Irene sits by herself, her small back resting against the sturdy tree that stood proudly on the abandoned playground. Her opened sketchbook rests on folded knees while her hand grips a pencil gliding to and fro over white sheet.

For a moment, she gazes at the view on front of her, eyes taking in the serenity or her surroundings. It's beautiful. Scenic. Irene glances back to her sketch pad.

She still can't draw for .

This project is stupid. Sometimes, Irene laments her weakness of pretty girls and dazzling smiles. It's the whole reason she took up that stupid art class anyway.

She's supposed to be practicing her lines. All she sees on her sketchbook are uncontrolled squiggles that looks like one of her cousin Yerim's Saturday morning old cartoons. Heck, even those are better.

With a frustrated sigh, Irene fights the urge to just crumple the drawing and throw it away. She puts away her things and decides to go home. It's already sunset anyway.

The next day, Irene finds herself staring at a blank page of her sketchpad. She's supposed to be having lunch but the stress this project is putting on her is making her lose her appetite.

"This is actually going to kill me," she mumbles.

"What's going to kill you?"

Irene startles at the intrusion. Seulgi smiles at her apologetically. She puts down her bag on the seat across Irene before plopping down with her food.

"This project," Irene sighs. "I hate art."

"You're literally a dancer. You don't hate art."

"Yeah but drawing balls. Especially drawing people. This project . Did I say it because it . Balls."

Seulgi munches on her lunch and was about to speak when Irene glares at her. She chews obediently and swallows before talking.

"Why did you take up a drawing class if you hate it so much?"

Now, Irene isn't about to expose herself of course. She can't just say there was this cute girl with the short blonde hair and squishy cheeks and sunshine smile who talked to her during class enlistment. Of course not. Irene did not shift her schedule to accommodate an arts class just because cute sunshine girl said she was excited to take it.

Especially when they didn't end up in the same class anyway.

"It just happened like that. I'm dying," she says instead.

"You're exaggerating."

Irene purses her lips. She opens her sketchpad and s it to Seulgi's face. Her practice sketches.

"Oh."

"It's hideous!"

"It's not... terrible."

"You're a bad liar, Kang Seulgi."

"Okay, fine. You could use some improvement here and there but it's not totally terrible!"

Irene retracts her sketchpad and pouts. She tosses the sketchbook on the table and crosses her arms. It's cute but it also kinda throws Seulgi's appetite off.

"This is the first time you've tried drawing, right?"

"Your point?"

Seulgi takes a spoonful of food and lets it rest on her plate.

"You're only starting out, unnie. It's understandable that you struggle."

Seulgi may be right but she's also very, very wrong. Irene Bae does not struggle. Irene Bae always get everything done in the first try. These are just facts.

"Do you want me to help?"

Irene blinks.

"What?"

"I took up that class last semester and even recommended it to a friend who's taking it this semester. I could help you practice your sketches."

Irene's interest is peaked. She and Seulgi have been friends for a long time. She knows the girl can draw. Getting free help from her without having to ask for it? Irene's not an idiot. She says yes.

"Great!"

They set up a date and time. Seulgi finally gets to eat her lunch in peace.

Irene wakes up bright and early on Saturday. She forgoes making a cute character lunch in favor of a simple looking one. The last time she made a bear out of food, Seulgi felt too guilty to eat the cute thing. It's the least she could do before she butchers an attempted sketch of the girl.

There's no Seulgi in sight at the abandoned playground when Irene arrives. She quietly takes her space right by the sturdy tree and opens her sketchbook. Might as well warm up before help arrives.

Irene is halfway through incorrectly shading her drawing of a swingset when her phone vibrates. She picks up the call.

"Unnie! Are you already there?"

Seulgi sounded breathless. She must be in a rush, thinks Irene.

"I'm already here," Irene confirms. "Hurry up, Seul."

"That's the thing, unnie. I won't be able to make it—"

"Yah! You're bailing on me?!—"

"But it's oka—"

"What—"

"— asked someone else to help you. You'll be fine, unnie—

"—Yah, Kang Seulgi."

"I really have to go now, unnie. Good luck!"

That idiot hanged up. Irene even made her lunch. How dare she. Irene totally knows where she lives.

Irene starts shoving back her things inside her bag. She's not about to spend her Saturday drawing some random stranger with her awfull drawing skills.

Except it's not a random stranger. Not really.

She's about to stand when she spots a girl with familiar short blonde hair walking towards her. Or at least Irene assumes she's walking over to her since the girl's eyes are glued to her phone.

Wait— .

The girl raises her head to meet her eyes and Irene's heart does a little tango. .

Of all the people Seulgi had to ask, it had to be cute sunshine girl.

She might be hallucinating but cute sunshine girl smiles, gives her a tiny wave with her hand. Maybe Irene feels a little gayer.

"Hey there stranger!"

"Heeey." Crap. She hopes she didn't look as awkward as she sounds.

Okay, deep breaths. Irene is a beautiful, capable woman. There is absolutely no reason to freak out over cute sunshine girl.

Double crap. She can't remember her name. Irene feels like a fish out of sea. Fortunately, the universe takes pity on her and sunshine girl breaks the silence.

"We met last time," sunshine girl smiles. "But we forgot to ask each others' names."

Oh. That makes sense.

"I'm Wendy."

Sunshine girl puts her hand forward for a handshake and Irene's heart absolutely swoons. She subtly wipes her palm on her jeans before taking Wendy's hand.

"Irene."

"Hello, Irene." Her smile impossibly turns up brighter and Irene barely holds herself together.

"Sorry I was late," Wendy continues. "Will you be okay with me helping you instead of Seulgi? I know she cancelled last minute. She only told me about this an hour ago. Apparently, you needed a model and a helper so I came over after club rehearsals."

She was told last minute and still went to help out a technical stranger? Even though she was busy? A whole angel.

"It's fine."

Wendy beams. Irene feels like if she stared too long, she'd go blind. Willingly. It's insane.

"So, do we go somewhere more private for me to help you out?"

What.

Irene hugs her bag close to her chest. She did not need this attack right now.

Wendy must have been confused by the silent opening and closing of Irene's mouth. She furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head, unknowingly toying with Irene's heart. ing adorable.

"Unnie?"

"We can do it here!"

Wendy is obviously surprised by the loudness of her voice. Irene clears and tries to calm down.

"I- I mean, I can just draw you here... if that's okay with you."

"Sure! Where do you want me?"

Now that puts a lot of images in Irene's mind. Images that must be purged to never see the light of day.

"Umm, anywhere you feel comfortable at?"

Wendy nods, as if she's taking in Irene's words very seriously. She has a very expressive face. Irene doesn't know why her hand twitches at the sight. It's weird.

"I'm not very good at deciding things. How about you direct me and we can go from there? It's your drawing, after all."

She's so considerate, Irene could melt. Thankfully she composes herself before she turned into a puddle. She has Wendy comfortably settled on the only unbroken swing of the rusty swingset. Irene herself sits right by her sturdy tree.

"Tell me if you start getting uncomfortable. We can take a break then."

"I will. Don't worry about me."

Irene starts to sketch. Just light lines over the white sheet. She relishes in the peaceful serenity the abandoned playground provides.

Wendy, surprisingly, doesn't seem bothered about her silence. She doesn't even speak and lets Irene be.

Irene is probably halfway through when she finds Wendy squirming a little on her seat. She laughs breathily at the younger girl's attempt to be subtle.

"Let's have lunch," she tells Wendy.

The younger girl visibly perks up at this. Irene laughs more audibly and puts away her things before taking out the lunch boxes.

"There's a bench over there we can sit on to eat these."

"I'm fine on your mat, too."

"O-oh. It's okay," Irene gulps. "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself sitting on hard ground."

"It's fine, really. It won't hurt," Wendy laughs. "And besides, my 's pretty squishy."

Irene's eyes totally did not wander down to where it shouldn't. Nope. She's a good citizen of this country. She's polite and well mannered and holy Wendy's walking closer.

"I wasn't aware we were supposed to bring lunch though," Wendy says. "Sorry."

"Oh no, it's okay. I made enough for two people. It's supposed to be Seulgi's but it's yours now."

"Really?"

Irene nods at the excitement on Wendy. The girl sits close to her and Irene hands her her lunch. Her very plainly made lunch. Irene frowns. . She should have made those cute lunch animal bento things instead!

"Wow! Did you make this yourself?"

Wendy looked genuinely impressed and maybe Irene is a little confused. The lunch she made looks exactly like any other normal lunches.

"Yes, I did."

"Can I eat it?"

Irene chuckles. Wendy already has chopsticks on her hand, poised to take the first thing it lands on.

"Go ahead, Wendy-ah."

Irene finds out Wendy is very expressive. Her face says a thousand things all at once and her words are songs of praises for Irene's cooking.

Irene feels strange. It's like that feeling you get when you take the first sip of warm chocolate by the fire in winter after you've been outside for too long. She can't map out where the feelings spread but she welcomes the comfort.

They eat their lunch with Wendy regaling her with tales of her show choir group and the insanity of the members. Irene can't remember the last time she laughed this much.

Lunch ends with lighter hearts and fuller stomachs. Wendy stretches her arms while Irene works on cleaning up.

"So, how is your drawing progressing?"

Irene contemplates in between telling the truth or taking her drawing to the grave along with her expected low mark. She and Wendy just got closer. What if this drawing jeopardizes their relationship?

It's not much of a relationship yet, but still!

"If you're scared I won't like it then please don't be. I'm here to help, remember?" Wendy tells her gently.

"Umm..."

"I won't judge you, unnie. Promise."

Reluctantly, Irene takes out her sketchpad and opens it to the page where she drew Wendy.

"Oh, wow."

"It's horrible. You don't have to pretend it's not."

"No, no! That's not what I meant at all. Our skills are about the same."

"Lies. Seulgi wouldn't have sent you to help if you were bad."

"Okay, point. But this really isn't horrible. You just need to adjust a few lines and add some shade here and there but that can be taken care of later. It's still progressing, after all."

Wendy didn't run away screaming so Irene counts it as a win. She even gave Irene some encouraging words. Double ing win.

Wendy goes back into position and Irene continues working. Sometimes, Wendy will give her a smile and Irene would hide her red face behind her sketchbook.

It takes a while and Wendy points out stuff that can be improved on, which Irene is thankful for. They had a lot of stuff done.

"You'll definitely get a high grade for this, unnie. It looks great!"

She's exaggerating. Irene thinks it's passable at best.

"We won't know until I actually turn it in, Wendy-ah."

"You did well regardless. I'm kind of proud."

There's no force in the world that can stop the smile blossoming on Irene's face. Her feelings get heavy but her body feels light. She's a little proud of herself, too.

"You helped."

Wendy shakes her head. "It was still mostly you."

"There's not point to this. Let's just agree on shared effort," Irene giggles.

Wendy laughs with her.

Irene puts away her stuff and Wendy helps her. They get up at the same time, standing way too close for people who technically just got to know each other. For a moment, neither of them move.

Wendy looks at her in the eye, that small smile adorning her face. It's still dazzling. Irene maybe stares a little. Wendy doesn't seem to mind.

"So..."

"So?"

Wendy is still standing close, hands clasped behind herself. Irene clears .

"So... I still haven't paid you. Seulgi was supposed to be doing this for free so I didn't really think about bringing money."

"Oh, it's okay unnie. I actually enjoyed helping you. You don't have to pay me."

"But still, you need to be compensated for your troubles."

"It's no trouble at all. I told you, I had fun and I mean it. That's enough for me."

"But still..."

Wendy reaches out and looks at Irene for consent. Irene gives her a nod and Wendy taps her on the shoulder in reassurance.

"Unnie, I had fun. I don't mind not getting paid. You've been really nice and even though we had conversations, we still had a lot done and maybe I..."

Irene raises an eyebrow. Wendy chuckles awkwardly and retracts her hand to scratch gently on her nape.

"Umm... I kinda don't want this day to end yet. Would you maybe want to go have some ice cream with me? My treat."

Irene bites at her own lip as she takes in the sight of this adorable girl in front of her. With a deep breath, she makes up her mind.

"Maybe I don't want this day to end yet, too."

Wendy looks up surprised. As if she couldn't believe Irene still wanted to spend some time with her which is absurd as far as Irene is concerned. Of course she wants to hang out with Wendy.

"Then let's go—"

"On one condition, though?"

Wendy gives her a confused face and Irene giggles. She reaches out towards Wendy with a smile on her face. It's time to be bold.

"Hold my hand."

And she does.

Seulgi will smugly take credit for this later and Irene will roll her eyes. They don't call it a date but it is an unspoken start.