Her friends had called her insane. Irene couldn't even blame them. 

"But you already have a degree!" 

"You'd find a job immediately." 

"It's not like you're going to earn more?" 

Irene knew that. She wasn't doing this for the money. She was doing this because she wanted to. There were so many topics to study! It seemed like a waste to just have to pick one and stick to that for the rest of her life. She didn't even dislike History. She had enjoyed it (which was visible in her incredibly end result, if she dared say so herself), but that didn't mean she didn't want to try something different. If she wasn't going to do it now, when would she?  

It was exactly that reasoning that made her start studying at another university right after she graduated from her previous one.  

From the first minute she had even entered the campus, she felt everyone's stares upon her again. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Irene knew she was pretty, but after a while everyone would get used to it and go about their day as usual. It always went like that. She wasn't really social and thus wasn't very inviting to talk to. She knew people called her haughty behind her back. She didn't mind. What did they know, anyway? Judging her without actually knowing anything about her. Irene didn't need a lot of friends. She could concentrate better on important stuff that way.  

Irene felt her phone buzz against her thigh again and her lips tipped up slightly. She just knew it was Krystal again. Her friend had been sending her encouraging messages all morning. She had kept insisting she found them annoying, but secretly it made her feel slightly less alone.  

- 

Irene didn't mind sitting alone in class. There was enough to focus on anyway. A lot of information to absorb. Lunch was different, however. She didn't mind eating alone per se, she minded the fact that everyone saw her eating alone. The fact that she'd look pathetic and would have to find something to focus on so as to seem somewhat occupied. Turned out, that would still have been the better deal.  

As she made her way to the only free table at the back of the room, she had to watch in horror as a group of boys claimed it right before she reached it. Being pathetic was still preferable to having to sit with unknown people. It made her anxious already, just looking around for a spot. The longer she waited, the more empty spots started disappearing.  

Her legs started moving towards half empty tables, just to find the full by the time she reached them too. This was ridiculous. From now on, she'd hurry on to the lunch room just to have first choice.  Too little too late for regrets. She had been standing there, with her lunch in her hands, for way too long already. She started walking towards the first empty chair that was visible. The rest of the table was filled with girls, but at least the chair was right at the end. If she was lucky, she wouldn't have to talk too much. She came to a halt before the table. It took the girls a minute to even realise she was standing there, apparently. When a blonde finally looked up at her, Irene nodded towards the chair, "do you mind if I sit here?"  

The blonde slowly blinked a few times, "I'm sorry. I thought you just said you wanted to sit there?"  

Irene frowned slightly, "I do. Is it taken?"  

She saw a few other girls starting to whisper as the blonde just kept on staring at her, she opened again but got interrupted before she could say anything.  

"You can sit next to me." Irene redirected her gaze to the brunette, before she noticed there weren't even any free spots next to her to begin with. The girl next to her, seemed to get the hint though as she moved towards the chair Irene was still standing next to. She suddenly wasn't too sure she wanted to sit here anymore though. The atmosphere felt heavy as everyone was just looking in between her, the blonde and the brunette. As the latter quirked an eyebrow in anticipation though, she didn't dare move away anymore. Irene wormed herself along the other people who were sitting at the table until she reached the free spot. She put her plate down, sitting down silently without saying another word. Even as she looked down at her food, she could still feel everyone's eyes upon her.  

She eventually looked up, meeting everyone's gazes head on. She wasn't social, but she wasn't a shy sheep waiting to be picked on either. She narrowed her eyes slightly, and slowly she found people started eating again, not after shooting the brunette a few unsure looks.  

"You're new here, aren't you?"  

The blonde snorted, "obviously."  

The brunette ignored her, "I'm Sunmi, what's your name?"  

"Irene."  

Sunmi hummed, not saying anything else, just watching her. It made Irene feel uncomfortable to say the least. She refused to show it, however. She had asked for this spot and she would pretend it was exactly what she wanted.  

"How old are you?" Irene had to resist the urge to groan. She hadn't expected for this question to come up so fast with the first person she'd converse with.  

"22." 

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, "You're older than me then, unnie." Definitely too familiar. This girl... Irene didn't know what to make of her. Anyone at this table for that matter. She just pressed her lips together.  

"You don't talk a lot, do you?" 

"No."  

Sunmi hummed, a smile on her face, "I like you."  

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

She had escaped as soon as it had been acceptable to leave for her next class. The next days, she had purposefully avoided the table, joining some other loners at their table. Likable loners even, it turned out. The last thing Irene had been expecting when she came here, was to make friends. 

"No way! You sat at Sunmi's table on your first day?!" Joy was being her over-dramatic self again, but Irene had found that it suited her in a strange way. She just nodded. "And she LET you?" Wendy chimed in. If Wendy spoke up about it, Irene decided it was worth inquiring. 

"Why is that so weird? Are they like the 'popular' clique or something?"  

Wendy and Seulgi were already 2nd years and were thus more aware of the people and happenings on campus. They shared a look before Wendy spoke up again, "not quite. Most people just avoid them because-" 

"They're bullies," Seulgi finished without looking up from her food. Wendy rolled her eyes, "not bullies, they're just... They don't really converse with anybody outside of their clique." 

"They're so charismatic. I want to be like them," Yeri sounded almost dreamy which was something Irene was not used to. "Apparently Yubin has the best abs on campus," Joy said and Wendy pulled a face, "that's so gay, Joy."  

Joy just shrugged, "I'm just saying what I've heard."  

They split up a few minutes later, Wendy and Seulgi having to go to their next class while Irene, Joy and Yeri slowly walked over to their respective lockers. "I swear, I was always popular," Joy started, flicking her red hair over her shoulder, "but the amount of boys staring at us definitely doubled ever since we started hanging with you." Irene glanced up to indeed find several gazes upon them. From the moment she met them, however, they seemed to cower away. 

"I think you're too intimidating," Yeri said silently and Irene could hear the amusement in her voice. "Good."  

They reached their lockers and Irene brought her bag to her stomach, pulling some books out and planting them inside the locker. She had only just put other books inside of her bag when there was suddenly a voice behind her, "well, you sure became popular fast," a light giggle followed and Irene felt a shiver run down her spine as she tried to act casual. She closed her locker, turning around to face Sunmi.  

Luckily, she hadn't been planning on saying anything in the first place, because when Sunmi stepped well within her personal space, Irene was momentarily too baffled to do anything other than step back, right into her locker. When sitting down, Irene hadn't really noticed the height difference in between them, but now she had to tilt her head to still be able to meet Sunmi's eyes.  

Sunmi's right hand came to rest against the lockers while her left was suddenly on Irene's chin, turning her head to the side. Sunmi hummed after a while and Irene held her breath as she was wondering what the hell was going on.  

"You are quite pretty."  

The long soft fingers finally let go of her chin, ghosting along her jaw before she dropped her hand altogether. It allowed Irene to finally let out her breath and turn her head back to face Sunmi. Nobody had ever had the balls to corner her like this and she had no idea how she felt about it exactly. "What do you think you're doing?"  

Even though Irene was used to the intimidating effect she was supposed to have on people, it seemed to be having the opposite effect on Sunmi, who leaned in further until her face was right next to hers, "I am seducing you." Irene's