Chapter 4:

Irene eyes’ flutter open and she slips out a smile the first thing in the morning. Her body feels perfectly rested, her mind is light, and she feels like she can take on the world today. 

And it was all because yesterday has been the best day of her life. Contrary to what Seulgi said, she did not see the girl for the entire day. An entire day without drama, anger or embarrassment is perfectly healing for the mind indeed.

Irene smiles to herself, thinking that the other girl has already given up on her because of her repeated rejections. She feels a little bad for her though, especially after seeing her dumb bear smile yesterday. The scene where she accidentally touches the other girl's chest appears in her head all of a sudden, causing her to immediately bury her face in her palms and scream out loud. 

“Think of happy things only. Think of happy things...” She tells herself, imagining the scent of fresh laundry in her head and it instantly makes her feel better. 

After going into the shower and changing for school, it is then she realises something is odd about this morning. 

She checks her phone and finds it weird that Wendy has not messaged her this morning to ask her to hurry up even though she is already five minutes past their usual meeting time outside Irene’s house. 

Slinging her backpack on one shoulder, Irene leaves her apartment and walks out to the carpark area to look for Wendy, who is currently still missing.

She takes out her phone and texts Wendy:

Baechu: Ya, where are you? 

Unknown: I'm already here!

Just as she is looking around, she suddenly heard a loud beep and a yellow convertible that is parked in the corner speeds towards her abruptly. And, it stops in front of her with a loud screech. 

“Yah!” Irene immediately jumps back and glared at towards the front seat by instinct at the careless driver. To her utmost surprise, when the windows rolled down, the person in the passenger seat is none other than her best friend, Wendy. 

Wendy gives her a sheepish smile and waves at her. “G-Good morning, Irene!" 

“Wendy! Why are you in this car?” Irene gasps and her overly protective instincts immediately assumes that Wendy is kidnaped. She proceeds to force the car door open but the door is tightly locked.

“Hey! Stop pulling onto it or you’ll spoil my car door!" The voice that came from the driver seat sounds so annoying familiar. Irene whips her head down to peer into the car and as expected, she sees her her worst nightmare greeting her cheerily. “Good morning, Joohyun!” 

“Kang Seulgi? Ugh, I should have known you wouldn’t leave me alone that easily." Irene grumbles to herself and the cute sight makes Seulgi chuckle. The dance captain replies, "I didn’t come to school yesterday as I was busy running around town because of you.”

“Me?”

“Let’s talk on the way. Hop in, Joohyun!“ 

"Wait, how did you know my real name?” Irene asks agitatedly when she realises what Seulgi has called her. Her real name is something so personal to her family that she rarely lets anyone know it, much less call her by that name. 

Seulgi shrugs but beckons towards Wendy slightly, causing the brunette outside the car to explode in fury. 

“Son Seungwan! I can’t believe you told her that!” Irene smacks Wendy's shoulder and she smacks it hard, causing the other girl to shriek out in pain. 

Wendy looks at Irene with puppy eyes and begs, “I can explain everything, Irene! They forced me to-“

“Wendy, no one forced you. We made a deal." Seulgi corrects her in a low and scary voice that makes Wendy immediately shut up. Wendy apologises meekly to Seulgi, before turning back to Irene and whispering into her ear, "Okay, so we made a deal two days ago and it’s kinda complicated to explain everything now so can you just get into the car first?” 

Irene takes a cautious glance at Seulgi, wondering what kind of deal with the devil did she force Wendy to make. She then looks at Wendy and states firmly, “Get out now, we are going to be late for school. We’ll talk more on the way.” 

“I can’t, Irene. This is part of the deal.” 

“What kind of deal is so important-AHH!” 

Irene winces and covers her ears immediately because of the loud honk. “What is your problem, Kang Seulgi!” 

The latter flashes a bright eyesmile and chirps, “I know we have a lot to catch up on after not seeing each other for a day but please hop into the car now or we’ll all be late for school!” Seulgi than proceeds to honk again, causing the brunette to jump out of shock. 

“This is it. Come out Wendy, screw whatever deal you made with her. We’ll take the bus.” Irene commands Wendy with a deadly gaze that leaves no room for discussion. Wendy nods immediately and wanted to open the door, but the door is still locked.  

“Unlock the door, you !” Irene yells and Seulgi simply shrugs, with an smile on her face. “Well, if I let y’all take the bus now, you’ll both be late. You wouldn’t want to ruin your perfect record now, do you?” 

Irene grunts, as Seulgi does has a point. She looks at her watch and realises they are already twenty minutes later than their usual bus timing, which means they will definitely be late and will need to face the wrath of the discipline master. 

"This is all your fault, Kang Seulgi!" 

“Irene, we just missed our usual bus and if we take the next bus we’ll be late! Please just get onto the car!” Wendy clasps her hands together and begs, “Remember our conduct needs to be excellent to continue to qualify for the scholarship.” 

“Trust me, Joohyun. I can take the shortcut and drop y’all off at school within 15 minutes. You’ll even have some time to eat breakfast before school starts.” Seulgi adds with a nonchalant tone. “But I guess it’s still up to you...”

“Open the goddamn door.” 

——

“Tell me what kind of faustian bargain did you force Wendy to make.” 

Seulgi chuckles at her use of words, which never fails to amuse her. She looks at Wendy in the passenger seat and says, “Would you care to explain it to your friend?” 

Wendy peers back to look at her fuming friend in the back seat, slipping out a nervous chuckle before rambling, “They promised to collaborate with student council’s yearly concert! Imagine the amount of people who will come and watch our show! We’re on the brink of cancelling the concert this year but luckily for them, we will still be able to make it this year! Isn’t that great!” 

Irene knows how important the concert is to Wendy, who is the main organiser of the event this year. However, she cannot control herself but asks coldly, “So what did you offer them in exchange?” 

“Well, I just...haha! Seulgi wanted to know you a little better so I just told them some information about you. Nothing much! Just a little right, Seulgi?” Wendy nudges Seulgi for support, who takes a quick look at Irene in the rear mirror and smiles, “Of course. She just told us a small part of Bae Joohyun’s entire glamorous history.” 

“Don’t call me Joohyun!” Irene rolls her eyes. “And you, Son Seungwan! How dare you tell her my stuff without my consent!”

“I’m sorry! I really regret it now, Irene. I’m so sorry!” Wendy whines and begs Irene in a cute way, that slightly moves the latter's heart despite her anger. Knowing her friend's personality, she knows that Wendy will never do such things if not forced to do so. Thus, she can only let out a frustrated sigh and keep quiet. 

"Joohyun, do you see the bag beside you? Can you open it?" Seulgi tells her without turning back to look at her. Irene's eyes flashes to the suspicious pink shopping bag beside her and grunts, "Don’t call me Joohyun! Anyway, why would I open it?" 

"Just do it. You wouldn't regret it!" 

Irene takes it and peers into it out of curiosity. "A perfume?" Irene's face immediately lights up as she takes out the perfume by instinct and sprays it on her wrist. She takes a whiff and looks at Seulgi with wide eyes, surprised. "It's lavender scent." It is light and pleasant, and from its distinct aroma, Irene can tell that this perfume should be quite expensive. 

"Do you like it? I spent the whole day picking it out for you yesterday. It's my first gift to you!" Seulgi hummed excitedly and looks into the rear mirror to spot Irene's reaction. 

Irene did like the present a lot, but seeing Seulgi's face of anticipation, made her immediately place the perfume back into the shopping bag. She tosses it aside and lies, "I don't like it." 

Irene stifles a chuckle when she sees how the dance captain's face immediately fell. "I thought you said she would like it!" Seulgi turns to Wendy agitatedly, and Wendy turns back to Irene and asks, "Tha