"To another crazy year, guys!"

Irene watched as a group of students downed their drinks in a gulp together. 'What a mess.' she thought.

The night had grown darker as she crossed through the park with Taegon by her side. He walked in silent, observing his surrounding with his hands tucked in his pocket. His name sounded quite familiar yet Irene was not sure where had she heard the name before.

The one thing Irene noticed from him was the fact that he did not even bat an eye towards her; something she was grateful of yet had not been accustomed to. Unlike many others, he was not fazed at all by Irene's visual. In fact, he looked at her with an unimpressed expression that Irene felt anxious for a whole different reason than usual.

The lack of attention she was so accustomed to receiving slowly gone through her head. It raised the curiosity from within. She took a couple of glances towards her silent companion who did not seem to notice at all.

It was not long before they finally got near the edge of the stage area. People were still jamming to the loud song the DJ was playing to. Irene squinted her eyes in hope to finally find Joy.

"Oh! Is that her?" Irene said when she was a tall girl with familiar figure on the dance floor.

"Noona, wait for..." Irene ignored Taegon's voice and hurriedly head to the girl.

She carefully shifted through the crowd once more towards the familiar figure who was drunkenly dancing within the crowd. The tall girl was enjoying herself alone, moving her body along to the rhythm.

"Joy!" she called out, grabbing the girl on the shoulder.

Irene spun her around, pretty sure that she had foind the younger girl. When the girl finally turned, Irene was disappointed to find out that she was definitely not Joy. Irene muttered her apology and let go of her grasp on the random girl.

#BOOM!#

A sudden explosion from the stage made Irene screamed out loud while her hands covered her sensitive ears. Her heart beat erratically out of control. She hated loud noises and for a moment she forgot how loud it was to stand near the stage area. The crowd was getting wilder as the music started to pick up its pace, she could feel the pressure around her from their attempt to get closer to the stage.

A gentle touch on her shoulder made her look up. Taegon was looking at her with a disapproving expression on his face as he used his body to shield her from getting crushed in the crowd. He held up his phone where Irene read: 'Are you okay?' to which she replied with a nod. He held her by the arm and slowly pulled her with him, trying to find a way out from the crowd.

Irene gave involuntary grimaces as mini explosions could still be heard once in a while. When Taegon noticed, he rummaged his sling bag from which he produced a headphone and placed it on her head. Irene looked surprised until it finally dawned on her that he was trying to ease the loud noise around her. ‘Hold my hand and follow me.’ he wrote yet another message on his phone screen for Irene to read.

It took them a while, but Irene was glad when she could feel soft breeze across her face once they arrived by the edge of the crowd. Looking back, Irene shuddered at the thought of being trapped within the messy scene from afar.

“I think we better get back now.” Irene heard a muffled voice behind her.

”Huh?” She turned around. Taegon signaled for her to take off her headphone. “Oh right. Thank you.” she said as she gave them back.

”I