Saturday evening, Seulgi decides to finally facetime Wendy to give her the good news. She has been so tired the after practice for the past few days that she hasn't had the energy to update the girl at all.

"SEULGI! Omg. How have you been? I was so worried. You said you would update but all I got was a word here and there from you!" Wendy picks up after the second ring and immediate fusses over her best friend with a worried expression.

"Breath Wen! Sorry. I've just been so tired from practice. Anyway...I MADE THE TEAM!" Seulgi reveals the good news, grinning so wide that her eyes almost disappear under her mono-lid crescent.

"OMG! Congrats. I knew you can do it!" Wendy squeals with happiness. She knows how much Seulgi wanted it and how hard she tried to prove herself. She's happy that her friend is closer to pursuing her dream.

Before Seulgi can response, Byul barges into the room when he heard a female's voice emitting from Seul’s room, hoping to embarrass his dongsaeng as revenge.

"Omo. Our cute little Seul has such a beautiful girlfriend." Byul comments after seeing Wendy on Seul's screen. "Joy! Umji! Come meet Seul's girlfriend" He yells out loud.

"I'll talk to you another time Seul!" Wendy quickly hangs up after hearing Byul called her Seul's girlfriend. She tilts her head down and cups her cheeks at the rising temperature. She didn't want them to see her blush.

Joy and Umji barge in one second too late. The screen already went black by then. Seulgi just stares dumbfounded at the scenario.

The next morning.

"Irene. Do you want to grab breakfast with Byul and I?" Yongsun asks her best friend and suitemate.

"And be a third-wheel? No thanks"

"Byul's teammates might be there also and we can invite Yeri too."

Irene ponders for a second. This might be a good chance to get her mind off of a certain bear-like guy. She’s been walking back and forth the same path outside the dorm for a whole week now, hoping to bump into a certain Kang Seul but luck is just not on her side. She even made the effort to dress up a little to be more presentable just in case.

"And who knows. You might bump into the Band-Aids guy again." Yongsun reads her thoughts

"Fine. But not because I want to see him again!" Irene clarifies.

“Uh huh.”

The girls settle for a booth near the back of the cafe while waiting for the guys to show up.

The three guys finally show up at the cafe, out of breath and with messy hair. They had woken up late after a late night of interrogating Seul on his "girlfriend" which the said guy kept denying and insisting that they are just childhood friends.

They had slept thru their alarm that morning. Byul had quickly thrown on a sweater and woke the other two up only when Yongsun called to let him know that they were on their way to the cafe. Joy took his sweet time gelling his hair and put on a more presentable attire with jeans and a blazer over a t-shirt. The hibernating bear took forever to wake up and when he finally came out from his bathroom, Byul just threw a hoodie at him and dragged the both of them toward the cafe.

Yongsun waves at Byul when she catches her boyfriend walks in.

"Sorry babe. Joy and Seul took forever." Byul tries to put the blame on the latecomers after he reaches the booth where the girls are sitting. He gives his girlfriend a quick peck on the lips and a big hug for the other two.

Irene heard the familiarity of one of the names but didn't think much until she saw the two guys who finally caught up to Byul are walking in her direction.

Oh my god. That's him! Irene squeals inwardly. Without the leather jacket, he lost some mysteriousness, but his cute bear-like feature is unmistakable.

"Ya! You're the one who kept snoozing your alarm." Joy sends Byul a glare. He was already annoyed that Byul had rushed him in the midst of gelling his hair and now, to be blamed for this tardiness, he's not going to take it silently.

Yongsun cuts off the banter between the teammates. "Anyway. Let me introduce you guys to my two friends here. Kim Yeri, first year, biology major." Yongsun points to a short pretty looking, blonde hair girl with a child-like feature.

"Hi!" Yeri waves excited at the two before sending them a wink.

"And this is my best friend, Bae Irene, 2nd year, music major like me." Yongsun introduces the girl next to her.

"Hyun!" Seulgi calls out when she finally got a closer look at the said girl. Joohyun looks so different without her thin-rimmed glasses and her hair down that it took Seulgi awhile before recognizing that that was the same girl that fell on her bike.

"Hyun. Remember me? I knew we would meet again!” Seul points at herself with a wide smile. “Wait...." She just realizes something. "Irene...? I thought your name was Hyun"

"M-my stage name is Irene. But my real name is Joohyun. Bae Joohyun." Irene clarifies in a soft-spoken voice.

Yeri snickers at her unnie’s sudden shyness and that earned her a slap on the arm by the said unnie.

"Joohyun..." Seulgi tests out the word on her tongue, feeling the foreignness in the longer name. "Can I still call you Hyun though?" Seulgi gives Irene the cutest puppy dog pout. She likes the closeness of calling Irene Hyun more.

Irene nods shyly before turning away so that Seulgi can't see her blushing.

The group just watch in awe at the exchange between the two. Yongsun especially, knowing that her best friend only ever stutters….hm....when was the last time? And then it clicks!

"OMG! Are you the Band-Ai..." Muffle muffle when Irene quickly covers Yongsun's mouth before she can continue her question. Seulgi is shocked at the action. Yeri has this knowing smile. And the other two are just confused.

After some more introduction and much shuffling, the group finally settles down with Yongsun sitting in the middle between Byul and Yeri and Irene squished between Seul and Joy.

While they were waiting for their food to arrive, Yeri brings up what was on everyone's mind. "So why did you call Irene unnie Hyun" Yeri asks Seul.

"We met on my first day here and she told me her name was Hyun. I guess I missed the Joo part." Seulgi laughs.

“Interesting. You know.... Irene unnie told me that besides her family she would only let one other person called Joohyun.” Yeri points out with a devious smile.

“YA! Kim Yerim!” Irene gives Yeri a stern look that shuts the younger girl up immediately.

Seul is surprised by the sudden outburst. She has not heard Irene speak up let alone raising her voice like that. But still, Seulgi can’t help but feel flustered that the name holds such important indication.

“Don’t expose yourself in front of you know who…” Yongsun laughs and teases Irene while glancing at Seul to remind her that he’s watching.

“OMG! Yongsun! Not you too!” Irene groans at being the center of the jokes that her friends are making.

Everyone around the table laughs at the exasperated and flustered Irene. It’s not every day you get to see the usual calm and composed Bae Irene a mess like this.

Small talks continue around the table with Byul being extra greasy toward Yongsun, Yeri trying to get Joy to say more than 5 words in a sentence, and Seul and Irene getting to know each other.

Seul finds out that Irene comes from a humble family background and is the oldest of three siblings. She has two little sisters back in Daegu and was going to attend a local university near home to help take care of them but S.M.U offered her a full ride at their university and the offer was too good to refuse. She loves music and especially the violin. Her dream is to be part of Korea’s best orchestra group in the future and she definitely has the talent to reach that goal. Only a second year but she’s already one of the lead violinists in their orchestra and one of the most sought-after performers for symphonies.

“Wow! You’re amazing Hyun!” Seulgi praises. Irene feels a little shy about the compliment so she decides to get to drive the topic toward Seul instead.

“How about you Seul? Where are you from? Are you an only child?” Irene spits out the questions in succession.

“Haha. Am I being interrogated now?” Seulgi jokes while trying to think through the questions to not reveal anything that can expose her. “My family is from Jeju. I was born and raised there. I have a bi-.” She stops herself before continuing. “I mean little sister.” She answers briefly without elaborating.

“Jeju huh? That’s rare. What does your family do?” Yongsun asks curiously. From Yongsun’s knowledge, most people from Jeju rarely leaves Jeju.

“Oh. They’re just business people.” Seulgi answers vaguely while avoiding their eye contact. The classic response she gives whenever someone asks about her family. She doesn’t want to lie but she also doesn’t want everyone to know that her parents are the CEOs of Kang Enterprise, Korea’s biggest retail malls. They usually look at her differently afterward.

Byul notices Seul’s reluctant and decides to change the topic. “So babe. Aren’t you performing in a couple of weeks? Maybe I’ll bring Seul and Joy so they can be awed by your talent!” He wants to brag about his girlfriend in front of his new teammates.

“Thanks for remembering about me too.” Irene points out sarcastically.

“Huh? Bae Irene who? I thought you go by Hyun now!” Byul continues the teasing and that earned laughter from the group as they all look at a blushing Irene.

The group is about to part way after brunch when Yongsun nudges her best friend. “Girl! Are you going to ask him for his number?”

“I want to…but I don’t know how…” Irene twirls her fingers as if in deep thought.

“Hm..." Yongsun thinks for a second. "Byul just came up to me when we first met and said 'Girl. Where have you been all my life? Give me your number so I can keep you in it for the rest of it?" She tries her best to imitate Byul's cheesy tone with some similarity. "You can try that. I mean, it worked for him." She reasons with seriousness.

"You think I can pull it off?" And the innocent bunny is actually considering it with seriousness!

Yongsun nods in encouragement.

"Hey, S-seul?" Irene catches up to the guy in front "I d-don't know where you have been all my life? G-give me your number so I can keep you in it for the rest of it?" she says in one breath and waits for Seul's response.

From behind, she sees Yongsun and Byul giving her a thumbs up and smiling like proud parents watching their daughter riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. Yeri, on the other hand, is hunched over and trying her hardest to not laugh out loud at the lame pick up line!

Seul stares at the girl for a few seconds before she registered what the question was. Did she just…? The silent is a bit too long now and Irene is getting nervous.

"Um... B-but it's okay if you don't want to" Irene is feeling dumb for asking now.

Seulgi realizes that she's had been staring for too long without answering. "No! I’m glad you asked. I would love to keep a pretty lady like you in my life too!" Seulgi chuckles and then gives the girl her biggest grin possible to reassure her that she means it.

Author's note:

Just want to give my thanks for all the upvotes and comments that this story is receiving! It's definitely encouraging to know that people are actually reading it and enjoying it! =D