Irene scrambles under the dining table, missing the flying piece of turkey just by a hair. After settling herself in, she grabs one of the chairs and places it in front of her, using it as a shield from any other pieces of food that were being thrown around the room.
 
She watched on as she could see legs scrambling all over the place, and tries to hold  back a giggle when she sees someone slip on a pile of mashed potatoes while another slipped because of a piece of kimchi.
 
She feels a nudge at her side and turns her head to find a brunette offering her some chips with one hand, the girl’s eyes still staring at the war that was taking place just outside of their shelter. Irene gratefully nods and takes a piece out of the plastic bag and places it in , the food crunching loudly between her teeth.
 
Irene watched silently with a sly smile on her face as she watched her friends use their dinner as projectiles and threw them at each other. As she was having the time of her life watching two of her colleagues, two of her mutuals and three of her best friends franticly throw pieces of poultry, vegetables and other side dishes at each other, she could hear a mumbling from the other girl that was under the table.
 
“I’m sorry, what was that?” she inches closer to the brunette and fortunately missed a giant glob of… pickled radishes?
 
“I said come closer, you are going to get hit.” The brunette whispers.
 
Irene hums and crawls closer towards the brunette. With their shoulders now touching and the two nonchalantly eating crisps out of a bag, they watched World War III happen just outside of their little shelter.
 
How did their dinner meeting turn out like this?
 
Well…
 
*
 
Irene straightened out her shirt before knocking on the door. The door clicks open revealing a very soft, bear-like girl smiling at her with crescents for eyes.
 
“Unnie!” the girl jumps out and throws her arms around the older girl. Irene just smiles and returns the hug.
 
“Hey, Seul.” she mumbles into the taller girl’s shoulder.
 
The two pull away and Seulgi leads Irene into her home, pausing after they walked through the door so the older girl could take off her coat and shoes. They continued on into the dining room where multiple people were seated; light chatter could be heard amongst them. The already seated girls looked towards the two and Irene throws them a shy wave, burying her nose in her jacket collar: she’s never been too fond of attention.
 
“Hi Unnie!”
 
“Hi Irene!”
 
Irene nods at them and looks for a place to sit. She finds an empty seat next to a very small and cuddly looking brunette, the girl smiling at the other guests as she listened to their stories and chatter. Irene pulls the chair out, the screeching noise attracting the attention of the brunette. Once Irene sat down, the brunette throws her a smile and speaks,
 
“Hello! I’m Wendy, Seulgi’s housemate,” the girl offers her hand to Irene, to which the girl shakes.
 
“I’m Irene, Seulgi’s childhood friend and boss.”
 
The large group of friends and acquaintances continue with their banter for a couple more minutes before a bell-like sound could be heard, Irene turning her head toward the noise to find Seulgi tapping her wine glass with a small butter knife. The room quietened down, allowing the host to speak.
 
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s begin!” she exclaims happily. “We’re gathered here to celebrate my and Joy’s engagement. I would like to thank all of you for attending and a very special thank you to my housemate for cooking all of this incredible food!” Seulgi gratefully nods at Wendy, the girl smiling back in reply.
 
“I hope all of you don’t mind western food. I decided to make some western dishes because I grew up in Canada and wanted to introduce all of you to their food.” Wendy says shyly, scratching her nape.
 
Coos could be heard; the other girls adoring just how cute Wendy was.
 
The girls began digging into their dinner, the sound of silver cutlery clinking against the plates.
 
*
 
Irene continued to watch the fight going on outside her (their) little “safe zone," her hand continuously reaching into the bag of chips Wendy was holding. She held back the urge to roll around in laughter when she saw Seulgi fall face first into a bowl of rice accompanied with hot oil, the spiciness of the dish clearly burning her skin and eyes.
 
She turns to her side and finds Wendy staring up at her, holding a large water bottle, a 2 liter coke bottle and two more bags of family sized chips, one barbeque flavour while the other was roasted chicken flavour. The smaller girl offers the bottle to Irene, shaking them lightly as if she was asking which one the older girl wanted.
 
Irene smile and gratefully takes the bottle of water and uncaps it, speaking words of gratitude before taking a big gulp of the liquid.
 
“Are you always this prepared?” Irene asks after she wipes her lips with her sleeve.
 
“You have to learn to keep snacks everywhere if you live with Seulgi. Her whole life is like a TV sitcom, so it wouldn’t be fun watching it without some food, would it?” Wendy says as she throws the already finished bag of chips from under the table, watching Joy slip on it and landing on her . The two laugh quietly, trying their best to muffle them so they wouldn’t get caught. Wendy opens a new bag and offers some to Irene, in which the older girl gratefully take a hefty handful and the two women continue watching the chaos.
 
*
 
The table was filled with sounds of utensils scraping against plates and the light chatter of the people occupying it. Everything seemed fine until, without a moment’s notice, a loud gasp could be heard.
 
Irene turns her head towards the sound and found Joy gaping at the stain on Seulgi’s shirt. It seems like Joy has accidentally thrown a piece of kimchi at Seulgi.
 
“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” Joy says as she stands up to grabs a tea towel.
 
As Joy went to go