The Arthouse is more than just a movie theatre for Seulgi. It's an escape from reality, being hypnotized for about two hours sitting in that dark room. It's a whole new experience every single time, a bridge to different cultures, different lives, different stories.

The building has been there for as long as she could remember. She has been a customer even before her days as a film student started. It truly is a special place for her and she's not ready to lose it yet. She has been standing there for a few minutes, watching the old building with longing in her eyes. She sighs before walking at a snail's pace into it.

When ordering at the concession, she watches Junsu working cheerfully as always as if nothing happened. Well, maybe that's it; nothing has happened yet. Maybe he doesn't even know what is about to happen. 

It makes her wonder who Irene Bae is. She's definitely not just a concession girl. How did she know all this when Minhee, Eunjung and Junsu never showed any signs that they were about to lose their jobs.

Seulgi takes a sit on her usual table. There's no new film to watch, she's only there hoping to see Irene - to apologize to her. She feels really bad and she regrets everything she had said to the girl. She really doesn't know what had gotten into her that day for her to act like that. She went home afterward and cried her eyes out; pouring out tears of anger and disappointment with herself.

She takes out the laptop from her bag and starts doing her assignment while waiting. Junsu comes by a few minutes later asking her questions. He thought she came here for the movie playing in Auditorium 1 and is confused seeing her still out there while the movie has already started playing.

"Oh, I'm only here to do my assignments. It's fine, right?" she asks.

"You bought something so of course it's fine. Even if you didn't, I wouldn't have the heart to chase you off anyway. You're the reason this place is still holding on after all these years." He says, half-serious half-joking.

With her newfound knowledge, Seulgi smiles sadly at him. Junsu is about to go back to his working spot before Seulgi stops him to ask him a question about a certain concession girl.

"Is Irene working today?"

He seems surprised with the fact that she knows Irene's name. "Uh.. yes, but she's no longer helping out at the concession."

'So she really is not a concession worker, she was only helping out.' Seulgi thinks to herself. "Oh. What's her actual job?" she asks.

Junsu seems hesitant on sharing anything with her. "I thought you two were friends? You should ask her yourself. I'm not allowed to share employees' personal information."

She has heard that exact line before when his friend Youngjae asked about Irene. Either that is a company policy - which is just bull because they know a lot about Minhee, Eunjung and Junsu - or the three of them have been instructed not to share one particular employee's information.

"She doesn't really talk about herself much." She admits, looking back to her laptop, absent-mindedly moving the cursor using her trackpad.

Junsu smiles knowingly and asks, "Do you want me to tell her that you're looking for her?"

She snaps her head at him. "What? N- no, I'm not looking for her. I was just asking."

"Okay." He smiles again. "I gotta go make a new batch of popcorn. Good luck with your.. whatever you're doing there." He points to her laptop.

Seulgi thanks him and watches him walking back to the concession stand before shifting her attention back to her laptop while paying a close attention to the concession and the areas around it, hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of the mysterious girl.

Irene didn't make an appearance that day.

-

Seulgi covers her face with her pillow and screams frustatedly. She jumps when she suddenly hears the knock on her door. Removing her pillow, she hears her mother calling from outside, checking on her.

"Seul, are you okay? What are you doing?"

"N- nothing, Mom! There's a bug in my room," she lies.

"Just open the window wide, it will fly out on its own." Her mother teaches.

"I got it, don't worry."

"Okay, good night!"

"Night!" She leans back and sighs; her mother has a heightened sense of hearing and it can be rather troublesome sometimes. There were times when she was watching movies and scenes would appear out of nowhere and she had to quickly lower the volume or else her mother would think that she was watching .

She then gets off the bed and goes to open the door to a pitch black corridor. She hears the door of the her mother's bedroom getting closed and yells out,  "Mom, let's go out to eat tomorrow."

The door opens again. "Okay." Her mother agrees before asking, "Is there any special occassion?"

"No, nothing special. Just.. we haven't gone out in a while," she explains. "I have a campus event in the morning. I'll come back and pick you up at around 1?"

"Okay, dear. Can you help me pick something nice to wear tomorrow morning before you go?"

She chuckles. "You're not going out on a date, Mom."

"But I still want to look nice."

"I know. I'll help you tomorrow. Good night!"

-

The next day, she drags Moonbyul to an empty classroom in the campus and tells her everything. It's been three weeks since the last time she saw Irene and she can't take it anymore.

"What the hell? What's wrong with you? What were you being so weird for?" Moonbyul grills her with a lot of judgement on her face and on her tone.

"I don't know. I just.. I really like her and I had high expectations considering where she works, you know." Seulgi bangs her head slowly on the table.

"Geez, Seul! It's like you never had a crush on a straight girl before. They're a different breed and you can't just force your opinion on everyone."

She shakes her head, rubbing her forehead against the wooden table. "I feel so bad. And I'm incredibly embarrassed. It's been three weeks, Byul. What if she has quit her job? What if I never have the chance to see her and apologize to her?"

"Girl, don't be so dramatic!" Moonbyul slaps her head softly. "We're living in the 21st century. She's not going to disappear just like that," she says. "Although.. it's true that I haven't seen her in a while."

She grunts and keeps banging her head on the table before Moonbyul pulls her head up by her hair.

"I didn't know you two were close, you sneaky ! How are you only telling me this now?" Moonbyul narrows her eyes at her, seemingly feeling betrayed.

"We weren't close." She grumbles.

"Oh, really? She brought you to the staff restroom, she changed the menu for you, you two even had a fight. According to my bible, you're practically dating her already."

"Byul.. don't be ridiculous."

Moonbyul chuckles and rests her chin on her fist. "But.. it doesn't make sense. From the first half of your story I could have sworn that she liked you, but then all that happened. She's so weird."

"She's just nice. And she works there, it's literally her job to listen to customer's suggestions."

"No, Seul. She's not nice," she says, putting air quotes on that particular word. "She's professional, but she also seems a bit cold and she definitely isn't that friendly to me. She's only nice to you. Ask everybody else if you don't believe me."

She doubts so but then she remembers when her friends were talking about Irene. That girl is indeed weird.

"Seul, man up! Go to the cinema and ask to see her. Apologize to her, or kiss her, or whatever." Moonbyul winks at her, earning herself a hard slap on her thigh.

-

Seulgi is there again at the cinema. The lobby is practically empty because the film has already begun in one auditorium, while the one in the other is only starting in about an hour. Eunjung is working today; she approaches the concession counter slowly, nervously.

"Hi, Seulgi! What can I get you?" Eunjung greets her happily.

"Oh, I'm not buying anything today. I'm actually here to.. uh.. is Irene working today?"

"Oh, yes." The girl answers confidently before her expression changes. "I mean, no. She doesn't work at the concession today. Do you have an appointment with her?"

"No, but.. uhm.. would you tell her that Kang Seulgi is waiting for her at the lobby?"

Eunjung looks around, seeing nobody other than the two of them there, and nods. "Sure. Will you look after the concession for a minute?"

She nods and thanks her for the trouble, watching Eunjung walks to the back office and disappears. The girl comes back out roughly a minute later with an apologetic look in her face.

"Hey, sorry, she's a bit busy at the moment."

"Oh.. uh.. I can wait."

When Eunjung looks hesitant to speak further, she gets it. Irene doesn't want to see her; of course she doesn't after what happened.

"I think she'll be busy for the rest of the day. Come back another day, maybe?" she kindly suggests.