admitted them. But she wasn’t scared because she thought I’d reject her…she was scared that you would.”
“Ms. Jung, you-“
“You say you love her, and I know she loves you. That’s why she’s scared. Because she doesn’t want to disappoint you.” Her voice lowered, her hands gripping together tight in front of her. She could feel her palms sweat and feel the pulse in her wrists. “But she knows she always will because you’ll always reject a part of who she is – the part that is in love with me.”
Mr. Hwang scoffed. “Despite what you think, you, Ms. Jung, are a detriment to Miyoung’s life,”
Jessica shook her head, staring into eyes that bore into her from a reddened face. “But a life with a father who won’t accept who his daughter is completely, is a life not worth living at all.”
-/-/-/-
“I’ve always liked France,” said Tiffany, resting her chin on the edge of the apartment pool while the rest of her body was submerged in water.
“No,” Jessica scrunched her nose at her from where she laid out on a lounge chair. “You like the women in France,”
“Ouch,” Tiffany pouted. Jessica tilted up her sunglasses, shooting her a smirk. “What do you think?”
Jessica blew a breath of air into the warm breeze around them. It was still a little cool for the end of spring, but the temperature of water never mattered to Tiffany, and the manager never turned her down when she wanted to do some laps.
“France is romantic,” Jessica offered, striping her sunglasses off and lolled her head to face her. “But I don’t know what you’re getting at,”
“We can run away,” Tiffany stated, softly. Jessica’s brows knitted together. “He’ll never bother us again,”
“You don’t want that,” Jessica rolled her eyes. “You love your dad,”
“Yeah, but…”
“He just wants the best for you,”
“You’re siding with him?” Tiffany glared.
“I’m not siding with anyone,” rising off the lounge chair, Jessica moved to sit on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water. Tiffany scooted along the wall, settling between her knees.
“We both want the same thing for you,” she said, combing her hands through short, damp hair.
“I doubt it,”
“No, I know he does,” Jessica assured. She curled her legs around Tiffany’s back holding her in place. “We talked the day he came over,”
“You talked to my dad? Alone?” Tiffany lifted amused eyebrows. “About what?”
“You,” Jessica grazed her nails along a damp scalp feeling Tiffany shiver against her. She cupped Tiffany’s face in her palms, holding her steady as she touched a kiss to her forehead. “I showed him the binder,”
Tiffany’s eyes fluttered, mouth dropping open slightly. “You did what?”
“Mhm,” Jessica tilted Tiffany's head back more, so she could press a kiss to her lips. “All of it,”
“Jessi…”
“I did it for you,” her hands tugged, pulling Tiffany more out of the water, so wet arms had to drape over her thighs to stay up. “For us,”
She gripped the back of Jessica’s shirt, holding herself up. “What happened?”
“He left,” Jessica drew Tiffany into her, letting the dampness of her body soak into her tank top. Her arms circled around Tiffany’s neck, breathing her in like it was the first time she had ever done so.
She had done it for this. For this woman to never be further away from her for more than a couple miles easily compromised by a ride in a cab, bus, or train.
“He got upset and left,”
“Why was he upset?”
“Because,” Jessica leaned their foreheads together, scooting closer to the edge, so Tiffany didn’t have to strain to keep herself afloat. “He realized that he’d rather lose you to someone that made you happy than lose you completely.”
Tiffany’s lips fashioned into a perfect ‘o’ as Jessica bumped their noses together. “He said that?”
“No,” Jessica chuckled, locking her hands together behind Tiffany’s back to keep her in place. “But no one should ever be scared of the person who says they love them. He understood that.”
Tiffany beamed. Jessica kissed the smile right off and took it into her own lips. The warmth of the mouth on hers was comforting. It took away the chill in the air and placed it miles away from them, so all Jessica felt was comforting heat.
“So no France?” Tiffany breathed, breaking away.
Jessica took a moment to catch her breath. “I don’t know,”
Tiffany frowned, and Jessica loosened her hold enough for her to sink back into the water. She wrapped her arms around Jessica’s calves, resting her head on her knee, and peered up through damp lashes at her.
“The flight leaves tomorrow,” she whispered. Her eyes closed as Jessica combed a hand through her hair once again. “He still expects me to be there,”
“We’ll go together,” said Jessica. Tiffany opened her mouth to retort, but Jessica spoke first. “He can’t take you away from me. Okay?”
Tiffany nodded against her knee, looking like a pouting little kid from the angle she sat. “Okay,”
“Don’t let go of my hand,”
“Okay,”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” Tiffany smiled, pressing a kiss to Jessica’s knee. She shivered. “I love you so much,”
With a tug, Jessica squealed as she was yanked off the edge and submerged in water. Arms and legs tangled with hers as Tiffany held onto her, pressing their lips together below the surface. The pressure of the water molded them together and Jessica held on. gripping onto her like the lifeline Tiffany was.
-/-/-/-
They left Hyoyeon in the getaway car at the drop off. She knew that as soon as she saw Jessica and Tiffany making a mad dash towards her, she was to start the car, unlock the doors for them to get in, and drive fast and furious to the hideout house that was Hyoyeon’s flat.
It was a ridiculous plan, Jessica thought. But whatever could calm the nerves of a shaking Tiffany beside her, Jessica would gladly do.
They walked hand and hand through the terminal. Tiffany’s eyes were like focused beams, searching for only one person and saw nothing else. Beside her, Jessica chewed nervously on the inside of her lip, guiding them past the large numbers and crowds of people.
There were enough people around for if a scene were to arise, she was sure someone would jump in and wrench a screaming Tiffany from the hands of an enraged father. Jessica hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She had Seohyun praying it wouldn’t come to that.
“Jess,”
The sudden intake of breath drew Jessica’s eyes away from a man who was eyeing then in absolute appalled disgust to another set of eyes that were no less welcoming.
Holding Tiffany’s hand tight, Jessica led them the rest of the way, closing the gap between them and Tiffany’s father who slowly stood up from the bench he was seated.
“Mr. Hwang,” Jessica bowed deeply.
“Ms. Jung,” he glared for a moment before releasing her to look at his daughter. “No carry on?”
“No,” Tiffany faltered, her eyes dropping instantly. Jessica squeezed her hand and Tiffany brought her gaze back up. “I didn’t bring anything,”
“I see,” Mr. Hwang rubbed at his chin in irritation. “That shouldn’t be much of a problem. There’s plenty still back at the house,”
“Dad,” Tiffany urged, languages switching to her native one. Jessica knew it was because Tiffany could express herself better that way. “I didn’t bring anything because I’m not- I’m not leaving with you.”
Jessica waited in the silence that proceeded. She watched the man before them shift in his glossy business shoes and smooth out a wrinkle in his pressed, button up, waiting for the typhoon to sweep in and shipwreck them both.
“I know,” he spoke, voice hard and expression tight.
“Dad,” Tiffany’s lashes fluttered. “I said I’m not leaving with you. I won’t go,”
“I heard what you said, Miyoung,” He ticked, giving Tiffany that look Jessica had been subject to from the swimmer when Jessica was getting on her nerves. “And I know for a fact she won’t let me drag you home no matter how much I’d like to.”
“But…” Tiffany’s mouth hung open not sure of what to say. She burrowed her brow, blinking back from Jessica to her dad, wondering what to do.
Mr. Hwang let out a long, tired breath and turned to Jessica. “May you give us a minute alone, please?” Jessica looked to Tiffany who shook her head. “We’ll be just over there. I won’t take her out of your sight,”
Jessica heard the truth in his voice and saw the sincerity in his eyes and nodded. Tiffany’s gripped her hand and her eyes widened as if Jessica was about to hand her off like a cow for slaughter.
“It’s okay, Fany,” she pecked a kiss to Tiffany’s cheek, hoping it would ease her trembling lips. Reluctantly, she peeled her hand away from Tiffany’s, feeling it come away cold as air touched the sweat that had accumulated there.
“Jessi,”
Jessica smiled, touching a hand to her cheek. “I promised,” she said, and Tiffany nodded her head. She knew the meaning of those words, and because she did, Tiffany knew she had no reason to fear.
Jessica bowed to Mr. Hwang as he steered Tiffany away toward the far wall. She watched them with attentive eyes and reflexes coiled, ready to spring into action at the first sign of betrayal. But if Jessica knew Tiffany, she knew Mr. Hwang must be a man of integrity. She could feel it in the way he looked over at her, letting her know he wasn’t going to do anything.
Jessica felt herself relax but not completely. Not until she had Tiffany back by her side and hand in hers.
It took forever.
It felt like an eternity had come, gone, and started over again before she saw Tiffany’s shoulders shake, and her dad placing a hand on her shoulder, weighing it down.
Jessica took a step forward to go to them, but Tiffany had already begun moving back to her. She fell into Jessica’s arms, crying against her shoulder while Jessica watched the cause of those tears pick up his briefcase from the floor.
Dark eyes turned to Jessica and she watched as he bowed deeply, casted a long gaze at his daughter’s back, and turned his back on the two.
It wasn’t until Jessica heard the call of departure for the flight Tiffany was supposed to be boarding that she realized Tiffany was still in her arms and not in a chair about to be flown away.
It was then she understood the bow, and it was then that she finally let out that breath held in her lungs.
“We did it?” Jessica muttered.
Tiffany lifted her face damp with tears and cheeks tinted red, and cupped her face. “You did it,” she sealed their lips together.
Jessica forgot about the hundreds of people around them and melted into those lips that were right there. They were there and not thousands of miles away. They were there and very present.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Tiffany chimed against her lips.
Jessica thumbed away tears that landed on her own face. “And don’t you ever stop,”
Part III
Author: boxxsaltz
Rating: PG-13;R
Pairing(s): Jessica/Tiffany
Summary: A tale through life of love found, tested, lost, and the mending of the heart.
AN: beta credits to the lovely Kissos & mldcmx
Part II: High Noon
“Our first pay check. We’re rich!”
Jessica rolled her eyes, watching Tiffany kiss the envelope that held the check. Technically, it was her first paycheck, but their excitement for the small amount from the temporary newspaper internship Jessica landed was enough to celebrate.
She had the sweet Seohyun at the camera store around the corner to thank for the land. Jessica had been going in there as a regular developing pictures now that she was out of school and didn’t have access to a free developing labs. Seohyun knew Jessica was scrambling for work, knew her talent, and talked to a few of her unnies.
Jessica had Tiffany make batches of sugar cookies for Seohyun in her thanks.
A hand reached out, tugging Jessica forward. Excited lips collided with hers, and Jessica lost herself a moment before she remembered where they were. Jessica pushed her away, looking around the mail slots on the end corner of the apartment complex.
“Someone might be watching,” she hissed. Tiffany rolled her eyes, fighting against Jessica pushing her away to wind her arms around her and touch lips to her neck.
“Everyone knows who we are here,”
“But it’s-” Jessica flushed as Tiffany’s lips touched that place just below her ear that made her body tense. “-private.”
Tiffany laughed, dark and alluring into her ear. “After we get that bed frame, I don’t think we’ll be very private anymore.”
“Tiffany Hwang!” Jessica punched her lightly in the shoulder.
Laughing, Tiffany took the wrist of that hand and tugged Jessica into her. “Kiss me, you,”
Jessica could never say no. Not to that smoky husk and those full lips that fit perfectly with her own and kissed her long and deep. She heard the honk of a horn as one of the neighbors pulled into the lot.
Before she could pull away, Tiffany already had, laughing to the air with envelope raised high as she bounded toward the stairs to their third level apartment. Jessica wiped the evidence of the kiss off her lips, waved to the kind Ahjussi, and hurried after Tiffany.
The little one roomer welcomed Jessica back in with the smell of fresh linen from newly cleaned laundry and pine. The spice of pine was something Jessica had picked. She kept to herself that she associated anything with such a pungent spice to Tiffany. Just like the cinnamon flavor that never left that milky skin.
“What?” Asked Tiffany, looking over at Jessica from their little, square table with folding chairs around it.
In her hand she held an envelope opener and Jessica’s check. She was long past feeling self-conscious of Tiffany going through her mail. They had gotten past the point of being uncomfortable with one another. After clothes had begun to come off and intimate times spent together, everything else seemed to reveal itself in other facets of their life.
“Nothing,” Jessica looked away, smiling to herself. “How much is it?” She padded over to Tiffany, wrapping her arm around her from behind as she leaned over her shoulder.
The check lifted out of the jaggedly cut open envelope for them both to see. A little over three hundred thousand won blared up at them. Jessica’s eyes fluttered as Tiffany twisted in the chair to look up at her with the widest grin, her eyes could hardly stay open.
“You’re rich, baby,”
Jessica laughed, biting her lip. “We’re rich,”
Tiffany’s cackle was pure bliss as she gripped Jessica’s face and pulled her into such a kiss Jessica nearly lost her balance. That or her mind. She never had much of a psyche when Tiffany put those lips on hers. But being backed with so much force and exhilaration Jessica couldn’t think of anything else or feel anything else but the overwhelming happiness shared between the two.
Because this was how it was. Through college days sneaking between each other’s dorms. Most of their nights were spent in Jessica’s, listening to Hyoyeon tease them until she was fed up with their bubbly affection and just gave them their privacy.
A high school crush. That was the only way Jessica could describe how they were. As if they forgot that they were moving up in years, in careers, and walking across stages with college diplomas that would take them into life. Somehow, they never forgot their adolescent love.
And Jessica was okay with that.
“Were you serious about the bed frame?” Asked Jessica. She combed her hands through Tiffany’s short black hair as she rested her head against Jessica’s bare stomach.
A lazy hand traced patterns along Jessica’s palm slung along Tiffany’s own naked stomach. Blissful smiles still clung to their lips, and the fragrance of sweet passion wafted through the air cradling them in a haze of beautiful warmth neither wanted to step out of just yet.
Somewhere between that kiss that rendered Jessica brainless, they had made their way into the bedroom and continued on that crash course that struck Jessica a little breathless and boneless as they toppled onto a single, full mattress dressed in far less than what they had been moments ago.
“Didn’t you say the mattress gives you back pains?”
“Yeah but…” Jessica made a face, thinking about lugging the giant box up the steps, and the injuries that would most likely come about from the two of them attempting.
Two years out of university, and this was their life. A single mattress, a closet, and a dresser with a lamp. A kitchen table and some chairs. A futon couch with a few mismatched throw pillows. A kitchen furbished with only the bare essentials.
To ask Jessica if this was what she saw of her life after graduating university, she would plainly state that no. It wasn’t, and it definitely wasn’t what her parents had wanted for her. But love did something to a person and love didn’t care if it was living out of a cardboard box if it meant being with the person who seemed to be the breath of life to your lungs.
Her parents had been kind enough to help them get the apartment, but Jessica, being stubborn, refused to allow them to pay for it entirely. Tiffany had gone back to school, getting her degree in teaching to be a teaching coach, and Jessica couldn’t seem to catch anything better than internships.
But to ask Jessica if she’d have it any other way? She’d say no. With Tiffany, in this shabby apartment, living nearly pay check to paycheck, with a mindset that their love could conquer everything and the world, she could find no other place to be.
“I like the mattress,” said Jessica, making a face up at the ceiling.
Tiffany scoffed. “You complained about not having a frame for months,”
“But…” Jessica chewed on her lip, blushing lightly. “Wouldn’t the elevation be a little more, you know…restricting?”
Because with a mattress on the floor, it didn’t matter how much any which way they rolled. The dangers of slamming into the floor while caught up in the moment was never a worry.
“The bars might come in handy,” said Tiffany, slyly. Jessica tensed, body flushing. “I’ve always wanted to try-”
“Okay,” Jessica cut her off. She felt Tiffany’s head bounce on her stomach as she laughed. “We can go look tomorrow,”
“Not tomorrow,” said Tiffany, slipping her palm against Jessica’s and curling their fingers together. “We’re going to Shiju High School to observe,”
“That’s right,” Jessica hummed, her head lolling to the side.
In the corner of the room she saw a set of crutches from when Tiffany had broken her ankle once, twisting off the blocks the wrong way during practice for the final meet.
It had broken Jessica to see the devastation on her face when realization hit Tiffany in the hospital that she wouldn’t be able to compete. It had completely shattered Jessica when the doctors said that her ankle may never be the same again.
The nights Jessica had held a crying Tiffany were too numerous for her to even count in the stars. And the times Jessica tried to tell Tiffany after her ankle was healed to get back in the water and compete were no less. She didn’t, though. She decided to go back to study how to teach.
Jessica promised to support her in whatever she decided to do.
“Hey,” Jessica looked down seeing Tiffany roll over onto her stomach. “You okay?”
“Mhm,” Jessica nodded, reaching out to comb Tiffany’s short hair back into order. She missed those long, deep brown locks, but there was something about the shorter cut that made Tiffany look almost youthful. Like she had a spring back in her step.
Jessica smiled. Those months had been so dark after her injury. To see life back in her was a relief.
Kissing the top of Jessica’s hand, Tiffany crawled up and placed her body to hover over Jessica’s. Without thinking, Jessica hugged her, arms around her neck, tugging until she could peck her lips to Tiffany’s.
“I love you,” said Jessica and like every time, she felt the flutter in her chest at saying those words.
Tiffany, who was always easy with words, bumped their noses together grinning. “I love you, Jessi. My rich, wealthy, Jessi,”
Laughing, Jessica lifted enough to kiss her again, feeling both of their smiles. She sighed as Tiffany’s mouth left her lips to trail across her neck and dip to her collarbones.
What riches she had in money could never amount to the gold that she held in her arms.
-/-/-/-
Shot glasses clinking and plates of jjajangmyeon on the table were just as much home as the citrus of Tiffany’s shampoo from the head leaning on her shoulder.
Jessica shifted on the pillow beneath her, moving her legs to get comfortable from where she sat on the floor. Across the way, her old roommate cackled at the face Seohyun made at being tricked into sipping Hyoyeon’s alcohol instead of her water.
“Yah!” Seohyun groaned, lower lip pouting out. “Unnie,” she whined.
“Lighten up, will ya?” Hyoyeon passed Seohyun back the cup she had switched out, trying to make it look like she was sorry for what she had done.
Jessica smiled at seeing Hyoyeon laugh behind the napkin she used to clean her face.
Seohyun eyed her across the table. “You knew she did it?”
“Nope,” Jessica sounded off then looked down at her still full plate of noodles.
“Nuh uh,” Tiffany yawned through her buzz, raising her head off Jessica’s shoulder a moment to pick up a bottle.
She brought it to her lips, tilting it back so brackish liquid filled her mouth. Jessica watched her cautiously, doing her best not to frown. Tiffany never drank, spiked punch at parties aside. She was good at maintaining her health. After her ankle, Jessica found more bottles in their recycling bin and plenty more shot glasses joining Hyoyeon’s on the table.
Tiffany caught her eye and lifted a brow. She offered the bottle over, and Jessica took it. She hated the taste, but it wasn’t too bad. Handing it back, she picked up her chopsticks and shoveled food into her mouth to distract from the taste.
Tiffany chuckled beside her, and Jessica peeked up at her lidded eyes. She could see the sly message in those deep, brown orbs as Tiffany drank down the last of it.
“Try all you want, you’ll be tasting it all night,”
Jessica shivered, blushing her worth in jjanjangmyeon.
“You two give me stomach ulcers,” said Hyoyeon.
Jessica turned to Tiffany the same time the other had looked to her. She didn’t think they were being too bad. A light, hurried kiss on the cheek here and there, a brush of the hand along the thigh, a couple suggestive smirks and smiles. They had learned – and after quite some time – to keep their public display of affection to a minimum. Being around Hyoyeon made that a little harder because Hyoyeon had been around to see it start.
The now personal trainer had to grow an iron stomach to handle all the fluff. Because during their college days, Jessica didn’t think she could ever stop touching Tiffany, and it felt like Tiffany could never get enough of the way Jessica’s skin felt beneath of finger tips, against her lips, against her front of back, or anything.
Hyoyeon had locked Jessica in their dorm for half an hour while Tiffany waited outside, getting a good long talk about how her curious, wandering hands needed to calm down while she was in the room.
Little did Hyoyeon know, those curious and wandering hands were also quite sneaky and skilled. Jessica had teeth marks in her hand for days at how hard she had to bite down from making any sound while Tiffany snuck her nimble fingers into fabric just to spite the roommate.
“What’re you talking about?” asked Tiffany. Beneath the table a hand searched out Jessica’s. She took it and held it in her lap.
Jessica was curious. “Did we do something?”
“No, but,” Hyoyeon narrowed her eyes at Tiffany. Always at Tiffany, never at Jessica. It was always Tiffany who was the one to blame but not always. “You’ve got that look,”
“What look?”
“That…look,” Hyoyeon emphasized with a hand clutching a shot glass. Tiffany cocked her head and Jessica squeezed her hand knowing she just wanted the personal trainer to say it out loud, knowing she would. “The, ‘I’m going to bend you over this table and fuck you’, look.” and Hyoyeon did.
“Omo,” Seohyun groaned, covering her eyes as she flushed. Sometimes Jessica wondered why they invited her along, though her reactions were always worth a good smile.
“Maybe because that’s-”
“Tiffany,” Jessica cut her off. She leaned over, resting her shoulder against Tiffany’s and tilted her chin up to speak into her ear. “Settle down,”
“-exactly what I’m going to do,” Tiffany twirled a pair of chopsticks in Jessica’s plate, picking up food she knew Jessica wouldn’t eat. “We’re getting a bed frame tomorrow,”
“A bed frame?” Hyoyeon made a face to Tiffany’s smirk that made Jessica squirm on her pillow. “Sica, I didn’t know you were into…that.”
“What?” asked Seohyun. Jessica was thankful there was one innocent soul she could look at to keep her mind from dipping further than it needed to.
With the way Tiffany’s hand, that weaseled out of her own, was running up and down her leg, she really needed someone to anchor her down. Seohyun’s clueless eyes did the trick.
“Tempurpedic, sleep numbers, that sort of stuff,” Hyoyeon patted the maknae on the back, the mocking in her voice going completely over her head. Turning back to the couple she smirked. “I'll get the wine for the christening,”
-/-/-/-
Getting the bed frame up the three flights of stairs had been one thing. Putting it together had been another.
Jessica stood with the instructions in her hand, staring at the mess of metal rods, poles, and screws while Tiffany sat on the floor in sweats and a tank top, brow tugged in and looking between two large frames.
It was endearing, really. Tiffany was like those men who burned the instructions and went on pure intelligence. Frame still in pieces, scattered on the floor, showed just how much intelligence was truly there, but Jessica had not a mind to do anything about it. She was enjoying Tiffany’s frustration as her pride began to diminish little by little.
Jessica leaned against the doorframe. “Fany-ah, come eat,”
“No,” Tiffany picked up two rods, holding them up to examine.
“Baby,” Jessica chuckled watching Tiffany attempt to shove the two pieces together. They locked together at an awkward angle that wasn’t supposed to be.
“Not yet, Jessi,” She grunted, yanking them apart.
“Okay, okay,” Jessica sighed, turning her back and laughed on her way into the kitchen.
She was mixing a bowl of tuna when there was a knock on the door.
“Door!” called Tiffany.
Jessica rolled her eyes, hurrying over, and peeked through the peephole. A man in a crisp button shirt and slacks over glossy business shoes stood on their doorstep.
“Are we expecting someone?” she asked.
“No, why?” Tiffany called.
Another knock rang through the apartment as Tiffany padded over. Jessica stepped aside to let Tiffany see through the peephole and drain of all color.
“Fany?” Jessica looked up at her girlfriend’s ashen face. “Tiffany, who is? Do we need to call the cops?” Tiffany shook her head. “Who is it?”
Tiffany turned to look at her, knocks banging again, loud and metallic right into Jessica’s ears.
“My dad,”
-/-/-/-
“Dad, this is Jessica. My…my girlfriend,”
That was all Jessica got to stand around and hear right before Mr. Hwang escorted his Miyoung out of the door and had a long conversation with her in the car.
Jessica was sure, had she just been her roommate, or best friend, or landlord, he would’ve shaken Jessica’s hand, taken her offer to stay for lunch she was making and possibly help them put the bed frame together.
But Jessica wasn’t those things. Jessica was Tiffany’s everything, which meant to her dad Jessica was nothing.
She knew, had Tiffany not panicked, not been taken by surprise, she may have lied. She may have said Jessica was something else and explained their single apartment and single bed as the only way they could service on their budget and not because they couldn’t imagine not sleeping together for even a night.
But Tiffany was blind-sided and Tiffany told the truth.
Who knew the truth could hurt so bad?
Jessica’s eyes locked on the crutches in the corner of their room, parts of the bed frame surrounding them as she sat with a crying Tiffany cradled in her arms, rocking her back and forth.
“It’ll be okay. It’s going to be okay,” she chanted over and over, pressing her lips into soft hair and running her arms along skin that had never once felt old but was now frigid in her arms.
“I’m not leaving here without you,” her dad had said.
It was the first time Jessica witnessed first-hand the power of the man who had scared Tiffany enough to almost let their love slip away years ago.
-/-/-/-
The camera felt foreign in her hands. The weight was wrong and the shape didn’t feel quite right, but it was what work gave her along with a promotion that lifted Jessica’s paycheck a couple more thousand won.
They wanted her on their staff as a permanent photographer. Jessica hesitated only out of humility at the offer, bowing deep at her managers and editors and professionals for giving her such an opportunity and blessing her with such a gift. A gift that wasn’t permanently hers, but it was her ticket. It was her way to get that money to keep Tiffany with her.
It was the night Mr. Hwang had come that Tiffany let Jessica in that her dad still supported her financially in some ways. He wired her money every other month to ensure she didn’t drown in the ever-rising price of living in the country.
He threatened to take it away. That she would be nothing without him. Jessica had to argue. Tiffany had her, and Jessica wouldn’t let her down.
Holding up the camera, she clicked the shutter of the new music entertainment building. The one she last heard that her sister was trying to become a trainee at. The place was of hot topic and it was Jessica’s job to get pictures of the facility.
She held the camera with a sense of obligation she had never held a camera with before. There were things on the line that she loved other than lens flares obstructing her view or not getting the perfect angle.
She couldn’t fail. She couldn’t be mediocre. She couldn’t settle.
“Look at my baby being all professional,” Tiffany nuzzled into Jessica’s neck as she held her newest paycheck.
Jessica dropped her hands and settled deeper into the mattress with a long breath of relief turned sigh as Tiffany kissed just below her ear.
She smiled. Even in the midst of a struggle, they never failed each other.
-/-/-/-
“Dad, listen to me,”
Jessica had excelled in English. Having Tiffany as her own private tutor over the years made her practically fluent. But Mr. Hwang didn’t need to know that. Neither did he need to know that she was sitting in their bedroom, blankets clutched tight in her fist as she listened to them talk in their living room.
She had asked if Tiffany didn’t want her there, but she had said there was no way she could face him without her. She couldn’t win unless she knew Jessica was there, just a couple strides away. Knowing Jessica was there gave Tiffany a fight she didn’t have when she was younger.
“You sent me here,”
“I found an opportunity for you to excel and pushed you into it,”
“So it had nothing to do with Nicole?”
“Why are you bringing this up, Miyoung?”
“I’m not going home with you. Not because you can’t stand that I’m with Jessica – a woman.”
“Going into teaching was not a part of the agreement,”
“Whose agreement? It wasn’t mine!” Tiffany snarled, and Jessica flinched. She had never heard Tiffany so angry, so desperate. “Admit it, dad. Admit this has everything to do with Jessica and nothing to do with me,”
“It has everything to do with you!” Mr. Hwang roared back, and Jessica cowered into the mattress. “I saw an opportunity for you to do great, Miyoung. And you just throw it all away.”
“I’ve thrown nothing away!”
“Where’s your gold medal?” The room fell silent, and Jessica felt her stomach drop. “Where is my son in law? My news of being a grandfather? Where’s that?”
“Dad,”
“I really thought I was doing right for you, but it seems like no matter where I send you, you’re going to ruin everything I’ve given and done for you.”
“Dad, please,”
“You may be an adult, but you’re still a child,” Mr. Hwang said with a dismissive tone that Jessica could feel the slap herself. “My plane leaves at the end of the week. You will be on it with me.”
Jessica heard the front door slam and was instantly on her feet, running into the living room. Tiffany stood in the middle of the room, her body facing the door. Jessica could still feel the reverberation from the slam, echoing throughout the apartment.
“Tiffany…” She whispered.
Watery eyes turned around to look at her. Jessica rushed over, catching Tiffany in her arms and held her close.
“Jessica,” she cried into her shoulder, her body shuddering as they lowered to the floor. “Jessica,”
“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” she swallowed down her own tears, tugging Tiffany closer. She wouldn’t cry. She needed to be strong. Like Tiffany had always been for her, she needed to be now. “You’re not going anywhere,”
“Jessica,” Tiffany’s voice cracked, her lips only saying one name. Repeating it like if she stopped, then that very person would fade away, and she’d never be able to just call for it and she’d be there. “Jessica,”
“I’m here,” she cooed, touching lips to her forehead. “I will always be here,”
-/-/-/-
“Do you remember what you asked me the night of our first kiss?”
Tiffany looked up from the foam at the bottom of her Frappuccino cup.
They sat in their usual booth at their favorite coffee shop, nestled between an antique store and an old record shop stocked with Tiffany’s guilty pleasure for trot music.
The place held a sense of timelessness to it. One that always made Jessica feel as if they had somehow wandered into a Neverland where nothing would or could change. It made Jessica confident. It washed away her worry along with her second cup of Caffè Americano. The espresso buzzed in her veins like a drug.
“Of course I remember,” Tiffany sat back against the booth.
“Well,” Jessica added another packet of sugar. She swore it was Tiffany’s fault she had accumulated such a sweet tooth over the years. “What was it?”
“I asked you to help me not be scared,”
“Of what?”
“Of everything,”
“And what did I say?”
Tiffany grinned. “Nothing. I had my tongue down your throat,”
“Fany,” Jessica flushed. “Afterwards,”
Tiffany’s smile slipped way, replaced with a shy bite of the lip. “You said you’d do the best you could,”
“Have I ever failed you?”
“There was that time when…” she trailed off as Jessica glared at her across the table. Tiffany bit her lip, blushing as her eyes dipped to the table. “No. You never have,”
“He can’t take you away from me,” Jessica reached her hand across the table, holding her palm up and open. “I won’t let him and I know if I were in your position, you’d say the same, right?”
“You’d never have to doubt I would,” her hand slid into Jessica’s and she curved her fingers around it.
She wished they were on the same side of the booth so she could pull Tiffany into her and let her head cradle on her shoulder, but just holding her hand, feeling their pulses move from one to the other was enough. Looking into those wondrous brown eyes was enough.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?”
Jessica’s eyes blinked up to one of the baristas. A tall, spindly thing of a woman named Sooyoung, as read on her nametag. She had replaced a grumpy old worker that never asked if they wanted room for cream and then complained when Jessica passed her drink back because she couldn’t sweeten it the way she liked.
This Sooyoung was better. She was nicer, witty, amusing. She was on first name basis with the couple and never failed to ask if they wanted refills or dessert even though it wasn’t required for the workers to wait on tables.
“Could we get a pint?” Asked Jessica. She saw Tiffany’s eyebrows raise up and Jessica rolled her eyes. “Two spoons,”
“It’s on me,” Sooyoung smiled and walked away.
Jessica had enough of the distance and got up to join Tiffany on the other side, scooting in close to share in warmth.
“Better,” she leaned up, touching her lips to the corner of Tiffany’s mouth as Sooyoung placed down the pint of chocolate chip ice cream onto the table with a set of spoons.
“Enjoy,” she smiled, looking away from the two with rosy cheeks.
“Didn’t we promise to tone it down in public?” Tiffany joked as Jessica popped off the top. She dipped in a spoon, scooped up some ice cream, and held her hands under the spoon as she guided it towards Tiffany’s mouth.
“There’s nothing wrong with me appreciating my girlfriend,” said Jessica as Tiffany took the spoon into her mouth.
Tiffany narrowed her eyes. “That’s not what you said at the mall the other day,”
“Saying you like the way my ass looks in a pair of jeans is one thing. Grabbing it is another,”
Tiffany beamed. “There’s nothing wrong with appreciating my girlfriend,”
-/-/-/-
“You are Ms. Jung, yes?”
The mellow voice of the man standing on their tattered doormat spoke and Jessica felt ice swim into her veins and into her heart sending her into panic.
Her mind thought back to her phone stashed on the dining table under a pile of photos she had been sifting through to find the best ones for work. She had been sipping coffee, distracted by images, to even think to look through the peephole at the visitor.
She had just opened the door. Tiffany wasn’t around. It was just her and Mr. Hwang.
“Ahem,” he shifted, eyebrows moving upward in a way that Jessica couldn’t mistake that his genes flowed through her beloved’s veins.
“Yes, sir- I mean- Jessica. I’m Jessica,” she bowed.
“So, you are,” the way his jaw set tight made Jessica feel weak. “Is Miyoung in?”
“She’s not,” she had gone to the store to pick up some instant ramen amongst other things. She wasn’t expected back for some time.
“Do you know when she’ll return?”
“No?”
Dark eyes narrowed slightly. Jessica gripped the door tighter, letting it hold her in place before she made a run for it, and cowered beneath her blankets like a little girl afraid of the scary monsters in her closet.
“I’ll come back then,”
“Sir,” Jessica called out.
Mr. Hwang stopped at the second step down to look back at Jessica. She almost said to forget it. She almost just bowed and let him leave, call Tiffany, and start packing so they could be out of there and moved before he’d return. He’d never be able to find them. Not if Jessica had anything to do with it.
Her breath was shaky on the intake. She licked her lips. “You can wait if you’d like. I can make some tea and call Tiffany.”
“That won’t be-“
“I insist,” she said in English, watching the faint flicker of surprise color dark eyes before it washed away. “You shouldn’t have to wait long,”
-/-/-/-
Her hands trembled as she brought him the glass. There was no coffee table to sit it down on so she placed it right into his hands where their fingers brushed for only a moment, but Jessica felt the shock. She felt it jolt through her, piercing straight through her like a lightning bolt, striking the very life out of her.
Jessica paled, stepping away from the man who offered not a thanks to her. He simply held the glass at his knee making not a move to bring the cup to his lips.
Her eyes darted around the living room. Her phone was flashing with notifications she wouldn’t answer. She sent a letting Tiffany know her dad was over but to take her time. She ignored all the text Tiffany sent back.
“Is she on her way?”
“She should be,” Jessica nodded. Mr. Hwang pursed his lips. “Mr. Hwang, can I show you something?”
“If you must,” he sighed.
Jessica forced on a smile and padded into their bedroom, throwing open the closet. At the very bottom she found the box of things never unpacked and kept away from early college days.
Her fingers touched cool plastic, and she pulled, bringing out the bulky binder she had used to store her pictures and negatives in throughout college. She kept the thing hidden, away from the eyes of others. It was a collection of her most precious memories and a straight doorway into the things of her heart. Even Tiffany had only seen into it once.
“I already know what’s in your heart,” she had said to Jessica, closing the binder after the first time Jessica allowed her eyes to peek inside.
Making her way back into the living room, she noted the cup had been placed on the floor next to the couch, still full and steaming. Jessica ignored it, peeling the binder away from where she clutched it against her chest out to him.
“What’s this?”
“Open it,” Jessica urged, stepping closer so the binder invaded his personal space, coming close enough for Jessica to brush the tip of his nose with the plastic.
Irritated, Mr. Hwang snatched the binder away with an exasperated sigh. Placing it on his knees, his fingers split open the cover.
Pictures taken of old assignments filled the first couple pages. They weren’t her best work. None of the things she took in college were really her best work, but they had been her beginnings that she’d never be able to part with.
After them came images captured on her own time. When it was just her and the clicking of a shutter and rolls of film being blotched with images. They were her private collection of things Jessica took with her eyes but saw with her heart. They were meaningless to everyone else:
Trees, flowers, road signs, birds, flowers, buildings.
They held no value to no one but Jessica. She knew the story behind them. Which one held tears and which ones held laughter. Which ones spoke of the hardships of life and the ones that whispered the tales of triumphs at the end of battles.
Mr. Hwang looked up to her, “They’re nice, but what am I supposed to be looking at?”
Jessica bit her lip, jutting her chin. “Keep going,”
Mr. Hwang’s stare stayed on her a moment longer before he blinked away and turned the page. Jessica held her breath.
It was a picture of Tiffany standing giddily by a tree wrapped in Jessica’s scarf and bundled in her hat. It was amongst the first pictures Jessica had ever taken of Tiffany when the swimmer had not just been a subject of her innermost desires, or victim to Jessica’s lens, but she was actually a willing participant, swimming into Jessica’s life in a way she hadn’t predicted.
She felt herself blush as fingers continued to turn pages. Pictures of Tiffany at swimming events, standing on the blocks, posing at the tip of a diving board, laughing and smiling and cheering with her team. Pictures of Tiffany laughing in the grass, surrounded by a plain of vibrant, green grass, while Jessica had stood above her and snapped away.
There were pictures of Tiffany coyly staring at the camera across the table in an ice cream parlor and peeking from behind a helmet she had argued with the workers against wearing, just to ride a go-kart.
There were images of Tiffany sleeping on Jessica’s dorm bed, blanket tugged up to her chin, then a hand shielding her face from the offending camera that she couldn’t hide from.
And then there were captured moments of them together. Taken by the shaky hands of others like Hyoyeon, or Jessica’s own, held out in front of them at an angle too difficult to hold the camera steady.
Lips shyly touched cheeks and hands timidly twined together. Bashful eyes looked upon the other while one laughed. Nervous teeth bit down on lips while they stared into each other's eyes. Glowing expressions of pure admiration and affection painted every page, filled with the memories of years with Tiffany.
Through the awkward months of a new relationship, to the high, loud, and fast times of discovered intimacy. Through the hard days of arguments, and the easy ones of smiles in the park. Through confessed love and reciprocated feelings that never wavered. Not even now. They had never wavered.
Jessica jumped as the binder was slammed shut. The breath she had been holding came out in a squeak at the hard eyes that found hers from a stony expression that made Jessica’s knees quake.
“I take it you think this will make me change my mind.” Said Mr. Hwang, apparent irritation in his voice. “That seeing this will make me think that I’m wrong about you. That you’re not ruining my daughter’s life.”
Jessica shifted, her eyes blinking away a moment as she spoke. “I never thought loving someone could ruin them,”
“Listen to me, Ms. Jung,” Mr. Hwang set the binder to the side, pushing it away from him as if it was tainted with disease. “I love my daughter too much to see her throw her life away,”
Her eyes came up, narrowing. “I love your daughter too much to see you break her heart again,”
“Excuse me?” A lip peeled back and Jessica looked away. Mr. Hwang made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “Learn your place,”
“I have,” Jessica pressed, tone desperate, “and I can’t let you take her away from me,”
“I’m afraid you have no say in the matter,”
Jessica cocked an eyebrow, her head tilting slightly. “Why did you send her to Korea?”
His jaw flexed. “That’s none of your concern. But if you must know something, it wasn’t for…this.” He sneered, looking Jessica up and down.
She ignored it, fist tightening at her sides and willed her strength not to leave her. “You wanted her to make something of herself, is that right? You wanted her to be great. You wanted her to come out on top but did you ever want her to be happy?”
“Of course I did,” he spat, offended of the audacity Jessica would think he’d want nothing other than happiness for his daughter.
“So why take her away from the place where she is happy?”
“And that’s with you, I’m guessing?” Mr. Hwang let out a long, mocking laugh as he crossed a foot over his knee. “You’re a smart girl, Ms. Jung, but you have no say in my daughter's life.”
“Neither does she, it seems,” Jessica let out. “She was so scared about her feelings for me she almost never admitted them. But she wasn’t scared because she thought I’d reject her…she was scared that you would.”
“Ms. Jung, you-“
“You say you love her, and I know she loves you. That’s why she’s scared. Because she doesn’t want to disappoint you.” Her voice lowered, her hands gripping together tight in front of her. She could feel her palms sweat and feel the pulse in her wrists. “But she knows she always will because you’ll always reject a part of who she is – the part that is in love with me.”
Mr. Hwang scoffed. “Despite what you think, you, Ms. Jung, are a detriment to Miyoung’s life,”
Jessica shook her head, staring into eyes that bore into her from a reddened face. “But a life with a father who won’t accept who his daughter is completely, is a life not worth living at all.”
-/-/-/-
“I’ve always liked France,” said Tiffany, resting her chin on the edge of the apartment pool while the rest of her body was submerged in water.
“No,” Jessica scrunched her nose at her from where she laid out on a lounge chair. “You like the women in France,”
“Ouch,” Tiffany pouted. Jessica tilted up her sunglasses, shooting her a smirk. “What do you think?”
Jessica blew a breath of air into the warm breeze around them. It was still a little cool for the end of spring, but the temperature of water never mattered to Tiffany, and the manager never turned her down when she wanted to do some laps.
“France is romantic,” Jessica offered, striping her sunglasses off and lolled her head to face her. “But I don’t know what you’re getting at,”
“We can run away,” Tiffany stated, softly. Jessica’s brows knitted together. “He’ll never bother us again,”
“You don’t want that,” Jessica rolled her eyes. “You love your dad,”
“Yeah, but…”
“He just wants the best for you,”
“You’re siding with him?” Tiffany glared.
“I’m not siding with anyone,” rising off the lounge chair, Jessica moved to sit on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water. Tiffany scooted along the wall, settling between her knees.
“We both want the same thing for you,” she said, combing her hands through short, damp hair.
“I doubt it,”
“No, I know he does,” Jessica assured. She curled her legs around Tiffany’s back holding her in place. “We talked the day he came over,”
“You talked to my dad? Alone?” Tiffany lifted amused eyebrows. “About what?”
“You,” Jessica grazed her nails along a damp scalp feeling Tiffany shiver against her. She cupped Tiffany’s face in her palms, holding her steady as she touched a kiss to her forehead. “I showed him the binder,”
Tiffany’s eyes fluttered, mouth dropping open slightly. “You did what?”
“Mhm,” Jessica tilted Tiffany's head back more, so she could press a kiss to her lips. “All of it,”
“Jessi…”
“I did it for you,” her hands tugged, pulling Tiffany more out of the water, so wet arms had to drape over her thighs to stay up. “For us,”
She gripped the back of Jessica’s shirt, holding herself up. “What happened?”
“He left,” Jessica drew Tiffany into her, letting the dampness of her body soak into her tank top. Her arms circled around Tiffany’s neck, breathing her in like it was the first time she had ever done so.
She had done it for this. For this woman to never be further away from her for more than a couple miles easily compromised by a ride in a cab, bus, or train.
“He got upset and left,”
“Why was he upset?”
“Because,” Jessica leaned their foreheads together, scooting closer to the edge, so Tiffany didn’t have to strain to keep herself afloat. “He realized that he’d rather lose you to someone that made you happy than lose you completely.”
Tiffany’s lips fashioned into a perfect ‘o’ as Jessica bumped their noses together. “He said that?”
“No,” Jessica chuckled, locking her hands together behind Tiffany’s back to keep her in place. “But no one should ever be scared of the person who says they love them. He understood that.”
Tiffany beamed. Jessica kissed the smile right off and took it into her own lips. The warmth of the mouth on hers was comforting. It took away the chill in the air and placed it miles away from them, so all Jessica felt was comforting heat.
“So no France?” Tiffany breathed, breaking away.
Jessica took a moment to catch her breath. “I don’t know,”
Tiffany frowned, and Jessica loosened her hold enough for her to sink back into the water. She wrapped her arms around Jessica’s calves, resting her head on her knee, and peered up through damp lashes at her.
“The flight leaves tomorrow,” she whispered. Her eyes closed as Jessica combed a hand through her hair once again. “He still expects me to be there,”
“We’ll go together,” said Jessica. Tiffany opened her mouth to retort, but Jessica spoke first. “He can’t take you away from me. Okay?”
Tiffany nodded against her knee, looking like a pouting little kid from the angle she sat. “Okay,”
“Don’t let go of my hand,”
“Okay,”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” Tiffany smiled, pressing a kiss to Jessica’s knee. She shivered. “I love you so much,”
With a tug, Jessica squealed as she was yanked off the edge and submerged in water. Arms and legs tangled with hers as Tiffany held onto her, pressing their lips together below the surface. The pressure of the water molded them together and Jessica held on. gripping onto her like the lifeline Tiffany was.
-/-/-/-
They left Hyoyeon in the getaway car at the drop off. She knew that as soon as she saw Jessica and Tiffany making a mad dash towards her, she was to start the car, unlock the doors for them to get in, and drive fast and furious to the hideout house that was Hyoyeon’s flat.
It was a ridiculous plan, Jessica thought. But whatever could calm the nerves of a shaking Tiffany beside her, Jessica would gladly do.
They walked hand and hand through the terminal. Tiffany’s eyes were like focused beams, searching for only one person and saw nothing else. Beside her, Jessica chewed nervously on the inside of her lip, guiding them past the large numbers and crowds of people.
There were enough people around for if a scene were to arise, she was sure someone would jump in and wrench a screaming Tiffany from the hands of an enraged father. Jessica hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She had Seohyun praying it wouldn’t come to that.
“Jess,”
The sudden intake of breath drew Jessica’s eyes away from a man who was eyeing then in absolute appalled disgust to another set of eyes that were no less welcoming.
Holding Tiffany’s hand tight, Jessica led them the rest of the way, closing the gap between them and Tiffany’s father who slowly stood up from the bench he was seated.
“Mr. Hwang,” Jessica bowed deeply.
“Ms. Jung,” he glared for a moment before releasing her to look at his daughter. “No carry on?”
“No,” Tiffany faltered, her eyes dropping instantly. Jessica squeezed her hand and Tiffany brought her gaze back up. “I didn’t bring anything,”
“I see,” Mr. Hwang rubbed at his chin in irritation. “That shouldn’t be much of a problem. There’s plenty still back at the house,”
“Dad,” Tiffany urged, languages switching to her native one. Jessica knew it was because Tiffany could express herself better that way. “I didn’t bring anything because I’m not- I’m not leaving with you.”
Jessica waited in the silence that proceeded. She watched the man before them shift in his glossy business shoes and smooth out a wrinkle in his pressed, button up, waiting for the typhoon to sweep in and shipwreck them both.
“I know,” he spoke, voice hard and expression tight.
“Dad,” Tiffany’s lashes fluttered. “I said I’m not leaving with you. I won’t go,”
“I heard what you said, Miyoung,” He ticked, giving Tiffany that look Jessica had been subject to from the swimmer when Jessica was getting on her nerves. “And I know for a fact she won’t let me drag you home no matter how much I’d like to.”
“But…” Tiffany’s mouth hung open not sure of what to say. She burrowed her brow, blinking back from Jessica to her dad, wondering what to do.
Mr. Hwang let out a long, tired breath and turned to Jessica. “May you give us a minute alone, please?” Jessica looked to Tiffany who shook her head. “We’ll be just over there. I won’t take her out of your sight,”
Jessica heard the truth in his voice and saw the sincerity in his eyes and nodded. Tiffany’s gripped her hand and her eyes widened as if Jessica was about to hand her off like a cow for slaughter.
“It’s okay, Fany,” she pecked a kiss to Tiffany’s cheek, hoping it would ease her trembling lips. Reluctantly, she peeled her hand away from Tiffany’s, feeling it come away cold as air touched the sweat that had accumulated there.
“Jessi,”
Jessica smiled, touching a hand to her cheek. “I promised,” she said, and Tiffany nodded her head. She knew the meaning of those words, and because she did, Tiffany knew she had no reason to fear.
Jessica bowed to Mr. Hwang as he steered Tiffany away toward the far wall. She watched them with attentive eyes and reflexes coiled, ready to spring into action at the first sign of betrayal. But if Jessica knew Tiffany, she knew Mr. Hwang must be a man of integrity. She could feel it in the way he looked over at her, letting her know he wasn’t going to do anything.
Jessica felt herself relax but not completely. Not until she had Tiffany back by her side and hand in hers.
It took forever.
It felt like an eternity had come, gone, and started over again before she saw Tiffany’s shoulders shake, and her dad placing a hand on her shoulder, weighing it down.
Jessica took a step forward to go to them, but Tiffany had already begun moving back to her. She fell into Jessica’s arms, crying against her shoulder while Jessica watched the cause of those tears pick up his briefcase from the floor.
Dark eyes turned to Jessica and she watched as he bowed deeply, casted a long gaze at his daughter’s back, and turned his back on the two.
It wasn’t until Jessica heard the call of departure for the flight Tiffany was supposed to be boarding that she realized Tiffany was still in her arms and not in a chair about to be flown away.
It was then she understood the bow, and it was then that she finally let out that breath held in her lungs.
“We did it?” Jessica muttered.
Tiffany lifted her face damp with tears and cheeks tinted red, and cupped her face. “You did it,” she sealed their lips together.
Jessica forgot about the hundreds of people around them and melted into those lips that were right there. They were there and not thousands of miles away. They were there and very present.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Tiffany chimed against her lips.
Jessica thumbed away tears that landed on her own face. “And don’t you ever stop,”
Part III
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-01-26 11:33 pm (UTC)Also holy soshi-timejump boxxsaltz, I wonder if that's going to be common, or if you wanted to skip past the college years to hint at the drama they contained.
Now stop taking so long between parts! >.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-27 08:46 am (UTC)Kudos on this one!!! :)
it totally touched my heart deeply... “But a life with a father who won’t accept who his daughter is completely, is a life not worth living at all.”
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Date: 2013-01-27 02:42 pm (UTC);____________;
the love, trust and all of that they have for each other, really........ i cannot find the right words to say really, i am speechless for real.
i love this to bits.
thank you!
no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 03:37 pm (UTC)I think I'll take a bit longer with the next update, hm? >=D
no subject
Date: 2013-01-28 06:12 pm (UTC)Yeah... jessica you're so jjang!
Jaajajaja she reallu deserve a reward (6)
Jejejejeje
You're amazing
no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 12:46 am (UTC)Thank you so much for this story. ^^
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Date: 2013-01-29 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-03 02:48 am (UTC)But...this is part 2 of 5. I have bad feelings. Bad bad feelings about this. I will proceed with caution.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-04 12:38 am (UTC)oh cheesus my heart was beating scared they dont take tiffany away.
a moment of glare for you >.>
anyway lol a the bed frame and lol poor maknae
good job ^,^