You know that I'm greedy for love

You give me feelings never felt before

I'm making it obvious by knocking at your door

I know that I'm coming tonight

Don't want to deny it anymore

Been in this state of mind

Yeri stares at the girl who’s flipping over a page. Sitting on her chair.

Who does this girl think she is?

She takes a step forward, taking a peek on the person daring invading her space like that, and she freezes.

It’s Son Seungwan.

Yeri turns on her heels and runs into the bookshop‘s bathroom, closing the door behind her with a great “wham”. She has never been so glad Joy gave her the key, well knowing she needed it more often than her. Joy is a blessing, indeed.

She stares into the air, unable to process what’s happening.

Wendy is sitting in her seat.

She closes her eyes, slowly inhaling and breathing out. This can’t be real.

Yeri fumbles her phone out of her pocket, dialing Joy’s number. She only takes a second to pick up.

“Hi!”, she trills, “where are you? I’m already at the bookshop.”

“Yeah, me too”, Yeri grumbles, “listen, I need you to do something for me.”

“What? I’m working, you know?”

“Don’t flatter yourself”, Yeri mumbles, swallowing the last syllables as she remembers Joy is doing her a favor, “can you, um, ask the girl sitting in my chair ask to leave?”

“What?” Joy laughs at the other phone and Yeri groans.

“Please, I-“, need her to be gone, “really want my chair back.”

“Alright”, Joy snickers, “you can come out in two minutes. Joohyun wants to use the toilet, by the way.”

Joy hangs up and Yeri puts her phone back in her pocket. She’s getting a headache.

Opening the door just the tiniest, Yeri peeks out, relieved when Wendy seems to be gone. She rushes to Joy, who’s standing at the counter and waves at her as Yeri storms up to her.

“What’s up?”, she asks, writing something down and typing on the computer noting the purchases (Yeri is kind of taken aback - she hasn’t actually seen Joy working, like, ever).

“How did you get W- the girl to go?” Yeri ignores Joy’s greeting, crunching her nose when Joy gives her a crooked smile.

“She was buying a book when I talked to you”, she snorts, “she left right after that. So, is she an ex or anything?”

Yeri frowns. “I just wanted my seat back”, she lies.

“You didn’t”, Joy mumbles without looking up, “you’d have hushed any other person away yourself.”

(Sometimes Yeri hates the way Joy can see right through her.)

“She went to my Highschool”, she mumbles eventually, fiddling with a book’s cover that’s laying on the counter, “I know her, but I’m not sure if she knows me. So I figured throwing her out would be inappropriate.”

By the way Joy slightly narrows her eyes Yeri can tell she doesn’t believe her, but Joy doesn’t ask further. She shrugs. “If you say so.”

“I say so”, Yeri sighs, more to confirm her statement to herself than to Joy.

It’s not a lie, it’s just not the whole truth.

She leaves with the excuse of having to study - Joy believes it, or at least she doesn’t say anything - and has her phone out of her pocket already when she steps onto the street.

“Saeron”, she yells into it, fighting against the city’s noise, “you won’t believe who I met today.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“I swear, I’m not.” Yeri massages her temples, slowly exhaling. This feels both like a dream and a nightmare.

“The Son Seungwan?”

“Yes. Wendy.”

Yeri remembers that Wendy preferred this nickname over her actual name ; “Seungwan sounds too serious”, she had always said, with the pretty smile Yeri adored so much. “Wendy is better.”

“I can’t believe the girl you had a thing since forever is back in town”, Saeron exclaims, hugging her legs pressed to her chest. She watches Yeri closely as same answers, “me neither.”

“Do you know why she’s here? Is she on holidays? Did she move?”

“God, I have no idea.”

Yeri scratches the back of her head, letting herself fall onto her back with a groan. Saeron’s bed screeches under the sudden weight.

Wendy. The name gives her goosebumps and makes flowers bloom in her lungs. She’s always adored her girl in the grade above her.

She plays four different instruments - piano, guitar, flute and saxophone -, speaks Korean and English fluently and is the kindest person alive. Yeri has heard everything about her ; the pretty girl next door everyone knows and loves dearly.

Yeri is what you would call self-confident, but Son Wendy manages to make her feel fluttery insecure. Whenever her glance would go over Yeri - without actually realizing it was her, of course - her heart stopped for a second.

Wendy never talked to her, though. She usually had a great circle of friends walking with her, making it impossible to actually get a grip of her.

“What are you going to do?” Saeron suddenly asks, and Yeri shoots her a look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you going to approach her? Like, stop ignoring her like the past years?”

Yeri refrains from telling her best friend that it was the other way around and shrugs.

“Who knows? For all we know, I could never see her again.”

The bookshop is a very comfortable place. Joohyun has stuffed it with pretty furniture, there are lots of lamps spreading warm light, and plants are decorating the room. In short, it’s all cozy, and Yeri shouldn’t be surprised when she finds Wendy sitting in her seat yet again.

This time, she takes another chair. It’s not facing Wendy, so she should be able to relax just perfectly - but, of course, she really cannot. She wants to turn around all the time, looking if Wendy watches her, even though she knows she wouldn’t.

Yeri despises feeling inferior to someone, and she minds a lot with Wendy, but in the end, she can’t change it. If they had something one would call an actual relationship to each other, she’d put more effort into it than Wendy. Give more love and cry more tears and care more.

She actually manages to dive into her book, forgetting the mess in her world for a moment to deal with another. (The protagonist in the novel is fighting against a dragon. If her feelings were a giant beast, she herself could be the main character, Yeri supposes.) She bends down, her nose almost touching the pages. She might need glasses - the letters are dancing in front of her eyes, trying to escape them.

Someone rushes to her seat, and before she knows it, two cool arms are loosely wrapped around her neck. “Joy?”, she asks (whispers, not to disturb Wendy next to them), and the girl behind her chuckles.

“What are you reading, Kim Yerim?”, Joy wants to know, bending down to read the open book on Yeri’s lap.

“Don’t you have to work?”

Yeri puts her arms up and pats what she supposes is Joy’s head next to hers, and Joy laughs.

“Strict as always, my Yeri”, she gushes, and Yeri fakes gagging, making Joy giving her a light slap on the head. “Ouch!”

They’re bickering like that as always. Like before their don’t-talk-about-it-kiss happened. Yeri is really, unbelievably glad they’ve become their old selfs again.

She still doesn’t think about the meaning of Joy initiating a kiss.

Wendy comes more often than she does. Somehow, Yeri is offended, as if it was a secret completion between the two of them. It’s not, she has to remind herself when she enters the bookshop just to see Wendy already being there. (She still comes earlier the next time, just because.)

Her heart almost bursts in surprise when Wendy starts talking to her. “Good morning”, she says, a beam over her face, when Yeri sits down next to her. Yeri doesn’t react instantly - she freezes, rather, quickly noting the idea of turning around, because Son Wendy can’t possibly be greeting her, right?

But no one is responding, and despite Wendy already having concentrated on her book again, Yeri blurts out, “H-Hi.”

Wendy’s head shoots up and gives her a bright, although a bit confused smile. (Maybe the time gap between their greetings was too big. Oops.)

Yeri doesn’t even get glanced upon in the next hours, yet her heart starts racing and her hands sweating every time she thinks about it.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

It’s a good morning, indeed, and Yeri is soaring.

She had forgotten how pretty Wendy’s voice is. She used to be in a choir, if she remembers correctly - in middle school. Someone told her. Then, in Highschool, Wendy was in the school’s band, singing and playing the keyboard occasionally.

A sweet, bright voice for a kind, happy person. Yeri experiences her own voice as husky, rough, even.

Maybe voices fit their bodies, like dogs fit their owners.

Anyhow, if Yeri had to choose a single sound to live on for the rest of her life, it would be Wendy’s wonderful voice.

“This girl”, Joy hums, “in Joohyun’s bookstore. The one who’s went to your Highschool. Were you close once?”

“What gives you that impression?”, Yeri wants to know, her words chosen well on distance. She flips a page of her magazine, trying to not to look too invested in what Joy is going to ask next. She’s curious, but she’s also afraid. Maybe that’s what love feels like.

“You act different around her”, Joy says, leaning in, studying Yeri’s mimic closely to wipe off the secrets on it, trying to see the blank truth. “An ex, maybe?”

“I wish”, Yeri snorts without thinking, and when Joy’s posture shifts, she realizes the depth of her words.

“I wish I would have been involved with Son Wendy.”

“I-It’s not like that”, she quickly adds, her lips as low panic starts to arise in her chest, “I don’t like like her. She’s just- a former crush. That’s all.”

Kind of like you adore a celebrity from afar, she thinks, but doesn’t say it out loud. She isn’t sure if that would be helpful to say.

Joy smiles, but it’s a forced one, Yeri can tell. Guilt comes in waves like nausea.

(Right. The kiss. How could she forget the kiss?)

Joy’s outspoken thought is said under her breath, is a whisper merely, but Yeri hears it anyway, holding onto it like a lifesaver.

“I think she likes you, too.”

Yeri finds out that Wendy had a girlfriend in her first year of College. She’s found her private twitter account and has scrolled through it until the very beginning - which was about 6 year ago. To her defense, Yeri really wanted to avoid studying in all ways possible. She wasn’t that interested in Wendy’s past. Only a little bit.

The ex-girlfriend in question is called Seulgi, which made Yeri’s stomach drop a little bit. Joy’s Seulgi?

Then again, Seulgi was a quite popular name two decades ago.

The feeling of nausea doesn’t go away, though.

She wants to ask, but she really isn’t sure whom.

Wendy? Bad idea. “Hi, you don’t know me, but we’ve said hello to each other the other day and we went to Highschool together! Anyway, are you gay?”

Joy? God, no. She already told her she doesn’t like Wendy that way. Maybe that’s even true. Maybe not. Who knows? Not Yeri.

Joy forgets her phone at Yeri’s one day, and it’s the only chance Yeri gets. She wouldn’t have asked the one person she can ask on any other occasion, probably ; but she has the fact in the back of her head that she’ll never get access to the number again, so she swallows her pride and tries to be brave.

She scrolls through Joy’s long, long list of contacts and eventually dials Kang Seulgi.

“Hi, Joy! Why are you calling? Aren’t you with Yeri?”

Yeri’s fingers clinch onto Joy’s phone on her ear. Seulgi has a pretty voice. Not as pretty as Wendy’s, of course, but it both sounds sweet like honey and husky like smoke.

“Um, sorry, this is Yeri”, she answers, briefly wondering how Seulgi knew where Joy was, “Joy left her phone here, and, um-“ Yeri forgot to think about a shallow reason why she’s actually asking Seulgi about her past partners, so she just blurts out, “did you have girlfriends before?”

It’s silent on the other line before Seulgi clicks her tongue and starts, “Chanmi and I were together for a good week in middle school when she wanted to date Nayoung instead - poor girl, didn’t even know what was happening to her, Chanmi just decided they’re we’re dating for the both of them -, then Haebin when we were freshmen in Highschool, Sunyoung was my girlfriend for a little bit, Seungwan for about three months, Sohee during my second year of college-“

Wendy.

“Son Seungwan?”, Yeri interrupts Seulgi, and same approves. “Yeah! Why do you ask?” She can hear the curiosity dripping from Seulgi’s voice, and suddenly she realizes that she’s not being subtle at all.

And, of course, Seulgi is Joy’s best friend. She could’ve asked Joy herself. Dumb, dumb Yeri embarrassing herself even in front of people she’s never met just to avoid talking with someone whom she maybe likes.

“Nothing”, she says, feeling a flush creeping onto her face that’s somehow suffocating , “I just wanted to ask- if you see Joy around, can you tell her that her phone’s here? I don’t know how to contact her.”

“Sure.” Seulgi sounds disappointed, as if she really wanted to know Yeri’s reason to ask. Maybe Seulgi is just nosy, Yeri thinks. Hopes.

“Then… bye.” Yeri quickly hangs up before Seulgi can ask any more questions.

She stares into the air in silence.

Maybe she’s done more damage by trying to keep Wendy and Joy uninvolved in this.

So she decides to involve Wendy.

Straight crushes are not the worst thing in the world, Yeri thinks. The hope that your crush could possibly like you back? Way worse.

Yeri stares at the back of Wendy’s head. If she properly introduced herself - if they were friends - Wendy could, maybe, like her back. She’s not straight.

Her heart hurts and Yeri averts her gaze, concentrating on her book again, leaving unspoken words unsaid.

She doesn’t know how to make friends, if she’s completely honest ; all of the friends she has have made the first step to approach her. Best example: Joy. So she decides that kindness is a great soil to seed plants on.

Wendy looks up with her big, dark eyes when Yeri reaches out her hand with a cup of coffee.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been visiting a lot”, Yeri says, trying out to wear a smile (she hopes it doesn’t look like a grimace), “and I’m almost a registered costumer, so I figured I should, uh, make you a gift.”

Sounded better in her head, anyway.

Wendy blinks - and then beams, taking the coffee with a gleam in her eyes that makes Yeri’s stomach drop.

“Oh, thank you so much! You shouldn’t have, really- I’m Wendy!” She reaches out her hand to shake Yeri’s, and Yeri takes it after a moment of hesitation. Wendy’s hand is warm and touching it makes her stomach feel fuzzy.

“Do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar”, Wendy asks further, seemingly absolutely concentrated on Yeri, and Yeri somewhat takes a swelling pride in having Son Wendy’s unlimited attention.

“We went to the same Highschool”, she says, quickly adding a, “I think”, in case Wendy believes she’s some sort of stalker.

“Really? When did you graduate?”

Yeri blushes. “Just last year, I’m going to college here.”

After sending small nods while Yeri talked, Wendy now gifts her a big smile. “Me too! What are you majoring in?”

And just like that, they’re talking.

“By the way, sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”, Wendy says, and it’s such a pleasant way of reminding Yeri that she hasn’t introduced herself Yeri’s face reddens.

“Oh, I’m-“, she suddenly remembers that in the beginning she told Joy only her nickname, and decides that she’s going to be different with Wendy, “Kim Yerim. You can call me Yeri. If you want to.”

Every of her words seem awkward, but Wendy doesn’t seem to mind. At least, she doesn’t show it. Yeri doesn’t know if that should make her insecure - is Wendy just talking to her because she feels bad for her?

In the end, they’re talking, so maybe it doesn’t matter.

Yeri learns that Wendy is studying medicine in a nearby college - what else? This girl is a saint - and currently is in her third year.

She’s head over heels.

Yeri hasn’t been thinking about Wendy since she had gotten out of Highschool, frankly. She hadn’t forgotten about her - she just thought she was over this silly crush, but seeing Wendy in person revived her feelings again.

She wants to ask Wendy what she’s doing in the bookshop (just like her she isn’t actually buying anything), but it feels like overstepping boundaries.

When Wendy leaves, she even gives her a small wave. Yeri’s heart explodes.

It’s the first time Wendy has given her more attention than sparing her a brief glance, not noticing her, really.

Today, she did.

Yeri is all over the moon the rest of her stay, but seeing Joy’s face is dragging her down to earth again.

If her heart was swollen with love before, now it deflates.

Joy’s mimics look like they were made of stone, but when she catches Yeri looking at her with brows narrowed in concern, she quickly puts up a tired, very fake smile.

“Having fun?”

Anyone else would have spit it out, but Joy’s kind heart isn’t able to. Yeri would rather be yelled at, she believes. Maybe that would dissolve the guilt that’s laying in her stomach like a stone.

She meets up with Joy just as frequent as before, but the only one on her mind is Wendy, really. It’s not Joy exclusively - Saeron, her family, anyone. She can’t concentrate because all of her mind is yelling Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.

Yeri hates being in love.

(Is it really love?)

She thought she knew what love is - this is attraction. It’s kind of similar to what she felt with Joy, in the very beginning ; the exciting warmth in her chest when she saw her pretty smile, increasing heartbeat when their fingertips touched.

Yeri doesn’t want to call it love when it’s solely physical. And it is - she doesn’t know Wendy, just like she didn’t know Joy, and now she knows Joy, but it doesn’t feel like attraction anymore.

In weak moments she wonders if she’s capable of loving, actually loving, with all flaws and hidden scars and bad habits. But Wendy could be her realization that she can.

Yeri would like to hang onto that hope as long as she can.

Their friendship - if you could call it one - isn’t silent, but it isn’t loud neither. It’s a whisper, a lukewarm breeze cooling your skin on a hot summer day. It’s good. Superficial, but good and enjoyable.

They don’t talk every time their paths cross in the bookshop, but when they do, Yeri is left with a fuzzy feeling in her stomach and a dizzy smile on her face.

She wants to call it unfair that a gesture, a conversation, a smile from the right person has this grand effect on her soul, but in the end, she doesn’t care. (When a gesture, a conversation or a smile doesn’t enlighten her heart at the moment, she cares a lot.)

At the same time, she realizes that she needs to do something about Joy. Wrong- she needs to talk to her. Between the both of them, everything is the same ; like always, flowers blooming and Joy’s astonishingly beautiful smile. As it has always been, the two of them.

Maybe she’s exaggerating Joy’s intentions, she hopes so, but there isn’t a great range of feelings that a kiss could indicate. She’s been wanting to lean forward and kiss Son Wendy’s pink lips forever, so she would know.

Attraction. Adoration. Love. Call it what you want, but it’s guiding Yeri and it’s slowly driving her insane. In a good or bad way, she doesn’t know yet.

She meets Wendy the first time outside in the supermarket. It’s the same supermarket from which Yeri had fled to the bookshop of the stormy night, meeting Joy. Somehow the same places hold the same value and memories. It would have been nice, great, even, if it wasn’t for Joy shopping with her.

(That’s mean, she thinks, but it’s true. She has to control her muscles, stopping them from beaming at the sight of Wendy, for Joy’s sake. In case she hasn’t interpreted their kiss wrong.)

“Yeri, hi!”, Yeri hears someone saying, and when she turns around, it’s Wendy in front of them. She can feel Joy - they’ve been holding hands as they searched for good crisps - straighten her posture.

“Hey”, she squeals, quickly clearing , and then, a bit cooler, “What are you doing here?”

“Shopping.” Wendy gives her a smile before reaching out her hand to a surprised Joy. “Hi! I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Wendy!”

Joy hesitates to grab it, but when she does, she eagerly shakes it.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Joy”, she answers, smiling. It doesn’t quite reaches her eyes, even though Joy is trying her best not to show it, Yeri knows.

“So, um”, Yeri quickly interferes, feeling that they’re walking on a very slim bar that’s slowly tilting. “What are you buying?”

“Oh, just food”, Wendy says, showing off her basket which is full of bread, fruits and water. Yeri is suddenly painfully aware of the tons of crisps in their own, and she inconspicuously shoves her body in front of it, hoping Wendy hasn’t seen the content of it (of course, Wendy would be too nice to about it, anyway).

The supermarket is noisy, naturally, but the volume around the three of them cannot suffocate the increasingly awkward silence between the triangle. “Um”, Wendy clears , “see you at the bookshop?”

Yeri can’t help but notice Joy’s eyebrow twitching at the word “bookshop”, and she cringes internally. Wendy doesn’t seem to remember the cashier who’s had sold her a book some weeks ago. (But she remembers Yeri. She sees Yeri. She can’t help but feeling proud.)

“Yeah”, she softly answers, “see you there.”

Wendy gives each of them a smile before leaving, going to an aisle Yeri has never set a foot in before (the vegetables aisle). Suddenly Yeri notices that she’s still holding hands with Joy and lets go, more rapidly than she had intended. Joy doesn’t seem offended, but after participating in the encounter with Wendy, Yeri isn’t sure if she can tell Joy’s feelings anymore.

Maybe they’re not the same anymore.

Wendy surprises her the next time she visits with coffee. “Hi!”, she beams already when Yeri has barely stepped through the door, cheeks red from the cozy warmth that has nested in the bookshop. “I brought coffee for us, here, take a seat!”

She remembered Yeri drinks her coffee black.

As a middle child, attentiveness is always what Yeri has been digging for years now, and Wendy senses things about her she didn’t even know. Wendy is even more attentive than Joy.

They talk and laugh over their coffees and when Yeri catches Joohyun’s glance - which seems grim, given the narrowed eyebrows and slightly pursed lips -, she suggests taking a walk. Wendy, who didn’t even take out the books she usually reads, quickly accepts after she noticed the noise they made as well.

“This is awful”, she sighs when they step outside, “I forgot we weren’t in a cafe… I feel guilty for being so loud. We probably scared all of the customers away.”

Yeri hums in agreement, hearing only the half of what Wendy has said. Us. We. She feels lighter every time Wendy considers them as a team, friends, a pair of people. Someone who is together.

“Why do you go to the bookshop?”, Yeri asks, finally being confident enough to ask what has been in her mind since forever. “I mean, I haven’t seen you buy anything, ever.”

If they were closer, she’d have said it in a smug, teasing way, but they’re not, so she doesn’t dare. (They’ll get there.)

“Oh, that…”, Wendy puts a hair strain behind her ear, a gesture that screams embarrassment as well as her pink cheeks. Yeri has to suppress a smile. “The university I go to has a big library, but since lots of the students are studying a lot, it’s stuffed all the time. I study at the bookshop because it’s so quiet there. Well, if the both of us isn’t around.” She pinches Yeri In the waist and Yeri flinches, playfully attacking her back by tickling her side. Wendy chuckles and Yeri grins in a way she’s never had before.

“What about you, Yeri? You’re there more often than me, right?” Yeri gives her a loop-sided smile.

“I don’t have the kind of money to buy all the books I want to read, so I’m kind of…. stealing. Oh, no, not real stealing”, she quickly explains when she sees Wendy’s shocked face (this girl really has her expressions worked out, she thinks), “just… I read the books there. Kind of like a library. Is that weird?”

“A bit”, Wendy laughs, “but we’re all weird, right? Weird is good.”

Yeri feels her heart beating in her chest at the pretty sound. “Yeah, weird is good.”

Wendy asks for her number first, and Yeri wears a smug expression for almost a week. Wendy wants her number. Wendy wants to get to know her. Wendy is interested in her.

Wendy seems to genuinely like her, and Yeri soaks it up like a sponge. It’s nice to be liked.

“Hey, Yerm!”, Wendy greets her with the brand new nickname she has invented all by herself (Yeri considers it the prettiest word she’s ever heard) and waves at her when she sits down. It’s summer, and the idle heat crawls under everyone’s skin. Yeri herself is wearing a top and, unusually, her hair in a bun.

“You look pretty today”, Wendy says, doodling in her notebook. Yeri takes a peek. “Cardiovascular disease and how to prevent it” it says right above a turtle that Wendy had just drawn. Yeri points at it.

“The turtle looks ugly.”

Without missing a beat nor looking up Wendy absentmindedly replies, “you’re one ugly turtle.”

Yeri scoffs. “You just told me I look pretty.”

“Maybe I lied.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, Son Wendy”, Yeri grins, and Wendy chuckles, even though she looks like she would have liked to keep up their game of teasing a bit longer.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t.” Wendy’s gaze on Yeri is soft and it stays on her a tad too long to be casual.

Yeri enjoys being taken care of, she thinks, and Wendy is the caring type. She watches out for Yeri when she notices the bags under her eyes have become bigger and brings extra pencils for their studying sessions because she knows Yeri forgets her own at home, always.

It’s extremely attractive. Before, Yeri felt the urge to take care of others, but being taken care of - it’s terribly nice. Wendy is extremely attractive and terribly nice, in the end, and Yeri loves it.

Yeri loves her.

The world is a small place in the best moments, and Yeri thanks god for it when she meets Wendy on her way home.

It’s a warm day, but a cool evening ; and she idly puts one foot before the other, watching the sky turn into a dark orange. Yeri runs her fingers through her wet hair, frowning when they don’t go through as smoothly as she had intended. Saeron and she spent the afternoon in Saeron’s pool (her parents have way too much money on their hands) and now she’s going home, having to concentrate on her way of walking as she’s wearing flip flops on her feet.

Yeri wonders if Wendy enjoys days like these - just relaxing in the sun, eating snacks and swimming.

Should she invite Wendy to go to a public swimming pool? She’s already searching for her phone in the giant bag she usually takes for swimming (she has to go through multiple towels, clothes and now empty snacks) when a car is stopping besides her.

Yeri stares at the girl behind the steering wheel, with big sunglasses and slightly bushy, brown hair ; she looks a lot like-

“Wendy! What are you doing here?”, Yeri grins, leaning down to the window which Wendy is currently winding down.

“I was actually on my way to your house”, Wendy says, putting up her glasses and exposing her ever so pretty dark eyes. “Wanted to see if you’re home. Why is your hair wet?”

Yeri is so flustered that she forgets the first part - that Wendy wanted to visit her - and answers, “I went swimming. Hey, do you want to go sometime?”

Wendy’s eyes turn a tad darker. Has she said something wrong? Did she offend Wendy in some way?

“I dislike not having a ground under my feet, I’m sorry”, she softly says, as if she really was apologetic despite not having done anything wrong. “I also don’t like heights, by the way.”

“O-Oh”, Yeri says, reddening for some reasons, “alright.” Wendy has said it in the nicest way - not scolding nor attacking Yeri at all, but Yeri feels the guilt clenching her guts. She doesn’t want to feel Wendy anything but happiness, she wants it more than her own.

“We can still meet up, though”, Wendy suggests, and Yeri nods. “You can come to me tomorrow!”, she smiles. “If you want to.”

“I’d love to, Yerm! Send me the address?”

“Sure.”

Wendy drives off, and Yeri glances after her.

And suddenly, she gets an idea.

She texts Wendy a short “Bring a swimsuit tomorrow” before going to bed, and when Wendy texts back “?”, a smile comes over her lips and her heart starts fluttering. Wendy is up for a surprise and Yeri’s excited.

Yeri doesn’t even invite Wendy inside - her mother would be indignant -, rather she greets her with a big grin of her face, and when Wendy wants to open to say something Yeri has already grabbed Wendy’s wrist and pulled her to their backyard.

“Is that a-“

“Paddling pool!”, Yeri exclaims, weirdly proud of her idea. “You can be refreshed and can still feel the ground under your feet!”

“Or my , this thing looks pretty small”, Wendy laughs, “are you even sure we’ll both fit?”

“Depends. The one first in gets more space, so-“

Yeri quickly starts to her blouse, revealing a bikini top, and when Wendy realizes what Yeri is getting at, she gasps and starts to undress as well. “Unfair! You started before me!”

Yeri laughs out loud, her movements slowing down, and they end up getting into the “pool” together. Under giggles Wendy shifts her weight to ensure Yeri more space.

“This is the best thing I’ve done all summer”, Wendy sighs happily, searching for Yeri’s hand to squeeze it (she’s splashing a lot of the water out of the pool until she’s found it). “Thank you a lot. It’s very considerate. I bet you would enjoy being in a bigger pool more.”

“I enjoy being with you the most”, Yeri truthfully answers, and Wendy screams and laughs about her greasy answer. Yeri chuckles, too. Her heart is rising in excitement because of Wendy.

She hadn’t noticed it at first, but after Joy has pointed the ugly, embarrassing truth out to her, she can’t possibly ignore it.

“We don’t see each other anymore”, Joy mumbles when they do meet up, and it goes through Yeri’s heart like a thousand needles. “How come you don’t visit Joohyun’s bookshop anymore?”

What Yeri has realized is - the bookshop was some kind of lifeline she could rely on, but when we met Wendy, she didn’t need it anymore. Not that she wanted to abandon Joy - or Saeron, or anyone else -, but Wendy feels like home. She feels at ease when she’s with Wendy, a light feeling she has never truly felt before. (Lately, she has been stressed. With university and exam starting and her tensed relationship with Joy, Wendy is the person she wants to see at the end of the day.)

“Joy”, she says, gathering all of the courage she needs, “what did our kiss mean?”

Joy slowly exhales. Then she manages to curl her lips into a sad smile.

“What do you think it means?”

Yeri hesitates, and then she pulls Joy into a close hug, hoping it says all of the things she can’t say right now.

I’m sorry I don’t like you back.

I don’t want to lose you.

Please let’s stay friends.

They talk a lot about that, and just like recovering from a bad cold, they don’t instantly feel better, but they’re doing much better already. (They talk and meet and talk, and they can genuinely laugh with each other again.)

Joy even suggests meeting up with Wendy, and when Saeron comes as well, Yeri feels like her family is united.

She’s happy, her friends are happy - or slowly becoming happy -, and that’s more than she could wish for.
 

Epilogue

“Joohyun, you’re the prettiest bride I’ve ever seen”, Yeri shakes her head, smiling as she rearranges her white gown.

“Thank you, Yerim”, Joohyun chuckles, “can you please check on Sooyoung? She’s probably too excited and making everyone nervous with her bouncing.”

“Will do”, Yeri says, already half out of the door, “gotta do what a bridesmaid has to do!”

She shuffles over the hallway, to the second bride, and knocks on her door. “Can I come in?”

“Sure!”, Joy says on the other side, and Yeri opens the door.

Joy looks gorgeous as always, but being an almost newlywed gives her a whole another shine. Yeri has never been prouder.

“Ready to get married?”

“Have been for the past year”, she chuckles, “actually since our first date.”

“I can’t believe you’re marrying your chief”, Yeri snorts, “but she’s a good one, so- congrats.”

Wendy knocks on the open door before stepping in. “Oh, Joy, you look beautiful!”

“I know”, Joy grins, and Yeri gives her a slap on the head (a light one since she doesn’t want to ruin her hair).

“Are you ready to go? It’s time.”

Joy suddenly looks nervous. Yeri searches for her hand and squeezes it.

“Come on, time to get married!”

Wendy has tears in her eyes when the ceremony is over, and Yeri is blinking rapidly to avoid crying as well.

“Yerm?”

“Yes?”

“Let’s get married as well.”

Wendy laughs over the shocked expression on Yeri’s face.

“I’m just kidding”, she chuckles, giving her a soft kiss, “let’s get this whole moving in together thing cleared.”

“Don’t remind me”, Yeri sighs, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand, “I still have to move things around. I’ve found some stuff I didn’t even know I had.”

They cheer and yell when the freshly married Joohyun and Joy walk down the aisle together, looking happier than ever.

Yeri watches them with a smile on her face in silence before she turns to Wendy, whispering, “we are so marrying one day. Can’t let Joy brag about her wedding all alone.”

Wendy laughs and cups Yeri’s face to give her a long, sweet kiss.

“Oh, you can bet that I’m so going to marry you one day, Yeri.”

Yeri grins, and in this moment, her heart bursts from happiness.

“I love you, Wendy.”

“I love you too, Yeri.”

#Happytachweek [2/2]

Happy birthday, Tach ♥ This one is for you only . ilu