Irene wasn’t sure if Wendy was taking furtive glances at Seulgi and Joy because she finally found out, or if she actually believed that they were dating. Her curiosity was fulfilled when Wendy sidled over to Irene and leaned close.

“Do you ever remember Joy giggling? I swear I’ve only heard her laugh like a maniac in any case.”

Irene shrugged.

“Well,” Wendy continued, “I’m not quite sure that Joy actually has a thing for Seulgi. I mean, Seulgi’s hot and all, but they don’t have that chemistry, ya know?”

“Hmm.”

“And it’s been a week or so, but they don’t hold hands. Look!” Wendy pointed at the taller duo. “Seulgi only ever grabs Joy’s wrist. No interlocked fingers or any of that stuff.”

Indeed, Seulgi absolutely forbade Joy from doing more than a friendly peck on the cheek or arm around the shoulders. It made Irene smirk in victory on the inside, but Wendy had only just caught on.

“That’s it, I’m gonna ask them. Aren’t you curious? Everything happened so abruptly!”

Irene shrugged again. “And you only recently found that weird?”

Eyes and mouth widening in realization, Wendy shoved an accusatory finger into Irene’s space. “You knew!”

“You’re the one who’s slow. Yeri caught on in the first three days.”

“You were fine with Seulgi acting lovey-dovey with Joy?”

“Shut up!” Irene hissed. “You act as if I own Seulgi or something.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow, unconvinced at Irene’s attempt to downplay her crush on the monolid girl. “I’ve seen you drooling over her.”

That earned the blonde a smack to the arm.

“Ow! Hey, you keep being mean to me, and I’ll tell Seulgi about your crush!”

“Oh yeah? Then I’ll tell Joy about yours!” Irene turned her head sideways. “Plus, I honestly don’t have any intentions of getting together with Seulgi,” she whispered to herself.

“What? What did you say?” Wendy gripped the table’s edge with both her hands, momentarily concerning Irene. Her knuckles turned white, and Irene could swear that the wood cracked slightly.

“I…” Irene faltered, before puffing her chest out again. “I’ll tell Joy about—”

“Shhh, they’re coming!” Wendy slapped a hand over Irene’s mouth.

“Wannie, Rene! They ran out of whipped cream, but I’m willing to share some of mine if you guys want.”

The tall, short-haired girl excitedly held up the two cups without whipped cream but slowly, realization dawned on her face.

“Uhhh, what are you doing? Why in the world is Wendy’s finger shoved into your nostril?”

“Huh?”

Both of the smaller girls screamed as they noticed that Wendy had, in fact, poked her index finger into Irene’s right nostril in the process of zipping . Wendy shoved Irene away from her, painfully resulting in the blonde sliding out of her seat in the booth onto the ground and the raven-haired girl smacking her head into the wall beside her.

Joy worriedly rushed over to Wendy, almost throwing the cups onto the table (they would have spilled if Seulgi hadn’t caught them in between the cups she was holding) and squatting down to fret over her friend. Seulgi slid in the booth opposite Irene and reached out a hand to hold the wrist of the wincing girl, who was cradling the side of her head.

“You okay?” Seulgi’s voice was soft, and when Irene looked up, the corners of her eyes turned downward in concern. Irene’s breath caught in her chest.

“It hurts a little, but I don’t think I have a concussion or anything. I’ve dealt with worse before.”

At that statement, Seulgi sharply inhaled. Worried that Seulgi was choking, Irene leaned across the table, only for Seulgi to cradle Irene’s head with her hand, trapping Irene’s own between her head and Seulgi’s palm.

“What in the world makes you say that?”

Irene furrowed her eyebrows. “I just...my childhood friends liked smacking people’s heads.”

Seulgi gave her an unreadable look before attaching her other hand to Irene’s head and rubbing her injured spot in small circles. Despite her uncomfortable position, Irene relaxed and sighed.

“This is all because of you!”

Both girls at the booth turned to see Wendy crying out at Joy, who looked utterly confused.

“What the hell are you talking about? You’re the one who catapulted yourself onto the floor.”

“Yes, but it was because of you…” Wendy trailed off, saying something none of the girls could hear.

“What?”

“I said, if you hadn’t…” Wendy dropped back down into lower decibels, making Irene wonder if she was speaking at all.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Wannie, if you don’t speak up, I’ll—”

“I was going to ask you out first, okay?!”

Wendy’s outburst made Joy and Irene jump, the latter hissing in pain at the sudden movement. She sat down soon enough though, feeling Seulgi’s worried gaze on her.

Joy didn’t seem to recover as quickly. She stared dazedly at Wendy before suddenly breaking into a wide, somewhat suspicious-looking grin.

“Ha! Finally!”

“What?” This time, it was Wendy who was confused.

Joy only booped Wendy’s nose before getting up and motioning for Seulgi to scoot in just a bit more. Seulgi complied.

“Wannie, sit.”

Wendy crossed her arms from her position on the floor. “I’m not a dog. And I’m already sitting.”

Joy rolled her eyes. “Next to Irene in the booth, idiot. I need to talk to you.”

“Fine.” The shorter girl slid back into the seat she had launched herself from earlier, Irene moving to let her have more space. “You want to talk. Talk.”

“Yes,” Joy breathed out. “I want to talk.” There was a moment of silence in which Irene and Seulgi gave each other brief glances, while Wendy looked like she wanted to cry.

“Are you going to tell me, or…”