Yeri ended her afternoon jog and went up to the dorm. She found Irene sitting on the desk in the living room in front of her laptop. Yeri greeted her and the older girl pointed to the kitchen. There were two plastic bags with red lettering, Chao Han.

“Dinner,” Irene said.

“Thanks,” Yeri inspected the bag and smelled the delicious scent of hot steam dumpling and fried noodles. “How much should I pay?”

“It’s on me.”

Yeri wanted to argue but she knew it will be a pointless effort. So, she said thank you one more time and excused herself to the bathroom. After a nice warm bath, Yeri was in a mood for soup. So she opened the cabinet for an instant miso soup. The package said four to five servings so she asked Irene if she wanted some. Irene said yes without even looking at Yeri.

Yeri left the pot of miso soup on the stove and brought her dinner to the living room. “Can I watch the TV while I eat?”

“Yes, go ahead. Keep the volume low, though,” said Irene.

Yeri nodded.

She the TV and flicked through the channels. She stopped on a Batman movie. Yeri grabbed the TV guide on the table and read the synopsis. It was the second installment of a trilogy. It was said as the best movie in the franchise and won an Academy Award. Yeri decided to give the movie a chance.

Not that she was a fan of movies but eating while watching TV gave her a sense of freedom.

Yeri immersed herself in the story while enjoying her meal. The sound of Irene’s fingers on the laptop keyboard could be heard sometimes and that was how Yeri know the girl was still behind her.

“What are you doing?” asked Yeri.

“I’m inputting your requests for our year end schedule.”

“Oh, don’t forget mine.”

“I’m trying. But it’s quite tight on August. We may have to cancel the Disneyland vacation.”

“If the rest of the girls say yes, I’m down.”

“I’ll talk to them when they get back.”

Yeri nodded and returned to her meal. The movie was now entering a twist where Batman had to choose to save his ex-lover or his ex-lover’s fiancé. The Batman chose wrong and his ex-lover died in a fiery explosion. Yeri felt the pain and saluted the director in silent.

Then her mind wandered. Yeri slurped a mouthful of noodles and asked Irene, “Unnie, if you were Batman and had to save either Wendy or Seulgi from a bomb blast, who will you choose?”

“What?”

“Wendy or Seulgi, who will you choose if you can only save one?”

“That’s a random question.”

“It’s a fun hypothetical question.”

“Well, I guess I’ll save whoever closer to my location.”

“Both are in equal distance from you.”

“Hmm. I’ll save whoever is my lover then.”

Interesting, Yeri thought.

“So who is your lover?”

“Seulgi.”

Yeri coughed.

“Whoa, hey, you okay?”

Yeri had to drink before answering. “Seulgi?”

“What?”

“Your lover is Seulgi?”

“I’m just answering your hypothetical question.”

“But my question is who will you save, now who is your lover?”

“You changed the question?!”

“Don’t mind the question. Did you just admit that your lover is Seulgi?”

“No!” Irene said.

“Oh, come on, Unnie,” Yeri shifted her sitting position and now she was looking straight at Irene. “I know, okay? I mean, I suspected as much.”

“Suspected what?”

“That you two have something going on,” Yeri said.

“There is nothing going on between me and Seulgi. It was just a random answer.”

“Unnie,” Yeri whined.

“Yeri, which one do you like best, dumplings or fried noodles?”

“Noodles.”

“There. Random answer.”

“No, I genuinely like noodles more than dumpling.”

“Oh, enough.”

Yeri smiled and returned her attention to the TV. She had completely forgotten about the whole conversation because the of the movie was so interesting. Yeri even forgot to finish her noodles.

Then, she heard Irene sighing behind her.

“You okay?”

Irene didn’t look okay. She had one hand propping her head and her eyes, her beautiful puppy eyes, were empty like she was looking at a distance. Irene took her glasses off and sighed again. “I wish I was her lover.”

Yeri, who was sipping from her cup, spat it out again in shock. “What?!”

“Oh, come on. You said you had a hunch.”

“So I was right?! Seulgi?”

“No, not Seulgi.”

“Oh, my God! It’s Wendy!” Yeri jumped up.

“Shush! Sit down!”

“Oh, God, it’s Wendy,” Yeri plopped down on the sofa and whispered.

“Not Wendy,” Irene said.

“Who then?!”

“It doesn’t matter because I don’t have a chance.”

“What do you mean?”

Irene curled her lips. “This is a secret, okay? Not even Joy knows this.”

“Know what?”

“They’re dating.”

“Oh, my God!” Yeri yelled again.

“Lower your voice!”

“Oh, my God,” Yeri hissed.

“Yes.”

“Since when?!

“I’ll tell you. But remember, this is a secret.”

“Okay.”

“So, it started around two years ago….”

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