Chapter 7

Candy Wrapper

포장지

March turned to April, and spring was at its peak. The city was dotted with shades of white and light pink as the cherry blossoms showed off their sweet beauty. Birds, insects, and other small creatures have come back from wherever they all had hidden during the winter. The temperature was also a lot warmer, and small popcorn-like clumps had blossomed on the branches of the tall cherry blossom trees.

By then more people had been coming out for strolls and pictures. During this time of the year, almost everyone would switch to tourist-mode. For everyone knew, that once the spring rains come back, all these pretty flowers would start falling to the ground as well, only to be trampled and laid to waste. Why not enjoy it while it lasts?

Unfortunately for most students, there is such a thing as the “mid-term curse.” Mid-term exams were usually set on the peak season of spring (around April for the first semester) or the peak season of autumn (around October for the second semester). This means that although the spring cherry blossoms are at its finest, due to the mid-term exams, they would waste away the season studying, instead of enjoying it. (This goes the same for autumn mid-terms when the deciduous leaves are at the peak of their glory.) Nevertheless, for whatever reason, most students still found a way to ditch the schoolwork to enjoy the season. Cherry blossom season does only come once a year.

“Seulgi Unnie!” Soo-Young called out when she saw her walking into the school gates that morning. She hung her arm around Seulgi’s shoulder and pulled her close as they continued walking.

“Good morning, Soo-Young,” Seulgi greeted back with a yawn. School is too early for bears.

Soo-Young smirked and reached into the pocket of her denim jacket. Then she held out a chocolate bonbon—something she knew Seulgi would like. “You want some?”

Seulgi’s face immediately lit up upon setting her eyes on the little treat. “Ooh!”

The hungry bear took the candy and unwound the twisted foil. Inside was the very promising brown goodness. But when Seulgi put it in and began to chew, she hit Soo-Young with her wimpy fists and spat the thing out of .

“Ew! What was that?!” Seulgi said in fiery rage.

“Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get!” Soo-Young went into a fit of laughter, even beginning to tear up like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. “That was brown clay! Happy April Fools!”

“You’re so evil!” Seulgi yelled, hurling the candy wrapper at her. “That thing could have killed me!”

Soo-Young just shrugged and said, “It’s non-toxic clay, and you didn’t die, so everything’s good, right?”

After recovering from the clay-chewing incident, Seulgi looked behind her and saw that Wendy was just entering the school gate. Soo-Young followed Seulgi’s gaze and formed another devious smirk on her face. The prankster reached into her pocket and held out another fake candy. “Let’s see how she reacts to this.”

When Wendy caught up with the two, Soo-Young slyly asked, “Wendy Unnie, I have some bonbons. You want some?”

Seulgi was staring at Wendy so intensely that Wendy became so sure something was up with them.

“Look, whatever joke you’re trying to pull this April Fool’s Day, it won’t work on me.”

“Come on, just have some!” Soo-Young insisted, taking Wendy’s hand and placing the candy on it.

When Wendy unwrapped the foil, she immediately knew what she was in for. “Ha-ha, nice try, Park Soo-Young, but you’ve got to try better than this. Anyone can tell that it’s obviously not chocolate!”

“Oh yeah? Seulgi Unnie fell for it,” Soo-Young said proudly. Seulgi grimaced in embarrassment.

“Have you heard from your aunt again about Yeri?” Wendy asked Soo-Young.

“Not really…”

After meeting Joohyun the past weekend, Seulgi and Wendy had made up and were no longer avoiding each other, but Yeri has not come for another English lesson after the last one. She was supposed to come yesterday, but the only thing that came that day was a phone call from Yeri’s mother apologizing because Yeri did not want to go for lessons. This first week of April also passed, and they had not seen the kid at all. The following weekend, Joohyun greeted Wendy, asking about how things went with her student, but the frustrated English tutor still had no answer.

Wendy had tried messaging Yeri, but the middle-schooler never replied to her or read her messages. Soo-Young also tried messaging her cousin, but she would stop replying every time she brought up the English lessons. Maybe Yeri has officially decided to quit.

Despite that, Park Soo-Young, the close cousin of Yeri, the one who knew more about the little middle-schooler than Wendy ever did, thought that this whole “silent-treatment” was totally out of the norm. Yeri had bickered with Wendy and the others a few times before, but she would often come back smiling again, as if nothing ever happened. She was never the type to start ignoring people for a whole week.

“Call me Sherlock or something, but there is something else going on with that kid,” Soo-Young assumed. “Either that, or her ‘2nd grade middle-school disease’ has really come to an all-time high!”

No matter what the reason was, Wendy will not stand for this though. This wasn’t even about the English class anymore. This was about her friendly, sister-like relationship with Yeri. She could not stand the thought of being in bad terms with her, and she had plenty of reasons. She needed to make amends or it might drive her insane.

Therefore, after almost two weeks since the last English lesson, Wendy came up with a plan: she will just have to find Yeri herself and confront her. Soo-Young even gave her the directions to the girl’s middle school and plotted it with her. As Soo-Young advised, they had to leave after final period on a school day if they want to catch Yeri before she leaves school. Seulgi, however, thought the plan was stupid and unnecessary, but she kept that to herself.

“So, when are we going to see Yeri? This Thursday? Friday?” Soo-Young asked during lunch period.

“We? What do you mean ‘we’? I’m going alone,” Wendy firmly told her.

Soo-Young raised a brow. “What do you mean you’re going alone? I helped you out so much with this and you’re just going alone? Yeri is my cousin! And do you honestly think you can pull this off without me?”

“Look, Joohyun Unnie gave me plenty of advice about this. I need to talk to Yeri alone, okay? The ‘alone’ part is important, for your information. I already got everything figured out. You will just mess it all up if you were there.”

Soo-Young raised both brows, taken aback by the offensive assumption that she will “just mess it all up.” Before she could retaliate, the school bell started ringing, and lunch time was over. Wendy Son immediately got up with her tray, leaving Soo-Young and Seulgi at the table.

Seulgi, on the other hand, had other thoughts. She told Joohyun Unnie about this?

On Wednesday night, Seulgi entered the room she shared with Wendy and found her packing some home-made brownies into her navy-blue backpack.

“Ah… brownies, the exact ones Yeri loves. You’re going to see her tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Wendy. She continued looking over her stuff and checking if she had everything she needed.

“I can’t believe you’re cutting final period just to talk to Yeri. You never skip class.”

“Yeah, well I don’t have time on weekends. I don’t really want to go all the way to her house when her parents are around either.” Wendy zipped her bag and sat on her bed to face Seulgi. “I’m desperate.”

“So, what lie should I start telling everyone when they start looking for you tomorrow?”

“What?” The genius—as smart as she was known for—did not seem to get Seulgi’s drift. “What lie?”

The bear shrugged. “Oh, you know. Of course, Mr. Lee and everyone else will ask me why if you suddenly disappeared on final period. Everyone associates you with me, if you haven’t noticed.”

“I don’t know, Seulgi. Headache? Stomachache? Lame excuse, I know, but it doesn’t really matter,” Wendy replied without giving it any more thought.

Seulgi shook her head and stood from her bed. “This isn’t like you. You never break rules, and you were always the model student. Now you want to skip class just because some little kid is ignoring you? Why are you so desperate to make up with her anyway?”

Wendy sighed. “It’s for my own peace of mind, Seulgi. Please understand. And if you think this isn’t like me, then think again. I’m not a model student. I’m not perfect.”

“What about my peace of mind?” The caring bear has not stopped thinking about Wendy because of this whole fiasco. It was not her problem, but as if they were joint to the hip, Wendy’s distress was also getting passed on to her somehow. “You know what? Never mind.” Seulgi sat back on her bed.

“What?” Wendy walked up to her and asked, “What is it, Kang Seulgi? If you have a problem, just say it.”

“Look, I don’t know why I even bother. It’s not like I’m involved in this. It’s not my problem—it’s yours, but I worry about it like it’s mine. Is there even a problem to begin with?”

“Then stop thinking about it—simple as that.” Wendy walked back to her bed and placed her pencil case inside.

“What about you? Why can’t you just stop thinking about Yeri? If she wants to avoid you so bad, why not let her? Ugh, I don’t know why I’m stressing over this...”

“Nobody told you to worry about me, but you do it anyway,” Wendy finished organizing her things and walked to her desk. She then began placing her books on her shelf. “Quit giving yourself a horrible time. I’m already sorry for not having time to help you with school like I used to. I don’t want to you to fail high school because of me.”

“I told you the exact same thing earlier and you throw it back at me, huh?” Seulgi retorted. “Here’s the thing—you’re my best friend. I worry about you too, especially when you start wanting to do the most un-Wendy thing possible. Cut final period? Really?”

Wendy went to sit beside Seulgi on her bed. She then ruffled the bear’s black hair and insisted, “I’m fine, Sluggie. I can handle this tomorrow, and hopefully you don’t have to keep worrying.”

You don’t act fine at all, Seulgi thought, but she did not bother to speak further.

***

"Hello, Joohyun Unnie! How are you?” Seulgi typed on the text box of her messaging app later that night when Wendy was already sleeping. Ever since Joohyun’s birthday when they exchanged numbers, she had messaged her a few times when she was bored or when she could not sleep. Since Seulgi could not see Joohyun often, she thought she should at least send friendly messages to her to show that she truly cared, even though she had nothing important to say.

“Hi Seulgi Bear! :) I’m working on a report. Ryan is watching while I’m working. ㅋㅋ He’s not very chatty but still very good company ㅎㅎㅎ,” a reply came. “Why aren’t you sleeping yet? Go to sleep, Kang Seulgi.”

“I’m in bed. Besides you’re not sleeping either,” Seulgi typed in.

“Touché. But I just have to finish this report quickly.”

“Am I bothering you? Sorry Unnie I’ll message you tomorrow.”

“It’s fine Seulgi. You can keep messaging me ^_^ ”

Seulgi smiled as she read those words. She searched for a heart through her sticker collections and sent it to Joohyun.

“Seulgi maybe before my midterms.. you and I can go to Han River again? It’s cherry blossom peak season! The trees are really pretty nowadays <3 I really want to go, but I think it’ll be more fun if we go together. I’ll treat you to a meal too. Sound good??”

Seulgi tried not to giggle too loud from feeling giddy at Joohyun’s message. This was the first time Joohyun ever asked her on a date of sorts. Actually, it was the first time they will be meeting on purpose and not coincidentally. “Of course, I’ll go with you :P Just contact me, and I’ll be there!!!”

“Thank you, Seulgi!! How about this weekend?”

“Don’t you have a part-time job this weekend? Or is it your birthday again?”

“ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No I’m taking a break from my jobs starting this weekend to focus on midterm studies ㅋㅋ But that doesn’t mean I won’t have time for you and cherry blossoms.”

“OK so it’s a date then?”

“If you think of it that way.. sure.”

After a while, Seulgi changed the topic. “I heard you gave Wendy advice.”

“Yup. We’ve been talking a lot nowadays.”

Huh? Really? Seulgi was a little surprised. Now that she thought about it, Wendy’s rambles had been reduced to a minimum in the past two weeks—ever since the last English lesson. Wendy used to always talk to her about literally everything and anything, but she did not mention Joohyun often. Was it possible that Wendy had been pouring out to Joohyun now instead of her, without letting her know? Obviously, it was none of her business anyway if Wendy didn’t want to tell her things, but… Was it still because I told her I was tired of hearing her rant? Seulgi had a lot of questions.

“Is it about Yeri?” Seulgi asked Joohyun.

“Yeah.. We talked about that and a lot of other things too.”

A lot of other things too, huh? It was a strange feeling for Seulgi. She did not know if this was a good thing or not. It just felt strange for her best friend to suddenly confide in someone else. Obviously, Wendy would be a lot better off talking to the wise Joohyun Unnie rather than her—even she knew that. But for some reason, it just felt like she lost a part of Wendy—a part of her best friend.

As she was contemplating this, another message came in. “You take care of your friend Wendy ok?”

Seulgi tossed and turned to face the wall and snuggle her pillow. She had no idea what to reply to that. If anything, it was usually Wendy taking care of her, not the other way around. Not knowing what to say, she just replied with “ok.” 

Yet somehow, she felt a little…jealous? She was not sure what feeling it was, but to find out that Joohyun and Wendy had a connection that did not involve her made her feel an unknown emotion that was… not so pleasant. She could not complain though. She has another date with the lovely Joohyun Unnie this weekend.

The next day, the spring rains were bound to make another appearance. From early in the morning, it was overcast, everything looked drab and gray, and the air smelled of earthy petrichor. Wind picked up speed, bring in dust and ripping off cherry blossom petals with every gust.

As the hours passed and final period was on its way, Seulgi kept a close watch on Wendy. For someone who had never ditched school before, Wendy really had a lot of guts—or so Seulgi thought. Even Soo-Young called her crazy for not wanting any help. If anyone would know how to properly ditch a class, it certainly would not be Wendy.

During the short break before their homeroom teacher stepped into class, Wendy suddenly stood up. Seulgi looked at her with a worried expression on her face. Before Wendy could muster the courage to step out of the classroom door, their homeroom teacher suddenly appeared. Poor Wendy sunk back into her chair, not wanting to look Seulgi in the eye.

I knew it. I knew she can’t do it, Seulgi thought as she bit her lip while watching the homeroom teacher erase the markings on the whiteboard.

Suddenly, another teacher from the freshmen class knocked at their classroom door. “Excuse me, can I speak to Kang Seulgi and Son Wendy please?”

Seulgi and Wendy looked at each other. What kind of trouble did they cause now?

“What’s the matter?” their homeroom teacher asked.

“My student Park Soo-Young has not been feeling well and probably needs to go home early, but her parents cannot be contacted at the moment. It was suggested that Kang Seulgi and Son Wendy take her home, because they are neighbors. Surely, it won’t be a problem if they miss final period, right? Soo-Young is not looking well. It will be best if they accompany her home.”

Seulgi and Wendy’s homeroom teacher looked to their direction and said, “You there, Kang Seulgi, Son Wendy, you’re both dismissed.”

When the two of them finally met Soo-Young at the nurse’s room, they saw her sweating and groaning on the bed. The two of them helped her up, but she could barely stand. “Soo-Young, are you okay?”

“Argh… ugh… urgh… e-every-t-thing hurts…,” Soo-Young slurred.

Wendy, who thought this was very suspicious, asked, “What the heck happened to you? You looked fine earlier—”

“Ack!” Soo-Young stomped on Wendy’s foot, making it look like she did it by accident. Then she whispered, “Just play along, you morons.”

After trudging out to the bus stop away from the teachers and school nurses, Soo-Young stood up straight, wiped the sweat on her forehead, and acted like nothing happened. Then she said to the two of them, “Okay, let’s head off to the subway station. It’ll be faster that way if you want to see Yeri.”

“Wow, that was some acting,” Seulgi chuckled. “I thought you were really sick! You’re also really warm—like you caught an actual fever.”

“I used hot packs all over. I pressed one on my forehead before the nurse touched me,” Soo-Young took a hot packet from her pocket and handed it to Seulgi. “I begged them not to send me to a hospital either and it magically worked. This figures… the higher-ups and headmasters are total morons sometimes… Then I asked if you guys can take me home. And besides, there was no way that they would doubt anything that involved either of you, because neither of you are troublemakers—especially Wendy Unnie.”

“Gosh, Park Soo-Young…” Wendy held a palm to her head. “I told you I’m going alone.”

“Oh yeah?” Soo-Young raised a brow at her. “Do you think you could have pulled that off without me?”

The school genius stood there, defeated and muzzled speechless by the awesomeness that was Park Soo-Young.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Soo-Young said with a proud smirk on her face. “Let’s go.”

When they arrived at the station after about an hour of drowsing in the subway, Soo-Young stopped walking and tightly held Seulgi’s arm to stop her as well. “Walk straight and turn right at the stoplight. You’ll find the middle school there.”

Wendy turned around. “So, what, you’re suddenly not coming?”

“You said you wanted to go alone. I don’t want to mess everything up, like you so delicately put it. Seulgi Unnie and I will wait for you in this bowling alley,” Soo-Young said with a hint of sarcasm.

Apparently, they were standing by the entrance of an underground bowling center. Then she handed Wendy the long, blue umbrella that she borrowed weeks ago (but apparently still had not returned until today). “It might rain, so take this. Good luck, Wendy Unnie.”

“Thanks.” Wendy muttered, her face red with embarrassment. She then turned back and followed Soo-Young’s instructions. Soon, she was out of sight. Soo-Young then dragged Seulgi down the stairs to the bowling center.

“You’re taking me bowling?” Seulgi said, looking around at the wide bowling alley. Other than some professional-looking men practicing at the end of the room, they were the only ones at the place today. “It’s been a while.”

Soo-Young asked for hers and Seulgi’s shoe sizes and claimed a lane for the two of them. After they changed shoes, they chose their balls and placed them on the rack.

“You ready to take out some steam?” Soo-Young asked, as she presumptuously raised a brow as she held a seven-pound bowling ball in her arms. She then handed the ball to Seulgi and patted her shoulder. “You go first.”

“Why’d you let Wendy go alone? I thought you wanted to go with her so badly?” Seulgi asked as she held the ball close to her chest.

“Honestly, I just wanted to ditch class.” Soo-Young took off her deep green backpack and took out a can of Pringles and a bag of imported chocolate bonbons. She also took out two cartons of strawberry-cheesecake flavoured milk. “Besides, Wendy Unnie needed us to get here. It’s her last year in high school. I want to let her have the experience of ditching class. That’s—for sure—something she can’t do without me. Also, you and I get to have some great alone-time together. On a school day. Because we ditched class. Don’t you like that? Besides, if she wanted to meet Yeri all alone, fine by me. I just didn’t want her to fail trying. She’s the school genius, but the biggest dunce at these things.”

“You’re so weird. Sometimes I don’t know why I’m friends with you,” Seulgi said, inserting her fingers into the holes of the bowling ball. “I don’t understand you at all.”

“Yeah, but you don’t regret it, ‘cause you get plenty of adventures and fun stories to tell to your grandkids in the future. This is the whole point of being young,” Soo-Young aloofly told her, placing the chocolate candy into . This time, it wasn’t made of clay. “Come on, Winne the Pooh, show me what you’ve got!”

Seulgi held the ball close to her chest, took a few steps, and swung the ball downward in one fluid motion. Her form looked flawless upon execution. Anyone could tell she had this athletic charm to her. Unfortunately, the ball swerved to the left and fell into the canal without hitting a single pin. Maybe she needed a little practice.

Soo-Young clapped her hands and laughed so hard. Watching Seulgi fail while looking so cool was one of the reasons why she was here. She was a big fan of Seulgi’s odd charms. The bear’s charms exceeded her abilities sometimes.

“Stop laughing,” Seulgi said, laughing at herself as well. “I haven’t done this in a while.”

“Well then, take another turn and try to get a spare,” Soo-Young dared.

Seulgi took another ball. She focused hard on the pins meters before her, relaxing herself before delivering the blow. The ball rolled and hit three pins at the very left side. Her ball seemed to like turning left for some reason. Seulgi gnawed at her lip and clenched her fist. “At least I hit something.”

“Ha! Good job!” Soo-Young held her hand up for a high-five. Seulgi lightly tapped her hand and took a seat.

Now it was Soo-Young’s turn. Soo-Young confidently grabbed a ball, wiped it with a towel, and took a deep breath. At that moment, her expression changed. There was sharp glint in her eye displaying power and determination. It seemed she was serious about this. She was not just playing around. With a powerful swing of her arm, the ball swiftly ran through the middle, knocking out all the pins at once. It was a strike. Seulgi’s jaw dropped.

Soo-Young made a bunch of undecipherable noises while her jittery footsteps jogged in place. Then she confidently dropped her like a bomb on the seat beside Seulgi and exclaimed, “Ha! Beat that!”

“I don’t think I can do that,” Seulgi said, standing up from her seat to take her turn.

“Yeah, probably not, but who knows,” Soo-Young told her. “I always thought this was more about luck than pure skill.”

Seulgi went ahead and took her turn again. She only hit one pin. After that, she knocked out four. She was proud of that four.

And so, the two girls just continued to take their turns as they conversed.

“So, how’s studying for midterms coming?” Soo-Young asked.

“I’m not confident,” Seulgi dejectedly replied.

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up on high school.”

“No, I’m not giving up. Joohyun Unnie once told me that it all ends when I stop trying. Yet at the same time she told me not to be so hard on myself for things I can’t control. I’m not sure what she meant by that though.”

Soo-Young ended her turn and held out the can of Pringles and a piece of bonbon to the older girl. “Want some?”

Seulgi took the can of Pringles and began to munch on them, forgetting that it was her turn to bowl. This Pringle-hungry bear also ignored the bonbon. She was not going to take chances with that candy again, even though it wasn’t a prank this time. Soo-Young frowned and ate the chocolate herself.

“Well, she’s not wrong,” Soo-Young told her. “I think it means you shouldn’t be too upset about the exam results if it ends badly. You may at studying and maybe bowling, but you’re good at a lot of other things.”

“Now that I think of it, Wendy’s problem was something I could not control, and I was pretty upset about that,” Seulgi said in deep thought. “I hope she makes up with Yeri today. If not, I’ll go crazy as well.”

“Hey, I don’t like it when Wendy Unnie is upset too, but honestly, I don’t think this is about Yeri—well maybe not entirely,” Soo-Young took her strawberry-cheesecake flavoured milk carton and opened it. She slipped in a straw and took a sip. Then she pointed to the bowling monitor and said, “You should take your turn. Those pins don’t knock themselves over on their own.”

Seulgi stood up, still staring at Soo-Young. “If it’s not about Yeri, what’s it about then?”

“Let’s just say Wendy Unnie has a few secrets.” Soo-Young looked up at Seulgi with a wink.

“What secrets?”

“I don’t know, but if you haven’t noticed, she has issues,” Soo-Young said, as if it was rather obvious. It was not obvious to the naïve bear though. Seulgi always thought Wendy wore her heart on her sleeves, but nowadays, it did seem like Wendy’s actions were a bit out of the “super-nice-model-student” norm.

“Wendy Unnie has this odd obsession with pleasing everyone, and she gets so down when she can’t fulfill that. It could be that she’s just naturally nice, but I think she has a different reason,” Soo-Young continued.

“What did she tell you?”

“She never told me anything. But whatever it is, it’s probably not something she wants to talk about. I’ve been trying to figure it out myself, for quite some time, actually. But you can’t rush these things, I guess. We’ll have to wait until she’s ready to open up about it. I think Yeri has some issues she doesn’t want to tell us as well—probably why she’s being more stubborn than usual. Tell you what, those two are totally problematic. Put them together and you bet it’ll be chaos—like volatile chemicals on steroids.”

Seulgi suddenly remembered Joohyun’s text message last night. Wendy has probably been talking to Joohyun Unnie about things she could not say to me or to Soo-Young, Seulgi thought. Who knows? Maybe Joohyun knew more about Wendy now since apparently, they talk often nowadays. As she thought about the situation, she took her turn and knocked down 7 pins–the most she had knocked out so far.

“Whoa, looks like you’re getting the hang of it again.” Soo-Young gave her a high-five.

“Anyway, how do you know they have problems if they’re not even telling you?” Seulgi asked, grabbing another ball from the rack. “Don’t tell me you’ve turned into some sort of psychic mind-reader all of a sudden.”

“I'm no psychic—trust me, I’d love to read minds if I could—but one time, I saw my friend Rosé crying in the bathroom. I always thought she was this bright, positive church gal with this exotic English accent who’s always eager to be learning about Jesus all the time.” Soo-Young held her palm up and flapped it to personify angel’s wings. Then she continued, “It was strange seeing her cry alone. Turns out she had problems she didn’t want to tell anyone. She really poured out her suppressed feelings to me that day. I ended up crying with her in the bathroom.”

Then Soo-Young grabbed another bonbon wrapped in foil. “Do you remember how you were fooled by this candy on April Fools?”

Seulgi nodded.

“That’s because of the wrapper. You don’t know what’s inside. After that day with Rosé, I realized that people are sort of like that. We all have wrappers that hide our real thoughts and feelings. It’s like acting or playing pretend games. That’s why you can’t judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a candy by its wrapper. But I guess, some wrappers are more see-through than others, if you get what I mean.”

“Man, that’s deep,” Seulgi said with the same blank expression she usually had when she was trying to process things. Then she asked, “I get how Yeri can have ‘secret issues’ or whatever—with her foul attitude nowadays it’s kinda obvious—but how are you so sure that Wendy is keeping something from us? She can’t even lie without being obvious.”

“She’s not lying or keeping it from us; she’s just not telling us.”

“What’s the difference? That’s kind of the same, isn’t it?” Seulgi took another swing of the ball.

Soo-Young stood up to take her turn and continued the conversation. “Would you tell me the colour of your underwear for no reason, even if I don’t ask for it?”

“What? No.”

“That’s probably how Wendy Unnie feels about it. She probably wouldn’t tell us unless it suddenly became relevant information. Call me weird, but I’d be glad to cry in a bathroom with Wendy Unnie too if she’d let me.” Then Soo-Young looked directly at Seulgi with that familiar seductive glint in her eyes and added in a sultry voice, “And of course, you can cry in a bathroom with me too, if you want.”

Soo-Young let out a screeching guffaw after that last sentence. Well, at least to Seulgi, it sounded like the disturbing laughter of a deranged psycho. Seulgi grimaced and shook her head. She’ll have to pass on that offer. Nonetheless, Soo-Young enjoyed making Seulgi uncomfortable that way.

“Soo-Young, I don’t know how you came up with all of that, but if it’s all true, then you’re a mad genius. More mad than genius, but still a genius.”

Author's Note:

 hope you guys enjoyed more of Joy's character in this chapter. She's probably my favourite character in this fic.