Silence hung in the air, pregnant, only the sound of the ocean and breeze filling their ears.  Irene's eyes and mouth were open wide, taken aback by Seulgi's words.

You're BOTH gay?

She watched as Seulgi placed hands on her hips, tongue sticking out of the corner of , just staring at the two girls embracing so openly on the sand. After a long moment, Irene finally went to speak only to be stopped short as Seulgi said, "Yah, the sound engineer sent me over.  He wanted me to tell you that he cut off your feeds and erased your audio just now.  Guess I know why."

A loud gasp escaped Wendy's lips, the girls’ knees going weak.  Only Irene's grip kept the small girl from tumbling into the sand.  Her own heart jumped into , sudden fear and panic overwhelming her, her emotions playing upon her features. She worked soundlessly, uncharacteristically unable to say anything.

"I knew about Wendy, but Irene unnie?  Wow." Seulgi's lips curled into a little grin as she shook her head in disbelief.  Finally stepping forward, Seulgi placed a hand on each of their shoulders to give them a little squeeze.  "Should I offer congratulations, Wendy?  You were finally able to tell her!"

"What!?"  Wendy finally snapped out of her almost catatonic state, "How did you know?  I never told anyone!" She stared at Seulgi in disbelief, unable to comprehend how this grinning bear of a girl knew this dark, closely guarded secret.  Wendy's mind raced, thinking back, trying to figure out how she could have given herself away.

Seulgi blushed and looked down bashfully, kicking at the sand with the toe of her food, voice touched with a hint of mirth as she spoke, "Well... I never told you this but when you were really tired after dance practices you sometimes talk in your sleep.  I've heard you confess your love for Unnie at least a dozen times."

Sputtering, Wendy could only stare at Seulgi with a look of pure disbelief.  Her voice cracked as she spoke, her tone hurried, "Huuuuuh?  What?  What did I say?  Omo, omo, omo."  Waves of embarrassment rolled over the dark haired girl only to be cut through by Irene's melodic, lilting laugh.  Wendy's face snapped to look at Irene, taken aback by the look of bemusement, almost delight, on the girls face.

Slowly backing away, Seulgi raised both of her hands to wave, her eyes narrowing in that patented, warm smile she had.  "Congratulations!  You should thank the sound guy!"  Before the pair could say anything, Seulgi spun around and began running away with a laugh towards Yeri, the youngest of the group who was waving at her from a distance.  Irene and Wendy could only stare at the girls retreating form, taken aback by the sudden change in dynamic.

"Yah," Wendy said after they had stood there in a moment of silence, clinging to each other, "What are we going to do?  Is everyone going to know now?" Irene could feel the concern rolling off Wendy in palpable waves.

"Let your unnie take care of it," Irene said, fighting to keep her voice calm and comforting. She reached up to gently caress Wendy's hair, fingers slipping into those dark locks, brushing them back tenderly.  "It looks like Seulgi already knew everything about you and never said anything.  I'll talk to the sound guy, okay?  If he turned off our feeds and erased the audio then most likely he won't say anything. I'll make sure of it.  I promise."

She felt Wendy sigh and collapse into her, shoulders slumping, arms holding onto her even tighter now. Drawing in a long, steadying breath, she still couldn't fight the whirl of emotions that were in her head. So much had happened in the past five hours. From realizing she was in love with Wendy, to becoming girlfriends and then being outed just like this. It almost felt like a story in a book to her. Still, Irene knew she had to put up a strong front for Wendy.  She felt a need to protect her new girlfriend.

"We're off to a crazy start, aren't we?" Wendy said, her voice quiet, almost inaudible against the backdrop of wind and waves.

Irene slowly drew her head back to look at Wendy and offered her most reassuring smile.  "We're two girls in love with each other. It would be crazy to think it would just be easy, right?"  She drew Wendy in tighter, her head falling forward to rest her chin on the girls’ shoulders.  "But we can overcome anything."

Wendy couldn't help but smile, the feel of Irene's small body against her own a comforting presence, those words of encouragement helping to bring a sense of relief to her. "I believe we can. You always seem to get what you want and since you want me, it's already done."

From away they could hear the tour guild calling them, telling them it was time to come up for the lunch shooting. Irene waved at him and once he turned to leave, she quickly placed a peck of a kiss on Wendy's cheeks.  "We'll make this work," She said before slipping from their embrace and pulling Wendy by the hand up the beach with her.

Author Note:  Things have been busy so I haven't had as much time to do rewrites and edits so please bear with any mistakes made. I'll do the best I can though!