Wendy felt a bit silly following around Irene like a dog in the grocery store. Ever since the phone call home, which went badly by the way, Irnee seemed to have a change of heart - all much to Wendy’s surprise and maybe dismay. 
 

She was stuck with Irene now. Not that it was a bad bad thing since she had a place to eat and sleep, but she wasn’t sure what made Irene change her mind. So now Wendy was bound to this invisible contract she never signed, and Irene was being weird. 
 

“Anything you want in particular?”

Wendy shook her head and Irene didn’t even make a scathing comment. Yeah. Really weird. Or maybe she’s just tired after a long day of work. 

“Help me get these.” Irene gave her a list of produce to pick up. 

Wendy couldn’t believe the amount of trust irnee was putting in her right now to let her wander off alone in the store. 

Oh wait. I’m an adult…

The younger woman didn’t hesitate and did exactly as Irene asked. She studied the colors of each vegetable and fruit, noting how vibrant they were that she didn’t realize she was taking a little too long.

“Do you want this?” Irene asked. “It’s going out of season soon.”

“Ok.” Wendy didn’t want to waste anymore time and she wanted to make Irene believe that she was feeling better. 

Irene took the mango from her and put it in the shopping basket. “Let’s go.”

After dinner, Wendy took a supervised shower as per usual. She’s gotten used to it by now, and she was comfortable sitting waiting for Irene to finish her shower as well. 

She had also gotten used to sleeping in the bed with Irene too by now. She would usually fall asleep first after a long day at the office. Too tiring to even think about throwing up and being fat—which lately wasn’t on her mind too much.

—

Irene took a long drag of her cigarette while sitting alone at her balcony. Not really alone since Wendy was in her study  because she still didn’t trust her alone. She exhaled a stream of smoky wisps and sighed.

What the hell am I thinking?

I’m not lonely. And I’m not nice. 

Irene didn’t finish the cigarette and she stubbed it out in the ashtray when her phone rang. 

“Irene speaking.”

“Hey sis.” Ugh, it was Jonghyun. 

“What do you want?”

“Just checking in on you. You and Wendy getting along?”

“None of your business.”

“Alright. I just wanted to thank you for this favor. Soon she’ll be out of your house and you won’t have to deal with her anymore.”

Irene laughed and leaned back in her seat.

“Yes I’m looking forward to it. Bye.”

“Wait-“

Irene hung up and dusted off her hands after pocketing her phone. She stood at the doorway and watched Wendy tidying up her study. 

Wendy really is no good for show biz, she mused. She is much more fitting to be my assistant. 

Of course she had to thank whoever trained her. This girl had discipline and very detail oriented. So Irene could expect perfection from her despite mistakes she’d made before. 

Also, the older woman liked the way her clothes look on Wendy’s slowly healing body. She had also considered having the girl become her model, but at the same time didn’t want to place pressure on her body image after what had happened before. Besides, if she knew she had a reliable person on her hands why not use them?

“Seungwan, I have to be at the office in an hour. Are you finished?”

“Yes.”

“Look at me.” Irene turned Wendy to face her without warning. She brushed back loose locks behind Wendy’s ear and used her fingers to tidy her fringe over her forehead. All the while, the younger girl avoided looking at her face. 

Once Irene was satisfied, she led Wendy out to start their commute.

“I’ll be back in a couple hours. Finish what you started yesterday.”

“Ok.”

Irene made sure to lock the door and Wendy listened to her high heeled steps diminish. 

That woman was so weird. She was starting to be too gentle and even touchy with her hair. Not only that, she took the liberty of adjusting her clothes as if she were a kid! The audacity! 

The other day, Irene had Wendy dressed up in office get up complete with a tie and Irene didn’t even wait to ask before slipping it under the collar of her white button up. 

“You look good like this,” Irene commented. 

“R-really?”

Irene seemed to have caught herself but didn’t say anything. She simply brushed past and grabbed a blazer. “We’re gonna be late.” Back tj being cold again. 

Wendy was slightly confused but she tried not to overthink. Irene was a roller coaster and she couldn’t expect to have any special treatment from her. Besides Irene was her boss now so that would be unprofessional. Still, sometimes Wendy couldn’t forget the slight touches of Irene’s fingertips against her skin.

“Why should we even consider your fashion line to be worth anyone’s while?”

Irene let the silence hold control over everyone around her. She knew that her silence was scary to others and she used it to her advantage. 

“Why should you consider any other fashion brand to be worth anyone’s while?” Irene replied not much to other people’s shock. Those who had meant her were used to this type of behavior. 

“Why should one spend thousands on expensive brands like Gucci or Louis Vuitton? What about people who can’t afford those?

We are divided by money.”

Someone snorted. “That’s how it’s always been.”

“I think anyone should be able to wear fashionable clothing, high quality, and comfortable at a reasonable price. My goal is that no matter what you make you should still wear clothes, especially in winter. 

So that’s why I’m proposing a fund to help people in need here and around the world to have clothes from us.”

“That’s rather ambitious,” the head of the board said. “Do you think people will care?”

“My customers would. I do. And the people who work for me.” Irene knew some of her people opposed the idea but they didn’t argue with her. 

She stood tall and stared everyone in the eye without blinking. “I may be but small company in comparison to those expensive brands but I have a bigger picture in mind.”

Among the listeners, was Jennie and her cousin Jisoo. Since they’d heard about Irene turning down a huge profit boost from collaborating with blackpink, Jennie was curious about who this woman was. And also, she was here on special request by her manager in order to make them look good by appearing at an important conference. 

That hot woman on the stand, in an all black women’s suit with high heels, and her hair tied back in a bun. Her eyes were dark chips of coal and her lips painted red. Jennie was quite enamored by her appearance. She looked delicate but she was strong. 

Afterwards, jisoo and Jennie exited while trying to scope out Irene in an attempt to get more information. 

“Are you sure it was Wendy?” Jennie asked. 

“I really thought so. She looked somewhat similar but her hair was different and she had more weight.”

“Did you get a photo?”

“Yep.” Jisoo had discreetly taken a photo when Irene and Wendy entered the office earlier. Only the office knew her as Seungwan and she was a new hire after all although Irene didn’t tell anyone about it.

“She’s not pretty but she isn’t bad looking either.”

Jennie studied the side profile and tried to rmemeber what Wendy had looked like. 

So she pulled up photos from the past and compared it to each other.

“Oh…yeah. It totally is her.” Jennie couldn’t believe how Wendy was able to get here.

She had failed so hard and now was working for a super hot woman with lots of money.

Wendy didn’t have much left to do but she knew sure she had to look busy when Irene returned. So she took to cleaning the windows until they were crystal clear while absently staring at the night light view below. 

“Your tie is loose.”

“…”

Irene was standing behind her in the mirror, watching her intently.

—

The days grew colder as winter neared. Soon the leaves had fallen off and snow covered the streets. 

Wendy was still in therapy, still working for Irene, still living with her. 

She was getting used to Irene’s odd behavior change a little more but still waiting for her to explode like before. 

That night, Wendy was half asleep in Irene’s study while the latter was still rustling around with important business. She felt the bed shift when Irene joined her, and she pretended to remain asleep so there wouldn’t be an awkward moment. Little did she know, Irene was going to pull the sheets up higher over her shoulders before settling in beside her. 

What the hell is going on here?

—

Wendy didn’t have to see the therapist as frequently as before since she was getting back on track to a healthier body size and image.

She still didn’t want to eat a lot but she wasn’t throwing everything back up. Also with Irene schedule she was tired and didn’t have much time to think about useless things like that. 

Other than that the only other update was that Irene was getting weirder everyday. 

That winter, Wendy was feeling the holiday blues remembering what her life used to be like before she chased stardom. She didn’t really have anything except whatever Irene gave her. 

“My mom invited us for Christmas,” Irene said. 

“Oh…thats nice of her.”

“So we need to buy something for them

and bring drinks.”

“Ok.”

And that’s how Wendy ended up at the Bae’s family Christmas dinner. Mrs. Bae of course was warm and welcoming, even greeting her with a hug. Irene’s father on the other hand was still skeptical about her but remained cordial for the sake of Christmas spirit. Jonghyun, who they hadn’t seen in forever, was there too and he gave Irene a hug which she actually returned. 

“Hey how’s it going?@ he asked Wendy. “She treating you ok?”

Wendy only nodded and followed Irene’s retreating back into the kitchen. 

The meal was delicious and peaceful. Wendy had the rare pleasure of seeing Irene genuinely look happy to be with family despite all that happened. 

“So Wendy‘s been working for you I heard,” Mr. bae said. “Is she good?”

“Perfect and reliable,” Irene replied. 

Perfect? Reliable? Wendy almost froze midbite but didn’t let it faze her. Irene must be drunk as she’d had a few sips of wine.

“Wendy? Do you like working for Irene?”

“Yessir.”

After the dinner, Irene showed Wendy her old room which was pretty empty but still had some things from the business woman’s childhood. “It’s the same as it was when I left for college. All these years.”

Wendy remained quiet but noted the snow falling outside the window. 

“Hey, wash up first. I’ll get an extra pillow for you,” Irene touched her shoulder gently and led her to the bathroom. 

Once they were all settled for bed, Wendy was busy trying to count sheep and fall asleep. She really was getting all confused with Irene’s behavior now. Irene was being all soft and weird. Was it a show to everyone?

She heard the digital clock in the corner sound the hour with a short blip and she knew it was midnight. 

Irene shifted muttering something under her breath. It sounded like a bad dream.

Wendy heard her calling for Yerim and sobs escaping from . the younger woman made the mistake of looking at Irene, who unfortunately happened to reach out to wendy at the same time. 

“Yerimmie don’t go. Don’t leave me…” Irene grasped Wendy’s arm tightly it scared her. 

The next morning, Wendy thought she woke first but irene was already awake and typing away on her phone. 

“Good morning Seungwan,’ irene didn’t even look up from her phone. “Sleep well?”

“Yes…thanks.”

There was no mention about last night. Not like she expected anything but Irene was back to being her usual stoic self. “You can rest more. I’m just working a little.”

They did their gifts exchange, and Wendy was surprised that Irene’s family had a gift for her. It was just a token—just some stationary—and Jonghyun got her a signed album from a group that wasn’t Blackpink. 

She felt Irene stiffen beside her and wondered if the older woman was recalling Wendy’s debut days. 

Wendy thanked them because they really didn’t have to treat her so kindly and she hadn’t really contributed anything except her name on the gifts. 

“Are you sure you’re making the right choice?” Mr. Bae pulled Irene aside after the gift exchange. 

“ I have always been confident in myself.”

“Well what about Suho?”

“That was out of my control,” Irene replied. “Father, I worked very hard to get where I’m at. Suho is barely a fraction of my life.”

“And Seungwan?”

Irene frowned. “She’s working for me now. Believe me, I know what I’m doing.” 

“You’re treating her as if a replacement for Yerim.”

That hit a sore spot for Irene and she had to clench her fists to keep from exploding at her father who had always been so judgmental and harsh to her. He wanted her to be a housewife but she ended up being more successful than her older brother. 

“Im going now.”

For the New Year, Wendy accompanied Irene to her daughters grave. It was a bit awkward and somber since Wendy didn’t know the kid. And irene was definitely very sad. She helped set the flowers and wipe off the snow that had covered the area, and stepped back to watch Irene kneel at the gravestone. 

She couldn’t imagine losing a daughter so early. 

Would my parents miss me more if I had died?

The car ride back was silent and Wendy could only stare out the window where everything was bleak and empty. 

—

Irene was tired from a long day in the office. She opened the door where Wendy was stacking some files at her desk.

Seeing her work made her feel relieved and relaxed that she had something to occupy her. Also it helped irene get stupid stuff out of the way. 

She closed the distance between them and touched her shoulder for her attention. 

Irene felt warm. 

She felt strange.

She leaned in closer, almost nuzzling her ear. 

The sound of her phone woke her up from the dream and Irene shot up to check the time. 
 

10am?! 

Who’s calling me on a Sunday?!

Irene grumpily got up and was immediately agitated that it was Jonghyun. 

She didn’t even bother to listen to the voicemail and promptly collapsed back into bed with Wendy. 

The older woman glanced at her quickly, but the girls back was facing her maybe fortunately. Irene let her knuckles gently press against her back to make sure she was breathing but it was hard to tell under the sheets. 

So she opted for the other option she had done before which was to kick her.

But when Wendy let out a very sleepy sigh, she didn’t need to and instead turned away to try and erase that weird dream from her mind.