---18: Stumbling Block
“No No No… Oh God… This can’t be…” Tiffany let out a curse and a loud groan when she saw the pregnancy test kits on her sink. She took eight tests and yet every single one of them showed that the singer was pregnant.
“Fany…? Are you okay?” Sunny shouted from outside the bathroom. “Fany…” She called out again when she heard no answer from the inside. “Tiffany Hwang?”
Tiffany opened the bathroom door. “I…” She just showed the results to her best friend.
The short manager loudly gasped. “YOU’RE PREGNANT? WITH WHO?”
The singer lowered her head and sat on the edge of the bathtub.
“Taeyeon isn’t it?” Sunny sat beside her silent roommate. “Fany…” The eye-smiling girl nodded slowly. “You gotta tell her.” She suggested.
That sentence made Tiffany looked at her best friend. “What for?”
“Err… Last time I checked she’s the father of your baby.”
“Well the father doesn’t even want to fight for the mother of the baby, what makes you think that she will fight for the baby?”
“What happened exactly…?”
The taller girl sighed. “Long story, but the point is we will never be accepted into her family.”
She walked to the sink and gathered the test kits and threw them at the nearest bin before leaving her best friend dumb founded.
Sunny groaned and dialed a number. “Babe, I need to talk to your boss…”
---“I’m sorry baby, but I don’t think my boss can talk to anyone right now.” Sooyoung flinched when her girlfriend shouted something on the speaker. “I know… I’m sorry. But she’s in a meeting right now… Okay. See you.” The tall girl took a deep breath and smoothened her suit before going back in the hall, standing behind her boss.
Taeyeon looked back and raised an eyebrow.
“Toilet break.” Sooyoung mouthed while pointed the door.
The prince nodded and went back to the meeting.
“… and since The Queen will be away for a while to get treated, I will be the one who handle everything in here. But, anything that needs further approval, please contact Prince Taeyeon, because she will accompany The Queen.”
The Crown Prince turned her head to Taeyeon. “Do you want to add anything?”
“No.”
The tan-skinned woman stood up straight again to dismiss the morning meeting. She then bowed together with her half sister and went out. “Taeyeon wait.” She caught the shorter girl’s hand.
“You’ll be departed the day after tomorrow with the Palace’s plane at 9 p.m. So better pack your things.” Then she looked at the tallest. “You too, Sooyoung.”
“Y-yes, Your Highness.” Sooyoung bowed.
“Right then. I have to accompany Sica. See ya!”
Taeyeon waited until Yuri was out of sight and exhaled noisily. She dropped her shoulders and slowly walked back to her palace, followed by her dongsaeng.
Both of them keeping their mouth shut throughout the way, until Sooyoung felt her phone vibrated on her pocket. She fished it out and saw the name. “Ehm… Unnie, I need to take this.”
“Go on. I’ll be in my room.” Taeyeon said and left the taller girl to take her phone.
“Yes baby?” Sooyoung answered.
“Is your boss free now?”
“Well…” Sooyoung gulped and glanced at the door. “Not really. What is it?”
The assistant heard her girlfriend sighed. “There’s something important that she needs to know.
Can we meet now?”
“That is going to be out of the question. We need to pack.”
“Oh… Why?”
“You know why.”
“Right. You’re going with her too.” Sunny paused. “When’s the day?”
“Two days ahead. 9 p.m. Why? You want to send me?”
“That depends. Are your schedule packed for the next two days?”
Sooyoung scratched her head. “That. I don’t know. But I need to stay beside Prince Taeyeon all the time, baby. What is it about? If it’s about Fany, I don’t think Prince Taeyeon want to discuss it.”
“Unfortunately it will always be about Fany. Well, can I meet you then before the day? I don’t think the access will be easy for me since The Queen will be there.”
“Let’s see what I can do, okay? But I think Her Highness will allow me alright.”
“Okay then. I’ll see you. Love you babe.”
“Love you too.”
---“Uhm… Unnie…” Sooyoung hesitantly spoke when they were having their quiet breakfast.
“Hmm?”
“Can I have a day off today? I want to meet my g—Sunny before we go.”
That made Taeyeon looked up and remembered about Tiffany. The last day. She thought. “Sure.
Go on. We don’t have much things left to pack anyway.”
“Thanks Unnie. You’re the best.”
The prince smiled. “Tell Sunny I say hi. And bring those cookies we baked.”
“Alright.”
“And uhm…” Taeyeon’s eyes showed the sadness. “Please tell Tiffany to take care.”
Sooyoung felt the sadness too. “That… will do, Unnie.” She weakly smiled.
Taeyeon stopped eating, lost her appetite all of the sudden. “Well then, I’ll go meet Yuri and Sica. Be careful, Sooyoung-ah.”
---“Hi—mmpphh…” Sooyoung was greeted with a pair of lips she had accustomed to. “I take it that you missed me.”
“That I do. Hi.” Sunny let her girlfriend walked inside her office room.
“Bring you cookies Taeyeon unnie and I baked.” She showed the can. “Here.”
“Thanks. Oh speaking of your boss.”
“Yes? What’s with her? And why did you so eager to talk to her?”
Sunny went back to her desk and reached out something in her drawer. She pulled out a neatly wrapped box and handed it to her girlfriend. “I got a present for her. Tell her to open it once you’re arrived. Okay?”
Sooyoung took the box and observed it. “What is it? Necklace? Bracelet?”
The manager only rolled her eyes. “Why would I give her that? She can buy a lot more beautiful and expensive jewelry.”
“Just kidding, baby. So, no clue or whasoever?”
“Nope. Just give that to her please.”
“I don’t like when my girlfriend gives someone else a present with this kind of jewelry box.
“It’s not from me. It’s from Tiffany. But remember what I’ve said. She can open it after you guys are landed there. Okay?”
“Yes, milady. Now come on. You have a girlfriend to feed.”
---“You are rooming with me, okay Sooyoung?” Taeyeon said once they reached the gate of their temporary place.
“B-But…”
“Please…”
“Okay Unnie…”
Sooyoung and Taeyeon then unpacked their belongings and started to arrange them in their room. “How’s Sunny?” The Prince suddenly asked.
“She’s fine.”
“…and Tiffany…?”
“I… didn’t see her actually. She wasn’t home by the time I visited.”
“Oh…”
The room fell in silence again.
Until the young assistant felt something on her fingertips. The present for her boss from her girlfriend. She glanced at the prince, contemplating.
Sooyoung had taken a peek while they were on the plane. The curiosity got the best of her, so she decided to look what was inside the box. She knew by now what it meant.
And she knew now, she had to decide whether to give the prince the gift and make her lose her mind or save it for later until the queen gets better but sacrificing Tiffany and her baby, if the singer still wanted to give her baby a chance.
“What do you want to eat before we head back to the hospital, Syoung-ah?” Taeyeon’s voice brought Sooyoung back from her trance.
The shiksin quickly return the box into her bag and looked up. “Yes Unnie?”
“Food.”
“Oh, food. Whatever you want, Unnie.”
“Let’s buy kebab!”
“Alright. I’ll tell the driver.”
Taeyeon nodded.
---Sunny counted her the hours by her fingers.
“They’re just landed.” Tiffany shortly commented.
“How did yo—Oh… Google.” Sunny sat beside her roommate. “I miss her already.” She sighed.
“Anyway, do you want something today? Or maybe we can check your pregnancy with the doctor?”
Tiffany shook her head. She unconsciously rubbed her stomach. “I already checked it. I’m positive but like what I have told you, I don’t even know whether I should keep it not.”
“I don’t want to be preachy and I’m not judging you, Fany. This is only my outloud thinking, okay?” Sunny looked at her best friend. “I think that your baby does not deserve to be punished here. I know that you hate Taeyeon at the moment and wish for different things, easier choice, happier life, but I think you should keep it. But then again, it’s your choice. I can always arrange something for your career that if you decide to keep your baby.”
Tiffany loudly exhaled. “I don’t hate Taeyeon. Not anymore. I’m actually scared, Sunny-ah.”
“Scared of…?”
“Everything…” Tiffany covered her face with her palms. “I’m scared that I couldn’t be a good mom. I’m scared of raising this child alone. I’m scared that my baby would hate me because she didn’t have complete parents figure. I’m scared of what people would do to my kid. And mostly, I’m scared of what Taeyeon’s family would do to my kid...”
Sunny sighed again. “I understand. It’s too complicated. But should you decide to keep your baby, you should know that you’re not alone. You have me and your family. Besides, you can always fly back to the States and live happily there.”
“That’s the other thing that I’m worrying. What should I tell my family about this?”
“Err… The truth…?”
“She’ll kill me.”
“She won’t. No mothers would kill their own flesh and blood. And I solemnly believe that.”
“That’s when you’re wrong. Let’s stop this talk. Just…” Tiffany stood up. “Just let me think about it first.” She left her roommate alone.
---“Your Highness…”
“Yes?” Jessica looked up. “Oh… Updates on Tiffany?”
A woman in blacksuit bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“What is it about?”
“I believe Miss Tiffany Hwang is pregnant with Prince Taeyeon, Your Highness.”
Jessica’s eyes widened when she heard the sentence. She was very surprised. “Excuse me?!” Her tone was raised unintentionally.
“M-miss…”
“Get me my husband now!” The Crown Princess immediately commanded.