A week has passed since Seulgi came back from the US and the said girl has always never failed to show up at Irene’s dorm every day. Irene opens the door and the smile on her face is immediate. Well, Seulgi always makes her feel happy, in fact.  

   “What are you doing here again?” Irene tries to sound like she’s annoyed at Seulgi’s presence but the grin on her face says otherwise. 

    Seulgi does not give her a reply but she goes to give the smaller girl a big hug. “I just want to see you.” 

    “You’ve been coming here every day, Seul.” Irene replies as she wraps her own arm around Seulgi. The warmth from Seulgi is really like no other. 

    “I haven’t seen you for two years, Irene.” Seulgi pulls away from the hug and she looks straight into Irene’s eyes. She hopes she did not just take the wrong turn by saying that. 

    “You could’ve given me...” Irene hums for a while and she somehow feels nervous. Is it right for her to say it? Is it alright for them to talk about this, actually? 

    “You could’ve given me video calls.” Irene says again this time, with more confidence to hide away how nervous she actually feels right now. Things could get really bad right now, but she hopes not. Why did they even start off with this topic anyways? 

    “I’m sorry.” Seulgi chuckles lightly to brush away the sadness she feels. She averts her gaze away from Irene and she bows her head a little bit as she repeats, “I’m sorry.” 

    Irene suddenly realizes that she has not closed the door so when she steps forward to reach for the doorknob, Seulgi backs away a little. Seulgi seems a bit jumpy. Maybe bringing up about not seeing each other for two years was wrong. She wants to knock her head on the wall for the regret that comes but she does not want Irene to figure out what she’s thinking by doing so. 

    Irene walks in to sit on the couch with Seulgi following closely behind her. They sit in silence for a while before Irene speaks up again. 

    “I’m sorry too.” Irene says softly and she can feel how hard Seulgi turns her head around to look at her. Irene knows Seulgi did not expect for her to say that. “Maybe I should be the one that called you first.” 

    “No, Irene, it should be me. I’m sorry.” Seulgi says back. Seulgi has always thought that it was all her fault that they did not talk for two years, not Irene’s. 

    “No, Seulgi, I’m sor-” 

    “No, Irene, I’m sorry.” 

    And Irene finally laughs in defeat. She can’t really fight back when Seulgi is being this stubborn. 

    “Okay, you’re sorry.” Irene looks at Seulgi with a smile on her face. Seulgi looks back with a small smile mirroring Irene’s. Irene keeps the smile, “So are we good now?” 

    “Never been better.” Seulgi says calmly as she gets up to get herself a cup of water. became dry after apologizing so much. She feels as if will crack open soon so she just walks to the kitchen by herself. She goes around Irene’s dorm like it’s her own now. She fills the cup with water and the sound of water pouring out is the only noise consuming the four-walled dorm. Seulgi sips a bit of the water and she clears , wanting to suggest something for them to do to cool off the awkward steam between them. “Do you want to..” 

    Seulgi takes in one more sip as Irene has her eyes on her. 

    “Do you want to go get ice-cream?” 

    “I was about to suggest bubble tea, but I think ice-cream is nice too.” 

    “Let’s go then.” Seulgi now sincerely smiles and she does not know she is actually smiling from ear to ear. She gulps down the rest of the water and she washes the cup. Irene sees the smile on Seulgi’s face and she herself can’t help but smile too. 

    The weather is a bit chilly and it already has an effect on Irene who is now clutching her cardigan close to keep herself warm. Seulgi knows that Irene has always been sensitive to colder weather, but she does not want Irene to get the wrong idea by pulling her close. Seulgi is hesitant, she knows the boundary that Irene has set for them, she respects that and she does not want Irene to be upset with her anymore.

    “Irene.” 

    Irene turns to look at Seulgi’s direction. The sudden wind blowing on her face makes her shiver a bit as she closes her eyes to ‘fight’ the cold. 

    “Do-” Seulgi is nervous, her voice is evidently shaking. She clears before getting straight to the point, “do you want my coat? I’m not as cold.” 

    Irene stops in her tracks to think for a while. Seulgi stops too, matching Irene. Getting another layer of cloth to wrap around her body now sounds warm but Irene being her stubborn self, “Nope.”

    “But you’re cold?” 

    “Nope, I’m no-”

    Irene barely finishes her sentence when Seulgi just ignores her and puts on her coat on Irene. Seulgi leaves her hands on Irene’s shoulder and she firmly squeezes it. 

    “Your words don’t match your action, Irene.” Seulgi smiles warmly and Irene absolutely does not want to think how reassuring her smile actually is. She doesn't know if it’s her feeling weird or something but the extra layer of coat on her body makes her feel a little bit too warm, and her heart strangely feels full?

    “Just wear it, okay? You get cold easily.” Seulgi adds on and Irene swears that one sentence sounds a little bit too reassuring. Seulgi knowing these little details about her definitely makes her feel slightly giddy.

    They continue on their tracks when Seulgi gets no reply from Irene. Seulgi walks a few steps ahead of Irene because she was still lost in her thoughts a while ago, but she catches up to Seulgi and she links her arm with Seulgi. Seulgi jumps a little out of surprise but still can’t help the smile that is slowly creeping up on her cheeks. 

    They walk in silence to the ice cream shop and Irene sees two familiar faces when they reach the place and she calls out to them. 

    “Wendy! Joy!” 

     Wendy and Joy turn around at the same time and are obviously excited to see Irene. They wave their hands vigorously as they run up to Irene.

    "What are you guys doing here?" 

     Seulgi laughs at that question. "They came here for ice-cream, obviously." 

     Juhyun shows an ‘oh’ expression and they all laugh in unison. 

    "Joy keeps bugging me to treat her to ice cream because she helped me last time." Wendy explains to them as a matter of factly but Irene gives them a teasing look. 

    "What's with the look?" Joy asks as she glares at Irene. Irene is really not just about to expose her in a public place, even more so at an ice-cream shop. Wendy exchanges her gaze from Irene to Joy and back to Irene as she is not quite getting what the two are going on about.  

    "Whatever, Irene. We're going first. Bye!" Joy then says quickly to be out of the situation that Irene has put up to set her up. Irene laughs at her and she does not get to wave them goodbye when Joy, with a loud voice shouting, “Enjoy your date too!”

    Irene widens her eyes at what Joy said and is about to bicker back but Seulgi manages to stop her because Joy’s shouting has already got eyes looking at them and she doesn’t want Irene to cause even more scenes. 

    “Best friends go on dates too.” Seulgi says softly to Irene who is now looking like she has pink tints on her cheeks. Seulgi wonders if it is because Irene feels warm after getting in a heated conversation with her friends or is it because of what Joy said to her. Nevertheless, Irene still looks cute. 

    “Yeah.” Irene says shortly after, “You’re right.”

    Seulgi smiles warmly again and Irene swears that darned smile can really make her feel like there’s no cruelty in this world. How is Seulgi able to smile so warmly, so reassuringly, so...adorably? 

    "Choose your flavour, quick. Or else I won't be paying." Seulgi says quickly when she feels like Irene is looking at her for a little bit too long. Irene is sensitive to that so she clears a bit then she speedily chooses her favourite ice cream flavour and Seulgi's too. Seulgi pays and they choose a table and they settle down to enjoy their ice cream. Seulgi stares at Irene as she happily takes in every bite of her ice cream. No one else, not even Seulgi realizes how a smile just comes up naturally on her face as she was looking at the adorable tiny lady having her ice cream. Just then, a bit of the ice cream smeared on Irene's lips. Seulgi with her quick reflex, let out her thumb to wipe it off. Irene sharply glares at her. 

    “What are you doing?”

    “You got ice cream on your lips, .” 

    Irene pinches Seulgi on her arm and she snarls back, “I’m not a .” 

    “Only a would get ice cream on her lips.” Seulgi lets out her tongue and teases Irene even more. Seulgi ignores the annoyed groaning Irene lets out and calmly eats her ice cream when Irene pushes Seulgi’s hand and it gets some ice cream to be on Seulgi’s lips. 

    “Ha! You’re the now.” 

    Seulgi gives no response to Irene. She just stares at Irene - expressionless. Irene does get a bit worried because of Seulgi’s reaction, she did not just piss Seulgi off, did she? She was just playing around, Seulgi would know that too. 

   "H-hey." Irene puts down her spoon as she shakes Seulgi by the arm lightly, "Are you angry?" 

   "...." 

   "Seulgi-yah." 

    Irene shakes Seulgi's arms harder. "Seulgi, I-I didn't mean to-"

    "I'm not angry." 

     Irene looks at Seulgi in confusion and Seulgi tries her hardest to hold in her laughter. 

     “Then why aren't you-" 

     "Wipe the ice cream off my lips for me." Seulgi says as calmly as possible because she really feels like she will burst out laughing soon. 

     "!" 

     "Caught you shaking for a while, eh?" Seulgi finally lets out her laugh at Irene. 

     "Shut up! Wipe it off yourself." Irene spares Seulgi no more looks and continues devouring her ice cream. Seulgi keeps laughing at how flustered Irene looks but holds it in for a while when Irene scarily glares at her. Seulgi is just so happy that they are back to pull pranks and tease each other like they used to. Being in the US for two years was boring because there was no one she was close enough to tease. 

     She is happy that she finally feels like she has her best friend back.