Irene sighed and pulled the covers over her head, shielding herself from the bright sunlight that streamed through her bedroom window. 

Few more minutes...

Her alarm sounded loudly, almost echoeing off the walls and reverberating in her ear drums way more than necessary.

...Or not.

Irene groaned and swung her legs off the side of the bed, making a mental note to change her alarm tone as she did so. Had to mix things up once in a while or else she'd go crazy listening to the same damn annoying sound every morning. She slipped each foot into a fuzzy slipper and trudged towards the door before turning on her heel to head to the bathroom. Right. Brushing teeth. Getting ready. That was a thing. She blinked lethargically as she looked in the mirror. Damn, she looked just as tired as she felt. She pulled a brush through her hair, inevitably knotted after how much she had dragged her head across her pillow during the night, tossing and turning in her dreams.

Recently, Irene found herself struggling to sleep and struggling to wake, no matter what. She would go to bed with a feeling of utmost dread, not knowing exactly what she was dreading. There were just so many things to dread that they all mixed together. Disregarding whatever it was plauging her rest, she would then wake up feeling just as tense as when she fell asleep, leaving her with an ache in her bones and an unbelievably noticeable lack of pep in her step.

At this point, Irene had pretty much come to terms with the fact that she, Bae Irene, had a crush on Seulgi, Kang Seulgi. She didn't—and couldn't—fight it anymore. She liked her. But just because Irene no longer denied her feelings didn't mean she had to like it. In fact, Irene had been having quite the love-hate relationship lately.

Her brain versus her heart.

Incredibly cheesy, yes, but Irene was constantly trying to logic her feelings into, well, not feeling. Or feeling less, at least. She needed her heart to just calm the down so that she could go on with her life and heal from Bogum. While Irene had been fortunate enough to be the dumper instead of the dumpee, she still carried some residual guilt. Not from breaking up with Bogum, necessarily, but more from the fact that she had begun harboring feelings for her best friend and had the nerve to even contemplate staying with Bogum despite the fact. To Irene, that was cheating—emotional cheating—and it made her feel like .

There were the ups of seeing Seulgi, looking at Seulgi, hugging Seulgi, anything Seulgi, that made Irene feel lighter, and then the downs of Bogum, YooA, and twenty billion other things that made Irene want to bury herself six feet deep underground.

Irene was incredibly distracted throughout the day, finding herself drifting off into daydreams of Seulgi. It was so nice that lately, her thoughts of Seulgi were mostly happy. Was this what it was like to just... like girls? Irene could see the appeal.

Once home, Irene was ready to snuggle in her bed and take a nap, hoping she'd dream of Seulgi. Those hopes were quickly dashed when her mother called up the stairs saying someone was at the door.

"Can you make up an excuse? I want to take a nap..."

"You know, if you didn't want to see me, you could've just said so."

"Seulgi!" Irene nearly fell off her bed. "I—" Was totally not at all thinking about you or anything related to you or this bed. I mean, separately. Not you on this bed. Unless you want to be on this bed. Not in that way. I mean, what way? Ahaha—

"Are... you okay?"

"Yes!" Irene coughed behind her hand, avoiding eye contact while she recovered. "I mean, yes. Yes, I am fine."

Seulgi laughed and it made Irene's chest feel fuzzy. She smiled to match Seulgi's expression, slightly embarassed that she had inner monologued about Seulgi in front of Seulgi but grateful that she hadn't said any of it out loud. Lord.

"So, um, what's up?" Yes, play it cool... B)

"I just thought I'd check up on you, because, well, your breakup." Seulgi pursed her lips. "Too soon?"

"No, no, not at all." Irene was rather pleased that Seulgi had come to see her, but she was also pretty sure Seulgi hadn't been in her room, just the two of them, since before she'd realized her feelings. Naturally, once Irene had that thought, she could not get it out of her damn head.

"Ah, okay. Anyway, I brought you something."

"Really?" A present! Couples get each other gifts, don't they? Ha... "Huh?"

"Lavender dryer sheets!" Seulgi pulled a box out from behind her back. Irene couldn't believe she'd been so distracted by literally everything that she hadn't noticed Seulgi so obviously hiding something behind her back.

Irene couldn't help the small smile appearing on her face at the sight of Seulgi brandishing a box of dryer sheets as if she'd just brought Irene the world. It was endearing and just so... Seulgi.

"Do you like it?" Seulgi asked hesistantly.

"Yes! Of course. I love it." Irene gently took the box from Seulgi's outstretched hands and tugged at the cardboard packaging, curious. "Wow... It smells so good..."

"I'd hope so. Nothing but the best for my Bae Joohyun."

Your Bae Joohyun...

"Thank you, Seulgi. Really. You didn't have to."

"I know. I just wanted to." Seulgi sat on the edge of the bed. "How have you been dealing with it?"

Irene had zero clue what to tell her. How had she been dealing with it? Pretty much not by not dealing with it. Irene hadn't talked to Bogum since the breakup, knowing he needed his space but harbored no ill feelings toward her, despite his current state, and she hadn't taken much time to really figure out how to deal with the little bit of guilt that liked to resurface now and then. Of course, she wished she could do more to help him, but at the same time, she knew that it would've only hurt more the longer she'd waited. It had been a couple of weeks since the breakup, which Irene still couldn't believe. She knew the breakup had happened, obviously, since she'd been the one to dump him, but it sort of felt like the breakup hadn't happened at a particular time. Just... happened. The breakup felt so long ago yet still as fresh as yesterday, or even just an hour prior.

Time was relative, anyway.

"Honestly, I haven't been doing much, besides sleeping. I was about to take a nap when you came."

"How have you been feeling?"

"Fine? I dunno."

"Aren't you sad that you broke up?" Seulgi asked, confused. Irene seemed awfully okay for someone who just broke up with their longtime boyfriend of almost a year.

Irene was taken aback by Seulgi's blunt question. Was she?

"I... I guess," Irene said slowly, biting her lip. She was sad that they had to end things after going through so much, and she was sad that it was because of her, but she wasn't that sad that they actually broke up. She was free. She had loved Bo Gum, yes, but keyword loved. She didn't love him anymore. All those months together hadn't ended in regret but the feelings that had once filled her heart until it was overflowing were no longer there. He didn't make her heart beat that fast anymore, and in his smile, all she saw was a friend. If he'd have her as one, of course. She knew that while he had put up a tough act and pretended to be okay, inside, he was torn apart. Her fault, but no regret. Just a bit guilt.

"You don't seem that sad." Seulgi didn't get how Irene wasn't more devastated. She thought Irene loved Bo Gum.

"Seul," Irene said, "I'm the one who ended things."

"What?"

"I don't love him anymore."

"You don't?"

"No. I don't."

"Oh" was all Seulgi could manage to get out. She had thought Irene and Bo Gum would end up married, for Christ's sake. Instead, here Irene was, looking very much okay, shrugging her shoulders and telling Seulgi she had just broken up with her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.

"Yeah."

"Do you like someone else?"

"Huh?"

"Well, sometimes when you fall out of love with someone, it's because-"

"Yeah, I..." Irene interrupted, flustered and avoiding Seulgi's intent stare. "I know what you mean, Seulgi."

"Oh, sorry, unnie." Embarrassed, Seulgi began twiddling her thumbs and glanced down at her hands before landing her gaze back on Irene, who finally spoke.

"I don't like someone else."

"You don't?"

"No... I don't."

Seulgi noticed the hesitation in Irene's response, but she didn't push the topic any further. If Irene didn't want to tell her, then she didn't want to tell. Seulgi didn't get why Irene wouldn't want to tell. After all, weren't they supposed to be best friends? Well, used to be best friends. Seulgi guessed things were a little murkier now. They had never really talked that part out and instead turned to time and small attempts at rekindling that they'd left the title up in the air. Maybe Wendy was Irene's best friend now. After all, Seulgi was sure they hung out a lot.

"Then looks like you'll get to enjoy the single life for a while," Seulgi said earnestly. "I'm just glad you're feeling okay, unnie."

"Me too."

Once again, Seulgi almost opened to ask if Irene was really as okay as she seemed, but she didn't want to push Irene, so she kept shut. All in due time. She lightly a thin, braided bracelet that adorned her wrist. Irene was pretty sure it was a gift from YooA, but was also pretty sure that was not the reas