“Move,” Joy whines, pushing Wendy forward. “I didn’t waste money coming here just to watch you creep on that ice skating instructor.” The shorter girl looks back and sneers at her, but complies and slowly makes her way around the rink. Joy sighs. “Why don’t you just ask her out? I’m pretty sure she would’ve noticed the hobbit with the bright blue hair that's been stalking her for the past week.”

    “I’m not stalking her,” Wendy retorts. “I’m just appreciating her aesthetics. From afar.”

    Joy snorts. “As if that makes any difference. Just take a picture; it’ll last longer.”

    “But that’s kind of creepy.”

    Joy stares blankly at the back of Wendy’s head, wondering if she burns a hole through it, would it make the older girl smarter. “And this isn’t?” Wendy pointedly ignores her as she continues skating, gliding on top of the smooth ice all the while staring at the instructor with the bright yellow laces on her skates.

    The older girl suddenly gasps- a brilliant idea striking her- and pivots on her skates to look at Joy. “What if I ask her for ice skating lessons?” Wendy suggests, excitement shining brightly in her eyes.

    “Why would you ask her for ice skating lessons?” Joy questions, pulling Wendy so they now skate side-by-side. Whatever is going on in Wendy’s brain has ‘stupid’ written all over it and as her precious dongsaeng, it’s Joy’s job to make sure the older girl doesn’t humiliate herself. At least too much. (Joy has to get her entertainment somehow now that the prices for movie tickets has gone up.)

    “To get close to her. Duh.”

    “But you’re Canadian,” Joy points out. “Isn’t being good at ice skating, like, a genetic predisposition?”

    Wendy furrows her eyebrows in deep thought, a pensive look on her face, before shrugging it off. “She doesn’t know I’m Canadian.”

    “She will if you keep on wearing that,” Joy says in disgust, gesturing down to Wendy’s clothes. Wendy looks down at her shirt- a white sweater with the words ‘I ♥ Canada’ framed by a multitude of maple leaves, all knitted in bright red yarn- and covers her chest with her arms.

    “My mom knitted me this for Christmas!” she replies defensively, protectively tracing the heart on her sweater.

    “Yeah, to ensure that you stay single for the rest of your life,” Joy quips. “Seriously though, just ask her out. The worst thing she can do is say no.” The girl looks over to find Wendy no longer pay any attention to her, progressively widening eyes focused only on the approaching figure of the ice skating instructor. Joy sighs. “Someday you’ll thank me for this,” she says, breaking Wendy out of her trance. Before the older girl could shoot her a questioning look, Joy roughly shoulder bumps Wendy to the floor. Wendy narrowly avoids landing on top of a small child and skids a little further backwards on the polished ice. Joy cups a hand to her ear. “What’s that I hear? I think Irene unni’s calling me! I’ll see you later!” she says, inconspicuously mouthing ‘good luck’ to the bewildered Wendy before speeding off.

    Wendy stares at Joy’s shrinking form in confusion until a red and gold glove is extended in front of her face. She looks up to see the cute (super cute) ice skating instructor gently smiling down at her. Wendy absent-mindedly takes the hand as her brain fizzes and dissolves into a puddle of goo at the warmth radiating from the other girl. “Are you okay?” the girl asks in a soft voice as she pulls her up. Wendy nods slowly, jaw practically unhinged. The instructor shoots her another smile before shifting their still-attached hands into a handshake and gently squeezes Wendy’s gloved hand in greeting. Wendy’s pretty sure she died a little bit in that moment. “I’m Seulgi by the way.” Wendy’s still staring and now Seulgi (‘Seulgi,’ the shorter girl repeats to herself mentally, a dopey smile making its way across her face) is staring at her, her hand still tightly clasped around Wendy’s. “And you are…” Seulgi trails off, expectantly looking at her.

    Wendy shakes out of her stupor and drops Seulgi’s hand in embarrassment. “Sorry! I’m Wendy,” she introduces herself. Seulgi smiles at her a final time before beginning to skate off. “Um!” Wendy blurts out before flinching back. Seulgi looks back at her questioningly. Wendy lets out a deep breath before looking up at the instructor in determination. It’s now or never. “I’ve been going here for a week and I always see you here and I was wondering: d-d-” she stumbles over her suddenly thick tongue. God, she had always talked so much; why is her big mouth failing her now? Seulgi tilts her head, looking at Wendy in anticipation. “D-d-d-” Seulgi leans in closer to hear the shorter girl’s quiet stutters and Wendy’s brain goes haywire at the subtle scent of her shampoo. (Is that lavender?) “D-did you get a haircut?” is what stumbles out of Wendy’s malfunctioning mouth.

    Seulgi looks at her in confusion. “No?”

    “Well, you should.”

    “What?”

._.

    Irene comes back with hot chocolate to see Joy laughing at a sulking Wendy. “What happened?” she asks curiously. Wendy looks up and shoots her a pitiful look before groaning in despair and burying her face in her arms. She shakes her head to signify that she doesn’t want to talk about it.

    Apparently Joy didn’t take the cue because she informs Irene about how Wendy managed to insult her crush’s hairstyle between fits of laughter, much to Wendy’s chagrin. “It’s your fault I’m in this mess in the first place,” Wendy whines, glaring at Joy accusingly.

    “Me? I’m the reason you even know her name!” Joy responds, a scandalized look on her face. “It’s not my fault you screwed it up.”

    “But seriously though,” Irene cuts in before the two could start squabbling, calmly sipping on her hot chocolate, “what happened to Wendy Son the social butterfly and self-proclaimed people-lover?”

    Wendy looks at her before slumping even further into her seat. “She died when Seulgi touched her hand,” the girl sighs, bringing up said hand in observation. “I’m never washing this hand ever again,” she mumbles to herself, nuzzling her cheek against her hand.

    “Gross,” Irene comments.

    “You should really apologize to her,” Joy advises in all seriousness. “She might end up misunderstanding.”

    Wendy gives another groan. “I know, I know. But you saw what happened last time I talked to Seulgi; I practically vomited my heart out in front of her!”

    “Relax,” Irene advises before adding on “and stopping blurting out weird things. You’re making me lose my appetite,” as an afterthought. “Just say this,” she directs, uncapping a pen she found in her purse and writing instructions on Wendy’s hand. “And stop making that weird face of yours.”

    “What weird face?”

    “More like which weird face.” Wendy smacks Joy upside the head with her free hand.

._.

    “Um.” After waving off her final student of the day, Seulgi turns around to see Wendy with an apprehensive look on her face and a fire in her eyes. Wendy surreptitiously sneaks a look at Irene’s instructions before speaking up. “I am sorry for how I acted earlier. I did not mean that,” Wendy says robotically. Seulgi furrows her eyebrows lightly in confusion. “You have very nice hair.” Really nice hair. Super nice hair. Hair so nice Wendy wants to run her hand through it. Wendy shoots her a mechanical smile and Seulgi awkwardly returns it. Wendy’s mind suddenly blanks and she sneaks another look at her hand. She breaks out into a panic when she realizes that Irene’s directions had been smudged by her profuse sweating and looks back up at a confused Seulgi with a nervous expression on her face. She looks back down at her hand desperately, then back up at Seulgi’s face. Wendy her lips and looks back down at her hand. Then back up at Seulgi.

    Seulgi slowly backs away with an uncomfortably smile on her face. “Um, call me when you have everything sorted out,” she says before turning around and skating off.

    Wendy bites her lips and tightly clenches her fist, heart thumping so crazily she can almost taste her pulse. Screw it. “I REALLY LIKE YOU!” she yells out, her outburst echoing throughout the rink and catching the attention of everyone in it. Seulgi turns back in shock and from behind her curtain of hair, her ears burn a bright red. “SO WILL YOU PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME?” Wendy manages to croak out, heavy heart lodged in . Burrowed deep in her thick, red scarf, Seulgi gives a timid nod, eyes gently curving upwards and dimple deepening. Wendy flinches in excitement and lets out a (super) loud whoop, fistpumping so hard she slips backwards on her skates. Seulgi giggles.