HERSHE - SEULRENE

SR - Offline

Irene sat at her table after getting tea from the pantry. She opened their company IM to check if a certain person is already in. 

'Kang Seulgi is offline.'

Her brows furrowed. Seulgi is never late for work.

It has become Irene's habit to check on Seulgi daily thru their IM. And without her complete awareness, Irene's not just doing it every morning, but every hour of the entire shift.

She checked her phone too to see if there were messages. Apparently, none.

The status didn't change the entire day, making Irene feel weary. If it wasn't for the thought Eric would find it weird for her to ask about Seulgi she might have already asked him.

In fact, she was so close to doing that.

When the clock struck five, Irene glanced at Mr. Baechu and petted it.

---

"Something bothering you?"

Irene turned to Bogum with a confused face, barely heard what he said.

"Are you all right? You're spacing out again," he said.

Irene propped her elbows against the car door and gazed out the window. "I'm just thinking of something."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Mmm. It's mostly about work."

"Work? That work has certainly been bothering you for days now, huh?"

Irene looked at Bogum.

"You were not yourself over the weekend, you know." Bogum smiled as he focuses on the road while driving. "In fact, you were not in yourself since I picked you up from work last Friday. Something wrong?"

Irene turned back to the window. That Friday conversation had surely disturbed her entire weekend. Everything was boring for her. Everything was lifeless.

As much as she wanted to stay and talk to Seulgi that night, she can't. Bogum needed to pick her up to have dinner with her mom somewhere in the city.

And as much as Irene wanted to tell Seulgi the truth that night, she couldn't. She was not prepared for that kind of talk yet. Somehow it scared her.

All the troubles from the past few days sunk into her that night; her mom, Bogum, Seulgi--Irene can't sort them out.

In the end, Irene knows she said things she didn't mean. She avoided the questions. But she never thought running away that night would hurt her the way she's hurting now.

During Seulgi's interrogation, questions started popping out of Irene's head: are her feelings for Seulgi enough reason to be in a relationship with her? And how serious is Seulgi about this too? Will it be worth it to risk everything now to be with her?

While Seulgi was cornering her with questions, Irene felt the need to escape because she doesn't want to make impulsive decisions she'll regret in the end.

And now she's hella worried about Seulgi's whereabouts. After what happened last Friday all she wanted is to talk to her, at least explain to her the reasons for her confusion. Irene still wants to let Seulgi know that no matter how confused she is it is Seulgi whom she wants to be by her side by the end of each day.

"I'm just probably stressed," said Irene instead. It was followed by a sigh.

"I'm all ears, just in case you need someone to talk to," said Bogum.

Irene nodded and turned back to the window.

---

"Home sweet home." Bogum pulled the car over in front of Irene's house. He turned to his passenger who's struggling to unlock her seatbelt. "Let me help you with that."