A/N: It's Spring! To the secret flower garden! Let's go!

Deep down, Irene was a shy, helpless romantic.

No one knew about her far-fetched expectations of, about and falling in love were. She believed in love at first sight. Of a chivalric Prince Charming. One that will her along a path to happy endings. A one true love, destined lovers tied by the red string of fate and all that unrealistic nonsense… Even Irene herself knew that thinking along those lines was absolute rubbish.

Irene was smart enough to know that love wasn’t so straight forward. It was a curveball, an iceberg, and just as unpredictable as the weather. It was a compromise, a lot of hard work, and it certainly wasn’t as cliché and miraculous like it was in the dramas. But she couldn’t help herself. She always dreamed of having a whirlwind romance of her own. Having studied so hard and worked tirelessly to get where she was on the corporate ladder? She deserved to have some of her daydreams come true! To be swept off her feet. For her Prince Charming to catch her when she falls as she rounds a corner—

Well, she certainly wasn’t expecting today, of all days, to walk right into someone as she rounded the corner. Or for iced coffee to splash over her white blouse, her heels to break, a run in her stockings, and to end up seated on a wooden bench, under a latticed arbour, somewhere in the middle of a garden maze!

Or for her mobile phone to slip out of her clutch bag when she fell, screen cracking, battery drained low. Could she call what happened to her unlucky or lucky? Well, at least to Irene, she felt lucky despite the mess all over her. There was a beautiful flowering canopy overhead, keeping her in the cool shade from the unusually blistering spring sun… and that the one she bumped head-on into was Wendy.

It could have been anyone, but thank goodness it was Wendy.

Wendy, who was a bit clumsy, a bit awkward and a bit too talkative. Sometimes a bit of everything at the same time. Wendy, who was certainly all facts and zero imagination.

They went to the same high school, were a year apart and moved in overlapping friend circles. They knew of each other, spoke to each other but never had a proper introduction. Was it purely by chance that they literally reconnected, years after graduation, both invited to a mutual friend’s wedding luncheon?

Wendy Shon who was always on her mi—

‘Yea. Behind the passenger seat. Yes, yes. We’re in the garden, at the alcove.’

Irene blinked, Wendy’s mellow tone had broken her reverie. It took her a while to realise that she had been staring at Wendy who stood a few steps away, back towards her, busy on the phone. The midday sun was harsh on the latter, and Irene had only now noticed how broad Wendy’s shoulders were. …Have they always been this broad? Wendy had her long brown hair tied into a low ponytail, a dark blue round neck tee hugging her frame neatly, sleek waist-high cream coloured dress pants accentuating her toned build, and simple black classic vans.

Did Wendy just become more attractive, just by standing in the sun?

…Oh dear, did her heart just skip a beat again?

Irene clutched down tightly onto the blazer Wendy had draped over her earlier. The latter had apologised profusely for causing so many mishaps to happen in an instant, handkerchief in hand trying to aid in the clean up but to no avail. At least Wendy’s cream coloured blazer covered part of the coffee stain running across the side of her white blouse, hugging Irene loosely…

Hmm hmn. Wendy’s shoulders have always been broad. 

So was Wendy’s scent that Irene could pick up from the blazer.

The familiar light fragrance of vanilla and mint. It filled her senses despite the various spring flowers blooming all around her. Wendy’s scent was still as gentle and pleasant as it was in high school and Irene was not a bit surprised that it still made her giddy with excitement…As it always has—

‘Irene sunbaenim,’ Irene jerked her head up, meeting Wendy’s warm caramel brown eyes filled with worry. The younger girl had finished her call and was quickly stepping over to her, slipping her mobile phone back into her pocket, the pea gravel ground crunching,

‘I have a pair of flats in my friend’s car. I just called her— She’s also here at the wedding. So she’s helping me to bring those over now…’

She? A friend? Wendy’s friend circle was small. The closest she is to is… Irene caught onto Wendy clasping her hands tightly together, fingers rubbing restlessly. Oh, she’s nervous?

‘Seul- Um, she’s really fast on her feet… So she’ll be able to find us in about five to ten minutes?’ Wendy took a quick look at her wrist watch, ‘Soon. So you can… Your shoes- but your clothes…You can’t- I—’ she pursed her lips momentarily,

‘Sorry sunbaenim, I really should have paid attention to where I was walking’, she drew in a deep breath, bowing, ‘I’m really, really, very sorry.’

Ah, there is no need for such a low bow! But Wendy had already bowed down, ninety degrees. The tension in Wendy’s jawline was prominent and upon catching sight of it, Irene felt her heart skip a notch faster. Calm down Irene…

As Wendy pulled back, ready to go back down into another bow, Irene quickly raised up her hands,

‘Wendy, it’s okay. I—’

‘Sunbaenim, your hand.’

Wha-? Before Irene could register what Wendy was referring to, the latter had reached out to her right hand, gently holding her palm upwards. There was a small abrasion running across the side of her palm. Pinkish red and a bit swollen. It was probably from when she fell and landed onto the gravel, scraping. But it was only now that Irene felt the sting and she instinctively pulled her hand back.

Wendy’s touch lingered on her fingers, warm and nostalgic. Irene heaved in quickly,

‘I’m fine, don’t worry.’ She watched Wendy take a half step closer, holding a breath with a hesitant hand out, face clearly not in agreement. Irene tried to hold back on sounding too exasperated,

‘It’s just a scratch, it’s not broken.’

‘Are you sure?’ Irene’s eyebrow twitched upwards and Wendy held her tongue, retreating, ‘I’m sorry.’

Irene grimaced slightly, waving the apology away. Of course, how could she forget this side of Wendy? Wendy who was also a bit too apologetic, a bit too caring and who always asked of her… Irene felt the heat rise in her cheeks and she had to look away. It was just like how she forgot that her emotions would always, without fail, get into a mess when it came to Wendy.

‘…Min-Jae ssi won’t get angry and scold me, would he?’, Irene felt the whiplash, her head whipping back so fast to find Wendy fidgeting on her stand, caramel brown eyes trying to find something other than Irene to focus on,

‘I’ll apologise! I-I’ll pay for the dry cleaning! Just let me know-’

‘Who?’

Wendy snapped shut, stiffening. Irene felt her eyes widen, brows furrowing, jaw tightening. Did she just hear wrongly? Wendy swallowed loudly, stuttering,

‘Ah. Um. Ki- Kim Min-Jae ssi?’

‘What? Min-Jae- Why would he scold you?’

‘Huh?’ Irene saw the shock in Wendy’s warm eyes, ‘He-He’s your boyfriend, sunbaenim? When he finds out what happened to you, he’ll definitely come after…’

Boyfriend?? Irene felt her heart drop when she heard those words, the rest of Wendy’s rambling ignored. She gritted her teeth. She was tired of hearing those words and that assumption since she arrived at the wedding reception. But more so, to hear it from Wendy! She was the last person Irene wanted to have to explain to…

‘He’s not my boyfriend.’ Irene chewed on her lower lip, realising that Wendy’s jaw had tightened, caramel brown eyes fixed on her. Broad shoulders raised, fingers clenched.

‘I never had one.’ she slipped out under a breath, looking away. Well, if she had one, she wouldn’t be dreaming of a fairytale romance to begin with! A romance with—

‘Oh… But during lunch, you and he…’

Lunch. Irene groaned inwardly. She didn’t know whether the bride or the groom had planned it, or whether it was purely accidental that she was assigned to be seated next to Kim Min-Jae. But Irene knew it was probably the former.

Back in high school, everyone assumed that they were a couple. Even the teachers. Just because they were smart, served in the student council, were paired up during class activities, and the innocent rumour that they went home together…

Rumours are not innocent! They just lived in the same neighbourhood! Of course they would be seen heading to and fro from the same direction!

No matter how much they denied the fabricated relationship, everyone else decided to see it otherwise. Even her close friends had asked whether the news was true. After all these years, how is it that this topic resurfaced like a malignant tumour!?

Irene didn’t know how she survived the cocktail hour too! Former classmates came up to her in pairs, asking about Min-Jae. It was frustrating to have to hear that she shouldn’t be coy when she dismissed all their questions… Coy, really? Irene truly did not know where he was and what happened to him after they graduated. Did he become a physician? Or was it a psychiatrist?

So when Min-Jae appeared during the lunch service, and very apologetically took his seat next to her, Irene was thankful to find that they were both on the same page. Cordial but distant, and that, they were not and never had, in any way, a relationship with each other.

Regardless of their mutual understanding, Irene found it difficult to eat. Everyone at her table had their eyes on them, whispering to each other in hushed tones. It was suffocating to the point that Irene had to excuse herself when the mains were being cleared. She had to get away, she couldn’t even eat in peace!

The moment she stepped out from the banquet hall, Irene immediately beelined