I’m in love with Wendy Son.

Loving Wendy had always seemed to have been a maybe to Irene. In her mind, but never out loud. Until now.

“That I love her,” Irene looks at the photograph in her hand. “I love Wendy.”

The air in the room stills as the realization starts to settle. Jennie’s head was hanging low as she nodded while Joy's jaw was held ajar as she looked between the other Slytherins.

“I guess that really does change some things then, huh?" Joy breaks the overhanging silence first. "But I mean, the question of who to choose is still the same, isn't it?"

“How so?" Jennie asks.

"Well, just because she loves her doesn't mean she should try to get back together with her. So, it's still down to whether or not she wants to take that next step with Bona and get over Wendy in the process."

"I'm not saying that she should immediately try and get back together with her either. What I'm trying to say is that right now," Jennie looks at Irene. "Your feelings for Wendy are too strong despite your complications with her and I think it would be unfair to Bona to get in a relationship without sorting it out beforehand. So, I'm suggesting you should at least talk to Wendy first and sort out your feelings about her first instead of going straight into a relationship with Bona. And after that, who you decide to pursue or not pursue a relationship with should be undeniably doubtless."

Joy whistles, "Well , Rene, guess I got to side with Jen on this one now."

“Just like that?” Irene asks in disbelief at Joy's switchup.

“Just like that.”

"So talk to Wendy?" Irene looks between her friends.

"Explain your side but just as important!" Jennie stresses. "Let her explain hers."

"It might be complete bull."

"It might not be."

Irene sighs as she places the photo on her desk, knowing what she'll have to do next.

----- | Wendy: The Next Morning | -----

“Ah yes, another day, another sulky Wannie,” Sejeong pokes Wendy’s cheek as she sits down next to her in the Great Hall.

“I’m not being sulky!” Wendy defends, waving off Sejeong’s finger.

“Yeah, tell that to the scowl on your face,” the Gryffindor laughs. “So, what’s the plan for today? Do you want me to make Irene jealous again?”

“You do realize I never even asked you to do that in the first place?”

“Ah well, you know me. Physical touch is my love language so it’s not my fault if Irene just so happens to be around when I act on it,” Sejeong latches onto Wendy’s arm as if to prove her point when just then, Wendy catches onto a small commotion near the entrance of the Hall. Soon enough, she understands the reason for it.

“Okay, you so did that on purpose this time,” Wendy deadpans when she notices that Irene’s arrival had caused the stir-up.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Sejeong teases and Wendy just goes back to focusing on food. She’s also aware that she should be shrugging the girl off her arm, but the Ravenclaw knew well enough by now that Sejeong would simply latch onto it again anyways so doing so would be pointless.

She’s taking a bite into her food when she feels Sejeong give a quick squeeze to her bicep, but Wendy ignores it. When she feels it for the second time, she looks at the girl, “What is it?”

Sejeong says nothing, instead giving a smile and nodding her head towards something in front of them. Wendy’s eyebrows furrow at the action, yet she still looks in the direction that Sejeong was indicating.

Crap.

Wendy decides to look back down to her food instantly, however, that doesn’t stop the person in front of her from speaking.

“We need to talk.”

It was only four words, but they demanded attention.

Wendy lightly scoffs, “Funny hearing that from you.”

Irene rolls her eyes, “I’m serious, Wendy.”

Wendy observes her ex-... whatever as she tries to read what Irene is trying to play at. Then, Wendy puts down her silverware and clasps her hands together, “Fine. Then, I’m sure whatever you need to say can be said here and now, yes?”

“Not really,” Irene crosses her arms and Wendy notices her glance at Sejeong.

“Then, I don’t really have the time. I’ve got a jam-packed schedule,” Wendy smirks.

“Wendy,” the Slytherin says a bit more impatiently.

“Bae.”

A few seconds of tense staring pass when, to Wendy’s surprise and confusion, Irene leaves her sight. To be honest, she thought Irene would at least put up more of a fight considering how stubborn she knows the girl to be. But maybe she didn’t know Irene as well as she thought.

“Hm, that was- what the hell?!” 

Turns out, Irene had walked to the other side of the table to go and grab Wendy out of her seat.

“Sorry, this’ll just be a sec,” Irene sarcastically says to Sejeong with a fake smile as she detaches Wendy from her. Not wanting to make a scene, Wendy reluctantly leaves her seat and allows Irene to drag her out of the Great Hall by the arm.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” Wendy asks as soon as they reach the staircase, prompting Irene to let go of her arm.

“Where do you think?” Irene answers and it doesn’t take long for Wendy to know where they are heading.

She groans loudly, “But that’s so many flights of stairs.”

“Wendy… please, just- please,” Irene’s voice suddenly sounded near-desperate and that shuts Wendy up.

As soon as they enter inside, Wendy immediately wants to turn around. She’s a smart girl and realistically, she should not even be giving Irene the time of day when all she has done is hurt her. She has given Irene countless opportunities to help fix what they had broken and a part of her has become tired of waiting.

And yet, she stays. Or at least for now.

“We need to talk,” Irene starts out.

“About what, exactly?” Wendy questions.

“Us.”

Wendy laughs out loud in disbelief, “Oh! So, now you want to talk about us. Who would have thought?”

“Look, do you want to have this conversation or not?” Irene huffs out.

“Are you sure that you even want this conversation right now?” Wendy asks skeptically. As much as she had wanted this talk to happen, the possibility of this going nowhere just as it had in the past worries her. She’s not sure how many more arguments she could take with Irene anymore. It hurts her every time.

“Well, I dragged you up here for a reason, didn’t I?”

Wendy gives the Slytherin a once over and then crosses her arms, “So, how do you want to do this then?”

Irene seems to freeze in thought before clearing , “Um... We can sit on the couch first?”

Wendy only nods in response and waits for Irene to speak again. She does not want to be the one to initiate things this time around considering that she has always been the one to do so in the past.

“Okay,” Irene drags out, unable to make eye contact with Wendy as she continues. “I guess we should start about that night… the night I left.”

Wendy’s heart pangs at the reminder of when her world felt like it was all crashing down on her. She remembers how her mind had been racing, questions of wondering what went wrong. She had trouble sleeping that night for the first time in a while as the desire for answers had been eating away at her. And she tried her best to ignore that need after the fact. To ignore the way her chest ached at the sight of Irene after the fact. But some forces are too hard to brush aside.

Wendy gulps, now realizing that she’ll finally have answers. She does her best to prepare herself for what Irene was about to say, but she knows it will be futile. She won’t know how she will react until she hears it.

“Do you know why I left?” Irene looks at her this time.

“You left because you thought I already got what I wanted out of our deal,” Wendy answers, then tacks on. “And you thought I was using you even after we started dating.”

“But it isn’t a ‘thought,’ Wendy. It’s a fact,” Irene clarifies.

“Those aren’t facts, Irene. Do you want to know some facts?” Wendy asks Irene, but starts to answer herself before the Slytherin had the chance to say anything.

“Fact- our relationship was created based on a façade. Fact- along the way I ended up liking you more than I thought I would have. Fact- I started… I started falling for you when I was in the infirmary and woke up to you in the bed next to mine. Fact- you inevitably became more important to me than whatever the hell my dad or anyone else for that matter thinks of me.”

“Fact- you said you'd get to know Sejeong,” Irene cuts in sharply.

“What?” Wendy says in bewilderment. Here was now another instance of Irene mentioning Sejeong and the relevance of her is still completely lost on Wendy. Granted, Wendy has been hanging out with her now, but this is about the past, not the present. “What are you talking about?”

“I heard it, Wendy,” Irene explains. “I heard you.”

Heard? Wendy goes deep into thought. From what she can recall, she doesn't remember talking to any students about Sejeong. 

Who could I have possibly talked to about-

In an instant, Wendy’s eyes widen as she recalls the conversation she had with her dad moments before Irene had left. It was a talk that she tossed to the back of her mind considering how ridiculous her father’s words were and had given it little thought after the fact. But now, everything that had happened following that night suddenly began to make sense causing panic to start settling in Wendy’s gut. 

She could only begin to imagine how her own words must have sounded to Irene.

“Irene, let me explain,” Wendy rushes out, unsure if Irene's strong-willed nature would even give her a chance. If she was in Irene’s shoes, she probably wouldn’t have given herself a chance either.

“Well, that’s why we are here, aren’t we?” Irene says, her expression hard to read.

Wendy momentarily sits stunned at Irene’s response, but soon regains her composure, “Okay so, looking back at this now I know this might sound like complete and utter bull, but I only said it so my dad would drop the subject. Knowing him, he wouldn’t let the whole Sejeong thing go if I didn’t agree to it."

“Even if that’s true, you should have never agreed in the first place.”

“You’re completely right. I should have defended us more. I should have defended you more,” Wendy admits. "But I was an idiot and I didn't do that. Instead, I took the easy route because I didn't want to cause drama again within my family. For some stupid reason, I thought the best thing for both my family and for us was to just comply with what my dad was asking of me so he would never bring it up again and we’d move on from it. I was tired of all the fighting. Tired of always being angry with him. I just wanted it to end after all these years. And you know how strained my relationship with him was, so can’t you understand where I was coming from at the time?”

Wendy catches her breath after speaking so urgently as she nervously waits for Irene’s response. It felt like an eternity of silence. 

“I… I actually understand,” Irene reveals unexpectedly sooner than Wendy had thought. Even the Slytherin herself seemed surprised at her reaction. “I can see why you would think that way.”

Wendy feels as if a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She finally knew why Irene had left her so suddenly that night and thankfully, Irene allowed to listen and accepted her reason as to why she did what she did. 

“But were you ever going to tell me about that conversation with your dad, at least?” Irene asks next, as if she had a whole list of questions prepared in her head already.

The Ravenclaw pauses as she takes a moment to think back, “To be honest, no. I didn’t see the point because I was never going to act on it anyways.”

Irene laughs incredulously as she gets up to walk around, “You do realize that seeing you with Sejeong the first day back from break isn’t exactly supporting that statement?”

“Well, we’re not together anymore so does it really matter now?” Wendy says back and the air becomes thick for the nth time that day. 

Irene paces around the room and Wendy can only watch in silence, both of them trying to collect their thoughts again. The Ravenclaw contemplates leaving the room as she gets the sense that this talk will once again end in pointless suffering on both ends, but Irene speaks up again.

“You really weren’t going to tell me?”

“I really didn’t see the point,” Wendy reiterates as she stands up in place to match their eye level. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal since I lied to him.”

“But it is a big deal, Wendy!” Irene stops pacing to face her. “I would have been under the illusion that your dad actually liked me when little do I know that my muggle-side irks him. And what if your dad talked to Sejeong’s and then she knew about it? For all we know, I probably would have found out about you and your father’s little agreement through her.”

Wendy blinks a few times. Irene was somewhat on the dot about the Sejeong situation. The only reason why Sejeong was seen with her the first day after break was because Mr. Son had talked to Mr. Kim the night before, thus subsequently telling the news to the Gryffindor.

Irene smirks with a bitter chuckle, “My god, she was right.”

“What- who?”

“Jennie. She said we at communication,” Irene laughs to herself in irony. “And here you are, proving her right.”

Wendy scoffs at the accusation and then, something dawns on her, “As if you were any better. Maybe instead of putting all the blame on me, why didn’t you tell me that you overheard me and my dad the night you left? Even if I wanted to tell you about that conversation right after it happened, I wouldn’t even have had the chance considering how quickly you left and how you barely let me have a word in. So, why give me on not telling you about the conversation right away when you probably would have never given me the opportunity to do so in the first place?! I mean, look how long it took to even have this current conversation!”

The Slytherin is taken aback for a moment, pausing to figure out how to respond and Wendy can't help but feel a little proud of that.

"Well- It's not like you deserved the chance for me to hear you out after what I heard!"

"But what you heard, you were never supposed to hear!"

"But I did, Wendy,” Irene wavers and the air seems to still. “I did and it hurt like hell hearing you agree to that. And I get why you did it now, I do, okay? But it still ing hurt."

Wendy winces as she hears the pain in Irene’s voice. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as her head hangs low–it was suddenly difficult to meet the Slytherin's eyes. It was like taking a bullet to the heart seeing and knowing that someone she held so dearly close was suffering because of her.

“So then, what now?” Wendy asks as she sorrowfully raises her head. “Is there even a point in me saying that I’m sorry? Because, I am sorry, Irene. I am so ing sorry for all of it and you can brush all of that off if you want but… just know that I really cared for you, Irene. I lo- I liked you more than what words could describe and I- I don’t know what to think or do when I'm around you anymore."

Irene doesn't say anything and honestly, Wendy can't tell if the silence is good or bad even with her near slip-up. On one hand, it means she may not hear Irene say something that will make her heart drop. But on the other hand, it might just mean Irene has had enough and given up on her.

And Wendy can’t help but think that maybe she deserves to be.

The Ravenclaw pinches the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut as she lets out a ragged breath. Then, she opens her eyes and catches Irene’s unreadable gaze, "Well then, I um- I think it’s clear to the both of us now that we’re just not good for each other. We’ve… We've hurt each other enough, don’t you think?”

----- | Irene | -----

"And then she just left?"

Irene nods her head at Joy after recounting what had happened that morning as the three best friends sat on her bed in a circle.

"And you didn't say anything back?" Jennie adds.

"I mean, at that point, I just couldn't think properly. I was processing so many things at once and I blanked," Irene reveals. "Going into it, there were a lot of things I expected to happen. I expected the confusion, the fighting and the… the hurt. I expected some clarity and maybe even a possibility of understanding."

"But I didn't expect-," Irene fiddles with her fingers and her shoulders fall. "I didn't expect for her to…”

Neither Joy nor Jennie say a thing, instead letting Irene take her time to speak her mind. Honestly, Irene was not sure if she wanted to finish her sentence because a part of it simply felt wrong to say considering everything that has happened. Not to mention that it was actually something that only occurred to her after she saw Wendy leave the room.

She debates on holding it in, but remembers that it may not do her any good in the long run to suppress such things again.

“I didn’t expect her to walk out on us,” Irene confesses. “Before I could even fully realize it myself, I found that there was always something deep down that made me think that we’d be okay because it’s us. It was me and Wendy–that despite our flaws and mistakes, it would still be me and her until the end because we would always find our way back to each other. But this time, it looks like we took a wrong turn.”

Joy and Jennie begin to rub her back in comfort.

"And shouldn't I be okay with that?" Irene leans into her hand. "I mean, our conversation just led from one fight to another and frustration kept piling on, so maybe she was smart to leave first."

"So then… it's over?" Jennie asks tentatively.

"I don't know," Irene buries her head into her hands.

"Do you want it to be?”

A/N: At last, everything has been cleared up... but at what cost?

Now, one question really remains: Has Irene given up on Wendy just as the Wendy thinks?

Thanks a million for the continued support! I read every comment and I appreciate each and everyone that you leave--it keeps me motivated in writing more than you may think. See ya in the next chap, my lovelys <3

- S (rv_twice5 on twitter)