Astonished by Joohyun’s recognition, the male then turned his attention back to her, a wider smile gracing his face again. “Yea! I am in EXO! We were covering for the Blue Vanguards.”

Blue Vanguards, Joohyun later learnt from the subscription texts, was the official name of Wendy’s crew. Joohyun then found herself warming up to this man because by then she had fully believed that Sehun was not interested in her and had no other ulterior motives. The two then began chatting zealously.

“Yes, I remember! You guys were pretty good too,” Joohyun remarked.

“But not as good as the Blue Vanguards, we know,” Sehun added in teasingly as he made a sour face. “Well… all of them in the Blue Vanguards are music geniuses, so we accept that. Who is your favourite amongst them?”

Joohyun hesitated for a while. The answer was most definitely Wendy but she was feeling a little shy to say it.

“It must be Wendy. Everyone likes Wendy,” Sehun chuckled and Joohyun nodded.

“Well… Wendy is… one of a kind. To be frank, I was a fan of hers too.”

“Was?” Joohyun asked.

“Yes, was, until my idiot of a friend could not stop gushing about her. There, that idiot over there,” Sehun said as he pointed over to where the handsome male with the headful of curls stood. “Wendy is his girlfriend,” Sehun said as a matter-of-factly.

That truly stunned Joohyun and the girl found herself stuttering, “G-Girlfriend?”

Seungwan… no, Wendy, has a boyfriend…

Sehun shrugged. “Or so he thinks. I believe Wendy had never said anything about it. She is too messed up to care about relationships.”

“Messed up?” Joohyun asked, her expression a mix between befuddlement and concerned.

The male then covered his mouth as if realising that he had said too much unnecessary stuff. “Sorry, you are a fan of Wendy’s, I did not mean to tarnish her image or anything. Wendy is a good person but what I mean is that she is just… a little troubled? I am sorry, I must have said too much.”

“How well do you know Wendy?” Joohyun asked again.

“Well… we have known each other since our teenage years because of Chanyeol, the guy who thought of Wendy as his girlfriend, but I guess… ever since Wendy founded Blue Vanguards, we don’t make music together that often anymore but she is still like a sister.”

“What do you mean by troubled?” Joohyun pressed on.

The man scratched the side of his head like as if he was suddenly put in a difficult position. “Well… I guess… emotionally troubled? I mean most of us are… but Wendy is…”

Before Sehun had managed to complete his sentence, the Blue Vanguards had taken the stage, cutting the conversation suddenly. Sehun seemed relieved to be spared of questions from this overly inquisitive fan of Wendy’s but Joohyun knew that she would continue questioning Sehun after the performance.

Most of the clubbers had stopped their random dancing and began to crowd over the stage where the Blue Vanguards were at.

“Oh, Jennie is rapping today too,” Sehun muttered and indeed, Joohyun realised that there were two girls facing each other and before long, the girls began.

Wendy, was as Joohyun had remembered, spectacular on stage and her partner, Jennie was equally outstanding too. However, unlike the previous time, Wendy had lesser bodily movements. The rap today was especially morbid, rapped from the perspective of a dead biker who professes his never-ending love for racing even after he has died from a biking accident. Joohyun caught a glimpse of the look of part amazement and part uneasy looks from Sehun.

Joohyun would not have taken to the rap performance if it had been other rappers who had performed this but it was Wendy and so she could not help but like it. The audiences too, seemed to love the rap entirely. Teenagers… and their romanticism with death… Joohyun thought. Then Joohyun to wonder why is it that she herself was fond of this performance as well. That energy, the smoothness of the lyrics, and finally those lyrics rapped with true passion. Rapped with true passion… Joohyun blinked as she zeroed in all her attention on Wendy and found herself moving closer to the stage.

Her dressing was similar as the last time Joohyun had seen her as Wendy but there was something else and Joohyun found it, the look in her eyes. Beyond the smokey eye make-up, there was the void of life in those eyes, the jadedness in them, and the feelings of despair. It sent shivers down Joohyun’s spine, as if she were looking into the eyes of Death itself.

“Sehun, please continue from where we left off,” Joohyun restarted the conversation.

“What? Oh… well… you heard the rap,” Sehun said with another shrug of his shoulders.

Joohyun’s brows shot up and then furrowed later, feigning confusion. She wished it was not what she think it was.

Sehun sighed. “I don’t know whether I should be saying this but if you have been following Wendy for a length of time, you would have known that she went on hiatus for a while to deal with her own issues. More recently… I guess it would be her bike accident.”

Joohyun froze and she could not refrain her face from expressing her shock.

“She was injured because of… a bike accident?” Joohyun asked cautiously.

Sehun nodded, “yea. It was said that she fell down the stairs but well… no one around her is stupid. I bet she got one of the girls to collect the bike from the road for her. Wow but you really asked a lot of questions. I guess you must really like Wendy a lot.”

“You did well, Miss Contused Lungs,” Rose said snidely.

“Whatever, behave yourselves while I get my drink,” Wendy replied.

Jennie grabbed onto Wendy’s right arm and warned, “No alcohol.”

Wendy smirked as she patted Jennie’s head, “coming from you?”

“I’ll go with you then,” Jennie said sulkily.

Wendy then saw Jisoo and Rose shake their heads amusedly. Apparently, Wendy heard from Jisoo and Rose that Jennie had not drunk a single drop of alcohol since her motorbike incident. “Come on then, I will buy you a fruit juice too.”

When the two girls had left the backstage of the club, they were not surprised to see Chanyeol waiting for them.

“Hey, Wendy’s boyfriend,” Jennie greeted the man and sniggered when she saw Chanyeol’s ears turn red.

“Hello, Jennie,” Chanyeol returned politely.

Jennie gave a smug smile and judged Chanyeol. “You’re too polite, no wonder Wendy doesn’t like you enough,” she said savagely.

Rolling her eyes at their exchange, Wendy then proceeded to the bar herself, she ordered a pomegranate juice. All the while trying to keep a low profile when she suddenly heard a shout.

“Hey! Wendy! You’ve got a fan here!” Wendy recognised that voice as Sehun’s and turned immediately.

Heads turned in Wendy’s direction and she silently cursed at the boy as she hurriedly took her juice and walked over, shielding her face from the others all the while.

Wendy only noticed that Sehun was with the said fan when she arrived before them. It was then when she became paralysed with shock.

“H-Hello Wendy.”

Her fan was beautiful, with slim, arched brows and bright, almond-shaped eyes. What attracted Wendy most however, were her lips. They were in its natural shade but they looked so full and alluring. As a package, the fan looked completely stunning. Recovering herself, Wendy then took a seat opposite the pair and set her glass of juice on their table.

“Hello, what is your name?” Wendy asked coolly.   

“Joohyun, Bae Joohyun,” the girl replied.

Nodding, Wendy then called a waiter over to order two more glasses of juice, one for Sehun and the other for Joohyun.

“Strawberry for this mister and…” Wendy glanced at the remnants in Joohyun’s drink and said, “a Mango for this lady please.”

The girl, who had introduced herself as Joohyun, gave an uneasy sort of smile and Wendy could not help but notice that she was gripping the stool tightly.

Placing a hand over her fan’s knuckles and hearing Joohyun gasp, she said, “You’re going to hurt your knuckles if you keep doing that. Relax, I won’t bite.”

“Uhm… I guess I will leave the fan to talk to her idol?” Sehun slipped away after finishing his sentence leaving the two girls behind.

Wendy closed her eyes as she contemplated how this conversation would pan out. She was Wendy now an