fine lines // seulrene

tick tok.

"What?" Seulgi couldn't believe her ears. Is it possible that Wendy died years ago? Though Seulgi figured that Irene would not lie at a time like this, she wanted to reassure herself. The baby bear fumbled around in her pockets until she pulled out a tiny picture that wasn't any bigger than the size of her palm. "This girl, she is not dead." Seulgi's fingers shaked as she held up the picture to Irene's face. Wendy and Seulgi took the picture a week before her parents' death. That was the first picture where Seulgi was genuinely smiling. genuinely.

"Yeah," Irene confirmed, tightening her ponytail. "That's her, Wendy Son. She used to work at the cafe too." Seulgi laughed, not believing a word she's hearing. The bear wiped the bit of dust around the rim of the picture and held it closely to Irene's face.

"Wendy Son, my friend of almost my whole entire life, is not dead. That's why i'm looking for her, she simply went missing."  Irene stared at Seulgi for a second then sighed.

"I'll help you look for Wendy. If it's true she really isn't dead then she has a lot of explaining to do." The two exited out of the alleyway, meeting up with the two youngest (who were currently playing Punch Buggy). "Hey kids!" the youngers continued to punch each other mercilessly, despite the fact there was no Buggy to be seen.

"Kids!" Irene repeated, shouting while grabbing both of their ears.

"Ow ow ow!" The two shouted in unison, attempting to protest until they finally fell to silence. The eldest dragged the beagles back to the cafe to have the talk.

"Our friend Seulgi has a missing friend, we have to help her find her." Seulgi smiled to herself, moved by Irene's kindness. Seulgi hasn't felt love like this since she first met Wendy.

"She looks like this," The bear held up the photo of her and Wendy.

"She looks awefully familiar," The young shop owner replied, Irene kicking her from under the chair. Yeri winced a bit, but not enough for it to be visible to Seulgi. "She looks like someone from television." Joy nodded at her response, whom was also kicked by Irene.

"Really? Then it'll be easier to find her," Ddeulgi grinned, unaware of the arguement occuring underneath the table. "The place Wendy's most likely at is the mall." The bear then confidently marched towards Irene's Lexus.

"How do you even know that's mine?" Irene questioned, quickly catching up to the bear.

"I dunno, it says 'IRNISLT' on the license plate."

"W-Well who knows, someone could be named 'Irn'," Irene protested, unlocking the car causing all the younger ones to flood into the car. As the car starting to gain speed, the group started discussing a plan.

"I'm the best at these sort of situations, I can navigate the city mall from its head to its toes." Joy said, the rest agreeing with her.

"I know a lot of the CEOs of the malls within the state so i got you covered in that department." Yeri exclaimed cooly, causing Joy to laugh. That laughter was quickly shut down by a hard smack from Yeri.

"I'll be your Watson in this case," Irene smiled warmly, eyes still on the road and hands still on the wheel. "Good luck on your case, Sherlock." Seulgi's heart fluttered, nodding to indicate she received the information well. The group passed the time by singing karaoke in the car and playing mini games of "never have i ever" (A/N: a mini chapter will be released of their never have i ever game for all who are curious later in the book). When the group arrived at the mall, Seulgi and Irene almost lost their hearing from the two youngest screaming "Sorry Sorry" by Super Junior in the car.

"Woah," Seulgi was stunned. This mall was almost three times the size of her house which, of course, is a feat. Entering the malls, the bear observed there were about five floors in the whole mall with each of them seemingly jam-packed. So this is where Wen goes everyday, Seulgi thought, amazed. Her heart dropped at the same time, thinking about all the time it would take to look for one person in this huge mall. Joy came up to her, reassuring her by patting her back.

"Don't worry; if your friend Wendy is really that good at shopping, she'll know the easiest routes," Joy squeezed the group through the mall until they arrived at doors with an "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" sign. "Nowadays, no one likes using the stairs; especially these," Joy smiled to herself, opening the doors to reveal rusty and unstable stairs that seem impossible to climb without getting a cut. "Of course, don't be fooled."

She kicked on an unstable piece of the wall, revealing a door. Seulgi herself was unsure about the situation; there were so many questions that only lead to more questions.

"Mr. Park!" Yeri yelled into a red speaker placed on the center of the door. The group was silent for a while until they heard a low growl coming from the speaker.

"Yeri, young CEO," the low voice replied, the door creaking open.

"Okay, but I'm pretty sure Yeri only owns the cafe, right? How in the world do you guys know these types of people" Seulgi stammered, intimidated by the voice. The rest of the group laughed, calmly entering the room.

"Yeri owns the all the branches of her globally known cafe." The supposed Mr. Park replies, turning towards them from his chair. The group politely bows to Mr. Park and he bows back. "What seems to be the issue out of the blue? I have a meeting with CEO Wang in a couple of minutes."

"Wendy Son, you remember her right? Seulgi here is looking for her. They were supposed best buddies." Joy replied, patting Seulgi's back.

"Are," Seulgi corrected her. "We are best buddie-"

"Yes I know her, she was one of my hottest clients in business," Mr. Park sighed, resting his legs on his desk. "It was too bad she passed away, she was really good in the business." The room went silent, millions of thoughts flowing in and out of Seulgi's head.

"The lady on the screen looks a lot like her though," Irene exclaimed, pointing at the lady on the monitor. It was a still image; Wendy was screaming as her wrists were cuffed forcing her into a chair. Two body guards were next to her, seemingly applying wires to her temples. The CEO laughed, clicking a button on his desk. A swarm of guards with helmets on their head surrounded the group. The girls shook in fear, the space between them and the guards shrinking little by little. Instinctively, Seulgi held onto Irene's waist. Irene hugged back, the two blushing perfusely from the other's action.

"It'll be okay," The oldest whispered into the bear's ear, sending shivers down her spine. Irene pressed a button on her watch, then pulled the two youngest in with her. A loud zap sent the group to where they first started: the mall. the group was silent at first, then the youngest broke the silence.

"That was awesome!" Yeri jumped, nudging the oldest who was slowly moving away from her. Joy also joined in, pestering Baechu the best they could.

"Am I the only person who's wondering what the hell is going on?" The bear interrupted, silencing the other girls. "First you guys are unreasonably nice, Irene owns a Lexus, Yeri's probably the age of a high schooler but she's a billionaire and doesn't have to attend school, Joy's apparently an expert at every cram and acre of land, and we just basically teleported out of a life-threatening situation?! Am i the only one curious about this whole situation?" Seulgi yelled out all at once, causing awkwardness between her and the rest of the girls.

"Seulgi, wait." Irene protested, taking her wrist.

"Enough of this," Seulgi shook off her hand from his wrist, tears forming in her eyes. "You're really pretty, but I don't think I can handle this. I don't know, I really felt something warm when I see you, but I don't want to risk my life just hanging out with people like you." The bear shook off the group of girls, turning her back on them. After Seulgi has walked a long enough distance, the other girls turned to a panic.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Irene said, tear falling to her lap. They all entered the car, wondering what they did wrong.

"You lived through this before though, what changed?" Yeri said, rubbing her temples trying to think.

"Before, Mr. Park only brought the two bodyguard, perhaps he expected this?" Joy butted in, opening her tablet playing through the tens of hundreds of times they went through this exact scenario.

"All I know is that this dimension is fishy; it's more realistic than Joy's and not as perfect as Yeri's." The eldest lightly bumped her head against the car wheel repeatidly, trying to think.

"Or maybe it's because you fell for the Seulgi of this dimension."

"What?"

"You love Seulgi instead of Wendy."