"Are you ready?"

"I was born ready, baby."

"3, 2, 1, go!"

And with that Wendy ran across the rooftop and jumped onto another, ending her fall with an impressive front flip.

"Did you get that?" She yelled at Irene who was standing at the edge of the rooftop she had just jumped off.

"Yes, I did." Irene nodded and motioned her to come back. Wendy did so, with a graceful jump once again and stood next to her. Irene quickly showed her the video she recorded without wasting time. They still had lots of work to do.

"This looks perfect. As always." Wendy smiled at her. Irene rubbed her eyes and stretched before turning the camera off. They had been filming all day long, without a break.

That's what happens when you promise your subscribers you'll post at least one video every day.

Wendy noticed Irene's sleepy eyes, "Let's go back to the apartment, that's enough for today." Irene gave her a tired but thankful nod and they both left the rooftop using the stairs this time.

Wendy had insisted they should climb on the roof parkour style instead of using the stairs, and Irene being her stupid self, agreed. But seriously, who could say no to Wendy's puppy eyes. She would do the most stupid things for her, everyone knew that. Climbing random buildings was one of those.

But of course, Wendy wouldn't come down the stairs as a normal human being. She had to make it more extreme. She came downstairs in a series of flying leaps.

Wendy was the one who did parkour, the one who did all the crazy stunts, but Irene easily followed behind with the camera hung around her neck.

She used to do parkour herself when she was younger but stopped for personal reasons. She still remembered a lot of moves, and still was in shape, though.

The two girls entered their shared apartment and immediately opened their laptops and started editing.

"I have to post the video before ten. I promised my subscribers!" Wendy kept reminding her.

When Irene first moved in this apartment, she didn't expect to have a roommate like Wendy. The girl was crazy!

In a positive way.

Most the times.

Wendy did parkour every day, everywhere: around town, on random buildings, in the streets, even in their own apartment.

Irene never thought that jumping from the kitchen counter to the couch in the living room was possible, but Wendy proved her wrong.

Every time she walked in front of Wendy's room she could hear her watching parkour videos.

Wendy was obsessed. And that wasn't always good.

Her passion for parkour, for life, for freedom, gave her the craziest ideas and Irene couldn't help but follow behind.

Wendy did parkour. But sometimes it just...got out of hand.




-




"Irene, I found this amazing spot near our house-"

"Seungwan not again."

"It's not dangerous, I swear!"

Irene placed the book she was reading on the bedside table and stood up. Wendy had this annoying habit of barging in Irene's room without knocking but the latter had gotten used to it by now.

"Okay, where is it?"

Wendy smiled, "Come on, I'll show you," She said and grabbed Irene's hand.

Within a few minutes they reached the amazing spot Wendy was talking about. It was only a small playground, nothing much. Joohyun took the camera in her hands and got ready to capture whatever Wendy was about to do.

Wendy popped her head in the frame and gave the camera a quick thumbs up before running up the slide, kicking off the metal bar at the top and pulling herself onto the plastic roof of the jungle gym.

The camera followed her as she ran along the top of the metal playground equipment until she reached the end and did a flip off the edge, somersaulting to break her fall as she hit the ground. Irene had a feeling Wendy would have been better off stopping there.

Of course she didn’t, though. The camera followed Wendy, who ran towards the concrete staircase at the end of the playground and hopped onto the handrail running down the middle. She kept running along the handrail and appeared to be preparing to do another flip, before a small toddler ran into what would have been Wendy’s landing spot.

From behind the camera, Irene said, “Uh oh,” before she zoomed in on Wendy throwing her weight backwards and attempting to catch herself on the handrail, but ultimately slipping off the rail and crashing into the concrete stairs below. Irene swore she heard a sickening crack as Wendy hit the ground.

"," She threw the camera on the ground and ran to Wendy.

"Seungwan, talk to me." Irene panicked -not to much, though, this had happened before- and lightly slapped Wendy's face a few times.

"Seungwan, please say something," Irene tried again.

This time it worked: Wendy slowly lifted her head and then her upper body. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Irene's smile.

"You okay?" Irene cupped her cheeks.

Wendy quickly nodded, "Perfect!"

Wendy was lying. Irene knew that. She fell too hard to be perfect.

"Alright then, let's go." Irene went back to the fallen camera and waited for Wendy to come.

Wendy was limping.

Irene sighed, and went over to help her. She put Wendy's arm around her neck and helped her go back to their apartment. Once they were there, Irene let the girl rest in her room.

Wendy did parkour and she was very good at it. But sometimes good wasn't enough.




-




"Irene! I have an awesome idea." Wendy exclaimed when she finished editing another video for her channel.

"What is it now," Irene couldn't help but worry because she knew that Wendy's idea would be anything but awesome.

"Tower Palace. Rooftop. Tomorrow."

Irene almost choked on her drink. Was she out of her mind? Was she nuts?

The Tower Palace was a group of seven towers, with 72 floors each, all built between 2002 and 2004, and all used as luxury residential complexes. Tower Palace was the tallest building in Korea since 2004 but was surpassed by the Northeast Asia Trade Tower in 2009.

"No." Irene simply said without hesitation. There was no way she was climbing the Tower Palace. Not even a chance. Not only it was illegal but it could also get them both killed. Irene would NOT do this only because Wendy wanted to film a stupid video. She was NOT-

"Please," Wendy sat next to her on the couch and rested her chin on Irene's shoulder.

Oh, no. Not the puppy eyes again.

Irene avoided her eyes. She backed away and folded her arms, "Wendy, stop. There's no way I'm going up there."

"Please, please, please," Wendy scooted closer to her once again, making the other girl set her laptop and the cup of coffee on the coffee table in front of her and stand up.

"Seungwan-"

"Unnie,"

Oh hell no. She did not just pull the unnie card on her.

"Unnie, please,"

Well .

Irene had fallen. She would do it. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she let out a small 'okay'.

"Sorry, what?"

Of course, Wendy would make her say it again. She loved to see her suffer.

"I said okay! But it better be quick."

The younger one dramatically put her hands over and with a -probably fake- gasp, threw herself on Irene.

"Thank you! I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"Yeah, yeah," Irene pretended she was unbothered and that she didn't care but finally let her arms slip around the slightly shorter girl's waist. They stood like that for a good minute -not that Irene was counting or something- with Wendy whispering 'thank you' repeatedly in her ear.

They parted and Irene almost laughed at the younger one's face. She looked extremely happy and excited.

"Tomorrow night. Get ready."

"Tomorrow night." Irene nodded.




-




"Where are you going?"

"At the gym. I have to be in perfect shape for tonight- Wait are you coming?"

Wendy working out in a pair of shorts and a tank top? There was no way in hell Irene would miss this.

"Yes, I'm coming with you. I have to be in shape too, right?" Irene innocently asked. She always had an excuse to join her and Wendy was too innocent to notice Irene's sneaky actions.

They walked together to gym after changing. Wendy had at least three bottles of water in her bag and Irene doubted she would drink them all. When they entered the gym, one of the trainers greeted them and started a conversation. He was much too enthusiastic in Irene's opinion. No one should be that excited about watching people sweat all day. He also wasn't really talking to her. His attention was focused more on Wendy, complete with a goofy smile. Irene headed over to the treadmills, Wendy keeping close by.

“So, you know Taeyong is totally into you, right? Because if that’s the real reason you come here just ask him out and be done with it. Trust me, he’ll say yes.”

Wendy just looked confused, “Who’s Taeyong?”

“The guy at the front desk,” Irene rolled her eyes. Her roommate could be truly oblivious sometimes. Irene supposed it was because unlike her, Wendy didn’t keep a clear eye on her surroundings at all times in order to categorize potential threats.

“Oh.”  Wendy glanced consideringly towards the front desk.

“I guess he’s cute. You sure?"

"Um, yeah, maybe,"

Well, . Irene didn't expect an answer like that. Wendy was supposed to say 'nah, I'm into someone else' or something like that, to keep Irene's hopes up.

Wendy sniffed, she’d began treadmilling too. While Irene was already at a brisk jog, Wendy decided it was best to stay walking.

Irene was really just into cardio and she hated it when Wendy warmed up on the treadmill next to her before hitting the weights, and always sniffed at her pace, because obviously if Wendy chose to run, she would be much faster. But she didn’t. Choose to run that is.

"I don't think he's into me to be honest. Maybe he's into you." Wendy winked at her.

"I doubt that. He didn't even look at me."

Wendy shrugged and walked over to the weights. Irene walked behind her.

When it came to sportswear, Wendy was a little tease. She wore shorts just that little bit too high up her thigh and tight tank tops. At least when she was in a good and devious mood. When she was feeling a little ty she preferred her sweatpants and a slightly looser shirt. Irene liked her both ways of course: the hot tease and the moody and cuddly Wendy. She always wore her hair up, but strands always ended up falling into her face, curling slightly from her sweaty temples. She refused to wear a head band though; Irene looked silly enough in them and Wendy would certainly not be embarrassing herself like that.

"Nice shorts. You pull them off well."

Wendy raised a curious eyebrow.

Irene almost smacked her palm against her forehead. Nice move, stupid.

“I didn't mean that! I meant you seem to be very confident about how your looks. I didn't mean that I was staring, I just noticed you seem confident!” Irene blabbered as she stood in front of the bench Wendy was sitting on.

“Well I'm sure you'd pull them off well,” Wendy wiggled her eyebrows, “If you know what I mean.”

Irene choked on her own saliva, because what the hell did Wendy just say. Her head was spinning, she had to get away from this little demon that owned her heart.

Without a word Irene walked over to another bench.

Very smart move, Irene.

Yanking out the bench she went over in her head the lifts she wanted to do. In record time she was nearly done and moving on to one of her last lifts. She was halfway through her set when she was interrupted by someone behind her.

“Excuse me, miss. You’re doing that wrong.”

Thank God her back was turned because her eye roll was practically legendary. Racking up her weight, because she knew whoever bothered her wouldn’t just go away if she ignored him, she turned and-

It was Wendy.

Irene let out a soft sigh, thankful that she didn't have to deal with any annoying person. She smirked and she played along, “Oh, really? Please, enlighten me as to how to do it properly.”

“Well, if I ever feel like tearing my rotator cuff, I’ll make sure to do it like that.”

"Oh, shut up. I'm done after all," Irene laughed and stood up.

"Great, I want your help with those weights over there," Wendy pointed at the bench she previously used.

"Sure,"

Wendy laid back on the bench and prepared to do her lift. Irene walked around the rack to stand at her head ready to help with the weight if it was too much. Though she had no clue how she would manage it if Wendy dropped it on her chest. As it was her arms were like jelly but even on a good day she wouldn’t be able to do much.

Irene was strong but Wendy was lifting about twice her weight, probably even more. Hopefully she wouldn’t drop it. She might get blamed for her murder.

Wendy gripped the bar and lowered it to touch her chest. Irene thought she must’ve been even more exhausted than she’d known because she found herself staring at her. Her brows furrowed in concentration, sweat leaked down her temple as she pushed the bar back up.

The muscles in her arms and chest and shoulders bunched up with the movement. Her arms were well toned and defined. It seemed that every square inch of her was sculpted by some sort of deity.

She was going strong. By the fourth her arms were shaking with strain. She paused before lowering it a last time, took a breath, then plunged into it. It reached her chest but half way up she stalled.

Irene was about to reach in when she gritted her teeth and shoved up placing it back on the rack. For a second Wendy just stayed there, arms splayed and chest heaving. But soon she sat up and lifted her tank top up to wipe the sweat off the uncovered part of her face.

And, well, abs.

Irene was only able to look away after Wendy had lowered her shirt, cutting off the view.

“Thanks. That was my last lift. Give me a second and we can go.” Wendy grabbed her bag and wiped the sweat off the equipment.

Irene needed some fresh air. Her mind was going crazy.




-




"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"You have been saying that for the past two hours."

The big night had come.

Both the girls clad in black had camped behind the huge building for more than two hours. They waited for the sun to set. This had to be done in the right time, in the right clothes and with the right skills or esle they would definitely get caught and most likely thrown in jail.

"We're not getting caught if that's what you're thinking," Wendy said in a small voice. They couldn't be too loud for obvious reasons. Irene could only nod to her, too scared to make any noise.

They heard the doors open and then close again.

"Good night, see you tomorrow!" Someone said, and locked the doors.

It was time.

Wendy stood up and offered a hand to Irene, who gladly accepted it. Irene looked at the top of the building. It was going to be a long night...

"We can do this." Wendy reassured her and tightened her grip on the older one's hand. Irene once again nodded, not being able to find the strength to speak.

But Wendy was quick to notice the other girl's nervousness, and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"I'll be here for you. We will do this together. If we get tired we can always jump inside the building through an open window to rest."

Irene took a deep breath and stared at the girl in front of her. She wore a black binnie and a graphic t-shirt that said PARKOUR in impact bold letters with little silhouettes of men jumping off them, and Irene couldn't help but giggle a little.

Wendy's stupid t-shirt and promising eyes gave her a little bit of strength, "Let's go."

Wendy smirked and patted Irene's shoulder, "Let's do this."

They scanned for the best tree, it had to be tall, lots of branches to climb and enough leaves left from this encroaching autumn to give them some cover. Their options were fairly limited but Wendy picked a mature beech.

And with that they started. With graceful jumps they hopped from window to window, balcony to balcony and slowly got closer to the top.

Irene kept her breathing even. She studied the holds above her, calculating her path. She zeroed in on the hold slightly to her right. She moved smoothly, steadily, climbing from hold to hold. Her muscles ached. Sweat clung to her skin. Wendy seemed to be more refreshed, more excited. Irene looked at the ground; the houses below were getting smaller, people looked like ants.

After what seemed like hours to Irene and seconds to Wendy, they reached the top.

Wendy stepped on the roof first, and leaned over the ledge to help Irene, who handed her her bag. Wendy put the bag on the floor and leaned once again to help her, this time grabbing her arms and pulling her towards her.

"Thanks," Irene mumbled. She quickly took her camera out and started to film, but once she saw the view through her lens she couldn't continue. She put the camera back down and walked closer to the ledge where Wendy was sitting.

"Oh my..."

Up there, it was like looking down at the world. She could see the trees, the flowers, the sea and the many busy people walking around. Up there it was like standing on a giants back exploring the world with awe.

From so high up every home was like an autumn leaf lying gently on the streets. Around them was the green of the trees and the roads shining like silvery stems on a frosted night. The clouds moved in a breeze they could feel through their clothes and the world below was so enchanting it was a privilege just to breathe the sweet air.

The ground below them was alive with lights, like someone had taken a handful of glitter and thrown it as far as the eye could see. It was too dark to make out individual buildings, but the lights were enough for Irene. She sighed, amazed at the view laid out before her.

She was lost in the breeze caressing her face and the starlight dancing in the sky.

She turned her head to look at the woman sitting next to her. Wendy was more beautiful than the view. Soft lights from the streets and other buildings fell on the girl's face, making her eyes glow. Alluringly, she would blink her eyes from time to time, allowing her eyelashes to flutter like the wings of a butterfly.

My god, her eyes were simply spellbinding.

Wendy wasn't beautiful in the classical way, no flowing golden curls or ivory skin; no piercing eyes of green. She was shorter than average and certainly weirder than any other female but in her ordinariness she was stunning. Something radiated from within that rendered her irresistible to both genders. Men desired her and women courted her friendship. She had that movie star look, not overly tall and willowy, but more like an action star. Her muscle definition was perfect and she walked with the confidence of someone a decade older.

Wendy felt Irene's stare on her and turned to look at her too. They stared back at each other for what seemed like hours until Irene finally dropped her gaze, "Beautiful..." She mumbled.

Wendy raised her eyebrows with a soft 'hmm?'.

"Beautiful. The view is beautiful." Irene said louder this time.

"Beautiful indeed," Wendy gave her a small nod.

Irene held her breath as Wendy's hand held hers for no more than a few seconds then was pulled away and back into the pockets of her thick tracksuit. Her hands bore the innocence of a young girl; soft and delicate.

Irene looked at her feet that dangled from the ledge. She was definetly not trying to hide her blush because she was definetly not blushing. Definetly. Okay, maybe a little.

When did she become so shy around Wendy? They had been living together for years now. They knew everything about each other, they were together all day long, they were basically sisters!

She ignored her beating heart and decided to break the silence. She had to say something smart. Start a small conversation even. She shouldn't let her awkward self say something stupid at a great time like that.

“We really need to get you out of those sporty jackets more,” She started, “Those arms really need to be shared with the world more.” She finished and almost slapped herself for saying something like that. Very smart.

Wendy laughed heartily. People think of laughing as a noise that comes from the mouth, but when Wendy laughed it was nothing like that. The laugh was in her eyes, in the way her face changed into that vision of relaxed joy and unrestrained mirth.

Yet truly, it wasn't in her face either. Her laugh came from within, it was just the way she was wired. People like her just have more flexible brains, like all that humour bubbling around in her was like yoga for the synapses. Just being around her for a few minutes was better than a whole day of self-absorbed pampering in some all-day-spar. Just the sound of her gales, her snickers, her giggles, was enough to transport Irene far far away from her worries and the tension this modern life.

Wendy had stolen her heart since a long time ago, and Irene knew it but tonight felt different, she couldn't control her feelings. She was in love with this girl and tonight was the night she was going to tell her.

"Seungwan-"

"Get down now!"

Both girls looked down only to see a police car and two cops there. How did they not notice?

"," Wendy muttered and quickly stood up and looked around to find a way to escape.

"We should get down. They sound very angry." Irene followed the other girl.

Wendy smirked, "I have something else in mind."

Of course.

"Follow me," The younger girl took Irene's bag, spun on her heels and raced to the edge of the roof. She leapt across, keeping the move simple and fast. Irene took a deep breath and followed her. It had been a long time since she last did this, she usually did simple jumps and runs to keep up with Wendy.

Wendy turned around to check at her after every jump and Irene was thankful for that.

They 'flew' from Tower Palace to a smaller building standing next to it, and then another and another. It wasn't long before there were multiple buildings between them a policeman.

Irene's breath came in small spurts, hot and nervous. At her sides, small fingers curled into sweaty fists, swinging forward as if it would make her faster. Under them, they could hear the baying howls of the dogs and the police cars.

Wendy slowed down, then stopped. She leaned against a wall and tore the soaked binnie from her head. Irene fell next to her, trying to catch her breath.

"This has to be the most difficult escape we've ever experienced." Wendy said through quick breaths. And it was true. They had ran away from the police before, but it was nothing like that. That was a whole different level of escape.

Being chased was nothing like the movies. The stars look heroic, y and in command of the situation. Reality was far removed from that pretty version of running to save your life.

"I said get the down!"

The policeman sounded very angry. Irene shivered, "We should really go before they come up here."

"You're right. Let's go."

They started running and jumping from building to building once again until they were sure that the cops had lost them. They were on a much smaller building this time, making it easier for them to reach the ground. With the help of a short tree they landed on the ground and continued running, just in case.

Irene's knees started acting up after a few minutes. She couldn't continue, it was too much for her.

She fell on the ground.

"Wendy, wait," She panted. At the sound of her voice, Wendy immediately stopped and turned around.

"You okay?" She walked closer to her after making sure there were no cops around.

Irene put her hands on her knees and breathed quickly. This was embarrassing. She could almost hear Wendy laughing at her. This was a piece of cake for Wendy, the girl didn't even sound tired. When did Irene become so weak? It'd been so long since her knees last hurt so much.

She did not want to appear so weak in front of Wendy but she was in a lot of pain and even after trying to stand up a few times she failed. Her knees ached. No matter how she moved them, they were impossibly numb. Someone could cut them off and she wouldn’t feel a thing. She was exhausted.

Slowly she tried to get up again but quickly realized how futile it was when she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Sharp pain lanced through her head and colorful spots flashed in front of her eyes, it felt like her she had been beaten.

Why did this have to happen now? Why in front of Wendy?

Stupid parkour.

Stupid fall.

Stupid surgery.

Stupid everything.

She looked up, ready for Wendy to and laugh at her for falling and giving up after running only for a few of minutes.

But when they locked eyes, embarrassment was not what Irene felt.

Wendy's eyes showed the kind of gentle concern Irene's mother used to have. She laid her hand lightly on Irene's shoulder, and instead of flinching like she usually did, Irene was soothed by it. Wendy left her hand there and spoke with such a soft voice, Irene felt her words calming her more by the way they were said than the actual words. It felt as if she was wrapped in a blanket of Wendy's caring.

"I'm sorry."

It's not your fault.

"It's okay."

Wendy didn't know. And didn't have to know.

Without a word Wendy took Irene in her hands and brought her back to their apartment, which was less than ten minutes away.

When they reached the apartment, Wendy settled Irene down on her bed. All she could do was Irene's hair and hold her hand.

It barely seemed enough, yet Irene's heart rate came down almost twenty beats per minute.

From time to time her eyes dropped to the bedsheets, but mostly they were fixed on Irene's face in a soft stare so that whenever she opened her eyes she would be the first thing she saw.

"This was a bad idea, I'm sorry."

"I told you it's okay, Seungwan."

Wendy scooted closer to her slowly and pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her. Wendy's embrace was warm, and her strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her frail body. The world around Irene melted away as she squeezed her back, not wanting the moment to end.

Wendy's chin rested on top of her head. Her arms clenched her tighter, "Did you fall?"

"I didn't..." Irene held back a sigh. She knew Wendy would ask.

"Then why were you on the ground rubbing your knees?"

"My knees...hurt from time to time..." Irene whispered. She felt Wendy nod.

She was glad that Wendy didn't ask anything else. That was something she wanted to keep for herself.

They both stayed silent for the rest of the night, into each others hands.





-





The bed was soft and warm. Irene could feel her arm draped over Wendy, more comforting that any blanket she had ever lay under. She was perfumed by her sweet scent, as were her clothes and her bed sheets and when next she slept alone her smell would make her feel safe and warm and happy. 

Irene ran her hand over Wendy's back. She could feel the bones through her skin, the vertebrae of her spine looking as though they tried to pierce through her flesh. Her hair had grown so long now, but she suited it. The way it framed her eyes, and her thin face, it was perfect.

Wendy's eyes fluttered open, making Irene jolt away. She turned around, her back facing Wendy.

"Good morning," Wendy mumbled while rubbing her eyes.

"Morning," Irene whispered facing the wall.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah,"

Wendy didn't like talking to Irene's back. She grabbed her shoulder and made her turn around. They were face to face.

"Sorry for last night. It won't happen again, I swear."

Irene nodded. Last night she had a lot of time to think. She couldn't sl