(A/N) I apologize in advance for any grammar issues and the weird indenting, I'm still figuring out how this editor works ;-; And isolated italics are all wendy's thoughts, in case that comes off confusing. Enjoy!

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    Click.

    Wendy carefully pushes open the door to her shared apartment, expecting her girlfriend to be asleep this late at night.

    What she does not expect is light emanating from the living room’s lamp and a very awake Irene reading on the sofa. Wendy’s heart clenches as the dark circles under her lover’s eyes become apparent when she looks up from her novel. She shifts her attention to the shorter brunette walking through the front door that shuts softly behind her.

    She waited again.

    “Hey, why are you up so late,” the question slips from Wendy’s lips before she registers the look Irene is giving her isn’t a loving gaze, but rather a withering glare.

    “I was waiting for my workaholic girlfriend to come home,” she places her book down onto the couch with a sigh and runs her free hand through her ebony locks, “but I should’ve expected you to be home late. Just like always,” her tone isn’t angry, just overflowing with exhaustion, “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

    “Yes, it’s-,” she glances at the watch strapped to her left wrist, “-two in the morning. I told you not to wait up for me ever since I took the extra hours at the hospital.” She doesn’t mean to come off harsh, but the overtime she has been doing for the past few months is taking it’s toll on her. The dark bags under her eyes, her slumped shoulders, and unkempt hair all put her recent stress on display.

    Irene releases a sound between a sigh and a scoff, “Yeah I know, but you really shouldn’t be working this late Seungwan it’s unhealthy and-”

    She’s interrupted by an exhausted and impatient Wendy, “And what Joohyun? I took the overtime by choice, they didn’t force me to do anything. This,” she gestures to herself, “is all self-inflicted.”

    I just want to sleep.

    “But why Seungwan! You don’t have to take the extra hours, our normal pay put together is enough to support us both just fine! So why? Why do you keep doing this to yourself? You’re ruining your health and you’re putting strain on this relationship,” Irene whispers the latter half of the sentence more to herself than anything, but the other girl present in the room hears her just fine.

    If only you knew.

    “Look Joohyun, I am not in the mood to be having this conversation right now. I’m going to b-”

    “No,” Annoyance was evident in Irene’s voice as she interrupts. They cannot keep putting this off and acting as if nothing happened the next morning.

    Wendy stops in her tracks towards the bedroom, “What?”

    Irene inhales deeply, attempting to keep her tone level, “You’re not running away from this anymore Seungwan. That’s all you do. Avoid your problems and confrontation. You need to face this. Right here. Right now. I’m sick and tired of waiting for you to finish playing your stupid games! When are you going to wake up and face reality.” Irene’s eyes are clouded with the frustration that has been slowly accumulating since Wendy began avoiding her so avidly these past few months. She’s tired. They both are, but she needs answers, she can only take so much.

    I can’t tell you why, just please stop this.

    “Look,” the shorter brunette takes a deep breath before looking her lover in the eyes. Wendy’s eyes are lifeless - completely void of the spark that they once held whenever she looked at Irene, “I have never once told you that you had to deal with this Joohyun.”

What are you saying?

Irene’s eyes widen at the younger’s statement, “Seungwan… What are you implying.”

“The door,” Wendy turns and gestures to the large wooden frame she had walked through a few minutes prior, “has always been open for you to leave.”

You don’t mean it.

    Irene looks at Wendy in disbelief, hurt clouding innocent chocolate eyes. The last string of Irene’s self control finally snaps, “What are you saying! I would never do that to you and you’re an idiot for even suggesting that! Get it together Seungwan!” She locks gazes with Wendy, but the latter gives no reaction. Irene takes a deep breath to calm herself and whispers beneath her breath, “I don’t even recognize you anymore,” her voice cracking with unshed tears.

    Unfazed, Wendy continues to stare back at Irene. Eyes that used to promise the world, now erased of all emotion, meeting with those filled with shattered pieces of a broken promise left unsaid.

    “Well, if you don’t want to then I won’t force you to,” the younger looks towards the door as Irene releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

    Please stop. You don’t know what you’re doing.

    “So then I will,” Wendy makes her way back towards the door before turning towards Irene, “Goodbye Joohyun,” the older girl’s eyes widen as she watches Wendy’s already retreating figure quickly walk through the doorway.

    Irene bolts from her place on the sofa, grabs her coat and slips her shoes on in haste, running out the door in pursuit of her girlfriend.

    By the time she makes it outside of their building, she spots Wendy walking lifelessly along the road towards an intersection. She picks up her pace and runs after the other girl’s withdrawing figure.

    “Seungwan! Stop! Come back to the apartment!” Wendy could hear Irene’s voice desperately calling her from behind, but she ignores the pleas and continues on.

    She couldn’t face her right now. Not when Irene was demanding answers that she doesn’t have the ability to give her. Irene deserved so much more than what she was able to provide at the current moment. Everything was going downhill and she just needed some fresh air, just some time alone with her thoughts.

    Distracted by the inner turmoil whirling around her head, Wendy steps into the crosswalk too early, not noticing the large SUV speeding towards her.

    Seeing this, Irene breaks into a sprint towards the mindless woman, stinging from the cool night air. Her heart begins to race and her limbs are screaming from fatigue. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters right now except getting to Wendy in time.

    “Seungwan!” an anguished scream tears through Irene’s burning throat as a stream of tears begin to track down her face. She can hear the blood pulsing through her ears, but all she sees is Wendy and the car that is now dangerously approaching her with no signs of stopping.

    Irene’s voice breaks Wendy’s haze and she looks up, but only to be met with the dazzling glow of headlights too late.

    The screech of tires has never been so deafening

    Wendy attempts to move but stops when a sharp pain bolts its way through her entire body. When she manages to open her eyes slightly, she sees the blurry face of a woman. Ebony strands stick to her tear stained face as she looks down at Wendy. Her pupils are blown and panicked as she cups Wendy’s face.  

Joohyun?

She’s saying something, but the high pitched trill of sirens is drowning her out. The flashing of lights is blinding, Wendy’s ears are ringing with the sounds of people and emergency vehicles, her head is pounding, and all of her senses are being overwhelmed with pain. Overall she’s tired… and…

    She blacks out.

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    Wendy wakes with a start. Calming her erratic breathing, she braces herself against the wall next to her as she gets up onto unsteady legs. Blinking away the haze that laid thick over her vision, she took in her surroundings. Blank white walls, glaring bright lights, a large metal bedframe pushed against the wall, and the overwhelming scent of antiseptics. A somber mood and feeling of death seeping from every crevice of the room. Hospital. She was in a hospital. Not just a hospital, but the ICU ward of her hospital. Confused would be an understatement, last she remembers is she had stormed out of her apartment after a heated argument with Irene. It had been the hundredth that month, but definitely the worst of them all.

    Wait.

    Joohyun.

    Where was Irene?

    Tendrils of dread grip every part of Wendy as she rushes over to the bed desperately hoping not to see the features that she had come to love so much. What she doesn’t expect is to come face to face with… Herself?

    “What the hell?!” the petite woman screams and scrambles backwards into the corner of the room. Sinking to the floor, she looks around the room with her pupils blown in panic before inspecting herself. She sees blood soaking various areas of her white shirt, that is now tattered and covered in soot. Her jeans aren’t any better as they are slightly more torn than the design entails and just as bloodied, but overall, her body bears no cuts or bruises.

    If this isn’t my blood then whose is it?

    “Don’t worry it’s yours,” a singsong voice reaches her ears and she looks up, spotting a figure in the opposite corner of the room. It was a woman of relatively tall stature, hair red like the blood soaking Wendy’s shirt. She was dressed casually in all black - a tanktop and shorts that displayed her pale legs, and modest heels. Her face is round, giving her the air of a child, but her eyes are a deep onyx that house the flames of mischief.

    Wendy gulped. Apprehension spreading to every limb, causing her to freeze in her place against the wall. She eyes the peculiar woman suspiciously as the redhead begins to make her way towards Wendy’s place in the opposite corner. The brunette carefully calculates the various escapes she could take if this encounter was to take a turn for the worse. The window? No, it looked like they were on one of the upper floors. The door would mean getting passed the other woman, and that didn't seem likely. She was trapped.

    “Relax Wendy, I understand that a drop dead gorgeous woman just appeared before you but there’s no need to be so stiff,” the woman’s sultry voice echoes off of the lifeless walls, “You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost,” she eyes Wendy’s curled up figure, “but then again, I guess you have.”

    The brunette looks up at the woman, her eyes clouded with a mixture of exhaustion and fear, “What do you mean?”

    The taller scoffs as Wendy brings her knees to her chest, becoming impossibly smaller, “Really? Staring yourself in the face wasn’t enough of a dead giveaway,” she glances at Wendy with mirth dancing in her eyes, “Pun fully intended.” The smile that graces her lips causes shivers to move along Wendy’s spine.

    Taking the smaller woman’s silence as a sign that she still did not fully comprehend her current situation, the redhead sighs and shakes her head, “It was so fun watching you scramble around in confusion and sheer panic.” She gestures to the bed that Wendy has been avidly avoiding, “That there is you. And that over there,” she points to one of the various machines connected to the lifeless body in the room, “is going to flatline any minute now.”

    Obsidian eyes lock with pleading chestnut. Wendy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was absurd. She was hallucinating from all the late hours and lack of sleep. She wasn’t, no, she couldn’t be-

    “Wendy Son Seungwan, you’re dead.”

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