Irene dropped the sealed map on the chief’s table, smiling when she saw no other map from another team present on the shiny surface. It was childish but she found delight in knowing her team finished the report first before others.

She turned around in time to see Sakura on her own seat, stretching her arms up like a cat and looked more tired than anyone else. Irene gingerly walked over to the younger.

“Hey,” Irene called, tapping Sakura’s shoulder lightly as not to scare the latter. Sakura rubbed her sleepy eyes then turned at Irene, narrowing her eyes since apparently lack of sleep stopped her brain to function properly.

“Irene?” Sakura mumbled like a cat, oblivious to Irene’s hardened jaw as the older tried her best not to pinch the younger for being adorable, and leaned forward to put her forehead against Irene’s stomach. “I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go get some lunch.” Irene pat Sakura’s head like she would to a cat (though she never did because she’s so scared of animals) and waited as the younger took her purse and phone from her desk drawer. She thanked the heavens because Sakura’s lack of focus made her oblivious to Irene’s hand slipping into hers, mending their fingers together so perfectly Irene was sure they were made for each other.

Irene tugged Sakura’s hand softly and lead the walk to the cafeteria on the first floor, but their steps were halted when a loud yell echoed throughout the hallway. The two whipped their head to the left where a crowd started to form inside the pantry room.

“WHAT THE DO YOU WANT?!” A fellow researcher spat, his eyes blaring with fire as he struggled from the hold of other researchers. In front of him was another male researcher who looked so calm as he sipped his own coffee mug.

Irene recognized the man with the coffee mug as her team member and sprinted to the scene, dragging the sleepy Sakura along with her.

“What? You were the one asking me things.”

“What is happening here?” Irene asked, finally stopping in the middle of the commotion while Sakura blended with other researchers in the background.

“HE PLANTED VIRUS IN MY COMPUTER!” The enraged man answered, his voice was so loud that Irene jumped on her spot. She watched the two researchers holding him back, making sure he wouldn’t do something stupid before she turned her attention to her team member.

“What’s your side of the story?”

“I realized someone has been snitching my project on my computer, so I planted a virus in case the file is opened on another computer other than mine. The rest of the story...well, you get the gist, right?”

Irene’s jaw tightened. Out of all wrongdoings in the world, the enraged man has to do something she despised the most. True, she has to find the truth first if the enraged man did the snitch or not, but if he did, she knew she would never trust the man ever again.

Feeling everyone's’ judgemental eyes on him, the enraged man pushed the two researchers aside, sprinting forward to the other man and shoved Irene’s shoulder roughly out of his way.

So rough that Irene was sent flying to the pantry counter. Unfortunately, her hand hit a flower vase and it broke to pieces.

Everything happened in slow motion. The moment Irene’s painful shriek reached Sakura’s ears, her brain bot up in a flash and her eyes widen in shock when she saw the blood painting Irene’s hands as well as the glass pieces scattered around the older girl.

Sakura felt something exploded inside her. She stormed forward, grabbing the man’s shoulder and turned him around to land the strongest punch she ever gave to the man’s unsuspecting face.

The sandwich was left untouched on her left hand while her right (bandaged) hand being held so tight between Sakura’s shaky hands. The two were rushed to the infirmary immediately to treat Irene’s wound and to check whether Sakura broke her fingers or not because everyone swore they heard the loud crack when the younger landed her punch on the (ex) fellow researcher earlier.

Letting out a long sigh, Irene put the sandwich on the plate then tapped the skin between Sakura’s arched brows with her left forefinger.

“I’m okay.” Irene whispered, rubbing the skin and watched as the frown slowly disappeared from Sakura’s forehead.

“But the blood-“

“The painkiller is working fine so it doesn’t hurt as you think.” Irene moved her finger to cup the japanese’s cheek, “I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

Sakura leaned against Irene’s touch, letting out a loud relieved sigh as her shoulders sagged down. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

A thin smile plastered on Irene’s face as she remembered what happened earlier. It happened so fast that one moment, she felt unbearable pain in her palms (and the sight of blood turned her face blue), then she felt extremely touched when Sakura punched the man for her.

Now she knew how important she is to the younger.

Behind them, Wendy dragged Seulgi away to give them privacy while Joy excitedly left the room to announce what she had seen. Oh, she had a lot to tell Yeri later.