“I don’t love you anymore, I’m sorry”

The rhythm of her footsteps and the sounds of the trees gently rustling fills the air, every now and then the occasional car would pass by making her clothes and hair fly in a direction. Wendy had left for her home near midnight, bright stars filled the dark sky. They sparkle once in awhile.

Wendy moved her brown bangs out of her eyes to see more clearly. She takes the lollipop she bought on a whim out of -because how long has it been since she’s had one? and strains her neck as if doing that would help her see stars that were several light years away.

She walked slowly away from a tiring day of doing paperwork and filling the needs of her seniors. In her right hand she carried some groceries from the nearby 7/11. Just some soy sauce and instant ramen.

Wendy wonders if it’s her eyes playing tricks on her as she looks up at the speckled white dots.

    She lowers her neck and sighs before putting her lollipop back in it’s rightful place, her brain must be malfunctioning and in turn causing hallucination in her eyes. She hums a tune that had been stuck in her head yesterday. Just this morning she’d figured out where it came from. It was that annoyingly catchy song Irene had been listening to recently.

    She smiles at the thought of telling Irene about it. Wendy had called the raven haired girl’s music taste weird before and that had started the bet Irene made on how she could probably get Wendy to fall for at least one of her ‘unique’ songs. The older girl would probably act smug and rant about her superior music taste and how she knew Wendy would eventually succumb to her tastes.

    Tomorrow Wendy would have to ask Irene about the song name.

Her apartment complex pulls her closer and closer.

Soon she was walking in the elevator and pushed a button that lifted her to the third floor. She walked to her door, reaching her apartment, still thinking about stars.

Wendy reached out to open the door and just as she was thinking how foolish that was-she locked the door after all. The handle twisted and the door pushed open. Confused, she entered her one room apartment and her eyes locked on a pair of familiar shoes.

She smiled and called out “Irene!” into the small living room as she struggled to take off her footwear with groceries in one hand.

“Here, let me” Irene says, grabbing the groceries from wendy hand.

Wendy said a quick thank you, grateful her dominant hand was freed. Wendy opened the bag of groceries Irene had set on the counter. She started to put them in their place while noting Irene’s unusual stiff posture. Irene had settled on the sofa waiting for Wendy to finish her work.

“Want something to eat?” Wendy asked already rolling up her sleeves about to prepare a meal.

“No, that’s fine!” Irene replied quickly “Wendy, can we ta-”

“How about something to drink then?” Wendy interrupted her body automatically reaching for cups.

“Wendy” said Irene. Wendy hummed back a reply. “Wendy please” Irene said seriously.

Wendy clenched her fists while turning around to face Irene.

“Do we need to now?” Wendy asked her tone tired. “I’m tired from work, I just want to relax”

“Please, Wendy” Irene repeated. She moved over to the end of the sofa and motioned Wendy to sit in her previous seat.

Wendy felt her stomach sink as she sat down. Already was tightening. She Wendy almost wanted to laugh, nothing had even happened yet.

But things have happened, Wendy thought as she studied Irene’s face. Her lips were tight and her eyebrows were knitted. Irene’s hands were in her lap.

Wendy remembered back to when she first noticed Irene stop looking at her the way Wendy looks at Irene. But no, Wendy thought. Irene had never looked at her that way. Not really.

Instead of using her words Irene opted for action. She reached inside her purse on the table and took out a key. The key to wendy’s apartment. The raven haired girl lifted the keys in front of Wendy and Wendy took them. What else was she supposed to do?

“What’s this?” Wendy asked, prefering to act oblivious. Her head moving down not wanting to look at the older girl’s eyes when she said whatever she would say next.

“I don’t love you anymore, I’m sorry” Irene said her voice strained, like it hurt to say it. But it would never hurt her as much as it did to Wendy.

It wasn’t really like a blow to Wendy. For her it was a poison that had been slowly consuming her. She’d already felt the effects long ago so this was expected. In fact at this very moment Wendy felt nothing.

“Of course I love you but not in the way you want” Irene continued, she was clenching her pants.

She always at confrontations thought Wendy. She was still studying the key. Wendy sighed and Irene looked at her expectantly.

What was she expecting? Wendy thought. Was she supposed to be angry? Was she supposed to demand why? Was she supposed to ask Irene why it took her so long, why she hadn’t just left her the moment she realized she was in love with someone else?

Instead Wendy smiled. It was an obviously pained smile. By far one of her worst smiles and Irene could tell but she just sat there and accepted it.

“It’s okay unnie, I understand” Wendy stood and Irene just stared at her. “Some things are just not meant to be”

Irene understood Wendy, maybe not as much as she should’ve but she knew that she was giving her a way out of all this. An easy escape. Irene thought she should explain herself, let Wendy know that it wasn’t her fault but instead she accepted Wendy’s escape and left the apartment.

Wendy closed the door after Irene. She stood there for a few minutes and eventually found herself laying on the ground. Tears wouldn’t come but there was a whole lot of pain. She thought of a million things, how she could have prevented this, how she could have changed to make Irene love her but in the end her thoughts fell back to the bright sparkling stars.

Wendy googled why stars sparkled before falling asleep.