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weather has been unpredictable in south korea these past few weeks, forcing wendy and irene to stay at home, postponing their routine night walk together after work. however, the weather forecast for tonight was too good to pass up for their long abandoned routine walk. wendy had texted irene earlier if she was up for their usual stroll at the han river before her work ended, both of them agreeing to meet up as usual. irene headed straight to the park after work and she cursed under her breath for her minimal layer of clothing. dressed in her work attire — khaki pants, black blazer and a white knitted turtleneck underneath — she trudges along the sidewalk, hugging herself to warm up her tiny frame . it was nearing winter, the temperature reaching below irene’s comfort but still bearable for a walk, especially when she hasn’t been on one since hers with wendy.
the crowd there wasn't packed much to irene’s liking. it was cold and most would prefer staying in the warmth of their home, except for wendy (and maybe irene as well although she agreed partly because she wanted to meet wendy). irene could count some passersby and a few couples filling the empty cold park, blushing at the thought of considering her walk with wendy a date. well it is, at least on her part. she wouldn’t want to admit it out loud, but she may have a teeny tiny crush on her friend. irene also didn’t want to risk their friendship if wendy were to reject her, so she sought burying her futile crush; she’d rather stay as her friend for a long time rather than to lose her.
irene found herself wandering aimlessly for the past five minutes, deciding if she should shoot a text to wendy on her whereabouts. it was unusual for her to not be on time or earlier by a few minutes. as irene worries grew over the minutes that passed by, suddenly interrupted with a tap on her shoulder from behind. she turned around, curiosity and confusion plastered on her features as she faced a rather fluffy woman, fitted with a blue furry jacket too big for her own size; cream beanie on her head and a mask highlighting the woman’s mesmerising eyes.
“yes?” confusion laced irene’s voice. “how can i help you?”
the stranger chuckled, her eyes turning crescents before she answered with another question mirthfully, “didn’t you order a ‘night walk’ to go?”
now this is borderline weird and creepy . irene’s mouth opens and closes, struggling to find her words to answer the stranger or at least find a way to escape this conversation. her mind going into haywire—the cold temperature making it harder for her to think rationally—at the peculiar woman’s words. who on earth would walk up to a stranger just to say that? literally covered from head to toe makes her more suspicious, to hell her fluffiness. irene shouldn’t be fooled with appearances; there were plenty of news and articles she’s read that even the friendly neighbourhood grandma can be a bad guy. with no one around for irene to call for help, she mentally preps herself to break for a run, far far away from this possible dangerous situation.
okay, deep breaths. 1, 2—
“geez, we didn’t see each other for two and a half weeks and you can’t recognize me anymore?” the girl in front of her huffs while pulling down her mask, probably tired of waiting for irene to unfold the situation.
“wendy!” irene hitted her square on the shoulder. wendy snickered in amusement at irene’s antics. she does find startling irene entertaining, her reactions are always top tier; she doesn’t really hide her emotions that well. “you’re a menace for coming up to me like that!”
“i thought you’re one of those people who would abduct me, ship me off to another country,” irene pouted, flailing her arms, her inner turmoil taking over. she gasped incredulously, covering her mouth with her hands. “i could’ve had my organs sold off!”. wendy couldn’t hold her laughter in and guffawed at irene’s comment. how irene’s mind works leaves wendy wondering. “what makes you think i won’t do either of those you mentioned?” wendy lifted her brows in a questioning manner to irene. she wouldn’t , but teasing irene had never failed to make her smile.
“you’re just a fluff ball, in human size of course. you don’t even have the heart to kill an ant,” irene retorted in a duh manner as if it’s the most obvious answer ever. they walked in sync, basking in the comfortable silence they both had longed for to make up for the lost time they endured the past few weeks.
“oh i almost forgot.” wendy reaches to her side, giving irene a warm hot chocolate to which she was too busy to notice thanks to wendy’s overall fit. “i got your favourite hot chocolate at your favourite cafe, though i hope it’s still warm to your liking. the line was what got me late, i’m sorry.” wendy sheepishly shrugged, putting her hair behind her ears, an act that irene notices when the girl is nervous. cute . “thank you wendy, i appreciate it,” irene warms up at the simple gesture, though it is never that simple whenever it comes to wendy.
liking someone but not being able to say it out loud means suffering, especially if that person is a friend you hold dear to your heart. whatever wendy does, irene knows the adoration she has for the girl comes naturally, only time would have been the difference. it’s not that she never tried to gauge wendy’s feelings for her but when she did, wendy smoothly brushed it off and shifted the conversation into something else, something lighter than those deep emotional talks. irene thinks wendy is uncomfortable regarding the topic but at the very back of her mind, she likes the idea that wendy may like her back.
they were walking slowly in tandem along the bank of the han river, chatting here and there, catching up on the details of their life. irene had just finished one of her biggest projects that she has been working on for months, proud to receive compliments from both her colleagues and her boss. wendy on the other hand went on with her daily life with little to no changes except for her sudden change to blonde hair. irene didn’t notice wendy’s hair partly due to the lack of lighting in the park and wendy sported a beanie that covered most of her hair, but importantly irene was too busy admiring wendy’s features to notice it. wendy’s brown hair was her favourite but blonde just made all the existing butterflies in her stomach go haywire, easily climbing up to her top favourite colour on the girl.
irene was snapped out of her reverie when she felt wendy nudged her side, asking in silence if she’d prefer to sit down on one of the benches. she nodded, unconsciously tugging wendy along by her wrist. irene gingerly sat down, crossing her arms and legs to fight off the cold that slowly seeped through her clothing. what she didn’t anticipate was wendy draping her oversized furry coat over her shoulders. “you look like you could use some more clothing,” wendy jokingly chided while fixing her hair over the coat. if irene could puked butterflies, she would’ve done it by now with how it erupted frantically in her stomach.
“but—,” irene wanted to refuse but wendy’s glare, not fierce enough to show she’s angry, successfully shuts her up. irene knows there’s no use in rejecting her offer because the girl is just as stubborn as herself. they sit in silence—the comfortable one—content with their little bubble without any worries of reality.
“you know,” wendy breaks the silence, her eyes gazing at the vast sky glittered with specks of stars. “in between the weeks we’ve been apart, i’ve been thinking a lot—about you, us .” there’s a long pause. it seems as if wendy’s gathering all her courage to spit out the next words. “i like you irene. not as friends do but something more.” wendy looked at irene, her eyes flared with such intensity much like her confession does. it leaves irene squirming on her seat, trying to find the perfect words to respond to wendy’s proclamation. never in a million years would she thought that her wendy, her beautiful, kind, angelic wendy , could share the same feeling she has been hiding these past few months.
“i know i’m jumping on you with this sudden confession but i can’t pretend to not feel anything when all i do is the opposite.” wendy frantically explains as irene stays quiet, her hands flying in multiple directions. wendy muffled out her next words ever so softly, “you give me butterflies, you make me feel warm despite the harsh weather, and god —it’s exhilarating every single moment with you or when i think of you.”
“wendy, i―,”
“no no no i get it if you don’t feel the same or if you want to take your time considering my confession,” wendy nervously chuckles while scratching her nape. she continues rambling, not paying any notice to how irene features soften into adoration for the girl who has long resided her heart. irene placed her free hand onto wendy’s, turning it around so she could intertwine their hands together, immediately stilling the blonde from her incoherent babbling. red hues painted wendy’s cheek from the simple connection of irene’s touch, her eyes wandered to stare at their joined hands.
“you doofus.” irene giggled at the turnaround of the fates, the slim chance of her futile crush to be reciprocated seemed like a stretch but here she is, hearing the exact words she’s been yearning from the person she wants the most.
“i like you too.”
wendy would’ve broken her neck from whiplash at how fast she turned to look at irene. she could only manage to gape at the sudden confession she received as a reply. afraid of the impending rejection moments ago, she came up with various excuses in her head to soften the blow but instead, her feelings weren’t one-sided after all. it seemed too good to be true, a dream she didn’t want to wake up from. except that she broke out of her reverie when she felt her hands being caressed, heat slowly seeping from irene’s skin to hers.
that look irene’s giving her mirrors the exact look when she looks at irene; full of love and adoration, more than what friends would give to each other. it’s hard to believe that she missed these subtle indications that rejection was far from happening because irene liked her too. irene liked her back. how was it possible for her not to notice this?
“wow what— i mean how, no what i meant— since when?”
irene hummed, seemingly lost in her thoughts as she searched for the answer to wendy’s question. she couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment she liked her dear friend but what she’s sure of was that she’d somehow definitely fallen for her when they started their friendship. it was hard to not to when wendy is just as caring, lovable, understanding and every other adjective that can possibly describe the positive traits possessed by this amazing girl. so she answered wendy’s question truthfully.
“i don’t quite know myself,” irene shrugged. “does it really matter?”
“no,” with a smile and a soft shake of her head, wendy replies “it doesn’t.”
comfortable silence blanketed them as their new profound feelings were made known to each other. the dark grew as time passed by but neither of them moved, content within their own proximity. only when irene started trembling did wendy stand up, pulling irene along as their hands never part throughout the entire confession. wendy slid a hotpack in between their joint hands—to which irene hadn’t noticed before—and they continued walking back towards the parking lot.
it was obvious that both of them didn’t want the night to end just yet. underlying feelings were bared and in turn were reciprocated, it only made sense if they wanted to continue basking in each other’s presence after a few weeks being apart but neither said a word as the distance to the parking lot reduces after each step. they stood near irene’s car, hands yet to be freed from each other’s grip. irene took the initiative to slightly tug her hand, to which wendy releases in disappointment. the hotpack was in irene’s hold but the warmth it provided wasn’t enough as wendy’s to keep her from the cold. with a heavy heart, irene unlocked her car. she was only a foot in before the same hand that provided her warmth grabbed her wrist, causing her to turn to wendy, confusion marred her features.
“i-i….. do you want to hangout? it doesn’t have to be your place! i mean if you want it at mine, then that’s fine too.”
irene smiled at wendy’s stuttering. the ever-so-confident wendy she befriended loses her cool by trying to prolong their night together with a hangout. “sure. let’s drink at my place.”
“alright. i’ll meet you there.”
“you’re buying the drinks by the way! thanks!” irene closed her car door and watched wendy’s figure disappear into her own car across the parking lot. she doesn’t miss the slight shake of wendy’s head along with her chuckle decorating the night. funny how their routine walk turned into a night of confessions that might lead them somewhere happy together.