CHAPTER TWO SONG RECOMMENDATION: As Lovers Go by Dashboard Confessional ;) 

Enjoy this chapter!

Flashback: Springmont University; First Day of Classes, First Semester of A.Y. 2011 - 2012

It was Irene's first day as a university student. She can finally introduce herself as Bae Joohyun, Computer Science major in Springmont University.

For her first day, she decided to go with a casual black shirt, which she half tucked into her ripped jeans, and her trusty white sneakers. She also doesn't forget her favorite round glasses and puts her hair up in a simple bun. 

Her first ever class as a Springmont freshman was Philosophy 101 at 8:30 in the morning. She was excited for her first class of the day which was considered way too early for normal students. But as a young mind, fresh out of high school, she was still used to early morning classes. 

It was just 8:00 in the morning and considering that the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy building was not too far away from her on-campus dormitory, she decides to take her time and enjoy a little morning walk.

Irene was someone who truly enjoyed nature. Still early in the morning, the warmth of the sun was just right and the scenery before her eyes was surely a treat for the nature-lover. She was currently walking under the protective canopy of the Oak trees surrounding their university's famous Everett Circle. The Everett Circle is the largest and busiest area in their university due to it being the most well-known landmark in their university. Marked by the main administrative offices, the dominant colleges of Springmont and the Oak Garden right in the middle of everything, Everett Circle was considered the heart of Springmont.

Irene finally arrived at the entrance of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy also known as Socrates Hall. The security guard immediately checked for her ID which was neatly hung on her neck by a purple lace. She checked her printed schedule which she taped inside the front of her transparent binder and verified that her class would be at Room 304. Making her way up to the third floor, she could see the halls filled with students who were either still half-asleep - probably seniors and juniors, and extremely jittery freshmen who looked like they were about to  their pants.

Finally. Here it is, Room 304. Irene enters the room and sees that most of the students were slumped on their seats, some asleep while others were either listening to music or staring blankly outside. She checks her watch. 8:15 AM. 15 minutes before class starts. She takes her seat on the front row where usually no student would dare to sit willingly. But she was different because Irene loved the front seat. She had always been a responsible student which is why she always took the front row seats in all her classes. She claims that it gives her the best view of the notes and illustrations on the board and it was the perfect distance to hear the instructor's voice clearly. 

She began to look around and survey her classmates. Judging by the number of students who were wearing their IDs visibly on their necks, which only a freshman would do, she concluded that most her classmates belonged to the same batch as hers. There were also a few upperclassmen who were forced to take the course as it is a requirement for them.

It was a standard for all the students in Springmont to take these General Education courses throughout their stay in the university. The General Education courses are divided into three categories: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Philosophy, and Math, Science and Technology. Courses that fall under these categories are introductory courses that, regardless of what a student is majoring in, must be taken to gain basic knowledge in a variety of fields. Some of these are History 10, Biology 1 and English 11. The course Irene is currently taking, Philosophy 101, obviously falls under the Social Sciences and Philosophy category and is generally recommended for Springmont freshmen to take in their first semester.

"Alright, class! Let's begin." A woman, dressed in a black cardigan, plain gray shirt tucked into her dark jeans, entered the classroom. Irene assumes that this woman must be Professor Kim Taeyeon. 

"Great. I see that most of you are here already. Now as you all should know, if you checked your class list before coming in, I am Professor Kim Taeyeon. Feel free to call me Professor Kim, Miss Tae, Miss Kim, Miss Kim Tae, or whatever makes you happy basically." The professor exaggerated with some flailing motions with her arms which earned her a chorus of laughter from her students.

"Since it's the first day of classes, I'll go easy on you guys. I'll just be checking the attendance for today and explaining the syllabus a bit. I usually pass around an attendance sheet but for today, since I want to be able to associate faces to your names, I'll be calling you out one by one so please raise your hand once you hear your name."

Professor Kim proceeds to go over her list of students and calls each name one by one as she marks the names of those present. Right after Irene's name was called out, she turns her attention to her backpack and takes out her notebook and ballpen to prepare herself. The roll call goes on smoothly as all of the students called out so far have been present until Professor Kim runs into trouble when she reaches a certain student's name.

"Kang Seulgi." Professor kim calls out. "Kang Seulgi?" She calls out one more time. "Last call for Kang Seulgi." Professor Kim was about to mark the student absent but a figure suddenly bursts through the door.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor Kim!" A female student was panting by the doorway and was struggling to steady her breath. 

Irene turns her attention to the student who just came in and she immediately piques Irene's interest. The girl was dressed in a casual red shirt that was fully tucked into her white pants, accessorized with a leather belt. Her hair was up in a messy bun and her thin framed glasses completes her whole ensemble. The girl also carried a certain charismatic aura around her that makes you feel that she is the type that both guys and girls would admire.

A simple but stylish outfit. She clearly has taste. Irene notes. 

"I take it that you are Kang Seulgi?" Professor Kim confirms. 

"Yes, professor. I got lost on my way here. I'm really sorry for being late!" The girl, now known as Kang Seulgi, bows to the professor.

"It's alright, young one. Don't be too hard on yourself. This university is pretty big and it's just your first day anyway." The chill professor tells Seulgi. "Just try to come a bit earlier next time, okay?" Seulgi nods and thanks the professor. 

She then proceeds to look for a vacant seat. Ever since she started attending school, Seulgi had always preferred sitting in the back row. She's the kind of student who has the natural talent for learning and doesn't really feel the need to exert more effort than she was required to. The complete opposite of Irene, who was the type who'd go the extra mile to earn all the points she could possibly get.

Imagine Seulgi's dismay when she finds out that all the seats were already taken except for that one seat in the front row.  my life. Seulgi thinks.

"Damn. I hate this seat." Seulgi mutters as she plops down onto the last vacant seat. She immediately notices the girl sitting on her left side glaring at her and realizes that what she said might have been offensive to the other girl. She then notices that this girl was definitely cute, gorgeous even. Even with the simple outfit she was donning, Seulgi could easily recognize that the girl was a total beauty.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's not because of you I swear. I just don't do well with front row seats. I'm Kang Seulgi, by the way." Seulgi extends her hand.

"Bae Irene. And please don't talk to me during class. I'm trying to focus here." The serious girl introduces without sparing her a glance and ignores the hand that Seulgi had extended.

"Woah. Someone's not in the mood. I was just trying to be friendly. What's got you all worked up?" Seulgi withdraws her hand and laughs, amused by the cute girl's reaction. Interesting. Seulgi thinks.

"I told you not to talk to me during class. Which part of that don't you understand? And please lower your voice, you're attracting Professor Kim's attention." Irene answers back in an angry whisper. 

Professor Kim smirks as she notices the exchange between the two and decides to playfully comment. "Bae! Kang! You may flirt with each other after my class. For now, let's move on to the discussion of the syllabus." 

Irene feels her ears turn hot and she thinks that she might die of embarrassment right then and there. She wants to hate the girl beside her for initiating the conversation because being the diligent student that she is, she initally wanted to make a good impression on their professor on the first day of class. But now, all that was ruined by this idiot named Kang Seulgi. She really, really wants to hate the girl beside her. And she does hate her, but not for ruining Professor Kim's first impression of her.

She hates this girl because when she peeks over her shoulder to take a look at this idiot once again, she decides that this idiot was attractive. Really attractive. And if there's one thing aside from cute butts that Irene has a weakness for, it would probably be really attractive idiots.

Present Day: Joy and Irene's Apartment, 6:48 PM

"Wow. You were already so whipped for her from the beginning. No wonder she has this much effect on you!" Joy teases Irene.

"I couldn't help it. She was really hot. I still hate her for ruining Professor Kim's first impression of me though. Professor Kim really made sure to tease us consistently up until the last day of class!" Irene complains.

Curious about how this Kang Seulgi looks like, Joy thinks to ask Irene for a picture. "Alright, nerd. I'm pretty sure you ended up loving it in the end anyway. By the way, um. Do.. do you have a picture of her?" Joy asks hesitantly, always keeping her best friend's reaction in check. 

Irene smiles at her friend as if to assure her that she was fine. "I do. I think have some on my phone, wait."

Irene scrolls through her camera roll. She wasn't really the type to delete pictures from her phone. Each time she switches to a new device, she keeps all the photos from the previous one. She would always keep a back up of all her photos on the cloud and keep copies of some of her favorites on her local storage. Some of her favorites include pictures of nature, skies in particular, some family pictures and Kang Seulgi.

Irene hands over her phone to Joy when she finds a solo picture of Seulgi on her phone. It was the very first picture of Seulgi she ever had on her phone.

Flashback: Springmont University; First Day of Classes, First Semester of A.Y. 2011 - 2012

Professor Kim had been going through the list of requirements along with their target due dates and corresponding grade percentage equivalent for their Philosophy 101 class. Their requirements included weekly writing activities, pair activities and a final paper.

"Alright! So for the last requirement on the list, as you can see on your syllabus, you will be required to turn in your final paper on the last day of class. For your final paper, you are going to need a partner. Each pair will be assigned a book that they have to read and you will be having an in depth discussion regarding your thoughts on the book with your respective partners. Based on your discussion and understanding of the book, you will have to write a book report detailing what you thought were the main points of your assigned book and the main purpose of the author for writing it." Professor Kim explains to the whole class. "Any questions so far?"

For school requirements, Irene had always preferred working on her own. She didn't really like the idea of her grade being dependent on another human being who might not share the same passion and enthusiasm that she does for her academic requirements. So upon hearing this, Irene immediately got worried. 

I guess I'll be fine as long as I'm not partnered with this idiot beside me. Irene shrugs. While she was lost in her thoughts, the girl beside her decided to raise her hand and ask Professor Kim a question. 

"Yes, Miss Kang?"

"Professor Kim, how and when are we going to pick our partners?" Seulgi asked.

"Great question. We are going to pick your partners right now! And as for how... Hmm. Let's see." Professor Kim walks around to check if all seats were indeed occupied. The seats were arranged in an 8x8 manner, eight rows and eight columns, with a parting in the middle area to create an aisle for the professor to walk on. It suddenly clicks in Professor Kim's head that the seating arrangements were a perfect way to sort the problem at hand quickly.

"Alright! Those sitting in the odd numbered columns, please look to your right." The students in the said column, including Irene who was now looking at Seulgi who had a smirk plastered on her face. Sensing something terrible about to happen, Irene starts to panic internally. "Are you all looking at the person beside you?" Professor Kim checks. "Now, they will be your partners for the final paper's pair discussion activity." Irene's worst fear comes true as Seulgi's smirk has now grown into a full grin and there's nothing more that Irene wants to do right now than to wipe off that stupid grin off of Seulgi's face.

Irene raises her right hand and Professor Kim immediately notices. "Yes, Miss Bae?"

"Professor Kim, can't we work on the final paper alone?" Irene protests.

"The answer is no. As you can all see, we have an even numbered group here in our class so all of you would definitely have a partner. And even if any more students join in our class by Wednesday and one of you were to lack a partner, I'd be open to creating a group of three people instead. This is Philosophy 101, not an English class. The main activity of the final paper would be the pair discussion. Having a discussion with another person helps you see things from another perspective which is why I want you guys to take that part seriously. And that is the reason why you cannot work on this alone." The whole class starts nodding in understanding.

my life. Irene thinks. 

"If there are no more questions then that would be all for today. Before leaving, be sure to submit a one-fourth piece of yellow paper with yours and your partner's full names. I'll be sending you guys an email regarding the book assignments for the final paper within the week." Professor Kim dismissed the class. Everyone started leaving the room as they passed their yellow papers to the professor. Irene and Seulgi were the last ones to submit their yellow paper and Professor Kim notices the tension between the two.

"Class is over. You may now resume your previous... activity earlier." Professor Kim teases.

"Thank you, professor." Seulgi smiles at the professor which Irene doesn't find the least bit amusing. Professor Kim gathers her things and exits the room first, leaving the two alone in the classroom.

"What was that? Thank you, professor?" Irene turns to Seulgi, obviously annoyed. 

"Oh come on, Irene! Loosen up. Professor Kim was obviously just playing around. What's your next class?" Seulgi shows her signature grin.

"None of your business. And if studying is all about joking and playing around for you," Irene faces Seulgi and jabs at her shoulder. "That's not the case for me. So I suggest that you leave me alone and bother someone else." Irene walks away and leaves Seulgi stunned for a moment.

If it were any other person that Irene's met in the past, they would've already left her alone. But Seulgi isn't just any other person. She regains her composure and jogs up to Irene, determined to befriend her Philo partner.

"But you are my partner." Seulgi points toward Irene