"thanks," wendy repeats over and over as people yell out greetings in the halls. she's not having the best day. she got a c on her physics test earlier that morning. it was the average, but she doesn't just do average. she got the wrong boba order too. 

but above all that, sooyoung hadn't greeted her for her birthday. the three others called her simultaneously at midnight. she answered none of them. then she threw them all into a group facetime so she wouldn't have to pick who was her favorite.

because her favorite didn't call her. she would've picked up joy's call first, if she had gotten it. 

"she probably fell asleep," irene said just before leaving the call. she was the last one left when yeri and seulgi decided it was time to hit the hay. "she wouldn't forget. especially not you."

wendy had hoped so. but now she's climbing up the stairs to her room after flunking a test in a class she has with joy, who was probably preoccupying her during the stupid electricity test anyway. she had postponed the student council meeting. the others told her to take it easy on her birthday. 

she opens the door to joy hanging lights and sheer curtains on her canopy bed frame. joy has headphones on. hopping off the bed, she checks the clock when she sees wendy quietly putting her back down. 

"you're early!" she pushes wendy back out the door, and the lock clicks as wendy blinks in shock. 

their hearts race as they stand on opposite sides of the door. 

joy holds one hand on the handle, the other against the door. wendy presses her ear up against the door and hears joy breathing fast and hard. and loud. she smiles to herself

"why are you home early?" joy bites her lip and screws her eyes shut as she tries to come up with an excuse. she's stuck. there's very few excuses available. what else can she say other than "i felt like pampering you." she had better just shut up.

"i wasn't having a good day." wendy admits. joy curses herself. she didn't even notice. maybe she would've known that wendy was going to come home early. 

"i'm sorry. can i just finish up? i'll let you in. promise. then you can talk about it. you'll have me all you want." almost too aggressively, joy tears her headphones off, throwing them onto the bed. she has to make this quick. she was going to cook up some popcorn and arrange some snacks onto a tray and pull out some romantic red velvet valentine's day sheets she bought just for this. those are going to have to wait. she'll finish the lights, turn on the movie, and pray to whichever god listens that wendy likes it.

"sure." wendy hums. joy hears wendy's back slide down against the door.

then a few minutes of faint thuds, presumably from joy jumping on and off wendy's bed. the tv turns on, and wendy hears the trailer to some random show lower in volume. 

"okay." joy opens the door, and wendy scrambles to stand up. "happy birthday, seungwan." between labored breaths, joy throws her arms out in a sort of brava gesture. she wipes the sweat off her brow with her shirt as she watches for wendy's reaction. 

"you're the best," wendy whispers as she eyes the dimmed lamps and the golden lights. she reaches for joy's hand. "lay down with me?" 

she feels all the day's worth of troubles dissolve when joy wraps her arms around her as they settle onto the bed. wendy's body nests against joy's. the remote in joy's hands lays in wendy's lap too. joy tucks her chin onto wendy's shoulder, and wendy really isn't paying attention anymore.

was all of this just an elaborate birthday scheme? could she dare to interpret this as something more? is this still friendly? sneaking into someone's room without anyone but their family knowing wasn't just friends, was it? 

"what was it?"