Ep. 4 — Days to count (I)

D-16

Her phone abruptly rang and Seulgi who was on the verge of sleeping drowsily bringing it closer to her vision, inspecting the caller thoroughly with her lack of consciousness at the moment. Her eyes went larger when the said device was showing an incoming call from the almighty Bae Irene. She lost all her sleepiness in an instant. “Shoot!”

She fumbled to get a grasp of her own phone in a comfortable position. The fuss she caused was making her members hum a love song altogether, already guessing who the caller was based solely on their leader’s flustered reaction. Seulgi turned around to hush them silently with a glare before the said person appeared on her screen just in time to greet her through a video call.

“Hi Seulgi!”

From the other side, Irene was beaming at her, eyes curving into a pair of crescents resembling a half moon—with lips mirroring the curve her eyes make. And yes, even though she couldn’t see anything aside of Irene’s face—her surroundings was really dim though, but Seulgi swore she wasn’t exaggerating anything when she said that Irene’s beauty up close face was still breathtaking, that one she couldn’t deny.

In the end, Seulgi found herself gaping without saying anything in return. Much to her own surprise.

“Hello Seulgi?”

Another silent respond and Irene was starting to frown.

“You don’t happen to sleep with open eyes, right?”

A slight pause and Seulgi’s breath hitched.

“Do I call you at such a bad time?” Irene continued to ask, more to herself by now. “Wait, it is my connection, isn’t? She doesn’t even move!”

“You gotta respond captain.” Wendy piped in from her right side, a chuckle almost slipped in between as she overheard Irene asking in solo. “We all know it was not about the connection, though.”

“Hell-“

Seulgi heard her other members snickering at the back seats and fought the urge to facepalm as her sense finally kicked in. “I mean, Hello…unnie.”

And her answer stopped right there. Seulgi didn’t know what to say anymore, all she did before was only texting Irene to dress warmly and she definitely didn’t expect the latter to call her in return. She blankly fixed her gaze on the now smiling face yet again.

“Oh, hi! Thought it was my connection for a moment. We had just passed a tunnel so yeah.” Irene grinned. “Anyway, sorry for not replying to your earlier message. I was still filming at that time.”

Seulgi could almost see Irene’s lips forming a pout despite the lack of lighting and she had to smile at that. “It’s okay. The weather outside was quite chilly and so I thought you should at least dress warmly.”

“That I did, thank you for your concern.” A deliberate silence before Irene’s cheeky smile went to display. “Why are you so nice to me?”

“I’ve always been nice to you.”

Seulgi swore Irene’s chuckles sounded cute, it could pass as a ringtone and it felt pleasant to her ears somehow. She wanted to hear more of her laughs and might as well record it later. “So… You’re no longer filming then?”

“Nope. I’m on my way home now.” Irene supported her chin as she leaned on the panel of her window, her radiant smile was still visible. “How about you? Don’t you have any practice?”

“As a matter of fact, we’ve just finished our practice. We’re on our way home now,” Seulgi keenly replied with a small smile. “Don’t you-”

“Stop flirting.”

Seulgi’s neck nearly snapped as she spun her head to look at Joy, who sat in the back seat and had already invaded her personal space by propping her head just beside hers. “I’m not!”

“Is that Sooyoung?”

“It’s me, unnie!” Joy leaned even forward in her seat and waved her hands, swatting Seulgi’s hand that had prevented her to be seen by Irene in the process. The blonde girl then gestured to the other, grinning occupants around her. “The rest of our members are here too.”

“Oh really???”

Seulgi reluctantly sighed as she rounded her phone just so Irene could see all of her members waving, she could foresee being the target of their teasing soon at the dorm. However, the one on the screen happily greeted them, positively unaware of her upcoming torture.

“Hello everyone!”

Irene sheepishly greeted and giggled after doing her greeting. “Sorry for disturbing you guys, I thought it was only Seulgi… I didn’t know that you guys were there as well.”

“Nah, it’s okay. The one who disturbed us was Seulgi though.” Wendy commented from her seat and Seulgi lowly muttered about wanting a new roommate.

“I don’t want to be your roommate either. We both lost in the rock-paper-scissors game back then, remember? You’re a messy kid, it’s such an unfortunate fate for rooming with you though.” The khaki haired girl chimed in, much to Seulgi’s dismay. The latter even added a fake sobbing act in front of her.

“Stop spreading rumors!”

Upon hearing her inner burst, it was as if on cue for Irene and her members to laugh in unison—leaving Seulgi to shake her head at how literally no one who was willing to be in her alliance at all.

She joined them despite her predicament. Their vibrant laughs subdued and Irene smiled fondly at them. “I heard from an insider that you guys will hold your first ever concert in the end of this month right?”

“That insider surely has a loose mouth.” Wendy jokingly retorted and Seulgi nearly smacked her on the shoulder. “Yah!”

“Very well, I’ll zip my mouth until the official statement is out. Until the fixed date, right?” Irene laughed while doing a gesture of locking before playfully throwing the said keys somewhere. She grinned again. “Anyway, congratulation! You guys have worked hard! Show them what you got and do the best! I’ll be cheering for you! Fighting!”

“Thank you, unnie!!!!”

An excited voice chirped and Seulgi turned back to look at a happy Yeri. “Come to our concert unnie! We will even give you a free ticket!”

“You won’t scam Irene unnie, right?” Joy shortly mumbled and the maknae shot back a dirty look. “Of course not!”

The actress chortled at their banter and Seulgi felt the need to stop them from tainting their already damaged images. She quickly shielded her phone from the rest of her members’ peering eyes.

“I’ll call you later, alright?”

“No need, you should just rest. Send my regard to them and don’t forget, we have a schedule for four days ahead.”

She nodded and smiled widely. “Alright then. Good night, unnie?”

“Good night! See you tomorrow, baby bear!”

Seulgi bit the inside of her cheek before awkwardly saying her goodbye. She could feel her members’ intense stares roasting the back of her head.

“See you tomorrow, err… bunny unnie…” She ejected their call and sighed deeply. With face was clearly reddening, she pulled down her hoodie to cover half of her face from the unnecessary attention.

“You got it bad, bear.” Wendy emphasized with a sly smile and Seulgi was trying her best to hold in her will to flash a middle finger back as her deliberate response.

It was safe to say that their car ride was nothing but filled with gag noises coming from the rest of her members, but Seulgi didn’t mind in the slightest—she was already immune to their harmless teasing.

She only sunk deeper in her seat with a growing, suppressed smile. She really got it bad.

—◙—

D-15

“Unnie! Come inside!”

Irene took a step back and glared, hand above her beating heart after discovering Seulgi’s presence behind their door. All gratitude to her earlier rushing, she felt like she could get a heart attack just now. “Gosh! What is it with you and your interest in startling me? I thought nobody was there!”

“Unnie… the staffs are multiplied by the night. They are so many, I lost count of them.” Seulgi brushed her exclaim as she pulled her into their designated house a bit faster. She closed the door and watched Irene discharging her shoes, “You’ll be more surprised than this until you see them later.”

“What do you mean by that?” Her hand automatically reached to grab Seulgi’s in panic. Her heart started to beat faster again. No, no, when she thought that this program was starting to feel a bit enjoyable by Seulgi’s presence, another unexpected thing would happen most likely, all courtesy to Leeteuk’s PD-nim interest.

“I think they have planned something for us.” The younger responded with a slight frown as they strolled past their threshold, still holding hands, even after Irene changed her sneakers into her fluffy sandals—the older woman was insisting so she didn’t have any choice left but to comply.

Seulgi motioned with her head toward their living room. “I was surprised when I came here first to see them arranging something in the other rooms.”

“It doesn’t settle well with my feelings…” Irene remarked and got an affirmative nod in return by her taller companion. “Neither do I, unnie. Believe me.”

“But as long as we’re together, I think that we’ll be just fine. Don’t you think so?” The finality in Irene’s tone was making Seulgi smile. The latter bobbed her head and tightened their joined hands. “Yeah, as long as we’re together in this.”

—◙—

“Good evening Seulgi-ssi,” Leeteuk greeted, passing a warm smile towards her then at Irene as they had taken a seat on the cushion. “Good evening to you too, Irene-ssi.”

“Good evening everyone.” They answered in accord, mentally counting at how many staffs seated cozily behind the smiling man. “They are so many, Seul.” Irene whispered discreetly and Seulgi replied in the same hushed tone. “I wasn’t lying when I told you before.”

“Why do you look so tense?”

“Ehm… sorry but-” Irene motioned with her head toward the crowd of staffs across her, “There’re so many filming staffs here. Don’t we have agreed to limit the filming staffs at our first meeting? Right, Seulgi?”

The mentioned person quickly agreed. “Yes! So, we are kind of surprised.”

“And suspicious,” Irene ended as she leaned forward in her seat. “What’s going on PD-nim?”

The older man laughed at that as he straightened his posture. “You guys are sharp, but you don’t need to worry, we won’t do anything extreme. It’s another split second idea and you’ll surely love this.”

Irene was already glaring. She mentally slapped the man in front her with her fluffy sandals until he lost his teeth or something. What is it with this show and its split of second idea?

He smiled kindly in a way that Irene somehow doubted it, and upon seeing her reaction, Leeteuk decided to ask again. “Don’t you believe in us?”

“We do believe in you guys.” Seulgi suddenly answered and Irene directed her glare in Seulgi’s direction by the time she had finished dropping a bomb on their own lawn. Seulgi should learn from the experience, they should be in the same boat. “Seul,”

“Great!” He shouted while clapping his hands, bringing her dagger lacing eyes towards him again. “It’s settled then!”

Irene stared in disbelief. “But-”

“As you guys have been here, I’d like to announce you about something. We’ve been taking in consideration of Irene’s-ssi idea days ago.”

“Mine?” The said woman’s eyes enlarged in size at the unexpected statement. She pointed at herself in incredulity. “What’s happening? How is that even possible? When and where did I say it? What did I say exactly?”

“What did you say, unnie?”

She shook her head when Seulgi gave her a cautious look as she turned to face her. “I don’t even know, I didn’t say anything weird for sure!”

The man clapped his hands to gain their attention again. “It was a great idea.”

But Seulgi and Irene knew there was definitely something up, coming from their unpredicted producer. “And so, we might be granting Irene’s-ssi wish!”

“Wait? How is that even my wish? I don’t even-”

“Welcome to Leveling Up! project!” He suddenly declared, encouraging his colleagues to hype up his words by clapping in the chorus. They heard a rustling sound behind them and turned around to see a big banner sliding down to the floor, with Leveling up! written in a big, bold Comic Sans font, colored in hot pink, much to the older woman’s shock. There were even small loves substituting the dots in ‘i’ and ‘!’—Irene nearly cringed at the sight.

However, Seulgi provided the contrary reaction. “Whoa! It’s cute!”

Irene shook her head, finding nothing merely close to her companion’s statement.

When they faced the filming staffs again, Irene was ready to throw something in Leeteuk’s direction when he, out of nowhere, blowing out a whistle like the ones in the track field competition.

If it wasn’t for Seulgi who held her in place, her fluffy sandals might be stuffed in his mouth by now. He was so extra, it almost went under her nerves. “Stay put, unnie.”

Irene inhaled calmly. It was better to keep her chill for now.

As she took a better glimpse, all of sudden, everyone was ready with their triangular small flags—it gripped tightly on their palms as they swing it in every direction.

“What’s happening?” Irene blinked in confusion at the odd sight.

“You’ve heard right. In order to upgrade your skills, we’d like to make a special section for it. It’s special for Chuseok days!” Leeteuk waved his flag excitedly. “We’ll make it into a series of games and with three different themes for three days, so you may anticipate it starting tomorrow!”

“And oh! You’ll evaluate yourself whether you’ve upgraded or not at the end of each day while doing an interview.” He added, still waving his flag. “Is it exciting, right?”

Absurd. Irene thought to herself.

“What kind of skills?” She asked whilst eyeing the team across her with narrowed eyes. Seulgi joined her in watching their every move, she suddenly regretted her statement of believing them as well. “Are those beneficial?”

“Of course they are.” Leeteuk beamed, he gestured towards the scriptwriter beside him. “Eunae-ssi will give you the mission card.”

The said woman lunged forward and Irene didn’t waste any time to grab and open the said folded card.

Laundering

Written in bold and underline word—their first ever skill to be upgraded.

“And the theme for tomorrow is relaxing day.” Leeteuk added with a smile.

“YES!”

Irene jumped in her place, fists were pumping in the air at how she got the upper hand of their situation. Seulgi was left with mouth agape as she took in a glimpse of the written word. She snatched the card and read it out loud. “Laundering? As in doing laundry?”

She looked up from the cue card and shouted in disbelief when Leeteuk silently nodded his head, confirming her question without further explanation.

“This is discrimination!”

“It is not.” Irene abruptly chimed in an obvious tone, calming herself from her earlier outburst. “Seriously, this will be your chance to upgrade your actual skill like what Leeteuk PD-nim has explained before.”

She teasingly gestured her surroundings, the turn of event was boosting her mood higher. She suddenly didn’t have any grudge left for their PD-nim at all. “Everyone here knows that you’re the one lacking in that area.”

Seulgi could almost hear someone shouting, “Burn!” in the back of her head. She refused to acknowledge being the one with the disadvantage in a tight game like this. “It’s unfair!”

“We’ve been considering everything and I assure you this project will actually help you in regaining your lost skill, Seulgi-ssi.”

“Lost skill?” Seulgi raised her brow and as if it finally snapped, she burst out for the second time after realizing the meaning of it.

“Oh my god you didn’t edit my footage!”

She referred to her self-cam with Wendy and almost cried in agony. “That was where the idea of laundering coming!”

“Do we compete against each other?” All of a sudden, Irene was prompting a very tricky question and Seulgi had already widened her eyes in response. “Don’t leave me, unnie! We should be together!”

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” Leeteuk replied shortly, smiling as he ended their schedule for today. “You may rest in your room now. Thank you for your hard work today.”

—◙—

“I can’t believe you roasted me in front of the staffs.” Seulgi groaned as she watched Irene crawl to lay on the other side of their bed.

Our bed.

She shook her head and stayed focus as her eyes slowly following the petite figure settling beside her. “Where those as long as we’re in this together go, huh?” She sulked and picked a bolster to block the view. It was better than having Irene invade her place and make her sleepless like the other day. “Bye bye teamwork.”

“Aw… don’t be mad please?”

Seulgi felt the other person was trying to move her shield and she fought back, holding her bolster firmly on the spot. “We are an enemy now.”

Irene’s hand snuck in and Seulgi almost gasped out loud when the said hand was trying to loosen the grip on her bolster. She immediately retracted her hand and Irene was fast to move it from her sight. The older woman was already supporting her head to look sideways at her, grinning cheekily as she faced her. “Hi there neighbor.”

“Why did you move it?” Seulgi tried to glare, but failed miserably when Irene tilted her head cutely instead.

“Because I can’t see you,”

The younger girl’s jaw almost slackened off its hinge. She stared in disbelief. “Why do you want to see me asleep? Are you secretly watching me asleep all this time?”

Irene chortled, but nodded her head nonetheless. Her honest answer was something Seulgi didn’t expect to hear though.

The older woman only smiled. “Why are you making it sound so weird? I just like it.”

“Because it is weird.” Seulgi shortly stated. She didn’t know whether the air conditioner in their room was off or the weather outside was really warm, but she felt like her cheeks burning up with each passing second she wasted hearing Irene’s weird confession.

“I enjoy it and I don’t mean it in a creepy way. It’s been a while since I sleep with a companion you see? Like the one you have in sleepover? So, it’s kind of healing treatment for me to see someone sleeps peacefully.” Irene beamed and started pulling a blanket over them. Seulgi was quick to grab the said fabric to cover her face entirely, leaving the older woman to stare back in equally amused expression.

“Are you fine in there?”

Irene heard a vague Yeah! and chuckled. She reached for the blanket and peeled it off to see Seulgi’s wide eyes staring at her. “But I’m not fine. Let’s sleep like this, alright?”

—◙—

D-14

“Have a good sleep, Irene-ssi?

Irene nodded brightly, stretching her way out as she went from her room to join the rest of the crew in their living room. She noticed Seulgi was already there, her face was looking tired. She immediately went to her side, whispering an encouragement. “Don’t worry, laundering is such an enjoyable activity.”

Seulgi cast a glance and sighed inwardly. She mentally slapped herself for being a wreck around Irene.

Last night wasn’t any better, if not, it was getting worse. After Irene’s confession of liking to watch her in sleep, she couldn’t even close her eyes in peace. It was as if the moment she slept and accidentally opened her lids, she would be meeting Irene’s fond gaze and it surely would be the death of her.

And great. Irene had to be this great in making her heart leap around its place without even realizing.

The said woman’s hair was tied in a bun, cladding in her casual clothes—what she meant by casual was the use of an oversized shirt along and sweatpants that perfectly fitted Irene’s petite figure. Who in the hell looked so attractive in a pair of worn-out sweatpants and an oversized shirt that drowned her whole tiny fingers? Seulgi begged to differ because her Irene unnie was an exception.

She could make even the strangest or poorest outfit looked like it was meant to be displayed in a fashion show. Irene would sure rock everything and it still surprised her up until now.

“You lost sleep because you were thinking so hard about this mission, right?” Irene asked lowly and Seulgi hummed in response, it was the only answer that came into her brain at the moment.

“It’s really easy, you don’t even need to wash it with your hands. The technology nowadays is really helping.”

“Yeah.”

“You’ll be a master in a heart b-b-b-eat.” Irene jokingly said and even danced a bit to her song. Seulgi couldn’t hide her smile from appearing. She pushed her shoulder playfully and shook her head. “Thanks, unnie.”

“You need to smile more. I don’t like seeing you frown.”

“Yeah. The same goes to you.” Seulgi grinned and Irene returned her remark with a blinding smile almost in a second.

—◙—

“Welcome to Leveling up! Project. First of all, I would like to announce that this particular skill is an individual one.”

Seulgi almost went under a heart attack at that announcement. She had assumed it before, and even prepared a bit by scrolling through websites about how to properly wash your clothes in the wee hours after she assured herself that Irene wasn’t facing and hugging her to death. However, her actual skill in that area wouldn’t magically improve by the night. She couldn’t fully rely on those short lessons she got from the internet.

“I can’t use a call for friends feature even if I want to, right?”

Leeteuk laughed. “There’s no such thing.”

“Hope that you guys mind inventing one.” Seulgi mumbled at the very least, unaware of Irene’s soft gaze that settled in her direction.

“We will give each of you 100,000 won to purchase the laundry’s necessity and the clothes you have to wash as well.” He continued to give them details. “Bearing in mind to put your money into a good use, each clothes have its own plus and minus. So, you should choose wisely.”

Irene raised a brow at that. She pursed her lips in confusion. “Clothes? You mean, we’ve to buy it before washing it?”

Her producer nodded in affirmative. “You can purchase it in the other room, the same goes for the laundry’s necessity.”

Seulgi almost scoffed at the ridiculous idea, still feeling bitter by the disadvantage.

“Uh, we aren’t going outside?” Irene asked as she scanned her surroundings. “We can buy it, here?”

“Yeah,” He smiled widely, gesturing toward the other room. “We’ve prepared everything.”

—◙—

“This is not real, how in the hell my stage outfits are here?”

Seulgi muttered as she scanned back and forth on the line of fabrics. “They want me to destroy it, huh?”

Irene peered over her shoulder, catching the glimpse of the colorful outfits. “That’s cute!”

“It’ll blend in unison the moment I put them in a washing machine.” The younger girl uttered and picked one cloth out of the hanger. Her eyes twitched at the sight of its price tag. “Uh, I don’t want to pick it. It’s expensive! Look!”

Irene nodded and examined the other clothes. “They are all expensive and we only have like, 100,000 won.”

She then looked at the rack of softeners and almost gasped loudly, eyes wide in disbelief. “They put it way higher than the ones in retails!”

“Retails?” Seulgi gave a quick look. “You compared it to the one you use?”

Irene nodded vigorously. Her eyes contracted at the sight, she was determinate to bring the right act. “How dare they manipulate its actual price?!” She shouted, raising the said pink bottle up in the air. “Leeteuk PD-nim! We demand an agreement to bargain!”

—◙—

“Oh. My. God. It’s what I’m looking for.”

“What the-” Seulgi’s unfinished question was quickly morphed into a gasp when Irene dashed forward to take a better look of the washing machine they owned in the house—nearly knocking onto Seulgi who tried her best to steady herself and the small basket containing the clothes she had paid to wash.

“This is the newest model! The FH21VBWC!!!” Her older companion squealed in front of her and she managed to close her ears after putting her laundry down. Irene with her dolphin screams would be the death of her and she just knew it.

“The FH2-what? What are you talking about?”

Irene began to the said machine tenderly, obviously ignoring her question. “It has such a magnificent design!”

“Unnie… can you just tune down your gushing? You might break our audio director’s ears.”

However, her warning was likely being ignored again as Irene continued to list its advanced features.

“It’s occupied with a very important feature which is a True Steam. This machine can perfectly remove any odor as well as those tiny scary creatures called mite, pollen or anything that can cause allergy! It already certified by the British Allergy Association, mind you!”

Seulgi watched as Irene started to go around, presenting it as if she was the ambassador of the brand. She didn’t even ask Irene to tell her about what that machine was capable of though.

“Gosh! The six motion hand wash with three-way of powerful turbo shot! It will wash your pile of dirty clothes clean any day!”

“Look!” She exclaimed and Seulgi was forced to hover around the lid of their washing machine just like what Irene currently did. She looked up with restraint. “What are we doing here?”

“It has a super capacity! Imagine how much it can load in one-timing! You can save so much time and the water as well!

“God.” Seulgi mumbled and took a big step back. Her partner was still there crouching over it with heart eyes.

“And one little fact, you can control it through your phone!”

Until they heard a cough coming from Leeteuk thus Irene tried her best to control her excitement, her inner self had been lashed out and she didn’t even realize that their staffs were still there, watching her with mouth agape.

How could they not be surprised? Just in one day, and they got to see Irene’s implausible side.

Seulgi recalled having her eyes blink rapidly at how worked Irene while barging about the softener’s price. Irene was even as far as beating their PD-nim on a small game in order to get her deal sealed. From the competitive one to the weird one, Seulgi was still wrapping those facts about Irene that she did not even know around her head.

“Uhm… sorry I got a bit overboard.” Irene sheepishly chuckled while straightening up. “I really like this type, the Trompton Wash rather than the front-loaded one. More convenience as you can use either the Trombone on the top or a mini wash below. A perfect choice.” She tried to explain more though Seulgi didn’t even understand what trompton was even meant either.

Irene’s outstanding knowledge about types and its specification was indeed unsurprisingly surprising. Unsurprising because she knew that Irene was a homebody but quite surprising because she didn’t know it would be that precise.

Seulgi couldn’t hide her amusement in the tone she used. “Did you really spend your free time to watch various home shopping channels or skim on the shopping catalogs?”

The cornered woman coughed in surprise, cheeks already altered into a darker shade at the revelation. “No.”

“Okay. So,” Leeteuk started, putting a stop on their ongoing teasing. Irene was secretly glad. “Thanks for telling us the details, Irene-ssi.”

The actress ducked her head in embarrassment. “No problem.”

“Anyway,” He motioned towards the laundry basket on the floor. “We’ll evaluate the result after you’re done. Remember, each clothes have its plus and minus. The winner is the one that meets the requirement.”

“You guys intentionally did this right?” Seulgi lifted one of the piece clothes from her basket and pointed at the large dirt mark on it. “This is the cheapest clothes yet look. How am I going to clean it without leaving any strain behind?”

“It’s easy. We can do it.” Irene muttered from the other side, face was looking smug as Seulgi turned to see her.

“Watch and learn from the master, alright? We’ll be fine.”

“But, it’s individual task.” Seulgi reminded as she dropped the cloth back to her basket, sighing as she stared at the number of clothes she had purchased. “This is going to be a hellish work.”

“I told you it’s going to be okay.”

“I’m not really sure.”

Seulgi hopelessly stared at the sight of a brand new washing machine in front of her. “It looks new, what if I break it in the midst of doing my laundry?”

“Then you should pay for it.” Irene chimed from her side, eyes still marveling at the machine.

Seulgi gave a deadpan look. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“I was trying to solve your problem.” Irene casually pointed it out. “Anyway, tell me how did you usually do your laundry? The one that traumatized Yeri?” A small laugh resurfaced and Seulgi groaned.

“Who’s the culprit? The one telling you that story?”

“Wendy.” Irene merely bit back an answer. “It was funny though.”

“That loose mouth of her would be the death of me.” Seulgi grumbled as she started throwing her piece after piece into the washing machine.

—◙—

“As expected,” Leeteuk commented as he observed the line of clothes from Irene’s side. She even washed more than what she had purchased earlier, adding another pile of clothes she bought in the last minute. He turned to Irene and applauded. “That’s a really great home skill you got there, Irene-ssi.”

Irene clapped her hands happily and nodded to herself. “I’m proud of it PD-nim.”

She glanced at Seulgi who stood rigidly beside her line of clothes. She nearly chuckled at the sight.

“Let’s see what you got, Seulgi-ssi.”

That made Seulgi straighten her posture even more. She fell into a full silence as she watched their producer in the middle of inspecting her work.

“Not bad.” He exclaimed with a nod, turning around to face her. “You’ve been improved!”

“Really?” Seulgi put a hand on , still shaking with disbelief. “I’m not breaking our washing machine in the process right?”

“No, you’re not silly.” Irene chuckled beside her, an arm looping automatically on her side. “You did a great job.”

—◙—

“What are we doing now?” Seulgi peered behind the older woman and felt her eyes widening. “I thought we’re going to have dinner?”

“We’ll be playing a small game that requires your flexibility.” Leeteuk explained and Seulgi did nothing but stare blankly at him as she seated herself on their cushion after their laundering session was over.

“To make it more fun, you guys will be competing against our staffs in order to win your dinner.”

“What?!”

She cried out in disbelief. Seulgi was never one to do a flexible move. In contrary to her breaking down stage, Irene was found jumping again in the middle of their living room. “What a surprise!!!”

“Is there any conspiracy going on here? Why do I have always been the one to have such a disadvantage?” Seulgi questioned desperately. “To think that I’d get a nice and quiet dinner.” She mumbled with dread when her eyes landed on the Yoga’s mat.

“You can order whatever you want.”

That picked Seulgi’s long lost interest. “Are you paying for us?”

“Of course,”

“We can choose who’d be going to be our opponent?” Irene asked with determination and Leeteuk nodded his head as an answer. “Sure.”

Upon hearing his respond, Irene was being nothing but joking around. “I’d like to compete against Eunae-ssi and you.”

—◙—

“Seulgi you can do that,” Irene whispered, encouraging Seulgi to spread her legs even wider. “Breathe in and breathe out, Seulgi? Think of free food!”

“C-can I rest for a bit? I feel like stretching my legs to its fullest.” Seulgi gasped out, trembling in keeping her pose steady. “I feel it coming! Oh my god my legs have their own mind!”

“No, wait a bit please? I’ll be joining you alright?” Irene dashed to the other side and did a 180-degree split without any difficulty, she tried hard meeting Seulgi’s shaky feet in the end. “Stay put, Seulgi!”

“Namaste!” Seulgi cried out, all her body was quivering as she tried to keep her spreading legs intact in the line. “Namaste!”

“3 m 75 cm! You guys are the winner!” The other staff said after measuring the length of their joined legs.

“Yeay!” Irene shouted in joy, but her shout suddenly went louder when she watched Seulgi collapsing on the floor right after their team had been announced as a winner. “Seulgi!!!”

—◙—

“How was your day?”

“That was great!”

Irene mused with a satisfied smile. “Never in my life would I imagine myself doing my hobby in front of people like that.” She laughed. “Doing laundry is one of my favorite things to do.”

“That you do, but it didn’t seem to reflect the same excitement your partner posed earlier.”

The actress shook her head, “I can tell that she was only traumatized. You see, doing laundry is not that hard to do anyway. Everyone is able to do it. Besides, Seulgi is capable of finishing her task, isn’t she?”

The staff nodded in acknowledgment before asking her again. “Are you aiming to get all these skills leveled up?”

This was Irene’s turn to nod. A new determination was already filling her tone. “Yeah, I’ve always been interested in taking new challenges.”

“Laundering was the first skill. Do you have any idea about the rest of unannounced themes?”

“That’s kind of tricky.” Irene muttered rather cautiously. “I feel like you guys would immediately take my word into reality the next day. So, I’ve no idea.”

The staff’s laugh was vibrant, but Irene was damn serious about her earlier remark. She reached forward to receive a small board containing her activity on day one. “So, I’ve to evaluate it myself?”

“Yes, like have you enjoyed the activity so far and then you can rate it with stars.”

She stared at the board and started peeling the stars from its package. Irene placed one by one of the sticky stars on the board until she had deemed enough. She lifted the board so the camera could film it as well. “I would like to rate it by five but since Seulgi fainted, I think it’s not fair enough. Besides, I feel guilty for forcing her to do that split and so I settle for four stars.” Irene looked up from the board and smiled at the camera. “I hope the next day’s event is turning even better.”

—◙—

D-13

“Do you perhaps having a trouble time while walking?”

Irene slowly asked as she watched Seulgi step out of the bathroom with difficulty. She had woken up ever since she heard their bed cracking and thus Irene caught the other girl limping her way to reach the smaller room. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay unnie. It’s worth the food.”

However, the quavering footings were making the older woman set her eyes in concern even more. “You didn’t look fine. Do you want me to massage you?”

Seulgi skidded in her place on her way to the nearest exit. She almost lost her balance purely out of shock, thanks to Irene’s deliberate offer. She furiously shook her head while she pulled the door open. “No. No. No. I’m okay, anyway, I’ve to go outside, Leeteuk PD-nim is calling for me.” The younger gave one last look, she smiled brightly as she noticed her downcast expression. “I’m really okay, unnie. See?” She took a big step and showed it to her. “Thanks for the offer anyway.”

She quickly closed the door behind after Irene’s pretty smile reappeared. She slapped her own cheek and stood quietly in her place.

It was a white lie, Leeteuk wasn’t calling for her. Seulgi took a deep breath to calm the rising heat on her face.

It was the only way to get herself out of the room after declining Irene’s deliberate suggestion without hurting her feelings. It was obvious that she had labored a certain feeling for the other girl though she wasn’t sure if it was categorized as love already. One thing for sure, she couldn’t deny the fact that she liked Irene. And because of that fact, she couldn’t let herself taking an advantage of Irene by accepting her offer to get a massage.

“It was an innocent offer.” She pinched her cheek even more and lamented in pain when she went too far. While rubbing her injured skin, Seulgi began to make her way towards a couch albeit slowly, mumbling about sounding so ert underneath her breath in the process.

She couldn’t help but groan to herself. “Stop imagining things Kang Seulgi!”

---

Hello!
It's sad because LUP season 2 is over already, it was such an enjoyable show!
Hope they consider to have another season though, it's nice to see the girls having fun :'))
Anyway, thanks for subscribing, commenting, upvoting and most importantly for reading this story!
I hope that you have enjoyed it so far, until next time, have a nice day everyone! ^^