Irene tried desperately to get Wendy’s attention the past few days.  She would wait for when the younger had to leave her room, either for food or the bathroom, and try to talk to her then.  Each and every time, Irene got the cold shoulder.  The other girls started to notice as well.

Seulgi did her best to help, but ultimately decided not to bother her best friend. “It’s serious.” She had said with a sad look on her face.  “I can just tell... I don’t know what happened but I don’t think the reason she gave you was the real reason.”

Yeri instead tried to cheer Irene up, which Irene appreciated, but it wasn’t enough.  After a while, Yeri could tell she wasn’t enough to cheer their leader up.  “Unnie, I know you’re trying to give her space and only talk to her when she leaves her room, but maybe you have to be more aggressive with it.  Make her talk to you.”

So Irene tried Yeri’s advice as well.  Irene would sometimes knock on Wendy’s door, telling her that they needed to talk, that enough wasn’t said before, but she usually didn’t get a response.  Sometimes she would just sit outside her door, waiting, but it was almost as if Wendy knew she was out there.

Irene had cried a lot.  Had asked herself what she did wrong, but she couldn’t find any answers.  There had to be something though, because she knew Wendy wouldn’t just break her heart like this for nothing.  But no matter how hard she cried, no matter how long she tried to look for the real problem, she still turned up empty handed.  Without her Seungwan.

Two days had passed, and Irene was miserable, but she had to go on another fake date with Bogum.  She had asked the company to reschedule, but they insisted she go because she missed the last date.  So here she was, sitting at an outside cafe with sunglasses on to cover her puffy eyes, waiting for Bogum to show up.

“Irene, hey!” Bogum at down with enthusiasm, clearly not realizing that Irene was not in a good mood.

“Good morning Bogum.  Sorry about missing our last meeting.”

“It’s okay!” He said with a smile “You were sick after all.  Are you feeling better? You look a bit...unwell.”

Irene chuckled sadly “Yeah, unwell is one way to put it.” She waited for a minute, deciding whether or not she should confide in Bogum.  “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course, anything Irene.”

“Well, the person I was with before, the reason we are fake dating, they... broke up with me.”

“Oh no...” Bogum reached across the table to grab Irene’s hand, rubbing it comfortingly.  However, it was not the hand Irene wished she could hold. “I don’t understand, someone would have to be stupid to break up with you.”

Irene snatched her hand away, angry that he would say something like that.  “No, clearly I did something wrong, not S-...not them.  Contrary to your belief, I’m not perfect.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you...”

Irene sighed.  She should be nicer, clearly he was just trying to be supportive. “It’s fine. Anyways, I don’t think we’ll be doing this much lo