Wendy did not know which surprised her more; Irene making breakfast for the both of them or Irene declaring that she had cancelled her schedule for the day to rest her body. Perhaps it was both.

Still, Wendy had made a fuss and told Irene that since she had decided to rest, then she should not be making breakfast. Wendy had offered to help but the idol said she had missed making food for herself. They later settled for Wendy assisting Irene with the breakfast and making the fruit juices.

Yeri, who had arrived at Irene’s door in a rather uneasy state was invited in for breakfast as well.

“Irene… do you really want to postpone today’s schedules? You might have to pay a penalty for one of the shoots…” Yeri asked in a worried voice.

Irene shook her head and said kindly. “I have given a call personally to the director of the company. She understood my situation and wished me speedy recovery.”

Yeri’s expression brightened. “Really?! That’s great! Anyway, Irene, the pancakes tastes great.”

“Thank you, Wendy bought the mixture though. I merely followed the instructions on the packaging.”

When Yeri’s eyes went round, Irene felt the need to explain. “My house guest apparently brought her entire house over in that gigantic luggage of hers. Pancake mixture was one of them.”

“You didn’t really give me a packing list, I had no idea what to expect. I almost wanted to bring my can of apricots over. Apricots pancakes tastes so good.” Wendy said dreamily.

“What? Why did you plan to bring your entire kitchen? You think I would starve you here?” Irene said, sounding offended.

Wendy looked away with a slightly raised brow. “Well… you didn’t exactly starve me but your fridge is so basic that it is close to that.”

Irene threw a thin smile at the writer. “Idols don’t have time to cook. Besides, a princessy and bratty idol like me would not have cooked for myself.”

“Hey! I did not say you were princessy and bratty in my article!” Wendy complained indignantly.

“Oh? Did I say you were the one who said it?” Irene returned.

Wendy felt her cheeks turning scarlet.

The intern had a sly smile on as she watched the two elder girls banter. Their relationship had clearly morphed overnight. That smile had not gone unnoticed by the idol.

“Yeri, what are you smiling at?”

“Nothing.”

Irene narrowed her eyes and Wendy supplied. “Don’t lie. Irene is good at detecting lies. After living with her for three days, I feel like I am getting the hang of it too.”

Irene laughed at Wendy’s words but she truly liked it.

Lowering her head and shooting adorable puppy eyes at the two adults, the intern said, “you two look like a pair of quarrelling couple.”

That effectively shut them up. Wendy let out an awkward laugh and sipped her coffee as she looked away whilst Irene pretended to not hear anything as she cut into her pancakes. The intern continued observing them with a naughty grin on her face.

“Yeri, please, you are beginning to look creepy. Stop looking at us like we are animals in a zoo.” Irene could finally not stand it any longer and told her intern.  

The intern then giggled like a child and peeled her gaze away.

Irene stole a glance in Wendy’s direction, worried that the intern’s remark might have made her feel awkward but she caught Wendy looking at her concernedly instead. Wendy offered a small smile and Irene thought she could hear her own heart beat pounding.

Yeri went back home shortly after, leaving Irene and Wendy alone again.

“So… what do idols do on their rest days?” Wendy asked teasingly as she was doing the dishes.

The guest had insisted on cleaning up since Irene mainly did the cooking.

Irene wound a finger around her own hair playfully as she gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t know. You are a tabloid writer. Tell me what do idols usually do on their free days?”

Wendy chuckled as she gave a light shake of her head. “I don’t know. I know of some idols who have incredibly colourful lives.”

Giving a tilt of her head and widening her eyes, Irene asked innocently. “Colourful lives?”

The writer cocked a brow and gave a smirk. “Like dating, partying, doing recreational things that are either borderline or outright illegal.”

Irene’s eyes bulged. “Who?!”

Forgetting that she had soap on her hands, Wendy put a finger to her lip and wiped it away embarrassingly whilst Irene had burst out into a laughter. That laughter. Wendy felt as though something had blossomed without the pits of her stomach and Wendy had to try her best to contain her own expression from showing. For the past few days, ever since Irene had showed up, Wendy had been feeling odd sensations stir within her body.

“W-Well… its confidential. I have signed affidavits to ensure I would keep whatever I have found a secret.”

Irene squinted her eyes and stopped twisting her hair. “You sound like an unscrupulous paparazzi.”

Regaining herself, Wendy then gave an imperious smile. “Of course I no longer have to do the ground work myself but those things that I have commissioned to find out belong to me. My job is to turn those sources into articles.”

“Haughty,” Irene said and mimicked Wendy’s actions of writing in the air. “Wendy, the smug writer, blackmailing poor idols with paparazzi photos.”

Wendy guffawed and flicked water at her host when she was done with the dishes. Irene made grumpy noises as she wiped the droplets of water away from her forehead.

“You haven’t told me what you plan to do on your rest day.”

“Like what normal human beings do. Curl up on a sofa and read a book.”

The mere mentioning of books perked Wendy up. “Books?! Which book?”

Fifteen minutes later, the two girls were on the couch, sharing a book. It was a book by a female Korean writer about feminism. As a book enthusiast, Wendy had actually already finished reading the book and decided to join in the idol as they read. Irene was a reader who cannot control her expressions and emotions.

“Do you feel strongly towards such topics?” Wendy asked the idol.

The writer had not expected herself to be engaged in an intellectual sparring with the idol as they discussed the on the issue of feminism. The idol was mature, so much more thoughtful than Wendy had expected. They had agreed on some things and agreed to disagree on even more things. Wendy felt something tug at her heart strings and discovered that she was so drawn to Irene, to both her personality and her mind.

“No, look at this here…” They were arguing over a certain quote in a book as Wendy tried to snatch the article from Irene before they had accidentally fallen atop one another. They both blinked at the intimate body contact.  

Before long, Wendy realise that she was no long just simply drawn to Irene. Wendy was falling, falling head over heels for this idol. Tearing her body away from the idol hastily, Wendy immediately excused herself.

“I-I am thirsty, I will go get water.”

Irene stared after Wendy as she attempted to still her drumming heart. In that instant where their bodies had connected with one another’s, Irene felt the rest of her world whirling and only Wendy came into focus. When the writer had removed herself, Irene felt a sudden loss of warmth.

When Wendy had returned with two mugs, passing one to Irene, she felt the warmth returned, just a little.

“Thanks,” Irene received the mug with a forced smile.

They continued reading for the next hour in silence before Irene’s eyelids felt heavy and thought she felt the side of her head thrum.

“Headache?” Wendy asked.

Wendy was quick to notice her discomforts. It made Irene slightly mad to think that this writer could be so sensitive to her needs after just a few days of them being together. Without waiting for the idol’s response, Wendy had grabbed the oil, shifted herself on the couch and motioned for Irene to lay her head down.

Irene looked at where Wendy was directing her head to rest on and gulped. Then, gingerly, the idol lowered her head down to be pillowed on the writer’s lap.

“Y-You actually don’t have to…”

“Shhh… just close your eyes lest your eyes get stung by the oil.”

Nodding like an obedient child. “Feels like I have invited you over to become my caretaker instead.”

Wendy laughed as she massaged the idol’s temples tenderly. “Are you sure that was not your original intention?”

Irene’s lips curved into a smile which felt so wrong since she was lying in someone’s laps and feeling so very vulnerable. Wendy had taken advantage of this moment to ask her more intimate stuff once again.  

“Irene, why have you decided to become an idol?”

“Why? Can’t I be one?” Irene asked defensively.

“Of course you can but… after our book discussion, I realised that you do sound like you would suit other professions. Like a professor teaching sociology or something.”

Irene nearly choked as she laughed. “Seriously? No one has ever told me that.”

“Then maybe its because other people don’t know that side about you.”

Agreeing, Irene gave an imperceptible nod of her head. “Maybe.”

“So… you haven’t answered my question again. Why did you want to become an idol?”

Irene pursed her lips before she replied after a while. “Because of money.”

Wendy found herself frozen for a split second before she resumed with her massages. “Well… that is not an unexpected answer but for you to put it so curtly, it surprised me a little.”

Irene gave a small shrug.

“Next… why did you debut as a solo artist?”

There was a longer moment of silence this time round and the idol’s expression had creased to express some form of sorrow. That was when Wendy knew she should not probe further and changed to another topic.

“You can share with me next time if you wish to. Anyway, are you up for desserts? I know of another café with super nice cakes and they offer delivery services.”

The smile returned to Irene’s face and that was all that was needed for Wendy to smile along as well. “Yes please,” the idol said in a small voice.

As Wendy fed the idol a piece of strawberry cheesecake from her own spoon, the writer had the thought that they were doing all the couple things mentioned in relationship guidebooks. Irene looked so in bliss, so unlike an idol and just like a regular… girlfriend. Wendy gulped at that term. She had dated girls when she was overseas but they never felt as sweet as this.

Her strayed mind returned when Irene had hovered a spoonful of mango crepe cake before her.

“Say ahhh…” Irene beckoned.

After giving the idol a cunning lopsided grin, Wendy clamped down on her spoon and refused to let go as Irene tugged futilely.  

“Let go before I pull your teeth out,” Irene warned and Wendy shook her head wilfully.

Irene soon gave up and snatched Wendy’s spoon from her hand instead.

Wendy laughed wickedly. “Idol Irene has a cute side.”

Irene angled her head forward and said saucily, “you just realised?”

Wendy regretted ever saying that because now she did not know what to follow it up with. Pushing the drink forward instead, Wendy said, “try the mango smoothie.”

Irene seemed slightly taken aback as if she had just realised that Wendy had ordered the fruit smoothie for her. “I thought you would order coffee or something like that for me.”

“You don’t drink coffee even though you endorse several coffee brands and you love mangoes,” Wendy said matter-of-factly.

Irene’s gaze veered downwards. “You really researched about me.”

“Of course, a lot of random facts popped out while I was writing the article,” Wendy supplied.

Irene looked shy now. “And you remembered.”

Wendy pursed her lips, realising that she had set another trap for herself but it did not matter because at the next moment, Irene gave her a wide smile. It was too much to bear and Wendy stood up abruptly using the excuse that she had to use the washroom. Wendy chided herself for being such a weakling.

Evening time was peaceful as the two picked out movies to watch in Irene’s room. They each picked a film, Wendy had picked a foreign film whilst Irene had picked a Korean cultural film. They were both tasteful selections and the two girls enjoyed sharing their thoughts with one another. Wendy, having grown up overseas had a more open mind and it was complemented by Irene’s more grounded thoughts.

Once nightfall had come, Irene was almost sad that her rest day that was fruitfully spent with Wendy was coming to an end. The idol considered this day one of her very best in five years despite its simplicity. Wendy, Irene found out, was someone the idol truly enjoyed spending simple moments with. It made her heart ache a little at the th