Just a few feet away from Irene was sitting at, she could see the same girl who had been buying the same flavor of bubble tea that she drinks everyday at the café. It’s not as if she’s some kind of stalker, no.

 

As a regular at the café, Irene of course couldn’t help but to notice the people going in and out at different hours since she pretty much spent her whole day there.

 

And the girl, with the blue scarf was the one who caught her attention the most. The stranger would always walk in after lunchtime passes, and Irene sometimes wonder on what the girl does for a living.

 

Her appearance tells her that the girl was definitely too young to be working but high school students should be in school at that time.

 

Irene never really had the courage to come up to the girl and strike up a conversation though, since she figured that it would be creepy for her to do so.

 

“Unnie, you should just talk to her instead of being a stalker.”

 

Her dongsaeng, Park Sooyoung or as she prefers to be called Joy, took a seat across her after serving the plate of waffle to the older girl. Irene only furrowed her eyebrows in return as she took a bite of the freshly made waffle with ice creams on top, her absolute favourite. Joy didn’t even need to ask her on what she would like whenever Irene visits the café, since she had pretty much memorized the exact orders that Irene would make.

 

Taro bubble tea along with a plate of chocolate waffle with ice creams.

 

Joy had thought of asking why on earth does Irene never get sick of eating the same thing everyday, but she figured not to since Irene definitely plays a part in increasing her family café’s income.

 

If everyone else were to change to another café, they could always count on Irene to stick around.

 

“Don’t you think that it’s creepy if someone were to come up to you all of the sudden and say, ‘I’ve been watching you for quite a while, would you like to be friends with me’?”

 

“Well, I suppose you have a point there,” Joy rolled her eyes. “But you have the hots for her, don’t you unnie?”

 

Irene choked on her food the moment she heard Joy. “Y-Yah, I so do not. I am interested in her, but not in that kind of way.”

 

“Oh? What kind of way it is then?” Joy smirked and twirled her pen as her attention returned to the cute girl standing by the counter; waiting for her order to be done. The girl was indeed cute to her, but she wasn’t exactly interested in anyone else right now.

 

A certain tangerine-ombre haired girl from the café next door had gotten to her heart first but sadly, due to the rivalry between the two cafés, Joy didn’t dare to even speak a word to her. Although, Joy did find out about her name accidentally one day while she was on her way to work and it was Seulgi.

 

“Just…some kind of way,” Irene muttered under her breath and tried to usher the girl away to her work. “Speaking of way, shouldn’t you be on your way to the kitchen now? Your brother is starting to bore holes into my table now.”

 

Irene tipped her chin towards the head that was slightly peeking out from the door that leads to the kitchen, the smile on his face had a hint of annoyance in it. Joy immediately bolted up from her seat upon the sight of her brother and quickly made her way towards him, earning a snicker from Irene.

 

"I-I'm coming oppa!"

 

“Serves you right.”

 

-

 

It was just another day for Irene at the café, with her laptop lying on the table that is not far off from being her second home. She preferred doing her work in the café compared to her own place or the office.

 

Irene had to thank her business partner, Krystal for allowing her to handle all the paperwork away from the office and in return, the latter will be the one who would be dealing with all the business meeting fuss.

 

Which also means that Irene wouldn’t have to come to the office all the time but Krystal did set the rule on her having to visit the office at the end of each month.

 

Irene heaved a sigh as she took a break from her work, massaging her temple. A smile unknowingly crept on her face as soon as she saw the clock hanging on the wall. It’s time for the stranger with the blue scarf to walk in, she thought.

 

And just a few moments after the clock hits two, the familiar figure really did stepped into the café and headed straight for the counter.

 

Little did Irene know though, all the while she was staring at the girl, Joy had already made a little plan of her own. Something that will surely get her beloved unnie a chance to hit it off.

 

“I’d like one Taro bubble tea to go please,” the girl smiled lightly towards the attending cashier behind the counter. Just as she was about to pay for her drink, Joy ‘accidentally’ bumped to her and spilled the order to which were about to be delivered to Irene.

 

Her beloved Chocolate waffles and Taro bubble tea.

 

Irene widened her eyes upon the scene, not believing what she had just witnessed. Spilling her precious bubble tea and waffle was one thing, but Joy bumping into the girl instinctively made her got up from her seat and rush to help her.

 

“O-Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Joy gasped and bowed for a few times, ‘Actress Park’ coming into action.

 

“Hey, are you alright?” Irene worriedly offered her hand towards the stranger before looking over to Joy. “Joy-ah, you should be more careful next time.”

 

“It’s fine, I’m not hurt.”

 

Irene swore that her heart jumped a little the moment she heard her voice, and more when she realized that the girl was smiling at her.

 

“I-I… That’s great then.”

 

-

 

Right after Irene had found out that Joy was the mastermind behind the incident, she of course decided to get her revenge on the younger girl the ‘Irene Way’.

 

Despite of her age, Irene was often told that she was a bit too childish.

 

And she didn’t mind it actually, since her childishness just gives her more ideas on how to get back on people.

 

In Joy’s case, she decided to secretly stick a note with Joy’s number behind the girl herself and her action was more than welcomed by the teenage boys who dropped by the café.

 

Although, Irene had to give some credits to Joy for enabling her to get the stranger’s name and phone number since Irene offered on behalf of Joy to pay for the shirt that the latter had so ‘accidentally’ ruined.

 

It turns out that the girl’s name is Wendy.

 

Such a befitting name for a cute girl, she thought.

 

And Irene couldn’t wait to see the girl today, with the hope that Wendy might be greeting her or even flashing the adorable smile of hers to her again.

 

“Unnie, I helped you out yesterday and this is what you got me in return?” Joy grumbled as she shoved her phone to Irene to show the amount of notifications on Kakaotalk she had been receiving from yesterday.

 

Irene had to suppress her laugh upon taking a glimpse through the messages. One of the guys even texted the poor girl with the line ‘Know what’s on the menu? Me-N-U’.

 

No wonder the girl looks so pissed off walking to her workplace that morning.

 

“Oh my god, this guy ,” Irene snickered.

 

“You haven’t read the next guy unnie,” Joy hissed. “He told me that if I were a burger at McDonald’s I’d be a McGorgeous. I mean seriously, he compares me to a burger?! I’m not that fat to be a burger!”

 

Irene just had to break into laughter right after hearing what could possibly be the worst pick up line she had ever heard in her entire life. Just when she thought that hers are terrible, there is someone who’s worse than her.

 

“I’m sorry,” Irene wiped her tears that were coming out from her laughter. “Tell you what, I’ll treat you to chicken this weekend. You can eat as much as you can.”

 

“…With beer too?”

 

“Yes. And I’m not gonna tell your brother that you’ll be drinking,” Irene grinned.

 

“…Fine then,” Joy huffed and crossed her arms. Both their attentions were immediately averted to the person entering the café as the bell rang, and it was Wendy.

 

Walking towards their table.

 

Irene could only jitter in her seat and mouthed to Joy on what was she suppose to do, but the younger girl of course only smiled devilishly in return as she quickly left the table.

 

“Why you little-“

 

“Hey, you’re the girl from yesterday right?” Wendy spoke up carefully as she brushed the strand of hair behind her ear. Something that Irene found to be really cute even though it was only the first time she had ever seen it.

 

“Uh…yeah,” Irene nodded.

 

“Oh great, I was worried if I was wrong or something,” she sighed in relief before eyeing the empty seat across Irene. “Can I take a seat with you? Or are you having a company right now?”

 

“I…Uh… No! You can have a seat, I’m usually all alone here.”

 

“Thanks,” Wendy smiled brightly towards her. It was then Irene had concluded that the girl seems to be a friendly person, contrary to Irene’s impression on her from afar. “I’m sorry that I haven’t contacted you from yesterday, I was quite busy with work and all.”

 

“Don’t worry, I could relate on that,” Irene smiled sheepishly and pointed towards her laptop placed at the side, covered with a pile of papers.

 

“Ah, so you were doing your work all this time…” Wendy muttered under her breath and Irene happens to just hear what she was saying. What did she meant by all this time?

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“A-Ah, nothing. Anyways, I was wondering if we should go for a meal instead of you buying something as a replacement for my shirt yesterday.”

 

“That sounds like a great idea,” Irene replied a tad too excited. “How about now? Are you free?”

 

“Why yes, I am actually.”

 

-

 

The conversation between her and Wendy went smoothly surprisingly. Irene learned that the girl was actually from Canada, back in Korea to pursue her dream as an interior designer and that it had only been a few years since she moved back to Seoul.

 

Irene even took the chance of praising the younger girl on how fluent she sounds in Korean but realizes that she probably looks dumb while doing so since Wendy probably speaks Korean back there in Canada with her family.

 

And yes, Wendy is younger than her only by a few years. Thankfully.

 

“Oh hey, our order is here,” Irene beamed upon the sight of her usuals being brought over to her table. Apparently, Wendy had asked her to order for the two of them since Irene seems to know more on what’s good at the place but of course, Irene ended up ordering her favourite waffle and her bubble tea. “Go ahead and try it, the waffle here is really good.”

 

“It must be really good looking from the twinkle in your eyes,” Wendy giggled and took a fork, taking a bite of the small crisp batter cake. “It’s sweet.”

 

“You’re sweeter.”

 

What was supposed to be an inner thought ended up being blurted out and Irene could only scratched her nape in embarrassment as soon as she realizes it.

 

Wendy on the other hand only giggled. “Aren’t you eating too?”

 

“A-Ah, I am,” Irene nodded quickly and was about to take a bite of her own but Wendy had beaten her to it by feeding the older girl nonchalantly. 

 

“You seem to really like sweet things.”

 

It took a while for Irene to answer as she was still dazed with how Wendy had just fed her.

 

“Hmm? Yeah, I have a soft spot for sweet things…”

 

“I like Taro bubble tea too,” Wendy pointed towards the drink that Irene had ordered with a smile. “I usually drop by here everyday just to buy that.”

 

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

 

“You noticed that?” Wendy quirked a brow.

 

Oh what the heck, she couldn’t keep the secret from the girl forever. Irene might as well tell her the truth. Excluding the part where she has a crush on her of course.

 

“I’ve… been watching you for quite a while actually. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s just that I usually spent my whole day here doing my work and I couldn’t help to notice the girl with the blue scarf buying the flavor of bubble tea that I liked.”

 

Irene expected Wendy to excuse herself with some lame excuse just to get herself away from Irene but what she got in return was just another smile. And if she wasn’t mistaken, Wendy’s cheeks seemed to be more rosy than usual.

 

“Oh, I see.”

 

-

 

“Thanks for the treat.”

 

“You’re more then welcome,” Irene inwardly slapped herself again upon another stupid reply. Why did she keep blurting out stupid things today? For god’s sake, she’s not even on a date with Wendy.

 

“I should make my way now, I have some more work to do,” Wendy took a glance at her watch and got up from her seat, with Irene following suit.

 

“Oh, alright then. I guess… I’ll see you around?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.”

 

A soft chuckle escaped from Wendy and she quickly pecked Irene’s cheeks in return before making her way out of the café, leaving Irene glued on her spot.

 

Maybe, she has a chance with Wendy after all.

 

-

 

“Oh hey, you’re here.”

 

“Give me one Taro Bubble Tea Seulgi-ah.”

 

“You know, I’m still wondering on how on earth did you manage to fit two servings of bubble tea in a day.”

 

“The Taro Bubble Tea next door is terrible, it’s too sweet for my taste.”

 

“Then you can just stop buying it.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because the girl sitting near the window likes it a lot.”

 

Author’s Note – There you go, haha. The girls look amazing at the red carpet yesterday but I’m upset that there’s no WenRene moment. ; ^ ;