With eyes closed, she tries to steady her heart beating loud. She knows it. She knows the feeling. And she’s definitely sure what it means by now.

I like you, Wendy.

But the wild beating doesn’t stop.

Irene opens to speak but nothing comes out. She’s too stunned – of her own confession and of Wendy’s reaction.

“Say something…” she manages to whisper, desperate to stop the bubbling feeling gnawing her insides with anxiety.

It takes five seconds of Wendy brushing her hair to make her confess.

It takes five seconds of silence (and Wendy staring back) for her emotions to plummet to the ground.

If Wendy doesn’t say anything in the next five seconds, she would probably hyperventilate.

---

It takes five seconds for Wendy to become teary-eyed then smiles and cries at the same time.

“Irene… I like you too and I like you a lot. So much so I might as well be in love with you right now. And Irene, are you sure? Isn’t this just a dream?”

Irene leans closer, ready to kiss the rambling lips in front of her, when Wendy started showering Irene with kisses. She leans up to kiss her forehead, to her nose, to her cheeks, and lastly, to her lips. It was chaste until Irene reaches behind Wendy’s neck and changes their positions so that Irene is now towering over Wendy.

They only stop to catch their breath and Irene swears she would keep Wendy’s bashful smile plastered at the back of her mind.

---

“I’d rather not know what happened after the kiss but I’m happy for you!” Amber says with a hug to her best friend.

“What do you mean?” Irene asks back with confusion etched on her face.

Finally catching up, she blurts out, “Omg no! Nothing happened! We just slept I swear!”

She can't help but slap her best friend’s arm. The said girl is now leaning on the wall and holding her stomach from laughing too much. “I was just kidding. Gosh, Irene. You’re so smitten with this girl.”

---

Irene stares at her eyes in the mirror with her just-applied eyeliner. Soon, her gaze goes from staring at herself to recalling Wendy’s face the morning after.

She slipped from the covers silent