Wendy looks forward to Saturdays the most. She can sleep in, get up late, maybe go out for a while or just watch her favorite shows on TV all day. There’s also no worry about staying up late.

Saturdays are chill days and it’s the day she gets the most sleep and the best dreams. She stretches and arches her back, keeping her eyes closed. She takes a deep breath, trying to remember what happened last night.

Irene slept over.

Snapping her eyes open, she turns over and touches the other side of the bed only to find the sheets empty and cool.

She hurriedly gets up, worried that Irene left while she was so deep in slumber. She would’ve heard the door opening, right?

Wendy checks the bathroom, but no one’s there. She can spot the kitchen, but the lights are off. A plate of omelet and a bowl of rice are already set on the dining table.

She paces further into her apartment and she finds her right by the corner of the living room sitting on a small cushioned chair by the window. Irene is crouched over a book of poems, her hair covering half of her face.

A smile easily forms on Wendy’s lips, watching Irene and taking the time to stare as she goes unnoticed. Irene’s eyebrows crease as she adjusts the frame of her glasses, now a rectangular subdued brown in contrast to her statement round glasses from decades ago.

Eventually, Wendy couldn’t help but approach her. Irene is still too engrossed in what she’s reading to acknowledge her presence. Wendy walks closer, footsteps light but she has no intention to surprise her.

There’s a yelp before Irene looks at her.

“Good morning.” Wendy leans down for hug, which Irene takes only after giving her a quick peck on her lips.

It’s a good morning indeed.

“Do you have plans today?” Wendy asks as she sits on the adjacent chair. Irene puts down her book in between them and hums.

“Not really. Unless you want to get a massage?”

Wendy’s eyes twinkle at that. Her back has been aching for months now.

“Let’s treat ourselves and go to a spa.”

Oh if only she knew that this mundane thing would make Irene’s eyes sparkle in delight, she would have treated her a long time ago.

---

“Here, look, look!”

Mina is sprinting to the kitchen, holding what seems to be their grandfather’s cellphone. He is trailing far behind, worry etched into his face, for Mina’s safety or for the phone, Jisoo isn’t sure.

Jisoo is busy mixing the ingredients as she helps out her grandma, but she smiles at her mom through the camera when Mina moves towards her. Right after that, Mina switches the screen and moves closer to the food being prepared, using both of her tiny hands to keep the phone steady. Jisoo can clearly see her mother’s loving smile on the screen, sitting comfortably by the windowsill in her favorite dress. Looking at the walls behind her, she knows it isn’t their house. The place is familiar but she can’t remember where or when she saw it. She brushes it off then, maybe she’s just at a restaurant or café nearby.

“Be careful, honey. We don’t want to get our food dirty, do we?” Their grandmother taps Mina’s head and she backed away slowly. Pulling the phone closer, she turns around to film the entire kitchen and her sister and grandparents around her.

Getting dizzy, she stops and focuses it on one person.

“There’s grandma!” Peeking away from the screen, she tells the older woman, “I’m talking to mommy! You’re on video.”

Jisoo can’t help but feel worried. As much as the adults try to keep it away from them, she can clearly feel the tension. She didn’t realize that her hands stopped and she just stood still.

Their grandma, nods her head and speaks, “Hi Rene,” with a wave of her hand.

Jisoo nervously pours out the contents to a bowl, pretending that she’s not interested in the conversation. Wanting to hear her mom’s voice, she hears none, and only then does she realize that Mina has gone out of the room and to the backyard where Yeri is.

With a sigh, she continues her task and waits for her grandmother to give her more instructions.

“You can go with your siblings and talk to your mom. I’ll be fine here, dear.”

Jisoo shakes her head, “It’s okay. I want to help you cook.”

The middle-aged woman smiles and kisses Jisoo’s hair before telling her what to do next.

Letting go of her worries, Jisoo just tells herself to enjoy. She’s not really an attention-seeker, but she barely spends alone time with her grandparents. As the eldest, she has seen them fuss over her little siblings, one by one as the years go by.

She understands the dynamic now. She is older and now that there are four of them, she can share. She is older. And she tries to be more considerate and understanding. She’s their big sister and they look up to her.

She admits that the idea troubled her when she was younger. And somehow, her dad always knew. He didn’t even have younger brothers or sisters.

Her dad had often told her,

“They fussed over you at that age, too. To the point where your mom and I got stressed because they’re parenting you.”

And back then she often asked a lot of questions and her dad was always patient enough to answer them.

Then when she’s feeling better, he would always say,

“You may sometimes forget it, but I love you. Your mommy loves you. Our parents love you. Your brother and sisters love you. Remember that.”

Organizing her thoughts as she stirs the soup, she now understands the conclusion.

It’s not the sibling rivalry that keeps her thoughts at bay. Because if it were, why doesn’t it bother her now that her grandfather would form clay sculptures with Yeri? That grandma would read stories to Mina? That grandpa would play board games with Minhyuk?

Despite her shortcomings as a daughter and sibling, it was always her father who understood her and made her thoughts feel valid.

Maybe that’s what she was missing after all – the one person who always sees through her when she tries not to make her emotions show.

And without him here, she longs to feel seen again.

---

Wendy is sitting cross-legged on the bed when she enters the room. She’s scrolling through her phone but she looks up as soon as Irene closes the door.

“Hey…” She suddenly feels shy. She’s the one invading someone else’s house. And yet Wendy is the one adjusting for her comfort.

“How are they?” Wendy puts her phone away and pats the space beside her. “I heard Mina’s voice. She sounds excited.”

Irene sits at the edge of the bed and looks at her phone as she talks about her little girl.

“Too happy, really. She showed all of them in the video, though. She told me everything she’s done there from the shows they've watched to the games they’ve played… She’s so excited… She would’ve squealed in delight if she saw you.”

Glancing at Wendy as she says the last line, she knows it’s not a good time to talk about that yet. Wendy just gives her a soft smile in return.

They sit in comfortable silence until Wendy scoots closer to her. Irene waits for Wendy’s smile to break, waits for her to show any other emotion that shows how tiring it is for her. But her gaze locks with hers and there’s something in her eyes that just makes her gravitate closer.

Irene leans in, drops her gaze from the galaxies in her eyes and down to Wendy’s pink lips instead.

There’s a chuckle from the latter’s lips before it meets hers.

They break apart and Irene takes a deep breath. Kissing Wendy is nothing new. Not since the night Wendy rushed to meet her.

Whenever they are together, she cannot stop herself from kissing Wendy. Not now. Not ever.

And it’s not just because of the fluttering in the pit of her stomach. And it seems, it’s not just to ease the sensation growing down, down, below, either.

It’s a lot more than what she can explain. It’s something else, something real, and something beautiful just waiting for its time to shine.

She sighs when one hand slides behind her ear and rests on her nape, steadying her in the deeply growing kiss. Her other hand moves up her thigh and rests on her hips, fingers sliding upon soft skin underneath her dress.

Irene is more impatient than Wendy it seems, as she pulls away only to take Wendy’s blouse off her. Without the barrier, her lips trail down from Wendy’s jaw to her neck, before pecking kisses on her collarbone and the soft skin right below it.

Both of Wendy’s hands travel up the sides of her body and peel the dress off of her. Her own hands rest on Wendy’s shoulders as she pushes back and stares at Wendy.

All those times before she held back. Guilt gnawing her mind to remind her that she was once married, once living what others say a full life.

All those times questioning why Wendy still wants her – broken, old, and worn out.

Sitting half- in front of a woman she adores, Irene has never felt so exposed. She wants to speak – apologize, explain, tell her that Wendy means more to her than what everyone thinks.

And when Wendy smiles at her like she understands, with a chaste kiss on her forehead, she takes a deep breath and she feels renewed. This feels like a new milestone, a next episode in her journey of life.

Irene slides her hands down Wendy’s chest, eyes focused on the expanse of her bare skin.

Gasping, Wendy whips her head back when Irene reaches between her s. She moves downward a little more and abruptly stops, making Wendy exhale and sit up to face her again.

Irene’s ministrations stop right as she reaches the ink that runs on Wendy’s skin. They bask in a few seconds of silence as her thumb trails over the permanent reminder of Wendy’s biggest heartbreak.

She takes a deep breath and makes a promise to herself to never make Wendy feel alone and broken again. Leaning down to plant a chaste kiss, she promises to always be there and constantly provide her with love and warmth until the end of their lives.

It sounds like a lot, but it’s easy for Irene to make now that she’s so sure that she sees Wendy beside her from now on.

Wendy reaches for her face then and caresses it to make her look up. It’s only now that Irene accepts and understands the loving gaze Wendy has been giving her. The same gaze she thought she didn’t deserve but desperately need. It’s only now that she realizes that Wendy has made the same promise for her.

“You’re not the only one with scars. But we’re going to be fine.”

Irene can’t help but lean into the warmth that cradles her. She now understands where Wendy gets all her unbelievable strength after everything that she’s been through. It may always be a part of her, but it doesn’t define her.

The scar is still inside Irene’s heart. But it won’t make it stop beating.

“We’ll get through this together.”

There are a lot of words that Irene wants to say, but this is enough for now. She takes the palm holding her and kisses it.

“Together.”

Wendy pulls her up to kiss her lips again. It starts soft and slow before progressing and igniting more passion than she thought possible. Wendy’s right hand ends up caressing her hair, while the other roams down her back. Irene successfully pulls away all of Wendy’s undergarments, making sure to map her body, leave trails of kisses and pour her feelings bare.

Unlike previous nights that are bittersweet with tears, only bliss fills the room this time. They end tonight squirming and laughing, cheeks hurting from grinning ear to ear. They lie beside each other on the bed, gasping for air. Their fingers crawl on the sheets and meld together like it’s routine. They stare at each other like they were the same teenage girls in a dorm room, bright and full of hope for what the future holds.

Irene closes her eyes to Wendy’s caresses as they face each other in the dark. She imagines her baggage being lifted one at a time, and sooner she watches herself in a dream showering Wendy with all the love that she deserves.

She wakes up from a long sleep that takes up most of the morning. They don’t eat breakfast, preferring to stay tangled between sheets, indulging in each other’s warmth throughout the day. They get to know each other once again, share more stories, and make each other laugh.

In between giggles, Irene leans in to plant another kiss on Wendy’s lips.

She once thought she has become incomplete and irreparable, but right now, having a lovely and ecstatic time with Wendy, her mindset has altered so differently.

Thank you is whispered silently. Grateful, Irene is so grateful. Wendy nods as if she can read her mind.

---

Their mother picked them up late afternoon, politely declining their grandfather’s invitation for dinner. Yeri really didn’t want to leave yet and she pouts as her mother reasons that they’ve been inconvenienced enough and that they need to sleep early for school the next day.

But as usual, Yeri’s whine and Mina’s crying get them an extra hour as compromise. Grandma looked like she would burst into tears as she coddles the two youngest, ushering everyone to the living room to munch on some snacks. Yeri makes the most of her extra time, working with Mina to convince their grandparents to play. They did so, all while engaging in conversation with their mother and elder siblings. In that moment, everything seemed normal, even though it’s their grandfather that does most of the talking. Their mother doesn’t look stressed for once and it makes her glad.

With a goodbye kiss from their grandmother, they leave on by one. She is the last kid to step out the front door, but she stops and pulls on her mother’s hand, making her crouch down to talk to her.

“Yeri, we’ll come back next time, okay?”

She reluctantly nods after grandma kisses her goodbye, slouching as Minhyuk takes her hand and helps her get into the car.

They watch as their mother bows at them and their grandfather taps her on her shoulder with a smile. Yeri was actually expecting her mother and grandmother to make up and talk, and while they never fought again, they don’t act as close as before, either.

Just the previous night, she couldn’t help but ask. Grandma just read them a bedtime story and Mina was already quietly snorin