Seulgi arrives home and is greeted by the sound of jazz music coming from the radio player. She turns off the light in the corridor and switches on the ones in the living room, revealing her mother lying down on the couch, enjoying the music.

"Mom, you haven't gone to bed yet? It's late."

Her mother opens her eyes and sits up. "I was waiting for you. Where have you been?"

"The cinema. There was a.. special late screening."

"Yeah? What movie?"

"In the Mood for Love."

"Again? How many times have you watched that one?"

Seulgi only chuckles as a response. "Why were you waiting for me? Don't you have school tomorow?" She asks, feeling slightly guilty for keeping her mother up so late.

Mrs. Kang is a high school guidance counselor and the teachers, including her, usually have to be at school at least half an hour before school starts.

"I have something I want you to take a look at." She points to the table. There are a few pieces of papers clipped together. A photo of a female student is on the right corner. "Tell me what you think about this girl."

"Who is this?" She picks it up and studies the photo.

"A transfer student." That's all her mother has to offer; to not give too much to cloud her judgment. They do this often and Seulgi already knows the drill. 

"I think she'll be quite popular at school. Her face looks like that singer Hanee-"

Her mother interjects before she could offer more information. "Oh, thank you for such useful information cause I obviously know who Hanee is or what she looks like," she says sarcastically.

"Mom!" She whines. "Hanee is the it girl right now, so I just naturally think of her. Anyway.. she's pretty, but she looks like trouble. It's not very obvious but I can see a hint of tattoo on her neck. I mean, what kind of a high school student has tattoo on her neck?" And she goes on saying whatever comes to her mind, it's nice to be allowed to judge someone only by their look sometimes.

"She was kicked out of her old school in Jeonju for stealing her classmates' phones and is now being sent here to live with her aunt." Her mother explains.

"Well, make sure to keep your valuable things locked securely when you have a session with her." She reminds, half-joking, half-serious.

They talk for a little bit more until her mother states, "You're in a really good mood today."

She takes a pause before admitting, "I am." She moves and sits next to her mother on the couch, giving her a big hug and rests her head on her shoulder.

Her mother wraps her arm around her waist. "What made you so happy?"

She hugs her mother tighter and shares, "There's this girl that I really like, but nothing happened yet, and probably nothing ever will, so I'm not going to jinx it by telling you too much. But yeah.. there's a girl." She refrains from telling her mother that this particular girl is the daughter of Oh Sunyong, who also happens to be one of her mother favourite's actors back in the day. They also used to watch her movies together in this very couch. It's an exciting thing to brag about, but she decides that it's a story for another time.

"Nothing ever will? That's incredibly pessimistic."

"It's complicated. She is complicated. But.. we'll see."

"She seems really special. You've never been this giddy about a girl before. I hope I get to meet her one day," her mother says, her head lovingly.

A sad smile suddenly appears on Seulgi's face; the thought of her mother not being able to see Irene saddens her. Irene, whose beauty is spellbinding. 

-

She shuts her bedroom door and jumps into bed. Covering her face with the pillow, she squeals and moves like she's having a seizure. She truly is on cloud nine with the sudden development. Irene doesn't have a boyfriend, Irene is not straight, and more importantly, Irene likes her.

She touches her lips and closes her eyes, remembering the feeling of Irene's smooth lips against hers. It feels like a dream. In fact, she might still be dreaming. In what universe would something like this happen to someone like her?

Being kissed by Irene itself is already beyond anything she could ever imagine. Now add that with the fact that Irene is the daughter of Oh Sunyoung. It truly is mind-blowing. How could she not see the resemblance all this time? To be fair, the mother and daughter don't really look that much alike. However, now that she knows this as a fact, she can see Oh Sunyoung in Irene clearly. Their faces have different frames, but Irene does have some of her mother's features. Once you see it, you won't be able to unsee it.

Maybe that's why when they first met she felt the attraction straight away. Maybe that's also why at that exact moment she felt like her teenage dream had come to live.

There's this one secret that she would never ever tell Irene now; Oh Sunyoung was probably her gay awakening. She was only a teenager when she somehow got her hands on a DVD of her lesbian film that caused so much controversy back then. The actress was already in her 50s in it but the Asian gene in her was so strong that she looked much younger than her age. Seulgi had felt attraction to girls before, but watching that film further cemented her belief that she truly was a lesbian herself.

It's not that big of deal, right? It was a long time ago. Oh Sunyoung is supposedly in her 60s now, and even though she finds older women attractive, women in her 60s are definitely not in that category for her anymore. The oldest person she has ever dated was only three years older than her. She's sure that if she meet Oh Sunyoung now she wouldn't feel a thing other than admiration.

She rolls to the side and grabs her phone, scrolling down on her contacts to find her best friend's number. She makes the call and it is picked up only after the second ring even though it's almost midnight; her friend is a certified night owl.

"Byul, you won't believe what I'm about to tell you!"

-

She sees Irene holding a clipboard and a pen, talking to Minhee at the concession. When their eyes meet, Irene hands the thing to Minhee and whispers something to her before making her way to stand behind the cashier machine.

She walks forward and greets the fake concession girl shyly, "Hi."

"Hi." Irene greets back in a less timid manner. 

It's their first time seeing each other again after that kiss inside Auditorium 2 and she doesn't know how to act properly. She clears and pretends to look at the menu board as if she hasn't memorized the whole thing yet and as if she wouldn't end up ordering a small popcorn and a regular coke as per usual.

"Are you ordering now? Isn't your movie only start in about half an hour?" Irene asks.

"That's right, but I'm feeling a little bit hungry, so I'll order now." She says, definitely lying.

"Okay, what can I get you?"

"You're back working in concession?" She teases, trying to get the upper hand.

Irene hums. "Only for a special customer."

She's sure she's blushing. "Uhm, small mixed popcorn and a regular coke, please."

Irene moves to prepare the order but she retreats and asks, "Didn't you say you were hungry? Don't you want something more heavy? Hotdog, maybe? It's on the house today, so go nuts!"

She leans in and whispers jokingly, "Isn't the business struggling?"

Irene chuckles and slaps her shoulder lightly. "It's on me."

She straightens up and says, "How about.. I pay for my own snacks, but you can.. maybe.. treat me tacos next time? I've been craving for it lately." It's not exactly true, she just wants to go out with Irene. The tacos are okay, though.

"Are you asking me out?"

She bites her bottom lip. "I'm not sure if asking you to buy me food should be considered as asking you out. I think you need to higher your standard a little, Miss."

Irene snorts, laughing hard. They now have successfully gained Minhee's attention. Seulgi turns to her and gives a tiny wave.

"Are you free after this?" the older girl asks.

"Yeah," she replies without having to think.

"Okay, I'll meet you at the entrance once you're done with the movie?"

"Sure," she says with a toothy grin, earning herself a soft smile from Irene.

She ends up settling with just popcorn and coke, which she pays herself. The film is two hours long and she can't wait for it to end.

-

"When you told me that you liked me, I fe