If there's one person I'm avoiding in the campus, that would be Bae Irene.
Bae Irene, she was someone who would catch your attention the very second you spot her. She's a real head-turner, a goddes, an angel. She looked so pure, so kind, like someone who would have a golden heart.
From the way she laughs, and the way her eyelids would flutter, and the way her hair would fall into place after she flips a lock of it, she's the definition of beauty herself.
But there's a catch.
Everyone knows what filth she hides underneath the good girl facade she has; from doing services to the professors for higher grades, to pulling fraternity pranks on random freshmen.
She pulled the most immature joke on the university; spray-painting a huge drawing of a on every mirror of the rest rooms. No one could even point a finger towards her; no one believes that she would do that kind of thing.
No one messes with Bae Irene. If you become one of her targets, you'll swear you shouldn't have upsetted her.
Up until now, I never had any connections with Bae Irene, until one day, I opened the door to my dorm room and,
"Oh hey, are you Kang Seulgi?"

---

Bae Irene never stayed in a dorm.
Ever since she started going to school when she was younger, she goes home to a big mansion on the top of a hill, fetched by a black, glossy car that no one would ever touch.
So when I came home to Bae Irene, eating ramyeon, in my dorm room, I almost shrieked.
Well, at least I stopped myself from doing so.
But that day, I came home from archery training and ran all the way to dorm since it was drizzling outside.
So imagine how fast my heart beat was on that day, from all the running, from all the nervousness of meeting my new roommate, and from seeing the angel, the devil herself.
"I'm Kang Seulgi..." I immediately avoided eye contact. I'm naturally a shy person, so even if it wasn't Bae Irene, I would look away. "You can just call me Seulgi."
She hummed. "Seulgi.
"I've heard a lot about you."
It was either a compliment or a threat.
I choose to believe it was the latter.
"Well, I hope nothing bad?"
"Nothing bad, in my record." She said. "Ramyeon? I kinda brought a lot, the amount can keep us alive for approximately five weeks or so."
I nodded.
Since when has the dorm room smelled so good?
I noticed folded boxes thrown in the bin. There were bags on th floor too, and I guess they're Irene's.
The unoccupied desk was decorated with purple things, and again, I believe they're Irene's.
Even if I'm not facing her, I can feel her staring at me, probably judging me.
"Since we're gonna be dorm mates, I guess I should be more dorm mate material, huh?" She spoke. "How was your day?"
I opened a cup of ramyeon and poured in hot water from the kettle she probably brought along with her from wherever she came from.
"I'm fine.
"How's your day so far?"

---

Bae Irene, she was a night person.
As her dorm mate, I have already memorized her schedule.
Her class starts at 8:00 AM. Her lunch break is on 1:30 PM. Her classes resume at 4:00 PM. And then she doesn't go home until 10:00 PM, the curfew.
Whenever she comes home, she's either pissed, fed up, or just tired. So she either muffles her screams with a pillow, stress eat with her ramyeon, or go straight to bed without even changing her clothes.
From the way I see it, maybe she's undergoing some problems?
I don't really know, I don't know whatever fraternities go on.
But it's not helping when I'm trying to study and she's ing cursing the wind, and all I can do is hope she tires down and decides to go to sleep.
God listens to me most of the time, but mostly, she rants.

---

If you were to study who Bae Irene was, you'd say she's a ing fake.
She has different personas for different people.
What you give her is what you get.
As for me, she doesn't really care in what I do, as I do to her.
We coexist in silence; we spend nights rarely talking about anything but how Physics was being ty for me.
She asks me questions, but I never had the guts to ask her how her day went.
She can be really scary sometimes.

---

It's not everyday that someone intentionally bumps onto me.
And by intentionally, I mean it.
I feel the force the person inserts in herself just to bump to me.
And what's rude is the fact that I'd yell back at her, and she wouldn't even turn back to me.
It's the same person over and over again.
But I've never heard of who she is, or what course she takes, or what year she's in.
To me, she's nothing but a .
Her hair was long and brown; sometimes curled, sometimes straight.
Her eyes are expressionless, just like the rest of her face.
Her forehead was kind of wide...
Not judging her though.
But she's rude.
I hope she trips down or something.

---

Bae Irene, I rarely see her in the campus; but when I do, she's either with her circle of bad influences, or she's buried with library papers and books, in front of her laptop.
Today was no different.
Bae Irene sat on top of a car's front, and some of her friends (or fratmates, whatever she calls them) gather around her.
She looked like a queen.
Her eyes met mine, and suddenly, the her laugh faded out, her smile got erased, and her eyes, nose and ears seemed to flare.
The same person bumped onto me again.
Like a ing thunder, Bae Irene hopped off the car and ran towards the girl to push her away from me.
"Watch where you're going," she growled towards the girl as she pulled me away from her, and towards her friends.
No, is it smoke I smell from her jacket?
God, no.

---

"How many times had she bumped herself into you?"
This was the most that Bae Irene spoke to me ever since the day we ate ramyeon and I got to be her roommate.
Why is she concerned onto why the girl bumps herself to me and stuff like that?
"Maybe thrice... Or four, I don't really count." Because honestly, why would I even pay attention to that? God knows, I might have bumped onto her for seven times, and I wouldn't know.
"Well, it's about time you take care of yourself. You wouldn't want to mess up with her."
"Why, what's with her?" I asked. Of course, I would want to know why you're suddenly concerned over a small issue. It's really not a big deal for me, honestly.
Bae Irene looked at me like I said the rudest thing about her family. Did I say something wrong?
"Just listen to me, and be careful around her. She's got an eye for you."

---

"Hey, how much time do you spend with your friends?"
Bae Irene looked at me with a hand on her cheek. She sat down the floor, and rested her head on the table I'm using for my studies.
"I don't have friends," I admitted. "I ."
It was 10:47 PM, I'm trying to review my notes for a short quiz tomorrow, she's slurping her cup of ramyeon, and she suddenly asks me about my friends. Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I feel glad that I have no friends. I'd rather be alone than be surrounded with the same people who Bae Irene befriends.
"You don't?" Bae Irene echoed, and I grunted in response. "Sounds bad. Want to have lunch sometime with me?"
I dropped my pencil and I lost focus. I suddenly don't know which paragraph I was reading. Her invitation really caught me off-guard.
A Bae Irene, princess-like but yet a daredevil, respected yet notorious, beauty and brains yet can be as silent as a feather or as loud as the thunder. A Bae Irene invited me for lunch.
"I'm crazy, I know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask you things like that when you're busy." She sighed. "But that invitation won't expire, just for your information. Call me anytime, I'd love to have lunch with you."

---

Maybe if I was 'normal' enough, I would swoon over Bae Irene's voice. I would stare at her all day if I got the chance. I would have fell helplessly in love with her, that I'd mistake a friendly lunch for a date.
But I'm not 'normal' -- I don't fall for her antics. I get annoyed with her voice (imagine spending restless nights involuntarily listening to her rants), I get sick of her sight (everytime I see her, she reminds me of ramyeon), and I don't even want to consider dating her (don't even ask why).
So when she suddenly ran towards me when she spotted me going to the cafeteria (we have the same schedule for lunch), people suddenly squealed. They probably think I'm Bae Irene's new victim.
No, they think it's ing cheesy, to go all the way across the dining hall, just to reach me.
It's disgusting.
And again, she reeks of cigarettes. I'm kinda glad for her she isn't caught smoking yet.
"So, are you free today?" Bae Irene asked me, as I kept walking. It didn't stop her from following me.
I halted for a while, when we reached a spot where there were only a few people around.
"Listen," I whispered. "What issue are you trying to get me into? I'm trying to live a normal, peaceful life, alright? I don't want to get involved with you, nor get affiliated with your shennanigans."
I huffed.
But something tells me she's rather down with what I said.
"That's what you think of me?
"You think I'm all fun and games? That I can't be serious for once? You think I'm trying to get you into trouble?
"I rarely find people respectable enough to be called a friend, alright? No one wants to befriend me than es and jerks. I want to be friends with you, to try living 'normally' for once, not because I'm trying to ruin your life."
Rejected, Bae Irene stomped away from me.
I didn't bother chasing her back.

---

Sleep is my best friend.
When I don't have anything to study for, or if I don't have any archery training, I spend the rest of the day sleeping.
As for Bae Irene, she usually spends her free time with her frat. They're either fighting with other people, or simply having 'fun' like drinking or smoking.
But note the word 'usually'.
Today, she decided to stay at the dorm room.
She's seated in the middle of the room, as if she was meditating with her eyes open.
I'm grilling a cheese sandwich on a pan for myself, watching her every once in a while.
"What are you doing?" I decided to ask.
She stayed silent for a while before responding, as if her brain buffered for a moment.
"Thinking about life."
She's a smart person, I give her that. She's probably deep into thinking about it, that she probably forgot about her half-finished cup of ramyeon which was probably cold by now.
Suddenly, I'm curious as to what her views are about life, and how life is for her as of the moment.
"Are you..." I can't find the right term for it. "Are you okay?"
"Most of the time." She said.
Can I finally get her to open up to me?
"I see," I chuckled. "Some nights I hear you screaming. What's up?"
"Problems." She said. "I have a lot of them. Insecurities. Fears. Generally, they're all self-loathing. I hope you take care of yourself well."
They're all vague, but I guess she has a sad life.
But how come she's insecure?
She's beautiful. She's smart. She's rich. She can balance social life with academics. A lot of people love her. She basically has everything. What else is she insecure about?
"Well..." I muttered, flipping the sandwich on its other side. "Can I do anything for you?"
She hummed for a bit, then she stared at me.
"Yeah, could you make me grilled cheese sandwich, too? And a little bit of your time to listen to me."

---

"My family is so close to disowning me," She said as she bit one of the corners of the grilled cheese sandwich I made for her. "Apparently, they didn't like it when they heard that their only daughter smokes and drinks and is a part of a fraternity."
Yeah.
I mean, if I were your parent, I'd do the same, too.
Your parents gave you all your needs. They put you into a good school to be educated and to grow up well.
But you spend all your money with drugs and alcohol.
"So I thought that maybe if I get away from them for a while, they'll start to miss me. Maybe they'd care for me a bit more, or maybe beg for me to come back home. But they never even asked me which dorm am I in. And that ."
You should be a little more considerate about your parents' feelings.
You're the one who ed up, not them. It's not their obligation to look for you.
"I guess that at some point, I really ed up. With my life choices, with the people I became friends with. But it's all because of their fault."
Oh?
Wait, this is getting interesting.
I bit from my sandwich again, not realizing I was so into listening to her story, that my sandwich was starting to get cold.
"They barely spend enough time for me. They're all business-minded, they put work above anything else. When I was little, I couldn't even go to family days because they're busy working. I hate it. So I tried studying really well, so that maybe -- just maybe -- they'd appreciate my efforts. But they haven't even attended any recognition ceremonies. I go up the stage to get the medal for myself.
"I tried the complete opposite when I reached this age. I joined a fraternity just last year. Maybe if I get myself into trouble, they'd worry about me. But that just led them to getting mad at me and almost throwing me out."
I swallowed what I was chewing. "Well, that's just bull."
"I agree."
"They at parenting. I completely understand why you're like that."
"Like what?" She asked.
"Well," I paused. What was she? How can I define her? "I don't know. You're both smart and wild. I don't even know how to define you."
"I'm cool, right?"
I snorted. "Right."
"So, does that make you agree to my invitation of being my frien