“I know I already said it but I’m deeply sorry. I really am,” Irene said once Seulgi got in the car.

“Ok,” Seulgi merely replied.

“I’m the only one who’s done the talking here, though. I wanna hear your side of the story, there’s clearly a lot I missed,” Irene added.

“Like what?” Seulgi was beginning to regret taking Irene’s offer.

“Tell me how things developed from your point of view. Simple as that,” Irene said.

“I was sitting with my friends, then you and your friends appeared. The rest is history,” muttered Seulgi. She hated how frustrated Irene made her feel, she was usually very calm and collected.

“But you weren’t dating Mino,” Irene intrjected, raising her eyebrows.

“No. I was tutoring him over the summer, helping him with English. He was just too embarrassed to tell his friends. My mom knows his mom, that’s how I ended up as his tutor. As for ice cream, I think he just wanted to do something besides studying all summer. He was definitely checking some girl out that day, but it was not me,” Seulgi explained, regaining her composure.

“I heard you play the piano,” Irene said once Seulgi was done talking.

“I did. My hand gets stiff and it hurts a bit after I play for too long now, though. It’s technically all healed by now, so don’t worry,” Seulgi replied trying to distract herself with the car sun visor.

“I did some digging today at school after I heard about it from your friends. Chen said you were expected to take home most of the gold medals this year,” Irene commented, her eyes fixed on Seulgi.

“Oh, Chen. He’s really good too. Chen and a girl from Fort Hay were my biggest competition this year. Anyone could’ve won, honestly,” Seulgi said off-handedly. It actually hurt her to talk about it. She had been unable to attend four main events, therefore she didn't meet the requirements to participate in the remaining competitions. She felt so helpless, but she was trying to look as unaffected as possible.

“So, you really can’t play, I guess. What are you gonna do after high school?” Irene inquired, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel, waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

“I’m trying to study hard and focus on my grades. My friend suggested that I apply for a composition major or something like that, but I'm not sure it’s really my thing,” Seulgi said–talking this much about herself was making her feel uncomfortable.

The conversation died after that and for the rest of the ride Seulgi entertained herself with the view outside the car window and the music playing from Irene’s phone connected to the radio. She had to admit that Irene’s taste in music was quite good. She had this theory, according to Seulgi nobody with good music taste could possibly be a bad human being. Irene, however, was proving to be the exception to the rule.

Before Seulgi knew it, they had made it back to her house. She noticed that she didn’t even have to give Irene any directions.

“I have a pretty good memory,” Irene stated as if she had just read Seulgi’s mind.

“Thanks for the ride. I’m hoping you keep your promise,” Seulgi said before exiting the vehicle.

“Wait,” Irene shouted, chasing after the other girl. “Hear me out, please. I have a proposition for you.”

“What now? I have to go in. I’m already late for dinner,” Seulgi protested impatiently.

“Actually, I won’t tell you just yet. Just promise me you won’t call the cops on me. I’ll be around,” Irene concluded mysteriously. Seulgi didn’t like any of what she was hearing, she was done dealing with Irene.

“You are literally breaking your own promise and now you want me to promise something to you. Just stop following me around and we’ll be fine,” Seulgi said, not even in the mood to wait for a reply. She opened the front door and walked to the living room to greet her family.

— — —

“Did you know? I heard Irene's minions are all photocopies of each other: Joy, Jennie, and Jisoo. That’s kind of whack,” Moonbyul commented on Friday. They were walking to Trinity School for Moonbyul’s match. Once a month, all sports teams from IBS played Trinity and this month it was Trinity's turn to host the event. Normally, Wendy and Seulgi wouldn’t be attending these sort of events, it would usually get really crowded and that wasn’t quite their scene. However, this was the volleyball team's last macth before the regional championship started and Moonbyul had aked them to go, admitting t