“Joohyun…” she hears Wendy softly call, “What happened last time?”

The words float around Irene’s head for a while. She lets her shoulders drop and turns to face Wendy. She finds a concerned pair of brown orbs staring back at her, looking anxious and worried about Irene. She’d find it more endearing in any other situation but right now she just felt an overwhelming sense of sadness as she thought about what to say to the girl in front of her.

She deserves to know.

Irene takes a deep breath and puffs out her cheeks a little. She lets the air out a few seconds later, bracing herself for what was about to come.

“Well… you know how I don’t like to be called Joohyun too much,” Wendy nods slowly, “it’s kinda...kinda to do with that? A while ago, some things happened that I tried to forget about but I just...can’t?”

Irene looked at Wendy, eyes meeting hers, hoping the girl was somehow understanding what she was saying despite the fact that Irene herself had no idea what she was actually trying to tell Wendy. Wendy nods understandingly, silently urging the girl to go on.

“You know, I never used to be...this” Irene gestures to herself while huffing out a small laugh, “I used to be quite outgoing you know, I used to enjoy being around people… I know shocker.”

While thinking about the past, Irene gives a small, sad smile, not aimed at anyone in particular. She looks down at the counter, fiddling with the utensils laid out on the side in the aftermath of making Wendy’s soup.

“I haven’t actually been in a relationship since senior year in highschool, not even close to one,” Irene sighs, her wandering hand stilling over a spatula as she thinks, “I wouldn’t even let myself have a crush, it’s been three years and then you just walked into my life and you made it so easy. I spent years, telling myself not to fall in love, not to let what happened before happen again, but you…” she looks up at Wendy again, her features going soft, “you snuck in, I don’t know how but… you’re in my head. You’re everywhere I look., in the coffee I make for people, in the music I listen to, heck you’re probably gonna be in my kitchen now that I’ve had to make you soup here…” she laughs nervously, rubbing the nape of her neck,

“I just, I don’t understand how it was so easy to let you in after…” Irene pauses, struggling to find the words to say.

“You can tell me,” Wendy says, voice barely above a whisper, she reaches her hand over the counter, placing it on top of Irene’s. Wendy’s thumb starts moving in small ministations over the top of her hand, “I got you.”

Irene nods, looking at their hands, she continues on,

“So in high school, I had a few friends, but there was this one girl...I’d known her since junior year since we had classes together and we got close in senior year...like...really close.” She takes a breath, “It started small, you know, fingers touching, legs brushing against each other then hand holding...it was all rather high school rom-com esque when you think about it. After we got over the awkwardness and established we both liked each other, we saw each other in secret. It was quite fun at first, leaving notes in lockers and sneaking out after hours, all that fun stuff. People couldn’t really know, neither of us were really...out? Like I knew I preferred girls over guys, and I was comfortable with myself knowing that but not really with others, not from where I’m from. So we just kept it...hush hush.”

Wendy nodded at Irene’s words, eyes never leaving the girl, giving Irene her full attention.

“But then...then it all got ruined…” Irene took a few breaths after that. Wendy took hold of her hand properly this time, thumb still rubbing Irene’s hand, letting her know she’s still there, still listening.

“There was a photo.” Irene’s gaze immediately dropped back down to the countertop, “I don’t know who took it or why they decided the whole school had a right to know, but someone took a photo of us, it was from on of the nights we’d snuck out to meet each other. We were kissing in it.” She felt Wendy’s hand squeeze her own at her words.

“She kinda me after that.” Tears welled up in Irene’s eyes at the thought, “When people confronted her about us, she…” one tear silently ran down her face, “she said that I came onto her, that we were walking home from the movies and I just made a move on her.”

More tears fell, Irene wanted to stop, but Wendy also deserved to know the full story. She sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeves then continued on,

“I’m sorry it’s just, this girl, that I fell head over heels for, that I was willing to sneak around for, just turned around in front of everyone, in front of me and said that. She said we weren’t even that close...that she didn’t think like that. God...the look she gave me. It was like I never meant anything to her. I remember after that, she turned and left me in the corridor in front of those people. I never spoke to her after that, I saw her in class of course but she never acknowledged me, it’s like she just… forgot everything we had and replaced it with this burning hatred for me.”

“Rumours followed me everywhere after that, they were