"What?" Sulli is dumbfounded, eyes wide as she stares at Seulgi. 

"It's true. I think she's the devil. She's the meanest to me."

"But everyone says she's the nicest among the members. Even the members themselves say that." Sulli says. 

"I'm telling the truth. Irene is the only one who is nice to me. Yeri's okay but she's shy and is always with Joy. So, technically, Irene's the only one who talks to me and treats me like a normal human being."

"Really? They say she's usually the shy one though. Maybe she likes you for some reason and maybe you did something to get on Wendy's bad side?" Sulli rationalizes the whole thing, glancing at Soojung as if asking her to side with her.

"That's the problem. I don't know what I did wrong." Seulgi mumbles.

It's Thursday night and that meant a sleepover with Sulli and Soojung. For the past hour, the two have just been listening patiently to Seulgi's rants about work, about her bosses, that is until Sulli speaks up for her favorite Red Velvet member, torn between siding with her friend and defending Wendy. Soojung, on the other hand, is just observing Seulgi quietly.

"Seungwan. Son Seungwan." She hears Seulgi mumble.

"Son Seungwan? Didn't you have a friend named Son Seungwan?" She says. "You know, before you met us?"

"Isn't that Wendy's Korean name?" Sulli says.

Seulgi stands up from the bed and walks to her study table, she pulls open a couple of drawers, looking for something.

"Yeah, I did have a friend named Seungwan. But I don't remember if her last name is Son. I mean, I just called her by her first name. We were 7 then!" Seulgi says. She finds what she's looking for, pulling up an old photo from the clutter on her desk drawer.

Seulgi becomes silent. And her two friends just look at her, waiting for her to say something.

"Well?" Sulli asks, expectant.

"I'm not sure." Seulgi says. Soojung gets up from the bed and walks toward her but before she can get there, she sees the pile of sketchbooks that has been stacked on the bookshelf for months, now on the desk and pencil shavings on the floor.

"Seul, have you been sketching?" 

Seulgi's eyes dart to the wall, avoiding her friend's gaze because she doesn't have the answer to the questions lying underneath those words.

"Y-yeah, I haven't done it in a while but I did a couple last night because I was just too worked up about Wendy." She says in all honesty. 

Soojung smiles. Seulgi has gone around to making art again, or is at least starting to. She has seen her give up on her studies, lose her passion, and be so frustrated about it that she feels so hopeful for Seulgi right now, seeing her so full of life. Does it matter if it's because her boss was so mean to her? Soojung still thinks that having Red Velvet around Seulgi is a good thing.

--

"Are you going somewhere?" Yeri peeks at Wendy from the kitchen counter as the latter is standing by the door, putting her jacket on, over her pajamas.

"I'm just taking out the trash. Why are you still awake?" She replies.

"Can't sleep." Yeri pouts.

"Let me throw this out first and then I'll tuck you in bed, okay?"

"Thanks, umma!" Yeri beams at her and Wendy smiles. 

She walks out the door, takes quick steps and she places the trashbags she holding in the bin. As she straightens up, she freezes hearing voices. 

"Is that the house? Are you sure that's the one?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I saw their van came in at 2AM yesterday. I'm pretty sure it was the Red Velvet unnies."

"Rumors have been spreading around that they live in the area, right? Hey, who's that?"

Wendy swallows hard. Could they be stalker fans? Have they noticed her standing there in her pajamas? The owners of the voices start their approach and Wendy still can't move. However, she isn't left with anymore time to ponder on what to do because somebody suddenly grabs her hand and pulls her to run. 

"Hey, wait!" She hears one of the strangers call out to them.

Her mind lags at first, wondering why she was running and why she was letting herself get dragged by this vigilante in black but then she realizes that it's no vigilante, it's just Seulgi.

--

They have probably only run three blocks in ten minutes but they're both out of breath when they stopped in front of an empty playground. Seulgi looks at Wendy fully for the first time, notices that their hands were still linked and she immediately lets go.

"Uh,"

"Thank you, Seulgi." Wendy says, sparing her from having to say anything. Silence follows and Seulgi takes her time in replying.

"I don't think they followed us. Are you alright?" Wendy nods and walks up to the swing, sitting in it so she could catch her breath.

"Can we just rest for a while before we go back home?" She says.

Seulgi watches her for a moment before doing the same, sitting next to her. 

Wendy steals glances at Seulgi from the corner of her eye, aware that the she is shamelessly eyeing her with desperation, like she might disappear into thin air if she looks away even for a second. She feels the need to start small talk, sees the plastic bag that Seulgi is carrying.

"What were you doing out at this time?" She asks.

"Oh, I went out to buy some snacks. My friends and I are having a sleepover." Seulgi shakes the bag she's holding, checking the contents.

"You did? We should go back. They must be waiting for you." Wendy says.

"They can wait. Let's just... stay here for a bit. I haven't been here for years." Seulgi says, looking around the swing sets and the monkey bars, taking in the sight and drinking in the memories it brought back.

She looks at Wendy again, sees her rub her hands together because of the cold. Without any second thoughts, she takes off her coat and stands up so she can drape it over Wendy's shoulders.

"W-what about you?" The girl stutters, surprised.

"I can handle it. You just keep warm." Seulgi says with a smile, sitting back down on the swing. Wendy wonders what's gotten into the girl because she's weirdly comfortable and daring around her tonight.

Silence engulfs the atmosphere while Seulgi pulls out two cartons of strawberry milk and hands one to Wendy. Wendy takes the drink and wraps it in both hands, murmuring thanks.

"You know, when I was a kid, I used to come here often after school. My mom wasn't always around to pick me up because she's busy with work. But I was okay with that because I liked playing here and walking home without her because I had this friend." Seulgi starts, poking a straw through her milk carton. She takes a sip before she continues.

"This friend... well, she was my only friend because the kids in school used to tease me about not having a dad - my mom is a single mom and I only met my dad when I was ten. She was the only one who didn't think that I was weird for not having a dad. I was fine with that. I didn't need any other friend."

Wendy doesn't say anything. She busies herself with her drink, unable to look Seulgi in the eye because she knows if she does, her legs will turn to jelly.

"I hated school because I wasn't good in any of the subjects except art. But I still went there because I get to be with her. It was a bargain I was willing to make at the age of 7." Wendy can see that Seulgi is smiling and her smile is melting Wendy's heart into a puddle of goo, as if hearing these words from Seulgi wasn't enough to.

"This was our special place." Seulgi pauses. "Until it wasn't. She moved away before my 8th birthday... our 8th birthday. Our birthdays were only 11 days apart. Cool, huh?"

"H-how did you feel when she left?" Wendy finally speaks, not sure where she found the courage to.

"I cried for a week. I remember going to the bus station a lot of times without my mom knowing because I wanted to go after her. The police would see me there and take me back to our house." Seulgi laughs and Wendy is finally able to look at her. 

She can't help but think that Seulgi is onto something, onto her. Does Seulgi know who she is for real? Her heart is a thumping mess in her chest as she waits for Seulgi to continue.

"It's getting late. Let's get you home, Wendy." Seulgi says.

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

A/N: My pace is inconsistent, I know. And it's going to be slow for the following chapters but it's neccessary for the story to progress. I'm getting all excited about what's going to happen next. Hihi. Thank you for reading and upvoting!  And commenting! I find it outrageously funny that you guys think that Joygi being end game would be a good plot twist. Haha! I think so, too. But no Joygi for this fic. Sorry. So, yeah, comment if you can!

- Bluekimchi