As they laid opposite each other, with their eyes perpetually locked on one another’s in the room her parents had cleared out for them, numerous thoughts swam through Irene’s mind. Amongst which was just how much she loved Wendy and how she was certain, she would never let go of Wendy in this lifetime.

If Irene were by herself, she would probably have sunk into despair for a few days before she got a grip of her life once more, bury this incident deep within herself and tried to move on with her scarred heart. However, with Wendy by her side now, she was made to see and recognise other facets of life that mattered so much more to her. Irene fully trusted in Wendy and did not even ask how long they would be out here for. Irene had completely casted all her worries about work aside.

“Thank you, Wendy,” Irene said and it was after those words were spoken that the first of her tears for that day had appeared and she let it show.  

Wendy had a soft smile on her face, so velvety soft that Irene could not help but lean forward and steal a kiss from her lips.

As they broke apart, Irene could still feel the heat radiating off Wendy’s face. Whether it was from the alcohol or the kiss or both, she could not tell, but one thing was certain. Wendy was also just in love and enjoying this moment just as much as her.

“You are indulging my father too much. He is going to have high expectations of you.”

“It doesn’t matter. I will just try and live up to his expectations. For the rest of my life,” Wendy said, her curved lips was so beautiful to look at and Irene stole another kiss from her.

This time round, Wendy had kissed back much more deeply and they had intertwined their bodies with one another more snugly. Irene’s tears had fallen and continued to slide down the side of her temples as they kissed.

This second time they broke apart. Irene had broken down into a tearful sob. “I want to quit, Wendy.  I am tired of getting criticisms and being witch-hunted like this. I don’t ever want to feel the need to explain for myself, they don’t even listen to what I say anyway. I just feel so terrible.”

The smile on Wendy’s face had vanished and replacing it was a look that seemed to share Irene’s pain. “I know… and I hate to see you get hurt like these. There are so many times where I wish I could just whisk you away from the public eye and have you all to myself just so we can have our peace and quiet.”

Irene nodded and urged Wendy to keep speaking, knowing that her lover still had unsaid words.

“But… I know… you take pride in your work… There is still some passion left in you for the work you take on and from time to time I witness that spark in your eyes. The very same spark that your younger sister has when she spoke about entering the entertainment industry. Money is your biggest motivation but… you had passion and that passion, though dim, is still burning softly within you.”

Irene swallowed. She had no thoughts on Wendy’s words at the moment but she was certain that she would most certainly think about and reflect on them later on.

“It’s late, Irene… let’s sleep and think about more things tomorrow. I promised Father and Mother Bae that we would be helping out at the restaurant tomorrow. What do you think? Shall we back out?” Wendy asked sheepishly.

Irene shook her head, tears had semi-dried on her eyes and whatever was left, Wendy had brushed them aside with the pad of her thumb.

“No, let’s help out tomorrow.”

Wendy chuckled. “Then we better rest well tonight. The last time I helped out at a restaurant was almost ten-years ago. I am sure I am going to get hollered at tomorrow.”

Irene laughed too as she held Wendy by her wrist. “Ridiculous, father and mother dote on you too much to holler at you.”

“That is true too,” Wendy said unabashedly. “But let’s sleep early so we won’t screw up tomorrow and be more hindrance than help.”

Irene nodded her head in agreement. The pair shared more caresses and snuggled into each other as they rested for the night.

**

Business was as usual in the morning that day, but only until midday. After that, news began to spread through town that the lookalike of famous Korean pop idol, Irene, was working at the Bae restaurant and by night, the restaurant was bustling with people. The line that had formed outside the restaurant was so long that Jimin had to call her friends over to manage the crowd, both inside and outside of the restaurant.

Wendy seemed to have anticipated this and had prepped Irene to not react to any questions from the patrons and only respond as a normal cashier would with a friendly smile on her face. Initially, Irene found it awkward to ignore the questions but after a while she got used to it. A few patrons had requested to take a photo with Irene and she agreed to do it for a few people who were more polite to her. The rest who were rowdier, were managed by Wendy and her father, who then escorted them out.

At the end of the day, the family was deadbeat. Even the last plate of dish was ordered by the customer and there was nothing left over. Once more, Wendy had everything taken care of and ordered dinner from another restaurant for the entire family.

The same thing happened for three consecutive days and Irene found herself relishing in her cashiering duties. She could even handle demanding and tougher customers on her own. Some of whom even enquired about her recent scandal and she realised that she was no longer affected by their comments so greatly.

However, something else bothered Irene. For the past few days, Wendy seemed to have increased number of calls and she wondered if she was keeping Wendy from more important duties in her life. Irene could sabotage her own career all she wanted but she could not impede Wendy on hers.

That night, when they back in their room alone and when they were giving each other shoulder massages, Irene had finally asked.

“Wendy, are we hiding out here for too long? Has it been affecting your work?”

Wendy faced her and asked in an all-serious tone. “What made you think that?”

Irene suddenly felt queasy but blurted out her observations. “I saw you had to excuse yourself multiple times the past few days to take multiple calls. Each time, you had a very serious looking expression on your face so I was really worried.”

Wendy had her lips pressed into a thin line for a while before she divulged her plans.

“You have nothing to be worried about. I am managing things well… too well in fact. I am not sorry for not telling you earlier but now that I know you have enough mind capacity to worry about me then perhaps it is time I tell you.”

Irene looked at her expectantly and Wendy wondered how she would take to learning what she had been up to all these times. “I have gotten Joy’s help to deal with the articles and in order to do that, I have also gotten Yeri to help us out in piecing together a few counter evidences of our own.”

Irene blinked. “What do you mean?”

“What I meant was… I had Yeri to speak to the director who had remarked poorly about you… and find out what her motives were. We are getting somewhere with the director since… we have some materials to exchange with her… don’t ask what materials they are… they do not concern you.

“And that video which Yuki had managed to take of you. I made Yeri plant a bug in your jacket earlier… before the audition… so everything was recorded. Regardless, we needed time to extract and piece together things that would help clear your name as much as possible. Fortunately, the bug caught everything with sufficient clarity… from when she threw insults at you to trigger you. Even the sound of the slap during the audition that was not in the script was caught as well.”

Irene was befuddled and completely at a loss for words. It was at this point that she remembered that Wendy was at the top of the game in her industry and how she got there was pretty apparent. Her meticulousness and shrewdness were unrivalled.

“I know… I have used some underhanded means… but I hope you would not reject my help, Irene. You know it yourself that you have been victimised and it is only fair that we pay it back. Naturally, there are some legal concerns about planting the bug on you and I have consulted my legal team on that. We shall await the response on their take on this in the context of self-defence. In the meantime, Joy is also helping me track down all the writers who were perpetuating ill-image of you and see if we can reach some kind of consensus.

“Regardless, we have the upper hand in various aspects here. I wanted to keep you out of this as you are also a clueless party and there is no way anyone can find fault in you. If anything should happen, I will bear the consequences.”

Irene had opened and closed a few times, baffled at the lengths that Wendy had gone to I order to protect her. Tears rolled down Irene’s cheeks as she took in everything.

“Why did you… You… you shouldn’t have to… It is my career… it is my own issue,” Irene said tearfully, her voice trembling.

Wendy let out a short laughter and cupped Irene’s face. “Your issue is my issue. Your happiness is my happiness. I cannot stand the idea of you being upset or mistreated in the industry. I want you to emerge victorious from this scandal, I want you to be a symbol of anti-cyberbullying in the entertainment industry, I want you to be proud of yourself and stand tall in this industry. But if you ask me to stop, I would respect your decision and do so too.”

Irene’s bottom lip trembled and more tears fell as she seem to plunge deeper in thoughts.  Finally, Irene had reconciled her thoughts and feelings and conveyed it to Wendy. “No, don’t stop. I want your help. I need your help. I want to stop all these atrocities. I want a payback.”

The rock that had been sitting heavily on Wendy’s heart seemed to have been removed and Wendy laughed again, her laughter deeper and more genial this time round. “This is the Irene Bae Joohyun that I know. The feisty Korean pop idol who would not bow down to the pressures of the public, who would fight back tooth for tooth, and become something greater.”

Irene smiled too despite tears flowing down. “I will… I am your Irene Bae Joohyun. I would not be defeated so easily. Even if I want to quit the industry, I will quit with pr