Date Completed: 13 June 2017

Song Recommendation: Lawson - Standing In The Dark (Title taken from the song lyrics)

Minor Pairings: BoRene, TaeNy

Just a real quick scribble one night while I was so stressed over my thesis. Updating today because of a promise I randomly made in my AFF chatroom and it so happened that Red Velvet teaser came out today woohoo! Next update will be on 16 July and it'll be super long, do anticipate that one a lot. I love that fic. I worked on it for months. Until then, I hope you enjoy this! Oh, some coarse language ahead, you've been warned.

Wendy huffed out a puff of smoke and Irene frowned when the wind blew the smoke to her face. Wendy realized this but she put up the façade of not caring. She leaned her back against the grassy ground and stared at the stars on the sky. She could only recognize the hunter, from his infamous Orion’s belt. Wendy traced the belt with her eyes, wondering about the saying that when a person died, they would be a star on the sky. Wendy wondered who she was looking at at the moment; wondered what they had done in their lives to be stuck as someone else’s belt in their afterlives.

“You said you don’t smoke anymore.”

Irene sounded resigned when she said that, as if she was disappointed in Wendy. Wendy felt the familiar pain creeping in her heart but she ignored it.

“I lied. Not much difference anyway, considering we rarely hang out these days for you to see me smoking.”

Irene sighed and Wendy smiled bitterly. The old Irene would’ve laid down beside her and pointed at stars together but this Irene would just notice the things she was not supposed to be doing.

What was she doing here anyway?

“Bogum said that it would be fine for you to attend his birthday party tomorrow night.”

Wendy turned to look at Irene so fast when she heard that. Irene seemed unaffected; she was staring at the view below the hill. If it was not for her slightly blushing cheeks, Wendy would have thought she had not spoken at all.

“Why the do you think I want to go his party?”

She scoffed and Irene turned to look at Wendy, her eyes pleading.

“Please, Wendy. I don’t really know anyone else there and if you’re there, I’d feel more at ease. Accompany me please?”

Wendy threw her head back and laughed at this. She threw her cigarette down the hill and shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s your boyfriend’s birthday for god sake, why do you need to know anyone else there? You’re practically the guest of honour!”

The familiar face of Park Bogum came to Wendy’s mind. She clenched her fist and bit her lip when she was reminded by the kind smile and pure smile. He was very popular in their campus and so many people lined up to date him but he chose Irene. Much as she tried to bring herself to hate Bogum, she could not do so. The guy had been nothing but good to Irene and she knew Bogum thought she was a bad influence to Irene.

She hated the fact that she could not disagree with him.

“Wendy, please. You’re the only one that can make me feel comfortable in that setting. I need you there.”

Again, she felt a hysterical laughter bubbling at the base of . She held it in and stood up, sweeping her back from any traces of dirt and stared to the distance, away from Irene.

“So that’s why you’re here huh. After avoiding our Friday nights hang out for weeks…you come here to look for me and ask me to be your personal bodyguard slash mascot.”

“Wendy, you know I’ve been busy…”

Wendy interfered before Irene could finish her sentence.

“Can’t promise a thing. I’ll be sleeping at Seulgi’s tonight so if I’m not hangover for the whole day tomorrow, I might just go. But don’t hope too much, princess.”

She could see the frown forming in Irene’s face and she started to turn and walked down the hill when she heard a question from the person she had loved for more than half her life.

“Are you seeing Kang Seulgi now?”

Wendy turned and looked at Irene with a smirk plastered on her face, hiding the tears that were threatening to fall.

“Depends if you call mindless ing as seeing each other.”

And then she walked away, leaving Irene whose eyes were wide open from shock.

“! You told her we’re….Wendy! That is so gross! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Wendy laughed when she stared at Seulgi pacing back and forth at her living room. She recounted her meeting with Irene to Seulgi and ever since then, her best friend had been pissed off at her. She could care less; she knew Seulgi would calm down after a while. True enough, Seulgi finally let out a long sigh and settled beside Wendy at the family couch. She opened a can of Pringles and started to stuff herself, slapping Wendy’s hand when the slightly younger girl tried to get some chips.

“Ouch! You could’ve just refused you know, and I would not steal it.”

She pouted and Seulgi just ignored her. The Pringles lover stared at the drama playing on the TV as if it was more interesting than the person sitting beside her.

“Are you going to the party, Wen?”

When Wendy finally gave up with her whines and proddings to get Seulgi’s Pringles, Seulgi suddenly asked the question. Wendy snorted at this, her eyes never leaving the screen although she knew Seulgi was staring at her.

“Of course. Do you still need to ask?”

“But why? You’re just going to get hurt.”

At this, Wendy turned around and look into Seulgi’s eyes. She did not say anything yet but Seulgi could see the sad pair of eyes and the heavy smile she managed to put on seemed to give her a more human outlook than she usually presented herself.

“She asked, Ddeulgi. She asked, and I would answer.”

Seulgi almost winced as she listened to this but she nodded. She shoved her Pringles to Wendy and the other girl took the Pringles gratefully, knowing that it was Seulgi’s way of comforting her.

The rest of the night was filled with the sound of tv and two friends munching on chips.

Wendy rolled her eyes when catcalls greeted her arrival. The party was supposed to start an hour ago and there were already a lot of people gathered at Bogum’s house. She was dressed rather casually for the party; with a hoodie over her printed tee and long, black skinny jeans. Her hair was quite unkempt but by everyone’s standard, she was still a looker. Her eyes scanned the place, trying to search for Irene but she could not see the girl everywhere.

She entered the house and greeted a few faces that she recognized along the way. When she was in the house, she started to feel suffocated by the amount of bodies in there. She could faintly hear some people calling her name and asking her to dance but she ignored those and wandered around, trying to look for a more quiet place. When someone pulled her arm, she almost pushed the person away but the small but firm grip just dragged her along to an area that she presumed was the kitchen. The place was still filled with students, chatting around but it was not as noisy as other places.

She realized the identity of the person who dragged her to the kitchen when she turned around and greeted with a pleasant grin.

“Taeyeon unnie!”

“Hey kid, I was going to get some punch outside but when I saw a lost sheep, I thought I have to guide her.”

Taeyeon then laughed boisterously, the kind of laughter that reminded Wendy of how old aunties would laugh and she laughed alongside Taeyeon while shaking her head. Taeyeon was her senior in Music Department and she had now graduated; but she was still around working as TA while doing her master degree. Wendy used to have a huge crush on her talented senior and Irene was the only one who knew this because they were still close in freshman year.

Wendy and Irene were childhood friends who were lucky enough to get into the same university. Although lucky would be stating it wrongly, as Wendy purposely applied to the same school as Irene because she had already harboured strong feelings for the girl ever since they were in middle school. Wendy was always the wild one out of the two of them while Irene was the petite and proper sort of girl. While Wendy would get into brawls and skipped schools, Irene was the one who would treat her injuries and tutored her for the lessons she missed. But these were a long time ago.

“Are you here alone, unnie?” Wendy’s question was answered with a snort.

“As if. I wouldn’t be here if it’s not for Fany. She asked for Bogum’s help for something last year and they got close, that’s how I got dragged along to attend Mr. Perfect’s party.”

Wendy nodded, understanding. She had seen Taeyeon’s girlfriend, Tiffany with Bogum but her brain was slow to connect the dots.

“But Wendy…why are you here? You are the last person I thought would be here.”

If Wendy could run away from Taeyeon’s concerned eyes that were looking at her, she would. She found it ironic that Irene thought she liked Taeyeon but Taeyeon knew for a fact that she had actually been in love with Irene for a long time. Wendy shrugged before she spoke.

“Irene said she’s uncomfortable since she barely knows anyone here so she asked me to come along too.”

Wendy said this nonchalantly, trying to sound as if she was not bothered by the whole situation but Taeyeon’s frown told her that she was not doing a good job. Probably it was because Taeyeon knew her too well from all the times they had worked together but she could never lie to Taeyeon without being caught.

“Hey, listen. I know how you feel for her but you don’t have to push yourself to do this, Wendy. What’s important here is that you’re happy. Don’t do stuffs that make you unhappy.”

“Unnie, I’ll be happy when she’s happy. So don’t worry.”

“Do you think she’ll be happy to know you’re suffering silently like this? When you distance yourself from her? Do you really think she invites you to this party just because she needs someone to accompany her? I thought I raised you up to be better than this.”

For a moment, Wendy could not breathe. Irene’s pleading face flashed back to her mind. Of course, she was stupid to not realize it sooner. She just distanced herself from Irene without any explanation; her friend would have surely missed her. She probably realized that Wendy was anguished but she did not know the reason why. For as long as they had known each other, Wendy was focused on making Irene happy but so was Irene. Wendy’s happiness meant a lot for her too. Wendy was too caught up in her jealousy and sadness to realize.

Taeyeon sighed when the look of understanding dawned on Wendy’s face. She understood the war that was going on inside her junior’s mind. Wendy was like her own sister and she needed Wendy to realize what was going on from Irene’s side too.

“Did I…am I the reason why she looks unhappy these days?”

Wendy whispered the words and the sound of chatters would have drowned her voice if Taeyeon was not giving her full focus on Wendy. Taeyeon pulled Wendy into her hug. Taeyeon was considered petite in the campus but Wendy, despite her tough appearance was actually smaller than Taeyeon. Wendy complied and rested her chin on Taeyeon’s shoulder. She did not cry, but both of them knew she was in shock. Taeyeon rubbed soothing lines on Wendy’s back but her concern turned to slight panic when she realized someone was watching them from the kitchen entrance.

“Urm, fam, I love you and I hate seeing you sad but we might have to stop hugging now.”

Wendy who was starting to feel calm was weirded out when she heard Taeyeon’s nervous voice and she let go of the older girl. She raised an eyebrow at Taeyeon, waiting for explanation but Taeyeon only directed her eyes to somewhere behind Wendy. Wendy turned around and she gulped when she saw Irene standing there. Her eyes were a few shades darker than normal and her cold face was even colder as she looked at the both of them.

“Alright. It was nice seeing you around Wendy. Let’s catch up later okay? I gotta look for Fany. See you!”

Taeyeon ran off from the kitchen and squeaked a small ‘hi’ as she was passing by Irene and that was returned with a curt nod from an unsmiling face. Irene walked closer to Wendy and Wendy tried to put up a cold front too. When Irene stood directly in front of her, Wendy could feel her knees going weak from smelling the girl’s perfume and it did not help that Irene’s collarbone was exposed by the off-shoulder one piece dress worn by the girl. Irene’s dark eyes seemed to scan Wendy’s whole being and suddenly Wendy felt underdressed although she knew she was not the only one at the party who was dressed casually.

“I thought you wouldn’t come.”

Everything seemed to fade away except for Irene’s husky voice and Wendy swallowed her saliva. She was intimidated by her own childhood friend that was viewed as soft-spoken and kind hearted by everyone else. Other people in her position would have laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation was.

Wendy shrugged, trying to act as if she was unaffected by Irene’s presence although she could feel her confidence resolving.

“Seulgi slept early last night so I crashed earlier too. Might as well or else your highness would be all alone in this party full of people, right?”

Wendy spoke in a mocking way. Usually Irene would scoff at this but there was no reaction from the girl. Instead, she just stared lifelessly at Wendy.

“What did you talk about with Taeyeon sunbae?”

“None of your business. I’m gonna get some drinks now.”

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