Joohyun prided herself with the control she has over her emotions, words, and actions.

She had only meant to talk to Seungwan, really. Just to exchange a few words, ask hundreds of questions, clear things up, and hopefully, bring back how they used to be. That had been her agenda when she went on a search for the girl. Nothing more, nothing less.

But Seungwan’s like a slippery fish that manages to jump out of her hold no matter how hard she tried to grasp and Joohyun’s patience is waning, her frustration on its way to blow off the roof.  She always liked to make plans and strictly follow through with it. However, that day, she lost all her control and got drowned by emotions, spontaneously doing something reckless and out of order. She wasn’t on her right mind what with all the studying and worrying she’d been doing. She was just tired of everything.

Tired of the game of hide and seek they play, tired of running away, tired of chasing, tired of pretending, tired of holding back, tired of being unsure, tired of everything.

Annoyed that Seungwan’s running away again, Joohyun’s hand had acted on its own and grabbed the former’s wrist, pinned her against a bookshelf, and as though possessed, her eyes trained on those lips and did what she had always wanted to do and made things more complicated instead of sorting things out.

She kissed her.

And shortly confessed (though it was more like vomiting out her feelings).

An impulsive kiss and an unprepared confession in a secluded area in the library weren’t really in her list of Top 10 Ideal Moments but it’s the person that matters. She could clearly recall the burst of warmth in her chest, the ruckus in her stomach, the incoherency in her head, the feelings that rose up to her lips and stammered out by her tongue, coming out stale yet sincere. But if given a time machine, Joohyun wouldn’t have done any of it.

She wouldn’t have done any of it if she knew the younger girl would be completely ignoring her the next day.

Joohyun saw Seungwan approaching from the other end of the hallway and braced herself. She fumbled with different ways to start a conversation with the girl, her mind in chaos, her heart in rampage.

When the girl neared, the first thing Joohyun noticed was her hair. It wasn’t in its usual shade of purple Joohyun had always loved. It had been dyed dark and cut a little shorter.

Dark hair suits you, Joohyun was about to say but she faltered as Seungwan continued walking by like a passing wind, as though Joohyun was never there.

What the hell? Joohyun was stumped. She turned around but Seungwan had disappeared around the corner, dark brown tresses being the last thing she saw before the girl was gone.

The air that Seungwan left behind briefly smelled like alcohol instead of her usual vanilla. Her hair dark brown instead of purple. Her eyes no longer locking with Joohyun’s and brightening up the way it always does whenever they happen to bump into each other.

Son Seungwan seemed to have become a different person.

Joohyun blinked; a little confused, a little scared, and a little hurt yet also at the same time, a little more fired up. Yeah, okay, so Seungwan’s ignoring her existence. So what? Joohyun’s going to go and catch that slippery fish with her own bare hands.

Because as rushed and unplanned as their first kiss was, all that matters is the fact that Seungwan had kissed her back.

***

Wendy staggered inside the headquarters and the other three stared at their resident snowman in wonder, exchanging quick worried looks with each other because first, the girl who would usually enter with a smile and a bright greeting followed by endless chitchat now walked lifelessly, slumping herself on her seat and staring into space. Second, the usually neat girl looked disheveled with her now brown hair sticking out on all directions and round spectacles hanging precariously crooked on her nose, white cardigan wrinkled and falling off her bare shoulder.

“Seungwan?” Seulgi was the one who called out to her first, “Are you okay?’

The girl merely groaned in reply.  No one could tell if it was a yes or a no.

“Why are you here?” Yeri asked, her method a bit more straightforward than the bear’s, “Don’t you have class?”

Wendy groaned again, planting her face on top of the piano.

Concerned, Joy hopped off the instrument to approach Wendy only to back off.

“Unnie. Have you been drinking? At this hour?” Joy wrinkled her nose, “You reek!”

Wendy looked up and squinted at her, “I drank last night,” she drank all night. “And I don’t smell that much. Your nose is just like a dog’s.”

“You’ve been drinking?” Seulgi asked, face clearly showing her worry. The Wendy they all knew didn’t drink unless it’s necessary or if it’s an important event.

Wendy looked away, “I needed help falling asleep.”

Joy cupped her cheeks and forced her to face her, “But you clearly didn’t achieve that, did you?” she said, “Man, look at those dark circles.”

“That’s a nice shade of exhaustion you’re wearing, unnie.” Yeri quipped.

Wendy swatted Joy’s hands away, “Leave me alone,”

Joy straightened up, hands on her waist, “Uh-huh. Why are you even here? You have class, don’t you?”

“I skipped.”

“Hangover?”

Wendy nodded. Hangover. Also, because her class would be music and Irene Bae would be there.

“What’s this then?” Joy pinched a lock of Wendy’s brown hair and lifted it up.

Wendy glared at her, annoyed, “Why are you being so nosy?”

“Why are you being so different?” Joy shot back. Behind her, Seulgi and Yeri looked on anxiously, sensing the rising tension. 

Wendy sighed and looked away, knowing it was unfair that she’s pouring her frustrations to others.

“The CEO doesn’t approve of my previous hair color so I changed it back to a more normal shade.” she lied. Truth was, she hasn’t even seen her parents since the gala. She had been hiding in one of the apartment complex’s her sister owned.

“But isn’t that the point?” Yeri asked, “It’s been eons since you had a natural hair color and you dye it to spite your family. What’s going on, unnie?”

Wendy looked down, hiding under her fringe. She stared at her tiny hands and bit her lip, hesitating. “I wanted to change overnight. If only I could.”

She just couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain someone every time she looked at her hair. How can she start to forget her when the shade of her own hair was her favorite color? If only I could also dye my heart and make it beat to the other direction then I would have.

“You cut your hair short and dyed it to brown. You drank all night yet wasn’t able to sleep. It’s exam period but you’re skipping your classes.” she pointed out.  “Your subject this morning was…” she trailed off, things coming together. Wendy never acted this way even when she had troubles with her family. Which leaves only one troublesome person…

“Seungwan-unnie.” she started, suddenly sounding serious. “Did something happen yesterday?”

Wendy couldn’t meet her gaze, “No.” she had always been a bad liar.

“Okay.” Joy took a deep breath, “Where were you yesterday then? I didn’t see you around,”

“I’ve been…cooped up in the library,”

“Seulgi-unnie,” Joy called, not taking her eyes off Wendy, “Can you please show the footage from the CCTV in the library?”

Wendy’s head shot up, eyes wide and a hand reaching out to Joy’s arm in alarm, “Wait—what—? Sooyoung, no. Seulgi, stop that!” she got to her feet when Seulgi sat on the piano and started playing tunes. Joy held her down. “There’s nothing to see!”

“With the way you’re acting, it seems like there’s a lot to see.” Yeri said, kicking back on her seat as though ready to watch drama unfold.

The screens soon showed every corner of the library and Wendy froze. Seulgi picked the one where the brunette is in and fast-forwarded, slowing down when Irene Bae appeared, sneaking behind Wendy.

The girl turned away and squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to see it again.

“Unnie. What…” Joy trailed off and for a moment, the headquarters was silent. All Wendy could hear was the loud beating of her own heart. When she opened her eyes to take a peek, the screen showed Irene Bae standing alone in the middle of bookshelves, staring into space. Clenching her jaw, Wendy broke out of Joy’s hold and pulled the plug out.

Complete silence.

Everyone was quiet and still, no one moving a muscle as though someone had pushed the pause button in their life.

How Wendy wished there was such thing. A rewind button would be nice too.

“Seungwan…” Seulgi broke the silence with the most heart wrenching rendition of her name. Her friend stood and approached her, pulling her into her arms, “Oh, Seungwan…”

The façade Wendy’s been putting up crumbled down and she sobbed into Seulgi’s shoulder. The pain from stepping away from Joohyun and rejecting her feelings in the library, from pretending not to see her in the hallway when all she wanted was to at least hold her hand all came crashing back.

To her, Bae Joohyun’s like a fragile flower that she likes so much despite its thorns and usually, whenever she liked something, her family would take it away and crush it under their feet right before her own eyes.

She’d seen her dreams crumble.

She’d seen her being plucked out of her arms and flung to the other side of the world.

She couldn’t let that happen to Joohyun.  She couldn’t let them take Joohyun too.

If they did, Wendy wouldn’t know what she’d do.

She felt a pat on her shoulder and a pair of arms hugging her from behind and looked up, seeing Joy’s soft gaze and smelling the baby powder Yeri always wore and smiled, feeling grateful to have these understanding friends with her.

Our bond is more than just business, is it not?

***

“You’re not supposed to fall for me, unnie.”

Why the hell not? Joohyun internally screamed, scooping water from the pond and watching it drip out of her hand and thought that Seungwan was like the water, always managing to escape despite how firm her grip was.

She sighed and stood, wiping her wet hand on her pants and taking her bag from one of the benches. Her next class starts in fifteen minutes and there she was, sulking about Seungwan and comparing her to water like a damned lovesick poet while sitting by the pond for no reason. She scoffed at herself. Pathetic.

But Joohyun couldn’t blame herself for moping around. It had been days since they last talked in the library and Seungwan’s still refusing to acknowledge her presence. She saw the girl at the cafeteria, at the corridors, at the streets, and nearly everywhere else but the latter would always pass by without even as much as a single glance as though Joohyun didn’t exist, as though Joohyun wasn’t important enough to even look at.

And as much as Joohyun refused to admit, it hurt every single time.

She would rather have the Seungwan that stuttered out lame excuses back than deal with this cold treatment. At least the girl had been cute then. Right now? Not so much.

Joohyun was nearing the arts building when she saw a familiar figure walking in. She stopped in her tracks. What’s Seungwan doing there? Joohyun memorized her schedule by heart and knew that she had no classes to take in the arts building.

She followed her, hoping to maybe talk and fix the dent in their relationship. Seungwan walked fast. Joohyun almost lost her twice but she managed to keep up but unable to get close enough to get her attention. The brunette climbed up a flight of stairs, speed walked to the other end of the building and climbed another flight of stairs, went back to the other side and climbed again.

Joohyun was panting when she reached the third floor. Just where is Seungwan going? The way she climbed was like how secret agents in those spy movies did. Like she was trying to shake off anyone on her tail. Did she know Joohyun was following her? Or was she really heading to a secret place?

She saw Seungwan turning to a corner heading to the west wing and was about to follow when she accidentally bumped into an arts student carrying about a dozen of huge canvases. She apologized and helped her pick them up before dashing after Seungwan.

Joohyun felt weird. Her heart was weirdly beating fast and it wasn’t just because of her sprint. Out of nowhere, she felt nervous. Her gut feeling told her that she shouldn’t be there.

At the end of the corridor, she saw Seungwan open a door and enter the room. Joohyun skidded to a stop and looked up to read the signage, curious. The letters seemed to have faded through time and now only read SIC ROOM.

Joohyun tilted her head to the side, wondering what business Seungwan had in this place that seemed uninhabited for a long time now. She stepped forward and gripped the knob, fingers slowly wrapping around the cold metal, ready to twist it open.

“Bae Joohyun?”

She let go of the knob as though singed and jumped about half a meter away from the door.

“P-Professor Nam?”

The elderly man looked at her then at the door as though just realizing what she was about to do.

“Were you about to enter that room just now?”

Joohyun blinked rapidly and tried to calm herself down. Why the hell did she feel like she’s caught stealing something?

“…yes, sir.”

The professor knit his brows, “Nothing’s in there though? You shouldn’t waste your time here. Don’t you have class?”

Joohyun gasped, glancing at her wristwatch, and groaned. She’s ten minutes late for her next subject. She bid goodbye to the man and dashed out of the building.

***

Wendy stepped in the headquarters and saw the team seated on the couch. She took a deep breath and walked over.

“Sit, unnie.” Joy offered.

Wendy raised a brow. With Yeri and Seulgi’s entangled legs occupying majority of the couch, there wasn’t any spot left for her. “There’s nowhere to sit on.”

“Well, my lap is always a choice,”

“No thank you,” Wendy rolled her eyes and dragged a seat from the piano, ignoring the trio’s cackles. She sat in front of them, feeling somewhat odd, being in a different space as though she’s separated.

No. Wendy shook the ugly thought away.

“So,” she started, dying to get it over with. They were finally going to address the big problem in the middle of their operation; the target falling for the cupid instead. “Uh, about what happened…am I going to be kicked out?”

“Kicked out?” Seulgi echoed, “If she’s going to be kicked out then I’ll withdraw from this as well.” she said, sounding firm and looking like she meant it, though it was hard to take her seriously with the cute way she’s frowning like an angry baby bear.

Yeri gave Wendy a look that told her the girl had been going on about it for quite some time now. Wendy’s chest felt warm and she gave her same-aged friend an appreciative smile.

 “As you can see, we can’t exactly do that since you two are like a package.” Yeri said, “Relax Teddy Bear-unnie, no one’s going to fight you.”

Wendy blinked, “So I’m not out?” she asked and the three of them nodded, “But the contract…”

“Can go itself,” Joy filled in, waving Wendy away when she looked like she was about to reprimand the younger’s use of words, “It’s not a legit one anyway. I just copied it from the internet, put some stuff in, and printed it out. I thought you knew that?”

Wendy did but she hoped Joy didn’t say that aloud. She wanted to fool herself for a bit longer. Justify her actions with more reasons for a bit longer to feel even just a little better. How selfish.

“So,” she raised her voice a bit to be heard over the chaos in her head, “What’s going to happen now?”

“Do you like her too, unnie?”

Wendy choked at the straightforward question, feeling like she’s stabbed on the gut. “W-What?”

“Do you like her?” Seulgi repeated Joy’s question, eyes intensely boring into her.

With the way their gazes seemed to melt her down, intimidating her to say the truth, Wendy knew they already know the answer anyway.

“W-What do you mean? I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Yeri folded her legs, hugging her knees to her chest, “What we mean and what we’re talking about is if you feel the same. You know, like, if you felt all those gross, yucky, icky feelings in your chest when you look at her or if you get butterflies when you’re together or if you can’t sleep because you’re thinking of her or if you started drinking when you’re mindful of your liver and all those health crap because she tells you she feels the same yet you can’t do anything about it because you’re scared. Those stuff.” her lips stretched into a crooked grin, “Is it clear enough for you now, unnie?”

Wendy’s eye twitched. Kim Yerim you little rascal…

 “So, unnie. Do you feel the same?” Joy asked again. The three of them were smiling ever so cheekily now, looking at Wendy like little demonic cherubs.

We’re all-knowing. Joy’s infamous quote rings in her head. She used to snort whenever she heard that but seems like it’s true. What do these girls not know?

How to stop teasing me that’s what.

Wendy threw her head back in exasperation, “You already know the answer so what’s the point?”

“Come on, Wan-ah,” Seulgi coaxed, “Tell us,”

“We need to hear you say it for the magic to bind,” Yeri quipped.

Wendy sighed, thinking her weird friends were being their usual weird selves again.

“Alright. I like Bae Joohyun.” she said, feeling as though a weight was taken off her shoulders as soon as she said it. She was able to breathe a bit better now that the (not really) secret was out. “And what about it?”

The three of them grinned like Cheshire cats.

“We’ll clean up this mess for you,” Joy said, “It’s a privilege of being a Stupid Cupid, you know?”

Wendy frowned, confused, “Since when?”

Joy shrugged, “Just now.”

***

Her last class for the day had finally ended and Joohyun was fixing her things, organizing her pencil case and stacking notes, ready to leave the room. She made a mental to-do list when she gets home; do her laundry, do her homework, cook dinner, continue doing her homework, study, study, try giving Seungwan a call, and sleep.

She sighed at the bleakness of it all and hoped Seungwan would answer the phone this time, though she wasn’t quite sure what she’d say if the girl did. Hopefully, the brunette hadn’t blocked her number yet.

Joohyun was about to leave when her ears caught hushed words that made her stop in her tracks.

“—Arts Building. Third floor. West wing. The abandoned music room. Every Friday. They’re only there every Friday.”

Joohyun held her breath, a quick flashback of faded signboards, deserted hallways, and huge elegant doors, a certain brunette disappearing inside it showing up before her eyes.

“You sure they’ll be there?”

“Yes! That’s the Revel-LOVE Dating Agency’s headquarters.”

A bell rang in Joohyun’s head along with faceless voices.

“Hey, have you heard of the Revel-LOVE Dating Agency?”

“Yeah but did you know? I heard the Stupid Cupids turned Eric Nam down just recently.”

“He asked them to help him in courting Wendy Son, they say. But they turned him down.”

It’s that some sort of organization or something that hooked people up, she remembered. But why would Seungwan go to such place? Did she need help to ask someone out? Joohyun did hear she has someone she likes. But it’s not even Friday. They said they’re only there every Friday, whoever they are.

“If you’re playing with me I swear I’ll—”

“Now, now, there’s no need for that. They’ll be there. Guaranteed. But try to go next month. I heard they’re focusing on one operation right now but I don’t know what. They’re not accepting clients yet,”

“Can you tell me a bit of how it’s like?”

“Well, they make you wear a pair of eyeglasses and an earpiece. The glasses are actually cameras so they see what’s going on and the earpiece is for them to tell you what to do.”

They’re only there every Friday. They’re not accepting clients yet. Then why…Joohyun’s head swam with question marks but before she could further think about it, someone had called her name.

“Irene-sunbae!”

Joohyun snapped out of her thoughts with a flinch, wide eyes zeroing on the guy by the door. She sighed and walked over.

“What’s wrong? You looked dazed,” Park Bogum asked, walking along and trying to carry her things for her only to be brushed off.

“Nothing.” Joohyun muttered. She glanced at the guy and looked properly for the first time. Her eyes caught a tiny dot in his ear. Was that a mole? His eyeglasses looked really familiar.

“Are those prescription glasses?”

“Huh? Oh, these?” he nudged his specs, “Er, yeah. My eyesight is pretty bad.”

Joohyun hummed, still staring at the glasses. There’s a weird feeling in her gut and most of the time, her instincts are right. Something’s odd.

“Can I have a look?”

Park Bogum flinched and took one full step away from her, chuckling awkwardly, nervously, “Ah, these are really old so I…uh…it would be best if I just keep it on…ha-ha.”

With a nod, Joohyun pretended to buy it and continued walking.

Hmm…