Wendy was taking a short break (more like a long-distracted-by-phone-break) while studying for her upcoming classes when she saw a new Instagram story from Irene.

 

'I'm so bored. Someone pls entertain me.' 5m

 

To which Wendy immediately replies to her story; -A bored architecture student? Who are you? Are you even Irene? -

 

She gets up and goes to the bathroom to wash her face for a moment because Irene probably would've ignored her lame reply. When she came back to stretch her body for a while like an old man grunting, her phone suddenly beeps from a new notification.

 

- Haha very funny, Wendy. I submitted my assignment this morning and I just got up hibernation mode. -

 

- Oh? Cool. Have you eaten? -

 

- Yeah I ate ramen. I feel like going for a walk but it's already 9pm. -

 

- 9pm so? Let's go. -

 

- ... -

 

- What? -

 

- Are you serious? -

 

- Why not? -

 

- Um. -

 

- I'll meet you at the playground in 5 minutes. -

 

- Oh. Okay. -

 

Wendy looks at herself in the mirror with grey hoodie and black sweatpants. Meh, who cares. She shrugs and ties her not-quite-dirty chequered long sleeve around her waist that was hanging on her chair because she only worn it once for a short while to the mart and it wasn't dirty enough to throw it together with her other laundries. 

 

Wendy sits on one of the swings, staring into nothing as she waits for Irene to arrive. The park has a designated area for playground and it was well lit with street lightings for joggers to do their daily routine even at night. You could even spot a few couples walking around the park and maybe sometimes a bunch of people having picnics on the grass. 

 

She turns behind when she hears footsteps behind her and couldn't help but smile when she sees Irene in her cream wool sweater, looking like your neighbour's daughter with a pure, elegant vibe until Irene pulls her hood from behind and covers her face with it.

 

"Hey!!"

 

"What's up?"

 

"I don't know. I should be the one asking. What's up?"

 

"Hey you invited me here."

 

"You persuaded me into it."

 

"You could've ignored me."

 

"But I want to go for a walk too and it's safer if there are 2 of us."

 

Irene immediately feels warm inside at Wendy's response and pulls Wendy's hood strings, tightening the hood until only half of Wendy's face are visible. She laughs out loud at the younger girl and quickly snaps a photo of her before Wendy adjusts the hood back to position in frustration. The younger girl glares at her from the swing and jumps onto her, hooks her arm at the back of Irene trying to headlock her but settles by spinning her around in case Irene takes a worse revenge. She only stops when both of them felt dizzy from it.

 

"Come on, let's walk!" Irene hooks her arm around Wendy's and pulls her along to the trail. 

 

"Is this your first time?" Wendy asks Irene and grabs hold of her hands instead, because she finds it easier to talk while facing her when Irene's face isn't just an inch away from hers.

 

"I think it's my second."

 

"Oh? When did you last come here?"

 

"On the first week of uni I guess."

 

"What? Are you telling me that you haven't been here even though you lived here for what, 2 freaking years?"

 

"Yes."

 

Wendy wanted to rebut because she expected Irene to bicker with her again but her brain short circuited when Irene gave an honest answer.

 

Irene glances at the girl's speechless confused face and laughed out loud again.

 

"You look like you suddenly forgot all the formulas that you've memorised."

 

"Yeah, thanks to you."

 

"I am here to fill colours into your world of black and white."

 

"Am I that boring?"

 

"Well...................." Irene pretends to think hard which caused Wendy to frown. She stays quiet for a few seconds as they stroll around the park, eventually burst out laughing when she glances at Wendy's serious expression.

 

"Just kidding. Come on, stop being so serious. You need to stop trusting everything I say." Irene pulls the hood and covers the girl's face with it again and swings the younger girl around this time, causing them to almost fall from losing balance because Wendy's couldn't see.

 

"I can't tell when you're lying to me with that acting of yours."

 

"Okay okay. I'll start being 100% honest with you now, alright?"

 

"That's better. For now."

 

Irene giggles at her betrayed reaction and stays close to her because of the cool temperature. Wendy feels the girl beside her shivering slightly and quickly takes off her shirt tied around her waist and wrapped it around Irene. 

 

"You're lucky I brought this along with me."

 

Irene smiles and whispers thanks to the younger girl. They walked in silence for a moment as they enjoyed the chilly breeze in the park at night, where there's lesser people and cooler to walk around. Seulgi would probably pop her eyes out of her sockets if she hears that Irene would actually go for a walk in the park because the girl is forever stuck in the studio or in her room working on her never ending assignments and catching up on sleep. Joy on the other hand would probably look at Wendy funnily because Joy is the type of person that would rather hang out in the mall window shopping or working out to improve her fitness. Walk? Who wants to go for a walk?

 

"Hey Irene. Are you from an all girls' school?" Wendy suddenly remembers a question she wanted to ask Irene about.

 

"Yes, yes I am. I was in a mixed school in elementary but then went to girls' school after that."

 

"Really?? So do you find it easy to talk to guys? I don't mean to pry but I'm just really curious. I've never had a friend who went to a single gender school before."

 

"I.. honestly don't know. I don't really mix with them a lot so.."

 

"Does that mean you've never had any relationship before?"

 

"Well... I actually had one I guess."

 

Wendy's eyes went wide and she doesn't feel like asking further because it seems like such an invasion of privacy, so she swings their hands back and forth and throws Irene's hands as hard as possible into the air.

 

"Wendy, if you break my arm I'm going to break your neck."

 

"If you break my neck then I'll die without any relationship experience. Won't you feel sad for me? At least let me experience it once before I die! Gosh I feel like an old hag, can't believe I'm telling you this."

 

"Are you serious?"

 

"Why would I lie about it? It's embarrassing!"

 

"Man, aren't you a goody two shoes nerd."

 

"At least I'm smarter than someone over here."

 

Irene pushes Wendy forward and tickles her until she yelps and runs to avoid Irene. Unfortunately, both of them aren't very athletic so it only took a minute for them to stop running and gasping for air. Irene pulls her hood and attempts to strangle her playfully although they're still catching their breaths.

 

"Your stamina ." Irene teases her.

 

"Look who's barking. As if you're better than I am."

 

They laughed at the sight of each other being all red and sweaty. 

 

------------------------------------------------

 

They went back home after realizing it's past 12am and already way beyond Wendy's bedtime. Wendy is the type person who prefers to rise early and sleep early but she didn't want to spoil the mood and the fun that she's having. Even though it kind of ruins her schedule for the next day but oh well, she'll just have to tweak her timing here and there. 

 

Irene caught the younger girl yawning a few times during their conversation and was struggling a little to focus on what Irene was talking about, to which she finds it adorable. Wendy somehow has a special charm that makes Irene feel like bringing down her walls and opening up more to her, because she gives off a warm vibe and is honest with her thoughts. Some people converse like they'd have a special motive, but Wendy listens with a genuine heart although she speaks a little too much sometimes especially when she's excited about something. Irene notices Wendy's talking speed will get faster when she feels like she's talking about something nonsensical that she'd thought no one would want to listen.

 

Staring at the ceiling on her bed, Irene realizes that she hasn't laughed so much in ages and it's all because of Wendy alone, not just some comedic shows that she found on Netflix or some random funny videos shared by her friends.