Heyo! How's everyone doing? I ended up spending an absurd amount of time editing and re-working this chapter so that the original characters don't seem like total douches. What can I say? I was going through some things when I first wrote this fic :~P The wait is over, enjoy!

After that initial meeting, my friendship with Irene was pretty much cemented. We didn’t see each other that much because of varying work schedules and the distance between our two neighbourhoods, but we talked on the phone quite often, chatted on Line and emailed each other frequently. We were learning more about each other than I thought was possible. It was never my intention to fall even harder for Irene than I already had. But these things inadvertently happen the more time you spend around someone, sharing in every aspect of their lives, exposing yourself to newer and far more depraved levels of vulnerability.

I never planned on it, even when I made a conscious decision to move to New York to be closer to her. And this close proximity allowed me into certain areas of her life: understanding her relationship with her mom (a single parent), her relationships with her other friends and more importantly, her relationship with Suho.

When I was first getting to know Irene online, I hardly paid attention to any mention of her boyfriend. But the closer I grew in proximity to Irene, the closer I inadvertently grew to him too, albeit an unwilling alliance. Don’t get me wrong, he was pretty engaging and seemed like a nice enough guy when Irene first introduced us. But after she’d told me about him as a person through our online friendship, I just couldn’t understand why they were dating. They had such different interests and opinions about everyday things; from what I thought I knew about Irene, Suho didn’t seem like he was her type at all. I guess love is really blind sometimes.

Suho was 22 years old and pretty tall (well, taller than both Irene and I). He acted like and kept up the fashion sense of a typical metroual Korean male. His manners were courteous, but didn’t invite intimacy or confidences because of his stiff demeanour. He was the complete opposite of Irene’s warm atmosphere and her inviting communication style. The only thing he seemed to get super into was baseball and talked about it a lot when I first met him. I like watching baseball occasionally, but I’d never been attracted to guys who would’ve foregone making out with their girlfriends just to talk about some random sportsman making a great steal. Unlike Irene and I who had only just finished our first degrees, Suho was already doing his postgraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering, so he’s really good with his hands. All in all, he wasn’t a bad guy. But if there was one thing I couldn’t get used to, it was the fact that he constantly wore trench-coats in any weather and ¾ pants with dress shoes and no socks. I mean, what is that about?

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t go out of my way to hate Irene’s boyfriend right from the start. In spite of my misgivings (namely because he had the girl I wanted), I was very polite to him on our first meeting, and he with me. We shook hands and smiled at each other awkwardly the way that perfect strangers do before he took his place back at Irene’s side once more. After that, I got the distinct impression that maybe underneath his polite demeanour, Suho didn’t seem to like me. I guess I don’t blame him exactly; it must be annoying hearing your girlfriend spazzing about some random chick she met on the internet and all of a sudden, that random chick lives in the same city too. He probably thinks I’m some creepy stalker. But what can I do? I’ve done my part to at least be civil. I’m not gonna bend over backwards trying to get him to warm up to me.

Shortly after meeting Suho, Irene invited me to hang out with the two of them and a couple of his friends. I didn’t really want to see Irene hanging off of Suho for a whole night, but I suspected she invited me out with them because I was new to the city and didn’t have a whole lot of friends. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Maybe Suho’s friends might be cool.

That night, we first had dinner at a TGI Friday’s before finding a bar near to where Irene lived, drinking and playing a few rounds of pool together. I myself was never any great shakes at playing pool, so it wasn’t especially hard for Suho to beat me at a few rounds, nor to gloat about it in the presence of numerous witnesses. He patted me on the back playfully and shot me a friendly smile after beating me and bragging about it, but I wasn’t wholly convinced he was kidding.

After my ego got bruised, I sat down at our table once more and continued watching the rest of their game while sipping delicately on my bottle of Smirnoff.

“Playing pool’s not your thing, huh?”

I looked up and spotted Irene standing over me with a small smile on her face.

I smiled too and set my bottle back down on the table. “It’s not that, I like playing pool. But I’m kinda rusty at it.”

“And you hate losing all the same.”

“Guilty.”

I secretly delighted in hearing the sound of Irene’s laughter chiming like bells in my ears as she sat down next to me. My breath caught in my throat when she leant over and took a dainty sip from my Smirnoff.

“You’re not having fun?” she asked me tentatively afterwards.

“I am now,” I told her in earnest.

It was definitely worth it to see the colour fill her cheeks and her face transform with all the radiance of an angel. I could get used to looking at her every single day.

“Don’t let Suho’s random bragging rub you the wrong way. He just does it to be funny when he feels comfortable around people. So it’s actually a compliment that he’s doing it with you.” Irene declared.

I shot her a smile, but still felt unease creeping through my stomach. Maybe it’s my own insecurity with being around new people that makes me clam up instantly. Like I said before, Suho doesn’t seem terrible – maybe I should try giving him a chance. At least for Irene’s sake.

“I’m glad he feels comfortable with me, even though we met recently. It must be weird for him seeing his girlfriend getting so chummy with a stranger.” I remarked in what was supposed to be an off-hand way.

But Irene saw right through it immediately and laid a warm hand over mine resting on the table top. “Hey, you’re not a stranger to him, and definitely not to me. From the first moment we started talking online, I felt like we had this connection. Like I’d known you my whole life. I’ve had lots of friends come and go over the years, I hope you won’t end up being one of them. Because…I really like the cool, drama-free vibe we have.”

Haha, drama-free vibe, she says. I hope she won’t end up regretting saying that about me. It’s not that I’m high-maintenance or anything, at least I don’t think so. But I can get emotional about stuff or people I care about, which sometimes invites a lot of drama into my cookie-cutter life. Maybe there’s a part of me that craves the mayhem to make up for a thoroughly boring existence. I guess I’m a work in progress.

“Wait, did I just say we have a ‘vibe’?” Irene asked as an afterthought in reference to her own words, wrinkling her nose in the cutest way possible.

That question snapped me right out of my pensive demeanour and I burst out laughing at Irene’s unexpected randomness.

“You did. Irene, this is so out of left-field. I never realised how strong your feelings were for me…”

“Pabo!” Irene scolded, smacking my arm while I laughed at her expense.

But it wasn’t long before Irene was laughing right along with me and all my morbid thoughts were soon forgotten. Because right now, there was nowhere else I’d rather be than with my Baechu.

Suho came back to the table and found the two of us laughing hysterically together and looked awkward about it.

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Suho asked, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously.

Irene stopped laughing and fixed her boyfriend with a poker face. “About you of course and your weirdly-shaped head.”

“Mwuh?”

“Haven’t you noticed it too, Seulgi? Suho’s head is round, but straight at the bottom like a triangle. It reminds me of a strawberry, omo! I know who he looks like now – Barry the Strawberry from ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’!”

This pronouncement had me in stitches. And all Suho could do was stare in consternation at me and Irene laughing our heads off at his expression.

“Yah! Have you been drinking too much? You’re talking about crazy things – my head is the perfect impression of an Adonis!”

“Whatever you say, Barry!”

“Aish, shibal! My English name isn’t even Barry and I hate strawberries! What about your long face, Joohyun-ah? It reminds me of a banana! Yeah, that’s it! You look like those twin cartoon bananas. What are they called again?” Suho asked, scrunching up his face to think about it.

Then the answer suddenly came to me: “Ooh, ‘Bananas in Pyjamas’!”

“That’s it!”

Suho gestured to me to lift up my hand so that we could high-five. The spontaneous camaraderie felt surprisingly good.

It was Irene’s turn to scowl adorably while Suho and I laughed at her.

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea at all.

A week after that, I joined a new gym downtown and bumped into Suho during the day. Irene wasn’t with him, but he did bring one of his friends along who I had played pool with at that bar. Suho’s pretty skinny, but it didn’t occur to me that he actually exercised. With a beautiful girlfriend like Irene, I guess it kinda makes sense that he’d want to look good for her. Or maybe he’s one of those guys that loves exercising, whether they have a girlfriend or not.

He was situated close to me, being spotted by his friend named Kai while lifting weights while I rode an exercise bicycle. We had already inclined our heads in greeting the second we made eye contact, so pretending we hadn’t seen each other wasn’t an option. There was nothing for it except to be vaguely polite.

“What up, Suho?”

“Hey, Seulgi. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. And yourself?”

“Not too bad, thanks.”

His friend Kai shot me a friendly smile, which made my pulse race just a little more than the work-out I was currently doing. It’s been a while since I’ve noticed a guy and thought he was hot – that was a little unexpected.

“I didn’t know you came to this gym, Suho.” I noted calmly while pedalling away on my bike, trying my best not to focus on the silver sweat that coursed down Kai’s tanned arms.

“I don’t usually, it’s not my regular one. But my brains are totally fried from having lectures all morning, so I figured I’d get in a quick work-out session before doing some studying.” Suho explained casually, his muscles flexing while he lifted weights.

“Makes sense. Those theory classes must be a , huh?” I asked, trying to be sympathetic.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Suho agreed in a sober voice. “Still, it’s pretty interesting. Irene tells me you work in editing. What’s that like?”

“A lot of work, but I like it. I wanna be a writer one day, so it’s a good way to break into the publishing industry.”

“A writer, huh? That’s cool.” Kai piped up, looking genuinely interested.

“Please don’t tell me you like writing those sappy romances that girls are crazy about nowadays.” Suho quipped.

I rolled my eyes at his comment while wiping sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand. “Let me guess: Irene loves sappy romances?”

“You should know better than me.” What does he mean by that? Suho laughed sheepishly when he caught my eye. “I guess Irene does like that genre. I mean, she dragged me to see ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ six times.”

“It’s a great movie. But watching it six times is a bit excessive.”

“Finally, someone who agrees with me.” Suho remarked, throwing me a slow smile.

“Someone should since I’m guessing Irene doesn’t let you pick the movie too often,” I supplied with a smile of my own. “And for the record, I only write romance stories sometimes. I’m more into Sci-Fi these days.”

“Oh yeah? Like anything good that’s Sci-Fi?” Kai asked this time.

“I dunno, Doctor Who?”

Kai helped Suho get up from underneath the heavy weights. “I’ve seen a few episodes of ‘Doctor Who’, it’s pretty good.” Suho conceded while mopping sweat from his face with a towel.

“I love ‘Doctor Who’, especially Amy, the red-head. She’s fine,” Kai commented with relish.

Suho sniggered at this while eyeing the two of us. “Maybe you and Seulgi should spaz about ‘Doctor Who’ over coffee sometime.” He suggested with a twinkle in his eye.

Kai blushed at this suggestion and I pointedly looked down at my iPod to fiddle with the shuffle settings. Is Suho seriously trying to set me up with his friend right now? Kai’s cute and easy to talk to, I’ll give him that. But I’ve got a serious case of ‘Baechu Fever’ that just won’t quit.

“Coffee sounds great, but I’m gonna hit the mall after this to look for a birthday present for Irene.” I answered after hopping off the exercise bike.

“Yeah, I gotta go get something for her too. I feel like I’ve been neglecting her a little lately, so I wanted to make it up to her by doing something really nice for her birthday. You know she’s having a party, right?” Suho questioned probingly of me, coming to stand beside me while Kai got a jump rope and started skipping.

“Yeah, she mentioned it a few weeks ago.” I answered in a casual tone.

“Are you coming?” Suho’s question seemed pretty chilled, but I got the impression that he really wanted to know.

“Probably. Has Irene given you any clues about what she wants for a gift?”

I suppressed a smirk when Suho grimaced. “No. She just says that she wants something ‘special’. What does that even mean?” he asked in bewilderment.

“Search me,” I answered truthfully. I already had an idea of what I was going to get Irene. But I sure as hell am not going to share my good idea with Suho.

“I guess I’d better start brainstorming then. See ya around, Seulgi.” Suho greeted, one final attempt at politeness while gathering up his gym bag.

“See you, Suho. Good luck.” I greeted back.

Kai smiled at me one last time (which made me blush) before following Suho out of the gym’s main entrance. Despite that almost-pleasant conversation with Irene’s boyfriend, I still felt oddly irritable and depressed.

“Hey, Gary! Can I have some gloves please?” I called out to the guy manning the front desk.

Gary ducked behind the desk and retrieved a pair of medium-size red boxing gloves, which he then handed to me.

“Go easy on the bag, will ya?” Gary advised with a sympathetic grin.

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.” I called out right before pummelling the bag with my fists.

After lots of mental preparation and a pep-talk from Joy, I finally headed over to Irene’s house for a birthday dinner with her nearest and dearest. After searching all over town, I finally came across the perfect birthday present for Irene. Even though I was nervous about giving it to her for obvious reasons, I still hoped that she would like it, not knowing that it came from someone who thought the world of her, someone who loved her to distraction.

I had a nice enough time, congregated at Irene’s house amongst some of her relatives, neighbours, old school friends and Suho and his friends. Even though I’m introverted by nature, I tried my best to be friendly and polite to everyone present, especially to Irene’s mother, Seo Hyung. And after most of the meal and the birthday cake had been expunged, the time finally came for opening up the birthday presents.

I made a point of courteously asking Irene’s grandmother (who had taken it upon herself to distribute the presents to Irene’s waiting hands at the allotted time) early on in the evening if my present could be one of the last items to be opened by Irene. I made up an excuse for it, saying that since I was a newcomer to the social gathering, it would only be fair if the presents purchased by Irene’s family members and closest friends were opened first. The truth was that I was terrified Irene wouldn’t like my present; so my motivation was to delay the inevitable rejection for as long as possible, which by then would be graciously lumped together with any other disappointing presents that Irene would receive during the course of the night.

Stupid, I know.

Why should I care so much about an inanimate object? I guess I just really want my Baechu to love my thoughtful birthday present.

It really was quite amusing to watch Irene open some of her presents given to her by her extended family, especially an amusing present from her cousin who worked as a butcher.

“Omo, a salami cutter,” Irene murmured, giggling awkwardly while handling the object in question. “Gomawo, Seho. I’ll always use it when I…make a sandwich.”

I put a hand over my mouth so that no one would see how hard I was laughing at Seho’s elated smile and Irene’s attempt at diplomacy in front of her family.

To my intense delight, Irene received every single present with a gallant show of pleasure; perhaps there was hope for me after all. As it turned out, the last two presents in the pile belonged to none other than me and Suho, who wore a supercilious grin on his face. I guess he must’ve come through with a great idea for a gift after all.

I’m so screwed.

For the first time all night, Irene seemed at a loss of whose present to open first. Her bottom lip was swollen from biting it, her dimples accentuated by a sheepish grin on her face.

“Uh…” I stammered. “Why don’t you open Suho’s? After all, boyfriends should come first.” I suggested in a flash.

“Ok,” Irene replied, flashing me a smile of gratitude which made my heart melt.

I subtly rolled my eyes at Suho looking a little too pleased with himself just because I graciously opted out. Is he really treating this whole debacle like a competition? Aish, why is Irene dating such a childish boy?

Irene opened Suho’s present and squealed happily at a cellphone box beneath the present wrapping. She had wanted to buy herself a brand new cellphone for the longest time, but had been prevented from doing so due to a lack of funds. It was exactly the model she had wanted to buy – an iPhone 6.

Damn, that is a really good present. For an absurd moment, I wanted to date Suho just so I could have a cool phone too.

But my stupid bubble was burst the minute Irene launched herself into Suho’s waiting arms, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck while she kissed the sides of his face with obvious happiness. He twirled her around on the spot while the rest of us in the room egged them on with enthusiastic clapping and cheers. Suho caught my eye and smiled at me. I swallowed sudden bile in my throat and smiled back, even though my face ached with pain from the effort.

When Irene had calmed down sufficiently, she sat back down on her chair while her grandmother handed her my present. She stared curiously at the present, which I had spent a good 45 minutes wrapping carefully in gold wrapping paper. To the annoyance of everyone in the room (save for me), she took her time unwrapping my present cautiously.

“Aish, bballiwo!” Suho’s other friend, Xiumin, complained in a loud and teasing voice.

“Yah! It’s my party and I’ll unwrap presents slowly if I want to!” Irene shot back, sticking her tongue out at Xiumin.

“The present is the most important, not the paper,” Suho chided soothingly, wrapping an arm around Irene’s skinny shoulder.  

“I know. But the paper’s so delicate and beautiful, I want to save it after I’m finished.” Irene persisted with a stubborn pout on her lovely face.

God, she is so cute.

Irene gasped in surprise when she touched a black velvet box beneath the wrapping. She opened the lid with a trembling hand and shrieked loudly upon examining its contents.

“For God’s sakes, Irene! What is it?” Seo Hyung demanded in alarm, her hand over her heart.

“Look what Seulgi got me!” Irene implored excitably.

“What’s wrong, honey? Is there a dead rat in there?” Suho joked teasingly, causing everyone in the living room to laugh amiably.

“No, you moron! It’s the most beautiful thing I ever – just take a look!” Irene exclaimed impatiently, laughing uproariously at the same time.

Everyone huddled closer together to examine Irene’s latest present. It was a necklace made out of soft white gold with a golden pendent of the letter ‘I’ hanging from it, encrusted with tiny white diamonds. Irene’s lips were parted ever so slightly and I was alarmed to see sudden tears in her eyes.

“Oh my God, you hate it!” I declared with sudden despair.

“What? Seulgi, are you crazy? I love it!” Irene yelled happily.

“Really?” both Suho and I asked in confusion.

“Of course I love it! How could you possibly think otherwise? It’s gorgeous! Oh my God, Mom! Please help me put it on!” Irene begged of her mother.

Seo Hyung shook her head and chuckled at her daughter’s strange reaction, moving forward to help Irene unclasp the chain. Then she placed it gingerly around Irene’s neck, Irene holding her brown hair (which looked auburn under the living room chandelier) out of the way so that the chain wouldn’t get tangled. Then she looked down at her neck, her dainty fingertips grazing lovingly across the pendant. Irene gestured wildly to me to come to her. I obliged and came closer, wondering what was about to happen.

Then without warning, Irene pulled me into a soft embrace, her hands going around my back while her head rested against my shoulder. I was so overwhelmed by the sudden gesture, but violently happy at the same time, that all I could do was succumb to the flood of feelings spreading through my chest while I held her close.

“I love your present. Thank you so much, Seulgi.” Irene whispered gently in my ear, not relinquishing her grip on me.

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you like it. Anything for you, Joohyun-shi.” I whispered back, hoping no one else heard the words, wanting desperately to cling to this moment for as long as was humanly possible.

When Irene finally let go and I took my place amongst her loved ones once again, I locked eyes with Suho momentarily and saw something which looked like resignation etched into his features. A part of me felt sorry that Irene had seemingly gotten more excited about my present over his. But I couldn’t help relishing the fact that Irene had hugged me for longer, making my hope all the more pronounced and misplaced. But it was so achingly sweet that I allowed myself a little time to indulge it and pretend for one night that my heart wasn’t breaking underneath my intense euphoria. 

Yes, it was a victory.

Hollow and inconsequential.

Just to be clear, I didn't microwave my head and forget that both Suho and Irene are actually 24. I'm just making the two of them and Seulgi a trifle bit younger, so please work with me. Irene's mom is Kim Seo Hyung, a famous Korean actress and her Irene's cousin is Jo Seho from the Korean reality show 'Roommate'. I hope you guys don't think Suho's too much of a tool in this story, I really am trying to tone him down. For the record, Suho is daebak and I love him :~DDD Also, don't be too hard on Seulgi for hating on Suho dating Irene. Love is pain and everyone expresses their feelings in different ways.

This is Barry The Strawberry from 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs':

These are the Bananas in Pyjamas:

Don't judge me too much for those jokes. I'm nothing if not totally random ;~P

Okey-kokey, I'll probably update again next week in-between pulling my hair out trying to get this LTH pdf done before Christmas *first world problems* Now for some shut-eye before milking the cows at dawn, pip pip cheerio!