Sunlight peeked through the window’s blinds in the room. Seulgi opened her eyes and immediately closed them again, trying to adjust with the sudden light invaded her senses. She yawned as she stretched both of her arms, rolling her body to the side of her single bed. From the sunlight, she knew that it was not early anymore but her eyes still felt so heavy so she decided to sleep again. She deserved it, anyway.

Seulgi closed her eyes, and drowned herself into her soft and comfy blanket. She took a deep breath, and the scene of softener she used for her blanket invaded her nostrils. She loved moments like this so much, when she could sleep peacefully without worrying about Yeri barging again into her room because she knew her roommate had a morning class today for the whole day.

Oh, Seulgi thought.

Because right after that, there was a familiar crack sound followed by door swung open widely, and Seulgi swore she hated that sound so much.

“KANG SEULGI!!!”

Seulgi sighed as she mentally cursed.

“What do you want, Yeri. I’m still so sleepy.” Seulgi said with her hoarse voice, without moving even an inch from her bed. She was that tired, maybe because she was out for the whole day.

“Where’s Irene Bae?”

Seulgi was still too sleepy to register her friend’s words in her mind but she opened her eyes immediately when she heard her name.

Seeing Seulgi didn’t budge at all, Yeri walked closer and stretched out her hand, pulling the blanket that was covering the monolid’s body. Seulgi squirmed a bit at the sudden change of temperature.

Seulgi released a deep sigh and turned her body around facing Yeri.

“What makes you think she is here? And I thought you had class today.”

“I skipped all of it because I’m so tired- stop trying to change the topic, Seul.”

Yeri paused, as a teasing smirk creeping up her face.

“Didn’t you get laid?”

She was barely awake but Yeri’s question made her eyes widened.

“Excuse me? We did nothing! She didn’t even come in.”

Yeri’s shoulder slumped at her answer.

“I came home late on purpose, how can you disappoint me like this, Seul. Wait- it means I lost the bet, I’m already broke what should I do.”

“I never promised anything- and how dare you make a bet about my life?”

Seulgi took her pillow and was about to throw it to Yeri but she scooted quickly leaving the room.

“COME BACK KIM YERIM!!!”

“Are you done?” Irene said as she rolled her eyes.

Wendy threw her death glare at the CEO. Wendy was a kind, smart, and she was so patient. She was literally every parent’s dream daughter and everyone’s dream girl.

But not when she was mad.

“Don’t make me start again, Joohyun.” Wendy said with a labored breath.

Irene was sitting in her room peacefully, working on papers and enjoying her morning coffee when she was interrupted with the sudden sound of door slamming, revealing a really pissed Wendy. Irene actually had expected this so she had mentally prepared herself.

“Aren’t you thirsty? Let me grab a dri-“

“Don’t try to change the topic, Rene.”

Wendy had been nagging for almost 20 minutes. Irene couldn’t help but feeling intimidated- she even forgot she was the CEO.

“I’m sorry, okay? It was my fault and sorry for not telling you.”

“You should be.”

Wendy took a deep breath and released it. She was much calmer than before (after nagging at her own boss for minutes).

“But I really don’t understand you, Irene. How could you cancel your lunch with Mr. Park like that? You knew how important it was. You should have told me first, at least! I had to clear all the mess you have caused.”

“Are they mad?” Irene asked.

“If you were them, wouldn’t you?” Wendy snorted.

“Just let them be. They need us more than we need them, anyway. We’ll still be okay even without them but they won’t.”

Wendy opened to argue back but she refrained herself. A long sigh escaped the blonde’s lips instead.

Irene was right, though.

“Fine, just promise me you won’t do this again next time, or at least inform me first.” Wendy said.

Irene nodded in response, and flashed an apologetic smile. Deep down there, she actually felt a bit guilty towards Wendy.

Wendy got up from the couch, and put her palm on the backrest, propping her figure and stood facing the CEO.

You are not usually like this. The Irene Bae I knew was always professional. This is not something you would do. So, tell me. What’s so important about a random campus seminar?”

“Nothing important.” Irene replied, and Wendy rolled her eyes at the answer.

“Then, why?”

“The event was not important, Seulgi is.”

Wendy blinked her eyes several times, registering Irene’s words in her mind.

Oh.

Wendy didn’t know it had something to do with Seulgi. She should have known that something was not right, Irene was never like that before. She had always been so responsible and professional regarding to work.

“She asked me to be one of the speakers on the seminar for the sake of her best friend, and I agreed.”

“You like her, do you?”

Irene shifted her attention from her computer screen to Wendy, scrunching her eyebrows together.

“What’s with the sudden curiosity?”

“Just answer it.”

Wendy walked closer to Irene, stopped right in front of her desk and abruptly slammed her both hands on the desk, with her gaze nailing the CEO. Irene almost jumped off her chair in shock.

“What the-“

“You like Seulgi, right?”

Irene opened , trying to say something but nothing came out of her pretty lips. Everyone would laugh at her if they saw her in this state. Irene Bae never shuttered in front of anyone.

She really felt she was red handed caught.

“Fine, I like her, so what?”

Irene finally gave up. She planned to keep this to herself, but seemed like she couldn’t lie to her personal assistant slash her best friend for years.

Yes, she liked Kang Seulgi.

“Finally, you admitted. I knew it. The way you look at her is so different. You didn’t even look at Jennie like that.”

Wendy removed her hands from the desk, and stepped back a bit.

“Am I that obvious?”

“Do I need to answer that? You even canceled an important lunch for her. Never once in my life it appear in my mind that Irene Bae would do something so unprofessional like that.”

Irene clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“I can’t say no to her, okay?”

“You fall so hard for her, huh.” Wendy smirked teasingly.

She plopped down in front of Irene on the chair, and propped her chin with her palms.

“Just a reminder, she is not your real girlfriend. Just in case you forgot.”

“I know. I didn’t plan to tell her about this, either.”

“So you are okay if someday she go out with anyone else that is not you?”

Irene wiggled her eyebrows at the question. No, she didn’t want to and she hated to see Seulgi involved in a relationship romantically without anyone else that was not her.

But on the other side, she really didn’t want to tell the younger about her feelings. She didn’t want to break things between two of them.

She didn’t want to lose her.

“If you can’t claim her as yours, then you have no right from stopping her seeing anyone else.”

Wendy paused as she stood up from her seat.

“I’m leaving first. Think about it, Bae.”

Wendy walked and disappeared behind the door. Irene sighed, and lowering her head on the top of her table.

“What should I do with you, Seulgi?"

“Stop smiling, you are scaring me."

Seulgi couldn’t stop thinking about her “date” with the CEO yesterday. She even brought her to her condominium. Seulgi knew not everyone could enter Irene’s private place like that so she felt so special.

She didn’t plan to tell Yeri about it because she knew her friend would scream and bombing her with a bunch of questions and she was not in the mood for that.

Irene was really perfect. She didn’t know what people thought about her but at least for Seulgi, she was. Irene took care of her really well. She was really sweet and thoughtful.  She was a busy person and Seulgi knew (she couldn’t even imagine running a big company like that) but she always spared her time to check up on her, simply asking how she was doing and if she already had her meal or not.  She even canceled her schedule for Seulgi and even took Seulgi on a dinner in her fancy condominium.

Seulgi hated to admit but she really enjoyed the older’s company. Seulgi was an introvert, and she was socially awkward. She was never good at making friends. The only close friend she had was Yeri who happened to be her roommate. She had never dated anyone, so she had never received this kind of affection before like Irene had been giving to her.

“God, Seulgi. Just admit that you like her and stop being denial, will you?” Yeri said as she shoved a spoon full of cereal inside .

It was Friday night and Seulgi just woke up from her nap. She was so sleepy for the whole day because Yeri interrupted her sleep this morning.

“I don’t like her. I mean, I do like her but not in that way.” Seulgi denied.

They had this conversation a lot and Seulgi always reminded herself that Irene was being nice and she was doing it because she felt she had the responsibility to do so. They were still on the contract, anyway.

“Come on, Seul. It’s so obvious that she likes you too. It’s written clearly on her forehead.”

“She was just being nice and responsible, okay? We talked about this a lot.”

Yeri released a long sigh as she put her spoon back inside the bowl on the coffee table.

“Fine, whatever, let’s just see. If you two ended up being girlfriends, you have to give all of the pringles stock you have for me. Deal.”