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The President Game 
Limited Series 

The Heat: Ep. 10
The long-awaited party of the semester finally arrives and brings hot gossip as well as action. Irene receives warnings and an impatient Seyoung takes matters into her own hands.

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the palace was one of the most exclusive rooftop clubs located on top of the hotel that was owned by lisa manoban’s family. complete with an infinity pool, a stage for live performances, and a bar that stretches almost the entire length of the area, it was a one in a lifetime chance for some to be able to get an invite to the palace. 

servers currently circled the place with canapes and drinks on trays, a famous singer performed on the stage, while the richest, most popular students of velour academy were scattered across the rooftop. 

“say wannabes!” yeri grinned as the phone camera flash went off as she took a selfie with a group of self-proclaimed models. their parents owned fashion labels so naturally, they were the clothing models for those but yeri thought they had just about the modelling skills of a walrus. she checked the photo, made sure she was satisfied, and thanked the group with a sweet smile before walking on to find the next batch of idiots that would help boost her views. 

she noticed two girls sitting at one of the lounge chairs talking quietly and smirked, crushing the remaining lollipop in as she skipped over. “hey you two!” she wedged herself to sit in between them, throwing her arms over their shoulders. “not socializing tonight?” 

joy shot her a small glare, grabbing her arm to remove it from around her neck. “i’m way too sober for that.” she studied yeri a little longer, like she was trying to gauge her level of sobriety and yeri gave her a cheeky grin in response. 

“wendy? what about you, our cutie ex-council member?” yeri drawled, turning to look at the short-haired girl. 

“hello yeri.” wendy greeted a little awkwardly. she’d never been close to yeri on a personal level, but of course they knew of each other. 

“i love your new hair, by the way. it’s so cute, isn’t it, joy?” yeri grinned, turning to look at her friend. 

“yes, it’s very cute and pretty.” joy said, looking at wendy with a sincere smile. “suits you a lot.” 
 
“t-thanks.” wendy said, a bit shy from the compliment and attention from both girls. 

“hm.” yeri leaned back and looked around the place. “our president and psycho kang aren’t here yet?” 

“i’m telling seulgi you called her that.” joy said. 

“her own girlfriend calls her that.” yeri retorted. “anyway, i think i just saw jennie and her new fling so i must go.” she jumped to her feet, swaying a little and joy caught her arm in case she fell. 

“enjoy your night, cuties.” yeri said and tapped joy on the cheek. “don’t waste my plus one.” she winked before skipping off. 

“is she always that energetic?” wendy questioned as they watched her greet almost everyone she went past. 

“usually around the same.” joy said, watching yeri with a smile before turning back to her company. “what do you think? should we be socializing more with others?” 

wendy stirred her drink, looking around briefly before her gaze landed on joy again. “i think staying here doesn’t seem too bad.” she said with a small and slightly nervous smile because she wasn’t sure if joy wanted the same thing. but then joy smiled back and the sight of her bright smile immediately brought relief to her. 

“i think so too.” joy agreed, enjoying this time they had to get to know each other properly.

the bright neon lights painted the night sky with colors and the loud music playing on the rooftop could be heard from inside the building. bouncers stationed at the doors waited patiently to allow guests on the exclusive list through to the rooftop area.

“wait, i’m starting to feel like i’m underdressed.” irene said anxiously, pulling at seulgi’s hand to stop them from reaching the bouncers just yet. 

“that’s impossible. you’re the most beautiful girl in this entire building.” seulgi said, turning to look at her and irene looked bashful about wearing a simple strapless white dress with not many accessories other than a silver necklace and her diamond earrings that were a birthday present from her parents. she didn’t know what the standard or dress code was for parties like this, so she just wore what she thought looked nice. but after seeing other party attendees, irene became self-conscious about her own choice of clothing.

“you’re just saying that because you have to.” irene mumbled as she scanned seulgi once more, who was the opposite of her. dressed in a black two piece that revealed a fit body and looking so alluring with a choker necklace around her neck, she seemed to fit the theme of the night a lot more.  

“trust me, you look absolutely stunning.” seulgi said, tucking some of irene’s hair behind her ear. “you look ethereal. when i first saw you tonight i thought i was seeing an angel.” 

irene broke into a smile at the cheesy words, giving her arm a light smack. “then are you the devil?” 

“i guess i am.” seulgi smirked. 

“hm, well if this is what the devil looks like, then i should probably start doing some bad things.” irene said in a lower voice so that only seulgi could hear. 

seulgi let out a small laugh, eyes glinting in excitement and her hand rested on irene’s waist. “you never fail to surprise me, joohyun.” 

irene’s heart still fluttered every time seulgi called her by her real name. “that’s how i keep you around, no?” 

“you do that effortlessly.” seulgi replied as she leaned down to kiss her softly and the gesture had irene swooning internally. “now, shall we make your grand entrance, school president?” 

irene giggled, nodding and seulgi held her hand securely as they headed towards the doors. 

>>

the clock ticked closer to midnight but the night was still young and the party was only getting started.  

the music that was too loud and the flashing lights that were too bright now seemed less jarring to irene as she grew accustomed to the environment. it was alarming at first to see her fellow students letting loose, which was a big change to their usual well-behaved demeanors, but irene also knew it was usual for rich kids to have these sorts of parties to have fun. 

she didn’t drink any alcohol except for one sip from seulgi’s cup earlier when they were dancing before they decided to split up momentarily to find their own friends and mingle for a bit. irene wandered on her own, greeting drunk students left and right who were all overly affectionate and enthusiastic about seeing her here. she received compliments from everyone she met for how she looked, and she was relieved to know that no one thought she looked out of place. 

she finally found a familiar face, suho, who was also fortunately one of the more sober ones around and she stuck with him.

“where’s seulgi?” he asked as they walked to find a quieter spot where they could sit down. 

“somewhere.” irene replied, glancing around briefly but couldn’t find her nearby. “maybe with joy or yeri.” 

“so you’re not drinking at all tonight?” suho asked as they found an unoccupied booth near the edge of the rooftop and took a seat. 

irene shook her head in response and suho smiled, raising his glass up. “i respect that. even with all the pressure and stress on you, you don’t resort to like this to cope. like the rest of us do.” he took a gulp from his drink.

irene smiled a little awkwardly in response, looking down at her cup of non-alcoholic punch and taking a small sip. she realized she didn’t have much to converse with her schoolmates on a social or personal level. all they ever usually talked about was schoolwork or council matters but other than that, she had nothing to connect with them on. 

“hey, look.” suho gestured with his hand across the pool and irene turned to look, catching sight of a boy staring in their direction. “sehun has had a crush on you for the longest time.” suho blurted with a chuckle, “but so did a lot of people i guess…” he scratched his head and irene could tell the alcohol was hitting him now with how uninhibited his speech was becoming. 

“look who it is!” yeri’s voice was loud and clear, making irene flinch when yeri bounded over. “aw, you two are so cute.” she gushed, looking at them. “you know, everyone wanted you to date but i always thought you seemed like siblings more.” yeri said. “i have a good sense for these things.” 

“hey yeri, did you know that sehun-” 

“had a huge unrequited crush on irene for two years? yes i know.” yeri cut suho off quickly. “as did bogum, as did seungho, as did minho and so on. have you forgotten who i am?” she folded her arms smugly as suho deflated on the couch. 

“why did no one ever tell me any of this?” irene spoke up, alarmed at how much everyone else seemed to know about matters concerning her. 

“they probably did but all you focused on was school.” yeri retorted. “but anyway, cheers to your first social event. drink up!” she sat herself down beside irene and clinked her glass with hers and prompted her to down her drink which irene reluctantly did. 

“let me order more.” yeri said, pulling her phone out of her clutch to order table service. more friends of yeri’s and suho’s started joining their booth after noticing their president there as well and soon irene was sitting amongst a large group chatting and joking around rowdily. 

surprisingly she didn't mind it too much, even finding it fun to see everyone so carefree and so real. it was like she was seeing these people for who they were for the first time behind the facades and roles they all put up while at school. she felt less alone about feeling like most of her life was an act and it felt… nice. 

“what’s a party without a round of truth or dare?” 

a bottle was placed on the table and spun. right from the beginning, the questions were explicit and irene was stunned at the willingness of everyone to share their intimate stories; some even going above and beyond with details too. 

“it was under the bleachers while the game was still going.”

“i can’t remember the exact number, but maybe 26.”  

“the janitor's closet but come on, i bet we weren’t the only ones.” 

“you dirty dogs.” yeri gasped dramatically at the stories but she was clearly loving every moment of the game. 

“i dare you to kiss the next person that buys you a drink.” 

“i dare you to go over and give her a .” 

“i dare you to…”

the bottle slowed and landed while pointing directly at irene and the group cheered excitedly, having waited for this moment for so long. 

irene flushed red, “truth.” she said timidly, fearing the kind of question she would be asked. the group looked around, clueless about what to ask until a voice spoke up and made people turn to see who was speaking.

“then i think you should answer the question many people are curious about.” seyoung smirked, arms folded and irene didn’t even know she had joined the group until people in front of her moved aside. “it’s an easy one. are you a , our sweet president?” 

“ooh.” everyone in the group looked intrigued and anticipated her response and irene felt all eyes on her, making her face feel hot. she was a bit annoyed that this was the sort of thing people were nosy about but given all the previous questions and discussions, it wasn’t surprising she was asked this, and it could’ve been a lot worse. 

irene looked at seyoung when she answered. “yes.” 

seyoung smirked while the rest of the group cheered on irene for answering and moved on with the game. she was thankful that no one tried to ask anything further and the bottle was spun again so she could finally slump back on the couch and untense. 

“i must say i’m surprised.” yeri said beside her, chewing on the stick of her finished lollipop. 

“is it that surprising?” irene asked, drinking from her cup to cool down. 

“i guess.” yeri replied nonchalantly and irene took the time to look around the group, realizing that she might be the only one there who has never experienced that. she thought it was normal, especially given that she had never had a serious relationship before. 

speaking of relationships, she had been apart from seulgi for too long now. 

“i need to use the restroom.” irene excused herself from the group, walking back towards the building and she looked around hoping to catch sight of where her girlfriend was. 

“irene, hey.” a voice from in front of her made her quickly stop walking to avoid bumping into the person. 

“hi sehun.” irene greeted when she saw who it was. 

“i’m so glad you came tonight - you know, since you usually don’t come. but y-you look great.” he said with a small stutter and blush. 

“thank you.” irene replied. “i hope you’re having a good night. have you seen seulgi?” she asked and his face immediately fell at the reminder. 

“uh no, i haven’t. sorry.” he said.

“that’s alright, i’ll find her eventually.” irene smiled politely, dipping her head and sehun looked disappointed as irene continued on her way. 

irene decided to use the restroom anyway since she was nearby and while she touched up her