Chapter 15:

 

The next morning, Irene rushes down to her building basement fifteen minutes earlier than usual as instructed by Seulgi last night. 

 

Once she walks out of the lift lobby, she finally sees the person she has been excited to see ever since she woke up this morning. 

 

The captain who is leaning against the car door, immediately stands up straight and waves to her with a silly grin stretched across her face. 

 

“Morning!”

 

Irene lets out a chuckle of embarrassment but she walks towards the girl. “Good morning, silly bear.” 

 

Since when do mornings suddenly seem so appealing all of a sudden? 

 

“Today is our Day 1. So, I got something for you.“ 

 

Then, Seulgi lets go of the hug and reaches into her jacket pocket to take out a single rose with a short stalk. She places it behind Irene’s ear, which fits perfectly and just stares in awe at how pretty her girlfriend looks. “Wow...you’re beautiful.” 

 

Even as the popular captain of SM High’s dance club, it feels surreal to Seulgi that she has actually managed to date the most beautiful girl in school, or even in the entire world. It is not like she has ever doubted her own charms though. 

 

“Don’t tell me you’re going to buy one more tomorrow? Or two?” Irene replies, with a satisfied smirk on her face. 

 

The captain sighs, “Is it too predictable?” Sometimes Irene is simply too smart for her own good.

 

“Does that mean you’ll have to buy one thousand roses on our 1000th day anniversary? Or even ten thousand on our 10000th day?” Irene teases, but then she realises her mistake when she sees Seulgi widening her eyes. “I-I’m saying if! If we last that long!” 

 

“Yeah yeah, I totally believe it.” Seulgi chuckles as she skilfully curved her body to dodge the hand flying in her direction. After spending enough time together, she has grown adept at predicting Irene’s hits. “Ha! You can’t catch me!” She sticks her tongue out at the latter who sends a kick and fails again. 

 

Irene lets out a resigned sigh after a few more attempts and decides to give up on their childish fight. She just takes a look at Seulgi and grumbles, “Do you how annoying you are?” 

 

“This is what you’ll have to deal with from now on.” Seulgi smirks. “Since you accepted my proposal, you can’t take back your word now.” 

 

Now that they are officially dating, it still feels like nothing between them has really changed. The playful banter remains, but now it is filled with so much more affection. 

 

“That didn’t count since I was blinded by your flamboyant proposal and it was late at night so I was not thinking clearly either.” Irene makes her point logically, as she would do it in a debate. 

 

Seulgi just chuckles in disbelief, “You really want to be like this? Going against everything I’m saying?” 

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then I’ll not listen to you too.” Before Irene can even react, the captain engulfs her in a warm embrace, continuing what has been left over last night. 

 

“I am going to ignore the quota and hug you forever and ever.” Seulgi murmurs into Irene’s neck, while burrowing herself in the sweet spot she found last night. 

 

Irene just sighs in defeat and gives into her temptation to return the hug while muttering, “I still can’t believe you’ve never dated before.” 

 

Her displays of affection are not entry level definitely. While in the embrace, Irene is starting to wonder if what Seulgi claimed is actually true. She is indeed good at everything, even dating. 

 

“Thank you. I can’t believe it either. I mean, look at me.” Seulgi points at herself proudly, from head to toe and announces without even batting an eyelid, “I mean I would date myself too, if that was possible.”

 

As Irene has said before, this is why Seulgi is still single till now. No one will be able to stand her nonsense. 

 

Irene gives an eye roll as usual. She retracts from the hug to look at the smug smile on Seulgi’s face that she used to hate, but now weirdly adores. And, she sighs, “I can’t believe I’m actually dating a cocky .” 

 

Kang Seulgi is everything Irene has never asked for in a girlfriend.

 

Narcissistic, cocky and incredibly annoying.

 

“Who happens to be the sweetest girlfriend in the world?” Seulgi continues to tease while she takes another long look at her girlfriend again, not believing how lucky she got. The softness in her eyes is enough to convey her sincerity. 

 

Also, flirty, sweet and most importantly, genuine. 

 

“It’s too early to tell.” Irene replies coolly. 

 

“Hmph, I‘ll just prove it to you with the rest of my life.” Seulgi pulls Irene in tighter and Irene takes the chance to rest her head on the latter’s chest comfortably, the same place she has accidentally poked while berating Seulgi a month ago. 

 

It is funny how life always turns out in the most ridiculous ways. 

 

“BEEEEEEEEEP!”

 

A loud honk interrupts them again. The couple finally detaches from one another to give Wendy the same sharp glare. 

 

The back seat window rolls down to show an unamused Wendy looking at them with an arched brow. 

 

“We’re going to be late for school if you continue hugging.” 

 

“Right. Enough for now.” Irene pats Seulgi’s arm and encourages her to get going with a smile, “Go drive.” 

 

“I don’t want to.” Seulgi pouts sadly, stirring the latter to pinch her cheek playfully. 

 

Seeing the couple like this, Wendy just sighs again and shouts, “Why not I drive and y’all sit at the back?” 

 

She only meant it as a joke. 

 

Ten minutes later on the road....

 

“Wow I cant believe I’m actually driving a sports car!” 

 

Wendy is still musing over how luxurious the leather of the steering wheel feels on her hands and the loud growl the yellow beast releases every time she accelerate even slightly. 

 

“You can do it from now on.” Seulgi replies, lying on her girlfriend’s lap on the backseat. The image of Irene smiling down at her makes the captain grab Irene’s hand that is playing with her hair and confesses sweetly, “I’ll more than willing to spend my mornings like this from now on.” 

 

Irene turns shy and gently slaps her face in a kidding way, “Drive your own car, Kang Seulgi.” It is obvious she likes it though. 

 

“Wait a minute, why are you two suddenly being so sweet?” Wendy suddenly asks, while looking at them from the rear view mirror. She has this nagging question in her mind from a week ago when this phenomenon started to happen. “Y’all were never like this when you started dating. Don’t tell me...” 

 

“I guess it’s time for me to tell the truth.” Seulgi suddenly declares in response, further shocking the only clueless person in the car. 

 

Seulgi has an inconspicuous smile on her face as she continues while looking at Irene, “I’ve wanted to say this for a long time.”

 

She receives a slap on the shoulder from the latter, who mouths at her frantically, “What are you saying?” She is worried that Seulgi is about to spill their fake dating secret. 

 

However, Seulgi simply returns a look as if saying “Trust me”, before she turns her attention back to Wendy and confesses to their good friend, “Wendy, Irene and I are officially dating-Ouch!” 

 

The captain groans in pain when she receives a hard smack in her stomach for the first time in days. “Hyun-ah...why did you hit me?” 

 

“You mean for real?” Wendy suddenly lets out an excited scream and turns back to face her best friend with tears gleaming from her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, my best friend!”  

 

Irene exclaims in horror instead, “Oh my god, look at the road when you drive!” 

 

“Jesus Christ, Wendy!” 

 

Wendy then realises her mistake and chuckles out of embarrassment before turning back to the wheel. “Oh oops. All’s fine now. Don’t worry, Seulgi, I promise to drive safely from now on. You can have full trust in me!” 

 

No one believed her words of course, unsurprisingly.   

 

“Seulgi, you better not let Wendy drive ever again.” Irene sighs, tilting her head down to look at the captain who has the same distraught expression on her face. 

 

“I think so too.” Seulgi replies as she suddenly sits up again. “Anyway, lets go back to the main topic. Seungwan-ah, Joohyun is finally my girlfriend!” Seulgi repeats, this time even louder than before. 

 

Wendy freaks out again, “Oh my gosh, I told you it would be a success! Congrats my friend!” She speaks as though she has knew about their fake relationship a long time ago. 

 

Seulgi beams proudly, turning to look at her girlfriend who is spotting the “what the hell is going on” expression as expected. 

 

“I’m so proud of you, Hyunnie! You finally opened your heart to someone else!” 

 

The model student has never felt this confused since the last time she read ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce and has never trudged past the third chapter. 

 

Irene holds her hand up to ask them to stop talking and just spits out, “W-Wait...what is going on?” 

 

Seulgi spots a proud grin, “Hyun-ah, I told all of our friends the truth.”

 

“You did...what?” When she finally realised the full consequence of the action a few seconds later, she exploded at the captain. “Kang Seulgi! How can you tell the truth!” 

 

“Ouch, ouch! Hey! Hey! Stop hitting me! Help me please, Seungwan!” Seulgi pleads desperately as she is currently attacked by a rain of punches from her (very) violent girlfriend who is going full on rage mode on her. 

 

“Hyun I just told her-ouch!”

 

“We made a deal not to tell anyone!”

 

“I know but-ouch!” 

 

Every time Seulgi tries to explain herself, Irene shuts her up immediately with her moves. 

 

“It’s not that-Ouch! Oh wow, please aim somewhere lower please. Ugh...not my stomach!” 

 

Luckily, Wendy is already parking the car in the school carpark at the moment. After a successful parking, she instantly jumps in to pull her best friend away before she murders her girlfriend on their first day of dating. 

 

“Seulgi, get your out before she kills you!”  Wendy grunts, while trying her best to hold back her best friend by the arms who is still trying to kick the latter hell of the captain who is scrambling out of the car. 

 

“Let me go!” 

 

Wendy finally lets her go after Seulgi safely gets out of the car. She lashes out at her friend, “Stop hitting her, Joohyun! Why are you even so angry! It’s nothing much, Hyunnie! You don’t need to get so embarrassed about it!” 

 

Irene finally calms down a little, after seeing Wendy who seems surprisingly alright with knowing their fake dating secret. Knowing they were fake dating must have meant she knows about why she started it in the first place. “Wendy, aren’t you angry at me?”

 

Wendy frowns a bit and then she lets out a light hearted chuckle, “What are you talking about? Why would I be angry knowing that you two were just casually dating up till yesterday and decided to make it official now?” 

 

“Huh?” Irene blinks. 

 

“That’s what Seulgi told all of us, the councillors and her dance club, about a week before your big confession party yesterday!” 

 

“Ah...I see.” Irene finally realises why all of her dance crew friends and Wendy seem so cool about them getting together. She slips out a relieved sigh and mentally reminds herself to give Seulgi loads of praises for her brilliant excuse later. 

 

No wonder she likes Seulgi. She has more brains than she actually seems. 

 

“There’s no need to be embarrassed that you opened your heart to Seulgi! Actually, I’m really proud of you in fact.” Wendy continues, holding Irene’s hands on her own. “I’m so glad Seulgi has finally melted your cold heart. You even look much prettier now that you’re dating.” 

 

“Pretty?” Irene scoffs, wondering why her friend is suddenly teasing her again. “How does that even correlate? And why are you suddenly complimenting me?” A friend never compliments you unless they need something from you. “Do you need my answer for the Math Olympiad question Dr. Lee posed three days ago?”

 

“You finished it already even though you were busy dating?” Wendy gasps. “Damn, you’re really a genius.” 

 

Irene shrugs, “So you really do need it? Take it from my bag later yourself.” 

 

The other top student in the car scoffs, “Of course not! I’ll figure it out eventually, without your help.” She makes sure to emphasise the last three syllabuses. 

 

“Oh, well. Suit yourself.” Irene smirks, and her gaze travels out to the lone girl outside who is massaging her arms and taking quick glances inside the car, then quickly looking away when she meets Irene’s eyes. “Cute.” 

 

“Huh me?” 

 

“Obviously not.” Irene picks up her bag from the floor and hums, “Get over yourself.”

 

“Say that to your own girlfriend.” 

 

“Whatever.” She opens the car door and she sees Seulgi immediately jogs to her side, with a  desperate look like she wants to explain everything. She tells Wendy coolly, “Remember to return her car key.” And then, shuts the door in her friend’s face. 

 

Seulgi immediately sets off in a ramble, “Hyun-ah, I didn’t break our promise I swear. I should have said it clearer-“ 

 

A hand covers , as the shorter girl just returns an unexpected smile. She reassured her panicking girlfriend, “Relax, I get it okay? Wendy has told me everything.” 

 

“You’re not angry anymore?” Seulgi speaks, her words muffled by the hand covering but still audible. 

 

“Nope.” Irene removes her hand and uses it to pat her little bear on the head. “Anyway, that is a very good excuse. You’re pretty smart aren’t you?” 

 

Seulgi shrugs and replies in her typical -like tone, “Of course I must be of a certain intellectual calibre to attract the eyes of my genius girlfriend.” 

 

This elicits a giggle from the latter. 

 

“Did it hurt when I hit you? I’m really sorry.” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“But I think it’ll not hurt anymore if you hug away the pain.” Seulgi beams brightly and opens her arms wide. She attempts to wink at the latter and fails cutely, making flutters burst in the other’s heart. 

 

Without thinking, Irene just opens her own arms and walks towards Seulgi, “You’re so-“

 

“Cute! I get it, oh my god!” Wendy walks in between them and pushes them apart. She looks back and forth between the two and nags mercilessly, “I love both of you but please restrain from doing this in school or I’m going to book you. Please spare a thought for the rest of us around you.” 

 

“We don’t mind though.” Jackson raises his hand and suddenly speaks out. He is currently leaning against his car right next to Seulgi’s with a few other friends beside him. 

 

Irene feels the heat rushing to her cheeks as she asks, “Since when have you been watching?” 

 

“We’ve been watching since you both left the car. So have the rest of them.” Jackson casually beckons to all the other students standing in a circle around their car, who waves at them too. 

 

Wendy continues with a sigh, “I know y’all are all excited about finally dating for real but do hold back a little okay?” Honestly, Wendy’s serious expression is a little scary even to her best friend Irene. 

 

So, Irene nods fervently and elbows the captain with a fake chuckle, “Haha, heard that Seulgi?” 

 

“Me?” 

 

“Especially you, student councillor Bae Joohyun.” Wendy says with a straight face. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Irene finally apologises and steps Seulgi’s feet out of embarrassment when she hears the latter chuckling. 

 

Wendy just shakes her head and she throws a small object to Seulgi. “Your car key. I’ll be watching you two.” She walks away to greet Bogum, who is waiting for her by the gate as usual. Irene quickly looks away when she meets Bogum’s eye. 

 

As they walk towards the classrooms hand in hand, Irene is still in disbelief at what she has almost done. She groans to herself, “Oh my god, how can I think about hugging you in public? I must really be crazy.” 

 

Public display of affection like hugging and kissing will immediately get them six demerit points if caught. As a councillor, she should know it by heart.

 

While Irene is freaking out, Seulgi does not seem to care too much about it. She just jokes, “I admit I do have the effect on people sometimes. They go crazy whenever I dance.” 

 

Irene feels the instinct to smack Seulgi again, but she cannot bear to do it once she meets Seulgi’s eyes. She concludes that there is really something wrong with her.

 

Irene lets go of Seulgi’s hand abruptly and walks towards the stairs like she is in a trance. 

 

“Wait where are you going?” 

 

“Library.” 

 

“Class is starting in 15 minutes, Hyunnie.” 

 

“I know but I need to research on something very important now.” 

 

“What?” Seulgi muses, wondering what it is about this time. Irene has approximately done this about five times whenever she has an important epiphany about the physics formulas she has been working on or is desperately curious about a particular topic that suddenly popped out in her mind. 

 

“Well...”

 

“Is it some weird theory of relativity again?“ 

 

“No.” Irene looks at Seulgi seriously and states, “Is dating making me stupid? I need to research about it now. See you later okay?” 

 

Irene speeds up the stairs by herself, leaving Seulgi all alone. 

 

The captain just sighs to herself, “You’re such a nerd, but why do I like it so much?” 

 

——

 

“Hyun-ah, what should we eat for recess?”

 

“Jjajangmyeon?”

 

“I don’t feel like eating that today. I’m in more of in a spaghetti with meatballs mood.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Give me longer replies! I’m bored.” 

 

“Aren’t you always?” 

 

“Entertain m