Wendy cursed in her head for the millionth time already. She quickly looked at her phone before jumping off her very late bus. She says quick apologizes as she almost knocks over a businessman, continuing to rush to her and Irene's meeting place. 

"Of all the places, why the damn park?" Wendy curses under her breath, or what remains of her breath.

Making the final sprint to the park, Wendy spots Irene at one of the picnic tables set up randomly around the park. Irene didn't seem to notice Wendy approach the table as she was busy with her phone. Or so Wendy thought.

"Hey sorry I was-" began Wendy slowing her pace toward the table. 

"Late." shot Irene, not leaving her eyes from her phone. 

Wendy sighs, "Yes I know I was, but my bus was late and I ran just to try to make up for it."

"You're 45 minutes late." Irene looks up and Wendy shudders at the cold eyes that looked at her.

"Yes I know...like I said I'm sorry. Won't happen again." 

"Are you sure there is an again?" retorts Irene. 

Wendy is taken aback, "Excuse me?"

"Are you serious about this Wendy?" 

"Yes! I asked you for help didn't I!?" fired back Wendy, slightly annoyed with Irene's attitude. 

"Then don't waste my time." a pause hung in the air, "Sit, let's get started now."

Obeying Irene's command, Wendy sits directly across from her. Irene pulls out the lesson that Wendy missed and places it in between them.

"Most of it was already covered in class prior to yesterday. Some of the problems are a bit challenging so just let me know if you have any questions." said Irene. 

Wendy nods and begins to work on the assignment. 30 minutes in and Irene expected to have at least received one question by now but when she looked up from her phone to check on Wendy, she saw that the girl was very focused on the task at hand. The scene made Irene smile, confirming that Wendy was serious about all this. However, Irene was still bored. She was about to open another game till she felt her phone vibrate in her hand.

How's the tutoring sesh ;) 

Irene rolls her eyes. 

What's with that winking face? 

No reason~

Lies...tell me 

I mean you seemed very worried yesterday for someone you seem to not like 

Ugh shut up right now you bear before I take away your Pringles 

YOU WOULDN'T DARE 

I WOULD 

Irene was about to reply again when she heard Wendy clear .

"Uh Irene, can you just double check me on this problem?" asked Wendy, turning the paper toward Irene.

"Eung?" replied Irene leaning slightly over the table, "Here..." Irene pointed at the second to last problem.

"What? Are you sure?" Wendy looked at the problem Irene pointed at. She eyed the woman across from her. A part of her pride would not let herself agree with Irene. Wendy was about to think of a way to argue back when she heard Irene give a heavy sigh.

"Look I know you think I might be messing with you but I'm not." Irene lifts Wendy's chin up so that they were now looking at each other. Both girls' faces became a light pink color, as they were both put off guard by Irene's action. Irene quickly pulls back her hand and clears .  

"Uh anyway...I'm not here to mess with you. Like I said in the beginning, I'm not going to waste my time with you." Wendy looks everywhere in Irene's direction but her eyes. Irene could still see the hint of blush that still remained on Wendy's cheeks. 

"I know, I'm sorry..." Irene gives Wendy a small smile, making Wendy's heart skip a few beats. 

Their tutoring lesson lasted for about another hour and a half due to Wendy's constant habit of being distracted by something and then Irene reprimanding her as the result. At one point, Irene moved beside Wendy to make sure that the "self-proclaimed bad girl" (she's putting Wendy's bad girl reputation on the side because she has seen Wendy be a soft person) was doing her work. Wendy, not in a sense uncomfortable, but she felt a little awkward with Irene beside her. Irene leaned a bit closer to look at Wendy's work and as reaction Wendy poked Irene's side. The latter jerked back and wanted to tell Wendy to get back to work but failed in doing so as Wendy poked Irene's side again, causing Irene to jump a few inches away. Irene, not wanting to be poked again, moved back to her original seat with puffed up cheeks. 

"Cute." Wendy thought to herself. 

"Didn't think the great Bae Irene was ticklish." said Wendy with a small laugh. Irene glared at the purple-haired female.

"Shut up you hamster..." Irene looks at her watch and realize that it was getting late, "Come on let's go. It's getting late."

Wendy helps Irene clean up their area and both make their way to the bus stop. Irene shuffles her feet as she did not anticipate the weather to get chillier. She cups her hands together and started to blow her breath into them. She continued this till she felt something placed over her shoulders. It was Wendy's leather jacket, that she would see the girl have on her all the time, wrapped around her. 

"You looked cold so..." Wendy said without looking at Irene was looking up at the taller girl. 

"Are you sure?" Irene began to take off the jacket but Wendy puts a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from doing so. 

"Yeah it's fine. I honestly live by here so I'll be okay." Wendy says sheepishly, "I uh...just wanted to make sure that you go on a bus safely." 

Irene's cheeks started to warm, and she knew she was blushing a bit because of Wendy's unexpected act of chivalry. 

"Thank you Wendy." Irene quietly says, putting on the jacket completely. As she puts it onto her shoulders, a whiff a cigarette smell enters her nose. Irene's face turns sour. Wendy sees this and awkwardly plays with her hands. 

"Ah...sorry...I uhm..." Wendy wanted to smack herself right now due to the way she's acting. She was always the type of person not to care whether or not they knew that she smoked, with Yeri being the exception. However, seeing Irene's disappointed expression made Wendy's heart sink.

"Wendy, remember you asked me to help you." Wendy nods. "Well I can help with other things too beside school." 

Wendy meets Irene's eyes, which she could confirm the sincerity in her words. 

"I know you want to change. I don't know the reasons behind this sudden want but I know you're serious." 

"I..." Wendy didn't know what to say. 

Irene smiles, and turns towards her on coming bus.

"If you need anything Wendy, don't hesitate to text or call." Irene said, along with a "goodbye" as she enters the bus. 

Wendy stood at her spot till Irene's bus was not longer able to be seen. Letting out a heavy sigh, she takes out her cigarette but doesn't light it immediately. Instead, she places it behind her ear as she walks towards her place. Wendy's place wasn't the fanciest of the fancy. It was decent, for her, but maybe not for the average person since it was a the edge of the most dangerous part of town. How a park, where families and the average person go, be only a couple blocks from the most dangerous part of town will always make Wendy wonder. 

Finally entering her living quarters, that was on the fourth floor of a run-down building, Wendy makes herself some instant noodles and goes to the sole window of the apartment. She opens it letting the cool night, breeze in. Wendy take a bite of her food, then takes the cigarette from behind her ear and places it between her lips. She was about to light it when the image of Irene's face flashes in her mind. Confused, Wendy shakes her head and lights the cigarette, yet something made Wendy's mood turn sour. Wendy lets out a groan, and puts her barely finished cigarette and finishes up her noodles. Wendy makes it to her bed in a foul mood, not knowing why, and lets just say she didn't have the easiest time falling asleep either. 

(A/N):

hello~ everyone! long time not update! my work scedule has been making me tired, both physically and mentally, these past couple weeks. i kept wondering to myself when will i be able to sit and get some writing done. so, both wendy and irene are starting to get a strange feeling. too early? maybe, but this development will be a somewhat slowburn (maybe). but i hope you enjoyed! till next time!