October 7, 2014

Irene regretted accepting the offer to meet with her middle school friends. She wanted to meet her parents back in Daegu so when she had arrived safely, she just had to see her long time middle school friend, Jessica. Jessica had been kind enough to invite her for a get together with the other students.

Irene thought that it would be okay to catch up with the others and chat along, but she regretted it once she noticed how changed the others have been. They were talking about her acting job and being nosy, which Irene hated so much.

“You don't have a stable job?” Krystal asked while staring Irene with a raised eyebrow, judging her.

Irene with all honestly said, “Acting is a stable job for me.”

“Honey, I don't even see you in the television.” 

Krystal’s remark made everyone in the table laugh along. Jessica glared the others and told them to behave properly and not be rude. Thank god at least Jessica was here.

“You've been acting since you left high school?” Amber asked this time.

“Yes, it's my dream.” 

“It's seriously funny that you left high school just because of acting. You must be crazy, you should seriously think about your future and get a real job.” Krystal spoke.

Irene was officially offended. She wanted to beat the out of Krystal because of the girl's rudeness and criticism regarding her job.

“That's kind of you for reminding me of my future but I can take care of my life pretty well without your advices. You should focus on your life instead sticking tongue on mine.”

The table turned silent and Krystal had a hard expression because she definitely didn't expect Irene to fire back. In middle school, Irene was always the silent and dull type but that was middle school and right now is real life. Irene grew with time.

“I'll head home now, thanks for inviting me, Jessica. Take care everyone.” Irene smiled to everyone and walked out of that bar after paying for her own drink.

Irene felt humiliated because acting is her love and she loves it, so someone judging her dream made her pissed. They didn't have to be that rude and forward just because she chose acting over anything. That was the reason why she didn't like to engage with others too much.

Irene got a call while she settled down in her old room, which to her surprise was still clean because of her parents. She's sure that her mother cleaned it. 

Her phone rang and as soon as she answered it, she heard a loud scream,

“Guess who passed all the subjects!?”

Irene replied with a mischief smile, “I knew Saeron  could do it. Tell her congrats from my side, Yeri. What about your result, Yeri?”

There was a dead silence for a while and Irene wondered if Yeri fainted or died somewhere. 

“Unnie!! I am the one who passed all the subjects. Saeron will always do best and you know it, that girl will cry a river if she failed any subject.” Yeri said sassily.

“You did really well, Yeri-ah. Your hard work  paid off.”

“It's all because of Seungwan unnie. She's the best teacher.”

“I helped you too” Irene pointed out.

“Yes…one time and then you were gone. Seungwan unnie was there when I called her everyday.”

“I was there with Seungwan the other day but you didn't come and ditched us incase you forgot.” 

Yeri scoffed, “It wasn't my fault since I got bored that day.”

“Did I tell you that you're annoying?” Irene said but with a smile in her face. 

“Yes, everytime.” Yeri chuckled.

“Unnie, when are you coming back? I'll give you and Seungwan unnie a treat.”

Irene acted surprised and hitched her voice, “You? Treat? Am I hearing it right?”

“Not a full course dinner or lunch, just an ice-cream treat. I can't afford to feed you people to delicious food.” 

Irene giggled, “Cute of you, I'm down with only ice-cream”

October 10, 2014

“I hope you don't mind ice-cream, Wan unnie.” Yeri said while walking beside Saeron. 

Seungwan and Irene were following the two girls with a small smile. Seungwan replied with excitement in her voice,

“Mind? Who in the right world will mind free food? Not me.” 

Saeron and Yeri laughed because of Seungwan’s reply while Irene gave a small smile. It was nice of Seungwan to consider the younger’s feelings.

“I'm happy that you invited me.” Seungwan added but was totally ignored because Yeri didn't hear her as she was so busy talking with Saeron.

Seungwan seemed embarrassed so Irene teasingly said,

“Totally got ignored. Hashtag ignored”

Seungwan looked Irene with an amused smile and tried to joke back,

“I didn't know you knew the word Hashtag. Yeri told me you were too old to know about technology, internet and slangs” 

Irene stopped in her track because of the small diss Seungwan threw at her. Seungwan stopped along with her and checked Irene’s expression carefully and she quickly added,

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad.”

Irene shrugged, “It's sad because you made an old person unhappy, you clearly lack manner, young lady.”

It took few minutes for Seungwan to realize that Irene was playing with her. When she finally got it, Seungwan widely smiled,

“Maybe you should teach me some manners, Joohyun.”

The tone that Seungwan used was too low and soft that Irene was seeing rainbows and unicorns flying around. The sentence, did it have any other implication?

“If you agree to pay in cash, I will.” Irene gave a sheepish and dorky smile which got Seungwan to blush and hide her face.

Soon, they were inside the ice-cream parlor which had only few of the customers. It was small in space but it was really cute and pretty, right to Seungwan’s likeness.

“This is so pretty!” Seungwan happily said as she witness the decorations hanging in the wall.

“The owner made a great effort, I love it so much.” 

Seungwan inspected each and every decoration while the others were already sitting on their table, waiting for their order to come. The kind staff told them that they'll bring it to their table even though Irene insisted on taking it herself.