Chapter 7:

When they finally reached a place where they can talk, a.k.a at the bleachers, Irene finally lets go of Seulgi who has just followed her all the way obediently without saying anything. 

Irene sinks down to one of the seats and buries her hands on her palms. “What have I done...What have I done...” She mumbles to herself repeatedly in disbelief. What she has done was reckless, dumb and stupid. And, there seems to be no turning back at this point. 

Taking a seat beside Irene, Seulgi places her hand on Irene’s back hesitantly, afraid that the angry bunny will bite her out of aggression. When Irene does not push her away, she her back and asks her gently, “So what was that about? Why did you suddenly say we are dating?”

At the word “dating”, Irene suddenly turns and she looks at Seulgi in the eyes with a serious gaze, “Can you date me?” 

“Are you kidding?” Seulgi chuckles, thinking of it as a joke. She searches Irene’s eyes for any doubt but there is none, only certainty. 

Seeing the latter’s eyes widen in surprise, Irene quickly clarifies before Seulgi thought she meant something else, “We will just pretend we are dating for a short while, just long enough for Bogum to lose interest in me.“ 

“Oh.”

The bright expression on Seulgi’s face deteriorated. Seulgi looks at Irene for a second without saying anything and then admits, “I’m...pretty confused right now. Give me some time to think about it.” 

The thought of dating Irene sounds perfect to Seulgi but fake dating? What is that supposed to mean? What does dating even mean? 

Irene nods, knowing her request is indeed ridiculous for anyone to accept. Screw it, she does not want to deceive anyone anymore. 

“Actually I-“

“I’m into it. Let’s date.” Seulgi suddenly said. She turns to face Irene and her smile grows even wider as she says, “I like the idea of us dating, even if it’s just for pretend.”

“Really?” Irene’s face visibly brightens too. She looks at Seulgi, who nods at her enthusiastically. Skeptical of Seulgi’s intentions, she asks, “Why are you so happy about it?” 

Seulgi explains with a chirp, “We can enjoy the fun of dating but without the commitment. Isn’t that great?” The dance captain remembers how Jongin and Soojung broke up two month ago because they started to commit to one another, but could not maintain a long distance relationship. She remembers how devastated Jongin was after the break up and how he blamed everything on commitment.

“You’re scared of commitment? You’re really a player, Kang Seulgi.” Irene glares at Seulgi disapprovingly. 

“That’s not true!” Seulgi immediately defends herself, not wanting Irene to get the wrong idea. She continues to explain, “I’ve never dated anyone before, contrary to popular belief. I don’t know what it’s like but I’ve heard that commitment is something that ruins relationships. I've seen it happen before and that's why I'm hesitant about it...because I don't want to hurt anyone." 

Irene just nods, noting how it often surprises her how Seulgi always manages to say the most mature things at times when she least expected it. 

Seulgi continues while looking into Irene’s eyes. “So I do actually like the idea of just having a reason to hang out with you before my competition starts in three months.” 

Her genuine, sweet reply makes Irene blush and smack her in the stomach out of the blue to conceal her embarrassment, causing Seulgi to groan. “We are not actually going to date Kang Seulgi! We are just pretending.” 

“Even pretending needs to be real, Irene. So we still have to go on dates, hold hands and do couple stuff.” Seulgi beams at the thought of doing those things like couples do. Also, thinking about the amount of likes she will get from posting their photos together makes her really happy too.  

Seulgi states, “Those are my terms in this deal. Accept it or I’ll not do it.” 

Irene sighs, wondering what other choices she has at the moment. She agrees but adds her own condition, “By the end of three months, promise me we will break up immediately without question.”

“Okay, but what if we fall in love?” Seulgi suggests as a joke and cannot help but laugh at her own statement. Loving someone else is such an abstract idea indeed, that even saying the word “love” feels so foreign to Seulgi. 

“That wouldn’t happen.” Irene says coolly. 

“I initially planned to fall in love with someone within these three months but I guess just dating is close enough.” 

Seulgi suddenly creeps her hand onto Irene’s and the latter immediately removes her own hand and slaps Seulgi’s naughty hand. Irene crosses her arms across her chest protectively and glares at Seulgi, “This cannot work. We need to have a contract or else you’ll start to do all kind of weird things to me.” 

___

So, they sat in silence for about five minutes to individually think of things they want to include in their fake dating contract. 

During that period of time, Seulgi keeps on typing on phone while giggling, making Irene wonder if she has made the wrong decision. Maybe she should just pretend to date Suho or even Wendy. 

Seulgi suddenly says, “Contract dating sounds like an absolute high school cliche, Hyun-ah. You’re lucky you have such a hot partner who is willing to play this game with you.” She points at herself and beams proudly. 

Irene rolls her eyes in return and asks, "Are you done? I'm done." 

"I'm done. You can go first! Tell me what you want in a perfect girlfriend and I'll deliver it perfectly for you." Seulgi smirks and she confidently beckons Irene to show her her list of items. 

"I tried to keep it simple." Irene explains nervously when she sees how Seulgi's face turned darker and darker as she read. 

Irene’s terms: 

No kissing 

No hugging 

No holding hands 

No touching

No dating someone else 

No PDA in class

Seulgi must do everything I say 

Seulgi looks at Irene in disbelief and groans, “That’s practically how we are right now but much worse! I've never dated before but even I know dating isn't supposed to look like this." She shakes her head and says coolly, "I'm not agreeing to this." 

"Fine..." Irene grumbles under her breath. "Then what do you want?" 

After much discussion and whining from Seulgi, they have finally decided to cancel on the "No holding hands" policy and changed "No touching" to "No inappropriate touching". "No hugging" will be on a conditional basis while  "kissing" is for sure, a no-no for the conservative Irene. 

Irene explains, “I don’t want you to take my first kiss. I’m still saving it for my first love.” 

Seulgi raises an eyebrow, “I am your first love.” 

"You may be the first person I date but you're not my first love." Irene made sure to define the terms super clearly, as it is obviously very important in a contract relationship. 

"But you are mine." Seulgi says it smoothly with a casual grin. And damn, Irene has to give that one to Seulgi because it made butterflies explode in her stomach. 

"Whatever. So, what are your terms?" Irene quickly changes the topic. 

Seulgi’s list:

Let me drive you to school. 

Kissing, hugging, holding hands everyday 

Supporting me at my lunch performances in the front row 

Appearing on my instagram feed once a week 

Take photos of me on our dates

Go to my friends’ parties together 

Watch my favourite movies together, especially “Before sunrise” 

"You're really a bully, aren't you?" Irene glared at Seulgi after seeing her terms and conditions. Except for the second term, everything else on her list actually seems reasonable but the fact that it is so specific makes Irene feel as if she got taken advantage of. 

"Well, you could have included the specifics like me but you didn't. Too bad you can’t change your terms now!” Seulgi chuckles and Irene sends a hard smack on her stomach. Seulgi rubs her tummy sadly and thinks to herself that this is something she will have to get used to for the next three months. 

“Fine...you can include something you want me to do too.” Seulgi makes the offer. 

Irene thinks hard, but she cannot think of anything she wants the latter to help her do. Glancing at the bag in Seulgi’s hand, Irene suddenly says, "Buy me banana milk every day." 

“Okay.” 

Irene types it down on her list. 

She looks through Seulgi’s list and adds, “Lets watch “The Notebook” too.” 

“Seriously? That sappy classic romantic film?” Seulgi narrows her eyes on the girl beside her, secretly judging her choices. When she meets Irene’s glare, Seulgi immediately types it down in the contract without a question. 

“It’s not because I want to watch it with you. It’s just because none of my friends will watch with me since I made them watch it too many times.” Irene explains and Seulgi nods as it is a reasonable request. 

“So are we done?”

“I think so.” 

They finalised the contract on their shared Google document and they sealed the deal with a pinky promise, suggested by the more childish one of the two. 

“No strings attached.” Irene warns, as they interlock their pinkies. 

Seulgi chuckles and repeats after her, “No strings attached. Only pinkies. And maybe our hands. And our lips...okay okay I’m sorry." 

—-

They sit together for a while longer, trying to digest what has actually happened. 

They made a deal and now, what’s next? 

“Wait so we’re actually dating for real?” Seulgi turns to ask Irene for confirmation again. 

“No, we are pretending to date.” Irene corrects her. 

“I know, but to others, we are still dating. Hmm, it feels weird being in a public relationship. How am I supposed to feel?” She asks Irene excitedly. 

“Nothing because we are just pretending.” The disinterested Irene just rolls her eyes at Seulgi. 

“Alright,” Seulgi suddenly holds Irene’s hand and lies her head on her shoulder. A flustered Irene pushes Seulgi away by reflex but Seulgi holds onto her tightly and hums, “Since you said you feel nothing towards me, I can do this right? This is in the contract too.” 

“Fine...” Irene grits her teeth and just allows Seulgi to continue to remain in that position. She swears she will get revenge on her one d