Time passed rather fast for Seulgi lately.

Clock seemed to pick up its old forgotten pace and days at the hospital stopped feeling like a painstaking crawl.

While Irene still possessed that ability to give Seulgi headache just like a month ago -- by being totally oblivious about everything or by clinging to Seulgi’s arm freely as if she was her private property -- Seulgi was surprised that taking care of Irene wasn’t exactly a bad job.

Quite the opposite actually.

Seulgi found herself talking more to Irene than to her peers nowadays. Break time would be spent sitting in the garden and making fun of the older girl for whatever silly statement she made instead of hoarding up with the rest of the interns.

It was unexpected really, that Irene turned out to be quite a pleasant company. She was amusing, thinking and acting in her own little bubble. By the end of the month Seulgi had learned more about her than she initially intended to.

Like how she had ridiculous hate for chicken. How she took an abnormal liking to fabric softener -- which explained why she smelled so good all the time and why Seulgi had hard time breathing whenever Irene pressed too close to her. How she loved little critters like kitten and bunnies, and how she loved falling asleep to the sound of rain pouring because it would bury the voices in her ears.

Seulgi was stunned by the way things turned out, but perhaps she shouldn’t give Irene credits too early because the said girl now pressed again on her side annoyingly.

“Seulgi, how do you use this?” Irene asked, back on Seulgi’s arm and head leaning on Seulgi’s shoulder.

The latter shut the book she was reading closed and gave the black-haired girl a particularly serious look. “Irene, there were headboards for some reasons,” she paused, pushing Irene’s head slowly from her shoulder to the bench’s headboard, “so you can rest your head there and not on my shoulder all the damn time.”

“But it’s comfier here,” A sort of cute, indignant pout appeared on Irene’s lips and she leaned her head onto Seulgi’s shoulder again. Snuggled on it even. “And warmer too.”

Seulgi sighed, and for the nth time since they had known each other, let the older girl slip away with her clingy stunt again.

It was starting to get cold too because Winter was starting, so curled up against her like this, Irene actually felt really warm and good. Seulgi gave in.

“What do you need me to teach you how to use my phone for?” She asked.

“Oh, I just want to see how it works.” Irene tilted the phone upside down and stared at it like it was an outer galaxy specimen, her head still resting on Seulgi’s shoulder. “There are not even buttons here, how do you use this?”

Seulgi snorted with laughter. “God, what exactly was the last existing phone before you left civilization ten years ago? Flip phones? Black and white Nokia with snake game?”

Irene pinched her thigh and Seulgi let out a long squeal.

“Just teach me how to use it.” The pout formed on Irene’s lips again and Seulgi thought she actually looked really cute all distressed like that.

“Okay, fine.” She huffed and started swiping the screen. “You basically just need to tap on the icons you want to open and everything will pop out.”

Irene watched as Seulgi gave brief examples on everything, and after a few minutes she seemed to be able to grasp the basics. Perhaps a tad too well, as she now ventured into Seulgi’s gallery without permission.

“I didn’t say you could look into my stuffs when I taught you.” Seulgi tried to seize her phone but Irene held it high above her head in true elementary kid’s fashion.

Sometimes Seulgi wondered if her mental growth stopped altogether with her bone growth when she hit ten. That would explain why she was so tiny and why she could be really childish sometimes.

“Whoa, did you draw these?” Irene’s eyes widened in pure awe as she stared at some photos of Seulgi’s random sketches. “They are beautiful.”

“They are nothing,” Seulgi cut off bashfully, face turning red and eyes fleeting somewhere else. “They are just random doodles I made when I got bored.”

“You call these doodles? These are some wonderful sketches!” Irene disagreed with her strongly and for once, looked very serious. “You are good at this. You should draw more.”

Seulgi crooked a bitter smile and shook her head. “I haven’t drawn anything for so long. I don’t think I can even draw a circle anymore.”

“Why though?”

Seulgi heaved a sigh, debating whether or not she should talk to Irene about it. “I don’t know. I think I lost the passion some years ago. Some things happened and I...took a long time to even play the guitar again. They reminded me of past, of someone, that I’d rather forget.”

“Someone?”

“Yeah. Someone I used to sing and play guitar with,” Seulgi’s voice lowered to the point where Irene had to strain to hear it. “Someone I used to draw.”

There was an odd silence looming between them before Irene asked again. “A lover?”

Seulgi let out a small laugh. “No. A friend. A best friend. Someone so nice and caring that I hold dear for years. She was my inspiration. She made me so happy and alive when she was around.” Her mind fleeted back to the time of joy and shared laughter, and then sobered up just as quickly. She wondered if she had spilled too much things about herself.

But Irene didn’t seem to mind that she was talking about a she.

If anything, she looked like she was fidgeting over something else.

“Are you not happy now then?”

There was a look on her face. A vague mixture of worry and sadness that Seulgi didn't know the reason of.

Why would she get sad about this?

“I have to go to class.” Seulgi stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Krystal is going to murder me if I’m late. You can keep my phone for now. It has plenty of things to keep you entertained while I’m gone. I’ll fetch it at lunch.”

At this, Irene managed to stretch a smile. It was not as bright as her usual smile but her eyes glinted nevertheless. “Does that mean you are coming to see me again later?”

Seulgi knocked her lightly on the head and laughed. “Yeah, I have to keep an eye on you so you won’t sneak around and get me into troubles. I’ve had enough.”

The slight pout found its way back to Irene’s face and Seulgi grinned. “I’ll see you later.”

She turned and walked away, missing the way the playful pout on the older girl's face faded into a sad, concerned look.

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

Class had always been boring.

Even more so today when Krystal had been babbling for two hours about some abstract, complicated mental disorders and showing no sign that she would stop anytime soon.

On any other day, only the gruelling hours would make Seulgi wear a distasteful frown on her face but today, the content of the lecture itself made her want to get out of the classroom.

“So, to put it simply, some old theories stated that abnormal uality can be categorized into physical or psychological ual dysfunction, gender identity disorder, ual preference disorder, and ual orientation disorder. However, they are getting revised gradually all over the world as time goes on and understanding evolves. Does anyone have question about this?”

Suho raised his hand and Krystal nodded.

“So what category do lesbians and gays fall into according to these old theories? Do you put them in the ual preference disorder or ual orientation disorder?”

There was low noises coming from the back, undoubtedly from some of the snickering interns, and Seulgi felt her heart clench even though no one knew that she was one of the people they were ‘categorizing’ about like sheeps.

After years of similar incidences one would think that she had gotten used to the hushed laughter but the truth was, she did not. Not completely anyway.

“Why, Suho? Do you have some concern about yourself?” Kai joked. “I have always been suspicious about how you like sticking to Sehun so much.”

The rest laughed and Suho looked back to throw a middle finger at Kai out of Krystal's sight. “No,” He mouthed ‘dickhead’ inaudibly and resumed, “I was just asking a question. Maybe you are the gay one with all those pictures of half , muscular men in your phone.”

“Hey, they are just some gym inspiration --”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Krystal snarled and everyone immediately shut up. She eyed them threateningly before speaking again with calmer voice. “They fell to the ual orientation disorder, Suho. If you have listened to the whole lecture properly and haven't nodded off to sleep every ten minutes maybe you would have known.”

The interns stiffled a laugh again and Krystal sighed. “Any more questions?”

“Sunbae,” Sehun raised his hand. “Can I ask you something that’s not related to the lecture?”

“Don’t tell me it’s her phone number.” Joy rolled her eyes and Yeri giggled.

“No, thank you. I still like living with four limbs.” Sehun mouthed slowly before smiling back to Krystal again politely. “Can I?”

“Alright, go ahead. But it better be something less ignorant.” Krystal warned.

Sehun let out a satisfied, curious look. “How do you personally feel about these people? The gays, the lesbians. Do you think they are a disorder too?”

Krystal was struck silent for longer than Seulgi thought she would. For a moment, it was only her eyes that flickered and looked taken aback while the rest of her body stilled.

And Seulgi cursed herself for thinking -- for hoping -- that the silent uncertainty meant that Krysal might have different idea than the rest of them, because she turned out to be just exactly the same.

“Yes,” She answered at the end, her voice low and doubtful but still clear in Seulgi’s ears. “It’s a deviation from normality, therefore it is a disorder, theoretically speaking.”

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

“Are you okay? You look bummed.”

Irene crawled to Seulgi’s lap and laid her head on the brunette’s thighs, peeking up at the furrowed face that was hidden behind the open book.

Seulgi mumbled a lazy "Yes" and continued to stare at her book emptily.

She looked so unfocused for some reasons, and Irene wondered if the words even went through her head.

“Your eyes aren’t even moving.” She pointed out, reaching a hand up to touch Seulgi’s face but stopped mid air when the sitting girl threw her a look.

“I’m not in the mood to play.” Seulgi said, dragging her hardened gaze back to the book in her hand. “I have a test coming up. Go play somewhere else.”

Seulgi shifted around so Irene lifted up her head from her lap, but the older girl didn’t give up the chase so easily. Stubborn was her second worst nature after oblivion.

“There’s no use reading if the words can’t go through your head.” Irene insisted, but the lack of response from the other girl got her pulling the book away to reveal a glare.

“I said I’m not in the mood to play, Irene.”

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