“I’m gonna be real honest with you, unnie. I don’t think they’re actually dating.”

Irene and Yeri lagged behind, watching Seulgi and Joy bicker like an old married couple, while Wendy sulked immediately behind them. The five girls had gone out together for dinner at Joy’s insistence, now that Seulgi had been introduced to Yeri as well. Irene and Wendy initially refused, not wanting to see their crushes happily in a relationship with each other.

Or so it seemed.

Yeri kept hinting at the possibility of Seulgi and Joy pranking them, pointing out every time Joy’s eyes looked tenderly upon Wendy as she pored over her books or Seulgi accidentally cringed at Joy’s disgustingly sweet pet names. Irene really wanted to take Yeri’s word, but she didn’t want to ruin a relationship because of an unfounded assumption.

“Not everyone’s relationship looks like others, Yeri. I don’t want to be a homewrecker, even if it is a fake relationship. They probably have a reason for doing it.”

Yeri shook her head. “You’re a coward. What happened to the diva who leads our meetings because our actual president is a useless sack of ?”

“Yeri, language!”

“Oh, please,” Yeri said mockingly. “Don’t think I haven’t heard you muttering Satanic spells at every person who so much as breathed in Seulgi’s direction before she started ‘going out’ with Joy.”

“I’ll let you know that one, you wouldn’t be the freshmen rep if it weren’t for Chanyeol, whom you’ve so rudely reduced to a nonessential bearing of fecal matter, and two, I was just practicing the Latin we learned for some medical terminology.”

“Uh huh. I still stand by my first point about Mr. President, because he only let me in since he had a crush on me. You and all the other board members know that all he does is stand behind you and stare at your while you present the stuff we need to discuss.”

“I...what?!”

Yeri looked at Irene incredulously. “You didn’t know?”

“No!”

At Irene’s loud outburst, the three sophomores stopped walking and turned to look back at her. Irene blushed, face, ears, and neck turning red within seconds, as she noticed Seulgi regarding her with an extremely intense gaze (was it concern? Annoyance? Pity? She couldn’t tell). Yeri smiled assuredly and motioned for them to keep walking.

“She’s quite passionate about the specific brand of fabric softeners we use, so she was just expressing her opinions about the feasibility of a mint choco chip scented one.”

Irene nodded rapidly, glad that Yeri covered for her.

Momentarily recovered from her glum state due to the shock of Irene’s earlier distress, Wendy skipped back to them and linked arms with Irene. “That’s exactly the answer she would give.” She turned to face Seulgi and Joy. “Irene unnie has refused to use anything other than the lavender-scented purple fabric softeners ever since I’ve roomed with her.”

Joy laughed loudly and smacked Seulgi’s back, making the latter sputter and almost fall forward. Seulgi unsuccessfully rubbed the general area before elbowing Joy harshly in the ribs.

“.”

“Honey,” Joy shot back with a mischievous smirk.

“Hungry,” Yeri stated. “How much longer do we have to walk? We probably would be there already if we had just taken the car instead. My legs are starting to hurt.”

“Excuse me,” Joy quipped back, “but you’re the one who wanted to enjoy the weather while we could.”

“Yeah, but we can do that afterwards at the park!”

“Ain’t the same, child. Ain’t the same.”

“Ugh.” Yeri threw up her hands in defeat and rolled her backs. Wendy chuckled at the chaotic duo squabbling, Yeri having backed down once again. She was a tsundere, although she never admitted it. Irene had seen her hiding her and Wendy’s favourite snacks around the house for them to find when either of the older girls was stressed.

“We’re almost there, I think. Five minutes, right Seulgi?”

Seulgi nodded in response, dragging Joy back to regroup with the other three. Irene’s heart quickened a tad at the way the taller girl strutted, leading Joy with a confidence that no other could possibly pull off except the very girl trailing behind her. She stopped immediately in front of Irene, stoic face revealing not even an inkling of her thoughts, before breaking into the most adorable smile Irene had ever seen in her life.

“Sorry that Joy’s strides are so wide. It’s not usually that bad of a walk when you don’t have to jog your way there.”

Yeri nudged Irene subtly, raising her eyebrows with a knowing look on her face. Irene bumped her hip against the younger girl’s.

“I-no, it’s all fine. Yeri’s a strong girl, right, Yeri?” Without giving the redhead a chance to nod, Irene barrelled straight into another bout of ramblings. “There was that one time that Yeri tried out for the track team, and she actually placed second out of all the hundred meter sprinters, but she decided not to do track because she’s a bit insecure about getting overly muscular legs, although I think her legs look fine, but anyway, I’ve seen her go up a hundred flight of stairs while carrying a twenty pound dog, and there was that one time she—”

“Unnie, please...you’re embarrassing us…” Yeri pleaded in a whisper.

Irene slammed on her verbal brakes. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, I was rambling wasn’t I? I’m not usually like this, but it’s just that I wanted to tell you how strong Yeri’s legs—”

Seulgi laughed, a light, girly tinkling mixed with hints of the iness of a mature woman’s voice. Ir