Wendy's cheek still tingled at the memory of Irene kissing her there. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Irene just asked me to date her.

Seulgi was head over heels elated, physically, mentally, vocally, everything-ally elated. She was dancing and singing once Wendy told her the new back at their shared unit. 

"Seee? hard work pulled us through!" Seulgi grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her crazily. "YOU DID IT DUDE! YOU AND IRENE ARE NOW GONNA BE A HAPPY FAMILY!"

"Seul, we barely even started dating."

"I can already seee it - " Seulgi began to paint an imaginary future in the air while babblign her wenrene dreams.

--

Wendy was excited but nervous for their first date. The week went by faster than she expected and she was dreading book club because she wasn't ready to face Irene now that they were dating. 

What am I going to say?

How should I dress?

Wht are we going to talk about?

Wendy wasn't entirely sure what else Irene was into other than books and academic, scholarly things. That was their only shared interest so far as Wendy's focus was in athletics.

Seulgi was doing her best to hype up her best friend for book club because Wendy hadn't seen Irene since they became officially wenrene. She was trying different outfits to humor Seulgi, who realy wanted her to make an impressions. But then Wendy realized that it didn't matter, and she just wanted to be comfy so she wore the usual hoodie and jeans.

"Ooooh like that," Seulgi winked. "Modesty is always a turn on for older women liket hat."

"Seulgi what the hell are you talking about?" Wendy demanded. "Book club is informal."

Well she was comfy, but she was clammy and nervous. Is Irene going to kiss me again? 

Seulgi wished her great luck and revved off before Wendy could even have a chance to chicken out and hop back in. so now Wendy had to be bold, take in a breath and press her finger to the doorbell.

"Hi Wendy!" Irene greeted her brightly.

That Wendy at ease and she returned the greeting with a smile. "How are you?"

"Oh, long week as usual. But I'm glad to see you," Irene replied. "You?"

"Same." Wendy wished she had something mroe intelligent to say.

Book club got started as usual and Wendy hadn't realized how she had fallen into the motions so easily. She almost forgot about the circumstances, with being Irene's girlfriend and all. 

At the end, Irene had prepared after club snacks for them, and Wendy wandered over to the kitchen to see if she needed help. Also, because she was standing awkwardly while the other members were talking about something that she totally didn't know anything about. Turned out Sehun had already beaten her to the punch. He was standing pretty close to Irene and his voice was all hush hush.

Wendy stuck by the corner of the doorway within earshot.

"I will miss having these meetings," Sehun was saying. "been going on for three years and now it's gonna be over."

"Only temporarily," Irene said. "Work has been more taxing than ever and I really need to focus on that."

"You're right. Maybe summertime then?"

"Maybe." 

Book Club is gonna be over? Irene must be really busy if she's going to call it off and not see her friends at least once a week.

I won't see her - oh wait.

I'm dating her.

"need something?" Sehun called her out, and Wendy stood to attnetion because seh was caught red handed.

"Oh...um...just wanted to ask if i couulddd...uh use...the bathroom!" she said quickly.

"Sure, I'll show you where it is," Irene said even though Wendy already knew where it was.

The younger girl followed her and was cuaght off guard when Irene entered the bathroom with her. "everything ok?" Irene asked.

"Yup!" Wendy said a little too loudly and whispered instead. "I just wanted to see if you needed help, but my timing was wrong."

Irene gazed at her for a few seconds before chuckling. "If you think there's something going on between me and Sehun, I can assure you I have no feelings. I told you before," she started to turn away. "I'm interested in you, and only you, Son Wendy."

oh my god.

Wendy's heart rhythm did triplets, quintuplets, tuplets. It was all over the place and her cheeks were becoming warm with color. "I better go."

"Don't forget our date tomorrow," Irene reminded her as she exited the bathroom first. 

--

Tomorrow was literally not even that far away, and Wendy was once again nervous and waiting an hour way too early at the place Irene told her about.

So now, here she was freezing her off outside because she wasn't sure what kidn of coffee Irene liked and she didn't want to get anything before her arrival. When will spring come back? Wendy shivered and bounced her feet up and down while staring up at the cloudy sky. 

Maybe I should have gotten a little something for the nerves, Wendy thought.

Irene eventually appeared looking as beauitful as ever. She wore a cream sweater under a grey blazer, dark skinny jeans and high heeled boots.

Wendy looked to herself, just jeans, high tops, and a winter jacket over her sweatshirt.

"I hope you didn't wait long," Irene said apologetically.

"No not at all!" Wendy replied and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "Um, what do you like to drink?"

"I'll order my own," Irene replied. "But that's sweet of you."

Rejection?!! Wendy wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed or not but tried not to let that bother her on their first date. "Ok." And she started to reach over to open the door only to get it slammed into her face. Sh hadn't noticed that someone else was trying to leave the coffee shop and they too were not paying attention as they swung it open for their date.

me, Wendy cursed internally.

What an embarrassing first date.

"Wendy, are you ok?" Irene pulled her aside while the other couple ran off into the snow.

"Yeah, I've had worse."  Wendy turend to look at her refelction in the mirror to make sure she didnt' look awful. 

"let me see."

"No, it's fine."

Irene still insisted anyway and Wendy felt heat rise to her cheeks whne their faces were merely centimeters away from each other. "yeah you are fine, 'irene agreed. "Shall we go?" She already started heading back to teh coffee shop and reached fro the door.

Wendy followed her in and they made their orders before going to sit at a two seated table.

"So, how was you week?" Irene said first.

"Um...busy.Yours?"

"Oh the same. But I got to see you twice this week." 

Oh my god. Irene was too good at this. Wendy would have no idea such an educated person could be so smooth.

It was at that moment that Wendy realized she spent a lot of her time studying that she didn't have much casual things to talk about. Irene was the one leading everything and she wondered if they were a good fit after all.

"There's a place I want to go after," Irene told her as they were finishing their drinks. "Come with me?"

"Ok."

They went to a bookstore, and of ocurse Irene was going to fine literature. Irene knew so many things, she pointed out premises for random books Wendy didn't know of. But she figured Irene must have read a lot of things.

"I have to write a new curriculum," Irene told her. "So I want to reimagine the type of writings my studnets should read."

Wendy didn't even know what to say but she nodded and scoped out some books she had never seen or heard of before.

Irene finally found a few candidates and Wendy follows her to the check out area. Honestly Wendy felt like a kid following her mom around right now.

I hope I'm mature enough...

"thanks for coming with me," irene said as they strolled the plaza. "Any plans tonight?"

"probebly studying," Wendy replied. "You?"

"I'll be reading through these," Irene held up her bag. "Do you want a ride?"

"I'll be ok," Wendy told her.

"you sure?"

"yep."

Irene hesitated as if she might insist but agreed. "Since there's no more book club, I probably won't see you until our next date."

"when should we meet?"

"How about next weekend?"

"Sure!"

Wendy stepped back but then Irene grabbed her wirst so suddenly. Are we gonna kiss in public?

But then she realized that Irene had slapped her phone into WEndy's palm.

"It'll be easier to stay in touch," irene told her. "What's your number?"

--

Despite the cold, Wendy's mind was on cloud nine as she walked back home. She had an embarrassing moment, but she couldn't forget the tingly feeling in her gut whne Irene was handling her with concern. 

She hoped it wasn't too boring. Wendy didn't really know what was interesting to Irene other than books. There's no way they could build this relationship on academics. 

Why did Irene choose me?

Wendy walked right into a post as her mind wandered. Her head hurt now and there was no Irene to nurse her. Luckily no one noticed or if the did, they didn't say anything. She continued her trek home at a job, wantng to get out of the cold and maybe drink some more hot coco.

"HOW'D IT GO?!" Seulgi practically yanked her into their living space. 

"It was...um...domestic..."

"What the ? Domestic?" Seulgi plopped them both down at the table and expertly whizzed back and forth to set fried chicken between the two of them.

"We had coffee, and then we went bookshopping."

"..."

Wendy was busy munching on hot food until she realized Seulgi was giving her a blank stare. "What?"

"That....wasn't what i was expecting..."

"What? Do you think it was bad that we didn't do more?"

"Well...what did you talk about?"

"Um....the usual?"

Seulgi tsk-tsked and shook her head, "I gotta teach you the ropes of the 'dating' game, girl. DId you get her number?"

"Well...yeah..."

"Good, you're not completely hopeless."

----

Irene took a hot shower after their date. She felt happy and fulfilled. Wendy agreed to another date.

But she was a bit worried that their first date was a bit dull. She could tell Wendy was nervous, especially if the girl hadn't seen the couple coming through from the other side of the doors.

It was actually pretty amusing. 

And it was obvious that this was Wendy's first time dating.

Of all people, she wasn't sure why Wendy liked her. Apparnetly, it had been a while. but when? 

What about me sparked an interest? It can't just be my good looks...could it?

There's no way Wendy would have joined just to get closer to her.

Most people were entranced by IRene's visuals. She knew when students were crushing on her, she overheard people in teh staffroom talking about her. And people like Sehun, still stood out in teh wind hoping that she'll give them a chance.

But others might wonder why she chose Wendy too when she could have someone well off.

If it ever came to that, she added to herself when she truned off the shower water. 

WHo knows how long this relationship would last? Irene wasn't going to stress about making it work. It was better not to force anything if it wasn't meant to be.

---

A/N: thank you for reading. hope you enjoy :D