“Wendy, I love you.”

Irene got anxious counting the amount of times Wendy blinked after her confession.

“W-Wendy?”

Wendy’s next words stabbed the deepest parts of Irene.

“No you don’t, Irene. It’s not love you’re feeling.”

Irene’s confidence quickly deteriorated.

“What?” she managed to squeak out.

“Sorry, I..I gotta go,” Wendy said, her voice barely above a whisper. She walked out of the kitchen door, leaving Irene alone.

Irene ran her fingers through her hair as her eyes started to sting and exhaled deeply.

‘. I ed up.’

She was just so caught up in the moment, so caught up in trying to convince Wendy that she wasn’t playing with her feelings, so caught up in her feelings that she didn’t think of the number one fear everyone faces at least once in their life; rejection and the feelings not being mutual.

But Irene was sure that she didn’t imagine it. Wendy kissed her back. Maybe Wendy did have feelings for her and if not, maybe even the slightest.

‘ it, Irene. That’s your delusion. You’ve ruined your friendship with Wendy.’

And with that, Irene rubbed her eyes and walked out of the kitchen with the feeling of Wendy’s sweet and soft lips implanted into her brain.

-
 

    Joy, Yeri, and Seulgi found it odd that the two other girls hadn’t even said a word to each other after Wendy rushed out of the kitchen. Irene and Wendy remained unusually quiet that day, unless a customer talked to them.

“You think something happened between them?” Yeri whispered, leaning closer to Joy as she cleaned up a spill.

“Probably. I mean, they usually talk to each other a lot. I wonder what happened,” Joy replied. Yeri gasped and looked at Joy.

“Maybe Mrs. Kang was right!” the younger girl said.

“Right about what? You getting plastic surgery for your forehead?” Joy asked, earning a slap on the shoulder from Yeri.

“No! Maybe we did curse the SonJoo couple! Oh my God, we need to do the ritual again! That stupid bear ruined everything by throwing that flashlight,” Yeri said, mentally murdering Seulgi.

“Later. Just focus on not spilling eggs and flour today.”

-

    Wendy looked towards the door when she heard the bell rang. A familiar girl appeared and walked over to the cash register.

“Oh hi, Wheein! You’re back!” Wendy said cheerfully and smiled. Wheein held up the form and gave it to Wendy.

“It’s nice seeing you again, Wendy unnie! I’m kind of late because of some setbacks, but I hope I get the chance to work here,” Wheein said, flashing an eye smile.

“Alright, I’ll go over this and I’ll call you tomorrow,” Wendy said.

“Thank you, unnie! I’ll see you later,” Wheein said and waved before walking back out of the bakery.

    Irene watched as Wendy smiled at the girl and she couldn’t help but feel a stab of pain.

‘Is she not affected at all? Does she not care?’

Irene sighed and untied her hair after cleaning the women’s restroom. She suddenly didn’t like working as their janitress or their poster girl anymore. Not when Wendy couldn’t even look at her. Irene walked past the customers, who stared at her in awe of her beauty, to one of the coffee machines.

“Yahhh, isn’t she too pretty to be the janitress?” one customer whispered to a friend. Irene ignored them. She would rather have Wendy call her that. Noticing the frown on Irene’s face, Seulgi stopped what she was doing and confronted the older girl.

“Hey, Bae.”

Irene looked at Seulgi. “Yeah?”

“What happened between you and Wannie?” Seulgi asked and adjusted her shirt. Irene sighed again.

“I may or may not have blurted out my confession to Wendy and now everything’s uncomfortable. Even my own feel uncomfortable on me,” she replied.

“Whoaa, I did not need to know that and ever since what happened with that girl, her parents, and Scumbag Oppa, Wendy doesn’t take these things very well,” Seulgi responded, observing Irene’s facial expressions carefully.

“Or maybe she just doesn’t have feelings for me. I have to face it, Seul,” Irene said, even though it hurt her to say those words. Seulgi chuckled and put a hand on Irene’s shoulder.

“Irene, I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She looks at you like you’re the only person in the world. She looks at you with that soft and content smile that she keeps exclusive fo