She wakes up because of incessant knocking on her door, and having fallen asleep on her couch, there are no walls to block off the sound.

Still groggy and dizzy, she checks the time on her phone and finds out—with much frustration—that it’s still a few minutes before 5 am. And, before she can wonder who’s heartless enough to interrupt her sleep, she notices a text from ‘Creepy Kang’ saying ‘we’re coming right now’ sent at 4:23 AM.

The sleep doesn’t immediately disappear though, and she just scoffs at the text before making her way to her door, rubbing her eyes with the sleeves of her oversized sweater as she opens the door.

The text doesn’t exactly register in Wendy’s brain, so when Seulgi greets her with a smirk, looking as ethereal as ever, she reels backwards.

Seulgi blinks at her, then her gaze creeps down Wendy’s body. She smirks. “I take it you didn’t wake up to my text.” She jerks her head towards her right, and Wendy turns to see Irene staring unamused. “You’re in your undergarments, Wendy.”

Of course she is. That’s what happens to you when you wake up to two beautiful women knocking on your door at 4 am, you make a fool out of yourself. The pretty girls never pop out when you’re at your best, no, they appear when you’re pretty sure there’s dried drool on the corner of your mouth.

She blushes as she wipes and pulls her long sweater a bit lower, smiling through tight lips at Seulgi and avoiding Irene’s eyes at all costs. “I’m going to change into presentable clothes, you go… make yourself comfortable.”

There’s a laugh behind her as she scampers to her room, face burning. She pulls some shorts and a bra from her drawer, still blushing madly, and hurriedly puts them on. After some thinking—some sniffing—she changes her sweater, too. She checks her face for anything she may have gotten while asleep—some eye gunk, drool, or maybe a red spot that she slept on. Then she checks her breath, and while it doesn’t smell, she feels like she needs to brush her teeth.

Because she cannot be in the same room as those two—who are both clad in all black suits, in full make up, and looking like rich CEOs of some sketchy… coffee shop franchise. Why are they so impossibly attractive at 5 goddamn am?

She sneaks out her room, finds Irene studying her kitchen tools—her knives—and Seulgi muttering something to her as she sits on a stool, hands gripping the counter and swinging herself on the seat like a child.

Just as she’s about to sneak into her bathroom, Seulgi speaks, “Your bra’s on the floor, Wen.”

“Don’t call me that,” she murmurs sheepishly, ducking her head so her hair covers her face—after a small sniff, she figures she should wash her hair, too—as she fishes her bra from the carpet, right beside the chips that she most probably knocked off her table in her sleep.

Ugh, why did she have to be so human and them so unreal?

Seulgi turns her head and winks at Wendy, grinning. Wendy glares at her before slipping into the bathroom, and slams the door before Irene can even turn to look.

She hurriedly washes her hair, making sure to take off her shirt first, and showers her hair with lots of her vanilla shampoo. There’s not enough vanilla scent to mask her humanness, she figures.

It’s so hard to be human sometimes, she thinks as she stares at her reflection, biting her toothbrush.

She looks out the window of her bathroom and finds a cat staring right back at her, even though she’s pretty sure her sister had invested on a one way window so no one outside can see her inside as she takes a bath staring out at the sky.

But the cat’s staring right at her, and there’s a hint of a smile on its mouth like it knows what happened earlier. Like it knows how embarrassed Wendy is.

She finishes washing her face and walks out the bathroom, brushing off the cat’s stare as something else that doesn’t creep her out.

She focuses on glaring at Seulgi as soon as she steps out, slowly closing the door behind her. Irene stares at her curiously, a crease between her eyebrows, as Seulgi grins.

“Do you not know how calls work? Calls would wake me up.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d pick up,” Seulgi replies, shrugging.

Wendy’s frown deepens. “Or, you know, get a clock and figure out it’s still too early. And it’s Saturday!”

“We usually open the shop early during the weekend.” With one swift motion, Seulgi pushes against the counter, making her turn around a few times in her seat. Irene jerks awake from her daze and glares at her. “Have you read the contract?”

Wendy observes Irene for a moment, taking a step forward. “Yeah, I did. I read you don’t have specific opening and closing times?”

“Uh-huh. It depends on our mood for the day, or when the first customer arrives.”

“But you open it every day?”

Seulgi shakes her head. “Not during our birthdays, and other special cases.”

“Like full moons?” she asks before she can stop herself.

Seulgi rolls her eyes, has dealt with Wendy’s unending fixation on full moons and the rumors. Irene’s knee jerk reaction is dropping the tumbler she’s holding, the contents spilling on Wendy’s kitchen floor.

Both she and Seulgi jump to clean it up, Seulgi covering the view from Wendy’s spot rather obviously. Before Wendy can reach the kitchen, they’re already standing up and wiping their hands on their pants. Seulgi smiles at her and Irene merely continues looking like she was forced to do everything she’s doing.

She notices a weird green tint on her white tiles, but she ignores it and smiles back at Seulgi instead. “I also read my job hours would be during the nights and you’re the ones who’d put the batter and everything in the oven?”

“Yeah, or is that supposed to be your work, too?” asks Seulgi, side-eyeing Irene for a moment.

“It’s not that hard making sure it’s not burnt, I guess. But I can do that while making the batter for other stuff, or while making those that don’t need to be oven-baked.”

After some thought, she adds, “I can stay up all night. My classes are in the late morning anyway. Or, I can come in early in the morning before my classes. I'm free from 4 pm to 11 am every day."

“Then it’s settled, you come in when you can and finish when you’re finished. You can help with the shop any other way you want and we’d just list them all and raise your pay.”

Irene nods, gaze now on Wendy’s drawn curtains. “Let’s go to the shop, now.”

Wendy blinks at the sudden shift in the air. She looks around. “Now?”

Irene rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed. “Yes, now. You need to bake the pastry for today and we left Joy and Yeri on their own.” She eyes Wendy’s sweater and wet hair. “You’re ready, anyway.”

“They’re old enough to look after themselves,” Wendy says, ignoring the latter part of Irene’s statement with her cheeks starting to burn.

“I’m worried we might come home to a burning shop, is all,” Irene shoots back.

Wendy smiles, mind immediately reeling with the image of Joy and Yeri staring expressionlessly at a huge fire, standing a little too close to it.

“Yup. Fair enough.” She looks around, checking for things the two might’ve noticed in her living room that would ruin her ‘image’. Then says, “I’ll just change into, uh, work clothes. Sweater and shorts are too casual, don’t you think?”

“We have work clothes in the shop, we have to go, now.”

Seulgi’s eyes widen, she studies Irene’s stiff expression, then follows her gaze and blinks at the curtains. Then she diverts her attention back to Wendy. “Yeah, I’ll give you work clothes. Can never be too fast when it comes to Yeri and Joy. They might be killing each other right now.”

“We can’t afford a death in the family,” Irene says, gaze still on the curtains, sticking to it for a moment before bouncing to Wendy, who raises an eyebrow at the term ‘family’. “Let’s go?”

Wendy nods hesitantly, looking over her shoulder at the curtains. They’re black out curtains, another investment from her sister since she hated seeing the cats every waking hour as much as Wendy did. She doesn’t understand what’s so interesting about them, though.

Seulgi coughs, then smiles as soon as Wendy looks back at her. She points to the door, Irene walking out, and says, “Come on. I have clothes for you there. Irene’s really strict when it comes to time. You can shower there if you want, or are you okay with just washing your hair?”

“Upstairs?” she asks, mind forgetting the curtains as she takes her phone and charger from the table.

“We have a shower stall inside the shop in case one of the customers want to stay over for the night,” Seulgi answers, holding the door open. She waits as Wendy looks around the living room before turning off the lights and stepping out. “Come on, now, Wen.”

“Don’t call me that,” Wendy lazily shoots back, checking her phone for any other notifications aside from Seulgi’s text. She sees a missed call from her sister, furrows her brow as she walks with Seulgi to the elevator that Irene’s holding open for them. “Huh, that’s weird. She hates calling.” She shrugs as she slides her phone in her pocket.

“Your sister?” Seulgi ask, peeking through the corner of eyes at the phone in Wendy’s pocket.

Wendy nods, tapping the phone and feeling it burn. “Yeah. Mom and dad usually have to force her into phone calls. I only ever talked to her on the phone once since I came here. No texts, even, aside from that.”

“You’re not that close?”

“She focuses on her school stuff wholeheartedly. No offense taken, really. It’s what she’s passionate about.”

“Too much talking too early in the day,” Irene snaps as soon as they’re all in the elevator. She pushes the close button and meets Wendy’s eyes through the glass, making Wendy’s stomach do a full cheerleading routine and then when the corner of Irene’s mouth lifts in a smirk, her heart, on top of the pyramid, drops.

“I hope you’re looking forward to your first day,” she says in an incredibly low voice.

And Wendy’s heart combusts. Because she’s just that weak in front of Greek Goddesses. Seulgi lets out a sound that’s a mix between a cough and a choke, stopping Wendy from freezing up on the spot.

She smiles widely at Irene. “I am. I really am. I’m—because you know—” she clears , “—I’m excited to work. I love working.”

Irene’s smirk widens a little, almost in amusement. Then she mutters, as soon as the elevator dings and the doors open, “Dork.”

She stands frozen in the elevator, watching Irene sashay down the hall and out the building, climbing in the driver’s seat of her car that’s parked in front. Seulgi stands beside her, just as confused. “Did she just call me a dork?”

Seulgi laughs, pushing her out the elevator. “Aren’t you one?” She reaches her hand out as soon as Wendy stumbles a little too hard and lands on her . “It’s just so fun that I finally found someone Joy and Yeri would bully other than myself.”

“I don’t need your help,” Wendy snaps, pushing herself off the floor. She dusts her thighs, then slaps Seulgi’s hand. “I think I like it better when we’re out of each other’s way. It’s the first day, for Pete’s sake.”

“Because your little gay heart can’t handle her when she’s not as guarded?”

She gasps, offended. “How did you even know I was gay?”

“I saw the way you looked at her the first day. And Yeri said you stared too long at Joy’s legs when she walked away yesterday.” Seulgi grabs her elbow and pushes her forward. “Keep your gay thoughts to yourself. She just came out of a horrible break up and isn’t ready.”

Wendy tilts her head, walking towards the car. “Uh, what’s the person’s… ia.”

“She’s a lesbian, Wendy,” Seulgi says with distaste in her tone. “I don’t need to tell you what her ex-lover’s ia is.” After some thought, she adds, “But, you know, if she somehow flirts back or something, that’s good. That means she’s ready. Looks like she doesn’t hate your presence, anyway.”

Wendy grins, bright as the rising sun. “Alright. Cool. She doesn’t hate me.” She opens the backdoor of the car and climbs in, grinning widely at a now-stone faced Irene. “Good morning. I realize I haven’t said that.”

“Thanks,” Irene says suspiciously, looking up from her phone and meeting Wendy’s eyes through the rearview mirror.

Wendy knows the real thing—the real eyes, face to face—are so much better than seeing them through glass, but maybe it’s for the betterment of her heart if she only gets to see them through mirrors first. She smiles as Seulgi sits on the passenger seat.

“Good morning to you, too,” Irene mutters as soon as Seulgi has her seatbelt on, then she drives, focuses on the road and nothing else.

Seulgi turns to ask for Wendy’s playlist to listen to during the short ride, but something tells Wendy it’s only so she can send her a devilish grin and wink that Irene wouldn’t notice.

Wendy’s smile doesn’t melt off her face the whole ride, even as she slaps Seulgi’s forehead with a short laugh. And her heart doesn’t stop flying either, even though Irene drives like she’s scared to go over the minimum limit.

She can only blame it on goddamn pretty girls.

-

Joy and Yeri, as it turns out, are capable of not setting the place on fire while Irene and Seulgi are away. Wendy can’t say the same, however, about them with chocolate chip cookies.

She places her hands on her hips as she stares in the oven, smoke clearly flowing out. “How long did you put it in?”

“Five minutes,” answers Yeri, voice defensively high. “We can cut our work time in half by cutting the time in half and doubling the heat.”

She slams her palm to her forehead, annoyed. “That’s not how it works!” Joy arrives with the thick mitts and hands it to her. She opens the oven and the smoke escapes to the kitchen. “We spent five hours on this, Yeri!”

“Don’t yell at me!”

“Yeah, don’t yell at Yeri!” Joy adds immediately, waving her hand as she coughs. “Ugh, you’re the worst pastry chef, ever.”

The smoke shouldn’t be this thick, but Wendy suddenly can’t breathe and she can hear both Yeri and Joy coughing horribly near her. She reaches out to them, but the smoke’s too thick for her to see what’s ahead of her, and all she sees are dark figures and silhouettes.

“What the hell is happening here?” comes Irene’s voice from faraway. Then there’s another figure and Yeri coughs louder, and the figure latches onto her.

Yeri disappears beside her, and then another silhouette appears and takes Joy out. Just as she feels she’s about to die, her chest constricting and eyes tearing up, what smells like lavender is putting their arms around her and escorting her out the kitchen.

And then she’s breathing again and Irene’s standing a little too close, studying her face with genuine concern. She raises her hand towards the three figures to their right. Then she waves a small tissue under Wendy’s nose, almost immediately filling her chest with air. Irene taps her cheeks softly, eyes still boring into her soul. “You okay now?”

Wendy nods, still not breathing properly. But it’s not because of the smoke, the tissue took care of that, now she can’t breathe because there’s a pretty girl too close to her and looking really concerned. “I’m fine now. I just almost couldn’t breathe back there.”

Irene nods, still frowning. Her hands are still on Wendy’s shoulders and she’s still standing too close, but then she nods and says, “We can’t have you dying when it’s not even the full moon, yet.”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Of course, can’t be ahead of schedule, huh?”

Irene smiles, like actually smiles. Not a smirk, not a sneer. She smiles. And it takes Wendy’s breath away again but this time Wendy thinks she doesn’t need air so much anyway.

“Noted, no shortcuts when it comes to cooking, mixing, or baking,” Yeri interrupts, almost sheepishly, still in Seulgi’s arms. She smiles adorably at Wendy, making her anger melt away immediately. “I won’t do it again, and I won’t add chili peppers to your batter, too.”

“You did what?” Wendy asks, swirling. Irene’s hand drops, and Wendy’s shoulders are suddenly cold. She ignores it and berates Yeri instead, heart beating fast, “What’s the chili peppers for?”

“They usually speed up the heating…” Yeri says, unsure. She turns to Seulgi, asking for confirmation with her big brown eyes, but Seulgi only shrugs and checks on Joy instead, who’s still coughing. Yeri’s gaze lands on Wendy once more. “Okay, maybe I’m not so sure if that works on baking.”

“That doesn’t work on anything.”

“Worked on my brew.”

Her eyebrows shoot up, eyes wide. “You put chili peppers on your coffee?” she exclaims, disgusted. Surely something that tastes as good as their coffee doesn’t have chili peppers.

Yeri shrugs, looking away. “Chanyeol likes it. He orders three a day.”

“He’s nuts. Whoever he is,” Wendy whispers under her breath. She looks back inside the kitchen, still filled with smoke. “Just what happened, really? Why was there too much smoke?”

“It’s the chili peppers,” Irene tells her, standing beside Joy and patting her back every time the taller coughs. At Wendy’s raised brow, she sighs. “It’s not actually chili peppers, it’s something else. A different kind of, uh, ingredient. Yeri just likes to call them chili peppers. They do speed up the heating but used incorrectly and you get—” she waves a hand towards the kitchen, then towards Joy, “—asthma.”

She tries to think of anything similar to chili peppers that does that but comes up with nothing. Instead, she makes a note in her head to search the internet for it. Maybe she can study how to use it and use it on her baking.

She sighs as she stares at the kitchen. “How am I going to finish the cookies?”

“We don’t need to sell cookies today.” Irene walks towards the door turn the sign around, officially opening the shop for the day at 10 am, ignoring the group of old women sitting near the counter complaining about the smoke. As she walks back to them, she mutters something under her breath to the ladies, making them frown at her.

Wendy’s not sure why those women are already in before the shop opening, but a representative immediately stands up as soon as Irene turns the sign around and walks to counter, where Seulgi’s waiting with a smile.

Irene whispers to Wendy, proudly, “Shop’s open.”

-

It turns out the customers aren’t at all as creepy and sketchy as Wheein and Hyejin’s stories make them out to be. They’re more reserved, maybe. But they don’t give you the evil eye as you’re asking for their orders, and they say ‘please’, and ‘thank you’, and ‘that’s a nice smell, what’s your shampoo?’

And that really cute young boy that Wendy gave two slices of cake to came back, still with eye smiles and a bounce in his step. He hands her a crumpled bill and asks, “Do you have red velvet cake?”

Wendy shakes her head sadly. “I didn’t make one for today, kid. We decided to schedule the cakes, red velvet cakes will be served every Fridays. On Saturdays we have strawberry cheesecake and coffee cake.”

He furrows his brows, chews on his lips. And Wendy smiles instinctively at his thinking too hard about what he would like to have. “I think you’d like strawberry cheesecake, then you can order coffee cake next Saturday.”

He looks up, face lights up. “Yeah, okay. That’s great. One strawberry cheesecake, please,” he pushes the bill towards Wendy, still staring in the display. “I’ll be here tomorrow, too!”

“Yeah?” He nods. “Any drinks to add to that?”

“Uh, that’s all I have,” he points to the bill in Wendy’s hands, enough for more than three slices of cakes and three cups of their most expensive coffee. “Haechan said that won’t be enough for more than one slice of cake.”

She scoffs. “Haechan lied to you. You can get a smoothie with that and you’ll still have change.”

His face lights up immediately. “Then one vanilla smoothie, please!” he excitedly orders, bouncing on his feet. Easily one of the most adorable things Wendy has ever seen.

She smiles warmly at him. “Okay, then. May I have your name?”

“It’s Jisung. Ji-sung. J-i-s-u-n-g. Jisung.”

Her heart warms as her smile widens. “Alright, Jisung,” she says softly, writing his name on the cup, “Yeri will make your smoothie and I’ll get you your slice. You can wait at the end of the counter.” She hands him his change. “Here’s your change.”

“Thanks!” He hops to the end of the counter, looking around like a little kid.

Yeri appears beside Wendy, peeking at the order. “Ugh, Taeyong keeps spoiling the kid. That’s more than Irene would ever give me.”

“She gives you your allowance?”

“Yeah,” Yeri answers shortly, taking a cup from the stack and fixing him up a vanilla smoothie as Wendy bends down to take a slice from her cheesecake. “Irene’s the mom of the group, you can say. She handles the finances and makes sure we don’t accidentally spend too much money on an inflatable pool.”

“What about your parents?”

“What about them?” Yeri shoots back.

The tone cuts Wendy, and she doesn’t say anything and just shrugs. Sore topic, then. She hands the cake to Jisung with a smile. “How about you? Where are your parents?”

“Taeyong’s my only parent,” he answers cheerily.

“Oh, I assumed Taeyong was someone like Irene. I didn’t realize he was your father.”

“He’s not,” Yeri interrupts, handing Jisung his drink. “Taeyong’s his Irene.” She watches as Jisung skips over to his usual table, looking so lost in his baggy clothes and frail body. “Family is a sensitive topic around here, Wen. Just a heads up.” She looks at the clock, face rigid. “It’s already three.”

As soon as the words leave , Irene walks down the stairs with a key in her fist. “I’m driving you home. I realize you didn’t bring your car with you since you went here with us. You’re done for the day.”

“Already?” she exclaims, looking around. “But I just started taking over the counter.” Her gaze stays on Jisung. She wants to at least stay until he leaves. She wants to keep him company while he’s there. A kid like that shouldn’t be alone so much.

Irene follows her gaze, lips curling. “Taeyong’s going to pick him up later in the night.” She turns back to Wendy, still stone faced. “We woke you up too early and you had that incident with the smoke earlier. You’ve finished the batter for tomorrow anyway. You need to go home.”

She nods. Irene’s tone implies there’s no saying no, and she doesn’t exactly want to ruin a good first day. “I’ll just say goodbye to Joy and Seulgi, then,” she says.

“They’re at the back, taking care of the dogs that need to bathe,” Irene tells her simply, playing with her keys. “I suggest you bring a raincoat with you, they’re most probably having an all-out water war.”

-

They were having an all-out war, and Seulgi was horribly losing. Wendy spent another hour in the shop just trying to help the two run after the dogs that had escaped to the road, laughing every time Seulgi slipped on thin air and the other pedestrians looked over with disappointment in their face, noses upturned.

They ignore the looks as they hug the dogs to their chests, drenching their clothes. Joy grins at the window of the bookshop near Peek-A-Brew, Déjà vu, and waves cheekily at the dark tinted windows. She turns to Wendy. “This is the owner’s dog,” she says, raising the adorable Dachshund to the air. “They’re both angels.”

Wendy smiles and nods. Joy calling someone an angel? They must really be an angel. Before she can ask, Seulgi screams and they both swirl to find her losing another dog. Laughing, Wendy hands the leash to a smiling Joy and runs after the dog.

God, what an amazing first day.

-

Irene only lets her in the car once she changes into clothes Seulgi lets her borrow, wet clothes in a plastic bag.

“Of all people, someone with the same mental age as those three,” Irene mutters on her breath, turning the steering wheel carefully.

Wendy smiles sheepishly, sinking into the lush car seat. “Sorry, did I ruin my first day?”

Irene side-eyes her, then scoffs. “You look like you had the absolute time of your life.”

“I did.” She nods sincerely, shaking with happiness. “It’s a nice first day. I thought you all were really huge es and everything, what with all the rumors, but you’re… fun.”

“Gee, thanks,” Irene bites, but it’s not as sharp. Almost like just an unconscious reply.

“Oh, you’re not included, Miss Irene,” she says teasingly, gripping her seatbelt, too much energy inside her. “You’re still so stuck up and everything. You didn’t join in the chasing fun.”

Through the rearview mirror, she sees Irene rolling her eyes. “It’s called being mature.” She takes a deep breath, slowing the car down as they’re about to enter the street where Wendy’s apartment is. She adds, quietly, “And I’m afraid of animals.”

At that, she leans back, smirk gracing her lips. “Miss Irene who can kill with just a glare, scared of animals?” she exclaims excitedly. Irene doesn’t reply, just grunts. So Wendy talks again, “It’s okay to be afraid of a few things anyway. Everyone’s like that. But I do wonder why you have that horrible reputation.”

Irene shrugs, driving into Wendy’s apartment’s driveway. “There are no groundless rumors. But there are no full truths in them either. At least around here.” She stops the car and unlocks the door. “You had an amazing first day, Wendy.”

“Thanks.”

Something’s knocking on the back of Wendy’s mind as she steps out the car, something about Irene’s smile. She’s about to close the door when Irene calls her again.

“Wendy!” She ducks in and Irene hands her a mason jar filled with some homemade candle colored purple, fingers brushing against Wendy’s softly. “For the cats outside your window. They hate the smell of cucumber. Light it up every night and they won’t bother you again.”

Wendy nods, too tired to think of anything else. She mutters a thanks and pulls her head out the car, stands in front of her apartment building and looks up at her window, finds one of the two cats already there, its paws. “Yeah, they’re too creepy for my liking.”

She blinks, realization kicks in. “How did you know there were cats—” she swirls, finds Irene had already driven off, “—outside my window?”

She studies the candle, finds it has a note on it.

“If the cats won’t stop bothering you even after this cucumber candle, look for Seohyun in The All Nighter, she’d know it’s you, and what to do.”

A/N:

title from Lorde’s Glory and Gore. The titles usually feel like they don’t relate at all to the actual chapter, but they do.

To answer some questions: remember, this is based on the PAB MV.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, comments are very much appreciated. I get ideas from them, too, sometimes. Thank you for the earlier comments, too. That’s all. Happy Holidays, everyone!

thepurplewan