In the far corner of the left side of the huge school library, you could see a girl standing in front of a table, mesmerized by the sleeping beauty in front of her.
An open book flipping with the wind in front of her crush who's certainly sleeping soundly with her chin leaning on the palm of her hand. The wind coming in from the window slightly brushed the girl's hair gracefully, the book pages flipping along.
Tiffany's heart pound quickened even more as her face heated up. She took the chance and tip-toed to where her crush is sleeping and flipped the book on the table to see the title. She managed to quickly read the title before running away after sensing her crush move a little. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears at the thought of being caught but relaxed when she saw that her crush is still in dream land.
What she did just now was dangerous to her heart. If her Sunbae caught her in the act it would have been a huge problem and that's when she got the bright idea of looking at the books check cards where students write their names and class on a card inside of any book they desire to borrow. Like that, she found all of the books the girl named Kim Taeyeon had read through.
Ugh...this is kinda...does this mean that...I'm behaving like a stalker?
Even, if it does, I still love her and I want to know more about her, even if it's just little things.
I'm not deluded enough to think that doing stuff like this brings me any closer to her, but more than anything, I just...I...just...love Sunbae.
With those thoughts in mind, Tiffany emerged from her sleep with a gasp as the sound of her alarm filled the room. She huffed and clenched her aching head in annoyance and she turned off the alarm.
I can't believe I dreamt about high school.
What a nightmare.
...
"No way in hell," Taeyeon said, absolutely refusing to accept the paper she just received from Tiffany.
Tiffany came in the office today in high hopes for a new comic proposal only to be rejected immediately by Taeyeon.
"Um, you looked at it for about 10 seconds. Could you please actually read it?" Tiffany said with an angry tone.
"I already did," Taeyeon replied without as much as a glance.
"Wha- ?!"
"What the hell is this proposal supposed to be? You're not actually interested in doing this, are you?" Taeyeon shook the proposal in her hand as if it was a piece of garbage.
"Of course, I am!" Tiffany slammed Taeyeon's desk.
"Aww Tiff got some constructive criticism." Sunny laughed out loud.
"Wasn't that nice of Taeyeon?" Hyoyeon only smiled on the side.
"This is my first ever comic related project, and Ranmi-ssi's comic is really popular!" Tiffany protested.
"And yet this is the best you can do?" Taeyeon glared and placed the paper on her desk then started pointing out the mistakes Tiffany made.
"You say the comic is popular, yet you haven't included any survey results to back that up. There is no mention of how you're going to run the ad campaign either. Looking at this, you just can't tell why the book would sell well."
Ugh...
Tiffany frowned at that, honestly, what Taeyeon said made perfect sense.
"Tiffany...do you seriously think that the editor's job is just to collect manuscripts?"
"N- No! That's not- "
"In your previous job, you only edited for big shot novelists, right? That's why you think it's enough to just get the book out in order for it to sell." Taeyeon pointed at Tiffany.
"No. I do not!"
The two were grabbing attention from people outside of their department. It was a usual scene to see someone fighting with Taeyeon every day. However, people didn't want to get involved and were speed walking past the Emerald department.
"You can't present something like this at the meeting. Do it over." Taeyeon sighed and got off her president chair making Tiffany look down.
"Then you should have just taught me how to do this beforehand, it's not like..."
Taeyeon raised an eyebrow at that, "You never asked, so why should I go out of my way to teach you something?"
Tiffany glared, "Y- You're the head editor, right? You should at least make sure your employees kno- "
"If you don't know how to do something, just fucking ask. I'm not your mommy!" An accusing finger was thrown Tiffany's way.
All hell broke loose between the two and you could see invincible thunder rummaging between them
"H- Hey. You girls should try to help them get along better..." Someone from anther department whispered to Hyoyeon and Sunny.
"Why? They're all sunshine and roses already." Sunny said with a cute smile and Hyoyeon nodded with a smile of her own.
...
I'm screwed.
Tiffany sighed as she watched other employees go back to their homes. She has been stuck with this proposal for a while now, trying to make it decent but ends up failing, deleting and repeating.
What should I do to make this better?
It's true that we used to do things differently in my last job.
What kind of promotion should I do for this book ?
A fair or something?
No, this is her first comic, so it's too soon for that.
I wonder if I could ask sales department for help with this .
No, I should probably ask Taeyeon...
No way! Like I would ever ask her for help!
I will figure this out myself!
"You're still here?" A voice from behind her made her jump a little in her seat.
Looking behind her, she realized it was only Taeyeon which of course bought a grumpy expression on her face like always.
"I- I thought you left." Tiffany watched Taeyeon walk to her president chair and place a huge case on it.
"I still have got manuscripts to read." Taking a sip from her coffee, Taeyeon looked at Tiffany sideways.
"Are you still working on that proposal?"
"Oh, don't mind me. you can head on home." Tiffany frowned and turned back to her laptop screen, completely avoiding Taeyeon who's standing by her now.
"Let me see."
"I'm perfectly fine without your help, I can do this by myself."
"No, seriously. Let me see."
"I said I'm fine!"
As Tiffany turned to Taeyeon, she might have accidentally knocked over Taeyeon's coffee. Both of them froze in place looking at their hands both holding the cup of coffee that was about to fall down a moment ago. Tiffany immediately let go after realizing the contact and sat back down pretending to continue working even though her brain was nowhere near work right now.
"Be more careful, what if my manuscript has gotten dirty?" Taeyeon frowned.
"It would have been your fault for bringing coffee to the editorial department anyway."
A few seconds passed with Taeyeon supervising what Tiffany was writing in her proposal, making Tiffany feel restless because of her presence.
"I will be fine, so just go home, you're going to miss the last train!" Tiffany didn't look back at Taeyeon, completely missing the glare she was receiving from her.
Next thing she knew, the chair next to her was pulled by none other than Taeyeon
"Wh- What are you doing?" Tiffany asked nervously.
Taeyeon didn't reply and tried to take Tiffany's laptop to take a look
"I told you I could do this myself!"
"Liar, you're not getting anywhere."
Tiffany didn't have that and tugged her laptop back making Taeyeon give up on taking it and scooted closer to Tiffany so she could see the screen.
"Really, I'm fine!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Don't come so close.
There go's her heart with the pounding.
"Do you have the results for Ranmi-ssi's poll?"
"Huh? uh, yes."
"Ever since her series began, she's constantly been in the top three, right?"
"Yes."
And they have completely switched to work mode
"How many copies of their comic have the authors before and after her in the polls sold? If you compare her to them, how big can you estimate her sales to be?"
Tiffany wrote furiously what Taeyeon was saying.
"Who will buy her comic? How will they differ from those who buy the work of previously published authors? And then you need to think about ideas for the ad campaign. Will you be printing leaflets? What about pops?"
"W- Wait! Slow down please, I need to write this down."
"There are other things to consider too..." Taeyeon paused her coffee midway to her lips and was lost staring at the side profile of Tiffany and thought, what a gorgeous hard working being.
"You get all that?"
"Yes, I will rethink what materials I need, and then I will- " Tiffany didn't have time to react when she turned around and saw that Taeyeon was holding her in place by her chin only to kiss her less than a second after.
*PONK*
"AWW!" Taeyeon groaned in pain.
"WH- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Tiffany yelled
Taeyeon held her head in pain because Tiffany resorted to violence to push her away.
"What do you mean? You were being so serious that I had to snap you out of it." Taeyeon gave her the resting bitch face again which pissed Tiffany off more.
"What?! Stop fooling around! I'm trying to actually work here!" Tiffany covered her mouth with the back of her hand, blushing furiously.
The sound of the door opening made both of them look back only to see Kangin with a surprised look on his face.
Crap!
Did he see us just now?!
"Kangin...-ssi..."
"Taeyeon, the head of the sales department wants to talk to you."
Taeyeon frowned at that, "Hmph...what a bother."
"Uh, I'm going to go to the bathroom." Tiffany excused herself and hurried out of the office.
Once Tiffany was out of sight, Taeyeon got up and made her way to the sales department.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Taeyeon walked no longer and looked back at Kangin who asked her the question with an obvious answer.
...
Everybody is gone now, right?
Tiffany sneaked a glance inside the office to make sure that no one was there and entered once she was sure that completely no soul is in the room. She didn't want to be in the same room with those two, it always creates and awkward and suffocating atmosphere.
"Hey."
Tiffany jumped in her place when she heard a voice she doesn't like, right behind her -Kangin
"Uh, good work today, what's up? I thought you left with Taeyeon." She hurriedly started organizing her stuff in her bag, trying her best not to look Kangin in the eye.
"I was waiting for you. I'm going to say this just in case."
Tiffany looked back at Kangin after sensing the seriousness in his voice, only to get words that felt like a hard slap in the face
"Taeyeon is mine."
The room got dead silence like it was 5 minutes ago, Kangin giving Tiffany a cold look while Tiffany is looking back in confusion.
"Huh?" Despite the disgusted feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach, Tiffany felt the need to explain herself, "Um...I think you have misunderstood something. There is nothing going on between me and Taeye- "
"You're such a bad liar." Kangin interrupted.
"I'm not lying! I'm not!" Tiffany turned fully towards Kangin feeling offended at being called a liar.
Kangin chuckled sarcastically and started making his way towards the door, shrugging off Tiffany.
"Um...Kangin-ssi...please just listen to me. There is seriously nothing." At this point, Tiffany was desperate to proof her innocence.
"If you're telling the truth..." Kangin turned back and stopped in his steps until he reached Tiffany's face, "Then don't do those things with her!"
Just like that, he left.
Wh- What the hell?
There's really nothing going on...between Taeyeon and me.
Besides...
...
Taeyeon is going out with Kangin...
Isn't she?
...
Why do I feel sick?
...
It's- It's not really...my business who Taeyeon goes out with.
That's right.
It doesn't matter...if she's going out with a man or a woman.
I have to explain things to Kangin the next time I see him.
It will cause trouble if he goes on under some weird delusion about me and Taeyeon.
I was just a little bit in love with her 10 years ago.
Even if Kangin were to know that, it wouldn't mean anything now.
Oh man, this sucks.
Besides, Taeyeon is only making passes at me...because she enjoys teasing me.
I'm nothing but a nuisance to her.
...What?
What is this?
I'm really pissed off.
...
...
"Taeyeon and Kangin?" Yuri raised an eyebrow at Tiffany's question.
The two had met on the way to work earlier and Tiffany wasted no time in asking Yuri about the relationship of Taeyeon and Kangin.
"Uh, it's just that I saw them talking the other day, and they seemed to be really friendly with each other. N- Not that it matters one way or another." Tiffany laughed nervously and averted her eyes from Yuri.
"I seem to remember that they had classes together in college."
"Classes, huh." Tiffany nodded.
"Apparently, Kangin was the one who suggested the publishing business to Taeyeon. What's more, Kangin was the one who convinced Taeyeon to change jobs and come work here, or that's what I heard anyway"
"I see..."
"I guess you could say that they definitely get along, they're probably very compatible."
Yuri wondered why there was no reply from Tiffany and when she looked at her, Tiffany was grimacing.
"Sorry, but that's all I know."
That seemed to have snapped Tiffany out of it, "No, that's plenty. I'm sorry I asked you such a weird question in the first place." Tiffany's face finally went back to normal.
The elevator arrived down and just as the door was about to close, "Yul!" Taeyeon came running, calling for Yuri to stop the elevator door from closing which Yuri obliged to.
"Good morning." Yuri greeted and Tiffany mumbled.
"Morning. I sent you an email about the whole thing with your author. Did you get it?" Immediately work talk, that sounds like Taeyeon alright.
"Yes, I'm on my way to sales department now."
True to her words, the elevator door opened with a ding to the sales department floor.
"Well then, see you later," Yuri waved goodbye and trust in her when she says that Tiffany was not that pleased with the fact that she will have to ride the elevator alone with Taeyeon.
The elevator started moving up again and Tiffany knew exactly what's going to happen. Taeyeon will definitely say something uncomfortable.
"You can't even say good morning to me probably, can you?" Taeyeon asked with crossed arms remembering how Tiffany mumbled as a greeting.
"Huh? I already did." Tiffany looked away starting to get grumpy right away.
"I heard no such thing."
"But I did say it!"
"Doesn't count if I didn't hear it."
"Good morning!"
Taeyeon nodded, "Good morning."
Ugh, I'm begging you, go faster Mr. Elevator.
I have got to avoid being alone with her!
"Tiffany."
The moment her name got out of Taeyeon's mouth, her body immediately jumped at the hand Tiffany felt on her hair and slapped it away. Taeyeon had a shocked WTF look on her face as she stared at Tiffany with her hand starting to look red because of the slap.
"You had something in your hair," Taeyeon said quietly while showing Tiffany a piece of fuzz she probably caught somewhere.
"Huh?" Tiffany couldn't help it but feel embarrassed because of her reaction to such a simple action coming from Taeyeon.
It was the right time for the elevator to ding open giving her the chance to run away and not show Taeyeon her red face anymore and Taeyeon was left stunned.
I don't want to have anything to do with Taeyeon outside of office hours.
I hate this.
All of a sudden things that shouldn't matter make me so pissed off.
If I have any more contact with her...I will have to admit to myself...just how much she can get to me.