A month ago, Joy would’ve been happy seeing Irene and Wendy’s relationship taking a turn for the worse.  It’s selfish to say, and incredibly wrong, but she knew without a doubt that it would’ve made her happy.  Wendy would be hers, and Irene would’ve been punished for taking Wendy from her.

Joy scoffs at the thought now.  Wendy would’ve hated her if she knew.  Joy knows now that Wendy would’ve been hurt, and Irene didn’t deserve to be punished for liking Wendy.  Joy’s romantic feelings for Wendy were fading, but she wouldn’t say that they were gone yet.  Her favorite Unnie still filled her dreams, and unfortunately there was nothing she could do about that.  However, Joy has completely accepted the fact that she will never be with Wendy.  While she is unsure of how deep Irene’s feelings go, Joy is sure of the fact that Wendy is in love with Irene.

Now, all Joy wants to do is help her first love.  Wendy is hiding something, and shouldering the burden by herself as she always has.  Joy will not stand by this time.  She will get to the bottom of this, so Wendy can be free to love Irene again.

Irene wanted to keep trying.  She really wanted to get through to Wendy, and at least figure out what she did wrong, but eventually she decided to halt her efforts.  She began to notice how her constant attempts to talk to Wendy affected the younger girl.  Wendy never seemed happy anymore, and Irene believed it was probably because she was constantly pestering her.  So she stopped, despite how much she wanted to continue.

Weeks continued to pass, and Red Velvet was able to promote Power Up.  It was hard to try and remain cheerful on stage, but she found that Wendy did so rather well.  Irene began to think that she was the only one affected by the breakup, which only made her more upset.

While promoting was hard, Irene was glad that it prevented her from meeting with Bogum.  The last couple of meetings have been awkward to say the least.  He would often try and get her to stay longer than necessary, and she found his increased skin ship uncomfortable.  He often used the excuse that it was for the cameras, and so Irene kept bothering her manager to announce a breakup, but she had no luck.  At least she didn’t have to meet up with him as of right now.

It wasn’t long before fans began to notice the rift between Irene and Wendy.  Irene, sadly enough, liked to look at Instagram and Twitter accounts dedicated to the relationship between them.  Usually they were labeled with “Wenrene”, and looking through them made Irene feel happy, because she could look back at the good times.  But nowadays the accounts have been pointing out the rift that has formed between Irene and Wendy.  They have been calling it the Cold War, and Irene would say that’s a pretty fitting name.

“Unnie, we are heading on stage in a couple of minutes.” Joy stood by the dressing room door, waiting patiently for Irene.  

“Alright.” Irene quickly put her phone in her bag before standing up, making her way past Joy.  Just as she was about to leave however, Joy grabbed on to arm, stopping her.  “Yes?”

“Unnie...” Joy trailed off, seemingly struggling with what to say.  

Any other time, Irene would have waited patiently, but they were expected to perform any minute now.  “Joy, if it’s serious then let me know, but we have to go on stage soon.”

“I can tell that Wendy really loves you.”

“What?” Irene was shocked that Joy brought this up.  Not only has it been a topic that everyone avoided, but Joy also had feelings for Wendy.

“I just thought you needed to know that.  This hurts her as much as it hurts you.  There has to be a reason...” Joy shrugged a bit, clearly uncomfortable with speaking about this topic.

Irene had hope for a moment, but Joy’s last statement confirms that Joy didn’t know for sure.  However, Joy’s reassurance did make her feel better.

Irene smiled “Thanks Joy.  Let’s head out.”

The performance went well.  While they were done with their performances, they still had to return to the stage one final time to sing a song with some of the other artists.  Wendy of course took care of Red Velvet’s part, singing beautifully into the mic as the other members just swayed and clapped to the music.  Irene loved her voice, and couldn’t help herself from reaching out and taking Wendy’s hand.  The younger girl quickly looked over, locking eyes with Irene’s.  Irene gave a small smile as she squeezed Wendy’s hand, hoping that she was able to somehow convey all of her feelings without words.

But the moment was over too soon.  Irene saw Wendy’s eyes flick to the side, almost as if she was looking at someone over her shoulder.  Almost immediately after Wendy pulled her hand away, devastating Irene.  The older girl felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she couldn’t let herself cry on stage.  She put on her mask, the same one that led to people calling her cold and mean, in the hopes that no one would be able to see just how heartbroken she was.

As soon as they all did a final bow, Irene rushed off stage.  She kept her head down, hoping that no one could see her watery eyes, but she suddenly ran into someone.  

“Sorry...” she mumbled as she attempted to walk past them, but she felt the person grab her arm.

“Irene?  What’s the matter?”  It was Bogum, that much Irene could tell from his voice.  She looked up and saw him with some flowers, and a concerned look on his face.

“I-“ Irene couldn’t speak, she didn’t want to burst into tears in front of everyone.  It seemed the Bogum understood, and led them both to one of the empty changing rooms.

“Sorry, I-“

“Don’t be sorry Irene.  Are you alright?”  He kept his hand on her back, letting it slide up and down comfortingly.

“I am... I’ve just been so sad and the person I want to talk about it with just won’t- she won’t-“ Irene couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her face.

“Shh Irene it's okay.” Bogum wrapped his arms around Irene, holding her tight as she cried.  It wasn’t long before she composed herself, and she slowly leaned away from him.

“Thank you Bogum,” she smiled thankfully “I had to let that out.  Sorry for crying.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“By the way, why are you here?” Irene questioned.  It was odd, since he didn’t have any reason to be at this particular event.

Bogum then flashed a smile “To support you, oh, and before I forget...” He handed Irene some flowers that were sitting beside him.  He must’ve been carrying them before, but Irene was much too preoccupied to notice.

“Thank you Bogum, that’s sweet... but...” Irene didn’t know how to react.  This isn’t what friends do.

“But what?”

“Um, Bogum, you shouldn’t be giving me stuff like this.”

Bogu