It was my break time and I escaped the canteen to the secluded staircase at the corner of the school where nobody frequent. It had been a week since the school had started and I only looked forward to 9pm at night so that I could talk to Irene for an hour or so before she went to work. 

Today was the same. I never joined the rest to have lunch together because they had so many questions for me. Like what did I do in Korea, was I really that smart, was I really gay. Not that I did not like their effort to be friend with me but I felt like they were being a little too intrusive. 

"Again?" 

I turned around while munching my sandwich and smiled when Nayeon walked up to me. "You too." 

"I don't like it there." Nayeon shrugged and sat down beside me, patting her jeans to dust off the imaginary dirt before she smiled at me. "What's your next lesson?" 

"Social science." I replied and took another huge bite which made Nayeon giggle. "What?" Some of the sandwich flew out of my mouth and she gave me a disgusted look. 

"Do you behave like that in front of your girlfriend too?" She squinted at me. 

"Of course. She loves me so much that everything that I do is adorable. Don't you think so?" I grinned even though I was still chewing. She covered her eyes with her palm and pushed my face away with the other hand. 

"You should eat properly." She scolded lightly. 

"Well." I shrugged. "What's your next lesson?" 

"Life science." She answered. "Does your lesson end late today?" 

"Nope. My lesson ends at 5pm today." I took out my phone and clicked on the gallery, tapping on a particular video. 

"Great. I am cooking dinner. Do you want to try?" She asked.

"Sure." I smiled at her and played the video. 

"What's that?" She asked, leaning closer to look at the video. "Ah, that video again." She teased me and I giggled without looking at her. My gaze turned softer when I saw the way Irene look at me in the video when I was making my 'speech', she looked so in love with me. "Miss her?" 

"Of course." I sighed and put the phone back into my pocket. "How can I not?" 

"I miss him back there too." Nayeon chuckled. 

"Him?" I cocked an eyebrow at her. She had never mentioned that she was attached or anything. 

She nodded. "His name is Jackson." She blushed a little at the sound of his name. 

"English name?" 

"He is from Hong Kong." She explained. "We applied for the scholarship together but only I made it." 

"Why?" 

"He is a foreigner after all." Nayeon smiled sadly. 

"Do you guys still talk everyday?" I asked curiously. 

She shook her head slowly. "He is busy training back home. We only talk once in awhile. But We just talked yesterday." 

"Ah... I guess long distance relationship is hard." I lamented, thinking about my girl back home too. "But everything is gonna be worth it when I become successful and give her a good life." 

"You're so sweet." Nayeon smiled at me softly. "I wish I could think like you." She looked down on her hands, playing with her fingers quietly.

"Hey..." I nudged her with my elbow lightly. "Don't be so negative. Think about your family. Think about how good your life will be when everything is over." 

"Yeah." She smiled. "Can you do me a favour?" 

"Sure." 

"Don't tell Seolhyun about what I have told you." Nayeon said. "I don't want people to know. But because you're facing the same problem so I am sharing with you." 

"I promise." I smiled, knowing that I had found someone who could understand just how I would feel everyday here. 

I waited patiently for Irene to video call me while revising my work for that day and she didn't take too long to give me a call. It was almost 9pm on the dot. 

"Good morning." I greeted her with my silly huge grin. 

She rubbed her right eye sleepily with a small pout on her lips that I wished I could kiss and she flashed me a full smile when she saw my face. "Good... night?" She giggled. 

"Are you tired?" I asked, giving her a small smile when she shook her head quickly. "It is just 6am there right?" 

"Yeah but I am really not tired." She smiled, resting her folded arms on the table as she put her chin on her arm. "Have you eaten?" 

"Yeap. Nayeon cooked today." I nodded. 

"Is it nice?" She smiled. 

"Quite. I can't complain since I do not have many options." I laughed, stretching lazily. 

"How was lesson today? It must be tougher there huh?" She asked, eyeing me worriedly.

"Not really. I can handle." I said sheepishly, not trying to sound too complacent. 

"I believe you can." She smiled. "Omma wants me to remind you to dress more since the weather there is freezing." 

"Tell Mrs Bae that I got it and thanks." I chuckled. "How was work yesterday?" 

"Don't mention work. I can't wait to get out of there." She complained. "Look at my eyes, the dark circles are getting bigger." She leaned closer to the camera and pointed to her eye. "Am I ugly?" 

"You are not." I smiled. "You still look so beautiful." 

She giggled quietly and sat back. "Seulgi-ah~" she cooed and it made me gulp hard. 

"Yeah?" I gave her a nervous smile. 

"Why are you so tensed up?" She frowned. 

"Nothing." I rubbed my nape in embarrassment and looked at her. "What did you want to say?" 

"I am getting quite worried." She sighed and looked at my image on the screen. 

"Why?" Her gaze shifted and looked back at me again. 

"When you come back... I will be close to 30 while you're just 21." She took a pen from her table and started toying with it while I watched her quietly. "I know that I should not be so insecure again, but I can't help it." 

"Joohyun..." I called softly and she looked at me again. "I wish I could hug you now and whisper into your ear that I will never leave you because my love for you is so true and deep. But I can't because we are miles apart." 

"I know, I know. I was just-" 

"You can still tell me if you're being insecure again. Don't keep it to yourself. It is bad to bottle your feelings up." I said quickly. 

"I am going to wait for you." She whispered but I could hear it. 

I was about to say something back when someone knocked on my door and peeped through the gap in between because I did not close the door properly. 

Nayeon gave me a sheepish smile and I nodded at her to ask her to come in. She was holding onto a cup and passed it to me. "I made hot chocolate, perfect for this kind of weath- oh you are talking to your girlfriend again?" She saw the screen where Irene was looking quite confused because she could not see Nayeon. 

"Yeah. Thanks by the way. Wanna say hi?" I pointed to the screen and Nayeon nodded shyly. "Come on." I shifted a little and Irene looked uneasy when she saw me moving. "Baby, this is Nayeon, my housemate." 

"Hello. Nice to know you." Nayeon greeted politely and Irene gave her a small shy smile with a nod. "Seulgi talks about you a lot and watches your video everyday." 

"True." I grinned at Irene who was blushing lightly. 

"Hello Nayeon, I am Irene." Her voice was so soft and gentle. 

Nayeon bowed to the camera and I giggled quietly which earned me a slap on the shoulder. "Alright, hope to see you soon then when you come and visit Seulgi." Nayeon said politely and turned to look at me. "I still have work to do. You better finish revising for tomorrow's material too." I nodded at her and she left after giving me a cheeky wink as she pointed to the laptop when Irene could not see it. 

"She was so shy when I first met her." I laughed and sipped on the hot chocolate. "Hot chocolate reminds me of you." 

"She is likeable." Irene smiled. 

Something tasted bitter on my tongue and I looked at Irene. "She is." I nodded and Irene kept quiet. "She told me that she has a boyfriend back in Korea too." 

I smiled with ease when I noticed the way her eyebrows raised slightly when I mentioned it. "She has a boyfriend?" 

"Yeah. She is not as lucky as me though. They do not talk everyday." I added and Irene nodded as she thought deeply. "What's the matter?" 

"Will you be sad if I don't talk to you daily?" She asked. 

I put the cup down and leaned forward to put my chin in my hands as my elbows rested on the table. "Joohyun unnie, don't do this to Seulgi." 

She giggled at my antics and stuck her tongue out. "I think I will be sadder if we don't talk daily." 

"Then we must talk everyday. I will miss your face and your voice." I said and batted my eyelashes at her that made her chuckle heartily. 

"I miss your warmth too." She sighed. 

"I swear to god that I miss your body more." I stated firmly and she blushed again. I always liked it when she blushed because her rosy cheeks made her look even prettier with that shy smile on her face. 

"ert." She covered her face. "Don't you have revision to do?" 

"Hmmm..."

"Do your revision." She said. 

"But-" 

"I will stay here until I need to get ready. Don't worry. I will watch you. Just do your revision." She smiled. 

"Okay then..." I sighed and turned the laptop slightly so that it would still face me and I could still see Irene who was still sitting quietly in front of her laptop. "Don't go away, okay?" 

"I won't." She smiled. "Revise your work." I nodded and started flipping through the notes again. I would look at the screen once after I was done reading a page and she would smile cutely at me to cheer me on. I did not even notice when she took photos of me until I caught her red handed. "Oops." She giggled when I looked at her. But I did not mind, I just shook my head and continued to revise until she had to start preparing for her work. 

We said goodbye again and gave each other flying kisses that lasted for more than five minutes because we could not bear to say goodbye. 

"Remember to send me your selfie during your lunch time." I said before we bid our final goodbye for the day. 

"I will. Send me yours too." She pouted. 

"I bet you have a lot of my photos already." I teased, referring to just now when she took pictures of me secretly. 

"I don't care." She stuck her tongue out and I could only nod. "Okay really got to go. See you tomorrow, baby." 

"See you. I love you." 

"I love you too." 

____

Guys, I have a new fic idea in mind and it is Irene that's gonna wear the 'pants'. Do you like this idea? And of course, it is a high school plot. So tell me if you will like it. Then I will probably put it up tomorrow or something.