Wendy liked her new workplace.

 

The workloads weren’t too much. She had flexible working hours, and the company was very accommodating towards newcomers. The office’s cafeteria served great food that she didn’t need to go elsewhere for lunch. There’s a nice coffee shop at the lobby that supplied her daily caffeine need in the morning. And, above all, she met great colleagues.

 

“Wendy. Lunch?”

 

She turned from her laptop monitor to face the woman who had her hand on her shoulder. Wendy shot Rosé a quick smile. “Of course,” she accepted the invitation, “Let me save this document… and we’re good to go.”

 

Wendy was so lucky to have met Rosé and the others. They made her transitioning to Seoul way easier. Sure, it wasn’t that easy to match the level of excitement her new friends had. But they were the reason Wendy had tried so many new things in the past four months than probably the rest of her life. For example, Wendy had finally watched Star Wars, after frustrated Johnny and Amber couldn’t comprehend poor Mark’s slip of the tongue. Or when Jennie had the group did a makeover only to crash some random parties in the city.

 

Her mother seemed genuinely surprised when Wendy told her the things that had been happening to her. The older woman was grinning and asking questions the whole time when they did a video call. “You look happy,” her mother said, and Wendy agreed. Or, at the least, she thought she was.

 

With Rosé, she reached the sixth floor where the cafeteria was located. As soon as they went in, Wendy already spotted Irene seated in their usual spot.

 

Right. Irene.

 

It was one of those funny twists in life to meet Irene again. Who would have known that she would end up working in the same company with the girl who sat next to her in the classroom twelve years ago?

 

That night was odd in a way too. Even though she and Irene went to the same middle school, the two hadn’t actually talked in over ten years. But, somehow, it took them only one meeting to be able to stay up until four am talking. Wendy wasn’t much a talker, to begin with, and she didn’t often share her feelings with someone (except Seulgi), but with Irene, all her thoughts just went out of her.

 

(It was probably the alcohol, Wendy reasoned. Since that night, she was highly conscious of her booze intake in front of the woman.)

 

Wendy was embarrassed that she shared basically her whole life to Irene. After that night, Wendy passively tried to avoid the said woman. (Well, she couldn’t actually not meet her since she was still horrible at saying ‘no’, but she made sure that there would always be at least one person sitting in between her and Irene or that it wouldn’t be only the two of them alone.) 

 

That night change their dynamic too. Since then, it would be mostly Irene who started all their conversations, and then they went with Wendy only adding enough to not be considered rude.

 

It was the opposite than what it was back in middle school. Wendy, then Seungwan, was the extrovert talkative young girl and Joohyun was the quiet one. Though they were totally different in that way, the two of them were inseparable. But the current Wendy wasn’t the cheery and overly friendly fourteen-year-old self. And Irene wasn’t the Joohyun she was then.

 

Irene actually grew up into a very cool woman. She wasn’t this shy teenage girl who hold unto Wendy’s arm, gripping it tightly while partly hiding behind Wendy’s shoulder every time they met a stranger. She wasn’t the Joohyun who spoke with a low voice and avoided people’s gazes. The current Irene dominated meeting rooms, delivering presentations with confidence oozing out. She now was not afraid to voice out her opinions to the board. Her speech was always clear and perfectly constructed.

 

But Irene was still Joohyun in some ways too. 

 

She still squealed and laughed out loud (Wendy called it dolphin-like laugh) when Wendy did something silly or accidentally embarrassed herself. Irene still got ecstatic over a plate of tteokbokki rather than some fancy fusion dish at a restaurant down in Gangnam. That woman also still cried over The Notebook.

 

And Irene still stared at people in the same way she had ten years ago. And what Wendy meant by people was herself.

 

There was always something different about the way Irene look at her. Wendy couldn’t precisely name what it was or how her old friend did it. It’s just…odd. 

 

“Wendy?”

 

Wendy turned to Rosé, who looked at her confusedly. They were currently lining up in a queue to order their lunch. Wendy chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck, embarrassed by the fact that her mind could zone out in the middle of a busy cafeteria. “Hi. Yes, I was just thinking about what to get for lunch.”

 

Rosé raised an eyebrow, a smile breaking on her face at Wendy’s response. “Have you decided? You better make your choice soon, we’re almost at the counter.”

 

“Not quite yet,” Wendy murmured. She took a glance toward Irene, only to see Irene lifting her head up from her food and looking right at her. The woman then shot Wendy a grin, hand raising to give a small wave. 

 

Wendy moved her right hand to give a wave back. A little-over-enthusiastic wave. She took her hand down, embarrassment quickly took over her because what kind of functioning member of adults does that kind of thing? Before she could berate herself more for it, her peripheral vision caught Rosé who was next to her, waving with even more enthusiasm than she did. 

 

Suppressing her chuckles, she looked at Irene again. The other woman wore a wide smile. Wendy thought she probably had a similar one plastered on her face, but hers was perhaps less pretty and instead more idiotic. 

 

Then again, idiotic things had always made Irene smile brighter. And Wendy had never minded making Irene smile. She ignored all those warnings and red flags her mind raised, those alarms that set off to remind her that she was crossing dangerously close to the familiar territory she shouldn’t even think of going remotely near. 

 

Because if Wendy had kryptonite, it would be making people happy. And the most apparent sign of happiness is a smile. Irene’s was one of her favourite smiles, so she couldn’t help but to risk it and play dumb.

 

If foolishness made Irene smile, then the woman was up for a ride. Wendy was the biggest fool there was out there in life.

 

[.....]

 

There was always this weird ego involved with guys and driving.

 

“So you deliberately choose to drive a manual car?”

 

Kai, sitting on the driver seat next to her, grinned at Wendy’s visible confusion. He then shifted the car’s gear (which she suspected to be done intentionally), making the vehicle they rode together run faster. “You look appalled by that,” he said, still grinning but now his eyes focused entirely on the road. 

 

“I’m not— it’s just… weird.” The guy didn’t seem to be irked by the choice of word she picked, as if weird was a praise word. Wendy could still not read Kai even after four months sharing an office room together. “I mean, isn’t it much more a hassle than driving a car with an automatic transmission?”

 

“Sure. But it’s fun. Challenging.”

 

Wendy furrowed her eyebrows. “Which? Fun or challenging?”

 

“Both!” To which he added a big grin, no longer trying to hide his excitement about the matter. Wendy looked at him like he just grew a second head. “You see, with a manual transmission, it is not simply about how you move your car from one place or another. You gotta know the right timing to shift between gears or when to go back to the second. But then after a while, you don’t just know when to do that, you feel them. It’s like dancing the waltz with your car, your right leg on the gas, your left one on the clutch pedal, and one hand on your gear while the other on the wheel. You’ll feel the right moment, and just like that…” Kai shifted the gear (this time, definitely on purpose), “… see? Wasn’t that amazing?”

 

Wendy tried not to laugh at her giddy co-worker. She had spent seven hours a day with this guy for the past months, but this is the happiest she had ever seen him. “Right. Dancing the waltz and driving a manual car. Totally comparable.” 

 

Kai seemed too excited to respond to her sarcastic remark. Their remaining ride to the office was filled by his chatter about the upgrades he had made to his beloved vehicle, which Wendy understood barely but she hadn’t had the heart to stop the guy as he looked so happy. 

 

When they arrived, Kai quickly went over to her side of the car and opened the door for her. “Is this what you do to impress girls?” Wendy playfully asked as she got off. 

 

Kai chuckled at her remark. “Trust me, I’m not usually that smooth in the actual thing. There are a lot of times on dates where I’m too over-the-place to remember to open the door for them.” He also brought Wendy’s luggage with him, which she brought as they are going to have a weekend trip for Jennie’s birthday after work today. It's Jennie’s birthday tomorrow, and the gang decided to visit a ski resort and celebrate together with a weekend getaway. 

 

“You’re going to be a superb boyfriend, you know, if you treat relationships with even half the feelings as you do with driving.”

 

The guy pondered on her words for a while as they stood in front of the elevators. “That’s the easiest love advice to understand. And probably the most spot-on one. Beware, miss Son, I am going to come to you with all my love problems now.”

 

Wendy laughed. “Oh, please don’t. I have enough of my own.”

 

They then headed to the coffee shop at the lobby to get their daily need of morning caffeine. The barista clearly had a thing for Kai, and she kept sending him a wide smile and side-eyeing Wendy, and it didn’t help that Kai was friendly with her. This was even clearer when she, without hesitation, chose Wendy’s card instead of the guy’s when they were fighting about who should pay. Clearly, she didn’t want Kai to spend any penny for Wendy.

 

Kai didn’t seem to notice, though, as all he did was complaining that he lost the paying battle. Wendy countered him by saying that it was her thank you for the lift he gave her that morning, But of course, Wendy said it in the wrong moment, as the barista girl heard it and looked so betrayed by the information.

 

“Do you usually notice when a girl is attracted to you?” Wendy asked when they were out of the shop and walking to the lifts.

 

Kai raised an eyebrow to her question. “Umm, I think I’m pretty good at catching those kinds of signals. But it never works out when I actually pursue them, though. Probably they only like it when they are the one who does the chase. Although, it’s been quite a while since anybody sends any signal to me.” He pressed the elevator button and waited for Wendy to say something but the latter only laughed. “What?”

 

“Do you ever think that you’ve been getting it wrong the whole time?” Wendy asked as they waited. 

 

 Kai was still confused when the lift was there. “What? What do you mean?” he asked as they entered the elevator. “How did I get it wrong?”

 

It was only when they turned that Wendy realised that Irene was behind them, probably the whole time. “Ah, Joo— Irene! Good morning,” Wendy said with a higher pitch voice as she was surprised.

 

“Morning, Seungwan,” Joohyun muttered. She shot Wendy a small smile before turning to Kai and giving a short nod. “Kai-ssi.”

 

Irene didn’t wait for Kai to finish his awkward greeting to turn around and press her level button. The entire ride in the elevator was silent, with Kai fidgeting uncomfortably. Wendy got it, though. Even she still sometimes think that her middle school friend was intimidating. When they reach their floor, Kai let out a sigh of relief, just loud enough for Wendy who was beside him to hear. He quickly made his way out but then turning around to put a hand to prevent the elevator’s door from closing for Wendy to get out. And he said he was not good with women.

 

Wendy felt someone holding on her wrist as she was about to walk out. She ly to find Irene’s eyes on her, focused. She didn’t get to respond as the other woman suddenly leaned in, then whispered words to her ear. “I’ll see you later, Seungwan.”

 

Somehow, that short remark made Wendy’s heart hammered, like someone had just given her a shot of adrenaline into her body. Irene muttered it lowly, and very close to her that made the hairs on the back of her neck stood. And to that, she could only nod foolishly. 

 

She then watched the elevator doors close, standing in place a little bit too long. Kai didn’t mention anything, though. He also still looked a bit lost. Probably the guy needed a moment to recover from meeting Irene. 

 

[.....]

 

Rosé quickly grabbed Wendy’s hand and pulled her closer as soon as Wendy arrived in their promised place. “Why are you hanging around—,” she paused, lowering her almost screaming voice, “—Kim Jongin, out of all people?” Rose whispered that bit, although it sounded more like a hiss. 

 

They were at their office’s parking lot, waiting for the others to come down and start their road trip. Currently, only Wendy, Rosé, Mark and Johnny were there. The guys were on the other side as they were smoking cigarettes.

 

“I— I don’t... Is he some kind of a bad person?” Wendy tried to move backwards to get more space from Rose’s widening eyes. That was the first time Seungwan had ever seen her workmate without her smile. 

 

“No, it’s not—” Rosé bit her lip, looking hesitant before she sighed. “He is Jennie’s ex. Jennie’s former lover. He and our Jennie used to date,” she whispered to Wendy’s ear. 

 

“Oh.” No wonder Irene was giving her a weird vibe in the elevator this morning. 

 

“I mean, it’s not your fault because you didn’t know. And there’s nothing wrong with seeing your friend’s ex, tentatively. But are you? Since when? Did he tell you about Jennie? Did you tell Jennie?” Rose said rapidly like she was spitting bars in a rap battle.

 

“Wait. I’m not— we’re not seeing each other. Or anything remotely close with that.”

 

“Then, why did he bring your bag, that bag—” Rosé pointed the bag on Wendy’s right hand, “—with him this morning? And I even see you getting out of his car.”

 

“He was giving me a lift this morning since he knows I don’t have a driver license here yet,” Wendy explained, and then added, “and he picked me up from the subway station, not even from my place.” 

 

Rosé was about to reply when Jennie appeared from behind her. “What’s the fun gossip we’re talking about here?”

 

“Nothing!” Rosé quickly replied, turning to Wendy for encouragement. 

 

“Nothing at all,” Wendy added, unhelpfully, nodding to look convincing. 

 

Jennie raised her eyebrows at the weird behaviours of the two women. “Okay...” She looked confused for a moment before something clicked in her mind. “Ah, right. My bad. I’ll be going, you guys can continue talking about... nothing.”

 

It was Rosé and Wendy’s turn to be confused. Jennie only smirked and wink as she walked past them. “Oh,” Jennie, stopped, remembering something, “It’s just something random, but I prefer strawberry cake instead of chocolate today.” And with that, Jennie walked away from them to Johnny and Mark. 

 

“Did she just…” Rosé muttered, looking lost. 

 

Wendy laughed at what had just happened. “Seems like we have a birthday surprise to prepare. Do you know any place near here that sells strawberry cake?” 

 

“I’ll look for it, but first-” Rosé gave Wendy a tight hug. “I’m so sorry for assuming. And there’s nothing wrong with seeing Jong— Kai, really. It‘s— I panicked. I see you getting off his car this morning and him bringing your things. And you guys were glued to each other today, and he seemed to be showing you something on his phone, and then he laughed like a kid, which he rarely does in the office, and you guys look good together and super happy. And I know you don’t know about him and Jennie, so I was worried that you’ll bring him up today and then-”

 

“Rosé, breathe,” Wendy laughed, letting go of her hug. Rosé still seemed worried. “It’s fine, really. He was showing me pictures of car engines earlier, which are not something I am into, to be honest. I’m not interested in him, and I’m pretty sure he has bro-zoned me.”

 

“Guys can fall for girls they bro-zoned, you know.”

 

“Did that come from personal experience?” Wendy teased, and Rosé hit her lightly on her arm. 

 

“I’m serious! But Wendy, I will support you if you like him, really. This doesn’t mean that you can’t fall for him or anything.” 

 

Wendy wanted to tease Rosé more, but the latter’s concerned face stopped her. “Well, in the unlikely event that I do fall for him, I’ll tell you. And Jennie. Probably Jennie first. But, anyway, you don’t have to worry.” 

 

Rosé quickly gave her another hug. “And I will be happy for you. Really.” 

 

“What is this? What is it that we have to be happy for Wendy?” Amber, out of nowhere, joined the hug, squeezing the other two woman in a tight hold.

 

Irene, who also had just arrived, was confused at the sight before her. “What’s happening?”

 

“We are happy for Wendy! Because of... something, I’m not sure, but definitely happy!” Amber exclaim, before pulling Irene in. 

 

After the ridiculous group hug, which reason Amber didn’t know until the very end, the seven of them then proceed on their planned road trip. They first divided themselves into two cars. Amber would drive Rosé and Johnny while Mark would drive the rest of them. Since Wendy was in the same vehicle with Jennie, the responsibility to buy that strawberry cake fell on Rosé. But really, nothing comes easy in life, including purchasing a simple dessert. 

 

Rosé: “THEY RAN OUT OF THE STRAWBERRY ONES!!!!!!”

 

It was only twenty minutes after they were separated when the text arrived on her phone. Wendy, now seated at the backside of Mark’s car, tried to put on her most neutral face in case Jennie sensed something and came up with even more wrong conclusions. Rosé didn’t give any chance for her to reply, as she sent a bunch of continuous texts in a swift, all with capital letters. 

 

Rosé: “WAIT. JOHNNY JUST SAID SOMETHING STUPID”

 

Rosé: “THAT IS THE WORST IDEA EVER”

 

Rosé: “OH NO AMBER AGREES WITH HIM”

 

Rosé: “WHY DID WE PUT THESE TWO TOGETHER AGAIN”

 

Wendy stared at her phone, waiting for Rosé to say more of the matter so she could get a better picture of what was happening on her side. But there was no new text coming. 

 

Wendy: “What?”

 

Wendy: “What is the worst idea ever?”

 

She was about to send more text when she caught Mark asked the group a question. “Should we stop at the rest area for a break?”

 

“Sure,” Jennie, who was sitting on the front seat, shrugged. “You should tell the others that. We then can meet up and grab something to eat.”

 

That was a bad idea. Wendy knew that Amber’s car was not even on the highway yet. They are probably stills in a bakery somewhere in Seoul. “Don’t you think it’s, umm, a bit too early for a break? We still have hours of driving to go. And it’s better to arrive there before it’s too late, isn’t it?”

 

Wendy tried to glare at Mark through the rear mirror, hoping the guy caught her telepathy signal: Jennie’s Surprise. Midnight. But poor dude was just looking at her, confused. Instead, it was Jennie who understood the looks she was sending.

 

“Ahh, right. We can’t afford to get there after twelve, right?” Jennie shot a smirk to Wendy, who just want to facepalm herself. It didn’t help that her phone then buzzed multiple times, indicating she had new messages. With the silence in the car, Jennie definitely caught that. “Looks like somebody is busy,” the woman on the driver seat teased Wendy.

 

Rosé: Sorry for the late reply. I was fighting a losing battle.

 

Rosé: and the caps lock too, must’ve forgotten to turn it off.

 

Rosé: so…

 

Rosé: we got the cake. Kinda.

 

Rosé: It’s a plain cream cake, but Johnny bought and poured a jar of the shop’s strawberry jam on it. 

 

Rose: I’m sorry.

 

Wendy had to bit her lips to stop herself from laughing at what she was reading on her phone. She turned her head away, looking outside the car’s window and took a deep breath to compose herself. She wondered how was it that she travelled half the earth only to find herself in this kind of situation.

 

When she was calm enough, Wendy leaned back on her seat and sighed. What should they do for the surprise? Clearly, everything was not going well, especially when it was not a surprise to begin with. She was about to reply on Rosé texts when she realised the pair on eyes that were staring at her.

 

“What is it, Irene?”

 

Irene, sitting next to her on the backseat, seemed off-guard that she was caught staring. But she got herself together pretty quickly. “That’s a lot of texts. Is something wrong?”

 

With a glance, Wendy caught Jennie was watching her with a smirk plastered on her face. “I’m fine. It’s nothing important,” Wendy quickly dismissed. But of course, she would choose the wrong word to explain her stance.

 

“Right, nothing,” Jennie repeated, having the time of her life.

 

[.....]

 

It turned out that Wendy was worried for nothing. Yes, Jennie’s favourite word of the day, nothing.

 

The surprise was a mess, as Wendy predicted, there was no plot twist on that. Everything was as subpar as the ‘strawberry’ cake Johnny had prepared. But, Jennie was not horrified at the sight of the tragic dessert, or at their sudden anticlimactic singing of the birthday song as soon as the clock strike midnight (Mark, poor dude, didn’t even know what they were doing as he looked even more surprised than the birthday girl). Instead, Jennie was laughing and smiling through the whole event. 

 

But Wendy guessed it was pretty much because Jennie was under the notion that the cake was homemade, which made the whole thing seemed more heartfelt. Moreover, no one actually cleared that assumption for her as well. But Wendy doubted that anyone would object, as it was unlikely that the bakery wanted to be associated in any way with this wreck of a cake. Which was a great thing when Johnny was more than happy to claim it as his masterpiece.

 

Well, Jennie was happy, and that was all that matter.

 

Wendy leaned back on the mint coloured armchair, sipping the second can of beer she had taken from the hotel’s mini-fridge. The others were probably exploring the resort, but Wendy didn’t have the same level of energy with her friends, so she decided to head back to her room, that she would share with Rosé, early. 

 

The hotel had a beautiful bathtub, which was one thing she missed from her house in Canada, so now Wendy, with her hair still a bit wet, felt a bit too freshened to directly go to bed after her own quality time. So instead, Wendy scrolled through her phone, realising that Jennie had posted their pictures from the surprise just now. She smiled, liking those pictures and continued on. It was when she was scrolling through her chats that she realised that she hadn’t replied Seulgi’s messages yet.

 

It was sent on New Year’s Day, which meant she had left her best friend hanging for more than a week. She knew she couldn’t avoid her Seulgi forever, but…

 

She quickly gulped down her beer to clear her suddenly dry throat. Not today, Wendy decided. Replying to Seulgi meant taking one step closer to probably having that conversation she dreaded. And Wendy didn’t want Seulgi to know about her feelings. Or worse, that she ran away to the other side of the world because of it.

 

When she realised that she finished her drink, Wendy stood up to the minibar to grab some more. She was relieved when she found that there was still one more full can inside the fridge, quickly taking it out. She had only taken a sip when a tune rang from her hotel door.

 

It was not Rosé. Instead, it was her middle school friend, dragging one huge suitcase with her. “Hi,” Irene began when Wendy only stared at her. “We’re sharing a room,” she explained, clearly knew the question that was on her friend’s mind. “Jennie needed Rosé’s help with something, so we switched.” Wendy didn’t say a word to that, which made Irene quickly added, “…or I can go back and—”

 

“No, you don’t have to!” Wendy quickly objected that idea, very strongly too. “You don’t have to go. You can stay. Please stay,” she said in rapid succession, clearly before a proper process of her words. Not that she was saying something she didn’t mean, but probably something with a little more moderation would be better. Irene raised her eyebrows at her words, and Wendy tried to avert her gaze to anything else like… her luggage. “Let me help you with that,” she quickly offered, taking the suitcase from Irene and putting it next to the bed. Right, more actions and less talking. Seems like a wiser choice.

 

She could hear Irene’s footsteps behind her, following her to enter the room- their room. “You were drinking,” Irene noted at the empty cans on the small desk at the other end of the room. “Is something bothering you?”

 

“No, everything is fine,” Wendy quickly assured, unconsciously hiding the almost full beer can she had on her left hand. It was no use because Irene clearly saw it. She only smiled sheepishly at Irene’s smirk. “I just feel like it.”

 

Irene hummed. “Let me wash up first, and then I’ll join you.”

 

Wendy just awkwardly stood as she watched Irene walked to her luggage to take out some of her things. “Okay. Enjoy your bath.”

 

Nope. Still no luck with words. She should just shut up. Wendy cleared , trying to smoothly advert from whatever rubbish she had just said. “I, umm,” she began, not very eloquently, “I have my stuff inside the bathroom. You can use anything you need.”

 

Irene turned to her with curved lips. Of course, she would be smiling. Wendy had just said something stupid. “Thanks. I’ll enjoy my bath.”

 

As soon as her friend got inside the bathroom, Wendy immediately slumped into the chair and let out a big breath. That was ridiculous, what the hell was she thinking? She was not thinking, obviously. Wendy suppressed the urge to slap herself and drank the alcoholic drink on her left hand when she realised that it was… alcoholic. Almost spitting out the drink inside , Wendy quickly put that can of beer away from her.

 

How did she forget that alcohol plus Irene was a recipe for disaster?

 

Her tolerance was definitely more than two and a half can of beer. Heck, college Wendy was able to get to the morning class with only a slight headache after an all-night partying. But apparently not if Irene was there with her. With Irene, two and a half can of beer was enough to turn her into a blubbering mess.

 

She got up from the armchair and walked to the mini-fridge, opening it to grab a bottle of cold water. Without missing a beat, she quickly gulped the entire content in one go. She had to tone down the alcohol percentage in her body quickly. But, even after she finished the bottle, Wendy was still uneasy. She didn’t feel drunk, but then again, she didn’t trust her own judgement at this point. And with that solid basis, she decided to conduct small tests for herself. Yes, Wendy, a twenty-seven years old grown-up adult, tried herself out on whether she could walk a straight line in the stuffed hotel room. She was going back and forth (because she couldn’t ever be sure with anything, including this tiny assessment) when the bathroom door slid opened.

 

She turned around to see Irene, who was now bared face, stood there watching her. The other woman was wearing a black tee and long white and long cotton pyjama pants, which somehow made her looked even more like middle school Joohyun. Her outfit also added a tenfold increase in her cuteness, which was definitely not good for Wendy.

 

“Why are you standing there?” Irene asked as she walked to her luggage to put her things. “I thought we’re drinking tonight.”

 

Wendy cleared . “I think I’ve had more than I should for tonight. But you can still drink, of course, let me get a can for—” she opened the mini-fridge to find no beer left inside. Right, she drank the last can.

 

Her face must’ve told Irene everything, as the other woman only chuckled at her. “Did you finish all the beer?” she asked as she walked to Wendy, taking a peek of the opened fridge. “Oh. You really finished them all.”

 

“I’m sorry. Let me call room service for another one.” Wendy immediately dashed to the phone and pressed number two to dial room service.

 

“Are you ordering a can for you too?” Irene asked.

 

“No, I’m not drinking— Oh, hello. I’d like to ask for more—”

 

Out of the blue, Irene took the phone away from her. “Hi. Sorry. There’s no need for anything. Right. Yes. Goodnight.” After she ended the phone call, the older woman turned to her confused friend and raised the half can of beer Wendy didn’t finish. “We still have a beer.”

 

Wendy didn’t have any time to say anything as Irene took a sip of the drink. Her eyes fixed on her friend’s lips on the can. She had just drink for the very same can less than ten minutes ago. She was pretty sure that Irene’s lips were on the same spot as hers. That was an indirect kiss, and the very thought of it suddenly rushed warmth and tingles to her whole body.

 

Irene seemed to notice that she was staring at her. “Do you want some more?” she smiles, offering the can to Wendy.

 

Indirect kiss. Indirect kiss.

 

“I’m fine, thanks. You can have it all,” she quickly replied, laughing awkwardly before turning her eyes to the ceiling, without any particular reason except to calm herself down. She bet no other twenty-seven-year-old adult had gotten giddy before of the idea of sharing a drink with their friend.  

 

Wendy sat on the chair, too tired to stand after all the ridiculous thoughts she had. She only noticed Irene’s grimace when the other woman took her second sip of the drink. “You don’t like it?” Wendy asked with an amused smile.

 

“I don’t really like beer to start with,” Irene replied simply.

 

Wendy tilted her head, confused with her friend’s admission. “Really? But I saw you drink them a couple of times. Like that night in the club when we met again, or…”

 

Or when I was practically telling you my whole life story at my apartment.

 

Wendy cleared . She could feel her face getting red again. “You also drank a can at my place.”

 

Irene hummed, nodding in agreement. “Well, that beer at your place was lighter than this. This one, in particular, is very bitter. But you must’ve liked them. You drank a lot,” Irene threw a smirk at her direction, voice filled with coyness, which she could only reply with a sheepish smile. “Have you always liked beer?”

 

“I do prefer them more than soju. Probably because it was one of the first alcoholic drink I tried, and college parties in Canada didn’t usually have soju as an option, so I’m more familiar with beer’s taste.”

 

Wendy wasn’t sure if Irene had a short term memory loss or something similar to that because Irene took another sip and got annoyed by the bitterness again. Wendy chuckled. “Why do you keep drinking it if you don’t like it?”

 

Irene only smirked at her question. “Just checking if I still don’t like it.” The other woman was quiet for a while, so it surprised her when Irene averted her gaze from her and murmured in a soft voice she barely caught. “And you seem to talk more when we’re drinking.”

 

Irene’s statement shouldn’t have caught her off guard. She should’ve known that she wasn’t smooth at all at ‘not avoiding’ her childhood friend.

 

Realising that her friend was not going to say anything anytime soon, Irene continued to explain herself. “We haven’t really talked after that night, so I was wondering if…if I said something wrong or crossed a line. I mean, I probably made you uncomfortable and made you say things you didn’t want to share with me.”

 

“It’s not that. No, you did everything right. It was me who got tipsy and blabbered my mouth away,” Wendy immediately counter. “I’m sorry.”

 

Her apology made Irene looked at her. “What for? Do you regret telling me your story?” Her eyes were not leaving hers that Wendy could only manage to shake her head weakly.

 

No, regret wasn’t the word she would choose to describe what she felt.

 

Irene sighed, finally breaking her stare. She played with the can of beer on her hand, swirling the drink. The two of them were quiet for a while. Wendy was contemplating to start another topic, but her friend beat her to it. “It is selfish of me, but I like that you told me. I like that you let me know more parts of yourself.” Irene said them softly like she was letting Wendy into a secret. “I like knowing more about you.”

 

Wendy blinked a few times, trying to get the words to sink in. “Oh.”

 

The gears in her head worked with full capacity, but it was not as hard as to how her heart was beating. She couldn’t stop the happiness that surged inside even after she tried to remind herself that Irene’s words had no other intention except a friendly one.

 

Wendy cleared , swallowing a big stupid grin that almost broke on her face. “Well, then sorry to disappoint you but what I tell you that night is basically everything. So I don’t really have anything else to tell. Unless you want twenty-something episodes of me embarrassing myself, then I might have some things.”

 

Irene’s furrowed eyebrows ceased. Her lips now wore a big curve. Wendy hoped it stayed there for a long time. “That sounds wonderful.”

 

So she then told Irene stories of her past. Her awkward high school dates, dumb college parties, and everything she could remember that was funny enough to hear that laughter. Recounting humiliating things that happened to her didn’t feel as bad as should be. At that moment, she cherished those experiences, and it felt like a lot of things fell into places. Telling her stories to Irene felt right. It was as if she went through all those things just for her to tell Irene now.

 

Because Irene’s laughter compensated every foolish thing she went through.

 

Wendy realised it from their night at that club when they two ended up in her apartment talking. She knew that familiar warmth and tingles she felt every time Irene listened to her stories.

 

Who was she fooling? She didn’t avoid Irene because she was embarrassed that she told her everything. It was because after she told her everything, Irene shot her a smile and somehow her heartbreak didn’t hurt as much.

 

It was because Irene smiled and she knew she was going to fall.

 

Wendy watched Irene broke into fits of cackles after she told the story how one of her college band members had mistakenly thought that they were booked for a gig for a high schooler seniors’ party instead of an elderly seniors club anniversary. Irene nudged her shoulder, making her follow her friend to fall on the bed, both laughing. She continued, describing to her friend the awkward performance and the lack of response from the audience and watched how Irene broke down again.

 

Yep, past Wendy was right. Now, she’s free-falling alright.