falling action

college

***

Cold War. That’s what I named it. The timeframe reminded me too much of the geopolitical tensions that had transpired at the conclusion of World War II. And, uh, the weather might have some contribution to the term as well. It was hella freezing.

The other thing that had been freezing was the friendship of Wendy and Irene-unnie. Boy did it freeze for three years.

Yes, you heard it right.

Three years.

Did I wish for them to make up? Crazy for me to say I didn’t. I did have high hopes for them to have a reconciliation. Anyone whose best friends aren’t on speaking terms would have.

You’re probably thinking, ‘if I was hoping for them to reconcile, why sit around and do nothing for three years?’ Because I tried. Talking to them I mean. But I wasn’t going to push both of them into a room and lock the door until they decide to bury the hatchet (that did pop in my mind once). There’s no sincerity in forced actions. Reconciling had to be from their sheer will.

Have I mentioned Wendy and I were college roomies? Must’ve forgotten, my bad. We lived together with Jisoo, and then Lisa roomed with us the following year. No, Jisoo wasn’t unnie’s replacement. She really wasn’t meant to live with us.

It took moving day for Wendy to talk to me. That’s two weeks after their confrontation. I was being indulgent.

I had pieced the fragments of the jigsaw puzzle based from my own understanding, but it was barely enough. I was still processing the shocking events of my best friends having feelings for one another at a wrong timing. Who would’ve thought, you know? Definitely not me.

“Son Seungwan”

“What?”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“What do you want to know?

“Everything. Your feelings. Unnie rejecting you. I’m just so…just so out of the loop. It may have been your business to deal with, but now I’m stuck in the middle unable to figure out what I should do. I wanna understand your situation, Wan, so will you please let me in?”

“Alright.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry for placing you in this position.”

“I won’t lie and say it’s okay, but it is what it is. We can’t undo what’s already been done. Tell me what happened?”

“In junior year, I confessed to unnie. She shot me down before telling me she was dating Park Bogum. God, it .”

“Was this the time you guys had a fight too?”

“That’s the one.”

“Ohhh. When I found you by the soccer field after they posted the results of your audition, you weren’t bummed because you didn’t get the role you wanted—”

“You gave me the perfect analogy though.”

“…”

“Don’t feel bad. We swore to keep it from you. Make things less awkward.”

“What did you do afterwards?”

“I took a step back for like a week or two. Played the role of the supportive best friend. Then one day, I reached my breaking point. Couldn’t handle watching them together. It was pure torture. I told her I wanted some time off, maybe hang out with other people.”

“But she kept that from happening?”

“She said the space I’m asking for is too wide and would only stretch if she allowed it.”

“Oh.”

“I’m devastated that she’s doing the very same thing she didn’t allow me to do.”

“Your frustration is valid, Wan. Getting a clearer view of your situation, it can be frustrating. Your method of getting your answers, however, isn’t the appropriate thing to do. We’ve talked about this before. Breaching someone’s privacy is not the way to go.”

“Fine, okay, that’s my fault, but I’m done with her. I’m done.”

“You are..?”

“As ty as this sounds, yes. She screwed me over, Seul.”

“…”

“She’s asking me for space? ing go ahead! I’ll give it to her. She can do whatever she pleases. I want nothing to do with anyone who took advantage of my most vulnerable moment.”

“Wendy—”

“I’m gonna grab the rest of my luggage.”

-

Wendy wasn’t the only person unnie avoided. She didn’t respond to my calls or text for a week. Jennie couldn’t get anything from her either. When I did, she said she didn’t have the stomach to face me sometime soon. There wasn’t much I could do with her avoidance. I’m really not the forceful type, which meant playing the waiting game, even though it could entail waiting for a couple of months.

Which eventually did reach to that. Our campus was huge, and taking into account our majors, our paths became less and less likely to cross.

We were branching out. Wendy had her new friends from the architecture department (sidenote: no one expected her to take this route, including me). Unnie had hers from journalism. I had mine from interior design. Wendy was my roommate, and our departments were in one building, but our timetables made our run-ins a rarity.

In comparison to Wendy, seeing unnie was the hardest. Her building was on the far end of the campus. I had a lot on my plate, literally, to trek to the opposite side of our university or to visit the condo Jennie’s family owned where she opted to stay. Apart from her brief messages, my life went on without meeting her. I’d sometimes receive updates from Jisoo who had taken the same major as her. She was mostly “okay”, but they hung out with different crows so she couldn’t tell me more. Jennie was the concerned citizen to voice to me her woes. She was surprised I couldn’t have a good guess on what Irene-unnie was up to.

Unnie, apparently, was frequenting bars as early as 2PM.

Mind you, that was the longest the three of us have ever been separated. Real life was slowly unravelling the severity onto my face, making me realize that leaving Irene-unnie by herself for too long would be dangerous. She was going in a downward spiral unbeknownst to any of us.

It took me three months since graduation to finally see her, at a bar of all places, cheeks lipstick red and her ability to balance herself upright non-existent. I lucked out in finding her there. In retrospect, I should’ve approached her sooner.

“Oh my God, unnie!”

“Ah, Kang Seulgi.”

“I’ve missed you!”

“Mmm, missed you too.”

“How are you?”

“Been better.”

“…”

“Sorry for the you witnessed.”

“Unnie. You can talk to me.”

“Wendy’s told you the gist I’m certain since you both live under one roof.”

“The reason you and Bogum broke up…”

“Wendy wasn’t part of my reason. No third party had anything to do with it.”

“Do you mind letting me listen to your side of the story?”

“Mmkay. She confessed to me almost two years ago. Cornered me at an empty classroom. I said what I had to say. You should’ve seen those eyes, Seul. It was like I kicked a poor defenseless puppy! I looked into her eyes and saw how her heart was breaking. I’m not a puppy-kicker, Seul, I could never do that! But I didn’t like her back…”

“…”

“Then joke’s on me. Karma bit me in the when I started to feel things for her. I didn’t intend to fall for my best friend, Seul. I couldn’t control what I felt.”

“Oh, unnie…”

“Like, I’m a scum! Okay! I did her dirty when she poured her heart out to me, but to meddle with my privacy? She robbed me the chance to be honest with my feelings. It was so violating! I understood I couldn’t run away forever. I’m still struggling with opening up…”

“I know, unnie, I know.”

“And yet…I don’t hate her! Shouldn’t I be over it by now?”

“There, there.”

“I desperately want to hate her so bad but I can’t. I ing can’t, Seul, no matter what I do my stupid, stubborn heart won’t allow me to! But I can be mad at her, and it’s quicker for me to walk forward if I stay mad at her and I—”

“Woah, miss. Is she okay?”

“Um, I’m afraid not.”

“I’ll help you with her. I can hail you guys a cab.”

“Thank you, err..?”

“Sehun. The name’s Oh Sehun.”

-

From here on, I’ll be covering the separate lives of Wendy and Irene-unnie.

No, no, no. Don’t ask me about Oh Sehun. Like I’ve stressed earlier in the story, this isn’t about me nor me and him. This is about my best friends. So I beg of you, no more questions about him. Our story is too simple, a little cliché and boring that would have you snoring and regretting you even asked. Regardless, I wouldn’t have him any other way.

What was the last thing I covered again? Ah, the early stages of the Wenrene Cold War. It basically screamed friendship over, five years zapped from existence, memories tossed into the garbage bin for them. Blocked each other’s numbers, unfriended one another on social media. The tragedy had our high school peers gasping in disbelief. They weren’t aware of the exact details, and I clammed up whenever asked. It wasn’t for me to release the information.

Yongsun was an exemption. She was Wendy’s girlfriend, and she didn’t turn a blind eye on what unfolded between them. She didn’t tell me this, but I could sense how she somewhat blamed herself for coming into the picture. Of course, none of it is her fault.

She attempted a similar approach as I did by trying to convince Wendy to have a proper conversation with Irene, the attempt only going in vain. We both had given up, never touching the subject unless prompted.

You have to consider, Wendy remained stubborn int this timeline. Yong noticed it. Yong hated it. Their first few fights were from instances of Wendy refusing to listen.

Anytime Yong would storm out from an argument, I made sure I was unbiased with my opinions. I wouldn’t sugarcoat what I say to Wendy, whether she’s right or in the wrong. What best friend would I be if blindly condoned her behavior?

“Where’s Yong?”

“Left.”

“Why?”

“She got pissed at me because I can be impulsive. It’s not true.”

“You can be.”

“You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“I am. As your best friend, I’m supposed to tell you the truth whether you like it or not, and I’m telling you that you’re being a huge a-hole to your girlfriend by refusing to communicate with her. You have to be receptive to criticisms. You can’t always be right.”

“Did I really go overboard?”

“Extremely.”

“.”

“She might still be at the lobby, Wan.”

“Thanks, Seul! Don’t wait up for me.”

“Go get your girl!”

-

While I saw Wendy on a regular basis from sun up to sun down, I saw Irene-unnie on the weekends.

Unnie can hold her liquor quite impressively. She’s the undisputed queen of soju bombs, though her preference always leaned towards an ice-cold can of beeer. But in this portion of her life, her preference leaned towards whichever could get her absolutely hammered the quickest.

Jisoo raised her worries about Irene-unnie’s dwindling grades. Finals were around the corner, and a professor had sought unnie out privately due to her poor performance. Jisoo was in the office for some forms or something, and she most likely dawdled close by because, how else could she have known what they were discussing? She would make a superb field agent, or a stellar actress. Nine out of ten, she’d be able to deliver results. Kim Jisoo is—

Hold up. Off-topic.

Resuming our order of business, unnie’s grades were suffering. They were tanking horribly that there was almost a guarantee for her to retake a couple of courses on the next semester. Nobody would wish upon themselves to learn a single course twice. Unfortunately, her grades were trumped over by her emotional well-being.

Bae Joohyun was a lovefool.

Even if she has the university’s marching band worshipping at her feet—who, in addition, would play the song, “Pretty Woman” every time she walked by—unnie only wanted one person, and that one person was someone she couldn’t have.

“Seulgi.”

“Unnie.”

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