----- Dec. 23 -----

When she wakes up, she realizes that Wendy was no longer in the room. In a way it eases her mind knowing that she wouldn't have to see the person who was the last thing she thought of before going to bed. Yet, at the same time, she realizes that Wendy was still that first thing she thought of when waking up too.

"Well, isn't that just great?" she says sarcastically to herself.

After getting ready, she heads downstairs. Irene prepares herself yet again for her impending doom for when she'd see the girl and have to act all lovey-dovey, pretending as if her brain wasn't completely scrambled. However, the Ravenclaw was still nowhere in sight.

"Hey mom, have you seen Wendy?" Irene asks when she spots her mom doing a puzzle in the living room.

"You two really seem attached to the hip, huh?" her mom smiles before patting on the couch cushion, "Come here, hon."

Once Irene sits down, her mom tries to tell her something, but the woman starts to laugh. Irene furrows her eyebrows in confusion, hoping her mom will explain soon.

"Oh, I'm sorry," her mom giggles. "It's just that your father is trying to give Wendy the 'Don't break my daughter's heart' talk right now, but I've got a feeling your dad is more nervous about it than her. You know, he's never done this before so he was up all night practicing what he was going to say-"

"Wait. Dad's doing-right now!?" Irene says in a panic at first, but then eventually finds herself laughing alongside her mom. The thought of Wendy probably pissing her pants right now makes her want to die in laughter and immediately brings up her mood.

Suddenly, an idea pops into her mind and she looks at her mom, "Should we go eavesdrop on them?" and her mom nods eagerly.

"You read my mind!"

The curious pair sneak their way towards the entrance to the backyard porch and sees that the sliding door was cracked just enough to which they could hear them. With the right angle, Irene and her mom were able to see Wendy, but not her dad.

"I see," she hears her dad's voice. It sounded much more serious than expected. "Well then, I'm just going to ask you one more question, okay?"

"Yes sir," Wendy's voice unwavering to Irene's disappointment.

"Now, regardless of what you told me so far, what's important to note is that my daughter still wanted us to meet you. The only other people she introduced us to were her two friends after all these years. And now, she brought you, so there's no doubt in my mind that you must mean a lot to her."

Does she? Irene asks herself. N-No! Of course not! Well.. maybe a little?

"So, now I've got to ask, how much does she mean to you?"

"That's a loaded question," her mom whispers, but her playful tone has now disappeared. Clearly, her mom was just as interested in Wendy's answer now. Irene gulped. How was Wendy going to pull this one off? Wait, does she even want Wendy to give a good answer?

"Well, if I'm being honest sir, I don't think she realizes how much she means to me."

"Really?"

"Well like I said, when we first met it wasn't like a fairy tale to say the least. Yet, somehow, she agreed to go on a date with me even though I probably didn't deserve it. I should've been rejected. I mean a girl like me to get with a girl like her? However, she gave me a chance. It seemed impossible after all the incredible things I've heard about her. But, we went on that date and something changed."

Yeah, we made our arrangement.

"Like I said, up until that point, I had only heard about all of these great things about her. But after that date, the longer I was around her, I understood what all the fuss was about. It wasn't just because she was absolutely gorgeous, but it was also the way I had watched her affect people. How her presence can turn a gloomy room into an animated one. She also knows how to work people too, no matter what she does, she always manages to leave a good impression on people when she wants to. Which is kind of scary, if I got to admit. But, anyways, that's not even the best part, sir."

Irene can only watch on as Wendy had become so lively as she talked about her. It was as if she meant every word that was coming out of .

"Just like everyone else in the world, there's two versions of her: the Irene 'in front of the world' and the Irene 'behind closed doors'. With the Irene 'in front of the world,' you and I both know just how amazing she is. But when it comes to the 'behind closed doors' version of a person, there's always a risk with people like her. They'll either be just as amazing or the complete opposite. And sir," Wendy pauses, "That version of her is breathtaking."

"She's known for all of her achievements, but I think people fail to see just how hard she works. Like yeah, she's intelligent, but that doesn't mean coursework comes easy to her even if it may look like it. When we'd go on study dates, she'd be so in the zone that sometimes I think she forgets I'm there," Wendy laughs a bit. "Next thing you know, we'd be at The Three Broomsticks or the library until closing time. Seeing that, seeing her, it inspires me to study harder."

"Then, she's also very stubborn. Some may find that annoying, but I find it admirable. She knows what she wants and gives it her all in order to achieve it. I'm one of the top prospects for the National Quidditch League, but she beat me in our first match. So, she reminds me that I should never let my guard down and strive for what I desire. And man, does she get jealous."

No, I don't!

This time her dad laughs, "Sounds like her mom," then let's Wendy continue.

"It was something I never expected from her, but she does get really jealous. Honestly, I never want to see her jealous, but I'll admit that it makes me feel good sometimes. It tells me that she cares about me, not that I'd ever doubt her though. Yet with all that being said, she can also hide her feelings really well, but the longer that I have gotten to know her, I've realized that she actually wears her heart on her sleeve if you pay enough attention. And she deserves someone who will give her that attention and I'm extremely lucky to be given that opportunity," Wendy takes a deep breath. 

"With everything that she has done for me, what she has taught me, I want to be the one to give her more than enough attention to make sure she never has to feel jealous again. To let her know, that I care about her too. So, how much does she mean to me? She means everything to me, sir."

Irene doesn't hear anything after that as she starts to head back to the living room, unsure of what to think. Her mind racing with a thousand thoughts all at once.

Did she really mean all of that? There's no way. She just... had to come up with something on the fly. That's all! And god, my dad must've eaten that answer up. He must adore her now.

Her mom joins her soon after on the couch, "That must've been a lot to take in, wasn't it?"

Irene just nods silently, her eyes trained on her fiddling hands.

"Look at me, sweetie," Irene looks at her mom. "That girl out there, I can tell she cares about you and I can only assume you do too based on the way I've seen you two interact these past two days. She seems like a keeper."

"You're not the first person to say that actually," Irene breathes out before breaking eye contact again. Great, now even mom likes her.

"But, what I also know is that just because she seems like it, doesn't mean you have to keep her."

Irene stops her movements and looks at her mom yet again.

"I'm not sure what's going on inside that head of yours, but I know that what we just heard must've either been everything you hoped to hear or had completely scared you to death," her mom waits a second as she observes her daughter. "Or maybe it was both. Whatever it may be, go with this," her mom points to her heart. "Follow that and just know that no matter the outcome, everything will be alright. If anything, she's got our approval as long she has yours too."

With that, her mom squeezes her hand and leaves Irene alone with her thoughts.

--

Wendy, her dad and herself were now in the living room working on her mom's puzzle after having lunch and Irene does her best to make it seem like she had not eavesdropped on the opposing two's conversation earlier. Her mind was still in shambles, but oddly enough it seemed to have calmed down once Wendy had sat next to her and joined their hands together.

How strange, the reason she's going crazy is the same one that seems to calm her down.

Her mom had stepped out to the kitchen to talk on the phone when suddenly she heard her yelp out. Everyone immediately jumped out of their seats and headed towards the noise.

"Honey, what's wrong?!" her dad says first.

"That was my older sister on the phone! I forgot that she and her family are coming over to stay until the day after Christmas and they'll be arriving in two hours!"

Suddenly, the other two Bae's enter a similarly panicked state and all of their eyes shift to Wendy, leading said girl into utter confusion. 

"W-Why are you all looking at me? What's the big deal about them coming over to stay for a while?"

Whatever the hell was going on Irene's brain before this point had now vanished. Something a bit more pressing took over. She looks at Wendy with a distraught expression and pulls her so they are standing face to face.

"First off, my aunt Tiffany is super nosy and she's literally the center of gossip for the whole freaking family tree. Every time one of my cousins gets into a relationship, she will literally pry into their significant other like there's no tomorrow. If you give her a bad impression, you'll practically be disliked by all of my relatives before they even meet you. The only exceptions to this will obviously be my parents and most of my cousins who know well enough to not base their opinions from my aunt."

Wendy's eyes widen.

"So we are all basically freaking out for you because one, you're my girlfriend and two, you're also my very first one and my aunt has literally been counting down the days for this to happen."

Wendy looks at Irene's parents and they were frantically nodding in agreement.

"Okay, let's just all calm down," Irene's mom says and takes a deep breath. "You two just go upstairs and get dressed in new clothes and your father and I will start cooking dinner."

Irene grabs Wendy's hand and make their way upstairs.

Now, one could say that Irene shouldn't be worried because, again, it's not like she wants Wendy to make a good impression. However, she really doesn't want her aunt to get the idea that Irene has bad taste in people. Because Irene doesn't have bad taste and I mean, she wouldn't have agreed to Wendy's arrangement if she didn't think Wendy could meet her standards in some aspects.

Which Wendy does... but that's not the point here.

"So, what's the plan?" Wendy asks as the two enter her room and close the door. Wendy opens her suitcase as Irene looks through her closet.

"Okay, look. I know I didn't ask you to make a good impression for my parents. But this time, I need you to make a good impression for my aunt. Her opinion will affect the entire's family's judgement on my love life. When my cousin, Chaeyoung, introduced her girlfriend Mina to my aunt, it didn't go so well. Now, almost everyone assumes that Mina is a gold digger when in reality she is the sweetest person on earth. They also think that Chae is completely dense and oblivious due to blind love when that is most definitely not the case," Irene says as she grabs something out of her drawer. She's about to change when she notices Wendy's eyes on her. "Turn around, you ."

Wendy just laughs at the comment and turns away as the Slytherin takes off her shirt to replace it with a light blue blouse.

"Why do you even care about what they think? I feel like if your person gets your parents' and the people you really care about's approval, then that should be enough."

"But that's the thing, Wen," Irene starts as she now turns away for Wendy to change. "All my life I have seeked approval from everyone around me. I hate being seen in a bad light. Like sure, I can handle a few people not being my biggest fan and not being completely perfect either, but in general, I don't want to be seen negatively in any aspect."

Before Wendy can even question her, they hear her dad call from downstairs asking for help.

--

They were asked to bake.

And Wendy was excited to say the least. (Irene had never seen the girl's eyes go so wide.)

Irene and Wendy were assigned to make some brownies because without them, Irene's younger cousins would go absolutely feral. Because yes, it wasn't just her aunt that she and her parents were panicking over. Just the family in general were truly something. Irene does her best to give a breakdown of the rest of the family as they start making the brownies from scratch.

"Okay, I already told you about my aunt, so let's talk about my cousins. My aunt Tiff has three kids. First, there's the younger twins, Sunoo and Sunghoon, and they are insanely energetic, yet big crybabys. The whole reason why we are making brownies is because they absolutely adore my mom's brownies and will cry for as long as they have to until they get to eat at least one. So we always try to make them as soon as they come. Thankfully, they can't tell the difference between mine and my mom's and believe me it was risky when we tested that theory."

Wendy nods slowly, listening carefully to everything Irene was saying.

"Then, there's the eldest, Sana, who's the same age as us, but she goes to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. She's pretty chill for the most part, however she can get very obnoxious, very quickly."

"How obnoxious are we talking here?"

"Let's just hope we don't see that side of her," Irene chuckles before handing Wendy a whisk. "Can you start mixing? I'll grab the pan."

Wendy happily takes it, "What about the husband?"

Irene leans down to grab the pan under the counter and starts to turn back around, "Believe it or not, he's actually the only normal-WENDY!"

Just as Irene faced the girl, Wendy had wiped some of the brownie batter on Irene's nose.

"What's wrong, babe?" Wendy acts oblivious.

"What-what do you mean 'What's wrong?' You know exactly what you did!" Irene immediately wipes it off with a nearby paper towel. 

"I don't see the problem though?" Wendy smirks, then leans in to whisper into Irene's ear. "All I did was make you taste better."

"Wen-wait-what-ugh-don't say stuff like that!" Irene whispers back in a stuttering mess and hits Wendy's arm in retaliation, her cheeks starting to heat up. 

"Alright, alright, it was just a joke," Wendy laughs off. "You just seemed super tense when you were taking about them. Thought I'd help you relax."

Irene just wants to hide her face. She tries to place her focus back on the brownie mix, but just as she starts to turn her head, she feels a hand under chin. Pulling her sight back to Wendy. Their faces were closer now to Irene's surprise. Before she could question the action, Wendy gives her an answer. 

"Hold on, you missed a spot," with one hand still on Irene's chin, Wendy uses the thumb of her free hand to gently wipe away any excess batter.

During that time, with how close they were, Irene finds herself scanning Wendy's face. As if trying to take in any and all details. Her eyes eventually land on Wendy's lips. She flicks her eyes away immediately, and when she does she barely catches Wendy glancing at her own lips too.

She feels a tug in her chest. 

"Oop-," the pair jump away from each other at the sound of a voice. "I'm sorry to interrupt, just wanted to check on the casserole real quick."

In that moment, the younger girls refused to make eye contact with each other. The atmosphere suddenly felt awkward as if they were just caught doing something that they weren't supposed to.

"You weren't interrupting anything, Dad!" Irene answers as she watches her dad pull out the casserole from the oven.

"If you say so, honey," her dad just smiles knowingly, as if he knows something Irene doesn't. "Well, the oven is free now so you girls can pop in your brownies whenever you're ready."

After he leaves the kitchen, the pair spend the rest of their time baking in silence. 

--

Loud. 

As soon as her aunt's family walked through the door, the house became loud. Both families were so focused on greeting one another that the newly arrived guests had yet to take notice of the other new presence in the house. But, of course, it didn't take too long for a certain someone to finally acknowledge it.

"Well, well, well," her aunt Tiffany starts with a bit of shock and amusement on her face. "Who do we have here?"

Wendy gives a small, respectful bow to both Irene's aunt and uncle, "Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Son Wendy and I am Irene's girl-"

"Son Wendy? I've heard that name before..." the woman interrupts and looks up in thought. "Oh yes! Sana, sweetie, look who it is!"

Irene and Sana were in the middle of hugging when her cousin's name was called. They pull apart and Irene's speechless at what follows.

Sana turns towards her mom and her eyes widen. A small blush starts to form on her cheeks when she spots Wendy. She hesitantly makes her way over and when she finally reaches them, her mom wraps an arm around her.

"You see, Wendy. My daughter here, Sana, is the reason why I've heard of your name before. She'd gush on and on about some girl who was insanely good at quidditch that Durmstrang had to recruit her, making her the first and only female student to attend that school. It took a while for her to tell me your name, although I don't know why."

Irene watches as her cousin's embarrassment grew while her aunt was completely oblivious to it.

What is happening right now?

"Anyways, Sana has told me so many great things about you, Wendy," Tiffany smiles, although Irene feels like there's more to that smile than what appears. "You know, she actually plays quidditch too, so maybe you two can spend some time together and give her a few tips."

Wait a second. Is she trying to set them up‐

"Mom!" Sana says as she tries to hide her tinted cheeks, moving out from her mom's arm.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Wendy says reassuringly with a small laugh. She reaches out to place a hand on Sana's shoulder and Irene's eyes sharpen at the action. "I love talking about quidditch whenever I get the chance. Plus, I'm sure you'd be able to give me some tips too."

"M-Maybe," Sana glances at Wendy's hand before returning a small smile.

"See!" Tiffany speaks up enthusiastically. "I'm sure Irene won't mind sharing her friend for a while."

Before anyone else could speak up, the seven year old twins cry out for brownies and thus shifts the subject at hand. Her parents suggest to eat dinner so they could have the brownies for dessert. As everyone makes their way to the dining table, Irene moves to be next to Wendy, however Sana links arms with the Ravenclaw as they walk, therefore keeping Wendy's attention as well.

"So, what position do you play?" Wendy asks her cousin.

"I play as..."

Sana's words seem to fade in and out throughout dinner for Irene. She does her best not to look at the pair across from her for too long, because yes, Sana even sat next to Wendy before Irene had the chance. Next thing you know, the only free seat was the one across from them. Therefore, she had a front row seat to witness Sana's unnecessary small touches on Wendy's arm, her giggles at Wendy's jokes and Wendy paying all her attention to her cousin and not her. 

So yeah, she does her best not to glare at them. 

Now, with the exceptions of a few stereotypical "What have you been up to lately," questions, the conversation had been centered around Wendy a lot thanks to her aunt. 

Yet, out of all the subjects that could have been brought up, Wendy's (nor Irene's) dating life had yet to be discussed. This was only surprising since it would normally be the first thing for her aunt to question. It was as if her aunt's mind was too occupied with something else and Irene had a bad feeling that she knew what it was based off of what was said earlier and especially now.

Everytime Wendy and Sana interacted, not only was Irene discreetly observing them, but so was her aunt. The only difference being that her aunt would have a smile on her face while Irene's was blank.

There was no doubt now. Her aunt wants Wendy and Sana to get together. The older woman had barely questioned Wendy than she and her parents had expected because Sana had probably painted the Ravenclaw in a positive light already. So, her aunt was only asking not-so-intrusive questions.

Irene's focus was broken when her name came into the conversation and she unclenches her fists that she wasn't even aware of until now.

"So, Wendy, I forgot to ask, but how did you and Irene become friends?" Tiffany asks. 

There was that word again. It was odd how she felt so ticked off at the mislabeling of her and Wendy's (fake) relationship.

Wendy could and should correct her now.

"Well, it's a funny story actually. When we officially met, we had, how should I say this? Clashing personalities?" Wendy laughs and looks at Irene. When their eyes meet, Irene's world seemed to have stopped for the slightest moment before reeling her back in motion. "But I think that's what drew me to her at the same time. She wasn't at all what I expected, but in a good way. Turns out I was drawn to her for another reason too because now we're toge-"

"We're done!" Sunoo and Sunghoon yell out at the same time after their plates were clean from food. "Brownies please!"

"Boys, what did I say about interrupting people?" aunt Tiffany lectures calmly. 

Then, the twins look at Wendy from across the table. "Sorry for interrupting you, Wendy," Sunghoon says and Sunoo nods in agreement.

"It's alright guys, I'm actually craving some brownies too," Wendy smiles and the boys can't help but smile back. And just like that, another attempt to mention that they're dating flies out the window as the brownies became the new topic. 

--

With all the adults and the twins now in bed, Irene's annoyed as she sits in the living room. Sana, Wendy and herself were all crammed on the sofa as a horror flick plays on the tv. She was suspicious when Sana suggested the genre but now, it was really obvious. Painfully obvious. Honestly, Irene shouldn't even be shocked. 

Sana had now become obnoxious. How?

Well, Sana was blatantly flirting with her Ravenclaw now and was no longer shy about it. It gave Irene the urge to just yell out that Wendy was her girlfriend, but she pushed it down because don't get it twisted,Irene's not jealous. She wants to prove Wendy wrong after hearing what the taller girl had said to her father earlier that day. I mean, why would she get jealous? It's not like Wendy is actually hers.

So, is she annoyed? Yes. Jealous? No way in hell.

I wear my heart on my sleeve? My , Son Wendy. 

They were all covered by one blanket and Wendy was coincidentally seated in between the cousins with Sana to her left and Irene on her right. Apparently, the blanket wasn't enough for Sana though as Irene watches her start to cuddle into Wendy's side after a jump scare to 'cover' her eyes. But that's not even the worst part, Wendy doesn't even flinch at the contact. The Ravenclaw just gives the Beauxbaton a quick glance before turning back to the tv.

Irene nearly gags at the old-fashioned flirting tactic. Knowing Wendy, she probably didn't say anything about it because she just has to be a gentlewoman. 

Geez Wendy, can you really not tell that the girl is flirting with you? Irene rolls her eyes. 

To keep herself from getting irritated any more, she forces herself to solely focus on the movie. She starts to regret it, however, because at the next jump scare, it ended up getting Irene pretty bad. She jerked back in fear and brings her hands up to cover her face. As soon as she sees that the moment had passed, she places them back under the blanket for warmth when suddenly she feels something hit the back of her left hand. It scares her for a brief moment, but then she feels her hand become interlocked with one that was not her own. 

She hates how well their hands seem to fit and yet she doesn't pull away.

She turns to look at Wendy, but the girl just keeps her eyes trained on the movie as if holding hands was such a casual thing for her. I mean, maybe it was considering that they've done it many times in the past. However, for a moment, it had felt weird. The fact that they were doing something intimate yet it wasn't displayed outwardly like how they'd normally do so. 

Maybe I should place our hands on top of the blanket so Sana will stop oogling at my girl.

The thought crosses her mind, but she finds herself deciding against it. It was like a little secret that was meant for just the two of them to know and no one else, so a part of her wanted to keep it that way. Nothing wrong with some friends keeping a few secrets, right?

She also assumes that Wendy did it to put her fear at ease since it ended up working because for the rest of the movie, all Irene could think about was the way Wendy's thumb would smoothly glide against the back of her hand. 

By the time the credits rolled around, Sana had already fallen asleep but was no longer against Wendy. Instead, she was now lying against the armchair (to Irene's relief). As for the couple, they were still awake but on the brink of falling asleep at any given minute. So without thinking much, Irene stands groggily and pulls Wendy up with her as their hands were still linked. She leads them up the stairs and into her room. 

Once she reaches her bed, she senses Wendy starting to pull away, but instead of letting go, Irene just holds on tighter. As she finally lands on her mattress, she feels it dip again a second later.

"Babe?" Wendy mumbles, clearly exhausted as well.

"Just shut up and cuddle me, will you? I'm cold," is all Irene mutters just as her heavy eyelids come to a close. She's engulfed by a familiar warmth that she had missed before falling sound asleep. 

A/N: Nothing odd about cuddling, am I right?

Do you guys think that Wendy was being truthful to Irene's dad?... Well, Irene can't tell so I guess that Wendy is neither right nor wrong about how she views her ;)  And oh yes! A new player (Sana) has entered the field, how will Irene handle it for the next couple of days?

Also, I know many of you must be/are very curious about what Wendy must be thinking about the arrangement/Irene and all I will say is that you know soon! Now, I do want to mention though that I did purposefully make this story primarily one-sided because just like in real-life, we never truly know how another person may feel about us and so I wanted it to be a central part in my story. So, although I'm sure it may be frustrating (it is for me to write as well), my hope is that it makes you feel more connected to the character, if that makes any sense?

Per usual, thanks for reading, let me know what you thought and see you in the next one!

- S

@rv_twice5 on twitter