A few days had past and now Irene is going bonkers. After that night where she actually accepted that she felt jealous of Joy because of how Seulgi treated her, suddenly the said bear began to try and get back to being close with her. Now, Seulgi actually tries to initiate skinship with her, like linking arms, holding her hands, and at certain times even backhugs. She also talks to Irene more often, asking how her day went, if she's tired and such. Not to mention that the other day, the bear tried to make a carrot cake for her with the help of Wendy. The bear just reasoned out that she just wants Irene to have strength for her activities and also that it is something for her co'z she's doing a great job as their leader.

To Irene, it seems like she's trying to rekindle their relationship when they were trainees, whatever that was, and it's driving her nuts because in the first place, Seulgi didn't actually tried to talk to her if there's anything wrong and just started to drift away from her, and now, same thing. Seulgi is not saying anything about the sudden closeness, and Irene is not the one to ask either.

Now the leader is sitting by their kitchen counter, trying her best not to go all crazy and stuff because of those thoughts that has been bugging her for days. 

Irene runs her hand through her hair. "What's with the sudden closeness Seulgi?" She mumbles like she is actually talking to someone in front of her. "First you distance yourself away from me without explaining anything, now all of a sudden you're trying to act like how we used to. You're confusing me!" Unconsciously she pouts as she rests her head on the kitchen counter. "I hate you bear."

The leader just sighs. What's worse right now is that due to the other members individual schedules she's now all alone inside their dorm in the middle of the night. Nothing to do, no one to talk to.

After a few more minutes of her occasional overthinking, she decides she needs a drink. Just this once. Just one can. She badly needs one. It's already nighttime anyways so the leader is pretty sure no one would notice her if she wears a hoodie and a mask. And so she does, wearing a black hoodie and a black mask, she heads for their apartment door, but as she opens it, she's greeted by an all too familiar figure. "Seulgi."

"Are you going out Hyunnie?" The least person Irene wants to see right now asks, and yes, the bear has started to call her 'Hyunnie' comfortably again.

"Yes. I'll just be out for a bit Seulgi. I just need some air." The leader answers as she pushes herself through the bear who's kind of blocking the door. But before Irene could go any further, Seulgi holds her hand to stop her. "I'll come with you then. It's dangerous to be out alone this late night."

As charming and heart fluttering the gesture was for Irene, she thinks it's best if the cause of her overthinking won't  come with her. So she tries her best to hide her flushed red face as she replied to the younger girl. "I'll be fine on my own Seulgi. You just stay here okay?"

Before the leader could even take a step forward, the younger girl squeezes her hand lightly as if saying 'don't leave'. "But Hyunnie—"

"Don't worry too much bear. I'll be back before you know it." Irene offers a smile as she looks into the girl's worried eyes and pats her head.

With that, she releases from Seulgi's hold and walks away leaving the latter too worried for her own good.

---

Irene inhales deeply as she spreads her arms, feeling the cool night breeze against her while strolling along the Han river. "Now this is relaxing." She says to herself.

Soon as she found a convinience store, she immediately enters to buy a can of beer. She knows her low tolerance for the said drink but still the leader thinks that one can wouldn't hurt. 

Still with her hoodie and mask on, she's trying her best not to gain any attention from strangers as she pays for her drink when suddenly she hears a commotion that came from somewhere near a fallen stack of ramen.

"I'm sorry!" The familiar looking stranger with a black cap and mask on, who probably caused the stack to fall, said sincerely to one of the staffs. Even the stranger's voice sound familiar.

Curiosity took over Irene as she now starts to stare at the figure with a black cap and mask on, revealing the stranger's monolid eyes. 

"Seulgi?" She then mumbles recognizing the person.

She went over to the stranger and the latter just froze on her spot, trying not to look at Irene. 

The leader now confidently lowers the stranger's mask slightly. "What are you doing here Seulgi?"

---

Both are now sitting on the grass by the river. Seulgi hanging her head low as the leader scolds her about following her.

"Oh well, you're already here and there's nothing we could do about that." Irene sighs defeatedly.

"I'm just worried." The bear counters. "And I think I should be worried. Look at this. You're going to drink? This late night? Alone? You know how low your alcohol tolerance is."

The older girl just chuckles as she finds it cute that the bear is now acting like a worried boyfriend. "Yah. It's only one can. I can handle this" With that, she opens it takes a gulp.

"Let's share then! I'll drink half!"

Now Irene bursts into laughter. She really just can't help it when the bear just spits out words without even thinking while having that 'I thought of a bright idea' kind of face. Again, she thinks it's cute. Well almost everything that Seulgi does is cute for her atleast.

"You don't even drink you bear!" Then another gulp.

As Irene continues to drink, her face is starting to go completely red, and now halfway through the can, she's now talking nonsense to Seulgi.

"Aish. Look what happened. You're only halfway through your can and you're already drunk. We should go home now Hyunnie." The younger girl says as she tries to force the leader to stand up.

"I'm not yet drunk!" Irene now throws a tantrum like a kid. "I still have like a half left!"

As much as Seulgi thinks that an Irene throwing a tantrum on the grass is cute, she hides her smile and tries to be stern as possible. "We need to go home now." But the leader doesn't budge from her spot. She looked away from Seulgi and stared at the river, now hugging her knees in the process.

The bear just sighs and gives up. She sits back beside Irene, thinking that she would just try to convince her later. But then her thoughts on how to get the leader to come home was interrupted when the latter suddenly spoke. "Why did you distanced yourself from me?"

With the question, Seulgi was speechless. 'So she felt it', the bear thought. 

Earning silence from the younger girl, Irene continues. "Did I do something wrong to you back then? Why didn't you talked to me about it—"

"It's not like that Hyunnie." Seulgi was quick to answer. She doesn't want Irene to think that it was her fault that she did that. 

"Then why?" Irene now asks, looking straight into Seulgi's eyes pleading for an answer. Again the bear just stays silent. "First we were so close, then you started to grow apart from me and distanced yourself without any explanations, and now I feel that you're trying to be close with me again! I'm just so confused. You're making me confused!"

The sudden outburst from Irene made Seulgi feel guilty. She tries to reach for Irene's hand but the latter shrugs it off and looks away. "I hate you Seulgi."

That just made Seulgi's heart fall into pieces. The truth is that she tried her best to distance herself from Irene because of the fear that the fondness she has for the leader might grew into something more complicated, something more than just friendship, something too close to love. It didn't go well as the bear planned though. Instead of her feelings fading, her feelings actually grew more. She started to care more, worry more, and like her more. But now because of the selfishness of her decision, she suffers the consequence. Irene hates her now.

"I hate you." The leader repeats, now focusing at Seulgi and leaning a bit towards her. The latter was taken aback, obviously flustered by the leader's actions, but she just stayed rooted on her spot maintaining eye contact with Irene. 

Again the latter leans forward, her voice now in a softer tone. "I hate how you worry and care so much over the maknaes." 

Closer,

"I hate how you get along too well with Wendy."

And closer...

"I hate how Krystal understands you better than me."

Until both of them are now just a few inches apart. Seulgi trying to calm herself because Irene's piercing gaze, her soft voice, her ragged breathing, and their intense closeness right now is making her heart pound like crazy. Her whole body just stopped functioning because as she thinks she should now get out of the situation before it goes out of hand, her heart and body refuses and she just stays still.

Slowly, Irene tries to close the gap between them, but Seulgi on the other hand, nervous and flustered as of the moment turned her face away from the older girl. Apparently not giving up, the latter guides Seulgi's face back in front of her. "I hate how you're making me like this Seul."

With that, Irene again daringly leaned in to capture Seulgi's lips. The younger girl didn't move away this time. She just let her leader do as she pleases, which caused her more trouble as she expected.

When Irene's soft and warm lips came in contact with hers, Seulgi swears she lost every bit of sanity in her. As the older girl moves her lips, Seulgi does the same, the taste of the alcohol from Irene now gets to her, making the taste of the leader's lips more addicting to Seulgi. The kiss wasn't innocent but still, it's tender and full of passion.

Both of them breaks away from the kiss breathless. Still maintaining their bit of a gap, Irene looks deeply into Seulgi's confused yet hopeful eyes as she sincerely says, "I hate it that I'm falling hard for you. I like you Kang Seulgi."

Those words, the words Seulgi had always hoped to hear from Irene. Hearing it from her now made her heart pound like crazy, made her shocked, confused, happy, and doubtful all at the same time. 

Not really knowing what to say or do because of the abrupt confession, Seulgi just stares at Irene's still bright red face while alcohol can still be smelled from the latter's breath. That's when Seulgi realized something that she actually forgot during the whole confession bit. 

Irene is drunk.

Whenever the latter is drunk, she would always spout nonsense and would later fall asleep.

And as the bear had predicted, the leader suddenly falls and rests her head on Seulgi's shoulder. Her breathing now calm and stable, her eyes now closed. 

"Aish." Seulgi throws her head back with frustration. Her mind is now more confused than ever, thinking if Irene did really mean everything she said? Or is it just the alcohol talking and that it's one of those nonsense outbursts that the leader always forgets the next day? 

Convincing herself that it's the latter because it'd be way too fictional for Irene to actually have feelings for her, the bear sadly looks at the leader with a bitter smile. "Let's go home now Hyunnie."

With that, she gently rests the older girl on her back, trying her best not to wake her up and gives her a piggyback ride home.

------

(To be continued...)