"Wait- repeat what you just asked again."

The bear-like girl gave Wendy a goofy smile, "I'm writing a story. I want to follow you so I can get more inspiration."

Wendy raised her right eyebrow in confusion as gaped open. She's never even met this person before, so why is she being picked as the source of inspiration?

She shook herself out of her trance and bluntly asked, "Who even are you?"

The bear-like girl jumped in embarrassment as her face slowly turned red. She let out an awkward laugh and grabbed Wendy's hand. Her hands were warm and soft; it fit her physical appearance.

"I'm Kang Seulgi," she said, "I have the same homeroom as you."

Wendy searched through the back of her mind for any 'Kang Seulgi'; she came up empty. She jerked her hand back and crossed her arms.

"So, you want to follow me to get inspiration somehow?" She asked.

Seulgi eagerly nodded, "I can only write things I experience."

"And what exactly am I-" 

She was abruptly cut off by a familiar voice.

"Wendy-ah!"

Wendy almost immediately turned her attention towards a doe-eyed senior who was waving at her like a little kid. She felt her heart start to race as the senior gave her a sweet smile.

Wendy started to feel nervous but she kept a straight face, "Hi, Irene-unnie."

The girl, Irene, rushed over and gave Wendy a tight hug. Noticing the girl who was initially talking to Wendy, she gasped. 

Irene covered with her hand and whispered, "No way..."

Her eyes widened in both shock and excitement. Once she calmed down, the tips of her ears were red as she shyly stared at Seulgi.

"Are you... Kang Seulgi?" Her voice was laced with disbelief.

Seulgi gave Irene a polite smile and bowed, "Yes. I'm Kang Seulgi, nice to meet you."

Irene squealed in delight like a teenage fangirl and grabbed Seulgi's hand, "I'm such a fan of your books! I've been dying to meet you after I heard you transferred to this school."

Wendy, feeling a bit left out and confused, butted in, "Irene-unnie, you know her?"

Irene gave her an incredulous look. This only increased Wendy's confusion.

"Wendy, do you not read at all?" 

Wendy shrugged, "Not really, I find those things a bit boring."

"Well, that explains it... " She muttered before sighing, "this girl here is Kang Seulgi, the youngest Korean author to receive the national award on her books. Her latest book became known for having the most online reads on it!" 

Wendy could've sworn she saw stars in Irene's eyes as she talked about Seulgi's accomplishments.

Seulgi waved her hand dismissively and chuckled, "I'm not as good as people say. I just write what I go through."

"That's what makes it SO good!" she exclaimed, "what are your plans now?"

"I'm going to write a story about unrequited love." 

The air around the three suddenly turned a bit depressing as the two girls stared at the still-smiling girl. Wendy and Irene glanced at each other.

Seulgi continued, "My director wanted me to write about that. So I'm going to be following Wendy around to get inspiration." 

Wendy wanted to smack Seulgi's grin off of her face. How did Seulgi know about her one-sided crush towards Irene; she was sure she kept it subtle. Wendy felt herself heat up when she saw Irene give her a curious look.

"Oh? Wendy-ah, are you in love with someone?" she asked, completely unaware of the inner turmoil Wendy was going through.

The small girl wanted to bury herself 100 feet underground. Irene's caring yet sympathetic voice only made Wendy feel worse. She glanced at Seulgi who was still grinning from ear to ear.

"Um... Yeah. Kinda." Wendy muttered.

"Awww," Irene cooed, "I'm so sorry, I'm sure you'll find someone else."

I hope so too, Wendy thought. It to have a massive crush on a gorgeous, intelligent but also happens to be the straight friend. As far as she knew, Irene has always had a crush on gummy boy Bogum since her freshman year. How could Wendy blame her though? Bogum was handsome and just as smart. It didn't help that he's an absolute sweetheart, so it made it impossible to hate him.

"Oh, by the way, I'm gonna go, Bogum wanted me to help him find some books," Irene said with a shy smile, "I'll see you around Wendy, Seulgi."

As she was walking away, Wendy turned to look at Seulgi and noticed how she was staring at Irene's back.

"That's her," Seulgi innocently said, "the girl you like."

Wendy hid her face in embarrassment and groaned, was she that obvious? Seulgi, some girl whom she had just met already saw right through her. Remembering why Seulgi was there in the first place, Wendy gave her an annoyed look.

"Are you here to torment me on how my feelings will never be returned?" Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes, "Cause if that's the case, you can kindly go away."

Seulgi shook her head and turned towards Wendy, "Not at all, I won't bother you. I want to write about the things I experience."

"What if I say no?"

Seulgi's smile softened. "You're a kind person, Wendy. I have faith in you."

Wendy groaned, she hated how much of a guilty conscious she has.  As much as she wants to decline, she knows the guilt of rejecting the famous and kind Kang Seulgi will eventually eat her up. 

"Fine."

*****

"Hey, Seul."

The two girls were walking home together (Seulgi tagged along since she mentioned something about 'more material'). Over the past few days, Wendy learned quite a bit about Kang Seulgi and the cons of having her following her around like a lost puppy. The girl is utterly oblivious to everything happening around her (Wendy had asked her if she was aware of her popularity around campus and Seulgi only replied with, "I'm popular?").

With Seulgi's popularity comes angry, jealous fangirls continually breathing down Wendy's throat; it's quite annoying to have girls leave petty notes on her desk every morning.

The taller girl hummed in response.

"Out all the people to choose to model for your story, why me?" Ever since Seulgi asked to follow her, that question was always in the back of her head.

Seulgi chuckled, "Because you fit the role of the heroine."

Wendy remembered something Irene had told her earlier, "I asked Irene-unnie about you, she told me you usually write about adventures, not romance. So why the sudden change?"

"My team wanted me to choose between romance and horror and of course I choose horror," Seulgi sighs, "however, I'm unable to write about things I've personally never have been through."

Seulgi adjusts her backpack and continues, "I asked several prison facilities to allow me to interview serial killers, but they had all declined." 

"Of course they would decline..." Wendy muttered; she ignored Seulgi's 'What?" and continued, "So... This time you've decided to write about a story about how a stupid high schooler in love with a girl who doesn't love her back."

"Correct," Seulgi said without hesitation, "That's exactly what I'm going to write about."

Wendy groaned in frustration, "Have you even started?"

"Yes," Seulgi clumsily dropped her open backpack on the road (some papers flew out, but she didn't seem to care), grabbed a thick folder, and handed Wendy a small portion of it, "Take a look." 

Wendy grabbed the papers and rolled her eyes. All of it was handwritten in messy Korean and Wendy felt a headache start to form. 

"Seul... I can barely read this..." Wendy tried squinting at the words to see if that would help with avail.

There was a small, hand full of words she could make out and she read it out loud, "Her kind heart made my heart soar in a euphoria- With her, it took all of my willpower not to reach out and hug her- Seeing those sad eyes made my heart clench-"

A swift hand grabbed the paper out of her hand.

"I think that's enough," Seulgi's ears were bright red; she avoided eye contact with Wendy as she stuffed the papers back into her bag, "It's embarrassing so you can't read any more of it."

Wendy was slightly surprised by Seulgi's reaction. For how oblivious she was about things, it didn't seem like she would get affected by cheesy things.

Wendy kneeled to get to Seulgi's eye level, "Hey Seul, do you like anyone?"

Seulgi stopped putting her papers in her bag and looked up at Wendy. 

"I don't see why you can't just use your own experience when writing your story. Just seems more convenient and you'll get better material." Wendy said.

Seulgi gave Wendy a small smile, "I'm not going to tell you."

Wendy's eye widened, "Wha-"

Ignoring Wendy's reaction, Seulgi stood up and continued "By the way, can you do me a huge favor and help me with math? I've been busy, so I haven't had the time to study."

Wendy groaned, she knew she could never get Seulgi to answer her question. However, the fact that Seulgi has someone she actually likes sort of intrigues her. With how she acts, Wendy expected her to pay no attention to things like that. 

"Oh crap! I forgot my math notebook!"

*****

"Seul, you didn't need to tag along," Wendy said.

Seulgi walked along Wendy carrying her usual, goofy smile. The two quietly walked through the dark corridor but Wendy stopped when she noticed Seulgi trying to hold in her laughter.

Wendy scowled at Seulgi, "Why did u laugh?"

"I never expected you to be afraid of the dark," Seulgi teased.

Wendy looked at Seulgi and saw her teasing look, "I-I'm not!" Her retaliation resembled a small hamster trying to fight a big bear.

Seulgi quickly walked ahead to the library, "I'll grab it for-" She stopped mid-sentence and paused in front of the glass window in the center of the door.

Her sudden silence cause Wendy to her eyebrow in confusion, had she saw something in the library? She shoved her way past Seulgi and tried to open the door but Seulgi blocked her.

"What are you doing?" Wendy said as she struggled to open the door, "my stuff is in there!" 

"I have spare notebooks," Seulgi’s sudden shift in her voice caught Wendy off guard. Unlike her usual carefree and gentle way of speaking, her voice was low and serious as she held a firm gaze on Wendy.

She grabbed Wendy's arms and tried to pull her away from the door, "Let's go, now."

With her irritation growing by the minute, Wendy pried the bear's hands off of her and pushed her to the side. Ignoring Seulgi's pleas, she forced the door open and felt her jaw drop at what she saw. 

On the floor were Irene and Bogum, in a very controversial position. Her hand was rested on his chest while his face was only inches apart from hers. Hearing the door open, the two quickly broke apart and stared at the intruder.

"W-Wendy?" Irene muttered.

Wendy felt like crying. And they say 'good things come to those who wait.' Wendy wanted to scoff thinking about those words. All she wanted to do was just to pry Irene away from the boy, take her away, and confess but instead-

"Aw how cute!" Wendy masked her hurt through excessive enthusiasm, "So you finally got him huh?"

Irene's red face pretty much confirmed her suspicion. Ignoring Seulgi calling out her name, she quickly ran to the nearest exit and left the building. She ran into the middle of the road and screamed while her eyes filled with unshed tears.

Seulgi quickly ran up beside her, "Wendy..." She attempted to grab Wendy's shoulder but was smacked away.

"Isn't this what you wanted Kang?" Every word Wendy spat out was filled with bitterness, she knew it was wrong of her to let her hurt out on Seulgi, but she couldn't help it. 

She let out a bitter chuckle and gazed at the sky. "Are you still finishing that story?" Wendy whispered.

"Yes."

Rage filled Wendy, and with a swift move, she threw her backpack at Seulgi. Thankfully, Seulgi dodged it.

With her eyes filled with anger, she locked eyes with Seulgi, "I never want to see your face again Kang."

She never saw the sad look in the bear's eyes.

*****

"Hey... Seulgi hasn't been coming around recently," with her elbows propped on a bookshelf, Irene rubbed her chin in curiosity, "Maybe she's busy writing a new story?"

Wendy waved a dismissive hand, "Blah, she doesn't need me anymore. Plus, it's nice finally getting some peace."

Wendy turned to look at Irene and saw her give her a teasing look.

"Feeling lonely?" Irene said with her eyebrows raised.

"Wha- No!" Wendy's red face was a dead giveaway, "Who said so?"

"I said so. You seemed happier with Seulgi around," She giggled, "You have a loner image, but once people get to know you, you're adorable. It made me happy to see you with a new friend."

"Ah unnie, you make it sound as if I'm ten." Wendy groaned.

Irene abruptly jumped and ran to her backpack, when she returned, she had a copy of a book in her hand. She handed Wendy the book and clapped in excitement, "Seulgi's new book, Ten, just came out yesterday! Have you read it?"

Panic filled Wendy, "NO!" she grabbed the book and hid it in her bag, "DO NOT read it!"

Irene cocked her head to the side, "But I already did?" Wendy felt her soul leaving her body, "It was quite good actually. The heroine in the book is so cute! I can see why the protagonist fell in love with her!"

Oh no, Wendy felt her heart drop. Her big secret was finally exposed to the world. 

She grabbed Irene's shoulders and forced her to face her, "Unnie, listen. The information in the book... It's the past! I'm over it, I swear!"

"Wendy-ah, what are you talking about?"

Wendy raised her left eyebrow; was her secret not exposed? Did Seulgi write something different?

She let go of Irene's shoulders and relaxed a bit, "Um, what's the story about?"

Irene clasped her hands together and excitedly started explaining the story's plot, "A lonely artist falls in love with a woman. In order to get closer to her, she asked the woman to pose as her model."

"I'm writing a story. I want to follow you so I can get more inspiration."

"However, the woman already has someone she loves, so the artist can't do anything but watch her love from afar while recording the memories they had spent together." Irene's eyes twinkled in fondness as she continues, "It's a story of a lonely artist cherishing the ten days she has with the woman she loves."

"I'm going to write a story about unrequited love." 

As Wendy put piece by piece together, her face flushed in anger and embarrassment at the sudden realization.

"That dumb bear...." she mumbled.

Wendy grabbed her stuff and rushed out; she checked her watch. By now Seulgi should switching classes. Ignoring questioning looks from her peers, Wendy sprinted down the hallways until she finally saw the person she was looking for (she thanked her luck for remembering Seulgi's schedule).

Seeing Seulgi's back, she yelled, "You stupid bear!" Murmurs were heard all around her, but she trudged on.

Seulgi stopped in her tracks and looked back, "W-Wendy?" Seulgi's eyes widened in shock. 

The small girl grabbed Seulgi's wrist and pulled her outside. The two sat side by side on a bench under a tree.

"Yo." Wendy let out an awkward cough, "So I, um, read your book."

"Really..." Unlike the usual Seulgi, her voice was small and lacked confidence. "I didn't expect you to come to find me..." 

Wendy glanced at the girl and saw how her ears flushed red while she clenched her hands together. She could tell that Seulgi was doing her best to avoid eye contact.

"Well, if you're going to write something like that, you gotta own up to it." Ah crap, I can't even say this with a straight face, she thought as she fought a smile. 

After reading all 243 pages of the book, how could she though? She felt her face flush as she tenderly intertwined her hand with Seulgi's. Her heart raced as she prepared herself to say what she was going to say.

"You can't just write stuff like that and expect me to not fall in love..."