CHAPTER 2

“Kang Seulgi!” Even before Seulgi could even turn to the source of the familiar voice calling for her, there’s already a silly smile carving on her lips. She turned excitedly and lit up when she saw the faces of her cousins, whom she had missed.

“Jessica! Krystal!” The girls share a strangely similar expression as they smile at their running cousin, the overly familiar grin on their cousin’s face which she didn’t seem to grow out of since they were kids ever so present and flashing at them. Krystal immediately drew Seulgi into a hug as soon as she got within arm's reach, with Seulgi returning the hug with equal longing, and giggling when the taller girl tightened their hug even more. “When did you arrive? You should’ve called me!”

“Yesterday. We were tired from our flight so we weren't able to visit you.” Krystal answers, followed by Jessica’s playful apology which definitely didn’t sound like she meant the word.

Students immediately began looking in their direction, their eyes wide with curiosity and wonder as they stared at the new faces; seemingly enthralled by the air of luxury and elegance that surrounded the two, whose faces appear to be straight out of a Hollywood film.

It’s what the Jung sisters always do; they effortlessly make everyone turn their heads and look at their presence that demanded attention.

“Why are you guys here, anyway? Picking me up?”

“I’m with my girlfriend, actually.” Jessica states as if she didn’t just reveal something that made Seulgi question everything she knew about her and her uality. As far as she remembers, her older cousin’s straight, having been pursued by many male suitors, and dating several guys during highschool and college. Never in her entire life did she suspect any of the Jungs be gay. “She’s here for her cousin, and we decided to tag along to see you too.”

“I—What—You're gay?!”

“For one girl, Seulgi.” Seulgi blinks, seemingly unable to understand what Jessica meant. “Unlike you who’s definitely gay for all pretty girls.”

“Not true. Not for all pretty girls, at least.” An image of Irene's face popped in her head, making Seulgi scowl and shudder at the idea of actually liking the univeristy’s brat.

“So, where’s this girlfriend of yours?”

“Student council office. Do you know where that is?” The brunette didn’t even try to hide her grimace upon hearing her cousin's words. She just can’t help it when the image of a certain blonde who frequents the office once again flashed through her mind.

“The devil’s den. I see.”

“That’s what students who always gets into trouble call the student council’s office, Seulgi.” Krystal quips with a teasing smirk. “You seem to be one of those kids.”

“Not true.” It is true. But Seulgi despises the student council office for an entirely different reason. She actually wouldn't detest it as much if Irene Bae wasn't always sitting behind one of the desks, glaring at her and giving Seulgi her signature frown everytime the brunette gets sent into the office for violating another one of the university’s useless rules.

And it's ironic because, as the university's peacekeeper, Irene appears to struggle to keep peace around Seulgi, as the two would always find a reason to start a screaming match that the other student council members would have to intervene and stop by frustratingly pulling them away from each other before the argument escalated into physical assault.

“Her cousin's a member of the student council. She’s probably smart and kind.” Seulgi simply hums in response to Jessica since her cousin isn’t entirely wrong to assume that the members of the student council are smart and kind. They actually are smart and kind, with one blonde exception, of course.

And as soon as Jessica opened the door to the office, her gaze was met with the unwelcoming glare of that one blonde exception. Seulgi, in pure instinct, immediately ran through the list of insults she had prepared for Irene in case the other student initiated another argument with her, which is extremely likely to happen.

“Got into trouble again, freak?” And there goes the first blow.

“Shut it—”

“Babe!” It was the spark of offense in Irene’s eyes that stopped Seulgi from continuing her verbal assault towards her classmate, taking note of the way the blonde seemed to lose focus as another woman entered the room with them, a loving smile plastered on her face as she wraps Jessica in a warm hug.

Despite Irene forgetting about Seulgi's presence for a brief moment, Seulgi couldn't take her gaze away from her, not when she saw her classmate appear to be the most vulnerable for the first time.

“Hi there, babe.” The intimate peck that Jessica places on the shorter woman’s cheek triggers the anger in Irene’s dark brown orbs, and Seulgi finds her stomach churning as her classmate’s expression morphs into something she recognizes: disgust.

“Taeyeon.” Seulgi finally turns towards the newcomer who sighs upon hearing Irene call for her. “You’re gay?” The question didn't seem like a question at all, and it certainly isn’t asking for an answer that had already been spread out in front of them the moment Taeyeon first entered the room.

“Irene, let’s talk about this later? Hmm?”

“You’re—”

“Gay.” Taeyeon offers when Irene couldn’t find it in her to repeat the word without visibly grimacing. ”Yes, I am, Irene. That’s why I’m here, to tell you that.”

Seulgi stood quietly on one side of the room, arms crossed while studying Irene's disgusted and mortified expression, which was surprisingly not directed at her this time. But, as familiar and unsurprising as Irene's expression is to Seulgi, she notices that her cousin’s revelation has hit her classmate harder than it should have.

Because, for the first time, Seulgi noticed betrayal in those hate-filled orbs, and she could tell that, no matter how hard Irene tried to hide it with anger, the blonde was hurting.

A heavy sigh from Taeyeon broke their silence, followed by ”This is my fiancé, Jessica, and her sister, Krystal.”

“Now, you’re getting married?” Irene exclaims in disbelief, scoffing when her cousin simply looked away. “This is unbelievable.”

“What’s unbelievable?” Krystal asks beside Seulgi, crossing her arms in pure intimidation as she meets Irene’s glare with a glare of her own. “And what’s with your attitude towards Seulgi?”

“None of your business.”

“You’re being rude.”

“Oh pleas—”

“Krystal.” Seulgi steps up, nudging her glaring cousin. “She’s my classmate. It’s no big deal.”

Irene eyes the two for awhile, quickly judging their interaction before rolling her eyes and turning her focus towards her own cousin once more. And with an exasperated sigh, she asks again, as if begging Taeyeon to give her the answer that she wants to hear. “You’re gay?”

Taeyeon couldn’t even look up to meet Irene’s piercing gaze, finding comfort in the way her fiancé held her hand and squeezing it for supoort, which only made the rage in Irene’s chest to double. “Stop holding her hand, for goodness’ sake! It’s disgusti—"

“What’s wrong with being gay?” Jessica finally asks, her tone cold, and eyes stoic, and even Irene couldn’t hold her gaze for a second longer without flinching and her resolve wavering. “It isn’t a crime, is it?”

“It's not— not in Korea, atleast— but it's not… right.” And as much as Irene wants to hold onto the venom in her tone that would normally send shivers down anyone’s spine, she couldn’t, especially not in front of Jessica who effortlessly stripped her of her confidence with one glare.

“Then what do you think is right? Throwing tantrums because your cousin’s holding another girl’s hand? Is that right?”

“That’s not—”

“Okay. Stop! The both of you, Stop.” Taeyeon takes a step towards her cousin with a hand raised to attempt to calm the blonde down. “Irene, we'll talk about this later.”

“Oh, great. You're taking her side instead of mine?”

“I'm not taking anyone’s side, Irene. I just want you to calm down before we talk. You're definitely blinded by your anger now.” Taeyeon looked visibly torn between her own cousin and her fiancé. Seulgi could almost hear the way her voice wavered when she finally stepped up.

Irene could only roll her eyes and throw her hands up in mock surrender. “Fine. I don't care. I'm leaving ”

Grabbing her own bag, Irene walks out of the room with heavy steps, not forgetting to slam the door shut behind her, making everyone in the room flinch and sigh at her obvious show of agitation.

The suffocating silence made Seulgi want to rush out of the office and desperately take a breath outside, where the air wasn't as thick and heavy as it was inside. But Seulgi just stared at the closed door, fighting the nagging urge to chase down and accompany the blonde girl who had just lashed out in front of them, visibly upset and on the verge of breaking down.

“I'm sorry about her, something just happened in the past that made her act like this.” Running a hand across her face in exhaustion, and dropping her weight on the couch, Taeyeon looked like she’s a second closer to following her own cousin.

And Seulgi found herself looking down to her shoes as she sits on the couch, still fighting off the feeling of wanting to listen and understand Irene’s anger now that the blonde seemed to have too much of a personal reason to hate on homouals.

The dark brown eyes filled with betrayal and hurt still haunted Seulgi as she went home that night. She couldn’t find it in her to bury the image of the split second of sadness that overcame Irene’s expression, couldn’t find it in herself to forget those frighteningly pained gaze that immediately got drowned by waves of anger and betrayal.

And even in her sleep, Seulgi had those haunting gaze following her, begging her to look and understand the complex mind and emotions of one Irene Bae.

She hates it.

Seulgi hates the fact that she can't understand Irene Bae. She spent her entire night wallowing and replaying the memory of Irene's eyes in the student council office, how it was too shocking to see a different expression clouding her normally angry and disgusted gaze. And she despises it even more because the more she thinks about that particular image of Irene, the heavier her heart becomes.

Oh, she hates it so much.

She shouldn’t even concern herself with Irene, not when the girl has given her nothing but headaches and a wounded ego for the past few years.

But here she is, studying the girl in the seat in front of her, her elegantly combed blonde locks and solemn demeanor giving no indication to Seulgi as to whether she was still upset about what had happened the day before. The brunette rests her elbow on her desk, palm open, chin resting on top, as she lets her professor's voice fade into the background, pondering how to approach Irene without agitating her, which was obviously impossible.

“Hey.” Seulgi whispers, enough for Irene to hear her. “Brat.”

Irene doesn’t look back. But even without seeing her face, Seulgi knew the blonde had rolled her eyes in exasperation and is now currently muttering curses to Seulgi under her breath.

“Hey.” With a soft kick to Irene’s chair, she finally heard the girl grunt in annoyance, low and quiet as if trying to avoid catching their professor's attention, but loud enough for Seulgi to hear and tell her to stop her antics before she loses her patience.

But Seulgi’s too stubborn to understand a simple warning.

She kicks her again, just to annoy her more. “I’m talking to you.”

Irene seems to busy herself with writing notes, and Seulgi thought she’s really going to ignore her for the rest of the period, but before Seulgi could even send another kick to Irene’s chair, a crumpled piece of paper was thrown in her direction, courtesy by none other than Irene herself.

If you don't stop that, I'll tear your leg off.

Seulgi grins victoriously as she finally gained Irene’s attention. She crumpled the paper again, kicked Irene’s chair once more for good measure and was about to speak to her when, to her amusement, Irene unceremoniously drags her desk and chair forward and away from Seulgi’s reach. Seulgi silently chuckles at the blonde's antics before she imitating the girl’s actions to get closer to her and to be able to speak to her.

With a kick harder than the previous ones, Irene finally turns to her direction with a glare Seulgi’s too familiar with that she doesn’t even flinch anymore. “Will you stop that?”

“How does it feel to have a gay cousin?” Seulgi flashes Irene a teasing smirk, leaning closer to the blonde student with a solid glare.

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