People pleaser.

What was bad about that?

Was it because of the implication of how her kindness was just a layer of feint?

Or did it because she felt like she had conveyed herself wrongly?

Wendy didn't know.

She hurt. That was what she felt.

She was hurt by the words full of judgments from someone she had only met twice.

Wendy felt like her world spun. She felt like her heart was wrenching in despair of insecurity.

It was coward to run away.

She should've defended herself.

She should've said that it was wrong.

That she wasn't a people pleaser.

She was kind because she wanted to, not because she wished for acknowledgment of people.

She just was a kind person.

Wasn't she?

Seola hummed, caressing her chin. She sat on the chair in front of the audio panel. Her feet are crossed, and so did her hands.

"So, she called you a people pleaser?" Seola said. Wendy couldn't count anymore how much she had repeated her question.

"She called me a people pleaser," Wendy said. There was a pressing tone in every word she occurred.

"What's wrong with that?"

"She called me people pleaser and you think that's okay?!"

"I don't mean to offend you but seriously, what's wrong with that? You like to please people, so what?"

"Then, you also think the same?"

Seola scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Aren't we always trying to be good to people so they will like us, Seungwan?"

"I know, but--" Wendy's words fell, and her head hung low.

The mimic on Seola's face showed an expression that told Wendy how ridiculous Wendy had become.

"Why did you become so sensitive for a small matter? It's not the Son Seung-wan I know."

Wendy pouted, "I don't know--"

"Is it because you low-key think the same of yourself?"

"What? No!” Wendy whined and threw her gaze away as her lips puckered.

"So, what was the thing that make you hate about it?"

"I hate how she said it like she knows all about me."

There was a slight pause before Seola replied, "And?"

Wendy sighed, and her eyes roamed away to the studio walls. She looked at the wallpaper pattern of the wall and how the design was asymmetric and imbalanced.

How the pattern pulled her into its loop of endless uncertainty.

"And it makes me wonder," Wendy's voice spread like a wind, softly filling the gap in the quiet room.

"Is that how people think about me?"

The atmosphere was thickening, and Wendy could feel the gaze of the young leader in front of her lowering.

The hesitant expression of Seola made Wendy's heart fall. It felt like her fear was answered, with the answer she tried to avoid but couldn't.

Maybe, it was true.

She was nothing but a plaything for other people's pleasure.

She was nothing but just a toy when people needed something.

She was nothing but people's pleasure.

Seola's laugh looked stiff for Wendy, and she rubbed her arms uncomfortably as her eyes glued on the edges of her shoes.

"Why would you think like that? I believe she doesn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, she doesn't mean it bad when she called me a fake girl and people pleaser," Wendy said sarcastically. Still, Seola didn't get it as she nodded excitedly and said, "It's just a pet name. She did it to many people."

Wendy frowned and looked at Seola.

"Many people? What kinds of person do such action to many people?"

"Well, it's kinda like culture, you know. Irene - sunbaenim also got one when she was a freshman. She was called an ice princess because she didn't talk much and never smiled. She just did what her senior did, making a cute pet name for her juniors."

Wendy sounded bitter, "So are you also got that pet name, Hyunjung."

"Of course, all of us did. Irene - sunbaenim was my senior too in senior high, but we didn't interact much not until college. She called me rice cake because I am tall and looked pale at the club meeting," Seola said. She took a short breath before continuing, "I don't know for others, but I've heard her called Seulgi dumb bear because she looked dumb and used bear emoticon a lot, and for Teuk Oppa, she called him--" Seola's words stopped when she saw Wendy's pale knuckles.

"Seungwan?"

Wendy didn't look nor respond. She didn't speak a word, not even moving.

There was a stain of inner bled on her lips from the tight bit and the tension she put on her jaw.

"Are you okay?"

Seola's words flew like a feather, and Wendy missed them. She missed the worry and surprise looked from the latter too.

Seola pushed her feet, making her chair roll toward Wendy. She reached out for Wendy's stiff body hesitantly, and when she finally touched her hand, Wendy stood up and grabbed the empty tumbler on the table.

"It's kinda hot in here--" Wendy said, looking stiff and uneasy. She looked at Seola and smiled tightly, "I want to take some water. Do you want me to bring you one too?"

Seola is taken aback by the sudden change of atmosphere and mood.

"N-no, I am okay. Thanks"

"Then, excuse me."

Seola's hand still hung in the air when Wendy disappeared.

She looked at the closed door and wet her dried lips.

"She's angry."

Wendy put her tumbler under the water dispenser and let the water fill it.

She looked at the constant water that fell into the tumbler in a thin-line form.

It was constant and slow.

It reminded \Wendy of her life.

How everything happened in a constant, slow, and steady.

Everything happened in front of her eyes but she couldn't touch it nor feel it.

She only saw it happen and go like a rainbow after the rain in summer.

It felt like yesterday when she was born into the family.

A smart and prestigious family.

She was born as a daughter. The only daughter.

"If only you were a boy, how great it would be?"

Wendy remembered the tone, the trembling and muffled sniff of her mother when she heard her mother-in-law's word to her newborn daughter.

Wendy thought the same.

Would her life be easier if she had been born as a boy?

At least her birth would bring happiness instead of regret to her family.

Wendy wonders, how would she act if she wasn't a girl but a boy?

Would she still try to be kind to others?

Wendy gasped when she noticed the water overloaded and flooding the marble table.

She took a napkin and wiped it clean with a long heavy sigh.

"What's wrong with me?"

Wendy questioned herself with no answer as she kept wiping the table.

Wendy used to be considerate. She used to accept everything and had never shown her negative emotions.

However, Wendy lost it after she met a certain girl called Irene.

She lost it when she was forced to drink a beer she hated.

And when she was called a people pleaser while the others didn't get such a label.

Wendy felt the pains on her lip, knowing it bled without looking. Her hands cramped, and her jaw hurt, and all of these because of Irene.

She didn't know what made her mad, but she just disliked the feeling she had.

The turmoil feeling that mixed with a lot of negativities. If only Seola didn't stop talking, Wendy must be cried shamelessly in front of her.

Wendy knew it was coward of her to avoid the talk, but she felt like she had to do it because she felt suffocated like all her oxygen was taken away from her.

Wendy's mind went blank when she drank the water. She didn't notice how it leaked through the corner of her lips.

She breathed slowly and looked at the plain wall of the pantry.

"I hate this feeling.

Author's Note:

I noticed many of you wonder as to why Irene act like that.

Well, me my self also thought the same when I wrote her character like, 'What is wrong with her?!'

But, that what I want you to feel when you read it.

I want you to feel confuse on Irene's character and take a side on Wendy.

It's all because I potray this story in the perspective of Wendy.

I won't tell you more than that because I want you to discover in each chapter.

I want you to peal the layers as the time goes on and the story develop.

It will be a long story so I hope you keep stay here with me until it finish.

Thanks a lot for all the comments and support.

It gave me more insight as to how i found the flaw of the story and how to make the plot more thickening and interesting.

P.S:

I have re-check the story but just in case I missed checking it and there is typo or grammar incorrect, please let me know in the comment section.

I'll check on it and edit it again on Saturday.