In which Seulgi accidentally chained her bike to Irene's, leaving the latter stuck outside in the cold, waiting furiously for her to come back.

Irene swore that when she finds the moron that did this, she’s going to punch them in the face. It’s probably the best scenario for them if she’s being honest, considering she already cursed them twenty-five years of bad luck and imagined about thirty different ways to murder them. She even planned where she would hide the body.

(There’s a river nearby and she’d be lying if the thought didn’t cross her mind…)

Her breath came in puffs around her, and every time it did, it made her angry. It’s ten o’clock in the evening and it’s negative two degrees celsius. She just badly want to lay down on her bed, but someone freakishly chained their bike to hers.

She kicked the chain with her boot uselessly, cringing in pain as her already frozen toes sting upon the impact. Her teeth chattering as she put her hands inside her hoodie pocket, wishing more than anything that she had worn a proper jacket or mittens or something to help her conceal the little heat remaining in her body.

She’s probably near hypothermic. She felt like dying. 

She swore that if she dies she would come back to earth as a ghost and haunt this person’s soul for the rest of eternity.

Her eyes flicked down the street toward the warm glow of the local diner. The warmth is so so so tempting, but she’s afraid if she gives in and orders a cup of hot chocolate to wait it out, she'd miss the person coming to unchain the bike. And there’s no way she’s letting them off without a verbal berating at the very least.

“You look cold,” a voice behind her pointed out. She whirled around to put a face to the voice, completely ready to spit a sarcastic ‘no , Sherlock’.

But when she saw that it’s the cute blonde girl from her freshman seminar class, the response died on her tongue.

“Irene?” the girl asked, and she felt like all the last vestiges of her body heat rushed to her cheeks in shock. She didn’t expect her to know her name.

“Hi Seulgi,” she said, sniffling and trying desperately to control her shivering body so she doesn’t look completely deranged.

“You waiting for someone or something?” the blonde girl asked, looking both ways up and down the street (which, at this ungodly hour, is completely empty).

“It’s a long story,” she managed to say despite the violent gnashing of her jaw. 

She rubbed a hand over her face tiredly, causing some of the hair under her hat to stick out at a funny angle.

“Did some stand you up or leave you at the diner or something?” When she met the blonde's gaze, Seulgi's jaw was set tightly and looked a tiny bit offended on her behalf. 

“No, nothing like that. But I’m kind of stuck here unless I can find some way to get home.”

By the time she finished her sentence, Seulgi had already shrugged out of her jacket. The girl held it out in the space between them, tipping her chin toward her. The gesture was gentle and sweet. Irene felt her willpower crumbled at the thought of not shivering in her boots anymore.

She felt bad because Seulgi’s left in nothing but a thin shirt, but the coldness won out so she accepted the offer. She pulled the jacket on and relished in the warmth as the wind finally stops going right to her bones. She has finals next week, she reasoned to herself. She can’t be sick for that.

Seulgi probably does too, but she ignored that thought for a moment and smiled at the girl in thanks.

“I would totally drive you back to campus if I had a car, but I don’t…” she frowned, “…I rode my bike here.”

Irene’s head snapped toward the bike rack, where there were only two bikes remaining. Hers, and the moron’s.

Every bit of affection she had for her just moments ago seeped out. Pure unfiltered anger washed over her. tasted sour and she bit her bottom lip in frustration. She should have known. She should have guessed it was her.

She took a step towards the blonde and prodded Seulgi's chest with her finger accusingly.

“You. Absolute. Idiot.”

Seulgi stepped back, eyes wide, the confusion and hurt clear on her face. It almost made Irene laugh.

“W-what?”

“I have been waiting here for thirty minutes to kick your . Don’t think that just because you were just nice to me doesn’t make me any less angry. Because trust me, I’m furious.”

She stepped toward Seulgi again and the girl held up her hands in surrender, eyes frantically searching her face for answers. She imagined her smile was cruel.

“I can tell… but what the hell did I do?”

Irene laughed maniacally while giving the most menacing stare she could muster from underneath her hood. It’s a great look for her, she’s sure.

“You chained your bike to mine and I’ve been waiting here for ages, freezing, while you took your sorry time doing whatever the hell you were doing and—”

“Oh .”

The blonde stumbled towards her bike, lips turned down in apology.

“I’m so sorry! It was obviously an accident. I would never do this intentionally.” Seulgi said frantically as she shoved her hand into her pocket to take out the key to the lock.

“Wow, I’m an idiot.” Irene nods at the blonde's self-criticis