I must be insane, Irene thought to herself. I must be so sad that I'm feeling sorry for this stupid girl.

She couldn't wake up the girl no matter how many times she scolded and shook her. 

The doctor walked out of the Intensive Care Unit looking very serious and tired since he had been running on his feet more than twenty four hours. There had been an influx of patients recently due to a flu outbreak.

"She's extremely malnourished," the doctor informed her. "It looks like she's been starving for days."

Irene couldnt' believe he was accusing her of starving Wendy, and furthermore they were not even related. However, she did remember locking Wendy up in her study and Irene got herself so drunk she didn't remember to let her out.

"We're giving her supplements and a lot of fluid. She's very dehydrated," the doctor continued when she didn't answer. "She probably would have died if the EMTs didn't get her here sooner."

"I...I fed her," Irene protested weakly. I can't be the cause of another death...

"I suspect she is having an eating disorder," the doctor continued. "She is not the ideal weight range of a healthy 20 year old woman. It would be a good idea to get her therapy."

He continued to talk to Irene about the situation as if she were Wendy's mother. She was already overwhelmed, first with the divorce, her daughter's death and funeral that happened just a day ago, and now Wendy who Jonghyun inconveniently brought into her house, with even more problems to add to her already filled-to-the-brim cooking pot.

The last thing she wanted was having some stranger's problems tossed onto her, and she felt resentful.

How did I become responsible for that stupid girl? 

When Jonghyun finally arrived, Irene was sitting in the chairs in the halllway with her face buried in her hands. 

"Irene, are you alright?" he asked timidly. Despite being the eldest sibling, his younger sister's temper was scarier than his boss.

"This is your fault," she growled. 

"W-what?"

"You brought a girl with an illness to my home!" she stood up and got into his personal space, her finger pointing between his eyes like a gun. "She has an eating disorder. Did you know that?" she hissed. "She's ing...sick! Now I have to provide finances for therapy for her! And they think that I'm her mother!"

Jonghyun gulped. He noticed Wendy's unhealthy slimness, but attributed it to the assumption she had been kicked out and homeless. He had no idea about her eating disorder - although things were adding up from the netizen gossip and gossip around work.

That's how she lost weight so fast.

"I can pay for whatever she needs!' he protested. "Please, Irene, I'm sorry and I didn't know about her condition."

"You better," Irene snarled. "Because I'm not going to waste my time and energy on her."

"Understandable. Don't worry. I"ll handle it."

"Good."

--

When Wendy awoke, she found that she was attached to an IV drip and a few other wires to monitor her health. At first, alarm filled her but even she was too weak to try to sit up.

At that moment, a nurse walked in and talked to her weird - like how someone would talk to a scared puppy at the adoption center. 

They assured her everything was fine and that she would soon recover. Her 'parents' were here to bring her home too.

For a moment, Wendy thought maybe her parents weren't as heartless as when they said goodbye. But the moment JOnghyun walked in, she knew what they meant. The nurse mistook Irene and Jonghyun for family.

Fear and guilt settled in her chest because she remembered she was supposed to be organizing Irene's paperwork. She wasn't sure when or how long she had passed out, but she was sure that she hadn't finished the task before now.

"Hey, Wendy, how are you feeling?" Jonghyun asked.

"..."

He gave her a sympathetic look. "Irene told me about what happened. I'm really sorry we got into this situation."

"What happened to me?"

"Irene found you passed out. You were brought here this morning." 

"She's mad...isn't she?"

"Irene?"

Wendy nodded.

Jonghyun sighed and she knew the answer without him telling her. "Don't worry about it," he assured her. "I'll take care of everything."

The doctor kept her for a while longer to monitor her health, which he was very concerned about. Wendy was considerably weak due to her malnourished condition. 

Irene never came in to see her, which she expected as much. It's not like they were family, or friends for that matter. 

The only real problem she had was the fact that the doctor kept telling her she needed therapy for her eating disorder and a diet plan to help gain back a healthy weight. Wendy, being respectful, did not argue because she had no energy left in her to stir up more problems in her life. However, she felt slightly offended that the doctor was implying that she was being unhealthy by trying to be skinny. She thought she was just fine since she had made this a way of life for a while now. 

The dumb doc didn't understand that this was important to her. She couldn't let herself gain back more weight.

Evening came, and she was discharged. They took her in a wheelchair to Jonghyun's car and loaded her in. 

Unfortunately, she had to go back to Irene's house, and she wished that she could have stayed in the hospital.

It seemed that Irene was obviously waiting for them in her study when Jonghyun walked Wendy back into the house. The woman sat at her deks with her arms crossed. Her eyes were dark fire burning into them.

Irene hardly appeared to regard Jonghyun as family because she barked sharply at him to leave.

"I-Irene, don't get too rough on her ok?" he told her before leaving.

Wendy could hear Jonghyun's car engine come to life in this tense silence between her and Irene, who continued to stare at her expressionless.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Irene growled at her.

The younger girl swallowed nervously and held tight the bottom of her shirt for the only comfort. "i..I'm sorry. I tried to finish the paperwork..."

"I dont care about that."

Oh...

"Unfortunately, the doctor commands that you need therapy, and so, because I don't want to get into any trouble, I have arranged for you to get help for you stupid disorder," Irene practically hissed at her. "You ought to feel better fast because this is a waste of my time and money. ALso, don't even think about disobeying because I will have you kicked out of here too. Got it?"

"Y-yes, M-miss Irene."

"Cut that out." 

"..."

Irene leaned on her desk and narrowed her eyes as she studied the girl before her. "If you hadn't been so keen on being an idol, you wouldn't have gotten yourself in this mess. Beauty means nothing when it comes to money. Trust me. I know a lot of rich people and not all of them are pretty. Even the most beautiful people marry ugly asses because of the same color they like - green (=money)."

Also, making people happy is not going to validate your worth. You  can have all these fans, but have nothing the moment you dispapear out of the limelight. You can be rich as and people will only flock to you because of your assets as a superficial doll.

That's where you are right now," Irene finished. "You are nothing to anyone and therefore you have nothing left in your life. Everything is out of control and all you can think about is not being fat."

Wendy cowered from those poisonouse words. "Y-you don't know what it's like," she protested weakly.

IRene laughed loudly like an old ajhumma (TAEYEON). "I've seen way more than you, Wendy. I've lived longer than you. And I've met enough people to know human nature. believe me, Wendy, if you continue like this, you're better off dead - actually, you are going to die. The world is cruel."

"Oh my, I can't believe I just lectured you," Irene checked her watch. "I'd make you finish what you started, but I thikn that would be heartless of me. You just got back from the hospital. Wash up and think about what I've said. If you want to eat, eat. ANd if you dont' want, then don't. The therapist will deal with your habit. I won't get in teh middle of things."

"Ok."

Irene stood out on her balcony with a newly lit cigarette in her fingers. The wind brushed over her face and the smoke tendrils drifted off into the current.

"This is why I hate being nice," she growled to no one. "I don't want to feel anything to anyone."

It hurt when SUho cheated on her.

But it hurt more that her own daughter died. Just five years old. She hardly saw the world.

But then she remembered her own speech to Wendya nd decdied maybe it was for the better. The world really is too cruel, and maybe Yerim shouldn't have to see how bad and ugly it is. 

Women were supposed to be understanding, empathetic and all that emotional stuff. Irene used to be that way before she battled to become CEO of her blossoming company. She had to become stronger to stand against all the forces against her, to become completely immune knowing that Suho was going to leave her. She had to be strong for her dying daughter because Yerim was scared of dying and Suho was never here when they needed him.

Irene had to be everything for herself, for her company, for her daughter.