Wendy could only sit still, her whole attention fixed upon that look in Irene’s eyes and the words she just said to her.

So Bae Joohyun actually reciprocated her feelings.

Bae Joohyun, the infamous ice queen who had always been void of emotion, mean as hell, and whose heart seemed to be so heavily locked and guarded by the thickest of chains.

This girl actually liked her back? Who would have thought?

“Say something, please?”

“I…” Wendy scratched the back of her neck nervously, still trying to recover from the shock. Really huge shock.

Irene leaned back into her seat slowly, thinking that she had probably made a mistake of letting her true feelings known so soon, “Okay, I must’ve scared you. I’m sorry. Just… forget I ever said any of that.”

“What? No!” Wendy almost screamed. She would not have Irene taking back her words now. “I just… you… you never seemed to want to talk to me. And you looked so pissed off every time we had a conversation… I thought you hated me.”

The blonde sat up again and hinged her elbows on the table, the look in her eyes slightly softer now, “I’ve never hated you. I just didn’t know how to cope with everything. I simply dealt with things the best way I knew – keeping our conversations to a minimum, and repressing any and all emotion whenever I spoke to you. Do you have any idea how guilty I felt each and every time?”

“I…”

“Think about it, Wendy. There are easily hundreds of cafes around the area. Why did I keep coming back to this one?”

You wanted to see me as often as you could.

“What could’ve been a better way to leave you tips without you suspecting any of this than to behave like a ruthless who couldn’t care any less?”

So you really had every intention of helping me out.

“My point is this: the one and only reason behind everything I’ve done is you, Wendy. Yes, even my decision to start dating Luhan.”

“But why?”

Irene tried to swallow the annoying lump that had formed in before continuing, “You see, I’m the only daughter my parents have. I’m supposed to live up to their expectations, to lead a life as close to their definition of what’s normal as possible. When I first met you, my world turned upside down. All of a sudden I started having all these… feelings. Feelings I was only supposed to be having for boys.”

Wendy had been in a similar situation long enough to understand the emotional trauma the girl was going through. “I struggle with the same thing every day, Irene.”

“R-really?” For a moment, the blonde looked almost relieved that she was not alone in this.

Wendy nodded briefly, “I like you more than you know, Irene. And it’s getting clearer for me each and every day. I don’t know what it did for you but after we kissed, I knew my preference for certain.”

A glimmer of hope flashed across the girl’s eyes only to disappear soon after. “I… I don’t think I can do this any longer, Wendy. Is this really what falling in love is supposed to feel like? Because I don’t want any of it. I don’t want to fall any deeper for you. I can’t afford to.”

Wendy’s heart sank at her words. “Repressing your emotions isn’t going to help. Believe me, I’ve tried… I’ve tried so hard to stay away from you. It only backfired.”

A few beats of dreaded silence dragged by.

“But I’m scared.”

“So am I.”

“No, you don’t get it. I’m scared, Wendy. I’m terrified.” The blonde’s voice was obviously cracking at this point. “My family would kill me. I… I can’t even look my mom straight in the eye whenever we talk these days because… because I’m so afraid of giving myself away. I’m just… , I’m so scared, Wendy.”

And that was when all the walls crumbled and actual tears were shed.

Wendy scrambled to her feet and practically flew over to the girl’s side. Without permission, she enclosed the girl’s fragil