07- Insane

The colors of greens, blues, and pinks from the nature blurs together as her vision loses focus. Her face placed on both her palms, lips forming a straight line, and mind wandering off somewhere. Everything has been weird the past few weeks after that video game session at Wendy and Joy’s house, something was off and all she knows-- feels-- is that her best friend is sad and is easily irritated. She asked the latter once if everything’s okay and got ‘drop it’ as an answer, which she translated as ‘I’m not ready to talk about it’ and so she just decided to wait it out because they always, always, tell each other everything.

“Seul~ Did you wait long?” came her best friend’s voice, bringing her out of her thoughts. She looked up from her seat and gave her the best bear smile she could muster.

“Nope~ Just got here myself~” Wendy smiled, sitting down in front of her in the quaint ice cream shop that she loves. She noticed that her best friend’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Let me order our ice creams~ Same flavor?”

“Yeah okay.” She nodded and went on to get their respective cold sweets, paying and waiting for the cups filled with creamy goodness to be handed back to her. She mumbled a thank you to the clerk before walking back to their table where she saw her Wendy zoning out. She stopped on her tracks, her lips quirking down. It was uncharacteristic of her best friend to just zone out like this but it’s been happening a lot lately. She took a deep breath before putting a smile on her face and walking back, placing the ice cream down and grinning at Wendy who smiled back at her, poking the ice cream thoughtlessly.

They stayed quiet for a while, Wendy nibbling on little amounts of her dessert looking like she’s deep in thought while she observed her, her own ice cream almost forgotten. Her best friend finally looked up at her, realizing that she was also there.

“Thanks for the treat...” She smiled gently.

“No problem, I’m just glad that you’re not busy and can meet with me~”she replied, eyes turning into crescents. Wendy averted her gaze, looking down at her half filled cup, eyebrows curving in worry.

“I haven’t been such a good friend to you, right?” She barely caught the words since Wendy had said it too low for normal human ears to hear. Good thing her ears are big, and round, and teddy like.

“What are you saying, Wen? You’ve been such a great friend to me!”

“But--”

“Who’s my star?” Wendy bit her lip, it was something that only the both of them knew, an intimate thing if she could say it like that, that she does whenever the younger one was unsure or losing confidence. She repeated the question again, looking at her best friend with fire in her eyes, “Who’s my star?”

“..I am...” Wendy whispered.

“I can’t hear youuuuu~ Who’s my star?~”

“I am?” It was louder now but it came out as a question. She chuckled and shook her head.

“Who’s my star?”

“I am.” it sounded more sure and confident now.

“I can’t hear you~ Who’s my star?”

“I AM.” They were staring at each other now, Wendy with certainty and confidence in her eyes and a smile that finally reaches her inner being. She grinned.

“Correct! And as a proof..” she fumbled around her bag and pulled out a small box and handed it to the smaller one who was now looking at her with a questioning eyebrow.

“What’s this?”

“Open it~” Wendy shot her one last look before opening the box. She heard a small gasp as the younger one took out the necklace with the star pendant, looking at it then looking at her then back to it.

“Seul..”

“I want you to know that whatever happens, wherever life may take us, if we don’t get to see each other a lot, and if you feel down...uhm..just look at that and remember that you’ll...you’ll always be my star. My only star.” Wendy stared at her for a while before scrunching her nose and exclaiming,

“You’re so cheesy!” before grinning at her and offering the necklace, “help me put it on?” she nodded and immediately went to the younger one’s side, gently placing Wendy’s hair over her shoulders and getting each end of the necklace before locking it in place and softly holding on the smaller one’s shoulder.

“Done.” she whispered on  her best friend’s ear, feeling the latter hitch a breath, before she moved away and went back to her place, grinning cutely.

“Thank you.” Wendy smiled, caressing the star on her neck before looking sadly at her, “I didn’t get you anything tho…” She chuckled,

“No need!~ It’s actually a pair and i’m wearing the other half--” before she could show her moon-shaped necklace, a call from the shop’s door averted their attention.

“Seulgi? Wendy?”

“Unnies?”

“Joy? Irene unnie?”

“Hey~ What are you doing here?” The eldest asked, smiling at them and pulling on Joy to walk towards them. She gave them a small wave.

“Wen and I are just hanging out~”

“Can we join you?” Joy asked, she felt that the question was more directed towards her best friend rather than both of them, so she waited. Wendy looked at her sister then back at her before her eyes landed on Irene’s, cheeks tinting red before looking away and nodding her head.

“Sure.” Well, she guesses, that’s the end of their time together. Irene sat beside Wendy while Joy took the space next to her. Her best friend was quiet yet again, cheeks still a tinge redder, eyes casts to the outside world while their friends started to babble about things.

Her vision was filled with blues and oranges as she stared at the of colors she once painted. The painting of her feelings was perched on one of her easels inside her bedroom, waiting for it to be given to a certain someone. She looked away and focused on the screen of her phone where Krystal’s message was opened.

‘I’ll be flying back to L.A. next month :(’ It was nearing the end of the school year which means the exchange program was finishing too. They only have a month left before school is officially over and application and admission for colleges officially starts its roll. Another ding from her phone signals a new message from the same girl,

‘I just realized that I won’t be here when you get your results from the colleges you applied too! :((’ she sighed, a few weeks ago, she and her sister had sent out the application forms that they filled out together, schools from here and also California and Canada. A flash of warm eyes invaded her mind and the feeling of a beautiful galaxy formed in her heart. She smiled.

‘I’ll tell you the results as soon as I get them!~’ she replied back and not soon after, Krystal had sent her another message.

‘I hope you get accepted!!’

‘Even if I did get accepted, I still don’t know if I wanna go….’

‘:c’

‘....I could always visit you if you want…?’

‘.......really?’

‘Yeah, why not?’

‘................You’re serious??!!’

‘Yes….? unless you don’t want me to….’

‘No! I’ll be expecting your visit then, Kang.’ before she could type out a reply, she received another message.

‘Where are you?’

‘......in your heart~~~~’

‘..........................’ She laughed, typing again but was startled to see another set of message, ‘we already know you’re in my heart.’

“What the--” she quickly erased what she typed and began to form a new message, ‘Did you hack your sister’s phone again, Joy?!’

‘Seulbear~ Stop joking around! Where are you?’

‘...House.’

‘Can you meet me by the park near the school?’ She looked at the clock and read 21:11

‘Now?’

‘Why?’

‘Are you there now?’

‘It’s late, Wendy! What are you doing there?!’

‘I’m on my way!’

She was panting and sweating when she got to the park, tossing her bike to the side once she sees her best friend sitting on one of the swings, drinking something from a can. She forgot how to breathe at the sight. Wendy looks so ethereal--the moonlight dancing through her face, the way the stars twinkle from her eyes like they’re made to be part of her, the faint glow that she’s giving...She’s sure that no one will ever compare to her best friend. This vision seems somewhat familiar to her, like she’s seen it before in a distant memory she doesn’t even remember having.

Wendy finally noticed her standing a few steps from the swings. The younger one smiled at her gently, radiating happiness and everything good in the world. Another star brightened inside her and connected to the others already there, extending her galaxy of feelings. She did not speak nor did Wendy, instead their eyes conversed and she knows that the smaller one is thinking, ‘You’re here. That’s all I need.’ She smiled and sat down at the other swing beside her best friend.

Wendy handed her the other can of unopened drink--tangerine juice-- and she took it gently with a smile, opened it, and took a sip, looking up at the starless skies. A storm must be coming, only the bright moon can be seen shining down on them. They stayed quiet for another minute before she spoke up, looking at her best friend worriedly.

“Is something wrong, Wen?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you suddenly want to meet? Is everything okay? Are you oka--” a chuckle stopped her mid-question and her heart warmed at the sight of Wendy looking at her, face amused.

“You worry too much~”

“Well I wouldn’t be worrying like this if you weren’t suddenly texting me to meet you at almost 10 in the evening!” she huffed, cheeks puffed and arms flailing crazily. Wendy chuckled some more before looking down on the can of drink in her hands, smile falling a bit.

“I’m sorry I suddenly messaged you this late… It was actually unintended. I was just taking a walk, you know, to clear my head and I don’t know… I just grabbed my phone and asked you to go here. Doesn’t that sound crazy?” the younger one laughed, it sounded empty in her ears. She scrunched her eyebrows, brain going a mile a minute.

“If that’s crazy then I might be downright insane because I love you.”