Wendy remembers exactly how it started, remembers how they were gifted with boxes of pepero after recording a commercial with EXO-K. She figures that that is where it all began.

----

Sunlight is pouring in from the window of the living room, helping to illuminate the words in the book that Wendy is currently reading. It's still quite early in the morning and the main vocalist is nibbling on some pepero, trying to curb her empty stomach until breakfast. Her eyes are flickering left and right, eyebrows furrowed and a fresh stick of pepero pursed between her lips, uneaten.

Wendy is so engrossed in her novel that she doesn't even see the leader walking towards her. She's startled when the snack between her teeth is broken, looking up in time to see Irene putting the other half of the sweet treat in . The older girl smiles at her and holds out her hand, "Come on, let's make some food for those two idiots."

And for some reason, Wendy's heart misses a beat.

----

The girls have just finished recording 'Be Natural' in the studio and are now resting in their waiting room. Joy is sitting on the couch with Seulgi's head in her lap, the bear knocked out with wide open, feet laying on the leader's thighs. Wendy is on the other side of the room, monitoring their performance with a stick of pepero dangling from between her lips.

The main vocalist is concentrating on the small laptop screen when she sees a hand reaching for her face. The snack in is snapped and tossed into Irene's. The taller girl grabs Wendy's hand with her own and the box of pepero with the other, pulling them towards the other half of their group. Irene gives her a playful smirk and says, "Let's see how many of these can fit in Seulgi's mouth."

Joy is trying so desperately not to laugh, biting her lips while recording everything with her phone. Wendy is leaning against the maknae's legs, holding the pepero box in her left hand and watching as Irene carefully inserts the snack into Seugi's mouth. She actually manages to get quite a few of them in before the sleeping girl wakes up. They all burst out laughing and Seulgi pouts at them, cheeks full of pepero and crumbs all over the bottom half of her face.

Wendy looks at Irene and sees the crinkles by her eyes, feels the warmth of their combined hands that have never let go. She relishes the sound of her laugh and the butterflies in her stomach only fly faster.

----

The four of them are in the living room, sitting squished together on the couch. Seulgi's just put a movie into the DVD player and moves to sit on the leader's right, Wendy in between Joy and Irene. There are snacks laid out on the coffee table in front of them and the main vocalist unconsciously reaches for the pepero box. She barely puts the sweet stick in when Irene calls her name.

"Seungwan-ah"

Wendy turns her head to the right and sees a blur. Her body freezes and the other half of the pepero is swiftly bitten off by the older girl next to her. It takes a while for her to comprehend what's just happened when Seulgi teasingly says, "Ugh, get a room you two." and her cheeks begin to flush a bright pink. Irene only smiles and grabs another pepero box.

They settle back into the movie and a couple of minutes later, Wendy mutters to the leader, "Unnie, why do you always like to take my pepero?" The taller girl is focused on the television in front of them but answers her all the same, "Because I like it when it comes from your mouth." Irene doesn't have to look to know that the blush on Wendy's face grows a couple shades darker.

The film is reaching its and the Canadian hasn't stopped side-glancing at the visual of their group. Everyone but her is immersed in the movie. From the corner of her eye, she sees a stick of pepero hanging between pink lips and she becomes restless.

"Unnie..."

Irene turns to look at her and she takes her chance. Wendy quickly leans in to take the other end of the snack in but she loses speed. Their noses are brushing against each other when the shorter girl feels a hand on the back of her head. Her face is then smashed into Irene's, pepero abruptly breaking and their lips crushed together.

Joy and Seulgi are laughing heartily and Wendy pulls away embarrassed. She gets up from the couch and runs away to their shared room. She hears the leader scolding the maknae and curls up in her bed, blanket covering her from head to toe. The door creaks open and Irene sighs, "Seungwan-ah, Sooyoung was just messing with us." Her only response is to pull the blanket tighter. There's some shuffling and extra weight is put on her bed, another body encircling Wendy's.

"Fine, then I'll just stay here with you."

Her heart is beating so fast and Wendy desperately hopes that Irene can't feel it, can't hear it from being so close to her. Eventually it slows down, and when it does she feels another heart beating, just as strongly as her own.

----

It's another early morning at the dorm and as usual, Wendy is the first to wake up. She makes her way into the living room yawning and plops herself onto the couch. Arms and legs stretch towards the two armrests before going limp, the Canadian's stomach growling in the silence of the morning. Wendy hears footsteps padding around on the floor but her eyelids feel too heavy to open.

A warm weight straddles her hips and brown eyes open to reveal the person who's been on her mind lately. Irene's arms are on either side of her head, her dark hair curtaining both of their faces. Wendy's breath hitches and her cheeks begin to flush, the leader's face closer than she thought it would be. The older girl has a piece of pepero between her pink, plump lips and the air around them is still, charging with the energy radiating off their bodies.

The two shortest members of Red Velvet are locked in an intense staring competition, feelings laid out in the open without having been said. Irene's shoulders are growing tense, the younger girl painfully aware of this observation and she feels it. Wendy's heart is pounding, she feels it swelling with love and adoration for the girl above her and she tilts her head to lean up. Almost immediately, Irene's shoulders begin to relax, her lips curling around the pepero before bending down to meet Wendy halfway.

Wendy's never had a kiss as sweet as this.