Joy squinted hard at her phone screen.

When you’re best friends with someone for 12 years and then they throw this at you…

 

Dear my beloved beautiful magnificent Joy
this is such an important day for you, wow
where do I start? Ahem…
*moment of silence*
Happy Birthday.

From Seulgi

 

……….It’s not my
birthday……

From Joy

 

LOL

From Seulgi

 

LMAO

From Joy

 

Joy decided to buy a cake anyways. She told them to write in sugary icing with a sarcastic remark behind it. ‘10 out of 10’ for Seulgi’s horrible ongoing memory.

She handed Seulgi the cake when she got to the office.

“I can’t believe you actually got cake. You even got red velvet too!” Seulgi gleamed while putting the cake down.

“That’s because I’m a good best friend, I remember what my best friend likes and birthday.”

“You didn’t remember to take a picture when we met EXO.” Seulgi tried to counter back.

“I was trying to find something they could autograph onto.”

“Who cares? How am I supposed to prove to my parents that I’ve met the love of my life?”

“Tsk. You delusional Pikachu. When’s my birthday?”

“Alright stop bickering. Cut the cake.” Yeri stepped in, pushing the two apart so she could get to the cake. Being quick on her feet, she already took a slice for herself.

“So Yeri. How is it like working with your sister?” Joy had told her bits of information and Seulgi still couldn’t get over the fact that they had been sitting beside the boss’s sister all these time.

 “Meh, nothing different. I actually don’t see her all the time. She’s either stuck in her room or I’m out with my friends.”

“Is she scary?”

“Scary? Pft.” She snorted, “She gets scared at the tiniest things.” Irene could jump even with just a tap on the shoulder, which added to Yeri’s enjoyment of scaring her as much as possible. Though, it resulted in getting hit by a chopstick in the face.

Being sensitive with her surroundings, Yeri already knew what they really wanted to ask.

“In case you’re wondering why she hasn’t fired half our coworkers, it’s because there’s a legal process to do it. Three warnings and you’re out.”

Joy looked over the cubicle walls (since she was tall enough) to see some of the desks empty. They probably went for an early lunch.

“I was starting to think that Miss Bae either didn’t care about her company or something.”

“There was a guy in charge of hiring back then, he basically hired all the pretty ones instead. Thankfully she let him go.”

Seulgi knew who Yeri was talking about. It was the same guy who hired her and Wendy. He had some sort of dirty vibe that didn’t seem appropriate if she were to describe it. At least not all good looking ones that were hired were completely useless. There had been a few that made her scratch her head.

“I think that’s why she likes Wendy because she was actually smart. But she wouldn’t answer me if I ask her about it.” Yeri took a big bite out of cake. “I ersh fierrs…”

“Please chew.” Joy remarked. They waited for her to swallow the cake.

 “I was first confused why my sister would fall for a blue hair girl, but now that Wendy dyed it back, I can see something now.” Yeri was strangely sad and happy that Wendy went back to having a natural colour hair. She was all about the natural look, but it was one less thing she could make fun of her now.

“You’re really not into hair dyes?”

“Not like if it looks so off-putting. I remember Irene unnie dyed her hair purple and then it faded to gray. I was so confused if she was my grandma or not.”

“Huh. Interesting, that seems really wild of her to do that colour.”

“She can be spontaneous at times. She’s even a bigger kid than me. Oh opps I’m not supposed to tell you that.” Yeri didn’t really care and continued eating.

Seulgi and Joy found it amusing to learn about the more human sides of Miss Bae. Perhaps Miss Bae would have been a fun friend to have only if they met under different circumstances.

“Where’s Wendy anyways?”

“She’s over at Luna’s.”

Yeri dug her fork into her cake again.

“She better come back before the cake is gone.”

 

---

 

Wendy couldn’t say she was popular among the office, but she got along with a lot of male coworkers.  She was known for being genuinely caring and extremely considerate so it was only natural for some guys to have a crush on her.

Despite being selfless, she also had her fair share of having a slight judgemental voice in her head. Whoever could hear those voices will soon realize that Wendy was not a complete angel.

“Ah um…Wendy…I didn’t think I will meet you here…um…” the voice trailed off quietly, indicating the nervousness from the person. Wendy turned to see a tall guy looking down at his feet.

“Hello Sunggyu”

“Hello Wendy” He bowed to her 90 degree a little too sudden. She couldn’t return the gesture since she was carrying a box in her hand, so she settled for a small polite smile.

“How’s work?”

“It’s um… going well.” His eyes shifted around unable to look at Wendy in the eye.

Umm…

“That’s good. Don’t get too stress out.” Wendy thought it was just a quick greeting between them. She turned to continue her destination.

“Um Wendy.”

Wendy twisted back to Sunggyu to see his thumb fidgeting.

 “Wha-What did you do this weekend?”

 “Just clean my room and hung out with my roommate. What about you?”

“Ah. I had a good weekend…yeah good. I um… did a lot. I watched an American movie… the actors are very good. I was so moved by…”

Oh no.

When she asked that, she was expecting a short answer, not about his whole life story. Sunggyu was like the next door shy boy that was too cute for his own good. The boy was quiet and never stood out in the crowd. Of course, Wendy being the nice girl, noticed him standing by himself one time at a company lunch party and went up to talk to him. He must’ve taken it as an act of interest or advancement and developed a thing for her, but she did it out of pure pity.

It seemed cute that the guy in front of her was attempting something, but the weight of the box became denser. She shifted the box uncomfortably in her arms.

My arms are going to break. Can I go?

Wendy didn’t have the heart to destroy his ego when he must’ve gathered his courage to talk to her considering how incredibly nervous he sounded.

From her peripheral vision, she spotted Irene walking down the hallway toward her. She took a quick glance and her eyes lit with endearment. She smiled shyly (Sunggyu thought it was directed at him) and then advert her gaze to the ground. She never failed to make her feel excited. Maybe that’s what Sunggyu was experiencing.  

When Irene was within her distance, her right hand gave Wendy’s arm a quick squeeze as she walked passed her. The touch lingered and it shot up to her nerves, feeling shivers in her spine. Her head snapped back and eyes followed her as she entered the elevator then out of sight.

What the hell was that?

The random gesture had a lasting effect. She watched the number above the elevator doors count down and stopped at ground level. Her mind was still in dazed before she realized that Sunggyu was still there, she redirected her eyes to him. He didn’t seem like he noticed anything, feeling thankful that he didn’t.

“…I have um… two tickets to the movies on Saturday.” He scratched his head. “I was wondering if y-you were free?”

“Oh” Wendy hoisted the box in her arms again as it began to slipped off. She gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, but I have plan. Thanks for asking” It was legit, she had plans with her family and friends. Perhaps luck wasn’t on his side because she actually would need to consider it if she was free.

Although, these two weeks seemed really strange as she was discovering a lot of romance in the air. Just yesterday, one of the coworkers decided to confess to Krystal in the middle of the room. She expected the exact same response from Krystal as she looked appalled and then slapped him in the face, “who do you think you are?”

 Did Valentine just pass by? She checked her calendar and nope. Not even close.

Yeri also was a victim of this ongoing pursuit. Last week, she found a teddy bear on her desk. Puzzled was written all over her face as there was no note indicating who it was from. She end up giving it to Seulgi as she found the stuff animal cute.

Nonetheless, there had been some successful confession; they congratulated two new couples with more cakes (why not?). She hadn’t seen this much romance since high school. Did the cupid shot their entire office with his arrows?

Speaking of love…

“Excuse me, do you know where Miss Bae is?” She looked up and saw a handsome looking guy holding a bouquet of red roses in his hands. So Irene wasn’t an exception at all.

“Her office is on the top floor. I don’t think she’s there right now since I just saw her leaving not too long ago.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” He looked at the roses contemplated, and then back at Wendy. He was like a Korean Prince Charming from a fairy tale. She wasn’t into fairy tales, but no doubt, anyone would want someone as handsome as him to save them from the evil step-mother. Sunggyu wasn’t too bad either, but still.

“Would you mind if you could deliver this to her? Tell her it’s from me.” He took out his business card and showed her.

Park Bogum.

“Ah. Of course! These flowers are lovely.” Wendy took the flowers and he left the office. She placed the flowers on her desk and decided to wait an hour before bringing them to Irene. Work wasn’t that busy today so she had plenty of time staring at the red roses. Red meant ‘I love you’ didn’t it? Flowers seemed too cliché for her, but these weren’t for her anyways. She wondered if Irene liked these kinds of gifts.

 She went to top floor to find out from the secretary that Irene won’t be back today.

“So you’re finally gonna ask her out?”

“No! No…these aren’t from me.”

The secretary, Mina, returned to her bored look and went back to her phone.

Wendy looked at the bouquet in her hands, not sure what to do with them now. She could just leave them on Irene’s desk, but she was worried that these roses won’t look fresh and vibrant as it did now. She doubt she could find a vase to put the flowers into, so she unwillingly took them home and put them into her own vase. That opened up more questions from Amber as she looked at her with suspicion.

She questioned her own behaviour too after taking some time to reflect. Who cared if the roses looked dead the next day, they weren’t hers. Now that she had them in her home, it sure felt like they belong to her. But she wasn’t going to steal them, determined to give them to Irene the next day.

When Wendy entered the building, she went straight to Irene’s office with the bouquet in her hands. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous like she was proposing instead. Her palms were starting to sweat.

No. These aren’t from you. I’m just a delivery person. It’s not like you’re confessing or anything.

When she entered through the doors, she wasn’t expecting Irene’s reaction. With a couple blinks, Irene gave her the warmest smile she’d seen. Irene stood up from her desk and skipped to her with her eyes on the flowers. She was running to her like her parents got her presents for Christmas. Did Irene like flowers that much?

“Yes Wendy?” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. They were so enthralling yet innocent. It was too adorable for her to handle.

Wendy handed the flowers to her, letting her sniff the roses with her lips still spread wide. She could see why people gave out flowers now. Irene’s face was beyond joyous and it made her smile as well. How lucky was it for her future lover to get to see the loveable sight every day.

Of course that person wasn’t Wendy. It never will be. Since when did she become such a glum?

“These are from Park Bogum.” The mention of the name instantly changed her demeanor. Her smile dropped and Wendy saw glimpse of disappointment in her eyes.

“Oh”

“Yeah, he came by yesterday but you weren’t here so I took care of them.”

“Thank you” Irene placed the bouquet on her desk as if she wasn’t interested in the flowers anymore. That was strange, she looked so happy just a second ago.

Wendy tried to ignore the expectant eyes from Irene piercing at her like they carried another meaning in them. It’s almost like she could see through her, urging her to confess her hidden feelings, but she kept shut. Not having a reason to stay anymore, she bowed before leaving.

Did she want the roses to be from her? Why did her eyes look so hopeful?

As Wendy returned to her cubicle, she noticed the girls were all gathered around Joy’s desk. Curiously, she followed them to see what the attraction was. They were all frozen and stared at the small paper in Joy’s hand. Wendy tiptoed and peek over Joy’s shoulder to read the note.

‘You are the Joy of my life.
There’s not a day where I haven’t thought of you.
I’ve missed you every single day.
I see you in my dreams.
I want you to be beside all the time.
You are all I care for.
So please go out with me.’

Wendy now understood why the girls stood there in disbelief. Whoever wrote that was on a boarding line of being a serial killer or he just expressed himself too much all at once for it to be just a confession. She also found herself unable to utter anything until Joy started ripping the paper into pieces. She quickly tossed it into the trash bin and turned around to face the girls with a serious face.

“Never speak about this again.”

 

 ---

 

“Aren’t these the same flowers that were on Wendy’s desk?” Yeri looked at the poor bouquet that was left aside at the edge of the desk. She closed her laptop and finished reporting about the business status.

“She said they’re from Park Bogum.” Irene said in a deadpanned tone.

“Oh, then I’m not surprised anymore.” Yeri moved her eyes to the window behind Irene. She had suspicion about him. He was a family friend so it wasn’t unusual for him to fall for someone like Irene, but she thought otherwise. The lack of sincere on his face whenever he stood beside her or gave her presents told her that he was forced to oblige to them. Their parents must’ve had something to do with it.

 “Anyways, we’re going to Japan in three weeks. Don’t slack off.”  Irene made some clicks on the computer.

“Since when do I slack off? I think I’m doing a better job than you are.”

“Right. You still cry when I left you alone.”

“That’s because I got lost! You don’t just ditch me in the middle of the street.”

“Whatever brat.” The endless bickers between the siblings never died off in spite of the . Although being at the office forced them to behave, toning it down a bit. Usually they would be chasing after another for doing something childlike, a completely reverse character from Irene’s serious and persistent face. When the two weren’t fighting, they were very sweet to each other.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if you did a lottery draw and pick someone to run the office for a week while we’re away?”

“I find a lot of things funny, except seeing my business crash down.” The beeping noise came from the printer, slowly releasing a couple of sheets. Irene pushed the table for her chair to roll to the direction and picked up the papers. “Besides, I trust our managers to look after it, they’ll do fine.”

 “You’re not taking Wendy-unnie this time?”

 “She’s not involved in oversea business.”

“Aww, I wanted to hang out with her.” Yeri whined.

“You can’t.”

“Why? Jealous?” Yeri challenged with a taunting smirk. Of course Irene knew her sister too well to take that bait. She gave an apathetic look at Yeri and her voice carried the same impassiveness.

“Anyways, get out, I gotta yell at this next girl for slacking on the job.”

“Hmp. Whatever” Yeri picked up her laptop and left, unsuccessful at obtaining information. On the way out, she forgot about everything when her mind drifted to food.

 

---

 

Wendy was decorating the party hall for a baby shower that her distant friend was having. Setting up balloons and flowers was her role and required her to run all over the room. It was funny how the baby shower was starting to look more like a wedding party. She didn’t really understand the whole baby shower theme, but if that’s what her friend wanted then she was willing to offer help.

Her pregnant friend who was 6 month in had insisted many times to help out, but the person beside her told her to relax. That person who was REALLY in charge of this baby shower was no other than her friend’s sister-in-law. She was the perfectionist type and it had already stirred some tension among the people around her.

“Um, that sign is crooked. Can’t you make it straight?”

“Can’t you put these foods on the plates that I’ve brought? I didn’t bring them for no reason.” 

“Are you really wearing that shirt? Don’t you know what the colour theme for the baby shower is?”

“That light is not as bright as the others, someone fix that.”

It wasn’t hard to spot someone with OCD. Of course her friend Kevin had enough of her dictating and was ready to throw a chair at her.

“Someone knock that out.”

Wendy didn’t have much of a problem with her as she was lucky to get the easy parts. What could go wrong with balloons?

She was jumping up and down trying to reach for the string of the balloon that had slipped out of her grasps and hit the ceiling. Curse her short genes. She was so close to grabbing it, wishing she was a few inches taller. She was about resort to get a chair until she heard a set of heels clanking on the wooden floor and another hand grabbed the balloon.

“Here”

She turned to her right and almost let out a gasp. Irene’s entrance almost made her eyes pop out while holding a balloon for her. She was confused at the scene. One, what a coincidence. Two, Irene seemed a lot taller because as she recalled it, Irene was almost her height. She looked down and saw her wearing few inches high heels. She wasn’t dressed much differently from the office, but it looked more casual. Irene still looked stunning with whatever she wore.

Time seemed to slow down whenever it involved Irene. They stood there before coming to a realization that they’ve been in silence for too long even though it was 5 seconds.

“Hello Miss Bae.”

“Hello Wendy.”

Wendy almost forgot about the balloon and took the string out of her hand.

“Thank you, I’ll be right back.”

Wendy rushed to pin the balloon with the rest and the rush of relief came over her. When she turned around again, Irene was already beside her, surprising her for the second time today. She must’ve followed her. Her heart fluttered even more when she took her hand.

“Come sit with me.”

Holding hands wasn’t exactly new to them, but Irene intertwined them, slotting her fingers in between hers. She dragged her to one of the tables that were located at the corner of the room and sat themselves down.

“So how do you know Solar?” Wendy asked.

“Childhood friend. You?”

“Met through mutual friends”

Wendy stuck by Irene for the rest of the night because it seemed like Irene didn’t know anyone else at the baby shower. Unspoken but Irene was almost a scene stealer as she captured the eyes of a handful guys and girls. Wendy didn’t know why her protective side wanted to kick in, but she’s determined to have Irene focus on her instead to avoid the hungry eyes.

“You look tense. Try to loosen up.” Wendy poured Irene a glass of wine. She took it and grinned at her.

“You’re not having any?”

“I don’t want to make a fool of myself like last time.”

“No you were cute.”

Without a choice, Irene pushed the glass into Wendy’s hand, urging her to drink up. Hesitantly, she took a small sip and resist contorting her face from the alcohol. In no time, the rest of the tables were filled and by then Irene and Wendy already created a bubble between them, chatting among themselves. They talked about anything, occasionally giggling and she discovered that Irene had the tendency to slap her arm whenever she broke into a huge laugh.

Wendy was enjoying her time, a little too much as she held back an itch to reach out for Irene’s hand again. She restrained the desire to be closer physically and emotionally.

The moment got interrupted when a guy approached Irene, obviously trying to ask her out. The guy wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to look at, but she felt like it wasn’t her business. Suddenly she was dejected that Irene’s attention was no longer on hers. She stared despondently at the table across from her.

“Wendy, could you please sing us a song with your wonderful voice?” The speaker boomed with the controlling sister-in-law voice. With a sigh, she got up without looking back at Irene and step up to the stage. The girl gave her the microphone and the lights blinded her. She blinked a few times trying to adjust to the brightness, but it didn’t do much. How many light bulbs did the girl even use?

“Hello ladies and gentlemen, I-I…”

Oh stage frights…

Her hands were feeling clammy against the microphone but she sallow her fears down. Thanks to the intense usage of voltage, she couldn’t really see pass the burning glares of light.

“I would like to congratulate Solar and her husband on their marriage and a family that they’re making together. Upon her request, I will sing this song for her.”

It’s been awhile since Wendy sang in front of an audience, so she decided to give it her all since it’ll be long for her to have a crowd like this again. People had told her voice was a gift, a powerful and full of richness. One time someone came up to her in tears and told her, ‘your singing is life’. Singing gave her the adrenaline—a sugary rush especially when she hit the high notes, a hobby that she enjoyed dearly. By the end of the song, she received a loud satisfactory applause. She ran to give Solar a hug and congratulated her one more time before getting off the spotlight.

Squinting in the dark, her vision was hazy after coming from extreme brightness to darkness. Having trouble spotting her seat, she aimlessly walked to her corner while carefully stepping over the invincible wires.

A cold hand covered hers and led her back to her seat. By the time she sat down, her eyes were able to make out Irene and her wide smile. The guy from before was also gone.

Irene leaned close to her ears and whispered with a husky voice.

“You never fail to amaze me.”

Her heart was ready to burst out her chest. One thing confirmed, Irene was a natural flirt and that was dangerous. Irene kept a close proximity between them for the remaining night.

“When do you think they start feeding us?”

“Probably when they finish doing a speech.”

Bored out of their minds with the whole set up, they chatted among themselves again. Of course, they had to whisper against each other’s ears without interrupting anything important.

“The husband looks like he’s not having it. He looks like he wants to go home.”

Wendy pursed her lips together to prevent a giggle.

“He’s going to knock that glass of water over.”

“Oh he did.”

They silently laugh at their inside jokes as they watch the husband stir awake, trying to clean the spill.

At midnight, Irene offered to drop her home and stopped in front of her place again. Still in the state of excitement, Wendy didn’t want the night to end but it had to at some point. She used alcohol as an excuse to pretend that it was the reason that made her reached over to intertwine her hand with Irene. She didn’t dare look at Irene in the eyes because it’ll probably make her do something stupid like hug her.

“I wish we can hang out like this.”

Wendy blurted it out, eyes stared at their interlock hands, not caring what the consequences might be. Her conscious thoughts were left behind hours ago replaced by a feverish sensation.

Irene leaned closer so her arm was touching hers. Her vanilla scent took over the leather chair smell.

“You know, you could always come to my office whenever you’re done work.”

Wendy said nothing, her thumb caressed her fingers considering the open invitation and permission. Irene’s delicate hand was cold compared to hers and she attempted to warm them up with little . Perhaps it was alright to relish the moment because she can feel how addicting it was to be with Irene. Just for the night, she thought. She finally looked up at her.

“Good night Miss Bae.”

Wendy’s mind had already triggered a warning long ago, repeatedly told her ‘don’t fall in love…don’t fall in love’. But she allowed Irene to break in like open doors and infiltrated all her senses. Now she had to clean up the mess and force Irene out of her mind. If only things were easily said than done.

 

---

 

Wendy had never been in such dilemma with herself in her life.

Her mood was swinging up and down frequently, living in denial formed trouble inside her mind. Yeri said she was going to be away for a week to Japan so she figured Irene would also be gone. She hadn’t seen Irene for almost 2 weeks, but that’s not what bothered her (okay a bit). It was how she unconsciously thought of Irene and dreamed of her in her sleep.

The logical side of her made her think a lot, sometimes she overthinks the simplest things. Like how she should use Irene’s absence and forget about her. Then she wouldn’t have to think about this so called crush.

But how could she really control all of that? Especially how her mind always drift to Irene and her heart warmed at the thought of her. Her lips would curve upwards and that’s when she caught herself. She attempted to physically shake it off but it was all in vain.

All she could do was to wait for her feelings to die off. It was working day by day as she started to forget about Irene, only because she wasn’t around and busied herself with something else.

Yeri came back from her trip with a big grin on her face.

“Are you sure you went on a business trip? Because it looked like you came back from a vacation.”

“A bit of both. I went to Disney land on the last day. It was so fun.”

Yeri showed her pictures of her selfies and landscape she took. Then they came across a couple selfies with her and Irene.

“I didn’t know you were really close with Miss Bae.”

“She’s my sister.”

“She’s what?!”

Shock was plastered all over her face. Now things were falling into places with Yeri’s role in the company. It was understandable that she didn’t go around telling everyone, probably didn’t want to intimidate anyone. But she couldn’t help but feel fooled by her for the umpteenth time, since Yeri loved to do pranks on people.

“Can’t be helped that I share the same blood as her.”

“I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with that.”

“Why? Curious about her?”

“No…”

“If you say so.”

 

Wendy was on her way to the washroom and it just so happen that Irene was heading toward her. Her heart stopped when they made eye contact. Seeing Irene after she disappeared for weeks delivered a shock to her chest. Was it her or was she seeing an angel walking? Seconds passed and her heart hammered inside her chest. She could feel the heat all over her face.

Having a strong attraction toward Irene made her do really funny and strange things. She had no control over her body and everything inside of her flipped upside down. Every nerve of her tingled and she couldn’t form any coherent words in her head. She was having a panic reaction.

.

The first thing that came to her mind was to get the hell out of there. So she turned around and dashed to the opposite end of the hallway and sharply turned the corners, almost bumping into some of her coworkers. That was probably the stupidest thing she had done as it made her take the long route to the washroom. She stared at herself in the mirror and tried to calm her raging heartbeat.

What the hell was that Wendy?

She didn’t think she was this bad, but from what she just did (basically running away) told her otherwise. In frustration, she blamed everything on Irene.

Curse her for being so beautiful. Curse her for being so lovable. Curse her for making her fall for her.

 

TBC

----

A/N:

Erh so this was suppose to be a short story. I've dug myself too deep.

Writing Wenrene moments were harder than I thought.

Anyways enjoy and thanks for the support.