Seulgi freezes as she hears footsteps coming her way. She should probably get up and run to hide in Irene's room but she can't pretend she didn't just listen to all that so she stays seated on the top of the stairs, waiting for Irene to come her way. She's ready to be screamed at and to be told to get the out of her house for eavesdropping on such a private and sensitive conversation between Irene and her mother. She knows she deserved it.

Their eyes meet. Seulgi looks at Irene, nervously and apologetically. Irene's face is red, her eyes are swollen, stains of tears are evident, but she doesn't look one bit surprised seeing Seulgi sitting there, as if she had already expecting it. Irene climbs up the remaining of the stairs slowly before she kneels down two steps below the one Seulgi is sitting at, settling herself between her legs. 

Her instinct kicks in and she welcomes Irene into her arms, hugging her tightly, making a promise to herself that she would protect this woman with all she has and would never let Irene get hurt ever again. She feels Irene's tears damping her shirt but she doesn't mind; it's only a small inconvenience compared to what Irene had to suffered all those years. She her hair and pats her back, whispering. "It's okay, just let it all out."

She freezes for the second time when she's suddenly eye to eye with Oh Sunyoung, who had walked over to the stairs to follow her daughter. It feels so weird seeing someone she has admired and idolized for years and now all those positive feelings have disappeared once she heard what she has just heard.The actress looks at her, than her daughter, before looking back at her and gives her a small nod. She isn't sure what exactly the nod means but Oh Sunyoung has retreated silently and leaves them be.

She focuses back on the woman still crying in her arms. "Irene, should we go to your room?" she suggests softly. "You'll hurt your knees kneeling down like this." She tries to stand up and pulling Irene up with her.

"I can't stay here." Irene sniffs. "Get me out of here, please."

"Okay, whatever you need."

She takes a peek downstairs, checking if the actress is still around before giving Irene the clear sign. The two of them go back to the living room to gather their stuff and head outside. The driver sees them and offers to give them a ride but a cab just happens to be dropping off Irene's next door neighbour, so they hop on it  instead.

Irene looks at Seulgi helplessly as the cab driver asks for a destination, therefore Seulgi takes it upon herself to make the decision and gives her own home address. "It's late. Let's get you to bed so you can have a rest," she explains.

Irene nods with a faint smile and leans her head against the window until Seulgi pulls her gently so that precious head rests on her shoulder instead. The ride is silent, decorated by Irene's little sniffles. The driver takes a peek at them occasionally through the rear-view mirror, seemingly a little suspicious but Seulgi ignores him. Her mind is only filled with Irene at the moment. She is filled with many different emotions; sadness, disappointment, sympathy and rage. Oh how she wish she could turn back time and punish those despicable people with her own bare hands.

There are so many questions she would like to ask Irene, so many things she would like to say, but most importantly one thing she would like to apologize for.

-

“Mom.” She knocks on her mother’s door softly just in case she's already asleep. Receiving a ‘come in’, she opens the door to a pitch black room. She asks a permission to turn on the lights before doing so, seeing her mother already bundled up in bed.

“What’s wrong, Seul?” Her mother asks before asking another question, sitting up. “Is that Moonbyul in your room?”

Irene and her have tip-toed into the house earlier and went straight to her bedroom; the former is currently in the bathroom washing her face.

“It’s not Moonbyul, it’s actually Irene.”

“Oh,” her mother reacts simply, with a clear implication.

“No, it’s not like that. She.. uh.. she had a fight with her mother so she needed a place to stay tonight. That’s all,” she explains.

“Her mother as in Oh Sunyoung?”

She rolls her eyes at the ridiculous question. “Yes, mom. She only has one mother,” she says before she starts to doubt herself. At this point Seulgi doesn’t know for sure because Irene seems to be keeping layers and layers of secrets about herself. Maybe her godmother is the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and her godfather is the President of Russia, who knows. “She’s in a rather bad state right now so I brought her straight to my room. I’ll introduce you two tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure, no problem. Is everything okay, though?”

She exhales loudly. “Yeah, it’s.. uh.. yeah.. family stuff. It’s complicated.”

“I see.” Her mother nods, probably stopping herself from teasing her after hearing that. “Go. Go take care of her.”

She smiles and approaches her mother to give her a hug. “Good night.”

“Night, Seul.”

She walks back to her own room, seeing the shared bathroom opposite her bedroom is already empty. When she opens the door, Irene is already sitting down on her bed.

“Hey, you’re done?”

“Yeah.” Irene looks at her with her still swollen eyes. “Is your mom still up? Should I go greet her first? I don’t want her to think that I have bad manners.”

“You can just do that tomorrow, no worries. She’s already in bed anyway,” she assures her. “Do you want to go to sleep now?”

Irene nods unsurely. She clearly looks exhausted, but she must have a lot of things on her mind right now.

“Okay, you take the bed. I’ll go grab the spare mattress.”

“No, you sleep in your own bed. I’ll use the mattress.” Irene stands up immediately, wanting to follow her to help.

Seulgi looks at her, smiling. “Are you sure? I bet you’ve never slept on the floor before. It’s not that comfortable if you’re not used to it.” She scares her with the intention of convincing her to take the bed, but Irene seems adamant. She looks at her own bed and asks, “Do you think we can both fit in that?”

Irene assesses the single bed before answering, “I guess so. If you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” she says immediately. “Come, let’s try.”

It’s a little cramped, but once they fix their positions, they’re able to lay comfortably.

"Irene.." she calls. "I shouldn't have stayed there and listened to your private conversation. I'm so sorry," she apologizes, still feeling guilty even though Irene hasn’t mentioned a single thing about that.

The blonde hums. "It's fine. I expected you to hear that, if not I would have asked you to leave."

She tilts her head in surprise. "Really? Why?"

Irene inhales sharply.  "That was my first time sharing all those things, things that I've been keeping to myself for so long. I don't think I have the strength to tell it twice," she admits. "I wanted you to hear that, Seulgi. I wanted you to know that I'm not just some uncultured person who hates indie films for no good reason."

"I never thought of you that way," she says quickly.

"I know you hated me a little for wanting to close the cinema down," she says with a faint smile.

"Just a little," she admits, putting her thumb and forefinger very close together to emphasize. "And that was before I knew you better and saw the things you did with the place recently. Although I have to say that.. if it brings you so much sorrow then I fully support you if you want to close it down."

Irene smiles, rubbing her swollen eyes. "Don't worry, I don't want to do that anymore. I'm not that unreasonable. It was just my ego, I thought I could get a satisfaction from that. A revenge, a big you to her and the industry." She chuckles ironically. "Let's not talk shop right now."

"Okay," she whispers softly. "Hey," she calls again. “If you need to talk, to rant about anything, or if you only need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here for you."

The smile turns much more genuine. Irene puts her hand on Seulgi’s cheek, cupping it. “I know. Thank you.” She then grimaces. "We haven't known each other for that long, I'm sorry you had to hear all that. It's probably too much.."

"No, Irene." She props herself up using her elbow. She doesn't want to make the girl emotional again but she needed to say her piece. "You had to go through all that. If I can't handle listening to it then I don't deserve you," she tells her, genuinely. "That was horrible and you were so strong. Knowing you these past few months, seeing how normal and nice and fun of a person you are, I’d never guessed. It’s crazy that you’re the person you are today despite what you went through.”

Irene stares at her with furrowed eyebrows, making her worry that she might have said something wrong. “You really think I’m nice? Even after hearing what I said to my mom?” she questions.

She blinks repeatedly, biting her lower lip in anxiousness. "Irene, you knew how I felt about your mother. I was a fan and I admired her, so I wasn't only saying this to please you, but.. she's horrible. I mean.. she was an absent mother, she didn't try to find out what was troubling you, she grounded you without hearing your side of the story, she went to shoot a movie and left her crying daughter? And that.." She struggles saying the right word. ".. that  your girlfriend did to you and everything else that happened.. how could she not see the signs at home? Jesus.." She rants, feeling herself out of breath.

I