AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I'm back! As you've noticed, we've been going kinda slow with regards to time for the previous chapters. One of the reasons I decided to split Falling into two parts is because the second part would be moving a lot faster in the time dimension. Pay attention to the timestamps in this chapter ;) As you may have noticed, I've been trying to subtly put emphasis on the importance of time for this story. We're going to be putting that importance to good use in this chapter. Anyway, without further ado, here's part 2 of Falling!

IRENE POV

September 21, 2017; 11:30 PM

We were still up on the rooftop of our apartment building. Seulgi just finished naming all the members and describing each one of them for me. 

"Hey, Seul- uhh can I call you Seul?" I asked her and she nodded enthusiastically. I took a moment, as if thinking about what to say, before finally speaking. "Thanks, Seul." I smiled at her.

"No problem, Rene." The corners of my mouth involuntarily twitched up at the sound of my familiar nickname leaving her lips for the first time. "It's my job as your org buddy anyways." She let out a hearty laugh before giving me a little squeeze on the shoulder.

"No, uhh. I meant for everything you said and did for me tonight. Not just the help on the portfolio thing." 

"Anytime." She smiled. "I did tell you that you could come to me anytime for help, even if it's not dance club related. I was serious about that, you know? Plus it's also nice having a new friend, especially one who just lives three floors below you." She laughed cutely.

"Yeah, it is nice." I agreed with her. "It's getting kinda cold up here, wanna get some tea or coffee?" I asked.

"Sure! That sounds good to me. Do you know a place which has good tea and is still open at this hour?" 

I checked my watch to see that it was already 11:38 PM. I initially thought of bringing Seulgi to my favorite bakery slash coffee shop just around the corner. I loved their tea so much that I stocked up boxes of it for myself... wait. I have good tea! And my place is definitely open at this hour. I smiled as this thought occured to me.

"I think I know just the place. Follow me." I smiled mischievously. 

 Ding!

"Huh? 7th floor? This is your floor right? I didn't know there was a tea house here! Man, you're lucky!" She said with what seemed to be either excitement or sarcasm lacing her voice. I am unsure. I can never tell for sure with this girl. She seems too pure and innocent at times that I can never know for sure which is real or not.

I decided to go along with whatever she's thinking of right now as I said, "Hell yeah! You didn't know? 7th floor serves the best teas in town!" I said as I led her to my apartment door. "You're in for a treat, Seul." 

I laughed as I unlocked the door to my apartment while Seulgi was looking at me quizzically. "Welcome to The Bae Leaf Tea House!" I said as I laughed out loud and Seulgi's excited expression dropped to the floor. 

"Ohhh I get it. Bay leaf, pfft. That's a good one, Miss Bae. Funny." She said as I dragged her inside my apartment.

"Glad to know that I could entertain you, Miss Kang." 

I started to boil the water as I took out some tea leaves from my cupboard. While I was preparing the tea, I could feel Seulgi examining my whole apartment. She was so slient that I became curious as to whatever she found lying around in my apartment. I started racking my brain trying to remember if I ever left any embarrassing stuff lying around in the apartment. But do I even possess such an item to begin with? I don't think so.. I remember cleaning up my apartment before leaving this morning so I don't think it's too dirty. Or is it?

"What?" I asked her.

"Huh?" Seulgi asked, surprised by my sudden question.

"What did you find? You were so silent I thought you found my collection of voodoo dolls." I .

She laughed. "No, I was just thinking that your apartment is really clean! Holy crap, good thing you offered to go here. Any longer up there, I might've offered to go to my place and damn, I would be embarrassed to bring you there."

It was my turn to laugh. "Why? Do you shed like a snake and leave your dirty clothes lying around?"

"Maybe?" She admitted cutely and I couldn't help but laugh. "Anyway, I'll definitely clean up my place so I could invite you over next time."

"Next time, huh?" I asked playfully.

"Uhh, well.. Only if you want to.. of course." She said shyly. 

"I'd love to come over to your place some other time, Seul. Anyway, the tea is ready. Come sit!" I motioned for her to sit with me in my dining table as I poured the tea onto two separate mugs.

She immediately took a sip of the tea and I could see her expression light up. "Wow, this is some good tea. Where do you get this?" 

"At the bakery around the corner. I was supposed to bring you there but then I remembered that they were already closed at this hour." I told her.

"Hmmm.." She hummed approvingly. "You can take me there next time then."

I was taken aback by her sudden confidence. See what I mean when I can never tell for sure with her? She's just so random. Innocent and pure at times, playful and flirty on other times. 

"Well, sure then, Miss Kang." I shrugged. 

"What other places do you often go to in this neighborhood?" She asked.

"Hmm.. I go to the playground sometimes too. When I want to clear my head. Or to get some fresh air. Or to just write."

"I see. Writing, huh? Definitely suits a nerd like you." She teased as she took another sip of her tea which made me give her a light punch on the arm.

"What about you? You just spend all your time up on that rooftop?" I asked.

She laughed. "No. Well, most of my nights are spent on that rooftop. But when I get some time during the day, I visit some parks and museums too. I like art. I find it relaxing. Ever since I was young, I've been into painting and sketching. I've taken an interest in photography recently too. So I go to these places to work on those things and just drown myself into art." 

"Wow. You like doing a lot of things, huh? You're really good at dancing, you even paint and sketch, currently learning photography, and not to mention, you can sing too! What can't you do, huh?"

"I still have a lot to learn, Rene. You think of me too highly. Besides, you're the dancing goddess here! Did you see how amazed everybody was a while ago? You surely don't need any extra lessons. Don't me, Miss Bae. Don't me." She said as she released an adorable chuckle. "How did you know that I can sing though? I don't think I've ever mentioned or showed that to you." Her brows furrowed in an adorable manner as she wondered curiously.

"Uhh.. through Wendy." I laughed nervously. She's my bestfriend and she mentioned it to me before when she was telling me about one of your encounters in English class." 

"Ohh.. you guys really talk about a lot of stuff, huh? I envy your closeness. I hope to build a friendship like yours with someone too." She said sadly.

"What about you and Moonbyul? I can see that you guys are really close." I said trying to cheer her up. 

"Well, yeah I guess we're close. But not to the level which I could say that she's my bestfriend. Actually, I don't think I've ever been someone's bestfriend before." She said with an unmistakable sad tone in her voice.

"What? How is that possible?" I said shocked. I could see that she was taken aback by my reply so I felt the need to elaborate further. "I mean, among all the people I've ever met you're one of the easiest to talk to. And you're really charming, you know? I just can't see why anybody wouldn't want to be close to you."

"Thanks, Irene." She smiled. "To be fair, it was really easy to talk to you too. I guess that's why it was easy for you to talk to me too. But yeah, I don't know either. I guess it might have to do with me always moving places. I always come back home here but before I even begin to become closer to people, my parents would uproot me and take me to another country. When I come back, I feel like I missed out on a lot already since the people I know here have gone through more together. So instead of going through the cycle of feeling left out each time I come back and trying to fit in, I've just accepted my fate." She laughed dryly.

I tried to comfort her by placing an assuring hand on her shoulder. "Well, I'm sure that your friends don't see it that way. Friendship is not measured by the time you spent together anyway. Even if you weren't here before, well you're here now! And I know that your friends don't think of you any less just because you missed out on a couple of years. And even if they did, you can always come to me, Seul. I don't understand it too, but I just feel really comfortable with you. So if there's anything that I can do for you too, I'm just here... three floors below you." We laughed together. 

"Thanks, Rene. You're the best org buddy ever." She said as she squeezed my hand on her shoulder.

"You're welcome, best org buddy." 

We finished sipping our tea and it was time to clean up our mess. Seulgi helped me clean the table and offered to wash the mugs and teapot but I wouldn't let her. Neither one of us would budge so we decided to just clean them together. As we were washing the mugs, some playful splashes of water and suds were thrown here and there making the simple task almost impossible to finish.

"Hey! We're never gonna finish at this rate. I should've just washed these alone and let you sit over at the table." I said to her as I splashed more water on her now wet face.

"No. YOU should've just sat at the table and let ME do these." She laughed as she splashed more water on my face.

We eventually finished cleaning up and started drying ourselves up. As we were about to sit down on the couch nea