“Okay, the grass doesn’t seem to be reacting too harshly to the chemicals. I think we need to add more exposure.”

“Alright, let me go get more of it, then.”

I sighed, pulling away from the microscope before leaning back in my chair. I made sure not to touch my eyes because, well, I didn’t really feel like losing my sight yet. It had been two years since I’d last seen Seulgi. Two years since all of the crazily insane things that happened to me came to an abrupt stop. It was still awkward for me whenever I saw Minho around. He was the only assurance that what I had experienced had not been a crazy dream, or me going insane.

I will be back.

She never came back. I’d honestly hoped though never expected it. Of course I wondered if she was even alive at times. Wondered how she was doing. Though I’d always made fun of her, acted like she was the worst possible thing to have happened in my short twenty-five years of life, I couldn’t deny that I’d become attached to her. Especially after that unexpected, mind blowing kiss.

“Hey, are you spacing out again, you weirdo?”

“W-What?” I blinked a couple of times, turning to see Chorong standing next to me with a test tube in hand, a curious brow raised. “Yeah, no, I’m fine. I’m just a little tired.”

Chorong rolled her eyes. “Aren’t we all? This stupid chemical we’re testing is literally taking a whole month! Why are we even wasting our time on it?”

“If the Board wants it, then that’s what we do, I guess. I’m not even sure what it’s for anymore.” I gestured for her to put the test tube in its rack before preparing to expose the chemicals to the poor, defenseless grass again.

“Irene.”

I startled, nearly dropping the test tube on myself. “What the - Minho? You almost killed me!”

Minho looked apologetic, but he ushered me over. “Chorong, would you mind if I borrowed Irene for a bit?”

“Uh, no problem. Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Minho gently took a hold of my arm before pulling me over to the side.

“What’s going on?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. Minho looked apprehensive, yet somewhat excited. I couldn’t gauge whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Seulgi. Seulgi’s back.”

My jaw literally dropped to the ground. My eyes widened, and I swallowed. “What?”

“She’s back. I don’t know how, or since when, but she’s back. I met her this morning.”

Millions of questions began forming in my head. How is she? Is she okay? Where is she? When? How? Where? Unfortunately, I couldn’t say one word. Or maybe that was a good thing. “If she’s back, what does that mean? Is that good?”

“She said she finished the job that she started. She said that it was all over now.”

I stuck my hands into the pockets of my lab coat, biting my lip. What does that that even mean? “So, what? Why are you telling me this?”

Minho looked confused, his brows knitting together. “Didn’t she promise you that she would be back?”

I made a face. “How did you know that?”

Minho tapped his ear. Right. Super hearing. I couldn’t help but feel that strange sensation of butterflies in my stomach, the blood rushing through my veins, my heart beginning to beat against my chest. It was an indescribable feeling of knowing that someone you’d been, well, waiting for was finally here. It was expectation, excitement, but also, bigger than those feelings was fear. Fear that she might be different. Fear that the image of Seulgi I had in my head was no more now.

“You okay?”

I realized that my hands were shaking and I quickly stuck them back into my pockets. “Yeah. Yeah I’m okay.”

Minho looked unsure but he nodded. “Okay, well, I just wanted to let you know.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Minho. I appreciate it.”

“Hey! You two! Get back to work!” Taeyeon yelled.

I realized that we probably looked very shady, so I shot Taeyeon a quick, apologetic smile before returning to Chorong.

Seulgi was back, and I couldn’t tell if I should be wary, or if I should be ecstatic.

~~

It was late, and the sun was just beginning to set. Luckily, Taeyeon had let us all off early and I didn’t need to spend the night at the lab. I took a deep breath, my mind lost in thought. I remembered everything from two years ago. During those two years, the lab had become even more successful, and instead of th