During dinner, Wendy and Irene were the only one who's not talking. The two girls  was stealing glances at each other whenever the other wasn't looking.

Irene's father, Kyuhyun, looked at Wendy and smiled. "So Wendy, I heard you and Irene went to the beach." 

Wendy glanced at Irene and answered. "Yes, we did."

"I'm glad you two have gotten closer with each other."

"I'm glad too." Irene was looking at Wendy and smirked when she saw the other girl's slightly pink cheeks. Wendy looked back at her and rolled her eyes.

When the dinner ended Irene walked towards her and whispered. "Follow me."

"What?"

"You told me that we'll talk, so follow me." Irene grabbed her hand and went upstairs.

Why are we going to her bedroom?! Wendy's eyes widened when Irene pulled her to a bedroom. "What?! This is your bedroom!"

Irene chuckled at the latter's reaction. "Well, this is more private."

Wendy sighed while she looked at Irene. "So, about what happened earlier... let's just forget about it and not do it again."

Irene scoffed. "I'm not sure if I can do that."

"I'm your step sister. We should-"

Wendy got taken aback when Irene hugged her. She tried to push Irene but the other girl just wrapped her arms tighter around Wendy.

"I won't let you go until I say this to you."

Silence engulfed them and Irene indulged herself with the warmth that Wendy was giving her.

Irene closed her eyes. "I just can't remove my feelings for you. I just can't do that when you're the first person who made me feel like this."

"W-what?"

Irene unwrapped her arms from Wendy and smiled. "The way I feel whenever I'm with you is... different."

"I-I don't know, Irene."

Irene frowned. "What?"

"Irene, I don't know. It feels so wrong-"

"Wendy, there's nothing wrong about that. We're not blood related! You don't have to worry about them because I'm here with-"

You can do this. Wendy took a deep breath. "Irene, you don't understand. I'm scared of what will happen. This is just... a bad idea."

So this is what being rejected feels like. Pain shadowed in Irene's eyes. The delighted face from earlier was drained in an instant. 

Wendy saw Irene's serious face again. Her face was like the first time they arrived with her mother.

Like the first time they met each other.

Wendy was scared. She was scared that Irene will return back to her old self. She's scared that if they got into a relationship, she'll put Irene in a lot of trouble. She's scared that her mom and Irene's dad will be drifted apart because of their relationship.

She saw the pained expression from the latter and she felt like she wanted to kiss Irene and hug her just to make her smile again.

"The night is getting deeper, Wendy." Irene spoke with no emotion on her voice. "I'll just walk around outside. You should go to bed. Goodnight."

Irene immediately left her bedroom leaving a guilty Wendy inside.

Wendy closed her eyes and sighed because of her frustration. When she saw the pained expression that was painted on Irene's face, she felt emotionally hurt.

Ugh! How can I fix this?

-----------------

It's been a week sin