This is probably the best part of every business trip; unloading their baggage and making their lodging feel as comfortable as a home should be for the duration of their case. Being lawyers that are decently known across the state back in Canada, Wendy and Rosé are already used to the travelling, be it a short or long journey. The similarities between them are uncountable and have remained that way for a long time: more than luxury and riches, having a more domestic and down-to-environment along with relax facilities are more appealing. The only visible difference between the best friends comes alive the moment anyone goes into their bedrooms; one room is covered in pink, the other in blue. One extremely organized and with several books lined up on the writing desk, the other just has clothes strewn all over the place with some garments even hanging over her instruments. The colour of their clothes? A vast variety but can be considered as different as night and day. 

Yet, despite all of this... their friendship remains the strongest to this day. 

“No, I don’t want the cactus.”

“It’s prettier than half of your clothes!”

“How dare you!”

Rosé simply turns away with her chin head higher, knowing she won the debate about the placing the cactus in the balcony of the apartment. She specifically chose a cactus instead because neither of them would ever remember to water the plants. For goodness’ sakes, they don’t even remember to do their laundry over the weekend – their house back in Canada had started stinking up the place because the wet laundry wasn’t dried or ironed properly. 

“Why do you even need to put a stupid plant there? The balcony is meant for drinks and snacks…” Wendy whines, faceplanting on the couch. She grabs hold of the human-sized plush and shoves her face into its side; if there were more plushies like this one, Rosé can bring in as many as she wants.

Just as she's about to get comfortable with the sofa and the plush, Wendy is rudely jolted from her nearly-successful nap; her legs are pushed off the other end and onto the floor to make space for her shameless best friend. She groans and lifts her feet up again, ignoring the constant pushing. “Miss Park, you removed my blue cushions from the sofa and replaced them with your plush toys. I even let you put the ugly plant there, so let me be for once.” Wendy knows she won this conversation this time when Rosé sighs and holds her legs upon her thighs without another word. In any case, they have no qualms about bullying each other till the other is about to lose her temper. Their relationship was built on way stronger grounds than petty fights and decorations. 

A sigh is unconsciously released from the bright-haired woman, fingers tracing along Wendy's ankles as she loses herself in thought. This doesn't happen often but anything that reminds her of this goddamn country and Rosé's chest is constantly filled with unrest. Her trust in their boss is always of the highest level, seeing as the latter always puts their wishes before the client's, but her hunch is not sitting well with this decision at all.

“What's gotten your in a bunch, love?”

“I don't know either... maybe it's because it's sort of home too? This place gives me anxiety.”

Without letting go of Rosé’s hand, Wendy moves to lie down with her head resting on her lap instead. She realizes just how long it’s been since they’ve had the luxury of time like this; their conversations haven't gone past superficial for the past week or so. It's almost a norm to have drinks and snacks at midnight when they don't have any cases on hand. It sounds extremely cliché and out of the blue, especially for lawyers as renowned and refined as themselves. They are painted as model figures and goody-two-shoes in the eyes of reporters and the general public. They tend to forget that Wendy and Rosé have barely reached the tender age of 23 and 25. Their emotions and hormones are still learning to gain their control without losing it in the face of other people. Meeting at the cafe with their horrible states, Wendy expected the younger to have a bit of trouble trying to cope with heartbreak. The first time she witnessed Rosé’s anxiety attack, she almost combusted with fear and panic all at once; it was Tiffany who stepped in and calmed the latter down.

Of course, over the many years of living together, Wendy too has learnt how to help when an attack occurs, but it doesn’t mean she isn’t worried. The way Rosé shuts herself in and everybody out when she thinks an attack is about to come never fails to scare her.

“Do you still get attacks every now and then?”

“The last case almost caused me to have one,” Rosé tightens her hold on Wendy's hand this time. She had gotten so panicky and nervous because the case involved domestic abuse that it triggered off an anxiety attack right after the meeting with the client had ended. “That was the last one, but I nearly had one when I saw the state the client was in.”

“Is that the case where the client’s brother was helping her fight for her rights because the client wasn’t in the right state of mind to do so? I remember meeting the brother on the way out for a meeting… isn’t the brother rumoured to be related to a very powerful figure in Korea?”

Seeing as her best friend is absolutely terrible with remembering names and family ties, Rosé grabs the rare opportunity and knuckles the latter on the back of her head. She ignores the tiny whimper that leaves the older woman’s lips, giggling when she feels the sensation of Wendy’s fingers digging into the sides of her waist. Such antics between them is normal, and can go on for hours at time. While one absolutely detests being tickled, the other hates being knuckled on the head like a child. More than just best friends, the two of them match as well as yin and yang do. Perhaps being told that they compliment each other like soulmates do just assures them that they truly were fated to meet. Wendy never places a single ounce of trust in people that think the strength of friendship is based on how long they’ve known each other. She experienced the pain of it all first-hand too, trusting all the wrong people who let her down without blinking.

“You are such a knucklehead. The client is directly related to Tiffany-unnie’s wife; that’s why the case was sent to us straight away instead of the others…” Rosé cautiously explains, taking deep breaths as her thoughts continue to run just a bit wild. “Can you believe it? She’s only our age, but she was almost beaten to death by her own father because she was not his.”

“I’m not surprised at all.”

Despite saying that and being extra nonchalant, Wendy has already given herself away by turning to check on her every now and then. She knows that family and domestic violence is a very sensitive topic to Rosé, even if she claims to have moved on. It is not, and will never be easy to get rid of emotional trauma and pain just like that. While psychologists have the ability to empathize and put themselves in their patients’ shoes, they too don’t know what goes on in their lives completely. A good example of psychologists being s and pretending they know everything about their patients: Rosé’s experience.

“I know what you’re thinking of, Unnie, and I’m thankful you still check up on me whenever we talk about that topic. This is something I have to get over on my own though… though I might pay the client a visit and have a chat with her. I heard she’s not eating or doing anything well, probably the aftermath of being abused for so many years.”

Now perhaps Wendy's personality has gone through major overhaul within the period of slightly more than half a decade, there are many things that hasn't changed deep down too. In fact, establishing her career as a lawyer has only emphasized her abilities to put herself in her clients' shoes. While that ability used to be one of her greatest weaknesses en route to becoming an idol singer in Korea, it was a major stepping stone in boosting her current career to unimaginable heights. Maintaining her professionalism is not difficult at all; there has only been one exception in all their cases. The client who approached them with hopes of finding a defense lawyer was guilty of kidnapping, which subsequently led to the death of a child and an elderly woman who bumped into the kidnapper was she was heading home. While Rosé and Wendy didn’t hesitate to turn down the case right away, they didn’t have Tiffany’s backing because she was on long leave.

Unlike other clients who know when to back off, this one was definitely persistent enough to harass them every day – before and after work. Rosé was nearly dragged away by him within the span of a few minutes that Wendy had excused herself to get coffee. That was the biggest panic and anxiety attack Wendy has ever seen in her entire life. From that day on, Wendy swore that she’d accompany her best friend anywhere with a risk involved.

“Can I come with?”

“Of course you can,” Rosé smiles, gently brushing her best friend’s hair back. “This might be a good idea too. You might even be the first one to ever get through to her if you can get a hint of what’s going through her mind.”

“Great.”

Facing all four walls of her apartment is definitely not what Irene expected to be doing. 

Irene would have expected to be into the spotlight and thrown to the wolves for media, which is what happens to most idols in a scandal as big as this one. Of course, it matters who the CEO of the entertainment company is as well, and Irene feels extremely lucky to be here again. Instead of leaving her to fend for herself, her CEO is doing whatever it takes to contain the reports and media. For goodness sakes, the woman even reached out to Irene’s rival and an ex-trainee just to help her out. How is it possible that the video and nudes were leaked just like that? That's the question circling in Irene's mind, and has been ever since they were just released to the media. Out of everyone that she has been involved with, there has only been one person that has gotten hold of anything like that. Not to say that she’s conservative… but even her ex-girlfriend has never gotten her nudes. It might or might not be that one person whom she trusts but either way, Irene isn't ready to find out.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Just… things.” Irene sighs, leaning her head back against her arms. She loves sitting in the balcony with a glass of champagne with nothing on her mind. It calms her down within seconds, plus the added scenery just gives her eyes a huge feast. “What are you doing here, Jennie?”

Jennie makes herself comfortable on the vacant chair opposite the luxury hanging chair that Irene is sitting on, taking a deep whiff of the evening breeze. She too is a lover of sunsets, just like someone who used to be special to her. Her mind still holds everything close to her heart, despite how painful a mere memory seems to be. In fact, she showed her a lot more than just how beautiful sunsets are. The importance of treasuring the people around her; treating others with sincerity and kindness… everything had already gone down the drain the moment they were separated.

“A penny for your thoughts?”

“Shouldn’t it be a won?”

“Shut up.” Irene snorts, kicking the chair with her free foot. She thanks God every day that they met, even if it was under terrible and unethical circumstances. The similarities that they share is truly one of a kind; no one else could understand Irene as well as Jennie did the moment they met. “Seriously though, I only sent anything to you before. How is it possible that they were leaked just like that?”

The young chubby-cheeked female sighs, covering her face with her palms apologetically. She never wanted this to happen the way it did, never. She might not be a trainee, and might not be working to be a part of some entertainment company that exploits its artistes but after seeing how much Irene is protected, all of that might change soon enough. After all, she isn’t doing anything much with