"Oh, come on, Wan, relax a little!" An already tipsy Seulgi says as she pushes another shot of a weird looking liquid to her, making Wendy eye it suspiciously. "Drink up!"

The Canadian shakes her head but still reaches for the glass. Her eyes involuntarily shut as bitter, tangy drink quickly makes it way down , and she feels it settling in her stomach seconds later. Wendy wonders why that feeling is so nice.

"There she goes!" Seulgi claps and hollers; her voice would be unheard in the noisy music of club if it wasn't so loud.

"She's right, Seungwan-ah," Joohyun joins in, looking at her and swiftly grabbing the bottle of soju in Seulgi's hands to stop the other girl from drinking too much. Though, Wendy catches the red tint on her cheeks in the dark lighting of this place. "It's been a while since the three of us hung out like this. You're always so busy."

Wendy shrugs. "Well, you know? Life of a musician, just trying to come up with the album of the freakin' century." Don't like third-wheeling either.

"Do you want another bottle? I'm going to the bar," Wendy stands up when she sees Seulgi leaning on Joohyun's shoulder, showing her drunken clingy version. "Losers," she mutters under her breath, starting to move to the bar.

Sliding through the crowd, trying not to bump into anyone, Wendy finally got to the bar where a few people are also waiting for their drinks.

"Excuse me," she catches the barmen's attention. "Can I, please, get another bottle of soju?"

A young man with red hair, unbelievably tall and wide in his shoulders, smiles a bit and nods. "Of course, can you please wait for a bit?"

"Sure!" Wendy smiles and passes him the money.

Wonho, as written on his name tag, takes the bills and begins to give out drinks to other - red faced and a bit loud - patrons.

Wendy looks around the club. Honestly, when Joohyun and Seulgi came rushing inside her apartment, saying something about her being stuck inside her home for thirteen years and not coming out seeing the sun, she didn't really expect they would lead her to this club forcefully and making her drink. At least they let her choose her own clothing, so nothing too revealing.

It's true that the three of them couldn't go out recently, and she does feel a bit bad, but, come on, she's been struck with inspiration, and a lot of love songs appeared. Still not enough for a full album but she's halfway there.

"Hey, beautiful," a man's voice breaks her thoughts.

"I'm not interested," Wendy says, rolling her eyes, because, really? Doesn't her outfit scream 'I’m gay!'?

"Come on, sweetheart," he slides closer to her, and Wendy's usually a really peaceful person but right now she's ready to grab a glass near her and throw the drink into his face.

Sighing, she turns around to tell him to step off. Just as she opens -

"She's already said she's not interested, ." Both, Wendy and the jerk, turn their heads to look at the voice. The man quickly stands up and leaves when he sees a cold glare sent his way.

It disappears just when he does, and a bright smile makes its way on her savior’s face.

"Hey there, pretty lady."

Wendy laughs. "Hello to you too, Sooyoung."

She looks amazing right now. Not that she doesn't always look amazing but right now, in that dress that hugs all of her curves just right, and her hair done perfectly, Wendy thinks that Sooyoung is beautiful.

"Thanks." Dammit, said that out loud.

The younger girl steps closer to Wendy, so close that their shoulders are almost touching. Sooyoung is wearing high heels today so Wendy feels incredibly small. Not because of the ethereal beauty the younger projects. Nope.

"So," her neighbor takes a sip of a red liquid out of her glass. "What are you doing here all alone?"

"I'm not exactly alone. My friends were being gross with each other, so I needed a reason for an escape. Thankfully, it came up in an empty bottle of soju. You?"

Sooyoung bumps her with her shoulder and giggle. "Join the club. The same reason as you. My friend and her girlfriend can't keep their hands off each other."

Wendy repeats the gesture. "We're kinda pathetic, aren't we?"

The smile Sooyoung gives her is wistful but nevertheless blinding. "I guess we are."

"Here's your soju, miss," the red-hair returns and gives Wendy her bottle, getting a quiet thanks in response, before disappearing once more.

Wendy shuffles on her feet before Sooyoung who's looking at her with something akin to anticipation.

"Uhm, would you like to, I don't know, come and meet my friends? Our table is right over there-" Wendy looks at it and cringes a bit, seeing her buddies. "Never mind."

"Maybe you should go with me? Meet my friends? I can see that they calmed down a bit." Sooyoung asks and snakes her arm around Wendy's shoulder to lead her to their table.

It's true. When the both of them get closer they can see two girls talking - but Wendy still notices their bruised lips.

"Yerim, Saeron, say hi to my friend. This is-"

"Oh, Wendy-unnie!" Yerim shouts and clumsily stands up from the booth to hug the older, the action that makes Sooyoung look at her, displeased, when she doesn't let go for a good ten seconds.

A cough from Saeron makes Yerim unwrap her hands and sit back, her smile not fading.

"Hey, my name's Saeron."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Wendy," they shake hands, and the Canadian is glad to see that at least Saeron is more or less sober - well, in comparison to Yerim.

"Since when are the two of you so close?" Sooyoung asks Wendy when she sits down, curiosity in her voice.

"Since you didn't return my PS4 and left the city," Yerim sticks her tongue out at Sooyoung and winces when Saeron slaps her shoulder. "So, I came to your apartment, you weren't there, and Wendy-unnie took me out for coffee. We’ve been talking since then."

"You what?" Both Sooyoung and Saeron's voices ring in their ears.

"Don't be jealous, babe," Yerim says to her girlfriend, but her eyes dart to Sooyoung for a second in a teasing manner.

Wendy blushes a bit at her neighbor's exclaim. Why would she react like that?

They start talking, exchanging some interesting and weird stories. Almost all of the conversations consist of Sooyoung and Yerim bickering and Saeron trying to calm them down. Despite of that Wendy can see that these three really care for each other. Seeing the little group’s interactions, Wendy is reminded of her own friends she's left at their booth.

Shoot.She cuts another one of Sooyoung and Yerim's petty fights, softly. "Uhm, sorry, I just remembered that I'm supposed to-"

"Yah! Son Seungwan! Where the heck did you go?" Joohyun asks as she and Seulgi come up to their table. "Who's this?"

Wendy mentally slaps her forehead. "I'm so sorry, unnie, I didn't mean to, I swear! I just ran into my friend. And got carried away a bit."

She doesn’t see Sooyoung looking down on her laps for a split second, feeling warmth spreading all over her body at Wendy's words. Friend. She's not just a neighbor.

Or maybe that's just whiskey.

"This is Sooyoung, and that's Yerim and Saeron," she introduces the girls one by one to her friends.

"Hey, you guys, should join us!" Yerim exclaims and everyone agrees slowly. Soju's here anyway.

It becomes even messier from now on. Seulgi and Joohyun disagree to separate from each other so that leads to Wendy moving to sit near the other couple, right across Sooyoung. She and Sooyoung exchange a few glances, as if saying 'well, gal, we're suffering together, it seems'.

An hour and a half and 4 bottles of alcohol later everyone seems to be extremely friendly with each other. Deeper into the night the crowd became thicker, music seemed louder and drinks tasted even better. Joohyun, Seulgi and Sooyoung went to dance, leaving Wendy with the youngsters.

She’s having a small conversation about music – a topic she and Yerim seem to connect over really well – when her eyes start sliding through the crowd. It’s not nice to ignore your companion, and she knows, really, but her eyes catch the sight of Sooyoung dancing, and Yerim’s blabbering falls into the background. She’s beautiful; with blue and purple lights of the club reflecting on her skin and in her eyes, her smile glowing the brightest. Their eyes meet, and Wendy’s breathing hitches, and it feels like another shot of some strong drink fills in her whole body – except this is million times better. She smiles back at Sooyoung and playfully winks, making the other throw her head back in laughter.

Wendy’s suddenly even happier that she agreed to go out.

Some time later the small group finally decides to leave the place. Wendy and Sooyoung, being the soberest, hail a cab for two couples and quietly make their way home. Thankfully, the club is close to their apartment building.

The wind blows, and Wendy sees Sooyoung shiver. Idiot, she thinks, of course she would be cold, she only has this dress on. Swiftly taking off her jacket - thank God she's worn the really big one, with sleeves falling far beneath her hands - Wendy touches the taller girl's forearm and stops her. She rises on her toes, wraps the jacket around Sooyoung's shoulders and pats them, before resuming her walk.

"Thanks," Sooyoung mumbles when she catches up with her which is not that late, because you know - legs. "But won't you get cold?"

Wendy chuckles. "Me? Cold? Please, I'm from Canada! I do not get cold. Cold is basically my middle name!" She teases the taller girl, bathing in soft chuckles, coming from the latter. "Besides," she starts, bashing her eyelashes at the taller girl. "Your company's always keeping me warm."

"Yah! Why are you so greasy?" Sooyoung hits her, laughing, but still puts her hand on Wendy's shoulder, pulling her closer.

That action totally doesn't make her heart beat ten times faster.

"So, your name's Seungwan."

Wendy looks at her in surprise. "Yeah, that's my Korean name."

"Wendy-unnie… Seungwan-unnie," the taller her chin, deep in thought.

"It's a boy's name." She complains.

"What, you don't like it? But Joohyun-unnie called you that?" Wendy misses how Sooyoung squints her eyes.

She chuckles in response. "It's not that I don't like it. My parents gave it to me for a reason – possibly some dumb reason, knowing them – anyway, I just think Wendy is better. And that's Joohyun-unnie for you. I told her not to call me Seungwan, and she still does. And you can't really win against her, so…"

"I see. But I think it fits you really well,” a hand on tightens on Wendy’s shoulder for a moment.

"Well, if you like it so much," Wendy looks up at Sooyoung and gives a smile the younger finds incredibly charming. "I think I can make a few exceptions."

When you're with people you immensely enjoy being with time moves really fast. Same with the two of them. The pair doesn't even notice how they get to their hall, now standing there awkwardly.

The alcohol is still in her system but not as strong as before. That fact doesn't stop her gaze from wandering up and down Sooyoung's appearance and stopping on her lips for a split second.

"See you tomorrow, I guess," the girl says, raking off a jacket that isn't hers and giving it back to Wendy. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Right after Wendy slips into her apartment, her head meats the peach colored walls when she starts banging against the surface.

"Ugh, stupid."

She should've done something.

Anything.

Should have she?