part 1 ♡ pages 72-91

The 7/11 wasn’t crowded at this time of night and Wendy guessed that she was the only person in the store right now, aside from the boy at the register. 

Determined to find something to eat, Wendy walked straight over to the snacks aisle to look for something cheap and delicious. She couldn’t decide on something relatively healthy, like a granola bar, or something she’d actually enjoy, like chips. Wendy had a habit of humming to herself whenever she was trying to focus or make decisions so she subconsciously started to hum a song that she’d heard on the radio early.

Staring down the bag of chips and the granola bar for what felt like too long, Wendy decided to throw caution to the wind and happily chose the chips over the granola bar. Feeling content in her decision, she made her way over to the cash register. Wendy wasn’t really paying attention, however, being too focused on her snack, that she suddenly slammed into someone, hard.

Wendy landed on her with a thud and instantly repeated ‘ow ow ow’ over and over again in her head as if that would help the newfound pain in her . Thankfully Wendy had been holding onto her chips like a life line so she hadn’t dropped them, though the same couldn’t be said for the person whom she’d run into.

“Ouch— oh my god I’m so sorry.” A voice said and Wendy opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut during the collision, and looked up to see the source of the apology. She smiled when she saw it was girl.

“I wasn’t paying attention and I was being careless I-“ 

The girl was frantically trying to collect her spilled items off of the floor now. She was wearing a really big hat and coat and it reminded Wendy of two little kids stacked on top of one another trying to sneak into an r-rated movie. Wendy couldn’t help but giggle to herself at that and decided to cut the girl off to stop her rambling apologies.

“Ahaha it’s okay.” Wendy said with a smile and placed her hand on top of the strangers. 

Wendy tried to get a good look at the girls face, but she was looking down at the floor. Wendy could feel her gay coming through and she couldn’t help herself from thinking how cute this stranger was.

“I’m sorry.” The girl spoke up again and Wendy couldn’t tell if the girl was blushing or was just embarrassed. The chance that she was blushing made Wendy blush a little too.

Wendy nodded with a smile and proceeded to pick up the girls belongings for her. She could feel the girl watching her but she didn’t wanna look up at her or else she might get flustered, so she continued to act cool. 

When she’d finished, the girl stood up and stretched a hand out towards her to take and Wendy gladly accepted. Internally, Wendy prayed that her hands weren’t sweaty or anything because she still wanted the girl to think she was cool. (No one ever thought Wendy was cool so she was determined to at least make this stranger think she was.)

Wendy turned to look at the girl, since she was feeling brave now, and wanted to see what her face looked like. Her voice had sounded beautiful, even when she was just apologizing, and Wendy was crossing her fingers that they would look similar in age. Wendy was lonely, what could she say! But as soon as she looked the girls way, the girl turned her head, looking out the store windows. This made Wendy pout a little but she just tried to accept the small defeat.

“Are you okay? I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, right?” The girl spoke up, still facing away from Wendy.

Wendy smiled and looked down at herself to make sure she was all good.

"Yeah I’m okay. How about you?” Wendy asked and looked back up towards the girl in hopes that she’d turn around and look at her. 

Of course if she did look at her, Wendy wasn’t sure what she’d do. She’d probably get too nervous or maybe die right there on the spot if the girl was as beautiful as she sounded. 

Wendy could only see a bit of silky purple hair that snuck out from the back of her coat and she almost thought that the girl looked like an idol. This thought made Wendy’s heart skip a beat.

“I’m fine,” the girl said quietly and nodded, still facing away, “Have a good night.” And with those as her parting words, the girl hurriedly exited through the front doors before Wendy could even blink. 

Wendy reached a hand out towards the direction that the girl left in, as if she would be able to drag the girl back inside, though the girl was already gone. Wendy sighed, letting her hand fall back to her side, and stared at the bag of chips that she was still holding in defeat. 

Suddenly the front doors chimed and Wendy quickly looked up in hopes that the girl had come back, but when she saw that it was just some random stranger, Wendy felt dumb for getting her hopes up. The girl had clearly been in a hurry to escape her so she probably wasn’t interested in Wendy anyways. Wendy must’ve just jumped to conclusions and assumed that the girl was gay when she wasn’t. ‘Not every pretty girl that’s nice to you is gay Seungwan!’ Wendy berated herself in her head. She really felt like a dumb dumb sometimes and lightly hit her head in embarrassment. Wendy felt her face heat up as she thought back on that whole encounter. 

“Idiot idiot idiot!” Wendy proceeded to hit herself in the head with her palm, not realizing how insane she probably looked.

Amongst it all, Wendy had almost forgotten that she still had to purchase her chips, but she was reminded of the fact when the voice of a teenage boy spoke up from behind her.

“Miss... um are you okay.” He stated in a bored tone, rather than concerned, and Wendy turned around to see that it was the worker at the cash register. 

He had seen the whole ordeal between Wendy and that girl, and how Wendy probably looked like an escaped insane asylum patient, and hadn’t done anything, so Wendy huffed and guessed that he wasn’t really asking if she was okay. It was probably just mandatory for him to ask the well-being of a customer as an employee.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” She said and walked up to buy her chips. 

Wendy just wanted to get out of the store and eat her chips in peace so she begrudgingly took out $1.50 to pay for the chips and left before she could hear the boys unenthusiastic “Come again!” 

When she stepped out into the cold night air, she watched as a bus drove past the store and was reminded of her predicament. She was stuck, all alone, in Seoul with no ride home and she had work tomorrow.

She had no idea what she was going to do so she decided she’d just start walking in one direction and see if she could find a map or something that could tell her where exactly she was. She’d never been to Seoul before and, even though it was dark out, she was still fascinated by the billboards of idols and the flyers promoting cool hangouts that were all of the place. Thinking back, those things were probably back home in Wonju too, but since she was in Seoul, everything just seemed cooler. 

Wendy pulled out her phone, and started skimming through her contacts in search of someone who she could call for help. She frowned when she realized that, out of her limited options, no one would want to make the trip on a weekday night to come get her.

The sound of Wendy’s stomach growling reminded her of the fact that she still hadn’t eaten her chips yet. 

“Ahhh i forgot i was hungry!” Wendy said to herself and rubbed her stomach with her hand. She noticed that she had walked to a park area and made her way over to one of the benches so she could take a break and eat. 

She took the chips out of her bag and hummed in excitement at the thought of eating. She figured she’d might as well get some schoolwork done while she was eating, so she took out some papers from her bag to work on. 

She hummed to herself as she scanned the papers and then stopped when she noticed something scribbled at the bottom of one of the pages. It was small and hurriedly written in messy black ink. The message said: “If we’re gonna be friends, you’ll need this XXX-XXX-XXXX (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ -Heechul”

Wendy’s eyes grew and she starting choking on a chip.

She spent a few seconds coughing like an idiot which drew attention from a few people walking by. Wendy, choosing to ignore their stares, picked the paper back up off the ground, which had fallen during her coughing fit. Then, with one hand holding onto her phone and the other grasping the paper, Wendy quickly typed Heechul’s number in and was about to write the first message when she stopped.

Would he even be willing to come get her anyway? They’d literally just met so Wendy doubted they were even close enough to be doing each other such big favors.

Wendy puffed up her cheeks, forming a little pout, and almost turned her phone off, but decided it was worth a shot to just ask. The worst he could say is no and if he did, Wendy would just have to find another way home. It was no big deal. She could do this! 

So she sent him a text:

Time- 7:55 PM

Battery- 32%

To: heechul

Wendy: "hey heechul, it's wendy! i just saw your little message lol"

Heechul: "i was wondering how long it would take you to notice it ;-)"

Wendy: "sjhdfksfsl yeah i'm a little slow lol but .. listen..."

Wendy: "and i hate to ask this of you since we just met and everything but ummmm.."

Heechul: "hey, you can ask me anything. shoot"

-

Time- 7:57 PM

Battery- 32%

To: heechul

Wendy: "ok haha well, and you dont have to say yes or anything!!! but i was just wondering if you could.. maybe.. come pick me up.. lol"

Heechul: "pick you up? like for a date? wendy i"

Wendy: "OMG SHDFJSFJ NO NO STOP"

Wendy: "I mean i, no!! just.. look its embarssing ok"

-

Time- 7:58 PM

Battery- 31%

To: heechul

Wendy: "i was taking the bus home and i guess i accidentally fell asleep so i missed my stop and now im in seoul all alone and im kinda freaking out because idk what to do!! haha plz help me"

Heechul: "oh hah of course thats what you meant. i see"

Heechul: "but yeah yeah, of course, i'll come get you"

Wendy: "OMG REALLY!!!"

-

Time- 8:00 PM

Battery- 31%

To: heechul

Heechul: "yes really! don't worry about it, seoul isnt too far from wonju anyways"

Wendy: "omg thank you so so much heechie!!!!!! <3 <3 <3"

Wendy: "shodfhsofh idk y i just called you 'heechie' but that happened!!! IM SORRY IM JUST HAPPY OK"

Heechul: "heechie, huh ngl i kinda like it ;-)"

Heechul: "anyway, where should i come get you? any recognizable buildings nearby? im getting in my car rn"

-

Time- 8:02 PM

Battery- 30%

To: heechie

Wendy: "omghfjgk im gonna change your name in my contacts to heechie now!!"

Wendy: "but hmm not sure lemme look around"

Wendy: "well im at some park right now.. not sure if that helps lol but i think theres a sign over there one sec"

Heechul: "i'll be waiting"

Wendy: "ooo ok it says 'Yeouido Park' ? does it sound familiar to you lol? idk ive never been here before"

-

Time- 8:05 PM

Battery- 30%

To: heechie

Heechul: "oh yep i think ik where that is, i'll gps it just to be sure though haha"

Wendy: "ok great! i'll just be sitting on one of these benches i guess lol and thank you so much heechie<3"

Heechul: "trust me, its no problem at all. see you then and make sure not to talk to any strangers!"

Wendy: "BYE im an adult shfskfhl but yes sir mr. heechul! drive safe!"

Wendy smiled as she put her phone down and sighed in relief that she’d make it home. She’d honestly started to lose hope a little that she’d ever make it to school tomorrow morning, but thanks to Heechul, everything was fine. She’d have to make sure to repay him later.

She knew it would take a while before he got there, though, so she worked on more school assignments and planned ahead in her lessons so the principal would be extra surprised at her level of preparedness. She was gonna show her new boss that she had great work ethic and would be the best English teacher that schools ever seen! 

Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she got straight to work.

After working for a good hour, Wendy decided to take a break to stand up and stretch. It was pretty late now, almost 9:30 pm and Wendy wondered where Heechul was. 

She must be psychic because as soon as she thought about him, her phone vibrated and she picked it up to see it was Heechul calling her.

“Hello!” She said happily, stretching her legs.

“Hey! I’m here. I think i can see you. I’m waving at you right now.”

“Oh okay, ahah i think i see you! I’m coming.”

“Alright i’m gonna hang up now.” He laughed and turned his phone off when Wendy reached the car.

“Heechul you have no idea how happy i am to see you.” Wendy said, opening the passenger door. “Nice car by the way.”

“Haha thanks and it was no problem, really. I wasn’t doing anything anyways.”

“Still. Thank you.” Wendy smiled and buckled her seatbelt.

Heechul couldn’t help but smile at Wendy. She reminded him of a happy puppy and he felt his heart skip a beat when he thought about her smile. Even though they hadn’t known each other for long, Heechul had really gotten to like Wendy. She was equally smart, driven, diligent, funny, and cute. She really had a lot of charm and Heechul eagerly wanted to get to know more about her. 

Realizing what he was thinking, he quickly turned his head to face the front, suddenly he felt heat rise to his face. Oh my god. 

Was he... crushing on Wendy?

While Heechul was panicking internally, Wendy spoke up.

“Heechul? Aren’t we gonna go now?” She asked, looking up at him with those big, beautif- i mean, brown, brown eyes. 

“Oh haha yeah yeah, of course. Haha sorry.” He said and awkwardly coughed, hoping she didn’t notice him struggling to put the keys back in the ignition.

Thankfully, Wendy hadn’t seemed to notice, and instead, had diverted her attention to something happening outside.

When he finally got the car running, they took off back towards Wonju. Heechul the radio to fill the silence.

“Achooo!” Wendy suddenly sneezed and covered her nose with her hand.

Heechul gulped. 

Dammit even her sneezes sounded cute.

“B-bless you!” He said, eyes still focused on the road ahead.

“Thank you. Again, haha. I think someone must be talking about me.” Wendy said with a smile and for a second she hoped it was the girl she’d run into at the convenience store who’d been the cause of her sneeze.