Hello, Shoppers! How are you all doing out there in our massive Global Village? I'm sorry I haven't updated this fic in a while, got caught up dealing with some illness in the family and finishing off the LTH pdf. This is a pretty short chapter, but one that'll hopefully make your hearts expand and fly away like helium-filled balloons with all the Seulrene fluff. I think I teared up a little at how cheesy I am :~P Enjoy!

After hitting Greenhouse and my more-than-friendly exploits with Wendy, I was surprised when I heard from Irene a few days later. I was in my apartment, mapping out how I’d be spending my day off from work. It didn’t happen very often where I got to do my copy-editing from home instead of in my tiny cubicle, so I planned on savouring as much of the day as possible. It was too bad that Joy had to do inventory at the bar, otherwise I would’ve ordinarily asked her if she wanted to go grab a bite to eat or go watch a movie together at a cinema nearby. I was in the midst of deciding whether I should go to Central Park for the day when Irene called unexpectedly.

“This is a nice surprise,” I murmured happily, a grin appearing on my face at her voice on the other end.

“I tried your office number, but it just kept ringing. So I thought I’d try you at home.” Irene declared cheerily.

“Well I’m glad you did. What’s up?” I asked casually.

“I’ll tell you in a sec. How come you’re not at work today?” Irene interjected curiously.

“I’m doing some copy-editing from home today. But it’s such a nice day outside that I thought I’d go to Central Park for a couple of hours and blade around.” I explained slowly.

“No way! You have rollerblades?” Irene asked in amazement.

“Uh, yeah. I got them before I left Seoul, but I haven’t had a chance to test them out on the mean streets of New York yet.” I answered teasingly, delighted with Irene’s mellow chuckle on the other end.

“That sounds like fun. What else are you gonna do today?” she asked me conversationally.

“I might make some fudge. I’ve had such a craving for it since I moved down here, I thought I might try and make it from scratch. Yip, big plans today.” I responded sarcastically.  

“Awww, don’t say that, I think it sounds like fun. Is there any chance of me getting in on the action with you?” Irene asked with the smallest trace of nervousness in her tone.

“Of course, I’d love for you to spend the day with me. But I thought you had class.” I noted in surprise. Irene had told me months ago that she was doing her final semester of college and hoping to start a full-time career doing what she loves the most: living and breathing Social Media. Considering how much time she spends on her new cellphone, it didn't surprise me in the least that Irene wanted to make a career out of blogging on Instagram. 

“Got cancelled at the last minute. So I took a bus and hopped on the subway for nothing. The only other options are taking a bus back downtown or waiting for Suho to get off work at 5pm to take me home.” Irene lamented.

“Well, we can’t have that. Bae Irene, I hereby formally invite you to spend the day with me. If your mom’s cool with it, you can sleep over too; then you don’t have to travel back home so late tonight.” I suggested reasonably.

“But I don’t have a change of clothes.” Irene protested.

“You can borrow a sweater or two from me.”

“Ok. But are you sure Joy won’t mind?”

“Nah, she’ll be cool with it. She’s working a late shift tonight anyway, so she’ll only get back to the apartment around 2am. Trust me, you’ll be doing me a favour by keeping me company today.” I reassured her sincerely.

“Ok, I’m in. I’ll hop on the next bus and meet you outside your apartment in half an hour.” Irene promised happily.

“Awesome. See ya then.” I concluded.

I hung up the phone, feeling strangely elated. This day was turning out better than I thought and it had barely started yet.

After Irene arrived at my apartment complex (and I gave her a quick tour of my tiny crib), we hailed a cab and made our way down to Central Park. When we finally got there, my eyes lit up when I found a vendor that was renting roller blades to people who wanted to blade around the park. After a lot of persuasion, Irene finally relented to let me rent a pair of rollerblades for her so that we could skate around the park together. After trying on five different pairs, Irene found a pair of red and black rollerblades which fit her (and which didn’t look too ‘fugly’ in her own words) and we started off skating slowly down the well-worn paths of the ever-green park.

“Don’t you think this helmet’s a bit much?” Irene asked sceptically of me, pointing dubiously to the one on top of her head.

I ignored the impulse to openly laugh at how huge her helmet was before answering.

“Of course not. Safety first.” I responded stoically.

“Seriously, Seulgi. We could enter the X Games with all this extra padding.” Irene countered sarcastically while waving to the array of elbow and knee pads that we were both wearing.

“Maybe so. But I am extremely accident-prone. So I’m just lessening our mutual chances of getting injured badly just by you willingly choosing to rollerblade this close to me.” I teased lightly.

“Ok, you have a point. But my question is this: if you’re so accident-prone, why are you rollerblading in the first place?” Irene asked sensibly.

“Because it’s fun.” I countered cheerily, causing her to smile at my silliness.

“You really do get your kicks from the strangest things, Seulgi.” Irene noted dryly.

I chuckled lightly in response.

“Suho and I never do stuff like this when we’re together. And if we did, it would just turn into a big competition with him.” She added in a slightly more morose tone than I initially expected.

Seeing how pensive she looked out of the corner of my eye, I decided to lighten the mood again.

“Well maybe you should do more stuff like this together. Then if he starts getting obnoxious, you can just put him in his place with your killer moves. That’ll keep him humble.” I returned optimistically.

She looked over at me and smiled broadly at my words.

“How are you always able to look on the bright side no matter what anyone says or does?” she asked seriously of me.

“Maybe it’s because I’m constantly in denial about the pitfalls of thinking otherwise.” I answered cleverly.

“I have no idea what that means.” Irene confessed while laughing heartily.

“Yeah, me neither.” I agreed, joining in her laughter.  

I couldn’t help staring at Irene while she skated forward. There was just something so electric about her smile that set my senses alight and the way that her dimples hollowed out against her cheeks. It was probably because of looking at her that I forgot to look at my own feet and where I was skating into. I somehow jumped right over a large acorn in front of me, which got caught in my wheel, causing me to lose my balance.

To my intense embarrassment (as I recollected much later), my arm flew out in front of me and caught Irene around her waist in a reflexive attempt to steady myself. It’s one of the first rules that they teach you when you go skating in any form: if you start to lose your balance, don’t grab hold of the person next to you to steady yourself. That never ends well. As a result, the action sent me tumbling forward onto the ground and rolling onto my back with Irene falling on top of me.

“Seulgi, are you ok?” Irene asked rapidly, her voice sounding unusually close in my ear.

“I think so, my body broke my fall. Are you alright?” I asked in concern while trying to blink yellow spots out of my eyes.

“I’m fine, your body broke my fall too.” Irene replied lightly.

“Oh, good. It’s nice to know that my body does have its uses.” I remarked dryly. My head felt crazy dizzy and befuddled as Irene lay on top of me on the hard concrete. Even the overall shape of my body seemed weird to me in that moment. Were my hands always this big and manly?

Irene began laughing hysterically in my ears, nuzzling her body even closer to mine while she struggled to get up with her rollerblades still on her feet. Her laughter was like music to my ears and it wasn’t long before I too succumbed to hysterical laughter, silently enjoying the feel of her body pressed against mine. A few passer-bys stared at us, most likely confused by our strange behaviour. But I didn’t care in the least. I could’ve lain there all day, surrounded by acorns, leaves and the occasional samples of squirrel and pigeon excrement, so long as Irene stayed right where she was too, invading my personal space in the best possible way.

After finally ridding ourselves of our ‘accidents-on-wheels’, Irene and I ended up buying some pretzels and ice-cream during our visit to Central Park. Then I made a quick stop afterwards at a foreign green grocer to pick up some ingredients for my fudge recipe. While I paid for my things, Irene went into a drug store across the street and bought herself a toothbrush, tampons and some deodorant before the two of us headed back to my apartment. After sitting on the sofa for a few minutes, catching our breath and talking animatedly together, I decided to get started on making the fudge. Irene followed me into the kitchen and pulled up a chair next to me while I stood at the stove, stirring a mixture of condensed milk, butter, sugar and water in a saucepan on a high temperature.

“So you really have to stir it continuously for 30 minutes without stopping?” Irene asked in amazement, referring to the fudge mixture.

“Yip, otherwise it’ll burn at the bottom of the pan.” I answered casually.

“Doesn’t your arm get tired?” she questioned in awe.

“Only a little, so I switch hands from time to time while I’m stirring.”

“It looks like you need a lot of patience for something like this; I honestly don’t think I could do it.” Irene confessed truthfully. 

“It’s really not that bad. Most of the time, I just listen to some music to pass the time if I’m baking alone. But I like that you’re here keeping me company. This isn’t too boring for you, right?” I asked anxiously, watching her face carefully.

“No, of course not. Actually…it’s kind of soothing. I don’t get to sit around like this that often and just…chill. So…thank you for that.” Irene replied sincerely.

“Anytime,” I murmured, matching her tone.

“So how do you know when the mixture’s done?” Irene asked conversationally.

“Hmm…round about when the mixture starts turning the colour of peanut butter. That’s usually a safe time to take it off the oven plate and mix in the vanilla essence.” I responded succinctly.

Irene nodded at this and settled comfortably into her position on her chair.

“You mind if I ask you a personal question?” she asked me tentatively.

I glanced at her momentarily, frowning curiously at the fact that she was biting her bottom lip in what looked like a nervous gesture. What did she want to ask me?

“Sure, go ahead.” I remarked with only the slightest bit of trepidation still apparent in my voice.

“What happened between you and Wendy the other night?” she questioned intently.

My surprise must’ve shown on my face because Irene immediately retreated, her eyes wide with sudden anxiety.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business, I shouldn’t have asked,” she admitted sheepishly.

“No, it’s ok, really. Nothing much actually…we just kissed a little. Why do you ask?” I questioned in a hoarse voice.

“Just curious, I guess. She told me that you spent the night at her apartment, but she didn’t go into details. And I have to admit, my mind went to all kinds of crazy places.” Irene answered truthfully.

All kinds of crazy places, huh? Did any of that ‘craziness’ involve a little bit of jealousy too? Then again, why would Irene be jealous of me hooking up with Wendy? She set us up – so she wanted us to get along…right? Damn, I must’ve hit my head earlier while I was rollerblading…

“Uh, yeah…I did sleep over at her apartment. But nothing else besides us fooling around happened. I haven’t spoken to her since then actually.” I confessed hesitantly, wondering if Irene would be upset with my answer.

“How come? Did you guys not hit it off?” Irene prodded curiously.

“Not really. Don’t get me wrong, Wendy’s really great and she’s hot too; I’m glad that you introduced us, I had a lot of fun with her the other night. It’s just that…” I trailed off awkwardly.

“You’re still into that other girl you told me about.” Irene finished off shrewdly, her eyes locked on mine.

“In a nutshell. I’m really sorry, Irene, I know Wendy’s your friend.” I apologised meekly, venturing a look at her after a few seconds.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to set you up with Wendy, especially when you’re still hung up on someone else. I just didn’t want you to be sad about this other girl, who clearly doesn’t see how wonderful you are.”

“That’s because she doesn’t know how I feel about her, Baechu.”

“Maybe so. But I still think you’re better off not thinking about someone who doesn’t appreciate you. I just want you to be happy, Seulgi.” Irene murmured sincerely.

“I know. I appreciate that, Baechu. Really, I do.” I murmured back with a small smile on my face.

“I just want you to have someone who loves you back the way you deserve. That’s why I’m so glad that I have Suho in my life; he’s just so good to me. I’m so lucky to have him.” Irene went on in a blissfully cheery tone.

I almost spilt some of the fudge mixture onto my T-shirt at that declaration, feeling positively crushed. But I swallowed my sudden nausea as much as possible and focused on reducing the heat on the stove so that I didn’t end up burning the mixture and ruining the fudge.

“That’s great.” I mumbled as calmly as I could muster under the circumstances.

Then Irene eagerly got to her feet and followed me as I poured the contents of the pot into a mixing bowl. Then I added a teaspoon of vanilla essence before beating the rapidly forming dough with the electronic egg beater. Then I took a tablespoon and carefully scooped the fudge mixture into a rectangular oven pan that I had greased earlier with butter.

“Wow, it looks delicious. You’re really good at baking,” Irene praised lightly while looking at me.

“Nah, just good at baking simple things. I’d be completely useless with a recipe for crème brûlée.” I teased airily, causing her to chuckle. “You wanna give me a hand with smoothing out the mixture?” I asked a few seconds later.

“What do I have to do?” Irene asked carefully, scooching closer to me to peer down at the oven pan.

“Just use a spoon or your fingertips to make the fudge’s surface flat, especially around the edges of the pan so that it’s even.” I suggested coherently.

Irene acquiesced, following my lead and helping me flatten the dough, so that it could cool down and harden. I could do this every day with her; not flashy stuff like going clubbing or eating at fancy restaurants. Just quiet moments like this, drinking in my Baechu from top to bottom. It would be absurdly easy to get used to this unfiltered happiness. We stood admiring our handiwork for close to a minute to make sure that we’d done it adequately.

“How long before it’s ready to eat?” Irene asked hopefully.

“Well, the fudge is pretty solid already. So I’d give it about two hours before I can cut it up into pieces and we can start eating it.” I observed methodically.

“Awesome! Whatchu wanna do now?” Irene asked eagerly.

“You wanna see what’s on TV? We could order some pizza and watch a movie till the fudge is ready.” I suggested in a tantalising manner.

Irene took the bait instantly and jogged towards the sofa in the living room and plonked herself down. I handed her the TV remote while I grabbed the home phone and started ordering pizza. Besides having to remind Irene to save some fudge for Joy when she got back from work (Irene ate 8 of the 20 pieces I cut up), I ended up having a pretty great day off from work. While Irene and I sat chatting happily together, I made myself a promise to make fudge more often.

D'aww, didn't that just melt your hearts like...fudge? ;~) Take my advice: if you want someone cute to love you, make them fudge. Or join SM Entertainment to guarantee yourself a massive fandom :~D After preparing for my mom's birthday tomorrow (it's going to be legen-wait-for-it-dary!), I'm going to update Manhunt and FECH (don't throw eggs at me, my Taengsic shipper baes). Hope you all have awesome weekends, don't do anything foolish that'll land up on YouTube. Cheerio!