10 000 Emerald Pool   Seulgi was, no — is an introvert. She always prefers solitude over business. If there was a party, she would be the only person not going as she stays at home, locked up in her room with her sketchbook or she would spend a quiet time in the open pool at the 3rd floor of their apartment. Her mother used to tell her that when she was little, they kept bringing her to speech therapy sessions because she never uttered a word. Her parents almost thought there was something wrong in her vocal cord but no, it was just her who chose to stay quiet. Even up till now. Therefore, when she spoke, request or ask permission to do things, her parents would immediately let her do anything she wants, though sometimes they got worried. Especially if she lingers around the 3rd floor for too long, her parents thought the worse of it, especially her mom. It was one of those nights where she just lean on the marble walls of the emerald pool, her lips till her body completely dunk in the water, but her eyes stay above, relinquishing the silence but then hurried footsteps came and it was her mom and her brother, eyes wild as they search for her. “Yes?” Seulgi made aware of her presence. “Goodness, Seulgi!” Her mom rushed over towards the edge of the pool where she stayed. “Are you alright, honey?” “Perfectly fine.” Seulgi answered, though she did not understand why the two was looking berserk. “Is there something going on?” Mrs Kang clutched her heart and shook her head, “No, no, nothing’s wrong. We just – it’s nothing, Seulgi. I’m just worried of you being alone in the pool at this time. You’re not planning to do anything silly aren’t you?” Her brows creased, “Silly? Like what?” “Told you Mom,” Her brother puts a hand around her mom’s shoulder, “It’s nothing. Seulgi just really love the water, don’t you?” “Yeah,” Seulgi nods her head, still looking at the two, wondering what was going on their head. And since then, thrice a week, exactly 9pm, she would went out of her unit in the 12th floor, a towel hung on her neck as she took the elevator towards the open pool. Nobody went there, except for weekends. Nobody even bothered her. Her mom and brother never came to visit her since that day and she had spent a peaceful time roaming inside the rectangular size pool.   It was another usual night for her as she dips her leg into the pool, feeling the coldness seeping through her skin. But she did not mind. Seulgi thought maybe because she had been in the pool so many times, her body temperature had started to get used to it, and so she never catch a cold or flu after that. She let her body soaked thoroughly in the still water. In the pool she has no worries, it was just her and she is free in her wildness. She belonged to no man and no city. After a while leaning, Seulgi decided to go for a swim. She moved with robotic precision but organic fluidity, after nailed to perfection. She did not even take swimming class, but somehow this skill just came to her naturally. She opens her eyes when she plunges deep inside the water, but her heartbeat stops for a moment, because at the bottom of the pool there was another girl, sitting cross legged as if she was meditating, and her eyes were shut tight. Seulgi swims back above, catching her breath, though her heart beats rather fast because she was unsure if what she saw was real, and if it was real, that girl down below might be a dead body. But if it was, why is the body sitting in a cross legged position and not float like the usual people who ended up drowning. Seulgi was never one to get highly curious on things. But her mind was somehow telling her to dive back in, and so she did. Her hands pushes the water aside as she made her way towards the girl, whose face even in the water, appears like a porcelain doll though her hair was floating everywhere. Seulgi then poke the girl on the shoulder and that was when she retaliates in surprise, because the doll suddenly opens her eyes, mirroring the same shock expression and in an instance, both of them swim back to the surface.   Both of them stood still, side by side, as they stare at the same direction ahead. It had been like this for almost 10 minutes. Neither spoke nor asked any questions, and Seulgi almost felt her tongue about to roll an apology but in the end, cat bit her tongue. Seulgi did not venture more through the pool, because she now felt rather awkward and the girl, too, did not budge, though at the back of her mind, Seulgi did thought for a moment on why the girl was sitting at the bottom of the water. Looking at the clock hanging on the white wall of the pool compound, she knew she had to make a move before the guards come and lock the door and so she turns and put her palms firm on the marble floor, before hoisting her body up and grabbing her towel. Seulgi noticed there were no other towels around and she wonders if the girl was going back to her apartment drenched head to toe. When Seulgi was about to leave, she still saw the girl remain static in the pool. Looking at the time, in a hesitant tone, she informs, “The pool is about to close. Y-You should go… before the guard locks the door.” The girl remains unmoved and with a small sigh, Seulgi turns her back heading to the exit, when she hears a voice, so soft and small murmurs, “Thank you for reminding.”                                                   ***     Since then, every night when Seulgi visited the pool, the girl would already be there. They did not spoke towards each other and just spend their time in silence and soon Seulgi does not feel much awkward sharing a pool with a stranger anymore. Yes, they were strangers, even after almost two weeks meeting each other frequently in the pool, they never asked each other’s name and the only thing they would say towards each other is to remind the time. It was late in the evening, Seulgi had just walked back from her cram school and coincidentally she spotted her brother, throwing the garbage into one of those big dumpsters. Both of them greeted each other and they took the elevator back to their apartment floor. But the pulley then stopped, Seulgi looked up to see it was only the 4th floor, theirs were on the 12th. And when the door opened, the pool girl stood in the middle. Her face was stricken with tears and she looked momentarily surprised when she saw her, and Seulgi herself mirrored the same look. But the girl then looked away, huddling herself in the corner without pressing any buttons. The trip to the 12th floor was super quiet and when they arrived, Seulgi cast one look behind and their eyes briefly met before the door closed shut. When they entered their unit, her brother sighed, “Poor girl, I thought those people had stop being on each other’s throat.” Seulgi then questions, “Do you know the girl earlier?” Her brother stood over the sink, washing his hands, “Yeah, they’ve been staying in this residence for more than 4 years.” Seulgi just nodded, but her brother continued, “It’s a known rumour in this residence. The father is hot-headed and the mother is not bad herself. The only child, a pretty girl is the witness to all this since she was a child. Seulgi opens the door to her room, “Do you know her name?” “I don’t think it’s her real name, but I heard some people call her Irene.”     That night when she went to the usual 3rd floor, she found the girl, Irene, sitting at the edge of the pool. Her feet dunk in the emerald water, her shoulders slouched as she stared at nothingness. Seulgi pauses in her step as she watch the girl from a few metres away. Something inside her wants to call out the girl and this was a very, very rare occasion, because she, Seulgi was never one to initiate a conversation first. “…Irene?” Seulgi barely whispers, but the girl turns her head behind. “Seulgi.” The way Irene spoke her name seemed like a name which rolled over her tongue every day. “You know my name?” Seulgi asks, her feet moving forward towards the girl as she drops her towel on the marble floor. Irene shrugs, “I heard your mom called you that some time ago.” “Oh…” Weird, never once Seulgi saw the girl in their apartment compound. It was only this month that she came to knew this Irene girl. “You seem to know my name too.” Irene stares up at her, a small smile carved at the end of her lips. And Seulgi was momentarily surprised, because it was the first time she saw the girl smiling. Before this, her expression was mostly blank and the last time she saw Irene, she was crying. “M-My brother told me…” “Oh…” Irene looks away once more as she stares downwards. She then sits down beside the girl and again, Seulgi decided to ask something personal, which surprises her internally, “Are you…okay?” Irene turns to look at her and their eyes meet in a direct gaze, before the girl silently chuckles. And it was only now Seulgi could properly see the girl’s complexion clearly, and a gulp almost tempt to escape. “Am I okay?” Irene recites back the question, “Is anyone in this world ever truly is?” Seulgi did not answer the question, instead she let her feet dips slightly over the surface and retreats. She kept continuing with the action, not knowing what to say anymore, afraid she might hit a spot if she continues to ask more, which again, was totally a rare thing coming from her. “…Why do you ask if I’m okay or not?” Irene inquires in a hush tone. “I…I saw you e-earlier,” She stammers, “Y-You don’t look so good…” Irene merely shrugs, and Seulgi guess the girl does not want to talk on the topic, and so she shifts, “Don’t you want to meditate under the—I mean, d-don’t you want to swim?” Seulgi again witness something quite spectacular. The doe eyes of Irene is now curved to a half-crescent shape, as the girl places her hand on her lips, hiding her laugh. And Seulgi truly felt like it was her first time looking at people in such details, and even she noticed the small dot of mole at the corner of the girl’s right eyebrow. “You thought I was meditating down there?” “Well…there weren’t much option.” Seulgi truthfully answers.  “You weren’t wrong. I was meditating somehow… I think?” Irene caught her questionable look and so she continues, “Well actually I’ve always love the water. Because in the water I had no worries, no homework, no irritating parents- it’s just me and the cool water.” Seulgi hums, and let Irene continues, “I used to be in the swimming club back then. I got a few medals here and there, but then I got bored and I quit. I just don’t feel like competing in anything anymore…” Seulgi nodded and they went silence once more. And after a while, Seulgi slips in into the pool, and she feels eyes trailing on her as she swim towards the end of the other side of the pool. And when she rested her back on the marble, catching her breath while moving strands of hair away from her face, she heard a splash and Irene was gone. She thought Irene would be sitting down under the pool like she usually does, but this time, the latter swim towards the end where she is. Her eyes trail on Irene’s figure, sometimes above, sometimes under the water, and the way Irene glides smoothly, cutting the water with her hands, Seulgi knew Irene is definitely one good swimmer. “You don’t want to meditate?” Seulgi pops the question, unable to control her own mouth, after the girl stood beside her. “Somehow I don’t feel like it today…”                                                 ***     From the small and short conversations she had with Irene starting that night, their exchanges gradually turns longer and more personal, as they get to know one another, unconsciously, as Seulgi would like to think so. She found out that Irene’s real name was Joohyun and both of them were the same age, though they went to different schools. Irene said that the school Seulgi is enrolled to, is their school’s official rival but she, Seulgi was oblivious to that and only found out about it. Seulgi also finds out that Irene is an only child; though she did heard it from her brother before, but hearing it from Irene’s own mouth is more believable. Irene said she had seen Seulgi quite a number of times and they even sat side by side once on the same bus, but somehow Seulgi could not recall any memory of it. “…Of course you wouldn’t. You’re always in your own world,” Irene splashes the water, aiming it at her face, and due to her lateness of shielding, Seulgi gets a full blow. “I don’t really pay attention much on things that doesn’t have to do with me.” Seulgi states out as she wipes the trickling water on her face, before replying to Irene’s previous action, though with more force. “Ack!” Irene yells and splutters, “Hey!” And they kept splashing each other on and on, and even went far to chase each other from one end of the pool to the other. They only stopped when Seulgi put up her hand in surrender, her breathing hard and ragged after intense swimming and fail attempt-running in the pool for quite some time. Her stamina is getting depleted unlike the ex-swimmer; Irene still seems to be in much energy. “You lose.” Irene said with a triumphant smile before imitating a dog paddle swim and stood beside her. “I didn’t know you were this competitive.” Seulgi slouches down in the water and expand her arms over the marbles above. “There are still many things you don’t know about me, Seulgi.” Irene draws a small smile to her. “Should I know more?” “I don’t know.” Irene answers in her usual soft tone. The girl turns her back and faces her, with her head tilting to one side, “Should you?” Without waiting for an answer, Irene immediately swims away in a backstroke style. And Seulgi is left to ponder on the girl’s question. Should she? Seulgi thought to herself, the past month had been quite an uncommon experience. Her usual daily routine now consist of hanging around with Irene in the pool, which was not what she had in mind back then, but this particular resident of the same apartment, is now not just a stranger. Seulgi admit the girl could now be categorised as a friend. But Seulgi still knows so little of Irene, though the girl seems to know much of her. “Irene!” Seulgi calls aloud, her voice echoing. Irene stops whatever she was doing and inquisitively looks at her, “What?” “What time does your school hour normally end?” Irene had her eyes roll above, as she thinks, “Umm…I usually go to cram school every Monday and Thursday after classes, but on days other than that, my classes ends around 3pm.” “Oh…” Seulgi’s mind starts to recall her own daily schedule, before calculating the distance and figuring out certain locations that would seem strategic for—” “Why do you ask?” “Uh…I was thinking if…maybe you would want to hang around somewhere…you know, after your class is done?” Did she just ask that, Seulgi’s inner thoughts ask. And for a moment, Seulgi wanted to take back the question, because Irene did not immediately answer and Seulgi was starting to feel anxiety creeping through her skin, under the water. “Yeah…sure.” Irene answers, her face remains blank though her cheeks were tinted pink. And before Seulgi could reply anything back, the girl immediately submerges herself back in the water and did not make known of herself for a couple of minutes.                                                    ***     “Ugh…how do you drink this? It’s so bitter!” Irene had her face contorted in disgust and the sight amuses her. “I didn’t force you to drink my macchiato. Don’t blame me.” Seulgi defends and proceed to finish her last calculations on her Maths homework. They were at a particular average café. Not far from the apartment, just two bus stops away. Since their first hang out, they had so