Chapter 10:

 

Irene has always knew Seulgi is a flirt from the way she smiles at everyone and entertain all her fan girls. 

 

It is natural that she would have dated someone before. 

 

However, why does she still feel a dull ache in her heart? 

 

A feeling of disappointment.

 

Or was it sadness? 

 

Or betrayal?

 

Now, it seems that all of these feelings do not have any clear distinctions. 

 

Irene looks at the post again. The post was accompanied by a simple caption of “Meet my boyfriend :)”. 

 

And yet, Seulgi claimed she has never dated anyone before. Irene remembers it distinctly, that was what she said that day at the bleachers. 

 

Then, what was all that talk today about being genuine?

 

She takes a final look at the photo. A comment at the bottom finally catches her attention. 

 

zkdlin (Jongin): Nice April’s fool joke, Kkangseul.

 

Her eyes immediately darts towards the date that the photo was posted, which is indeed from April’s fool last year.

 

A publicity stunt on April’s fool to attract attention. It sounds perfectly like something her pretend girlfriend would do. 

 

“I knew it, Seulgi won’t lie to me.” Irene finally heaves a sigh of relief, knowing that she has not become the biggest fool of SM High after all. She chuckles to herself for a few seconds, thinking how silly it is of her to even be bothered by just one picture of Seulgi and another person.

 

Out of curiosity, she clicks onto the boy’s profile and learns of his name: Park Jimin. A student studying in another school, from the popular Big Hit dance academy. 

 

His profile is almost a replica of Seulgi’s, showing pictures of him having the time of his life. She notices there are indeed a few solo pictures of them together around Jimin’s feed, with vague captions that imply that either they are dating or super close friends. 

 

Irene scoffs after reading them, as she does hate it when people are inexplicit like this. Why leave others to their own doubt when all things can be laid out clearly? 

 

Another thing that irks her is how many comments under their pictures are praising them for having a couple look. 

 

In a picture where both of them are smiling brightly, Jimin’s dazzling eye smile that curves perfectly into two half crescents does resemble the girl beside him. 

 

“Couple look? I don’t see it at all. All they have in common is monolids.” Irene mutters to herself and moves on from that post. She quickly goes back to Seulgi’s wall and clicks on one of their couple selfies to see the comments. 

 

Many said they looked cute but there were fewer comments praising their couple look than in pictures of Seulgi and Jimin. At a closer look, a few comments even expressed regret about how Seulgi is not dating Jimin instead. 

 

“Comments are stupid. I hate them.” She grunts to herself then abruptly stops scrolling and immediately exits the application, deleting it permanently. 

 

Irene places her phone on her bedside table and turns off her night light. 

 

She lay on bed, trying to understand why she has just spent over thirty minutes of her night lurking on Instagram, stalking her girlfriend as well as her friends. 

 

All of this is dumb, reckless and stupid. 

 

“You’re smarter than that, Joohyun...” Irene mutters to herself. 

 

Irene has never liked sharing things that belong to her since young, whether it is her favourite doll, or her precious stationery. None could make her give things up, if she does not want to offer it. 

 

Naturally, she does not want to share her girlfriend with anyone too. Even if her girlfriend is just for pretend. 

 

 

——

 

 

The next day, while the dance club members are chilling in the studio before practice, Irene goes to some of them to ask a few questions. 

 

“Sooyoung, are y’all close with other dance crews from other schools?” Irene tries to ask Sooyoung casually, who is beside her doing stretches.

 

Sooyoung nods, “Yep.” 

 

“Then, y’all must be close with the people from Big Hit dance academy?” Irene carefully leads into the topic, hoping she will not catch on. 

 

“Kinda. I know a few of them. Why?” Sooyoung suddenly stops stretching and looks at Irene with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Um, nothing. I was just curious since I walked past their dance academy a few days ago and they seem to be really good at dancing.” Irene explained herself, revealing a nervous smile. 

 

Yeri suddenly joins in their conversation, sitting beside Irene. “Yes, they are extremely good!” 

 

“Do you know Park Jimin?” 

 

“Yeah, he’s close to Seulgi unnie and Jongin oppa! We go out together sometimes.” Yeri hummed. 

 

“Hmm, okay.” Irene just purses her lips and keeps quiet. 

 

“Why the sudden interest in him?”

 

“He dances really well and I heard he’s quite popular with girls.” 

 

“If you’re interested, you can meet him at Yugyeom’s party this Saturday.” Sooyoung replies, then she slips out a playful smile and nudges Irene when she realises why her unnie is asking about this. “Are you asking this because he’s close to Seulgi unnie? Unnie, are you jealous?”

 

“I-I’m not!” Irene suddenly yells, raising her voice in front of the maknaes for the first time.

 

Yeri laughs, “Unnie don’t worry! I think Seulgi unnie and Jimin oppa are just really good friends, like how she is with Jongin oppa.”

 

“No, Jimin oppa and Seulgi unnie are different! They used to date last time.” Sooyoung casually reveals, to the surprise of the older girl. 

 

“Seulgi told me she has never dated-“ Irene tries to in but Yeri interrupts her, drowning her words with her natural booming voice. 

 

“Ahhh yes! And, it’s so annoying how they never wanted to clarify if they were actually dating. Don’t you remember they said they were dating last week?”

 

Sooyoung gasped, “What? When?” 

 

“Well, we were clubbing last Saturday at the and Jimin oppa was announcing....” Yeri’s words trail off when she notices the thunder clouds above her Irene unnie’s head. 

 

She sends a quick message through her eyes to Sooyoung and chuckles nervously, “ Ahh...I think I must have heard wrongly!” 

 

“No, you’re lying.” Sooyoung, the denser of the two, shakes her head at Yeri with a huge smirk, “You always say you heard things wrongly when you lie! Tell me!” 

 

“Park Sooyoung!” Yeri pounces onto Sooyoung suddenly, causing the latter to fall over in the midst of her split. The two of them tumble over into a mess of tangled limbs before the unamused Irene. 

 

“What’s wrong with you, Kim Yerim!” Sooyoung shrieks then she finally stops screaming at Yeri when she sees the murderous aura radiating from Irene’s eyes which are currently staring at her. “Oh ...unnie, I-I we didn’t mean it that way.”

 

Yeri quickly scoots to Irene’s side to do damage control, holding her hand while reassuring her, “I swear there’s nothing going on between Seulgi unnie and Jimin oppa! Seulgi unnie is definitely loyal to you!” 

 

Suddenly, Irene’s cold distant look changes into a huge smile and she suddenly starts chuckling by herself. Looking at her two cute maknaes panicking, she laughs, “Do y’all actually believe that I’m jealous?”

 

“Unnie, you don’t look like you’re joking...” Yeri mutters while staring wide-eyed at an amused Irene. 

 

“You look like you’re about to murder someone.” The skeptical Sooyoung adds, still maintaining a safe distance from her Irene unnie. 

 

“I’m just kidding! Why do y’all look so scared?” Irene smiles again. 

 

“Unnie, you’re either jealous or way too good at acting.” Yeri comments and then narrows her eyes on Irene. “I feel like you’re more-“ 

 

“Are both of you done bullying my girl?” A third person walks towards them with a bright smile on her flushed face. She stands before them, with sweat trickling down her forehead profusely onto the floor, which Irene immediately wipes away. 

 

The two maknaes immediately protested about how they are not bullying Irene, but the captain still punished them to stock up the food stash for this week. 

 

“Nooooooooooooo!” 

 

“Unnie, you’re being unfair!” Yeri whines to Irene for help. Seeing her like this, Irene tells Seulgi in a hurry, “They didn’t bully me, Seulgi. There’s no need to punish them.” 

 

Seulgi shakes her head with a smile, “Nope.” 

 

“Seulgi...” Irene says it in the low voice that Seulgi is scared of, but the other girl just chuckles. 

 

“Doesn’t work this time round, Hyun. I punished them because you’ve been helping us stock up for the past week. It should be their job.” 

 

Irene insists, “I don’t mind doing it, Seulgi.” 

 

“But I mind, because I don’t want you to work too hard.” Seulgi slips out that same smile again, which tethers between the fine line of sincerity and joking. 

 

Usually, that knowing smile will make Irene’s cheeks flush red but today, she hated that smile more than usual. 

 

So, Irene kept quiet and did not reply Seulgi.

 

A confused Seulgi turns to Yeri to signal for help, and Yeri immediately lets out a loud chuckle, “Hahaha! Why not our captain refill the stash instead if you care about Irene unnie that much!” 

 

“Fine, I’ll do it next week!” Seulgi squats down to face Irene at eye level, but the latter refuses to look at her in the eye. She pouts, “Hyun, don’t be angry at me anymore okay? I won’t punish them.” 

 

“Seulgi, can you do something for me?” Irene suddenly asks in a low voice, her gaze meeting Seulgi’s. 

 

“Yes?” Seulgi muses, surprised that Irene is asking her for a favour for the first time. 

 

“Can you bring me to Yugyeom’s party?”

 

 

——

 

 

(Saturday, Seulgi’s house, 7pm) 

 

 

Seulgi walks out of the bathroom in her 100th outfit and asks her best friend, “Is this good?” 

 

Jongin, who is already all dressed up, just groans and slumps onto her bed . “Don’t ask me! I don’t know anything about girl clothes!” 

 

“The reason why I didn’t ask any of the girls is because I want you to give me your unbiased opinion, Kim Jongin.” Seulgi spins one round before Jongin, who immediately flinches. 

 

Jongin complains, “I’m a guy and I don’t know anything about girls’ fashion so I wouldn’t know whether she’ll like your style!” 

 

“The only reason I chose you is because Irene doesn’t know girls’ fashion either. So, tell me! How do I look?” 

 

“I think it’s good.” He quickly brushes her off, then proceeds to use his phone again. Texting while smiling, it is obvious who he is talking to. 

 

“Good enough for you to approach me in a club?” 

 

“That’s disgusting!” 

 

“Lets assume we’re strangers and you met me in a club. You would think I look pretty hot right?” Seulgi does a hair flip and then winks at Jongin, who immediately surrenders in defeat. 

 

“Yes, yes! Don’t flirt with me!” Jongin crawls away from Seulgi and threatens to throw her pillow for self defence. 

 

“Yay, thanks Jongin!” Seulgi proceeds to sit down before her dressing table to do her make up happily.

 

“Anyway, why are you so happy about your girlfriend going to club with you?” Jongin asks. 

 

“I’m excited to introduce her to all our friends!” 

 

“Aren’t you worried that this will be the last time you’re partying?” 

 

His question finally catches Seulgi’s attention. “Why?”

 

“You have a girlfriend now and she seems to not enjoying partying.”

 

“So?”

 

“So you shouldn’t be clubbing if she doesn’t like it.” 

 

Seulgi casually replies, “Oh, it’s okay. We aren’t really dating anyway...wait what did I just say.” She suddenly stops doing her makeup and looks into the mirror to see Jongin narrowing his eyes on her. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“I-I just meant that um, it hasn’t been long since we’ve dated right? So, obviously we are still, you know, getting used to each another and dating!” Seulgi frantically explains with a nervous chuckle, which Jongin catches onto, as Seulgi always does it when she lies. 

 

“Don’t lie to me.” Jongin taps her on the shoulder. “Tell me. Are y’all actually not dating for real? Then, what is all this for?” 

 

“Jongin, I can’t tell you.” Seulgi sighs, but her reaction is enough for Jongin to deduce her answer. 

 

“So it is fake?” He purses his lips. 

 

“Is it?” Seulgi jokes, to Jongin’s unamusement. 

 

“You’re treating this like one of your games.” Jongin raises an eyebrow, “Are you playing with her? That’s not something nice to do, Kang Seulgi.” 

 

“No!” Seulgi immediately defends herself, feeling indignant. She turns to Jongin with a serious expression, “It’s...actually a mutual agreement. She’s doing this to chase away her suitor while I’m doing this just for fun.”

 

“Fun? Aren’t you scared of catching on feelings?” Jongin asks her worriedly. “Don’t play with her if you aren’t serious.” 

 

Seulgi admits, “I used to think it’s just fun but nowadays...I don’t know anymore. I do like spending time with her, but I'm scared.” 

 

Jongin nods, seemingly understanding her situation. “But if you’re serious about it, then just chase her.” 

 

"You know me, Jongin. I'm the most indecisive person in the world. I have crushes on people all the time and they disappear within three months. I don't want to hurt Joohyun." 

 

"Hmm, then take it slow?" 

 

“But-“ 

 

Suddenly, her bedroom door opens and Jisoo peeps her head in with a smile, “Are you girls done? Seulgi, I want to tell you something.”

 

Jongin rolls his eyes at Jisoo, while he stands up from the bed and mumbles to Seulgi, “You should think more about it.” Then, he exits the room, not without sticking out his tongue at Jisoo. 

 

 

——

 

 

(Saturday, in Irene’s house, 7pm) 

 

*Phone rings*

 

“Joohyun, why did you call me?” Wendy is on the other line.

 

“What do I wear to a club!” 

 

Irene looks at her pile of clothes before her that she has been looking through for the past hour. She has ransacked her entire closet but none of the clothes seem to be club-worthy. 

 

Honestly, the girl would never step into a club in her entire life if not necessary for her research. 

 

Wendy gasps across the line. “Wait you are really going clubbing? Not kidding?”

 

“Yes! Just give me some advice on what to wear please.” Irene replies impatiently, while rummaging through her pile of clothes again. 

 

“Just wear the tiest outfit you have!” 

 

Irene frowns and looks at her pile of t-shirts, jeans, plaids and shorts. “I don’t have any!”

 

“Wear just a nice top and jeans?” 

 

 

—-

 

 

When the yellow car finally arrives at her apartment basement, Irene notices there is another person who is the driver. Seulgi walks out of the passenger seat and the latter’s heart skipped a beat. 

 

The captain who is usually dressed in school uniform or sweatpants and baggy t-shirts, is wearing a bright red crop top and light blue ripped jeans which perfectly shows off her curves. Irene immediately looks away when she sees Seulgi’s nicely defined abs, which the latter often brags about. 

 

When Seulgi is nearer to Irene, she notices that Seulgi has