5:30 A.M.

Beep. Beep. Beep

A figure wrapped by a warm white comforter shifted, a hand popped out, blindly reaching for the blinking and snoozing digital alarm next to the bed.

Seulgi let out a yawn, got out of the matress, and did a few stretches. She went to the toilet, had her morning rituals, checking if there were any acnes and pimples popping and such, and then she went down to fix herself a cup of coffee, she liked her coffee black and strong. Seulgi went up to her room bringing her caffeine, opened her window, taking in the serene chilly Californian dawn.

This is how her mornings supposed to start, or not yet.

A mischievous grin played on her face, she checked the time, 6:00 A.M it read. She quietly sipped her drink whilst her eyes darted on the sliding window opposite hers as she waited for the real morning ritual to commence.

Irene let out a grunt, one hand searching for her mobile phone under the covers and the other was rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. With eyes barely open, she checked the time, 6:02 A.M. She sighed, way too early for school but Irene being a morning person that she is, got up from the comforts of her bed, sliding the curtains and windows open to let the rays of the sun enter her bedroom later on.

She stood in front of her full length mirror placed near the window, she checked her bed hair, her bared face and noted all her physical insecurities, scrutinizing the nonexistent black and whiteheads and pimples on her smooth unblemished skin.

Satisfied with what she had seen, lifting her night wear her hands slid to her abdomen, tightening her muscles, she swayed slowly from left to right.

Nice, she thought about the missing all those late night dinner did really pay off.

Night wear went up higher, high enough that a Mermaid tattoo colored in varying shades of purple on her left underboob contrasting her pale smooth skin visibly seen. Gently tracing the art with her fingertip, a small smile formed in her lips. Irene getting inked on that intimate part of her body was one of the daring things she had ever done in her life, and not a soul had seen and had been told since she got it a month ago.

And she prayed to all the gods who existed that her parents will never ever find out about it, or else.

Finally liking what she saw after assessing her upper body, she turned around and looked at her bottom with her black lingerie on display. Irene had a particular preference for buttocks; she liked it firm, round and strong.

Displeasure surfaced when she tried lifting her , even how much she loved her Victoria’s Secret underwear she had on, and how it cupped and shaped her bottom perfectly, Irene was no near satisfied, she turned around and there she decided to go for a quick run.

6:19 A.M.

Seulgi almost choked on her drink.

Good god, she muttered under her breath. She didn’t expect that this was how her mornings supposed to start; it was beyond her erted yet harmless mind anticipated.

She tried closing her eyes, shaking  the scene that took place a few minutes ago, but it replayed perfectly just how she expected from her erted yet harmless mind but she had to clear her head, with final gulp of her black and strong coffee she decided to go for a quick run.  

Seulgi never thought that uptight little miss Irene Bae could star in a Rated R scene.

6:46 A.M.

Cool breeze of early morning California hit her pale skin. Irene inhaled and exhaled the SoCal fresh air while keeping a slow paced jog around the neighborhood. Around her, it was peaceful and quiet saved for a few cars passing and couple of people talking and walking. Nonetheless, it brought her this kind serenity.

She liked this; her head was clearing all the unnecessary thoughts that could her ruin her day, all she could think was how to steady her breathing and how far she could go. She should not be thinking of anything at the moment, her thoughts should not be drifting to what Wendy randomly blurted last weekend when they were hanging in her couch with The Kissing Booth playing.

“My gay cannot process why you haven’t, why you aren’t and why you never dated Seulgi?”

Irene only looked at her friend like she turned into Beyonce.

Unbelievable.

“Wendy, for the love of god, where did you get the idea?” she asked.

“I don’t know, I mean we know Seulgi plays for the both teams, I mean look at her?” Wendy turned her head to the direction of the mentioned girl on the kitchen hanging with her little sister Joy.

“Yeah, I am looking at her, but I don’t get what you mean,” she deadpanned.

“Girl, you are not looking enough.”

Irene threw a glance towards the topic of their conversation, Seulgi was laughing with whatever Joy said.

Her eyebrows furrowed with what the hell Wendy was talking about.

And since then, things were not the same.

Going back, nothing else should matter.

Think of nothing, nothing, and nothing. And then everything started to go blank. And all she could think was how to steady her breathing and how far she could go.

And she was starting to love her morning already.

This is how her mornings supposed to start, or not.

Oh boy, was she wrong, while making a turn at the end of the corner of the street, she met an already sweat drenched Seulgi who matched her pace, glancing at her side with a wide smile.

“Nice seeing you first thing in the morning Joohyun”, the other girl greeted.

She could never figure out why Seulgi kept on calling her Korean name. She never bothered to ask why or made the girl call her ‘Irene’, she just let it be.

Irene acknowledged with a slight nod and forced smile, then she started to sped up a little, from slow paced jog to a moderate run leaving Seulgi slightly behind. Well, it may seem Irene didn’t like Seulgi’s presence as of the moment, she wouldn’t deny it or admit it but when she remembered what Wendy said, she rather not deal with the younger girl.

Seulgi is always playful around her, fooling and pranking Irene with Joy. Those two girls never respected her, she never expected anyway with Irene only two years older. The three practically grew up together. The younger girl had been in Irene’s life for too long that it felt weird to even think about it. Too long that Seulgi had seen too much of Irene’s embarrassing moments in her life since preschool.

She was there when Irene peed her pants when both were sleeping when Irene was in second grade, she was there when she puked her gut out one time when she had this uneventful chicken incidentt, she was there when Irene decided to cut her own hair using a soup bowl as guide, and she was there when Irene was a crying mess when she found out that her crush from middle school flew to another country. And the list could go on.

Seulgi is like a family to her.

So what Wendy said sounded so wrong.

Irene never thought her quick morning run would turn out to be a 100-meter dash.

7:45 A.M.

Irene was doing the last touch-up in front of the mirror when her eyes caught the same wide grin across her window, the very same that she saw first thing in the morning. Her left eyebrow rose higher that she intended do as she fixed her make-up.

She mouthed a ‘what’.

Seulgi in return raised her eyebrow up and down suggestively.

Irene was confused when her neighbor’s hands went down below her hip and lifted her plain black shirt, revealing a taut abdomen, and all Irene could mutter was a ‘what-the-’.

She was scrunching her eyebrows even more in puzzlement when Seulgi was motioning her freehand to and fro under her to what it seemed her brassiere, mouthing back ‘hot’.

And Irene had enough of it, slamming the window shut. She swore Seulgi was sniffing something else beside oxygen, and she should tell her mom to kept Joy away from her.

8:00 A.M.

Seulgi eyed Irene mischievously while she was having a breakfast with the Bae’s. She is really closed with them, oh well; she had been here since she was in diapers.

She was happily munching her pancake while waiting for Joy when Irene kicked her shin under the table. Seulgi almost spit out her breakfast, but she wouldn’t dare with Mr. and Mrs. Bae sitting with them.

So Seulgi politely excused herself off the dining table with her empty plate planning to wash it clean, Irene trailed off behind.

The younger girl was drying the dish when Irene stood beside her, reaching for the soap.

“Nice tat” she muttered.

And Irene looked at her, horrified.

12:05 P.M.

Irene and Wendy were having lunch together in the school cafeteria when the latter was sneaking glances every now and then towards Seulgi and Joy with their friends on another table.

“I just don’t get it Rene,” Wendy started.

“Not again Wanda,”

“Okay look, I know thinking of dating her must feel like imagining hooking up with your sister, which I mean, Joy is really hot-

“Wendy just stop there,” Irene warned.

“Fine, just give me reasons why won’t you date Seulgi,” Wendy challenged.

“Oh my freaking nuts, I can’t even bring myself into thinking of dating her. How can you expect me to give you reasons why I won’t date her?”

Wendy gave her a look.

Irene rolled her eyes but nonetheless forced her sight to Seulgi’s direction. And the first thing that crossed her mind was all that she had done and Seulgi was there to witness it all.

“Fine, dating Seulgi will feel like dating my ‘embarrassing moment’s history’.”

***

Honestly, I already forgot how to write. After Taeny, I just didn't have the 'gay' to fuel me. 

This story is going to be light. No drama. Not even that cheesy. 

Just an in-denial Bae Joohyun and 'are you even kidding me' Kang Seulgi.

Bye.