I hate Krystal,

Was Seulgi’s last thought before she squatted down in the dirty bathroom and started rubbing the yellow, nasty tiles with a huge brush and a bucket of cold water.

She grimaced heavily, scrunching her nose every now and then as she brushed through the olfactory offensive stalls one by one, grumbling even more than her already disgruntled normal state did.

These shared bathrooms were awful.

They looked like no one had ever bothered to clean them up before.

Seulgi bet Krystal was partially happy when she busted her little escapade to the rooftop the other day and found just the right reason to slave her as a temporary janitor.

As if removing Kai and making her do seven consecutive night shifts alone wasn’t bad enough, “Reflect on your mistakes while wiping the toilet bowls,” she said.

“Oh, look who is working so hard cleaning poo in the early morning.”

“Shut up, Joy.” Seulgi didn’t even have to look over her shoulder to know whose devious cackling voice that was.

The said girl crumbled with laughter, sounding way too happy with Seulgi’s predicament as she cooed, “Aww, don’t be so grumpy, Kang. It’s only day two. You still have five days left for this. Find some strength, hm?”

The excessively sweet mockery made Seulgi hurl a scoop of water at her to shoo her away.

One unceremonious splash later though, it wasn’t Joy who let out a shrilling shriek for getting washed with cold water but someone else.

“Seulgi unnie!” Yeri sputtered as water hit her in the face the second she set foot into the bathroom.

Seulgi gaped as Joy burst out with hyena laughter and clutched both of her sides, fighting the cramp that was gnawing away at her abdomen.

“What the hell is going on here?” Krystal snarled through the door and the three interns immediately scurried to their straight-backed, ready to serve positions.

Krystal eyed them like she could bite their heads off, eyes swiping dangerously from the water scoop in Seulgi’s hand to Yeri’s drenched up form and to Joy’s bitten back smile.

“I’m pretty sure I told you to wash the bathroom, not your friend’s face.” Krystal spat, eyes daggering at Seulgi. “Is one week punishment not enough, Kang? Do you need more?”

“No, mam.” Seulgi had to try hard not to growl, head bowing but eyes throwing scathing glare at Joy who started drying up Yeri’s face theatrically as she whispered, “Poor you, the day has just started but your clothes are already ruined!”

“You. No better. Shut up too.” Krystal pointed at Joy menacingly and gave her scheme a premature death.

“Are you guys ten? Do you think this is some playsite because there’s no one bleeding to death or fracturing a bone around here?” The psychiatrist ran a hand over her face. “Do I need to break your bones first for you to take psychiatry department seriously?”

“No, mam!” Joy and Yeri answered in unison, and Krystal sighed.

“Joy, go get Yeri some change and start working. Seulgi --“ She paused, giving the brunette a displeased look. “Follow me.”

Yeri watched in amusement as Seulgi crashed her shoulder hard against Joy’s before dragging herself reluctantly behind Krystal, probably to get more punishment.

“Ouch, that grumpy little --“

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Yeri asked, genuinely concerned about their friend’s well being. “It seems like Krystal sunbaenim is taking her to the female wing. If she finds out that Seulgi unnie has never really checked on her patient before...”

“Then maybe we can have clean bathrooms for one more week.” Joy snickered.

------------------------------------------

Yeri’s fear was unfortunately, and frighteningly, accurate.

Seulgi, who was too pissed to care at the beginning, started worrying when Krystal kept prancing towards the end of the female wing to the bigger room numbers.

As far as she remembered, her patient -- that she never bothered to check on -- was supposed to be in room number 13 and they were now walking past number 10.

Seulgi was never the one to fear scolds but having another week added to her toilet misery was the last thing she wanted.

“Have you been here before?” Krystal asked, hand sealing on the doorknob of room number 13 -- which was the last room in the female wing and also the biggest one --  while eyeing Seulgi with a possibly murderous look.

Seulgi knew she was ed up.

“Um, yeah, I...have been here before...of course.”

She was never good at lying. Seulgi swore her life was over right then and there when Krystal pushed the door open and almost diabolically whispered, “Let’s see what your patient says about that.”

Seulgi shut her eyes, bracing herself for the incoming apocalypse.

Except that no apocalypse was thrown at her but a familiar, silky voice instead.

“Seulgi?”

Seulgi opened her eyes to the soft voice that called her name. She was wide-eyed to find the weird girl she had been running into at rooftop lately, sitting there atop of a white bed in the middle of the white-washed room, eyes just as big as hers.

Seulgi could almost run over and gave her a hug.

“You know her, Irene?” Krystal asked in surprise, sounding like she was in disbelief that Seulgi, the laziest intern of all the lazy interns, had actually dropped here before to check on her patient.

“Yes, I do...is there something wrong?” The girl in white -- Irene -- asked confusedly as her gaze remained on Seulgi with a look that reminded Seulgi of an awestruck puppy.

“She has come here before to check on your therapies, medications, and problems?”

Irene turned to look at the psychiatrist with puzzled face, and Seulgi knew if she didn’t jump in immediately she would be damned for eternity.

“Didn’t she say that she knows me? Why are you so skeptical? I...I’ve talked to her before.” She stuttered.

It wasn’t exactly a lie but it was still embarrassing to say because now it was her that Irene shot a confused look at.

“That was...unexpected. I thought you never did because you were so...irresponsible.” Krystal said in a calmer tone that Seulgi had never heard before.

The usually livid psychiatrist then turned and looked at Irene again with gentle smile, surprising Seulgi even more.

“How are you, Irene? Have you been good? Do you still have nightmares?”

The girl -- Irene, Seulgi had to remind herself the new name so she wouldn’t accidentally call the girl loony in front of Krystal -- nodded a small smile before lowering her eyes to her knees which were drawn to her chest.

“It’s still there, but it’s not as bad if I take the pills before sleeping.”

“Do you still hear voices?” Krystal asked, and Seulgi found herself actually listening to their exchange.

“Yes, but only when it’s quiet and when I’m alone...”

Irene who usually sported nothing less than a serene smile even when Seulgi told her off, looked so withdrawn this time, her voice reached them as barely a whisper. Seulgi even thought that she looked sad there for a moment.

“Alright, you heard that, Seulgi. It’s your job to keep her company and talk to her when she needs someone to talk to, okay? Also, I want weekly report about her condition on my table every Monday morning. Do you understand?”

Seulgi nodded half-heartedly. Krystal left the room after talking for a few more minutes with the black-haired girl, smiling and tapping her back all too familiarly.

“So...” Seulgi started, unsure of what to say when they were left alone. “I didn’t know that you were the head doctor’s favorite. I have never seen her act that disgustingly nice to someone before.”

Irene looked perplexed for a second with her brazen choice of words before breaking into soft, tinkling laughter.

Seulgi decided that she liked this better than the sad girl five minutes ago.

Smile looked lovely on her, even though it annoyed Seulgi to certain levels. She didn’t know why Irene seemed to smile a lot at her even though she acted constantly cranky to her.

“No. She has always been nice to all of her patients. She is a great person.”

“You speak like you have known her for long.” Seulgi rubbed her right hand, red and scraped from two days of excessive labor in bathroom during cold weather, courtesy of Krystal Jung.

Great person my .

“Maybe you just haven’t known her long enough to see the nice things,” Irene smiled and Seulgi scoffed softly as she took the medical record that Krystal had left for her.

“How long have you been here to know Krystal that well?” She flipped through the pages of Irene’s record. “Since I’m stuck here with no choice but to talk to you, I may as well know some basic details.”

Irene smiled, eyes trailing on the white ceilings as if she was retracting old, forgotten memories. “About 10 years? I was her first patient when she was an intern like you too.”

“10 years?” Seulgi's head snapped up, horrified. “That’s horribly long time. It says here that you are 25 now. Does that mean you have been here since --“

“Fifteen.” Irene finished her sentence with something akin to a sad smile, but it faded away quickly as her face morphed back into a neutral look. “I was sent here when I was fifteen.”

Seulgi’s forehead crumpled as she went through the papers. “By your family? They didn’t write the name here. It just says Mrs.S.”

After what felt like an eternity, Seulgi thought she heard Irene mumble, “No.”

“Alright, I think that will do for now.” She put the record down to cut off the awkward silence. Something felt off and she didn't want to probe further. She stared around nervously.

Irene’s room was interestingly, big enough to serve as a huge classroom.

It was thrice the size of the other rooms and the floor was paved with different -- expensive -- white marbles. The walls stood spotlessly white, adorned with a huge LED TV, and everything else that screamed pristine, sterile, and costly.

It even had its own bathroom. A funny contrast to the filthy bathrooms shared by the entire wing that Seulgi had just cleaned up earlier.

Whoever it was admitting Irene here for 10 years, must have quite some money.

“So, what’s your name? It says Bae Joohyun in the record but Krystal has been calling you Irene? We might be stuck together for another three months so I need to know your name, unfortunately.”

“Irene.” Irene's face lit up with a smile as she said her answer. Seulgi suddenly thought that it was the best name she had heard so far.

Something about that soft, velvety voice saying it.

“I’d like to be just Irene.”

“Okay, just Irene, how do you know my name though?” Seulgi crossed her arms in front of her chest with suspicion. “You called me Seulgi earlier. I don’t remember ever telling you my name. Have you been stalking me?”

Her confident accusation died shamefully however, as Irene pointed at the direction below her pocket with a straightforward, innocent look. “It’s on your white coat.”

“Oh.” Seulgi immediately flipped her nametag around so it faced herself, looking as if she was protecting it from Irene as her face reddened. “Sharp eyes you got there."

The lovely smile came back and reached Irene’s eyes this time, curving them into two beautiful cresce