Prognosis

Chapter 2

"This is astonishing, Ms. Bae!" Her professor yells excitedly, his arms raised in the air to emphasize his point. "I think after you finish your bachelor's degree, you'll be able to get straight into getting your PhD!"

Irene flushes. She knew her professor thought very highly of her, but compliments like these always get her.

"I can't wait to see your next report, Irene." He smiles, the smile reaching his eyes. "You may leave now, Ms. Bae," He says, still ecstatic from reading Irene's new report.

Irene nods and quickly exited the room, skipping her way out. Another successful report. She decides to call Seulgi to celebrate.

The phone rings before the bear picks up, her voice heavy with drowsiness even though it's already 1 in the afternoon.

'Hello?' The girl on the other line grumbles and Irene can't help but giggle in response. She can just imagine a half asleep bear, her body sprawled over her bed, hair in a mess.

"Hey, Seul!" She cheers. "Wanna go out for food? I'll pay."

'You? Going out? And you're going to pay for me? Did something happen? Have you finally found a girlfriend?!' The girl screams through the phone, clearly wide awake now. Before Irene could cancel her offer, Seulgi continues. 'I'll be at your apartment in 5.' The line drops.

She sighs. How did she become friends with such a weird person again?

***

Irene was quietly slurping her ramyeon while Seulgi was going on and on about Wendy's friend (Joy, was it?). Suddenly, a question struck her.

"Seul," She cuts the other girl off. "Was Wendy always like this?" She asks her eyebrows raised.

"Like what?"

"Did she always respond differently when you use her Korean and English name?" 

The bear pauses to think, a finger to her chin.

"Come to think of it, it wasn't this bad in senior high. Why do you ask, unnie?"

"She— I tried calling her once, by her English name but she didn't respond. As soon as I called her by her Korean name, her head whipped up like she saw a ghost." Irene pauses, contemplating on asking her next question. 

"Can you tell the difference between Seungwan and Wendy, Seulgi?" Irene grabs a book from her bag as she asked the question, flipping the pages to find a note she had written in the large notebook.  Her eyes roam around the page, looking for words written in red ink. 

"Huh, now that I think about it, whenever I call her 'Seungwan', she becomes more timid, shyer. She gets startled easily, almost as if any sound could alarm her," the orange haired girl stops and takes a sip of her drink, "on the other hand, Wendy seems like a confident person. She looks like she's capable, like she's ready to take on the world head on. She's probably one of the most fearless people I've ever met." She speaks into the rim of her cup, a look of fondness in her brown orbs soon replaced with curiosity.