Seulgi buys ice cream for the whole group. Irene can’t stop beaming throughout the whole check-out process. She grins widely at Seulgi and Seulgi offers her a small smile. She feels ecstatic seeing Irene smile so brightly and that she is the reason for the smile.

“Here have it.” Seulgi says as she offers one to Irene.

“No, I’ll eat it at home.”

“Are you sure? It might melt.”

“We’ll just have to run back home then.” Irene chuckles as she starts running looking back at Seulgi signaling her to pick up her pace.

Yeri, utterly impatient has already gone through the groceries they had bought earlier and cooked some ramen. She seems elated to eat something sweet after the spicy noodles. Seulgi gives the remaining ice creams to Wendy and Joy who are lying in their room.

She goes to her room to see Irene eating her ice cream on the balcony. She is fiddling with her phone so Seulgi suspects that she is waiting for a call. She quietly gazes at the figure on the balcony, a bit upset as she had thought Irene would want her company but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore so she softly sits on her bed and unwraps her ice cream.

The sound alerts Irene of Seulgi’s presence in their room as she swiftly darts her eyes to the other.

“Seulgi! Why don’t you come here? I was waiting for you.” Irene looks at her with a perplexed expression.

“Oh, I thought you were expecting a call.”

“Nah.” Irene offers her a wide smile with her hand beckoning Seulgi to come near.

Seulgi doesn’t say anything but walks towards her. Irene seems to be in a good mood. She is all smiles. And Seulgi loves that. She is leaning against the railing quietly observing the cars passing by. The streetlight brightly shines illuminating her face.  Seulgi is just in awe of how good she looks. She is not jealous of how good looking Irene is.

 She observes and admires the older’s beauty. Irene is surely going to be the visual member of the team. She is filled with a sense of pride when she realizes Irene is not only going to be the visual member of the team but probably of the whole industry itself as no other group has a member as good looking as Irene.

“Is there something on my face? Or am I just so beautiful that you couldn’t stop staring?” Irene chuckles at Seulgi who looks like a deer caught in headlights. , Seulgi had not realized that she had been staring so obviously. She looks up, shocked. Irene looks calmly back at her, a small smile on her lips, gaze weighty.

“No- no I was not staring,” Seulgi says with all seriousness she can muster. Seulgi laments about her awkwardness.

“I'm sorry, but this is hilarious.” Irene sighs happily. “I should have recorded this. You should have seen the look on your face.” Irene smirks and Seulgi knows that she is failing to keep the heat off her cheeks. She knows she has to do something to counter but ends up doing the unexpected.

“You have ice cream on your lips.” She says as she cups her hand around Irene’s jaw and rubs her thumb against Irene’s lower lip while gazing at the other. That completely bewilders Irene whose smirk falls right off her face and she suddenly can't even look at Seulgi directly.

“Oh! Thanks- thank you.” Irene tilts her head a little, smiles, and brings her attention back to her ice cream.

Irene’s cheeks redden and she coughs to resolve the weird tension building in the room. Seulgi grins at how cute Irene seems with her cheeks all red. She just wanted to tease Irene as she had but this had a much bigger impact on Irene than Seulgi had expected. Usually, Seulgi was the one who would be a sputtering mess in front of the other but to see Irene be just as affected makes her laugh.

Seulgi is pleased with how much she has improved in talking with Irene. From running away when she saw the other to actually teasing her, Seulgi has come a long way. She feels that she could even be great friends with the other. She wishes to know more about her and is even willing to answer the questions Irene throws at her. It was something that Seulgi was avoiding in the beginning but now her need to know more about Irene exceeds her need to run away and also she feels much more comfortable with Irene.

“I should not be eating this.” Irene breaks her out of her thoughts.

“Huh?” Seulgi looks at her expecting her to continue.

“I am supposed to be on a diet. The management said I need to lose a few kilos more.”

 “They don’t know any better. You don’t need to lose any weight. You look very beautiful- I mean good just as you are.” Seulgi interrupts impulsively.

“Thank you, Seulgi!” Irene says looking at her shyly.

Seulgi is perplexed because she was a teacher’s pet more like the management’s pet in this situation. She would always listen to them, no matter how ridiculous their requests were. She remembers during Amber’s performance in Tokyo she was asked to lose 5 kgs in a week which she did without any second thought even when she was only a backup dancer in her best shape already at that time. But now she suddenly felt that the management was wrong.

“Seulgi should we go in?” Irene looks at her with a note of uncertainty as if afraid to break her out of her thoughts.

“I mean now that we have finished our ice creams, we can go in.” Seulgi looks down at the ice cream stick she is holding. She was so lost in her thoughts that she does not even remember eating it. Seulgi gives Irene a quick nod and they go in.

Irene has already belly-flopped on her bed when she realizes that she hasn’t taken a bath yet. She sits up with a loud groan but goes for a bath while Seulgi lays on her bed. She starts thinking about their debut which seems closer and closer. She does not feel ready. As a leader and as she has been a trainee for a longer time, she feels much more responsible than the other members. Seulgi not only has to make sure that she is ready but that all members are ready as well. Her members and her friends look at her with such expectations that Seulgi is scared of whether she will be capable of fulfilling them all.

Seulgi is extremely keen to go on the stage but her perfectionism gives her second thoughts. No matter how much people around her praise her and no matter how hard she practices she still feels she has a lot more to improve. She wants to present her best self on the stage and help the members present their best selves as well.

Seulgi does not realize how deep she is in her thoughts when she sees Irene hovering over her shaking her hand in front of her face.

“Hello! Earth to Seulgi!”  Irene laughs prod