Having recovered from the morning’s interesting discoveries, the four ladies, along with Wendy’s parents, now sat at the dinner table enjoying what would be their last night together. Wendy and Mrs. Son had cooked another feast while Mr. Son regaled the other three with tales of his wild youth. Joy was the most interested and seemed to be taking notes on pranks she could pull later on.

When dinner was finally served, Irene stood up and proposed a toast, “To our last night here! Let’s enjoy it and think of our time spent here when we’re working hard in hopes that we’ll get to come back here again.”

Everyone cheered and sat down to eat the delicious food.

Seulgi raved.

Joy ranted that they wouldn’t enjoy food like this during their comeback,

And Wendy and Irene laughed at them both.

-----

 With dinner over, they sat and talked about the memories they had made over the week, and their upcoming hectic schedule to prepare for a new comeback. Inevitably the conversation switched to music, and Mrs. Son lamented that they still hadn’t been able to catch any of the girl’s live performances.

Irene smiled at Mrs. Son’s confession. Earlier in the week, Irene had decided to keep the promise she’d made to herself and Wendy, and called Mr. Son to ask if he had access to a guitar. She discussed the plan with Seulgi first, she wanted Wendy to really concentrate on singing, and Seulgi agreed to practice the song and be ready by their last night. She went to Joy the next day who instantly agreed and couldn’t wait to see Mrs. Son’s face when they started to perform.

Lastly, and most importantly on the day of, she went to her Wendy:

“I want to do a live performance for your parents, Wendy-ah, I’ve already asked your dad to bring his guitar secretly, he brought it the day of the barbecue, and it’s been in Seulgi and Joy’s room ever since then.  Seulgi has been practicing an acoustic version of our song, it’s a slow version with just us singing, I found the version online, a fan posted the chords and I listened to their version, it’s really cool.”

“When did you do all that?”

“Just here and there, while you napped or while you were hanging out with Seulgi. Your parents were really upset that they couldn’t be at our show on the first day, and I wanted to make it up to them, especially your mom. She tried to hide the fact that she was disappointed, but I know she was, it was so unfair to them. I wanted it to be a surprise for you too, but since you’re one of our vocalists, it’s important that you practice it as well before your parents get here for our last dinner.”

Wendy began to cry, and Irene got worried.

“Are you okay, baby?”

“I’m fine, you’re just so thoughtful, after last night, and now today, I can’t ever repay you for being so kind to my parents.”

Irene wiped the tears away, “It’s not your job to repay me, I love you, and I have your love, it’s enough that you’re happy…or content and that your family is too.”

“I want to…be this way with your family too. To be able to see your mother smile and be happy for us,” Wendy whispered.

“I know, me too, they’ll come around, we’ll go see them again soon, okay? Don’t worry.”

Wendy hugged Irene, “Thank you for making me feel so special and doing this for my parents, I can’t wait to see my Mom’s face when we start singing tonight.”

“That’s what Joy said too,” Irene chuckled, “Want to practice? Seulgi’s really been playing hard for the past few days, I think she’s got the song down, now all we have to do is sing.”

“Sure, let’s go.”

“Umma,” Irene said, speaking to Mrs. Son, “We have a surprise for you, will you two go sit in the living room?”

Surprised by the sudden statement, Mrs. Son got up, followed by Mr. Son—who was a bit more confident in what was about to happen—and went to the comfy couch in the cabin’s living room.

Staying back for a moment, the three youngest looked to Irene who confidently smiled, “Let’s show them our best live performance.”

Walking back into the living room with their dining room chairs, the four sat quietly in front of Wendy’s parents and waited until Seulgi was ready to begin playing.

She counted the beats and then Seulgi sang her line and Mrs. Son looked on in wonder as they sang.

-----

After the performance, Mr. and Mrs. Son pulled Irene and Wendy aside to thank them for putting the performance together.

“Don’t thank me, Mom, this was all Irene’s idea, she only told me about it this morning.”

“Really?” Mrs. Son asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Irene replied.

“I—“ Tears began to form as Mrs. Son thought about what Irene had done.

Irene left Wendy and Mr. Son standing there and went to hug Mrs. Son, “I know what it means to you to be able to see Wendy perform. It was completely unfair what happened to you and Appa at our other performance last week. I wanted to do something, even as something as small as this to somehow make it up to you. I know it’s not much, but I had to do something…”

“It means the world, Joohyun,” Mrs. Son said, “More than you know.”

-----

After Mr. and Mrs. Son left, Irene and Wendy went to the deck to relax for a while. Seulgi and Joy left them alone and had one last video game tournament.

In the dark, on the deck, Irene and Wendy melted into each other again. They stole kisses and touches, and realized that when they got back to Korea, the progress they’d made with each other would most likely be taking a back seat to their schedules and impending comeback.

“…If I can’t hold your hand, or be by your side, it’s not because I don’t want to be there, you know that, right?”

“Of course, Joohyun, it’s the same for me. I know when we get back to Korea, thing’s will need to change, at least in public. I’ll never stop wanting, no needing to hold your hand or be by your side, especially after last night.” Wendy touched the compass pendant that was hanging from her neck.

“You know you can always stay with me in my room, right? It’s far from the public’s gaze.”

“Oh, I plan on it,” Wendy smiled, “Maybe not every night, but probably most nights.”

“Good,” Irene replied.

“Let’s not think about that now, let’s enjoy the time we have left here,” Wendy said.

Irene scooted closer to Wendy and wrapped herself tightly around her, “Okay.”

The night faded and they stayed there for hours, not wanting to think about tomorrow’s impending and necessary changes.