One week felt like a flash for Taeyeon. It was December 17 already, exactly one week before Christmas night. She opened her katalk to find a name that had been on the top of her chat list this past one week: Tiffany. Ever since the blind date that Yuri set-up for her and Tiffany, they exchanged their contact and not a day was spent without them talking or chatting to each other. Both women openly showed their interest to each other. When they wanted to see each other, they would ask the other person's availability. There was no push and pull. Only simple pulls, dating in your adulthood was surely different compared to when you were teenagers.

Taeng: Are you free today?

Taeyeon put her phone on her working desk without locking it, waiting for the reply from Tiffany.

Fany: Aside from gym schedule at 10am, I am free.

Fany: Where are you taking me?

Taeyeon smiled at the second message she read. This is one of the traits Taeyeon liked from Tiffany. The latter didn't beat around the bush. She was straightforward, so it was easy for Taeyeon to understand what was in her mind.

Taeng: Up for a cup of coffee in the afternoon?

Her phone rang while she waited for the reply, flashing Tiffany's name on the screen.

"Yes, Fany?" She immediately picked up the phone.

"Hi Tae. I am too lazy to type." Tiffany's voice filled Taeyeon's ear. Taeyeon chuckled at Tiffany's explanation.

"Where are you?" Taeyeon had a smile on her face. The smile that always rose every time she talked to Tiffany.

"Home, reading a novel."

"The baby boomer is having her quality time." Teased Taeyeon.

"Yah!" Tiffany yelled. "Just because I love to read, doesn't mean I am a baby boomer." She ended it with a huff.

"Kidding, Fany." Taeyeon laughed at the response. "So, up for a coffee this afternoon?"

"Will 3 pm works for you?"

"Sounds good." Taeyeon nodded at the offer. "Any cafe you would like to visit?"

"What about Midlevel?"

"Ah, the one near SNU?"

"Yes! I crave for some sweets. I heard their cream-filled waffles are great." Tiffany sounded lively.

Taeyeon smiled wider. "Alright, Midlevel at 3 pm?" Taeyeon concluded.

"Wait, will you go directly to Midlevel from your home?"

"I plan to go to Yuri's place first. Why?"

"I will fetch you, then. I need to drop Jess in Yuri's place."

"Sounds great. So, see you later?"

"See you soon! Bye, Tae."

Taeyeon hung up the phone still with a smile on her face. She put her phone back on the desk and opened her laptop. She still had couple of hour to watch some youtube videos before preparing herself to go to Yuri's place.

***

Taeyeon keyed-in the code and the door lock opened. She then opened the door and stepped into a studio apartment unit. She looked around but the owner of the unit was not inside.

"Yuri-yah," She called out her friend's name but no one answered her. She slid out her phone from her jean's pocket and called her friend. It took several ring until the person picked up her phone.

"Where are you?" Taeyeon immediately asked once the phone was answered.

"Mini market downstair. You've arrived already?" Her friend asked back.

"Yup." Taeyeon took off her shoes and walked towards two seater sofa in front of the TV. "I will just lounge about here. Bring some chips, will you?"

"Yah! Why are you bossing me around?" Yuri protested, earning a laugh from Taeyeon.

"Kidding, Yul." Taeyeon still laughed.

"Whatever. You're annoying." Yuri answered with a scoff.

"You love me nonetheless."

"No, I love my Sica."

"Ewww! Love sick teenager!" Taeyeon laughed again.

"Shut up!" Yuri laughed along. "I will come upstair in a bit. I am hanging up the phone now. Bye, shorty." Yuri ended the call.

"Aish!" Taeyeon stared at her phone screen. "How can she hang up after calling me short," She sneered before opened katalk app and tapped on Tiffany's contact.

Taeng: I am at Yuri's

A reply came fast.

Fany: It's only 12. You're there already?

Taeng: Yes, gonna have quality time with Yul

Fany: You guys are so cute!

Taeng: Need to spend more time with her before Sica steals her away from me :(

Fany: LOL, silly. You speak as if I won't steal you away from her

Taeyeon chuckled at Tiffany's last reply. She loved how Tiffany could be very straight forward.

Taeng: You speak as if I will allow you

Fany: I know you will. Just you wait and see :p

Taeyeon cackled again. It was only one week, but why did it feel like she and Tiffany had known each other for a long time already? The way they chat, it flowed naturally. There was no silence when they talked over the phone. Talking to Tiffany also felt effortless. Taeyeon didn't need to rake her brain just to keep the conversation going. It felt as if they were destined to meet each other and clicked since the first hello.

"Why are you laughing like that?" Yuri's voice took Taeyeon's attention away from her phone. Her friend just get inside the unit, hugging a paper bag in front of her chest.

"Chatting with Fany." She answered quickly and moved her thumb on top of her phone screen.

Taeng: Looking forward to that! Now, I am gonna spend my time with Yul. Don't be jealous

Fany: Okay, cutie. See you soon!

Taeyeon locked her phone and watched Yuri who was putting whatever she bought in the mini market to the fridge.

"Want some help?" Taeyeon jumped off of the sofa and walked towards her friend.

"No need." Yuri replied short as she handed a bag of chips to Taeyeon.

"You really got me this?" Taeyeon laughed as she took the bag and stood next to Yuri who now took plain yoghurt pint from the paper bag.

"Yoghurt?" Taeyeon couldn't stop herself to ask while raising her eyebrows. "Plain yoghurt? Since when are you into yoghurt?"

Yuri finally finished with her business and closed the fridge. "Why are you so nosy, Taeng? The yoghurt is not mine. It's Sica's."

Taeyeon mouthed an oh while skipping her way back to the sofa and threw herself there. "You really seem into her." She commented as she opened the bag of chips.

Yuri took free space on the sofa and snatched the bag from Taeyeon. "She's adorable, you know?" Yuri took a fistful of chips before giving back the bag to Taeyeon.

"What do you like from her?" Taeyeon took one piece to her mouth.

Yuri didn't answer right away. Instead she took her time while smiling wide like a fool. "I don't know." She finally answered, still with the wide smile on her face.

"How come you don't know?" Taeyeon clicked her tongue.

"I really don't know. At first, of course because she was beautiful. But after I met her, it felt effortless to talk to her. Everything just flew naturally." Yuri chuckled.

"And then?" Taeyeon had a full interest to know further as what Yuri described was exactly how she felt about Tiffany.

"And then, I found out she never dated a woman." Yuri grinned sheepishly before taking a chip into her mouth.

"So what?" Taeyeon shrugged, didn't understand how would that be a reason Yuri was into Jessica.

"I was disappointed, you know." Yuri pouted. "She might've just confused and only needed me to answer her confusion about her preference."

Taeyeon nodded, understanding Yuri's stand point. "But you still date her, though." She stated the fact.

"After knowing that she was never with a woman, I started to keep my distance from her." She paused to take another chip. "And guess what? She took effort to make me comeback to her."

"And that conclude that she's into woman?" Taeyeon really didn't understand where Yuri's story was going.

"No, but I appreciate that effort and no one ever put that much effort for me before." Now a dreamy smile was plastered on Yuri's face. "So I thought, why don't I give her a chance, and we agreed that if ever Sica find out that she's totally straight, she will need to let me know as soon as possible. So we won't drag ourselves into unsettled relationship."

"Isn't that risky? We're no longer in our twenties, Yul." Taeyeon couldn't help but to be worried of Yuri.

"There's no love without risk, Taeng. There's a chance of being one-sided, there's a chance of messy break-up. Aren't we all becoming vulnerable when it comes to love?"

"And you will to take the risk?"

"Worst case, even if me and Sica are not love match, I may learn something about myself and what I am looking for in a partner." Yuri paused and smile. "So, yeah. I am taking the risk."

Taeyeon nodded, absorbing what Yuri said. Taeyeon once experienced heart break many years ago. And since then, she stuck to fun and casual dates. No relationship. No strings attached. Until almost all of her friends started to get settled with their partners, she started to feel alone and insecure. She realized that she also wanted to have what her friends had. So, she started to gather her courage to pursue love once again. And when she decided to look for a partner for real, Tiffany came into her life. It was a sweet coincident. Maybe, she also would like to take the risk for Tiffany. She smiled at her own thoughts. Maybe all this time, Santa really listened to what she wished.

"Why are you smiling like that, Shorty?" Yuri flicked Taeyeon's forehead.

"Ouch!" Taeyeon finally put her attention to Yuri while rubbing her forehead. "I just thought what you said was beautiful." She pouted.

"N'ah, I don't trust you." Yuri jeered at her friend. "You must be thinking about Tiffany. How's thing with her?"

Taeyeon cheered up upon hearing Tiffany's name being mentioned. "We're so clicked!" She excitedly answered. "You really are a genius match maker!"

"I know right! When I met her the first time and found out that she swing that way, the first thing I thought was, this person would be a very good match for my Taeng!"

"Since when am I your Taeng?"

"Ew!"

"Ew to you too!"

***

The bell of Yuri's unit dinged and Yuri immediately jumped off of the couch to opened the door.

"Hi Sica!"

Taeyeon could hear the excitement in Yuri's voice.

"Tiffany! Taeng has been longing for you."

Taeyeon gasped upon hearing Yuri's voice.

"And she mentioned you guys haven't kissed yet. She's dying to kiss you." Yuri continued

Taeyeon jumped off of the couch and ran towards the door.

"Don't listen to her nonsense!" She half shouted while running, earning laughs from the people who was gathered by the door. When she finally got to the door, she immediately shut up and her eyes lit up in excitement seeing the person in front of her. Tiffany was in white turtleneck sweater, topped with white coat.

"Hi, Tae!" Tiffany greeted.

"Hi, I missed you." The words smoothly flew out from Taeyeon's mouth.

"Hi Taeyeon, can you see me?" Jessica waved her hand in front of Taeyeon's face.

Taeyeon blinked her eyes couple of time before turned to head to Jessica. "Oh. Hi, Sica!" She finally greeted the other woman, though absentmindedly.

Jessica playfully rolled her eyes upon receiving Taeyeon's greetings. "I think Taeyeon is really into Tiffany, babe." She talked to Yuri.

"Babe?" Tiffany and Taeyeon asked in unison, didn't expect Jessica would call Yuri babe.

"What? Never see people in relationship calling their partner 'babe'?" Jessica seemed unbothered by the response, earning a chuckle from Yuri.

"You guys are gonna have a date, right? Go away now. Let me and Sica have our quality time." Yuri pushed Taeyeon out of the unit while pulling Jessica inside at the same time.

Taeyeon chuckled as she let Yuri pushed her away. "Have fun lovebirds." Taeyeon remarked right before Yuri closed the door. Taeyeon then turned her head to the woman next to her and offered her hand. "Shall we?"

***

The Midlevel cafe was not too packed when they arrived. Seemed like most of the customers were SNU students. They were either focus on their laptops or were with their friends, hung out and discussed about project the lecturer gave to them. Taeyeon and Tiffany chose the seat by the window, having their time chatting, while observing their surroundings.

"I feel young again," Taeyeon stated before she sipped her iced milk tea.

Tiffany chuckled at the remarks. "You speak as if you're in your fifties."

"Well, I will be 35 next year. Fifteen more years to fifty."

Tiffany laughed, and Taeyeon laughed along. Taeyeon loved it every time Tiffany laugh. She felt somehow appreciated. Her friend always said that her joke was lame, but Tiffany always laughed at her jokes. Even when the latter said her joke was not funny, she would still chuckle.

"Do you plan to get married, Tae?" Tiffany asked as she rested her back to the chair.

Taeyeon almost spitted out her milk tea when she heard that. "Are we on the stage where we're allowed to question that already?"

Tiffany tilted her head and put up a confused face. "Is it a topic we shouldn't talk about yet?"

"Well," Taeyeon took her time to think. Whatever answer she would give to Tiffany shouldn't affect much on their relationship as they were still trying to get to know each other. But deep inside Taeyeon's heart, she had already taken a deep interest to the woman she dated. She really wanted this to work, especially now literally everyone in her circle was dating someone already. "I just thought that question would be asked after we become official."

Tiffany nodded while her eyes never left Taeyeon's "On the contrary, I thought the question should be asked before we decide to continue further."

"Why so?" Taeyeon leaned forward, getting interested to understand Tiffany's point of view.

"What's the point of being in a relationship if we don't share the same dream?"

"Dream?"

"I am a woman, Tae." Tiffany smiled, the beautiful smile Taeyeon was fond of. "My dream is to get married and build a family."

Usually Tiffany's smile would make Taeyeon smiled along, but not this time. Even though Tiffany's smile still charmed her, but the words which flew out of Tiffany's mouth got her thinking. If that was Tiffany's dream, would it mean that their relationship wouldn't go anywhere? "You still have that dream even though you swing that way?"

Tiffany nodded undoubtedly. "Yes, I don't see my preference would hinder me to achieve my dream."

"You sure?" Taeyeon was unconvinced.

"Positive." Tiffany was still persistent. "You sounded like you don't want to get married. Am I right?" She now furrowed her eyebrows and eyed Taeyeon with serious expression.

Taeyeon let out a heavy sigh. "I give up the idea of getting married since long ago, Fany." It was the first time she found incompatibility between her and Tiffany. And unfortunately, this incompatibility was something principle for her. She had been skeptical about marriage since she stepped into her thirties. She just wanted to manage her expectation as real as she could. Marriage for her was more like a fairytale, not a reality she could achieve.

Tiffany exhaled after hearing Taeyeon's answer. "I guess, it's gonna be a huge roadblock." She smiled at Taeyeon, a bitter smile this time. "It's a big deal for me, Tae."

Taeyeon tried to put up a smile as well, resulted in a defeated one. "Yeah, I understand."

The silence engulfed them. It was uncomfortable, it was unfortunate. Taeyeon thought their first meeting was magical, she almost believed in the magic of Christmas, but today, she started to doubt it all. Maybe Santa was delivering the wrong Christmas present to her. Or maybe Santa was not real at all.

***