Irene looked at her surroundings and ensured that no one she knew would be around. Once she was convinced, she walked closer to Seulgi’s company building and waited as usual. This time she tried to set herself inside the nearby café to wait until Seulgi appear. She ordered a light cappuccino with ice and gingerbread. She didn’t wear her face mask today, she felt quite confidence that no one would notice her, but she never knew her prediction would be wrong when she felt a light tap on her shoulder from behind.

“Hi Joo!” The nickname said it all. The person behind her must have known her that she knew Irene’s nickname. Right?

“Hello there! How have you been???” It was Sooyoung, looking nice in simple semiformal attire with dark colour. Sooyoung took a vacant seat in front of Irene.

“Sooyoung?! Oh God! I am good! How are you? You look good and decent~” Irene complimented once she saw the tall and lean girl in front of her.

“Thank you. You look as beautiful as you used to.. Oh wait,, you are more beautiful now~ I knew I looked shabby before but Yeri changed me and fortunately, it brought a good impact.” Sooyoung raised her hand to call the waiter.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Sooyoung asked.

“Nope. I am all alone. So you are free to sit with me.” Irene gave her a sincere smile. Sooyoung nodded and in no time, the waiter came and took Sooyoung’s order which was her favorite croissant with green tea blended ice.

“What are you doing here? It’s a coincidence! To know that.. you know,, the building over there is where Seulgi works at.” Sooyoung informed Irene. She surely didn’t know that Irene had visited the same building for the past 3 days, oh 4 including today.

“I just passed this area after meeting with a friend and suddenly I was craving for gingerbread so yeah, I made a stop, asking the waiter and voila~ They have what I wanted for.” Irene made a quick lie.

“What about you, Soo?” Irene asked back. She had bad feelings that Sooyoung’s appearance meant something bad for her plan to date with Seulgi.

Irene had visited Seulgi’s company quite often. Since the first date she had with Seulgi, she couldn’t help but falling deeper for her each day passed. She kept thinking about the date she had with Seulgi before. She knew her occupation as a hypnotherapist, a professional that was but it seemed that it didn’t prevent her from being hypnotized by Seulgi’s love. She felt her brain and logic shut down and hypnotized indirectly that she couldn’t really think about anything but Seulgi; What Seulgi was doing, what clothes Seulgi wore, what Seulgi was eating, where Seulgi was, etc.

She kept tossing and turning on her bed last night and it made her unable to sleep until few hours later. Her mind was clouded by Seulgi’s shadow. At first, she wanted to only have one date with Seulgi to satisfy her curiosity; what would it feel like to have a date with a woman instead of man? And damn! She never thought it could feel that good; so good to be honest.

Irene didn’t know whether she had to regret what she had done or not; in one side, her curiosity had led her to know Seulgi better, that if she put the gender aside, Seulgi had every trait that a woman could seek for in a lover but in another side, people said that curiosity kills a cat. She’s not a cat but indeed, her own curiosity had killed her. It made her feel addicted to Seulgi and she didn’t know what kind of rehabilitation was provided out there to cure her from being so in love with Seulgi.

“Oh, I made a promise to meet Seulgi to give her details about my engagement with Yeri and to accompany her to the doctor.” Sooyoung told Irene.

“So, you’re with Yeri? Congratulation, Soo! You were so close with her back then so I guess it’s not a surprise if you tell me that you wanted to get engaged with her.” Irene tapped Sooyoung’s shoulder before finally asking for a tight handshake to congratulate her more properly.

“You’re okay with that? I mean, I didn’t mean to offend you but you’re quite known as a person who disliked gay community so much. It’s just surprised me that you didn’t mind and didn’t even say something negative about me being with Yeri.” Sooyoung earnestly stated. Sooyoung checked her phone after saying that to Irene and found out a message from Seulgi.

“It’s Seulgi. She said she didn’t go to office today. She felt too dizzy to even move from her bed. I guess, I will check up on her later with Yeri.” Sooyoung flipped close her phone and put it down on the table.

“What happened with her?” Irene asked worriedly.

“Eh? Hmm.. She caught a fever since last night but she told me she would drink medicine and if she could bear it, she would come to work after lunch. But instead of getting better, she said the fever got worsened.” Sooyoung explained briefly.

“But aside from that, she told us she might get Alzheimer and she was so afraid of that.” Sooyoung added.

“Alzheimer? Why would she think like that? She’s still as young as us.” Irene tilted her head and frowned.

“Yeah.. it is weird indeed.” Irene nodded her head silently. She bit her bottom lips and felt guilty all of sudden. It was all because of her selfishness that Seulgi had to experience this.

“I told her that probably ghost did it to her or some evil spirits that don’t like her being inside the building that did it to her. My other guess is witchcraft. You know, since Seulgi works as Auditor, it’s normal for some people who do corruption and such to dislike her to the extend want to do something bad to her. What do you think?” Sooyoung asked for Irene’s opinion.

“That is possible.” Irene shortly replied. She sighed silently and fidgeted with her fingers under the table where Sooyoung couldn’t see it. Fortunately, it was Sooyoung that she met, not Yeri because if it was Yeri, she was definitely sure, she couldn’t run from the investigation and such which would lead her to admit in the end. God undoubtedly still loved her indeed.

“See? I know right! But Yeri said I was being delusional and such.” Sooyoung pouted. Irene chuckled seeing Sooyoung’s expression. It’s crazy how they could blend like best friends who just met coincidentally, when in fact, they barely greeted each other when they met in the hallway years ago.

“Hahaha.. Because it is indeed illogical, Soo.” Irene continued. She reminded herself to make a note not to ever hypnotize Seulgi again in the future no matter how much it would make her sad and such.

“And yeah.. Yeri suggested Seulgi to visit a doctor instead and Seulgi agreed with her. Maybe I can spend an hour with you while waiting for Yeri to finish her job. Her office building is near from here. Ah! But, do you have another plan this night? I don’t want to be a bother for you.” Sooyoung nodded at the waiter who just delivered her food and drink.

“It’s okay, Soo. I don’t have any plan after this. Besides, we can use this chance to catch up with each other. It’s been years, right? Tell me how you and Yeri did end up together?” Irene composed herself to calm her nerves down.

She needed to put a poker face and pretended she didn’t know a thing related to Seulgi. Surely, Seulgi had told her how Sooyoung and Yeri could end up together just the day before when they had dinner together. Irene too could still picture how she felt so comfortable cuddling with Seulgi when they watched movie together in a car theatre. Seulgi was a very attentive lover. Sadly, she was never been Seulgi’s lover and all of things that took place for the past 3 days were never happened inside Seulgi’s mind. Irene sighed unknowingly.

“That’s when Yeri accepted me and- Are you okay, Joo?” Sooyoung stopped her story and asked her longtime friend.

“Eh? What is it again? I am okay. Sorry for not listening meticulously.” Irene faked a smile.

“It’s okay. I have finished the story anyway.” Sooyoung replied the smile Irene gave.

“What about Seulgi? I didn’t hear you mentioned her name inside your story earlier.” Irene used this chance to obtain more info about Seulgi.

“Seulgi stayed here not long ago. She was in U.S all along. She finished her study there and went back here to stay for good. She is the first one to brave enough to state her preference though. She is gay too and I am sure you already know that her first crush and love was you, Bae Joohyun.” Irene’s expression turned bitter when Sooyoung used past tense instead of present tense.

“Joo? Are you okay?” Sooyoung again asked when she didn’t hear any respond from the latter.

“You seem lost in your own world? Do you have a problem, buddy? Share with me~ Who knows I can help you, right?” Sooyoung genuinely offered and it made Irene touched.

“If I have known how good you all were, I would have befriended you back then.” Irene smiled.

“I know about Seulgi and I feel so sorry for what happened. Wendy has told me and I have faith that you know that I met Seulgi couple of days ago with Wendy. I made her go to U.S, right? If I stopped Suho, maybe all of these wouldn’t happen and-

“And she wouldn’t be as great as she is now. Don’t feel sorry, buddy. She should thank you instead, because if you look from different perspective, the positive sides that you have made are so much more. Yes, she was so broken hearted when she left Korea years ago. She experienced a bad thing with her first love that she feels traumatic when it comes to love even until now, but look at the good sides; she is going to be promoted soon and now has become one of the best auditors in town. She got good salary, good looks, good personality, and good heart. All she needs now is a good lover to complete her life.” Sooyoung sipped her drink once she had finished her explanation.

“Thank you for making me feel better, Soo. How many years have it been? Hasn’t she found the right person until now?” Irene pried further.

“I think she still has feelings for you, Joo. The dinner last time made her feel so devastated that she was in a rush to find a lover. I-Ooops! Oh God! I shouldn’t have told you this… Please don’t tell anyone, especially Yeri and Seulgi? They will kill me if they know it.” Sooyoung clasped her face.

“I won’t tell only if you continue your story.” Irene smirked.

“Why would you want to know, huh? It’s not like you can reciprocate her feelings anyway. You don’t need to feel bad, Joo. It’s not your fault. I understand and it’s your right anyway. You are normal, unlike us.” Sooyoung caressed Irene’s arm with care.

“I just want to know how far the impact I have caused to Seulgi’s life, Soo. Please?” Irene tried again.

“Okay.” Sooyoung deflated. It’s safer to choose this anyway, she would be announced dead and appeared in the headline of local newspaper should Seulgi or even worse, Yeri knew it.

“Seulgi has been asking for Sunmi’s number, a friend of Yeri right after you guys met. Supposedly, she met her 3 days ago to their first meeting slash date but Seulgi didn’t appear and even forgot to inform her. Seulgi asked for apology and made a reason since she couldn’t really remember what happened with her after work hour until late night.” Sooyoung halted.

“They reschedule the date onto two days ago, but again Seulgi didn’t appear even until yesterday. I feel bad for Seulgi, though. Sunmi didn’t want to give Seulgi chance anymore. She said Seulgi was playing with her and her time. She hated Seulgi for that. But Seulgi didn’t give up and ask for another friend of mine or Yeri that is single and available.” Sooyoung took a quick glance at her wrist watch before continue.

“Seulgi didn’t want what happened to reoccur so she has to make sure that she wouldn’t be attacked with another short-term memory before setting a date with the girl. Ah, her name is Seohyun by the way. That’s why Yeri and I wanted to bring her to doctor as soon as possible.” Sooyoung ended the story with a sigh. She quickly ate the remaining bread she had and drank her smoothie.

“I see. Poor Seulgi.” Irene felt slightly bad for what happened.

It’s like she was the main cause that prevented the girl from finding another woman and feel how it would feel to be in love again. But then again, she didn’t want Seulgi to fall for another, she didn’t even want Seulgi to have a date with another woman. She was selfish and she knew it. Who ever said that love didn’t need to own? Because Irene could have sworn, she loved Seulgi and she wanted to own Seulgi; to be able to call Seulgi hers. But, how could she change Seulgi’s mind not to find another woman and tried to court Irene? That’s the biggest question Irene had.

“I know.. I just hope she is okay and the doctor can cure her. Oh! It’s already 6 pm. I gotta go, Joo! And here is my engagement invitation. Plea