“I told them already, I have nothing to do with her, she might be off somewhere. You know her personality. She’s almost untamable. She always chases what she wants.” James Garcia ruffles his hair in annoyance. “Aren’t you one of her friends? You must have known something,” He gestures and puts his hands in his pocket.

“I won’t be asking you if I knew,” Irene drops her crossed arms down. She walks out of the room but before she could leave, she halts her steps. “You know, you’re one of the suspects since you’re the “ex”,” Then, she leaves him behind with guilt. Irene only agreed to come when Giselle told her James Garcia was the one throwing the party. She was hoping to get information from him. Unluckily, he wasn’t the right person to talk to. She can tell that he doesn’t know anything about her missing friend. Irene stands there for a while and tries to keep her composure before she comes down and shows herself to Giselle and Seulgi. She sighs when she thinks about Seulgi, she doesn't know how to approach her. She feels she’s being dramatic for not talking to her. She couldn’t help it; she is still hurt at Seulgi for not trying to communicate with her for the past five years. Suddenly, she hears a stumbling noise from the room next to her. Out of curiosity, she wants to check what it was and when she opens the door she’s surprised by what she saw. The school’s popular Japanese cheer squad member, Mina Myoui, is on top of a shirtless Seulgi. “What the hell?!” She just left Seulgi and Giselle for a while to talk to someone and returns with this absurd situation. She left Seulgi in Giselle’s care because she knew she had a high alcohol tolerance and she trusted her.

And just a split second, Giselle arrives at the scene, panting, calling her name. “Irene! Seulgi's gone!” She wonders what Irene is looking at, so she turns her head and gets surprised to see who the people are. “Holy sh*t, Seulgi and Mina Myoui?!”

Irene glares at the two, Mina immediately stands up. “This is not what you think!”

Seulgi is trying to focus her vision on who the people are at the door and she becomes glad to see her friends. “Oh, Irene! Giselle! Annyeong!” She waves her hand greeting them like she's not in an awkward and absurd situation as she sits down.

Irene can tell Seulgi is so drunk based on the redness of her face and her behavior but she is wondering why Seulgi was just wearing her bra. Furthermore, she's concerned to see the red spots on her body. She rubs her nose bridge and exhales deeply. “Giselle, I left Seulgi in your care because I know –”

“–It’s not my fault she went away with Mina!”

“Wait, I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. I was just helping her change because I accidentally spilled my drinks on her,” Mina interjects, concerned about what they might have thought.

“I didn’t know fanfics could happen in real life?” Giselle is so hyped up seeing the two. Were they in the middle of something spicy? She's curious, biting her thumb’s nail.

“Yeah, right,” Irene approaches them. Mina takes a step back as Irene picks up the oversized shirt and throws it on Seulgi’s face. “It’s almost twelve. Your father will be worried. Let’s get you sober first,” Seulgi isn’t reacting, she’s looking at them, and her senses are already dull. She just smiles like a fool and starts to wear the shirt on.

Mina leaves the room without saying a word and Giselle’s eyes follow her until she is gone. “Damn, Seulgi, you didn’t ping me as queer. What did you two–”

Irene grunts. “–Stop it. Help her change will you?” She points at Seulgi who wore the shirt in reverse.

“Yes, ma’am!” Giselle immediately walks right to Seulgi and helps her wear the shirt properly. She notices Seulgi’s phone is vibrating and it stops; there were three missed calls from Eleonor. She calls back her number and informs Eleonor that Seulgi is fine but she got drunk. She apologizes to Eleonor and tells her that they’ll get her home after they sober her up. She notices Eleonor’s tone is worried and it makes her guilty. Not to mention, Irene is glaring at her like she’s dead meat. She hangs up after the call.

“Did Mr. Kang get angry?” Irene asks holding Seulgi who is sitting down, eyes close, most likely drowsing off.

“It wasn’t Mr. Kang, it was her step-mom,” Giselle puts Seulgi’s phone in her pocket.

Irene’s expression changed when she heard about it. She remembers, when Seulgi's parents divorced and Seulgi and her mother left town, a few years later her father has married again to another woman. “Well, let’s sober her first before going home,” Irene says, scratching her head.

On the way home, they are walking along the sidewalk. Seulgi almost couldn’t walk properly; she also starts being dramatic and cries. “Irene, I’m sorry if we got into this,” Seulgi’s teardrops are so big that Giselle thought they could clean a handful of dishes at home. “I-it’s my fault we’re like this. I-I’m such a bad friend. Y-you won’t even talk to me and I’m hurt and it’s all because of my fault for being a bad friend!” She cries again some more. Giselle finds it funny to hear their childhood drama from a drunk Seulgi.

“Just keep quiet and walk,” Irene scolds Seulgi. She was embarrassed that Giselle heard all of that.

“Oooh, childhood-friend with a falling out friendship. How tragic,” Giselle teases, clicking her tongue.

“Shut up and help me assist her,” Irene glares at Giselle that it makes her yelp in fear.

Giselle is scared when Irene gives her ‘that’ glare. She feels like she committed something heinous. They are almost at the convenience store when Seulgi tells them she wants to throw up. Seulgi walks near the tree and vomits, almost stumbling. Giselle aids her by rubbing her back and tells her, “That’s right, throw those demons out just like how my ex threw me like I was nothing.”

After throwing up, Seulgi coughs and looks at Giselle, “So, you’re the demon?”

“What? N-no! My ex-girlfriend is the demon.”

“Oh,” Seulgi pukes some more.

Irene shakes her head listening to their nonsense talk. There’s a guy, wearing a dark hoodie and a beanie passing by. She watches him unconsciously going to the convenience store. She is sleepy, she looks at her wristwatch; it’s past twelve. They have to send Seulgi home first as promised. She didn’t tell her father that she was going to a party. She just sneaked out of the house. She just hopes that when she gets home, she won’t get busted. When she watches the guy entering the convenience store, she looks at Seulgi who isn’t feeling well; she thinks she should buy her something that will make her feel better. She approaches them. “I’ll go to the convenience to buy you a–”

Before Irene finishes talking, Seulgi holds her hand. “No, don’t go there. That guy is bad. I can smell him. He smells ammonia – he’s bad. Bad person!”

Irene looks right into Seulgi’s eyes, they are genuine. Somehow she just trusted her words without any doubts. It occurred to her about something Seulgi said when she found her in the sports equipment room. But she shoves the thoughts away and taps her phone to call an Uber. She wants to go home so badly.

Seulgi recalls the odor from a while ago, she feels nauseous and throws up at the side again. “Now, now, take it easy. But my past relationships weren’t that easy,” Giselle says as she rubs Seulgi’s back, thinking about her ex-girlfriend at the party. She just wished she hadn’t talked to her if she knew her ex would just ignore her and tell her to never bother her again. It hurt her. It's clear that they aren't getting back together. She just hopes her next relationship is as strong as a Gorilla Glue.

Four minutes later their Uber arrives. They told the Uber driver of Seulgi’s address. When they arrive there, they apologize for getting Seulgi drunk. Eleonor is understanding enough that they were just having fun at a party, as long as Seulgi came home safe and sound, it was enough for her.

Giselle is loudly chatting to the Uber driver about something since she is also drunk, but Irene wasn’t paying attention to what Giselle was blabbering. The Uber is waiting for Irene to get in the car. She watches Eleonor assisting Seulgi inside and when the door is closed, Irene goes into the car. She tells the Uber driver to go to Giselle’s address and then to hers.

When Irene arrives home, she tip-toes her way into her bedroom without getting caught by her father. She takes off her shoes and changes clothes, washes her face, and brushes her teeth before going to bed. She wants to do the skincare routine but she’s too tired to go through the steps. She’ll just do them tomorrow. The next morning, she wakes up to see her father preparing for breakfast. She looks at the time, it’s 8:42 AM. Usually, her father goes to work at 8:15. “Day off?” She asks as she passes by the TV in the kitchen that is on a local news channel. She glances at the TV and sits on the chair.

“Yep,” Her father replies, he serves her two strips of bacon and a pancake topped with whip cream. He washes his hands again and joins breakfast with her. He turns the volume up. Both of them are watching the local news while eating their breakfast.

“A convenience store clerk was found shot dead behind a store counter around one in the morning. The police responded shortly to the incident at the place after the clerk rang and called for 911 but he was pronounced dead at the scene when the police arrived. The CCTV footage shows a guy wearing a black hoodie and a beanie who was the one responsible for the armed robbery. The police are still searching for the guy in the footage.”

“The crime rate of the town is slowly rising for the past four years since it slowly became progressive. It’s not safe anymore,” He points his fork at the TV and shakes his head. “Also, I’m not letting you work on a part-time job especially at convenience stores. They are easy targets for robbery due to their operating hours.”

Irene stays silent, her knees are trembling. The time of the crime scene shown on the news was the time that their Uber already left the place. It could have been her death if it wasn’t for Seulgi’s warning. But how did Seulgi know the guy wearing the hoodie was a bad person? Was it just pure coincidence?

She wants to know.