A few months have passed since they celebrated their first anniversary. The good times continue but their arguments have been inevitably increasing because not only have they gotten to know each other very well by now, they are also very comfortable when around one another.
On that Tuesday afternoon, Taeyeon comes home late from a long meeting and goes straight to her room to take a shower since her girlfriend's not in the living room anyway.
When she goes down to the kitchen to get something to drink afterwards, she sees Tiffany sitting at the counter, nursing a can of beer while reading what looks like a card.
"Beer? At this hour on a weekday?" Taeyeon remarks after noticing what her girlfriend's doing. She sets her phone down on the counter, pulls open the fridge to see what's there to eat and asks, "What's going on?"
Tiffany places the card on the counter and sighs. "Got a wedding invitation in the mail today."
"Oh? From?"
"Nicole."
"Nicole? Your friend-since-high-school Nicole?"
"Yeah."
Taeyeon closes the fridge after deciding that she'll just make cup ramyeon and grabs the item from one of the kitchen cabinets. She's waiting for the water to boil when she realizes how quiet Tiffany is so she turns around to see her still looking at the invitation on the counter. "What's wrong?"
Lifting her head, Tiffany carefully asks, "Can I go home for a week?" She knows that even though Taeyeon has given her the freedom to come and go as she pleases, a trip that far will require her consent—also because she doesn't want Taeyeon's parents to get the wrong idea and come after her like she's a fugitive.
"Home as in the States?"
Tiffany nods. "I want to go to her wedding. You can be my plus one."
"When is it?"
"In three weeks. The 24th."
Taeyeon takes her phone, checks her calendar and shakes her head. "I have the Macau opening to attend on the 23rd," she says, referring to her newest overseas venture. "I was hoping you'd come with me."
"I'd rather see my old friend get married," Tiffany says in all honesty. "Can I?"
Instead of answering directly, Taeyeon takes her time and goes about pouring the hot water in her cup ramyeon before she takes it and sits down across from Tiffany. "I'm going to be honest with you," she tells her girlfriend. "I'm torn. On the one hand, I trust you. Yet on the other hand, I'm afraid that when you see everything you love, your friends, your home... you will end up staying."
"You mean you're afraid that I'll run away?"
"No. I'm afraid you'll leave me," replies Taeyeon bluntly. "Will your ex be there? At the wedding, I mean."
"I don't know. I have to ask Nicole. But even if he's there, it won't change anything. I haven't spoken to him in over a year. We've moved on. He's started dating again."
"How do you know that?" Taeyeon asks although she also knows that fact, courtesy of Hojun's little investigation on him and their connections over at the States.
"My friends told me."
Taeyeon carefully peels the lid of the cup and stirs the noodles in silence, still not willing to let Tiffany go.
"How can I convince you that I'll come back to you?" asks Tiffany, her tone softening. Despite feeling a bit annoyed by the fact that she can't freely attend her friend's wedding, she understands Taeyeon's reasons. It's true that there's no guarantee that she won't just decide to stay there. She's already so thrilled and excited just thinking about going home, back to where she feels she belongs.
