Irene's friends don't know what to do when she cried all of a sudden. She knows she probably doesn't have the right to cry but what could she do? She was scared, she made a mistake, and now it's eating her up.

Jennie moved her chair closer to Irene's and slowly rubbed her back.

"Hey, just cry it out."

"What *hic* ..what should I do? *hic* I did her wrong. *hic* I only tried *hic* to save myself but..*hic* ..but I did it at her expense. *hic* I feel so horrible."

"We know, but you shouldn't invalidate your feelings. You were overwhelmed. You weren't in the right state of my mind to think things through."

"She's right, unnie. Don't be too hard on yourself."

"Yeah, just talk to her and apologize. I'm sure Seulgi will understand.

But it took Irene longer than expected to approach Seulgi. 

It's been three months since everything happened. Irene still didn't get to talk to Seulgi. The latter didn't avoid their group tho. A few days after Irene broke down at the library, Seulgi went back to eating lunch with her friends. Since during this time, her friends were already seeing Irene's friends, it meant that she also had to eat with them. 

She was still the caring and generous Seulgi that she was. Her friends even joked that they missed the times when she would pay for their food but they didn't pry as to where Seulgi went to when she wasn't with them or why she didn't join them anymore. It became a taboo topic.

But if there was something about Seulgi that Irene noticed has changed, it would be that she became even more quiet. 

Before, when they weren't flirting yet, Seulgi had already been the listener type but she always joined in the fun by laughing or simply nodding and shaking her head at her friends' stories. 

When they started flirting with each other, Seulgi became particularly talkative. She would always say something or come up with anything to make Irene laugh or just to rile her up.

So she must have really been hurt considering the fact that her deamenor has been affected. And Irene's heart broke knowing that she's the reason behind it. 

Another month has passed and it's almost the semestral break. Their finals will already be in the coming days so they have really been busy. The library has become Irene's sanctuary, being occupied with her research 1. She wants to do good in their proposal hearing as it would be a great addition in her resume' if her research paper will be recognized. In the days that she found refuge in the library, she also figured why Seulgi hasn't joined their friends a lot because apparently, she also stays there. Seulgi sits at the far corner near the shelves, with earphones on. She noticed that Seulgi reads something new each day so she thought "Ah, perhaps she likes reading so much." 

Many times she wanted to approach Seulgi and talk to her but every time she glances at the latter, the other woman looks so peaceful just sitting there, reading and she doesn't have the heart to ruin that. So she figured that she might as well let the semester end first before talking to Seulgi.

Their friends planned a getaway to Batanes before each