HERSHE - SEULRENE

SR - Missed

"Were you the one who just called Seulgi?"

Seulgi shifted her eyes to Irene who's as speechless as her. She doesn't know if she's hallucinating or not, but Irene's eyes were on her and Yeri's linked arms.

"Yes," said Irene.

Yeri's grip on Seulgi's arm tightened. "So, you're the one Seulgi is going out with today?"

Seulgi swallowed. Admitting something like that might give the intern a wrong idea about them.

"Yes," came Irene's response.

Yeri looked back and forth to Seulgi and Irene, slowly disentangling their arms.

"We're supposed to talk about our new project," continued Irene in her authoritative tone. "It's not like what you're thinking, Yeri. It's a business meeting, not a date."

"I'm sorry." Yeri bowed. 

Seulgi felt relieved knowing they could get rid of Yeri now.

"But if it's about a task can I still tag along so I could learn more, Ms. Irene?" Yeri, who seemed to have found another way to include herself in, asked them.

Seulgi takes in a deep breath.

"Sure. But on one condition..." Irene walked towards them. "We should bring along Taeyong too."

"Me?" Taeyong pointed at himself.

"Yes. You're an intern too, right?" asked Irene. "You'll get something out of this so you should tag along."

"Oh. Okay."

Seulgi puffed her cheeks.

Great. Her date has just been ruined.

---

Seulgi is utterly disappointed.

She's been missing Irene so much that she mustered all the courage to finally ask the girl out. It is her way of gauging if something is wrong with the two of them, or if something has really changed.

Although she has no plans of confessing, Seulgi hoped that the night would end like how their nights ended in Haeundae: full of laughter, teasing, and just pure sweetness. However, all of those expectations are far from what's happening.

Instead of waiting alone in her car for Irene, they are now walking together in the parking area along with two chaperones.

To make it worse, Yeri is walking ahead of them aiming for the front seat.

Seulgi smacked her own thigh due to frustration. What could be worse? Having two chaperones with them while her supposed-to-be-date will sit at the back?

Just as she thought, when she unlocked the car with her remote, Yeri grabbed the door to the front seat.

"Back seat," said Irene, approaching the car. "You better sit beside Taeyong."

Seulgi tried to repress a smile while. Yeri didn't object and went to the back seat immediately.

Sometimes Irene's bossy aura has its perks.

"So, where to?" asked Irene after she shut the door on her side.

"Craving for anything at the moment?" asked Seulgi.

"Not really. Can we just eat somewhere near so we could go home right after?" said Irene, busy buckling her seatbelt.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Seulgi pushed down the handbrake after starting the engine.

Great. This is just great.

---

They had their meal in a Japanese restaurant.