One word: marbles.

Irene is about to lose her marbles. It has totally gone off-kilter. She’s pacing the carpeted part of the living room back and forth, with closed fists, unable to contain her giddiness. She picks up her phone that’s been lying on the coffee table for maybe a good five minutes now. Did she read the message right?

She settles on the couch, then folds and pulls her knees close to her. She reads it all over again. Nothing has changed. She wasn’t hallucinating. What does Seulgi mean by ‘it depends on what we’re gonna do tonight’? And what was that, a wink emoji? How should she reply to this?

She blows out a lungful of air, to subdue her nerves.

Yeri came in the morning, and briefed her about her ‘plan.’ It was simple. She is going to invite Seulgi for dinner. Make up a reasonable and convincing excuse for it: celebration of her dog’s birthday (which Irene doesn’t own), or her food are about to spoil so she’s cooking, or just some plain celebration of their friendship dinner. Oyster, watermelon, or cherry on the table, Yeri suggests. But Irene argues: those are weird. To which Yeri just rolls her eyes and says, red wine should set the mood.

That, and a game of Jenga: Truth-or-Dare.

(Yeri told her that she’s thought so much about all that she slept fitfully the night before, but the pizza was her greatest motivation. She almost had nothing but to her luck, she saw her cousin’s box of Jenga and immediately knew what to do. Irene grumbled at how half-assed it was, but Yeri wags a finger and objected that there’s nothing subtler and too on the nose at the same time than her plan.)

So, if Seulgi agrees, wouldn’t it be a date (though one-sided), at least?

Her phone buzzes, and she flinches, almost dropping her phone. ‘Oh my!’ she exclaims. She’s a little too jumpy, but it’s not as if she’s not sensitive, when she oftentimes gets stunned by sudden noise. Then it rings. A phone call from Seulgi herself.

‘H-hello,’ greets Irene, her voice croaky. She can almost hear the beat of her pulse.

‘It’s you, right? I mean, Irene?’ Seulgi inquires.

‘Well, I don’t think I can—’

Wendy snatches the phone from Seulgi, very swiftly that the thing slipped off the latter’s hands easily. She puts a hand over the receiver. ‘What do you mean you can’t?’ she complains, though softly, so that her voice is not picked up to the other line. ‘You should go.’

‘But…’ Seulgi tries to argue. ‘We’re going to the fireworks party.’

Wendy smiles reassuringly while shaking her head. ‘It’s fine. Just tell this girl that you’ll go.’

Seulgi takes the phone back, pursing her lips. She looks at Wendy, unsure of herself, but her friend just waves a dismissing hand while mouthing ‘Go on, go on.’ Wendy sits back on the edge of the bed.

‘Uh,’ Seulgi starts again. Irene has apparently been silent, waiting for her answer, the silence thick with apprehension. She was asked to come over, saying she’s going to cook dinner. A dinner for a friend. ‘Sure. I mean, I have the time tonight.’ She scratches her right temple with a finger.

‘Really?’ asks Irene, her voice pitched high, as if she couldn’t believe it. ‘You’ll come?’

‘Yes,’ she articulates and adds, ‘I’m honored to be your guest for dinner.’

Wendy throws herself on the bed, staring at the whitewashed ceiling with a stupid grin on her face. They’ve known each other since high school, and Seulgi has had a fair share of happy crushes, admirers, and unrequited love. They once even thought that they were in love with each other, but they were too young and silly to take anything seriously, and they held their friendship and platonic love to a greater priority than a romantic relationship.

Come college, their horizons have broadened, and they’ve met enough people to know that they really could only remain as friends. While she’s had a few relationships, Seulgi hasn’t engaged in one. Seulgi has her guard up, having been broken-hearted over a girl whom she has gotten a bit intimate with but backed out once she proposed the commitment of being in a relationship. She has liked the girl for years, and for it to all end that way definitely crushed her. She might have not even moved on from that yet, Wendy surmises.

It might not be considered a date, but Wendy thinks this is the step in the right direction for Seulgi to break free from the walls she’s been hiding behind.

‘Woah, no need to be formal,’ Irene remarks, the chirpiness in her voice unmistakable. ‘I’ll wait for you then. Around eight o’clock.’

‘Alright. See you,’ Seulgi says.

‘Bye.’ Then a click is heard from the other line.

Seulgi crosses her arms and adorably pouts at Wendy, who’s now sitting back up after hearing the end of the call. ‘Joy is going to kill me.’ She’s bailing out to spend a night with a person who’s not merely just her friend, but a friend that Joy is highly skeptical of.

‘Why? Don’t worry, I’m gonna make up a decent excuse,’ Wendy assures her, pointing at her cutely with fingers shaped into a pistol. ‘Is she someone you just met recently? She’s actually nice, if you think about it. Cooking dinner for a friend she’s grateful she found. And you love food.’

Seulgi settles beside Wendy on the bed, still in her robe with a dripping wet hair. ‘She’s a customer at where Joy and I work. It’s uncanny, but she loves the blue lemonade drink we’re selling.’ She rests her hands and lets it sink to the bed, leaning her body back a bit. ‘So she’s been coming back. Just to buy that. She also decided she wanted to be friends with me, but Joy has been nagging me about it since.’

Wendy narrows her eyes, although she’s looking straight at Seulgi’s cabinet. ‘Why? Why is Joy making a fuss about it?’

‘Right?’ Seulgi concurs. ‘We almost fought about it at work. I don’t know, she’s doubting Irene’s intentions. So much so that she even called her names just because she asked for my number.’

‘Oh,’ Wendy drawls, too long that it sounds like a prolonged ‘woah’, as if she came to a sudden realization. She faces Seulgi and grips her arms. ‘Don’t mind Joy. What matters is that you take that friendship with an open mind. Be open to possibilities, Seulgi.’

‘You…’ Seulgi’s voice trails off. ‘You’re acting weird. Saying weird stuff too.’

‘Oh, not you. Don’t subject me to how Joy treated that Irene girl.’ Wendy is 85% sure that Irene likes Seulgi based on the clues, and this could all end up awry, a summer fling if a bit optimistic, but this is definitely an opportunity she can coax her friend to grab. ‘I’m just saying some things just can’t be looked at a face value. You know, you’re gonna be surprised with what you find underneath but you should be ready for what’s in store.’ That’s the most roundabout way she could go with Someone just probably invited you to a date, but you don’t know.

‘Alright,’ Seulgi utters in defeat, not prepared for the mental gymnastics this talk was heading towards. It’s not like she felt forced into going to a dinner with Irene, because she appreciates the gesture, and for that, she is somehow thankful that Wendy was around to urge her and make it convenient for her to ditch their hang out at the beach.

‘Enjoy the night. And I will enjoy mine,’ Wendy tells her.

Joy absently checks her watch. She has just arrived at the resort, leaning against a closed kiosk, watching people sway to the music in a makeshift disco on the beach front. There are huge audio speakers flanked beside a small stage propped up in front of the dance floor (which is basically sand) dappled with strobe lights. The setup is paid for by the management, but they’re earning from the partygoers purchasing ice cold drinks and food from the diners.

She’s waiting for Wendy and Seulgi, who both promised to go together. Looking at it now, there is nothing much to the fireworks party, but it was still a party they can enjoy. It’s a relaxing outdoor party though, with the swish of the sea and the whoosh of the wind melding into the dum dum dum of some loud pop song blaring through the speakers.

Staying rooted to the spot, Joy is approached by a guy in a loose black shirt and board shorts, holding a bottle of pilsner. Joy can smell the booze in his breath.

‘You alone?’ he began. He tousles his thick shock of black hair.

Joy doesn’t indulge him a stare, though grants him a reply, ‘No. I’m waiting for my friends.’ The music is a bit too far from where they are, so there is no need to raise the volume of her voice in order for a smooth-sailing conversation. Where are those two?

‘Oh,’ he mutters, as if to say Just my luck, before he chugs the beer. ‘I was just, you know, wondering if I can join you.’ Joy can see him staring at her in the corner of her eye.

‘I appreciate that, but uh… tonight’s a girls’ night only.’

He moves his head away from her and towards the disco. He nods slowly. ‘Alright,’ he says plainly, then leaves without a fuss.

Joy sighs as she watches him move to where the party was. He’s cute, to be fair, but she’s just not interested. Boys are a pain in the arse. She had dated two so far but couldn’t last with them. She just gets tired of them easily, for some reason, and she’s not sure she has the energy for it even if it’s just a one night thing.

Then, her vision turns pitch black. Warm hands are covering her eyes. She reaches an arm backward and touches a torso. The person behind her laughs softly, but she knows that voice.

‘Wendy?’ she asks.

Wendy giggles, before taking off her hands from the red head. Joy turns, and beams at the sight of her. She then looks over the shorter girl’s shoulder, then far into where the walkway and squat buildings are. It takes a few seconds before Wendy realizes Joy’s reaction.

‘Uh, Seulgi’s having indigestion, so sadly she couldn’t go,’ Wendy lies, trying to keep a straight face. The eastward wind ruffles her hair and she tucks it behind her ear.

‘Oh? You should’ve called me before you went. We could’ve called this thing off,’ Joy suggests, a hint of vexation flashing across her face. It’s not like she has never been alone with Wendy, ‘cause in fact, they’re clingy to each other in the university but whenever the three of them hang out, it always happens to be the three of them or otherwise they cancel their plans.

Wendy’s eyes widen. ‘No, no, no,’ she sputters. ‘It’s fine. We can still drink and dance.’

‘But we’re leaving out Seulgi unni,’ says Joy glumly. She especially wanted to talk about Irene with Seulgi tonight, and maybe repair some misunderstanding. Despite them not having straight up fought, she thinks Seulgi might have thought of her to be iffy, and ignoring the elephant in the room might just make it worse for their friendship.

Wendy cups her hands over Joy’s cheeks, the difference in their heights making her chin lift in an obvious angle. She stares at the taller girl’s eyes pleadingly. ‘Hey, look. Seulgi wouldn’t mind if we have some fun to ourselves. We can have this night, just for the two of us.’

Blood rushes up to Joy’s cheeks. Wendy is totally greasy, but this one just sort of makes the butterflies flutter in her stomach. W-why is she like this, she thinks, and she’s just gotten more embarrassed.

Wendy smiles, beyond satisfied at the response she got. It’s even more endearing to see the baffled and flushed look on the girl’s face. She moves her hands away, the warmth from the skin it just touched full on her hands. ‘Let’s go.’

Joy, still astonished, stands frozen before following behind Wendy who has ambled ahead to the disco.

Seulgi did not totally expect Irene to be all spruced up. The older girl is clad in a tight fitting, one-piece maroon dress that cuts mid-thigh. It has spaghetti straps, which reveals her bare shoulders and collarbones where a gold necklace pendant rests. She put on a light eye makeup, and a lip tint smeared on her lips. She also catches a whiff of the same perfume. Her long hair is curled at the ends, cascading down her shoulders. Seulgi gulps, having worn only a loose grey shirt and denim shorts. She hasn’t even bothered to tie her hair.

‘I didn’t know it would be too fancy,’ Seulgi utters. They’re in the living room right now, which Seulgi did not expect to be spacious and elegant, with a few fixtures and furniture on the periphery. There’s a chandelier hanging on the ceiling, and at the center a carpeted floor where the sofa set is situated. A huge television stands in front of it, backed against the wall. Across all that is a huge glass door framed with steel, dressed in a sheer cream curtain, leading to a medium-sized pool.

Beyond the living room is the dining room, which aren’t bound by anything but a few marble steps going up the latter as if it’s an elevated platform. Seulgi notices the probably fake poinsettia jutting out on a ceramic white vase on the table. That, and platefuls of fruits (oranges, apples, and pineapples), garlic bread, pasta, and steak. is almost watering at the smell of the beef. There’s also a pitcher of water and a bottle of red wine. She wonders if Irene cooked anything from all that.

‘Well, is it too much for your liking?’ asks Irene, conscious about being overdressed for the occasion. She’s pressing her hands on the length of her dress, unknowingly her stomach in. She ran this decision over head a lot, but she ends up restless thinking of looking drab, so there was no other option.

‘Not really. I just didn’t think it would be like this.’ Seulgi has guessed Irene must be a girl who’s from an affluent background, with her bearing and all, but she didn’t expect it to be this much. This rest house is too much for one person staying.

They walk towards the dining area quietly, wearing cotton indoor slippers (Irene has a couple for guests). Seulgi pulls a chair, settling where she’s facing the kitchen. Irene sits across her, facing the living room. The dining table is enough for six people, and they’re only on one end of it.

‘Are we expecting more guests?’ Seulgi inquires, her hands gripping the cutlery.

‘Uh, no,’ replies Irene flatly. It’s a bit too quiet that she can hear a pin drop. She didn’t know it might be too hard to pull this through after all. Seulgi doesn’t seem to feel the tension, but Irene feels like she’s going to run out of air to breathe if this solemnity goes on. ‘It‘s our friendship dinner, remember?’

Seulgi keenly scoops up and piles food into her plate. On the other hand, Irene just puts in almost morsels of it. She’s scared she might throw up, with the inexplicable nervousness building in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know she’d be awkward like this, that she can’t even manage to think of a good conversation starter. However, it’s not that she’s hopeless; she’s just waiting for her confidence to kick in and wield it in full swing.

Though it may be good after all to be composed, and not to come at Seulgi too strong.

‘God, this steak is so tasty. It’s not like I can always eat something of this sort, but this beef is definitely exquisite,’ Seulgi compliments while is full. She chews loudly, her jaw grinding, and stays blabbering how scrumptious the food is.

‘Hey, don’t talk while you’re eating,’ scolds Irene, her tone playfully warm instead of harsh.

Seulgi swallows her food before she speaks again. ‘Sorry. It’s just too good. Thank you for inviting me, really. Although I don’t know why I deserve all this exactly.’ She sips from her cold glass of water. She smacks her lips audibly after.

Irene covers with a hand, chuckling.

‘Did you cook all this?’ asks the younger girl, now biting off a garlic bread.

‘Just the fettuccini and steak. I don’t have much time for more and complex recipes,’ explains the older girl. She nabs her lips with the napkin provided on the table. She went to the grocery store the morning after Yeri came, then cooked once Seulgi said yes to the invitation. She had a lot of time left to doll herself up and set the table before Seulgi arrived.

‘Oh,’ Seulgi utters in surprise. ‘You really didn’t have to bother with all of these. I feel a bit burdened, honestly. You’re just... doing so much for me for some reason. But I appreciate it, greatly.’ She’s never been friends with someone this rich, to lay it simply. It all feels so surreal.

Irene grins, that lopsided one, starting to be more comfortable with their conversation. ‘You really don’t have a clue, do you?’ she tells the other, arching one of her eyebrows. She sticks her fork onto the pasta then finishes her food.

‘W-what…’ Seulgi mumbles, staring at the beauty in front of her dumbly. Truth be told, she can hardly keep her eyes off Irene. Her double-lidded doe eyes, the perfect tall slope of her nose, the shape of her face, and even her seemingly huge ears are attractive. Her appearance is too magnetic, much more tonight when there’s nothing else distracting her. And oh, that smile. She can gawk at it all night.

Irene picks up the red wine off the table. ‘Some wine?’

Seulgi sheepishly nods her head.

None of them has finished their first glass of red wine during dinner, so they brought it to the living room and placed the bottle and the glasses on the coffee table. They’re on the carpet, with Irene unpacking the box of Jenga that Yeri brought.

They both stack the blocks: the blank ones, and the red and black ones with the truth or dare already printed on it. They sit athwart each other, immersed in what they were doing. At first, Irene was bashful about asking Seulgi to play the game, thinking it was a tacky way to kill time but Seulgi was delighted and psyched about it like a kid.

‘I haven’t played something like this for long now,’ Seulgi goes on, ‘This edition is new too. Truth or dare makes it even more fun!’

For some warm-up, they’ve pulled out six blank blocks and placed them on top without toppling the tower. Consequently, Seulgi pushes out a black one in the middle with a thumb, then reads, ‘What’s your greatest fear?’

Another moment of hushed silence falls.

‘Being given up on by people I care about,’ answers Irene, with a somber look on her face. She did not intend to dampen the mood, but it was the truth. She desires to elaborate but then hesitates, and finally decides against it so it doesn’t out the fun from the barely fun game. Somehow, she dreamed of this day to be better than how it was becoming but after all, there’s only two of them and they hardly know each other. She will just have to put up with the awkwardness of it all.

Seulgi blinks twice, wanting to prod further but then urges Irene to do her move, pointing with open palms on top of one another instead of a single finger.

Another black block is pulled out. ‘Have you ever been in a relationship?’ quizzes Irene, pulling down the hem of her dress that is riding up. She furls her fingers over the block which actually reads, What’s the worst thing your parents ever saw you do? Perhaps she should keep the ball rolling, she decides. Wasn’t she the one who’s brought themselves into this friendship since day one, anyway? Seulgi just so happens to have rolled with it.

‘Nope,’ Seulgi denies. She shortly take a glimpse of the ceiling, then says, ‘I almost did though, but the girl chickened out.’

‘Really?’ Irene’s expression brightens up, receiving the revelation with a mix of dubiousness and inevitable relief. A girl? ‘So… you’re a lesbian?’ It slips from before she fully realizes what she said, or asked, in this matter.

Seulgi snorts and draws up a smirk. ‘You’re only allowed one question per block.’

Irene drops her gaze to the floor, then reaches for her glass of red wine. She drains the rest of it to before placing back the empty glass to the table. She tries to fight back the stupid grin that’s beginning to form in the corner of .

Seulgi, crouched on the floor, withdraws a red block this time, cautious not to knock the tower. ‘Kiss the person on your left,’ she instructs. She darts her eyes at her playmate, and regards her with a teasing stare.

And that’s it, Irene is like a pot of kettle about to whistle. She can almost feel the steam rising from her head. Her head is sort of spinning, unable to so much as process what is transpiring at the moment. What exactly has Yeri lead her to, and was this the brightest plan after all?

‘There’s nobody on your left,’ points out Seulgi.

The words knock the wind out of Irene, or it’s as if a cold bucket of water was splashed at her. ‘Y-yeah?’ Irene didn’t notice that she has been clenching her fist. ‘You’re… you’re right.’ She struggles to fake out a laughter, that it comes out like a loud vibrating, mechanical sound from .

‘What, were you thinking of kissing me?’ Seulgi narrows her eyes at her, a mischievous snicker escaping her lips. She liked how Irene was so tongue-tied.

‘Hey!’ Irene yells, exaggerating to kill the feeling of embarrassment. ‘I wasn’t! Anyway, I don’t want to play this game anymore.’ She stands up, fixing her dress, that she probably regrets wearing since Seulgi isn’t wowed by it at all.

‘Why?’ Seulgi is taken aback.

‘It’s… boring. Maybe we should do something else.’ No more of this wild game, she thinks.

‘Such as?’

‘I don’t know!’ she exclaims again. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to have an outburst. I don’t know. What would you like to do?’

Thirty minutes pass and they’ve drank two glasses of red wine. Seulgi is a bit tipsy; she’s gotten a little more cheerful and has a smile plastered on her face. Beside her is Irene, a towel draped over her shoulders, for the night was cold. Although they’ve discussed the most mundane things, Seulgi learned that Irene is the only daughter of a businessman. Her mom died when she was a child which caused her father to be overprotective that Irene couldn’t even think of batting an eye over prospect lovers in her teens. Just as a traditional man would impose, he wanted his daughter to finish her studies first before getting a boyfriend.

They’re outside, dipping their feet in the pool, under the spectating evening sky dotted with stars. The moonlight illuminates the whole landscape. Seulgi sees Irene as even more ethereal as the natural light cast on her produces a blue sheen on her hair and side profile.

‘You’re beautiful,’ Seulgi purrs in spite of herself. She couldn’t discern if those words were still in her head or she’s spoken it out loud.

Irene automatically blushes at the pronouncement, then purses her lips. ‘That’s the wine talking, isn’t it?’

Seulgi ignores the older girl’s attempt to shrug off a well-intentioned compliment. ‘No. Whether I’m sober or not, you’re beautiful. It’s nothing special coming from me, though. I’m just one of the many people who’s probably told you that.’ She stares transfixed at the fragmented and distorted shape of the moonlight on the water.

‘Don’t think that,’ replies Irene, regretting that she played it coy. ‘It matters, coming from you.’

‘And why is that?’ Seulgi asks cheekily, looking up at Irene who won’t meet her gaze.

‘Because you said it sincerely, and not just as an afterthought.’ She meant it, even thought it was her way to dodge the question. She doesn’t understand why she’s like this though. The mood and their proximity should be a great opportunity for her to utterly flirt, but she keeps pulling back each time Seulgi pushes.

She probably doesn’t want to admit her crush on Seulgi after all. Maybe she just wants it to be this way, for now. For things to move slowly, and not too fast.

‘Ah, Irene. You’re an enigma,’ Seulgi tells her, recalling the word from their literature class in college. ‘To choose me to be one of your friends, when you’re clearly only keeping a close circle.’ She hauls her left leg briefly, then dips it back to the pool water again. ‘I keep wondering why. Even Joy has kept wondering why. I’m starting to think you’re not real and this is all a fever dream.’

Then, silence.

Should I just tell her? Irene ponders. So that was why the red head was behaving that way towards her yesterday. They’re completely stumped.

‘Well, actu-‘

A firework darts across the sky, red and gold bursting into vibrant spirals of light. Irene jumps in surprise, covering her ears in anticipation of more explosions. Seulgi watches her, amused. Irene didn’t strike her to be a scaredy-cat, for she always looked like certain and confident with herself. She glances on a few more colors streaking the night sky, red and blue booming before it disappears into thin air.

Not too long, she pulls Irene close, into a hug.

Irene is too shocked to react, that words are caught in , but she just goes along with it and leans close, gritting her teeth as more fireworks whistle and blast. Within Seulgi’s embrace, is a solace she never thought she’d find. She listens to the calmness in Seulgi’s chest to drown out the noise in the sky and her frantic beating heart.

She has totally lost her marbles.

A/N: DINGY DANGY DIGGY DON'T YOU KNOOOOOOW

        I was really happy writing this fkfkfkfkf i hope y'all enjoyed it too

P. S. Did anyone caught a whiff of WenJoy? I thought the WenJoy was lovely