"Yongsun-ah! I think I really like Seul" Irene confides in her best friend. 

"What's new?" Yongsun is not even surprised by the sudden confession. I mean everyone can see that the older girl is interested in the younger bear by now. Especially with how she turns all shy in front of the guy. 

"I mean like really really like him. Like...maybe even love..?" Irene reveals shyly. "I don't know. He's just so sweet and considerate and I just want to be with him all the time." 

Which is true. Seul has been nothing but a perfect gentleman toward Irene. The bear would wait for her after class and walk back to the dorm together whenever he could. He never failed to deliver a fresh cup of coffee in the morning when their chat went into the late night, knowing that she has early classes in the morning.    

"And when I see him with other girls, I just want to pull him back and tell them he's mine. I got so jealous when I saw girls flirting with him after the basketball game the other day!" Irene continues. 

"You should just confess and make him yours then!" Her best friend smiles excitedly. 

"I want to. But I don't how. I don't want to mess up and not get my message across. " Irene trails off toward the end. That's right. The pretty Bae Irene has only been confessed to. She has never had to nor wanted to confess to someone before. This will be her first time and therefore she wants advice from her more experienced best friend.

Yongsun really admires Irene's simplicity sometimes. The girl doesn't even question whether Seul likes her back or not. Once she sets her eyes on something. She just goes for it.  

"How did Byul asked you out?" Irene is ready with a pen and notebook. She wants to jot down anything that might be useful. 

Yongsun smiles as she recalls the memory. "It was on our fourth date I think when he took me out to this hole in the wall restaurant where there's only two of us. It was on our way back to the dorm when he pulled me into a back hug and pressed his chest against my back. He asked if I can feel his heart racing because it is beating for me and me only."

Yongsun blushes at the last part of the memory, leaving it out of the story because she was too embarrassed to continue further. 

"Yongsun-ah! Can you feel my heart racing? It is beating for you and you only right now. Will you be my girlfriend? Please say yes. If not, I think my heart might just stop beating altogether." Byul said in the most sincere tone Yongsun had heard since knowing him. 

Backhug. Beating heart. Irene jots down the note seriously. 

"But I don't know if I can pull it off this time. Yeri is still laughing at me for using Byul's pick up line to ask Seul for his number last time." Irene pouts at the memory. 

"Why? You got his number in the end no?"  Yongsun is so immune to Byul's grease now that she doesn't even see the problem anymore. 

"True..." 

Irene decides to just go for it. It not like she has a better idea anyway. 

Two days later, Irene saw the perfect opportunity to initiate her plan when Yongsun informed her that practice is ending early for the team. Credit to Moon Byul for being their spy.

She waits until Seul finishes practice and is on his way back to the dorm when she pretends to meet him by coincidence. 

"Seul! What a coincidence" Irene calls out to the guy in front. Her heartbeat is doubled now that the said guy is in front.   

"Hyunnie! Are you stalking me or something?" Seul jokes. 

"Hahaha" Irene laughs nervously, too preoccupied to even give a proper response. She is pacing a few steps behind hoping to find the best opportunity to carry out her plan. She can't concentrate on anything right now but Seul's back. So focus that she didn't even hear the question being thrown at her.

"Are you okay Hyun?" Seul glances back the nervous girl. 

"H-huh? Uh...yea. Just thinking." Irene's eyes never leaving Seul's back as she responses. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Her heart is racing as she stares into the bear's slim back. 

The two eventually fall into a steady pace as Seul continues to walk in front and Irene strolling one step behind. 

This is it! Irene thought. She reaches her arms outward and threads them through the space between Seul's arms and waist. She was about knots her fingers and pull Seul into a back hug when the younger bear suddenly notices that her shoelace is untied and attempts to bend down and tie it.   

With Irene's arms wedged between Seul's arms, the two end up with an awkward position where Seul is half bent and Irene is half dangling on her back. 

"Uh...Hyun....?" Seul tries to turn her head to catch a glimpse of the older girl but the said girl had already pulled back and is running back to the dorm before Seulgi can question her. 

"I-I have to pee!" Irene calls out after she put some distance between her and Seul.  

"Hahaha! Maybe you should give him velcro shoes for Christmas!" Yongsun laughs out loud when she heard the story from Irene. 

"Yongsun-ah...." The bunny whines. She is already embarrassed enough at the failed mission without her best friend laughing at her for it. "What do I do now? I don't think I can use the same plan again. I'm too traumatized." 

Yongsun ponders on the matter after she has calmed down. "How about grabbing his hand on your way back from your dinner date tomorrow and tell him that you think that his hand is molded just for yours and that the two fit perfectly like two pieces of jigsaw puzzles that are meant to be next to one another?" 

Irene arches her eyebrow as if to question Yongsun if this is another one of Byul's greasy lines.

Because she is amazed how Byul can come up with these lines so easily and on the spot! And to delivery them so confidently without cringing! It definitely does take talent. 

"Kay. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Wish me luck!" Irene sounds determined. She doesn't want another failed attempt. 

Seul shows up at Irene's suite to pick her up like the gentleman that he is and together, they walk to a nice little restaurant that serves one of the best ramen tteokbokki in town for dinner 

Irene was so nervous the whole night that she can barely remember what their conversation was like. Seul was nice enough to fill in the silence that Irene is leaving but the young bear can't help but be worried about the older girl. She has been acting weird lately. 

Thinking that Irene must be tired from preparing for the upcoming concert, Seul decides to end the night early and send the girl home but the action sends the bunny into an even more frantic mode. 

"Hyun, are you okay? You're not sick are you?" Seulgi reaches up and places her hand on Irene's forehead to check the girl's temperature. 

"Y-yea. Just nervous." Irene tries to laugh it off. 

Assuming that she is nervous because of her upcoming performance, Seul didn't pursue any further but she can't help but keep glancing and check on the girl next to her. Worries visible in her eyes. The two eventually fall at a steady pace but this time with Seul and Irene walking side by side.

During the whole trek on the way back, Irene kept her eyes on Seul's hand like it was a hypnotizing pendulum that sways back and forth trying to put her in a trance. Back and forth and back and forth, once she got the timing down, she reaches for his hand and holds on to it tightly. She looks up and is about to deliver her line when...Bang!!

She walks right into a pole! 

"Omg Hyun! Are you okay?" Seul closes the gap between them and check on the girl's forehead and everywhere else for any other injuries.  

"Ouch..." is all Irene can muster as she rubs her upper left forehead with tears welling in her eyes. That's definitely going to leave a bump. 

"Gosh. You're so clumsy, Hyun. You should be more careful!" Seulgi's voice is laced with concerns. She rubs the bump on Irene's forehead a few more times before she grabs the girl's hand and leads her back to the dorm with their fingers entwined. 

Mission: Confess failed again but Irene couldn't care less because all she could think about is her and Seul walking hand in hand. His hand wraps around hers firmly yet gently like a shield that would protect her from any harms. Her heart is jumping with joy as her stomach is doing somersaults. She couldn't keep the silly grin off her face the whole way back.

Too soon did Irene think this happiness would last.

The two reaches the dorm and Seulgi gives Irene a goodbye hug before parting way. Irene uses this chance to hold on to Seul a bit longer, letting herself melt into his embrace and letting his heartbeat calms her nerves as she thinks through the words she is about to utter. 

"S-seul? I think I like you. I mean, I like you. Like...really really like you. D-do you want to go out with me?" Irene buries her head in Seul's chest as she confesses. 

Time seems to have stopped as she waits for Seul's response. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds later the stunned bear finally registered what is happening. Joohyun just confessed to me...Joohyun just said she likes me...

Sh*t

Seulgi gently pushes the girl away. She looks into the older girl's confused face. Her doe eyes, her plush lips, her cute cheeks, her silky straight hair. She is beautiful. Seulgi analyzes Joohyun's face with details for the first time. But.....

"I'm sorry." Seulgi utters the words that completely shatter Joohyun's expectations. Pain painted Irene's beautiful face as tears start to well up in her eyes. She tries to hold back the tears and hopes to mend any cracks in their friendship that she had fractured with a small smile but the cracks in her heart run deeper. So deep that a single tear escapes the pool in her eyes. 

Before the dam is broken, she wipes away the tear and whispers, with all her effort to not let him hear the crack in her voice, "It's okay Seul. I understand." 

Before she shed any more tears in front of the guy who had just broken her heart with two simple words, she turns away and runs back to the comfort of her room. 

It didn't take long for Yongsun to send out an S.O.S to the group when Irene returns from her date with Seul with tears rolling down her cheeks and restrained sobs and hiccups emitting from . 

Irene lunges into Yongsun's embrace when she saw her best friend looking at her with saddens eyes and finally releases her sorrow under her friend's comfort and caress. 

Yeri, Tiffany, and Jessica dropped what they were doing or who they were with in response to the S.O.S and rushed to the girls' suite to support their friend. 

Irene recounts what had happened once the group is gathered and after she calmed down a bit. 

Her voice so pained and broken as she tells them how he apologized after her confession. 

"I just don't understand. I thought he likes me too. Why would he do all those stuff if he didn't? Walking me to class. Texting me every day. Holding my hand." Irene questions. Did she misunderstood his intention? 

"That jerk! What a ing player!" Jessica is the first to voice her anger. She has had enough experience with flirtatious guys. In fact, they all had. Being the young, beautiful, and talented women they are, they have all had their share of guys flirting with them and pretending to be nice just to get into their pants. 

But Irene thinks Seul is different. He is a genuinely sweet guy. I don't think he would try to hurt me intentionally. 

The other girls sense what Irene is thinking and held Jessica back. They didn't want her to badmouth Irene's crush anymore in case it might lead to an argument. 

Instead, they make excuses for the jerk in order to comfort the heartbroken girl. 

 "Maybe he was just too shocked." Tiffany reasons. 

"Maybe he apologized for stepping on your toes." Yeri jokes. 

"Talk to him again? Maybe he has a good reason." Yongsun advice. 

Jessica stays mum. 

They made peace with it on the surface but in the back of their mind, Kang Seul is already a dead man for hurting their best friend like this! 

Good news travels fast but bad news travels even faster! Especially when you have angry girlfriends who would take their anger out on you just because you are teammates with a jerk! 

Moon Byul barges into Seulgi's room unannounced for the nth time. "KANG SEUL! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" 

"What did I do?" Seulgi is utterly confused. She just came back and was thinking how best to explain to Irene when Byul just barges into her room yelling at her. 

"You tell me! Yongsun and I were texting back and forth all sweet and lovely one second and the next she texted me saying 'All men are jerks!'" Byul explains in a rush. "I called her but she wouldn't pick up. I asked her what she means and all she texted back was 'Ask Kang Seul! So what the hell did you do!?" 

Before she can explain, her phone rings with a phone call from Yul and a message from Yoong. Apparently, both Jessica and Tiffany also took their anger out on their partner too. Yul had just savaged his relationship with Tiffany so he was anxious to see Tiffany's text and just when Yoong thought he was breaking through to the ice princess, he's back to square one with her calling him a jerk again! Seulgi just replies that she will explain to them during practice. 

Seulgi turns back to face Byul and said with shames and regrets in his words, "Hyun told me she likes me...and I think... I might have rejected her."  

"You what!? And what do you mean you think?" 

"She asked if I want to go out with her and I just apologized." Seulgi is hanging her head in shame now. She feels so bad for hurting the girl.    

"Aw bro." Byul can see the regrets in Seul's words. He gives her a slight tap on the arm as comfort. "Why did you? Don't you like her? Or at least that's what it seems like to everyone else. I mean we can all see the way you hover around her like she's the center of the world and shoots hearts with your eyes when she as much as breathe." 

"Oh god. I do not do that!" 

"Right...And I am not in love with Kim Yongsun." Byul says sarcastically. "I wish I can show you how you look like whenever she's around. Because you look like a love-sick puppy whose owner had just returned after a three-day business trip ." 

Do I? Seulgi thinks back on all the time they spent together. It's true that she likes spending time with the older girl. A little too much actually. Whenever she doesn't have class or practice, she would text to see where Joohyun is at.  Even with their busy schedule, they would still make time to meet at least three times a week.

She misses her on days when they don't meet and are reduced to text. She would constantly wonder what the bunny is up to. Is she falling asleep in class right now? Is she practicing on her violin? Is she hanging out with Yongsun and them? These thoughts would plague her mind. 

And when they do meet up, Seulgi enjoys talking to the older girl. She loves the way the bunny reacts to her tease. How she pouts adorably and her cheeks flush pink. The way she gets excited when she tells her a funny story. How her tone hitches up in excitement and her laughter resonate in the room. 

"Are you thinking about her? Because you have that stupid grin on your face right now" Byul points out. 

F*uck! I'm in love with Bae Joohyun! Seulgi realizes. 

Kang Seulgi is in love with Bae Joohyun. But Bae Joohyun is in love with Kang Seul.