It was a quite cloudy day in Toronto when Wendy first received a phone call from an unknown number. She looked at the reorganized digits on the screen, a unfamiliar code area and a different country code, but the latter she would always recognize: South Korea. 

She flinched as soon as that realization hit her, missing the call and accidentally dropping her phone on the wooden floors of her apartment. Her phone rang again, its tune echoing through her place. Wendy sighed, hands shaking as she pressed the green button on her phone’s screen.

 

“Hello?”

 

Silence. It felt like a prank of some sort, maybe even her boss and his loyal staff had plotted all of this as an early birthday gift. After all, SM entertainment knew all the ways to get to her nerves, specially once Wendy made official that she had, in fact, moved back to Canada.

Wendy sighed again, this time more loudly. Maybe there was a malfunction or whoever was calling her had accidentally ended the call, as the line was still silent. Whatever it was, it made Wendy anxious, a feeling she hadn’t really felt in years.

She took the phone away from her ear, its screen lighting up immediately, checking the number that was still on display. Wendy groaned internally, deciding to end the call herself. As her index finger made its way to the red button, a clear sound came from the speaker.

 

“Wendy-unnie, is that you?” 

 

Wendy froze in place, her hand hanging mid-air. Unlike the number who had called her, the voice was very much familiar, whose owner was no one other than Park Sooyoung, also known as Joy, her ex-band mate that she hadn’t properly talked with in years, ever since Red Velvet had disbanded to be exact.

 

“Maybe I called the wrong number...” Sooyoung trailed off, thinking out loud in perfect Korean, a language Wendy had only been using in rare business meetings with SM.

“Sooyoung-ah, it’s me. Uh, hi!” Wendy said, cringing at how rusty her Korean sounded.

“Unnie! How have you been doing?” A true concerned tone filling Joy’s voice.

“I’m alright, you?” Wendy wanted to slap herself at how nonchalant she tried to sound. It felt ridiculous.

“Hm... I’m okay too.” Joy said and Wendy could sense something was off. “I called you because, guess what, I’m in your country, in your city.”

“No way!” Wendy almost cheered, making the younger woman laugh.

“You know, promotional tour and stuff.”

 

Wendy nodded, although Joy couldn’t really see her. The younger one had become a rather successful actress back in Korea, starring in different dramas which eventually made her a very busy schedule as she had to attend many promotional events overseas. 

They had rarely talked in recent months, but Wendy always made sure to send her texts every now and then to demonstrate how she was still Joy’s number one loyal fan, no matter what. Their few exchanged direct messages on Instagram weren’t very elaborate, but somehow made they feel still close to each other.

 

“... then I decided to invite you to coffee.” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Wendy asked, lost in her own thoughts.

“Coffee, let’s have some.”

“Okay...” Wendy pondered for a bit and then just shrugged it off. “I know a place downtown...”

 

 

They ended up meeting later that week, when Joy could finally muster a valid excuse to her manager to let her take some time off. Wendy had chosen a little rundown café to the occasion, hoping they wouldn’t draw much attention from its customers and make a fuss out of it. 

Wendy arrived first and not much time later Joy entered through the café’s huge automatic glass door, shaking off the cold in a oversized sweater and a scarf that hid half of her face. The older woman laughed at the scene and Joy spotted her pretty easily, walking in full elegance towards her unnie. 

It felt all too familiar and a sharp pain rose in Wendy’s chest, but she decided to ignore it, smiling brightly at her unexpected guest who looked warmly at her in response, debating if they should just shake hands or settle for a hug. Joy decided on the latter, engulfing Wendy’s tiny body in a warm embrace.

 

“I missed you.” Joy whispered and Wendy felt her eyes watering a bit, but she just laughed awkwardly.

“I missed you too.” Wendy said after a while, her accent showing a bit which made Joy giggle and break the hug.

“Well, look at you, Son Seungwan, SM’s official representative in North America.” Joy said and a pink tone dusted Wendy’s cheeks.

“Oh, shut up, miss Korea or should I say y dynamite?”

 

Joy laughed fondly at the memory and so did Wendy. The younger one decided to sit down across Wendy when happy tears started making their way on her cheeks. She quickly grabbed a napkin, lightly wiping them away which didn’t go completely unnoticed by Wendy, who decided to stay silent.

 

“Oh, did you order already?” Joy asked as her gaze dropped to Wendy’s hands that comfortably held a styrofoam cup. 

“Oops, sorry. I’m kind of a coffee enthusiast nowadays.” Wendy said, chuckling to herself while blushing a little. “What would you like to order?”

“Huh, whatever that makes me feel warm.” Joy answered, earning a grin from Wendy. “I swear the cold here is unbearable, I don’t know how you manage to survive.”

 

Wendy just shrugged, she didn’t know how either. But after Red Velvet had disbanded, she just felt like moving away and starting fresh. Canada was the first place that crossed her mind really and having her family around was definitely a bonus, it put her at ease in that difficult moment like nothing else. 

 

“I’ll get you a nice cappuccino, you’ll love it. I promise.” Wendy said and quickly excused herself. “I’ll be right back”.

 

Joy reluctantly nodded. She had forgotten how Wendy likes to pay for things for her friends, treating them every once in a while, getting them unexpected gifts. It was obviously very sweet and nice of her, but Joy was worried because Wendy would never let her friends pay for her, almost like she didn’t deserve to be treated the same way.

The younger one observed how Wendy talked with the barista at the counter, explaining her order in fluid English. Joy had missed moments like that more then she cared to admit, as it reminded her of their good days in Red Velvet or even way before, when they were trainees and Wendy voluntarily decided to give them English classes.

Their eyes met for a brief moment and Wendy gave her a thumbs up. Joy smiled and absentmindedly proceeded to use her phone. When Joy looked up again, Wendy was already seating across her again, giving her the drink and unconsciously humming a soothing melody that sounded just like one of Red Velvet’s lovely ballads.

 

“So, unnie, how have you really been doing? You seem a bit out of it.”

 

Wendy furrowed her eyebrows at the question, a sour feeling emerging in her chest. It had been a long time since she had last openly talked about her life to someone, maybe months or years. So she looked away, nervously fidgeting with her still hot coffee cup.

 

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it, I understand.” Joy sort of whispered when she didn’t get an answer for some minutes.

“It’s...just complicated, you know?”

“Is this about Irene-unnie?”

 

Wendy felt her stomach churn, but nodded anyway. Joy wasn’t wrong, pretty much every decision Wendy had made to be where she was in that moment, mid-February, in a weird café looking at her superstar friend in Toronto, had to do with Irene. 

Obviously, Wendy didn’t like to admit it that easily. But knowing Joy, she knew the actress wouldn’t drop the subject and move on before she felt like Wendy had told her everything. So, in between sips of a surprisingly good cappuccino, Joy propped herself on her right elbow, waiting for Wendy to start speaking.

 

“It’s been five years, Joy.”

“So what?”

“I should’ve moved on by now.”

 

Joy squinted her eyes at the Canadian. Did time really matter that much? Or was it something else? She couldn’t tell as Wendy hid her face between her hands, muffling her own voice. But Joy didn’t stop her, watching amusedly as the older one seemed to be in a internal struggle, more like an internal battle with herself. 

 

“Do you know what happened?” Wendy asked, out of the blue, staring directly at Joy. “ I mean, between Joohyun-unnie and I?”

“Huh, yeah. Kind of, I guess.” Joy said, a bit taken aback by the sudden change. 

“How much do you know then?”

“I don’t know!” Joy almost shouted, looking around. No one seemed to notice. “Unnie, just tell me.You can trust me.”

 

Wendy seemed a bit distressed and for the first time Joy actually looked at her. The woman before her was nothing like the bubbly Wendy she knew and who used to be in a girl group with her. Wendy looked tired to say at least, the evidence in the big dark circles under her eyes, but she also looked quite sad and that shattered Joy’s heart.

After all, Wendy was one of her best friends and seeing her that way was awful.  So she consciously made a note to change that, to help Wendy get back to her bright self but first she needed to understand what was going on.

 

“We... ugh... we were dating.” Wendy mumbled.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“I said... we were dating.” Wendy said more clearly this time. “Joohyun-unnie and I were.”

 

Joy smiled so big and so bright upon hearing it, that Wendy feared she would be blinded by her ridiculous grin. To say the younger one was happy was probably an understatement, she was ecstatic, over the moon, because Son Seungwan herself just admitted that she had dated Bae Joohyun. Finally.

 

“Please stop smiling like that, it’s creepy.” Wendy whispered, making Joy laugh.

“Unnie, I’m so happy you finally told me. It was pretty obvious, though.”

“No, it was not!” Wendy protested loudly, making some people stare at them. She mouthed apologies, but continued. “We were very discrete.”

“Sure you were.”

 

Wendy rolled her eyes, sipping or her coffee which was just lukewarm. Joy just stared at her, waiting for more information, still grinning like an idiot, the same she used to do when their gazes would meet during an interview back when they were in Red Velvet. Good times.

 

“She made me very happy, you know.”

“What happened?”

“It wasn’t enough.”

 

Both girls stayed silent for a while. Joy was unsure of exactly what to say, so she just waited for the other to speak, drinking her creamy cappuccino while she observed Wendy’s distant stare, deep in thought as if she was considering which words to use next.

 

“The company found out.”

“What!? When?”

“Three months before we disbanded, before I left the group.”

 

Never had Joy thought that she would be at loss for words in her life. But, in that precise moment, she didn’t know what to say and she couldn’t help but feel bad about it. If she had known, could she have changed their fate? Could she have saved Red Velvet from its end?

 

“Our managers threatened us.” Wendy said, taking deep breaths. “They said Irene-unnie would be fired because she was a weak leader, and was at fault for letting our relationship happen when she knew it was against the rules.”

 

“I... don’t know what to say.”

“Sooyoung-ah, I couldn’t let that happen to her. So I suggested to leave the band.”

“Why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped!”

“We didn’t want to bother you, you all deserved to stay.”

 

Joy shook her head vigorously. She could’ve interfered, helped in some way. So could have Seulgi and Yeri. They were friends, for God’s sake, almost like a family, supporting each other no matter what. It was unfair and cruel, they shouldn’t have been kept in the dark. It was their right to know what went down.

But Joy couldn’t blame Wendy for what happened, could she? After all, she was just a victim of SM’s strict policy just like any other group member. Just like any other idol that wanted to be successful in Korea’s music industry, they had to succumb to their company’s wishes and under no circumstances should they dare to think differently.

After Wendy had left, Joy was heartbroken. Upon hearing the official news about how Wendy had decided to take a sudden break, move away to a different country and represent SM Entertainment somewhere else, she felt betrayed, but most importantly abandoned by her best friend. 

She didn’t know Wendy’s reasons at that time and apparently no one else did, except maybe for Irene who seemed distant as if a part of her had moved away with Wendy too. They were all clueless about what would happen, but it was pretty tangible that Red Velvet was coming to an end.

Not long after Wendy’s departure, Seulgi got offered a solo deal and Joy undoubtedly encouraged her to accept it, which the woman did. Irene started to focus more on modeling, getting brand deals from various companies. Yeri became a song producer, a very good one. And Joy became a full time actress.

Out of pure curiosity, Joy decided to call Wendy, to see if she was available to meet when she first landed in Toronto, Canada. Much to her surprise, the woman picked up the call and agreed willingly, and it felt so natural as if they had never disbanded in the first place. As if Wendy had never left.

 

“I wish I knew all of that sooner.” Joy said, after torturous five minutes. “I would have talked some sense into those brainless managers we had.”

 

Wendy laughed, relieved. She rubbed Joy’s arm playfully, earning a sad smile from the younger one. It was bittersweet to tell her all of that, but Joy deserved to know the truth and Wendy was glad that she finally did it.

 

Picking up her styrofoam cup again, Wendy sipped some coffee only to find it terribly cold and sour. She scrunched up her nose at the taste, throwing away her cup. Wendy had drunk enough coffee for a day anyway.

After some more small talk, their mood lifted considerably and both women were happy about talking so freely again. They felt lighter, enjoying each other’s company in that cold day.

Much to Wendy’s dismay, though, Joy’s phone beeped, announcing that it was time for her to go. They shared rushed goodbyes as Joy promised she would meet Wendy again for coffee at the end of the week, in her last day in Canada and coincidentally Wendy’s birthday.

 

 

 

When Park Sooyoung had an idea, nothing could stop her from doing it. That time would be no different, she would do it and once again succeed. She would make Wendy smile bright again, knowing exactly what she had to do.

Once she elaborated a very detailed, Wendy-proof, flawless plan, she FaceTimed Seulgi who way very much asleep as Joy didn’t even check the time difference between Toronto and Seoul before she called. Not that she cared anyway.

 

“Joy? Is that you?” Seulgi squinted her eyes as the bright light from her phone hurt her eyes. “What time is it?”

“Look, Seul, it’s an emergency.”

“Woah, I’m still your unnie as far as I’m concerned.” Seulgi said while rubbing her eyes, earning a deadly glare from Joy. “I’m sorry, baby. What’s going on?”

 

Joy smiled fondly at the woman as she was pouting so cutely that it made her heart melt a little. But she fought the urge to comment on it, there wasn’t no time for that and she was on a mission.

 

“It’s about Wendy-unnie. I know exactly what we’re going to give her as a birthday present...”

“I’m all ears.”

 

 

Wendy’s birthday had finally arrived. Normally she wouldn’t be so excited about it, as she had stopped really celebrating it when she moved back to Canada. Every year, she would just eat a cake with her family due to her mom’s amazing cooking abilities and then treat herself a nice drink at home while she binge watched something on Netflix alone. 

It wasn’t ideal but she enjoyed it. This time would be different, though. Joy had promised to have a coffee date again with her, to celebrate her birthday and to talk face to face again before Joy would fly back to Korea. Wendy was excited.

She finished a very boring meeting with some music executives earlier just to have time to get properly dressed and arrive at the address Joy had sent her, to a café she had never really heard about it before, but she trusted Joy, that woman had a good taste.

Turned out that the café Joy chose was actually a pub. Yes, a crowded pub in the middle of Toronto that probably didn’t even had coffee on their menu. But it was freezing cold outside so Wendy entered the place, taking her thick coat off and scanning the dim lit place in an attempt to find Joy.

She found Joy surprisingly fast as the younger woman was dressed in the same rainbow dress that she used when performing peek-a-boo back in their Red Velvet days. However, unlike how she would dress on stage, she was also wearing a coat, probably to shield herself from the cold.

 

“Wendy-unnie, you’re here!” Joy shouted happily and she offered Wendy a shot of god-knows-what, chugging a similar one in the speed of light.

 

Wendy looked at her suspiciously, drinking it too. Alcohol burned its way through but she just smiled at the woman, who looked at her expectantly. Joy was just as hyped as Wendy remembered her to be.

 

“Way better than coffee, isn’t it?” Joy half-joked, half-whispered as she ordered another round of shots.

“I would still be down for coffee, ok?”

“Oh, c’mon, unnie! It’s your freaking birthday!” Joy squealed as she drowned another shot. “Let’s celebrate it!”

 

Joy was undoubtedly a heavy drinker and by how coherent she was, Wendy could tell it would take a lot more alcohol for her to get even slightly tipsy. Wendy, on the other hand, was not that alcohol-resistant and she could herself start to get slower.

The younger woman seemed to notice her state, because she started to drink all the shots herself, leaving not a single one for Wendy. Not that the birthday-girl minded, after all she was already having more fun than she had had in all the last five years of her life combined.

After some minutes of silence, with only loud music being played on the background, Wendy noticed that Joy was up to something as she suspiciously texted someone every five minutes. She decided not to care, but her curiosity was on full mode.

 

“Joy-ah, who are you texting, huh?” Wendy slurred a bit, giggling a little at herself. “Don’t do anything stupid, it’s my birthday.”

 

She didn’t get an answer because instead of doing so, Joy looked past Wendy and a big smiled grew on her face, making the birthday-girl turn around to be met with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.

 

“Don’t worry, Wendy. I won’t let her do anything bad to you.”

 

That soothing voice, that familiar shy smile and that heavenly beautiful face were all that Wendy wasn’t expecting to experience while being her tipsy self in a pub with her best friend. Or maybe she should have expected something like that, after all Joy must have planned it all along. 

 

“I’m gonna leave you two now. Have fun, unnies!” Joy said in a rush, waving goodbye as she disappeared into the crowd.

 

Wendy stared at Irene for some minutes, blank expression on her face. The older woman was just as breathtakingly gorgeous as Wendy remembered, if not even more attractive as she was dressed in tight leather pants. That couldn’t be real.

 

“I think I’m hallucinating.” Wendy blurted out, rubbing her temples. “Oh my god, how much alcohol did I drink?”

 

Irene chuckled. Wendy was just as dorky as she could remember and maybe just as endearing. She couldn’t believe that she was there either, in Toronto, in a crowded messy pub looking at Wendy after five endless years. It felt surreal.

 

“Joohyun-unnie, is that really you?”

 

Irene laughed but Wendy was just as surprised as she was, maybe even a bit confused as she poked Irene’s cheek as if to find out whether she was really there or if it was some sort of hallucination.

 

“Seungwan, I’m really here.”

 

Wendy snapped out of it once she heard her Korean name, taking three steps back, almost tripping on herself as she did so. Irene held her arm to giver her balance and Wendy blinked fast once their skin touched.

 

“How?” Wendy whispered but Irene heard it clearly as her mind was solely focused on the woman in front of her.

 

“I took the first plane to Canada today. I wanted to see you.”

 

Wendy was speechless. After all those years, Irene was really the one who made her heartbeat go out of control and just by seeing her so close she felt like her mind would combust. That sneaky Joy, it was obviously her doing!

 

The Canadian had successfully avoided talking to Irene in long five years. It was the best option as SM entertainment had agreed to let them continue their careers under their management once Wendy moved back to Canada, dropping the issue. It was painful, but it was obviously for a greater good.

 

“Hey, are you ok? You look a little pale.” 

“Yeah yeah, I’m just wow.” Wendy commented, still slurring a bit. “It’s good to see you again.”

 

Wendy closed her eyes when that little confession came out of so easily. Too soon. But Irene blushed, looking away shyly which cause a big fat grin to appear on Wendy’s face.

 

They fell into comfortable silence as both stared at each other, lost in their own little world. Wendy was, in fact, so happy to see Irene again and couldn’t believe her eyes but the woman was actually right in front of her.

 

“Do you want to dance?” Wendy asked, out of context, when a upbeat song started playing.

 

Irene raised her eyebrows, silently questioning if she had heard it correctly. And she did, because Wendy was offering a hand that she gladly took and next thing she knew, the Canadian was pulling her.

 

Wendy dragged her to what was supposed to be a dance floor and they danced carelessly, as if no time had passed. Irene laughed loudly at Wendy’s weird dance moves and at how she was trying constantly to twirl Irene around just so she could be even closer to her.

 

It was close to midnight when Irene realized she hadn’t properly greeted the birthday-girl, who had stopped dancing to grab a drink for them. Once Wendy made her way back with two large blue drinks, Irene took both, carefully placing them on a table before hugging a very stif Wendy.

 

“Happy birthday, Wannie.”

 

Wendy felt her brain short-circuit when Irene’s hot breath touched her ear. Maybe it was the alcohol in her system or maybe how much she missed Irene, but being so close to her ex-girlfriend made heart race.

 

Irene kept on hugging Wendy, until the woman decided to hug back, tightly and briefly before pushing her away ever so slightly so that their noses touched. 

 

“Joohyun-unnie, I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have...”

 

Irene just shook her head. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered as long as Wendy was there, next to her, making time go slow. Wendy was all that mattered and this time Irene wouldn’t let her go.

Irene pressed their lips together tenderly, in a soft kiss Wendy wasn’t expecting, but reciprocated. She mumbled something in English that Irene didn’t quite catch but she smiled anyway, pecking Wendy’s lips one more time before pulling away.

When their eyes met again, Wendy was flustered and blushed violently under Irene’s intense stare. In that brief moment, she had forgotten about everything, including Joy who was apparently flying back to Korea in a few hours.

 

“Oh my god, Sooyoung! Where is she? I need to say goodbye before she leaves!”

“Ugh, you kiss me and then think about Sooyoung, huh?” Irene teased and kissed Wendy’s warm cheek. “Let’s go find her, I need to thank her for being the genius behind all of this.” 

“I knew it!”

 

 

 

One year later

 

When the first sun rays entered Seungwan’s room, she blinked her eyes lightly, waking up to find herself wrapped in Joohyun’s tight embrace. She smiled fondly at the woman, kissing her temple lightly to not wake her up before quickly getting out of bed.

After her birthday in that previous year, Irene decided to postpone all her appointments and duties so that they could happily spent the following week together and, eventually, many other weeks until they decided to officially date again, but this time they made it public too.

It wasn’t easily, specially when they both were still somehow connected to SM Entertainment but due to the large support from the general public, they were eventually allowed to continue their regular activities in the company.

Wendy would visit Irene every other month in South Korea, taking time to also visit Joy and Seulgi’s apartment as well as Yeri’s studio. Some other months, Irene would visit Wendy in Canada. 

Long distant relationships were never easy, but their love was strong enough to endure it.

Every time Irene would come over to Canada, Wendy would wake up earlier every morning to go the nearest Starbucks and order a nice green tea to Irene and a very strong black coffee for herself.

That was exactly was Wendy did that day, prior to her birthday, only to find out that Irene was already half-asleep waiting for her at the couch, pouting because Wendy wasn’t there to sleep with her and she had missed Wendy’s warmth.

Wendy laughed warmly at the older woman, hugging her close and going back to bed. Leaving their drinks and baked goods untouched at the table, Wendy carried a sleepy Irene, it could wait. Because if Irene was there with her, she didn’t mind drinking cold coffee at all.