“Did you hear? Irene’s leaving in a couple of days.”

Wendy drops her pen out of surprise and glances up from her study notes. Sooyoung frowns, then gives her a small smile and nudges her foot with her toe.

“You didn’t know?” She says softly, even though it’s clearly obvious that Wendy indeed did not know.

What a way to rub further salt into the wound.

Wendy chooses not to answer, instead looking down at her papers. She picks up her pen and tries to continue with her note taking, a dent forming in her forehead when she can’t concentrate and find the right words to write. She doesn’t realise she’s gripping onto her pen a little too tightly and puncturing a hole into her paper until Sooyoung clears and nods with her head at her hand.

Wendy averts her gaze again and sighs, gathering her papers together and slotting them inside her folder. She opens her laptop and tries to avoid Sooyoung’s knowing look from across the table.

Studying doesn’t come easily to her anymore, not when her mind is occupied with thoughts of Irene.

Wendy sits beside Yeri on the bus, smiling gently when she hands her the right earphone. She places the earbud into her ears and closes her eyes, allowing the music to envelope her.

They manage to get one song into their bus ride when Yeri tugs on the earphone and it falls out of her ear and into the space between them.

“Why did you do that?” Wendy says, reaching over to pry the earbud from her fingers.

Yeri shakes her head and holds on. “Did you hear about Irene?” She still refuses to let go of the stupid earpiece.

Wendy sighs and leans her head against the window, wincing when the bus runs over a pothole and her head bumps against the glass. Bad idea. “Yes, Sooyoung told me.”

Yeri’s lips curl into a tiny smile and she pats her knee. “When are you going to tell her?”

“Tell her what?”

“That you like her, silly. You’re going to lose that chance soon.”

“What if she doesn’t like me back?” Wendy asks, twisting her body to look at Yeri. 

Yeri plays with her fingers and hands her the earphone.

“You don’t know that until you try. I don’t see why anything should be stopping you.”

Wendy takes the earpiece from her and exhales slowly, her shoulders slumping when Yeri squeezes her knee and relaxes back against the seat.

Maybe she’s too afraid of losing everything without even trying in the first place.

It’s nonsensical. It’s absolute rubbish. It’s almost near lunacy.

Yet Wendy finds herself standing in front of Irene’s locker as she fumbles with the letter in her hands. She feels young and sixteen again even though she’s twenty one and definitely knows better. She switches the envelope back and forth between her fingers to keep a hold of her nerves, gasping when the letter slips through her fingers and drops onto the floor.

She bends down and reaches for the envelope, only to blink when another hand comes into view and beats her to it. She straightens up, her eyes widening when she realises the kind stranger who has helped her.

“Hi, Seungwan,” Irene says, still holding onto the letter.

“Joohyun,” Wendy says, a lump forming in when she can’t think of anything else to say. Her eyes dance around nervously as she tries to look anywhere but Irene and that’s when she notices what Irene’s holding onto.

The letter!

“I believe this is yours?” Irene says kindly, lifting up the letter but not making any indication to pass it back to her.

Wendy blanches and snatches the envelope from her fingers, internally cringing at the astonished look on Irene’s face as she holds the letter close to her chest.

“Thank you, Joohyun!” Wendy squeaks, hanging her head low and pushing past Irene to power walk away. She hears Irene call out her name but she refuses to acknowledge her, instead picking up her pace and turning around the corner – anywhere to get away from the embarrassing situation.

Wendy ducks inside an empty classroom and slumps down against the door, her heart thumping wildly at the events that had transpired seconds ago.

Stupid letter.

Stupid crush.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The second time Wendy tries confessing to Irene, she’s not even sure why she enlisted Seulgi’s help. She finds herself sitting in the cafeteria beside her friend who absentmindedly strums the guitar and reads through her study notes for their next class.

Wendy tries to control her nerves but she finds herself glancing up at the clock on the wall every few seconds. Irene’s supposed to appear any minute now.

She’s been planning this the entire night.

Music. Singing. A confession. And hopefully a girlfriend.

Wendy blinks when Seulgi stops her strumming and turns to her with the look of an epiphany and a sheepish smile written all over her face.

“I just remembered. Irene said she was going to stay back to ask her lecturer some questions and then head off to her last tutorial.”

Wendy slams her face onto her notebook and groans.

There goes her second chance.

Wendy sits on the bleachers alone and stares at the empty sports pitch. She sighs and closes her eyes, exhaustion overcoming her when she remembers that Irene’s leaving tomorrow and she still has yet to tell her what she thinks of her.

Maybe this is a stupid crush after all.

“Seungwan?”

She opens her eyes, blinking when Irene crouches down in front of her so that they’re eye level.

“What are you doing here alone?”

Wendy smiles and pats the seat beside her, her heart racing when Irene settles down beside her. “Just thinking.”

Irene laughs and pokes her side. “Mind telling me what you’re thinking about?”

Wendy feels her heart drop to her stomach and blushes. She turns away and stares out into the sports field again.

Now, what would be the best way to run away?

“It’s nothing. It’s stupid anyways.”

Even though she’s not facing her, she can sense Irene’s demeanour shift into something more gentle. “I don’t think your thoughts are stupid.”

Wendy chuckles and shakes her head. “Believe me, if you were me you’d think it’s stupid too.”

She almost chokes when Irene replies to her almost immediately without any hesitation.

“Try me.”

Wendy feels tighten and steels herself to hold Irene’s gaze.

It’s now or never, she thinks.

“I’ve had a crush on you for a few months which makes it silly and stupid because you could have anyone in the world and you’re leaving tomorrow so why would you even have feelings for someone like me when we can't even be together?”

Wendy breathes quickly, looking elsewhere when Irene’s eyes bore into her. She stands up from the bleachers and leans over the railing to stare out onto the sports pitch again.

Now, what would be the best way for the ground to swallow her up?

She hears Irene rise from her seat and step behind her. “So it took me leaving for a few days for you to confess to me?”

Wendy frowns and turns around at Irene’s words. Something’s not adding up.

She’s so sure that Sooyoung and Yeri had told her that Irene’s leaving.

“I thought you were leaving. Like leaving this place. Like leaving forever and not coming back.”

Irene giggles – god is it ever so cute – and tilts her head to the side. “I am, for a conference. I’ll be back in a few days,” She says, smiling when Wendy’s face is a mixture of confusion and cognisance. She nods when Wendy shakes her head and steps back, as if not believing her words.

No, they wouldn’t. Sooyoung and Yeri wouldn’t dare to – of course they would. Who is she kidding. Of course her best friends would devise a plan to get her to confess.

Wendy turns to walk away, stopping when Irene’s hand encircles her wrist. “Where are you going?”

“To find Sooyoung and Yeri, my stupid friends,” Wendy says, her breath hitching when Irene’s arms slip around her waist and pull her back into her arms. She feels Irene place her chin on her shoulder and bend down to lightly kiss her skin. Wendy flushes red and grips tightly on Irene’s arms, sensing a smile curve its way onto Irene’s face as she raises her head and pecks her crimson cheeks.

“I’m not going to let you go; not when you’re in my arms like this,” Irene says quietly into her ear, slowly turning her around so that they face each other.

Wendy peers up into Irene’s eyes through her eyelashes, euphoria blossoming in her heart when Irene holds onto her hands and presses light kisses on her knuckles.

“Seungwan,” Irene breathes, entwining their fingers and leaning forward to press their foreheads together.

Wendy grins against Irene’s lips.

“You have me, Joohyun.”

Let’s just say I’ve been thinking about Wenrene a lot so I wrote something short and posted this in its unedited glory hahaha

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