It had been three hours since Irene and Seulgi left to go to the meeting.

“What in the world is happening?” Yeri said as she flipped the channels. “Why is no one answering their phones?”

“Chill out, it’s probably a meeting regarding their unit comeback.” Joy answered lazily. “Anyway, it’s almost lunch time. You guys want some take out?”

“Sure.”

“How about you, Wendy-unnie?”

Wendy was just staring off into space, lost in her own thoughts.

“Wendy-unnie?” Joy repeated and still, Wendy was unresponsive.

“WENDY-UNNIE!” Yeri bellowed and Wendy finally snapped out of her reverie.

“W-what?” She distractedly said.

“You want anything? I’m ordering lunch.” Joy seemed unfazed as she scrolled through her phone.

“Just—just order what you want. It’s on me.”

---

It was way past lunch time when Irene and Seulgi finally came back to the dorm.

As soon as the two entered, everyone knew there was something wrong. The air seemed thick and the other three’s moods became somber as soon as they saw the look on the older two’s faces. Wendy felt like her heart just dropped to her stomach as soon as she saw them but the other two were still oblivious.

“What happened?” Joy was the first to break the silence.

Irene had her ‘leader’ mask on. It was an expression that she always wore whenever there was something wrong, but she didn’t want the others to worry. It’s a look that she’s had to master after doing it countless of times for almost a decade whenever she needed to step up and keep her feelings at bay.

On the other hand, Seulgi always wore her heart on her sleeve so the others always knew whenever Seulgi was ecstatic, frustrated, tired, excited, or sad because her facial expressions always gave her away. Right now, the look on Seulgi’s face was.. ineffable.

“Everyone, I have an announcement to make.” As always, Irene’s voice never gave her away. Even though a myriad of emotions was currently causing a turmoil so bad it felt like her insides were being twisted, her face remained emotionless and her voice rang clear. “The comeback is going to be delayed.”

“What?” “Why?”

Wendy just looked on.

“It’s still coming on the first half of the year,” Irene continued. “But due to several.. factors, the company made an executive decision to make some adjustments and postpone the comeback a bit.”

“Oh, god,” Yeri rolled her eyes. “Is the company planning on debuting yet another boy group? Because I’ve had it up to here w—”

Irene shook her head. “No, no, just a business move. Nothing to worry about.”

The maknaes were too busy with their speculations as to why the company made such a move so they failed to notice Wendy exchanging knowing looks with Irene and Seulgi. To be more accurate, Wendy darted her eyes between the two, and with her orbs being extremely expressive, one look at Wendy’s face and anyone would be able to know what she was thinking: Is the comeback delayed because the management found out about your relationship?

 Seulgi determinedly stared at the floor all throughout their little impromptu group meeting while Irene stared back at Wendy and nodded once as if saying: You got it right.

Before Wendy could say anything, her phone rang. She excused herself and stepped out.

“Anyway, have you two eaten yet?” Yeri asked as she looked over to the kitchen to see if they had any food left. “Because I think there’s still some—”

“I’m not hungry.” Seulgi shook her head. “I’m going to my room, I’m tired.”

She marched off before anyone could get another word out. Joy furrowed her brows as she watched Seulgi’s retreating back. “Yah, what’s with her?”

Irene bit her lip as she contemplated whether to follow Seulgi or not. “I’ll..” Then she nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

The others didn’t see the two again until the next day.

---

Irene and Seulgi kept fighting for a week. The usual activities went on but as soon as they got home, they ignored each other and couldn’t stand being in the same room together. At night, the others would occasionally hear raised voices and the next day, both of their eyes would be puffy and red from crying.

No one dared question why they were fighting, and the two seemed determined to keep their problems strictly between them.

“That was probably the worst fight they ever had,” Yeri muttered one morning as they were having breakfast. “I can hear them screaming at each other when I passed by the room.”

“I half-expected slamming doors but I guess I was wrong.” Joy shrugged then she turned to Wendy. “Unnie, you ready for your big meeting today?”

“Yeah, I’m slightly nervous, to be honest.” Wendy admitted.

“Don’t be!” Joy rubbed the back of Wendy’s hand with her thumb. “You want me to come with you?”

“No, that’s fine.” Wendy smiled. “But thank you, Sooyoung-ah.”

Wendy’s big meeting turned out to be a huge one because when she came back to the dorm, she was practically skipping. “My solo is coming!” She shouted as soon as she stepped foot inside.

The other four jumped out and nearly suffocated Wendy as they engulfed her in a tight hug. Yeri and Joy tried to drown out each other’s voices as they peppered Wendy with praises. Seulgi was the first one to cry and only managed to choke out “Y—you r-really d-deserve it, Seungwan-ah!” in between sobs. Irene smiled fondly as she softly caressed Wendy’s cheek.

For a while, everything seemed back to normal. Irene insisted that they go out to celebrate Wendy’s solo announcement and even bickered with Yeri on where they should eat. Seulgi was her usual bubbly self and she never left Wendy’s side which made her and Joy look like their main vocalist’s bodyguards since Joy was also glued to Wendy all day.

The five of them spent the day laughing and talking, taking turns guessing what kind of genre the solo is going to be, how many songs she will get, which artist she wants to feature, and many other queries.

When they got home, everyone thought Irene and Seulgi were back to normal since they were being civil with each other in the restaurant. Irene even wordlessly reached over to wipe some sauce off Seulgi’s cheek when the others laughed at the latter and for making a mess.

After they all bid each other good night and everyone went into their respective rooms, Irene was startled when she heard a knock on the door.

“Seulgi?”

Seulgi stood outside the room, her eyes downcast and formed into a hard line. “It’s been a week, unnie. I think it’s time.”

Fresh tears welled up and Irene blinked them back furiously. “I told you, and I’ll keep telling you. I don’t want to. I won’t agree to it.”

Seulgi looked down. “Unfortunately, that’s not for you to decide. If you don’t want to.. then I guess I have to say it.”

Irene stared at her. “Say what?”

Seulgi sighed. She was still looking down. “You know what. Don’t play dumb.”

Irene bit her lip so hard, she tasted blood. Then she said the next words slowly. “No. Say it. Look at me.”

Seulgi just shook her head. Her tears dropped on the tiled floor one by one and she focused her eyes on the droplets that fell one by one.

“SEULGI.” Irene said in a commanding tone. “Look at me.”

Seulgi finally looked up. They stared at each other for a long time.

“Say it.” Irene’s voice came out in a whisper. Please don’t say it. She screamed in her mind over and over again.

Seulgi took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a long time.

Irene has every feature of Seulgi’s face memorized after seeing it almost every day for more than a decade. But right now, the look on Seulgi’s face was something that she didn’t recognize.

Then Seulgi said the next words that would break Irene’s heart in more ways than she could count.

“I can’t do this anymore. We’re done.”