"My dad passed away a long time ago and my mom lives in Jeju. It'll only be the two of us."

'It'll only be the two of us.'

'It'll only be the two of us.'

'It'll only be the two of us.'

"Seulgi? Are you okay?" Irene wakes her up from her daze.

"Uh.. yeah, sorry." She slaps herself mentally. "I'm sorry, I didn't know about your dad."

"That's alright. It was a long time ago." Irene says in a cheerful tone, although there's an obvious surpressed emotion that she didn't manage to mask very well.

She wants to ask what happened, but maybe it's a question for yet another time. Instead, she asks, "Wait, do I know your dad? I mean, was he.. a celebrity too?"

There's a snort coming out of Irene. Her eyes are kept focused on the road for a right turn before she looks at Seulgi. "Of course you know who my dad was."

"Really? Who?" She's incredibly curious. She racks her brain, trying to find that piece of information but couldn't remember who Oh Sunyoung was married to. As far as she remember, the actress was very private regarding her personal life. Seulgi didn't even know she had a child until Irene came into her life.

They stop at the red sign and Irene turns to her fully, leaning closer to show her face. "You really can't see the resemblance?"

The suspense is seriously torturing her. "Irene, I'm dying of curiousity here."

The blonde takes her time, making faces at Seulgi before spilling the tea. "It's Bae Yongjoon."

"Shut up." Seulgi's jaw would drop if that was possible. "Bae Yongjoon as in.. Winter Sonata's Bae Yongjoon? Your mother is Oh Sunyoung and your father was Bae Yongjoon and you're telling me that Oh Sunyoung and Bae Yongjoon were husband and wife?" She blabbers.

Irene looks at here, surpressing her laughter. As the traffic light turns to green, she shifts and presses her foot on the pedal.

It takes her a few seconds before she realizes something. "Wait a minute, Bae Yongjoon is dead?" She hasn't heard from the actor for a long time but she's sure he's still alive. "I- I mean, he had already passed away?" She revises her question in fear of offending the daughter.

When Irene looks outside the window and laughs to herself, Seulgi knows she has been played. "Gosh, Seulgi. My dad is not Bae Yongjoon. Are you crazy?"

Seulgi sinks herself into the seat and huffs. "You're so freaking annoying. Let me out of here."

Irene takes a glance at her before eyeing the rear-view mirror and Seulgi is one hundred percent sure that if the street was empty, Irene would definitely be the type of a person who would stop her car, unlock the door and tell her to get out of the car just to even more. Fortunately, they're on a busy street.

"Your mom is Oh Sunyoung and you're calling me crazy for believing that your dad might be Bae Yongjoon?" She asks rhetorically, grumbling while admitting to herself that hanging out with Irene is never a dull time.

Irene chuckles one last time before sharing, "My dad is.. was.. not a celebrity. But he was handsome he could easily pass as one."

Seulgi stares at the woman driving. She isn't sure if Irene is too focused on driving she didn't realize she shared some more personal information. "Yeah? I can easily imagine that." She tells her.

"I'll show you his photos later." Irene promises. 

-

Seulgi spends roughly 20 minutes raving about Irene's mansion, to which she humbly reminds that it is her mother's house, not hers and not a mansion. Her mother doesn't live in Seoul anymore, but she comes from time to time and would need a place to stay. Yes, it's a big house, but Oh Sunyoung never planned on selling it because it was the first and only house she bought with her husband as a married couple, and the house Irene was born in - not literally, she was delivered in the hospital.

It's the typical rich people's house she sees in the movies with high ceiling, giant-sized marble flooring, granite countertops, classy two-tone colours and art pieces at almost every wall and every corner. The guest restroom is bigger than Seulgi's bedroom and has perfectly rolled small towels. The living room is so spacious they could host a party for her entire faculty, and there's a pool just outside, which once again is perfect for a campus party.

"This is.. very intimidating." She admits.

"Don't be intimidated. I've told you it's my mother's house. Being born to a rich and famous parent is not an achivement."

She studies Irene's face before saying, "You're very down to earth, Irene. I wouldn't have believed this if I didn't see it myself." She puts her hands on Irene's shoulder, turning the blonde to face her. "You can be yourself around me, you know? You don't have to hide things and drive your cheap Kia and pretend like you're used to riding public transportations."

Irene exhales exaggeratingly. "Urgh, I hate that car so much. It's so.. everything is very.. manual. Like who even still presses a button to open the door?"

"Uh.. everyone, Irene. Everyone with a normal and affordable car. You do know that some people even still have to insert the key to the lock and actually turn it, right?" She giggles, finding the older girl incredibly adorable acting like this.

They joke around and go outside to see the pool before Irene reminds her that the pizza is ready and that Seulgi should eat since she has complained numerous times before that she was starving. The next half an hour is spent mostly in silence as she inhales slice after slice of pizza while Irene eats in a slower pace and in a more elegant way while watching her like a proud mother seeing her baby eat so well. They finish the supper off with a few scoops of gelato. She even gets to choose the flavours like they are in some kind of a restaurant because Irene has a few tubs of different flavours available in the freezer.

Irene then disappears somewhere and comes back with a photo album. It seems like she's really keeping the promise of showing Seulgi the photos of her father.

However, Seulgi is distracted with the photo of Baby Irene. "That baby was you? Holy ! How were your features so defined already at that age?" She's in awe of how pretty Irene was as a baby. "Why didn't you become a child actor, Irene? You definitely had the face for it. I could have sworn I've seen you in some diaper commercial or something. Have you been in one?" she questions after rambling.

Irene rolls her eyes. "No, Seulgi. I've never been in any kind of commercials, especially diapers. I've never wet my bed," she declares.

"Never? Not even as a baby?"

"Never," Irene said convincingly.

Luckily Seulgi isn't dumb, or she would have been fooled. "Bull! I bet you still peed your pants in high school," she mocks, earning herself a pinch on the nose from the older girl. 

Mr. Bae looked like the male and older version of Irene. It's like they were made from the same mold and then Irene was further blessed with some features from her mother that made her even more superior as a human being. Seulgi tells her that and a very beautiful smile appears on Irene's face.

"May I know what happened to him?" Seulgi asks hesitantly. "Was it illness?"

Irene stays quiet as her finger caresses her father's face in the photo.

Seulgi senses her reluctance and attempts to salvage the situation. "You're right, he has an actor face. He's much more handsome than Bae Yongjoon, that's for sure."

Irene chuckles hearing that and closes the album, putting it on the coffee table. "Have you told your mother you would be home late? Should I send you back now?"

"Yeah, I've told her that earlier. She won't be waiting up for me so it doesn't matter how late I go back." She says. "And you don't have to send me home. It's late. I can just take a cab."

"Precisely, it's late. So I have to send you home."

"But then you'll be coming back here alone." She tries to argue.

"Using my own car, which is much safer than riding a cab driven by a stranger." Irene reasons.

They go back and forth after that until Irene comes up with the idea, "Why don't you stay the night here?"

"Uh.." She stalls for time. "I didn't bring spare clothes."

Irene smiles patiently at that. "I have clothes. There's also washing machine and dryer here."

"W- where do I sleep?" she questions.

"We have two guestrooms upstairs that you can choose from."

Seulgi gulps visibly before asking, "Can I sleep with you? I- I mean, in your r- room?"

Irene looks a little surprised at first but that smirk quickly comes back. "Aren't you being a little too forward, Kang Seulgi?"

She might have misspoken but she swears she wasn't implying that. "I wasn't thinking about that," she answers calmly. "I just.. it's rare to get a chance like this. I want to lie down in bed comfortably and chit chat with you til the sun rises. That's all."

They have spoken for hours on the phone before bed time once, but she couldn't see Irene and she was wearing earphones the whole time it hurt her ears.

The next thing she knows, they're already in bed lying side by side, facing each other innocently like two classmates having a slumber party for the first time. Both clean and fresh after a refreshing shower - which they did separately. Seulgi was planning to talk Irene's ears off until morning but she falls asleep after twenty minutes or so; one, her brain and body are too tired from that gruesome group project and two, Irene's expensive bed is so comfortable.

Dozing off, she feels Irene's soft hand caressing her face, a kiss being placed on the tip of her nose and a sweet voice wishing her good night. The corners of stretch up as she is lulled into slumberland.

-

"It's nice being rich, isn't it?" Seulgi asks while buttering her toast as they sit by the pool, enjoying their breakfast in the morning.

"It is." Irene answers absent-mindedly while reading the news through her tablet. 

She smiles hearing that honest answer and decides to offer Irene a bit of her freshly-buttered toast. Irene looks up from her device, stares at it for a while before taking a small bite.

"I thought you were a peanut butter and jelly kind of gal." She comments while munching.

Seulgi takes a bite of her own. "I actually am, but the butter looks expensive I just have to try it."

Irene kicks her playfully under the table. "Stop saying everything here is expensive."

She chuckles and drinks her hot cappuccino to wash down