Dear, Irene.

I was so happy. It felt amazing to finally call you mine.

“Are we almost there?” Wendy asked as she looked out the window. There wasn’t a single thought that she’d put towards planning for college, so she doesn't even know what Rouge looked like. Irene’s mom nodded. 

“Yes, in fact, here we are.” As Irene’s mom made a turn, Wendy gaped. The huge gates of the university made it look all the more grand. There was a fountain in the middle of the vast campus, with a variety of buildings that contained each department. The car went around the fountain. Wendy and Irene both stepped out, and as Wendy looked around like an in-awe puppy, Irene exchanged a few words of encouragement with her mother before her mother waved at the both of them, driving off. 

“Now that we’re here, I’m kind of intimidated.” The younger one admitted. Irene took her hand in hers. 

“Don’t be. I believe in you.” Irene’s thumb rubbed the back of Wendy’s hand in comfort. Leading them both, Irene enters the main building, finding a lot of students who were handing in their necessary information before they went to the rooms where each student would be monitored closely as they took the entrance exam. Since Irene had been researching Rouge for so long, she already knew what to do. Instead, when they got to the front of the line, she took Wendy’s files. 

“Excuse me, where do the ones applying for the music department, specifically the pianists, have to go?” 

“Oh, their applications don’t start until 1PM! By the fine arts building, you should be able to find the auditorium.”

Irene nodded. After handing in their files, she turned to Wendy. “I’ll be taking my entrance exam now. Will you be okay on your own?” 

“Pfft.” Wendy waved her hand around her face, looking at Irene like she’d just asked a stupid question. “Please. I’m not a child, unnie. Once you come back, I’ll be here, in one piece. Will you be done before 1PM?”

Irene thinks for a second, knowing full well that she could answer each question with ease. “Yeah. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. You have to come watch me. Then once we both get in, let’s get some beef. My treat.”

“Promise?”

Wendy smiled. “I promise.”

Irene smiled back at her, before she gave a quick wave. Wendy stared at her back, her smile slowly disappearing as she looked out at the sea of people in the building. Her stomach dropped as she realized people were already starting to make friends, while she stood there, alone. 

A part of me knew, but I was a loner when you weren’t with me, unnie. I felt like I could handle the entire world, as long as you were by my side. But when you weren’t… I felt like I would be crushed immediately by everyone else’s gaze.

The separation made Wendy wish that she’d studied more, so that they could take the same major together. While Irene was fighting for a spot through academics to take political science as her major, Wendy was hoping for a lucky scholarship over a talent she’d long abandoned. It further made her think that everyone here was too good, and she was the odd fish in a big, talented ocean.

Not wanting to stand there for any longer, alone, Wendy walked out, wanting to explore the campus, at least until Irene came back.

Meanwhile, Irene was, as expected, blowing through the questions with minimal effort. In fact, even she was surprised. Since Rouge is the only school people see equal to SNU, she’d thought they’d be a little more challenging. But this? It was easy.

She’d set the record time to 1 and a half hours, landing her finish at 12:30 PM, just enough time to meet up with Wendy for her own application. After she passed her paper and left the room, she heard someone call out to her, though it wasn’t Wendy, the voice was too high. 

“Hey! You! The pretty one!” Irene turned, and the girl who was walking toward her laughed.

“You turned when I called you pretty. You’re quite assuming.” Irene cocked an eyebrow, before turning around, walking away. The girl quickly followed. “Hey, hey, I was joking! Of course I meant you.”

Irene doesn’t stop walking, exiting the main building with a stranger hot on her tail. “Please wait- I was only kidding-”

The raven huffed, before she finally turned. The stranger’s posture straightened as Irene assessed her up and down thoroughly. “What?”

“Wanna be friends? Not to say you need some, but I’m alone, you’re alone, so… why not?”

“I’m not alone.” In fact, Irene had someone who was waiting for her at that very moment, and she was interrupting her. The stranger shrugged, before offering her hand with a cute, welcoming smile.

“Jennie, you?”

“None.”

“Your name is none?”

“None of your business.” 

Jennie roared with laughter as Irene quickly walked away, looking around to catch a sight of Wendy. Where did that girl go? Did she get herself in trouble? She wasn’t even admitted to the school yet.

“Okay, that was a good one. But also, rude. I expect an apology.” 

“Sorry.”

Jennie’s eyes widened a little, her smile only widening. “Oh, I didn’t actually expect you to.” Irene gave her a weird glance - she asked for an apology, she got one, and she was still somehow confused? Did Irene encounter a weirdo?

Then again, she could totally see Wendy do the same thing. But that was different. Wendy is different, and Irene is biased.

Wendy was by the chairs under the few trees in Rouge. She was just looking around, enjoying the Sun’s gentle rays and the breezy winds. It’d been long enough, with Irene’s big brain, Wendy’s expecting her to come out any second. She scanned the area, looking for that familiar raven haired pretty face she’d ingrained in her head. 

She stood up a little when she finally spotted Irene, but her quick smile disintegrated slowly. Irene was with someone - did she already make a friend? That was quick. That settled a worry in her. If Irene was this quick to make friends, and if they (correction, she) got into Rouge in different departments, would Irene even care for her still?

When I saw you with Jennie, I worried. I had forced myself to the spot next to you so bad, I got anxious that if you just liked someone else genuinely, that they’d replace me. I got paranoid. Insecure. I think it shows just how much I wanted to stay with you, even when I knew I didn’t deserve to.

A lump formed in , and she hesitated to call for her. Instead, Irene was the one that called for her.

“Wendy!”

Quickly, she fixes her expression. “Unnie!” She called back. When Jennie and Irene arrived at her table, Irene immediately took her hands. Jennie watched the contact with subtlety.

“Are you ready?” Irene asked. Wendy’s stomach made a jump; she was so focused on Irene, that she’d totally forgotten that she was also there to apply. Wordless, Wendy nodded. Irene’s gaze softened, and her touch became even more tender. Which made Wendy wonder if Irene can hear the increasing volume of her pounding heart. 

“I look forward to it, Wendy. I know you’ll do great.” She said, and Wendy only nodded, before her eyes settled on the third party there. 

“You made a friend?” Wendy asked, her lips tugging upwards. 

“Oh, this is just some random-”

“Hi! I’m Jennie. Irene’s new friend. We met just minutes ago.”

“I’m Wendy! Please bear with Irene unnie, she can be a bit difficult at first.”

Irene’s expression turned into a look of betrayal, taken aback in shock. “Excuse me-”

“Anyways, let’s go? Are you coming with us, Jennie?”

“If you don’t mind.” Jennie replied. Wendy stuttered for a quarter of a second, before she smiled wider. 

“Not at all, the more the merrier! Irene’s friends are my friends too.” Taking Jennie’s hand in her free one, Wendy tugged the both of them to where she had located the fine arts building. During her free time, Wendy asked and looked around, so she knew the general layout of the campus, although she didn't know what the insides of the buildings looked like.

When they arrived at the front of the big building that was the auditorium, Irene looked at Wendy, whose cheery demeanor turned sullen. Worried, she was about to ask if she was alright, but the younger laughed the kind of laugh she doesn’t recognize, and she knew why. It was a fake laugh. Wendy was covering her worries up.

At times when I was worried or anxious, I felt like you could see it. During that whole day, my stomach churned, my head felt light, and my chest felt heavy. I think you picked up on it. How could you always hear my worries even when I didn’t say them?

Irene sat right in the middle of the auditorium. It was semi packed. Irene even saw a few cameras that she swears are whispering about some sort of professor who's well known coming to judge the Rouge hopefuls. On the stage, she could see those fluffy, brown locks belonging to someone she knew all too well. The event had started an hour ago, and Wendy was to be the next performance after this one. 

The raven had tried to meet We