As the Son's get closer to the house, Irene can hear the eldest woman talk excitedly about meeting Wendy's "special someone." All that seems to really do is make Irene acutely more aware of the fact that 1) this was really happening and 2) her palms were sweating like crazy. 

She's in the middle of wiping her hands on her pants as quickly as possible when she hears the door open and as she looks up, she's met with four different facial expressions. 

Wendy was tense, Taeyeon was stifling a laugh, Mrs. Son was surprised and Mr. Son had a raised eyebrow. 

Kill me now, Irene thought, realizing how weird she must look right now with her knees slightly bent with her hands on her thighs at different heights. 

In an instant, Irene stands straight. Before she could even embarrassingly stammer out a self-introduction, Mrs. Son comes up to her.

"So," Mrs. Son pauses, making Irene want to shrink and hide. But then the woman wears a kind smile, "You must be the one who has turned my tough little baby into a complete softy, hm?"

Still a bit speechless, Irene bows in respect to both parents first before replying, "Hello, Mr and Mrs. Son and... I guess?" Irene laughs awkwardly and to her relief, so does Wendy's mom but in a much more genuine manner.

"Wendy honey, don't be rude now. Come properly introduce your girlfriend to us!" Mrs. Son says happily with no hesitation in referring to Irene as Wendy’s girlfriend.

"O-Oh," Wendy stumbles forward, clearly just as surprised with how casually her mom said 'girlfriend' as Irene was. “Mom, dad, this is Irene Bae. Irene, these are my parents.”

“It’s so lovely to meet you, Irene!” Wendy’s mom looks about ready to just jump in excitement at the introduction, but Irene couldn’t even feel any sort of solace at Mrs. Son’s warm welcome when Mr. Son was still relatively quiet. Mrs. Son seemed to have realized this as well because the woman eventually gave her husband a nudge, prompting him to approach Irene.

“Hello, Irene,” and just as the Slytherin expected, the man holds his hand out for Irene to shake. 

“Mr. Son,” Irene replies as she meets his hand. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t practiced shaking his hand with Wendy but even then, as she shakes his hand, she can only hope that she’s not squeezing too hard nor too light.

The man’s eyes remain sharp as their hands release, making it hard to tell if Irene has made a successful first impression. She waits to hear him say something, but the next thing he does is break eye contact and looks at his eldest daughter. “You said the three of you prepared lunch, correct?”

“Yes!” Taeyeon says in a preppy manner as if trying to lighten the mood. “Shall we go eat now?”

“Of course, but unfortunately I have some work to attend to first so I won’t be able to join you ladies this time around. But, I should be able to around dinner time,” Mr. Son replies. “Can you just bring a plate to my office, hon?”

Mrs. Son nods and he kisses her cheek in thanks before disappearing down the hallway to his office.

Irene’s shoulders deflate in disappointment. She didn’t want his reaction, or lack thereof, to affect her this much, but knowing herself, she can’t help but be a bit sad. She immediately starts to assume that she had messed up because Wendy’s dad didn’t say much.

“Don’t worry, Irene,” Mrs. Son approaches her and gives her a supportive side hug. “He’s always a bit cold when meeting strangers. Now, let’s go eat! I need to learn more about the girl who turns my daughter into a flustered mess on the phone.”

“Mom!” Wendy says with her cheeks turning red.

--

Lunch went better than Irene had expected. Granted, she was still extremely nervous when talking to Mrs. Son despite the woman being so sweet to the point where it reminded Irene of her own mom. Instead of being asked all the typical relationship questions about how they met and who asked who out, Mrs. Son really just wanted to get to know Irene as a person. The four ladies talk, share stories and laugh as they eat and Irene starts to feel some of the pressure start to lift off her shoulders the longer she is seated with the three of four Sons. 

What really caught the Slytherin’s attention, however, was how she can see from the corner of her eye the way Mrs. Son’s face appears to light up whenever the two girlfriends interact. It was clear as day that the older woman was truly happy seeing the two of them together.

With their bellies full, Mrs. Son offers to wash the dishes despite the protests. However, Irene was able to convince Mrs. Son to let her help since she didn’t really cook and that it was mostly the sisters who were doing everything. So, now, the two are standing side by side in front of the kitchen sink with Mrs. Son washing and Irene drying while Taeyeon and Wendy can be heard bickering about what to put on the TV.

“Thank you, Irene,” Mrs. Son starts as she hands the Slytherin a plate.

“Oh, this really isn't a problem, Mrs. Son. I just want to help out whenever possible since you've allowed me to stay here until the end of the break."

The woman gives out a small chuckle, "I meant thank you for being in my daughter's life." Her smile turns soft, "With the way she looks at you, I… I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time. So, I just wanted to thank you for that."

Irene feels warm at the comment and at the same time a bit downhearted knowing that Wendy really must've had a hard time in the past couple of years. 

"Well, I'm thankful that she's in my life too," Irene admits. "She has completely changed my whole world in more ways than she could ever know."

Mrs. Son wears a grateful smile at Irene's words and the two continue to have a bit more small talk. Once finished, Mrs. Son remembers about Mr. Son's plate. Before she leaves to get it, she tells Irene that she can go and join the two sisters instead of having to wait for one measly plate. Irene does as she's told and when she walks into the living room, she sees one very happy sister on one couch and one very annoyed sister on another.

"What happened?" Irene holds in her laugh as she sits next to her girlfriend who had her arms crossed with an angry pout.

"Sche wohn the schtupihd ghame," Wendy grits her teeth, mumbling. 

"I'm sorry?"

Taeyeon laughs from across the room. "We played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would get to pick what to watch on the TV and as you may have figured out, I won the 'stupid' game."

"Because you cheated!" Wendy snaps. 

"You can't cheat in rock, paper, scissors!"

"Can to!"

"Okay, okay," Irene tries to calm them down. "What were you guys planning on watching anyway?"

"I was going to put on New Girl," Taeyeon answers and both Wendy and Irene reply at the same time. 

"But there are so many other better-" 

"I love New Girl!" 

There's a pause. "You like New Girl?" Wendy asks her girlfriend. Irene nods. 

"Well then what are you waiting for, Taeyeon? Put it on, will ya?" Wendy tells her sister as she leans back into the couch. 

Taeyeon stifles a laugh as she starts the show and Wendy narrows her eyes at her. She doesn't do anything though once Irene starts to cuddle into her side, making her completely forget about her sister. 

They end up binging quite a lot of episodes until Taeyeon gives up the remote to let Wendy pick what to watch next. They are a couple episodes into the latest season of SVU when Mrs. Son calls them for dinner. 

It wasn't until Irene sat down next to Wendy when she noticed the five instead of four plates set on the dining table to remember that Mr. Son will be joining them this time. And just like that, all of her nerves come rushing back in. As if Wendy was able to read her mind, she feels the Ravenclaw grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, reminding her that they are in this together. Then, Taeyeon is seated across from her, smiling with encouragement.

Mrs. Son calls for her husband one more time and soon after Mr. Son makes his way into the dining room and sits at the head of the table with Wendy and his wife at his sides. The tension in the air feels thick as all of them sit together. After a small word before eating, Irene prepares herself for what’s to come.

She’s not sure if she should speak first or wait to hear from someone else. For some reason, it felt different having lunch with just one of Wendy’s parents. Now, it felt like she was in foreign territory. It was at this moment in which she was truly meeting the Sons for the first time.

“Irene, was it?” Mr. Son says first as he takes a sip of his water. The rest of the table quietly eats their food.

Immediately, Irene straightens in her seat, “Yes it is, Mr. Son.”

The man hums, “Has Wendy been treating you well?”

Thrown off by the question, it takes Irene a brief moment to answer, “Very much so. I can easily say that she has treated me with much respect since we’ve met.”

“Good,” he continues to speak in monotone. It was hard to tell what this man was thinking due to his cold exterior, but Irene tries not to let it get to her though as she remembers Mrs. Son’s earlier words.

He continues to ask all of the typical relationship questions and it was then when Irene realized why Mrs. Son didn’t ask such questions earlier. It really did feel like an interrogation since all of the questions were practically directed to Irene and not Wendy. It was as if Mrs. Son, Taeyeon and Wendy weren’t even there. And each time Irene answered a question, she’d always observe Mr. Son’s reaction but his tone nor stature appeared to budge. 

“So then, I assume the two of you are in the same house?”

“She’s in Slytherin, father,” Wendy finally decides to answer, speaking up for the first time since the meal had started.

“Oh,” Mr. Son says in slight shock before turning back to Irene. “It must be hard to choose who to cheer for when the two houses go against each other in quidditch then?”

“Actually, I play for the Slytherin team.”

It was as if the words were magical as they left Irene’s mouth because in an instant, it was like the mood in the room had shifted. Mr. Son leans in on the table with a new look in his eye.

“Really? That’s fantastic!” Mr. Son was clearly intrigued to hear this, but still tried to remain relatively calm.

“Ah, here we go,” Taeyeon jokes. “Quidditch time,” and both Taeyeon and her mom laugh while looking at each other with hope in their eyes.

“Position?” Mr. Son continues. It was a one-word question, but it felt heavy.

“Seeker.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” The man’s face lights up with a smile and Irene and Wendy can’t believe it.

And just like that, dinner replicates the same feeling of ease as lunch had been. Granted, the dinner is mostly about quidditch and explaining the whirlwind that their first game was, but it was still going much better than Irene and Wendy could have ever expected. The two share a smile when Irene manages to make the whole table laugh. For a moment, it all seemed too good to be true.

“So, you really caught the snitch before Wendy?” The man asks in disbelief. If it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Son didn’t look mad when asking the question, Irene would’ve thought Wendy was about to get a scolding from her father.

Irene nods and Mr. Son reaches out to pat his youngest daughter’s shoulder, “Well, I’m glad you found someone who can challenge you, Wendy. You need someone who can create excitement in your life like your mom has for me. And it… it makes me happy to see that you found that person.”

Wendy and her father look at one another and the sincerity in Mr. Son’s voice clearly had some sort of effect on the Ravenclaw.

“Thanks, dad. It really means a lot to hear you say that,” Wendy says and the room starts to feel heavy with emotion.

“Now we just have to make sure Taeyeon finds someone too,” Mr. Son jokes to lighten the mood and it works as small chuckles begin to fill the air (well except for Taeyeon who donned a scowl at the comment).

The quidditch talk passes and both the family and Irene get to learn more about each other. They talk about the two students’ last year of school, Taeyeon talks about her job, the parents share stories about the sisters growing up and of course talk about how they all had spent Christmas.

Time flies as they all conversate and soon enough all that remain are empty plates, full stomachs and a content atmosphere.

“Oh Irene, I forgot to ask,” Mr. Son says. “How did you get into playing quidditch?”

Taeyeon groans at the mention of quidditch again, “You don’t need to answer that if you don’t want to, Irene.”

The reaction makes them all laugh.

“It’s not a problem,” Irene reassures. “Both of my parents played quidditch so I practically grew up to love the sport. You might have actually heard of my mom since she played for the Montrose Magpies and the National Team.”

“Really?” Mr. Son says excitedly. “What was her name again?”

“Hisoo Bae.”

“Hisoo Bae… Bae, I swear there's something about that name that's familiar,” Mr. Son leans back into his chair as he starts to ponder.

“Okay well, I’ve had my fill of quidditch for the night,” Taeyeon stands. “Let’s start clearing the table, yeah?”

The three Son women start to grab dishes and Irene joins in. However, her eyes are still on Mr. Son, waiting to see if he was able to remember who her mom was. Evidently, Irene was able to spot his moment of realization because his eyes widened slightly and he suddenly looked at her. She was ready to hear him say something, but instead he remained silent as he stood to help clear the table too.

Irene wasn’t entirely sure.

But her gut was telling her that something was off.

A/N: hehe....

Don't really have much to say this time around just to build onto the suspense. If anything, this is kinda random but I did make up Irene's mom's name and chose Hisoo because the k-drama Mine was so great and I love that character :)

Happy holidays everyone and lemme know your thoughts here or on twitter!

- S (@rv_twice5 on twitter)