CHAPTER TWENTY

When I was younger, I always walked the line to never disappoint my parents. My school attendance was perfect, except for days with the flu. After school, I attended extra classes until late at night. I only went out with my friends on the weekend, but never when close to the tests. If my parents told me to arrive at a specific time, I would arrive earlier. Never on short notice, never late.

I never sneak out of the house. My friends always invited me to skip class after lunch, even though they knew I never accepted. They would go to the movies or the arcade while I stayed in class studying math. It doesn't mean I didn't want to go with them.

Perhaps because I never snuck out of the house as a teenager, I felt anxious between the minutes I woke up and received Wendy's message. She was waiting for me in front of the house at six sharp. At least she was punctual after making me wake up so early.

Normally, I needed an hour to get ready to go out, but that day I cut it in half. Half of that time was spent finding the right clothes and packing my futon. I took some time to shower and tiptoe back to the room. I held my breath fearing the slightest noise would wake someone in the other rooms.

Makeup on that day was out of the question. I wouldn't wake up early and lose the few hours of sleep that night to improve my appearance. If Wendy wanted to be my friend, she would have to get used to the face that Bae Joowook and, especially, Hwang Miyoung gave me. At least I didn't look so different without the light everyday makeup, but today my face would appreciate something to hide the dark circles under my eyes due to reduced sleep time.

Letting out a sigh of relief at getting out without waking anyone, I saw Wendy leaning against a car a few meters in front of our house. Unlike the luxurious sedan from other times, the car looked off-road more likely. These models were capable of climbing mountains, surviving in mud, and passing through sand. It still seemed to be more expensive than my family's apartment. I should feel worried about changing vehicles, right?

As I walked towards Wendy, I took the opportunity to look at what she was wearing. I was evaluating whether my choice of what to wear was appropriate to what she was wearing, nothing more than that. It was her problem if she had chosen to appear like that.

I was starting to think she had gotten rid of all the colorful clothes in her closet. Wendy was in all black, as always. On top, she wore a long-sleeved piece close to her body. It was so tight on her body that it seemed like a second skin. It also made the lines of her body stand out. It was as if she wanted to rub it in my face how fit she was. I mean, I bet I could see the lines of her abdomen if I squinted my eyes a little harder.

Not that I was looking at that specific area.

At the bottom, she wore cargo pants with too many pockets to be considered normal. I wouldn't doubt it if there were more pockets in the shin area, but I couldn't see them because of the rubber boots. Rubber boots! That was another warning that I should have gone back inside. Instead, I caught up with Wendy beside the car.

Wendy didn't care either and also looked at what I was wearing. I would have felt uncomfortable if I had been in a different situation, but I figured she was assessing whether I was suitable for where we were going. I opted for a gray cotton T-shirt with long sleeves and cotton pants in navy blue. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I wear that outfit as pajamas when the nights are at a pleasant temperature. Along with the usual sneakers, that combination seemed to satisfy Wendy's requirements.

“Good morning, Joohyun-ssi,” she said to me while opening the passenger door and signaling me to get in.

I expected to find Seulgi behind the wheel, instead, it was empty. Wendy took that spot right after closing my door and walking around the front of the car.

I looked in the back seat and also found no trace of Kang Seulgi inside the vehicle. That made me curious because Seulgi seemed like a pleasant shadow of Wendy. Where one went, the other was right behind. “Where is Seulgi-ssi?”

“She's sleeping,” Wendy replied, putting on her seatbelt and starting the car. I think she felt my forehead wrinkle at her response, she spoke again, “Today is her day off.”

“The Taekwondo Goddess needs a break too?” I said in a low voice with zero intention of Wendy hearing that.

“Taekwondo what?” she braked sharply.

It's a good thing that the street wasn't very busy and there weren't any cars behind us at that time. Otherwise, Wendy would have caused an accident with our sudden stop.

“Yah! Are you sure you can drive in those rubber boots?”

"Of course! You just caught me off guard with what you said.”

Wendy put the car in motion once more and I stared at her before asking a little confused, “What did I say? Taekwondo Goddess?”

Wendy's “Yes,” was accompanied by the most forced laugh I had ever heard. I didn't understand that reaction coming from her.

“Well, Seulgi-ssi is a charming woman,” I tried to explain, “and I'm guessing she's talented too. That’s why I called her that.”

“Seulgi is beautiful, but you didn’t hear me say that. You know, she’s my employee and I don’t want to be sued.”

This time, Wendy seemed calmer. Her voice was more stable like she used to speak to me during meetings at the restaurant. What she said made sense, however. Kang Seulgi didn't seem like the kind of person who would take a comment like that as boss-employee harassment, but you can never be too careful.

“But she's not available, I'm afraid,” she said and I could see from her profile that she had a smirk on her face.

“You a bold to assume that I’m interested in her like that.”

“Your mother definitely understood that over breakfast.”

“My mother what?” I practically screamed scaring Wendy.

After I avoided Wendy in the morning so as not to give my mother the wrong idea, she ended up thinking what I feared! With Seulgi!

That couldn't be happening.

“She saw you two sitting so close and asked Yeri if you were together. Lucky for you, I told her no,” she said proudly.

"Thanks."

“I mean, I don't know if you're interested in her. But Seulgi doesn’t have eyes for anything other than what’s happening on her cell phone.”

“Is she in a long-distance relationship?” I asked intrigued, a bit shocked, and curious about the subject.

“I don't know if it's official or not,” Wendy looked at me as the traffic light was closed. She was also without makeup, the dark circles under her eyes were evident just like mine. But her beauty was still there along with her wide smile. “I don’t know if she wants to put labels because of the distance or if she is afraid to take that step.”

“Look at us! We've barely started our friendship and we're already gossiping about your employee's life.” I said genuinely excited. I didn't expect Wendy to be the type who liked to spill the tea. “But I think we should be getting to know each other, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, we should do that. What should we talk about? I'm not very good at making friends.”

"I don't know. I've never started a friendship with someone asking me if we could be friends,” at this point, I was just watching Wendy drive, not bothering to disguise it or pay attention to the road. “But seriously, can you go out without Seulgi-ssi?”

“Seulgi’s replacement is in the front car,” she pointed with her index finger, hands still on the steering wheel. Wendy's sedan, or one that looked a lot like hers, was a few meters ahead. I hadn't realized she was following someone.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“Fishing in the Han River,” Wendy explained serenely, “The things are in the trunk. Oh! Have you already had breakfast? I hope you don’t mind ramyun.”

My reaction was to laugh. One of those laughs that meant nothing but panic. I was heading toward Nightmare Part Two.

That explains the request to wear light clothing that covers the entire body. My father wears UV-protective clothing similar to what Wendy was wearing when he goes fishing using the canoe. He also used to leave early, before the sun rose. Furthermore, Wendy mentioned that she fished in Banpo.

“I said I would take you to fishing.”

“I didn’t think you were serious!”

“When I was on my first tour, I ended up hurting my vocal cords. I was doing two, sometimes three shows a day for weeks,” she looked at me once again with the car stopped at the red light. “Plus, we were recording new song