The first thing Wendy said when she got on Morgan's car was can she stay at her house. Morgan said yes and they drove in silence. They arrived a little over midnight. No one was up so Wendy went straight to Morgan's bedroom. Morgan gave Wendy some clean clothes and a towel for her. Wendy took a quick bath.

When Wendy returned to the bedroom, Morgan was on her desk. She told Wendy that she had some new tattoo design sketching to do so she should went ahead and sleep. Wendy was kind of hoping that Morgan will sleep with her but she didn't argue. Wendy drifted off to sleep in no time.

Wendy woke up around seven in the morning alone. Morgan's side of the bed was made up. It looked like she never slept at all. Wendy went out the room and came downstairs. The family was preparing breakfast. Rachel, Morgan's sister was packing her lunch. Her face lit up when she saw Wendy. A minute later, she and her dad left the house.

Morgan's mom was making pancakes. She told Wendy that Rachel had a supplemental lesson for her finals while her dad had to go out of town so they departed earlier than usual. Morgan came to the dining room all sweaty and panting. She just came back from a run.

Morgan and Wendy had breakfast with Morgan's mom until around eight. Morgan's mom then excused herself and went to her book club. Morgan told Wendy that she can go back to sleep because she looked like she was still exhausted. Wendy took up the offer and went back to the bedroom.

Wendy woke up at one. When she opened her eyes, Morgan was on her desk, sketching.

"Morgan," said Wendy.

Morgan turned her head and smiled. "Hey. I made you a sandwich in case you're hungry."

"Thanks."

Morgan returned her attention to her sketches.

"Morgan?"

"Yes."

"Don't you want to ask me about last night?"

Morgan stopped what she was doing and bit her lower lip. "I do. So bad. But I figure you'd want to sort what's in your head first."

Wendy smiled. "It's kind of complicated."

"Of course. It's Irene after all."

"Thank you for leaving me alone," said Wendy.

"Sure. I'm here when you're ready to talk."

"I am now."

**

Wendy finished half of her sandwich and ended her story about her crush to Irene, how she tried so hard to get over her, and her little quarrel last night. Morgan was quiet the whole time and when Wendy was done, she smiled.

"Wow. And you didn't say anything all this time?" Morgan said.

"No. How could I? I never thought that she's gay,” Wendy let out an exasperated sigh, “and then the kiss… she just had to kiss me….”

Wendy put both hands on her face. Morgan let a few moments go by before asking, “So… what are you going to do now?”

Wendy shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to go back home yet, though…. I’m not ready to see Irene-unnie. I don’t have any schedule for the next couple of days so I think I’m going to take a break from the dorm.”

“You’re welcome to stay here.”

“Really? I would love to, but your family… I don’t want to intrude.”

“My dad’s going away for a business trip, Rachel is busy with her school and Mom is always at one of her traditional clubs, so…. Besides, I like you here.”

Wendy smiled. “Thank you,” she leaned for a kiss and stood up. “I’m going to take a bath.”

Morgan let Wendy go. And alone she was in the room, looking at the wall with a heavy heart.

**

Seulgi received a text message from Wendy saying she will be staying at Morgan’s for a couple of days. Seulgi was in the car in between her schedules with Irene so she showed it to her. Irene nodded without saying anything.

Last night was rough for Irene. She returned to the dorm after talking with Wendy with a red cheek. When she told the girls her story, everyone was in shock. Who thought a girl as nice as Wendy could slap someone like that?

After the story, Irene retreated to her room and didn’t come out until the next day around noon. Just in time for her schedule. She said nothing about last night and Seulgi, who was with her for the day, asked nothing as well.

Seulgi and Irene were on the way to an interview in a hotel. The interview went well. Seulgi thought that there will be a change in Irene’s personality after last night but she was as professional as ever. She was bright and cheerful the whole interview.

The two had lunch at the hotel and that was when Irene’s expression changed a little. Seulgi assumed that Wendy crossed her mind at that time. Around five in the afternoon, Irene and Seulgi went to a music show. Irene, once again, showed nothing but happiness in front of the camera. When the recording over, Irene turned gloomy again. Seulgi got so worried but she had no courage to say anything to her.

They had dinner in a fancy restaurant paid by the agency and Irene said nothing up until the two arrived back at the dorm.

Irene said good night to Seulgi and went into her room. Seulgi stood in front of Irene’s room before knocking on Joy’s door. Inside, there was already Yeri playing video games. Seulgi sat on the bed and asked them what to do with Irene. Seulgi said if they left Irene with her own thoughts, she got sad thinking of Wendy. Yeri came up with the idea.

“What if we all sleep in Irene-unnie’s room so she won’t think of Wendy-unnie as much?”

So the girls knocked on Irene’s room and forced their way in. Irene cracked a smile and thanked them, saying that she was okay. But the girls won’t leave, so Irene let them sleep in her room. She slept through the night without dreaming.

The sun came up and Irene was packing her stuff. She had to go to Jeju Island for the live medical skit. She left around ten in the morning with her manager and her stylist. Some of the girls wanted to go to accompany Irene but they were all got scolded by the manager. So Irene had to go on her own.

When Irene left, Seulgi tried to call Wendy and talk some sense into her but she was not picking up. Later that day, Yeri tried to call Wendy but got the same result. So they decided to just wait it all out.

**

Morgan came home from her tattoo parlor and found Wendy was doing homework with her sister. Morgan joined the fun until dinner time and then she cooked some simple fried rice. After dinner, she and Wendy went up to her room. Morgan was changing her clothes when Wendy sat on the bed looking all serious.

“Hey,” she said.

Morgan put on a comfortable t-shirt and turned to face Wendy. “Hey.”

“Are you up for a serious talk?”

Morgan made a nervous smile. “Sure.”

Wendy straightened her sitting position and stared deep into Morgan’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days about us. And also about me and Irene-unnie.”

“Okay.”

“I like you. A lot. This might be the first time I ever liked someone this much. And I’m happy. I am so happy when I’m with you.”

“Somehow I sensed that this conversation won’t end well for me.”

Wendy let out a cackle. “Irene-unnie…. I like her for so long, Morgan. Too long, even, that I don’t remember how I like her in the first place. Maybe what my friend said is right. When you’re together with someone for so long, there’s nothing left to do but to fall in love with each other. Maybe that’s what happened to me with Irene-unnie. Maybe I like her because we’re together all the time. So I made a mental note to myself the other day about how my life was with her around and I came to the conclusion that she made miserable.

“Miserable as in helpless, clueless, and just lost. Liking her was hard, you know, because I always thought she was straight. So I went to great distance to forget her. At one point I even drank so much to forget her that I ended up forgetting my own name. It was so horrible until I met you. You made me better and you made everything better.”

“But…,” Morgan said.

“But… I realized that... I was okay before I met you. I was fine with liking Irene-unnie, the person who I thought didn’t like me back. And because I gave it a distance between us by staying with you, I realized that as long as I am close to her… I am okay with any kind of love.”

“But Wendy. Now you know that she loves you.”

Wendy smiled. “Yes. And I am really sorry for saying this, but I like you too much to make you my option, my safety net, my bouncing back. You deserve much, much more.”

Morgan looked away and she laughed a little. Her eyes were turning red and she wiped the tears forming in them. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Wendy grabbed Morgan’s hand.

“You know… ever since I saw you slapping Irene the other day, I knew that that must be something. So ever since that night, I have been preparing myself for the worst. And this is it.”

Wendy smiled and kissed Morgan’s hands.

“But I guess I didn’t prepare enough because, man, it hurts like hell,” Morgan cried.

Wendy pulled Morgan into a hug.

“I’m really, really, sorry.”

“No. No, don’t be. I know my limit and I know when I lost. I know that I will never be able to compete with Irene. Knowing you, I think that there is absolutely nothing I can say will change your mind. And of course, I have too much pride to not get down on my knees and beg you to stay,” Morgan said. “So… go, Wendy. Go be with Irene. As much as it kills me, I want you to be happy.”

“Will you be okay?”

“I will literally cry for three days straight,” Morgan said with a smile. “But I’ll be fine after that.”

Wendy smiled and gave Morgan a long kiss. “I will always love, Morgan.”

“Go. Before I lock the room and keep you captive forever.”

Wendy hugged Morgan. “Thank you.”

“Go. Seriously. It’s going to rain and I hear a storm from Japan is coming. Go.”

Wendy stood up and left. Morgan watched the door close and she cried her heart out.

**

Irene checked her watch. The flight back to Seoul had been delayed for an hour now. A storm warning had just been issued and most of the flight was either delayed or cancelled. She, her manager, and her stylist were stuck in the airport.

Irene was hanging out in a café with her stylist when the manager came running to them.

“The airline won’t fly. But they transferred our flight to another airline. We can go board the plane now if we want,” he said.

“They’re going to fly despite the storm warning?” asked the stylist.

“There are three flights going out already so I guess it’ll be okay.”

“I don’t know, Oppa. The sky is so dark, it’s scary,” said Irene.

“But we have another schedule tomorrow, Irene.”

A public speaker announced that Flight 59 to Seoul was now boarding. The manager said that it was their flight so they had to rush. Irene, still worried about the weather, followed the manager and her stylist to the gate. Outside the airport window, she saw the black cloud overhead and the strong wind sending everything in its way swaying and flying.

**

Seulgi the TV to watch some program but almost every channel was showing breaking news of a great storm coming. Joy and Yeri were quite concerned by the storm so they pack some of their essential stuff into backpacks.

Seulgi was worried about Wendy who was not with them so she tried calling her again. This time, it the call went through. She even heard Wendy’s ringtone from outside the dorm door. Seulgi stood up and turned around when Wendy entered the dorm, all soaked by the rain.

“Wendy!” Seulgi said. She grabbed a towel and threw it to Wendy. “You went in the storm?”

“It wasn’t raining when I left Morgan’s,” said Wendy. “Where’s Irene-unnie? I need to speak with her.”

“She’s on a schedule at Jeju.”

“Oh, is she? I didn’t know.”

“She’ll be back by tonight. But there’s storm brewing now so I don’t know.”

“Unnie!” Yeri ran out of her room followed by Joy. There were horrors in their eyes.

“What?” asked Seulgi.

Yeri flipped the news while Joy handed her phone in panic. Seulgi took the phone and read a text message from Irene. “My flight is transferred to Flight 59. So?”

“Unnie! Look!” Yeri shouted.

The news was showing footage of a plane half submerged in the ocean. The caption under the screen said, “FLIGHT 59 SKIDDED OFF RUNWAY DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER.”

--