Follow me || Red Velvet & Seulrene

Chapter 76

The air became mostier as they continued their little ramble through the walls under the school, now aware that literally everything could put them into danger. Mina and Jisoo successfully led them through the maze of corridors and little columns, and they regained their orientation.

"We have to be right in front of the northern tract", Jisoo stated and leaned against the emblem at the wall. They all nodded. 

"Let me do that, Mina", she said and reordered the sticks and squares faster than light.

Seulgi could still remember being the last time in this hall, how they detected the rules of this 'task', how Chae just pressed the button on the wall and scared them to death, and how they had to encourage Irene to play against Arnold Priston. She could still feel her nervousness while sitting in front of girlfriend, almost kissing her...

"Here we go again", Chae sighed and followed Jisoo through the entrance. Seulgi waited a bit so she could grab Irene's hand, not wanting her to feel nervous again. Irene just walked behind her, her hand covered with sweat.

"I guess this will be easy", Jisoo announced and inspected the button on the right. Mina joined her, both now examining the item. Chae just leaned at the wall, busy with her nails. 

"Woah this complex is really mysterious!", Jihyo blurted out with wide eyes. Seulgi mentally rolled her eyes.

Then she turned around and pushed Irene to the left corner. She could sense that the latter didn't feel good. At least she had a good reason.

With a soft smile plastered on her lips, she looked into her beautiful eyes. For a short moment, she just shifted her gaze over all her features, causing Irene to frown. "What's wrong, babe?", Irene asked.

"Nothing", Seulgi calmly replied, now placing her hands on the older's hips. She slightly pulled her closer, smelling her perfume and normal scent, something Seulgi admired at her. "It's giving you bad memories right?", she whispered into Irene's ear, her body now pressed against her own.

Irene sighed. "It won't as long as you are with me", she whispered back. Seulgi smiled and faced them girl. 

"I'm always with you." She captivated Irene's lips, recalling the memory from their last trip again.

The older's eyes widened a bit as Seulgi suddenly leaned forward and kissed her in the most gentle way she could. She felt Irene accepting the kiss, now both squishing each others lips. Seulgi didn't knew how she missed it kissing her girlfriend like that athough it had maybe just been two days without making out.

Two days were definitely too long.

"I love you, Hyun", Seulgi whispered and kissed Irene's nose who giggled. 

"You dork." Irene playfully slapped her arm, causing Seulgi to pout.

"YAH YOU LOVEBIRDS, COME HERE", Jihyo yelled from behind. Irene rolled her eyes. 

"Guess we have to win a match." She winked. Seulgi bit her lip but then nodded.

"Show them to what you are able."

Seulgi plumped to the ground, watching Irene and Jisoo discussing their plan in front of the big chess field that just appeared after hitting the button. It was quite cold in the room, especially since she was now sitting on the floor.

Mina trembled a bit next to her, her eyes glued to the chess field. She looked so focussed. Seulgi's gaze shifted to her wound on the head, now almost healed. She was glad to know now how she got this...

A loud statement interrupted her thoughts.

"Pawn to E4", Irene's loud voice filled the room. A mechanical sound appeared, then, the white pawn moved to the front.

Three seconds later, the black pawn moved by it's own too, positioning exactly in front of their own one. No the game starts...

"Rook to D3."

Ten minutes.

"Queen to F6."

Twenty minutes.

"Bishop to A2."

Thirty.

"They are doing well", Mina whispered and leaned to Seulgi. She nodded in agreement, focused on the game.

"We could exchange rook and king. What do you think, unnie?", Jisoo asked Irene as they held their consultation. Both had kicked out their queens and knights and a few pawns, so they still played on the same level.

"I don't think that's a good idea. This game focuses on the rooks. We should maybe play defensive with our rooks and try to get the bishops save", Irene proposed.

Jisoo sighed.

"That's the mistake you always do. Don't play defensive when you have the chance to attack. We have to kick out this other rook, then we basically won!"

"And what if we loose both of our rooks then?", Irene asked concerned, the confidence from her proposal was gone.

"Just trust me, this won't happen..."

Seulgi clenched her fist. Jisoo was good in chess and knew that. But her girlfriend had this capacity to look behind the pattern, not like Jisoo who just played because of win. Irene played to understand. To understand how her opponent was playing.

But she didn't have the self-esteem to realize that she was as good as her sister. And Seulgi was slightly annoyed of Jisoo who always seemed to know it better than her...

"Castling", Jisoo announced. Immediately, the imposing king and the little rook switched their fields. Now the king was in the left corner, the rook in the middle. Seulgi could hear Irene sighing a bit.

"Perfect. No he can do nothing except of sacrifizing his rook!" Jisoo clapped her hands and smiled. Irene frowned.

Suddenly, two black figues moved too. Seulgi tried to recognize which of them, but her eyes were to bad. Jisoo's eyes widened.

"Another castling?!", she almost whispered, but it was still loud enough to hear it through the whole room. Irene covered a mouth for a second, her eyes full of horror. Mina sighed next to Seulgi.

"Now they have a big problem..."

"I told you to play defensive!", Irene raised her voice. After Arnold's mechanism had put them into check, they started arguing.

"How should I know he is doing a castling too?", Jisoo countered. "And just for your information: You are always the one who says I am way better in playing chess."

"You believe that too, right?", Irene said furiously. Without letting Jisoo respond, she continued.

"I'll finish this game by my own now."

"Do what you want", Jisoo crossed her arms.

"Because you methods aren't always the best." And with that, Jisoo just turned around and walked to Seulgi and the others. Irene sighed.

"You can do that, Irene", she heard the girl saying to herself. Seulgi raised her head and started to cheer for her. The others joined her. 

"Don't you think you should support her instead of fighting?", Chae asked Jisoo and nudged her.

"She'll easily manage to win this game without me. I can clearly see the structure of her playing, and even if I haven't noticed it before, it will maybe be the better one in this game. It's better to let her play alone this time."

Jisoo stared at the field, her gaze focused. But Seulgi could see that Jisoo neither had the intention to let Irene feel bad or unworthy, no, she just accepted that Irene was maybe the better player this time.

So now it was just a question of time until Irene noticed that too...