“Uhm, you know you don’t have stand all the way over there? There’s plenty of room over here. It’s just me.”

Seulgi motions towards the unoccupied bench behind her in the bus shelter. It was raining buckets but for some strange reason, this girl didn’t seek refuge beneath the bus shelter as Seulgi did. Instead, she held firmly onto her umbrella, struggling to keep herself as dry as possible. She had this look on her face, some kind of scowl and Seulgi’s not sure if it’s directed towards her or if it’s because the girl’s uncomfortable as her clothes were starting to get soaked.

Seulgi takes a puff of her cigarette and the smoke swirls and dissipates with the rainfall.

She’s familiar with the girl, she’s here every morning. They were the only two who were at this bus stop in the early mornin. Every day, for some odd reason, she kept her distance, never getting within fifteen feet of where Seulgi was and the latter didn’t care. But this time, Seulgi just couldn’t ignore the poor girl. What if she ended up getting sick from staying out there?

“Hey!” Seulgi called out once again. The girl was still scowling. Was her face permanently like that?

Seulgi takes a deep breath, “Stop being stubborn and just come over here so you can stay dry! That umbrella isn’t doing anything for you!”

“Put it out!”

Seulgi blinks, shocked from the girl’s command, “What?”

“Put out your cigarette and then I’ll go over there!” She yells back.

Seulgi sighs in frustration, it was her first cigarette of the day, a necessity for her early mornings. But it looked like the other girl was serious as she didn’t budge an inch. Seulgi could practically feel the girl’s eyes on her hand where her cigarette rested between her two fingers. She sighed in defeat, there was no way she could ignore the poor girl and leave her in the pouring rain. Seulgi drops the cigarette and quickly extinguishes it with the bottom of her boot. Looks like she’ll have to wait until after the bus ride to work for her morning smoke.

“It’s out!” she yelled back, disappointment evident in her voice.

And for the first time, the girl enters the bus shelter with Seulgi. Upon closer inspection, she was quite small but had nice proportions. Her hair was a golden brown but some of it was matted together thanks to the rain. She tucked her hair behind her ear and Seulgi was baffled when she saw her up close. She was…

“…so pretty” Seulgi unknowingly mutters.

But when Seulgi sees the girl glaring at her, she chokes a bit.

“You stink. I hate the smell of smoke,” she blatantly states as she covers her nose and steps away from Seulgi, trying to get as far as possible while staying inside the bus shelter.

“Wow that was very straight forward of you,” Seulgi laughs. She definitely wasn’t expecting that.

“Ugh, it absolutely reeks in here,” the girl coughs, her eyebrows tightly knitted as she fans the air before her.

Seulgi rubbed the back of her nape, not quite sure how to react, but she apologizes anyway, “Sorry—“

“Stop. Eat one of these before you start talking again,” the girl suddenly commands two feet away from Seulgi, her arm outstretched offering a box of mints.

All of this bluntness was starting to irritate Seulgi, she normally liked it when people were frank but maybe it was the missing cigarette between her fingers that was making her easily frustrated. She bit her lip and decided to indulge the girl; she opened the tin box of mints in the other girl’s hand, popping one into . The mix of smoke and peppermint was strange. Seulgi let out a heavy breath.

“How’s that?”

Judging from the unwavering disgust on the girl’s face Seulgi didn’t pass.

“Take two—no, take five more.”

“Five more? Seriously?”

“Seriously. Do you know why I always stand out there and not in here?” she points outside to the curb she was at before. Seulgi stares expectantly, she knows the girl won’t wait for her to try answering. “Because you’re always here smoking. And if you haven’t noticed by now, I hate the smell of smoke.”

“Sorry,” Seulgi apologizes, taking five more mints as requested. “I’m usually the only one here inside so I just smoked whenever.”

A smirk starts to emerge on the girl’s face, “The reason you’re the only one in here is because I refuse to be while you’re smoking which you happen to do every morning of every day since the first day I started taking this bus two months ago.”

The thought had never crossed Seulgi’s mind that she was the reason why the girl was always enduring the weather and so reluctant to hole up in the bus shelter. Seulgi thinks back to past few days when the temperature dropped to freezing numbers and she could feel a tinge of guilt starting to emerge.

“I never realized,” Seulgi admits. “Uh, I guess from now on I’ll smoke outside or finish before you get here. Cool?”

“No.”

“No?” Seulgi’s a bit surprised from the rejection. She thought her offer was a considerate compromise to the situation. The irritation was starting to grow exponentially but Seulgi was one to keep her composure under any circumstance.

“What’s your name?” the girl inquires.

“Shouldn’t you tell me yours first?”

“Bae Irene,” she complies. “You?”

“Kang Seulgi,” Seulgi replies putting forth a handshake.

Irene glanced down and looked back at Seulgi with an arched brow, “I’m not shaking your hand when you haven’t sanitized it after smoking that cigarette earlier.”

Seulgi can feel her cheeks starting to burn and she bites her lip, trying to stay calm. This Irene was really something else. She’s not the first person who so forwardly expressed their dislike for Seulgi’s smoking. Her parents nor her brother were exactly fond of it either. But this was the first time a complete stranger totally rejected Seulgi because of one cigarette.

“So you won’t even shake my hand out of politeness?” Seulgi scoffs a bit, though she didn’t mean to. She intended to ask a bit more nicely but her bottled feelings were starting to seep through.

“Well, Seulgi, I was polite enough to tell you why I didn’t want to shake your hand. I believe that counts for something.”

Seulgi could only shake her head. Unbelievable.

“Right,” Seulgi laughs in exasperation.

At this rate, she may need to have two cigarettes before going to work just to relax herself. She decides it’s better to stop talking to Irene, maybe if she stayed quiet so would the latter. Then, they could at least be content with silence before the bus came. Just a bit of silence would be nice.

Unfortunately, the quiet only lasted for about a minute.

‘So, that suggestion you made earlier about you smoking.”

Seulgi sighs, “Yeah, you said that wouldn’t work for you.”

“Glad you remembered,” Irene smiled a bit for the first time since they spoke. Seulgi found it rather cute but Irene’s demanding and slightly annoying nature overshadowed that. “I’ve decided I’m going to help you quit smoking.”

“Oh really?” Seulgi laughs. It certainly wasn’t the first time she’s heard that.

Yet, Irene doesn’t waver despite hearing the amusement in Seulgi’s voice. She nods and replies confidently, “Really.”

“And what makes you think you’ll succeed?” Seulgi smirks. “You’re not the only one who’s tried.”

Irene shrugs, “My father was a smoker and now he’s not.”

“And how’d that happen?

“He had me. I’m quite persistent,” Irene smiles and it throws Seulgi off, making her feel a bit uneasy for a moment.

But she decides that it’s nothing to be bothered by and casually brushes Irene off.

“Whatever you say.”

//

"Hey, you're here a lot earlier than usual!" Seulgi shouts in surprise as she spots Irene standing at the bus shelter entrance this morning, her arms crossed and eyes still as piercing as Seulgi remembers.

She took a puff of her cigarette, holding the smoke briefly within in before blowing out a gray ring to the side, careful to not direct it towards Irene as she made her way there. Funnily enough, she could already tell Irene was giving her the evil eye without looking at her. Seulgi did plan on finishing her cigarette before going inside the bus shelter due to Irene's extreme hate for smoking. And Seulgi wanted to be nice and civil with the girl, even if she was a bit too much.

Seulgi took up her cigarette again but stopped when she felt the first drops of rainfall land on her hand. Looks like the weather forecast was wrong again when it said that it wouldn’t even drizzle today. The rain was picking up hard and fast. She ran for cover but when she felt the blunt tip of an umbrella hit her chest, she stumbled back a bit. Her jacket was already thoroughly soaked.

"I don't think so," Irene commands in a stern voice. She held the umbrella like it was a sword, waving it

around and keeping Seulgi at bay like she was some monster trying to invade her keep.

She has to be kidding.

"Are you serious right now? It's freaking pouring, just let me in!" Seulgi exclaims.

Irene smirked in response, her umbrella still at the ready.

Wait, Seulgi knows what's stopping her admission--the cigarette, duh. If she just extinguishes it then surely Irene will let her in. Of course, Irene might make her eat ten mints this time since the smell of smoke was so fresh but that was more preferable than staying out in the downpour.

Looks like she'll be having two cigarettes again before work to satisfy her craving. Seulgi quickly discards the thin cylinder and runs it into the concrete with her heel. Seulgi was starting to feel the cold rain in her bones. She gazes past the umbrella aimed at her chin and looks at Irene expectantly.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

Seulgi didn't have time for this, she was starting to accumulate a puddle of rain in each boot and that was incredibly uncomfortable. She has to get out of this rain. So Seulgi swats the umbrella out her face but Irene is a lot faster than she thought--violent, too--as she feels the impromptu weapon strike the crown of her head.

"Ow!" Seulgi falls back on her . Great, now her jeans were thoroughly soaked as well. Just perfect.

"What the hell, Irene?! I already got rid of the cigarette, just let me in!"

"No," Irene answers back and Seulgi could feel her hands go numb from how hard her nails dug into her palm.

Control yourself, Seulgi. Keep what little calm you have left.

"Why not?!"

Yelling wasn't exactly calm but considering the fact Seulgi didn't get to savor her first smoke of the day and that she was soaked to the bone, well, yelling was no big deal.

"Didn't I tell you?" Irene kneels down, she was dry as dry can be under the protection of the bus shelter roof. Her eyes meet Seulgi's and the latter wonders how someone so pretty could actually be so evil because Seulgi was starting to think Irene was the devil. Just yesterday, Irene was the poor girl on the curb of the street looking so frail beneath the protection of her umbrella. Today, she's the tyrant whose sole mission was to destroy Seulgi or something close to that she's sure.

"I said I was going to help you quit smoking, remember?" Irene smiles. "Well, Operation: Smoke-free Kang Seulgi starts today."

She made an operation name. Great. A heavy sigh escapes Seulgi.

"And what exactly does that entail?" Seulgi inquires, still resting on the ground. There was no point in getting up anyway.

"I'm so glad you asked. First, it means no morning cigarettes--"

"Wait! what--ow! What the heck Irene?!"

Seulgi rubbed the sore spot on her head, the same spot Irene struck the first time. She swears a bump was starting to form there.

"Don't interrupt me," Irene commanded with that same small smile she seemed to wear all the time. That smile, Seulgi was beginning to understand how devious that smile really was. It seemed to more trouble than it was worth.

"As I was saying, no morning cigarettes--if you cut me off, I'm going to hit you again," Irene warns, wagging her umbrella. "You will not come to this bus stop smelling like fresh cigarettes. And yes, I will be able to tell if you've smoked that morning or not."

Bullcrap.

"I'm not lying."

Sure.

"I have an incredible sense of smell."

"What a lame super power--ow!"

"I told you not to interrupt."

With the three strikes to her noggin accompanied by the growing irritation she was feeling from the lack of her regular nicotine intake, Seulgi could feel an enormous headache coming on. It also didn't help that she was now drenched from head to toe and still sitting on cold, wet pavement.

"This is the first step, Seulgi. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

//

"Woah, Kang Seulgi, what happened to you?"

"Shut up, I'm not in the mood," Seulgi lashed out as she pushes past her best friend and co-worker, Wendy, her hand already working fast on the lighter and cigarette. Once lit, she takes a desperate puff, a deep inhale full of need and a long exhale of relief. Gray smoke flows from , the nicotine cloud caressing her lips as it finishes passing through and she her dry lips in satisfaction.

So good.

"I know that tone. You missed out on a cigarette again this morning?"

"Yes," Seulgi answers with eyes closed as she savored the taste of sinful heaven lingering on her tongue. She felt better already. She really needed that.

Wendy circles around Seulgi and arches a brow, "That doesn't quite explain why you're completely drenched. Did you decide to shower in the rain or something?"

Wendy chuckles a bit. She was the type who laughed at her own jokes when no one else did.

Flashes of Irene popped into Seulgi's head, similar to those of a traumatic nightmare.

"Ugh, it's that girl's fault."

Wendy stops and her head to the side, racking her brain until she finally remembered who Seulgi was talking about yesterday, "Irene? Right?"

And Seulgi immediately groans at the sound of that name. She rests her arms on the balcony railing as she watches the rain fall before her. It hasn't let up one bit since this morning.

"So, how did this Irene do this to you? Because honestly, this is a bit impressive what she did. The cool and charismatic Kang Seulgi unraveled and reduced to a miserable and irritable wet rag. Oh, how far you've fallen Kang."

Wendy was always one to be overdramatic.

"Pray tell, what happened?" Wendy asked using her best Shakespearean accent or at least that's what it was supposed to be.

"Well, this morn--"

"Uh-uh," Wendy interrupted, wagging her finger. Was stopping Seulgi mid-sentence the new trend or something? She had enough of that from Irene earlier.

"This is story time Kang. Make it interesting, make it fun! Nothing like a little unwinding before we go back to work."

Seulgi takes one last puff of her cigarette before she smothers it in the ashtray on the side. She sighs, "Do I have to?"

"Come on, it'll help you vent about whatever happened with Irene this morning. It'll be like our high school days when we did theater."

Seulgi admits, those were fun times. She smiles. Why the heck not? She throws her brown trench coat to the side and it lands with a heavy thud and a bit of a splash due to all the rain it soaked up. She rolls up the long sleeves of her turtle neck that was matted against her skin, slowly peeling it upwards until it reached the elbow. Then when she's good and ready, Seulgi takes a deep breath and musters forth whatever acting skills she had buried.

"The morning was cold, so cold, a deep shiver rocked my bones as I made my way towards the sacred bus shelter with nothing but a light between my fingers,” Seulgi emphasizes by doing some weird contortion with her hand. She could see Wendy beaming from excitement. Seulgi was never good at acting but she did enjoy it somewhat. And there were days where she and Wendy loved to fool around and do some terrible impromptu acting here and there. For their own amusement of course.

“It was the only thing keeping me warm, the only thing keeping me sane, my flicker of hope--my morning cigarette. But as I approached the bus shelter, little did I know of the danger that awaited me there—BOOM!” Seulgi shouts, arms in the air and eyes wide, she manages to make Wendy jolt. “

“A witch with locks of dark gold stood guard! She glared down at me, eyes like jewels and a smile so perfect—too perfect—that it had me shivering. But out of nowhere, I felt the first drops of a storm and I knew, I had no choice but to fight the witch for shelter and so, I charged in, ready for battle!”

//

Story time was a lot longer than anticipated, they’ve been gone from their work cubicles for at least an hour now. Seulgi’s surprised no one’s come to fetch them yet. Maybe it was one of those easy, slow days where no one had much to do.

Wendy still sat in awe near the wall like she’d been for the past ten minutes. She had this look of utter disbelief and amusement plastered on her face and it didn’t look like it was going away anytime soon. Seulgi stood there, arms crossed, waiting for Wendy to digest everything from her earlier narration. It was no secret Wendy was enjoying herself especially given the fact that the story was true to life. And when it came to Seulgi’s life, well, Wendy was always more than interested.

“Oh my god!” Wendy laughs out loud, her eyes practically twinkling. “I can’t believe Irene actually fought you off with her umbrella because you smoked! She didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty that she had you bathing in the rain?”

“Trust me,” Seulgi scoffed thinking back to the way Irene smiled at her. “There was no hint of regret on that face of hers.”

“Well, it sounds like you didn’t put up much of a fight anyway,” Wendy laughs. “Pretty easy win for her.”

The statement has Seulgi scowling.

“Are you saying that this is my fault?”

“Kind of?”

“Kind of?” Seulgi repeats. “How?”

Wendy shakes her head as she rises from her seat, “Surely, you haven’t forgotten?”

“Forgotten what?”

“The number one weakness of Kang Seulgi,” Wendy smirks and Seulgi feels too impatient to guess so she urges Wendy to just continue. Exactly what weakness did she have?

“Just answer this one question, is Irene pretty? Attractive? Cute?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer it, Seulgi.”

Seulgi takes a brief pause as she thinks back to Irene’s face and every little feature from her eyes to her lips. And despite Irene’s personality, Seulgi couldn’t deny her beauty.

“Honestly, she’s rather beautiful.”

Wendy snaps her fingers, “There you have it.”

Wendy closes in on Seulgi, cupping the latter’s face between her hands, making certain she’s paying close attention.

“Kang Seulgi’s weakness is that she’s a er for all things strange and beautiful. And if you ask me, Irene seems to fit the bill just right,” Wendy smirks. “You’re going to have a hard time standing up to her, Kang.”

Seulgi pries Wendy’s hands from her face. What Wendy just said was completely and utterly ridiculous.

“That’s my weakness?” Seulgi sneers. “You’re joking, right?”

“You can believe it or not, Seulgi. But remember, I’ve known you longer than anyone. I think I know your kryptonite by now.”

Strange and beautiful. That couldn’t be it.

//

You're a liar.

Oh, really? Remember Krystal in high school? You were a complete pushover for her.

She was pretty but—

Taeyeon from the coffee shop.

Well, her singing—

Seunghyun who used to work on the 5th floor.

He was attractive and weird but—

Are you still going to deny it, Kang? I told you—whatever is strange and beautiful. That's just your thing.

Seulgi wasn't going to willing accept that, after all, what kind of weakness was that? She was more than capable of standing her ground. No weird goddess or whatever high form of her supposed kryptonite could defeat her. Not even Irene, who Wendy was beginning to call the epitome of 'strange and beautiful', would break her.

Seulgi's been smoking for three years now and Irene isn't the first person to try and save her soul. And she doubts Irene will be the last. Because as hard as Irene may try, she was going to fail. After all, who was she to Seulgi anyway? She was less than a cigarette.

"You smoked three cigarettes this morning."

Make that less than three cigarettes.

"Looks like you weren't lying about your super power," Seulgi smiles as she makes her way closer to the bus stop where Irene was already waiting..

She admits, she’s slightly impressed at how accurate Irene’s sense of smell was especially when she was able to discern the specific number of cigarettes Seulgi had smoked before they were even within ten feet of each other.

"I also wasn't lying when I told you no morning cigarettes."

"And what are you going to do about it?” Seulgi asks when they’re finally face to face. “It's not raining today so I can just stand over there on the curb if you won’t let me in. It’s no problem at all."

"Oh, but I think it is," Irene smiles as she whips out a super soaker that she was hiding in a black duffle bag behind her.

Seulgi should have known better. She should have been more cautious but it was too late. Before Seulgi could react or at least put her arms up in defense, Irene was blasting her with ice cold water and soon Seulgi looked like a repeat of yesterday morning. A miserable and irritable wet rag as Wendy called her.

"That's your punishment."

Devious. This girl is devious.

Seulgi could feel her blood boiling. She was well past her line of tolerance and having smoked three cigarettes in the morning, crossing that line should have been nearly impossible. But oh no, Irene is capable of the impossible. Seulgi's been finding that out the hard way. She takes her coat off and throws it over her shoulder. Thankfully, her coat absorbed most the super soaker assault but Seulgi still looked like a mess.

She should have been mad. She should have been yelling and she was damn close to, but Seulgi simply stares at Irene who was smiling—still smiling. Then, the heat from Seulgi's cheeks slowly receded as she began to calm down. And it seems Irene was also an exception that Seulgi just couldn't understand but it was making her hate herself how she didn't just reject the girl so she would leave her alone. Why is that? Why doesn't Seulgi just avoid her? Or ignore her? Or fight back?

Maybe Wendy was right.

"No morning cigarettes," Irene declares.

Seulgi’s ready to oppose. Problem is, she has the words caught in and she’s struggling to force it out. So she ends up saying something else instead.

"Fine. No morning cigarettes."

Goddamnit, Wendy was right.

--

a/n: just felt like writing this seulrene au after i got the idea while daydreaming at work. to whoever reads, i hope you enjoyed~ if not, takes for giving it a chance lol. i'll try to have part 2 up soon. also, sorry for any mistakes! i didn't thoroughly proofread. >.<