Joy wonders, not for the first time, whether it was wise to leave the snowman to fend for herself.

She and Seulgi had ducked behind a car nearby and watched the whole exchange, from Joohyun’s tentative poke on Wendy’s shoulder to Wendy suddenly walking up the path. At first, Joy thought Wendy’s navigational abilities must have failed her but nope, Joohyun opened the front door and Wendy stumbled into the house like an idiot.

What the hell?

She’s not worried for Wendy’s state of mental health actually (The girl is crazy, Joy knows this very well) but she was more concerned for the poor soul whose birthday party Wendy just intruded on.

(How nice it must be to have the spazz attack of a snowman at your birthday party.)

But really, why is that idiot snowman going into the house? Joy wanted to scream. She ordered Wendy to get Joohyun’s number, not get herself invited to the party!

Talk about stalker level up. Joy face-palms, feeling a strong headache coming on.

“Aww you cutie. The meanie snowman must have scared you, didn’t she? Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”

Joy slowly looks around at Seulgi, happily cooing at the caterpillar sitting in the palm of her hand. Holy fried chicken, that thing is huge. No wonder Wendy freaked out.

“Seul, what are you doing with that...thing?”

Seulgi pauses mid-way through her soft murmurings, blinking at Joy, “I’m calming it down. It must have been traumatised!”

Joy stares at the hairy creature. It looks…as traumatised as a rock that went rolling in the river. It continues to wriggle mindlessly in Seulgi’s hand.

Such trauma.

“Seulgi,” Joy starts, keeping her voice calm, “It’s a caterpillar. I doubt it has the capacity to feel anything.”

“Don’t discriminate, Joy,” Seulgi retorts and lightly pats the caterpillar, “I’ll let you rest at home –”

Much stupidity.

“Seul. You need to put it back in the bushes.”

“No, I’m not putting Pringles anywhere!”

“It doesn’t –” Joy stops short, the girl’s words finally hitting her, “’Pringles’?”

“Yup,” Seulgi beams proudly, “I’m calling it Pringles.”

She did not just name a caterpillar after her favourite snack.

Joy wonders, not for the first time, how she ended up becoming friends with a rather delusional snowman and a bear with a pet caterpillar.

***

There are many things that are impossible in nature.

A beach full of blue sand. An orange sea. A horse doing the grand jete. With a frilly pink tutu.

The sheer thought of Wendy standing in Joohyun’s house is as impossible as a horse in a tutu doing the grand jete on a beach with blue sand by an orange sea.

But here she is.

Possibly hallucinating. Not hyperventilating. Not crying. Not screaming. Not whatever “–ing” else.

She must have died and her soul ascended to heaven. Cupid took one look and went, “Oh wait, you know what? We have been too cruel to her. Let her at least step into her senpai’s house before dying of respiratory failure.”

Cruel. How very cruel.

Wendy gazes at the hardwood floors and thinks, I should kiss them. Also, I must take a selca with senpai. Yes. Ultimate goal.

A pause.

Holy cabbages from the heavens, I’m in Bae Joohyun’s home. This is lit as fu–

“This way,” Joohyun murmurs (so soft, her voice is so soft. And warm. Like hot chocolate topped with marshmallows) walking slightly ahead. Wendy trails after her, still in a daze.

She’s certain she left her brain at the door and this is just the tour of the craziest fantasies. Welcome to House of Bae. With pale orange walls and furniture made of the finest wood, but today, there are rainbow streamers everywhere so mind you don’t get yourself entangled in any of them. Avoid the balloons – oops, smacked you in the face, didn’t it? Careful! Don’t knock down that vase! Ah and on your left, are photos of –

Baby Bae Joohyun hugging an ironing board.

Wendy gapes at the photo, smacking away the balloon hovering close to her face. There is no mistaking that smile and eyes scrunched up into crescents. Baby Bae was clutching the board like her life depended on it.

So. Freaking. Cute.

She is so sure she’s going to implode because of the squealing she had to contain within the depths of her soul, if she still has one that is. How very much she wants to pull the frame off the wall and run out of there screaming like the deranged lunatic she is, “THIS. IS. BAEBYYYYY.”

Wendy thinks she heard someone clear but she ignores it. The struggle to not simply die on the spot is real as her eyes decides to travel further down the wall.

Baby Bae Joohyun dressed as a cabbage for Halloween.

Baby Bae Joohyun crying while all wrapped in a purple blanket.

Baby Bae Joohyun sitting by the washing machine, covered in soap bubbles while waving chubby fists at the camera.

And there were more. Wendy actually clutches at her chest, trying to calm her raging heart. The adorableness that decorates the wall, the snapshots of Bae Joohyun’s childhood plastered right there for her to see and imprint into her memory. Her eyes waters.

This can’t be real.

She hears a soft cough and Wendy wanted to shush this intrusion to the most significant moment in her fangirl life. How dare it spoils the reality that has come to bloom right in front of her eyes. A blot in the page with the header BEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE.

That’s one small step for a fangirl, one giant leap for–

This time it was a cacophony of hacking coughs bursting through her little fantasy and Wendy turns around with fists raised –

Joohyun regards he