Wendy Oneshot

💙💛 Find me in the dark, Find me again here

Their story starts in Seulgi’s treehouse.

Son Seungwan lives on the same street as her best friend. Kang Seulgi is a few days older than she is, slightly taller than she is, but with hands that fit hers perfectly. Mr Kang builds a treehouse for them. He assembles it board by board as she and Seulgi wait with wide eyes and bated breath. She spends an eternity in that treehouse, having tea parties with Seulgi’s teddy bears and trying to braid Seulgi’s hair.

Seungwan is five when people begin to Remember. Memories of past lives, memories of who they used to be, would slowly trickle into the minds of people after they turn eighteen. For those that are older it hits like a freight train, ramming years, sometimes decades of memories into their brains in the middle of the night.  

Mother and father wake up screaming. Things are different for a few days. Then they talk and things are the same again.  They tell her they were together in a previous life, married in a previous life,  parents in a previous life. Seungwan sees a new light in their eyes. The same love but now with an extra sparkle.

The TV tells her that Romeo and Juliet have met again. She’s not too sure who they are but mother and father laugh and laugh and laugh. 

Seulgi and her brother come knocking and ask if they can stay the night. Mr and Mrs Kang have been yelling since they Remembered and Seungwan can hear them through the walls. They put Taemin in the guest room and Seulgi with Seungwan.  Seulgi, usually her big spoon and her protector, curls into her, face pressed into her stomach. Seungwan waits for tears to wet the front of her sleepshirt, but Seulgi doesn’t cry.

She wakes when the moonlight streams through the window and pools around her face. The bed is cold and Seulgi is missing. Seungwan wipes her sleep-smothered eyes and grabs a spare blanket from the closet. She heads outside, making sure to creep silently through the house.

She stares up the treehouse and sees Seulgi’s slumped form bathed in moonlight.  Little Seungwan ties the sweater around her waist and begins to climb. The rungs of the ladder are cold and her sleepshirt is thin and Seungwan shakes in the quiet night. The treehouse looks like it’s a world away, but that’s where Seulgi is and that’s where Seungwan will go.

It feels like a lifetime and forever, but Seungwan makes it to the top. Seulgi lunges for her the moment she’s safely inside, winding her arms around Seungwan’s neck and burying her face into Seungwan’s chest. 

Seungwan wraps the blanket around both of them and strokes Seulgi's hair as she begins to sob. She holds Seulgi until the sobs turn to sniffles, until the sniffles fade and Seulgi is snoring gently on her chest. She watches moonlight get caught on Seulgi’s lashes and tears gleam on her star-stained cheeks. Seungwan holds Seulgi tight and whispers promises into her hair.

Mr Kang finds them in the morning, a tangle of limbs and broken hearts.

An expensive looking car pulls up and Mrs Kang leaves. Seulgi watches her go, gripping her brother's shirt with one had and holding onto Seungwan with another. Seulgi’s fingers dig into her arm, but Seungwan doesn’t take it back.

Every morning, Seungwan opens her door to see Seulgi with her hand extended for Seungwan to take. Mr Kang drops them off at school and Mrs Son picks them up. 

Seulgi only lets go of Seungwan’s hand to open the car door.

Seungwan’s teen years and filled with gangly limbs and acne breakouts and thoughts of her best friend. She thinks about Seulgi’s eyes and Seulgi’s legs and the way Seulgi’s tongue darts out when she’s being cheeky.

Seulgi shoots up like a well-watered plant and Seungwan is envious. Then she discovers that it means she fits perfectly in the curve of Seulgi’s neck and that Seulgi can throw an arm around her shoulders and rest her chin on Seungwan’s next.