HERSHE - SEULRENE

SR - Girlfriend

"Hey, honey. I've been looking everywhere for you."

Seulgi is undeniably shocked to see Irene there. Even so, Irene's presence gave her momentary solace. She was on the verge of falling from the cliff when Irene came in to save her.

"Honey, are you okay?" asked Irene, holding Seulgi's face.

Seulgi peeked at Joy for a second just to see that the latter was surprised too with Irene's sudden appearance.

"H-how did you know I'm here?" she asked Irene.

"I was looking for you and noticed that your IM status was idle, so I asked Eric." Irene pulled her hand away to intertwine their hands together.

And Seulgi loved the warmth of Irene's hand on hers. She looked at Joy. "Uh, Joy, this is--"

"Irene, right?" Joy's eyes were on Irene who nodded at her. She shifted back to Seulgi. "Have you forgotten your girlfriend and I have already met?"

The term girlfriend is too much for Seulgi to take. "Uh. Yeah. I forgot..." She scratched her head.

"Seulgi has always been forgetful lately because she's too busy." Irene brushed a stray hair from Seulgi's eyes. "Right, honey?"

Seulgi felt Irene squeezing her hand. She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah..."

Joy studied Seulgi for a moment. "Your hair was long when we met last time. Decided to finally cut your hair short?"

"It's her request." Seulgi pointed at her fake girlfriend who smiled.

"Ahh." Joy nodded.

"Um. Could you excuse us for a while?" Seulgi asked Joy. "Irene and I need to talk outside for a moment."

"Sure. We'll just be right here."

Seulgi didn't waste any second and dragged Irene along outside the room.

---

They let go of each other's hands once they are outside.

"Are you all right?" asked Irene, looking worriedly at her.

Seulgi evaluated herself for a second. "I think... I think I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm cool."

Irene exhaled. "Okay. That's good to hear."

"How did you know I'm here again?" asked Seulgi, still confused.

"I was looking for you because I needed to hand over the materials from Taemin. Eric told me you're here."

Seulgi hummed. "And  are you aware that Joy is here?"

Irene nodded. "I saw Joy's picture on the outline Eric showed me."

"Oh."

"I went here because I was worried. It might affect you. It might affect your work. You lost the ability to speak the last time Joy showed up in your apartment."

"Oh." Seulgi scratched the back of her neck, feeling embarrassed. "Thanks, Irene."

"Were you affected?" asked Irene.

"I don't know." Seulgi shrugged. "I'm confused. I thought she won't affect me anymore. But hearing her speak the way she spoke to me before made me feel something."

"Something like?"

"It's hard to explain." Seulgi smiled. "But I felt nostalgic a while ago there. Suddenly it felt like everything was coming back to me."