Irene was at a perfunctory office holiday party.

Psycopath, sycophant… Irene was repeating the words in her head, and trying to remember how to spell them. 

She was standing in a corner, dressed in little, black cocktail dress, holding a plateful of cocktail shrimp, as speakers blasted Wham’s "Last Christmas" for the third time that night.

Her work wife, Solar, had come down with the flu, and had threatened bio warfare on the entire office, until Irene had assured her friend she was going to be fine by herself at the party. 

Across the function room, which was swathed in red bows, green garlands and wreaths, and silver tinsel, like the Ghost of Christmas Overkill threw up all over it, Irene squinted when she spotted someone who very well could have been a figment of her imagination. The spectral figure ominously approached. 

“You clean up nicely,” Seulgi quipped after she had floated like a ghost on rollerskates across the room to steal a shrimp off Irene's plate. “The last time I saw you, you looked like you had either given up on life or life had given up on you.”
 

They hadn't seen or spoken to each since they hooked up a week ago. They hadn't been avoiding each other, but neither of them had made any particular effort to reconnect either, preferring to ride the universe like a tidal wave and see where the current took them. Neither of them had remembered to ask for the other's phone number. 

“Was I supposed to wear my little black dress to eat Chinese food and watch Netflix?” Irene shot back, mildly excited at Seulgi's presence and mildly irritated at her bravado at the same time. “You look really good too,” she conceded huffily.

Seulgi flashed Irene a dazzling smile. “But I always look good, don’t I?” she said with a wink. “So you work here? What do you do?”

“Accounting,” Irene answered reluctantly. Seulgi sounded pretty offhand, like she wasn't really waiting for an answer. Still, Irene's libido seemed to betray her pride, making her feel like the room had heated up just a few degrees, making her unable to stop imagining dragging the cutely obnoxious bear into a bathroom stall. “Do you work here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around, but it is a big company.”

“Accounting! But you’re much too attractive and interesting to be a bookkeeper!” Seulgi teased. 

“And you’re much too annoying to be talking to me,” Irene grumbled. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Nope, I don’t work here. I’m here with Krystal Jung from-“

“Krystal? From HR?” Irene raised an eyebrow.

“You know her?”

“I mean, we’re not best friends, but we say hi and stuff-“

“Let’s call her over!” Seulgi declared, all eye smiles and rascality.

“Seulgi, no, wait!”

“What?”

“Won’t it be awkward? 'Cause we… and she…”

“What? What did we and she?” Seulgi teased with twinkling eyes.

“Cause you’re dating her and we hooked up that one time,” Irene hissed.

“Krystal!” Seulgi called from across the room, and Krystal made her way over.

“Ohgod,” Irene groaned, and looked around to find a rock she could hide under.

“Oh hey, Irene,” Krystal said with a forced smile, before cozying up to Seulgi. “Heyyy,” she drawled, sliding a hand across Seulgi’s stomach and on her earlobe. 

“Staaahp,” Seulgi said, swatting her away playfully. “You already have J... Irene here thinking there’s gonna be some kind of showdown with you guys.”

"What? No!" Irene protested.

Krystal chuckled a little.  "What do you mean?”

“She’s my space invader neighbour,” Seulgi explained proudly.

“Ohh! Oh wow, small world! Seul’s been telling me about her breathtakingly gorgeous neighbour,” Krystal said, almost sneering, looking Irene up and down. 

“Irene thinks I cheated on you or something,” Seulgi cheekily told Krystal. 

“N-no! I just didn’t want to possibly get in the middle of something…”

Krystal laughed again. It was an irritating sound to Irene. 

“Oh, honey, Seul and I aren’t together like that,” Krystal explained. 

Honey? Irene scoffed internally. 

“We do sleep together. You probably know our Seulgi here is very skilled in bed,” Krystal purred, and tickled the bear’s ear with a light nip of her teeth. “But we’re both free to pursue other opportunities when they present themselves.”

Other opportunities? What am I, a pyramid scheme? And present myself? Like a baboon with a bright red ?

“Right,” Irene replied curtly, but gave them both what she hoped came across as a friendly smile. “Congrats I guess? Enjoy the party, I’ll see you guys around.”

*

At three am, there was loud knocking on Irene’s door and she stumbled out of bed to see who it was. 

She peered through the window to find a mildly drunk bear on her doorstep, holding a box of cu