"Hey Bae." Seulgi calls in a whisper trying to get the attention of Irene Bae, miss straight As, who is diligently answering the problem solving items their instructor has given them in a surprise morning quiz.

When Seulgi fails to get the attention of her classmate, she likes to call her miss perfection if not stuck-up at times, she not so subtly nudge her with her foot. She's seated on Irene's left.

Eyebrows meeting, forehead creased in irritation, Irene looks at her. "What...?" She ask in annoyance.

"Will you move your arm? You're blocking my view, I can't see your answers." Seulgi answers casually, not minding how irritated Irene looks, she's spoke like she's only borrowing a pen so casually, not asking to copy her answers.

Irene rolls her eyes, clearly she can't be as annoyed as she already feel at Seulgi right now, this is peak irritation. "Ugh, seriously Kang? Why don't you do yourself and me a favor and study?" She tells in annoyance, but nevertheless moved her arm away from blocking her paper to let Seulgi see.

"Oh shut up, you're so loud, Professor Park is coming this way!" Seulgi says seeing their balding professor is approaching their direction, with his thick glass sitting on his nose, he's the last thing she'll be scared of really.

This is their only shared class, Calculus. An elective class for Irene because she thought it'd be beneficial since she's majoring in Finance, and as for Seulgi who is taking Architecture, thought it'd be anything but fun to learn more math, since she's been having too much maths. Yeah she thought.

Ever since they first step into the university halls, meeting each other in the orientation day, Seulgi has been drawn to Irene, always taking the initiative to talk to the other woman despite how snobbish she is towards her. Irene avoids her like a plague whenever they cross paths, and Seulgi simply loves annoying the girl. A very pretty girl, annoyed at Kang Seulgi, that makes her day.

Seulgi has never shared any classes with Irene since they were in first year, not that Seulgi tries to spy on her, it's all purely coincidence they bump into each other in the hallways and she's out of luck. Ever since she sat side by side with Irene she's been making the effort to get closer to the girl, she's not so subtly followed her happenings around with her ever supportive best friend Wendy and Yeri who thinks student council is definitely not their kind of extracurricular activity. Yeri is a year younger than they are but they clicked well that they stuck around each other, Yeri even challenged her to introduce herself to Irene formally, and confess her massive crush on miss perfect.

As game as she always was, Seulgi agreed in a heartbeat, no hesitations in her steps when she walked towards Irene who was sitting by the bench in the open park in the university with her own circle of friends, reading a book, while the others were engaged in small talks.

She took the book from Irene's hand taking the girl by surprise ,and put on her most charming smile as she declared "Irene Bae, I like you."

Irene only looked at her for a good few seconds, surprise no longer in her face, not even a hint of unease as one perfectly shaped eyebrow rose. "Well, it's your problem, not mine."

Irene's friends gasped in surprise, even Seulgi was a bit stunned. All of her friends heard them, and the news of the infamous Kang Seulgi confessing to student council member Irene Bae spread like wildfire.

Despite that though, Seulgi only grins at Irene's reaction. She went back to Wendy gaping like a fish out of water and the hyena laughing that is Yeri. "You owe me lunch meals for a month squirtle."

"Did you just get rejected? HAHAHAHA!" Yeri laughed maniacally.

"Nah, she'll come around, and I won free lunches so I don't mind."

Since then, Seulgi's infatuation only heightened. The rejection did nothing but only encourged her to pursue Irene. The more she does, the more Irene gets annoyed, and all the more she do it. She really loves teasing the shorter girl. There's something about the way she reacts to her teasing that really gets to Seulgi.

When Seulgi finds out she's taking Calculus with Irene, that felt so much like winning the lottery. Even better when their strict professor assigned her seat beside Irene, she can't thank the balding man enough maybe she'd shop some wigs for him as thanks.

Or maybe not.

"Miss Kang, you might break your neck there trying to peak on Ms. Bae's paper." Professor Park jabs at her that has no effect on her at all. Maybe if she's any regular student she'd piss her pants in pure embarrassment, but she's Kang Seulgi. She's anything but a regular student, she's used to this kind of moments, in fact she's seen this as another opportunity. To tease Irene Bae.

"Professor, I'm not looking at Ms. Bae's paper, why would I even do that when her pretty face is this close to mine? Oh, and I was also wondering why she smells so good." She answers teasingly. "Maybe she'd recommend me her fabric conditioner? The laundry in my area can't make my clothes smell this good."

And everyone in the class laughed at that, even Professor Park laughed. What happened, Irene is the one to feel embarrass instead, her face turning red up to her ears.

"Just remember Miss Kang, in our time, we do it subtly. Not to scare the girls off." Professor Park says good naturedly.

"Ahh, must be why all of my aunts are now old maids. They didn't see, and are still keep on looking for signs."

Her classmates laughed even more at her comment, completely forgetting they're supposed to be taking a quiz.

Seulgi winked at Irene's way who's eyebrows are meeting and forehead with deep crease. She's a hundred and one percent sure that Irene's annoyance at her reached a new level. Well, what can she do? She can't help teasing Irene, and the other girl makes it even more harder to resist.

The more she gets annoyed, the cuter she becomes. Seulgi thought to herself as she sends another teasing smile to Irene's way who deeply frowns like it's all she knows how to do.

Moments like this really makes Seulgi's day. Admittedly, life feels like it can be happier this way.

Not really that kind of happy, at least happy.

-

So this is a way that I say I need you
This is a way...
This is a way...

That I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that you and you alone can break my fall

The volume of the component player is full on blasting some rock band song that Seulgi listens to on repeat, not minding that the volume to which she's listening is nearly deafening. With eyes shut close she sings along to the song playing, loving the hard beating that matches her own heart thumping.

"This is a way, this is a waaaay!" she sings along like no one cares, well she certainly don't care.

Wendy just shakes her head listening to her best friend and roommate while she prepares the ingredients to cook lunch for two. She can hear clearly from across the kitchen the way her best friend plays a rock song on full volume, it's a good thing they live in a fairly big estate owned by Seulgi's mom so she can be as loud as she can and expect no banging of doors from annoyed neighbors. She must be feeling lonely again, Wendy thinks to herself.

They've been best friends for so long, been rooming together for near four years to count since they started university. Ever since Wendy's parents moved back to settle for good in Canada and she decided to stay for university, she's bunked in with Seulgi who lives by herself. They lived in the same neighborhood since gradeschool, and went to school together since. With Seulgi's mom working abroad since Seulgi was fifteen, she's mostly by herself and a help. When they finally entered university, they agreed to stay together in one roof, they're too old to need help but too young to face adulthood by themselves. So yey to having best friends forever.

When Seulgi's parents divorced, her mom won over her custody and they lived here ever since. Her dad though, Mr. Kang remarried not a few years after the separation, while Seulgi's mom went to work in the U.S. when she was fifteen. Two years later, just a couple of weeks after Seulgi's seventeenth birthday her mom announced she's getting married to an American citizen and will move there permanently.

Her mom wanted her there, but Seulgi wants nothing to do with it, her mom's "new life" as she calls it. Seulgi is as stubborn and hard as a rock when she said no to her mom. She didn't went to her mom's wedding and barely made the effort to connect with her. It's been three years since then. Whenever her mom calls, this is what Seulgi always do, play some sad rock songs on full volume, locks herself in and get lost in the world of loud music.

Wendy understands her best friend must be in pain, but she'll never understand how much it must hurt. Seulgi may look jolly and good outside, but she's no more than just a kid hurting inside.

"This is a waaaaaaay...!" Seulgi shouts once more, masking her feelings in the pretense of singing.

Here's chapter one! Let me know what you think in the comments :)

Maybe you'd like to share with me? Coffee is good https://ko-fi.com/itsourhistory