009
Beautifully Imperfect
009
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Seulgi stares at her phone, looking at the last message that she sent to Irene, which was couple of hours ago. Weird, Irene never really took this long in replying her message. Is she busy? Did she fall asleep? It’s not that Seulgi is being clingy or nosy, she’s just—wondering.
“Noona, help me grab the laundry, it’s going to rain soon.”
Seulgi perks up to her bedroom door when she hears her brother’s call from the hallway. She places her phone down and stands up from the bed, making her way to the backyard where they hanged the laundry to dry.
“Where’s mom? Is she coming home soon? Looks like it’s going to rain heavily.” Just as Seulgi finishes asking the question, the sound of the front door can be heard from inside the house.
They quickly put the laundries back into the house before striding over to the front door to see their mother stepping inside with groceries bags in her hands.
“Woah, why is there a lot of food?” Seulho asks in amazement as he walks over and helps his mother carries the bags.
“It’s for dinner.” Mrs. Kang hums lightly as she places her purse on the table.
“Dinner?” Seulgi blinks before looking over at the bags. “We don’t eat this much, do we?”
Mrs. Kang freezes momentarily before making her way to the kitchen and helps her son to store the groceries into the fridge.
“It’s too much for us, so maybe you can call Irene and invite her over for dinner.” She says quietly as she arranges the groceries in the fridge.
Both Seulgi and Seulho stare at their mom with wide eyes before turning their heads to stare at each other, still with look of disbelief on their faces.
“M-Mom…” Seulgi mutters softly, turning her eyes to her mother who’s still facing the fridge.
Mrs. Kang slowly turns around and gives her daughter a questioning look. “What is it?”
Seulgi presses her lips together and gives her mother a nod before running upstairs to her bedroom. She picks her phone up and calls Irene with an excited smile on her face.
“Hello? Irene, would you—“
“Hello?”
Seulgi pauses her speech abruptly when she notices that the one who picks up the call is not her girlfriend. It’s a female voice, but not Irene’s.
“Hello? A-Are you Irene’s friend?” Comes the other’s voice, a bit stuttered and lacing with panic that Seulgi starts to wonder if something’s wrong.
“…Yes, I’m Irene’s friend…” Seulgi says unsurely as she blinks. “Um… Who is this?”
“…This is Irene’s mother…”
Seulgi feels her heart jumps slightly at the statement and she’s about to blabber some apologies for not recognizing her voice until Mrs. Bae speaks again.
“Seulgi, please help us. Irene ran away…” Mrs. Bae pleads from the other line, her voice sounds desperate and shaky.
“R-Ran away?” Seulgi frowns and blinks rapidly, trying to process the information.
“Yes… We had an argument and she—ran out of the house… I don’t know where she is… We can’t find her since hours ago…” Mrs. Bae starts to sniffle.
There’s a beat of silence as Seulgi keeps her phone pressed against her ear, listening to the soft sniffle from the other line as million of thoughts run inside her head. After a while, she in a deep breath before muttering softly.
“I’ll find her.”
Without waiting for a reply, she ends the call and rushes downstairs, taking an umbrella in her hand as she puts on her sandals messily.
“Seulgi, where do you think you’re going in such a weather?”
Her mother calls out from the kitchen with a disapproving look on her face, but Seulgi can’t have any of it right now. She turns her head to her mother and gives her a determined look.
“I’ll be back, mom!”
Seulgi ignores her mother’s call and runs out of the house with the umbrella in her hand. She opens the umbrella and starts running down the street while thinking about the places of where Irene is.
The water splashes on her leg as she runs, the umbrella doesn’t seem to do any good since Seulgi still finds herself wet from head to toe, maybe the rain is too heavy that it’s useless to use an umbrella. She lifts a hand and squints, trying to block the raindrops from getting into her eyes, what a rain.
Fearing that she’d blown away by the strong wind against her umbrella, Seulgi decides to close the umbrella and run under the rain instead.
She passes the front of Irene’s house, she passes the bakery where Irene’s first bought a cake for her birthday, she passes the game center and glances over at the crane arcade, she passes the street where they usually walk on the way home, but she can’t find Irene at all.
There’s no way Irene would’ve gone far in such a heavy rain and without a phone in her hand, right? Judging from the situation that she heard from the phone, Seulgi assumes that Irene was too overwhelmed with emotion and ran blindly with no specific direction. She shouldn’t have gone far, but why can’t Seulgi find her?
Seulgi stops her running to catch her breath. She leans her side against the wall as she tries to find any clue by recalling the conversations she had with Irene before.
“Why do you have glow-in-the-dark stars on your bedroom’s ceiling?”
Seulgi asks as they lay down on Irene’s bed, staring at the tiny glowing stars above them.
It’s not the first time she spent the night at Irene’s place or stared at the stars on the ceiling, but this is probably the first time she asks. She didn’t care about it before, but the more she knows Irene, the more curious she gets.
“Those stars?” Irene asks, pointing at the ceiling with her eyes. “I like to count them as I sleep.”
“You count them? Like counting sheep in your head?” Seulgi raises a brow of amusement.
“Not really, my purpose of counting the stars is not for falling asleep.” Irene chuckles lightly.
“Then why would you count them? You already know the amount of the stars since you count them every night.” Seulgi chuckles back, mentally trying to count the tiny starts.
“It’s to distract myself from unnecessary thought.”
Irene says softly and Seulgi stops her count at the 14th stars, all the thought of counting the stars disappears from her head as she slowly turns her head to face Irene, staring at her face in the minimum lightning of the room.
“I guess I do count to stars to make me fall asleep if you put it that way. I tried to distract myself from the thoughts that keep me awake at night.” Irene says again, smiling as she looks up to the stars above.
Seulgi bites her lower lip as she keeps her eyes on Irene, not sure what to say in this type of situation. It’s the moment like this where Seulgi wishes that she was more sociable so she knew how to talk to people, so she knew what to say to comfort Irene, to make her feel better.
It’s the moment like this where Irene is so deep in thought, drifting her mind away from Seulgi who is right beside her, but is unable to touch Irene even when she reaches her hand out. It’s the moment like this where Irene seems to be falling into a black pit and no matter what Seulgi does, even when she jumps along into the black pit, she can’t catch after Irene.
It’s the moment like this where Seulgi wishes that she’s stronger, braver, smarter, and more than she is now, to be flawless and perfect so she can held Irene up like how the latter did to her before when the first time they became friends.
“Seulgi-ah.”
The said girl blinks rapidly as she’s pulled out from her deep thought.
“Yeah?” Seulgi hums questioningly.
Irene lets out a soft sigh and turns to her side to face Seulgi, staring at her so closely that makes Seulgi’s heart makes an unhealthy jump inside her chest.
“I’m a selfish person, you know.” Irene suddenly says, making Seulgi blinks at the abrupt topic.
“What…?” She frowns questioningly.
“Sometimes, I don’t want you to change, even if it means for the better.” Irene says softly, lifting her hand and Seulgi’s long black hair with her fingertips. “I feel like you’re going to be with someone better if you changed into someone better. If you became prettier or smarter, I’m sure that you’ll find someone who’s prettier and smarter than me, for the sake of perfect couple.”
Irene is not smiling anymore, but she’s not frowning either. She just stares quietly at Seulgi with her doe eyes, so beautiful yet so empty as if Seulgi can see a big hole inside them. There’s a silence follows as Irene trails her hand and places it on the side of Seulgi’s face, her soft cheek with a thumb.
“…I don’t need perfect couple.” Seulgi says softly and Irene freezes her hand at the answer. “I always thought that being perfect is everything, being perfect is the best, and being perfect is my dream.”
She slowly lifts her hand and places it on top of Irene’s hand that stays frozen on the side of her face.
“And then I met you and I began to think that… It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful…”
Seulgi watches as Irene’s empty eyes start to light up and gain their life back. The elder blinks repeatedly before she leans closer and Seulgi gets the hint immediately, she closes her eyes and squeezes Irene’s hand in her hold, letting the soft pair of lips pressed against her own.
Irene pulls away a moment later and Seulgi opens her eyes to see that bright, beautiful smile that’s owned by the one and only Irene.
“I love you, Seulgi… God, you have no idea.” Irene closes her eyes and snorts lightly.
Seulgi giggles lightly before snuggling closer and curls herself against Irene, burying her face in the latter’s neck, inhaling the sweet, floral scent from the girl.
“I love you too…”
Seulgi shakes her head rapidly to shake the memory off. She should be thinking about where Irene could possibly be, not about their sweet moment. Seulgi can feel the warmness on her face even under the cold shower of rain. Sighing, she decides to continue her search. She’s not going to go home until she finds Irene, she has to find her no matter what.
She starts to walk down the street again, glancing over at every alleyway in hope that she can find Irene. There aren’t many cars or people around due to the extreme weather which makes her search easier, except the terrifying raindrops that threaten to get into her eyes, of course.
She passes by a small park that’s mostly filled by kids in the afternoon who are playing with the jungle gym and swing rides, only to pauses her step abruptly when she catches a figure sitting on the swing under the rain.
Seulgi places a hand above her eyes to shield them from the rain as she squints, trying to get a better look of the person who’s swinging lightly on the ride. Who in the world would let their kid play outside in such a heavy rain?
Seulgi is about to continue her step when a thought crosses her mind. She turns her head again and stares at the figure before she decides to approach it.
____________________
When she was a kid, there’s a big park near her house. She’d spend a long time playing in the park, playing with the other kids in the sandbox or jungle gym, though that place was mostly dominated by selfish little boys.
Her favorite ride was the swing. She could spend hours just swinging around, moving her legs in the air as she tilts her head up, looking at the sky above and imagines herself flying.
Eventually, her parents seemed to catch this interest of her since the next thing she knew, there’s a swing installed in the backyard of the house.
She was overjoyed, she jumped and cheered like an excited girl she was and ran over to play with the swings. Her siblings would join in too since her father had installed 3 swings, each for their children. She was so happy, it was probably one of the happiest moments in her life and she could never forget that time.
But what happened next, wasn’t as pretty as the beginning of her sweet memory.
They used to play swing together in the backyard of the house. Irene would get to the swing first and waited until her brother and sister got back from school to join her. Her sister would usually come back first and ran over to the swing with a big smile on her face. Then her brother would follow an hour later after he’s done with his tuition. They’d swing together and laugh until the maid told them to eat dinner.
Eventually, her brother and sister came home later and later that it’s already dinner time by the time they arrived in the house. They would come back earlier at some days, but they didn’t play the swings like they used to. They would pass the backyard and gave her a smile, telling her that they’re tired or they had something to work on.
Eventually, they stopped visiting the backyard and went straight to their room as soon as they got home. Sometimes, they didn’t even come home for the night, leaving her alone in the house with the maids.
Eventually, she stopped playing in the swing too, she stopped sitting on it and waited until her siblings joined her to play, she stopped being a kid. She grew up.
By the time they moved house, the swing that she used to love have turned into a rusty thing with peeled paints all over the steel. Just like the memory of her childhood, the swing was soon forgotten and maybe the next family who moved into the house would decide to get rid of the rusty thing.
That time, she didn’t understand how her siblings could stop playing swings even though they loved it as much as her, but now that she grew up, she understood why they stopped.
Because she has stopped too.
“Irene!”
She twitches at the call before lifting her head to see the girl she loves standing beside the swing with an unimpressed look on her face.
“Seulgi…?” She tilts her head dumbly and stares at the girl, wondering if she’s real or part of her imagination. She stands up from the swing and steps closer to the girl, staring at her face and slowly lifts a hand to touch her face. It’s wet and cold.
“Seulgi??” Irene blinks rapidly as if she just crashes back to reality. She quickly cups the other’s face with her hands, feeling the coldness of the skin with her palms. “What are you doing here under the rain? Look how cold you are right now!”
Seulgi furrows her brows in return and glares at Irene, making the girl blinks dumbly at the reaction she’s getting.
“Do you know how worried I am!?” Seulgi suddenly screams, cutting through the noisy sound of rain, ear-piercingly loud that makes Irene jumps on her spot.
Irene blinks rapidly and drops her hand from Seulgi’s face, taken aback by the sudden outburst from the other girl. She lifts her hands in front her chest, attempting to placate Seulgi and calm her down while trying to find out what makes her girlfriend this angry.
“You didn’t even bring your phone—and you’ve been gone for hours and…” Seulgi trails off and drops her head.
Irene stays on her spot, waiting for another outburst from Seulgi but only gets silence in return. She takes another step closer to take a better look of Seulgi.
“Seulgi…” She calls out softly and places a hand on the other’s cheek, lifting her face up to meet her gaze.
Irene freezes instantly at the sight of Seulgi’s red eyes and the tears that falls down from her eyes. Despite the rain that showers them from head to toe, Irene knows that Seulgi, her Seulgi, is crying.
“S-Seulgi—“ She stutters in panic and cups the other’s face once again, wiping the trail of tears with her thumbs. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking clearly. Don’t cry, okay? I’m here, I’m right here.”
Seulgi throws her a glare in return but then wraps her arms around Irene and buries her face on Irene’s neck, sniffling softly. Irene fears that her bones might be crushed by how tight Seulgi is hugging her, but maybe this is what she deserves for making Seulgi worried, even making her get outside in such weather.
“I’m sorry, Seulgi. I’m really sorry.” Irene runs a hand through Seulgi’s wet, tangled hair, trying to detangle the locks with her hands as she sighs.
What was she doing running out of the house like that? She didn’t think that it would make anyone worried. How old is she to throw that kind of tantrum? She should be ashamed at her own attitude.
“Sorry, Seulgi. I won’t do that again.” Irene whispers softly and pulls away slightly to look at Seulgi’s face.
Seulgi finally lifts her head from Irene’s shoulder to look into her eyes. They stare at each other under the rain before closing their eyes and lean closer—
A honk snaps their attention and makes them turn their heads to a black car pulling over at the side of the park. The window rolls down, revealing a woman on the driver seat, gesturing a hand for them to come closer.
“Mom!” Seulgi calls out before turning her eyes back to Irene, seemingly unsure about something.
“Get her in too!” Mrs. Kang yells from her car.
Seulgi nods her head and drags Irene over to the car by her hand. Irene is about to struggle, but soon realize that there’s no point of struggling and she doesn’t want to let Seulgi out in the rain for any longer.
The ride is filled with silence as Mrs. Kang drives back to the house while Seulgi tries to dry herself with a box of tissues. She hands the box to Irene and she takes few sheets to dry her face.
It is still silence when Mrs. Kang pulls the car to the driveway and gestures for the girls to get into the house with her.
“Go take a shower before you catch cold.” It’s all she says before she makes her way to the kitchen, probably preparing the postponed dinner.
Seulgi and Irene stare at each other for a while before quietly make their way upstairs.
“So, who’s going to take a shower first?” Seulgi asks as she hands Irene a clean towel and set of clothes.
“You first.” Irene says.
“No, I think you should do first. You’ve been out in the rain longer than I was.” Seulgi frowns in disapproval.
“But you’re the owner of the house.” Irene frowns in return.
“But you’re the guest.”
“But you’re the owner.”
“Irene, don’t be stuborn.”
“Seulgi, stop being stubborn.”
They stare at each other again and sigh at the same time.
“Listen here—“
“Just take a shower together, how hard is it? You’re girls!”
Seulho’s voice can be heard from his room even when the door is closed tightly. They turn their heads and stare at the door for a while before turning back to face each other.
Right, it’s not like there would be a problem with them taking shower together. Seulho is right, they’re girls so there shouldn’t be any problem. It’s not weird for girls to shower together, Seulgi has heard it a lot from her classmates who talk about showering together so casually, but Seulgi never did that since she had never fond with the idea of her being in front of someone else.
Irene seems to catch the hesitation in Seulgi’s eyes and she smiles softly.
“It’s okay, you go and shower first.” Irene waves a hand and is about to step away until Seulgi raises a hand.
“Wait.”
Irene perks up and raises her brows, waiting for Seulgi to continue her speech.
“Let’s shower together. It saves time and we don’t have to fight anymore.” Seulgi says with a nod of determination.
Irene drops open and blinks rapidly before pressing her lips together. “You sure about this?”
“I’m sure.” Seulgi nods again.
Irene drops her gaze to the floor as if she’s thinking about something before lifting her gaze again, flashing Seulgi a reassuring smile.
“Okay then.”
And that’s how they end up in the bathroom, back facing each other as they take turn to wash themselves under the showerhead.
Irene doesn’t seem to have any problem in showing her body since she states that she had shared a shower with girls before, considering how she used to study in all-girls school before. But Seulgi has always been a private person and she has never fond with the idea of sharing a shower together, it’s way past her personal space.
Irene then tells her that it’s okay if she keeps her undies and bra if she’s that uncomfortable with the situation, though Irene states that she would not be wearing anything like how she usually showers. In the end, Seulgi decides to keep her undies for privacy purpose.
She stares blankly at the tiled wall in front of her, listening to the splash of water behind her. It’s Irene’s turn to rinse her body and Seulgi has to face the wall like the deal, Seulgi’s deal.
“Let’s back each other and when I’m finished, I’ll call your name so we can turn our position slowly. You can call my name too if you need the water and we’ll turn together.”
That’s how it’s supposed to be, but Seulgi has been toeing the wet floor everytime it’s Irene’s turn for the shower.
Just a little peek won’t hurt, right?
Slowly, Seulgi turns her head over her shoulder to look at the girl behind her who’s too busy rinsing herself under the showerhead. Seulgi’s eyes widen when she catches the sight of white, alabaster skin spread over Irene’s small and curvy back. Her eyes fixed on the small movements that Irene make when she’s moving her hand over her hair and body.
Holding her breath, Seulgi trails her eyes down to the gorgeous backside and slim legs of Irene, briefly wondering if Irene ever considers being a model with such a body. God, she is so beautiful.
Seulgi has always enjoyed looking at woman’s body, take her Miranda Kerr poster for example, but all this time, she just enjoys the shape and curve of their bodies and imagine herself having that kind of body. But maybe, she has been fascinated by female features to begin with, just like how she thinks Irene is the most beautiful right now.
Suddenly, she wants Irene to turn around and face her, she wants to see the front side of her body, seeing how the water trails down the curve of her , down to her flat stomach and slim waist, and then to her hips and—
“Seulgi, I’m done.”
Seulgi almost jumps on her spot and she quickly whips her head back to front.
“O-Okay, I’ll turn from my right side.” She clears before slowly turning their positions.
It continues for another few minutes until the finally get out of the shower with clean set of clothes and towel wrapped around their head.
“Seulgi, you look kind of flushed, are you okay?” Irene asks worriedly as she stares at the pink tint on the other’s cheeks.
“I-I’m okay.” Seulgi stammers quickly, turning her eyes away from Irene.
Irene twitches her brows in confusion at the latter’s attitude, though before she can speak further, a voice calls out from downstairs.
“Dinner’s ready, Noona!” Seulho calls out from the kitchen.
The dinner is really awkward with Mrs. Kang eating quietly and Seulho who steals a glance at Irene once in a while. The girl doesn’t realize about it, but Seulgi is very aware of how her brother keeps staring at Irene.
Seulho munches on his food as he stares at Irene, taking a good look of her damp hair and pretty face. He turns his eyes slightly and locks his eyes with Seulgi’s, noticing his sister’s deadly glare. If looks could kill. He quickly drops his head and stands up from his seat with his empty plate.
“I’m going first.” He scurries over to the sink before making his way back to his room, leaving the girls with Mrs. Kang in the dining table.
“Seulgi, have you informed her parents?” Mrs. Kang suddenly asks, making the girls almost choke on their food.
“N-Not yet.” Seulgi answer quietly.
“Why?” Mrs. Kang frowns lightly. “You have to tell them, they’re worried.”
“Yeah, I know…” Seulgi sighs softly.
“…Worried?” Irene hums quietly, blinking at Seulgi.
Seulgi presses her lips and nods her head. “Actually, I called your phone, but your mom was the one who picked up and she told me that you ran out of the house and—she’s so worried.”
Irene blinks as she registers the words into her head. She knows that her parents would be angry or pissed off about her attitude earlier, but she didn’t think that they would be worried about her. Somehow, she always got the image that her parents would never bother to do anything since they know that Irene would always come back in the end and she’s just simply throwing a tantrum.
“Of course, parents are always worried about their child.” Mrs. Kang hums quietly before lifting her gaze to Irene. “Why did you run away? Had a fight?”
Irene turns her eyes to Mrs. Kang and bites on her lower lip in thought. She darts her eyes around the room before locking them on the woman again.
“I told them that I have a girlfriend but—they just brushed the topic off, they told me that it’s just a phase and… I guess got angry…” Irene mutters quietly, feeling embarrassed to confess such a childish matter.
“Parents are not perfect, you know.” Mrs. Kang stands from her seat and brings the dishes to the kitchen as she speaks. “They’re trying to be the best for you, but sometimes not in the way you wanted them to be.”
“It’s your choice, you can let them do their parenting in their own way or you can make them understand that you are not happy with their way.” Mrs. Kang comes back to the dining table and sits back on her seat, looking at Irene with a soft look in her eyes. “You have to talk, use your mouth and eyes, make them understand.”
Irene stares back at Mrs. Kang and nods her head quietly, clenching her fists in determination. This moment makes her realize that Seulgi does resemble her mom in some way, the quiet nature and strong eyes, they’re the same as Seulgi’s.
“But if your parents still refuse to understand you, then you can come to us.”
Seulgi and Irene drop their mouths open as they stare at the woman in front of them.
“M-Mom…” Seulgi blinks in disbelief. How could her mom, the one who had a problem with accepting their relationship, suddenly says something like that.
“Your dad light up my mind.” Mrs. Kang shrugs and huffs out a laugh. “If you’re lucky, then you’ll get another sibling soon.”
“Mom!” Seulgi grimaces and sticks her tongue out while Irene tries to hold her laughter by biting on her lower lip.
Mrs. Kang eventually bursts into a giggle as she waves her hand in a fluttering motion. “Just go and inform your parents that you’re here and safe.”
The girls nod their heads with a laugh before making their way back to Seulgi’s room. They settle on the bed as Seulgi hands Irene her cellphone. Irene takes the phone and stares at her own contact ID on the screen, thinking about how her parents would react.
“You alright?” Seulgi asks worriedly and Irene flashes her a reassuring smile.
“I’m alright.” Irene says before tapping the call button and presses the phone against her ear.
“Seulgi? Did you find Irene?”
Irene takes a deep breath before she answers.
“Mom, it’s me.”
There’s a silence follows before her mother yelps from the other line.
“Irene! Where are you? Do you know how worried we were??”
“Sorry mom.” Irene sighs softly. “I’m at Seulgi’s house, we just had dinner.”
“Oh God, you’re going to give me a heart attack anytime soon! We will pick you up, okay? Where is the address?”
“Mom.”
“What is it?”
“Seulgi is my girlfriend.”
Seulgi drops open as she stares at Irene with wide eyes, not believing what she just said to her panicked mom. Seulgi moves her hands dramatically and Irene shushes her by pressing a finger against her lips.
“… I know.”
This time, it’s Irene’s turn to be surprised.
“You know?? How??”
“You put her name as ‘Seulgi ♥’ in your phone.”
“Oh.” Irene purses her lips. “Well, I won’t break up with her, mom.”
“I know.” Mrs. Bae sighs from the other line. “Just come home first, okay? Your dad has been dead worried that I’m afraid he’d get into hospital soon.”
“Dad is worried?” Irene blinks.
“Of course he is! He has been driving around the houses to find you!”
“Alright, mom.” Irene sighs softly, curling her lips into a thin smile. “I’ll go home. I’ll text this phone the address.”
Irene ends the call with a smile and turns her head to Seulgi who’s staring at her nervously.
“How was it?”
“They’re coming to bring me home.” Irene sighs.
“And then?” Seulgi frowns.
“I don’t know, let’s see what they have for me.” Irene muses and closes her eyes.
She opens her eyes a moment later when she feels something ticklish around her face. She looks up to see Seulgi’s face in front of her, some of her hair falls down to Irene’s face, that’s where the ticklish feeling comes from.
“If they’re still against it, then I’m going to take you away…” Seulgi whispers softly, leaning her face closer against the other’s.
Irene blinks before huffing out a small laugh, letting Seulgi’s hair tickle her some more.
“Seulgi, please. We haven’t even graduate high school.” Irene laughs gleefully, only to choke on her laugh when Seulgi suddenly collapses her body on top of Irene, knocking the air out of her lungs.
“Then we’ll graduate together.” Seulgi hums, nuzzling her face on Irene’s collarbone.
“Yeah, we have to graduate together.” Irene huffs out, running her hand through Seulgi’s long hair. “Come to think of it, the final exam is coming soon, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, three months.” Seulgi replies. “Have you thought about college?”
“… I’ve thought about something, but I haven’t talk to my parents about it.” Irene says, staring blankly at the white ceiling above. “What about you?”
“I’m going to nursing school.”
“Oh?” Irene blinks. “You want to be a nurse? Not a doctor?”
“I like nurse better.” Seulgi mumbles, still keeping her face pressed against Irene.
“That’s great.” Irene says again. “I think I can imagine you in a nurse outfit, scolding some stubborn patients.”
“Hey, I won’t be like that.” Seulgi lifts her head and squints her eyes.
“You will be like that.” Irene chuckles softly.
Seulgi twitches her brows before moving up to line their faces together. “I’ll kiss you if you don’t stop with that.”
Irene raises her brows and smiles. “You will be a naggy type of nurse who will scold a patient at least once a day.”
With that, Seulgi leans down and presses their lips together, placing her hands on either side of Irene’s face to tilt her head into a better position. Irene complies by wrapping her arms around Seulgi’s small waist and runs her palm through Seulgi’s back. Their lips molding together sweetly as the share a loving kiss, until the sound of doorbell cuts them off from their fun.
They quickly break the kiss and stares at the bedroom door, listening to the doorbell that rings around the house.
“I think that’s my parents.” Irene says.
“I think so too.” Seulgi replies.
They slowly come down to see Mrs. Kang greeting the guest in the front door. Irene sighs in relief to see her parents don’t act rude to Mrs. Kang, despite them knowing that Seulgi is her girlfriend. Instead, her mother is smiling to Mrs. Kang even though her dad is still keeping his poker face like usual.
“Dad, Mom.” Irene calls out as she walks over to the front door.
The parents perk up and stares at their daughter who’s slowly making her way over to them.
“Mrs. Kang, I’ll be leaving first. Thank you very much for your help.” Irene bows politely and smiles at the woman.
“You’re welcome, come back here anytime you want.” Mrs. Kang smiles softly and nods her head.
The Bae family give their thank to Mrs. Kang and leave the house with Irene. Just as she’s about to step out of the door, Irene turns over her shoulder and gives Seulgi a small wave, in which the girl replies with a wave and smile.
Once the door is closed, Seulgi strides over to her mother, asking her about how Irene’s parents are and what would they probably do to her.
“They love Irene.” Mrs. Kang answers simply as she steps over to the living room.
“You think they do?” Seulgi frowns lightly, recalling how Irene’s parents treat her like a nonexistent daughter.
“I know they do. We’re parents and I know it by the first glance that they love Irene.” Mrs. Kang says with a sigh. “Just because they don’t show it the way Irene wants them to, it doesn’t mean they don’t love her.” She suddenly stops her step and turns around to face Seulgi, surprising the girl.
“What is it?” Seulgi asks, blinking at her mother.
“Just like me, I showed my love for you by working so I can send you to the best college and buy you everything you need.” Mrs. Kang smiles softly.
“Yeah,” Seulgi nods with a smile. “I know mom, I love you too.”
“Are you cold? Did you get sick? Do you need to stop by somewhere?”
Mrs. Bae throws her bunch of questions along the ride in which Irene answers by reassuring her that she’s totally fine. The whole ride is filled with her mother’s voice while her father keeps quiet as he drives. Irene assumes that her father is still angry about everything, not really surprising considering how distant her relationship with her father is.
The car stops in the driveway and Irene is about to open the door when Mr. Bae speaks.
“Irene, are you going somewhere tomorrow?”
Irene, surprised by her father’s call, keeps opened for a moment before she answers.
“N-No, not really… I haven’t make any plans…” Irene says unsurely, wondering what her father wants.
“Oh.” Mr. Bae breathes out before he speaks again, staring at Irene through the rearview mirror. “Let’s go eat at that café where we ate the first time we moved to this area. You said you liked the chocolate parfait.”
“… You—remember?” Irene blinks and tilts her head, totally not expecting that her father would remember such a small event like that. Irene can’t even remember if her father didn’t mention about it. She remembers her father said that the coffee was really bad and that he’s not going to come back to the café anymore.
“Of course I remember.” Mr. Bae says before clearing his throat. “Let’s go there tomorrow, I haven’t been home for a while after all. And we have something to talk about.”
Irene lifts her gaze to the rearview mirror and realizes that her father has been staring at her face for the whole time. All this time, Irene thinks that his father never wanted to look at her face, all this time, she thinks her father doesn’t consider this place as his home, but a place to put the troublesome Irene.
Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to be, it doesn’t mean that they don’t love you with all they have.
“Okay, let’s go there tomorrow.”
Irene says with a wide smile and for the first time in years, she sees her father smiling back from the rearview mirror.
A/N
Finally no cliffhanger in this chapter phew I'm so proud of myself
Anyway, I think this will end in two or three chapters and I'm not planning to make it longer because I love this just the way it is and I don't want to stretch it :') though I'm going to write a short epilogue in the end huehue
Please do know that english is not my first language so you might find a lot of grammatical errors, typos and broken english, I am so sorry!
Comments, subscribes and upvotes are much appreciated, thank you so much!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!
♥
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