•SHE IS ROYALTY• 9 “You look dead.” Jennie said while staring down at Irene, who was lost on her own thought. “I...I think I like Wendy, a lot.” Irene confessed, she could only think about Wendy since last night and it was such a burden because she couldn’t focus well in their group project. So here she is, sitting at the side of the school ground and moping around hoping for her sense to buckle up and set Wendy aside for now. “You finally realized?” Jennie scoffed, sitting beside Irene and taking her pack of juice. “I can’t get her out of my mind!” Irene was irritated, it was rare for her to get attached with anybody ever since Seulgi but what she feels with Wendy is just so amazing. “Isn’t that the cue to go and confess to her? Why the hell are you sitting here like a loser?” Jennie asked back. “I can’t...” Jennie rolled her eyes, “Don’t tell me it’s about Seulgi again?” “It’s more complicated than that, Jen.” “What the heck is more complicated than Kang Seulgi? That low class girl who broke your heart so many times that I lost the count of it.” “It’s my parents, in no way they will accept me for what I am. Even when they found out about Seulgi, they were really mad.” Jennie sighed, “So what? Do you think you can change? Do you think you can go on and marry some high class dude later on with no love attached?” “Maybe...but I can’t upset them more.” Irene sighed as she looked at Jennie who was in fact fuming while clutching her poor juice packet. “You didn’t think that when you were with Seulgi” Irene stayed quiet because in fact it was true, she never cared for anyone because all she saw was Seulgi. “She had you wrapped around her stupid fingers.” “Tha—” “Don’t deny it, Joohyun. I feel like you still can’t get over Seulgi.” “But don’t forget that she was the one who outsold you to the whole nation.” “How was your day?” Seulgi asked once Irene stepped inside their apartment. She instantly smiled because of how gorgeous her love looked right now. “Better now.” Irene replied while rushing in to hug Seulgi. Seulgi chuckled and gave in, fully embracing the petite body, “I missed you.” “I missed you too.” Irene was always thankful for meeting Seulgi in that dance lesson which Jennie forced her to take. There was something about Seulgi and her eyes that immediately pulled her. She was afraid of these feelings and also for a girl? It wasn’t meant to be like that but she was ready to throw everything just for Seulgi. “Dad really wanted me for dinner, other state’s people are coming tonight but I wanted to spend the night with you.” “Wouldn’t Your Majesty get mad?” Seulgi pulled away and asked. “Nothing I can’t handle.” Irene winked. It wasn’t the truth, ever since Irene had been way too away from the palace, her father had been mad. He had men tailing her but she still insisted on being with Seulgi. Her dad had paid many reporters to throw the evidence about Irene’s relationship with Seulgi. “My father just wants me to be the perfect princessy type which I can never be.” “Hey, don’t ruin your mood because of him now. Let’s head out tonight.” “Can’t we just stay here? We can chill and sleep together.” Irene mumbled. Seulgi shook her head, “No, we are heading out. We haven’t gone out for a date in a while.” “You sure went to many with others...” Irene voice out, those things always hurt her. “That’s why, we two will go tonight, I’ll make it up to you.” That was what Seulgi had said but Irene woke up next day in a motel with the worst hang over. There was no presence of Seulgi at all and the moment she went out from the motel, there were tons of reporters with their cameras flashing. The entire week Irene was worried sick about Seulgi(who went missing) even though the whole nation was -shaming her for being a disgrace to the royal family. What mattered to her was Seulgi’s well being, but it all got shattered when Jennie showed her a picture of Seulgi happily out with some boy in a date. The final straw was the moment when she found out that Seulgi had planned everything, To frame her into this woman every news was gossiping about.. With her thoughts bubbled up, she took the energy to walk back to her room. She hadn’t faced Wendy at all since last time. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves, Wendy and now Seulgi was invading her thoughts. Irene could never forget Seulgi and she knew it...there would be some part in her that will forever love Seulgi. “What are you thinking about?” Wendy. Irene opened her eyes and saw a smiling Wendy. It was the first time Irene noticed how Wendy’s eyes were glowing while staring at her. “I...I was about to go in. What about you?” Irene quickly said with lots of stammering. She was ing nervous and it showed. “I was about to go in too.” Wendy said while opening the door. “Why are you going inside?” Irene asked when Wendy casually went inside the room. Wendy weirdly looked back at Irene. “Because it’s my room too? Are you okay, Irene?” Welp, Irene totally gave away that she wasn’t okay. She then chuckled, “I was just teasing you.” “Sure, lying isn’t good. Now come inside.” Wendy pulled the frozen Irene and closed the door behind. “Don’t! Don’t touch me..” Irene panicked and she pulled her hand away rather aggressively and regretted it the moment Wendy’s eyes dropped and came in those sad expression. “I’m sorry” Wendy muttered and walked away to her study desk, putting her bag down and fixing her stuff so she could get right away in completing her english essay. If there was an award for the most wrecking woman then Irene could’ve won it because she was making a complete fool of herself in front of Wendy! The person she supposedly likes! “Are you sure you’re good?” Wendy asked again because Irene was acting weird and she was staring at her very hardly. “It’s just...” Irene trailed off. “Want to talk about it? Joy told me I was a great listener.” Wendy grinned. Irene sat on her own bed while looking at Wendy, “What did Joy talk about?” “About her love and hate relationship with fried chicken.” “It must be very serious that she had to share it with someone.” Irene joked. “So, come on, talk. My listening class is free but I might charge you with something.” “Hey! You said it was free!” “You’re rich and also a royal member, why would I not charge you?” “That’s...not fair. I’m a human too!” “I am too so I want to charge.” “Wait—why do I even have to tell you? Isn’t it my choice?” Irene raised her brow. “You don’t have a choice, I’m already listening to you so it already started.” “You scam.” Irene smiled. “The truth is...I’m having trouble moving on.” That got Wendy’s full attention, she didn’t expect Irene to actually say it. She kind of was upset that Irene was still thinking about her past love. She kind of confessed to her last night? Was it the wrong move? “Do you want to get together with that person?” Wendy asked. “No...we didn’t have the finest relationship. I hate her but I can’t possibly forget her too, it’s just a mess in my head right now” Irene smiled bitterly. “Hey, it’s okay. That doesn’t mean that you can’t move on, I cannot forget about Taeyeon unnie too and I think I’ll always be reminded of her. I’ll always have a tiny love for her but that doesn’t mean I can’t move on from her. I’m over it and I’m ready to move on” “What does that mean...” Irene asked cluelessly. “It means that it’s okay to miss your past lover, it’s okay to not forget them but you need to have the guts to put those aside and start something on your own. You need the courage to let it be and take a new step acknowledging your past relationships.” Irene was stunned, she chuckled a bit and was relaxed, her stomach full of butterflies and uncertain feelings as she looked Wendy all over. She couldn’t stop smiling. “Did I say something wrong? You’re smiling way too much.” “I just wanted to ask another question too.” “Yeah?” “What did you say last night? Something in French?” Now, Wendy looked away because her cheeks were burning red. She had no idea how she managed to pull that off, she can’t just tell Irene again. She’s being a big now because Irene obviously still thinks about her ex and doesn’t have an eye for her. “Some gibberish.” “You were the one to say lying isn’t good.” “Uhm...” “Leave that, what is my charge for using your listening class?” “Uhm...” It was meant to be cheesy; a hug. But Wendy really was feeling anxious. “You’re looking really cute right now, Shon.” Irene blurted while focusing on staring the latter, she had feels all over her and it was warm and lovely. She just wanted Wendy to hug her again. Why was she telling that right now? Wendy was getting nervous and Irene just looked so sincere with that innocent eyes. Wendy was basically melting and had no courage to speak up, she trailed her eyes around Irene’s lip and looked away quickly, the urge to kiss the girl was getting stronger and stronger. “Did you really mean it?” Irene broke the silence because both of them looked awkward and shy all of the sudden. “Mean what?” Wendy asked, a little too out of her mind, thinking about the possibility of confessing but then she couldn’t find the courage like last time. “Going to the party together? As...as a date?” Irene stammered while shyly looking down. “I mean it, Irene.” Wendy tried to focus on her papers, she kept on thinking about how Irene has shown no side of liking her hints? I mean t