Wendy sighed. “Stop it.”

When nothing changed, she closed her eyes in frustration. “Enough. I mean it.”

This wasn’t right, that much Wendy knew. After the fear and panic subsided, she felt a bit exhausted because she realized that it got to stop. Something could seriously go wrong if she didn’t do anything. She didn’t want this to happen in the first place—at least not this way—and she couldn’t figure out how they managed to get into this situation.

Wait, scratch that. She knew exactly why.

She turned off the stove. “Do you know how dangerous it is to hug someone from behind when they’re cooking?”

“No.” Irene shamelessly answered. “It’s your fault anyway.”

“Wow, you’re unbelievable.” She turned around, confident that Irene would let her go, but a second later she found out that she was wrong. Irene was still attached to her as if they were opposite magnet poles. “Tell me why this is my fault. Please, enlighten me.”

“You’re wearing this and you know how much I love seeing you in it.” Irene pulled a little fabric of the light purple hoodie. She gave it to her when they exchanged gifts for their third anniversary back in high school. Wendy loved everything about that particular piece of clothing and she wore it to the point that it would easily be mistaken as a rag. “And then you showered with, and don’t bother denying this, my body wash and shampoo.”

“I’m not denying that at all. Mine magically ran out at the same time.”

“And then you’re cooking. And you’re not just cooking ramyeon or something, you’re making my favorite dish in the whole wide world.”

“I still can’t see how those reasons justify you doing this.”

Irene leaned back and sighed. She looked at Wendy as if the answer was obvious and Wendy was too dense to understand. “You did all the chores today.”

“You just recovered from stomach flu. I wanted you to rest.”

“You did all the shopping, carried all the groceries, and you got me my favorite carrot cake even though you had to take a detour from the mart to reach that cafe.”

“Oh my God, it’s not a big deal. There’s nothing special about those things!”

“You didn’t let me help. At all. You made me breakfast in bed, prepared my lunch, and now you’re making dinner. All by yourself. You didn’t let me lift a finger.”

Wendy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Again, I just want you to rest. And again, there’s not—“

“Your looks so cute in those shorts."

“I can't do anything about it!”

“You could’ve worn your apron backwards.” Irene deadpanned.

Wendy’s eyes bulged. “And here I thought you couldn’t be more ridiculous.”

Irene waved her off. “So, you agree that I didn’t do anything wrong or as you said, ‘dangerous’?”

“Absolutely not!”

Irene pecked Wendy’s lips. “You’re so lucky that I could restrain myself in time or I would just do y—“

“You guys are gross.” Joy didn’t even try to hide her disgust. "So gross. The grossest of gross that ever grossed."

Yeri rolled her eyes. “I told you it’s a bad idea to hang out with newlyweds who just came home from their honeymoon.” She sipped her wine. “I knew this would happen.”

Seulgi shook her head and looked at Wendy. “I expected better of you, Wendy.”

Wendy was bewildered. “Why do I feel like you’re all putting the blame on me when we obviously know who’s responsible?” She pointed at Irene who was still clinging to her like a sleepy koala.

“Oh, come on, Wendy Unnie.” Joy rolled her eyes. “Irene Unnie is whipped for you,” Irene glared at Joy, but the latter clearly wasn’t affected. “That’s a universally known fact, by the way.” Irene seemed to consider the truth of that statement for a couple of seconds before nodding and clinging to Wendy again. “You should set some boundaries, especially in situation like this.”

“Yeah, your PDA in no way will fill our empty stomachs and satisfy our hunger.” Yeri refilled her glass.

Seulgi warned the youngest. “You’re drinking too much.”

“Don’t judge. I need this.” She took Seulgi’s glass and offered it to her. “And I think you need this too.” Seulgi hesitated and Yeri continued, “Look at them. Trust me, we need this, Seulgi Unnie.”

Seulgi sighed and took the glass, knowing full well that Yeri’s observation was on point. “Thanks.”

Yeri chugged her wine. "Okay. Listen up, grandmas." She ignored the dirty looks that were directed at her. "I haven't eaten anything and now I'm famished. So, let's get this over quick. All in favor of McDonald's, please raise your hand and say 'aye'."

Yeri smiled proudly at Seulgi and Joy who followed her lead, but that smile suddenly vanished when she saw Irene and Wendy doing the same thing. "No, you two are out. Seulgi Unnie, Joy Unnie, let's go."

"What?" Wendy screeched. "You're seriously ditching us?" Wendy looked at Irene who was still hugging her waist and resting her head comfortably on her shoulder, not looking the least bit worried. "Babe, are you seeing this? Say something!"

Yeri opened the door and looked straight to Wendy and Irene. "You owe me dinner, Unnies." She walked out and Wendy thought she heard Yeri whisper, "These horndogs, I swear to God."

"See you later, Irene Unnie. Wendy." Seulgi waved. The way Seulgi looked at her made Wendy feel like a kid who just disappointed her mother.

"Yeri's right. You both owe us dinner." Joy put her glass down on the nearest counter. "But for now, you two can just stay here and make dinner," she shrugged. "Or babies, whatever."

The three of them were already out of sight before Wendy or Irene could retort.

"Babe, I love you, but this is absolutely your fault." Wendy s her arms onto Irene's waist. "They must be mad at us."

"As long as I get to spend my time with you, I don't mind."

Wendy blushed furiously. In the years they had spent together, Irene was never really the type to say something romantic because she preferred to show it through her actions; like how she silently put a bottle of water on Wendy's table so that the younger girl wouldn't forget her water intake when she had been sitting for too long, or how she cooked poutine solely based on recipes she found on the Internet only because Wendy offhandedly mentioned that she was craving for that particular dish, and many more. Wendy knew this by heart, but she also knew that every once in a while, Irene would say something that could make her breath hitched and that last sentence was a prime example.

"Seriously, Bae Joohyun, what am I going to do with you?"

"I really don't know," Irene shrugged lightly and laughed. "But I know those kids will be alright and once you serve them your cooking next time they're here, they will forget everything about this. But you're absolutely wrong about one thing, though."

"My God," Wendy slumped. "What now?"

"It's Bae-Son Joohyun for you."