IV.

Ms. Bae was looking around—looking for her, as what Wendy could see through her striped vision. Who knew a rubber palm tree would be so efficient at hiding a person? She silently chuckled to herself, feeling victorious. Wendy wasn’t going to spend her precious weekend holiday with a wicked witch. Nope. Not after flying first-class. She had already sacrificed her roast duck—well, half of it. Must not sacrifice her free time as well. Her free time was not included in the contract.

Wendy had sneaked her way out of the plane after it had landed, taking advantage of a somehow flustered, tomato-faced Ms. Bae and the massive crowd of economy-class passengers. She exited through that side of the plane instead of the first-class one. She swerved through them and then blended in, which wasn’t much of a problem considering how tall…er…short she stood.

Wendy could see Ms. Bae getting impatient, sighing for the third time already and then Wendy noticed Ms. Bae’s agitated expression. Agitated yet cute. Crunched up brows and a lip bite. Sort of precious that Wendy wanted to pocket that expression and carry it with her on her way back to her home in Daegu. Ugh. Ms. Bae still had that cuteness beneath all the horrendous monstrosity. Wendy felt the increasingly unsteady beating of her heart and hoped it to be the adrenaline rush of sneaking that had caused it.

Wendy maintained her pose of a hunched back and bent knees as she scurried away somewhere else but within the vicinity of Ms. Bae, like a tiny mouse weaselling from a vicious house cat. She must wait until Ms. Bae had claimed her luggage and left before she could get hers. So Wendy headed for one of the Starbucks outlets that were on the other side of the airport, on the second floor, past the escalators. She made sure her hood was up, hiding her hair that cooperated today, straight and tamed, and that she didn’t act too suspicious. She musn't get caught now.

When she got into Starbucks, she decided to order something to help pass the time. The guy at the counter looked too young to be working and he had really big eyes which didn’t help his intense stare.

He smiled, the intense glare persistent, after he asked in Korean, “How can I help you today?”

Wendy looked at the menu that hung behind…what does his name tag say? Kyungsoo? They had autumn specials aside from the usual line-up of drinks. Salted caramel mocha…Pumpkin spice latte… Wendy groaned. God, not a latte. And not something with caramel too. She ended up choosing a strawberry lemonade instead since was feeling all parched from the jetlag.

She sat in the corner, drink in hand and as she sipped it, its rosy colour had reminded her of the Ms. Bae on the plane, sitting stiffly, after it had landed, her face all rubicund. Either Ms. Bae had just put on a thick coat of blush-on on her cheeks or that her cheeks were actually blushing.

Ms. Bae blushing? Blushing. Wendy tried to think of a plausible reason but her memory was obscure since she slept the rest of the flight away, quite comfortably, until she felt herself get shoved and then her head rapidly swaying to her left, hitting the air between her shoulders and cheeks. And when she woke, the plane had already landed and Ms. Bae was looking elsewhere, out the window to be more precise.

But still, Wendy saw a hint of Ms. Bae’s face. Of Ms. Bae’s cheeks. Actual blushing. Who knew Ms. Bae had emotions? That her body was capable of the very humane act of blushing. The epitome of feeling. Wendy sniggered. Unbelievable. Unbelievably possible.

It wasn’t like Ms. Bae was not human. She might look like a grumpy porcelain doll but she was a living grumpy porcelain doll. Her emotions had just been locked away somewhere, stashed in the very pits of herself, just like her memories.

That was another unbelievably possible thing. The forgotten memories. Had Wendy changed so much since high school? Perhaps. She attributed it to independent living and her incapability in the kitchen. Also puberty. But surely, she was still somehow recognisable. Especially to a friend.

Though, would they even be considered as friends? They had only known each other for two weeks and a half and that didn’t include the weekends because Joohyun would much rather stay in her room. The vampire.

And then Joohyun was gone, mysteriously vanishing like a wisp of smoke that blended with the air. Leaving without even saying a goodbye. So maybe Wendy and Joohyun weren’t that close.

But Wendy felt otherwise. People who weren’t close with each other wouldn’t huddle in one cardigan sipping the same cup of hot chocolate. They wouldn’t share a single toffee apple and look at each other, so intently and feeling amazing and happy about it. They wouldn’t go on spontaneous train journeys together, sitting side by side, after skipping school. Because strangers didn’t do those things. Not even acquaintances do those things.

Wendy sighed. The convoluted ways of life. It would’ve been better had she not agreed to the interview. To have remained separated from Joohyun’s life. Because Joohyun had clearly moved on and so did Wendy. Sort of. The sudden leaving-without-s