Irene likes to believe in the fact that everything happens for a reason. That in the end, everything that happens happens because it's supposed to no matter how exhilarating or devastating the aftermath may be. And as she feels Wendy's grip vanish and watches the two former best friends interact with each other, she finds it hard to figure out what the purpose of this moment is. She sits still in utter silence as she isn't really sure how to feel at what she sees, whether she should be sad, jealous, angry or anything else related to emotions.

"Hi," Rosie breathes out, her hands fumbling with the loops on her jeans. "I was passing by the café and I thought I saw you in the window... and I guess I was right. I mean, I should've known since you've always loved sitting by the window. I even remember that you'd never give up a window seat to me," Rosie wears a small smile at the memory.

Wendy always let me have the window seat..., Irene recalls when they were on the trains.

"Yeah," Wendy awkwardly laughs, still just as surprised to see Rosie as Rosie was with seeing her. "Um, how have you-uh. How have you been lately?"

"I'm doing alright, you?"

"I've been good. Great, actually," Wendy turns back to look and gesture at Irene. "This is Irene. She's my uh...," Wendy hesitates.

For a second, Wendy's hesitation was alarming and under any normal circumstances, Irene should definitely be concerned, but those feelings went away as soon as she had locked eyes with her girlfriend. There was one reason and one reason only as to why Wendy would ever pause on calling Irene hers and Irene knew exactly what it was.

She remembers that the Ravenclaw never got the chance to tell Rosie that she liked girls, let alone her childhood best friend for that matter. Making Rosie aware of Wendy's uality wasn't as simple as it had been with Wendy asking Irene out on a date in front of everyone at Hogwarts or how Irene introduced Wendy as her girlfriend to her family. The difference was that Wendy knew that she was in an environment to which she knew she would be accepted. Essentially, she hadn't felt any pressure when making people aware of her uality because she had nothing to lose. 

But it's a whole other ball game when it comes to telling people in which their reaction was crucial for Wendy. 

So, she quickly realizes that it's not her place to finish Wendy's sentence and instead let the taller girl do it her way. And although the couple lock eyes for a brief moment, Irene can recognize Wendy's nervousness. Despite having not seen her childhood friend for years, Wendy did not lie when she told her that Rosie still had a place in her heart.

During their train delay, Wendy had told Irene that before and even after her friendship with Rosie ended, the question of whether or not the other girl would've been supportive of her has always been something that she would think about ever since she had first come out to Taeyeon. Wendy would like to think that everything would've turned out the way she'd hoped because the two were best friends after all and they had loved each other (albeit to varying extents). But yet again, she thought that her parents would be the same, so Wendy could never really predict how Rosie would've responded.

One thing Wendy did know for sure, though, was that if she had come out back then and Rosie wasn't supportive, she would've been truly heartbroken. As for now, however, Irene wasn't sure of just how big of an impact Rosie's opinion would still have because she (and Wendy) never thought that this day would come. So, Rosie had a piece of Wendy's heart, but the question was how big? 

Now, just in case Rosie's reaction to her uality was still very important to Wendy, Irene decided that she was going to be fine with whatever Wendy had decided to call her. Whether she's called a friend or girlfriend, Irene would understand Wendy's decision and they would deal with it afterwards. 

Then, Wendy wears a warm smile as she faces Rosie, "She's my girlfriend."

(Irene would be lying to say she wasn't ecstatic after hearing that.)

"Your girlfriend?" Rosie asks, her tone unreadable. "As in...?"

"As in we are dating," Wendy says as she turns back for a brief moment to reach out and hold Irene's hand again, giving it a light squeeze which Irene returns immediately. It suddenly became hard for Irene to hide a huge smile in reaction to Wendy's words.

"Oh," Rosie responds blankly. The atmosphere suddenly felt awkward, causing the boy next to the standing girl clear his throat.

"I'm Chris, Rosie's boyfriend," he reaches out to shake both her and Wendy's hand. Then, he looks to Irene. "Um Irene, right? Do you mind coming up and ordering some food with me, I'll get us all something to eat, on me. I would go by myself, but I'm not really sure what you guys would like," he laughs awkwardly.

"Oh no, that's too kind," Irene tries to decline politely. (It wasn't because he was Rosie's boyfriend necessarily, but rather because he was still a complete stranger giving a generous offer and it would feel odd to accept it.)

"Please? I insist," he continues. Irene shares one look with Wendy, hoping to read what the Ravenclaw thinks she should do, but she couldn't read a thing seeing that Wendy's brain must already be in such a mess. So, Irene had two thought processes going on. In her head, she feels that she should stay, but at the same time, something in her gut was telling her that she should go with the boy.

"Okay," Irene finally concedes. She stands up and pecks Wendy on the cheek before leaving with Chris. "Cream bread, right?"

“You know it, baby,” Wendy nods enthusiastically, nearly making Irene forget the weird situation that they were in. But Rosie's stares quickly brought her back to reality.

So, the newly met duo leaves the table and once in line, Irene notices just how long the line actually was, making her a bit nervous. She knows she shouldn't be and it was her choice to go, but she was already starting to wish she was back with her girlfriend, wanting to look over her. Then, she hears Chris speak up again with sincerity in his voice, "Thanks for coming. Sorry for kinda putting you on the spot there, but she needed this."

"Pardon?" she asks confused. 

"Sorry, it's just..," he pauses. "Has Wendy told you about Rosie and their friendship before?"

She's told me quite a bit, actually. 

"Yeah," Irene says instead. "I... I know they were very close, but eventually had a falling out."

"Ah yes," he agrees, appearing relieved that Irene knew about the extent of their relationship. "So, to explain, I wanted to give them some time alone so Rosie could get some closure. I'm sure you're already aware, but the way their friendship ended... It was abrupt and unexpected."

Irene nods as she recalls how the two former friends had stopped talking after one hasty phone call. 

"And it hit Rosie hard and I was there to witness it all. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Wendy since Rosie says it was both of their faults. She had so many questions swirling in head with 'what happened's' and 'what if's'. And although I'm not sure if it was the same for Wendy, I think after months of Rosie dwelling on it, this might be a chance for possibly both of them, not just Rosie, to get clarity."

And there it was, Irene concludes, that this moment had to happen to help Wendy heal.

"You're right," she agrees as she glances back to see Rosie now sitting across from Wendy, both still engaged in conversation. Before she knew it, she and Chris were at the register. After ordering their food, they step to the side to wait for their order number to be called.

"I've got an idea," Chris starts. "How about we leave them be?"

"Like, leave leave? As in, we head home?" Irene’s eyebrows knit together.

"Yeah, actually," he sighs. "I just feel like the amount of time we’ve given them wouldn't be enough if we were to already head back, right? I think the more alone time they have, they'll eventually have to break past the simple conversation to the hard stuff."

Irene knew he had a point yet again, but at the same time, she wanted to make sure that Wendy was ready to even have that conversation. She wanted to double check with the girl before making any decision, so that's exactly what she tells the boy. So, as they had back with the food in their hands and place it on the table, Chris pulls Rosie off to the side while Irene sits back across from Wendy.

"Everything okay since I've been gone?" Irene decides to ask first.

"Surprisingly, yes," Wendy exhales as she grabs the cream bread with excitement. "I didn't think our conversation could still flow so easily like it had in the past. It's like we hadn't missed a beat," and a tiny smile appears on the taller girl's face.

It pangs Irene's heart to hear that, but she tries not to dwell on it. 

"How about Chris? Was he good to you?" Wendy asks back.

"Such a protector you are," Irene laughs. "But, yeah, he's nice. He-uh, he actually came up with an idea, but I want to run it by you first before we do anything and I'm sure he's telling Rosie the same."

"Oh no, don't tell me you're leaving me for him," Wendy says sarcastically, acting offended.

"Oh shut it," Irene cracks a smile before getting a bit serious again. "And I mean.. kind of? But! Hear me out first... He and I think that now would be a good time to get whatever you and her need to get off your chests. Maybe give each other a chance to explain why your friendship ended? For closure.. since you guys haven't talked since that call."

When she’s met with silence and raised eyebrows, Irene is quick to keep going, “Only if you think you’re ready, of course. I mean, it was just an idea-it wasn’t even mine, it was Chris’-and I’m completely fine with whatever you decide. I just think this is a chance for you to get the closure you might need. Oh gosh it’s too soon, isn’t it? You probably still need time, I’m sorry for springing this on you-oh!”

Irene’s ramble cuts short as Wendy pecks her lips and pulls her into a hug. “Thank you for caring,” Wendy mumbles against her. “Honestly, I don’t think I would have ever been ready, so I might as well do it now, right?”

“Are you sure?” Irene asks one last time as they pull apart to look at each other.

“I’m sure,” Wendy affirms and the two look towards the other couple to see if Rosie had agreed as well. Soon after, the boy and girl approach them.

“I guess this is our cue to leave, Irene,” Chris says, confirming that Rosie decided to stay and talk.

Irene nods and turns to Wendy, “I’ll see you later then?”

Wendy nods, “I’ll be okay.”

They all say their farewells and Wendy gives Chris her address in order to take Irene home. Once out of the café, Irene gives one last look at the window to Wendy and Rosie were already talking. From afar, one would never have thought that two of them had a falling out.

-----

When Irene arrives back at the house with her own cream bread in hand, she sees Taeyeon sitting in the living room watching a movie.

“Hey kiddos,” Taeyeon starts without moving her eyes away from the screen. “How was your date-,” she stops when she turns around and sees Irene standing alone. “Where’s Wendy?”

“With Rosie,” Irene says casually, ignoring the way Taeyeon’s jaw drops, and plops down on the couch next to her before taking a bite of her food.

“Rosie. As in Wendy’s first love and heartbreak Rosie?!” Taeyeon sits up. "How are you not freaking out about this?"

"Should I be?" Irene swallows her food, now taking in the weight of leaving Wendy alone with a girl who used to have the Ravenclaw wrapped around her finger.

Taeyeon falters, "I-I don't know."

"It's okay. I feel like a part of me should be too, but I trust Wendy and I think their conversation was a long time coming, don't you think?" Irene tells her (and to herself).

Taeyeon takes a moment, then sighs, "I guess you’re right. This is definitely what she needs.” Then, Taeyeon claps her hands, “Well then!" The older girl's mood suddenly shifts from skepticism to excitement, "Tell me about your date!"

And just like that, Irene's focus shifts as well and her whole body lights up. She recounts the date with a huge smile (and she replaces Wendy's lake with the local ice rink as the Ravenclaw had advised her to say because she knew Taeyeon would ask.) Then, she explains how they went to the café and how they had coincidently ran into Rosie and her boyfriend.

“Rosie has a boyfriend?!” Taeyeon says in shock and Irene just nods eagerly. The two act like young school girls gossiping as they talk about what happened at the café.

“Must’ve been a rollercoaster of emotions for you today then, huh?” Taeyeon chuckles in disbelief at how crazy Irene’s day had been.

“It had a lot of twists and turns, but let’s hope that by the end it’ll be worth it all,” Irene takes a deep breath.

“I think it will,” Taeyeon sends her a supportive smile as she reaches out to give Irene’s hand a quick squeeze.

“Alright, enough about me, how has your day been?” Irene asks.

The two continue to bond as they wait for Wendy to return home. They have some small talk and even continue the show that Taeyeon had been watching. The pair had become so engrossed in the show that they were watching that they didn’t even hear the door open and the footsteps approaching them from behind. They jump in their seats when someone suddenly jumps from behind the couch to then be seated in between them. Irene doesn’t have much time to act before she feels weight against her side and an arm draped across her stomach.

“I missed you,” Wendy says tiredly, making Irene smitten and Taeyeon disgusted after being initially scared.

“And that’s my cue to go to bed now that I know you’re home safe,” the older girl gets up off the couch to stretch then pauses the show. “Goodnight you disgustingly cute lovebirds. And just to clarify, Irene is the cute part and Wendy, you're disgusting.”

“Love you too, sis,” Wendy laughs and so does Irene.

Once they hear Taeyeon’s footsteps up the stairs, Irene speaks up tentatively, “So… how was it?”

Wendy hums, “After you and Chris left the café, we kind of just picked up where we left off before you had returned with the food. So, the conversation flow wasn’t hard at first, but we both knew that we’d have to shift subjects eventually. To be honest, I can’t remember who brought it up first, but eventually we just started to talk about our friendship and how it just started to trickle down during our fifth year all the way to the abrupt ending.”

Irene listens intently as Wendy goes on.

“A part of me didn’t want to tell her it ended for me because I was jealous of the guy on the phone, who we now know was Chris, but at this point, I knew we both deserve honesty. And so, we both explained why our communication broke down in our respective opinions. I don’t really want to get into much, but I just want to say thank you. I didn’t think I’d ever need that conversation with her, but I guess I did. We’re not exactly best friends anymore, but I think we’re going to try and rebuild it.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that it all worked out,” Irene says happily in response. Although, she'll admit to herself that there's still a part of her that feels apprehensive about Rosie. Maybe she’s overthinking it, but she honestly thought Wendy would have had more to say. It was like Wendy was downplaying what had happened, like she was holding something back. Suddenly, Irene felt like a hypocrite. She told herself that she didn’t want to push the girl, but a part of her refuses to believe that something as big as deciding to rekindle a friendship with your first love after a devastating fallout had such a simple outcome.

But due to what the rest of their break had in store, she decided that now wasn’t the time to worry about such things and that if she gets really worried about it, then she’ll bring it up.

“And don’t thank me, all I did was suggest it, you were ultimately the one who decided to go through with it,” Irene continued without a hitch.

Wendy lets out a deep breath, “What a rollercoaster of a day, right babe?”

“You and Taeyeon really are sisters,” Irene giggles. “She said almost the exact same thing. If you thought today was rough, imagine what tomorrow will be like,” she jokes, yet, all at once, she feels Wendy’s body stiffen beside her and she swears she hears Wendy mutter a curse word under her breath.

“I forgot that they’re coming back tomorrow,” Wendy raises herself from Irene’s side and she can practically see the way Wendy’s mood hardens at the mention of her parents, nearly making Irene regret her words.

“Wen-”

“We’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Wendy says as if to alleviate Irene’s anxiousness, but really it sounded like Wendy was telling herself not to worry. It makes Irene want to talk a bit more with the Ravenclaw because throughout the time they’ve been here, it’s always been Wendy trying to relieve Irene from the stress and never the other way around. Irene had just assumed that Wendy was prepared for whatever the outcome was going to be because that’s how it looked from the outside, but looking at the way her girlfriend had been acting since they’ve got here, that clearly didn’t seem to be the case. It was evident that Wendy was just as nervous, if not more, as Irene.

“Wendy...,” Irene trails with a small pout.

“It’s okay, I’m okay. Let’s just go to bed,” Wendy tries to divert as she gets up and extends her hand for Irene to take. “You must be exhausted, especially from having to pretend that you knew how to ice skate, right?”

Irene gasps and stands in shock, “I know how to ice skate!”

Wendy grins and grabs Irene’s hand to start leading her to her room. The Ravenclaw just continually teases her as they get ready for bed and the next thing she knows, they are now lying down. As she starts to hear Wendy’s breathing even out, indicating that she had fallen asleep, Irene’s mind wanders back to moments ago and how Wendy had successfully avoided talking about her feelings.

With Wendy, it was like the two were separated by a window. It was scary, Irene thought, how easily Wendy manages to make Irene feel like the two are side by side, but in reality, Irene is watching from outside through the invisible barrier between them.

A/N: So, I know some of you were prepared to see a jealous Irene, but I wrote her reaction this way for two reasons:

1) Character growth! While Irene is the jealous type, we can see her jealousy be placed to the side because this was a situation where it goes beyond her feelings. Essentially, she wanted to put Wendy's well-being before herself.

2) I also kinda wanted to focus more on the parents as the primary worry while at the Son residence, so I'm pushing Rosie off (will she be back? ;) ) And as you've read, Irene is still apprehensive about Rosie, but she knew that there were more pressing matters at the moment so she's trying not to think about her own personal feelings about the girl. So, is Irene a tiny bit jealous? Probably.

So, I hope you all aren't disappointed of the lack of jealous Irene this chapter!

Also, why do you think Wendy didn't want to talk much about her conversation with Rosie? Is she hiding something? And where did Wendy's confidence about facing her parents go? What's holding her back? Guess we'll have to wait and find out!

Thanks for reading everyone and lemme know your thoughts and theories!

- S (@rv_twice5 on twitter)