Wendy flinched when her phone rang in the middle of the dinner.

 

It was the unique ringtone she set for her girlfriend. She quickly made a motion to Chanyeol that she was going outside to pick up the call. “Joohyun?” she muttered to the phone, catching the smirk Chanyeol threw her before she went out.

 

“Hey. I just got back to the apartment,” she heard Irene’s voice from the other line. There was a small pause before the older continued, “Why is it so loud there?”

 

“Oh, it’s raining here,” Wendy simply said, before quickly added, “but I’m not in the rain, of course. There’s like a canopy on top of me. I guess that’s what makes the rainfall sounds louder since it’s hitting the canopy. But I’m all good.”

 

“Are you still outside?”

 

Wendy hummed. “Yeah. I’m having dinner with the people here. We’re eating Udon.”

 

“Oh. That’s nice.” A pause. “You should get back to them.”

 

“What are you having for dinner?” Wendy asked, instead. She lifted her free hand close to and blew warm breath to it.

 

“I’m thinking of cooking some stew,” Irene answered her question before getting back on track, “I can hear you shivering from here, Seungwan. Do you not have a jacket with you?”

 

“I do,” Wendy chuckled, “Well, I don’t, at the moment. It’s on the chair back inside the diner, though. I forgot since I was in a rush to talk to my other half.”

 

Wendy could hear her girlfriend rolling her eyes on the other side. She was about to say more cheesy lines when she did the worst thing that she could possibly do at that time.

 

She sneezed.

 

“Yah, Son Seungwan! Go back inside now!” Irene’s voice was so loud that Wendy had instinctively taken her phone farther from her ear.

 

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” Wendy smiled, imagining her girlfriend threatening cute stares the other girl must be wearing. “I’ll call you when I get back to the hotel, okay?”

 

“You’re so dead if I find you with a cold when you’re back here in Seoul,” Irene mumbled, unhappy with those thoughts.

 

“I doubt that’ll happen. You’ll revive me from the demise since you can’t live without me.”

 

Her girlfriend muttered “a damn right I will” under her breath (thank heaven for today’s phones having great mics that Wendy could catch that) before saying, “I’m hanging up. Have fun with dinner.”

 

“Okay. Take a picture of your dinner and send it to me,” Wendy answered lightly, “so that I know you’re not doing a hunger strike because you miss so much.”

 

“Why would I even do—”

 

Wendy sneezed again.

 

The other line was silent before Wendy heard the end tone of the phone.

 

Irene just hung up on her. She snickered at her stubborn girlfriend’s reaction, then hurrying her way back inside the diner to get some warmth.

 

When she sat back down on the seats, Wendy knew that she was going to get teased by the looks from her coworker. “What? Whatever you have, spill it out so you can stop looking stupid,” she groaned as Chanyeol threw her his annoying grin.

 

“Oh, it’s nothing,” the other said in a sing-song voice, “I bet I’ll dread business trips like this too if I have a honey bunny munchkin waiting for me back in Seoul.”

 

Wendy raised her eyebrows at the term of endearment Chanyeol just let out. “You call your girlfriends that?”

 

The guy snickered. “No. But you look like that type that would call Irene that.”

 

“That type?”

 

“Oh, you know,” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows, “those people who are completely whipped for their girlfriends.”

 

Wendy’s eyes widened a bit before she sighed and put back all her attention to her food. Chanyeol laughed, seemed utterly pleased with the remarks he threw (which Wendy didn’t exactly deny). 

 

The topic of their conversation changed, from their work to Chanyeol asking for bars recommendation from the representatives of the local company that invited them to Tokyo.

 

(Chanyeol was now clinging to Nakamoto, eyes wide with excitement trying to convince the other to join him in his nightlife escapade. “Yuta-chan! You’re still young. You shouldn’t let nights like this just passed through without some fun!”)

 

Wendy wondered how her coworker could get comfortable with new people that fast (they just met Nakamoto for less than a day) but Chanyeol had always been sociable.

 

Her phone vibrated, stopping her from watching the scene in front of her. She checked the notifications and couldn’t help the smile that formed on her lips.

 

[Joohyun]: *a picture of the dining table with some food*

 

[Joohyun]: I’m not doing a hunger strike.

 

She opened the picture her girlfriend sent. A part of her felt relief, knowing that her girlfriend was eating alright. It was usually Wendy who had dinner alone at their apartment, not Irene. She was worried about leaving her girlfriend on a business trip, but it seemed that the older was doing just fine.

 

Wendy was about to reply to the message, commenting on the other’s cooking when she realised something. She squinted her eyes, zooming at one part of the picture. Oh?

 

[Seungwan]: Is that Manen sitting on my chair?

 

[Seungwan]: Aww… it was only the other day that you told me that stuff dolls just take up space in the apartment.

 

[Seungwan]: Look at you now eating with one because you miss me.

 

[Joohyun]: …

 

[Joohyun]: Jerk.

 

[Joohyun]: I hope you choke on your Udon.

 

[Seungwan]: I miss you too, Hyunnie.

 

Seungwan chuckled at the screen before putting back her phone only to meet more stupid grins from Chanyeol.

 

“Honey bunny munchkin?” He teased, voice full of glee like he just won a lottery.

 

Wendy groaned, ignoring the waves of laughter coming out of the other guy, hand raising the chopstick back, signing that she would instead go back to eating than engaging with the other’s childish jokes. She was trying to get some udon, only until she realised…

 

“Oh, Wendy. Look at you being so lovesick you forgot that you finished your dish already. It’s okay. Talking to honey bunny munchkin can get you disoriented.”

 

[•••••]

 

Wendy went out of the hotel’s bathroom.

 

Her hair was still slipping drops of water after the shower. She raised the towel that was hanging on her shoulder, rinsing her hair in a quick motion as she walked towards the bed.

 

Her mind wandered back to Irene. She had called her girlfriend earlier before she took a shower. Irene was already on the bed when she was on the phone, preparing to sleep since she had a morning meeting tomorrow. They shared their days and said their goodnights, so Irene should be asleep by now, right?

 

She turned to her phone that was charging on the nightstand beside the bed. It’s past midnight. She took the phone after pondering for a short while. Wendy had only sent a text (Hey.) and was typing the next line when she noticed the status of the message she just sent.

 

Read 12:40am

 

She quickly pressed the call button.

 

“Seungwan?” she could hear the relief on her girlfriend’s voice.

 

“Hey.”

 

“…Hi”

 

“I texted you just now to let you know I’m done showering and was about to go to bed.”

 

Irene hummed. The trembling on her voice and the short intakes of breath were apparent enough for Wendy, even from the other line.

 

”Can’t sleep?” she asked gently. Her heart tightened at the thought of her girlfriend struggling.

 

Irene hummed again. “Not really. The television noise didn’t really help,” she muttered lowly before sighing.

 

Irene had shared with Wendy that during college, at those times when Seulgi would not be at their shared apartment, the older would always sleep on the couch in their living room. She would turn on the television, as the static background noise helped her went to slumber.

 

“Do you want to know a little trick?” Wendy asked as she laid on the bed, tucking herself under the blanket. “Try opening my side of the closet.”

 

She heard rustles and a small thud of a sliding door being opened. Irene’s voice then came to the line.” Okay?”

 

“Open the third drawer from the top.”

 

The line was quiet for a moment, then Irene muttered, “It’s a… pillow inside of a zip bag?”

 

Wendy hummed, unconsciously nodding. “Open the bag and try hugging it.”

 

Wendy could almost see her tiny girlfriend, standing in their dark bedroom in front of their closet as she took the pillow out and caught the familiar scent that went through her nose. “… it smells like you.”

 

“Yeah,” Wendy chuckled, imaging how Irene would hug the pillow tighter. “I sprayed my perfume on it before I went to the airport. Take it to sleep, it’ll probably help.”

 

Wendy heard noises that sounded like Irene getting back to their bed. “It’s fluffy, right, like me?” She asked teasingly.

 

Irene chuckled. “Yeah. But it’s cold, unlike you.”

 

“Just hug it for a little while longer, it’ll get warmer,” Wendy suggested.

 

She could hear Irene shifting on the bed. “It also doesn’t hug me back or drool on my shoulder. You’re way better.”

 

Wendy smiled at the remark, “it’s good to know that my girlfriend prefers me than a pillow.”

 

Irene hummed. It was after a moment when she heard the older whispered her small confession. “It does help, Seungwan. But I still miss you.”

 

Wendy felt a pang on her chest. She knew her girlfriend meant the words, but they carried out more than just a simple expression. It sounded so vulnerable as if it was showing a peek at Irene’s weakness. And her girlfriend loathed being weak. “I miss you too.”

 

She turned off the lights of the hotel room. “Go to sleep, Joohyun. I won’t hang up. I’ll be here,” she told the other girl, emphasising each word so that Irene could know she meant it. “I’ll be right here,” she said, again, so Irene could believe that she's there.

 

Irene hummed. Her smile was apparent through her voice in their phone call. “Okay.”

 

They were silent afterward. Wendy’s eyes were closed, she was about to fall asleep when she heard Irene’s voice.

 

“How do you know about this?” Her girlfriend murmured her question. “Have you ever done it when I’m away on my trips?”

 

Wendy pondered for a moment. Her mind got filled by the memories of the nights she spent alone in their bedroom while Irene was in other countries. “Yeah. I did it every night you’re away. I always have an extra bottle of your perfume with me.”

 

“You couldn’t sleep too?” Irene’s voice sounded alarmed like she was imagining those nights she didn’t know Wendy spent troubled for missing her.

 

“It was not as bad. It’s just, my sleep is not as nice without you,” Wendy assured, trying to lift up the guilt.

 

“Why didn’t you call me?” Irene asked, sounding helpless.

 

“It’s the same reason why you didn’t call me tonight,” Wendy answered softly.

 

“We’re both idiots, huh?” Irene murmured after a while.

 

She chuckled. “Yeah. That we are.”

 

The line went back to silence. Wendy’s eyes were closed before she heard Irene again.

 

“Seungwan?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

There was a pause before Irene asked her timid question. “Can you promise me that from now on you’ll call at those times you can’t sleep without me?”

 

Wendy’s reply came almost instantly. “Then I’ll be calling every time.”

 

She knew she said the right words as soon as she heard Irene’s voice from the other line. “It’s okay,” her girlfriend said with the brightest tone since the start of their call, “I’ll always answer.”

 

Wendy’s lips curved into a smile. “Alright. I promise.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Can you promise me too,” Wendy asked, “that you’ll call me when you can’t sleep?”

 

She could hear the love apparent on Irene’s voice, “Then I’ll always be calling you. Every time.”

 

“It’s okay. I’ll answer every one of your calls.” That night, Wendy wished to the stars that her girlfriend fell asleep with a smile just like she did.

 

[•••••]

 

Irene woke up when she felt the brightness of the sunrise on her face.

 

She instinctively turned towards the other side of the bed, arm spreading only to find her hand brushing on the cold sheet.

 

“Seungwan?”

 

Her mind panicked, heart drumming fast before she could hear the soothing noises she recognised as her girlfriend’s from her phone.

 

Irene let out a breath of relief, dragging the device closer to her ear. So she can listen to it better.

 

“The sound of your soft breathing, while you sleep, is also way better than the tv,” she murmured to the phone, smile widening at the image of Wendy still deep in sleep on the other side of the call.