An uncomfortable stiffness rippled through the group as they stand on Irene’s front driveway. This wasn’t the outcome Irene wanted but it was one she should have expected.

Her parents seemed taken aback by her statement, but if they were angry, they didn’t show it. For some reason this only unsettled Irene more, she was expecting a reaction of some sorts, so to be met with an uncomfortable silence only made her worry more about where they stood on the situation.

“Well then…” her father starts awkwardly, “shall we head inside, let you and...Wendy,” he nods to the girl, she smiles back, “get settled in?”

At least he’s trying, Irene thinks. Less could be said for her mother who hadn’t said a word since Wendy’s introduction. She just stood there, eyeing the girls, stitched into a thin line.

Irene nods and motions for Wendy to come in, she seems a little reluctant to move closer but Irene feels relief wash over her as her girlfriend makes steps towards the house. Irene reaches forward, grabbing Wendy by the wrist. She gives the girl’s arm a soft squeeze out of support. She then drops the girls hand as they head up the driveway.

She suddenly feels a hard pressure in her back, a small hand is there. She looks over to Wendy in surprise only to be met with similar wide eyes at the sudden force pushing them.

“Yah, can’t you guys move any faster?” Both girls relax and smile at the voice, Irene turns her head and sees her sister pushing the two of them with all her might towards the door.

The two girls laugh as the small blonde tries with all her might to push them inside. Just to toy with her sister, Irene digs her heels into the ground, making her harder to push.

“Ugh, do you mind?” Yerim huffs and pushes harder against Irene. The older girl just smirks while she antagonises her sister. She then sees Wendy turn to face her sister.

“Seeing as Joohyun clearly wants to stay out here,” she looks from Yerim to Irene as she speaks, “what say you and I just go in and leave her.”

A wicked grin flashes across Yerim’s face as Wendy grabs her hand and the pair run towards the house. Irene huffs, annoyed Wendy would betray her like this and play along with Yerim’s games.

Even my girlfriend turns on me when around that little devil, she laughs to herself. Then she realises the duo really have just abandoned her on the driveway, she sprints up to the front door only to find it locked. She hears her sister’s soft giggling through the wooden barricade.

“Yerim open this door immediately,” she tries her best to sound assertive but truth be told she’s a little embarrassed, this isn’t quite how she wanted to introduce Wendy to her home.

She hears the click of the door lock and looks down to see a giddy Yerim, still giggling at the fact she locked her older sister out of the house.

“Come on ‘Hyun,” she looks up to the redhead biting back a laugh of her own, “we were just having a bit of fun.”

Irene just pouts at the girl before going inside, motioning to Wendy to follow her to her room. Yerim had wandered off elsewhere into the house, bored since they weren’t teasing Irene anymore.

Irene led Wendy through the house to the upstairs. They stopped in front of a white door, it was simple and plain apart from some faded letters stuck to the wood, it read; Joohyun’s Room.

Irene twisted the handle and they went in.

It was just as Irene had left it. Plain and simple. Irene was never one to hoard lots of stuff, she just kept what was necessary mostly, with only a few personal items like photos and plushies scattered here and there.

The room itself was on the small side. The double bed taking up most of the room, while a desk and chest of drawers filled the remaining space. Irene dropped her bag on the bed and sat next to it, bouncing slightly on the bed springs. Wendy remained standing.

“Well, this is it,” Irene motions around the small room, “it’s not much but it’s home.”

“It’s nice,” Wendy says quietly, looking around, “it suits you, small and organised.”

Irene laughs at the joke, “I guess I have always been like this then.”

They laugh again, then Irene leans forward and grabs Wendy by both hands. She gently pulls the girl towards her, until Wendy is stood directly in front of her and Irene is staring up at her from the bed, with a loving look in her eyes.

“I know I said it before, a million times already probably,” she squeezes Wendy’s hands, “but thank you. I bet this is hard for you and I’m sorry my parents were so frosty but they’ll come around, I hope.”

Wendy sits next to her on the bed. Irene feels her push her bangs off her face as she looks at her.

“I would rather be here, with you, than anywhere else in the world without you.” Wendy says simply, as if it’s the most obvious thing on the planet.

Irene blushes, even after all this time with Wendy, she can still say the simplest thing and it’ll make her heart do a backflip.

Irene checks the time, it’s late. She knew they would arrive after dark due to the length of the journey but she was surprised to find how late in the evening it is. She excuses herself from Wendy, telling her to make herself at home while she goes and wishes her parents goodnight.

Irene makes her way down the stairs, pausing at the door to the living room where her parents are. She can overhear the conversation they’re having.

“I mean I’m not happy about it but she’s our daughter, if she’s happy that’s enough for me.” Irene smiles at her father’s words, it’s a start.

“I mean I want her to be happy too but I really thought she’d grow out of this… whatever it is sooner or later. I thought it was just a rumour in high school that she started to believe herself.”

Irene felt her chest deflate at that a little. She told her mom that this was something she’d known for a while, before all the rumours, that this was who she was. It hurt Irene to think far back to high school, to how this all started.

“She’s not a kid anymore, she’s an adult now, if this is what she wants we have to find a way to be okay with it.”

“She’s still our kid, surely we should have a say?” She hears her mother’s exasperated tone followed by her father’s deep sigh. After years of living under this roof, Irene knows that means her father’s given in and knows he won’t change the woman’s mind, at least not tonight.  

“And the hair colour? Really? She looks like a trouble make-”

Irene cuts off her mother’s sentence by knocking on the door frame to the living room and peering around it, she’d heard enough and didn’t want Wendy to get dragged into this.

Her parents spot her and smiles land on their faces, her father’s more genuine than her mother’s, who seemed to be trying to cover up the fact she might’ve been caught in the act of gossiping about Irene’s girlfriend.

“Everything alright, Joohyun?” She asks innocently.

Irene decides not to bring it up, she’s tired and frankly she just wants to relax for a few days with her girlfriend without any stress from college. So instead of confronting her mother on her comments, she smiles and nods.