"OH~ She's a beauty~" Joy commented on the picture of a woman that Wendy showed her before giving her the drink that she prepared for her. She then sat beside Wendy before taking the girl's phone from her hand and proceeded to zoom the picture close to the woman's face.

"She's really pretty~" Joy marvelled. "You really dated a girl this beautiful!?"

"Sometimes I wonder how you really view me." Wendy snatched her phone back. "Do I really look like I can't date beautiful peeps?"

Joy just giggled. "You just look really tired every time."

"That's because I binge watch shows late at night." The other girl retorted.

"That's unhealthy. You have to sleep on time." Joy nodded to herself. "Also stop eating instant foods!"

Wendy just shook her head before letting out a deep sigh. She searched for more pictures of the said girl from her gallery but finally decided to just visit the social media account of her ex-girlfriend.

“This is her now.”

Wendy showed Joy the profile picture of the said girl and Joy’s jaw dropped. She took a look at Wendy, who was currently smiling but her eyes weren’t, before manually closing with her hand.

The said woman is in a bridal gown in the picture. Beside her is her husband and they both looked really happy and in love.

“S-She left you?” Joy hesitated to ask.

Wendy turned off her phone’s screen before leaning back at the bed. “No, this isn’t her… It’s the real person. She was just a part of her and they all went into a full fusion.”

Joy fell silent for a moment. She bit her lower lip before pulling out another question. “Is this the reason why you always tell us not to be close with the alters?”

The other girl gave her a nod. “I will lie if this isn’t one of the reasons. I loved that person with all my heart but she disappeared without a trace. It was like she didn’t exist at all since there is really no physical body to lament to. All I have as a remembrance from her are the pictures we took together. It totally broke my heart.”

“Wendy…”

Joy watched the smaller girl take a sip of the drink she gave her. Suddenly, all her annoyances about what Wendy did to her last time are slowly turning into jellies.

“Does she remember that you guys dated?”

“Yes…” Wendy took a deep breath. “She has her memories but not her feelings so yeah…”

Joy fell silent, feeling really bad about what happened to Wendy.

Wendy broke the silence with a laugh. “Please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t an official worker of our facility that time. I think it was her that became the concluding factor of me working there.”

“I am not saying anything about it though.” Joy mumbled. “Even if you fall for her when she’s your patient, will that even matter?”

“It will.”

Joy turned to Wendy once again but the smile on the girl’s face didn’t falter even though she was basically relaying Joy about her failed romance.

“Why?” Joy asked.

“Easy.” Wendy looked back at her. “Because I might go against the final fusion. I am still human anyway. I have my own selfish desires.”

Joy wasn’t able to answer as she realised the disadvantages of a therapist having a relationship with their client.

“It’s considered unethical.” Wendy added. “Though professionals can pursue a relationship with clients who are cleared for two years, it’s still not advisable. You are supposed to dig down the deepest, nastiest parts of your client. Pull them off from the pit and somehow shed life to their lives. There’s a higher chance that the client won’t share this kind of stuff to their therapist if they are in a romantic relationship.”

“T-That’s true…” Joy nodded. “Therapy puts one person in a very vulnerable state.”

“It’s much harder if you fall for someone with DID, especially if you fell for an alter.” Wendy let out another sigh. “And that was my case. I didn’t even know that she was an alter. All the time I thought she was the original one. DID is just really full of surprises.”

Joy fell deep into her thoughts. Wendy has met a lot of systems in her entire life due to the work of her father but she still fails to identify the original person at times.

“Hey, why do you look so disappointed about my skills?”

Joy jerked to her place when Wendy hit the bull’s eye. She didn’t say anything. Sometimes, therapists are really scary.

“I-I—”

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Wendy smirked. She took another sip of her drink before continuing. “To tell you the truth, recently it is being discussed that there might not be an original person in a DID system at all. We call them core. Simply put, they are considered the first child but to some, they are just self-aware parts that integrated sooner than the others.”

“Why are you telling me these things now, Wendy?” Joy asked, moving a little backwards.

Wendy just looked at her before sighing. “I know you know exactly what I meant.”

“No way…” Sooyoung’s shoulder dropped. “But I heard from Irene-unnie that Gi claimed it herself that she’s the real Kang Seulgi.”

“That might be true.” Wendy started. “But we can’t deny the possibility that Sori might’ve been already there during pregnancy. There’s a possibility that she might just be controlling the nameless one that’s why she sticks with her. We never really know… Also…”

“Also what?” Joy asked in a hurry. “Is there really a need for a pause?”

“There is an alter that we can label as the Host, the one who fronts. The one who has the biggest control of the body but not all hosts remain as hosts.”

Joy’s frown deepened. “What do you mean?”

“Take Seulgi-ssi as an example, we can say that Seul had control of the body from middle school until high school. She was the host at that time. But then during the trial, it was the nameless one who fronts most of the time and gives out decisions. Basically, she’s the host of that period. After the trial ended, the host title was given back to Seul but now I believe it’s shifting back to the name—”

“Stop calling her nameless, please?” Joy snatched the drink from Wendy’s hand and took a sip right to where Wendy’s lips touched. Wendy was obviously taken aback. “She already claimed that she’s the real Kang Seulgi. She has awareness of her identity. Also, if you don’t really want to call her that then you can use the name that Irene-unnie gave her! Just stop calling her nameless!”

“Oh, Joy…” Wendy just shook her head in disbelief. “This is why I don’t recommend catching feelings for people with DID… People get to be really biassed.”

“S-S-So what!?” Joy stammered.

Wendy took the cup back from Joy and slowly turned it to the other side while keeping eye connection with Joy before taking another sip. “You are the very reason why I hurriedly went to Korea back then. When I heard that they actually listened to her demand to have a childhood friend who played a vital role in her past to look after her like a caretaker, I decided to leave right away.”

“Y-You did?”

“Yeah.” Wendy looked away. “I had the gut feeling that she would be playing with your feelings and I was right. You were already wrapped in her fingers the moment I arrived.”

Joy pressed her lips into a bitter smile. “She was… very vicious that time…” She moved away before starting to fidget with her fingers. “At first I was pressured by guilt, that's why I responded to her ‘I don’t feel alive if I don’t have , I’d rather disappear’ lines. If we just really fought for her back then we could’ve avoided a bigger tragedy.”

“That’s bull… She totally controlled you.”

Joy scoffed. “But looking back at it now, I guess I really had feelings for her. No one knew about our deeds. The government also didn’t push me to continue looking out for her. No one pressured me to stay with her but I still went to visit her everyday.”

“Are you sure it is love though?” Wendy scoffed as well.

“Are you implying it as pure guilt?” Joy rolled her eyes. “Or are you saying it’s because of pity just like what you asked Irene-unnie earlier?”

“I was just stating the possibility.” Wendy shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh really?” Joy nodded sarcastically. “Then what about your feelings for your ex-girlfriend? Is it really love though or just a by-product of something else?”

Wendy’s eyes widened. She turned to Joy to retort on her but she just watched the girl imitate her shoulder shrugging. “You—”

“Stop assessing our feelings for Seulgi, for goodness’ sake. I’ll judge yours too.” Joy looked up at the ceiling, her legs swaying back and forth. “Well, I’m just really happy that Seulgi has already found someone who really made her feel. She even decided to stay with Irene-unnie and even promised us that she would be well.”

Wendy looked down at her drink. “I hope so too.If her definition of well is final fusion then it won’t be easy but I hope things go well.”

“Me too. I will be cheering for her happiness all the way.” Joy smiled. She then swayed backwards and took the momentum to stand up. Wendy watched her take a stretch. “What’s the name of your ex-girlfriend anyway? I’ll add her up to my prayers.”

“Prayer?” Wendy smiled at the thought.

“What’s wrong?” Joy raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing. Which name are you talking about? Her registered name or the name of the alter?”

“Hmm…” Joy thought aloud. “Just tell me the name of the person that you loved.”

“Ah…” Wendy nodded. “Joy.”

Joy’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Yes?”

The seated girl just chuckled. “I wasn’t calling you. It’s her name.” Wendy looked back at the taller girl and a meaningful smile curved up off her lips. “Her name is Joy. Same as you.”

“COULDN’T sleep?”

Irene removed her tired eyes from her phone and turned to Gi who just came out of the bathroom. She just finished taking a shower and she’s already done drying her hair. Irene gave the said girl a cute pout before nodding. She stretched her arm towards Gi, inviting the girl to bed with her.

“You are such a baby.” Gi snickered as she reached out for her girlfriend’s hand. She willingly let herself be led to sit beside the lying girl. Irene swiftly wrapped her arm around Seulgi and used the girl’s core as her pillow.

“Aren’t I your baby?” Irene answered with a question, retaining the cute pout on her face.

Gi cupped Irene’s face with just one hand making the girl’s pout even longer. She also slouched a bit so that they are face to face. “If you don’t stop pouting like that I will really kiss you.”

Irene playfully closed her eyes. “Come here then. I’ve been waiting for it.”

The other girl cracked into laughter and freed Irene. The la