Attention || Seulrene | Ongoing

Who Are You?

"So, what's up, Slug?"

Trying to force her eyes open, she peeked through her lidded gaze as Joy took the vacant seat infront of her. "Nothing much."

Joy snickered and scrutinized her face with a frown. "Yeah, looks like it."

Seulgi sat up straighter and started to shake her head to remove any sign of drowsiness from her body, which helped her a little. She frowned, "I look... that bad?"

"No. Not much. But you look like a panda more than you look like a bear."

The tired girl's hand then went to the bottom of her eyes and felt the huge swollen bags under it. "I'm just so... tired."

"Care to share why?"

"Complicated."

Resting her face on her upright palm, Joy rolled her eyes at what she said. "By complicated, you mean it comes with a name, right?"

She didn't speak but Joy pushed more. "So... I'm right. What happened now?"

Seulgi slumped again on the stack of books infront of her and sighed. "Your friend... she's just very complicated. I don't understand-" she squeezed her eyes shut and continued, "I just don't get her."

When she came home that night Irene dropped her off, Seulgi wasn't able to get a wink of sleep. Despite being so tired, rest eluded her like she drank 4 cups of iced americano making her stay awake all night just trying to figure out the said girl.

That Bae girl was an enigma.

Seulgi didn't know who was who anymore. She didn't know if it's Irene she's talking to, who's sharp and defensive and utterly cold and brutal. Irene who has that signature smirk and dead eyes.

Or if she was seeing Joohyun. Joohyun who was silent and crying and always looking down at her feet while hugging her knees. Joohyun who was timid, and... would offer you a ride home or her purple umbrella. Joohyun who had her signature scowl and red eyes and runny nose.

Seulgi was just... so utterly confused.

She heard a snicker and when she glanced at Joy, her eyes were glinting under the library's light. "Irene? She's not complicated, Seulgi. She likes doing the laundry and get high with fabric softeners. She hates animals and likes red bean ice cream or the yogurt flavored one. She laughs like an old lady and she smacks you when you annoy her. So, no. She isn't complicated."

"You're just saying that because you are her friend. You know her."

"Exactly my point. I know her. She isn't like what you think she is," her eyes seemed to be glazed when she looked up. "She's just has some issues that makes her hard to... be with."

She closed her eyes for a moment and think of what Joy said. What issues could she be going through to be someone she is now?

How could it be that bad that between Irene and Joohyun, she doesn't know who's the real one and who's the one being used as a facade?

Which one was real and which one was used as a coping mechanism?

Is Joohyun the person she becomes when she's out of sight and sad and scared? That when she's alone, she becomes an entirely different person and she becomes nice?

Or that she becomes Irene because she was seen and known by a lot of people? Just because she has a reputation to uphold, an image to maintain?

"You shouldn't think much,"

Her eyes snapped open. "What?"

Joy was now holding a book and her eyes lazily scan the page, not bothering to look at Seulgi while speaking. "Just go with the flow. See where the current will take you, then you'll know."