It would be an understatement to say that things hadn’t changed ever since Seulgi broke free from her inner demons and confessed everything to the girls.

From the very first getaway to the hospital night fiasco. Everything.

If the circumstances were a bit different, or perhaps if she hadn’t cried on Irene’s arms, maybe their reactions wouldn’t have been so supportive. Whether she had been really caught or not, her record had been tainted, and if she were to make a single suspicious step, she knew that things could end up terribly wrong for the whole group, and no drenched iPhone would be able to save her again.

But that didn’t seem to stop Irene from smiling at her ever so understanding, as if Seulgi had done nothing wrong in the first place, or Joy from pointing out how “her eyes lit up whenever she talked about Mino”, followed right after by a “that was stupid, just kidding”.

Wendy had been unusually quiet the whole time, not a single inappropriate joke had been made. But as soon as she shot Seulgi a malicious wink and complained about how she should have followed suit and have never rejected that one trainee a few months ago, everything felt at peace for once.

.

“I’m sorry, how old is she again?”

“Fifteen years old.”

“Wait.” Wendy placed her elbows on the table, something far from being respectful at the presence of their superiors, but she didn’t seem to take notice, “are you telling me she wasn’t born yet when the first Harry Potter book came out?”

“I don’t see how this matter is relevant, Seunghwan.” Seulgi added curtly while trying to kick Wendy’s ankle without anyone noticing.

“You’re right, it isn’t, but she’s still a high school student!”

“Hey!” Joy intervened with an offended tone, “I don’t see any problem with that.”

“There is no problem.” Irene said in an assured manner, “I remember Yeri fairly well, she was extremely hard-working and ridiculously cute. We’re in need of someone like that.”

“Hey!”

.

Yeri was ridiculously cute, indeed.

Their first meeting had been scheduled to be a dinner in a small, cozy restaurant where she had been the first one to arrive, stating how the staff had been so kind to give her a ride, but not even her bright smile could distract them from the way her legs were shaking ever so restlessly under the table.

“Not sure if you can tell, but I’m really nervous.” Yeri said, her lips naturally curling back in a smile, as if she couldn’t stay long without one adorning her face. “I’m wearing my best outfit!” Seulgi gently hummed in return as an attempt to muffle her giggle at Yeri’s babbling, “I was so excited to properly meet all of you, but I was also worried at how you would react.”

 “Oh?” Irene gently inquired. “Why is that?”

“Well, you know,” Yeri hastily shrugged her shoulders, “the whole addition of a new member doesn’t always end up well.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, I mean…” Wendy motioned to the other three, “We’re all like a bunch of old ladies constantly craving for attention, especially Irene, look at her! She just can’t wait for you to move in so she can brush your hair and tell you bedtime stories.”

“Right?” Seulgi agreed, noticing how Yeri’s posture had loosened. “You’re going to cut Joy some slack.”

They laughed simultaneously while Irene let out a gentle gasp.

“I’m just a single mom doing her best, have some respect.”

Even though she couldn’t tell whether Yeri had arrived in a perfect timing or not, the latter seemed to be extremely harmless.

In the short period that she had spent in their dorm, she had already proved that she was easily adaptable, always waking up early and helping Irene cook breakfast whenever they had enough time for that. Perhaps her only fault was being childlike towards some things, which was something she couldn’t be blamed for due her young age, and for occasionally speaking whatever was on her mind in a blunt fashion, a shared trait that she had with Wendy, as much as the latter refused to admit it.

Intentionally or not, Yeri fell upon the role of being a distraction from the matter at hand. Despite her evident inexperience even for a young trainee’s standards, Seulgi refused to believe that Yeri’s addition to the group had been a strategic move to sweep any hints of sketchy rumors about her under the rug. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them.

.

It wasn’t long before the album was done and the last few remaining details of the choreography were finished that Seulgi realized how time had rushed past her, and in a blink of an eye, she hadn’t talked to Mino in over a month.

Perhaps the reason for her being so restless about such thing was that they hadn’t left on good terms, and whenever she remembered that, it felt like all the good moments they shared together had vanished away. She secretly feared that he had forgotten about her.

Either way, even if he didn’t, she would never know.

He had no way to contact her nor did he even know that she was without her cellphone, so it probably looked like she was ignoring him all that time, and he probably got fed up with that already. Patience was far from being his strong suit.

Perhaps it was for the best.

Her comeback was just around the corner, almost like a reality check, and she couldn’t be bothered to worry herself over such trivial things anymore.

It had been fun while it lasted, and even though she had to admit to herself that she would miss his crude humor – and that charming smirk of his she loved to hate, probably –, she would get over it.

She always did.

“Seulgi?”

Irene’s groggy voice startled her as she glanced at the former’s shadow make a hand movement towards the door. Judging by the gentle breathing around the room, it was still early in the morning.

Seulgi flinched as the light hit her face once she exited the room, trying her best to not let the dizziness affect her lazy steps towards a smiling Irene sitting at the small dinner’s table.

“Happy Birthday!” She whispered loud enough to let her excitement be known, making Seulgi cast an unamused glance her way.

“Are you serious?” Before she could let Irene say anything, she turned around, “I’m going back to bed. Good night.”

“Oh, come back here! When will you get another opportunity to eat a delicious and fat free piece of cake without getting scolded by the manager?” Seulgi stopped in her tracks, as if pondering the tempting offer, before turning back around almost helplessly.

Placed on the table were two packages, one being the piece of cake wrapped in a transparent box with a small logo, which Seulgi immediately recognized as it being from the cake shop down the street. The other one, visibly bigger, had a pink bow on top of it. Irene reached for it first.

“I actually wanted to talk to you…about some things.” Irene’s voice had changed its tone out of sudden, betraying her serene expression. “These past few weeks have been insane and we didn’t get the chance to just, you know, sit down and speak to each other as we used to.”

Almost as if she had been hit by a cold shower, Seulgi rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, nodding at Irene. “It’s been a while since we properly spoke to each other, actually.”

“Yeah, without a doubt.” Irene’s breathy giggle, where a subtle hint of bitterness could be spotted, only made Seulgi avert her eyes almost guiltily. Despite her compassionate nature, it was perfectly understandable that Irene had felt the tiny bit betrayed by one of the closest people she had as a friend nowadays.

No matter how chaotic the circumstances were, they had always told each other everything. From sharing mutual frustrations to discussing who was the best kisser among the trainees. They might have never vocally made a pact of never hiding anything from the other, but it’s not as if they were still in middle school where such naïve acts held some kind of meaning.

That’s how their friendship has always been.

And despite all of that, Irene had been nothing but supportive, but such conversation between the two of them had been avoided for far too long.

“I know you got your reasons for not telling any of us of what was going on, and quite frankly, I can’t judge you for that.” Irene shrugged her shoulders dismissively, “I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing, who knows?” She continued, “The moment you started to make excuses to go out on your own, I knew something was up. Well, that wasn’t too out of character of you, so it took me a while to connect the dots, but I had my suspicions. I guess what really gave it away was that one Rookie Performance at the end of the year, remember?”

Seulgi widened her eyes slightly then mutely nodded her head.

“Yeah, well,” Irene smiled at her, “You didn’t notice back then, but he would mess up the simplest dancing steps due his lack of attention. I covered him up in front of the choreographers, so I guess I automatically earned his trust, he’s very easy to get along.” Pausing, she mirrored Seulgi’s smile, knowing that the latter could perfectly understand what she meant, “The thing is, whether he himself realized it or not, he would stare at you at every given chance. Hell, it was so frequent, he even called me by your name once.” She shook her head at the memory, “That fool...”

At Seulgi’s shocked expression, Irene’s grin seemed to grow wider, “Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think much of it. This wouldn’t have been the first time you unwittingly charm someone off their feet, but then…I saw you doing the exact same thing. You were really subtle and managed to hide it very well, of course, way better than he did,” She complimented in a mocking way, “but I guess you did forget that I’ve known you for a long time.”

Once she got nothing but Seulgi’s silence, Irene nudged her with her knee. “Come on now, Seulgi, no need to make this awkward, I don’t want to lecture you or anything.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just-” Seulgi shook her head and chuckled humorlessly, “The more I look back, the more I realize I shouldn’t have hidden anything…Especially not from you.”

Irene only nodded her head for a moment, playing with the bow in between her fingers, “Yeah, you could have saved yourself the trouble. It’s not as if any of us would have condemned you-”

“I never thought any of you would do that in the first place,” Irene narrowed her eyes, as if she could see through Seulgi’s words, “I just…never expected it to last to the point where I would start risking important things…”

“Wait, I don’t think I’m following you,” Irene said, “Would you mind clarifying that last part a bit?”

Seulgi turned her head to the side to look away from Irene’s mischievous gaze, but the sudden rosy blush on her cheeks gave her away. “I never thought I would end up liking him so much…”

Irene had prepared herself to make some kind of sarcastic remark whenever she pictured that exact moment in her head, almost like a personal revenge of sorts, but at the sight of Seulgi’s sorrowful face, she decided against it, feeling her own chest tightening.

“I know.” Irene ran her hand over the box on her lap while failing to hold back a smile, “I mean, if that kid makes you happy, then I’m happy, too. That’s why, from now on, we’ll be doing this together.” She held out the package to Seulgi, who only looked at her before hesitantly reaching for it.

As she slowly lifted the lid of the box, Seulgi’s mouth fell agape with incredulity, “No-”

“I got it from my parents as a Christmas gift,” Irene explained, adding, “I never felt like using it, I mean, I don’t have that many