"Miss Irene," Jisoo spoke to the CEO after the meeting. "Can I speak to you a moment?

"What do you need?"

"Apologies if it's too personal, but are you sure that girl is not Wendy the idol?" Jisoo managed to keep from shivering under Irene's cold glare. 

"I told you to mind your own business," Irene replied coldly. 

"YOu need a hair cut," Irene declared that night.

"W-what?"

"You need a whole makeover."

--

Wendy went to therapy again with some of her homework done. The therapists never lost their temper and were very nice, usually asking why she didn't finish or just didn't do it all together.

Today, they had pieces of red string lined up on the table prepared today and she thought some wierd was gonna go down.

"I want you to show me how big you think your body proportions are with these pieces of string."

Wendy did exactly as the therapist said, first her legs, waist, forearms, etc. And after, she measured her actual body proportions with the strings.

She found that the strings that she shaped as the perception of her body was bigger than what the strings actually measured against herself.

Wow, what the hell happened to me? she thought as she stared at the results on the table.

--

For the first time in a while, Wendy tasted the yogurt she was eating and decided that strawberry wasn't bad at all. Irene was surprised when she ate it all without hesitating so much, but said nothing about it. 

"Put these in the shredder for me," Irene said and handed her a box full of old papers from a few years ago. "I'm going to my meeting now."

The door shut closed and Wendy pushed the heavy box towards the paper shredder in the corner of the room. She turned it on and placed the first pieces of paper in, watching in interest as the papers became nothing more that little slivers.

The time passed quickly and she was finished by the time Irene returned.

"Leave it. We're going now."

"Where?"

"To get your hair cut remember? Also, you need more clothes. You can't keep borrowing from my wardrobe like this."

The hair cut came first. Wendy didn't get to decide the style. Irene did.

Irene wanted it short, with highlights, and bangs that covered her forehead.

That took a good couple hours. 

Then, Irene took Wendy to a fairly expensively priced clothing store, which the younger girl  felt uncomfortable to be in.

"Just appreciate I'm actually being nice to you right now, ok?" Irene growled. "If you don't like it here, we'll go somewhere else."

"O-ok..."

"Where do you want to go?"

Wendy gulped because she hadn't gone shopping for anything so she did not really remember shop names and stuff - especially now that Irene put her on the spot. Irene narrowed her eyes and sighed in exasperation. She disappeared behind some racks and came back with jeans and some shirts. "Try these."

A few hours later, they left the store with some new clothes and a new pair of shoes for Wendy.

"Thank you," Wendy said when they got home.

"Worry about paying me back for all this," Irene replied. "I spent too much time and energy on you."

After eating the usual dinner, Wendy went to the bathroom while Irene was on the phone, and stood by the toilet. She almost forced herself to vomit, but then hesitated when she remembered the red strings and how she felt crazy seeing that her mind was hardwired to hurt herself.

"What are you doing?" Irene demanded. Wendy hadn't locked the door so Irene was allowed easy access to slam open the door.

"..."

"Get out." Irene practically yanked her to the bedroom where she threw Wendy on the bed. "What were you doing in there?"

Wendy was struggling to tell Irene that she was not really sure what the hell she was doing, and that she wasn't going to purge. But Irene continued to vent with pure anger in her eyes. "I did all this for you and this is how you repay me? Have you not listened to a single word I said?"

"I...I wasn't going to..."

"Oh really? Everything single time before you have, you disobeyed me when I told you to stay with me. How do you expect me to believe you?"

"..."

"Honestly, my patience is growing thinner by the second the longer I look at you. Tell me, was this all waste?"

Wendy looked away from Irene, feeling guilty for being stupid to even go to the bathroom and contemplate vomiting up her dinner.

"Stupid girl," Irene growled.

Wendy shivered under Irene's wrath. She hadn't been subject to the woman's raging for a few days now. However, now that her head was clearing up a little, she felt like this treatment was ill placed."You're just the same," she whispered.

"Excuse you?" 

The younger girl couldn't believe she let slip up, and she began to back away like a traumatized animal. 

"Say that again, Seungwan."

"..."

"Coward, just as I expected."

Wendy gulped as hearing the words brought back memories of managers and anonymous internet bits belitting her, scolding her, calling her fat - so much hate.

And that's when she realized she had nothing more to lose. She already lost everything.

If she was destined to fail she may as well say what she wanted and be over with everything.

Besides, she still had another option if all went wrong.

Just as Irene was about to leave the room, Wendy dared to do just as Irene commanded before. "You're just the same."

"I know. I have to be." And Irene continued walking out the room leaving Wendy utterly confused and uncertain again.

--

How dare Wendy have the insolence to criticize her and also continue her unhealthy habits? So much time was passed and Wendy was still doing all the wrong things!

That really pissed her off.

You're just the same.

Irene locked herself in her study and screamed in rage. She was so angry. She was angry that her daughter was dead, angry that Suho ing abandoned them when Yeri needed him, angry that everyone was ing superficial to her face because she was a successful CEO, and angry towards herself because she felt ed up too.

Yerim was everything to her, all her heart in that little child. Now her heart was gone, and she was just a ghost under all the success.Actually, she hated the world and whatever sinister spirit took away her only source of happiness.

A new surge of anger filled her and she tore off her shirt and fell to the ground in a bout of tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

You're just the same.

Irene scrambled into a sitting position and panted heavily as she wiped her tears with a sleeve. 

I'm going crazy.

Wendy, you will never understand that you have to be like everyone else to defeat them. 

I'm not crazy.

I need a cigarette.

She staggered towards her desk and sloppily opened every drawer looking for a box of them. Finally, she grabbed one, hands shaking in anticipation because she needed it so bad. But her lighter was out of juice and she felt instantly annoyed, spitting the cig out of and throwing the lighter in the trash.

Stupid Wendy. Stressing the hell out of me! She slammed her fist on her desk. 

Irene drove out in the night at dangerous speeds on the empty highway. Luckily, no police was there to chase her down.

She screeched to a halt and the distinct smell of burning rubbed hit her nostrils.

The treads on her wheels must be half dead by now. But that didn't matter because she had money to buy another car.

Irene drove at a normal speed now and headed to the harbor close by to get some air. 

When she got into a rational headspace, Irene felt a little bad about losing her temper at Wendy even though she did not want to admit it. Thinking about it more, she wouldnt' want Yeri to know what a very toxic person she was. And Irene would never talk to Yeri like that. But Wendy was not her daughter or her family, so did it matter?

She leaned against the railing and stared at teh dark water. No stars tonight. It was so cloudy.

I have everything yet I don't.