I'm still walking around in shopping mall while posting this so please forgive any mistakes. I just wrote and posted everything using my phone. Will come back later and edit.  

 

  Update: Edited, but do inform me if you spot any mistakes still, thanks! Shopping with her lovable but annoying younger sister was not something she would describe as a fun experience. They would often encounter some sorts of mishaps. Irene would prefer to quickly buy the clothes that they need and leave the mall without loitering around while Yeri would walk around and enter into what felt like almost every shops before she finally made her purchase (which more often than not, she would only wear once as the size would be too small, too big or Mr. and Mrs. Bae got a mini heart attack every time they saw her wearing her purchase). Due to these reasons, the older Bae took it upon herself to supervise her younger sister at the mall every time the younger decided to go shopping.    They were at the mall again that day as Yeri needed a new blouse for her class visit to some museum when the younger Bae got bored by Irene's strict supervision. Yeri was pointing to all sorts of racy and suggestive clothes before Irene lost her patience and snapped at her little sister for wasting her time.  This made the younger girl sulked, so she stood at a corner of the shop and looked at her phone while muttering curses at Irene under her breath. Meanwhile the grumpy Irene was focusing on scourging through the many displayed clothes to find Yeri's blouse so that they could finally leave the mall when suddenly, she heard the younger girl's voice exclaimed loudly.    "Hey! It's Ddeulgi unnie!" Irene quickly turned to the girl's direction to find her jumping and waving towards a brunette who was making her way to them slowly, a forced polite smile plastered to her face.    Yeri, being oblivious as she was to the sudden tension in her surrounding ran to Seulgi and hugged the latter. "Unnie! I miss you, Jwoy unnie and Seungwan unnie so much! You haven't been to our house for such a long time." Yeri whined to Seulgi while the older girl laughed and patted her head. Yeri linked her arm around Seulgi and dragged her to where Irene was. 
"Unnie! Look! I found THE bear!" Yeri exclaimed, followed by a boisterous laugh. Irene and Seulgi winced at the loudness of Yeri's voice and exchanged forced smiles to one another. Both of them had not seen each other for almost two years, and time had fare well for them. Seulgi was dressed in a long overcoat with a yellow scarf and she wore up her hair that was dyed dark brown. Her fashion screamed that autumn was in seasons.. Or she was nursing a heartache. Irene was willing to bet that the reason was more of the latter than the weather. 

 

Irene herself was dressed in almost similar attire. She was wearing a mustard overcoat and a red scarf. She also dyed her hair wine red a week back. Both of them were wearing dark blue inner shirts. At a glance, it was almost as if they planned to wear these similar outfits and meet each other today. However, Irene and Seulgi knew the truth. The outfits were gifts for them...given by a person who chose to not stay and leave both of them, in hope of granting them happiness. A person who did not know that her presence was an essential part to make up their happiness. 

 

"Hi Sseul. Long time no see. You look healthier now." True, Irene thought. Seulgi used to be so skinny and she would walk around with a frown. Now, she seemed to gain a bit of weight and the frown had been replaced with the occasional sad smiles, such as the one she was showing Irene.    "Hi unnie. It's been like...a couple of years? I'd been busy with stuffs." Seulgi threw a weak smile. She had been recovering from past events but she knew she was not strong enough to see Irene or the others again. It was still too soon. In fact, she thought no amount of time could make her ready to see them. She was the reason everyone was in pain, and she had not forgiven herself for that.     "Let's go shopping together unnies! Seulgi unnie, you can help me choose my blouse right? Irene unnie is hopeless when it comes to this. You were the fashionista of the group right unnie? So pleaseeee." Yeri gave Seulgi her trademark puppy eyes. Seulgi laughed a little and ruffled Yeri's hair before adding, "Sure, Yerm-ah."   Irene did not take offense at Yeri's statement. Instead she studied Seulgi and Yeri for a moment before she turned to speak to Yeri. 

 

"Yerim, can you walk around first to see if there's anything you like? Then you can call me and Seulgi to check it out together. I want to talk to Seulgi for a bit, it's been so long since we had seen each other. We'll go and eat sushi later, okay?" 

 

Yeri pouted at this but she immediately agreed. Irene rarely used her birth name and when Irene used it, that meant she was asking as her older sister, not the pushover Joohyun and Yeri respected her older sister enough to obey when Irene was using the tone. She said her goodbye to Seulgi and skipped away from the two women. Seulgi meanwhile, watched Yeri's fading figure with a sense of dread. She knew Irene Bae Joohyun would want to talk to her. She was the reason their once happy little group broke apart. Irene would lash at Seulgi now and said the things she had managed to hold in back then, back when she was still Irene's best friend. 

 

While Seulgi was having her inner conflicts, Irene was actually busy fighting her own demons. She missed Seulgi. She missed their little group. She missed... her. And after everything that happened, she blamed herself too. For not being decisive enough, for letting the people she loved to believe that she did not care about them enough to make them stay. And she blamed herself mo