The laughter finally died long after Wendy delivered her punchline. Yeri was still on the floor with her hand on her stomach, trying to breathe normally; Joy took a swig of beer to calm her nerves; Seulgi had stopped bawling (she always cried after laughing too much); and Irene was still trying to tear her eyes away from Wendy’s direction.

Wendy looked around the room and saw the clock. She finished her coffee in one shot and started to gather her things. “I’m sorry, ladies. As much as I want to stay here and keep making you laugh, I got to go home.”

Joy whined. “Why? It’s only nine-thirty.”

“I have to fetch my sister from the airport tomorrow morning, Joy, and you all need to hit the sack ASAP.”

Yeri wiped with the back of her hand. “The night is still young, Unnieee... Don’t gooo...”

“Okay, somebody please keep an eye on her,” Wendy walked over to her friends one by one. She just wanted to give them a hug and/or a kiss goodbye—and they surely didn’t make it easy for her.

She kissed Joy’s right cheek and the woman asked for another kiss on the left saying, “We should strive for a balanced life.”

She tried to hug Yeri who was still sitting on the floor and when she put her arms around the younger girl’s neck, Yeri pulled her until she fell on top of her.

“Don’t go, my Wandyyy...”

“Let me go, Myemim,” she tried to untangle herself with all her might. “God, you got tentacles for limbs or something?”

Once she was free from Yeri, she turned to look at Seulgi who already got her arms stretched out as wide as her smile, her palms continuously opening and closing, beckoning her to come closer. “Wannieee...”

Wendy soon found herself enveloped in Seulgi’s bear hug. How is it possible for someone to be this fluffy?

“Don’t sleep late, Seul.”

Seulgi’s answer was a high-pitched giggle.

Wendy stood up to say goodbye to Irene who was trying to take her coat off of the rack. She could see the older woman was a bit surprised when their hands touched. “Thanks, Unnie. I’m sorry for leaving you to deal with those kids alone.”

Irene gave an assuring smile. “It’s okay. Drive safely.”

“Of course.”

They stood there while trying to keep themselves busy with trivial things (Irene suddenly grew an utmost interest to the surroundings and Wendy kept trying to dust off invisible lint from her coat) just so that their eyes wouldn't meet. Both of them seemed to have forgotten the basics to engage in a simple conversation.

Wendy was putting her coat on when she heard Irene say, “Text me when you get home.” Seeing the brunette’s surprised face, she hastily continued, “We want to make sure that you get home safe.”

“Ah, I see," Wendy nodded. "I will.”

The awkwardness was so thick, someone could take a knife and slice it.

“I’ll get going,” Wendy was about to hug Irene, but she remembered something that instantly stopped her from doing so. She smiled and held out her hand. “Good night, Irene Unnie.”

Irene would be lying if she said that she wasn’t disappointed, but she tried her best not to show it. “Good night, Wendy.”

After Wendy left, Irene found Joy standing nearby with a knowing look. “You’re not fooling anyone, Unnie.”

“What are you talking about?”

Behind her, Yeri tiptoed until her head rested on Joy’s shoulder, making them look like a two-headed troll. “We saw the way you looked at Wendy Unnie.”

“You guys are clearly drunk. Come on, let me take you—“

Joy snorted. “We’re not that drunk and we certainly aren’t blind.”

“I don’t look at her differently.” Irene could hear the defensive tone in her voice.

“Nonsense!” Joy put her finger in the air and Yeri followed suit.

“How much did you both drink?” Irene was thinking of calling an ambulance for Joy and Yeri who might be showing the effects of alcohol poisoning.

“Just admit it already and we can all sleep peacefully tonight,” Joy tried to sound diplomatic, but ended up slurring a few words.

Irene figured she could play along for a few minutes so that she would have a story to tease them with in the future. “Okay. What’s the difference then? How do I look at Wendy according to your perceptive minds?”

Yeri answered without missing a beat. “Like she’s the one thing that you’ve been searching for in this dull affair you called life.”

“Like she’s the apple of your eye,” she nudged Yeri. “That’s a great movie. Right, Yerm?”

Yeri nodded. “True, true.”

Irene looked at her intoxicated friends and thought, What the heck. I need to talk about this and they won’t remember it in the morning anyway. It's actually perfect.

“So what if I like her? Is that wrong? You guys have any objection or something?”

“Praise all the holy entities! Yes!” Joy and Yeri were suddenly hugging and spinning around, and Irene had opened her browser to search the number of the nearest hospital.

“You should tell her, Unnie! I bet she likes you too! Am I right or am I right, Unnie?” Yeri tried to high-five Joy, but Joy missed her hand and high-fived her face instead.

The disappointment surfaced once again. “That’s not possible. She doesn’t even want to hug me.”

Suddenly a loud wailing came from the living room and the three of them rushed to the side of the culprit.

“What’s wrong, Seulgi?” worry clearly etched Irene’s face. I should really call an ambulance.

Seulgi neither answered nor stopped crying and went to hug her.

Irene rubbed circles on Seulgi’s back. “Shhh... It’s okay, Seulgi. Everything’s gonna be okay. I’m sure—“

A loud thud interrupted her effort to console the crying bear in her arms and Irene didn’t have to turn to see that Joy and Yeri had passed out behind her.

+ + +

“Did you all sleep well?” Wendy sipped her latte. She and Seulgi were at their gang’s favorite coffee house. Wendy had called Seulgi to meet after dropping her sister off at the hotel where she would attend her conference.

“I slept like a log and before I left, Joy and Yerm were still sleeping in the living room,” Seulgi bit her sandwich.

“And Irene Unnie?” Wendy asked cautiously.

“Oh, bless her heart. She cooked hangover soup for all of us and made sure that I took an aspirin.”

Wendy smiled. “I bet she won’t let us hang out at her place again after this. Besides, maybe it’s not something to be celebrated anyway.”

“What do you mean? Yeri, the dumb dumb Kim Yerim, finally got her driver’s license! I don’t know if she bribed the instructor or something, but the kid made it and that definitely called for a celebration.”

“Joy organized everything, right?”

Seulgi pulled a tomato slice out of her sandwich. “Yeah, why?”

“So maybe she only wanted to get drunk.”

“True, but still,” Seulgi finished the last bite of her sandwich. Wendy’s French toast was still untouched.

A moment of silence passed before Seulgi said, “Wan, do you hate Irene Unnie?”

Wendy was about to take another sip, but she put the cup back down. “Where did that come from?”

“Well, every time you meet her, you will only shake her hand or just wave from afar. You have known each other for a while now, why the awkwardness?”

“What do you mean, Seul?”

Seulgi drank her hot chocolate. “You can easily have skinship with me, Joy, and Yeri, but there seems to be a distance between you and Irene Unnie. Did you two ever fight? Because I feel like there’s always some kind of tension or something.”

Wendy gulped. “Tension?”

“Whatever it is, I can definitely say that you two aren’t close. Irene Unnie feels it, you know.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

Seulgi wasn’t wrong and Wendy knew that, but she was just too afraid to say it out loud.

If there was one thing that she and Irene had in common, it was their tendency towards skinship. Irene, being the oldest of the bunch, always clung to the youngsters, with Wendy as an exception, of course. Wendy couldn’t blame her either, because she had to admit that she was the one who caused it. She was the one who always stayed a bit far from Irene. Wendy never stopped trying too; she always tried to watch her tongue in order not to hurt Irene’s feelings, to help her whenever needed, to pay attention when Irene was talking, and to never go beyond the handshake.

“Wan?” Seulgi’s call put an end to her train of thoughts.

“Yes?”

“You don’t hate Irene Unnie, right?”

“Of course not, Seul. It’s just...”

Seulgi waited while casually glancing at Wendy’s French toast a few times. The owner of said food was clearly deep in thoughts and Seulgi just let her be. At least I made Seungwan acknowledge the problem. The rest is up to them. But seriously, maybe I should order a French toast because that—

“Seul?”

“Huh?”

“Did Irene Unnie ever talk to you about this?”

Seulgi took a fork and started cutting the toast. “Yep, once or twice. Like, ‘Is Wendy mad at me?’ and I always convinced her that you’re not.”

Wendy abruptly stood up, surprising Seulgi. “I got to go. Finish my toast!”

+ + +

Irene just got back after taking Joy and Yeri to their apartment two floors up. She tied up her hair and drank a glass of water, relieved to have finished putting everything—and everyone—back to their respective places.

The doorbell rang, causing her to jump in surprise. She had been living there for almost three years now, one would figure that she already got used to something as simple as the doorbell sound.

“Wendy?”

The brunette’s grin was a bit too wide. It always happened whenever she was nervous. “Hi, Unnie.”

“Come in,” Irene let Wendy walk past her. “I thought you were with Seulgi.”

“I was. She’s still at the coffee house.”

Irene frowned. “You left her there? Why?”

“Because I had to see you.”

There was something in Wendy’s voice that sent her heart jumping and her head spinning. She thought that it was time to play their usual let’s-not-stare-into-each-other’s-eyes game once again, but Wendy’s gaze was firm on her and she couldn’t look away.

“Seulgi thinks I hate you.”

“Well, do you?” Irene didn’t mean to sound accusing, but she was dying to know.

Irene’s answer caught her off guard. “You really think so, Unnie? You seriously think that I hate you?”

“What am I supposed to think when you always act differently around me and never treat me the same way you treat the other girls?”

She figured that honesty was the best way to deal with this situation. All in all, Wendy was still one of her closest friends. Sugarcoating would get them nowhere and most importantly, Irene was tired of wondering.

“How can I treat you the same when you look at me that way?” Wendy flashed the smile that Irene loved so much, a smile that always did stupid things to Irene’s feelings. “I know, Unnie, because that’s how I look at you when you’re not looking.”

Irene didn’t have to look in the mirror to see how red her cheeks were. “Wha—“

“You thought I hated you because I never hugged you, is that it?”

“Kind of,” Irene answered sheepishly.

“Unnie,” Wendy took Irene’s hands and her gaze lingered there, undoubtedly amazed at what she was doing. “I don’t believe in love at first sight, but when I saw you for the first time, it certainly felt that way.”

Irene was glad that Wendy was still looking at their joined hands and not her face because if she was, the poor brunette would be subjected to one of the most bizarre expressions ever known to man. A mixture of shock, confusion, excitement, all present on the tomato-colored face of a woman who was trying hard to suppress her grin into a smile.

“Besides,” Wendy lifted her head, clearly loving the sight she was seeing. “I’m afraid that if I hug you, I will do things that I’m not supposed to.”

“Like what?” Irene tightened her grip on Wendy’s hands with a smile that didn't falter and a heart that kept beating faster.

“Like...” Wendy hesitated before saying, “Not letting go?” And with that, Irene crashed herself into Wendy’s embrace.

They stayed in each others’ arms as if they had all the time in the world and they were certainly still lost in the newfound comfort when Irene said, “Good, because I don't want you to."