One Thing Right Chapter 9 | Wenrene

 

One Thing Right

Chapter 9

"Fresh Start"

The next day...

"Unnie, your eyes are swollen." 

"And you think yours aren't? Look at yourself in the mirror." 

Joy started chuckling to which Wendy got puzzled. 

"What's funny?" 

"It's just that, I can't believe we broke down crying last night in public, in front of your apartment building. I wonder if someone caught us on cam and posted it, I bet we're gonna be viral!" 

"You find that exciting? That's horror for me." 

"Yah! Think of it as a punishment for lying to me! If I didn't get suspicious of you yesterday before you left the unit, I wouldn't have rummage your belongings and saw a doctor's appointment paper on your desk." 

"No one's announcing that they're going to the hospital to get checked up, Joy. I feel like it's a natural private thing to do." 

"Tch. Liar. That's not what you said last night while crying like a baby." 

"Can we not talk about last night? It's giving me chills." 

"Why? You can't believe we're so sweet to each other? People might have mistaken us for a couple. She laughed teasingly. 

"Shut your mouth or I'll tell Sungjae what you said last night to me." 

"Do it. I don't really care, he has to know you're my priority." She challenged and Wendy was taken aback. Joy's really serious with her words.

"Look, Joy. Your love for Sungjae and for me are different. You have to give importance to him as well or you'll lose him." 

"I love him, unnie. But like I said, you're my priority. If he loves me, he should understand that. You're not just my best friend, or cousin, you're literally a part of me. So don't just shut me out or I'll go crazy." 

"If you marry Sungjae, you'll be whole. But then I'll be there on your marriage for sure." Wendy said with a hopeful tone. 

"That's still far to tell. But I love how you invited yourself to my own wedding without my knowledge." 

Wendy rolled her eyes. It'll be difficult to make Joy change her mind with her priorities. 

"Anyways, aren't you going home?" 

"My, I just declared I'll stay by your side and you want me to go home?" 

"It's not like that. You also have a life of your own in Jeju, you can't just be forever stuck with me you know." 

"I'm thinking of transferring here in Seoul. Dad's here anyways." 

"But your life is in Jeju, your working there, auntie's there and so is Sungjae." 

Even if Joy persists to be by Wendy's side, she cannot deny that it'll be difficult to leave everything behind in Jeju, her hometown. Right now she has no solution to this problem so she's just gonna think about it and settle it later. What's important now, is that she still has time to be with Wendy and that's what matters for now. 

"Don't worry, I'll think this through and tell you my decision soon but now, I want to know when' is your scheduled therapy." 

"Seriously Joy, I appreciate you wanting to look out for me but I'm seriously better now. I mean, not completely but I'm a step closer to that. I've done the most difficult part which is seeing a doctor, so I think I could handle the rest. Don't sacrifice your life because of me, I would really feel bad about that." 

"I understand, unnie. I'll consider everything before I make a decision. I won't decide something that I will regret later." She smiled reassuringly. "So every when is your schedule?"

"Saturdays of every week." 

"That often? I mean that's 4 times a month." 

"Yeah, I was surprised to be honest but what can I do about it? It's their prescription not mine." 

"Until when will be the therapy?"

"I'm scheduled for the whole 3 months but the doctor said it could cut shorter or expand longer depending on how I cope up with my condition. They could make me take lesser sessions to twice or once a month too if ever they detect a fast improvement." 

"Is your doctor male or female?"

"Both"

"Both? You'll have two doctors to see you?"

"Yeah, it's my request." 

"Are they good looking?"

"I haven't seen the other, but the male one is." 

"Then I'll tag along to see for myself." 

"Like I have a choice not to tag you along."

"Good. At least you're listening, Ms. Son."

~Growl~

"Oh, yeah. We haven't eaten last night beause we cried ourselves to sleep." 

"I'm hungry unnie, let's go get some food outside." 

It's already 11:30am when they stumbled upon Irene & Seulgi passing by just when Wendy opened the door of their unit.

The 3 of them got all startled and didn't know what to say or do. It seems like it's already fate that wanted them to reconcile. 

"H-hi, Seulgi, Irene?" Wendy started wanting to ease the tension.

"H-hi, Wendy." Seulgi stammered. Despite missing Wendy, she's still unsure whether the latter's happy to see her for a hug and a casual talk.

They were stuck standing in front of each other. They were caught in an awkward situation and it's all thanks to Joy for ending this misery.

"Oh! Hi Seulgi-unnie! Hi idol, Irene-unnie!"

Wendy got weirded out. When did Joy got close to those two that she has the courage to hug them while greeting? And when did she had the privilege to call them unnie? 

"By the way, thanks for the cupcakes yesterday, Wendy. They were delicious!" Seulgi finally flashes her eye smile, but still testing the water.

"Cupcakes?" Wendy then looked at Joy questioningly. 

Crap. Joy panicked. She forgot to confess her sins to Wendy yesterday but she had forgotten about it when they got too emotional. Now, she's about to get busted as a liar in front of her new friend Seulgi and her idol Irene. 

The other two noticed how greatly confused Wendy was so the speculation that Joy was lying to them was surfacing. Not until Wendy decided to speak.

"Ahh! Ooohhh... yeah! Yup, yup!" She made a funny and odd reaction to buy some time and think about what she'll say next. "I mean, I almost forgot about the cupcakes. I've been reaaally occupied lately." It wasn't a whole lie. 

Joy can't help but smile, Wendy's covering for her. So, she played along.

"Told 'ya! Wendy unnie baked them for you both." She grinned to Irene and Seulgi then back to Wendy. 

Wendy is in disbelief of what she's hearing. Her cousin is really thick faced... and a liar.

"Yeah we really thought you're bluffing but it's really real, right Wendy?" Seulgi replied to Joy then turned to Wendy happily. "I'm really so thankful that you aren't angry with me. I thought you're avoiding me." She gave Wendy a huge bear hug. 

Irene was relieved to see Seulgi smiling so brightly again.

That statement was half true and half false for Wendy. Yes, she's avoiding the two recently but it's because she isn't in the right state to communicate to anyone at all. She was never angry, a little, maybe towards Irene's attitude to her, but her problem right now is bigger to even think about a past interaction. It's already forgotten not unless Irene treats her the same again and again. 

Wendy returned the hug and reassured Seulgi that there were no hard feelings. 

"Thank you, Wendy! Let's bond together some time soon!"

Wendy nodded happy to see a bubbly Seulgi again and then looked at Irene when she was released feom the hug, she seemed tamed now that her roommate is back. She has forgiven her really, even if she hasn't apologized yet.

"I'm not angry Seul, and sorry about that if you feel I was avoiding you recently. It's just that, I'm really busy, so..." She turned back and cast an apologetic look at Seulgi. 

"See? Wendy unnie won't ignore you." Joy smiled.

Both Seulgi and Joy started conversing on their own while it left Wendy and Irene on the side. Now, that's when the awkwardness returned. 

Wendy is afraid to say or do something since Irene may snap on her again and that's the least she wanted to handle right now. She might not even know how to, anymore. 

"Hi, Wendy." Irene spoke soflty.

If Wendy didn't know Irene, she could resemble her voice to her physician. Their voice are so calming in such soft and reserved tone.

"Hi, Irene." Short response but that's the only thing she could offer to her now.

Irene understood quickly that Wendy's aloofness is the consequence of her attitude previously towards her. She cannot blame her.

"Wendy." She tried again.

"Yeah?" 

"We need to talk." 

"B-but we're about to grab some lunch." She tried to reason out.

"Can we tag along then? We're about to eat out too." 

"Are you sure? Because the last time you..." she paused as bad memories became vivid again.

Irene is starting to lose hope to reach out to Wendy. She's really not good with rejections. 

"It's okay if you don't want to."

She heard a tinge of disappointment and Wendy felt bad. 

"Oh come on, unnie. It's just lunch, you can join us!" Joy to the rescue. 

Irene checked Wendy for some response but she just nodded after giving it a second thought. Despite appearing as forced approval, Irene would still grab this opportunity. 

"Come on, Seulgi unnie, we're partners throughout this lunch!" Joy put her arms over Seulgi's shoulders and they hopped happily to their way. Seulgi wasn't ignorant of Joy's plans though, Joy whispered to her the plan of making their unnies reconcile. Seulgi wanted this so they could have a smooth friendship from now on. 

This is really awkward for Wendy, but she's really glad that Joy is still treating and teasing  her the same as before. Even with depression, which makes everything hard for her to function normally, she has Joy that will always make her feel that she's still the unnie she has met from the start. Wendy knew how lucky she really is to have Joy, so just thinking about it boosts her mood. She smiled. 

"Let's go?" Wendy offered and Irene, who noticed a positive reaction now. She's glad to take the invitation.  

They all choose to go to the restaurant next to the one that Irene and Seulgi were at the other day. It's an Italian restaurant and they ordered the vongole pasta, pomodoro and a family sized pizza. 

Joy and Wendy seated side by side. This time it's Seulgi who whispered to Joy that they do this seating arrangement with Irene facing Wendy. It's a trick really, if you want to speak to someone then just seat in front of them and not on their side.

While they were waiting for their orders, Joy brought up a topic to talk about, exclusively to Seulgi only. The other two were facing everywhere but each other. 

Joy and Seulgi thought they would talk eventually but their orders came and not a single word came out from them at all. 

"There's no harm in talking, you two." Joy finally grew impatient. "We're already at our 5th topic, and both of you are still on mute. Hello?!"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "If you speak for the whole group then perhaps we could have jived in to your topics. But hey it's like you and Seulgi are the only ones here." 

"Hey no fighting here." Seulgi interfered.

"Anyways, we're going to wash our hands before eating." Joy abruptly stood up and brought along the confused Seulgi. 

"I have alcohol?" Wendy offered, she already read Joy's plan of making Irene and her talk. 

"Whatever." Joy and Seulgi walked away and that left the two again. 

"They should have washed their hands while waiting for our food." Wendy sighed as she shook he head.

"Wendy."

Now she didn't expect Irene to callout first.

"Yeah?" 

"About the previous week we're together, I'm really sorry for the attitude I've shown you." Irene started with an apology. She has been thinking about what to say since Joy's visit yesterday. Despite thinking thoroughly about it she's bit hesitant to actually say her thoughts now especially that she didn't expect to meet her this soon and unscheduled.

"Oh." Wendy was caught speechless of course. She didn't expect that there's this side of Irene that could make an apology. She's really different now from when she saw her before. Before, Irene's like a person wrapped by dark aura but now she's oozing with lighter vibe. 

"Just, oh?" Irene asked a bit disappointed at her reaction. 

"Ah! Sorry, I was just surprised you're making an apology." She scratched the back of her head. 

"I realized that my behavior was really wrong, I shouldn't have judged you right away when you're just helping out." 

"It's fine now. It's kind of understandable if you think about it. I'm a stranger and you just want to protect your privacy." 

Irene thought that Joy was right, Wendy really turned out to be a person that forgives anyone with just apology. Wendy really is a good person, but somehow Irene thought that it makes her prone to being hurt so easily if she'll be like that all the time. For some reason, she has the urge to change Wendy with her way of living. 

"That's true, but I could have done better." Irene was being honest, Seulgi was a long time friend and she will never let her get harmed. Therefore, if she was entrusted to someone, it will be to a good person as well. Irene had doubts, and she's basing it from experience of getting fooled all over again. That's why she always kept her walls thick and high to prevent it from happening again. 

"Past is past. Let's forget about it. Now that Seulgi has returned, there are no reasons for us to communicate anyways." Wendy said as a matter of fact. She sees no reasons at all for them to interact again.

"Isn't Seulgi your friend?" 

That made Wendy pause and think. "I guess so? But I can't say the same for her." 

"She treats you as her friend. She got really lonely when you abandoned her." 

"Abandoned? Hey, that's a strong word and I didn't do that." She sighed. "There's really a bunch of things going on with my life lately that I..." 

"You don't have to explain. I just want you to know that Seulgi really likes you as her friend." 

"Oh. I feel the same way. She's really a good person." 

"And so are you."

Irene's eyes widened. It was a slip of the tongue. Why she said that out loud?

"Why am I getting compliments? You're already forgiven so you don't have to." Wendy laughed it off which irks Irene a bit. She was being truthful and yet... 

"Where were they anyways?" Irene changed the topic out of embarrassment. 

Wendy wanders her eyes and found the two sneaking behind the wall from the wash area just to check on them. She had an idea how to punish those two and shared it with Irene. 

"They are doing this because they wanted us to talk and reconcile." Irene commented feeling bad for the two after hearing Wendy's plan. 

"Yeah but we're going for a payback." 

"So we're just going to talk? What are we going to talk about?" 

"Just anything. They're giving us space to talk so we're giving it to them. The thing is, they're gonna go hungrier." 

Irene watched Wendy snicker at her own plans and it brought a smile on her face. This stranger she treated wrongly before plays along with her to make a prank on their friends. It seemed so fast but Irene's starting to get at ease with her. 

"Since you're a friend of Seulgi, does that makes us friends too?" 

Wendy stared at her in disbelief. Is she hearing those words from Irene's mouth? The model Irene Bae? She thought it would be rude of her if she says no. 

"Well... would you like to?" She had to ask first.

Irene smiled. "If you'd like it too." 

There were no more words needed to respond to that. Just their eyes and smiles for each other were enough evidences of what they wanted. This commences a friendship that they didn't know they will later cherish forever.