Wendy felt silly standing in front of the mirror holding up different shirts. But she wasn’t sure what she should wear to her meeting with Irene.

Seulgi, who had been standing out in the hall, peaked into the bedroom and watched as Wendy tried to decide what to wear.

“The purple one,” Seulgi said, “That’s the one you wore on your first date, right?”

“Yeah,” Wendy answered. She picked up the purple shirt and held it up to her body.

“Irene will remember that too,” Seilgi smiled.

Wendy sighed, “I’m really nervous, but I’m glad you’re coming with me.”

“Irene seems to think that I’ll be able to help with this plan, besides we’re in this together,” Seulgi said, “I’m not sure what I can do, but I’ll do what I can.”

“You’re the best, Seulgi-ah.”

“I know, I know,” she dusted off her shoulder and smiled, “anyway, what time do we have to be at the café?”

Wendy picked up her phone and checked for the thousandth time, “Irene texted me this morning.”

Messages   Irene's   Contacts

Irene: Meet me at the cafe at 7:30

Wendy: Okay, see you there

She handed the phone over to Seulgi who checked it carefully, “Okay, it’s 4:00 now, I’ll go take a shower and we’ll leave at 6:30?

“Okay,” Wendy said nervously.

Seulgi walked closer to Wendy and put her hands on Wendy’s shoulders, “Stay calm, it looks like Unnie had everything worked out.”

When 6:30 finally rolled around, Wendy was still nervous, but ready to go. So with Seulgi beside her, they headed off to meet Irene.

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

To say Wendy was surprised to see who walked through the door of the café was an understatement. Wendy’s already large eyes resembled dinner plates.

She and Seulgi had arrived very early and took their seats. Seulgi ordered a soda, but Wendy could barely sit still, so any sort of caffeine was not going to work. She sat and tapped her foot anxiously and stared out the window.

30 minutes passed by, but it seemed like hours to Wendy, waiting was difficult. And then Seulgi got her attention. Irene was walking toward them. The butterflies began to dissipate…

But then she looked carefully and saw that Irene was being followed by that man, Wendy just about lost her cool. Irene put her hands up in surrender when she saw Wendy’s bunny eyes light up and called out to her, “I love that shirt on you.”

Fortunately for Irene, the anger on Wendy’s face melted away instantly and she laughed. Seulgi had been right.

Then Irene reached the table and made introductions, “Wendy, Seulgi, this is Woo-Jin Oppa, Irene pointed to the man they’d all seen before, “he’s here to help us.” Then Seulgi noticed another man behind them, Blonde hair, blue eyes, and handsome, but clearly not from Korea.

“Hi,” he said in English, “I’m Tom. I’m here to help out,” his voice was deep with a slight southern drawl. And because only Wendy could understand, no one said a word.

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

Seulgi and Wendy stared in wonder.

“Seulgi,” Irene finally broke the silence, “do you mind sitting next to Woo-Jin Oppa? I want to sit next to my girlfriend while we discuss this.”

Seulgi obliged and moved. Wendy didn’t argue about the girlfriend part, they would do that privately.

“I’ll pull up a chair,” Tom said. Wendy nodded, “Anyone want coffee? It’s on me,” he sat his bag down.

“I’ll take one Tom,” Woo-Jin answered in English

Wendy was surprised yet again, “What?” Woo-Jin said, “I used to live in California before moving back here, though I probably should have just stayed there.”

Tom walked away to order.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” Seulgi asked Irene.

“Yeah, what she said,” Wendy replied.

“We’ll get to that, baby, stay calm, let’s sit here and talk for a bit,” Irene said. She grabbed Wendy’s hand under the table and held onto it.

Wendy nodded in approval.

Irene looked directly at Wendy, “Joy texted me last night, she said you found my letter.”

“I did, it was so sweet, thank you, but I still need to know what’s going on,” Wendy said.

“When Tom comes back we’ll tell you everything,” Irene said.

Woo-Jin nodded.

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

“Tom, where are you from?” Wendy asked him when he got back to the table with the coffee.

Savannah, Georgia,” he said deepening his southern accent.

“Wendy, can you understand Tom? I’ve had a hard time with his English, it’s bad enough trying to listen to yours, I’ve been getting everything translated by Woo-Jin Oppa.

Wendy looked to Tom and they both laughed.

“Yes, I barely understand,” she joked, “But I can know what’s he saying.”

“Irene-ah, you should have just told me, I’ll know to use my Korean from now on,” Tom said in accented, but perfectly acceptable Korean.

Iren was shocked, “I’ve known you for five days, and you’ve understood Korean the whole time?”

“Yes?” Tom said, “I’ve lived in Busan for a while, When Woo-Jin called me I came up to Seoul on the train. I know what a hard time he’s had with his family, I just wanted to help out in any way I could, sorry if I confused you. I just thought you didn’t like to talk much.”

“It may seem like that Tom,” Seulgi said, “but when you really get to know her, it’s non-stop gabbing.

Irene glared at Seulgi, “Thanks, Seul.”

Tom laughed.

“It’s okay,” Irene chuckled, “I’m glad you’re here. But you can talk to me directly now.” Tom nodded.

“What do you do, Tom?” Wendy asked.

“Oh I’m a freelance photographer,” he said.

Wendy’s eyebrows lifted, “How is he going to help,” she thought.

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

When everyone had fixed their drinks and settled down, the time arrived for them to talk about why they’d all come to meet.

“Wendy, I want you to know that I’m not, nor have I ever “dated” Irene, we’re strictly friends. Besides, it would be difficult, she only ever talks about you, and there’s something else,” Woo-Jin said.

“He’s like us Wendy-ah,” Irene said.

Seulgi and Tom stayed quiet, but Wendy looked confused.

“Irene was right about you, your eyes, they’re so expressive. Anyway, the reason I won’t date Irene is because I’m not attracted to her…Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful but…”

He expected Wendy to understand this but she didn’t.

“Wendy-ah,” Woo-Jin whispered, “Women, even as beautiful as Irene or Seulgi or You, aren’t for me.”

And then she understood.

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

Wendy laughed out loud for a long time, and everyone laughed along with her just so she wouldn’t look crazy. Eventually Wendy calmed down and apologized, “Sorry, I wasn’t laughing because of what you told me, I must have seemed really stupid when you tried to explain it the first time.”

“It’s okay,” Woo-Jin laughed, “Anyway, we’re sort of in the same boat. My parents didn’t approve of me, so I went to California for a while, they eventually told me to come back home, but when I came back, they started setting me up on dates. That’s how I got in touch with Irene. Your company and my parents somehow crossed. It’s been a front for me, these dates. When I met Irene, she was feeling really low, but we became friends and we told each other our problems, I’m sorry Irene, he glanced towards her, “but I can finally make my confession.”

They all looked startled by this state.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not going to work out between us,” Woo-Jin said.

Irene laughed at this, and Wendy breathed a sigh of relief, “Agreed,” Irene replied, “Wendy do you understand why I couldn’t tell you yet? We couldn’t just go against the company at that moment, not with them forcing me on dates and trying to pull me away from you.”

Wendy nodded, “I know now, Seulgi was right, there was a reason…” The couple couldn’t make up properly there, so Wendy just held onto Irene’s hand and squeezed it.

Irene leaned in close to Wendy and spoke only to her, “I know I still have things to explain, but we’ll talk later, in private, okay?”

“Okay,” Wendy answered.

“Irene and I came up with a plan but it involves all of us, including you Seulgi,” Woo-Jin said.

Seulgi nodded, she had been quiet this whole time but spoke up now, “I’m in.”

“Can everyone here ice skate?” Woo-Jin asked.

“Wendy is a great skater,” Irene said, she looked to Wendy and smiled.

“Even this old southern boy knows how to ice skate,” Tom said in a thick southern accent.

“What did he say Wendy?” Seulgi asked.

“Even I’m not sure,” Wendy joked.

“Well then,” Tom said, switching back to Korean “Seulgi, do you think you can use this?” Tom picked up his bag and pulled out a professional camera, “I’ll show you how it works.”

Seulgi smiled, “Now that I understood.”

It was time to put their plan in action.