“So how is it?” Sunny asked her roommate out of the blue.
Tiffany peeled her eyes off of the TV and stared her bestfriend, confused with the sudden question. “It? What’s ‘it’?”
“Being the Prince’s girlfriend. How’s she? Does she treat you good? Is she sweet and romantic?”
Sunny gasped. “She’s great in bed, isn’t she? Omooooooo~”
“Yah~! Stop it!” Tiffany blushed. For her, Taeyeon was the greatest partner in bed by far. “I’m not even her girlfriend, Sunny-ah.”
“Don’t lie. You two had been spending time like couples. Even hotter than Sooyoung and I.”
“It’s true, I’m not her girlfriend. We didn’t establish such thing.”
“Then… what are you two? Fuck buddies?”
Tiffany shrugged. “Actually I don’t need a title as long as I have her love.”
That answer made the short manager to shot a very sharp questioning look to her singer. “Love?
She loves you?”
The singer nodded. “She told me those three words almost everytime.”
“Awwww… Sweet.” Sunny curled up her palms in a cute manner. “So I just need to wait for wedding invitation then.”
The eye-smiling singer only flashed her beautiful beam. “You need to ask my Prince about that.
Anyway, how are you and Sooyoung?”
“That Shikshin… I’m in love with her.” The shorter girl dreamily said. “She’s the best girlfriend by far. Although she’s not the Prince, I’m the happiest when I’m with her. She completes me.”
“My Sunny is in love!”
“My Fany too!”
“Aaaawwwwww~” They both said in unity.
“You know what, we should get married together!” The manager added.
“You’re crazy.”
---Taeyeon closed her speech and bowed down to the ministers in front of her before exiting the room. She huffed. It was one of the toughest discussions for her.
“How was it, Unnie?” Sooyoung, who was waiting for Taeyeon outside the room, asked.
“It was like world war three. I wondered how Yuri could take this easily every single day.” The Prince exhaled again. “Lunch and coffee would be nice. I need my energy boost.” She said while walking towards her car with the younger girl.
“Let me guess, café next to Tiffany’s office?”
“Correct!” Taeyeon grinned.
The assistant slumped her shoulder down.
“Yah! What’s with the sudden change of mood? You can see your girlfriend, Syoung-ah.”
The tall girl entered the car on the driver side, followed by the short one. “Look, Unnie. It’s not that I’m not happy by seeing my girl and not happy seeing you and Fany got along really well, but I’ve been hearing some rumors that your mother already knew about this and she was about to do something. I just don’t want that ‘something’ would be bad and might happen to you later on.”
“Hold on. What’s that ‘something’?” Taeyeon asked while motioning the air quotation with her hands.
Sooyoung only shrugged her shoulder. She really had no idea about that. “I don’t know, Unnie. I just heard the news only up to that.”
“Let’s just hope that everything would be just alright. If… I’m saying IF… If Her Majesty would really do the thing—that thing—regarding my relationship with Fany, I promise I would fight for her.”
“Praying for you, Unnie.”
“Thanks, Syoung-ah. Now let’s meet our princesses!”
---“Knock knock…” Taeyeon bobbed her head through the gap between the doors.
A person sitting behind the desk inside the office room looked up. “Taeyeon?”
“Hi…” The Prince went inside the room; her loyal assistant was following too. “I bought you lunch and coffee and also your girlfriend.” She grinned. “Where’s Fany?”
“Ow thank you…” Sunny stood up and went to her girlfriend to give her a sweet peck before scrutinizing the paper bag’s content. “Fany is fitting her outfit for album photoshoot. She’ll be here soon.” She said before turning her attention to the tallest girl. “Have you eaten, Baby Shikshin?”
The nickname made Taeyeon bursted out laughing. “Baby~ Omoooo… Baby Shikshin…” She teasingly curled up her fingers.
“Shush Unnie. Bet you even have more embarrassing nickname for Fany.”
“She calls Fany by ‘Princess’, babe.” The manager unfolded the secret and smirked.
“Awooooo… Princess… Your nickname is finger curling too, Unnie.”
Taeyeon only rolled her eyes. “Tsk…”
Not taking too long, finally the singer arrived. Actually she overheard people squealing about Taeyeon’s presence in the building. So she sped up her fitting session to get to see her favorite Prince. “Hi guysssss!” She greeted, eye-smiling along the way.
“Hi Fany.” The couple replied unenthusiastically.
But the radiating girl couldn’t care more. Her eyes were set on one person in that room from the start. Her legs even knew the fix direction. “Hey, Your Highness~” She cutely said, standing in front of her heart owner.
“Hey, Princess.” The Prince showed her an enchanting smile.
“Ow! Too cheesy!” Sooyoung commented.
The pair ignored the comment and just stared at each other.
“Stop the eye sex already! Fany! Eat! Taeyeon bought us sandwiches!” Sunny commanded.
“Oh yeah. I bought you lunch from next door.” Taeyeon reconfirmed.
“Thank you. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, I have.” The Prince was busy preparing the lunch for her Princess. “Here.” She handed the neatly wrapped sandwich.
Tiffany happily munched the food. “How was the meeting?”
“Chaos, I barely survived.” Taeyeon dramatically dropped her head.
The younger girl chuckled. “Was it that bad?”
“Kind of. How have you been? We didn’t see each other for almost a week. The last time I saw you when we’re filming the CF.”
“You were busy sending off your charm to girls around Korea.”
The older girl squinted her eyes in playful way. “Are you by any chance jealous, Fany-ah~?” She naughtily poked the singer.
“Ow… Our Fany is jealous!” Sunny again interjected the conversation by her comment. She even whistled, teasing the caught-red-handed-jealous-girl.
“I’m not jealous. I just… less like to see that kind of thing.” The singer denied.
“Don’t worry. I just gave them my charm not my heart because someone already took it away.”
Taeyeon winked.
“Oh my God, Unnie! Stop it right there!” Sooyoung sharply protested.
“Why why why?!”
“Just… please. My girlfriend is trying to eat here.”
Taeyeon only laughed before turning her attention to her Princess again. “When will the album be released?”
“Sorry, Your Highness, I can’t discuss this matter with you. My boss is watching me.” Tiffany pointed her bestfriend with her eyes. “I’ll let you know later.” She whispered.
“Heard that, Fany. Don’t you dare.” The manager warned.
The two only giggled.
“Do you have something else to do after this?” The singer asked.
“Nope. I’m free for the rest of the day. How about you?”
The younger girl shook her head. “I’m done too.” She said, hoping that Taeyeon could take here somewhere to be alone and spend their quality time together because she missed the girl so much.
“Dinner with me?”
Tiffany eagerly nodded answering the question.
---Yuri was staring at her wife throughout the way from an event place to their palace. She loved to see how Jessica affectionately rubbed the baby bump. She smiled, feeling content, and then she put her own hand on top of the a bit bulging tummy. “You are in a good mood today. Is it because our baby behaving well today?”
The Crown Princess showed her gorgeous beam. “Yes. I didn’t even feel the morning sick.”
“Good then.” The Crown Prince paused. “Are you tired? Do you want something to eat before we go home?”
“I’m good, Seobang. Why? Do you want to eat outside the palace?”
“Only if you want to…”
“I want to spend my quality time alone with you at home.”
“Home it is then.”
Jessica then remembered something. “Have you talked to Taeyeon?”
The husband was clueless. She completely forgotten that she wanted to discuss and possibly advice her half sister regarding the relationship matter with Tiffany Hwang. “Why should I talk to Taeyeon?”
The wife sighed. “You are not that old to be forgetful, Seobang.” She paused. “Taeyeon can’t be with Tiffany, remember?”
“Ah…” Yuri nodded. “AH!” Finally everything had sinked in her brain. “I’ll talk to her once we’re arrived.”
“Do you know what Umma will do about this issue?”
The Crown Prince shook her head. “I don’t know. I hope she would change the regulation though. I mean, Taeyeon and Tiffany are great together.”
“Yeah. They are really cute together.”
“We are cute too.” Yuri suddenly inched forward and put up her aegyo mode.
That earned a loving peck from Jessica. “Yes, because I have the cutest husband in the world.”
She caressed her husband’s cheek and smiled sweetly.
---“Here we are.” Taeyeon parked her car on the driveway of a very luxurious hotel. She then unbuckled Tiffany’s seatbelt and hurriedly got out from the car to open the car door for her lover.
“Are you sure we are going to dine in here?” Tiffany asked once she got off of the car.
The Prince firmly bobbed her head ups and downs. “Why? You seemed not really sure?”
The singer looked at her clothes. “I’m underdressed.” She was wearing a flowery-blue-collared button down, paired with jeans and also a pair of ivory wedges.
The statement made Taeyeon stared at the girl before her from the top down to the bottom. “You are beautiful in everything, Fany.”
The younger girl instantly broke the eye contact because her cheeks were burning due to the praise.
“Come on, shy girl, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.” The older girl outstretched her hand.
Tiffany looked at the hand, she really wanted to intertwine their hands together, but she stopped herself, worried that paparazzi might be there. “Your Highness…” She called.
“Yeah?”
“It’s better if we looked ‘professional’. I’m worried that somebody from the news might get us here.”
“Ah… Okay.” Taeyeon’s hand went to the pants pocket and stayed there until the two sat on the booked seat.
The two went inside and immediately welcomed with the great services from the hotel. Because of two most famous figures appeared in there. The couple was set at the furthest spot of the restaurant, where they could get the private. The people seemed to understand their posisiton.
They resumed to eat their dinner in silence.
“Let me pay this time.” Tiffany said as she fished out her wallet.
“Nooo. Please don’t. I took you out so I have to be the one who pay.”
“Pleaseeeee~” The singer showed off her puppy eyes. “You paid everything too much already.”
The cute puppy eyes instantly made the Prince’s heart grew fonder to the girl. “Okay.” She paused. “You know what, you are the first person who asked me about this. I’m flattered.” She smiled.
“Really?”
Taeyeon nodded. “Yeah. Even my mom never asked me about this.” Right after she ended the statement, her phone went off. “Oops, speaking of the devil.” The older girl excused herself.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” The Prince said.
“Please go back home now.” The Queen said with her stern tone.
That made Taeyeon alerted. “O-okay, Umma.”
15: Inevitable
Taeyeon hurriedly went back to the palace after she dropped Tiffany safely at her apartment. She felt nervous and a bit afraid of what might come and greet her, because she had never heard her mother’s austere tone, except when the Queen was upset about something.
The Prince gulped as she simulating the possibilities in her mind. She prayed hard that God wouldn’t give her extremely hard test.
The petite girl went through her mother’s palace gate, waited for the guards to announce her presence before finally stepping in. Her confidence dropped when she saw her half sister was standing beside their mother, sadly looked at her and shook her head. The tanned woman then
tore her eyes off of her and stared the ground. She was even more discouraged when she yet saw her dearest assistant slash dongsaeng perched near the corner of the room, hanging her head low.
“G—“ Taeyeon swallowed, trying to gather her scattering courage. “Good evening, Umma.” She bowed.
“Please step forward, Prince Taeyeon.” The mother still used her distant-stern tone.
The young girl did as she told. She took a few steps forward and got nearer to the Queen. Her bravery was decreased to a much lower level than the-already-low-audacity.
“Please explain to me what you are doing with Miss Tiffany Hwang.”
Taeyeon felt her heart beats thousand times faster when she heard the sentence. She had wished that she could be vanished in a snap of time from that room along with the entire quandary. She didn’t do—She couldn’t do anything. Not even to think of an answer. She was afraid that her mother would do something to Tiffany if she told the truth.
“Well…?” The Queen asked again when she received nothing from her oldest daughter.
Seeing her sister was more than shocked and anxious, Yuri decided to help. “Umma… maybe we ca—“
But the mother cut the Crown Prince off by saying, “I’m still waiting, Prince Taeyeon.”
---Earlier that day, Sooyoung went back to the palace alone since her Unnie was going to have a dinner with Tiffany. Of course, that was also after a considerate quality time with her girlfriend.
She felt nothing but happy, because she got to see, hold, and kiss her baby that day.
But everything went gloomy when, “Choi Sooyoung, the Queen is waiting for you. Please follow me.” Said one of Her Majesty’s guard.
“Y-yes.” The tall girl could only oblige to the news and followed the guard who led them to the Queen’s office.
“Your Majesty, Choi Sooyoung is here.” The guard stated while bowing.
Sooyoung also bowed deeply. “Good evening, Your Majesty.”
“Good evening, Sooyoung.” The eldest smilingly greeted. “Could you come closer to me? It’s tiring to speak at this volume.”
The young woman took a few steps forward to be just a few feet away from the Queen’s table.
That was when she saw her Unnie’s photographs scattered on it. It obviously contented the singer as well. She was blown but she tried to keep her composure.
“So since day one Taeyeon arrived here, you are always with her, correct?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Had she ever caused you trouble so far?”
“No, Your Majesty. Your Highness Prince Taeyeon helped me a lot of time.”
“Glad to her that.” Taeyeon’s mother still hadn’t touched the real topic. “Have you eaten, Sooyoung?”
The tall girl wondered why the Queen asked her that. “Yes I have, Your Majesty.”
“Good, because I will need you a bit while in here with me. I have something to ask you.” The Queen smiled. “You’re okay with this, aren’t you?”
“O-of course, Your Majesty. I’m here to serve you.”
Sooyoung stole a quick glance to her Unnie’s mother when she heard the latter was moving some papers on the table. She silently watched the Queen opened a big folder and referred her eyes back to the ground, before Her Majesty caught her in the act.
Taeyeon’s Umma cleared her throat. “Since you are Taeyeon’s assistant, I assumed you know about everything involving in her life here.” She began. “Let’s start with her social life. Can you explain to me about that?”
The assistant nodded hesitantly. “Prince Taeyeon is quite humble to others. She instantly befriended with many people, so I think…” Sooyoung paused. “… her social life is more than okay, Your Majesty.”
“Is Tiffany Hwang one of her instant friends?”
Sooyoung was shaken by the question. She racked her mind to settle a diplomatic sentence to answer. “Miss Tiffany Hwang is one of Prince Taeyeon’s friends, my Queen.” She thought it was the best.
“Just a friend?”
“As far as I know, they are friends, Your Majesty.”
“You sure?” The Queen emphasized her tone.
“Positive, Your Majesty.”
“Then, could you explain to me what this is.” She showed a picture where Taeyeon had sneakily conveyed Tiffany into the palace and had romantic dinner together. Her Majesty then showed another picture, which captured the Prince and the singer in a heated lip-locking session.
The young assistant flinched and swallowed hard. She finally realized that she was in a not very nice position.
“I bet you know the continuation of this kind of activity, so I don’t have to show you any more pictures.”
“…”
---“Prince Taeyeon…?”
Taeyeon gulped. “Tiffany is m-m-my friend, Umma.”
“Don’t lie to me, Taeyeon. Although I know everything, I prefer to hear it directly from you. So please, enlighten me.”
The young Prince realized that she had nowhere to run except answering her mother with the most honest truth, although the term friend was not wrong either. “I love her, Umma.” She said with low voice.
The Queen silently clasped her hand together. “You know you can’t do such thing to a
commoner, Prince Taeyeon. We have rules that you have to follow. So clear everything with her before you went further.”
“Umma…” Yuri tried to soften her mother’s heart.
“No Hwangtaeja. I’m not changing my mind. She already caused chaos once when she gave you her title. I’m through with her breaking our palace’s rules. It’s time for her to act like her age.”
“Umma…” The Crown Prince tried again. But before she could say anything further, her mother cut her off again.
“You’ll help her to sort and finish everything off with Miss Hwang. I expect it would be done by the end of the month, because your sister is going to accompany me to Germany to get my heart treated.” She commanded her youngest daughter.
Taeyeon inhaled sharply when she heard the deadline. It was only two weeks away. How could she possibly do that? She thought. Added with she would be leaving the country too for
indefinite time, which means she would leave her princess’s side. “Umma…” She kneeled down.
It was too late, the Queen already left the room with her helpers.
“Taeyeon-ah…” Yuri pulled her frail sister up.
“Why…?”
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Now, let’s get you home.”
---“Still nothing from your dearest Prince, Fany?”
Tiffany finally teared her eyes off of her phone screen. She shook her head. “Nope. Nothing. I’m getting worried.”
“Why?” Sunny asked after she put down two cups of hot chocolate and sat beside her worried friend.
“Because the phone call from her mother sounded very serious and she was very… nervous and fidgety, like when someone feel that something bad would happen.”
“Because the phone call from her mother sounded very serious and she was very… nervous and fidgety, like when someone feel that something bad would happen.”