in the time between turning the v-live feed off and their walk back to the car, wendy feels the sudden, overwhelming weight of wordless thoughts descend upon her like an anvil. there's only minutes left to the end of this day, one that has become important to her over the past few years, one she's held anxiously to her chest for an excuse to love more, to be more open, to say i love you instead of yah, kang seulgi.

seulgi is stealing glances at her from her left, their manager and stylist trailing behind them. it's not a comfortable distance. even if wendy whispered, it may leak, swept backwards by the breeze. her fingers twitch, peeking out from her coat. they've been caught in more compromising situations, but wendy doesn't want to create one now, even if seulgi has the quietest smile on her face. as if she's expecting something.

i want to be less careful, wendy doesn't say. they're standing on the precipice of something overwhelming, something that feels like seulgi's fingers fumbling for hers in the cold. she pulls wendy closer. there is, always, the feeling that there are lines neither of them should cross.



earlier that morning, seulgi had walked over to the foot of her bed and sat down, staring at her until she awoke. wendy doesn't know long she was there, only that her hair was sticking out in tufts, her makeup still undone. one of her slippers flew off her foot when she swung them while waiting, and she was too lazy to walk over to retrieve it. her smile was lop-sided and warm, as if she was waiting for wendy to say something.

"happy birthday," wendy had mummured groggily, rubbing at her eyes. sometimes seulgi still felt like a fever dream.

"thank you," seulgi had returned, scooting closer to her. she pressed a kiss to wendy's cheek, sending up a flare of heat that had wendy sputtering. and then softly, without warning: "i love you."

wendy had blinked, staring back at seulgi. then seulgi turned, hopped off the bed, and flip-flopped her way to the bathroom, leaving wendy's heart wedged halfway in .



now, the wind whips up little flurries of seulgi's hair, and some of it catches wendy in the corner of . it only takes this for them to laugh, and seulgi's arm draws across her back, pulling her closer.

seulgi is twenty-four now. she's loved before, as has wendy, but nothing has ever felt as solid as this, and:

to be truthful with herself, it terrifies wendy. the way seulgi is looking at her, eyes quiet. th