Notes: Conversations in italics is spoken in English.

Well, to simplify, Joohyun and Wendy converse fully in English in this story.
 

"So, let me get this straight, you were the one who called it quits?."

Joohyun furrowed her eyebrows, looking straight at her taller friend. Sooyoung always drinks like there is no tomorrow, it was not really a secret to anybody. On the other hand, Joohyun had not been the best buddy with liquors. She could tolerate them, sure, but it would never be her idea to start. Especially on weekdays. 

"Mm-hmm, correct! I said it before he could, Ha! I'm the final winner of our damn entanglement!" Sooyoung slurred, her hand already opening another bottle of soju. Joohyun grabbed the younger's arm, stopping her. At this rate, her friend could finish all the Korean restaurant's alcoholic drink stockpiles. 

"So this two-week affair-"

"Passionate romance!"

"-of yours, umm, what was exactly the cause of its failure?" Joohyun looked at Sooyoung who was clearly more interested in getting the soju bottle back from the older than whatever that was going in their conversation.

"Why does that matter? The past is best to be let go." Sooyoung stated, raising up her pointer finger as if teaching Joohyun. She then later flashed her drinking buddy a sloppy grin. "Alcohol, however, is best shared. Come on, unnie!” 

When Sooyoung knocked on Joohyun’s dorm door two hours earlier and said “I just broke up. Accompany me drink, please”, Joohyun thought that she was owed an explanation or at least a short recap of the broken relationship. However, twenty minutes into their night out, Joohyun learned that there was no relationship per se. It was a fling, Sooyoung said, he was a guy that I have been casually seeing for the past few days. So, there she was, on a Tuesday night, playing tug against Sooyoung with a soju bottle as its prize. 

“Let me ask you five questions, just five, then you can have your drink back.” Joohyun tried to strike a deal before the taller stand up and wrestle her for the damn bottle. 

Sooyoung raised her eyebrow, intrigued by the proposal. “Do I get to ask five questions as well?”

“Sure,” Joohyun sighed. Sooyoung was drunk, she wouldn’t remember anything anyway, “but you get to ask only after answering all my five questions.” 

“Deal.” Sooyoung smiled widely, clearly satisfied.

“All right. The first one,” Joohyun started, “did he cheat on you?” 

“What? No!” Joy clearly disliked the thought of it,” Why would, I mean, do you really think that someone would cheat on me, unnie?” 

“It is still my turn to ask, you can save that question for later. The next one, did he hurt you?” 

“Hurt me how?”

“In any way.”

“Well he was kinda rough on bed but we—“

“Not in that way!” Joohyun cut the younger’s words. “I mean, other than that.” 

“Umm, no? Honestly, he was a fluffball.” Sooyoung rested her hand on her cheek, recalling,” We watched Hotels for Dogs- the movie with Emma Roberts and the kid from Selena Gomez's Disney show-the other night, and he cried on the final scene where they were calling each of the dog’s names one by one.” 

Joohyun looked at Sooyoung questioningly, but the latter just shrugged, so she decided to continue on. “Did he lie, or break any promise with you?”

“It lasted for two weeks, unnie. What promise do you expect us to make?” Sooyoung said.

“Do you love him?” 

“Really, unnie?” Sooyoung laughed, “No, I don’t. I never did. It was more of a hey-you-are-cute-and-a-barista-and-I-have-always-wanted-to-go-out-with-a-cute-barista kinda thing."

"Do you regret anything from the relationship or the aftermath?"

Sooyoung paused. She looked serious for a moment, the first time for this night, pursing her lips in thoughts. After some pondering, Sooyoung replied, in her serious tone. “He got this really nice yellow hoodie. I wore it once and it looked amazing on me. I should have taken it with me, shouldn't I? Is it courteous to ask for clothes from your flings?"

Joohyun groaned. She massaged her temple, staring at Sooyoung resignedly. "You are not sad about the split," Joohyun stated, it was not a question. 

"Nope," Sooyoung grinned. 

Joohyun let out an exasperated sigh."Then please explained to me why we are here, you drinking like a sailor."

"I asked you to go with me, and you agreed," Sooyoung said simply.

Joohyun, in disbelief, finally burst out. "Well, you appeared on my doorstep saying that you just broke up, which is apparently not true-"

"A poor choice of words, mostly, but there were some degrees of truth there," Sooyoung cut in. 

"-so I thought that you need this excursion as an outlet of your sadness-"

 "You thought, unnie, you assumed that I was devastated," again, Sooyoung. 

"-but no, you are not sad, nor angry, or feel anything about the end of your passionate romance. You just wanted to drink." Joohyun bit her lips, stopping herself from going berserk. Breathe Joohyun, breathe. Sooyoung only looked at her with eyes full of glee. 

"I think, rather than me, you are the one who is in need of a drink, unnie," Sooyoung smirked, teasing Joohyun, who scoffed and glared at the younger, clearly not amused. Sooyoung was not intimidated, however. It was as if the alcohol in her body grew her another backbone. She tapped the table twice with her shot glass, "Come on, unnie! You promised me that I can drink if I answered all the questions."

Joohyun let Sooyoung take the soju bottle, she had little energy left to stop the taller. She watched the younger giddily poured the clear liquid into the small glasses. Well, at least one of them will come home happy after this unnecessary outing. 

"So, it is my turn to ask. What are your quirks, unnie? Are you into pain, or do you like to feel restricted? Ah, how about pretending to be someone you are not? Does that excite you? Wait, stop glaring at me, you promised me five questions. It was not my fault that your questions were boring. This is not a truth or drink game either, unnie. Chugging the soju does not let you have the option of not answering."

[•••••]

"Let's go for round two! I'm not tired at all. I feel so light right now that I could touch the sky!"

Joohyun hissed. She did not feel the same way with Sooyoung, not when the said girl was leaning on her with all her might. "Sooyoung, would you please stop moving for a sec?" Sooyoung might feel light, but she was certainly not light to carry. 

Living in the same dormitory as Sooyoung was a big mistake, Joohyun thought. She had known the younger for a year (she met Sooyoung in the Korean student community’s gathering in her university) when Sooyoung suggested that Joohyun moved to her building. It is cheaper and it will be easier if one of us need a hand, Sooyoung reasoned simply, and Joohyun, just like this night, was a convincible person. At this moment, Sooyoung clearly needed more than a hand. 

They were outside, standing by the roadside waiting for the Uber Joohyun had booked. The street was relatively empty, only a handful of people were passing by, mostly restaurant owners and employees who had just closed their business. Several of them threw the duo curious glances. Sooyoung then, decided that she wanted to sit instead of touching the sky. 

"No, no, no, you can't sit here." Joohyun tried to lift the younger but it was not an easy feat. 

"But, unnie, the ground is so cosy." Sooyoung, now seated comfortably, raised her head and beamed widely. "Oh, hey, now I need to look up to talk to you, unnie!" 

Joohyun almost left Sooyoung on that roadside. 

"Would you like some help?"

Joohyun looked at the source of the voice, a young guy, likely a Korean since he had just spoken the language, who was probably of the same age with her, or Sooyoung. It took her a few seconds since the only source of lights were the dim streetlights, but Sooyoung then recognised the face as one of the waiters of the restaurant they just dined in.  

"Wait, you are the waiter guy who kept hitting on unnie before." Sooyoung pointed to the guy, half shouting. Joohyun was mortified, while the guy looked taken aback, eyes wide after the accusation. He looked frantically to Joohyun and Sooyoung, trying to clear the misunderstanding.

"I didn't," he then rambled out something incoherent as he was likely speaking before doing any thinking, "I mean I didn't hit on you or anything-"

"I'm so sorry. She is drunk and saying nonsenses," Joohyun looked to the poor guy, who had turned pale.  

"But you kept looking at unnie the whole night," Sooyoung smirked, "That is all right, though, this unnie right here is very pretty. I would stare at her as well if I were you."

Joohyun grimaced. Damn it Sooyoung and her drunk habits.

"We are all right, our ride will soon be here. Thank you for your offer, though,” Joohyun smiled apologetically to the guy. 

"We don't need your help, young man, " Sooyoung said to the guy, but the wasted clown did it so loudly the whole neighbourhood could probably hear, “you, however, probably need some help in getting Joohyun unnie’s number.”

“What?” The guy squeaked.

“Take out your phone and save it under Bae Joohyun,  student of the University of Toronto. Her phone number is zero, four, one-”

“Christ, Sooyoung I swear I will-“ 

A car stopped in front of the three, stopping the chaos that was going. Joohyun looked at the driver who was lowering down the car’s window then flashed a hesitant smile. A girl? 

“Hi, umm, Uber for Irene?” She asked in English. 

Right, the Uber. “Yeah, yes. I am Irene,” Joohyun replied, now answering in full English. The poor guy took it as his cue to leave, quickly muttering a greeting and be on his way. “Just give me a minute, I need to—“ Joohyun grabbed both of Sooyoung’s hands and pulled her up. “Come on Sooyoung, let’s go to the car,” Joohyun whispered in her mother tongue. 

The Uber girl stepped out of the car and opened the passenger door for them. “Oh, your head, watch out,” she put her hand between Sooyoung’s head and the vehicle. 

After successfully getting Sooyoung in the car, Joohyun leaned back at the back seat and sighed. Joohyun took a glance at the driver girl, who was putting her seatbelt and started driving the car. Joohyun could only see a glimpse of the girl’s face from the back. She looked young, perhaps younger than Sooyoung with her blonde hair in a loose ponytail. She wore a simple plaid with the sleeves rolled up. 

“Long night?” The girl asked, breaking the silence. 

Joohyun chuckled. “You could say that,” She noticed that Sooyoung was uncharacteristically quiet. Probably the younger was as tired as she was. “Sorry, we must reek of alcohol.”

“Oh, no. It is fine, really. I have had worse.” The girl assured. “Once, I had a drunk couple who probably just entered the nearest hotel address. They just made out all the way of the trip.”

“That must have been very uncomfortable.” She looked at the back of the passenger seat headrest with a small poster pinned on it. 'You can always ask Wendy to raise or lower the car's temperature, change the radio station....' Joohyun read. So, her name is Wendy.

“It was,” they reached a red light. "You must be tired." Wendy turned her head back and furrowed her eyebrows. "You can sit back and relax. I will get us there in—" she turned to look at her navigator, "—ten minutes max. I lived here all my life and I know every road, you don't need to worry." Wendy grinned. 

Joohyun smiled back. "Okay. Thank you." The lights turned green, and Wendy returned her focus on the road. Joohyun turned to Sooyoung, only to find the younger smirking at her.

"She is your type," Sooyoung stated in Korean. The older opened to reply but Sooyoung beat her to it. "No need for excuses, unnie. You were very obvious." 

"I was not."

"You don't do small talks." Sooyoung countered. 

"I was being polite."

"You wore a stupid smile while reading this." Sooyoung pointed at the poster Joohyun read earlier. 

"They are cute!" Joohyun tried to reason. 

"Is that why you wore the same smile when she beamed at you just now? Because she is cute?"

Joohyun paused. Her eyebrow furrowed, trying to rebut what Sooyoung had said, but she could voice out nothing. Because she does think Wendy is cute, she thought. 

"You should ask her on a date." 

"I...no, I can't." Joohyun sighed. She looked at Wendy, who was still focusing on the road. "She will think that I am a weirdo or a creep."

"She won't." Sooyoung turned to her, "she likes you too, unnie." 

Joohyun scoffed. "You say that everyone likes me, even that guy just now."

"She kept stealing glances at you with the rear mirror. You did not notice it because you were too busy staring at her from the back."

Silence.

"You are drunk."

"And you are dumb,” Sooyoung shrugged. Joohyun seemed to be at a loss for words. “I won’t be drunk tomorrow morning, but you, unnie,” Sooyoung stared at her, with her smug, vain smile curling her lips, “you will wake up, realising that you don’t have her phone number or a cute ice cream date planned with her, and you'll still feel stupid.”

Joohyun stared at Sooyoung, pouting but said nothing. 

“Oh, and I'll be right at your front door, with my annoying proud and conceited grin, saying I told you so, before running to the bathroom to throw up from my hangover.”

Joohyun said nothing afterwards and Sooyoung did not bother her for the rest of the journey. Her head was busy making up a pros and cons list of asking Wendy out. Her list was still on a tie with the eight pros and cons (which was ‘ Pros: Wendy has this cute dimple when she smiles and Joohyun has heard that dimples are heritable; Cons: Joohyun and Wendy can’t make babies with dimples, or any baby for that matter) when Wendy cleared . 

“We are here,” Wendy said, unbuckling her seat belt. 

No, Joohyun wanted to shout. She had not finished her list, what was she supposed to do? She glanced back at Sooyoung, eyes with panic screaming for help, but the younger already went out of the car, muttering out her thanks when Wendy opened up the car door and helped her out. 

“Thank you,” Joohyun said after getting out of the car. She and Wendy now standing in front of her dormitory entrance, ”for helping Sooyoung, and umm for being a good driver.” She regretted those words as soon as it went out of . Seriously, Joohyun, a good driver?

Wendy laughed. Joohyun could hear the girl laugh every day (She added another thing she liked about Wendy to the list.) “Will you give me five stars then?” Joohyun was visibly confused, so Wendy continued, ”On the app, Irene. Will you rate me five stars on the Uber app?”

“Sure, I will definitely give you five stars.” Joohyun look Wendy’s face lit up with a smile. She looked at Sooyoung who was now sleeping on the staircase of the building’s entrance and sighed. “Umm, I maybe should get her up.”

Wendy looked at Sooyoung, then hummed, “You should.”

“Yeah…and you should probably go.” Joohyun did not want Wendy to go. She still could not find anything wrong with Wendy’s laughter, leaving her list with more pros than cons, and that could only mean one thing. 

“I should,” Wendy repeated. Joohyun waited for Wendy to continue, but she did not say anything and just stood there. Ask her, Joohyun. There are more pros, ask her. Ask her.

“Yeah, umm thanks again.” Joohyun started back walking towards Sooyoung. No, no! Joohyun, get your foolish self back there. “And goodnight.” Great, just great. She deserved whatever remark Sooyoung will throw her tomorrow morning. Joohyun sighed dejectedly and turned around. 

“There is a good ice cream store near High Park.”

Joohyun stopped her steps. She turned around again, facing Wendy. “What?”

“I think I should treat you an ice cream as a token of gratitude for giving me the five stars rating,” Wendy shot a small smile, “so, how about that? Is that okay with you?” 

“I like ice cream,” Joohyun said, still at a loss. Is this real?

Wendy grinned widely at her statement. “Great. Are you free in the afternoon, tomorrow?” Joohyun nodded. “How about we meet in front of the park entrance at three?”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Wendy chuckled. “See you tomorrow then, Irene.” 

Joohyun stared at Wendy, still puzzled by the situation she was in. Wendy was about to go when Joohyun asked, “Do you treat all the passengers that give you five stars?”

Wendy laughed. “No, I don’t.”

“Oh.”

Oh.

“Goodnight, Irene.” 

Joohyun stood there, watching Wendy entered her car, waving her goodbye, then went on her way. It took her a while to process what had just happened. Wendy asked her on a date. She has a date with Wendy tomorrow! Joohyun squealed happily then ran to Sooyoung. “How do you give stars to Wendy?” She asked Sooyoung, pulling her up to stand up.

“What?” Sooyoung groaned.

“The Uber rating, Sooyoung. How do you do that?” Joohyun put one of Sooyoung’s arm on her shoulder to support her. 

“It is in the app, unnie” Sooyoung explained, half-conscious. They were in front of the elevator, Joohyun pressed the button and they waited for the elevator. She took out her phone with her free hand and open the Uber app, choosing the five stars on the rating page. Wendy will be happy when she tells her tomorrow about this, Joohyun thought. 

You rated driver Son Seungwan with five stars!

Joohyun stared at her phone screen. What?

“Sooyoung, can you stop passing out for a minute. I think there is something wrong with my app.”

A/N: Well, this is way easier to write than the first chapter. To be honest, this story is just a pile of messes made mostly by Joy. I have always loved the dynamic between Irene and Joy. To me, they are one of the funniest pair in RV (tied with the Wendy-Yeri duo.) 

Thank you for reading. I hope this story made you smile, at least once.