“You’re an idiot.”

“Thanks for the reminder, smart .”

Rosé rolls her eyes and turns her back against her best friend childishly, even she knows this little argument between them is unnecessary, but it almost caused them this case. If that had happened in place, God knows what their boss might do to them and her own wife. Now, she is normally very tolerant of Wendy’s occasional tempers at clients, mostly because they deserve to get lashed out at. This time round though… she can’t just protect her best friend based on their friendship. It only confirms her suspicions that their client is none other than Bae Joohyun; the one person they’re trying to avoid. She should have taken the tension and cold atmosphere in the lounge as a tell-tale sign earlier. Not to mention the awkward look on Taeyeon's face when she saw the two of them; it's not like she doesn't know they're handling the case. There was a look that screamed guilt and anxiety when she was speaking to Wendy alone.

“I thought you were going to remain professional about all your cases. You know how important it is for Tiffany-unnie that we remain calm and rational even in the face of familiarity or people who've done us wrong in the past. You were doing well in the lounge when all of us were there!”

Wendy runs her fingers through her hair in irritation – this is practically rubbing salt into an open wound. In all honesty, she could care less about losing the case to some other lawyer. Now she even wonders if Tiffany knew who the case belonged to and the main victim of it all… she couldn’t have deliberately sent her back to Korea if she knew, right?

“Look, I’m sorry! I didn’t expect myself to lose control like that, especially after I managed to walk away from the meeting without giving any emotion. I know I messed up but please, stop repeating it over and over again!”

The two best friends take several deep breaths to relax themselves as their shoulders heave at uneven intervals. From the moment they left the company till now, the bickering and arguing hasn’t stopped. Wendy’s headache only worsens the more she stares at Rosé’s disappointed expression. She was doing fine, she really planned to ignore the woman as long as she could. Her plan would have succeeded if she wasn’t provoked so personally as she was. Spending almost half her life overseas and making new friends with citizens there, Wendy could swear that she was ready to start her life anew if she had to come back here. Backing out now is no longer an option, but she can withdraw from prosecution and just help Rosé from the sidelines if necessary. And besides, her outburst earlier at the canteen was bad enough for people to stare and manage to catch the attention of too many people. Thankfully though, her two friends had been standing at the correct angle so nothing could be overly exposed.

Wendy already disappointed her parents once before and that resulted in her running back home, indirectly causing the death of her grandmother. She will not allow herself to cause disappointment to anyone else – most importantly, Rosé herself.

Seeing the guilt-ridden expression on Wendy’s face, she can’t help but soften her resolve too. She doesn’t want to make things more difficult for the both of them; as long as Wendy can keep herself in check whenever they have meetings, it’s going to be enough for now. “Just hold it together for a bit, okay? We'll get through this case quickly and go back home, I promise. If you don't want to come with me for meetings, don't.”

“Thank you... and I'm sorry.”

Moments after Wendy feels a pair of arms around her, she can't stop herself from bursting into tears. She just doesn't want to get hurt or hurt anyone else after so many years of building her defenses around her heart. Her shoulders shake uncontrollably as sobs begin to wreck her small frame. Emotions always run wild whenever her heart feels secure, and there is never a time where Rosé makes her feel otherwise. 

“I-It was an accident…”

//

“And so what if I am? What's it to you?”

It’s a first for Irene – getting intimated by someone younger than her so easily, and with mere words. She is usually the one who makes others shiver with fear and get jittery with her presence. This time round, it’s very different in terms of who it is and what the issue is regarding; Wendy has every right to remain angry and irritated with her presence for as long she sees fit. However, Irene does need to break the momentum as soon as she can, and she does what she knows best. 

She throws herself at Wendy, clinging onto the younger in a hug.

“W-What the hell!”

Wendy must have underestimated her own strength, because she apparently pushed Irene hard enough for the latter to hit the wall behind her. She flinched when she notices the outcome of her impulsive actions, a part of her wanting to go and check on the latter. Yes, she dislikes Irene. Yes, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with her any longer than necessary, but she still has some humanity left in her. Seeing Irene get hurt is not on her personal agenda, neither does Wendy actually want anything to happen to her. Of course, making herself panic and worry over Irene is not going to look good for either of the – Irene might make use of that situation to think that things between them is not over. As long as they can prevent any misunderstandings and unnecessary drama, Wendy will be very grateful.

The silence and lack of movement following things that transpired a moment ago, Wendy feels a heavy amount of guilt weighting down on her chest. It’s getting harder and harder to breathe freely here.

“I… I’m sorry.”

And she didn't look back once.

//

It's impossible for Rosé not to shed tears too, not after seeing the vulnerable part of her best friend that she tries to hide in front of everyone they possibly know. Sometimes it makes her wonder; Wendy hates talking about her past and the memories that she's made here in Seoul despite claiming that she's moved on, is that truly what moving on is like? Preserving the pain of past memories shouldn't be the answer, it should be taken as a lesson and enforced to make her a better person. Of course, she is in no position to judge the person who has indirectly carved her career first-hand and made her a much stronger, independent person. Furthermore, Wendy has done her part in going for treatment for her anger management and unintentional suppressing of emotions. The fact that her persuasion and continuous effort into making sure Wendy goes for the trial session at least has paid off multiple times more than she can imagine. 

“Silly girl. Next time just tell me that you need to leave, I'll make sure she never finds you or invades your personal space the way she did again... I'll be the first to give her a fair warning if that's what she needs to get the hint.”

“I heard about her improvement, I'm so happy for her! The past few time you've let me visit her, I didn't even get a smile but you got a whole paragraph from her!”

“Well, you can jolly well remain jealous, Sooyoung-unnie,” Yeri says with a grin, scowling when she receives a huge nudge in the ribs. She can never get enough of teasing her best friend, probably never will. Throwing her uniform into the chute, she neatens herself before turning serious. “Actually, I don't really know if this is a good or bad thing. I'm scared that woman is going to come back and make her life difficult.”

Joy and Yeri fall silent after the cold hard truth comes out; it's not a question of whether that might happen or not, it is going to happen whether they like it or not. A person who has made it a point to visit every Friday of the week without fail will not stop, not until she sees the results that are satisfactory. The amount of resent and detest that the two cousins hold for the person in question means nothing compared to their admiration; it's not easy to visit a person from her past constantly, especially with the lack of communication. Judging by the numerous times Yeri has seen the woman cry and shed tears in front of Jisoo, she can only conclude that the former obviously let Jisoo down. Nevertheless, Yeri did make her favourite patient a promise that she'll take care of her, even if it includes chasing her frequent visitor away. There's no way in hell Yeri is going to let anything or anyone, for that matter, stunt Jisoo's progress.

“You know it's against policy to over-step your boundaries, don't you?”

Yeri sighs and buries her face in her palms, “Of course I do... but I also want to protect Jisoo-unnie as much as I can. She has been through so much already. Years of treatment didn't work, not until those two women came that day. Her laughter... I don't want it to ever stop, Unnie.”

Joy unconsciously scans her best friend from head to toe, trying to decipher the younger’s body language. There are only two she has seen Yeri be this protective over; one is herself, the other is her foster mother. Getting thrown into an orphanage when she was a mere toddler, Yeri grew up wondering who her parents and family were. All of that changed and her hate diminishing when a well-dressed, kind-hearted lady brought her in and took her as her daughter instead. When Yeri was finally old enough to start attending middle school with others, she had gone through relentless bullying because she apparently needed connections to get in. It was Joy who realized the innocence in the younger and brought her into her own circle of friends.

“It’s not because you miss your sister, right?” Joy asks ever so cautiously, not wanting to offend the young one. She herself has siblings, so she understands the yearning of an elder sister. “I’m not saying it’s impossible for her to be the one, baby girl, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then get your own heart broken.”

The truth is, Yeri's memories of her biological parents have been faint for as long as she can remember; the distinctive person is her elder sister - the one who taught her how to be strong and always steady in the face of bullies or bad people. Besides that, Yeri can also recall a voice constantly telling her to stop crying like a baby because she was ugly. Of course, none of these memories are strong enough to conclude that the very patient that she's in charge of is her sister but a girl can hope, and like every other person, Yeri just wants to find her family. No, not for any reconciliation or that sentimental bull, but to thank them for abandoning her and indirectly giving her to someone much better.

Yeri’s gaze falls to the ground, a tad bit afraid of the possible emotions that might run through her best friend’s eyes. “It’s just… I don’t really know how to explain, but I do feel a connection with her. Doesn’t it seem like fate to you? And what about the bruise on the back of her neck?”

That being said, Yeri hasn't forgotten that Jisoo has two other siblings, one older sister and one older brother. 

For the few years that she can clearly recall in her memory, Yeri only remembers having one older sister. She is fairly sure that there were only two children in the house at all times; that was her and her sibling. If there was any possible chance that she had elder siblings, Yeri can’t remember seeing them at all. It can’t be that they’ve never ever met, so there’s probably only one truth: they aren’t siblings or she was passed from one family to another since she was an infant.

God, that hurts so much more.

Locking herself in the bedroom is not conducive or useful at all; being stuck in the same environment for hours on end simply ruins her drive and rids her of her motivation to do anything else. Some people call it stupid, some people use that same method to clear their minds. She’s not proud of how she chooses to solve her own mind problems but it works wonders for her, especially after hours of being isolated. Furthermore, Irene prefers to be surrounded by silence, where no one else can affect her decisions. It’s bad enough that people from left and right constantly input their opinions whenever she’s trying to make an important decision, though it isn’t unexpected here. Years of being in the Bae household have brought her nothing but pain every single day, stripped of her own identity and freedom whenever she had a mere toe out of line. It