Irene and I met when we were in the first year of highschool. I was the transferee that had no friends and had no one to eat lunch with until I bravely stood up for the pale and sickly looking girl. 

Nobody seated with Irene because of how she looked and nobody sat with me because I was new. I am glad - for once - that people were s because I became friends with Irene. 

Days went on and Irene and I would be sitting beside each other at lunch by the school park, away from all the people. We would share our food and talk about the most random things. Who would have known that this frail woman could hit so hard when you don't laugh at her jokes? I was shocked. 

I ended up with bruised arms and sarcastic apologies from Irene. 

In our second year, Irene and I fought for a week when I started calling her Joohyun. It's probably the longest week of my life because it felt lonely to be doing things I would typically do with Irene like grabbing breakfast at a nearby convenience store, going to our classes together, getting lunch at the cafeteria and finishing up on homework at our free period. I did all those by myself for a week and I terribly regret ever calling Irene by her real name. 

But I always loved Irene's real name. It rolled off my tongue perfectly like I was meant to say it. I like the way it sounded and rang on my ears. It sounded serene. I love serenity. 

Irene's Korean name fit her while my own sounded like a man's. I hated my name. I was lucky with my english name. 

Her english name, which is Irene, has a great meaning that perfectly fits how I find Irene's physical appearance - a literal Goddess. I also loved her korean name Joohyun! But she didn't. 

When we reconciled, we decided that we would stick to calling each other by our english names. 

I agreed. I can never go on another week without seeing and talking to Irene. It was the saddest week of my life. 

In our third year, Irene and I spoke about what majors we would take at the university. The thought excited me. I was asked by my parents if I wanted to continue studying here in my home country or if I wanted to go back to Canada. 

Of course I am staying in South Korea. 

Irene and I planned to attend the same university and I never ever looked forward to attending the university in my life ever. 

She wanted to take business as her major and lucky for me, that is what I have been eyeing too. We listed the name of the universities we will be taking an exam with and prepared lists of places we can stay at. 

The idea of staying in one apartment also came into mind. I can never be glad. I never looked forward to anything in my life but be off to college. 

No matter how hard life could be by then, I feel like I could conquer it because I am beside Irene Bae and I can never imagine spending that time with somebody else. 

In our first year of university, Irene and I were supposed to go to the same classes since we knew nobody and considering we literally would need to go together because