Seulgi fiddles with the earrings on display while Moonbyul is with one of the sales associates, finalizing the details of her purchase. Seulgi was dragged along by Moonbyul to one of those fancy jewelry places, trying to get a gift for Yongsun and her's anniversary. She eyes a bracelet under the glass case and her mind immediately goes to Irene. It had a minimalist look to it, something she thought Irene might like, seeing that the older girl wasn’t one for flashy jewelry. Seulgi pursed her lip, maybe she was getting too into her role of pretend-wife. It was starting to feel like she’s blurring the lines of what’s real and what’s for show. 

 

Before she could walk away from the case, a worker pops up in front of her and asks, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

 

“Um,” she glances at Moonbyul who was still busy with her purchase before turning back to the person in front of her. She couldn’t bring herself to dismiss the worker and points at the bracelet she was staring at earlier and asks, “Can I take a look at this one, please?” 

 

The worker carefully places the bracelet on top of the glass case in front of her. Seulgi feels the material of the bracelet and purses her lips in deep thought.

 

“Miss Kang, I don’t mean to be nosy,” she hears the worker say, “but I think Miss Bae would love it.” 

 

Seulgi laughs, feeling a little embarrassed by the sudden mention of her pretend wife.

 

“You really think she’s going to like it?” She fiddles with the bracelet for a moment longer and makes up her mind, “I’ll take this one, please.”

 

The worker nods and takes the bracelet from Seulgi, “Will this be all Miss Kang?” 

 

“Yes, thank you.” Seulgi reaches into her pocket for her wallet and hands the worker her card. Will she find it weird I went out and bought this for her, she asks herself. Seulgi wasn’t entirely sure what made her want to make this purchase, but it was too late to change her mind as the worker hands her a bag with the bracelet along with her receipt. 

 

“Can I just say that I’m a big fan of you and Miss Bae,” the worker gushes, “You guys make such a great match.” With that, she leaves Seulgi to tend to other customers.

 

Seulgi shyly waves goodbye to the worker and makes her way to Moonbyl’s side. Her older friend was just about done with her side of things. Moonbyul flashes Seulgi a grin and turns back to receive the bag from the worker then the two make their way out of the store. 

 

“Sorry Seulgi-ah, that took longer than I expected,” Moonbyul groans,

 

“Don’t even worry about that,” Seulgi waves it off and asks, “Was there something wrong with the ring?”

 

“Yeah, it was just a little mix-up, nothing too bad,” Moonbyul sighs, recalling what had happened in the store, “I was just supposed to come in to pick it up, but the ring was too big. So they had to engrave another ring.” 

 

“I’m more surprised that they got that done for you that quickly.”

 

Moonbyul nods, agreeing with her, “I know! I was expecting to come back another time, but they were really nice about it. They even let me keep the first ring,” She shows off the shiny new ring on her finger, “They gave me a big discount too!” 

 

“Didn’t I suggest couple rings in the first place, but no,” Seulgi drawls, imitating her friend, “That’s too cheesy.”

 

“Technically, it was the universe that decided this.” 

 

“Whatever you say,” Seulgi chuckles. 

 

“What did you buy,” Moonbyul gestures to the bag Seulgi was holding.

 

The younger girl hides the bag behind her back, scared that her friend might snatch it from her. “Just a little something for myself,” Seulgi controls her expression, trying to not give away anything that would prompt Moonbyul to ask any further questions.

 

“Mmhm,” Moonbyul rolls her eyes, smirking. “I didn’t know you were planning a surprise for Irene-unnie as well.” She doesn’t hide how much fun she was having with teasing Seulgi. 

 

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Seulgi groans. 

 

“Okay,” Moonbyul puts her hands up defensively. She’s almost one hundred percent sure she overheard Irene’s name being mentioned back at the store, but she decides to give Seulgi the benefit of the doubt. 

 

“Anyways, let’s go get that coffee you promised me,” Seulgi says before rushing to her car. 

 

 

一

 

 

Irene gasps, her eyes widening in surprise, “It’s been that long already?”

 

Yongsun nods, leaning back on her chair with a smile. “Time flies,” she sighs, feeling nostalgic all of a sudden. 

 

“Three years is a long time.” 

 

“That’s why I’ve been so stressed trying to find a gift for her,” Yongsun says, pouting at her friend. 

 

“I’m sure she’ll love anything you get for her,” Irene chuckles, “You’re just overthinking things.”

 

“You’re right,” Yongsun sighs, “But I still need help picking something out.” 

 

“That’s what I’m here for.” Irene smiles at her friend, “Now, what were you thinking of getting her?” 

 

Yongsun sits up straight and picks up her phone, “Byul has been talking about how much she wanted this watch for a while now,” she shows Irene a picture of the said watch. 

Irene looks at her friend confused, it seemed like Yongsun was already set on what gift to give Moonbyul. “I don’t understand the problem here,” she says. 

 

“Doesn’t it seem too small of a gift?” Yongsun pouts. 

 

“Honestly, I should be the last person you should be asking this,” Irene shifts in her seat, “But I don’t see anything wrong with that.”  

 

“You’re right,” Yongsun nods, “And who cares if you haven’t had any real dating experience, you give out pretty good advice.”

 

“Hey! I’ve dated many people”

 

“Let’s not lie to ourselves, Joohyun,” Yongsun said, deadpan. 

 

“It’s not like I have a lot of free time to be doing those kinds of things anyway,” Irene mumbles. 

 

“It’s okay, you have Seulgi to do romantic things with now.” 

 

Irene wasn't a violent person, but there was nothing more that she wanted to do right now than wipe the teasing smirk off of her friend’s face.

 

“Take advantage of the show and do things you always wanted to do with your significant other,” Yongsun says. 

 

“That’s true,” Irene hums, her friend does have a point. The staff did say they would take any suggestions or ideas that Seulgi or Irene had into consideration. 

 

“You should do a wedding photoshoot!” Yongsun exclaimed, her eyes widening with excitement, “You guys can choose your wedding dresses, it’ll be so fun.”

 

“Aren’t we supposed to be talking about your anniversary gift? How did this shift to me all of a sudden?” Irene asks. 

 

Yongsun rolls her eyes, “We’ve established that I will get that watch for her, so now we can talk about you and your hot wife.”

 

“Did you just call her hot?”

 

“Are you jealous?” Yongsun smirks, not missing the faint blush creeping up on her friend’s face. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to steal her away from you,” 

 

“When were you planning on actually buying the gift, ‘cause you don’t have much time,” Irene says, trying to get back to their original topic. 

 

Yongsun sighs, “You’re right.” She stares off into space for a few moments before looking back at Irene, “What are you doing next week? Do you want to come with me?” She asks. 

 

“I don’t know if I have any free time at all next week” Irene frowns, feeling bad she couldn’t accompany her friend.

 

“That’s okay, at least we had today,” Yongsun tries to smile, but feels a little sad they won’t be able to get together any time soon. It’s been difficult for both of them to find time out of their busy schedules to hang out. 

 

“You make it seem like we don’t see each other often,” Irene says, lightening the mood. “We just saw each other last week.” 

 

“That’s true, I guess I’ll just invite myself over to your newlywed apartment whenever you guys are filming,” Yongsun jokes. 

 

“What makes you think that I would-" Irene pauses, noticing two familiar figures entering the coffee shop. “Oh?” She leans her body slightly off to the side, so she could see past Yongsun and get a better look at the two people. 

 

Yongsun also turns to look and she hears Irene ask, “Isn’t that Moonbyul?”

 

Irene squints her eyes, but the dim lighting in the restaurant was not helping her at all.  

 

“Should I call her to make sure?” Yongsun turns back to Irene. 

 

Irene also stops staring, in case it ended up not being Moonbyul and nods. 

 

Yongsun’s phone rang twice before the other line picked up, “Hey, where are you right now?”

 

Irene gets up to sit next to Yongsun so she could listen in. She hears the other line say, “I’m at that coffee shop we always go to.” 

 

“Did you just get there?” Yongsun asks. 

 

“Yeah, did you want anything?”

 

“Look to your right,” Yongun turns so she can wave at her girlfriend. 

 

“What?” The figure turns and was indeed her. Moonbyul ends the call on her end and approaches Yongsun and Irene’s table. 

 

“Fancy seeing you here,” Moonbyul greets her girlfriend with a kiss on her cheek. She waves at Irene before looking back at Yongsun, “I thought you said you were going to be in the studio all day.”

 

“Things weren’t going well so we just rescheduled for another session next week,” She didn’t really have a schedule today. It was just a little white lie she told her girlfriend, so she could figure out a gift for her. 

 

Moonbyul hums and rests her hand on the back of Yongsun’s chair, “What are your plans for the rest of the day?” 

 

Yongsun looks up at her and smiles, “Joohyun and I were talking about doing a spontaneous picnic.” 

 

Moonbyul blinks, clearly not expecting that answer, “Picnic?” She looks over at Irene, who just nods with a lopsided smile. 

 

“Did you want to join?”

 

“Sure, I just finished with my errands and I’m free,” she says, then she remembered that she just left Seulgi alone at the register. “Oh crap, I forgot about Seulgi, I’ll be back!” 

 

Moonbyul left so abruptly that Yongsun and Irene almost missed what she said. 

 

“Seulgi?”

 

“That must’ve been the other person that I saw with her,” Irene said.

 

“Oh my gosh, it’s a double date,” Yongsun clapped her hands excitedly.

 

Irene scoffs, “You wish.” 

 

“Yes, I do wish,” Yongsun looks at her friend with a straight face, “how long has it been since you did something for yourself? It’ll be so cute, think about it! My best friend is dating my girlfriend’s best friend and vice versa!”

 

Irene sighs, “You’re starting to sound like the comments under the articles about Seulgi and me.”

 

“If you’ve read the comments, then I’m sure you saw that everyone think you two should just do the show for real.”

 

Irene did indeed find a bunch of comments like that. She gives her friend a stern look, knowing that Yongsun was just teasing, but she knew that there was also a part of her that knew her friend was only half-joking. 

 

“All I’m saying is, I’m your biggest supporter, and I just want you to be happy.”

 

“You always make everything so mushy,” Irene punches her friend’s shoulder lightly. She turns her head to look at something else because she knows that they both might end up crying if they look at each other any longer. 

 

“Blame Byul, she’s rubbing off on me.”

 

“What about me?” Moonbyul’s voice comes out of nowhere.

 

Irene and Yongsun turn their heads to find Moonbyul approaching them with Seulgi following behind. 

 

“Nothing, what did you order? Yongsun quickly diverts the topic. 

 

“Just an iced coffee,” Moonbyul says, plopping herself down on the seat across from Yongsun.

 

Seulgi takes the empty spot next to Moonbyul and smiles brightly at Irene and Yongsun, “Hey guys.” 

 

Irene makes brief eye contact and smiles back. 

 

“Seulgi, do you have anything after this?” Yongsun asks. 

 

The monolid-eyed girl shakes her head, “I got nothing planned later.” 

 

“Do you want to join us for a picnic after this?”

 

Seulgi looks at Moonbyul, who just shrugs back at her, “Yeah, that sounds fun.”

 

“Great!” Yongsun doesn’t hide her excitement and creates a list of things they needed for their picnic on her phone. She types down the first things that pop up in her head, then she reads out the items and asks everyone what else is missing. 

 

“Add apples to the list.”

 

“Let’s get water, just in case.” 

 

“We might as well just order to-go too.” 

 

Yongsun’s thumbs move swiftly, making sure she writes down every suggestion. Once everyone is satisfied with everything they get ready to leave. 

 

Their first stop was the supermarket. They take longer than expected mostly because Seulgi and Moonbyul were too busy sneaking junk food into their cart than actually helping find the things that were on their list. 

 

“No.” Yongsun says simply. 

 

“I’ll let you have a bite, c’mon,” Moonbyul tries to take the cart and leave, but to no avail.

 

“I know you’re not going to eat this,” Yongsun huffs, putting back the cup noodles Moonbyul randomly tossed in. 

 

“I can just bring it home,” she pouts, reaching for it again.

 

“You still have a bunch back home,” Yongsun clicks her tongue and moves on to the next aisle, leaving Moonbyul behind with Seulgi and Irene snickering behind her. 

 

“It’s okay unnie, I’ll buy it for you when Yongsun-unnie isn’t looking,” Seulgi says, patting her shoulder before walking away with Irene. 

 

“You would do that for me?” Moonbyul turns to Seulgi, only to find herself alone in the aisle. 

 

“Can I help you with those?” Seulgi asks as she points at the pile of snacks that Irene was struggling to carry in her arms. 

 

Irene shakes her head and smiles at her, “It’s fine, I got it.” Just when she takes a step, a bag of chips falls out of her arms. They stare at the fallen snack on the ground for a second, then Seulgi bends down to pick it up. Irene coughs and turns her head, not believing that that had just happened. 

 

Cute, Seulgi thinks and grabs a couple more things from the shorter girl’s arms. 

 

Irene bites her cheek in embarrassment before walking away to find Yongsun with their cart. 

 

“Unnie, wait for me,” Seulgi says cheerfully.

 

 

一

 

 

They find a secluded area of the park where there weren’t many people They all just wanted to relax and take it easy.

 

Irene sighs, relishing the warmth of the sun on her skin. “If this was all it took for me to relax, we should have done this sooner,” she says to Yongsun. 

 

Yongsun couldn’t agree more. “I’m about to fall asleep right here,” she says, fighting back a yawn. She gets up to walk around a little, stretching out her limbs in hopes of feeling more awake. 

 

“They’re sure are taking their time,” Irene says.

 

“I’m sure they regret not letting us help now,” Yongsun chuckles, sitting back down.

 

“Oh, I see them,” Irene points her chin in the girls’ direction.

 

Yongsun waves them over. “Look at Byul pretend she isn’t struggling,” she says. 

 

Irene laughs, “I think they’re racing.”

 

Seulgi arrives first, beating Moonbyul by only a few seconds. She lets go of the bags she was carrying and rests her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. 

 

“I even gave you a head start,” Seulgi gloats.

 

Moonbyul was too busy catching her breath to form a retort. Instead, she gives her a dirty look. 

 

“Byul, come sit next to me,” Yongsun motions her over. 

 

Moonbyul smiles and plops down next to her girlfriend. “I’m starving!” She cried out and goes straight to the food, unwrapping all the containers.

 

“Hey, where’s my fried rice?” Seulgi asks going through all the bags for her missing plate. 

 

“It should be here we double-checked everything before we left the restaurant,” Irene says, helping her go through the bags. 

 

“Don’t tell me you guys forgot it in the car,” Yongsun sighs. 

 

“My fried rice,” Seulgi whines, almost tearing up at the fact that she has to go back to the car to get it. She lets out a long groan before getting up to do just that, “I’ll be back, you guys can start eating.”

 

Irene gets up as well, “I’ll come with you.”

 

“You didn’t have to, I could have just gone by myself,” Seulgi says as they start walking. 

 

“I actually need to grab my bag in the car,” Irene says. 

 

“Oh.”

 

“Plus I prefer your company rather than being stuck as a third wheel.”

 

Seulgi grins at that. 

 

The two talk about random things, mostly to avoid any awkward silences, though they got so carried away in their conversation that the fried rice sitting in the car was the last thing on their minds. 

 

“I can’t believe you don’t know how to ride a bike!” Seulgi exclaims. 

 

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Irene laughs, at the younger girl’s overreaction.

 

“But everyone knows how to ride a bike.”

 

“Not me.”

 

“Are your fans aware of this?” Seulgi asks in a teasing tone, “I can’t believe you would break the perfect image I had about you like this.” 

 

“And what image would that be?”

 

“The Bae Irene in my mind knows how to ride a bike,” Seulgi 

 

Irene playfully nudges the younger girl, “I am more than my inability to ride a bike.”

 

“Unnie…” Seulgi looks at her with mock disappointment. 

 

“Judge me all you want, all I’m saying is that I’ve survived this long without knowing how to ride a bike and I turned out fine.”

 

Seulgi shakes her head, finding it hard to hold back her smile.

 

Eventually, they remembered where they were headed and finally got their things. They take their time walking back, purposefully taking a long way around, not ready to end their moment together.

 

 

一

 

 

Seulgi wakes up the morning after with her phone going off every second. She blindly feels around to shut it off and curses when the ringing doesn’t stop. She sits up, flipping her covers for her phone. Her eyes widen at the number of text messages and many calls she’s gotten while asleep.

 

Instead of looking through the texts, she looks at the time. It was still pretty early in the morning and her manager was coming to pick her up in a few hours for today’s schedule. The singer yawns, putting her phone on silent before deciding to go back to sleep. 

 

 

一

 

 

 

 

Red Velvet’s Irene and Kang Seulgi spotted on a date?

Posted on September 7, 2021

 

[+53, -9] I think this was a double date?? Moonbyul and Solar was with them

[+49, -6] They’re so cute 

[+35, -4] I wish someone would look at me like how Seulgi looks at Irene 

[+22, -2] Look at how close they’re standing next to each other…kinda sus…

[+20, -5] You can’t tell me they’re just friends

[+19, -3] Why is no one talking about how adorable Solar and Moonbyul are? 

[+17, -2] Moonbyul and Solar make such a cute couple

[+13, -2] If they really are dating then I support it

[+12, -3] Is this even real

[+10, -1] I don’t think it’s any of our business knowing about their private lives