CHAPTER 27

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Ten minutes before nine when Yeri heard the door opens and after a few seconds heard the footsteps. She’s waiting for Irene to apologize for the way she’s been acting and to make sure that her unnie knows that she’s not mad at her.

“Unnie.” Yeri calls, she saw the surprised on Irene’s “Unnie, do you want to watch with me? It’s boring to watch it alone.”

Irene smiles “Yeah, of course.”

“I’m sorry.” Yeri says after sometime “I’m not angry at you. I’m just… I hope you know that you always have my shoulder. I don’t know what words to say to comfort you so I’m giving you my shoulder instead, I hope it’s—“

Yeri wasn’t able to finish her words when Irene leans her head on Yeri’s shoulder “Thank you.” She whispers, eyes tearing up from Yeri’s gesture “Thank you Yerimie.”

Yeri smiles “You can always have my shoulder.” And even though she couldn’t see it, she knows that Irene starts crying already and she lets her. She didn’t say a word, she just lets her.

“Thank you.” Irene told her after minutes of crying, her head still leaning on Yeri’s shoulder “That means a lot.”

Yeri smiles “You’re welcome.”

Irene closes her eyes “I really, really needed this.”

“What happen?”  Yeri asked, her voice soft and concerned

“I ended things with Suho.” Irene answered, her head still on Yeri’s shoulder

“How is he?”

Irene couldn’t help tearing up again “He was nice, sweet and kind till the end.”

Yeri smiles “He’s one of the good guys.”

“He is. I hope he found someone who deserves him.” Irene says

“I’m sure he will.” Yeri says with a smile, and then followed by momentarily silence.

“I met Rosé too.” Irene breaks the silence after a few moments.

Irene felt Yeri’s body tensed “She apologized and I forgive her.”

Yeri breathe in relief and smile “That’s goo—“

“I slapped her.”

“What?!” Yeri couldn’t stop herself pulling back making Irene falls her head a little “What do you mean you slapped her?”

Irene pulled up and sits straightly “She was saying things and before I could even think about it, I slapped her. I can’t believe I slapped her.”

Yeri looked at her in shock “Yeah, me too. Please, tell me she deserves it.”

“She does…” Irene trails “I hope… but it feels like I was the one who got slapped instead.” She chuckles dryly “I still feel her words.”

“What did she say?” Yeri asked cautiously, concerned.

“Nothing that I didn’t already know, it still hurts though.” Irene answers sadly “Have you met her?”

“Once.” Yeri answers “You’re still on your way home from Paris, she came here to surprise Wendy unnie but we were the one who got the biggest surprise instead. That’s when we found out that they are engaged.”

“What was she like?”

“She was nice and sweet” Yeri answers “Honestly, I still can’t believe that she did what she did.”

“It doesn’t matter now, she apologize and I forgave her for it so it’s all in the past now.” Irene told her as she looks at Yeri straight “Does she make Seungwan happy?”

Yeri looks at her, hesitation flashing on her figure.

“It’s okay.” Irene says with a smile “Is Seungwan happy?”

“Wendy unnie look so happy with her.”

Irene smiles through tears “I’m happy for her.”

//

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Wendy and Rosé are currently in the living room, watching tv, eating when suddenly says:

“I met Irene.”

Wendy chokes on her food, praying that she heard her wrong.

Rosé handed her the glass of water “I said I met Irene.”

Wendy drinks the water like she hasn’t had water in three days, then looks at Rosé after, opens but no words came out.

“I apologized to her.” Rosé said “And she forgave me.”

Wendy breathes and smiles in relief “That’s good then.”

Rosé just nodded and looked in front to continue watching, after a few seconds she then looked at Wendy “What?”

“Nothing.” Wendy said looking away

“You’ve been staring.” Rosé pointed out

Wendy looked at her then smiles “Nothing... as long as you two is okay now.”

//

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“Unnie!” Yeri waved her hand enthusiastically as soon as she saw Wendy enters the café

Wendy couldn’t help looking at Yeri as she walks towards her. “You’re early.” She says when she reached her

“I thought you’d be early so I came early.” Yeri replies.

Wendy chuckles “I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” Yeri says as she engulfs Wendy into a hug “I miss you cooking breakfast the most, none of those who live in that house knows how to cook a decent food.”

Wendy laughs “That’s not true.”

Yeri scoff as she pulled from the hug “I swear I’d die if I eat another food that Seulgi unnie makes, she’s worse than me.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, no one can be worse than you when it comes to cooking.” Wendy teased

“Unnie!” Yeri whines

Wendy laughs as she finally sits “Let’s order.”

“If you want to say something, you should open your mouth.” Yeri said after noticing Wendy staring at her, obviously wants to say something

Wendy cleared “I… I…”

“You’re not coming back tomorrow, aren’t you?” Yeri asked but more like a statement already “It’s been two weeks and we have group schedule for tomorrow.”

“I already talk to Seulgi, she’ll tell Joy and Joohyun… I thought it’d be better if I tell you personally, I don’t want you to think that I—“

“It’s okay unnie.” Yeri assures her with a smile “I understand. You can take all the time you need, take as much as you need.”

Wendy smiles at her “Thank you.”

“How are you anyway?” Yeri asked

“Good.” Wendy answered

“And Rosé unnie?” She asked cautiously

“She’s good.” Wendy answered

“That’s great.” Yeri says nodding awkwardly

“Did Joohyun mention anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“Rosé told me that she met her few days ago and that she apologize and Joohyun forgives her.”

“Oh, yeah… yeah, she mentions it to me.” Yeri says “That’s great, right.”

“It is… did she say anything else?”

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure… fiancé didn’t really tell me anything besides that, I was just wondering if something else happens.”

‘I slapped her.’ Yeri remembers what Irene told her “Well, if she didn’t tell you maybe it’s none of your business.”

Wendy looked at her suspiciously “So something did happen.”

“I’m not confirming nor denying anything.”

“You know you saying that already confirms it.” Wendy stated “But yeah, you’re right, if it’s something that I should know she’d tell me.”

“Exactly.” Yeri says

//

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“I’m really sorry about this.” Wendy apologizes again for the nth time to Rosé for driving her this morning, she talks to their manager about her situation and they both agreed that she will meet them to the place where they would get their hair and makeup done.

“I told you, its fine.” Rosé assures her with a smile “I’m kind of happy, it bring back memories, remember the time you used to fetch me on your bike when we were in high school and we would go to school together and we would sing like we’re on a concert.”

Wendy smiles at the memory “And we’re always late because you’d stop to feed every stray cat we saw on the way.”

Rosé laughs “In my defense, you were more than happy to stop and coo them.”

Wendy chuckles “They were adorable.”

“They were.” Rosé agreed “The only problems we had back then was thinking about their names, good old days.”

“Yeah, good old days.”

“How are you feeling now?” Rosé asked worriedly

“I don’t know actually…” Wendy answered “I haven’t really talk to Joy and Joohyun ever since I left and I only talk to Seulgi on phone, so I’m not really sure what to feel, what if Joy is still angry at me or Seulgi won’t want to talk to me personally?”

“They’re your friends. It’ll be okay.” Rosé assures her then they saw a car coming. “Is that them?”

“I think so.”

“Just take a deep breath, it’ll be fine.” Rosé says as she squeezes her hand

Wendy nodded “It’ll be fine.”

“It’ll be fine.” Rosé smiles to her “I’d say hi but I’m not sure if it’s the right time so, I should probably go.”

Wendy nodded, understanding the situation “Be careful on your way.”

“I will.” Rosé said as she stepped inside her car and lower the window “It’s going to be fine so don’t worry too much okay. Call me if you need me to pick you up.”

Wendy took a deep breath “Or if anything comes up.” She added

Wendy nodded “Let me know when you get home, okay.”

“I will.” Rosé said “Now smile for me, please.” She says with a puppy eyes.

Wendy chuckles “What are we five?”

“You laugh so it doesn’t matter.” Rosé said “Bye.”

“Bye.” Wendy says and stepped backward as Rosé starts reversing. She waved her hand to her until Rosé’s car disappears in sight.

Not long after, an excited Yeri came out from the car running to her “Unnie!!!” she yells as she jumps into her

“We just saw each other yesterday.” Wendy says as she hugs Yeri to support her “Did you miss me that much?”

“Seulgi unnie feeds me another inedible food earlier, this is me dying.” Yeri whine dramatically

“Whatever she says, it’s not true.” Seulgi interjected from behind “I swear it’s decent.”

“I’m sure it is.” Wendy says with a smile

“No, it’s not.” Yeri groaned as she pulled back from Wendy to make way for Seulgi

“Hi Seul.” Wendy says

“I miss you.” Seulgi said as she pulled Wendy into a hug

Wendy returned the hug “I miss you too.” Then saw Joy.

“It’s good to see you again.” Joy told her smiling

Wendy pulled back from Seulgi with relief “It’s good to see you too.”

Then behind Joy she saw Irene. She still look good as ever and she’d be lying if she says that she didn’t miss her because she does just like she misses everyone else. For a second they both stare at each other, then Wendy nods to her smiling, which Irene returns with a nod too. No words have been said but with that simple action, they both understood each other.

//

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Three weeks passed, Wendy is still staying with Rosé but it didn’t raise any issue and things are going smoothly, as if everything is back to normal again. There were momentarily awkwardness especially when it comes to Irene and Wendy, they were a couple so that’s to be expected and everyone has been nothing but understanding about their situation. Also, even if some situation arises they are both adults and professional so they were able to brush it almost instantly.

Everything is fine, they were doing fine… she was doing fine… at least that’s what Wendy thought, until…

While everyone goes home, Wendy stayed at the practice room, she’s thinking about going on live and sing a few song for her fans, it’s been so long since the last time she did so she decided go on live tonight.

She’s browsing her phone for a song when she heard a knock on the door. It’s already midnight so she wonders who it might be. She went to open the door and got surprised when she saw Suho standing behind it.

“Hi.” He greeted

“Hi…” She greeted back “Are you looking for Irene unnie? You just missed them.”

“Yeah, I saw them leaving without you that’s why I’m here.” He said “I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

“Me? I mean, yeah… of course.” Wendy says confusedly as she steps aside so Suho can stepped inside, she could feel her heart beating rapidly, her anxiety kicking in. She have no idea what this is about and it’s not really helping that the last time they talk was Suho telling her that Irene gave her the go sign to court her, what is it this time? Did Irene finally say yes and Suho’s here to tell her to stay away from her?’

“Is everything okay?” Wendy was the first to speak. She didn’t really want to say anything and much prefer to just listen to whatever Suho’s going to say but the agony of waiting for him to speak was too much. “What do you want to talk about?”

“She didn’t tell you, didn’t she?” Suho asked and Wendy’s anxiety shoots high up. Don’t people know how that kind of questions can make thousands of questions and scenarios inside your head and sends your heart into unending anxiousness?

‘Tell me what?’ Wendy screams in her head ‘Did she really say yes?’ Well, what’s other reason could it be, right?’

“We haven’t really talk that much,” Wendy says without faltering even though her heart is beating like crazy “And besides, she doesn’t really need to tell me everything, especially when it comes to her personal life, it’s her business not mine.”

“No, of course she doesn’t need to.” Suho says “But you should at least know especially if you’re part of that business. She en—“

“Like what I’ve said, her personal life is none of my business, so whatever she does on her life, or whoever she dates, I don’t really need to know.” Wendy told him “And if by any chance you’re here to tell me to stay away from her, I’m telling you now you have nothing to worry about Joohyun and I are over.”

“Are you two really?” Suho asked in all seriousness “Is it really over for you two?”

And for a second there, Wendy could not answer. Was it because of the way Suho is staring at her like he was reading what’s running on her mind? Was it because she didn’t want to say it again because saying it again and again doesn’t make it any less painful? Or was it because she could not really say yes, because deep in her heart she doesn’t really want it to be over?

“Why are you here Suho?” Wendy asked an edge on her tone is evident “What do you want?”

“I want her to be happy.”

“Then you better use your time on making her happy than waste it with me.” Wendy says, firm and steady “If you want her to be happy then make her.”

“If I could I would but sadly I can’t.” Suho said, his voice laced of sadness “No matter how much I wanted to, no matter how hard I tried to, I just can’t… because it’s not me that she wants, it’s not me that she wants to be happy with and I’ve come to accept that if it’s not you, it’s really not you, it can never be you.”

“What do you…” Wendy stops when Suho’s words sinks in.

“You’re right.” He said as if he already knew what was running on Wendy’s mind “She ended things with me… but I can’t really say there were things to be ended when it didn’t even come close to start.”

Wendy doesn’t know what to say and just stares at him.

“I don’t know what happen between you two or why you two broke up but you should know in case that you don’t, Irene loves you very much.” Suho told her sincerely “She loves you so much Wendy, she loves you so much.”

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