“I know what you're up to, Chaeyoung.”

Rosé stops dead in her tracks, her saliva getting caught in when she hears those words. If she gets nervous, it isn’t obvious and it doesn’t show at all – she’s become an expert at hiding her emotions too.

“What do you mean?”

Wendy snorts and marches to where she’s standing, small figure (figuratively) towering over Rosé. “What exactly have you been telling Irene about me? I know she’s behaving weirdly with me.” Wendy enunciates her words with malice, a finger harshly poking against Rosé’s chest with every word.

If glares could actually kill a person, Rosé knows for sure she wouldn’t be able to see another day. It’s not just anger; there seems to be another emotion hiding behind Wendy’s apprehensive expression. Not that she should be analysing her best friend’s emotions right now, but Rosé can’t help it. Just like her prior suspicions and everything she had basically spilt to she-who-must-not-be-named; she’s getting proven correct. There shouldn’t have been a reason for Wendy to be reacting this way, not when she claims to be over their embarrassment of a relationship. Furthermore, barely anything happened back in that ward when the two of them were there alone… so, everything just looks more suspicious and not in Wendy’s favor.

“Weeellll…” Rosé gently grabs hold of the shorter woman’s hands so she could move into a safer space. Her long legs give her the advantage of sliding into the kitchen before her best friend could grab her again. “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, that’s for sure, plus it’s nothing she can use against you. I promise.”

“You best hope it stays that way, or I’m moving out!”

The shorter woman could hear the obnoxious chuckle that escapes Rosé’s lips as she makes her way to the bedroom, and she has half a mind to give the woman a kick in the .

There was something beyond all of that bothering Wendy, and deep down she knows it too – her subconscious tingles every time Irene looks at her. Although there have been several run-ins, she always knew what kind of emotions Irene felt. It usually revolved around surprise and apprehension most of the time, but the gaze in her eyes at the hospital yesterday… it was different. It felt like Irene wanted to talk to her, but at the same time decided against doing so for whatever reason. Not that Wendy wanted to even have a conversation with her, but her sense of curiosity hasn’t changed. What could possibly prevent Irene from opening ? The woman has always spoken her mind regardless of the situation and environment they were in; Irene pretty much did all of that the moment they met face to face at the company.

“Ah, what am I even doing?” Wendy groans, slapping her forehead with the paper in her hand. She takes a deep breath and drops onto the bed, body sprawled out like a starfish. “She’s not supposed to be your concern anymore.”

From: Irene

just wanted to say thank you again

for everything

i know you probably didn’t wanna do this for me

‘No .’

Wendy has half a mind to ignore the text and just delete it of her own accord, for the sake of her inner peace. She already told the woman to drop it, because none of it was done by choice. If it wasn’t personally asked for her to get involved and do research on this case, she won’t even be in Seoul right now.

From: Wendy Son (Seungwan)

you’re welcome, have a good rest.

It was just insane.

How could one simple line, with barely any soul or heart into it, make Irene feel chills down her spine? She didn’t even want to overthink or give herself any false hope about this.

From: Irene Bae

you too, goodnight 😊

With a big gulp, she hurriedly locks her phone and slams it down on the table so she wouldn’t be tempted to wait a reply there and then. Irene has never been a good texter or someone who makes small talk, but she almost finds herself wanting to keep their less-than-satisfactory conversation up.  

Back then, Irene had been exactly the same; short and sweet texts, sometimes with pictures, but most of the time, not much of a texter. However, Wendy was the complete opposite. She usually had lots of things to say and would send Irene long paragraphs, usually in the morning to greet her girlfriend or at night before they slept. The latter was very adamant about being the first and last one whenever they were apart from each other – which touched Irene’s heart in the beginning. It was a lovely gesture and Irene either slept or woke up to something positive; what was there to complain about? Yet sometime later, she didn’t know when it begin; when she began feeling as if those messages were burdensome, or when the speechlessness kicked in. 

Now, she’s never going to get those again.

Begging, crying, wishing…

They’re all useless.

Until…

From: Wendy Son (Seungwan)

don’t leave your room till we’re there tomorrow

cant have the reporters coming in and causing problems

And unbelievably, that was more than enough to have Irene’s initially extinguished spark to be ignited again.

“Unnie… I’m sure you know what Jennie’s been up to, right?”

Taeyeon automatically halts her actions, dropping the orange back down onto the table. She never wanted to hear that name again, neither did she want her younger sister to remember her. “I recently found out that she’s been coming here and slipping one of the receptionists some money, but she was sacked when one of the higher-ups found out.”

“I want to be taken care of at home, where she won’t be able to cause trouble for the nurses here.” Jisoo clasps her hands together, heaving a huge sigh. She shouldn’t have to feel guilty for this because none of it is her doing or her choice, but here she is either way.

Too many years have passed; too much time has been wasted; it’s getting exhausting and Jisoo knows – she knows it’s possible for her to get up even stronger and move on with life. The truth is, staying at the hospital gave Jisoo the opportunity to give up on herself and continue like a lifeless doll, simply following instructions and taking medication. People thought there was no more hope for her, no words were being registered, the medicine wasn’t working… they were all wrong. Jisoo might have been extremely reactionless and void of all emotion, but she listened to almost every word. The young nurse assigned to her in the afternoon, she was different; there was genuine care in Yeri's actions.

With a sigh, Taeyeon reaches out and takes her sister’s hands into her own. “It can be arranged if you want, I can personally ask the nurse to come here as well. I know she takes good care of you.”

“Great, as soon as possible?” Jisoo pleads.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was listening to their conversation from the very beginning. She leans back against the wall with her gaze directed at the ceiling, a small but meaningful smile crawling upon her face.

At least Jisoo won’t be disturbed anymore.

“Yeri-ah?”

Yeri gasps in shock, turning her head so fast she’d have hurt her neck if she weren’t careful. She tries to mask her nervousness with a broad smile, her heart pumping erratically. “Did you call me just now? My phone’s charging in the pantry so I don’t have it on me.”

“I just wanted to let you know that this patient will most likely be taken care of at home, maybe some appointments here but that’s it. You just need to make sure the medicine that's prescribed to her is correct and if you need to go to her house, don't forget to explain the differences of house care and hospital care though. They were asking for a doctor or nurse to come and talk to them a while ago.”

On one hand, Yeri knows Jisoo will be in good hands no matter what since she’ll be at home with her siblings and far away from that bothersome witch. On the other, however, it would mean that if another