The next weeks pass by in a blur.

Between grading exam papers and getting lost in Irene’s laughs (and Irene’s eyes, and Irene’s smile, and her unique brand of humor, and the many random messages that are filling up her phone these days), Seulgi is now waking up to a buzz of some kind of energy—that she’d never admit are nerves; after all, this will be the first time she and her entire class will share the same space with Irene for close to an hour—which only grows when six thirty am strikes and she’s trudging past the school gates.

Seulgi stops at the bus numbered four, and stands dutifully in front of its doors. Her students have already formed a queue, leaving her with mentally counting and checking in her head as she closely watches them clamber up the vehicle.

She’s at number sixteen when she catches the littlest sign of tied up black hair, and her entire world seemingly grinds into a halt, zeroing in on this moment where she can only watch Irene—she seriously hopes she’s not gawking—walk up to her.

The air has been chilly all week, which explains the leather jacket Irene has on. But Seulgi can’t seem to feel it because Irene’s just a few steps away from her now, and her warmth is enveloping Seulgi more than her favorite hoodie ever could.

And she’s beaming at Seulgi like Seulgi’s the best thing she’s ever seen, her smile soft and warm like sunshine on this cloudy day. It coaxes Seulgi to return the smile in kind.

(She used to think my own personal sun was simply Moonbyul’s play on words.

But now, now, Seulgi thinks she finally gets it.)

.

 

“Seonsaengnim, can I get inside now?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. You can, Wheein-ah,” Seulgi distractedly replies, her gaze fleeting from Wheein’s curious face to Irene who has made a quick stop to say hi to Wendy.

She hears a rustle from where Wheein is, the sound of plastic crinkling—like a sticky flap abruptly pulled open—but she pays it no mind. That is until a white thing fills her vision, and when she looks, she figures it’s a few folds of tissue.

A confused frown etches on Seulgi’s forehead as she asks, “Is there something on my face?”

“Ne. A nosebleed.”

“I—wait, what?”

Seulgi’s hand flies to her nose, fingers touching the spot below her nostrils. But it’s completely dry, and when she pulls her hand back to look at it, there’s no red coating her fingertips.

Wheein takes that chance to hightail inside the bus, her cackle ringing in Seulgi’s ears.

“Yah, Jung Wheein!”

.

 

Five minutes and a pounding heartbeat later (because Irene opted to stand next to her than go straight inside), her last student gets accounted for, thankfully with no other stunt pulled.

She supposes she owes it to really good luck that Joy and Yeri were already inside the bus when Irene arrived, and thinks that maybe, this day wouldn’t be so bad—for her, at least. After all, she’s begged and pleaded her class for a week straight to be in their best behavior today, and she at least owes it to them to see it through after they’ve promised they would be.

So Seulgi heaves a deep breath, filling her lungs with air and a little bravado before turning to Irene. She tilts her head, pointing at the bus doors, then, says, “Let’s go?”

Irene nods an okay, and then climbs up the vehicle since Seulgi gestures for her to go first. The younger teacher follows closely, only to be stopped at the space near the shift stick when Irene suddenly halts in her steps.

“Is everything okay?” Seulgi asks, hoping the worry is masked by her steady tone.

(Or more like, praying to every god and saint out there that her students hadn’t done something already, because Christ, it’s only seven in the morning and Seulgi isn’t prepared to face whatever it is, yet.)

“Yes,” Irene is quick to reassure, then, “I just didn’t know it’d be a full ride? Every seat seems to be, uhm, taken.”

Seulgi would ask what she means, but one glance at the back portion of the bus is all it takes to get her answer.

Those twenty something seats that are supposed to be empty now have bags of various sizes occupying each. Even the six-seater row at the farthest end of the bus has a line of bags filling it.

(It’s actually in order of the colors of the rainbow, Seulgi realizes once she gets the chance to really look. Probably minus indigo, but she can’t really tell.

And Seulgi has to swallow the constrained sound desperately wanting to escape from .)

Seulgi’s eyes narrow as she regards the now-lowered heads of her students, half of which are suddenly busy with their phones.

Her gaze lands on her usual suspects: Yeri, whose eyes are closed as she sinks deeper into the seat rest, though Seulgi knows she's not really asleep. Joy is sitting right next to her, too busy tap-tap-tapping on the screen of her phone to spare Seulgi a glance.

Wheein is in the same row as them, already getting started with the chips she's brought with her. Hyejin is mouthing along to the song that's blasting through her earphones.

There's really no way for her to tell whose idea is it this time, and she doesn't get the chance to question them because she hears Irene speak.

“I guess this is us?”

Seulgi turns to look at her, watches as the other woman points at the only empty seats nearest to the door.

“Yeah,” she seconds; there isn’t much of a choice anyway (not that Seulgi’s complaining). And then, she groans. “I'm sorry about them. I honestly have no idea what goes in their minds half the time.”

Irene presses her lips together, suppressing the chuckle that's bubbling up at the sight of Seulgi’s adorable frustrated face. Then, she says, “Kids these days, huh?”

“I know,” Seulgi drawls, drawing the o out; chuckles too when Irene does. And Seulgi has to grip the metal railing tightly just so she won’t do something stupidly romantic. Like, tuck the loose strands of Irene’s hair behind her ear—because she’s close, oh so close—or something equally mortifying.

Instead, she asks, “Do you want to take the window seat?”

She’s rewarded by Irene’s face lighting up at the idea. “Please?”

Seulgi grins at her, one coaxed by Irene’s excited giggle. “It'd be my pleasure.”

And it's then that she realizes she doesn't mind giving anything Irene asks, if it makes Irene smile like this.

Besides, looking at a Bae Juhyun who's enjoying the view doesn't feel like a sacrifice at all.

.

 

It's a pretty short trip from Kaizan High to the theme park, which Seulgi both loves and hates at the same time.

Loves because her students are starting to get antsy, and an antsy class equals a giant ruckus that Seulgi direly wants to avoid.

Hates because Seulgi is only finding out that she really wouldn’t mind sitting this close to Irene in hushed silence for hours, where the hands on top of each of their knees are brushing, side to side, skin to skin.

Hates it even more because just as she feels Irene’s hand inch closer—and her own hand follows the movement, and Irene’s pinky finger treads the scant space in between them; slowly at first, the pad of it running over Seulgi’s quite a few times and sending goosebumps all over her skin, until Irene settles on hooking her pinky with Seulgi’s—the bus winds into a stop and Seulgi begrudgingly has to pull away to give last minute instructions to her students.

(She just about died, swears that her heart has broken out of her chest with the way it’s hammering against her ribcage.)

Hates it most, because now she can’t stop wondering what it would feel like to have Irene’s hand in hers.

.

 

With the last minute instructions out of the way, Seulgi finally lets her students go. She watches them rush inside the theme park with a content smile, knowing that she doesn't really have anything to worry about because each one of her kids has a good head on their shoulders.

It doesn't really come as a surprise when her class follows everything she's said down to the last word; from filing out of the bus in a line, to forming a straight queue as they get stamped at the entrance.

They're good kids despite the silly things they pull (though Seulgi has an inkling that they've taken the best behavior spiel to heart).

A large group of them heads straight to the roller coaster ride, with SinB and Sowon leading it. The remaining group goes to the bump car queue, which includes Joy who's wearing this saccharine smile on her face, as if she can't wait to plow through every single car in the track.

They leave Seulgi to her own devices with a hurried later, Seulgi-seonsaengnim, and the fate of her heart to Irene’s hands.

.

 

“So… where do you wanna go first?”

Irene hums, tilting her head as she studies the giant map near the entrance. “I don't really know. How about you?”

A shrug rolls off Seulgi’s shoulders. “I'm good with anything, really. We can try whichever ride you want.”

At that, Irene spins around, and Seulgi doesn't know what to make of her playful smirk. “Anything?”

Seulgi tries really, really hard to just nod casually, but ultimately, she fails.

“What if I say I don't want any rides? I just want a stuffed bunny, or a teddy bear?”

Oh.

Irene’s eyebrow arches to match the quirk tugging at the corner of her lips, which has Seulgi blinking blankly at her for a good long second.

Oh.

But when her words finally sink in, Seulgi drops her chin, blushing at the implication. Though, she means it when she looks at Irene from under her lids, and says, “I'd say it's pretty lucky that I have a mean throw.”

.

 

But her luck decides to run out at the most inopportune moment, and Seulgi honestly can’t believe it.

Either that, or she just really at knocking the milk bottles over. (The ball was really soft, Hyun! It’s not gonna knock over anything.)

Or popping balloons with darts. (The tips were blunt! I tried touching them and it didn’t even hurt!)

Or tossing rings onto the small poles. (The poles were too far!)

Or beating the high score on the free throw game. (I don’t really play basketball?)

Seulgi can’t help but sulk as she leaves the shoot-a-duck booth, still empty handed, and now with an even lighter wallet.

It doesn’t help her confidence either when Irene welcomes her back with a snicker, no matter how cute she looks in those tiny bunny ears headband they’ve bought from one of the novelty stalls.

It shoots further down as they come across Moonbyul and Yongsun, the latter hugging a marill plush toy fresh from the crane machine, in the arm that isn’t hooked around Moonbyul’s. (Seulgi knows where exactly it’s from. How could she not, when she’s failed in that one too.)

She hangs her head in shame, and briefly considers hightailing it back to their bus when Moonbyul sends a huge thumbs up and a knowing smirk her way as they pass them by.

But a hand on her wrist stops her from taking that step, and she’s instead tugged into the opposite direction of the theme park’s exit, straight towards the row of various street sweets.

Irene leads her to a vintage-looking cotton candy machine, her eyes twinkling at the sight of the purple confection currently being swirled into the stick.

She gestures one at the woman making the candy, and rocks back on her heels as she waits for the cotton candy lady to finish.

When she does, Irene turns to Seulgi, raising the candy in between them. “Here.”

Seulgi eyes it with confusion, but Irene only shrugs and then says, “You looked really bummed.”

“Oh,” Seulgi breathes out. She feels the tips of her ears heat, and she’s again thankful that she chose to wear her hair down today. “Thanks. And uhm, sorry I couldn’t get you a stuffed bunny.”

“I wasn’t really being serious about it, you know?”

“Mwo?”

“But it was sweet,” Irene murmurs. Her eyes dart all over, refusing to look at Seulgi’s own, and in the end settles her gaze at the candy still in between them. “How you kept on trying. And I...”

Seulgi tilts her head, eyes growing soft at the bashfulness that’s giving Irene’s thoughts away. “You what?”

“I really didn’t want you to stop.”

“Yeah?”

Irene nods, raising the cotton candy even higher to hide her face. It doesn’t really work because Seulgi’s taller and she still sees the pink dusting her cheeks, but Seulgi simply slides her hand against Irene’s to get her to look.

There’s a shift in the air—their air—where Seulgi doesn’t tease Irene, at all, even though she normally would (like she does these days). She just smiles at Irene, the fondness dancing in her lips sticking as she laces their fingers together; gives it a light squeeze when she says, “I’ll ask Byulyi-unnie to teach me her tricks, so I can get you one next time.”

Irene doesn’t speak, but the tight squeeze she returns Seulgi’s touch with says more than what she can ever say in words.

.

 

The cotton candy’s long gone by the time they pass by the roller coaster ride, and if Seulgi strains her ears, she swears she can hear Joy and Yeri screaming their lungs out.

Oh what she'd give to capture that moment on video.

Her feet, though, grow a mind of their own, treading towards the fairly short queue. But she’s met with some form of resistance: Irene’s hand—that she hasn’t (doesn’t plan to) let go of—pulling her right back.

So Seulgi turns to ask, sounding uncertain. “Juhyun?”

“Are we—are we going to ride that?”

“Yeah!” Seulgi says. “It looks fun, don’t you think?”

Irene eyes the ride, and then the people that are starting to trickle out of the ride’s exit, with trepidation written all over her face. It only grows when she sees Bogum stumble out, a hand cupped on his mouth and the other pressed against his stomach.

“Seulgi, are you sure we’re really going to?”

Seulgi’s about to say yes, but the sight of Bogum running towards the nearest trash bin quickly changes her mind. “You know what,” Seulgi starts to say, then, she turns around, pulling Irene with her. “I heard Magic Land is pretty epic. We should go check that out.”

Irene pouts just thinking about the amount of walking her already tired feet have to do to get there. And she doesn’t, doesn’t mean to whine when she tells Seulgi this, but, she does. “But that’s on the other side of the park.”

They’ve been strolling around aimlessly for a long while now, so it’s no wonder that Irene’s feet are starting to hurt.

Seulgi balls the fingers of her free hand into a fist, and tells herself to look away from Irene’s lips or she might do something she’d regret for the rest of her existence.

So she lets her eyes scour around for a good place to rest, until she finds an empty bench a few steps away from where they are standing, right under the cool shade of a sturdy-looking tree.

She leads Irene towards that bench, plopping right next to her, though still with a respectful distance.

“Tired?” She can't help but ask when Irene breathes out a sigh.

“A little,” Irene admits. “You?”

Seulgi perches their clasped hands on her lap, and then grins. “Hungry.”

“Of course you are, Seul.”

.

 

She volunteers to buy hotdog sandwiches for them both, despite Irene saying that she isn't really hungry.

Seulgi claims that their theme park adventure isn't really complete without consuming something that's from a food stand, and she only wants to give Irene the full, genuine experience.

Her fingers lazily drum against her thigh as she waits for the hotdogs to fry, eyes wandering around (though her gaze almost always trains back to Irene).

She smiles at the sight of a little girl pulling the string of her red balloon like it's a kite, smiles wider when she sees Irene give Wheein and Hyejin an animated wave; frowns when her gaze falls on a young boy sneaking past a ride queue that he's clearly not allowed to go on.

Frowns more as Irene leans back as far as her body can allow, aimlessly swatting at the air to drive some sort of insect away.

Frowns even more when her peripheral catches Joy and Yeri running towards something with matching smirks on their faces.

“What are you two up to now,” Seulgi grumbles under her breath. She's about to follow her two students, but the food stand guy says that her sandwiches are done, leaving her with no choice but to take them in her hands and head back to their bench.

.

 

“I think I just saw Joy and Yeri,” Irene says by way of greeting, wincing in uncertainty as she continues, “and I’m quite sure that that was Bogum-ssi they were dragging with them.”

She mumbles a shy thanks when Seulgi hands her one of the sandwiches.

The younger teacher cranes her neck, looking at the spot she last saw the two. But it's starting to get dark, and Seulgi doesn't really have the most perfect eyesight to begin with, so she sees nothing significant.

Seulgi’s left to shrugging it off, and then takes her first bite.

Irene takes a bite, too, off her own bun, in this really elegant and graceful way that sort of makes Seulgi feel like a slob (and totally cheap because Irene is fancy dinners and expensive wine, while she’s tteokbokki and hweori gamja in the streets).

But she smiles at Seulgi mid-chew, her twinkling eyes almost disappearing. Like the food doesn't matter to her at all, only the company, and Seulgi feels herself tumble past that edge she's been teetering at for the past seven and a half months.

The park lights light up, so does Irene’s face as she watches the entire place slowly be brought to a luminous life.

In turn, Seulgi watches the iridescent rays through Irene’s eyes, feels herself swallow at the awe and excitement that grows at the tug of Irene’s lips.

The lamp post right next to the bench they’re sitting at is the last to turn on, but its light hits Irene so perfectly that Seulgi can only stare at her, slack jawed and completely out of words.

This little bit of new (is it really?) detail soars up, from the dub-dub of her heart to the back of .

Because she realizes she wants to do this, sit right next to Irene for hours without really doing anything; maybe fill the air floating in between with borrowed words.

(I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands, the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses, she'd start to say, bring E.E s to life.

And then, maybe, she'd have gathered her own words by the end of it, about how she'll never stop finding new ways to be awed by Irene each minute.)

The lub-dub of her heart doubles—triples even—when Irene reaches out to wipe off the bit of ketchup at the corner of that she hasn't noticed.

Irene has pulled a wet wipe from her bag, and has cleaned the sauce off of her face with this smile that Seulgi swears is fond and tender, and Seulgi feels her thoughts slide to the tip of her tongue.

Falling in love with a girl in the middle of a theme park isn't the kind of story her favorite writers would write novels about. But falling in love with the girl with the most beautiful heart is, and it's beautiful, so, so beautiful; a Pulitzer, Nobel Peace and Christmas rolled into one.

.

 

They're all back at the bus once seven thirty hits. Seulgi stands in front again to check if everyone’s on board—it's really not that far-fetched that one of her students will give her the slip just to stay longer—and taps the bus driver on his shoulder to tell him that it's good to go.

She settles next to a sleepy Irene, giddiness almost spilling out of her when Irene shifts on her seat and scoots closer.

Irene’s shoulder presses against Seulgi’s, though her head lolls to the side as she tries to fight the sleep off.

Seulgi, for her part, just wants to pull her closer, lay Irene’s head on her shoulder and tell her to just go to sleep.

Yet even that is too intimate, isn’t it, for two people who have been dancing around that line— where everything is uncertain and nothing is ever sure—the same line Seulgi swore years ago that she’d never ever go near again.

But fate has a different plan and the bus lurches into a sudden stop; Irene jerks awake, completely startled that she seems to fold in on herself. Though, she seeks shelter on Seulgi’s side, and hides her face at the crook of Seulgi’s neck.

Seulgi feels her heart swell ten folds, and the urge to protect Irene from anything washes over her as she gently shushes the other woman.

“Go back to sleep, Hyun-ah.”

And that’s how Seulgi knows she just blew it.

 

---

we're close to this one ending, this is the second to the last chapter (though this was really just supposed to be short). i would like to thank everyone who read, subscribed, upvoted and left a comment! thanks for sticking to the fic despite me taking a bit long to update. :')