Irene awoke from another awful haunting dream of her daughter again. She wiped her eyes from shed tears again and went to open the window for some air. The chilled autumn air did little to calm her nerves, and all she could do was leave it open and go back to bed.

She culdn't hear Wendy breathign and she was too afraid to touch her so instead, she had the genius idea to kick her shin sharply.

"hMfffm, w-wha hapenin?" the younger girl whined, which Irene found to be quite cute surprisingly.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." Irene pulled the sheets higher over their shoulders. 

--

Irene watched Wendy sleep all morning. She was too afraid to leave her unattended now.

Ever since that day, things were different in Irene's head. Wendy was more withdrawn and seemed to be a in another world internally.

She was eating now, which was good, but she hardly interacted or spoke with Irene anymore unless the older woman initiated the first move. And she also avoided making eye contact with her.

Irene tried to do something to make up with Wendy, but she honestly didn't know what to do or how to go about seeking redemption for what she said. She didn't make Wendy do all her chores much - only the simple things. At work, Irene took extra caution to be sure her staff and other personnel would not bother Wendy if they were ever separated.

Suddenly, the woman remembered the music store and that guitar Wendy had been looking at through the display glass. She decided that maybe she could buy it as a gift of atonement. Besides, it was barely a fraction of her income since she was practically one of the top businesses in fashion.

So while Wendy was in therapy, she went to purchase the guitar.

--

Irene and Wendy were quiet on the ride home, both stuck in their own thoughts on how to proceeed the next steps of this sitaution.  Before they left the car, Irene considered giving the guitar to Wendy now, but she felt uncertain if it would be a genuine enough apology gift.

"Irene..." Wendy said quietly right before Irene opened the door.

"You were right," the girl continued.

The older woman paused but did not say anything. She kept her eyes forward and opened the car door. "About what?" she replied tersely.

"Everything."

Irene snorted, not knowing how to be nice and also not wanting to feel uncomfortable because she didn't even know how to be 'nice' or whatever...

Right now didn't seem like a good time to give Wendy the guitar, so she led her back into the house. "I have an important call to make. Don't do anything stupid - in fact, you're staying with me."

THe younger girl barely had a chance to respond before she felt herself getting dragged into Irene's study. The woman plopped her into a seat to the side. "Don't move and don't speak."

Wendy didn't even plan to say a thing, but she wasn't comfortable sitting doing nothing in a chair that was placed so that she was facing Irene. 

The virtual meeting lasted for two hours. 

Irene ordered dinner this time because she was too tired to make anything and did not ask Wendy to cook something up. Maybe she thinks I'll harm msyelf with the knife, Wendy mused as she watched Irene serve her a big helping of fried rice.

"Eat," Irene commanded.

And Wendy did, much to Irene's surprise.

After dinner, they washed up and Irene dragged Wendy back to the bed again, practically shoving her in before going to her side of the bed.

IT was awkwardly quiet, but Irene managed to shrug it off though she was listening for any soudn or movement from the girl. After a while she her side, finding WEndy's back facing her now. But it sounded like she was sleeping, her breahting steady and rhythmic. 

It made her remember going to visit her sickly daughter at the hospital, only able to watch her from a far with her back facing her in the window.

Irene reached out in that memory, forgetting completely this was Wendy and not Yerim. If only she could be in that same room with her one last time...

The older woman placed her hand on Wendy's upper arm and slowly moved down to rest it over her side. Irene would have hugged Yerim so tightly to comfort her - why couldn't i be there to see her before - 

Tears slowly left her eyes and she pulled close the imaginary Yerim to her body.

"I love you," she whispered.

A few moments later, she pressed her nose to the back of Wendy's shoulder blade and fell asleep.

Wendy listened to Irene sniffled softly to herself, but did not stir. What was thre to say? Plus, she didn't want to make Irene feel any more upset than she already was now. 

It was so strange to have Irene's arm over her so gently, yet holding her tightly. 

--

The next morning, Irene awoke first and felt strangely warm and comfortable. She clung onto the warmth, for some reason thinking maybe this was all a bad dream. But when hse inhaled deeply, it was the scent of her soap and shampoo, and the form was not small enough ot be Yerim.

SHe opened her eyes to find that she was coddling Wendy - the girl that JOnghyun unceremoniously dropped into her life.

Irene flinched instinctively because this was no an ideal position to be in given their not so good relationship if there were any at all.

But this time, the woman stared at the younger taking in all of her appearance for teh first time.

She knew Wendy looked scrawny, but she really did look unwell. 

The whole kpop industry must have gotten into her head so much - the expectations and image. She wondered if there really was any way to fix things...

Irene slowly moved so as not to wkae the latter, and lay on her back. She sighed heavily and checked the clock. It was still so early, and she was tired. There was no need to go to her office today. She set her pager to 'do not disturb' and let her phone fall elsewhere so she wouldn't have to deal with people, including her brother.

--

A/N: Yo i'm back, hopefully this new update was alright. Let me know if there's soemthing you want to see. I won't be able to update for this week but i'lll be working on them.

thank you for your patience, take care :)